The History of Bensham Grove

In the early 1800s Joshua Watson, a cheesemonger living over his shop in Newcastle Upon Tyne, purchased Bensham Grove, together with three allotments on Gateshead Town Fields.  He planned to use the house as a country cottage for his family.

The River Tyne, though not as polluted as it was to become in later years, was already showing signs of being the hive of industry and commerce of the future.  It is no surprise, therefore, that Joshua was attracted to the golden cornfields, bluebell woods and windmills of Bensham.  It was near enough to continue his business on the quayside, but rural and healthy for the children.

And so began the lifelong involvement that three successive generations of the house had with the house called Bensham Grove.  All belonging to a well respected Quaker family, Joshua, Joseph and Robert lived with their families almost continually at Bensham Grove until the early 1920's.  Each generation enlarged and improved the house, resulting in an eclectic mix of Georgian and Victorian features.

Elizabeth Spence Watson

In later years, when the house was donated to the Bensham Grove Community as a centre for learning, it became known as the Bensham Settlement.  Although suffering some inevitable changes, the essence of the house remains.  It is easy to picture the children playing in the garden, or to visualise the formal dinners where distinguished guests from all walks of life sat down with the three 'fine specimens of good North Country Englishmen, Quakers...with strong solid intellect...'  Bensham Grove to this day still follows their principles and beliefs in promoting and improving life in the Bensham Community.