Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Stoctun' 1183 BB c.1382

• Stoktona 1183 c.1382 ib

• Stokton' 1183 BB c.1320 Spec 1244×9 Ct 1247 RPD 1311 Spec 1315 Lond 1344 Hatf 1382 Pont 1406 Lang 1418 HC/CB2 1522

• Stocton' 1197,1211(p) Pipe 1310 Bek 17th Spec 1322,1337

• Stoctone 1242×3 Ass

• Stoketon' 1195×1221 Spec 1283 Pont 1308 Spec 1311,1312 RPD

• Stoketun before1215 Guis

• Stoketun' 1283 Pont

• Stoketone 1235 Ass 1333 GD

• Stoketon 1313×4 GD 1338×9 Rot

• Stokton 1259×60 GD 1315 Newm 1338 IPM 1338×9 Rot 1345 Halm 1349 IPM 1350 Rot 1366(p),1368 Halm 1370 Spec 1376etfreqto1624 IPM 1408 Lang 1431,1435 Wills 1519,1524,1526,1530–2 HC/CB 1608 Man 1610 GD

• Stoktone 1259,1399 GD

• Stocton 1259×60 1327 Ct 1720 HC/CB

• Stockton' 1310 Bek 17th DCD 1325 Pont 1360

• Stockton 1338etfreqto1633 IPM 1436(p),1562,1583 Wills 1662 EnclA 1887 DX4871/107 1673 Ogilby 1675 Hud 1717 HC/CB 1720,1722 Man 1730,1739 DX497/7/1 1757 StrathD7/140 1759 Bran 1772

• Stockden 1571 Wills

• Stockden alias Stockton 1638 IPM

• stoccton 1595 Ct

• Stokton upon Tease 1630 CC

• Stockton super Tease 1725,1728 HC/CB

• Stockton upon Tease 1706 Rob 1723,1723×4 Hud 1735 Rob 1750 NRCbox8/87

• Stocton(e), Stokton(e) 1288–1536 PNCh 4 46

Etymology

'An outlying farmstead', OE  stoc-tūn. Identical with Stockton, Cheshire SJ 4745, Stocton (e ), Stokton (e )1288–1536 PNCh 446, Stockton Heath, Cheshire SJ 6186, Stoketon (a )1190×99, 13th cent., Stocton , Stokton , Stockton c.1200–1626 PNCh 2145 and other examples of the p.n. type Stockton/Stoughton/Staughton. The basic sense of the element stoc seems to have been 'standing place' and it is thought that in place-names it may have referred to a place where cattle stood for milking in outlying pastures. That seems to suggest that by origin Stockton was an outlying hamlet or stock farm of Norton in which parish it lay until granted separate parish status in 1713. Its prominence in the medieval period must have been due to the subsequent establishment of the lord's hall here, the origin of the bishop's manor, castle and borough of Stockton.

In Surtees's time Stockton was divided into a copyhold township in the north around St Thomas's church as far as the Town House, and a Borough in the south between the township and the bishop's castle, Surtees III 168. There is no charter of incorporation but it seems likely that the borough was planned and planted by the bishop in the thirteenth century to rival Yarm and Hartlepool. The heyday of Stockton came with the growth of shipping and industrial development in the 18th cent. This is the period that saw the building of the church (1710–12), the Custom House (1730, now demolished), the Town House (1735), the Market Cross and the Shambles (1768, the latter rebuilt 1825). Further commercial and industrial development took place with the opening of the 'new cut' across the neck of the huge Mandale loop in the Tees in 1810, the coming of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825 and the opening of a further cut in the river at Portrack in 1828.

The main industries were river-based including ship-building, rope, cloth and sail-cloth manufacture, followed by engineering and foundries.Industrial decline in the earlier 20th century was accompanied by slum clearance and subsequent extensive redevelopment and regeneration. The boundaries of the township and borough were extended in 1852 and again 1889 and 1913 to incorporate substantial portions of Norton with various subsequent alterations until the borough's demise in 1968 (Sowler 176, 184, 202). In this survey the boundaries of 1863 are followed and no systematic distinction is attempted between township and borough locations.