Grindon, Thorpe Thewles

Grindon
County Durham
Location
Grid reference:	NZ399248
Location:	54°36’58"N, 1°22’59"W
Data
Population:	2,603  (2011)
Post town:	Billingham
Postcode:	TS22
Local Government
Council:	Stockton-on-Tees
Parliamentary constituency:	Stockton North

Grindon is a village in County Durham, in the south of the county, a mile north of Thorpe Thewles, and two miles from the edge of the townscape of Stockton-on-Tees. Grindon stands between Sedgefield and Stockton-on-Tees.

The 2011 census recorded the population of the civil parish, with Thorpe Thewles, as 940.

The place name of "Grindon" is derived from the word 'dun', which meant hill. Grindon is situated in the Upland Fells, formed of Carboniferous millstone grit. "The alternating strata of harder and softer rocks give a stepped profile to many dale sides and distinctive flat-topped summits to the higher fells."

Church

Remains of the old church of St Thomas of Canterbury are situated to the west of the Castle-Eden Walkway, now known as the Wynyard woodland park The church originates from the Norman age (1153–1193) and was dedicated to St Thomas a Becket in early 1200. The church was commissioned by the great grandson of William the Conqueror, Hugh de Puiset who was the Bishop of Durham (1153–1195).

By the end of 1700 the church was a well established and managed part of the Grindon parish with well-kept interior of wood panelling, box-pews and family pews. The walls in the church displayed funerary hatchments unique to local farming families belonging to the parish.

However a steady population movement from Grindon to the village of Thorpe Thewles saw the need for a new church to be built to accommodate this growing population. The Church of Holy Trinity, was built in 1848, leaving the old church of St Thomas of Canterbury to degenerate into its current ruins. However, today the church stands as a historic relic and is a scheduled ancient monument.

History

In 1831 the governing industrial output in Grindon was, unsurprisingly, agriculture, in particularly agricultural labouring, of which accounted for just under a third of employment for males aged twenty and over. Although slightly dominated by primary industry, parish level census statistics show that over 20% of employment was in the secondary sector, of which encompassed retail and handicraft businesses. Agricultural outputs fuelled growing towns and cities, with the growth of transport and new technologies agricultural goods could be transported to factories to be processed. For Grindon, this meant much of its agricultural outputs were sent to factories in Middlesbrough. One shining example of this is the newly established Quaker business in 1929, where business men bought plots of land in County Durham, including parts of the Grindon parish for agricultural use to supply resources to the ever-growing food industry. Statistics from the 1881 census data shows that the vast majority of employment and industry was in manual labour and production, both of which employed men as a majority. Women were far more involved in domestic services and offices.