Hawthorn, Durham

Description
Hawthorn, a village, a township, and an ecclesiastical parish in Easington parish, Durham, on the coast, 1 1/2 mile NE of Easington, and 3 miles from South Hetton station on the N.E.E. There is a post and money order office under Sunder-land; telegraph office, Easington. Acreage of township, 1506; population, 330; of the ecclesiastical parish, 322. The manor belongs to the Pemberton family. The coast is rocky, bold, and dangerous. Hawthorn Dene, traversed by a rivulet to the sea, is a picturesque glen with winding walks, and contracts into a ravine overhung by beetling cliffs. A small bay, called Hawthorn Hythe, has fine features, and is sheltered by a reef or natural pier called the Skaw. The rocks of the coast are broken, rugged, and pierced with caverns. Fifty ships, with all their crews, were lost on 25 Nov. 1824, on the Skaw, and fires used to be kindled on Beacon Hill, on the S side, to warn mariners off. Hawthorn Tower, a grey castellated mansion, the seat of the Pemberton family, is on a hill beside the Dene; and Sailors' Hall, built by Admiral Milbanke and now partly a ruin, is a little below, almost on the edge of the precipice. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham; net value, £200 with residence. The church was built in 1863, in the Gothic style, and contains a handsome brass lectern.