PENSHAW, constituted an ecclesiastical parish by an Order in Council in 1838, taken out of the parish of Houghton-le-Spring, contains the townships of PENSHAW, OFFERTON, and part of WEST HERRINGTON: Penshaw is 3 miles north-by-west from Houghton-le-Spring, 6 west from Sunderland, 9 south-east from Gateshead and 9 north-east from Durham, in the Northern division of the county, north division of Easington ward, Houghton-le-Spring union, Durham county court district, rural deanery of Bishop Wearmouth, Durham archdeaconry and diocese, situated on the side of a lofty hill near the south bank of the navigable river Wear, and on the Bishop Auckland and Penshaw branch of the North Eastern railway, which has a station near the river. The church (name not known) is a plain stone building, without any pretensions to ecclesiastical architecture; it consists of chancel and nave, and has 1 bell. The register dates from the year 1754. The living is a rectory, yearly value £400, in the gift of the Bishop of Manchester and held by the Rev. Philip Thompson, M.A. of St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge. There is a chapel for Wesleyans in the village. In this township are several collieries, stone quarries, fire-brick manufactories, and an iron foundry. On Penshaw Hill, about half a mile from the village, is a monument of free-stone, erected by subscription, in 1844, to the memory of the late Earl of Durham: the design is a Grecian temple, and from its elevated and conspicuous situation it can be seen from many parts of the country. Penshaw House, at present unoccupied, a short distance from the railway station, is an excellent mansion of freestone. The Earl of Durham, who is lord of the manor, and the Marquis of Londonderry are the chief landowners. The soil is chiefly limestone, with clay intermixed; subsoil, light. The chief crops are wheat, oats and turnips. The area of the township is 1,066 acres; rateable value, £12,620; and the population in 1861 was 2,075, and in 1871 was 2,496; the area of
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