Marwood Township, 1848

MARWOOD, a township, in the parish of Gainford, union of Teesdale, S.W. division of Darlington ward, S. division of Durham; containing 224 inhabitants. The township comprises 3,679a. 2r. 4p., and is bounded on the south by the river Tees, which separates it from Yorkshire; it is a suburb of the town of Barnard-Castle, a small part of which, together with the ruins of the ancient castle, is within its limits. The soil is fertile in those parts adjoining the river; in other places it is various: there are some slate-quarries in the township. Marwood Park and the liberty of Marwood Chase, with the castle and demesne lands of BarnardCastle, were purchased in the seventeenth century by Sir Henry Vane, who disparked the district in 1626, and whose descendant, the Duke of Cleveland, is the present proprietor. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £155, payable to Trinity College, Cambridge; and the vicarial for £74, payable to the incumbent of Gainford. On an eminence close to BarnardCastle, some vestiges of the ancient town of Marwood, once a considerable place, have been discovered; and near the same place is an old chapel, which has been converted into a farmhouse, but is still called Bede Kirk.