Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for NORTHALLERTON

NORTHALLERTON, a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in N. R. Yorkshire. The town stands on Ermine-street, on a small affluent of the river Wiske, and on the Leeds and Stockton line of the North eastern railway, near its intersection with the main line from York to Newcastle, and near the junction of the branch-line to Leyburn, 32 miles N N W of York. It occupies the site of a Roman station, traces of which, in a circular wall, a wooden floor, coins, and other relics, were discovered at the forming of the railway . It was a place of some importance in the Saxon times; was known, at Domesday, as Alreton and Alvertune; took the prefix of North to distinguish it from Allerton-Mauleverer; and was given, by William Rufus, to the Bishops of Durham. A castle was built on its W side, by one of the Bishops, in the time of Henry I.; wassurprised and burnt, along with the town, in 1318, by the Scots under Robert Bruce; and has completely disappeared. The famous battle of the Standard, in 1138, between the English and the Scots, was fought in the neighbourhood, and within the parish, at Cowton-moor; and the scene of it bears the name of Standard-hill. A curious ancient sword was exhumed there a few years ago; and certain spots, where the slain were buried, are called Scots' pits. The army of the Duke of Cumberland, in 1745, on their way to encounter the rebel forces of the Pretender, encamped on the Castle-hill. An Augustinian friary was founded at the town, in 1341, by Williamde Alverton or Allerton; and has left some traces. A Carmelite friary was founded, in 1 354, by Bishop Hatfield: and also has left some vestiges. An hospital, dedicated to St. James, was founded about a mile from the town, in the time of Richard I. or in that of Henry II., by Bishop Persne; maintained a master, three chaplains, four brethren, two sisters, and nine poor persons; went, at the dissolution, to Sir Richard Morysine; and, by exchange for other property, passed to Christchurch, Oxford. Rymer the author of " Fœdera, " Kettlewellthe theologian, and perhaps Archdeacon Balguy were na-tives; and George I., when merely elector of Hanover, took from Northallerton the title of Viscount.

The town stands on a gentle eminence, sloping toward the W; consists chiefly of one long broad street, irregularly aligned and well built; and includes a spacious market-place, encumbered and disfigured by smallhouses, used as shops and for other purposes. The sessions-house is a modern handsome edifice. The county house of correction was built upon Howard's plan, and has capacity for 175 male and 53 female prisoners. The railway station is ornamental. The parish church or church of All Saints is large and ancient; was preceded, on the same site, by a church dating from 630; is partly Norman, partly of later dates, down to perpendicular; is commonly described as cruciform, but is not regular in plan; has a central tower, crowned with pinnacles at the angles; and contains several monuments. Brompton church, about a mile to the N, is Norman and good. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, a free grammar school, a handsome and commodious national school, a Maison Dieu, founded in 1476, by Richard de Moore, and charities, inclusive of £24 to the grammar schooland £47 to the Maison Dieu, £165. The grammar-school was founded at some unascertained date before the time of Henry VIII.; gives a free education to a few boys; and numbers among its pupils Rymer, Kettlewell, Archbishop Palliser, Dean Hicks, Dr. T. Burnet, and Dr. Radcliffe. The town has a head post-office, ‡ a telegraph station, three banking offices, and three chief inns; and is a seat of quarter sessions, courts leet and baron, and county courts, and a polling-place. A weekly market is held on Wednesday; a cheese fair, on the second Wednesday of Oct.; fairs for horses, cattle, and sheep, on 7 and 14 Feb., 5 and 6 May, and 3 and 4 Oct.; and races, annually in Oct. The principal trade is in farm produce; some trade exists also in brewing, malting, tanning, and brick-making; and a trade in linen-weaving is carried on at Brompton. The town is a borough by prescription; sent two members to parliament once in the time of Edward I., and always from 1640 till the passing of the reform bill in 1832; underwent then an extension of borough boundaries; and since that time has sent one member. The limits now include Northal-lerton and Romanby townships, Brompton chapelry, and Lazenby extra-parochial tract. Acres, 10,067. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £1, 623. Electors in 1833, 232; in 1868, 454. Pop. in 1851, 4, 995; in 1861, 4, 755. Houses, 1,058.

The township comprises 4, 239 acres. Real property, £13, 177; of which £170 are in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 3,086; in 1861, 2, 970. Houses, 652. The parish contains also the township of Roman by, and the chapelries of Brompton, Deighton, and High Worsall; the last of which is in Stockton district. Acres, 13, 630. Real property, £23,005. Pop. in 1851, 5, 238; in 1861, 4, 980. Houses, 1, 104. The living is a vicarage, united with the chapelry of Deighton, in the diocese of York. Value, £697.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Durham. The p. curacies of Brompton and High Worsall are separate benefices. The sub-district excludes Deighton and High Worsall chapelries; and includes the parishes of Kirby-Sigston, Ainderby-Steeple, Danby-Wiske, and Great Langton, five townships and a chapelry of Leake, three townships of Osmotherley, the township of Over-Silton, two townships of North Otterington, two townships of Catterick, and the extra-parochial tracts of Lazenby and Cotcliff. Acres, 41, 752. Pop. in 1851, 9, 556; in 1861, 9, 222. Houses, 2,035. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Appleton-upon-Wiske, containing the parishes of West Rounton, Welbury, East Cowton, Birkby, and East Harlsey, the chapelries of Deighton, Appleton-upon-Wiske, South Cowton, and the townships of Hornby, Great Smeaton, and West Harlsey. Acres of the district, 68, 342. Poor rates in 1863, £5, 582. Pop. in 1851, 12, 460; in 1861, 12, 174. Houses, 2, 655. Marriages in 1863, 82; births, 381, of which 39 were illegitimate; deaths, 225, of which 53 were at ages under 5 years, and 17 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 876; births, 3, 732; deaths, 2, 333. The places of worship, in 1851, were 23of the Church of England, with 5,003 sittings; 4 of Independents, with 605 s.; 2 of Baptists, with 185 s.; 3 of Quakers, with 200 s.; 16 of Wesleyan Methodists, with1, 803 s.; 14 of Primitive Methodists, with 1, 428 s.; and 1 of Roman Catholics, with 80 s. The schools were 18 public day schools, with 1, 167 scholars; 32 private day schools, with 644 s.; 27 Sunday schools, with 1, 663 s.; and 4 evening schools for adults, with 26 s. The work-house is in Northallerton township; and, at the census of 1861, had 75 inmates.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Northallerton AP/CP       Northallerton SubD       Northallerton RegD/PLU       Yorkshire AncC
Place names: ALRETON     |     ALVERTUNE     |     NORTHALLERTON
Place: Northallerton

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