Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for RYTON

RYTON, a village, a township, and a parish in Gates-head district, Durham. The village stands on the river Tyne, adjacent to the Newcastle and Carlisle railway, 9¼ miles W of Newcastle; was burnt by the Scots in 1297; is now a picturesque place and a seat of petty-sessions; and has a station on the railway, a post-office under Blaydon-on-Tyne, Durham, a stone cross erected in 1795, and fairs on 12 May and 11 Nov. The township comprises 1, 203 acres of land, and 99 of water. Real property, £7, 542; of which £3, 393 are in mines, and £67in fisheries. Pop. in 1851, 739; in 1861, 1, 140. Houses, 207. The increase of pop. arose from extension of collieries. The parish contains also the townships of Ryton-Woodside, Crawcrook, and Stella; and comprises 5, 581acres. Pop. in 1851, 2, 757; in 1861, 3,052. Houses, 594. The property is subdivided. Stella Hall is the seat of P E. Townley, Esq.; and there are several handsome villas. A house at the W end of the village includes fine Norman arches and mouldings, brought hitherin 1862, by Archdeacon Thorp, from an old church in Durham. Limestone is quarried; and iron and steel areworked. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value, £956.* Patron, the Bishop of Durham. The church is chiefly early English; was recently restored; and has a tower and spire 108 feet high. The parsonage is a fine old Tudor edifice. A tumulus, 20 feethigh, is in a wood to the N. The rectory of Stella is a separate benefice. An Independent chapel, in the early English style, was built at Ryton in 1862. Two Methodist chapels, a slightly endowed school, and charities £21, also are at Ryton; and a Roman Catholic chapel is in Stella. Bishop Secker was rector.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a township, and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Ryton AP/CP       County Durham AncC
Place: Ryton

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