174-630: Middridge is a village and civil parish in County Durham , England. It is situated east of Shildon and north-west of Newton Aycliffe . The village is situated near a quarry that was mined by the people many generations ago. There is one public house in the village: the Bay Horse. In 2011 the parish had a population of 312. Following the fall of the Roman Empire , the Angles arrived in
348-522: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with
522-469: A locomotive works at Forth Street, Newcastle, from which the following year the S&;DR ordered two steam locomotives and two stationary engines. On 16 September 1825, with the stationary engines in place, the first locomotive, Locomotion No. 1 , left the works, and the following day it was advertised that the railway would open on 27 September 1825. The cost of building the railway had greatly exceeded
696-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of
870-763: A barbecue that is enjoyed alongside copious amounts of alcohol. In 1974, during excavations for the foundation of the Bay Horse Pub extension, a hoard of coins mainly dating from Edward 1 era was found. Known as "The Middridge Hoard", the significant hoard was mainly distributed at an auction by Dinning in 1976, although some remain in the Dorman Museum in Middlesbrough, and the British Treasury Museum in London. The hoard of 3072 coins
1044-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed
1218-449: A branch from Nunthorpe to Battersby opened on 1 June 1864; passengers were carried from 1 April 1868. A branch from Barnard Castle to Middleton-in-Teesdale opened on 12 May 1868. The locomotive works at Darlington operated independently under Bouch until 1875, the locomotives having been renumbered by the NER a few years earlier. A variety of locomotives were used, the most common type were
1392-492: A branch to a mine at Skelton. This Stockton and Darlington Railway Amalgamation Act 1858 ( 21 & 22 Vict. c. cxvi) also authorised the merger of the S&DR with the railways it held on lease. An application to Parliament for a jetty in the following year was unsuccessful, but in 1860 the Upsall, Normanby & Ormesby Railway received permission for a line with access to the river, the S&DR claim of exclusive rights to
1566-477: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of
1740-462: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have
1914-559: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in
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#17327913916712088-440: A civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if the parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under
2262-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as
2436-453: A combined daily total of 600 tons of coal, before closing in the early 20th century. The remains of this era live on in the names of places such as Charles Row, Eden Grove and the "pit heap", a small hill used in the winter as a sledge run. Until recently, the pit heap was also used to host the annual village bonfire. Middridge Grange is a Grade II listed building situated just outside the village itself, between Shildon and School Aycliffe. It
2610-586: A common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in the way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by
2784-486: A half miles ( 14 km) had been covered in two hours, and subtracting the 55 minutes accounted by the two stops, it had travelled at an average speed of 8 mph (13 km/h). Six waggons of coal were distributed to the poor, workers stopped for refreshments and many of the passengers from Brusselton alighted at Darlington, to be replaced by others. Two waggons for the Yarm Band were attached, and at 12:30 pm
2958-573: A horse to St Helen Auckland . The Bradshaw's railway guide for March 1843, after South Church opened, shows five services a day between Darlington and South Church via Shildon, with three between Shildon and St Helens. Also listed were six trains between Stockton and Hartlepool via Seaton over the Clarence Railway and the Stockton and Hartlepool Railway that had opened in 1841. By this time, Port Darlington had become overwhelmed by
3132-485: A jetty at Cargo Fleet , from where a ferry would carry the ore across the Tees to the blast furnaces. When the proposal was before Parliament the S&DR suggested that their Middlesbrough & Redcar could be extended to Saltburn , and the Tees crossed by a swing bridge. The Cleveland Railway received permission for a line from Skinningrove as far as Guisborough, and the S&DR permission for an extension to Saltburn and
3306-515: A locomotive took them forward. When returning, regulations required that the carriages run loose down the Sunniside Incline and they were let to run into Crook station, controlled by the guard using the carriage brakes. Later, a 730 feet (220 m) viaduct replaced the two inclines at Hownes Gill ravine on 1 July 1858. A deviation replacing Nanny's Mayor's Incline, as well as a curve that allowed trains from Crook direct access to Rowley,
3480-407: A man clinging to the outside of a waggon fell off and his foot was crushed by the following vehicle. As work on the final section of track to Stockton's quayside was still ongoing, the train halted at the temporary passenger terminus at St John's Well 3 hours, 7 minutes after leaving Darlington. The opening ceremony was considered a success and that evening 102 people sat down to a celebratory dinner at
3654-713: A maximum speed of 6 mph (9.7 km/h); the drivers were fined if caught travelling faster than 8 mph (13 km/h), and one was dismissed for completing the forty-mile return journey in 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours. On average there were about 40 coal trains a day, hauling 28 waggons with a weight of 116 tons. There were about 5,000 privately owned waggons, and at any one time about 1,000 stood at Shildon depot. The railway had modern passenger locomotives, some with four wheels. There were passenger stations at Stockton, Middlesbrough, Darlington, Shildon and West Auckland, and trains also stopped at Middlesbrough Junction, Yarm Junction, Fighting Cocks and Heighington. Some of
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#17327913916713828-538: A mine in the area and began moving ironstone 54 miles (87 km) to Consett, and the S&DR had paid the arrears on its debt and was able to pay a dividend the following year, albeit only 4 per cent; between 1849 and 1853 the traffic more than doubled. In 1852, the Leeds Northern Railway (LNR) built a line from Northallerton to a junction with the Stockton to Hartlepool line and a section of
4002-529: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving
4176-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until
4350-742: A parish (a "detached part") was in a different county . In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicable representatives on the national level , justices of the peace , sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such as Todmorden in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Stockton and Darlington railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway ( S&DR )
4524-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself
4698-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by
4872-458: A population of over 2,000 and at the 2011 census had over 138,000 people. In 1830, the company opened new offices at the corner of Northgate and Union Street in Darlington. Between 1831 and 1832 a second track was laid between Stockton and the foot of Brusselton Bank. Workshops were built at Shildon for the maintenance and construction of locomotives. In 1830 approximately 50 horses shared
5046-501: A railway between England and Scotland and favoured a railway via the west coast. Railway financier George Hudson chaired a meeting of representatives of north-eastern railways that wished a railway to be built via the east coast. In the 1830s a number of railways had opened in the area between Darlington and Newcastle, and Robert Stephenson was engaged to select a route using these railways as much as possible. The Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway (N&DJR) differed slightly from
5220-596: A railway that could be used by anyone with suitably built vehicles on payment of a toll, that was closed at night, and with which land owners within 5 miles (8 km) could build branches and make junctions; no mention was made of steam locomotives. This new railway initiated the construction of more railway lines, causing significant developments in railway mapping and cartography, iron and steel manufacturing, as well as in any industries requiring more efficient transportation. Concerned about Overton's competence, Pease asked George Stephenson , an experienced enginewright of
5394-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have
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5568-538: A rebuilt Darlington Bank Top station, rejoining the route to Stockton from a junction south of Darlington and a new line to Oak Tree Junction. An extension from Stanhope to Wearhead opened in 1895, and the line over Stainmore to Tebay was doubled by the end of the century. From 1913 former S&DR lines were electrified with 1,500 VDC overhead lines and electric locomotives hauled coal trains between Shildon and Erimus Marshalling Yard , which had opened in 1908 between Middlesbrough and Thornaby. The trains took
5742-537: A relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of the English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007
5916-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it
6090-518: A route that bypassed Darlington and Yarm, and a meeting was held in Yarm to oppose the route. The Welsh engineer George Overton was consulted, and he advised building a tramroad. Overton carried out a survey and planned a route from the Etherley and Witton Collieries to Shildon , and then passing to the north of Darlington to reach Stockton . The Scottish engineer Robert Stevenson was said to favour
6264-545: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below
6438-499: A ship's hold could discharge coal from the bottom. About 18,500 tons of coal was transported to ships in the year ending June 1827, and this increased to over 52,000 tons the following year, 44.5% of the total carried. The locomotives were unreliable at first. Soon after opening, Locomotion No. 1 broke a wheel, and it was not ready for traffic until 12 or 13 October; Hope , the second locomotive, arrived in November 1825 but needed
6612-943: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at
6786-478: A speed of 42 mph (68 km/h) was recorded. Over 200,000 passengers were carried in the year to 1 October 1838, and in 1839 there were twelve trains each day between Middlesbrough and Stockton, six trains between Stockton and Darlington, and three between Darlington and Shildon, where a carriage was fitted with Rankine 's self-acting brake, taken over the Brussleton Inclines , and then drawn by
6960-521: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there
7134-531: A station until confirmation had been received that the line was clear. By 1857, a blast furnace had opened close to the Durham coalfield on the north side of the Tees. Backed by the rival West Hartlepool Harbour & Railway , the Durham & Cleveland Union Railway proposed a line from the mines in Skinningrove and Staithes , via Guisborough and a bridge over the Middlesbrough & Redcar Railway to
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7308-620: A stationary engine. Sponsored by the Derwent Iron Company, the 10-mile (16 km) line was built by the S&DR and opened on 16 May 1845. A passenger service started to Hownes Gill and Stanhope (Crawley) on 1 September 1845; the Stanhope service was withdrawn at the end of 1846. Travelling north from Crook the carriages and waggons were drawn up the Sunniside Incline, a locomotive hauled the mixed train to Waskerley Park Junction, then they were let down Nanny Mayor's Incline and
7482-445: A stop and was run down by a locomotive. The rule book stated that locomotive-hauled trains had precedence over horse-drawn trains, but some horse drivers refused to give way and on one occasion a locomotive had to follow a horse-drawn train for over 2 miles (3 km). The committee decided in 1828 to replace horses with locomotives on the main line, starting with the coal trains, but there was resistance from some colliery owners. After
7656-400: A usable line could be built within the bounds of the act of Parliament, but another route would be shorter by 3 miles (5 km) and avoid deep cuttings and tunnels. Overton had kept himself available, but had no further involvement and the shareholders elected Stephenson Engineer on 22 January 1822, with a salary of £660 per year. On 23 May 1822 a ceremony in Stockton celebrated the laying of
7830-427: A week and a one-way journey on Tuesdays and Saturdays. In April 1826, the operation of the coach was contracted for £200 a year; by then the timetabled journey time had been reduced to 1 hour 15 minutes, and passengers were allowed to travel on the outside for 9d. A more comfortable coach, Express , started the same month and charged 1s 6d for travel inside. Innkeepers began running coaches, two to Shildon from July, and
8004-410: A week to ready it for the line – the cast-iron wheels were a source of trouble. Two more locomotives of a similar design arrived in 1826; that August, 16s 9d was spent on ale to motivate the men maintaining the engines. By the end of 1827, the company had also bought Chittaprat from Robert Wilson and Experiment from Stephenson. Timothy Hackworth , locomotive superintendent, used the boiler from
8178-471: Is a site of special scientific interest. The Byerley Turk , the great stallion owned by the then Captain (later Colonel) Robert Byerley , was arguably Middridge's most famous resident. The Byerley Turk was one of the three founding stallions of today's thoroughbred horses and was stood at Middridge Grange, until being moved to Goldsborough Hall , near Knaresborough , North Yorkshire , when his owner married his cousin, Mary Wharton, in 1692. Robert Byerley
8352-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been
8526-416: Is currently undergoing an extensive renovation. Middridge Village Hall was originally built as a school for the children of the village and local farming community. It served this purpose for many years, but due to a continuing fall in pupil numbers in the 1950s and 1960s and changes in education policy, it closed. To prevent the building becoming derelict, the committee of the village association took over
8700-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have
8874-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In
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#17327913916719048-509: Is one of the oldest buildings in the region, beginning life as a large Elizabethan manor in 1578. However, the current Middridge Grange bears little resemblance to the original manor, much of which was destroyed by fire in the 19th century. Used as a farmhouse, it has been owned by the Scott family since the early 20th century but has not been lived in since the 1970s, after falling into serious disrepair. A site of great interest to historians, it
9222-498: The Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway Act 1837 ( 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. cxxii) of July 1837 to build an 8 + 1 ⁄ 4 -mile (13.3 km) line from South Church to Crook . The line opened on 8 November 1843 with a station at Bishop Auckland . The Stanhope and Tyne Railway , a 33 + 3 ⁄ 4 -mile (54.3 km) line between South Shields and Stanhope had opened in 1834. Steam locomotives worked
9396-500: The Middlesbrough and Guisborough Railway Act 1852 ( 15 & 16 Vict. c. lxxiii) on 17 June 1852; Pease had to guarantee dividends to raise the finance needed. The 9 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (15.3 km) single-track railway was worked by the S&DR, and opened to minerals on 11 November 1853 and passengers on 25 February 1854. With electric telegraph installed between stations, passenger trains were not permitted to leave
9570-691: The Wear Valley Railway Act 1845 ( 8 & 9 Vict. c. clii), was the Wear Valley Railway, a 12-mile (19 km) line from the Bishop Auckland & Weardale line to Frosterley . The line opened on 3 August 1847, and the act also gave the S&DR permission for the Bishopley branch, over which 500,000 tons of limestone travelled in 1868. The line was extended in 1862 from Frosterley to Stanhope . Just before
9744-574: The 0-6-0 s used on mineral trains. Later locomotives were of the Stephenson long boilered type. Most passenger locomotives were 2-4-0 s, though some were 2-2-2 s. Bouch designed two 4-4-0 locomotives for the line over Stainmore in 1860, and another fourteen with this wheel arrangement had been built by 1874. S&DR services and those on the ECML called at different stations in Darlington until 1887, when S&DR trains were diverted through
9918-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt
10092-593: The Belah Viaduct , 1,040 feet (320 m) long and 196 feet (60 m) high. A new station was built to replace the terminus at Barnard Castle. A mineral train ran between Barnard Castle and Barras on 26 March 1861, and mineral traffic worked through to Tebay from 4 July 1861. There was an opening ceremony on 7 August 1861 and the SD&;LUR west of Barnard Castle opened to passengers the following day. Two 4-4-0 locomotives with enclosed cabs had been built for
10266-530: The Earl of Darlington 's fox coverts, it was opposed and defeated by 13 votes. Overton surveyed a new line that avoided Darlington's estate and agreement was reached with Eldon, but another application was deferred early in 1820, as the death of King George III had made it unlikely a bill would pass that parliamentary year. The promoters lodged a bill on 30 September 1820, the route having changed again as agreement had not been reached with Viscount Barrington about
10440-495: The Great North of England Railway (GNER), a line from York to Newcastle that used the route of the 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (2.4 km) Croft branch at Darlington. The railway was to be built in sections, and to allow both to open at the same time permission for the more difficult line through the hills from Darlington to Newcastle was to be sought in 1836 and a bill for the easier line south of Darlington to York presented
10614-761: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were
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#173279139167110788-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with
10962-557: The River Wear who supplied London and feared competition, and it had been necessary to restrict the rate for transporting coal destined for ships to 1 ⁄ 2 d per ton per mile, which had been assumed would make the business uneconomic. There was interest from London for 100,000 tons a year, so the company began investigations in September 1825. In January 1826, the first staith opened at Stockton, designed so waggons over
11136-481: The Union , which served the Yarm branch from 16 October. There were no stations: in Darlington the coaches picked up passengers near the north road crossing, whereas in Stockton they picked up at different places on the quay. Between 30,000 and 40,000 passengers were carried between July 1826 and June 1827. The export of coal had become the railway's main business, but the staiths at Stockton had inadequate storage and
11310-820: The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway , before the discovery of iron ore in Cleveland and the subsequent increase in revenue meant it could pay its debts. At the beginning of the 1860s it took over railways that had crossed the Pennines to join the West Coast Main Line at Tebay and Clifton, near Penrith . The company was taken over by the North Eastern Railway in 1863, transferring 200 route miles (320 route kilometres) of line and about 160 locomotives, but continued to operate independently as
11484-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or
11658-425: The parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with a population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as the communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have
11832-470: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of
12006-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until
12180-591: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from
12354-511: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In
12528-669: The Brusselton Inclines were bypassed by a line from the north end of Shildon Tunnel; the same year a passenger service started on the Hagger Leases branch and a mineral line opened from Crook via two inclines to Waterhouse. The section of the SD&LUR between West Auckland and Barnard Castle opened for minerals in July 1863 and passengers on 1 August 1863, together with a direct line from Bishop Auckland to West Auckland. Stations at Evenwood and Cockfield replaced stations on
12702-543: The Darlington Section until 1876. S&DR opening was seen as proof of steam railway effectiveness and its anniversary was celebrated in 1875, 1925 and 1975. Much of the original route is now served by the Tees Valley Line , operated by Northern . Coal from the inland mines in southern County Durham used to be taken away on packhorses , and then horse and carts as the roads were improved. A canal
12876-519: The Duke of Cleveland's estate, as he had opposed an earlier railway. An application that year failed, but the Darlington and Barnard Castle Railway Act 1854 ( 17 & 18 Vict. c. cxv) was given royal assent on 3 July 1854 and the 15 + 1 ⁄ 4 -mile (24.5 km) railway opened on 8 July 1856. Cleveland iron ore is high in phosphorus and needs to be mixed with purer ores, such as those on
13050-944: The GNER route in the southern section before joining the Durham Junction Railway at Rainton and using the Pontop & South Shields Railway from Washington to Brockley Whins, where a new curve onto the Brandling Junction Railway allowed direct access to Gateshead. This required the construction of 25 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (41.0 km) of new line, 9 miles (14 km) less than the GNER route, but trains would need to travel 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (12.1 km) further. This route ran parallel to S&DR lines for 5 miles (8.0 km) and Pease argued that it should run over these as it would add only 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (2.4 km). The bill
13224-483: The Hagger Leases Branch and to build a bridge across the Tees at least 72 feet (22 m) wide and 19 feet (5.8 m) above low water, so as not to affect shipping. Two members of the management committee resigned, as they felt that Stockton would be adversely affected by the line, and Meynell, the S&DR chairman, stepped down from leadership. The Clarence Railway was approved a few days later, with
13398-773: The Hagger Leases branch. In 1859, a company had been formed to link the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway with the SD&R via the Derwent Valley; by 1860 this had grown into the Newcastle, Derwent & Weardale Railway, which now bypassed the SD&R and linked with the SD&LUR, and the North British and London and North Western (LNWR) railways were providing two-thirds of the capital. The LNWR proposed to build warehouses in Hartlepool and buy shares in
13572-550: The NER than eventually becoming part of the LNWR, entered negotiations. Opposed by the NER, the Newcastle, Derwent & Weardale Railway bill was approved by the House of Commons in 1861, but the line was eventually rejected by the House of Lords. The SD&LUR and EVR were absorbed by the S&DR on 30 June 1862. With 200 route miles (320 km) of line and about 160 locomotives, the Stockton and Darlington Railway became part of
13746-483: The North Eastern Railway on 13 July 1863. Due to a clause in the act of Parliament, the railway was managed as the independent Darlington Section until 1876, when the lines became the NER's Central Division. After the restoration of the dividend in 1851, by the end of 1854 payments had recovered to 8 per cent and then had not dropped below 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 per cent. The NER had built a branch in
13920-628: The North Eastern area of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). The passenger service was withdrawn north of Tow Law on 1 May 1939. Britain's railways were nationalised on 1 January 1948 and the lines were placed under the control of British Railways . In the early 1950s control was split between the North Eastern and London Midland regions with Kirkby Stephen as the boundary. Local passenger trains were withdrawn between Kirkby Stephen and Tebay on 1 December 1952. The service along Weardale
14094-586: The Old Channel of the Tees. The S&DR prepared to return to Parliament but withdrew after a design for a drawbridge was agreed with the Navigation Company. The line to Middlesbrough was laid with malleable iron rails weighing 33 lb/yd (16 kg/m), resting on oak blocks. The suspension bridge had been designed to carry 150 tons, but the cast iron retaining plates split when it was tested with just 66 tons and loaded trains had to cross with
14268-560: The S&DR bought out the coach companies in August 1832, a mixed passenger and small goods service began between Stockton and Darlington on 7 September 1833, travelling at 12–14 miles per hour (19–23 km/h); locomotive-hauled services began to Shildon in December 1833 and to Middlesbrough on 7 April 1834. The company had returned the five per cent dividend that had been promised by Edward Pease, and this had increased to eight per cent by
14442-474: The S&DR had share capital of £250,000 but owed £650,000, most of this without the authority of Parliament until 1849; the debt was converted into shares in 1851. In mid-1850, Henry Bolckow and John Vaughan discovered a seam of iron ore at Eston . They opened a mine, laid a branch line to the Middlesbrough & Redcar Railway and started hauling ironstone over the S&DR to their blast furnaces west of Bishop Auckland. By 1851, Derwent Iron had opened
14616-552: The S&DR installed Alexander Bain 's "I and V" electric telegraph to regulate the passage of trains through the tunnel. The SD&R provided a 3 + 1 ⁄ 4 hour service between Darlington and Newcastle, with a four-horse omnibus from South Church to Rainton Meadows on the Durham Junction Railway , from where trains ran to Gateshead , on the south side of the River Tyne near Newcastle. By 1839,
14790-665: The S&DR introduced a service between Darlington and Coxhoe, on the Clarence Railway, where an omnibus took passengers the 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (5.6 km) to the Durham & Sunderland Railway at Shincliffe. Early in 1842, the nominally independent Shildon Tunnel Company opened its 1,225-yard (1,120 m) tunnel through the hills at Shildon to the Wear basin and after laying 2 miles (3.2 km) of track to South Church station , south of Bishop Auckland , opened in May 1842. In 1846,
14964-588: The S&DR's line near today's Newton Aycliffe station with Haverton and Stockton, via a route that was 6 miles (10 km) shorter than via the route of the S&DR, and named the Clarence Railway in honour of the Duke of Clarence, later King William IV . Meetings held in Stockton in early 1828 supported the Tees Navigation and the Clarence Railway, but the S&DR received permission for its branch on 23 May 1828 after promising to complete
15138-543: The SD&LUR crossed the Pennines via Kirkby Stephen to meet the West Coast Main Line (WCML) at Tebay , on the section then controlled by the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway , and also linked Barnard Castle with West Auckland. The EVR was a branch from Kirkby Stephen to the WCML near Penrith via Appleby . The routes were surveyed by Thomas Bouch and SD&LUR received permission on 13 July 1857. The EVR route followed
15312-645: The Town Hall. The railway that opened in September 1825 was 25 miles (40 km) long and ran from Phoenix Pit, Old Etherley Colliery, to Cottage Row, Stockton; there was also a 1 ⁄ 2 mile (800 m) branch to the depot at Darlington, 1 ⁄ 2 mile (800 m) of the Hagger Leases branch, and a 3 ⁄ 4 mile (1,200 m) branch to Yarm. Most of the track used 28 pounds per yard (13.9 kg/m) malleable iron rails, and 4 miles (6.4 km) of 57 + 1 ⁄ 2 lb/yd (28.5 kg/m) cast iron rails were used for junctions. The line
15486-550: The West Hartlepool Harbour & Railway. The North Eastern Railway (NER), formed in 1854 by amalgamation, at the time was the largest railway company in the country and controlled the East Coast Main Line from Knottingley , south of York, through Darlington to Berwick-upon-Tweed . When they approached the S&DR with a proposal to merge, the directors deciding they preferred a merger with
15660-410: The administration of the hall. After various repairs and alterations, it became the village hall, which it has been for well over thirty years. The village hall is used as a venue for discos, church services, parties and social gatherings such as the monthly wine club. The hall has recently been refurbished, with an entirely new roof section, plumbing structure and electrical system. Middridge Quarry
15834-738: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from
16008-595: The area around 500 AD and created several settlements, including Middridge. The name "Middridge" is derived from its location at that time on the "middle ridge" between Eldon and School Aycliffe (near the current Aycliffe golf course). Anglo-Saxon Middridge lasted for five hundred years before being destroyed by the Normans during William the Conqueror 's Harrying of the North . Those who survived this massacre (and
16182-454: The building just before the pitchfork struck the door. The pitchfork mark was reputedly on this door for many years afterwards. They were also blamed for disruptions to the building of the Stockton and Darlington railway . Middridge village fete is a yearly event for the local community (but people come from miles around). It is usually a combination of a jumble sale , children's entertainment, competitions and other events, usually ending in
16356-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such
16530-569: The collieries of Killingworth, to meet him in Darlington. On 12 May 1821 the shareholders appointed Thomas Meynell as chairman and Jonathan Backhouse as treasurer; a majority of the managing committee, which included Thomas Richardson , Edward Pease and his son Joseph Pease , were Quakers. The committee designed a seal, showing waggons being pulled by a horse, and adopted the Latin motto Periculum privatum utilitas publica ("At private risk for public service"). By 23 July 1821 it had decided that
16704-640: The collieries to Simpasture for forwarding to Port Clarence, rather than the lower shipping rate. By July 1834, the Exchequer Loan Commissioners had taken control of the Clarence Railway. The Croft branch opened in October 1829. Construction of the suspension bridge across the Tees started in July 1829, but was suspended in October after the Tees Navigation Company pointed out the S&DR had no permission to cross
16878-487: The commercial discovery of Cleveland ironstone which led to the industrial growth of Middlesbrough. The Middridge fairies (or faeries) are, according to legend, very different from the kind, winged fairies of popular culture. They are rumoured to be evil demons that scourge people and generally cause mischief. The story goes that the fairies chased a traveller, who took refuge in Middridge Grange, getting inside
17052-457: The commissioners' steam tugs arrived. The police then kept watch on the works until they were finished. Henry Pease , a S&DR director and Quaker, visited his brother Joseph in mid-1859 at his house by the sea at Marske-by-the-Sea . Returning late for dinner, he explained he had walked to Saltburn, then a group of fisherman's cottages, where he had had a "sort of prophetic vision" of a town with gardens. With other S&DR directors he planned
17226-513: The committee then made an experimental journey to Darlington before taking the locomotive and coach to Shildon in preparation for the opening day, with James Stephenson, George's elder brother, at the controls. On 27 September, between 7 am and 8 am, 12 waggons of coal were drawn up Etherley North Bank by a rope attached to the stationary engine at the top, and then let down the South Bank to St Helen's Auckland . A waggon of flour bags
17400-537: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to
17574-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had
17748-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced
17922-459: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London
18096-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been
18270-530: The east bank of the River Eden , a mile longer than a more expensive route on the west bank, and its act received royal assent on 21 May 1858. Bouch had laid out an economical route that followed the contours and avoided tunnels, but there were formidable gradients up to the 1,370-foot-high (420 m) Stainmore Summit . Land for two tracks was purchased, and a single track line was laid; valleys were crossed by viaducts, three made from wrought iron, including
18444-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In
18618-534: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and
18792-479: The estimates. By September 1825, the company had borrowed £60,000 in short-term loans and needed to start earning an income to ward off its creditors. A railway coach, named Experiment , arrived on the evening of 26 September 1825 and was attached to Locomotion No. 1 , which had been placed on the rails for the first time at Aycliffe Lane station following the completion of its journey by road from Newcastle earlier that same day. Pease, Stephenson and other members of
18966-447: The first track at St John's Well, the rails 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) apart, the same gauge used by Stephenson on his Killingworth Railway . Stephenson advocated the use of steam locomotives on the line. Pease visited Killingworth in mid-1822 and the directors visited Hetton colliery railway , on which Stephenson had introduced steam locomotives. A new bill was presented, requesting Stephenson's deviations from
19140-411: The following year. Pease specified a formation wide enough for four tracks, so freight could be carried at 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) and passengers at 60 mph (97 km/h), and George Stephenson had drawn up detailed plans by November. The Act for the 34 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (55.5 km) from Newcastle to Darlington was given royal assent on 4 July 1836, but little work had been done by
19314-557: The foreshore having been rejected. The jetty was also opposed by the Tees Conservancy Commissioners and they moored barges along the foreshore to obstruct construction. In what became known as the Battle of the Tees, a fight broke out when a steam tug sent by the commissioners interrupted men moving the barges. The barges were successfully moved, but a more serious fight developed the following night when three of
19488-403: The formal opening of the new dock took place on 12 May 1842. The S&DR provided most of the finance, and the dock was absorbed by the company in 1849. The GNER had authority for a railway from York to Newcastle; it opened to Darlington in 1841 having spent all of its authorised capital and could not start work on the extension to Newcastle. At the time Parliament was considering the route of
19662-487: The former S&DR line from Shildon to Simpasture Junction, joining the former Clarence Railway line to Carlton, where a later line allowed access to the Stockton to Middlesbrough extension. The locomotives operated for 20 years, but then coal traffic had reduced, which made it uneconomical to maintain the electrification system. As a result of the Railways Act 1921 , on 1 January 1923 the North Eastern Railway became
19836-645: The gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of the lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making
20010-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from
20184-479: The horse downhill, allowing it to rest while the train descended under gravity. The S&DR made their use compulsory from November 1828. Passenger traffic started on 10 October 1825, after the required licence was purchased, using the Experiment coach hauled by a horse. The coach was initially timetabled to travel from Stockton to Darlington in two hours, with a fare of 1s, and made a return journey four days
20358-481: The late 1850s from Durham to Bishop Auckland, but used a separate station in the town until December 1867, when all services began to use the S&DR station. The Sunniside Incline was replaced by a deviation, albeit with gradients of 1 in 51 and 1 in 52, which opened for mineral traffic on 10 April 1867 and for passengers on 2 March 1868; after 1868 trains on this line were extended to serve Benfieldside station (later known as Blackhill and then Consett ). In Cleveland,
20532-476: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by
20706-409: The line in 1860 by Stephenson and Co, and the S&DR worked traffic from the start: two return services a day were provided for passengers. The EVR opened to mineral traffic on 8 April 1862 and passengers on 9 June 1862, to the south-facing junction at Clifton (later Clifton & Lowther ). The S&DR had presented a bill in 1861 to provide better connections for passengers on the WCML by extending
20880-479: The line opened on 22 July 1847, the Wear Valley Railway absorbed the Shildon Tunnel, Bishop Auckland & Weardale Railway, Weardale Extension Railway and Wear & Derwent Railway and then the S&DR leased the Wear Valley Railway and Middlesbrough & Redcar Railways for 999 years. This required a payment of £47,000 each year, exceeding the SD&R's net revenue; traffic from the Derwent Iron Company
21054-506: The line passing over his land. The railway was unopposed this time, but the bill nearly failed to enter the committee stage as the required four-fifths of shares had not been sold. Pease subscribed £7,000; from that time he had considerable influence over the railway and it became known as "the Quaker line". The Stockton and Darlington Railway Act 1821 ( 1 & 2 Geo. 4 . c. xliv), which received royal assent on 19 April 1821, allowed for
21228-657: The line up to Penrith , and to link up with the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway to provide access for mineral traffic to Cumberland. The L&CR agreed to allow the S&DR running rights over its line and services were extended to Penrith from 1 August 1863. In 1854, there were five or six trains a day between Darlington and Redcar and three a day between Darlington and Frosterley. Travelling at average speeds of 19–24 miles per hour (31–39 km/h), passengers were charged from 1d per mile for third class to 2.2d per mile for first. Horses were still used on trains in
21402-408: The line would be a railway with edge rails, rather than a plateway , and appointed Stephenson to make a fresh survey of the line. Stephenson recommended using malleable iron rails, even though he owned a share of the patent for the alternative cast iron rails, and both types were used. Stephenson was assisted by his 18-year-old son Robert during the survey, and by the end of 1821 had reported that
21576-484: The locomotive started for Stockton, now hauling 31 vehicles with 550 passengers. On the 5 miles (8 km) of nearly level track east of Darlington the train struggled to reach more than 4 mph (6.4 km/h). At Eaglescliffe near Yarm crowds waited for the train to cross the Stockton to Yarm turnpike. Approaching Stockton, running alongside the turnpike as it skirted the western edge of Preston Park , it gained speed and reached 15 mph (24 km/h) again, before
21750-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of
21924-593: The mid-1850s: a horse-drawn coach was still independently operated between Middlesbrough and Stockton in 1854 on Sundays, as the only S&DR services that run on that day were the mail trains, and locomotives replaced horses on passenger trains to West Auckland in 1856. The S&DR opened a carriage works south of Darlington North Road station in 1853 and later it built a locomotive works nearby to replace its works at Shildon. Designed by William Bouch , who had taken over from Hackworth as Locomotive Supervisor in 1840, it completed its first locomotive in 1864. In 1858
22098-441: The modified road coaches were still in use, but there were also modern railway carriages, some first class with three compartments each seating eight passengers, and second class carriages that seated up to 40. Luggage and sometimes the guard travelled on the carriage roof; a passenger travelling third class suffered serious injuries after falling from the roof in 1840. Passenger trains averaged 22–25 mph (35–40 km/h), and
22272-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays
22446-511: The opening celebration on 18 June 1844, through services ran from London to Gateshead the following day. The N&DJR made an offer to lease the GNER and buy it within five years, and GNER shares increased in value by 44 per cent as the N&;DJR took over on 1 July 1845; the N&DJR became part of the larger York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) in 1847. The Bishop Auckland & Weardale Railway (BA&WR) received permission in
22620-685: The original route and the use of "loco-motives or moveable engines", and this received royal assent on 23 May 1823 as the Stockton and Darlington Railway Act 1823 ( 4 Geo. 4 . c. xxxiii). The line included embankments up to 48 feet (15 m) high, and Stephenson designed an iron truss bridge to cross the River Gaunless . The Skerne Bridge over the River Skerne was designed by the Durham architect Ignatius Bonomi . In 1823, Stephenson and Pease opened Robert Stephenson and Company ,
22794-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as
22968-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally
23142-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of
23316-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As
23490-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in
23664-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on
23838-413: The price of coal dropped from 18 to 12 shillings , and by the beginning of 1827 was 8 shillings 6 pence (8s 6d). At first, the drivers had been paid a daily wage, but after February 1826 they were paid 1 ⁄ 4 d per ton per mile; from this they had to pay assistants and fireman and to buy coal for the locomotive. The 1821 act of Parliament had received opposition from the owners of collieries on
24012-404: The principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of
24186-419: The procession. The train stopped when the waggon carrying the company surveyors and engineers lost a wheel; the waggon was left behind and the train continued. The train stopped again, this time for 35 minutes to repair the locomotive and the train set off again, reaching 15 mph (24 km/h) before it was welcomed by an estimated 10,000 people as it came to a stop at the Darlington branch junction. Eight and
24360-537: The quay until 1848, when it was replaced by a station on the Middlesbrough line on the other side of the Tees. Before May 1829, Thomas Richardson had bought about 500 acres (200 ha) near Port Darlington, and with Joseph and Edward Pease and others he formed the Owners of the Middlesbrough Estate to develop it. Middlesbrough had only a few houses before the coming of the railway, but a year later had
24534-524: The railway, and the Quaker Edward Pease supported it at a public meeting in Darlington on 13 November 1818, promising a five per cent return on investment. Approximately two-thirds of the shares were sold locally, and the rest were bought by Quakers nationally. A private bill was presented to Parliament in March 1819, but as the route passed through Earl of Eldon 's estate and one of
24708-400: The remaining locomotives as soon as possible. In 1828, two locomotive boilers exploded within four months, both killing the driver and both due to the safety valves being left fixed down while the engine was stationary. Horses were also used on the line, and they could haul up to four waggons. The dandy waggon was introduced in mid-1828; it was a small cart at the end of the train that carried
24882-667: The resulting disease and starvation) were enslaved by the invaders. They were forced by the Bishop of Durham to toil in the surrounding fields as serfs, and forcibly relocated to gloomy huts centred on the village green. The "serfs" eventually gained their freedom and the village green survives to this day, although the housing has improved considerably. The arrival of the industrial age in the nineteenth century resulted in two coal mines: Charles Pit and Eden Pit. These pits were collectively known as Middridge Colliery , and provided employment for hundreds of people in their heyday while producing
25056-438: The right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by the monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of
25230-520: The river and proposed that the railway delay application to Parliament, but, despite opposition, at a meeting in January 1828 it was decided to proceed. A more direct northerly route from Auckland to the Tees had been considered since 1819, and the Tees & Weardale Railway had applied unsuccessfully to Parliament for permission for such a line in 1823, 1824 and 1825. This now became a 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (18.5 km) line linking Simpasture on
25404-451: The route ran parallel to the S&DR alongside the Yarm to Stockton Road. The S&DR was originally on the east side of the road, but the LNR built its line with four tracks on the other side of the road, leasing two to the S&DR for a rental of 1s a year. On 25 January 1853, the LNR and SD&R opened a joint station at Eaglescliffe with an island platform between the tracks, and one side
25578-407: The same gauge as the S&DR. The route of the Clarence Railway was afterwards amended to reach Samphire Batts, later known as Port Clarence , and traffic started in August 1833; by the middle of 1834 Port Clarence had opened and 28 miles (45 km) of line was in use. The S&DR charged the 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 d per ton per mile landsale rate for coal it carried the 10 miles (16 km) from
25752-493: The saving using locomotives was 30 per cent. Young also showed that Pease and Richardson were both concerned about their investment in the Newcastle works and Pease unsuccessfully tried to sell his share to George Stephenson. New locomotives were ordered from Stephenson's, but the first was too heavy when it arrived in February 1828. It was rebuilt with six wheels and hailed as a great improvement, Hackworth being told to convert
25926-475: The section east of Annfield, and in the western section inclines were worked by stationary engines or gravity, with horses hauling waggons over level track. The lime kilns and the line between Stanhope and Carrhouse closed in 1840, and with the Stanhope to Annfield section losing money, the insolvent railway company was dissolved on 5 February 1841. The northern section became the Pontop and South Shields Railway and
26100-411: The size of ships was limited by the depth of the Tees. A branch from Stockton to Haverton, on the north bank of the Tees, was proposed in 1826, and the engineer Thomas Storey proposed a shorter and cheaper line to Middlesbrough , south of the Tees in July 1827. Later approved by George Stephenson, this plan was ratified by the shareholders on 26 October. The Tees Navigation Company was about to improve
26274-502: The southern section from Stanhope to Carrhouse was bought by the newly formed Derwent Iron Company at Consett, renamed the Wear & Derwent Railway , and used to transport limestone from quarries in the Stanhope area to its works at Consett. The Weardale Extension Railway ran from Waskerley on the Wear & Derwent to Crook on the BA&;WR and included the Sunniside Incline worked by
26448-420: The start, passengers were carried in coaches drawn by horses until carriages hauled by steam locomotives were introduced in 1833. The S&DR was involved in building the East Coast Main Line between York and Darlington, but its main expansion was at Middlesbrough Docks and west into Weardale and east to Redcar . It suffered severe financial difficulties at the end of the 1840s and was nearly taken over by
26622-452: The time he retired in 1832. When the treasurer Jonathan Backhouse retired in 1833 to become a Quaker minister, he was replaced by Joseph Pease. On 13 October 1835, the York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR) was formed to connect York to London by a line to a junction with the planned North Midland Railway . Representatives of the Y&;NMR and S&DR met two weeks later and formed
26796-560: The time the 43 miles (69 km) from Croft to York received permission on 12 July the following year. In August a general meeting decided to start work on the southern section, but construction was delayed, and after several bridges collapsed the engineer Thomas Storey was replaced by Robert Stephenson. The S&DR sold its Croft branch to the GNER, and the railway opened for coal traffic on 4 January 1841 using S&DR locomotives. The railway opened to passengers with its own locomotives on 30 March. Between November 1841 and February 1842,
26970-485: The town, with gardens and Zetland Hotel by the station, and bought a house at 5 Britannia Terrace, where he stayed for a few weeks every summer. The extension opened in 1861, a station on the through line replacing the terminus at Redcar. A railway to serve Barnard Castle , from the S&DR at a junction near North Road station and along the River Tees, was proposed in 1852; this route bypassed as far as possible
27144-401: The track had been upgraded with rails weighing 64 lb/yd (32 kg/m). The railway had about 30 steam locomotives, most of them six coupled , that ran with four-wheeled tenders with two water butts, each capable of holding 600 imperial gallons (2,700 L; 720 US gal) of water. The line descended from Shildon to Stockton, assisting the trains that carried coal to the docks at
27318-417: The traffic with 19 locomotives, but travelled at different speeds, so to help regulate traffic horse-drawn trains were required to operate in groups of four or five. This had led to horses, startled by a passing locomotive and coming off their dandy cart, being run down by the following train. On one occasion a driver fell asleep in the dandy cart of the preceding train and his horse, no longer being led, came to
27492-413: The train left carrying between 450 and 600 people, most travelling in empty waggons but some on top of waggons full of coal. Brakesmen were placed between the waggons, and the train set off, led by a man on horseback with a flag. It picked up speed on the gentle downward slope and reached 10 to 12 miles per hour (16 to 19 km/h), leaving behind men on field hunters (horses) who had tried to keep up with
27666-472: The unsuccessful Chittaprat to build the Royal George in the works at Shildon; it started work at the end of November. John Wesley Hackworth later published an account stating that locomotives would have been abandoned were it not for the fact that Pease and Thomas Richardson were partners with Stephenson in the Newcastle works, and that when Timothy Hackworth was commissioned to rebuild Chittaprat it
27840-403: The volume of imports and exports and work started in 1839 on Middlesbrough Dock, which had been laid out by William Cubitt , capable of holding 150 ships, and built by resident civil engineer George Turnbull . The suspension bridge across the Tees was replaced by a cast iron bridge on masonry piers in 1841. After three years and an expenditure of £122,000 (equivalent to £9.65m at 2011 prices),
28014-402: The waggons split into groups of four linked by a 9-yard-long (8.2 m) chain. For the opening ceremony on 27 December 1830, "Globe", a new locomotive designed by Hackworth for passenger trains, hauled people in carriages and waggons fitted with seats across the bridge to the staiths at Port Darlington, which had berths for six ships. Stockton continued to be served by a station on the line to
28188-674: The west coast in Cumberland and Lancashire . In the early 1850s, this ore was travelling the long way round over the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway to the Barrow-in-Furness area, and Durham coke was returning. Both the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway (SD&LUR) and the Eden Valley Railway (EVR) companies were formed on 20 September 1856. Taking advantage of the new railway at Barnard Castle,
28362-551: The workers could be paid. By August 1827 the company had paid its debts and was able to raise more money; that month the Black Boy branch opened and construction began on the Croft and Hagger Leases branches. During 1827 shares rose from £120 at the start to £160 at the end. The line was initially used to carry coal to Darlington and Stockton, carrying 10,000 tons in the first three months and earning nearly £2,000. In Stockton,
28536-402: Was "as a last experiment" to "make an engine in his own way". Both Tomlinson and Rolt state this claim was unfounded and the company had shown earlier that locomotives were superior to horses, Tomlinson showing that coal was being moved using locomotives at half the cost of horses. Robert Young states that the company was unsure as to the real costs as they reported to shareholders in 1828 that
28710-543: Was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives , its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darlington and Stockton in County Durham, and was officially opened on 27 September 1825. The movement of coal to ships rapidly became a lucrative business, and the line was soon extended to a new port at Middlesbrough. While coal waggons were hauled by steam locomotives from
28884-552: Was attached and horses hauled the train across the Gaunless Bridge to the bottom of Brusselton West Bank , where thousands watched the second stationary engine draw the train up the incline. The train was let down the East Bank to Mason's Arms Crossing at Shildon Lane End, where Locomotion No. 1 , Experiment and 21 new coal waggons fitted with seats were waiting. The directors had allowed room for 300 passengers, but
29058-415: Was estimated to be buried in 1311, and consisted of mainly English, but also Irish, Scottish and Continental coins. Civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were
29232-505: Was opened for freight on 23 May 1859 and for passenger traffic on 4 July 1859. The Middlesbrough & Redcar Railway , a short extension to Redcar, received permission on 21 July 1845 in the Middlesbrough and Redcar Railway Act 1845 ( 8 & 9 Vict. c. cxxvii). The line branched off before the Middlesbrough terminus, which was closed and a new through station opened with the line on 4 June 1846. Also authorised in July 1845, by
29406-434: Was presented unchanged to Parliament in 1842, and was opposed by the S&DR. Despite this, the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway Act 1842 ( 5 & 6 Vict. c. lxxx) received royal assent on 18 June 1842, and a second act of Parliament the following year, the Great North of England Railway Act 1843 ( 6 & 7 Vict. c. viii), secured the deviations from the GNER route in the south recommended by Stephenson. After
29580-406: Was proposed by George Dixon in 1767 and again by John Rennie in 1815, but both schemes failed. The harbour of Stockton-on-Tees invested considerably during the early 19th century in straightening the Tees in order to improve navigation on the river downstream of the town and was subsequently looking for ways to increase trade to recoup those costs. A few years later, a canal was proposed on
29754-537: Was reduced during a period of financial difficulty and the Black Boy colliery switched to sending its coal to Hartlepool. No dividend was paid in 1848 and the next few years; lease payments were made out of reserves. The S&DR announced a bill in November 1848 to permit a lease by and amalgamation with the YN&;BR, but this was withdrawn after the YN&BR share price crashed and its chairman Hudson resigned after questions were raised about his share dealings. In 1850
29928-547: Was single track with four passing loops each mile; square sleepers supported each rail separately so that horses could walk between them. Stone was used for the sleepers to the west of Darlington and oak to the east; Stephenson would have preferred all of them to have been stone, but the transport cost was too high as they were quarried in the Auckland area. The railway opened with the company owing money and unable to raise further loans; Pease advanced money twice early in 1826 so
30102-511: Was the son of Colonel Anthony Byerley, a cavalry officer who served Charles I in a unit known as "Byerley's Bulldogs". The Byerley line eventually died out, but their name lives on in place names around the region, such as Byerley Park and Byerley Road. It is believed that King Charles I of England took refuge in Middridge Grange during the English Civil War . John Marley (geologist) was born at Middridge Grange in 1823. He made
30276-468: Was used by S&DR trains and the other by the LNR. Rather than allow trains to approach the platform line from either direction, the Board of Trade inspecting officer ruled that trains approaching on a line without a platform must first pass through and then reverse into the platform line. The Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway, with two branches into the iron-rich hills, was approved by Parliament in
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