Jarrow

Jarrow, a municipal borough and seaport of Durham, situated on the Tyne, 3 miles by rail SW. of South Shields and 7 miles E. of Newcastle. Its growth from a small colliery village to the thriving town has been due to the construction of its docks (since 1859), and to the establishment of Palmer & Co.'s iron-shipbuilding and marine engine works, blast-furnaces, iron-foundries, gun-factory, &c., which together employ upwards of 7000 hands. Paper and chemicals are also manufactured, and coal is shipped in large quantities. At Jarrow in 682 Benedict Biscop founded the Benedictine monastery with which the name of Bede (q.v.) is inseparably associated. The chancel of the parish church, reconstructed in the 11th century, retains portions of Benedict's work; the nave was rebuilt in 1783 and again in 1866. Bede's chair is still preserved in the church. Jarrow was made a municipality in 1875. Pop. (1871) 18,115; (1891) 33,675. See Jewitt's Jarrow Church (1864).