by Local Historian Charlie Steel

Bywell, according to C.W. Steel is a place of considerable antiquity, is only 12 miles west of Newcastle which now consists of a handful of houses with two ancient churches and a mansion, shut in by trees on a level green heugh within the sweeping banks of the Tyne.

Tracing its history back to medieval times, it is known that the inhabitants of the village were mainly craftsmen working in iron, and producing bits, stir­rups, buckles and such for the horsemen and border­ers.

In those days the village was surrounded by woods which were well stocked with red deer and the river yielded a plen­tiful supply of salmon.

During Norman and Plantagenet times Bywell was a barony held by the powerful Baliol family, whose chief scat was Barnard Castle. Both were forfeited to the crown in 1294 when John Baliol, King of Scotland, renounced English suzerainty.

Five years later, Bywell was granted to the Earl of Richmond, from whom it passed to his niece Mary, Countess of Pembroke. On her death in 1376 it passed to the Neville’s ‑ afterwards Earls of Westmorland ‑ who held it until the rising of the northern earls in 1569, which brought final ruin to their fortunes.

The impressive Bywell Hall was built by James Paine in 1760 for the Fenwick family, with alterations and additions in 1817 by the famous architect John Dobson. At the beginning of the 19th century it was purchased by the Beaumont family, later represented by Viscount Allendale.

Bywell was considered to he a place of great importance, and from the 13th to the 17th century it comprised one long street of' two rows of houses extending from the castle to a point west of its two churches.

One story suggests that the two churches were built by two wealthy sisters who quarrelled and then tried to outrival each other. Another differen­tiates them as the Black church (signifying a connection with the black‑robed Benedictine monks of Durham) and the White church (signifying the white‑robed pre monastratensian canons of Blanchland).

Both buildings are parish churches, and it is known that from Saxon times Bywell was divided into two separate parishes, which is the most likely reason for two churches having been built in such close proximity. Dur­ing the Middle Ages it was quite common for some vil­lages to have several churches within a comparatively small area.

Newburn, on the north bank of the Tyne five miles to the west of Newcastle was originally part of Northumberland until it was integrated into Newcastle in 1935, but in 1887 it was quite an extensive parish with a population divided into 14 townships: Black Callerton, Butterlaw, Dalton, East Denton, West Denton, North Dissington, Newbiggen, Newburn, Newburn Hall, Sugley, Throckley, Walbottle, WhorIton East & West, and Woolsington.

It was anciently a borough, the manor of which was given by King John to Robert, the son of Roger de Clavering, Baron of Warkworth. John, the last Lord Clavering, granted the reversion of it to the Crown, when Edward 111 gave it to Henry, Lord Percy, from whom it descended to the Duke of Northumberland.

The Scots possessed the advantages of numbers, disci­pline and position in a battle between the army of Charles 1 and the Scots at Newburn and their victory enabled them to take control of Northumberland and Durham.

The need of the aged and poor were not over­looked, as in 1870 a suite of 12 almshouses which and still stand to this day, were built by Hugh Taylor Esq. at a cost of £3,000. In addition to being free homes the residents of 60 years of age or older received a weekly allowance.

The village also possessed its own working men's club and institute, erected in 1884 at the sole expense of Thomas Spencer Esq.

Furnished by his two brothers for the use of the members it had baths in the basement with lavatories and other facilities; on the first floor were recreation rooms and a library, and above that a large hall for entertainment and lectures, having since been converted into the Valley View retirement home.