Pittington, Durham

Historical Description

Pittington, a township and a parish in Durham. The township stands on Pidding Brook, 4 miles NE of Durham, with a station on the N.E.R. It was anciently called Pitting-dune, originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement of the Pittings by the dune or hill here, which is part of the well-known magnesian limestone ridge. Post town, Durham; money order and telegraph office, Sherburn. The township comprises 2491 acres; population, 2092; of the ecclesiastical parish, 1810. There is a parish council consisting of eleven members. The parish contains also High Pittington and Low Pittington, the colliery villages of Littletown and Broomside, and the hamlets of Hetton-on-the Hill and Hall Garth. A mansion of the Priors of Durham stood to the NW of the church, was built in 1258, last rebuilt in 1524, and was dismantled in the time of Queen Elizabeth. Coal is very largely worked. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham; net value, £420 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Durham. The church of St Lawrence stands at Hall Garth; resembles the cathedral in the date and style of its architecture; is mainly Norman, with an Early English tower; has pillars of unique beauty, with bold spiral and fluted mouldings; and contains an effigies of a knight and a dos-d'ane tomb. Shadforth, Sherburn, and Sherburn House, originally in the parish of Pittington, are now separate benefices. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels, a parish reading-room, and a literary institute.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Pittington from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Pittington (St. Lawrence))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for County Durham is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Pittington 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:

• Hartlepool Mail
• Northern Echo
• Durham County Advertiser
• Teesdale Mercury