Show on map The horseshoe shaped archway carries the words Upsall Town and is dated 1859.
It is very similar in design to Turton Cottages in Roxby which are dated a year earlier in 1858, another estate owned by the Turton family.
John Turton was a physician to ‘mad’ George III, who died without children, the estate passed to the youngest son of Rev William Peters (chaplain to the Prince Regent) who assumed the Turton name and coat of arms.
This fragment of wall near St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Hart is the only above-ground remains of a medieval great house owned from the 12th to the 16th centuries by the de Brus and Clifford Lords.
The history is well described in the Scheduled Ancient Monument listing :-
The manor of Hart and Harterness was granted by the king to Robert de Brus
after the Norman Conquest. Documents indicate that the extent of this manor
was larger in pre-Conquest times. Throughout its history, the right of
disposal of the manor was a source of dispute between the Crown and the Bishop
of Durham. The manor subsequently descended through the Brus family most
notably to Robert de Brus VII; after the latter’s assumption to the Scottish
throne in 1306, Edward I granted the manor to Robert de Clifford in whose
family it remained until 1580, with only brief interruption by claims from a
number of bishops. In 1580 the manor was sold to Robert Petrie and John Morley
and then to the Lumley family who, with the exception of a brief period of
administration by Parliament from 1644-1660, retained it until 1770. In 1770
the estate was sold to the Milbank family.
St Mary Magdalene Church, Hart was founded in 675 AD
The current tower dates to the 13th century and the nave the 12th century. A carving on the wall is generally said to depict St. George and the Dragon.
However it could relate to the Clifford Family who owned the Manor House estate. Rather than a dragon it may show a wyvern which features on the Clifford family crest.
Show on map A Franciscan Friary was founded on this site around 1239 by the De Brus family.
Destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a mansion was built in the early 17th century.
In the early 1800s it became the town workhouse, followed by the building being converted into a hospital in the 1860’s.
St Hilda’s Hospital developed on the site and this last original piece was left when the rest was demolished in 1987
Show on map On my previous visit to the site in mid-2014 this monument did not exist, it appeared a few months later.
It commemorates the death of 114 civilians, 9 soldiers and 7 sailors killed in the Bombardment of the Hartlepools on 16th December 1914.
It was erected to mark the 100th Anniversary and unveiled on 16th December 2014 by the Lord-Lieutenant of County Durham Sue Snowdon.
The engraving is tricky to photograph, but it a reproduction of the painting The Bombardment of the Hartlepools by James Clark, painted in 1915.
A huge amount of information about the events of that day is on display in the nearby Heugh Battery.
Show on map This small painted sign can be found on a gatepost outside Brockley Hall. The property itself dates back to 1875 and became a Christian Endeavour Home in 1937.
I have no detais, but the sign would suggest it may have played a role in WW2 when the RAOC was responsible for the supply of ammunition, clothing and general stores. The “CSS” may stand for Combat Service Support.
Show on map The Darlington Station Bell originally hung in the Clock Tower over the Victoria Road entrance to the station.
It was cast in 1886 by John Warner and Sons of London, who are best known for the clock chimes at the Houses of Parliament.
The bell had fallen out of use and was moved inside the station in 1983
Show on map This tiny village school in Over Silton carries an inscription that dates it 1844
The school house was built in 1844 by Sir George Wombwell, 3rd Baronet. After his death in 1855, his son Sir George Orby Wombwell, 4th Baronet (a survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade) sold the Over Silton Estate.
Show on map Thompson’s in Osmotherley, began trading in 1786 and passed through six generation of the family.
Grace Thompson ran the shop alone and was still delivering newspapers aged 75 , she retired in 2004 and passed away in 2014.
A strict condition of the sale means any new owner has to run the building with all its original fittings as a shop, but unfortunately it still appears to be stood empty in 2022.
This stone from a Methodist Chapel is in a modern bungalow opposite the community centre at Charltons. However old maps don’t show any previous buildings on this site.
It is also unclear whether Alderman J.T. Fletcher is associated with the 1873 date or the 18/2/61 (which must be 1961 if it was re-laid then?)
This news report from 1874 hints work may have still being ongoing
Could it actually have been the chapel and school midway between Charltons and Margrove Park as suggested by 1890s Primitive Methodists circuits ?
