Monk Hesleden
54°43′44″N 1°17′38″W / 54.729°N 1.294°W Monk Hesleden is a village and
The parish has an area of 1,091.35 hectares (4.2137 sq mi)[2] and includes the villages or hamlets of Blackhall Colliery, Blackhall Rocks, Crimdon, Hesleden, High Hesleden and Monk Hesleden.[3] It has a parish council.[3]
Etymology and history
Hesleden is believed to be derived from the local word Dene(den) meaning a deep forested Valley, and Hesle a corruption of Hazel, so the original meaning may have been, "Forested Valley of the Hazel trees", which are common in the, Nesbit, Crimdon and Hesleden Denes, that border the village. As for the "Monk", that may either refer to the Church which, once existed, or perhaps some earlier
, and it is recorded that a great deal of land in the area lay under their ownership.The Church of St. Marys, at Monk Hesleden can be dated as far back as the 13th century, though by the time it was photographed in the 19th century, it had been greatly altered, giving the impression, externally at least, of a much later structure, almost
. In 2016, St. James, Castle Eden was closed. Monk Hesleden now sits within the new geographical parish of Castle Eden and Blackhall, with the one remaining parish church at St. Andrew's in Blackhall.On the first Ordnance Survey Maps, the village appears under the name of "Church Hesleden", and in fact it is High Hesleden, that has the name of Monk Hesleden.
Today only one cottage (once part of a row of cottages, as you enter by the one road, into the village), Smiles-Taylor Farm, the former Rectory, as well as a couple of more recent bungalows, are all that remain of the village.
References
- ISBN 9780319228777.
- ^ Office for National Statistics.
- ^ a b "Welcome to Monk Hesleden Parish Council". Monk Hesleden Parish Council. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
External links
Media related to Monk Hesleden at Wikimedia Commons