Walworth | |
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Cuckoo House, an outlying part of Walworth | |
Location within County Durham | |
Population | 240 (including Archdeacon Newton and Houghton-le-Side. 2011) |
OS grid reference | NZ234188 |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Darlington |
Postcode district | DL2 |
Dialling code | 01325 |
Police | Durham |
Fire | County Durham and Darlington |
Ambulance | North East |
UK Parliament | |
Walworth is a central small village with outlying farmsteads, which together constitute a scattered village in the borough of Darlington and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is a civil parish which does not have a church. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 Census was 240. [1] It is situated 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the north-west of Darlington. The nucleus of the central village is the 16th-century Walworth Castle, which is now a hotel. On the north side of the village, around North Farm, are earthworks signifying a lost settlement, grouped around a barn which was once a chapel.
Walworth and Walworth Gate are said to be on the line of the Roman road, Dere Street. [2] Walworth is located at the T-junction where Newton Lane meets Walworth Road and the disused Quarry Hole, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north-west of Darlington and 0.31 miles (0.50 km) east of Denton. The village is triangular in plan, with Walworth Castle and Walworth Park at its centre. North Farm and the lost settlement of Walworth are at the north corner; Castle farm and Tomtit Wood are at the south-west corner, and Walworth Grange and a few houses are at the south-east corner. [3] The village used to be part of Heighington parish, but the settlement now has its own civil parish. [4] Although there is evidence of a former chapel in the lost settlement, [5] the village does not have a church. The population here is very low; in 2001 there were only 167 people on the electoral roll of Denton, Walworth and Houghton-le-Side who were eligible to vote at Walworth Castle polling station. [6]
The central feature of the village, and its landmark for miles, is its very large, 16th-century mansion house built in the style of a medieval castle, which is now a hotel. It is a Grade 1 listed building, [7] probably built by Thomas Holt in around 1600 for Thomas Jennison. [8] It may be that earthworks and cropmarks in Walworth Park in the castle grounds signify a lost settlement associated with the one at North Farm. [9] [10] [11]
The name "Walworth" means Welsh settlement, [12] and it used to be known as Waleberge after the Saxons claimed it. It is thought that Walworth was planned as a village with the previous castle around 1150 by the Hansard family as part of their 1,100 acres (4.5 km2) estate. There is a legend that Malcolm III of Scotland destroyed the village on his way along the River Tees. Following the Black Death there was a change of ownership of the manor to the Neville family by 1367, but in 1391 Robert Hansard claimed it back. [13] The Ayscough family acquired the manor by marriage in 1539, then Thomas Jenison bought it in 1579 when the Ayscough family had no heirs. [14] At the death of Elizabeth Jenison in 1605, the farm stock inventory included 50 oxen besides cattle, sheep, pigs, horses and corn. In 1759 the estate left the hands of the Jenisons due to the death and debts of Ralph Jenison. [15] From 1759 to 1831 the estate belonged to Matthew Stephenson, and then it was sold to the Aylmer family who owned it until 1931. Their descendants Neville and Charles Eade owned it from 1931 to 1950, and then it was sold in 1950 to Durham County Council. The estate was broken up and sold into private ownership in 1981, and present ownership of the village is unknown. [16]
There is no evidence of prehistoric or Roman activity in this area, but the area has not been fully excavated. [17] In May 2004 a barbed and tanged arrowhead was found at Quarry Cottage, where Newton Lane meets Walworth Road. Because this site was a quarry, the arrowhead may have been moved from its original site before it was found. [18] In 1991 some archaeological evaluation trenches were dug next to the castle itself, in advance of hotel development; however, no traces were found of archaeological material. [19] About 0.6 miles (0.97 km) to the east of Walworth, in a field just east of Back Lane, is the site of a former post-medieval brick and tile works. [20] There was another brick and tile works 0.3 miles (0.48 km) north-east of North Farm on Silver Hill, just west of Back Lane. [21]
North of the village, just south of New Moor Farm and just to the west of Walworth Road, is the site of a post-medieval lime kiln. [22] The disused limestone quarry called Quarry Hole, where Newton Lane meets Walworth Road, is post-medieval also, [23] [24] and it once had an associated lime kiln. [25] 0.9 miles (1.4 km) north-west of Walworth, between Newton Lane and the A68 road, is the post-medieval Paradise Cottage, once known as Hood's Cottage, with an associated well. [26] There is an overgrown well on the west side of Walworth Road and level with the castle gate, at the north end of Tomtit Wood. It is made of stone with a trough to collect water. [27] Estimated to be about 0.31 miles (0.50 km) west of Walworth village, and halfway between Walworth and Denton, is the site of a medieval mill. The evidence for this is from field names on tithe maps and manuscripts. [28] There is a late 18th- or early 19th-century listed ice house to the east of Quarry End, at Quarry Hole. It is built into a bank, and has a partially-collapsed barrel-vaulted passage connected to a deep, egg-shaped cavity intended for the ice. It is built of coursed rubble and the inside is brick-lined. [29] On the east side of Walworth Grange are a Grade II listed late 18th- or early 19th-century threshing barn and gin gang. They are built of limestone with pantiled roofs, and the gin gang is semi-octagonal with square piers and later infilled walls. [30]
Parkside Farmhouse at Castle Farm is a listed building, built in the early 19th century with squared limestone walls and purple slate roof. [31] On its south side is a large 19th-century, two-storey, pantiled, square-plan dovecote which is listed separately along with some sheds, including a possible bee bole. [32] The 19th-century limestone gate piers with rounded tops and 5 feet (1.5 m) to 6.5 feet (2.0 m) high limestone garden wall of Parkside Farmhouse are listed also. The wall has flat coping and is L-shaped, surrounding two sides of the farmhouse. The wall may have contained flues to heat soft fruit. [33] Also on the south side of the farm house is another set of early 19th-century listed sheds and barn with assorted roofing: asbestos, pantiles and stone flags. The single-storey sheds contain blocked arches. [34] There is also a listed 19th-century haybarn and former potato shed on the south side of the farmhouse. The haybarn is built of squared limestone and sandstone with brick arches. [35]
At the north end of the village, the fields on the east and west sides of the North Farm buildings contain earthworks signifying a lost settlement. There are some isolated ruins and two rows of building foundations, and ditches and banks which form enclosures. The chapel was built in 1180 of squared and coursed rubble, and has since been incorporated into the northernmost farm building with blocked original openings and indications of the original door and window still visible, although it has 19th-century doorways and a pantiled roof. Inside there is evidence of a pointed arch containing a piscina with trefoil head, and a large aumbry at the east end of the south wall. The opening at the east end on the north wall is also possibly an aumbry. [5] [17] [36] There is evidence of ridge and furrow fields remaining in Walworth Park which may be associated with this settlement. [9] In 2007 there was a watching brief when an electricity supply trench was dug in the middle of the lost settlement site, just north-east of the farm buildings, but no archaeological evidence was found. [37]
Abbots Bromley is a village and civil parish within the English county of Staffordshire, England. A notably affluent part of the county, Abbots Bromley was rated the best place to live in the Midlands by the Sunday Times in 2013 and again in 2016. The village is a regular entrant and often winner of the Staffordshire Best Kept Village Competition which takes place across the county each year. Originally organised by the Community Council of Staffordshire there is a best-kept village award for a large and small village in each of the county's Districts and Boroughs. Whilst down the years the East Staffordshire district prize has been awarded to Abbots Bromley on a number of occasions the overall county title continues to elude. In August 2017 the village won the double honour of winning both the best kept village and community council trophy award, a double not achieved for many years. This double was repeated again in 2018. In 2019 the competition was taken on by The Community Foundation for Staffordshire and Abbots Bromley won for the third consecutive year. Through the competition Abbots Bromley maintains a healthy rivalry with nearby Yoxall, also a regular winner in the East Staffordshire section.
Archdeacon Newton is a hamlet and rural parish of several farms in the borough of Darlington and the ceremonial county of County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are maintained in the parish of Walworth. It is associated with an abandoned village site under pasture and farm buildings, and situated a short distance to the north-west of Darlington. The lost settlement was in existence by the early 15th century, and remained inhabited at least until the 1890s. There was a moated manor house at the southern end, part of which remains as the Old Hall, now a barn. At the north end of the site was the chapel, and in the middle were tofts and enclosures, with a ridge and furrow field and a trackway leading to the south-east. The site of the abandoned village is now a scheduled monument and the Old Hall is a listed building.
High Coniscliffe is a parish and village in the borough of Darlington and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. The parish includes Carlbury and Low Coniscliffe. It is part of Heighington and Coniscliffe ward, and is situated approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Darlington. At the 2011 Census the population of this civil parish was 242.
Merrybent is a linear village in the civil parish of Low Coniscliffe and Merrybent in County Durham, in England. It is situated on the A67 road to the west of Darlington, a short distance to the north of the River Tees and the Teesdale Way. At the beginning of the 20th century there were hardly any buildings here, and its main feature at that time was Merrybent Nurseries with its many glasshouses. The nursery was cut through by the A1 road in the 1960s; at this point it runs on the trackbed of the old Merrybent railway. The village is now a settlement of modern housing.
Low Coniscliffe is a village in the civil parish of Low Coniscliffe and Merrybent, in County Durham, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 716. It is situated 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Darlington. Its present built-up area is confined in practice between the A1, the A67 and the Tees, but its old boundaries probably extend much further. Its most obvious landmark on the A67 is the Baydale Beck Inn. The village contains a couple of listed buildings and the probable site of a medieval manor house. There was once a gallows in the village. A rare fungus Rhodotus palmatus was found nearby.
Low Walworth is a hamlet in County Durham, England, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the north−west of the edge of Darlington. It consists of Low Walworth Hall, Low Walworth Farm and their respective cottages, flats and outbuildings. Several of these buildings are listed, and date from the 17th to the 19th century. Attached to one of the late-18th-century farm buildings is a gin gang, or building from which a horse powered a threshing machine by walking in a circle. The hall has accommodated at least one High Sheriff of Durham.
Walworth Gate is a hamlet and crossroads village in the borough of Darlington, in the civil parish of Walworth and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated 2 miles (3.2 km) north−west of the edge of Darlington and 0.6 miles (0.97 km) north of Walworth. The settlement is locally notable for New Moor Farm, which is known to Darlington people as a producer of ice cream. The Saxon origin of the name, "Walworth Gate", refers to Welsh−speaking Britons who once lived there.
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Walworth Castle is an 11th Century castle, situated at Walworth, near Darlington, County Durham, England. It is a Grade 1 listed building. It was completed around 1600, probably by Thomas Holt for Thomas Jenison. It stands on the site of a former manor house or castle built in the 12th century by the Hansard family. The estate passed through the hands of the Ayscoughs and Aylmers besides the Hansards and Jenisons, and became a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II and then a girls' boarding school after the war. It has been a hotel since 1981.
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A gin gang, wheelhouse, roundhouse or horse-engine house, is a structure built to enclose a horse engine, usually circular but sometimes square or octagonal, attached to a threshing barn. Most were built in England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The threshing barn held a small threshing machine which was connected to the gin gang via wooden gears, drive shafts and drive belt, and was powered by a horse which walked round and round inside the gin gang.
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