There had been a settlement in existence on the location of New York since Anglo-Saxon England where it occupied a crossroads between Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey and docks for Lindisfarne Monastery. It did not have an official name until during the American War of Independence when it was named "New York" after New York City following the British capture of the city. It was also due to the village being formally founded then and being located near a now-vanished village that similarly shared a name from the Thirteen Colonies, "Philadelphia".