Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/559

Rh bTOCKTON. 517 STOCKTON-UPON-TEES. STOCKTON, a par. in the hund. of Elstub, co. Wilts, 4 miles S.E. of Heytesbury, its post town, 2 N.W. of Wiley, and 8 S.E. of "Wai-minster. The village is situated on the river Wiley, and is chiefly agri- cultural. Near the Ridgeway or Roman road to- .m are earthworks, comprising an area of 62 acres, where many relics of Roman and British origin have been discovered. The living is a rect.* in the dioc. of Sarum, val. 436, in the patron, of the Bishop of Winchester. The church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The parochial charities produce about 159 per annum, which go to Topp's almshouses. Stockton House is the principal residence. The South Wilts hounds meet at Stockton Wood. H. G. Biggs, Esq., is lord of the manor. STOCKTON, a par. in the Southamdiv. of Knightlow hund., co. Warwick, 2 miles S.E. of Southam. Rugby is its post town. The village is situated near the Warwick and Napton canal. The substratum is productive of blue lias limestone. The surface is in general flat. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Worcester, val. 338, in the patron, of New College, Oxford. The church is dedi- cated to St. Michael. The. parochial charities produce about 26 per annum. There is a National school for both sexes. STOCKTON, a par. in the lower div. of Doddingtree hund., co. Worcester, 8 miles S.W. of Stourport; and 14 N.W. of Worcester. The village is situated near the river Teme, and is wholly agricultural. The great road from Worcester to Ludlow passes through the parish. The living is a rect.* in the dioc. of Hereford, val. 254. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is an ancient structure, but was thoroughly restored in 1846. There is a parochial school. STOCKTON, a hmlt. in the par. of Harewood, wap. of Upper Claro, West Riding co. York, 7 miles N. of Leeds, near the river Wharfe. STOCKTON, a hmlt. in the par. of Warrington, hund. of West Derby, co. Lancaster, 1 mile S.E. of Warrington, and 16 E. of Liverpool. STOCKTON, a ward in two divs., co. Durham : the N.E. contains the pars, of Billingham, Bishop's Middle- ham, Elwick Hall, Greatham, Grindon, Hartlepool, Sedgefiold, Great Stainton, Stranton, and part of Hart, comprising an area of 59,550 acres ; the S.W. div. contains the pars, of Bishopton, Craike, Low Dinsdale, Eaglesclifle, Elton, Harworth, Middleton St. George, Long Newton, Norton, Redmarshall, Stockton-upon- Tees, Haughton-le-Skerne, and Sockburn, comprising 46,310 acres. This ward gives title to a deanery and archdeaconry in the dioc. of Durham. STOCKTON-ON-THE-FOREST, a par., partly in the lib. of St. Peter's, East Riding, and partly in the wap. of Bulmer, North Riding co. York, 5 miles N.E. of York, its post town, and 1 mile S. of the Stockton rail- way station on the Market Weighton branch of the North-Eastern line of railway. The village is situated on the E. side of the ancient forest of Galtrees. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture. The soil is sandy. The living is a perpet. cur. in the dioc. of York, val. 157, in the patron, of the archbishop. The church is dedicated to St. Peter. There is an en- dowed village school at which a Sunday-school is held. Hazel Bush, Brockfield, and Stockton Hall, are the principal residences. J. Agar, Esq., is lord of the manor. .rimgton railway, opposite Stockton-on-Tees. STOCKTON-UPON-TEES, a par., seaport, market i, and municipal borough, in the S.W. div. of Stockton ward, co. Durham, 10 miles S.W. of Hartle- pool, 20 S.E. of Durham, and 36 from Newcastle-upon- Tyne. It has stations on the Stockton and Darlington, the Stockton, West Hartlepool Harbour, and Clarence, and the North-Eastern railways, besides several branch junction lines for conveying the produce of the numerous collieries and mines in the vicinity. It is favourably situated for commerce on the left bank of the VOL. III. river Tees, about 4 miles from its mouth, above where the Hartburn Beck joins, and about 10 miles from the sea. The soil is a strong loam. The par., which formed a chplry. to Norton previous to 1711, contains besides the borough of Stockton, the tnshps. of East Hartburn and Preston, with the limits, of Rockhope and Wearhead. The town was at an early period a place of importance, and the residence of the bishops of Durham, who had a moated manor-house here, after- wards converted into a castle. It was visited by King John in 1214, by whom itis supposed to have been origin- ally incorporated, and wag ravaged by the Scots in 1325. In the civil war it was held ;or Charles I., but taken by the Scottish army in 1645, and two years afterwards the castle was ordered by parliament to be dismantled. The traces of the moat and embankment are all that now remain, the castle having been de- molished in 1652, at which time the town consisted of 40 wooden houses. In 1803 the harbour was improved by the construction of a cutting to avoid the winding of the river, so that vessels of 300 tons can come up to the quays, and at spring tides vessels drawing 17 feet water. The way down the river winds past the floating light to the Scar rocks at the bar, which at high springs has 29 feet water, and at low water from 10 to 11 feet, being less obstructive than that of any other port between tho Humber and the Forth, while outside the bar the water is 15 fathoms. It is now an improving free port, having Cleveland port and Middlesborough for subports. Its foreign trade is chiefly with Holland, British America, and the ports of the Baltic, and its coasting trade with London, Yarmouth, Hull, Leith, Sunderland, and Shields. The number of steam vessels belonging to tho port is about 28, and of sailing vessels above 50 tons about 150. The trade of Stockton has much increased of late years. The chief imports are timber, deals, un- wrought iron, masts, spars, hemp, flax, tallow, hides, oak-bark, linseed, wine, spirits, groceries, and colonial produce. The exports are coal, coke, manufactured iron, lead, linen, worsted yarn, and agricultural produce. The town is laid out with regularity, consisting principally of one broad street, nearly a mile in length from S. to N. At the southern extremity of tho High-street a road from it crosses the Tees to the village of South Stockton in Yorkshire, by a bridge of five arches, the middle one being 72 feet span, erected in 1770. The houses are well built of brick, except a few of the older ones, which have been constructed out of the stones from the old castle. The principal public buildings are the town- hall and assembly rooms in the middle of the High- street, a quadrangular structure, surmounted with a clock tower and spire, erected in 1735 ; the borough hall, also situated in the High-street, erected in 1852 at a cost of 3,300 ; tho market pillar 33 feet high, occupying the site of the old market cross, and sur- rounded by shambles ; also a custom-house, subscrip- tion library in High-street, mechanics' institute in Dove- cote-street, with a library of 2,000 volumes, theatre, newsrooms, dispensary founded in 1790, union poor- house, savings-bank, and three commercial branch banks. On the Yorkshire side of the Tees, adjoin- ing the bridge, is the race-course, 1 mile 100 yards long. The streets are well paved and lighted, and the houses abundantly supplied with water by the Stockton, Middlesborough, and Yarm water company, incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1851. The manu- factures carried on in Stockton and its neighbour- hood, comprehend iron and brass foundries, steam-engine factories, seven rope and sail factories, a pottery, corn, yarn and worsted mills, besides shipbuilding yards, breweries, brick and tile kilns. The Tees salmon fishery has somewhat declined, but the river abounds with flounders, eels, and smelts. Tho population of the borough in 1851 was 1,867, of the town 9,808, and in 1861, 13,357, the boundaries of the borough having in 1852 been made co-extensive with the town- ship. From various points in the vicinity of the town views are obtained of the Cleveland hills and the Rose- berry Topping. The government of the borough is 4 B