A view of Norton duck pond with the Unicorn pub in the background.
On the far left you can see the Admirals House. A mid 1770 royal navy officer, Rear Admiral Policarpus Taylor built this large 1760 manor house form the proceeds of prize money from French and Spanish ships in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Mediterranean.
Royal Navy Rear-Admiral Polycarpus Taylor (orig. from Greenwich, Kent) settled in Norton, after marrying his 2nd wife, an Alice Gregory (b.1715 Norton) in 1753 at St Georges Church, Mayfair , London. Obviously, he built this large house (seen above) to reflect his wealth and status in the township, after a career spent mainly in the Caribbean and West Indies. He died in 1781 and is buried in the churchyard (Blakeston porch) of St Mary’s the Virgin Church, just across the road to his former home.
In the same churchyard is the grave of Stockton-born Capt. William Christopher (d. 1797), another very notable seaman (and good friend of the famous Capt. James Cook), who began his mariner’s career possibly only 10 years prior to Polycarpus Taylor’s death. Most of his career was spent with the Hudson Bay Co. in Canada and North America, having at one time served under Capt. Jonathan Fowler of Egglescliffe, yet another local-born renowned seaman.
The Hudson Bay area of Canada, was also where much of the career of Norton born Capt. Christopher Middleton RN was spent, in search of the almost ‘mythical’ ‘North West passage’. A talented scientific-navigator, who after much exploration by 1743, had decided that there was no such navigable waterway. An opinion that neither The Admiralty, or the Hudson Bay Co wanted to hear and as a result, much of his remaining career, apart from a time during the Scottish Rebellion, was spent on half pay. He died in 1770.
Thanks for the info on the hydrant for filling the pond. Is this the same one that fills Billingham Bottoms or is there another one in Billingham?
As far as I know Billingham Bottoms floods from the Billingham beck as it always did, water in winter coming down the Beck flooded the water meadows on each side and the fields on Norton Billingham road. When frozen those fields made ideal skating rinks for everyone with our strap on ice skates, half Norton would be down there enjoying themselves.
The pond may have its own Hydrant now but was filled from a nearby fire Hydrant.
There is a small brick built control unit which is on the west side of the pond, I presume that the water is controlled from there..Near to the telephone box but in the pond itself was an outlet for draining the pond.
This may be a daft question, but where does the water come from? Is it fed from a natural spring or is there a tap somewhere that someone turns on and off when the occasion demands?
Norton Duck pond is now filled from a hydrant, it has a concrete bottom and was cleaned out a few months ago. The bottom had a thick grunge of rotted bread and other rubbish which was shovelled on the back of a lorry parked in the middle they then refilled it and put the fountain back on.
It had a clay bottom when as a lad I paddled in it although that could be dangerous as people threw bottles in the pond and broken glass cut your feet. At the time it did fill with natural water but I did see the firemen top it with hoses now and then.
It did have a Pump beside it for drinking water which was working until after the war, I also saw cattle let loose on the Green from the farm next to the Vicarage now and then and they would drink from the pond, I think it was to do with ancient grazing rights on common land which is what the Green still is. My father walked his geese and ducks over the Green from Mill Lane to have a swim on the pond to clear the eggs for eating, not me I hated duck eggs.
Not all that many years ago apart from pumps in some of the yards, we had one in Mill Lane. The pond was the village drinking water and also the laundry for the people of the village, piped water to every house is not that old and most houses pre-war had a single cold water tap, ours at number 5 Mill Lane was in the back wash house also a boiler with a fire under it for all hot water used.
The Pond and Green were the playground for children and adults from the Street Houses in Stockton on bank holidays, the buses which ran every five minutes would bring full loads to picnic on the Green and in the Showfield, today I sit on what has become one large car park with a few mothers and children round the pond on the warm days, I remember the green as a playground for all games crowded with kids and adults summer nights and weekends, it will probably be a supermarket in another twenty years time.
The pond has just had a good clean-up, the other month. The water was drained off, then all the sludge sucked up and then a good jet-wash and the fountain reinstalled for the summer months. There is a stop cock nearby on the green, so I guess, it’s operated from a mains water supply pipe. No doubt, there will be a overflow pipe somewhere along the pond edge.
I remember paddling there in the 60’s and ending up with poisoned feet. I dread to think what was in the water.
Broken glass.
Frank,
Sorry but I was being facetious when I queried the Billinghan Hydrant. I know Billingham Bottoms floods are fed by the beck. I should do, I lived in Chapel Rd once about a million years ago. Anyway, sorry once again and thanks for the info.