Skelton
Skelton Village
In the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, in the county of North Yorkshire in north east England, lies the small town of Skelton-in-Cleveland at the foot of the Clevleand Hills. Located east of Middlesbrough, Skelton consists of North Skelton, Old Skelton, New Skelton and Skelton Green. Skelton is first mentioned in the Domesday Book with reference to taxes collected but much earlier evidence of human occupation dates back to around 4000BC. Many burial sites or ‘howes’ have been discovered in the hills around Skelton with further discoveries of tools of stone and flint to suggest Neolithic settlements and a farming community. Further discoveries show occupation during Bronze Age and by the Celts during the Iron Age and later still by the Romans. The area was part of the realm of Brigantia, which stretched from the Tyne across to the Peak district and to the coasts. After the Roman withdrawal, during Anglo-Saxon rule, Skelton lay between Bernicia to the north and Deira to the south but was part of the kingdom of Northumbria until Viking invasions put it under their control. After the Norman invasion when all over England, stone castles were built on prominent hills, the de Brus family sited theirs at Skelton.