A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



by the Marquess of Londonderry, granted in a 

 deed of 15 August 1888, and called 'The Wilson 

 Memorial Institute.' 



The endowment consists of ^^2,950 5 per cent. 

 War Stock in the names of the trustees, producing 



^^147 10^. yearly. The sum of ^20 is paid towards 

 the salary of the organist of the parish church, j^io 

 to the Long Newton day school,' and jf 10 to the 

 Sunday schools, and the balance is applied in support 

 of the institute. 



NORTON 



Northtune (xi cent.) ; Norton, 1212. 



The parish consists of a single township. The 

 northern boundary is formed by Billingham Beck, 

 flowing south-east to join the Tees. Blakiston is in 

 the north-west of the parish and Hardwick in the 

 west ; between them lie Middlefield and Howden. 

 Ouston Moor is in the south-west corner, Newh.im 

 and Ragworth lie near the southern border, and 

 Holme House in the south-east. The area is 

 4.,663j acres. In the south-east the surface is low 

 and fl.it, but it rises to the west and north, over 

 170 ft. above the ordnance datum being attained 

 near Howden. The soil round the village is rich 

 and loamy ; to the west it is a red clay on s.ind and 

 gravel. The agricultural land is thus employed : 

 arable, 1,607 ^'^''es ; permanent grass, 2,410 ; woods 

 and plantations, 24.^ The chief plantations are in 

 the west and north. There are numerous market 

 gardens, for which the place has long been famous ; 

 wheat, oats and barley, potatoes and turnips are 

 grown. Brick and tile making is an old industry ; 

 there are a brewery and a pottery on the border of 

 Stockton ; formerly a glue factory and tannery 

 existed.^ The ironworks are disused. The butts 

 of the Stockton Territorials are in this parish. 



In 191 3 a large portion of the parish of Norton, 

 including the village, was incorporated in the borough 

 of Stockton. 



The main part of the village or ancient market- 

 town of Norton stands on rising ground to the west 

 of the Billingham Beck, and has grown up along the 

 old road from Stockton to Durham, going zigzag 

 north and west through the parish with a branch 

 north-east to Billingham. At the north end of the 

 village is a large green with duck pond, formerly 

 called the Cross Dyke, in the centre. The parish 

 church stands on its west side, and there is a reading 

 room on the green. 



The Victoria Jubilee Memorial Cross is built on 

 the site of one of the ancient common ovens or bake- 

 houses. The Fox almshouses were founded in 1897, 

 at the south end of the High Street, in accordance 

 with the bequest of John Henry Fox. 



The Grammar school at Norton is supposed to 

 have been founded about 1600, but the circumstances 

 are unknown. The bishops were accustomed to 

 demise certain trust lands on lease to the vicar,' who 

 was to pay the proceeds to a schoolmaster for the 

 free education of six boys nominated by the vicar. 

 The demise included tivo ovens or bake-houses, one 

 of which had fallen into decay by 1828, the toft 

 where the Lady Kiln had stood, the Kiln Close or 



Lady Close in Portrack Lane with an acre appur- 

 tenant thereto, and the Hermitage garth. At an 

 inclosure in 1673 more land w.is given to the 

 school.'' A scheme for the use of the endowment 

 was made in I 898 ; scholarships are provided by it 

 for boys of the parish tenable at a secondary or 

 technical school approved by the governors. A school 

 board was formed in 1872.' 



The old winding road from Stockton to Durham 

 wa; superseded about 1830 by a new and straight 

 road, passing over a mile to the west of the village. 

 There is another road leading from the Green 

 south-west through Hardwick to Darlington, with 

 a branch connecting it with the old Durham 

 road. The London and North Eastern Railway 

 Company has several lines running through the 

 parish ; across the north goes the Hartlepool branch 

 with a station named Norton-on-Tees, about a mile 

 beyond the village ; this line has a branch running 

 south-east into Stockton ; through the west side of 

 the parish goes the Stockton and Sunderland line, 

 having a junction with the first-mentioned one. The 

 village is connected with Stockton and Middles- 

 brough by electric tramways. Water is supplied 

 by the Tees Valley Board. There is a parish 

 council for the administration of local affairs. 



Norton has had a comparatively peaceful history. 

 That it had special importance is shown by its 

 ancient and well-endowed church and by the grant 

 of a market by Henry I. The Bishop of Durham 

 in I 3 14 granted an indulgence to benefactors to the 

 making of a bridge and causeway between Norton 

 and Billingham.^ Cecily Underwood in 1343 left 

 3/. for the bridges between Norton and Hard- 

 wick.' The Black Death is alluded to in a court 

 roll of 1358, when it was found th.it John Spurnhare 

 and Richard Kirkman had been cultivating a ' malland ' 

 of Gilbert Spurnhare's ' from the time of the pesti- 

 lence till now' without licence.' In 141^ Alan 

 Megson and Robert Stokesley had a dispute concern- 

 ing the value of a horse won by them from the Scots 

 at Homildon.' The collegiate church was the prin- 

 cipal institution in the place, but the destruction of 

 the college at the Reformation reduced it to an 

 ordinary vicarage. 



The rising of 1569 does not seem to have drawn 

 many adherents from the parish except Marmaduke 

 Blakiston, who was attainted '" but afterwards par- 

 doned. The Protestation of 164 1 was signed in 

 Norton,'^ and the political troubles of the time 

 brought forth a petition from William Holliman of 

 this place, setting forth that the Scots had taken his 



' See KC.H. Dur. i, 408. 



' Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



^ Lewis, Topog. Diet. 



^ The lands were in 1634 demised to 

 the reeve of Norton, but the trust is not 

 recorded (Close, 3401). 



' Char. Cam. Ref>. (1828), xiiii, 97. 

 * Lond. Gaz. 3 Dec. 1872, p. 6103. 

 « Reg. Palai. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), i, 

 642 ; ii, 683. 



' Dur. ffilU and Invent. (Surt. See), i, 



* Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 12, fol. 193. 

 Malland was the holding of a malnian or 

 tenant by malman tenure. 



' Ibid. no. 14, p. 655. 



'" Act of Attainder, 13 Elii. cap. 16. 



" Hitt. MSS. Cum. Rep. v, App. 125. 



