Rectory Park, Gilpin Thorn

HER Number

7850

District

Sunderland

Site Name

Rectory Park, Gilpin Thorn

Place

Houghton-le-Spring

Map Sheet

NZ34NW

Class

Monument <By Form>

Site Type: Broad

Feature

Site Type: Specific

Natural Feature

General Period

MEDIEVAL

Specific Period

Medieval 1066 to 1540

Form of Evidence

Documentary Evidence

Description

Tradition says that Bernard Gilpin (rector of Houghton 1558) took a cutting from the thorn in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, which according to legend had been planted there by Joseph of Arimethea. Gilpin planted the thorn in the rectory grounds. Frank Rushford, in his book of c1950 described the thorn tree as "crabbed and gnarled with age, and supported here and there with timber, and yet still in a wonderful state of preservation. It is a historic object of which Houghtonians are not a little proud". Tree no longer there.

Easting

434000

Northing

549700

Grid Reference

NZ434000549700

Sources

Frank H. Rushford, c1950, Houghton le Spring: A History, pp 29-30; Paul Lanagan, 2013, Houghton-le-Spring Rectory - A Walk Around the Grounds (www.houghtonlespring.org.uk); Paul Lanagan, 2006-2013, The Gilpin Thorn, www.houghtonlespring.org.uk; Northern Archaeological Associates Ltd. 2014, Rectory Park, Houghton-le-Spring, Archaeological Assessment and Building Recording