Merrington with Middlestone - 1910

Merrington - with - Middlestone is a parish and township, about 4 miles west from Ferry Hill station on the main line of the North eastern railway, 7 south from Durham and 5 east-north-east from Bishop Auckland, in the Bishop Auckland Division of the county, south-eastern division of Darlington ward, petty sessional division and county court district of Bishop Auckland and diocese of Durham. The Church of St. John the Evalngelist, rebuilt in 1850-51, by subscription, on the site and in imitation of the former structure coeval with the church of Jarrow, is a building of stone in the Norman style, consisting of chancel, nave, north transept, south porch, and central tower, 72 feet high, containing two bells, dated 1723 and 1729; the south doorway is deeply recessed in three orders, and the arch, on shafts with cushioned caps, is enriched with zigzag work: the screen of black oak dates from the time of Charles II, and there are some carved bench ends with poppy heads: the communion table is of oak, and apparently Elizabethan: there are 308 sittings. In the church yard there were until recently, eleven grave covers; some of those still remaining are coped, and one bearing a sword and spade incised on either side of a cross is said to mark the grave of Hodge of Ferry, who slew the famous brawn (i.e. boar) of Brancepeth (Brawnspath), the scene of which incident is marked by an old grey stone at the farm of Clevescross, near Merrington; six of these memorials have now been removed into the porch for the sake of preservation. The register dates from the year 1578. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value two hundred and seventy two pounds, with residence in the gift of the dean and Chapter of durham, and held since 1906 by the Reverend david Perrot B.A. of Trinity College, Dublin. There is a Wesleyan chapel here. The Dean and Chapter are Lords of the Manor. The principal landowners are Sir William Eden Bart.. Of Windlestone, and the Dean and Chapter of Durham. The soil is gravelly; subsoil, limestone. The chief crops are wheat, barley, turnips and potatoes. The area of Merrington township is 1,646 acres; rateable value, eleven thousand seven hundred and thirty three pounds; the population in 1901 was 679 in the township, and 2,500 in the ecclesiastical parish. Parish Sexton, Joseph Brown Post & M.O. Office, Kirk Merrington, - George Johnson, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive through Ferry Hill at 7 a.m. & 5 p.m.; dispatched at 7 a.m. & 4 .20 & 5 .45 p.m.; no post on Sundays. Spennymoor is the nearsest telegraph office. Letters for Merington Lane should be addressed via Spennymoor. Church of England School (mixed), built in 1868, for 160 children; average attendance, 136; Thomas Scott, master. MERRINGTON LANE is a civil parish, formed in 1894, by Local Government Board Order No. 31,709, from that part of Merington in Spennymoor Urban District. MIDDLESTONE is a township in this parish, 4 miles north-east from Bishop Auckland, and has a Primitive Methodist Chapel, built in 1895. The Dean And Chapter of Durham are Lords of the Manor. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are the principal landowners. The area is 893 acres; rateable value, eleven thousand, six hundred and twenty four pounds; the population in 1901 was, 1,789. Lamp-Post Letter Box cleared at 4 .30 p.m. LEASINGTHORNE is a hamlet in this township, chiefly consisting of miners’ cottages, with a primitive Methodist Chapel, erected in 1875, and a Temperance Hall for 300 persons. In this hamlet is Leasingthorne Colliery, the property of Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. Ltd. MIDDLESTONE MOOR is a hamlet in this parish, about a mile south-west of Spennymoor, on the road from Spennymoor to Bishop Auckland. Here is a Church of England Mission room, in which divine service is conducted by lay evangelists. There is also a United Methodist Chapel; Bethel Chapel, erected in 1887, and a Primitive Methodist Chapel, built in 1891. “The Aged Miners’ Home Association” have 18 cottages here, and the “John Wilson Memorial Homes” for aged miners are also in the district. Town Sub-Post & M.O. Office, Middlestone Moor - William henderson, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive through Spennymoor at 7 .30 a.m. & 5 .30 p.m.; dispatched at 8 .10 & 5 .45 p.m.. Spennymoor is the nearest telegraph office. Post & M.O. Office, Leasingthorne - John Coe, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive through Bishop Auckland at 9 .30 a.m. & 6 .15 p.m.; dispatched at 3 .45 & 6 .45 p.m. on week days only. Coundon, 2 miles distant is the nearest telegraph office. Public Elementary Schools Middlestone Moor, built in 1879, for 279 children; average attendance, 230; James W. Royston, master; Mrs. Mary mason, mistress. Leasingthorne (mixed), built in 1878, for 210 children; average attendance 130; George E. Darbyshire, master; Infants’ for 90 children, average attendance, 53; Miss Dinah Eales, mistress. North Eastern Railway Goods Station, Leasingthorne, J. Halton, traffic agent.

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