Croft, North Riding of Yorkshire
Historical Description
Croft, a village, a township, and a parish in the N.R. Yorkshire. The village stands on the river Tees, adjacent to the York and Newcastle railway, at the boundary with Durham, 2 miles S of Darlington, and has, on the Durham side of the river, a station on the railway and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Darlington, It is a watering-place, with sulphurous and saline springs whose properties are considered by some to be superior to those at Harrogate; has a good hotel, lodging-houses, and baths, and a handsome stone bridge; and was the birthplace of Thomas Burnet, the philosopher and divine. Area of the township, 4724 acres of land and 21 of water; population of the civil parish, 459 : of the ecclesiastical, 763. The parish contains also the townships of Dalton-upon-Tees and Halnaby, and part of the townships of Stapleton and Great Smeaton. Halnaby Hall is the seat of the Wilson-Todd family, who are lords of the manor. Clervaux Castle belongs to the Chaytor family, who are among the principal landowners. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ripon; value, £655 with residence. Patron, the Crown. The church is English, of various styles, has a quaint, weather-worn, ancient appearance, and contains monuments of the Clervauxes, ancestors of the Chaytors.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Yorkshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Croft St. Peter | |
| Poor Law union | Darlington | |
| Riding | North | |
| Wapentake | Gilling-East |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast, in conjunction with various Archives, Local Studies, and Family History Societies have the following parish records online for Croft:
| Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1618-1914 | 1780-1930 | 1626-1930 | 1618-1988 |
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 Croft from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Croft (St. Peter))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for the North Riding of Yorkshire is available to browse.
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following North Riding newspapers online: