Page 22

DURHAM.
AYCLIFFE is a parish, township, village and station on the North Eastern railway, distant from London about 246 miles, 5 north from Darlington, 6 from Bishop Auckland, in the Southern division of the county, south-eastern division of Darlington ward, in Darlington union and county court district, Darlington rural deanery, Durham archdeaconry and diocese. The parish contains the townships of GREAT AYCLIFFE, BRAFFERTON, WOODHAM and PRESTON-LE·SKERNE. The church of St. Andrew is an ancient stone building in the Norman and Early English styles, with chancel, nave, aisles and a square tower with 3 bells.  In the churchyard are the remains of a very ancient cross supposed to be Saxon.  The register dates from the year 1560. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £386, with good residence and 7½ acres of glebe, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Durham and held by the Rev. John D. Eade, M.A. of Caius College, Cambridge and a canon of Durham, There is a parochial school for boys and girls, with a small endowment; also a Sunday school in connection with the church, held in the parish schoolroom. The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have places of worship. Here are limestone quarries.  ­The Dean and Chapter of Durham are lords of the manor. The principal landowners are the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the Dean and Chapter of Durham and Miss Nichol The soil is chiefly a strong loam; subsoil, limestone and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, beans, oats, peas and clover. The acreage of the parish is 11,107. The population of the township value, in 1871 was 822, with 2,191 acres; rateable value, £8,368. 

POST & MONEY ORDER OFPICE & SAVINGS BANK.-
James Hutchinson, postmaster. Letters arrive through Darlington at 8.l0 a.m.; dispatched at 4.30 p.m. & 6.30 p.m.
Assistant OverSeer, William Wilkinson, jun.
NationalSchool, Henry Thompson, master
Railway Station, James Bruce, station master

Brafferton is a township in the south-eastern part of Aycliffe parish, about a mile from the Great North road, 4 miles north from Darlington.  The North Eastern railway runs through the township. There is a National Church school and house, erected in 1823. Here is Ketton Hall, the property of Sir Edmund Stracey Hardinge, bart. now the residence of Mr. John Feetham Green and also Newton Ketton, leasehold under the Dean and chapter of Durham. The area is 2, 428 acres; rateable value £6,931 15s; the population in 1871 was 236.       
NationalChurchSchool, William Robinson, master

Preston-le-Skerne is a township in Aycliffe parish and Sedgefield union, 1½ miles north from Aycliffe and 7 north-by- east from Darlington: it is principally the property of the Earl of Eldon. The Clarence railway extends into this parish. Here are tileworks; also limestone quarries. The acreage is 2,681; gross able value, £7,872; the population in 1871 was 137.
Woodham is a township in the northern part of Aycliffe parish and Sedgefield union it is situated on the Great North road, 8 miles north from Darlington. The principal landowners are the Earl of Eldon and Sir William Eden, bart. The acreage is 3,807; rateable value, £6.773; it contained a population in 1871 of 179.

NUNSTAINTON a hamlet and RICKNALL are within this township.