Tynemouth Village

The present settlement is at right-angles to priory/castle complex and may be 12th century in origin (it must be later than the cemetery found under Front Street). The earliest documentary references are late 12th century. In the 13th and early 14th centuries there were 15 principal tenants, but only 10 by the end of the 14th century. In 1336 there were 117 houses in 4 est-west rows, and open or waste land outside the priory gate. The village was the property of the priory until 1539; in the 17th century the Percy family acquired parts of it. On the first edition Ordnance survey plan (c.1860) the village is still small, consisting of a wide Front Street and two narrow, parallel streets to the north. There are no early surviving buildings, the earliest being 18th century.