Stockton began as an Anglo-Saxon settlement on high ground close to the northern bank of the River Tees.
The manor of Stockton was created in around 1138. It was purchased by Bishop Pudsey of Durham in 1189 and since then has undergone many changes. Stockton’s market can trace its history back to 1310, when Bishop Bek of Durham granted a market charter – to our town of Stockton a market upon every Wednesday for ever.
Stockton Castle is first referred to in 1376. It was captured by the Scottish in 1644 and was occupied by them until 1646, but was destroyed on the orders of Oliver Cromwell at the end of the Civil War.
There is now a shopping centre, called the Castle Gate Centre, where the original castle stood.