Castle Eden

For the castle in Aberdeenshire, see Eden Castle.

Castle Eden is a village in County Durham, in England. The population of the village at the 2011 census was 642.^[1] It is situated a short distance to the south of Peterlee, Wingate, the A19 and Castle Eden Dene. The village is famous for the former Castle Eden Brewery which was home of the famous Castle Eden Ale; most of it was demolished in 2003 for a new housing estate and only the main front building remains today. This is a listed building and is now managed office space with a popular Italian restaurant. The A19 used to run through the village until it was bypassed in the 1970s. The deep and impressive nearby dene extends all the way to sea and its many Yew trees are a particular feature where they find the magnesian limestone soil advantageous.

Etymology

Castle Eden takes its name from the Eden Burn that runs through it. Eden is a fairly common outcome in English of a Brittonic river name that can be reconstructed as *ituna 'to gush forth'.^[2] The name may also be related to the Cumbric redan meaning 'run' or 'flow', or possibly even coeden, meaning 'tree' or 'timber'. The name is first attested around 1050 as Geodene and Iodene,^[3] both representing the pronunciation ['jo:dene].

History

Both the Domesday Book and the King's Book record Castle Eden as a small village, but make no mention of any castle. In 1764, the estate of Castle Eden was purchased by Rowland Burdon from William Turner, in which the deeds describe a pathway passing a ruined medieval chapel across a bridge and through the village leading up to the ruined manor and castle. It is commonly considered that this is the area named "The Village" and that the present Parish Church of St. James (Parish of Monk Hesleden) is built on the site of the chapel mentioned.

In the 1760s, a farm labourer digging out a hedge discovered a fine glass beaker, known as "The Castle Eden Beaker". It now resides in the British Museum.

The Castle

Rowland Burdon returned to the estate in 1766 to work on "The Castle" as it became named, adding the present Regency Gothic wing. Sir John Soane, renowned Regency architect, visited the completed castle on his way from another project. He drafted plans, proposing a potential Neoclassical remodelling of the structure. Burdon in the end chose not to commission him.

The Nimmo family would go on in 1826 to found what would come to be known as the Castle Eden Brewery, trading as J. Nimmo and Son Limited. Other families such as the Savilles owned their rope works and bleachery for sail cloth manufacturing, making the village, at the start of the 19th century, a fairly industrious one. However, as with so many similar sites, as the Victorian era moved on, so did much of the industry.

In the course of the 19th century, the by now much expanded but still lowly populated and spread out village, was served by the Castle Eden Railway and railway station, a police station and a magistrates' court. These were all closed in the 1960s and their buildings demolished. The village also had its own primary school which closed in the 1970s.

Until the 1980s, the village still had a post office, which subsequently closed, leaving the Castle Eden Inn, the cricket club, the golf club and the village hall as the only amenities. In 1998 the national brewer Whitbreads, who had purchased the brewery from the Nimmo family in the 1960s, announced its closure. For a short while brewing continued there but the site was finally sold and in 2003 redeveloped as houses. The only evidence that the brewery existed is the fine roadside Victorian façade which was retained.

References

↑ "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 21 July 2015.
↑ Bethany Fox, 'The P-Celtic Place-Names of North-East England and South-East Scotland', The Heroic Age, 10 (2007), http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox.html (appendix at http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox-appendix.html).
↑ Mawer, Allen, The Place-Names of Northumberland and Durham (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1920), p. 71.

External links

Media related to Castle Eden at Wikimedia Commons

Civil parishes in County Durham

including Stockton on Tees (north of the river)

Darlington	Parishes Archdeacon Newton Barmpton Bishopton Brafferton Coatham Mundeville Denton East and West Newbiggin Great Burdon Great Stainton Heighington High Coniscliffe Houghton le Side Hurworth Killerby Little Stainton Low Coniscliffe and Merrybent Low Dinsdale Middleton St George Morton Palms Neasham Piercebridge Sadberge Sockburn Summerhouse Walworth Whessoe Unparished areas The former Darlington County Borough

Durham	Towns Barnard Castle Bishop Auckland Chilton Ferryhill Great Aycliffe Greater Willington Peterlee Seaham Sedgefield Shildon Spennymoor Stanley Tow Law Parishes Barforth Barningham Bearpark Belmont Bishop Middleham Bolam Boldron Bournmoor Bowes Bradbury and the Isle Brancepeth Brandon and Byshottles Brignall Burnhope Cassop cum Quarrington Castle Eden Cleatlam Cockfield Cornforth Cornsay Cotherstone Coxhoe Croxdale and Hett Dalton le Dale Dene Valley Easington Colliery Easington Village Edmondbyers Edmondsley Eggleston Egglestone Abbey Eldon Esh Etherley Evenwood and Barony Fishburn Forest and Frith Framwellgate Moor Gainford Gilmonby Great Lumley Greencroft Hamsterley Hamsterley Common Haswell Hawthorn Headlam Healeyfield Hedleyhope Hilton Holwick Hope Horden Hunderthwaite Hunstanworth Hutton Henry Hutton Magna Ingleton Kelloe Kimblesworth and Plawsworth Lanchester Langleydale and Shotton Langton Lartington Little Lumley Lunedale Lynesack and Softley Marwood Mickleton Middleton in Teesdale Middridge Monk Hesleden Mordon Morton Tinmouth Muggleswick Murton Nesbitt Newbiggin North Lodge Ouston Ovington Pelton Pittington Raby with Keverstone Rokeby Romaldkirk Sacriston Satley Scargill Seaton with Slingley Shadforth Sheraton with Hulam Sherburn Village Shincliffe Shotton South Bedburn South Hetton Staindrop Stanhope Startforth Streatlam and Stainton Thornley Toft Hill Trimdon Trimdon Foundry Urpeth Waldridge Wackerfield Weather Hill Wood West Auckland West Rainton Westwick Wheatley Hill Whorlton Windlestone Wingate Winston Witton Gilbert Witton le Wear Wolsingham Wolsingham Park Moor Woodland Wycliffe with Thorpe Unparished areas The former Chester le Street Urban District Consett Durham Municipal Borough Parts of the former Bishop Auckland Urban District Crook and Willington Urban District Stanley Urban District

Hartlepool	Towns Headland Parishes Brierton Claxton Dalton Piercy Elwick Greatham Hart Newton Bewley Unparished areas Part of the former Hartlepool County Borough

Stockton on Tees	Towns Billingham Parishes Aislaby Carlton Egglescliffe Elton Grindon Longnewton Newsham Preston on Tees Redmarshall Stillington and Whitton Wolviston Unparished areas Part of the former Teesside County Borough

For further information about the above parishes, see List of civil parishes in County Durham. For the part of Stockton-on-Tees (borough) south of the River Tees, see List of civil parishes in North Yorkshire.

Coordinates: 54°44′N 1°21′W / 54.733°N 1.350°W / 54.733; -1.350

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, December 27, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.