The small village of Little Stainton lies to the north-east of Darlington and about seven miles west of Stockton. For much of its history it was part of the parish of Bishopston. This means that it did not have its own parish church and instead the inhabitants would have journeyed to Bishopston to attend religious services. In the medieval period (1066 to 1540) Little Stainton was larger than it is now. The sites of some of the buildings can still be seen as earthworks. Although, the remains are excellent, some were destroyed in 1991-2. Archaeologists recorded some medieval pottery on the site after the ploughing. In the area around Manor Farm a number of fragments of 10th and 11th century pottery have also been discovered. These suggest that the village probably had an Anglo-Saxon origin; a possibility also reflected in its name: 'Stainton' means 'stoney farm' in Old English.

Sadly little else is known about the history of this area. In the post-medieval period it remained mainly an agricultural area although in the 19th century there was a large brick and tile works