Wolsingham, market town and par. with ry. sta., Durham - par. (containing Thornley and parts of Tow Law and Frosterley), 24,016 ac., pop. 7895; town, on river Wear, 10 miles NW. of Bishop Auckland by rail, pop. 2504; P.O., T.O., 1 Bank. Market-day, Tuesday. The town is irregularly built, and has a town hall, a church (rebuilt 1848), and an endowed grammar school. Woollen cloth, edge tools, and agricultural implements are manufactured; and there is much business in connection with the neighbouring coal, lead, iron, and limestone works. Fine black-spotted marble is quarried here. Near the town are the remains of a monastery.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))