Marton

The Ancient Parish of MARTON

[Transcribed information mainly from the early 1820s]

"MARTON, a parish in the wapentake and liberty of Langbargh; 7 miles N. of Stokesley. A village ever rendered important by being the birthplace of the great navigator Captain James Cook. If any country may be proud of having produced a man who in various ways enlarged the bounds of human knowledge, that pride is the honourable boast of this humble village. There is scarcely a corner of the earth to which the fame of Cook has not reached; and all Europe has been unanimous in admiring, revering, and emulating this great master of his profession. Captain James Cook, was one of nine children, born of honest and industrious parents, in the lowest rank of society. He was taught to read by a schoolmistress; and his father who was a labourer, being employed to look after a farm belonging to T. Scottowe, Esq. at Ayton, near Stokesley, he was by the liberality of that gentleman, sent to school in that village, to a master, who taught reading, writing and arithmetic. At the age of 13 years he was apprenticed to Mr. W. Sanderson, a shopkeeper at Staithes, a small fishing town near Whitby, This employment, however, did not suit his genius; and he soon quitted it for one in which he was destined to shine with peculiar lustre. Leaving the counter, he bound himself a second time apprentice to Mr. John Walker, of Whitby, of the religious profession called Quakers, and owner of several ships in the coal trade. Here he served his apprenticeship, and after being employed some years a seaman he was introduced into the royal navy, and by his zeal, enterprize, and intelligence became a distinguished ornament of his profession. The remainder of his history is well known; he circumnavigated the globe three times, and fell at last a victim to the savage ferocity of the inhabitants of Owhyhee, while endeavouring to save the lives of a part of his crew, February 14, 1779. Captain Cook left a widow and family; on the former a pension of £200 a year was settled by the king, and £25 on each of the children.

Marton church, dedicated to St. Cuthbert (see Churches for photograph), is situated on rather elevated ground at the western extremity of the village, and is a small ancient edifice; the living is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Archbishop of York, and the Rev. Daniel Duck, is the incumbent. Pop. 397."

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"NEWHAM, a hamlet in the township and parish of Marton, west-division of Langbarugh; 1½ miles S. of Marton, 6 miles from Stokesley and Stockton, (Dur.)

This place with the cell of St. Hilda, at Middlesburgh, was given in the reign of Henry I. by Robert de Brus, to the abbot and convent of Whitby. -Graves."

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"TOLLESBY, in the parish of Marton, wapentake and liberty of Langbargh; (Tollesby Hall, the seat of the late Thomas Rudd, Esq.) 6 miles ENE. of Yarm."