STOCKTON WARD 



DILLINGHAM 



BILLINGHAM 



The parish of Billingham included in 183 1 the 

 townships of Billingham, Cowpen Bewley and New- 

 ton Bcwlcy, and the chapelry of Wolviston, and had 

 an area of 8,970 acres. Wolviston and Newton 

 Bewley were assigned as a district chapelry in 1859 

 to the church of St. Peter at Wolviston,' and in 

 1862 a considerable area in the south and east of the 

 parish, including Haverton Hill, Port Clarence, and 

 Salt Holme, was formed into the ecclesiastical district 

 of Haverton Hill.- An Urban District Council of 

 sixteen members was formed in 1923 and the parish 

 divided into four wards. In 1920 a War Memorial 

 Hall was erected. 



The old parish had 3 miles of foreshore on the 

 Tees Haven, and much of the land is low-lying and 

 marshy. In 1623 the tenants of Billingham complained 

 that their pastures on this low land, called ' The 

 Checkers,' 'The Cow-marsh,' and 'Hors-marsh,' were 

 constantly inundated by the tide, and in consequence 

 had much deteriorated.' On the higher ground both 

 arable and pasture land is very good. About 3,106 acres 

 are under cultivation,'' and cereal crops, turnips, beans, 

 and peas are r.iised. The soil is various on a subsoil 

 of keuper marl and alluvium. 



The township of Billingham, which is the most 

 westerly in the parish, is separated from Norton and 

 Stockton parishes by the Billingham Beck flowing 

 through low-lying meadows. In I 3 14 the Bishop of 

 Durham granted a special indulgence to those who 

 contributed to the building and repair of the bridge 

 and causevv.i)- between Billingham and Norton.' This 

 was probably on the high road from Stockton to Sun- 

 derland, which passes through the two villages. There 

 is an old road, however, which runs south-west from 

 Billingham village to the stream and is continued on 

 the other side as a lane leading to Norton. An arm 

 of Billingham Beck, diverted to form a millrace, 

 flows close by the village. This was presumably the 

 water-course which in 1366 the inhabitants were re- 

 quired to narrow between ' le Resschiters ' and ' Flo- 

 therkere ' (Flotter Carr, I 580),' so that it might keep 

 to its old channel.' 



The village is a group of houses round the cross- 

 roads ; the highway sends one branch north from this 

 point to Sunderland, the other north-east to West 

 Hartlepool. The old street-names include the 

 ' Pekeshers ' and ' Balyerawe.' ' The church of St. 

 Cuthbert stands on high ground to the north-west of 

 the village, and forms a conspicuous landmark in the 

 low-lying country near the mouth of the Tees. In a 

 space before it is a cross, and here, no doubt, was the 

 pillory set up by the prior in 1418-19.' In the 15th 

 century an unauthorized market used to be held against 

 the wall of the churchyard on Sundays and feast days.'" 

 The vicar was ordered to admonish his parishioners 



on the subject in 1497." Billingham made a stand 

 for the old religion in the 1 6th century. A witness 

 at the inquiry into the rebellion of the north in 1 569 

 deposed that ' the hye alter stone is buried in the 

 quier there, and one read cope is also remaining in 

 the said church as yet undefaced.' '- The trades of the 

 village included in the 14th century the making of 

 fish oil in the ' Pekeshers' and brewing." In 1618 

 William and Robert Gibson sold a smeltin;» house to 

 Richard Apelbye i*-'' and in 1720 Mary Bushe con- 

 veyed a brass furnace and corn-mill to Thomas 

 Corney.i^'' In 1857 the village contained a brewery, 

 a malting, and a large skinnery.'* There is still a 

 brewery here. The Synthetic Ammonia and Nitrates 

 Co. have extensive works in the parish, and the 

 Clarence Brickworks are a short distance to the north- 

 east. A lane runs south from the village to Billing- 

 ham Mill,'^ and another, formerly the ' Kerrygait,'^* 

 eastward to the old landing stage from which the 

 ferry crossed the Tees. 



North-east of Billingham is the group of farm- 

 houses called High, Middle, and Low Bellasis, and 

 near the second the manor-house of Bellasis with the 

 remains of a moat. In 1649 the manor-house was 

 described as consisting of ' a hall, a parlour, a larder or 

 milke house with chambers over them being very 

 ruinous,' one barn, one stable, and other out-houses." 

 A garden city has lately been built by Lord Furness 

 at Bellasis for the employees of his shipyard. More 

 important than Bellasis at the present day is the 

 modern settlement of Haverton Hill on the banks of 

 the Tees to the south-east. It stands in the middle 

 of a ring of saltworks and has a station on the North 

 Eastern railway. The church of St. John is at the west 

 end, and there are Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, 

 and United Methodist chapels. At Port Clarence, a 

 group of ironworks further east which is an outpost 

 of Middlesbrough, there is a Roman Catholic church, 

 built in I 879. 



The Stockton to Sunderland road running north 

 from Billingham passes Billingham station on the 

 North Eastern railway and a pottery and brickworks 

 before it reaches Wolviston. Wolviston is a fair-sized 

 village, roughly square in shape, approached at its 

 corners by four roads. The site of the old church 

 is in the centre of the vilLage in a street formerly 

 known as 'Northkevyll.'" The modern church stands 

 a short distance to the east. The village has Wesleyan 

 and United Methodist chapels. Wolviston Hall, on 

 its south side, is the residence of Mrs. Webster. 

 Mill Lane runs south-west to Wolviston Mill on the 

 banks of Billingham Beck, probably on the site of the 

 ' Snawedon ' or Wolviston Mill of the 1 5th and l6th 

 centuries." 



North-east of Wolviston on the road from that 



43- 



' I.ond. Gaz. 17 June 1859, p. 2361. 



' Ibid. 4 Nov. 1862, p. 5230. 



' Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 3 3 3, no. 3. 



* Statistics trom Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



' Rrg. PdUi. Dunclm. (RoU» Ser.), i, 642. 



• Halmori Rolls [Sun. Soc), 240. 

 ' Ibid. 57. 



' FeoJ. Prior, Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 41, 



» Dur. Acct. R. (Surt. Soc.), ii, 302. 

 '« Dep. and Eal. Proc. from Ci. 0/ Dur. 



(Surt. Soc.), 32 ; Hiti. Dunclm. Script. 

 Trri (Surt. Soc.), App. p. ccclxxxlx. 



^' Hisr. Dunelm. Script. Trei (Surt. Soc), 

 App. p. ccclxxxix. 



" Dtp. and Eccl. Proc. from Cl. of Dur. 

 (Surt. Soc), 197. 



" Hiilmote R. (Surt. Soc), 25, 39, 76, 

 i6<;. "^ Dur. Rcc cl. I2, no. 3 (z). 



"b Ibid. no. 20 (4). 



" Fordyce, Hist, of Co. Palm, of Dur. 

 ii, J07. 



195 



** Generally so called in the records, 

 but 3 * Brantmyln ' is mentioned in 1366 

 {Halmoii R. [Surt. Soc], 57). 



" Halmoir R. (Surt. Soc), t2i. 



" Close, 1649, pt- *■> °°' 34- 



** Feod, Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 



33- 



" Hist. Dunelm. Script. Trei (Surt. Soc), 

 App. p. ccxcvii i Feod. Prior, Dunelm. 

 (Surt. Soc), 142 J Dur. Household Bk. 

 (Surt. Soc), 172. 



