Hutton Rudby & parish in 1859

The entry in Whellan's Directory of 1859 is lengthy, and the following is an extract.

There are various interesting points in it - the details of the mills in the parish are useful and I don't think there is any other record of the 'Hutton Rudby Brood Mare & Foal Show'.


RUDBY.- This parish, usually called Rudby-in-Cleveland, comprises the townships of Rudby, Hutton Rudby, Middleton, East Rouncton, Scutterskelf, and Sexhow.  The area of the whole is 7,386 acres; population, 1,119 souls.  The township of Rudby contains 880 acres, according to the Parliamentary Return, but 993 acres, according to local estimation.  Rateable value, £1,023.; population, 66.  The land is mostly the property of Lord Falkland, the Lord of the Manor.  The soil is chiefly a strong clay.

The Village of Rudby.- is small, and stands on the north side of the Leven, 3 ½ miles W by S of Stokesley – Hutton Rudby being on the opposite side.

The Church (All Saints) stands on the margin of the Leven, and is an old structure in good repair, which belonged to the Priory of Guisborough before the Dissolution.  It has a body in two aisles, a chancel, and a tower which contains three bells.  In the east window is a shield on painted glass, representing quarterly the arms of Conyers, Darcy and Meinell.  Within a niche is the effigy of an ecclesiastic, bearing a chalice – the top, apparently, of a monumental slab.  There are also a monument to the Layton family, dated 1594; and tablets to the Carey family.  In the north wall, raised above a sepulchral niche, now empty, is what may be termed a genealogical epitaph, traced in large distinct capitals on stone, still in good preservation.

The Living is a Vicarage, with the Chapel of Middleton annexed, worth about £200 a year, having been augmented with a Parliamentary grant of £1,200 in 1814.  It is in the gift of Lord Falkland, and incumbency of the Rev Robert Joseph Barlow.  The Vicarage House, situated on an eminence about half a mile from the village, was built in 1844 by the present Vicar.  The great tithes were commuted for £262, and are in seven shares, belonging to four persons.

Hutton Rudby Township.- Area, 2,341 acres; rateable value, £3,330; population, 777 souls.  Principal proprietors of the soil, Lords Falkland and De L’Isle and Dudley, Kirkleatham Hospital, J. Emerson, Esq., and Messrs. Garbutt, Gray, and Rickerson. 
Mr Mark Barker is Lord of the Manor, and resides in the Manor House, a small farmhouse, situated about a mile west of Hutton.


The Village of Hutton, or Hutton-juxta-Rudby, is an extensive one, with a large green in its centre, and stands on the southern acclivities of the picturesque dale of the river Leven, 4 miles WSW from Stokesley.  The Leven is here crossed by a bridge which connects Hutton with Rudby.  Part of the village is called Entrepen.  Many of the villagers are handloom weavers.  The manufacture of linen was formerly carried on here to a considerable extent.  Near the river is a large building, now a corn mill, which was once a paper manufactury, and afterwards a spinning mill.  The Hutton Rudby Brood Mare and Foal Show (established two or three years ago) takes place here annually, and has been very successful.  There is a large brick and tile manufactury here.  The farmhouses are scattered from a quarter of a mile to two miles from Hutton Rudby.  Hutton Grange is a large brick building with stone dressings a quarter of a mile west from the village.
The Methodist Chapel is a large brick edifice, in connexion with which is a “Centenary School,” built in 1839.  The Primitive Methodist Chapel was erected in 1821, and enlarged in 1857.  The parochial School was built in 1836, and is a good stone building.  In 1740 Charles Bathurst, Esq., built a school here, and endowed it with £5 a year.
The poor have a yearly rent charge of 20s, left by David Simpson, in 1783; and the dividends of £100, three per cent consols, purchased with £70, left by James Young, in 1807.

Middleton-upon-Leven Township.- The scattered township and chapelry of Middleton-upon-Leven contains 1,129 acres and 95 inhabitants.  The place is situated at the northern extremity of the parish, in the picturesque vale of the Leven, 4 ½ miles S.W of Yarm, and 2 ½ miles N from Hutton Rudby.  The rateable value is £1,047.  The Meinells, Darcys and Conyers held the lands here in former ages.  The Earl of Egremont was subsequently Lord of the Manor, and had a considerable estate within the township; and now Colonel Wyndham and Lord Falkland are the principal owners.  The farmhouses are all scattered, and many of them have names, such as Middleton House, Gosling-mire House, the Grange, &c.  In a pleasant valley on the Leven is an ancient stone water-mill, which was rebuilt in 1812.  The scenery in and around the township is very picturesque.
The Chapel of Ease (St. Cuthbert) is a small building of stone, having a body, chancel and bell turret.  It was rebuilt with the materials of an old edifice in 1789.  The Perpetual Curacy is united with Rudby, and was augmented with £1,000 of Queen Anne’s Bounty from 1740 to 1824.  Lord Falkland is the impropriator of the tithes.

East Rouncton Chapelry.-  East Rouncton, or Rounton, contains 1,565 acres, according to the Parliamentary Return, but 1,297 acres, according to local estimation.  Rateable value, £883.; population, 112.  The chief proprietors are John Wailes, Esq., William Danby, Esq., Mr Wood, Mr Atkinson, Mr John Saunderson, and Messrs Heslop.  The surface is undulated, and the scenery of a pleasing and varied character.  The village is small, and stands on an eminence above the eastern bank of the river Wiske, 7 miles S. of Yarm, and the same distance from Stokesley and Northallerton.  West Rouncton adjoins the township on the west.  The Grange, a large brick building, a quarter of a mile S. of the village, is the residence and property of John Wailes, Esq.  Haggett Hill consists of three farmhouses on high ground.  Hollins House is the name of a good farm residence, half a mile E. of the village.
The Chapel of Ease is a small building, having a body, chancel, porch, and open belfry in which is one bell.  The east window is of three lights.  The edifice was repaired in 1820.  The Perpetual Curacy, which is annexed to Rudby, was augmented with £1,000 of Queen Anne’s Bounty from 1747 to 1817.  Marriages are solemnised here, but the funerals take place at Hutton Rudby.

Skutterskelf Township.-  Skutterskelf consists of the hall, four farmhouses, and the farm bailiff’s house.  The place is situated 3 miles WSW of Stokesley, and the nearest house is a quarter of a mile from Rudby.

Leven Grove is one of the seats of Viscount Falkland, but now let for a few years to – Vaughan, Esq., of the firm of Bolckow and Vaughan, Middlesborough.  The family pictures in the house are very magnificent and valuable.

Lucius Bentinck Carey, the 9th and present Viscount Falkland, is son of the 8th Viscount by the daughter of – Anton, Esq.  He is a Peer of Scotland, and takes his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Hunsdon.  He was born in 1803; married in 1830, Lady Amelia Fitz-Clarence, youngest daughter of his late Majesty William IV (she died in July, 1858, and was buried at Hutton Rudby); succeeded his father in 1809; was elected a representative Peer of Scotland in 1831; became a Privy Councillor in 1837; was Governor of Nova Scotia from 1840 to 1846; and was appointed Governor of Bombay in 1848.  His lordship’s seats are Skutterskelfe, Yorkshire, and Hanwick Hall, Durham County.  De Karry was the original name of the family.

Sexhow Township.- This small township, which contains only six houses, 501 acres, and 35 inhabitants […]  The old mansion of the Laytons (Sexhow Hall) is occupied by two farmers, and in it are some rooms wainscotted with oak, the ancient staircase, and the huge chimney and fire-place.  There appears to have been a domestic chapel in the wing of the building.