MIDDLETON-in-TEASDALE, a parish in the southwestern
division of DARLINGTON ward, county palatine
of DURHAM, comprising the market-town of Middleton,
the chapelry of Egglestone, and the townships of Forest
with Frith, and .Newbiggin, and containing 2866 inhabitants,
of which number, 1263 are in the town of Middleton,
10 miles (N.W.) from Barnard-Castle, and 253
(N. N. W.) from London. The town is irregularly built,
and scattered along the sides of hills which surround,
in a somewhat oval form, an extensive green: the environs
abound with all the varied scenery of rocks,
waterfalls, and chasms of immense depth, with fertile
valleys and sloping hills, enriched by the gentle flow
of the Tees, in its course through this county to the
German Ocean. About two miles above the town is
Wynch bridge, seventy feet in length and two in width,
thrown from rock to rock across a tremendous chasm
sixty feet in depth, and guarded on each side by a
hand-rail; and higher up the river are the stupendous
cataracts of High Force and Caldron Snout. Several
of the inhabitants are occupied in raising and manufacturing
the lead-ore produced in the northern part
of the parish in immense quantities. The market is
held on Saturday, and every alternate market is numerously
attended by the miners, who are paid once
a fortnight: there are fairs on the third Thursday in
April, July 7th, and on the second Thursday in September.
The town hall, a neat edifice with a marketplace
beneath it, was erected at the expense of the
Earl of Darlington. Courts leet and baron are held
annually for the manor. The living is a rectory, in
the archdeaconry and diocese of Durham, rated in the
king's books at £25.17. 1., and in the patronage of the
Crown. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient
but small edifice; the tower is several yards distant
from the rest of the building. There are places
of worship ffor Baptists, Independents, and Methodists.
Christopher Stephenson and others bequeathed a small
estate, now producing £22 per annum, for which eight
boys are instructed. A National school, erected and
partly supported by the London'Lead Company, especially
for the children of their own labourers, from six
until twelve years of age, who pay 1*. each per quarter,
affords instruction to one hundred and thirty children,
exclusively of one hundred Sunday scholars; the other
children pay two shillings and sixpence quarterage; a
small library is attached to the school, for the use of
the Company's workmen, to whom the books are lent.