Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for STANHOPE

STANHOPE, a small town, a township, a parish, and a sub-district, in Weardale district, Durham. The town stands on the river Wear, and on the Wear Valley railway, amid a wildly moorland country, 5½ miles WNW of Wolsingham; is a seat of petty-sessions and a polling place; and has a r. station with telegraph, a post-office‡ under Darlington, a banking office, a good inn, a weekly market on Friday, and three annual fairs.-The township comprises 13,000 acres, and contains Weardale workhouse. Pop. in 1851, 2,545; in 1861, 2,918. Houses, 569.—The parish includes four other townships, and comprises 54,870 acres. Real property, £54,346; of which £29,584 are in mines, and £951 in quarries. Pop. in 1851, 8,882; in 1861, 9,654. Houses, 1,896. The property is much subdivided. S. Castle and the Rectory House are chief residences; the latter was built by Bishop Philpotts, when rector. S. Park is about 12 miles in circuit, bare and moorish; and was the hunting-ground of the Bishops of Durham, and the place where Douglas, in 1327, retreated from Edward III. Lead ore and ironstone are extensively mined, and limestone is quarried. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value, £1,650.* Patron, the Bishop of Ripon. The church was restored in 1868. The p. curacies of Eastgate, Westgate, Rookhope, Frosterley, Heathery-cleugh, and Weardale are separate benefices. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, school endowments £135 a year, and charities £69.—The sub-district excludes two townships of S., but includes two other parishes. Acres, 37,940. Pop., 5,196. Houses, 1,022.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a township, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Stanhope AP/CP       Stanhope SubD       Weardale RegD/PLU       County Durham AncC
Place: Stanhope

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