Castle Ward - East Division

Cramlington Parochial Chapelry

This chapelry, forming a portion of the parish of St. Andrew, Newcastle, is bounded on the north by Horton, on the west by Stannington, on the south by Long Benton, and on the east by Earsdon, and comprises an area of 3,492 acres. The number of its inhabitants in 1801, was 271; in 1811, 303; in 1821, 330; in 1831, 931; in 1841, 2,634; and in 1851, it had increased to 3,367 souls. Its rateable value is £9,018. 10s. The great and rapid increase of population observable in this chapelry, is owing to the opening of coal mines, which are worked by Humble, Lamb, and Co., and Joseph Lamb and Co., the former working those on the property of the late Thomas Taylor, Esq. and the latter the East Cramlington Colliery. The principal landowners are Sir M.W. Ridley, Bart., H.S. Storey, Esq., and Hugh Taylor, Esq. Cramlington was formerly held under the barony of Gaugy, by a family who bore the local name, but on the failure of the male line, in the latter part of the reign of Henry V it was transferred by marriage to the Lawsons, and subsequently to the Cholmleys, and Radcliffes, becoming ultimately the property of the present proprietors.

THE VILLAGE of Cramlington is pleasantly situated on a fertile and gentle elevation, commanding beautiful and extensive views of the surrounding country, and the German Ocean. It is distant about eight and a half miles north-east from Newcastle. THE CHAPEL is a neat edifice, dedicated to St. Nicholas. The living is a perpetual curacy in the archdeaconry of Northumberland and deanery of Newcastle, gross income, £75. The tithes were commuted in 1839; aggregate amount of the Bishop of Carlisle's, £266 13s. 4d.; of the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle's, £266 13s. 4d.; and of the impropriator, £102. Patron, Sir M.W. Ridley, Bart.; incumbent, the Rev. Robert Greenwood. This village possesses two day schools, one of which, the "Cramlington National School for Girls," with the teacher's house adjoining, was erected at the sole expense of Mrs. Storey, of Arcot Hall, who, also, endowed the school with an income of £30 per annum. It was opened in 1853. Margaret McKenzie, teacher.

Here is CRAMLINGTON HALL, the seat of Hugh Taylor, Esq., and ARCOT HALL, the residence of Henry Shum Storey, Esq.

CRAMLINGTON COLLIERY, or, some call it, East Cramlington Colliery, is a considerable collection of cottages, inhabited principally by the workmen employed in and about the colliery from which the place derives its name. It is situated contiguous to the boundary of Seaton Delaval, and possesses two small chapels, belonging, respectively, to the Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists. There is also a day school, conducted by Mr. David Stokoe.

CRAMLINGTON HIGH PIT is a colliery hamlet, situated about a mile east of the village of Cramlington. WEST CRAMLINGTON COLLIERY is another hamlet similar to the one just mentioned. In 1850, two small chapels were erected here by the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists. A school for the education of the colliery children was opened here in 1849. The present building not being sufficiently commodious for the number of pupils in attendance, it is purposed, by John Walker, Esq. of Seaton Burn, and the other owners of the colliery, to erect a more suitable school-room during the present year. William Hornsby and Jane Robson, teachers.

CHARITY. - Robert Storey, who died in August, 1822, left £100 to be laid out on government security, on trust that the dividends should be paid to the chaplain and churchwardens of the chapelry, for the benefit and relief of the poorest or least able to work, of the necessitous inhabitants of the village of Cramlington or precincts thereof, male and female, belonging to the chapelry of Cramlington.

 

William Whellan & Co., History of Northumberland, 1855


10 January 2007

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