Eryholme is situated to the North East of the East Richmond Team Benefice in a
meander of the River Tees to the South of Hurworth and Neasham. There are ten
houses in the village with 19 outlying farms/houses within the Parish boundary.
The parish has maintained its chief activity as farming and currently all farms are
part of the Neasham Estate owned by the Wrightson family.
We have a Church and a post box!! The telephone kiosk was removed
approximately three years ago! Being so small we are a very close community
centred around the Church. Eryholme is probably most well known locally for its
cricket team formed in 1956 by Norman Farnaby and friends and continued with
enthusiasm by Charlie Walker.
Historically, Eryholme, it is believed, was a settlement called Ergum or Agrum in
Saxon times which was a collection of ‘wattle and daub’ dwellings. It was a very
important village /township because of its proximity to Hurworth and Neasham
fords across the Tees where an Ecclesiastical Ceremony of a Falchion was
presented to the Bishop of Durham at the county boundary in the middle of the
river. It has connections with archery when in 1673 Henry Calverley, whose family
seat was at Eryholme Manor, presented the Silver Arrow and became the first ‘Captain of the Arrow’ which now relates to Scorton, where an Archery
Club still exists today.
Eryholme Grange was famous for the breeding of shorthorn cattle, Favourite being a cow sold to the Colling Brothers which became part of the
original stock from which came The Durham Ox, Comet etc.
St. Mary’s is built of red sandstone and stands on probably the highest ground in the village. It consists of a Chancel with North Vestry, Nave, South
Porch and an embattled West Tower, although this is only 6 feet square. The earliest part of the present church dates back to 1150 and the styles
range from late Norman to early Perpendicular. The Register dates back to 1565. The seating capacity has changed over the years depending on
the size of the pulpit, the organ and the heater and has been described variously between 60 and 120.
The Parish Church of St Mary
Sunday Services
1st Sunday of the Month:
1100
Holy Communion
3rd Sunday of the Month:
1800
Evening Prayer
Contacts:
Revd David Lewis
The Rectory, Great Smeaton
01609 881205
davidlewis648@btinternet.com