Monkseaton, 1848

MONKSEATON, a township, in the parish and union of Tynemouth, E. division of Castle ward, S. division of the county of Northumberland, 3 miles (N.W.) from Tynemouth; containing 581 inhabitants. The township comprises 1,238 acres of arable land; the soil is a good loam, and the subsoil clay. A colliery was opened in 1819, and coal is wrought in considerable quantity, and conveyed from the pit near Whitley by a railway to the lower part of Shields, whence it is exported; there is also a portion of Whitley lime-quarry in the township. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £298. Here is a place of worship for Wesleyans. On Monkhouse farm are the remains of a stone, called the Monk's stone, with this inscription, "O horror, to kill a man for a pig's head!" concerning which a curious tradition prevails. A monk of Tynemouth, it is said, was scourged on the spot by a Mr. Delaval for having cut off a pig's head whilst roasting in the kitchen of the latter; and dying within a year and a day, his brethren fixed a charge of murder on Mr. Delaval, who, in order to obtain absolution, assigned to the monastery the manor of Elswick and other estates, and erected an obelisk on the spot where he chastised the monk.