GREATHAM, a parish in the north-eastern division
of STOCKTON ward, county palatine of DURHAM,
comprising the townships of Claxton and Greatham, and
containing 484 inhabitants, of which number, 446 are
in the township of Greatham, 7 miles (N. E. by N.) from.
Stockton upon Tees. The living is a discharged vicarage,
in the archdeaconry and diocese of Durham, rated
in the king's books at £7. 1. 8., endowed with £200
private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the
patronage of the Governors of Greatham Hospital. The
church occupies the site of a more ancient structure,
which was pulled down in 1792, excepting some pillars
and arches on each side of the nave. The " Hospital of
God in Greatham" was founded and endowed with the
manor of Greatham, by Robert de Stichell, Bishop of
Durham, in 1272, for a master, five priests, two clerks,
and forty poor brethren, selected from the episcopal
manors; Bishop Anthony Bek increased the original
endowment, and added one chaplain and one clerk to
the establishment: Edward IV. granted a license to the
master to hold a weekly market, and fairs twice a year.
By the charter of James, in 1610, the number was reduced
to a master and thirteen brethren, who were constituted
a body corporate, with a common seal, and
privilege to purchase lands; at present there are a
master, a chaplain, six brethren, maintained wholly in
the hospital, six out-pensioners and a bailiff, upon the
foundation, of which the Bishop of Durham is patron,
with power to repeal ancient statutes and to make new
ones. There are but slight traces of the old building
remaining, the whole having been rebuilt in 1804, by
the benevolent exertions of the Earl of Bridgewater,
who in 1785, before succeeding to the earldom, was
collated to the mastership, which he continued to held
in order to appropriate its revenue to this purpose:
it has four fronts, that towards the south having an
arcade of three arches in the centre, surmounted by a
tower and a dome, and the apartments for the brethren
fill the square; the master's house is a handsome edifice,
in the garden attached to which is the chapel, rebuilt in
1788. Parkhurst's hospital was founded in 1761, and
endowed by Dormer Parkhurst, Esq., then master ot
God's hospital, for six poor women, who have each a
separate dwelling-house and garden. The revenue,
arising from certain lands in the township of Stockton,
is about £ 100 per annum, and the master of the pre-
ceding institution is the patron. On the marshes near
the mouth of the Tees were formerly considerable salt
works, traces of which are still to be seen.