Dalton-le-Dale Parish, 1848

DALTON-LE-DALE (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Easington, N. division of Easington ward and of the county of Durham, 11 miles (E. by N.) from Durham, and 7 (S.) from Sunderland; comprising the townships of Dalton, Dawdon, Cold-Hesleton, and East Murton; and containing 2,709 inhabitants, of whom 88 are in the township of Dalton. The parish is situated on the road from Sunderland to Stockton-upon-Tees, and bounded on the east by the German Ocean. The surface is undulated, but the scenery, though enlivened with about 100 acres of plantations, is in other respects bleak and of harsh character; the soil of the arable land is fertile, and the system of agriculture improved. Coal is abundant in the vicinity, and a new mine has been opened at Murton, by the South Hetton Company, at an immense expense; limestone of good quality is quarried, and burnt into lime for manure. The village lies in a deep narrow valley, within 2 miles of the sea, and the inhabitants are employed in agriculture and in the mines and quarries. Two railways for conveying coal from the adjacent collieries to Seaham harbour pass through the parish. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 0. 7.; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Durham, who have augmented the income to £300. The great tithes of the township of Dalton have been commuted for £70, and the small for £35; there is a vicarial glebe of 26 acres. The church is an ancient structure, in the early English style, with a Norman doorway now built up. The vicaragehouse was erected in 1841, and is a neat edifice, situated on rising ground, a little to the west of the turnpikeroad.