Wolviston

Wolviston is a village and civil parish within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated to the north of Billingham. The village is a community with good road links to Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesbrough and the rest of North East England. It is home to several businesses including a florist, saddlery, international consultancy firm, riding school and post office run by former Middlesbrough footballer Graeme Hedley and his wife. The village benefits from two pubs, the Wellington Inn and the Ship. The village also has a traditional Village Green and a Duck Pond.

Wolviston is a community with a cricket and football team, a guides association and allotment holders club.

The local church is dedicated to St Peter.

The village name has its origins in Saxon times. Although popularly, the village was named after the wolves that inhabited the area, Watts identifies the name as deriving from Wulfestun - or Wulf's estate - and as such named for an early landowner. Other local historians note the existence of a local dignatory named Wolvis during Saxon times and hold that his occupancy of nearby land may be the root of the present village's name. Wolviston lies close to Wynyard Hall, historically the family home of the Londonderry dynasty, whose fortune came from the ownership of several collieries and a port in County Durham. The present Wynyard Hall was completed in 1848, and many royal visitors were entertained there over the following hundred years. The war memorial commemorates the Wolviston casualties in both World Wars.

The A19 originally ran through the village until it was bypassed in the 1970s to the east then in the 1980s bypassed to the west as the original bypass became gridlocked towards Billingham and Stockton during rush hour. The A689 also used to run through the village but was bypassed to the north in the 1970s.

References

• Watts, Victor. A Dictionary of County Durham Place-Names. English Place-Name Society, Nottingham, 2002. ISBN 0-904889-65-3