EARSDON, a township, a parish, and a sub-district in Tynemouth district, Northumberland. The township lies on the coast, and on the North Shields and Blyth railway, 4 miles NNW of North Shields; and has a post office under Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Acres, 1, 769; of which 978 are water. Pop., 577. Houses, 152. The parish contains also the townships of Seghill, Burradon, Backworth, Holywell, Hartley, Seaton-Delaval, and South Blyth, and the lordship of Newsham; and it has railway stations for Hartley, Seaton-Delaval, Seghill, Newsham, and Blyth. Acres, 11, 646. Real property, £71, 375; of which £47, 900 are in mines, £150 in quarries, £40 in fisheries, and £399 in gas-works. Pop., 12, 444. Houses, 2, 475. Two fearful colliery accidents occurred in this parish; the one in Burradon, in the beginning of 1860, with a loss of nearly 80 lives; the other in Hartley, in the beginning of 1862, with a loss of upwards of 200. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value, £119.* Patrons, the Proprietors of Land. The ancient church belonged, from the 11th century, to Tynemouth priory; and a new church, an elegant structure on an eminence, with a conspicuous and imposing tower, was built in 1837. The p. curacies of Seghill and Seaton-Delaval, and the donative of Blyth, are separate benefices. There are several dissenting chapels.—The sub-district is less than the parish by South Blyth and Newsham. Acres, 10, 466. Pop., 9, 543. Houses, 1, 960.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))