In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Stanhope like this:
STANHOPE, a small town, a township, a parish, and a sub-district, in Weardale district, Durham. The town stands on the river Wear, and on the Wear Valley railway, amid a wildly moorland country, 5½ miles WNW of Wolsingham; is a seat of petty-sessions and a polling place; and has a r. station with telegraph, a post-office‡ under Darlington, a banking office, a good inn, a weekly market on Friday, and three annual fairs.-The township comprises 13,000 acres, and contains Weardale workhouse. ...
Pop. in 1851, 2,545; in 1861, 2,918. Houses, 569.—The parish includes four other townships, and comprises 54,870 acres. Real property, £54,346; of which £29,584 are in mines, and £951 in quarries. Pop. in 1851, 8,882; in 1861, 9,654. Houses, 1,896. The property is much subdivided. S. Castle and the Rectory House are chief residences; the latter was built by Bishop Philpotts, when rector. S. Park is about 12 miles in circuit, bare and moorish; and was the hunting-ground of the Bishops of Durham, and the place where Douglas, in 1327, retreated from Edward III. Lead ore and ironstone are extensively mined, and limestone is quarried. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value, £1,650.* Patron, the Bishop of Ripon. The church was restored in 1868. The p. curacies of Eastgate, Westgate, Rookhope, Frosterley, Heathery-cleugh, and Weardale are separate benefices. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, school endowments £135 a year, and charities £69.—The sub-district excludes two townships of S., but includes two other parishes. Acres, 37,940. Pop., 5,196. Houses, 1,022.
Stanhope through time
A Vision of Britain through Time includes a large library of local statistics for administrative units. For the best overall sense of how the area containing Stanhope has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Wear Valley. More detailed statistical data are available under Units and statistics, which includes both administrative units covering Stanhope and units named after it.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Stanhope, in Wear Valley and County Durham | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/426
Date accessed: 19th June 2013
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