Hide

Marton Parish information from Bulmers' 1890.

hide
Hide
Hide

MARTON:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1890.

Wapentake of Langbaurgh (West Division) - Petty Sessional Division of Langbaurgh North - Poor Law Union and County Court District of Middlesbrough - Rural Deanery of Stokesley - Archdeaconry of Cleveland - Diocese of York.

This parish, comprising 3,375 acres (3,326 acres are under assessment) is situated to the south of Middlesbrough, in which muuicipal borough a portion of the parish (358 acres) is included. The gross estimated rental is £15,780, and the rateable value £13,601. The population in 1881 was 1,057.

The soil is clayey but generally fertile; the surface in the northern part of the parish is flat and monotonous, but towards the south it becomes more uneven and varied. There are no dependent townships.

Soon after the Conquest, this manor and estate was the property of the De Brus family, from whom it passed to the Thwengs. Subsequently it came into the possession of the Lowther family, and so remained until 1728, when John Lowther, Esq., of Ackworth Park, dying without issue, one moiety of the estate was divided among three of his nieces, and the other moiety between two other nieces. One of the latter dying unmarried, her share devolved upon her sister, who, in 1741, purchased the other moiety from her three cousins, and thus became possessed of the whole manor and estate. Upon her decease, the estate was inherited by her son, Sir James Ramsden, Bart., of Byrom, by whom it was sold in 1786, to Bartholomew Rudd, Esq., of Marske. The principal part of the estate was subsequently purchased by the Park family; but in 1853, it was sold by the Rev. James A. Park, to H. W. F. Bolckow, Esq., of the firm of Bolckow & Vaughan, ironmasters, Middlesbrough, and is now the property of his son, C. F. H. Bolckow, Esq. The following are also landowners in the parish, viz., James Emerson, Esq., Easby Hall; John Mills, Esq., Newham Hall; N.E. Railway Co. (three miles of line) ; and the Middlesbrough Estate Co., Limited.

The village of Marton (the ton or village on the mere or marsh) is situated about four miles south of Middlesbrough, and one mile from Ormesby station. The church, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, is a handsome structure in a style of architecture combining both Norman and Early English. It was rebuilt in 1846, much of the old material being incorporated in the work, on the site of an ancient edifice and in a similar style. Several of the windows are stained glass memorials of the Rudd family, and others are presentations. The living is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Archbishop of York, and held by the Rev. George Wilberforce Trevor, M.A., who was inducted in 1878. In the king's books it was valued at £4 18s. 9d., and is now worth £300, with £60 additional for a curate. The great tithes were commuted in 1842 for £541 16s., and the vicarial for £137 15s.

The Wesleyans have also a chapel in the village, built in 1842.

"Captain Cook's Memorial School" was erected by subscription in 1850, to the memory of the great navigator, and was endowed with £200 by the late H. W. F. Bolckow, Esq. It is a neat Gothic structure, and contains the tablet placed by the parishioners in the old church in 1812.

CHARITIES. - From time immemorial two fields, one at Skelton and the other at Broughton, were left to the poor of the parish. The former was sold, and the proceeds invested in the three per cent. consols, and new realises £18 16s. 4d.; the latter field lets for £5 a year.

Marton Hall, the seat of C. F. H. Bolckow, Esq., is a large and imposing brick mansion, situated in a spacious park and surrounded by pleasure grounds eight or nine acres in extent. It was erected in 1858, upon the site of one destroyed by fire in 1832, and completed in 1875.

Newham, Tolesby, and Longlands are hamlets in this parish, which also includes Grove Hill, a suburb of Middlesbrough. The first-named place was given by Robert de Brus to the Abbey of Whitby. After the dissolution of religious houses, it came into secular hands, and is now in the possession of John Mills, Esq., of Newham Hall, who purchased it from the Burrell family in 1875.

Tolesby was formerly the manor and estate of the Forsters; subsequently it passed by purchase to the Earls of Lonsdale, by one of whom it was sold to Bartholomew Rudd, Esq., in 1803, and it was purchased from Mr. Rudd's descendant in 1886, by Mr. Emerson, of Easby Hall.

LOCAL WORTHY. - Capt. Cook, the eminent navigator, was a native of Marton, where he was born on the 27th of October, 1728. His parents were poor, but honest and industrious, and when young Cook was eight years of age, the family removed to Ayton, where the father was hind on Mr. Scottowe's farm. By the liberality of this gentleman, the boy was sent to the village school, where he was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. At the age of thirteen he was bound an apprentice to a grocer at Staithes, but exhibiting a strong predilection for a seafaring life, his master cancelled the indentures, and he bound himself apprentice to the Messrs. Walker, of Whitby, whom he served seven years in the coal trade, and afterwards became mate in the same employ. On the breaking out of war between France and England in 1755, he volunteered his services on beard the Eagle man-of-war, and four years later he was appointed master of the Mercury sloop of war. He was present at the siege of Quebec, and while on the same station, was employed in taking soundings of the river St. Lawrence, and afterwards constructed, with remarkable accuracy, a chart of the same river. His conspicuous abilities gained the recognition of the authorities, and he received the appointment of marine surveyor of the coast of Labrador. He entered upon his new office with a determination to perform the duties to the utmost satisfaction of his superiors; and so well did he succeed, that he was selected to conduct the expedition which was being sent to the South Pacific Ocean for astronomical and geographical purposes. This was the commencement of that brilliant career which has given him a world-wide reputation. He circumnavigated the globe three times, and at last fell a victim to the savage ferocity of the natives of Owbyhee, one of the Sandwich Islands, while endeavouring to save the lives of a part of his crew, February, 1779. The thatched cottage in which Capt. Cook's boyhood was spent was demolished in 1786, when Major Rudd erected his stately mansion, but a small stone-fronted building, with a mullioned window, on the lawn is said to be the remains of it.

[Description(s) from Bulmer's History and Directory of North Yorkshire (1890)]

Directories

  • Transcript of the entry for the Post Office, professions and trades in Bulmer's Directory of 1890.


Scan, OCR and html by Colin Hinson. Checking and correction by Peter Nelson.