NEASHAM, or Nysam, a township in Hurworth parish, Durham; on the river Tees, at the boundary with Yorkshire, 4 miles SE of Darlington. It has a post-office under Darlington, and a ferry on the Tees. Acres, 1,575. Real property, £2,141. Pop., 333. Houses, 77. The monks who bore the body of St. Cuthbert, crossed the Tees by a ford here, on their way to Ripon. A Benedictine nunnery was founded here, by the Dacres, before the time of Henry II.; and is now represented by only the foundations. Neasham Abbey, the seat of Mrs. Wilkinson, is a modern house. Neasham Hall, the seat of J. Cookson, Esq., is noted as a place where many thorough-bred race-horses have been bred. The owner of Sockburn manor used always, in the times of the Bishop of Durham’s temporal power, to meet him on his first entrance into the county at Neasham, and to present him here with a sword.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
