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 | 1776 - Jan/Feb. Severe cold weather over all Northern Europe. 1777 - A tax of one guinea per head was imposed on those who employed male servants in any capacity.
A parliamentary report refers to a "workhouse" in Skelton with 40 inmates. 1779 - The Tees river was frozen over for two months at the end of this year and the whole decade was notable for severe winters. 1780 - John Parrington was the new priest at Skelton All Saints Church. One of the top five driest years recorded. 1783 - The County gaol for the North Riding of Yorkshire was built at Northallerton. The winter of 1783/84 winters had prolonged frosts and snow falls. 1785 - The old church near the Castle was rebuilt by John Hall-Stevenson.
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All that remains of the old church, that was built by the Fauconberg family in the fourteenth century, is the section of
wall supported by a lone buttress that can be seen to the left in the photograph. The irregular stones of the old mediaeval building can be clearly seen against the neat regular sandstone blocks of the new. The reason this section was preserved can be seen internally where it, the north wall of the chancel, bears memorials to the Trotters of Skelton Castle etc. [see page 18]. Two bells were kept from the old building. One is now in the All Saints Church in the High St and the other is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Like the exterior of the church the inside is free of any ornamentation. There is no altar and the focus of attention is the three decker pulpit, from which the locals heard their weekly sermon. |
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The Whartons had a private room opposite the 3 decker pulpit with a fireplace. It is said one of the Castle family used to stoke the fire noisily if
the sermon outlasted its welcome. The present day cottages on the driveway leading to the Castle and Church used to be the stables for certain people attending the church services. It was the custom to actually sell pews to those who could afford them, the resulting income going to the expenses of the church. The local parsons formed a commission to allot pews :- "the said commission shall direct and appoint, they first having regard to the particular claims, and also having regard as much as may be in their allotment, to the several Degrees, Estates and Conditions of the Parishioners of the said Parish, and the numbers of their respective families." |