Edmundbyers is a village in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, in England. It is situated a few miles to the west of

Consett Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019. History Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the ...

, near Derwent Reservoir. In 2001 it had a population of 118. The

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of Edmondbyers had a population taken at the 2011 Census of 173. Today, the village has a pub, a youth hostel, a church, a village hall and a small shop. A bus service, the 773, serves the village, connecting it to Townfield,

Hunstanworth Hunstanworth is a small village in County Durham, England. It is situated approximately 10 miles to the west of Consett, south-west of the village of Blanchland. The population of the village as taken at the 2011 Census was 116. Listed in the Bol ...

and

. There is evidence of prehistoric settlement in the area from the Neolithic era onwards. It is listed in the

Boldon Book The Boldon Book (also known as the Boldon Buke) contains the results of a survey of the bishopric of Durham that was completed on the orders of Hugh du Puiset, Bishop of Durham, in 1183, designed to assist the administration of the vast diocesan e ...

(1183): "Alan Bruntoft holds Edmundbires for his service in the forest”. However, Bishop Hatfield's survey of c. 1382 shows that the land had been transferred to

Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...

: “The Prior holds the vill of Edmundbires, sometime of Alan Bruntop, by forest service”. The village church, St Edmund's, has evidence of pre-Norman building, but it mainly dates from the 12th century, with renovations from 1859 onwards. The pre-Reformation stone altar was rediscovered and replaced in the church during the restoration. There is a list of rectors beginning with Richard de Kirkeby in 1275 and ending with John Durie, A. M., on 2 July 1629. The incumbents after 1629 have also been in charge of the parish of

Muggleswick Muggleswick is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the west of Consett. the population was 130 at the 2001 Census reducing to 113 at the 2011 Census. The village has a num ...

. A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was erected in 1835. The Primitive Methodists met in a private house. The parish school was erected in 1825. The

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...

(dated 1936 over the lintel) is made up of three houses built in the mid- to late 18th century. Edmundbyers Cross is one of only three

wayside crosses Wayside may refer to: * Wayobjects, trackside objects *Wayside (band), an early version of As Friends Rust * ''Wayside'' (TV series), a television show based on the children's book ''Sideways Stories from Wayside School'' *A rest area Places ; ...

still in its original position in County Durham, and the only known example on the route between Stanhope and Edmundbyers.

Etymology

Edmundbyers means "Eādmund's

dwelling In law, a dwelling (also known as a residence or an abode) is a self-contained unit of accommodation used by one or more households as a home - such as a house, apartment, mobile home, houseboat, vehicle, or other "substantial" structure. The ...

s", from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

personal name Eādmund (modern Edmund) and ''bur'' "dwelling", modern

bower Bower may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Catherine, or The Bower'', an unfinished Jane Austen novel * A high-ranking card (usually a Jack) in certain card games: ** The Right and Left Bower (or Bauer), the two highest-ranking cards in the g ...

, here in the dialect form ''byer''. An undated record of the name lists the village as ''Edminber''.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in County Durham