Wilton, Redcar and Cleveland
Encyclopedia
Wilton is a small village in the unitary authority
of Redcar and Cleveland
and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire
, England
.
and Eston
at the base of Eston Hills
- to the east of Eston Nab
. The village is noted for its golf course and castle, Wilton Castle
. It lies just south of the A174
trunk road. On the other side of the A174, is the village of Lazenby
.
Wilton Castle
is an early 19th century mansion house, built on the site of a medieval castle, now converted into residential apartments. It is a Grade II listed building.
The Bulmer family
owned the manor of Wilton in the 13th century and were granted a licence to fortify their manor house
in 1210. In 1331 Ralph Bulmer was granted permission to build a castle on his manor. The estate was confiscated by the Crown following the attainder
and execution of Sir John and Lady Bulmer for high treason
arising out of their part in the Pilgrimage of Grace
in 1536. The manor was restored to their son but was lost again, by sequestration
in 1644, following Sir William Bulmers opposition to Parliament during the English Civil War
. It was again later restored but the castle had been sleighted by Parliamentary forces and made uninhabitable.
The estate was purchased in about 1806 by John Lowther
of Swillington
, brother of the Earl of Lonsdale
. Lowther demolished the remains of the medieval castle and built, in about 1810, an imposing mansion house on the site, to a design by architect Sir Robert Smirke
. The Gothick design includes a fifteen bay frontage with a four storey castellated tower at the centre, flanked by castellated and gabled bays and turrets and five bayed two storey wings.
Lowther was created a Baronet
in 1824 (see Lowther Baronets
). On the death of the third Baronet in 1894 the Baronetcy passed to his grandson but the Wilton Castle estate passed to his younger son James Lowther (1840-1904)
.
The family sold the property in 1945 to Imperial Chemical Industries
for use as offices occupied at various times by major industrialists such as Richard Beeching
and Sir John Harvey Jones. The park was developed as a golf course for ICI staff. ICI sold it in 1999, after which the golf club was acquired by its members and the castle converted into residential apartments.
chemical works, which were opened by the Queen
in 1956.
From 1995, the Wilton International site became multi-occupancy. The site is currently run by SembCorp Utilities. In 2001 BP
closed its polythene
plant (Polythene 5), which it had bought from ICI in 1982. In the same year Basell
closed its polypropylene
plant. In January 2009, Invista announced it was to close all of its plants on the site.
Companies currently operating on the site include SABIC
, Lotte, Huntsman and Ensus. The Teesside Power Station
a partially mothballed gas-fired power station
, is also on the site.
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
of Redcar and Cleveland
Redcar and Cleveland
The borough of Redcar & Cleveland is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England consisting of Redcar, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Guisborough, and small towns such as Brotton, Eston, Skelton and Loftus. It had a resident population of 139,132 in 2001, and is part of the Tees...
and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Geography
It is located between RedcarRedcar
Redcar is a seaside resort in the north east of England, and a major town in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire. It lies east-northeast of Middlesbrough by the North Sea coast...
and Eston
Eston
Eston is a town within the Unitary Authority of Redcar and Cleveland, England. Within the Middlesbrough agglomeration it falls inside the Greater Eston initiative...
at the base of Eston Hills
Eston Nab
Eston Nab is a local landmark to those who live along the River Tees, in north-east England.A nab is a rocky promontory, or outcrop, and Eston Nab, marking the highest point – at - on the escarpment which forms Eston Hills, appears as a clear sandstone cliff on the northernmost edge of Eston Moor...
- to the east of Eston Nab
Eston Nab
Eston Nab is a local landmark to those who live along the River Tees, in north-east England.A nab is a rocky promontory, or outcrop, and Eston Nab, marking the highest point – at - on the escarpment which forms Eston Hills, appears as a clear sandstone cliff on the northernmost edge of Eston Moor...
. The village is noted for its golf course and castle, Wilton Castle
Wilton Castle (Yorkshire)
Wilton Castle is an early 19th century mansion house, built on the site of a medieval castle, now converted into residential apartments, situated at Wilton, in Redcar and Cleveland, England. It is a Grade II listed building....
. It lies just south of the A174
A174 road
The A174 is a major road in North Yorkshire, England. It runs from Thornaby-on-Tees to Whitby....
trunk road. On the other side of the A174, is the village of Lazenby
Lazenby
Lazenby is a village in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England.It is located just off the A174, a 2 minute drive away from Eston. Lazenby is very small, and has just one general store, two pubs and a social club....
.
History
The parish church is dedicated to St Cuthbert. Wilton Castle was sold to ICI in the 1940s.Wilton Castle
Wilton Castle (Yorkshire)
Wilton Castle is an early 19th century mansion house, built on the site of a medieval castle, now converted into residential apartments, situated at Wilton, in Redcar and Cleveland, England. It is a Grade II listed building....
is an early 19th century mansion house, built on the site of a medieval castle, now converted into residential apartments. It is a Grade II listed building.
The Bulmer family
Bulmer (family)
The Bulmer family were a noble family of Norman England, resident in Yorkshire. The family take their name from Bulmer, North Yorkshire. The name Bulmer comes from English "Bull mere", a lake frequented by a bull, and is an Anglicised form of Gaelic "Búir na mara" from the Celtic tribe Brigantes...
owned the manor of Wilton in the 13th century and were granted a licence to fortify their manor house
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
in 1210. In 1331 Ralph Bulmer was granted permission to build a castle on his manor. The estate was confiscated by the Crown following the attainder
Attainder
In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura is the metaphorical 'stain' or 'corruption of blood' which arises from being condemned for a serious capital crime . It entails losing not only one's property and hereditary titles, but typically also the right to pass them on to one's heirs...
and execution of Sir John and Lady Bulmer for high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
arising out of their part in the Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...
in 1536. The manor was restored to their son but was lost again, by sequestration
Sequestration (law)
Sequestration is the act of removing, separating, or seizing anything from the possession of its owner under process of law for the benefit of creditors or the state.-Etymology:...
in 1644, following Sir William Bulmers opposition to Parliament during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. It was again later restored but the castle had been sleighted by Parliamentary forces and made uninhabitable.
The estate was purchased in about 1806 by John Lowther
Sir John Lowther, 1st Baronet, of Swillington
Sir John Lowther, 1st Baronet was an English landowner and Member of Parliament, the second son of Sir William Lowther, 1st Baronet....
of Swillington
Swillington
Swillington is a small village and civil parish near Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. It is located east of the River Aire and surrounded by streams including Fleakingley Beck. As of 2001, Swillington had a population of about 3,530.Swillington used to be a...
, brother of the Earl of Lonsdale
Earl of Lonsdale
Earl of Lonsdale is a title that has been created twice in British history, firstly in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 , and then in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1807, both times for members of the Lowther family....
. Lowther demolished the remains of the medieval castle and built, in about 1810, an imposing mansion house on the site, to a design by architect Sir Robert Smirke
Robert Smirke (architect)
Sir Robert Smirke was an English architect, one of the leaders of Greek Revival architecture his best known building in that style is the British Museum, though he also designed using other architectural styles...
. The Gothick design includes a fifteen bay frontage with a four storey castellated tower at the centre, flanked by castellated and gabled bays and turrets and five bayed two storey wings.
Lowther was created a Baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
in 1824 (see Lowther Baronets
Lowther Baronets
There have been seven Baronetcies created for members of the Lowther family, one in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia, two in the Baronetage of England, two in the Baronetage of Great Britain and two in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom...
). On the death of the third Baronet in 1894 the Baronetcy passed to his grandson but the Wilton Castle estate passed to his younger son James Lowther (1840-1904)
James Lowther (1840-1904)
James Lowther PC, PC , DL, JP was a British Conservative politician and sportsman.-Background and education:...
.
The family sold the property in 1945 to Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
for use as offices occupied at various times by major industrialists such as Richard Beeching
Richard Beeching
Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching , commonly known as Doctor Beeching, was chairman of British Railways and a physicist and engineer...
and Sir John Harvey Jones. The park was developed as a golf course for ICI staff. ICI sold it in 1999, after which the golf club was acquired by its members and the castle converted into residential apartments.
Wilton International
Wilton International is an area of chemical plant on the north side of the A174 road, occupying the site of the former ICIImperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
chemical works, which were opened by the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
in 1956.
From 1995, the Wilton International site became multi-occupancy. The site is currently run by SembCorp Utilities. In 2001 BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
closed its polythene
Polyethylene
Polyethylene or polythene is the most widely used plastic, with an annual production of approximately 80 million metric tons...
plant (Polythene 5), which it had bought from ICI in 1982. In the same year Basell
Basell Polyolefins
Basell Polyolefins was a joint venture between BASF and Royal Dutch Shell. Leonard Blavatnik's Access Industries acquired it from the venturers for $5.7 billion in August 2005...
closed its polypropylene
Polypropylene
Polypropylene , also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications including packaging, textiles , stationery, plastic parts and reusable containers of various types, laboratory equipment, loudspeakers, automotive components, and polymer banknotes...
plant. In January 2009, Invista announced it was to close all of its plants on the site.
Companies currently operating on the site include SABIC
SABIC
SABIC is a diversified manufacturing company, active in chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers and metals. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia as listed in Tadawul, but the Saudi government still owns 70% of its shares...
, Lotte, Huntsman and Ensus. The Teesside Power Station
Teesside power station
Teesside Power Station is a partially mothballed gas-fired power station, in Redcar & Cleveland, England. Situated near the Wilton chemical complex, the station has combined cycle gas turbines and open cycle gas turbines , however in 2011 the operation of the CCGT part of the station was suspended...
a partially mothballed gas-fired power station
Fossil fuel power plant
A fossil-fuel power station is a power station that burns fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum to produce electricity. Central station fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation...
, is also on the site.
External links
- The Wilton Centre
- Wilton Golf Club
- Village history
- Huntsman add to the plant in 2004
- DuPont gets a grant in 2003