Norton, also known as Norton-on-Tees, is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England. The suburbs of Roseworth and Ragworth are notable areas of the town. Billingham Beck is to the east of the town, the beck flows to the south-east. The town also contains the areas of

Wolviston Wolviston is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees (borough), Stockton-on-Tees and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census w ...

and Wynyard which are to the north of the town and are wards of the town. The town had a population of 20,829 in the 2011 Census. *6,286 for *7,843 for *6,700 for The area's centre dates back to at least the Anglo-Saxon period. It was the centre of an

ancient 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

that once included the

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

of Stockton, which became a separate parish in 1713.

History

In 1982, the chance discovery of human bones by school children playing on a rope swing near the Mill Lane area of the town, led to the unearthing of an Anglo-Saxon

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

cemetery. Excavations in 1984 revealed 120 burials (117 inhumations and 3

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

s) in graves that contained assorted personal items such as spears, belt buckles and brooches. The remains and objects collected suggest the site was dated to around AD 540–610. To the south end of High Street, the Victoria Jubilee Memorial Cross stands where the market place was once situated. The red sandstone Anglian style cross commemorates Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Further along, and on the opposite side of the High Street are the Fox

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable organization, charitable public housing, housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the povert ...

, also founded in 1897 at the bequest of local brewer John Henry Fox. Norton was an ancient parish, which also included the chapelry of Stockton, which became a separate parish in 1713. Most of the parish of Norton, including the main built-up area, was absorbed into the

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

and parish of Stockton in 1913. A residual

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Norton, covering just the more rural western part of the old parish, continued to exist until 1 April 1968 when it was abolished and absorbed into the County Borough of Teesside along with Stockton and other areas. In 1961 the parish had a population of 416. It is now in the

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

of Stockton-on-Tees.

Geography

At the north end of Norton centre there is a large

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

with a duckpond, surrounded by mostly Georgian houses and cottages. The ancient parish church of St. Mary the Virgin stands on the west side of the village Green. Norton's wide and tree-lined

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

has a number of shops, hairdressers,

boutiques A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French language, French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek wikt:ἀποθήκη, ἀποθήκη (''apothēkē'') "storehouse ...

, cafés, a library, photographic studio and a traditional fish & chips shop, as well as a mixture of 18th century and 19th century townhouses, cottages and modern

apartments An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

. Away from the village lie the housing estates of Albany, Glebe, Crooksbarn and Norton Grange (originally Blue Hall).

Demographics

St Mary's Church

St Mary the Virgin, the ancient parish church that stands on the village green, is the only cruciform Anglo-Saxon church in northern England. Its crossing tower with eight triangular head windows has a

battlement A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

ed top of later date, and there is a 14th-century

effigy An effigy is a sculptural representation, often life-size, of a specific person or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain ...

of a knight in

chainmail Mail (sometimes spelled maille and, since the 18th century, colloquially referred to as chain mail, chainmail or chain-mail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common milita ...

. Residing under the church floor there is claimed to be an escape tunnel used by the Saxons and priests when in danger, though it is more probably a drainage culvert. The tunnel leads under the church floor and Norton Green, eventually surfacing in the Albany housing estate. The church floor was recently renovated and Saxon remains and artefacts were discovered in the tunnel entrance. St Mary's was until the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

a Catholic church – which is true of all English churches pre-dating the Reformation. The grave of John Walker, the inventor of friction matches, is located in the churchyard. Norton's Catholic population now worship at St Joseph's in Darlington Lane. The church opened in 1933 and is part of the St Hilda Partnership within the Hexham and Newcastle Diocese.

Red House School

Located in the town is Red House School, an independent school established in 1929. Adjacent to St. Mary's Church is Red House Nursery & Infant School, which combines state of the art modern buildings with classrooms in the former Old Vicarage. On the opposite side of the village green resides Red House Preparatory and Main School. In May 2012, the school announced its intention to relocate to nearby Wynyard Park stating that it had outgrown its existing site in Norton. This, however, did not occur as the school decided to improve the existing site.

Sport

The Norton (Teesside) Sports Complex is situated on Station Road and dates back to 1847 when it was the home of Norton Cricket Club. At the club's Centenary Dinner in 1947, the members decided to buy the ground (and a further twelve acres surrounding it) with a view to developing it into one of the finest sports complexes in the north of England. During the past few decades further land was acquired and now as well as being home to Norton Cricket Club (which play in the NYSD cricket premier league). The complex is also home to the Billingham Synthonia Football Club and is now again home to Norton & Stockton Ancients Football Club, reinstated in 2019 having folded 3 years previously in 2016.

Notable events

6 August 1856, John Warner and Sons cast the first bell for

Big Ben Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, and, by extension, for the clock tower itself, which stands at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. Originally named the Clock Tower, it ...

, but it cracked beyond repair while being tested at

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

. Another bell was later recast at the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

in London. 14 July 1977,

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

passed through Norton by car, in front of spectators during her

Silver Jubilee Silver Jubilee marks a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, the 25th year of a monarch's reign or anything that has completed or is entering a 25-year mark. Royal Silver Jubilees since 1750 Note: This ...

royal visit to the region. 11 November 2006, '' Dragon's Den'' businessman Duncan Bannatyne (who owned a house on the High Street at the time, later moving to nearby Wynyard) was married at St Mary's Church in Norton. Celebrities at the ceremony included Anna Ryder Richardson, Cherie Lunghi, Gary McCausland, Dragons' Den presenter Evan Davis and fellow Dragons Theo Paphitis, Richard Farleigh,

Simon Woodroffe Simon Woodroffe (born 14 February 1952) is a British entrepreneur and business speaker, known as the founder of YO! Sushi and Yotel. He appeared as an investor on the first series of BBC's '' Dragons' Den''. Woodroffe's first YO! Sushi restaur ...

and

Deborah Meaden Deborah Sonia Meaden FRSA (born 11 February 1959) is a British businessperson and TV personality who ran a multimillion-pound family holiday business, before completing a management buyout. She is best known for her appearances as a 'Dragon' on ...

Image gallery

Norton Village Green - June 2012.JPG, Village Green File:Fox almshouses, Norton village, County Durham.jpg, Fox Almshouses File:Victoria Diamond Jubilee Memorial Cross, Norton, Stockton on Tees.jpg, 1897 Jubilee Memorial Cross File:Norton Road Methodist Church - geograph.org.uk - 657668.jpg, Methodist Church

Notable people from Norton

* Geoff Deehan – television and film producer * Thomas Jefferson Hogg – barrister and writer * Stevie Lynn – professional wrestler * Christopher Middleton – navigator * Gary Pallister – professional footballer with Middlesbrough, Manchester United, and England *

Franc Roddam Francis George Franc Roddam (born 29 April 1946) is an English film director, businessman, screenwriter, television producer and publisher, best known as the creator of ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'' and ''Masterchef'' and as the director of ''Quadrop ...

– film director *Dean Stobbart – creator of the

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

cartoon channel 442oons *Rear-Admiral Polycarpus Taylor * David Townsend – Test cricketer * Peter Townsend – cricketer * John Walker (1781–1859) – inventor of the friction match, buried in the grounds of St Mary's Church, Norton * Macaulay Langstaff – footballer for

Notts County FC Notts County Football Club is a professional football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football, following promotion from the National League in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 1862 ...

and

National League (division) The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National L ...

record goal scorer

References

External links

{{authority control Places in the Tees Valley Towns in County Durham Former civil parishes in County Durham Stockton-on-Tees