Gainford, Durham

Description
Gainford, a village, a township, and a parish in Durham. The village stands on the river Tees, at the boundary with Yorkshire, and adjacent to the Darlington and Bamard Castle section of the N.E.R., 8 miles WNW of Darlington. It consists mainly of one wide street running parallel with the river, and has a station on the railway, and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Darlington. There was a Roman station at Piercebridge, and many vestiges of it exist, and numerous Roman coins have been found. Acreage of township, 2346; population, 868; of the ecclesiastical parish, 1425. The parish contains also the townships of Cleatlam (half), Headlam, Langton, Morton-Tinmouth, Piercebridge, Summerhouse, and Bolam. The manor belonged anciently to the Baliols. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham; gross yearly value, c£801. Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge. The church was erected about the beginning of the 13th century, on the site of an earlier church built by Egfrid, Bishop of Lindisfarne; it has a tower and contains some monuments and brasses, and is in good condition, having been thoroughly restored in 1864-65, at a cost of over £3000. Bolam is a separate ecclesiastical district. There are Wesleyan and Congregational chapels, a Roman Catholic church, a literary institute, and some charities. Selaby Hall, Langton Grange, and Snow Hall are chief residences. Sir Samuel Garth, the author of the "Dispensary," was a native of Bolam. Gainford is mentioned by Sir Walter Scott in his "Rokeby":-'l He views sweet Winston's -woodland scene, And shares the dance on Gainford Green."