Letherhose Fishery

Letherhose Fishery

HER Number
12265
District
Gateshead
Site Name
Letherhose Fishery
Place
Gateshead
Map Sheet
NZ26SE
Class
Agriculture and Subsistence
Site Type: Broad
Fishing Site
Site Type: Specific
Fish Weir
General Period
MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Medieval 1066 to 1540
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Description
Letherhose in 1128. 'Leoer-hose' is Old English for a leather covering for the leg, a gaiter. This could allude to a leather worker or to a distinctive type of dress. Perhaps it refers to the clothing needed to work the weir. Leather boots were worn by fishermen on the Tweed. Owned by the bishop of Durham. The main catch would have been salmon, but in fact a wider range of fish would have been taken (eg. Eels, pike, minnow, burbot, trout and lamprey' {G.N. Garmondsway (ed), 1939, 'Aelfric's Colloquy', pp 101-2}.
Easting
424000
Northing
563000
Grid Reference
NZ424000563000
Sources
Victor Watts, 1986, Some Northumbrian Fishery Names II in Durham Archaeological Journal, 2, 1986, pp 55-61