Wolviston 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 ...

within the borough of

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

and the

ceremonial county Ceremonial counties, formally known as ''counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'', are areas of England to which lord-lieutenant, lord-lieutenants are appointed. A lord-lieutenant is the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch's repres ...

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 population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 877. It is situated in the north of

Billingham Billingham is a List of towns in England, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in County Durham, England. The town is on the north side of the River Tees and is governed as part of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees unitary authority ...

. The village has several businesses, including a florist, saddlery, international consultancy firm, riding school and post office. Wolviston benefits from a pub, the Wellington Inn, with the former Ship Inn now a residential property. It has a traditional village green and a duck pond.

History

Wolviston can be traced back to before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

(1066), with name changes that appear to be related to Saxon times. In the 11th century it was known as Olverstona, in the 16th as Wulston and as Woulston in the late 17th century. In 1577 Wolviston became a separate parish. There have been two churches in the village. The first, from the 12th century and dedicated to St Mary Magdelene, fell into disrepair in the 16th century but was restored in 1716. In 1876 a new church dedicated to St Peter was built behind the High Street and the old church was demolished in 1878. The new building was renovated in 1969–1972.

Demographics

The village today

Wolviston Village Community Centre - geograph

Wolviston is a community with a cricket and a

Wearside League The Wearside Football League is a non-league football competition based in northern England. It consists of three divisions which sits at steps 7 to 9 of the National League System (levels 11 to 13 of the Football pyramid) and is a feeder to the ...

football team, a guides association and allotment holders' club. Near to Wolviston in Wynyard is Wynyard Hall, historically the family home of the Londonderry dynasty, whose fortune came from the ownership of several collieries and a port in County Durham. The present Wynyard Hall was completed in 1848 and many royal visitors were entertained there over the following hundred years. The war memorial commemorates the Wolviston casualties in both World Wars. The A19 ran through the village until it was bypassed in the 1970s to the east then in the 1980s bypassed to the west when the original bypass became gridlocked towards Billingham and Stockton during rush hours. The A689 also used to run through the village but was bypassed to the north in the 1970s.

References

* Watts, Victor. ''A Dictionary of County Durham Place-Names''. English Place-Name Society, Nottingham, 2002. {{authority control Villages in County Durham Borough of Stockton-on-Tees Places in the Tees Valley