Preface

This little book has been compiled as a souvenir of the unveiling of the Roll of Honour in Witton Park Memorial Institute, on 25^th October 1921.

It was considered that in addition to those at present living in the village there would be many former inhabitants in various parts of the country who would be glad to have some such record of a place rendered dear by various associations; and in the following pages an attempt has been made to sketch the history of the village as comprehensively as possible.

To describe Witton Park as so ancient that its origin is lost in the mists of antiquity would seem to be inviting expressions of unbelief, and not improbably uncomplimentary criticisms concerning the sanity or veracity of the author of such a description. To affirm in addition it was once a royal hunting ground would appear to be still further taking for granted the gullibility of his readers who might be pardoned for thinking he was indulging in a riot of imagination in so giving,

Up to the beginning of the 19th century the district of Witton Park was almost purely rural and more or less isolated. The mineral resources of the neighbourhood were as yet hardly tapped, although we know that there was at least one colliery, Jane Pit, on the estate, in the time of the baronet who came into possession in 1819.

One of the most significant dates in the history of Witton, was forming a railway from Witton Park, three miles west of Park, in 1822. The foundation stone was laid in the same year by T. Meynell, Esquire, and the project was completed three years later, being the property of 60 shareholders. It was some 30 miles long and cost about £125,000

The effect of this innovation on the industrial development of the neighbourhood may be well imagined. In the old pre railway days, coals had to be transported from the collieries in the district by carts, a means at once tedious and costly. The History of Durham, by McKenzie and Ross, published in 1834, gives an account of the historical scenes which marked the opening of the first railway in Britain, and in view of the fact that Witton Park was one of its termini.

The village as we now know it did not exist at this period; the only dwellings were a few cottages at Woodside and California and a farmhouse, parts of which still remain as out houses to Woodside House. But the laying down of the railway prepared the way for the big developments which came some twenty years later.