Skelton-in-Cleveland


Skelton or Skelton-in-Cleveland is a small town in the civil parish of Skelton and Brotton in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland in the North East of England. The town lies within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire and is governed by the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland. It is situated at the foot of the Cleveland Hills and about east of Middlesbrough. Skelton is made up of North Skelton, Skelton Green and New Skelton.
The first real mention of Skelton is in the Domesday Book, which talks about taxes collected. Skelton Castle was built in the 12th century by the
de Brus family. The population of Skelton ward in the Redcar and Cleveland Unitary Authority was 6,396, increasing to 7,454 at the 2011 census.

All Saints Churches

is a redundant Church of England church, built in Georgian times; it is set in parkland with views to the 18th-century Gothic style country house, called Skelton Castle. Graves can be seen in the churchyard with skull-and-crossbone motifs. The church was mostly rebuilt in 1785, on a site where two previous churches were built.
The pulpit, the box-pews and other furnishings, date from the rebuilding, with slightly earlier text boards and some older monuments on a remaining medieval wall. The outside stonework shows a herringbone tooling in keeping with local styles, in contrast to the 'Venetian' east window and the dark pink colouring of the interior.
A new All Saints church was built nearby, it was the place of a historic incident involving choir boys. in 1884, by R.J. Johnston of Newcastle. It is in the decorated style and of dressed sandstone with ashlar, with plain clay tiled roofs. After the new church was built, the Georgian church fell into disrepair, declared redundant and is now maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust. Both churches are Grade II listed buildings.

Education

The only school in the town is Skelton Primary School which takes on students age 3-11.

Famous son

Skelton-in-Cleveland was the birthplace, in 1873, of Frank Wild, polar explorer and Ernest Shackleton's right-hand man.