1727 - The death of George I and the accession of George II.

19 years after inheriting Skelton estate Lawson Trotter, who was unmarried, sold the estate to the husband of his sister and heiress Catharine.

The new owner was a wealthy Durham merchant named John Hall.

There was also a new priest at Skelton Church, George Flower, who remained here for three years.

1730 - The new priest at Skelton Church was Thomas Tankred.

The new priest at Skelton All Saints Church, from this year until 1780, was Thomas Kitching.

Death of John Hall, 6 years after purchasing Skelton estate. He was buried in Crossgate Church, Durham and was succeeded by his son, also called John, who was only 15 years of age at the time.

John Hall Stevenson went up to Cambridge University, where he befriended Laurence Sterne, who later achieved fame as the author of 'Tristram Shandy' and 'A Sentimental Journey'.
On his return to Skelton Stevenson lived the life of the dilettante play-boy of the time.
He gathered round him a circle of reputedly "gay squires and clerics" who called themselves the "demoniacks".
Skelton Castle became the venue for boisterous and, for that time, erotic parties with much over-eating and drinking.
David Garrick, the actor is said to have been among the visitors.

John Hall Stevenson had many eccentricities and used to take to his bed whenever the cold east wind blew off the sea, which in Skelton is often.
It is said that Sterne, to fool his friend into activity, was in the habit of paying the stable boy to climb to the weather cock and fasten it in a south westerly direction.
Among their pastimes was "chariot racing", when they competed in their chaises along the several mile stretch of flat sand between Saltburn and Redcar.
The character Eugenius in Sterne's Tristram Shandy is supposedly based on Stevenson, who was himself, a witty author.

His works include "Fables for Grown Gentlemen" [1761- 1770] and "Crazy Tales" [1762]
It is generally thought their tone and turn of thought, occasionally obscene, are very similar to the works of Sterne, but lacking the latter's literary genius.

Stevenson's ribald life-style must have rubbed off on Sterne, it is said, for "Tristram Shandy" could never have been written by a typical strait laced parson, or perhaps such people were few, attracted by the relatively rich 'livings' in these times rather than Christian sacrifice.
A hundred years after Sterne's death, Skelton still held his memory, an area near the wood above Skelton Mill being called Sterne's Seat and the wood behind is Mount Shandy.
Did Sterne obtain his hero's name from the wood or was the wood called after the book or is there any connection at all.

The following lines which were on the front of a reservoir which supplied the castle were most probably Stevenson's

Leap from thy mossy cavern'd bed,
Hither thy prattling waters bring
Blandusia's Muse shall crown thy head
And make thee too a sacred spring

Also the following which is said to describe the condition of Skelton Castle at the time:-