Enjoy a glimpse of history about Greatham in County Durham, North East England, UK.
The Post Office Directory of Durham and Northumberland
by Kelly and Company
Published in 1879
GREATHAM is a parish, comprising the township of its own name and CLAXTON, in the Southern division of the county, north-eastern division of Stockton ward and union and county court district of Hartlepool, rural deanery of Stockton, archdeaconry and diocese of Durham. The village is situated on the ridge of a hill, about 8 miles north-east-by-north from Stockton, 2½ north-west from the estuary of the Tees, and half a mile from the railway station on the West Hartlepool section of the North Eastern railway. The church of St. John the Baptist is an ancient stone structure, which has been repaired and enlarged at different periods: it consists of chancel, nave, aisles and square embattled tower: the chancel is maintained by the Master and Brethren of Greatham Hospital, who are impropriators of the great tithes of the parish. The parish register dates from the year 1556, and contains many interesting entries of the time of the civil wars of 1644-58. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £200, with good residence, in the gift of the Master and Brethren of the Greatham Hospital, and held by the Rev. Joseph Maccartie, M.A. of Trinity College, Dublin. Here is also a small chapel belonging to the Wesleyans. Here is a parochial institute, which was formerly the Barrington boys' schools, with reading room, well supplied with newspapers, a library of 500 volumes, and bagatelle and chess room. Parkhurst's Hospital was founded by Dormer Parkhurst, esq. in 1761, for six poor widows or unmarried women above 50 years of age; they are to be chosen from the township of Greatham and legally settled there; or, in default of such persons within Greatham, from the neighbouring townships: each sister receives 21s. per month, 4s. at Christmas, 2s. at Easter and 2s. at Whitsuntide, £4 yearly for coals and a gown and flannel petticoat at Christmas. Matthew Carr, by will, January 28th, 1818, bequeathed £100 to the minister and churchwardens, in trust, to be placed out on good securities, and the interest to be distributed at Christmas to poor widows resident in the parish. Rand's Charity of £6 yearly is laid out in apprenticing poor boys. Here are a few other small charities. A feast is held here annually, on the 24th of June, the festival of St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of the church, called "Greatham Midsummer," at which races and rural sports are continued for two days. Greatham Hall is an ancient stone building formerly occupied by Ralph Ward Jackson, esq. to whose enterprising spirit the port and town of West Hartlepool owe their origin, and now occupied by the Rev. Francis Joseph James, the master of Greatham Hospital. The Master and Brethren of Greatham Hospital are lords of the manor and chief landowners; this manor was anciently in the possession of Peter de Montfort, cousin of the celebrated Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and on forfeiture by him in 1264 it was granted by the King to Thomas de Clare; but on Bishop Stichill's representation that the manor lay within the Palatinate, he revoked the grant and allowed the Bishop's right to it, who soon after founded the Hospital of Greatham and endowed it with the manor;
it is situated on the west side of the village, and was rebuilt in 1803 by the Earl of Bridgwater, and was enlarged in 1868; it is a square stone structure, consisting of a large hall occupying the centre of the building, rooms for the brethren and other officers; the institution, on its foundation, dated January 23rd, 1272, the pensioners were all to live in one house and mess at one table, and the number was to be augmented or decreased according to the sufficiency of the income. The foundation charter was confirmed by Edward III. and Edward IV.; King James I. refounded the hospital on the 20th of July, 1610, which, for the future, was to consist of a master and thirteen poor unmarried men of advanced age and to be called 'The Hospital of God in Greatham, in the county palatine of Durham;' the Bishop of Durham is the patron and has the appointing of the master, but the brethren are nominated by the master: by a scheme, approved by the Court of Chancery in 1866, the hospital was to be enlarged as leases fall in, until it maintains the original number of brethren, viz.—ten decayed and aged clergymen, and forty lay brothers; the master, in appointing lay brethren, is to give the preference to such as have seen better days and become decayed by circumstances beyond their own control: there are at present 13 in-brethren and 13 out-brethren: the in-brethren receive a pension of £12 yearly, together with rooms, liberal board, attendance, clothing, gas, firing and medical attendance; the out-brethren receive £26 yearly, and medical attendance: the porter's and matron's houses adjoin the hospital: the present stipend of the master is £500; he has the whole control and discipline of the hospital, and reads prayers daily in the hospital chapel: this chapel, which was rebuilt in 1788, possesses some very fine communion plate, presented by Sir Gilbert Gerrard, bart. master in A.D. 1666. The estates and expenditure of the hospital are managed by a board of 13 trustees, viz.—the master, the vicar of Greatham, the rector of Sedgefield, the vicar of Stockton and the archdeacon of Durham, ex-officio: the other trustees are the Marquis of Londonderry, Thomas Hutchinson, Robert Fawcus and William Joseph Young, esqs. and the Revs. J. Lawson, John Burdon and Henry Baker Tristram, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. hon. canon of Durham. The present master is the Rev. Francis Joseph James. At the time of the Charity Commissioners' report the revenue amounted to £1,486 5s. 3½d.; the expenditure was £601, leaving a net revenue to the master of £885 5s. 3½d. which was reduced to £500. Among the names of former masters occur those of Bishop Sparke, suffragan of Berwick; Gabriel Clarke, D.D.; Dr. Rand, Oliver Cromwell's physician; Colonel Askew, of the Parliamentary army; Bishop Cosins, afterwards Bishop of Durham; Sir Gilbert Gerrard, Dr. Parkhurst, John, Earl of Bridgwater and the Hon. Augustus Barrington, D.C.L. The soil is clay and gravel; subsoil, clay and loam. The principal crops are wheat, oats, potatoes and turnips. The township of Greatham comprises an area of 3,310 acres; rateable value, £6,453; and the population in 1871 was 717.
Claxton township is situated 1 mile to the west of Greatham. The principal landowners are the trustees of S. Jobson, esq.; it comprises 824 acres; rateable value, £1,287; the population in 1871 was 51.
Parish Clerk, Thomas Young.
Post & Money Order Office & Savings Bank.—William Cockburn, postmaster. Letters arrive from West Hartlepool at 8 a.m. & are dispatched at 5.20 p.m
Insurance Agent:—Royal, J. D. Hayton, Dalton Piercy, Elwick, via Castle Eden
Greatham Hospital (founded in 1272), Rev. Francis Joseph James, master & chaplain; John Stonehouse, steward
Assistant Overseer, John Stonehouse
National School, Thomas Brown, master; Miss Elizabeth Richmond, mistress
Railway Station, Alexander Melrose, station master
Carrier to Stockton.—Wm. Harrison, every Wednesday
Greatham.
Appleby Thomas, Ashfield house
Fergus John
Ford Jonas Robert
Gray William, J.P. The Cottage
James Rev. Francis Jsph. Greatham hall
Maccartie Rev. Joseph, M.A. [vicar], Vicarage
Stonehouse John
Todd Charles Scotson
Walker Mrs
Wilson Miss, Demontford cottage
COMMERCIAL.
Atkinson Lancelot, farmer
Ayre Thomas, butcher
Bamlett John, farmer, Marsh house
Cockburn William, shopkeeper
Dobbing Thomas, shopkeeper
Fergus John, surgeon, & medical officer for Greatham & Seaton Carew districts of the Hartlepool Union
Foster George, farmer
Foster John, boot & shoe maker
Foster Robert, joiner, Ivy house
Glass George, joiner
Glass Thomas, boot & shoe maker
Greatham Hospital (Rev. Francis Joseph James, master & chaplain)
Greatham Parochial Institute (Rev. Joseph Maccartie, president; Thomas Brown, secretary; John Stonehouse, treasurer)
Harrison William, carrier
Hart Byers, farmer
Hopper John Thomas, joiner
Hutchinson Jane (Mrs.), market gardener
Liverseed Thomas Rowland, farmer
Mark Thomas, tailor
Maxwell William, farmer
Prout John, mason
Proctor Robert, Hope & Anchor Proctor Thomas, blacksmith
Robinson William, joiner
Ryder William, grocer
Smith Francis, shopkeeper
Stainthorp John William, draper
Stoddart & Robinson, seedsmen & florists
Stonehouse Thomas & Son, farmers, Hospital farm
Stonehouse Elizabeth (Miss), grocer
Stonehouse John, land agent & receiver to the Greatham Hospital & assistant overseer
Stonehouse Richard Carr, miller
Stonehouse William, farmer
Tidyman Francis, butcher
Turnbull Robert, farmer
Watson Margaret (Mrs.), farmer
Watson Ralph, Bull & Dog White Andrew, farmer
White John, farmer
Whitfield George, blacksmith
Whitfield Rachael (Miss), Smiths' Arms Wood Thomas, farmer
Claxton.
Holborn John, farmer
Jobson Joseph, farmer
Robinson John, farmer
Stoddart & Robinson, farmers
Waldon Thomas Gibbon, farmer
Wheatley Robert, farmer
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