England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Newton St Oswald

The Parish

The parish of Newton lies in the extreme north of Yorkshire not too far from its border with County Durham. Newton, or to give it its modern title "Newton under Rosebery" in honour of the iconic peak which sits above the village, is located roughly 8 miles southeast of the industrial conurbation of Middlesborough. Newton sits on the A173 road which connects Stokesley through to the Middlesborough to Whitby road. Newton is a small place with an inn on the A173 and Church Lane lined with properties leading northwards from that road. The parish has a varied topography and this generated a varied farming regime, the slopes of Rosebery Topping providing rough grazing for upland sheep whilst the plains that spread down to the nearby Tees held a mixture of pastures for cattle and arable land. In addition to farming there was also exploitation of the hard "whin" stone for building. Modern developments have come to Newton, the railway line between Middlesborough & Whitby passing through the parish without giving Newton a station. Today Newton is famous as a starting point for climbing the mini-Matterhorn that is Rosebery Topping, a landmark for many miles and an objective for many a hike. Local streams, known as "Stells", drain the parish westwards into the nearby River Tame and then the Leven, the latter makes an abrupt change to heading northwards to reach the Tees and the North Sea through the latter's estuary. Newton is sited at around 100 metres above the sea but its iconic peak towers at 329 metres above it and is less than a mile to the southeast. North Yorkshire parishes were often large in extent but Newton was not one of those, covering just under 1,200 acres it was more reminiscent of a southern lowland parish, within that acreage would have been supported close to 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Newton was retained by King William but as is often the case this far north, its assets were not fully declared and it was regarded simply as "waste".

The Church

St Oswald's church sits some 300 metres along Church Lane north of the A173. Whilst the church has ancient origins there is little left of that period due to major restoration and rebuild in more modern times, indeed most of the fabric post-dates the marriages within this transcript. Retained from the original building is the nave, 12th century and Norman Romanesque in style, the northern doorway, now blocked, also retains that style and date. Topping and tailing that nave is, however, a chancel rebuilt in 1857 and a western tower also rebuilt in 1901 so much else is Victorian and more recent. Such is the popularity of the climb of Rosebery Topping that Church Lane is restricted for parking to residents only, a free car park can be found on the A173. The churchyard is raised above road level and banked with a blocky, local, stone wall, entrance is at the southern end through an attractive lychgate. Sadly the churchyard is compact and has many trees making it something of a challenge for the photographer.