Wrekenton

Coordinates: 54°55′46″N 1°34′21″W / 54.929430°N 1.572395°W / 54.929430; -1.572395

Wrekenton is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, in Tyne and Wear, England, that was formerly a separate village.

Wrekenton is probably best known to passers by as the location of a large branch of the Co-op supermarket. It is served by the B1296 which used to be a route of the Great North Road.

It is bordered to the North by Beacon Lough to the West by Harlow Green and to the South by Eighton Banks. A large part of Wrekenton is a large council estate known as Springwell Estate. This is distinct from Springwell village which is located a few hundred metres across the border into the City of Sunderland.

Name

The antiquarian John Hodgson claimed to have named the village. He wrote, "After the enclosure of the common (in 1822), Mr Watson, of Warburton Place, Carrhill, founded a considerable village at this place, which, at my suggestion, he called Wrekenton." This name was chosen because Wrekenton and Eighton Banks were divided by the remains of the Wrekendyke Roman road.