Croft, North Riding

Description
Croft, a village, a township, and a parish in the N. R. Yorkshire. The village stands on the river Tees, adjacent to the York and Newcastle railway, at the boundary with Durham, 2 miles S of Darlington, and has, on the Durham side of the river, a station on the railway and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Darlington, It is a watering-place, with sulphurous and saline springs whose properties are considered by some to be superior to those at Harro-gate; has a good hotel, lodging-houses, and baths, and a handsome stone bridge; and was the birthplace of Thomas Burnet, the philosopher and divine. Area of the township, 4724 acres of land and 21 of water; population of the civil parish, 459 : of the ecclesiastical, 763. The parish contains also the townships of Dalton-upon-Tees and Halnaby, and part of the townships of Stapleton and Great Smeaton. Halnaby Hall is the seat of the Wilson-Todd family, who are lords of the manor. Clervaux Castle belongs to the Chaytor family, who are among the principal landowners. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ripon; value, £655 with residence. Patron, the Crown. The church is English, of various styles, has a quaint, weather-worn, ancient appearance, and contains monuments of the Clervauxes, ancestors of the Chaytors.