Our History
The discovery of a Viking "Hog Back" stone is evidence that there was a settlement in Ingleby in the C10th. In Danish "Ingle" means English, which when followed with "by" suggests an Englishman's village. "Am" is an eagle and "cliffe" is a hill which together read "the eagle's hill". This refers to the outcrop of rock above the village where eagles may once have nested. The area was heavily populated by Danish Viking settlements and an Englishman's village was possibly unusual.
The Domesday Book (1086) identifies two manors that may have existed within the boundaries of the parish of Ingleby Arncliffe, with several entries referring to the manors of Ingleby and Arncliffe. Robert du Brus and his descendants continued to be the tenants-in-chief of Ingleby Arncliffe throughout the Middle Ages. In the 1400s the Mauleverer family inherited Arncliffe estate through marriage and this family remained lords of the manor for nearly five hundred years.
Throughout the C17th and C18th much of the employment in the parish was centered round the Arncliffe Estate, particularly the woodland. By 1720 the small township of Ingleby Arncliffe and Ingleby Cross comprised 30 families with a large proportion of wrights, joiners, coopers, firkiners and carpenters. The estate supplied eight local tanneries and the "bark barn", now Hall Barn Farmhouse, provided work for 40 workers during the season, mainly women and children.
In the late C18th jet became fashionable. Jet shales occurred on sloping hillsides, such as Arncliffe Wood, and the weathered shales could be worked with a pick so avoiding the use of explosives and the possible damage to the jet. However imports of inferior "soft" Spanish jet hastened the decline of the local jet industry and it is doubtful whether any mining continued after the 1920s.
In 1902 the Arncliffe estate was purchased by Sir Lowthian Bell, a Middlesbrough iron master, who also owned the adjoining Rounton estate. The Bell family still owns Arncliffe Estate today.
The discovery of a Viking "Hog Back" stone is evidence that there was a settlement in Ingleby in the C10th. In Danish "Ingle" means English, which when followed with "by" suggests an Englishman's village. "Am" is an eagle and "cliffe" is a hill which together read "the eagle's hill". This refers to the outcrop of rock above the village where eagles may once have nested. The area was heavily populated by Danish Viking settlements and an Englishman's village was possibly unusual.
The Domesday Book (1086) identifies two manors that may have existed within the boundaries of the parish of Ingleby Arncliffe, with several entries referring to the manors of Ingleby and Arncliffe. Robert du Brus and his descendants continued to be the tenants-in-chief of Ingleby Arncliffe throughout the Middle Ages. In the 1400s the Mauleverer family inherited Arncliffe estate through marriage and this family remained lords of the manor for nearly five hundred years.
Throughout the C17th and C18th much of the employment in the parish was centered round the Arncliffe Estate, particularly the woodland. By 1720 the small township of Ingleby Arncliffe and Ingleby Cross comprised 30 families with a large proportion of wrights, joiners, coopers, firkiners and carpenters. The estate supplied eight local tanneries and the "bark barn", now Hall Barn Farmhouse, provided work for 40 workers during the season, mainly women and children.
In the late C18th jet became fashionable. Jet shales occurred on sloping hillsides, such as Arncliffe Wood, and the weathered shales could be worked with a pick so avoiding the use of explosives and the possible damage to the jet. However imports of inferior "soft" Spanish jet hastened the decline of the local jet industry and it is doubtful whether any mining continued after the 1920s.
In 1902 the Arncliffe estate was purchased by Sir Lowthian Bell, a Middlesbrough iron master, who also owned the adjoining Rounton estate. The Bell family still owns Arncliffe Estate today.