St. Johns in 1837
Hutchinson’s ‘History of Durham,’ 1794, speaks of a market being held at the chapelry of St. John, in Weardale. The chapel of St. John is on the south side of the Wear, about seven miles from Stanhope, on the road to Aldstone Moor : it is a handsome building, rebuilt several years ago by Sir Walter Blacket. The benefice, which is a perpetual curacy, worth £186 a year, is in the gift of the rector of Stanhope, or rather the inhabitants nominate and the rector approves. The market, which is on Saturday, was established for the benefit of the miners, of whom. when Hutchinson wrote, 800 were employed in the neighbourhood, and the number has probably increased since. The valley of the Wear is here deep and narrow ; there is a stone bridge of one arch over the river.
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