Editing Darlington (section)

===Darnton===
[[File:St Cuthbert's Church, Darlington (geograph 6355021).jpg|thumb|right|St Cuthbert's Church]]
Darlington started as an [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] settlement. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon ''Dearthington'', which seemingly meant 'the settlement of Deornoth's people' but, by Norman times, the name had changed to Derlinton. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the town was usually known by the name of ''Darnton''.<ref name="englandsnortheast">{{Cite web |title=Darlington |url=http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/DarlingtonTees.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027151735/http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/DarlingtonTees.html |archive-date=27 October 2020 |access-date=4 May 2011 |website=englandsnortheast.co.uk}}</ref>

Darlington has a historic market area in the town centre. [[St Cuthbert's Church, Darlington|St Cuthbert's Church]], built in 1183, is one of the most important early English churches in the north of England and is [[Grade I]] listed.<ref name=visitdarlington>{{Cite web |title=visitdarlington.com: The Leading Visited Darlington Site on the Net<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://www.visitdarlington.com/images/icons_large/icon_pdf.gif |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203041339/http://www.visitdarlington.com/images/icons_large/icon_pdf.gif |archive-date=3 February 2011 |website=visitdarlington.com}}</ref> The oldest church in Darlington is [[St Andrew's Church, Haughton-le-Skerne|St Andrew's Church]], built around 1100 in [[Haughton-le-Skerne]].

When the author [[Daniel Defoe]] visited the town during the 18th century, he noted that it was eminent for "good bleaching of linen, so that I have known cloth brought from Scotland to be bleached here". However, he also disparaged the town, writing that it had "nothing remarkable but dirt"; roads would have typically been unpaved in the 18th century. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Defoe |first=Daniel |title=A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies |publisher=J. M. Dent & Co. |year=1927 |location=London |chapter=Letter 9: Eastern Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland |access-date=13 April 2011 |chapter-url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Defoe&c_id=33 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629220605/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Defoe&c_id=33 |archive-date=29 June 2017 |url-status=live |via=Vision of Britain}}</ref>

The so-called ''[[Durham Ox]]'' came from Darlington; born in the early 19th century, this steer became renowned for its excellent proportions which came to inform the standard for Shorthorn cattle.<ref name="englandsnortheast" />