Common-Dale
COMMON-DALE, a township, in the parish and union of Guisborough, E. division of the liberty of Langbaurgh, N. riding of York, 6½ miles (S. E.) from Guisborough; containing 79 inhabitants. The name of this place is corrupted from Colman-dale, so called from Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne, who had a hermitage here. It was given to the priory of Guisborough by the founder, and continued with that establishment until the Dissolution, when it passed to the Chaloner family, by whom the lands were afterwards divided and sold. The township is in the district called Cleveland, occupying the south part of the parish, and comprising a narrow secluded vale, surrounded by high and heathy moors; it contains by computation 2630 acres of land, mostly the property of Viscount Downe. In the township is the hamlet of Skelderskew-Grange, which belonged to the priory of Basedale, and which probably derives its name from skell, a rivulet, and skew, wood-ground standing on a hill; terms precisely descriptive of the position of the hamlet.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.