"Wolsingham, Co. Durham"

"Canada and North America"

"Wolsingham, Co. Durham"

A former market town, one of a number in the County established by licence of the Prince Bishops.   The Bishops once hunted extensively in Weardale and the Bishops' hunting park here was sold as late as 1847.    Nearby, Tunstall Reservoir was built in 1879 to supply industry in the growing towns of Shildon, Spennymoor and Willington.    Bishop Bury built a manor house here in 1341, complete with a moat. Sadly it was destroyed in the 1650s. Behind the Church of St Mary and St Stephen lies a former Rectory used by the Bishops to lodge guests who had come for the hunt. "Wolsingham Town is charmingly situated on the north bank of the river, surrounded by hilly and picturesque scenery, through which the rivers Wear and Waskerley flow.   It is fast becoming a place of summer resort, and well repays the visitor by its numerous and pleasant walks.   It is about 16 miles west from Durham, 23 miles south-south-west from Newcastle, about 10 miles north-west from

Bishop Auckland, and 260 miles north-north-west from London.   The town is fairly well laid out, lighted with gas, and supplied with excellent water - the latter by the Weardale and Shildon Water Company, and the former by the Wolsingham Gas Company.   There are 8 country fairs each year and the theme of one of these is a cattle show.   In 1892 the county show was held here very successfully.   The bridge, which here crosses the Wear, was rebuilt in 1892.   The old one, which was built in 1772, replaced one that was washed away by the flood of the previous year. The town is entered from the east by a bridge over the Waskerley." [From History, Topography and Directory of Durham, Whellan , London, 1894]

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