Tow Law, Durham

Description
Tow Law, a small town and an ecclesiastical parish in Wolsingham and Lanchester parishes, Durham, on the Stockton and Darlington branch of the N.E.R., 3 miles ENE of Wolsingham. It stands on an eminence, with a commanding view. Originated in iron-works begun in 1844, it occupies ground on which previously were only a farmhouse and a small hostelry, and is now populous and prosperous. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.), a railway station, and is governed by an urban district council. It was formed into an ecclesiastical parish in 1878; Population, 3790. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham; gross value, £300 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Chester. There are also Presbyterian, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, a Roman Catholic church erected in 3.875, a convent, Salvation Army barracks, a cemetery formed in 1885, a Mechanics' Institute, two banks, collieries, and iron-works. The church is in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, W porch, and tower with spire.