Jarrow

Jarrow, a port and municipal borough in the Jarrow parliamentary division of Durham, England, on the right bank of the Tyne, 6½ m. below Newcastle, and on a branch of the North-Eastern railway. Pop. (1901), 34,295. The parish church of St Paul was founded in 685, and retains portions of pre-Norman work. The central tower is Norman, and there are good Decorated and Perpendicular details in the body of the church. Close by are the scattered ruins of the monastery begun by the pious Biscop in 681, and consecrated with the church by Ceolfrid in 685. Within the walls of this monastery the Venerable Bede spent his life from childhood; and his body was at first buried within the church, whither, until it was removed under Edward the Confessor to Durham, it attracted many pilgrims. The town is wholly industrial, devoted to ship-building, chemical works, paper mills and the neighbouring collieries. It owes its development from a mere pit village very largely to the enterprise of Sir Charles Mark Palmer (q.v.). Jarrow Slake, a river bay, 1 m. long by ½ m. broad, contains the Tyne docks of the North-Eastern railway company. A great quantity of coal is shipped. Jarrow was incorporated in 1875, and the corporation consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 783 acres.