Staindrop is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

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 situated approximately north east of

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automato ...

, on the

A688 road The A688 is a road in County Durham in North East England. It begins at the junction with the A67 road in Barnard Castle and continues in a north easterly direction for , terminating at the A181 to the east of Durham City. Route The road pass ...

. According to the 2011 UK Census the population was 1,310, this includes the hamlets of

Cleatlam Cleatlam is a village in County Durham, in England. At the 2011 Census, the population was less than 100. Information is now maintained under the parish of Staindrop Staindrop is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is s ...

and Killerby.

History

Around the year 1018, King Canute gave the manors of Raby and Staindrop to

Durham Priory Durham Priory was a Benedictine priory associated with Durham Cathedral, in Durham in the north-east of England. Its head was the Prior of Durham. It was founded in 1083 as a Roman Catholic monastery, but after Dissolution of the Monasteries ...

. In 1131 Prior Algar granted the manor to an Anglo-Saxon named Dolfin "son of Uhtred", the earliest recorded direct male ancestor of the great

Neville family The Neville or Nevill family (originally FitzMaldred) is a noble house of early medieval origin, which was a leading force in English politics in the later Middle Ages. The family became one of the two major powers in northern England and played ...

which built as their seat Raby Castle in the north part of the manor. The grant was possibly merely a confirmation of the holding by this family from before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...

of 1066. When doing homage to the Prior for his holding he reserved his homage to the kings of England and of Scotland and to the

Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...

and was "no doubt a man of consequence", probably an aristocratic Northumbrian of high birth. In February 1203-4 King John confirmed to the prior and convent all their privileges and vast possessions, including "Staindrop and Staindropshire with the church".

Notable buildings

Perhaps the most famous building in Staindrop is that of

Raby Castle Raby Castle () is a medieval castle located near Staindrop in County Durham, England, among of deer park. It was built by John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby, between approximately 1367 and 1390. Cecily Neville, the mother of the Kings Ed ...

, a medieval castle surrounded by 200 acres of deer park, situated north of the village, it was built in the late 14th century by

John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville, (c.1337 – 17 October 1388) was an English peer, naval commander, and soldier. Origins He was born between 1337 and 1340 at Raby Castle, County Durham, the eldest son of Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville de ...

and remains a private home, the seat of the Vane family, the Barons Barnard. Raby Old Lodge dates back to the 14th century, and was once an outpost of Raby Castle, it was extensively altered between 1897-1899, it is now used as holiday accommodation. Other buildings and historic features of note include Scarth Hall, built as the village hall in 1875 and used during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to provide

NAAFI The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs ...

facilities to soldiers stationed in Staindrop, it is now used as a community hub after undergoing refurbishment in 2016. Snotterton Hall was a former fortified manor house dating back to the 15th century, demolished in 1831 and now rebuilt as a farmhouse.

Religion

The

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

of St Mary (formerly dedicated to St. Gregory) is

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

. The first church on the site is recorded as having been built in the 8th century (771AD) and the church has been extended and remodelled across the centuries. The church contains

monuments A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

including effigies of members of the

, it underwent restoration around 1849. A

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

chapel also stood from 1868 until the 1970s.

Governance

Staindrop was part of the local government district of

Teesdale Teesdale is a dale, or valley, in Northern England. The dale is in the River Tees’s drainage basin, most water flows stem from or converge into said river, including the Skerne and Leven. Upper Teesdale, more commonly just Teesdale, falls b ...

from 1974 before it was abolished as part of the

2009 structural changes to local government in England Structural changes to local government in England were effected on 1 April 2009, whereby a number of new unitary authorities were created in parts of the country which previously operated a "two-tier" system of counties and districts. In five s ...

. For the purposes of Durham County Council elections, the village is located in the Barnard Castle East ward. The village lies within the

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surro ...

parliamentary constituency, which is under the control of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. The current Member of Parliament, since the 2019 general election, is

Dehenna Davison Dehenna Sheridan Davison (; born 27 July 1993) is a British Conservative Party politician and broadcaster serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up since September 2022. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for ...

Community and culture

The village has two schools, Staindrop Church of England

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

with approximately to 170 pupils aged 3–11, and Staindrop Academy, a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

with over 500 pupils aged 11–16, which also houses a community gym, opened in 2020. The last remaining

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, ''The Wheatsheaf'' is a former

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...

, former pubs include ''The Black Swan'', and ''The Royal Oak''. Other amenities in the village include a

SPAR SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...

convenience store, a newsagent housing the local post office, tea rooms, hairdressers and several holiday cottages. The Staindrop Carnival, an annual parade and

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

, celebrated its centenary in 2020. The village

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team, Staindrop F.C. play in the Darlington Sunday invitation league, an affiliate of the

Durham County Football Association The Durham County Football Association (also simply known as the Durham FA) is the governing body of football in the historic county of Durham. The Durham FA was founded on 25 March 1883 and is the governing body for football in Durham from gras ...

in 2020-2021 they completed a famous double by winning the Alan Rusk trophy as well as the league cup. Raby Castle

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

Club play in the Darlington & District Cricket League A, having remained unbeaten and winning the league title in the 2019 season.

Notable people

The surveyor

Jeremiah Dixon Jeremiah Dixon FRS (27 July 1733 – 22 January 1779) was an English surveyor and astronomer who is best known for his work with Charles Mason, from 1763 to 1767, in determining what was later called the Mason–Dixon line. Early life and ...

, who with

Charles Mason Charles Mason (April 1728 Mason–Dixon line The Mason–Dixon line, also called the Mason and Dixon line or Mason's and Dixon's line, is a demarcation line separating four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia (part of Virginia ...

in North America, is buried in Staindrop. His unmarked grave is in the Quaker burial ground adjoining the old

Friends' Meeting House A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held. Typically, Friends meeting houses are simple and resemble local residential buildings. Steeples, spires, and ...

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

novel ''

Mason & Dixon ''Mason & Dixon'' is a postmodernist novel by American author Thomas Pynchon, published in 1997. It presents a fictionalized account of the collaboration between Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in their astronomical and surveying exploits in th ...

'' mentions Staindrop as containing Jeremiah Dixon's favourite public house. * Birthplace of Charles Bungay Fawcett, on 25 August 1883 * Birthplace of Charles Wilbraham Watson Ford, on 17 July 1896 * Major William Kemp Trotter, a former Deputy Lieutenant of County Durham, and his wife Mary Holcroft

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in County Durham Civil parishes in County Durham Burial sites of the House of Neville