Jesmond

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Jesmond is a residential suburb just north of the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. The population is about 10,000. Housing in the area is amongst the most expensive in the city. It is adjacent to the Town Moor.

The area is notable for Jesmond Parish Church, Holy Trinity Church, Jesmond Dene, the Royal Grammar School, the Osborne Road strip of hotels and bars, and the Acorn Road shopping area.

Newcastle City Council has designated [1] three conservation areas within Jesmond: Brandling Village, South Jesmond and Jesmond Dene.

Jesmond has been described as displaying some signs of studentification.[2] It is a popular residential area for students attending Newcastle University and Northumbria University.

Decisions made about the suburb are heavily influenced by a small but powerful residents body know as the JRA (Jesmond Residents Association) The group regularly lobby the local council when new development is proposed in the area or on matters they feel will benefit the people who have lived there the longest. The JRA's lobby tactics have prevented the area from becoming over populated and over run by bars but often their 'build absolutely nothing absolutely no where' remit has resulted in buildings remaining vacant to the detriment of the area. Their militant efforts in shutting down bars has been effective in curbing what the JRA view as unsuitable uses for the area, but has been viewed by some as preventing Jesmond, the Osbourne Road area in particular, from developing fully into a potentially vibrant mixed use area and remains an area that seems to just miss out on being something very special. For all their hard work it is difficult to determine whether this group truly represents the local community, critics argue that the JRA simply stands for an elitist group of residents who are unwilling or unable to adapt to relatively rapid changes to their suburb caused mainly by lifestyle changes associated with the 21st Century.

Paddy Freeman's Park is located in Jesmond/Heaton. Paddy Freeman’s Park is situated to the north east of Newcastle City Centre in the Dene ward and is a very popular park.

Jesmond is served by the Tyne and Wear Metro, with stations at Jesmond, West Jesmond and Ilford Road. Jesmond station is the point at which Metro trains emerge from the underground section.

Famous Jesmond residents have included the industrialist William Armstrong, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, journalist and broadcaster Nancy Spain, writer Catherine Cookson, singer Bryan Ferry, songwriter and record producer Steve Hillier and novelists Yevgeni Zamyatin and Robert Carter. The only Briton to die in the Killing Fields of Cambodia, John Dewhirst, was born in Jesmond. Chris and Simon Donald, the founders of Viz comic, spent their early lives living on Lily Crescent in Jesmond.

Some time shortly after the Norman Conquest there occurred in the valley of the Ouse an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It seems reasonable to suppose that the Virgin was beheld with the infant Christ, because up until that time Jesmond had been known as Gese Muth “the mouth of the Ouse” while afterwards it was known as Jesmond or “the hill of Jesus”. The ruins of the Chapel are on the west side of the valley but local tradition holds that the apparition itself occurred at St Mary’s Rock which stands in the midst of the stream next to the ruins of Ridley Mill. If this tradition is correct it may indicate that the Chapel was a slipper chapel at which pilgrims removed their shoes before walking the remaining distance to the site of the apparition barefoot. A trace of the processions to the shrine which occurred at this time is found in the name of that section of the former Great North Road adjacent to the Tyne called Pilgrim Street. During a period in which the shrine was in need of repair it was endowed with indulgences by a Papal Bull on certain feasts of the liturgical year. A spring known as St Mary’s Well of uncertain date may also be found near to the chapel. It has the word “Gratia” inscribed upon stone above it. The greater part of the history of the shrine, its origins and the miracles which were said to have occurred there have been lost in the destruction which came upon it in the sixteenth century. The chapel was suppressed in the Reformation and fell into ruin. Afterwards the ruin and its grounds passed through various owners (one of whom tried to turn the well into a bathing pool) it was acquired by Lord Armstrong in the nineteenth century and given by him to the City of Newcastle. Mass is now offered there on occasion by the parish priest and the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. Flowers are often left in the ruins and it is once more frequented by occasional pilgrims. A booklet outlining the surviving history of the chapel may be obtained from the parish church of the Holy Name on North Jesmond Avenue.