BENWELL, a township in that part of the parish
of ST-JOHN which is in the western division of CASTLE
ward, county of NORTHUMBERLAND, 2 miles (W.) from
Newcastle upon Tyne, containing 1296 inhabitants. It
is situated on the north bank of the river Tyne, and
contains a great quantity of coal. In the sixteenth
century, a vein of coal accidentally caught fire in the
vicinity, and continued to burn upwards of thirty
years, bursting out, in various places, like a volcano.
It is in contemplation to erect a chapel here. Lying at
a short distance southward from the wall of Severus,
the site is supposed to have been occupied by the Roman
station, Condercum. A. building called the Old
Tower was the summer residence of the priors of Tynemouth,
who had a small chapel here, the site of the
burial-ground of which is marked by a few tombstones.