Editing Piercebridge (section)

==History==

===Roman===
{{main|Piercebridge Roman Fort}}
The [[Roman Britain|Roman]]s built a fort here to defend the [[Piercebridge Roman Bridge|crossing]] against the [[Brigantes]].<ref name="Durhamwhitewash09"/> The Roman [[castra|fort]] known as ''Morbium'' is now located under the village green. It was sited adjacent to [[Dere Street]], at the point where the [[Roman roads in Britannia|Roman road]] crossed the [[River Tees]]. The fort was occupied continuously from about 70 CE to at least the fifth century. A [[vicus (Rome)|civilian settlement]] was to the east of the fort in Tofts Field.<ref name="ADSromanpiercebridge"/> A Roman [[thermae|bath house]] was incorporated into St Mary's chapel (now on private land).<ref name="KeysStMarysChapel2010">{{cite web|url=http://www.durham-pa.gov.uk/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=D1550 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070516044500/http://www.durham-pa.gov.uk/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=D1550 |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 May 2007 |title=Keys to the Past |year=2010 |work=Piercebridge, St. Mary's; site of Medieval chapel. (Piercebridge) |publisher=County Durham |access-date=9 March 2010 }}</ref><ref name="ConservationArea05">{{cite web|url=http://www.darlington.gov.uk/PublicMinutes/Cabinet/August%2030%202005/Item%2013%20Appendix.pdf|title=Darlington.gov.uk|year=2005|work=Piercebridge conservation area character appraisal, consultation draft|publisher=Darlington|access-date=9 March 2010}}</ref> The archaeology television programme ''[[Time Team]]'' was here in 2009, attracted by [[Piercebridge Roman Fort]].<ref name="NorthernEcho2jul09">{{cite web|url=http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/features/blogs/staff/echomemories/4472760.Time_Team_in_the_area/|title=The Northern Echo|last=Lloyd|first=Chris|date=2 July 2009|work=Piercebridge: Time Team investigates|access-date=9 March 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927204747/http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/features/blogs/staff/echomemories/4472760.Time_Team_in_the_area/|archive-date=27 September 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> 
Following the [[End of Roman rule in Britain|departure of the Romans]] in 410CE, the area in and around the fort remained inhabited for about another century.<ref name="ADSromanpiercebridge">{{cite web|url=http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/archive/piercebridge_eh_2008/index.cfm?CFID=3604358&CFTOKEN=55364513|title=ADS Archsearch|last=Evans|first=Tim|date=1996–2010|work=Roman Piercebridge ALSF Project Number 4698|access-date=9 March 2010}}</ref> The plain it sits on in the [[Tees Valley]] was the site of [[Battle of Catraeth]]. The kingdom  of Catraeth was composed  of the descendants of the [[Brigantes]].<ref name="Durhamwhitewash09"/>

===Medieval===
[[File:Piercebridge bridge 025.jpg|thumb|right|East side of bridge, from Piercebridge,looking south]]
There was no permanent inhabitation in the area until the [[Normans|Norman]]s arrived in the mid 11th century.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

===16th century onwards===
There was no medieval Piercebridge [[Parish councils in England|parish]], but there was a chapel recorded in 1546.<ref name="KeysToThePastPiercebridgeHist">{{cite web|url=http://www.durham-pa.gov.uk/DURHAMCC/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=D6859 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070516044500/http://www.durham-pa.gov.uk/DURHAMCC/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=D6859 |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 May 2007 |title=Keys to the Past |year=2010 |work=Local History Piercebridge (County Durham) |publisher=Northumberland County Council |access-date=14 January 2010 }}</ref> The name of White Cross Farm and cottage may come from the 17th century apocryphal tale that one of the [[Duke of Cleveland|Dukes of Cleveland]] demanded the whitewashing of houses on his land so that he could recognise his own property should he require shelter during a storm while hunting.<ref name="Durhamwhitewash09">{{cite web|url=http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/Teesdale.html|title=County Durham|last=Simpson|first=David|date=1991–2009|work=Teesdale and Barnard Castle|access-date=12 March 2010}}</ref> The 18th-century farmhouse, Piercebridge Grange, may be on the site of a [[monastic grange]]. It was tenanted by James Rawe, gentleman, in 1847.<ref name="Chapman1847">{{cite web|url=http://www.jaydax.co.uk/family/pafc07.htm|title=Last will and testament of John Chapman, 1847|year=1847|work=Citation|access-date=12 March 2010}}</ref> It is now a Grade II [[listed building]],<ref name="DarlingtonListedBuildings08">{{cite web|url=http://www.darlington.gov.uk/dar_public/Documents/Development%20and%20Environment/Development%20and%20Regeneration/Planning%20Services/Conservation/LBIndex.pdf|title=Darlington Borough Council: Index of buildings in Darlington borough|date=19 August 2008|work=Parish Piercebridge|publisher=Regeneration Division, chief executive's Department, Darlington Borough Council|pages=42|access-date=12 March 2010}}</ref> but was derelict by 2008.<ref name="DBC-Buildingsatrisk08">{{cite web|url=http://www.darlington.gov.uk/dar_public/Documents/Development%20and%20Environment/Development%20and%20Regeneration/Planning%20Services/Conservation/BaR.pdf|title=Buildings at risk register|year=2008|work=Piercebridge Grange Farm|publisher=Darliington Borough Council|pages=31|access-date=12 March 2010}}</ref> The [[Battle of Piercebridge]] was partly fought on the bridge, when on 1 December 1642 a small [[Cavalier|Royalist]] contingent including [[William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne|William Cavendish]] defended it against [[Roundhead|Parliamentarians]] led by [[Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron|Lord Fairfax]].<ref name="KeysToThePastPiercebridgeHist"/> St Mary's church and churchyard were used for 115 extant memorials and burials from 1836 to 1987.<ref name="FFHS-DurhamMemorials">{{cite web|url=http://www.familyhistoryonline.net/database/ClevelandFHS_MI.shtml|title=Federation of Family History Societies|date=2002–2009|work=Cleveland, North Yorkshire and County Durham Memorial Inscription index|access-date=12 March 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100219194746/http://www.familyhistoryonline.net/database/ClevelandFHS_MI.shtml|archive-date=19 February 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 2001 the Piercebridge area suffered in the [[2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis|foot and mouth epidemic]].<ref name="BBCfootandmouth01">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1207463.stm|date=19 October 2001|title=Timeline: Foot-and-mouth cases|access-date=12 March 2010 | work=BBC News}}</ref> By 1887, the village had grown to cover {{convert|973|acre|km2}} of which 17 were water. It had a population of 206, a railway station and a [[General Post Office|post office]].<ref name="Bartholomew1887">{{cite web|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=5301&st=Piercebridge|title=A vision of Britain through time: Piercebridge County Durham|last=Bartholomew|first=John|year=1887|work=1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles|access-date=12 March 2010}}</ref> Since then it has lost the railway station, gained few residents, and retained its post office.<ref name="Thomson2010-PO">{{cite web|url=http://www.thomsonlocal.com/Piercebridge-Post-Office/0354632196206023000/map/companyinfo.html|title=Thomson local.com|year=2010|work=Piercebridge Post Office|access-date=12 March 2010}}</ref>

A clock in the George Hotel inspired [[Henry Clay Work]]'s 1876 song "[[My Grandfather's Clock]]". The clock was said to have been owned by two brothers named Jenkins. When one brother died, the clock began losing time, and it stopped for ever upon the death of the other.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the Grandfather Clock at the George Hotel in Piercebridge, Darlington, County Durham - The George Hotel |url=http://www.george-ontees.co.uk/history-of-the-grandfather-clock/ |publisher=The George Hotel |access-date=27 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903134532/http://www.george-ontees.co.uk/history-of-the-grandfather-clock/ |archive-date=3 September 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>