Pelton district, 1848

PELTON, an ecclesiastical district, in the parish and union of Chester-le-Street, Middle division of Chester ward, N. division of the county of Durham, 2 miles (W. by N.) from Chester-le-Street; containing 2,500 inhabitants. The township of Pelton is intersected by the Pontop and South Shields railway, and comprises 998 acres of land, of which two-thirds are pasture, and the remainder arable: the soil is principally a dry gravel, and the western part of the township is very hilly, and beautifully wooded. Two public quarries are worked for the use of the freeholders. The village is straggling, and situated on high ground. A little to the east of it is the Flatts, a large house of brick, once the seat of the Allans, of whom Thomas Allan, Esq., who died in 1741, was one of the principal coal-owners on the river Wear; it subsequently passed to the Lambton family, by purchase. South Pelawe colliery, partly in the township, was opened in 1839, and is of 70 fathoms' depth. The district comprises Urpeth, Ouston, Pelton, and half of Edmondsley: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Incumbent of Chester-le-Street; net income, £160, with a house. The church, a neat edifice in the early English style, was erected in 1842, at a cost of £1500, and is dedicated to the Trinity. There are several schools within the district, in connexion with the Church; and the Independents and Methodists have each a place of worship.