408

ALSTON-HALTWHISTLE, &c.

bridge. The surrounding country is bleak and desolate. In the vicinity are rich and extensive lead mines, belonging to Greenwich hospital. Eleven and a quarter miles from Alston is Haltwhistle (Northumberland), on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (see p. 266), an ancient town containing two old border towers, a church, adorned with old monuments, and a remarkable oval mound, called Castle Banks, in the centre of which is a fine spring. Two and a half miles from Haltwhistle is Fetherstone Castle, a noble edifice belonging to J. G. F. Wallace, Esq.; and about three miles north-west of the town are the remains of Thirlwall Castle, formerly one of the boundary fortresses between England and Scotland.

CXL. LONDON TO SUNDERLAND BY BOROUGHBRIDGE, THIRSK, YARM, AND STOCKTON, 268 Miles.

* Guisborough was the first place in England where alum-works were erected. Here are the ruins of an abbey which was once the burial-place of the nobility of the surrounding country. One mile south-east is a mineral spring. Four miles north-west is a lofty hill, commanding a very extensive prospect; and four miles south-west is Roseberry Topping, a peaked mountain, 1022 feet high, which also commands fine views. The country around Guisborough is very beautiful. Three miles distant are Wilton Castle (Sir John H. Lowther, Bart.) and Skelton Castle, near which is Upleatham Hall. Five miles distant is Kirkleatham Hall, surrounded by tasteful grounds. Near the hall is Turner's Hospital, founded, in 1676, by Sir W. Turner for 40 poor people. In Kirkleatham church is a splendid mausoleum. Beyond, is Marsk Hall, Earl of Zetland. Seven miles from Guisborough are Redcar and Coatham, two small villages much frequented for sea-bathing. The sands extend eight miles.

410

CXLI. LONDON TO TYNEMOUTH BY DURHAM, SUNDERLAND,
AND SOUTH AND NORTH SHIELDS, 280 Miles.

YARM stands on a narrow neck of land, washed on three sides by the river Tees. Owing to the extreme lowness of its situation, it has suffered severely by inundations. The town carries on a small trade in corn, bacon, &c. The church has a fine stained glass window. Pop. of par. 1851, 1647.

STOCKTON is situated on the left bank of the Tees. It is 242 miles from the General Post-Office, London, by the coach road through Barnet, Biggleswade, Stamford, &c., and 276 miles by railway through Rugby, Leicester, Derby, York, and Darlington. It is one of the handsomest and cleanest towns in the north of England. The bishops of Durham had, from an early period, a residence here, where Bishop Morton took refuge when the army of Charles I. was defeated by the Scots in the skirmish at Newburn, (A.D. 1640.) It was demolished by order of the Parliament in 1652. The traces of the moat and embankment still mark the site. Stockton possesses several churches, chapels, and meeting-houses, a town-hall, custom-house, a mechanics' institution, grammar, blue-coat, charity, and national schools; a news-room, assembly rooms, billiard-rooms, and a small theatre. There is a race-course on the opposite side of the Tees. The principal manufacture of the town is that of engines and of linen and sail-cloth. There are also iron and brass foundries, breweries, and some corn-mills, and some shipbuilding, rope and sail making, and yarn and worsted spinning are carried on. There are extensive coal-works and some brick-yards near the town, and a salmon and other fisheries in the Tees. The harbour of Stockton is formed by the river Tees. A considerable trade is carried on with the Baltic, Holland, Hamburgh, and British America; and coastwise, with London, Leith, Hull, Sunderland, &c. Customs revenue of Stockton, 1857, £86,689. Communication is maintained with London and Newcastle by steam-packets, and with Darlington, York, Manchester, Birmingham, London, &c., by railway. The Stockton, Darlington, and Wear Valley Railway has a terminus on the quay. It is the first railway on which locomotive engines were employed. A branch to Middlesbrough, a port in Yorkshire, where the Stockton steamers stop, parts from the main line to the south of the town of Stockton, and is carried over the Tees by a suspension bridge. This railway extends from the Teesmouth by Billingham, Whitton, Preston le Skerne, and West Auckland, to the coal-fields of Witton and Cockfield, a distance of 30 miles. Pop. 1851, 9808.

Four and a half miles from Stockton is Wynyard Park, the seat of Earl Vane.

Twelve miles from Stockton is HARTLEPOOL, situated on a small peninsula jutting out into the sea, a few miles from the mouth of the Tees. This peninsula, which is one of the most marked features of the eastern coast, is partly formed by a pool called the Slake, dry at low water. The name of the town was derived from Hart-le-pol, the Pool or Slake of Hart. A monastery, which is mentioned by Bede, was founded here at a very early period. St Hilda was the abbess of it. Mention is made of Hartlepool as a harbour of some consequence so early as 1171. In the thirteenth century it belonged to the Bruces

412

HOUGHTON-LE-SPRING-SUNDERLAND.

of Annandale, in Scotland, the progenitors of the royal family of that name
The town was erected into a borough by John, A.D. 1200. After Bruce as-
cended the Scottish throne, his English possessions were forfeited, and Hartle-
pool was granted to the Cliffords, in whose possession it long remained. It suf-
fered severely from the Scots in 1312, and again in 1315, a year after the battle
of Bannockburn. It was seized by the insurgents in the great Northern Re-
bellion in the reign of Elizabeth. During the civil wars it was taken by the
Scottish army in 1644, and retained by them till 1647.

Hartlepool was fortified during the course of the thirteenth century by walls,
which inclosed it on every side except on the east, where the steep cliffs ren-
dered this unnecessary. A considerable part of these walls still remains, which
only fifty years ago exhibited an almost perfect specimen of the defences of
former times. The old haven is now entirely disused. The present harbour,
which is formed by a pier run out on the south side of the town, is very acces-
sible in every wind to laden vessels under 100 tons, and is well lighted. The
town has greatly increased of late, and the formation of the railway and of wet
docks will add much to its prosperity. It is much resorted to for sea-bathing.
The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in the coasting trade and fishing.

Hartlepool possesses a church, a large and curious building, chiefly in the early English style, several meeting-houses, and town-hall. There was formerly a monastery of Franciscan friars here. Out of the rocks on the shore of the peninsula the sea has excavated several caverns, which may be explored for nearly fifty yards. There are two chalybeate springs near the town.

The Rev. Wm. Romaine was a native of Hartlepool. Pop. 1851, 9503. HOUGHTON-LE-SPRING is situated at the head of a fine vale, sheltered on the north and east by limestone hills. The church is a spacious building in the form of a cross; some portions of it are in the early English, and some in the decorated style. It contains the monument of Bernard Gilpin, "the Apostle of the North," and one of the most pious of the English Reformers, who was for some time Rector of Houghton. On the north-east of the church-yard is the grammar school, which he founded with the aid of some friends. Pop. 1851,3224. The mansion of Houghton Hall is supposed to have been built in the reign of Elizabeth or James.

SUNDERLAND is situated on the south side of the mouth of the Wear. The Parliamentary borough comprehends, besides the parish of Sunderland, the townships of Bishop Wearmouth and Bishop Wearmouth Pans, Monkwearmouth, and Monkwearmouth Shore, and Southwick, on the north side of the river.

Monkwearmouth was a place of some note in the Anglo-Saxon and AngloNorman period. A monastery was founded here in the year 674, which was destroyed by the Danes in the ninth century. It was restored after the Conquest, but was soon after reduced to be a cell of the monastery of St Cuthbert. Bishop Wearmouth received a charter from Hugh Pudsey in the twelfth century,