* Guisborough was the first place in England where alum-works were erected. Here are the ruins of an abbey whick 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 The country around Guismountain, 1022 feet high, which also commands fine views. borough 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.

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 1850, £83,106:3:4. 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

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 ascended the Scottish throne, his English possessions were forfeited, and Hartlepool was granted to the Cliffords, in whose possession it long remained. It suffered 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 Rebellion 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 rendered 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 accessible 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,

and, in 1634, it received a new charter of incorporation from Bishop Morton. During the civil wars it was garrisoned for the Parliament. The town was chiefly indebted for its earlier prosperity to the coal trade. The river is crossed by an iron bridge of one arch, erected near the close of last century at a cost of £61,800. The span of the arch is 236 feet, and the height above low water 94 feet to the centre of the arch, so that ships of 300 tons pass under it by lowering their top gallant masts. The harbour at Sunderland is formed by two piers on the north and south sides of the river. The new docks, completed in 1850, enclosing eighteen acres, add greatly to the accommodation. Near the termination of the north pier, a light-house was built in 1802. However, in 1841, an alarming breach took place in that pier, and the light-house was, by the ingenuity of Mr. Murray, engineer, moved in an entire state nearly 150 yards, to the eastern extremity of the new pier. There is not the slightest appearance of crack in any part of the building, though the gross weight moved was 338 tons. The principal manufactures of Sunderland are of bottle and flint-glass, anchors, chaincables, &c., and ship-building and rope-making are carried on to a very great extent. Brick-making, coal-mining, and quarrying grindstones, also afford extensive employment in the neighbourhood. This port possessed in the beginning of 1851, 77 sailing vessels, under, and 894 over, 50 tons, besides 32 small steamers. Total tonnage, 207,804 tons. Upwards of 500 vessels are engaged in the coal trade, which is very extensive. Lime, glass, and grindstones are also exported. Timber and iron are imported from the Baltic; butter, cheese, and flax, from Holland, &c. Total customs revenue, 1850, £84,174:12:6. A considerable fishery is carried on. The borough contains numerous churches, chapels, and meeting-houses; a custom-house, mechanics' institute, and an exchange, several banks, a theatre, and assembly rooms. On the town moor are extensive barracks. Near the town, on the coast, is a chalybeate spring. A quarter of a mile above the bridge is the celebrated Pemberton shaft, 273 fathoms deep. Two M.P. Pop. of parl. borough 1851, 67,394. By means of railways Sunderland is connected with all parts of the kingdom.

SOUTH SHIELDS is situated on the south bank of the Tyne, near its mouth. It derived its name and origin from the fishermen of the Tyne, who built here along the shore sheds, locally termed "sheels," or "shields," to defend themselves from the weather. The Romans had a station at South Shields, and various Roman antiquities have been found here. The principal trade of the town is in coal, great quantities of which are shipped here. Ship-building is carried on with great activity, and there are very extensive glass-works, a pottery, and manufactures of soda and alum, breweries, and rope-walks. South Shields was once noted for the manufacture of salt, but that branch of industry is now nearly extinct. The church of St. Hilda contains several monuments, and a model of the life-boat, presented by Mr. Greathead, the inventor, an inhabitant of this town. South Shields has numerous churches and chapels, banks, and charitable institu