STOCKTON-upon-TEES, a parish, in the south-western division of
STOCKTON ward, county palatine of DURHAM, comprising the
incorporated market-town and port of Stockton upon Tees, and
the townships of Hartburn and Preston upon Tees, and containing
5184 inhabitants, of which number, 5006 are in the town
of Stockton upon Tees, 20 miles (S. S. E.) from Durham, and
244 (N. by W.) from London. This place is of considerable antiquity,
and the discovery of a Roman coin, near the site of the
castle, has led to the conjecture that it was a Roman
station, but nothing farther to confirm this opinion is
recorded: it formed a part of the possessions of the see
of Durham at an early period, and the castle was occupied
by Hugh de Pudsey, Bishop of that diocese in
the reign of Richard I. His successor Philip de Poictou
entertained King John here in 1214, and the charter
granted by that monarch to the burgesses of Newcastle
bears date at Stockton. It continued to be the occasional
residence of the Bishops of Durham, and seems
to have escaped in a great measure the commotions
and border feuds which then agitated this part of England,
with the exception of an inroad of the Scots
in 1322, who plundered and burnt the town. At the
period of the parliamentary war the castle was taken
possession of by the royalists, some importance being
attached to its commanding the old passage of the Tees;
it was afterwards surrendered to the parliamentary
forces, and in 1645 was garrisoned by the Scots but
delivered by them to the English; in 1647 it was ordered
by the parliament to be dismantled, and about five
years afterwards its complete destruction was accomplished,
no part of the structure now remaining,
although the fosse may still be traced. The town is
said to have felt the shock of an earthquake in 1780,
and to have suffered severely from the overflowing of
the river in 1771, 1783, and 1822. It is situated on an
eminence on the northern bank of the Tees, and has
advanced rapidly in prosperity since the middle of the
seventeenth century, at which period it consisted principally
of mean hovels, the better houses being constructed
with "post and pile," and not one built of
brick. It is now one of the cleanest and handsomest
towns in the northern part of the kingdom: the main
street, which is about half a mile in length, is broad,
and contains some good houses, chiefly of brick, the
few of stone having been erected with the materials of
the dilapidated castle; from this street smaller ones
branch off towards the river, and on the western side of
the town a great number of new houses has been recently
built: the streets are well paved, and lighted with gas,
under the authority of an act of parliament passed in
1822. A handsome stone bridge crosses the river, which
was commenced in 1764, and completed in 1769> at an
expense of £8000, raised by subscription on shares; it
has five elliptical arches, the span of the central arch
being seventy-two feet, and its height from low water
mark twenty-three; an annuity of £ 90 per annum, with
£3 for every acre of land occupied by the road leading
to the bridge, was directed, by the act of parliament
under which it was constructed, to be paid to the Bishop
of Durham, as a compensation for the tolls of the ferry
which existed previously; land was purchased for the
bishop in lieu of this annuity, and the debt having been
paid off, the tolls ceased in 1820. The theatre, in Green
Dragon yard, Finkle-street, is a neat building. A Mechanics'
institute and library was established in 1824;
it contains upwards of three hundred volumes, with
apparatus for lecturing, and the members are increasing
annually in number: there is also a subscription
library and news-room. Races are held annually in
August, a week after those of York, on the Carrs, on
the opposite side of the river; and assemblies occasionally
in a room in the town hall.
The situation of Stockton, on a river navigable ten
miles above it, and within the same distance of the
sea, affords it many commercial advantages, and the increased
shipping, and amount of duties, evince the progressive
extension of its mercantile interests. The port
is a member of that of Newcastle upon Tyne; the dues
are the property of the bishop, and are held on lease
by the corporation, vessels from the cinque-ports being
exempted from the payment of them. Ships of large
size were formerly obliged to receive and unload their
cargoes at Portrack, a mile down the river, or at Cargo-
Fleet, or Cleveland Port, a mile lower on the Yorkshire
side; but, in 1808, a company was incorporated by act
of parliament, called the "Tees Navigation Company,
and a canal was cut from Portrack to the town, capable
of admitting vessels of three hundred tons'
burden, which has greatly benefited the trade of the
town, and amply repaid the shareholders; another act
was recently obtained for the extension of this canal to
Newport, a distance of nearly two miles. In 1815,
this port was made a bonding-port for certain goods;
its principal trade coastwise is with London, Hull,
Leith, Sunderland, &c., and comprises the exportation
of most articles of agricultural produce, linen and
worsted yarn, and more particularly lead, of which
many hundred tons, brought chiefly from Yorkshire
and the borders of Durham and Northumberland, are
annually shipped; it also forms the chief article of
exportation in its foreign trade, which is with the Baltic,
Holland, Hamburgh, and the British and American
colonies, whence it receives in return materials for
ship-building, timber for other purposes, tallow, &c.
Two shipping companies in the London, and two in
the foreign, trade have been established. The principal
branches of manufacture are those connected with
the shipping, there being two ship-builders' yards,
five manufactories for sail-cloth, two rope-walks, two
iron-foundries, and a block and pump manufactory;
there are also three breweries, some corn-mills, a mill
for spinning yarn, and one for worsted. The fishery
of the Tees was formerly a great source of prosperity
to the town, but it has considerably declined;
eastward of the bridge it belongs to the bishop, but is
open to poor fishermen under certain regulations. A
rail-road from Witton Park and other collieries, by
Darlington, to this place, was constructed in 1825, and
is productive of great advantage: by a recent act of
parliament the line has been extended to Middlesbro',
about four miles lower down the river, where commodious
staiths have been erected. On the decline
of Hartlepool, in 1680, Stockton was selected as the
port for the establishment of the principal officers
of the customs, and three legal, or free, quays were
appointed. The custom-house, a plain commodious
building, was erected, in 1730, by the corporation, on
the site of the old building; the out-stations are Hartlepool
and Seaton. The market, granted by Bishop
Anthony Beck, in 1310, is on Wednesday and Saturday,
and is well attended; and the shambles, erected in 1825,
in front of the town hall, form a neat range of enclosed
brick buildings; a handsome stone column, of the Doric
order, thirty-three feet high, stands in the centre of the
market-place. Fairs are held on the last Wednesday
before the 13th of May, and the 23rd of November,
which are general and statute fairs, and there are cattle
fairs on the last Wednesday in every month.
The period at which Stockton was incorporated is
uncertain, but is supposed to be about the commencement
of the thirteenth century; the last charter was
granted by Bishop Cosin, in 1666. The corporation
consists of a mayor and an indefinite number of aldermen
and burgesses, assisted by a recorder, steward of
the borough court, town serjeant, and inferior officers.
The mayor, who must be an admitted burgess, is chosen
annually, at a court leet held on the first Tuesday
after the 2Qth of September, by a majority of burgesses;
there is no specific nomination of aldermen, but the
burgesses who have served the office of mayor are so
denominated. The mayor is a justice of the peace;
his jurisdiction on the river, under the bishop, empowers
him to levy a duty on all vessels entering the harbour;
it extends from the bar to the Wathstead, betwixt Aislaby
and Middleton St. George. The town comprises
two constablewicks, one called the Borough, including
that part which is wholly freehold, and the other called
the Town, consisting of that portion which is held by copy
of court roll under the Bishop of Durham; they form
however, but one township, uniting in the maintenance
of the poor. The bishop is lord of the borough, and
holds courts leet and baron by his steward, who is generally
the recorder; suits of trespass and debts under
40s. are cognizable by these courts, the jurisdiction of
which is limited to the borough. A halmote court is
also held twice a year, in which similar causes are tried
as in the court baron. Petty sessions for Stockton
ward are holden here. The municipal business is transacted
in the town hall, built in 1735, and enlarged in
1744: it stands nearly in the centre of the main street,
and is a handsome quadrangular brick building, surmounted
by a light clock-tower and a spire, with a
piazza stretching along the lower story on its north
side; the upper part of the building contains a courtroom,
an assembly-room, and other apartments, and
the lower part is disposed in shops, &c.
Stockton was formerly a chapelry in the parish of
Norton, from which it was separated by an act of parliament
obtained in 1713, and constituted a distinct
parish. The living is a vicarage not in charge, in the
archdeaconry and diocese of Durham, and in the patronage
of the Bishop of Durham. The ancient chapel, supposed
to have been built about the year 1237, was taken
down, and the building of the present church was
completed in 1712, at an expense of about & 1600: it
is dedicated to St. Thomas, and is a neat and commodious
edifice of brick, with a tower, eighty feet high, at
the western end; in the vestry-room is a small library,
chiefly of theological works. There are places of worship
for Particular Baptists, the Society of Friends,
Independents, Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists, Unitarians,
and Roman Catholics, several of which have
Sunday schools attached. A charity school was founded,
in 1721, by subscription; and since that period has
been supported by various benefactions, which have been
chiefly laid out in the purchase of land, aided by voluntary
contributions. The building, comprising separate
school-rooms for the boys and the girls, and a
dwelling-house for the master and the mistress, was
erected in 1786, George Browne, Esq. having given
£ 1000 for that purpose; twenty boys and twenty
girls are clothed, and upwards of two hundred bojs
and sixty girls instructed, in this establishment. A
school of industry for girls, instituted in 1803, is supported
by voluntary subscription; it affords instruction
to about forty children. In 1785, a room for a
grammar school was erected by subscription; it possesses
no endowment, but the corporation give a small
annual stipend towards its support. Stockton, in conjunction
with Norton, is entitled to a scholarship at
Brasenose College, Oxford, with an endowment of £8
per annum, founded by Dr. Claymond, formerly vicar
of Norton. The almshouses were originally erected
about the year 1682, and were rebuilt in 1816, from
a bequest of £3000 by George Browne, Esq.; they con-
tain eighteen apartments, in which thirty-six poor persons
are lodged, who are appointed by the overseers;
and a committee for managing the affairs of the poor,
and have a small endowment; there are some other trifling
bequests for the benefit of the poor. The dispensary,
founded in 1792, and revived in 1815, occupies a
part of the workhouse. The savings' bank, established
in 1815, is held in a room in the almshouses. There
are several benefit societies in the town. Stockton is
the birthplace of Joseph Ritson, a refined critic, and
author of "Ancient Songs and Metrical Romances"
of Brass Crosby, Lord Mayor of London at the period
of the commotions occasioned by the prosecution of
Wilkes, who was committed to the Tower for refusing
to allow a warrant, issued by the Speaker of the House
of Commons, to be executed in the city; and of Joseph
Reed, a dramatic poet.