DARLINGTON, a chapelry (parochial), in the south,
eastern division of DARLINGTON ward, county palatine
of DURHAM, comprising the market-town of Darlington,
the townships of Archdeacon-Newton, Blackwell, and
Cockerton, and containing 6551 inhabitants, of which
number, 5750 are in the town of Darlington, 18
miles (S.) from Durham, and 236 (N. N. W.) from
London, on the great north road. The name, which is
of Saxon etymology, is conjectural only; by some it is
considered to denote the darling, or favourite town; according
to others, who assume Dare as the ancient
name of the river Skerne, and ing to signify a meadow,
Dare-ing-tun was its appellation, to signify the town in
the meadows of the Dare. About the end of the ninth
century, Darlington, with its dependencies, was given to
St. Cuthbert, under license from Ethelred, by Seir, son of
Ulphus; and in 10 82 it became the asylum of the secular
clergy, who had been driven from Durham abbey by
Bishop Carilepho. About 1164, a mansion-house was
erected here by Bishop Pudsey, in which several of his
successors resided; the manor-house was subsequently
purchased of one of the bishops of Durham, under an
act for the redemption of the land tax, and has been
converted into a workhouse. From this place, in 1291,
Edward I. issued an order to his chief military
tenants in the northern counties, to proceed to the war
in Scotland. In the reign of Edward III. a skirmish
between Archibald, Earl Douglas, and a band of Englishmen,
took place here, and proved fatal to many of the latter.
In 1504, the Princess Margaret, then betrothed to
James of Scotland, slept at the manor-house on her
journey northward; and in 1640 the king's troops
rested here, when retreating before the Covenanters,
after the battle of Stellahaugh, and were well supplied
with provisions under the direction of the Earl of
Stafford.
The town is situated in a rich grazing district, on
the eastern declivity of an eminence, at the base of
which flows the river Skerne, in its course to the Tees,
and is crossed by a bridge of three arches; it is built
in the form of a square, with streets leading therefrom
in different directions; the houses in general are modern;
several new streets have been formed under an
act of parliament obtained in 1823, pursuant to which
the town was lighted with oil. From the favourable
nature of the surrounding country for the pasturage of
sheep, of which there was formerly a considerable number,
the Leicestershire breed having been recently introduced,
Darlington was formerly noted for the manufacture
of tammies, camblets, moreens, harrateens, &c.;
to this succeeded the manufacture of linen, which also
has much declined. There are mills for spinning wool
and flax, and for grinding optical glasses, also an extensive
worsted-mill, and two iron-foundries; the principal
employment of the labouring class consists in
combing wool, and in other business connected with
the mills. The worsted-yarn is used for Brussels and
other carpets, which are manufactured here, as well as
for the finest imitation Indian shawls. Within half a
mile of the town is the main line of a rail-road, which
has been constructed from Wilton Park colliery to
Stockton, pursuant to an act of parliament obtained in
1821, and is about twenty-five miles in length: coal,
lime, and other minerals, are conveyed on it at the rate
of three halfpence per ton, and merchandise at three
pence per ton, per mile: the line is worked by two
fixed locomotive engines, working four inclined planes
half a mile in length. On this road coaches pass daily,
and are charged at the rate of threepence per mile: it
was completed in September, 1825, at the total expense
of £125,000, and is the joint property of sixty shareholders.
A market for corn is held every Monday,
and one for cattle and sheep on every alternate Monday;
there are general and cattle fairs on the first Monday
in March, Easter-Monday, Whit-Monday, and a
fortnight after; 011 the 9th of November for horses, and
10th for horned cattle and sheep; 13th for hogs, and
23d a hiring and general fair; also on the second Monday
after, a fair for cattle, horses, and sheep. The markethouse
was erected at the expense of Lady Brown.
The government of the town is vested in a bailiff appointed
by the Bishop of Durham, but he possesses no
magisterial authority. the town is divided into four
constableries, called the Borough, Bondgate, Prebend-row,
Oxenhall, or Oxon le Field: constables for the borough
are chosen by house row at the May-day court. The
tolls are held for three lives under the see of Durham,
by a few respectable inhabitants, who in 1808 rebuilt
the town-hall, within which are a house of correction,
dispensary, and public library, and near it the shambles,
which were erected in 1815. Here the county magistrates
hold a petty session every alternate Monday. The
old Tolbooth was taken down and rebuilt in 1807.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Durham, endowed with £ 1000 private
benefaction, £ 400 royal bounty, and £ 900 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of the Marquis of
Cleveland. The church was erected about 1160, by
Bishop Pudsey, and dedicated to St. Cuthbert; it was
formerly collegiate, and had four chantries, besides the
free chapel of Badelfielde, or Battlefield, the ecclesiastical
body then consisting of a dean, who held a prebend,
and four other prebendaries; this society was dissolved
in 1550, and the property became vested in the Crown,
but at present one part is held by the Marquis of Cleveland,
subject to a crown rental, and the remainder distributed
amongst other individuals. The church, dedicated
to St. Cuthbert, is an elegant cruciform structure
in the early English style, having a square embattled
tower which stands on four arches, ornamented with the
nail-head mouldings, and springing from light fluted
columns with richly adorned capitals; it rises from the
intersection, and is surmounted by a light spire, the
upper part of which, having sustained some injury from
lightning on the 17th of July, 1750, was taken down and
rebuilt: on each side of the nave is a  range of dissimilar
columns supporting pointed arches, which separate it
from the aisles; a lofty arch leads from the nave to the
chancel, and the southern portion of the transept is
highly ornamented. There are places of worship for
Particular Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents,
and Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists. A new Roman
Catholic chapel, dedicated to St. Augustine, was opened
in 1827. A free grammar school, endowed by charter of
Elizabeth,, dated June 15th, 1567, with lands formerly belonging
to the chantry established by Robert Marshall,
for a master and an usher, is under the superintendence
of the four churchwardens of the town, and its annual
revenue is upwards of £240. The Blue-coat charity
school, founded principally by means of a benefaction
by Dame Mary Calverly, of Eryholme, amounting to
£1000, made by indenture dated 19th of April, 1715,
now possesses funded property to the value of £ 1392. 9.
three per cent, consols., which yields an annual income
of £ 41. 15. 4. A British school, for an unlimited number
of boys and one hundred girls, is supported by the Society
of Friends, Independents, and Wesleyan Methodists;
and a National school affords instruction to about
one hundred and fifty boys and one hundred girls.
There is also an infant school, supported by Mr. James
Backhouse, a member of the Society of Friends, in
which the children pay the weekly sum of twopence. In
1631, Francis Forster, of this town, gave, by indenture
dated 9th of March, to trustees, two houses in Northgate,
as almshouses for six poor men, or women, natives of this
place; and in 1641 he gave a field, the rent of which was
to be distributed among the poorest persons who had
resided three years in the town. In. 1636, a bequest in
land was made by James Bellasis, Esq., of Owton, for
the establishment of a linen and woollen manufactory,
for the benefit of the poor of the town and neighbourhood,
which was placed under the sviperintendence of
the principal persons in the borough, but this benefaction
has been lost, and the rent of the land thus given withheld
from the poor ever since 1810. William Middleton,
of Blackwall, gave a field of six acres, now let for £ 18 per
annum, to the churchwardens and overseers in trust for
apprenticing poor boys. An almshouse was founded by
Mrs. Mary Pease, a member of the Society of Friends,
in 1820, for four poor widows, each to be at least of
the age of fifty, and not belonging to that society;
and Richard Lindley, of Darlington, bequeathed £350,
to be invested, and the proceeds thereof to be distributed
annually amongst the poor, with a similar restriction.
There are several minor charities, in small sums and
donations of bread, for the relief of the necessitous. A
dispensary was established in 1809, and is supported by
voluntary contributions; and a savings  bank in 1817, the
deposits in which, in 1827, amounted to £36,000. A
mechanics  institute and library were commenced in 1825,
under the patronage of the Earl of Darlington, J. G.
Lambton, Esq., (now Lord Durham,) and the Hon. W.
J, F. V. Powlet: the collection of books consists of three
hundred volumes. A society for the relief of poor lyingin
women was established in 1822.
At Oxen-hall are four celebrated circular pools, called
Hell-Kettles; the diameter of the three larger ones is
about thirty-eight yards each, and their respective depths
nineteen feet and a half, seventeen, and fourteen: the
fourth is twenty-eight feet in diameter, and five feet and
a hah0 deep; they are always brim full, and although
nearly on a level with the Tees, are unaffected by its flood
or fall, excepting the smallest, which is now nearly dry:
the water is quite cold; it is said to be impregnated with
sulphur, and not to mix with milk or soap. Amidst
various conjectures as to their formation, the generally
received opinion is that they were originally marl pits.
A sulphureous spring, discovered in 1805, in the vicinity
of the town, is of reputed efficacy in scorbutic disorders,
and much resorted to. Mr. John Kendrew, the inventor
and patentee of machinery for spinning flax, hemp, &c.,
also of a machine for grinding and polishing optical
glasses, formerly resided here; and the Grange, a neat
brick mansion about a mile southward, was the residence
of Mr. George Allan, a barrister, who collected very extensive
historical and topographical notes, designed to
furnish a history of this county, which are now in the
possession of John Allan, Esq., of Blackwell: he had
also a valuable museum of coins, medals, and paintings,
with various other natural curiosities, and a printingpress,
whence issued sortie of Pennant's publications,
which are now extremely rare, and various other works.
Darlington confers the title of earl on the Marquis of
Cleveland.