The Gatehouse...
..Holiday Cottage Wolsingham!
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Wolsingham sits at the confluence of the River Wear and Waskerley Beck. It is a Saxon settlement and one of the first market towns in County Durham, deriving its name from Waelsingas or Sons of Wael an ancient Saxon family that once resided there. The earliest known record of the town is to be found in Reginald of Durham's Life of Godric where it is stated that the Saint lived there for almost 2 years about 1120 AD with Elric the hermit. ]
Wolsingham was then a thriving community, holding land by servile tenure. There were shepherds, plough-makers, beekeepers, forest keepers, wood turners, carters etc. They toiled for two purposes-producing corn and other foodstuffs for themselves and supplying the larder of the Bishop's Castle. The Bishop and his friends indulged in hawking, but hunting for red deer in the parks of Wolsingham and Stanhope was their principal pastime. The bishops' hunting forest in Weardale was the second largest in England after the New Forest.
It is traditionally reported that Edward III on returning from his unfruitful encounter with the Scots in Weardale in April 1327 rested at the Pack Horse Inn then situated in the High Street.
In 1615, a market charter was granted to the bailiff and inhabitants of Wolsingham and in 1667, the charter was confirmed with the appointment of a piece of land to hold the market and fairs. This market was of considerable importance and offered great facilities to the surrounding districts. There were several looms in the town; table linens, draperies, weaving materials and clothes were always in demand. Drapers from Yorkshire and Newcastle upon Tyne frequented the market, as did hatters from Hexham and Barnard Castle. Spices and gingerbread were also on sale.
There is a memorial to the Roman Catholic priest John Duckett, marking the spot where he was arrested before being taken to Tyburn, where he was executed in 1644. There is a Roman Catholic church and convent (now converted to housing) in the town, along with large Church of England, Baptist, and Methodist congregations
A grammar school was established in 1614, and in 1911 a new building was opened. It is now part of a split site Comprehensive Performing Arts school.
Wolsingham Agricultural Society holds its annual 230th show on the first weekend in September. It is said to be the oldest show in the country and this year recorded a record attendance of 35,000 on its first day.
Trivia
The town has a children's recreation area inhabited by many ducks. It is still known locally as The Willas, which is the Anglo-Saxon word for duck-pond. Another ancient name still in use is lydgate which is Anglo-Saxon for a hanging gate.
Wolsingham was the terminus of the Weardale Railway (now Bishop Auckland). Heritage trains are currently running on the 17 miles approx section of track between Stanhope, Frosterley, Wolsingham and Bishop Auckland.
The
Wolsingham Railway
Centre
.
Wolsingham is an attractive and expanding village, though it has always had a commercial base involving both agriculture and industry. Being just east of the limestone outcrop, its industries did not include quarrying, but the proximity of iron workings at Tow Law supported the building of a steel works that developed expertise in marine castings and fabrications. Their products included huge gunbarrels which were manufactured in a large stone building adjacent to the railway. This building, generally referred to as 'the gunbarrel shed', is now a listed building. It is unsuitable for modern foundry techniques and is therefore disused, but its position next to the railway makes it an ideal depot for our project. A long term lease has been negotiated and the site has become our depot, the Wolsingham Railway Centre.
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Wolsingham
is situated 7 miles from Wear Valley Junction. The station building is similar
in style with steeply pitched roofs of stone slabs, held in place by sheep’s
bones. It nestles between the River Wear and a high embankment, held back by a
substantial retaining wall built in the 1890’s. A wooden footbridge once
linked the two platforms.
To
the east of the station were extensive sidings, which included accommodation for
the local coal merchant. The Wear Valley Goods, which ran twice daily from
Bishop Auckland Goods yard, serviced the yard. The goods called at all stations
between Wear Valley Junction and Wearhead, dropping off or picking up goods as
required.
Upstairs
in the station house, the Directors of the NER often used to meet in the long
room known as the ‘board room’.
Station
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Local points of beauty By local photographer: John Bellerby
