Middle Chirton village

The township of Chirton lay west of Tynemouth and Preston, and came to include 3 villages. Between 1093 and 1116 two Chirtons were granted to Tynemouth Priory and, since the priory did not acquire West Chirton until 1256, these two must have been East and Middle Chirton. The earliest specific reference seems to be in Vita Ordnance Survey mapwini, c. 1111. In 1294 there were 14 tenants; in 1295 11 bondagers each held 36 acres. The bondage system did not survive, however, and at the Dissolution there were 3 customary tenants with identical holdings while two-thirds of the township were common pasture or waste. Clearly the settlement had shrunk before the end of the Middle Ages, and before 1604 all 3 tenements were in the hands of one family, the Reeds of East Chirton, and later the Milbankes. In 1805 their Balkwell estate was sold. The site of the original village is uncertain - perhaps either Balkwell or West Chirton House, both of which appear on the first edition Ordnance Survey map.