For many centuries the mill belonged to the Church. After the reformation, the mill transferred from the Prior of Durham to the Dean & Chapter of Durham Cathedral. Work ceased at the mill during the 1860s. A difficult time for flour mills as larger companies, using mechanically controlled equipment absorbed the trade. In 1940, although damaged by a bomb it continued to be inhabited for several years prior to demolition 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Picture Stockton Archive 
Marcombe, D [1973] p.144 In 1550, for example, George Thorpe took a 21 year lease of Wolviston Mill, but in the 1564 lottery a reversion of this lease was made to Richard Grene, a relation of George Cliffe: consequently, about 3 months after the making of the lottery lease, Thorpe was obliged to take a new lease of his mill to commence after the end of his first lease, doubtless after a substantial payment to Cliffe buying out his interest.- many of the leading protagonists against the Chapter were in fact wealthy men.
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I’m a bit late with this information, but I note it states ‘the mill was bombed in 1940’… BUT this could be wrong as it was Norton Mill which was bombed in 1940 (Bishopsmill)… Unless of course they were BOTH bombed… Both were watermills fed by the same beck..
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You are Correct Mandy it was Norton Mill, I was out in the middle of Mill Lane when the Bombs came down, you never forget things like that.
I knew Marty Wood and remember him rebuilding on the site of the old Wolverston Mill and was There when his Dad made and fitted a bespoke staircase, I had known Dad from Army Cadet days. Often wondered how Marty had got on.
Frank.
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Frank Jack Wood was his father, lived in Leven Road before marriage and their 1st marital home was in Cameron Street. He had a younger brother called Fred. Jack worked as as a joiner then foreman at a big joinery factory called Smiths which was behind the old Labour Exchange on Bridge Road.
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The mill was sited just off the old Mill Lane which runs from the turning just over the bridge past St Pauls school on Thames Road leading towards Wolviston Cricket Club. If you follow the road/track about 1.5 miles it comes to a junction, take a right there through the farmyard past a few houses and it’s down the bank. There is a house on the site now, my mate once lived there. Alternatively come from the Station Road in Norton. You will cross the stream that once powered the wheel.
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Could anyone say where this Mill is actually sited?
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