Ryton, Durham

Historical Description

Ryton, a village, a township, and a parish in Durham. The village stands on the river Tyne, adjacent to the Newcastle and Carlisle railway, 7½ miles W of Newcastle, and 8 from Gateshead. It was burnt by the Scots in 1297, is now a picturesque place, and has a station on the railway, a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.), and a stone cross erected in 1795. The township comprises 1196 acres of land and 75 of water; population, 3393; of the ecclesiastical parish, 2874. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. The parish contains also the townships of Ryton Woodside, Crawcrook, and Stella, and is governed by an urban district council of nine members. A house at the W end of the village includes fine Norman arches and mouldings, brought hither in 1862 by Archdeacon Thorp from St Nicholas Church in Durham. There are several collieries. The living is a rectory, with Hedgefield annexed, in the diocese of Durham; net value, £590 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Durham. The church is an ancient building chiefly in the Early English style, was well restored in 1886, and has a tower and spire 108 feet high. The parsonage is a fine old Tudor edifice. A tumulus 20 feet high is in the churchyard to the N of the church. There are Congregational and Wesleyan chapels, and a cemetery of 5 acres. Archbishop Seeker was rector.

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.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Ryton from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ryton (Holy Cross))

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Ryton 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