Norton, County Durham facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Norton |
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|---|---|
| Suburb | |
 High Street |
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 Norton
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| Population | 20,829 |
| OS grid reference | NZ443217 |
| Unitary authority |
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| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | STOCKTON-ON-TEES |
| Postcode district | TS20 |
| Dialling code | 01642 |
| Police | Cleveland |
| Fire | Cleveland |
| Ambulance | North East |
| EU Parliament | North East England |
| UK Parliament |
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Norton, also referred to as Norton-on-Tees, is a suburb in the town and borough of Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England. It is a former village and can be described, due to its size in the town's unparished area, as a township of the wider town.
Norton stands on rising ground west of Billingham Beck, which flows south-east to join the River Tees. Roseworth borders the north-west of the town and Stockton High Street is south.
The area's centre dates back to at least the Anglo-Saxon period. It was the centre of an ancient parish that once included the chapelry of Stockton, which became its own ancient parish in 1713 which was three years after Stockton was granted a market charter. It became a part of Teesside County Borough in 1968, which was abolished in 1974, it has not been parished since and is considered part of Stockton.
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Norton Village
Today, the village consists of a wide, tree-lined High Street with a number of shops, hairdressers, boutiques and cafés, a library, photographic studio and a traditional fish & chips shop, as well as a mixture of 18th century and 19th century townhouses, cottages and modern apartments. To the south end of High Street, the Victoria Jubilee Memorial Cross stands where the market place was once situated. The red sandstone Anglian style cross commemorates Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Further along, and on the opposite side of the High Street are the Fox almshouses, also founded in 1897 at the bequest of local brewer John Henry Fox. At the north end there is a large village green with a duckpond, surrounded by mostly Georgian houses and cottages. The ancient parish church of St. Mary the Virgin stands dominantly on the west side of the village Green. The buildings in the middle of the Green now house a newsagent shop, cafe and community hall where once a blacksmith's forge stood. Away from the village lie the housing estates of Albany, Glebe, Crooksbarn and Norton Grange.
In 1982, the chance discovery of human bones by school children playing on a rope swing near the Mill Lane area of the village, led to the unearthing of an Anglo-Saxon pagan cemetery. Excavations in 1984 revealed 120 burials (117 inhumations and 3 cremations) in graves that contained assorted personal items such as spears, belt buckles and brooches. The remains and objects collected suggest the site was dated to around AD 540–610.
St. Mary's Church
St. Mary the Virgin, the ancient parish church that stands on the village green, is the only cruciform Anglo-Saxon church in Northern England. Its crossing tower with eight triangular head windows has a battlemented top of later date and there is a 14th-century effigy of a knight in chainmail. Residing under the church floor is an escape tunnel used by the Saxons and priests when in danger. The grave of John Walker, the inventor of friction matches, is located in the churchyard.
Red House School
Located in the village is Red House School, an independent school established in 1929. Adjacent to St. Mary's Church is Red House Nursery & Infant School, which combines state of the art modern buildings with classrooms in the former Old Vicarage. On the opposite side of the village green resides Red House Preparatory and Main School. In May 2012, the school announced its intention to relocate to nearby Wynyard Park stating that it had outgrown its existing site in Norton. It is expected that the school will be relocated by September 2014.
Notable people from Norton
- Geoff Deehan – television and film producer
- Thomas Jefferson Hogg – barrister and writer
- Stevie Lynn – professional wrestler
- Christopher Middleton – navigator
- Gary Pallister – professional footballer with Middlesbrough, Manchester United, and England
- Franc Roddam – film director
- Dean Stobbart – creator of the YouTube football cartoon channel 442oons
- Polycarpus Taylor – rear admiral 1757-1762, HMS Marlborough
- David Townsend – Test cricketer
- Peter Townsend – cricketer
- John Walker (1781–1859) – inventor of the friction match, buried in the grounds of St Mary's Church, Norton
Image gallery
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Fox Almshouses
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High Street
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1897 Jubilee Memorial Cross
Sport
The Norton (Teesside) Sports Complex is situated on Station Road and dates back to 1847 when it was the home of Norton Cricket Club. At the Club's Centenary Dinner in 1947, the members decided to buy the ground (and a further twelve acres surrounding it) with a view to developing it into one of the finest sports complexes in the north of England. During the past few decades further land was acquired and now as well as being home to Norton Cricket Club (which play in the NYSD cricket premier league), it provides facilities for a number of other sports, including: squash, tennis, hockey, bowls, five-a-side football, archery and boxfit.
The complex is also home to the Billingham Synthonia Football Club and is now again home to Norton & Stockton Ancients Football Club, reinstated in 2019 having folded 3 years previously in 2016.
Images for kids
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The Green
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12 Harland Place, deli & dining room in Norton
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Village Green
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Methodist Church
