STAINTON
Stainton in Strata, Stainton in le Street, Stanton le
Strete (xiii–xiv cent.); Staynton in the Streete (xv–
xvii cent.); Great Stainton (xvii cent.).
The parish of Stainton includes the townships of
Stainton and Elstob, and covers nearly 2,000 acres.
The ground slopes from west to east, the highest point
being 350 ft. above the ordnance datum. The soil is
clay, with a subsoil of Magnesian Limestone, and
wheat, oats and clover are grown. There are 931
acres of land under grass, 811 of arable and 63 of
woods and plantations. (fn. 1)
Through the centre of the parish from north to
south runs the Roman road from Old Durham which
crosses the Tees near Sockburn. The village of Stainton, which stands on both sides of this road, took from
its position its old name of Stainton in the Street. In
1823, as at present, it consisted of a few houses only,
but its 17th-century name of Great Stainton indicates
that at that date it was at least of more importance
than Little Stainton in the neighbouring parish of
Bishopton. The church of All Saints stands on the
west side of the road, while the few remaining
buildings are grouped round a tiny green on the
east side.
There is mention in the records of Stainton of
'Halyelande upon Southill,' where John de la Hay
sold a house in 1356. (fn. 2)
A small school in Stainton was kept in the first half
of the 17th century by Thomas Ingmethorpe, formerly head-master of Durham. (fn. 3) Thomas Nicholson
granted £100 and land for the maintenance of a
schoolmaster in 1745. (fn. 4)
To the north of Stainton is Elstob township, lying
for the most part on the east of the Roman road and
containing a few farms. North Farm, South Farm and
Elstob House are the chief of these. North Farm and
South Farm are mentioned in the early 18th century. (fn. 5)
The township is crossed near its northern boundary
by the Port Clarence railway. A little stream called
the Elstob Beck flows across its north-east corner.
MANORS, &c.
STAINTON belonged in the
early 12th century to Guy de
Balliol, (fn. 6) who presumably acquired
it from William Rufus as a member of the manor of
Gainford (fn. 7) (q.v.). Hawise daughter of Guy married
William Bertram, ancestor of the Bertrams of Mitford
(co. Northumb.). (fn. 8) She seems to have had a grant of
Stainton from her father, for the manor was held by
her descendants, while an overlordship was retained
by the lords of Gainford and Barnard Castle (q.v.),
of whom the mesne tenants held for the service due
from half a knight's fee, the rent of 1d. and suit of
court at Gainford. (fn. 9) The son and heir of Hawise was
Roger Bertram, who confirmed his grandfather's gift
of Stainton Church to St. Mary's Abbey, York. (fn. 10)
Roger had a son William who held Greatham, and
whose son and heir Roger had a son and heir another
Roger. (fn. 11) The last Roger Bertram had a daughter
Agnes, who married Thomas son of William de
Emmelay and received Stainton from her father in
free marriage. (fn. 12) In or about 1267 Agnes, then a
widow, granted the manor to her daughter Agnes, (fn. 13)
who sold it to Richard de la Hay, a burgess of Newcastle. (fn. 14) Her grant was confirmed to Richard in
1279 by John Balliol. (fn. 15) Four
years later John Balliol made
an agreement with Thomas
son and heir of Richard de la
Hay by which the land in
Stainton was confirmed to
Thomas, and a rent of 1d. and
suit of court at Gainford was
reserved to John as overlord. (fn. 16)
The manor was settled in
January 1311–12 on Thomas
with remainder to his sons in
tail. (fn. 17) Thomas held in 1317. (fn. 18)
Richard, the eldest of these
sons, was in possession before
the death of his father, for
whom he charged the manor with an annuity of 20
marks. (fn. 19) He was succeeded by John de la Hay, who
made a conveyance of a house here in 1356 (fn. 20) and
settled the manor on himself and his wife Agnes in
1362. (fn. 21) Ten years later Agnes de la Hay was a widow,
and the reversion of Stainton after her death was conveyed by trustees to John son of Alan Menell of Ingleton and to Katherine his wife. (fn. 22) Katherine seems to
have been the daughter and heir of John de la Hay. (fn. 23)
It has been suggested that her second husband was
Sir Robert de Layton, to whom in 1381 Agnes de
la Hay granted half the rents of the manor during
the lives of Alan Menell and his brother Robert,
Katherine's sons. (fn. 24) Alan Menell was living in 1399,
when he described himself as kinsman and heir of John
de la Hay. (fn. 25) He and Robert both died without issue,
their heirs being the representatives of their aunts,
Margaret and Alice Menell, who had married respectively John Seton of Kelloe and Walter de Denton. (fn. 26)
The manor of Stainton was henceforth held in moieties.
De la Hay. Argent a bend sable cotised vert with three scallops or on the bend.
The share of Margaret and John Seton was inherited
by their son John Kelloe, whose daughter and heir
Alice married Robert Lambton. (fn. 27) Alice died in 1440,
leaving a son and heir Richard Lambton, (fn. 28) killed at
Towton (Yorkshire) in 1461. (fn. 29) Richard's son and heir
Robert (fn. 30) made a division of the demesne lands of
Stainton in 1487 or 1488 with Robert Thirkeld,
holder of the second moiety. (fn. 31) He had a son Thomas, (fn. 32)
whose son Robert (fn. 33) made his will in 1563. (fn. 34) William
son of Robert (fn. 35) married Margaret Barnes of Little
Haughton and died in 1580 seised of half the manor,
and was succeeded by a son also called William. (fn. 36)
William Lambton, son and heir of this younger
William, (fn. 37) was the last of the male line. His heirs
were his sisters Anne wife of Nicholas Chaytor and
Margaret wife of John Killinghall. (fn. 38) In 1646, however, this moiety of the manor was sequestered for the
delinquency of Ralph Coatsworth, who represented
that his brother William, whose heir he was, had had
a conveyance of the estate. (fn. 39) John Killinghall made
a successful claim on behalf of his wife and her sister. (fn. 40)
The share of the Killinghalls was inherited by William
son of John Killinghall and then by his son William,
who sold his estates. (fn. 41) The purchaser of his quarter
of Stainton, Thomas Ogle, seems also to have acquired
the Chaytor share, which was sold under an Act of
1695 for the payment of the debts of Sir William
Chaytor. (fn. 42) Thomas Ogle, who was in possession of a
moiety of the manor in 1719, (fn. 43) left it in 1725 to his
uncle John Ogle for life, with remainder of one quarter
to his cousin Margaret Robinson for life, and afterwards to his cousin Anne, wife of Sir William Middleton,
bart., and of the other quarter directly to the same
Anne. (fn. 44) Sir William Middleton (of Belsay, Northumberland) dying in 1757 left his estate here to his
nephew William Middleton. (fn. 45) In 1760 Dame Anne
Middleton conveyed it to John Tempest. (fn. 46) It
followed the descent of Wynyard in Grindon parish
(q.v.) till 1823, when the Marquess of Londonderry
sold part to the Rev. Daniel Mitford Peacock, of
whom it was purchased in 1835 by John Lord Eldon,
who had in 1826 acquired the rest of the estate at
Great Stainton of the Marquess of Londonderry. (fn. 47)
The present lord of the manor is the Earl of Eldon.
The second moiety, inherited by Alice wife of
Walter de Denton, passed to her daughter and heir
Joan, who married first Robert Thirkeld and afterwards Thomas Tailboys. (fn. 48) With her second husband
she made an agreement in 1433 with Robert Lambton
and Alice his wife by which the land in the manor of
Stainton was divided. (fn. 49) In the same year Joan and
Thomas conveyed land in Stainton and elsewhere to
John Thirkeld, son and heir of Joan by her first
husband. (fn. 50) John Thirkeld, who with his wife Maud
made various settlements of land here, was still living
in 1480. In that year his son William conveyed to
his son Robert Thirkeld all his land in Stainton, subject to an annuity of 40s. to William during the life
of John. (fn. 51) Robert was holding a moiety of the manor
seven years later. (fn. 52) In 1550
Robert Thirkeld, perhaps his
son, agreed to settle an estate
in Stainton of the yearly value
of £10 on the marriage of his
daughter and heir Eleanor
with Thomas son of John
Wycliffe. (fn. 53) This moiety is
next mentioned in the possession of Anthony Rickaby, who
held it in 1586. (fn. 54) He died
in 1593, leaving a son and heir
William. (fn. 55) In 1623 Anthony
Rickaby, presumably the heir
of William, with Anne his wife, Thomas his brother
and Fortune his mother, granted half the manor to
Robert Rickaby, who with Margaret his wife in March
1633–4 gave it to his son John on the marriage of the
latter with his wife Elizabeth. (fn. 56) In 1644 William
Rickaby's lands in Stainton were sequestered, (fn. 57) and in
1684 Elizabeth Rickaby was among the freeholders
here. (fn. 58) Lands in Stainton were held by John Holme of
Newcastle, probably as mortgagee, which were assigned
in 1744 by his son Thomas to John Rickaby of Lee
Close House. John Rickaby was succeeded by his
sister Isabel wife of Anthony Hubbock, who bequeathed the estate at Great Stainton to Anthony
second son of Christopher Jurdison of Lee Close
House. Jurdison sold it in 1797 to Robert Collings
of Hurworth. Robert was succeeded in 1820 by a
brother Charles, who held the estate until his death
without issue in 1836. It was sold in 1837 by the
trustees under Robert Collings' will to James Watson
of Great Aycliffe, being then described as Stainton
Grange. James Watson devised it in 1844 to Samuel
Swire, son of his cousin Maria wife of Samuel Swire
of Skipton, co. York, who sold it in 1864 to the
trustees of the Earl of Eldon. (fn. 59)
Thirkeld. Argent a sleeve gules.
A 'manor' of Stainton in the Street was conveyed
about 1425 by Ralph Earl of Westmorland to
trustees. (fn. 60) Probably the overlordship had come in
some way into his hands.
Richard de la Hay, who acquired the manor in the
13th century, obtained special permission at the same
time to build a mill within or without the vill. (fn. 61) He
probably availed himself of this right, for in 1433 the
owners of the two moieties of the manor agreed to
divide its demesne lands, leaving the manorial mill and
the bake-house to be held in common. (fn. 62) In the 16th
century the mill had disappeared. A survey of the
reign of Elizabeth says, 'Also it dothe appeare by
evidence ther haithe bene a wyndmyll which were
nott onelye necessarye, but verye like to be comodyous
if one weare builded againe ther. The tymber will
be harde to gett to do the same.' (fn. 63) There is nothing
to indicate that it was ever rebuilt.
The earliest mention of ELSTOB (Ellestubbe,
Ellestop, xiv cent.) occurs in 1360, when confirmation
was granted to Thomas Ughtred of a deed of Roger
Burdon of Kexby granting to Thomas Burdon the
manor of Kexby (co. Lincoln) and land in Elstob. (fn. 64)
In February 1366–7 the vill belonged to Sir Thomas
Gray of Ancroft (q.v.), who entailed it in that month
on his heirs. (fn. 65) At his death in or about 1369 it was
found that the manor was held in chief by a rent of
4s. 6d. and suit of court at Coatham Mandeville. (fn. 66)
This 4s. 6d. represented a service of castle ward at the
castle of Coatham. (fn. 67) Thomas Gray, grandson of
Thomas, forfeited Elstob among his other lands in
1415, (fn. 68) but it was restored in 1455 to Ralph, (fn. 69) his
grandson. Ralph also suffered forfeiture, and in 1464
the revenues from his vill of Elstob were granted to
John Colt. (fn. 70) A later grant of the manor seems to
have been made to Thomas Middleton, who died in
possession in 1480. (fn. 71) His son and heir Thomas was
in possession at his death in 1512, (fn. 72) when his daughter
and heir was Anne, (fn. 73) while his heir male was his
brother Gilbert. (fn. 74) Anne, who married Thomas
Ruthall, died in possession of the manor in or about
1572, leaving a son and heir Richard. (fn. 75) It seems
that the manor was broken up at this date into parcels.
In January 1588–9 Richard Middleton received
licence to alienate to William Scurfield two messuages
and 420 acres of arable land, meadow, pasture and
wood in Elstob. (fn. 76) Four years later William Spenceley
died seised of a messuage, a garden and orchard and
190 acres of land here, which his daughter and heir
Elizabeth with her husband Francis Wrenn and
Florence Spenceley widow conveyed to William
Scurfield in 1607. (fn. 77) William Scurfield died in 1627,
leaving a son and heir William, who died in 1694. (fn. 78)
The estate was heavily mortgaged by the younger
William and his son of the same name, who was a
prisoner in the Fleet in 1704. (fn. 79) In 1709 Gilbert
Spearman bought in mortgages and the right of redemption, and became owner of the greater part. (fn. 80)
He sold the South Farm in 1710 to Richard Smith. (fn. 81)
Richard was succeeded in 1723 by a son Richard,
who bequeathed the estate, by his will proved in 1755,
to his wife Hannah. At her death in 1764, Hannah
left it to her niece Elizabeth Pattison, afterwards the
wife of William Todd. William and his mortgagees
sold the farm in 1823 to the Earl of Eldon. (fn. 82)
Middleton. Quarterly gules and or with a crosslet argent in the quarter.
Scurfield. Gules a bend dancetty between six martlets argent.
In 1698 a farm in Elstob which had belonged to
the Scurfields was mortgaged by William Johnson to
Robert Bromley. (fn. 83) The mortgage was assigned by
Robert Bromley in 1712 to his daughter Isabel, who
left it four years later to her nephews Robert and
William Coulson. (fn. 84) Gilbert Spearman acquired the
farm in 1699 from William Johnson and repaid the
mortgage to Coulson in 1722. In 1723 Spearman
conveyed it with the rest of the Scurfield estate which
was in his hands to William Chaloner. (fn. 85) On the
death of William Chaloner these premises passed to
his eldest surviving son Robert Chaloner of Bishop's
Auckland, who conveyed them to trustees in 1763 on
his marriage with Dorothy daughter of Sir John Lister
Kaye, bart. (fn. 86) In 1771 Robert Chaloner and Nathaniel
Green, a mortgagee, conveyed the Elstob estate to
John Tempest of Wynyard. (fn. 87) It passed to the Marquess of Londonderry, of whom it was bought in
1826 by the Earl of Eldon. (fn. 88) The present Earl of
Eldon is now the owner of this estate and practically
all the land in Elstob.
In 1590 William Wilkinson of Elstob is mentioned. (fn. 89) Four years later Richard Jackson had licence
to enter on two messuages and 244 acres in Elstob
acquired by him from William Wilkinson. (fn. 90) He died
in 1607, leaving a son and heir George. (fn. 91) This estate
must have been acquired by Thomas Pearson, who in
1684 held all the freehold land in Elstob which did
not belong to William Scurfield. (fn. 92)
Another estate at Elstob was settled in 1705 on
Matthew Richardson on his marriage with Jane
daughter of Thomas Fatherley of Byers Garth.
Matthew sold it in 1730 to John Hall of West
Cramlington, who bequeathed it in 1760 to his son
John. The younger John was succeeded in 1779 by
his son John, who sold it to Francis Reid of Hurworth
on Tees. By will proved in 1800 Francis left it to
his brother Thomas Reid Ward, on whose death it
passed under his will to Elizabeth Ward and Anne
Garthwaite, who afterwards took the name of Ward.
By their wills of 1823 and 1825, Anne and Elizabeth
left their shares of the estate to trustees, who sold
them in 1828 to John Lord Eldon. (fn. 93)
A tenement and land in Stainton belonged to
Hexham Priory. After the Dissolution they were
leased in 1600 to Thomas, Anthony and Richard
Dobbyn for their lives, and in 1602 a lease in reversion was granted to Margaret daughter of Roland
Seymour, Matthew and Robert Seymour. This
property passed to the Rickaby family and followed
the descent of the second moiety of the manor of
Stainton. (fn. 94)
CHURCH
The church of ALL SAINTS was
entirely rebuilt in 1876 in the style of
the 14th century. It consists of a chancel with north vestry and organ chamber, nave, south
porch and west tower with spire. (fn. 95)
The site is an ancient one and pre-Conquest fragments with interlaced
patterns, probably part of a cross shaft,
have been found. (fn. 96) They are now in
the rectory garden together with other
fragments of the former church, which
is said to have been of 12th-century
date with later windows inserted. (fn. 97)
The piscina bowl, however, which lies
in the churchyard is of 13th-century
date, and the old stone font, still in the
church, is of late 12th-century date.
It consists of a plain bowl on a moulded
stem and base. In the churchyard are
also the base of a gable cross and part
of a coped tegulated grave cover.
Built into the north wall of the
tower inside are nine fragments of
mediaeval grave covers, the greater
number showing portions of crosses,
and several 17th and 18th-century inscribed stones from the chancel of the
old church are also preserved. (fn. 98)
The font in use is modern. All the
fittings are of the same date as the
building, which is of stone with slated
roofs. A new oak reredos was erected
in 1914.
The tower contains one bell, which
is without date or inscription. The
old church had a 15th-century double
bellcote over the west gable.
The plate consists of a chalice of
1596 with the maker's mark CB tied,
and a paten, the date letter of which is illegible but
bearing the Britannia mark and the inscription, 'Ex
dono Jacobi Platts Rectoris Anno Domini 1705.' (fn. 99)
There are also a plated chalice, flagon and paten, and
a pewter flagon.
The registers begin in 1561.
In the churchyard is the base of a cross, and an
early prick open of iron was found in 1900. (fn. 100)
ADVOWSON
The church of Stainton, with an
endowment of 2 oxgangs of land, was
granted by Guy de Balliol in the late
11th or early 12th century to the Abbot of St. Mary's,
York. (fn. 101) The grant was confirmed by various members
of the Balliol family (fn. 102) and by Roger Bertram, grandson
of Guy, whose confirmation was made between 1149
and 1152. (fn. 103) The church has remained rectorial, the
Abbots of St. Mary, who presented till the Dissolution, receiving a pension from it of 13s. 4d. (fn. 104) Since
1539 the advowson has been in the Crown. (fn. 105)
In a survey made under Elizabeth it was stated that
certain lands in Stainton were supposed to have
belonged to a chapel which came into the hands of
Edward VI at the dissolution of chantries. (fn. 106) The
surveyors were of opinion that this must be a mistake,
for the only chapel in Stainton was a chapel of ease
which had no lands except the place on the lord's
waste where it stood. (fn. 107) There is, however, a record
of the sale of a messuage and 4 oxgangs in Stainton,
apparently ecclesiastical land, by John Awbrey to John
Richardson in 1599. (fn. 108) There is no other reference to
a chapel of ease in Staintion.
Stainton Church from the South-East
CHARITIES
The school was founded in 1745
by will of the Rev. Thos. Nicholson. (fn. 109)
In 1719 Mary Barker, as stated in
the Parliamentary Returns of 1786, gave £5 for the
poor, which is now deposited in the Darlington
Savings Bank, the interest of which, amounting to
2s. 6d., is given to poor women.