Escomb is a village and former civil parish on the River Wear about west of Bishop Auckland, in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. In 2001, it had a population of 358. In 2011, the ward had a population of 3323.
Etymology
The name Escomb is of Old English origin. The name derived from the element edisc ("enclosures, enclosed park"), giving the name a meaning of "(place) at the enclosures".
Parish churches
Escomb Church was built in the 7th or 8th century AD when the area was part of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria, and has been called "England's earliest complete church". The building includes long-and-short quoins characteristic of Anglo-Saxon architecture, and re-used Roman masonry from Binchester Roman Fort.
Until the 19th century, Escomb was a dependent chapelry of Bishop Auckland. In 1848, a vicarage was built at the top of the hill and Rev. Henry Atkinson became Escomb's first resident vicar for centuries.
The Anglo-Saxon church seated only 65 people, and in the 19th century Escomb's population outgrew it. In 1863, a new parish church, St John's, was completed next to the vicarage.
Thereafter, the old church repeatedly fell into disrepair. It was restored in 1875–80 by R. J. Johnson, again in 1927, and again in 1965, by Sir Albert Richardson. It passes Escomb but its nearest stop was Etherley railway station, which had been opened by 1847. The 1851 Census recorded 1,293 inhabitants of Escomb, most of whom worked at the pit.
British Rail closed the Bishop Auckland and Weardale line to passenger traffic in 1965 and to freight traffic in 1993. In 1931, the parish had a population of 3248.
See also
- Escomb Bridge
- Northman of Escomb, involved in the transfer of Escomb to St Cuthbert's of Lindisfarne (later Durham Cathedral) in the 10th century
- Combe
Amenities
Escomb has a public house, the Saxon Inn, that was built in the 17th century.
The village has a primary school.