Haughton-le-Skerne

Haughton-le-Skerne is a village in the borough of Darlington in the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated in the north east of Darlington. The village lies to the west of the River Skerne.[1] At the centre of the village green, is the main road towards Darlington town centre going across the river, south of the church. There used to be a linen mill on the riverbank on the east side of the village. Part of the mill leat can still be seen today.

St Andrew's Church, Haughton-le-Skerne. Darlington's oldest church

Haughton Le Skerne
Haughton Le Skerne Location within County Durham
OS grid reference	NZ314164
• London	252mi
Unitary authority	Darlington
Ceremonial county	County Durham
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	DARLINGTON
Postcode district	DL1
Dialling code	01325
Police	Durham
Fire	County Durham and Darlington
Ambulance	North East
UK Parliament	Darlington

St Andrew's Church at the west end of the village green is the oldest church in Darlington, circa 1125. Some of the stones may have originated in a previous church on the same site.

Parts of the existing rectory have monastic ruins built into the foundation and some inner walls, speculated to be evidence of an earlier building on this site. [2]

On the north side of Haughton-le-Skerne, a turnpike led over the river to the ports on the Tees estuary, carrying traffic including salt from the Bishop's salt mines.

Haughton-le-Skerne is now connected to a large suburb of Darlington, with areas including Springfield and Whinfield.

The community was referred to in the ITV series Downton Abbey as it was the location where Mrs. Beryl Patmore (Lesley Nicol) would find a cottage which would serve as a boarding house, and when she retired, would serve as her home for her retirement days.

John Wrightson (1840-1916), founder of Downton Agricultural College and great grandfather of Downton writer Julian Fellowes was born in the village.