Little Stainton is a village in the borough of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

and the

ceremonial county The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, England. It is a township in the parish of

Bishopton, County Durham Bishopton is a village in the borough of Darlington and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated to the west of Stockton-on-Tees. It originated as a farming community with rows of cottages and several farms forming a l ...

, situated a few miles west of

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

. From the Census 2011 the population of Little Stainton has included that of

Great Stainton Great Stainton is a village in the borough of Darlington and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated to the north of Darlington, and to the west of Stockton-on-Tees. Elstob is a hamlet, just north of Great Stainton, which ...

and was 193. It is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

, consisting of houses and farms that have no local service facilities. On one side of the street, a stream—Bishopton Beck—runs along the bottom of the gardens.

History

It is rumoured that the last witch in England was to be hanged in Little Stainton. For much of its history Little Stainton was part of the parish of Bishopston. This means that it did not have its own parish church and instead the inhabitants would have journeyed to Bishopston to attend religious services. In the medieval period (1066 to 1540) Little Stainton was larger than it is now. The sites of some of the buildings can still be seen as earthworks. Although, the remains are excellent, some were destroyed in 1991–2. Archaeologists recorded some medieval pottery on the site after the ploughing. In the area around Manor Farm a number of fragments of 10th and 11th century pottery have also been discovered. These suggest that the village probably had an Anglo-Saxon origin; a possibility also reflected in its name: 'Stainton' means 'stoney farm' in Old English. Sadly little else is known about the history of this area. In the post-medieval period it remained mainly an agricultural area although in the 19th century there was a large brick and tile works Until around 1960, Little Stainton consisted of a group of individual farms, to which was added a set of four

council house A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...

s with agricultural dwelling restrictions. In the late 1980s, planning permission was granted for a series of private dwellings that have transformed Little Stainton into a rural

agglomeration Agglomeration may refer to: * Urban agglomeration, in standard English * Megalopolis, in Chinese English, as defined in China's ''Standard for basic terminology of urban planning'' (GB/T 50280—98). Also known as " city cluster". * Economies of ag ...

of dwellings, within which the farms now constitute a minority. Although much of the land around the dwellings is owned by the farms, many of the private dwellings have a substantial amount of land, ranging from to about . File:Village street, Little Stainton - geograph.org.uk - 167531.jpg, The upper street

References

External links

Villages in County Durham Places in the Borough of Darlington Places in the Tees Valley {{Durham-geo-stub