Hutton Rudby
Hutton Rudby is a very beautiful village. The fine avenue of trees through the village green was planted by individual subscription in 1878. It really is two villages separated by the river Leven - Hutton and Rudby. Hutton is an Anglo-Saxon name meaning “ village on a hill “. Rudby is a Viking name meaning ‘Rudi’s village’ or ‘ Rudda’s village’, Rudi being a man’s name and Rudda being a woman’s name.
There have been people living here for thousands of years but it is only since the church and manor houses in Hutton, Rudby, Skutterskelfe and Sexhow were built that the village started to grow into the one we know today. Over the years many villagers were involved in some way with life in the village, cobblers, tailors, shopkeepers and butchers . Others were in agriculture related jobs - working on farms around the village, blacksmiths, butchers and wheelwrights .
Hutton Rudby is also very famous for it’s linen industry. Spinning and weaving flax in their own homes the villagers would sell their linen in nearby northern markets. Spinning windows can still be seen in some of the cottages in parts of the village. Later a corn and linen mill, near the bridge over the Leven, made sailcloth, by water then steam power.This was demolished in 1908. A plaque has been erected on the bridge to commemorate the site. All Saints’ Church, in Rudby, near the river, dates from the middle of the 12th century with reconstruction in the 14th century. The Elizabethan pulpit dates from the death of it’s donor,Thomas Milner, in 1594 . In the churchyard there is a mound where the 23 cholera victims of 1832 were buried.
John Wesley preached in the village 12 times between 1759 and 1790, a meeting house being in North End .The present Methodist Church was built in 1878. The Primitive Methodist Church built in 1821 became the Church House after all branches of Methodism combined. The Bathurst Charity School was founded in the 18th century, William Barlow’s National school in 1838 and the present school in Doctor’s lane in the mid 1970’s.
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The Village Hall (pictured left) was built in 1927 on land which was given to the village by Mrs.Mary Young Blair . It has been a very popular part of village life – and still is, having been recently substantially enlarged and refurbished. Hutton Rudby Show was first held in 1893 .It was an industrial and home produce show organised by the Hutton Rudby Temperance Society initially. After many successful years followed by a time of change it was dissolved in 1993. |
| This photo is derived from one contributed by Mick Garratt. It is avaliable for reuse under the Creative Commons License |
Judy Kitching 2006
