The village of Sadberge , a
little to the east of Darlington , has one of those ancient-sounding place-names that you just know
has a long and interesting history. And it has, though a good deal of it has
always lain tantalisingly out of the reach of a succession of local historians.
What is known
for sure is that a Roman road, Rykenield Way
or Street, ran directly through the place, north-south, and that because of the
settlement’s elevation, they probably maintained a signal station of sorts on
the spot. Perhaps they even built a camp or a fort there, but no one has been
able to find definitive evidence. Rumours persist of a later ‘Saxon castle’ in
the vicinity of St.Andrew’s Church – perhaps a stronghold of the Dark Age Kingdom
of Deira.
Next it was the
Vikings. And it was they who gave the village its name – Sadberge deriving from
‘Set-berg’, meaning ‘flat-topped hill’. It became, in fact, the focus of their
local wapentake (administrative centre), covering large tracts of land to the
North of the Tees . Its status stuck for centuries thereafter, and became known as the
‘Earldom of Sadberge’.
It was so
special, in fact, that it was not initially taken into the domain of the Prince
Bishops of Durham in the early days of Norman rule – but was eventually added in
1189. It remained ‘special’, however, and continued to be administered almost
as a separate county until deep into the 16th century.
Today is the blog's 2nd anniversary!
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