Cliffe is a small village and civil parish in Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. A stream called the Glen runs through the village to the Tees. It is in the Teesdale and Yorkshire Dales national park. It is about west of Darlington, north of Richmond and near Piercebridge.
The village has a long history, as shown by the number and range of archaeological sites from tumuli to an English Civil War battleground, most of which are scheduled monuments. and the area is largely agricultural. It is notable for its 17th-century Grade II listed George Hotel, where the story behind the song My Grandfather's Clock is said to have originated in 1875.
In 2015 North Yorkshire County Council estimated the population of the village to be 30. The civil parish's 2011 Census population count was fewer than 100, therefore information taken by ONS was included in the Manfield parish (together with Aldbrough St John and Melsonby parishes) these form the Melsonby ward, which was recorded as 1,406.
History
There is evidence of Stone Age, Iron Age, Roman and medieval activity here, although the name "Cliffe" appears to be a medieval name possibly referring to Cliffe Hall and its park. Cliffe has no church, but it does have its own parish, possibly owing to the previous existence of a chapel at Cliffe Hall. At least part of Cliffe shares the Piercebridge postal address, although Piercebridge is north of the Tees, in County Durham: hence some Cliffe locations are described in some records as Piercebridge locations. This area, being close to Manfield, was part of the Gilling West wapentake at the time of the Norman Conquest, so that the later Manfield parish, which included Cliffe, had in Gilling East wapentake and the comprising Cliffe in Gilling West wapentake. In 1717 there were places in Cliffe known as Haverfield, Willow Pound, Stonebridge-fields, Scroggy Pasture, Lime Kiln-fields and Carlberry, together with the 13th-century mill and mill-dam. In the early 1820s, the village was described thus: "Cliffe, in the parish of Manfield, wapentake of Gilling West, and liberty of Richmondshire; (the seat of Henry Witham, Esq.) 1½ miles NNW. of Manfield, 6 miles WNW. of Darlington. Here is no place of worship, except a Catholic chapel, the Rev. William Hogarth, minister, Cliffe hall. Pop. 53."
The Georgian mansion Cliffe Hall was sold in 1825 by the Withams to the Wilsons, who rebuilt it in 1859. In 1890 the of Cliffe were the property of Colonel Wilson. The rateable value was £960, and population 72. The village was said to have derived its name from the cliffs along the river. Cliffe is again described as part of Manfield parish in 1914: "The park of Cliffe Hall was formed in the 13th century . . . it is surrounded by plantations and traversed by a little stream, the Glen, that finds its way to the Tees. There are tumuli in the park. A lane from Cliffe crosses Watling Street and runs through Manfield to Cleasby . . . In 1717 the lord of Cliffe owned a ferry across the Tees at Manfield."The area at Cliffe Bank was affected by foot and mouth disease in 2001.
Geological and political landscape
The subsoil is magnesian limestone and recent alluvium by the Tees; the soil is a strong clay on a gravelly and sandy subsoil. In 1914 the chief crops raised were wheat, oats and turnips, the occupation of the people being mainly agricultural. In 1868 the land was "divided between arable and meadow, with about 80 acres of woodland". In 2007 the population for the whole of the Richmondshire 001D area, which includes Manfield, Aldbrough St John and Melsonby, was 1,447 residents and 619 dwellings; however Cliffe is much smaller than the other villages in the 001D area. It is in the Melsonby ward, and its councillor is Jimmy Wilson-Petch.
Local landmarks
The most obvious local landmark is the River Tees on which the village stands. The Grade II listed George Hotel stands near the road-bridge which crosses the Tees coming from Piercebridge, and is said to be the home of My Grandfather's Clock which "stopped short never to go again when the old man died". The 1789 bridge is the local major crossing since the Roman bridge on Dere Street was destroyed. This bridge, of which the northern half is in County Durham and the southern half is in Richmondshire, is close by the old Roman road. Kathleen Wood is next to Cliffe Hall, a surviving Victorian extension of a long-destroyed Georgian mansion. It is now a bed and breakfast establishment.