Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for KIRK-LEATHAM

KIRK-LEATHAM, a village, a township, a parish, and a sub-district, in Guisbrough district, N. R. Yorkshire. The village stands 2¼ miles S by W of Redcar r. station, and 4¼ NNW of Guisbrough. The township contains also the hamlets of Yearby and East and West Coatham, and extends to the coast. Acres, 5, 479; of which 2, 392 are water. Real property, £8, 926. Pop. in 1851, 789; in 1861, 1, 107. Houses, 201. The increase of pop. was all at Coatham, and arose from the contiguity of that place to Redcar, which is a sea bathing resort.—The parish includes likewise the township of Wilton, and comprises 8, 157 acres of land, and 4, 250 of water. Post town, Redcar. Real property, £20, 371; of which £6, 550 are in iron works. Pop. in 1851, 1, 307; in 1861, 2, 034. Houses, 380. The increase of pop. in the Wilton section arose from the extension of mining operations. Kirk-Leatham Hall belonged to the Turners, passed to the Vansittarts, and belongs now to A. H. T. Newcomen, Esq. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York. Value, £88.* Patron, A. H. T. Newcomen. The church is a handsome structure, with roof supported by six Tuscan columns; has a tower; and contains a statue of John Turner, dated 1688, and several brasses. A splendid mausoleum, erected in 1740, by Cholmley Turner, to the memory of his son, adjoins the E end of the church; and the tomb of Sir Charles Turner, the last of the family, is near. The p. curacy of Coatham is a separate benefice. Turner's hospital, founded in 1676, by Sir William Turner, for forty poor persons, stands near the parish church; includes a highly decorated chapel, with arched roof supported by Ionic columns; includes also a library, 60 feet long, with about 3, 000 volumes; contains, among other curiosities, a waxen effigy of the founder, with his wig and band; and has an endowed income of about £1, 600. A building for a free grammar school was erected in 1709, by the nephew of Sir William Turner; but is now occupied by a respectable family and two cottagers, and not used as a school. A new school, however, with house attached, was about to be erected in 1866 at Coatham. The yearly value of charities, inclusive of the endowments for the hospital and the grammar school, is about £2, 015. A chantry, for a master and six chaplains, was founded at Lazenby, in the time of Edward I., by John de Lythegraynes.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a township, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Kirkleatham CP/AP       Kirk Leatham SubD       Guisborough RegD/PLU       Yorkshire AncC
Place: Kirkleatham

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