Middleton in Teesdale, Durham
Historical Description
Middleton-in-Teesdale, a small town, a township, and a parish in Durham. The town stands on the river Tees, at the terminus of the Tees Valley railway, and at the boundary with Yorkshire, 9 miles NW of Barnard Castle; has a station on the N.E.R.; is irregularly built and singn-larly situated, on the sides of hills, around an extensive green at their base; is environed by lead mines, chiefly belonging to Lord Barnard. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Darlington, two good inns, a bank, a town-hall, a market-house, a church, three dissenting chapels, a mechanics' institute with reading-room and library, a weekly market on Saturday, and fairs on the third Thursday of April, and the second Thursday of Sept. and Nov. The church was rebuilt in 1878, and presents the peculiarity of having a detached bell-tower. There are Baptist, Wesleyan, and Primitive Methodist chapels. The town is a good centre for visiting the romantic scenery of Upper Teesdale, including the famous cataracts of High Force and Caldron Snout. Baths and wash-houses for the workmen of neighbouring lead-mines, and for the public, were built in 1869. The township comprises 10,494 acres; population, 2008; of the ecclesiastical parish, 2484. The Duke of Cleveland is lord of the manor. The parish contains also the townships of Egglestone, New-biggin, and Forest and Frith. The surface on the S border, along the course of the Tees, is picturesque. Wynch Bridge, about 2 miles above the town, spans the river across a rocky chasm 60 feet deep; -is a slight and rocking structure on thesuspension principle; and succeeded a still slighter one constructed about 1741, and supposed to be the earliest suspension bridge in Europe. The river, at the chasm, first goes wildly round reefs of basalt, and then rushes down a cataract in sheets of foam. The surface N of the town is wild and moorish, and includes a large tract called Middleton Common. The lead-mines are partly in Middleton township, but chiefly in Egglestone, and they are worked by levels or bushings. Large quantities of pig-lead are sent annually from Teesdale by rail from the depot at Romaldkirk. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham; net value, £365 with residence. Patron, the Crown.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | County Durham | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Middleton-in-Teesdale St. Mary | |
Poor Law union | Teesdale | |
Ward | Darlington |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Middleton in Teesdale from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Middleton-in-Teesdale (St. Mary))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for County Durham is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Middleton in Teesdale are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering county Durham online: