Shincliffe is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England. The parish population (according to the 2011 census) was 1,796. It is situated just over to the south-east of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

city centre, on the A177 road to Stockton. Shincliffe is also a civil and ecclesiastical

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

consisting of Shincliffe Village, High Shincliffe,

Sherburn House Sherburn House is a hamlet in the civil parish of Shincliffe, in County Durham, England. It is situated approximately south-east of Durham between Sherburn and Shincliffe Village. Sherburn House is the location of Sherburn Hospital. Histor ...

and

Whitwell House Whitwell House is a place in the civil parish of Shincliffe, in County Durham, England situated a few miles to the south-east of Durham, England, Durham. It now consists of the Hamlet (place), hamlet of Whitwell Grange, but was from 1836 was the ...

. Shincliffe is regarded as one of the most affluent villages in Durham City and has been designated a

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

to preserve its historic character.

History

The place-name 'Shincliffe' is first attested in the ''Liber Vitae Ecclesiae Dunelmensis'' of circa 1085, where it appears as ''Scinneclif''. It appears in the Charter Rolls of 1195 as ''Sineclive''. The name means 'the cliff of the spectre or demon, haunted cliff'. Shincliffe is the site of a mediaeval bridge over the

River Wear The River Wear (, ) in Northern England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...

and archaeological investigations in 2005 suggest Shincliffe may have been the site of a Roman crossing. In the Middle Ages Shincliffe was an agricultural community belonging to the

Prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the Mother Church#Cathedral, mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the ...

. The population grew significantly due to coal mining at nearby Houghall,

Old Durham Old Durham is a hamlet in County Durham, in England. It is situated approximately 1 mile east of central Durham and south of Gilesgate. The most northerly remains of a Romanised farmstead in the Roman Empire were excavated at Old Durham d ...

and Shincliffe Colliery (now High Shincliffe) but declined following

mine closure Mine closure is the period of time when the ore-extracting activities of a mine have ceased, and final decommissioning and mine reclamation are being completed. It is generally associated with reduced employment levels, which can have a significan ...

s in the late 19th century. Durham's first railway station opened at Shincliffe in 1839 as the passenger terminus between the Durham area and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

but closed in 1893 once a line had been run from Sherburn House to Durham itself. A goods line continued to Houghall and

Croxdale Croxdale is a village in the civil parish of Croxdale and Hett, situated about south of Durham City, in County Durham, England and on the A167 road, formerly part of the Great North Road. It is on the route of the East Coast Main Line and at on ...

Colliery. In the 1920s, Back Lane along the eastern side of the village was enlarged to become a bypass for it.

Horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

under

National Hunt National Hunt Racing, also known as Jump Racing, is a form of horse racing particular to many European countries, including, but not limited to: France, Great Britain and Ireland. Jump Racing requires horses to jump over fences and ditches. In ...

rules took place at Shincliffe between 1895 and 1914. The course was taken over for military purposes during the First World War and racing never resumed.

Local features

Shincliffe Hall is a nearby woodland mansion. It served as a

Land Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on Ground warfare, land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include avia ...

hostel then as postgraduate

hall of residence A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...

for

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

. In 2005 it was sold into private hands.

Religion

Shincliffe was an outlying part of the large Durham parish of St. Oswald's. A rectory was built in the village in 1800, and a

Chapel of Ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

in 1826. Shincliffe became a parish in its own right in 1831, however the Parish Church, St. Mary's, was not built until 1851.

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

preached in Shincliffe in 1780. A (Wesleyan)

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Chapel opened in Shincliffe in 1874. William Sever,

Bishop of Durham The bishop of Durham is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham u ...

(1502–1505) was born in Shincliffe.

Businesses

Although Shincliffe is primarily a residential settlement, it is also home to two pubs, a daycare nursery and the Poplar Tree garden centre. The former Post Office is now a private home.

References

External links

Shincliffe Community Association

History of Sherburn House Station, including further information on Shincliffe Station
{{authority control Villages in County Durham