History
The Angles re-occupied a 1st-century Roman fort on the site of Jarrow in the 5th century, Its name is recorded around AD 750 as Gyruum, representing Old English "the marsh dwellers", from Anglo-Saxon "mud", "marsh". Later spellings are Jaruum in 1158, and Jarwe in 1228. Today Jarrow residents' popular nickname for Jarrow is "Jarra".
Timeline
674 St Peter's monastery was founded at Monkwearmouth by Benedict Biscop.
682 Following the success of St Peter's monastery at Monkwearmouth, King Egfrid of Northumbria gave Benedict more land in Jarrow to build a second monastery. The sister foundation of St Paul's was subsequently established.
686 Ceolfrith was established as Abbot in Jarrow.
731 The Venerable Bede, who was a monk, scholar and author at the Jarrow monastery, completed "The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum" - Ecclesiastical History of the English People. The first written record of the English people.
735 The Venerable Bede died.
750(c) Jarrow appeared in records as 'Gyruum'.
794 The Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery was attacked by the Danes.
860(c) The Wearmouth-Jarrow monasteries were destroyed by the Danes and they were finally abandoned in the late 9th century.
1070's A new monastery was built at Jarrow by Aldwin, prior of Winchcombe. It was never fully completed and remained a minor cell of Durham Cathedral Priory until the Dissolution.
1074 The town was rebuilt after being razed by William the Conqueror following the Norman invasion.
1545 Following the Dissolution, the monastery buildings and site at Wearmouth were granted to Thomas Whitehead by Henry VIII.
1785(c) Jarrow Hall was built by local businessman Simon Temple.
1803 The Alfred Pit was opened by local entrepreneur Simon Temple, introducing large-scale coalmining to Jarrow.
1852 The Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited shipyard was established by Charles Mark Palmer.
1866 St Paul's Church was restored.
1875 Jarrow Municipal Borough was created. It was abolished in 1974.
1875 St. Cuthbert Hebburn Church was built.
1891 The population of Jarrow according to the census was 33,675.
Jarrow remained a small town until the introduction of heavy industries like coal mining and shipbuilding. Charles Mark Palmer established a shipyard – Palmer's Shipbuilding and Iron Company – in 1852 and became the first armour-plate manufacturer in the world. John Bowes, the first iron screw collier, revived the Tyne coal trade, and Palmer's was also responsible for the first modern cargo ship, as well as a number of notable warships. Around 1,000 ships were built at the yard, they also produced small fishing boats to catch eel within the River Tyne, a delicacy at the time.
Palmer's employed as much as 80% of the town's working population until its closure in 1933 following purchase by National Shipbuilders Securities Ltd. (NSS). This organisation had been set up by Stanley Baldwin's Conservative government in the 1920s, but the first public statement had been made in 1930 whilst the Labour Party was in office. The aim of NSS was to reduce capacity within the British shipyards. In fact Palmer's yard was relatively efficient and modern, but had serious financial problems. As from 1935, Olympic, the sister ship of RMS Titanic, was partially demolished at Jarrow, being towed in 1937 to Inverkeithing, Scotland for final scrapping. The closure of the shipyard was responsible for one of the events for which Jarrow is best known. Jarrow is marked in history as the starting point in 1936 of the Jarrow March to London to protest against unemployment in Britain. Jarrow MP Ellen Wilkinson wrote about these events in her book The Town That Was Murdered (1939). Some doubt has been cast by historians as to how effective events such as the Jarrow March actually were but there is some evidence that they stimulated interest in regenerating 'distressed areas'. 1938 saw the establishment of a ship-breaking yard and engineering works in the town, followed by the creation of a steelworks in 1939.
The Second World War revived the town's fortunes as the Royal Navy was in need of ships to be built. After 1945 the shipbuilding industries were nationalised. The last shipyard in the town closed in 1980. In August 2014 a group of mothers from Darlington organised a march from Jarrow to London to oppose the privatisation of the NHS. The march took place in September 2014 and 3,000–5,000 people participated in the event.