Hunstanworth, County Durham: People and Places of 1879

 Enjoy a glimpse of history about Hunstanworth in County Durham, England, UK.

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The Post Office Directory of Durham and Northumberland

by Kelly and Company

Published in 1879

HUNSTANWORTH township, village and parish is in the Northern division of the county, union of Weardale, and western division of the ward of Chester, county court district of Shotley Bridge, rural deanery of Chester, and archdeaconry and diocese of Durham, bounded on the north by the Derwent; is 12 miles from Hexham, 8 north-west from Stanhope station, about 24 south-west from Newcastle, and 271 from London. The source of the river Derwent, formed by two brooks, is on the north side of the parish. The entire village, with its church, vicarage, and separate buildings for day and Sunday schools, was rebuilt in 1863, at the expense of the late proprietor, the Rev. D. Capper, of Lyston Court, Herefordshire. The church of St. James is an elegant structure in the Early English style; it consists of chancel, nave and aisles, with tower on the north-east, and has three stained windows. The register dates from the year 1620. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £250, with residence, in the gift of J. and E. Joicey, esqs. and held by the Rev. Peter Cooke Jones, M.A. of Clare College, Cambridge. The parochial school, with master’s residence attached, is a handsome building: the class rooms are separated from the principal room by massive glass screens. In the neighbourhood of the mines there is a place of worship for the use of Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists on alternate Sundays, and there is also a building in which divine service is held during the winter months by the vicar of the parish. There is a Reading Room, well supplied with newspapers and periodicals, and also a library for the use of the parishioners. The Derwent lead mines are in this parish: one of the shafts is 140 fathoms deep, and another 100: there is a water-wheel, upwards of 40 feet in diameter, in use, with horizontal rods nearly a mile long. There are also extensive smelting mills. The principal landowners are the trustees of the late Lord Crewe, and J. and E. Joicey, esqs. the latter of whom, in conjunction with the trustees of the late Thomas Scottow, esq. enjoy the manorial rights and privileges. The cultivated portion of the parish is chiefly pasture and meadow land. The acreage is 8,040; rateable value, £3,216; the population in 1871 was 704.

Parish Clerk, Thomas Morson.

Letters are brought from Riding Mill to Blanchland by a horse post, & from thence they are distributed by a rural messenger, who returns to Blanchland in time for dispatch of letters entrusted to him

Jones Rev. Peter Cooke, M.A. [vicar], Vicarage

Barn William, blacksmith

Bell Robert Willson, grocer

Bullman Sarah (Mrs.), farmer

Charlton Robert, dressing agent to Derwent Lead Mining Co. Ramshaw

Collison George, farmer

Davidson John, land agent

Derwent Lead Mining Co. (John Morpeth, agent & cashier), Ramshaw

Field John, farmer, Town field

Jameson John, farmer

Kennelyside Matthew, farmer

Lowden John, farmer

Makepiece Michael Hudson, farmer

Makepiece Thomas, farmer

Martin William, farmer

Morpeth John, agent & cashier to Derwent Lead Mining Co. Ramshaw

Morpeth Jonathan, underground agent to Derwent Lead Mining Co. Ramshaw

Pears Thomas, shopkeeper

Price John, farmer, Town field

Price William, smelting agent to Derwent Lead Mining Co. Ramshaw

Reading Room (John Davidson, sec)

Shield John, farmer, Town field

Taylor George, farmer

Waggot Wm. grocer & provision dealer