Embleton, County Durham

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox UK place

| official_name= Embleton

| civil_parish = Sedgefield

| country= England

| region= North East England

|coordinates = {{coord|54|39.7|N|1|20.7|W|region:GB_type:city|display=title}}

| os_grid_reference=

| post_town=

| postcode_area=

| postcode_district=

| dial_code=

| constituency_westminster =

| unitary_england= County Durham

| lieutenancy_england= Durham

| hide_services= Yes

| population =

| population_ref =

| area_total_km2=

|static_image=Former Chapel-of-Ease, Embleton.jpg

|static_image_caption=The ruined church in Embleton

|website=

}}

Embleton is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sedgefield, in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, in England, as well as the site of a medieval village and manor. It is situated {{convert|3|mi|km|0}} east of Sedgefield and {{convert|4|mi|km|0}} west of Hartlepool. In 1961 the parish had a population of 80.{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10132824/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Embleton Ch/CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=7 August 2023}} The township was historically named "Elmdene", supposedly derived from the site's proximity to a woodland of elm trees which, at an earlier time, flourished in the bordering dene. A single farmstead now occupies the site which lies adjacent to the ruins of a small church (originally a manorial chapel of ease) dedicated to the Virgin Mary.{{citation | author=Whellan | year=1856 | title=History, topography, and directory of the county palatine of Durham| publisher=Whittaker and co. | page=520 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vN4MAAAAYAAJ }}

From the 13th to the mid 16th century the manor was the seat of the Elmeden family who assumed the local name.{{citation | last1=Mackenzie | first1=Eneas | year=1834 | title=An historical, topographical, and descriptive view of the county palatine of Durham, Volume 1 | last2=Ross | first2=Marvin | publisher=Mackenzie and Dent | page=441 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ThNAAAAMAAJ }} The village was one of nearly 1,500 medieval villages to be abandoned in the 14th century after the collapse of the demesne system of land management.Hodgett, Gerald, (2006) A Social and Economic History of Medieval Europe, Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-37707-2}}, p.206. It afterwards passed in the female line to the Bulmers and Smythes and in the 18th century to the Tempests of Wynyard, ancestors of the Marquesses of Londonderry.Robert Surtees, ''History of Durham, Vol.III, p.53