Whitburn, Durham

Description
Whitburn, a village and a parish in Durham. The village stands on a rising-ground, a quarter of a mile from the shore, 2 1/2 miles E of Cleadon Lane station on the N.E.R., and 8 1/2 N of Sunderland. It is frequented in summer for sea-air and bathing, carries on considerable fishing, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Sunderland. The parish contains also Cleadon village, and comprises 3937 acres of land and 327 of foreshore; population, 2738. There is a parish council consisting of nine members, and there are limestone quarries and a colliery. Whitburn Hall, the seat of the baronet family of Williamson, is the chief residence. Roman coins have been found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham; net value, £1200 with residence. Patron, the Bishop. The church is an ancient building in the Early English and Decorated styles, and was restored and enlarged in 1868. It consists of chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, and a western tower with small spire, and contains numerous stained windows and a fine stone font. There are a mechanics' institute opened in 1881, a cemetery of 4 acres under the control of a burial board, a coastguard station, a volunteer rocket apparatus company, and near here the Souter Point Lighthouse, with electric light on the S side of the entrance to the river Tyne. At Cleadon there are a mission church and a Wesleyan chapel, and at Marsden a mission room and a Primitive Methodist chapel.