MIDDLEHAM (BISHOP'S), a parish in the northeastern
division of STOCKTON ward, county palatine of
DURHAM, comprising the townships of Bishop's Middleham,
Cornforth, Garmondsway-Moor, Mainsforth, and
Thrislington, and containing 827 inhabitants, of which
number, 404 are in the township of Bishop's Middleham,
9 miles (S. S. E.) from Durham. The living is a
vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Durham,
rated in the king's books at £4. 19. 2., and in the patronage
of the Crown. The church is dedicated to St.
Michael. The village is built on the sides of two hills
ascending from a deep vale, through which the road
runs, and abounding in limestone. At Cornforth are
paper-mills and tile-kilns. A halmote court for the
manor is held once in six months, at Middleham, Cornforth,
and Sedgefield, alternately, for the recovery of
debts -under 40s. There is a school-room, built by subscription
in 1770, but it is not endowed. The castle
was one of the principal residences of the Bishops of
Durham, from the Conquest till the end of the fourteenth
century: it stood on a lofty eminence, where its
site may still be traced by the foundations and some
fragments of masonry; an old barn, on the opposite
side of the road, is supposed to have been part of the
out-offices.