Harraton

Harraton
St George's church and churchyard, Harraton
Harraton Location within Tyne and Wear
Population	2,878
OS grid reference	NZ29475479
Unitary authority	Sunderland
Ceremonial county	Tyne and Wear
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WASHINGTON
Postcode district	NE38
Dialling code	0191
Police	Northumbria
Fire	Tyne and Wear
Ambulance	North East
UK Parliament	Sunderland
List of places UK England Tyne and Wear 54°52′52″N1°32′02″W / 54.881°N 1.534°W / 54.881; -1.534

Harraton is a suburb of Washington, in the Sunderland metropolitan borough, in Tyne and Wear, England. Harraton is near the River Wear and is 3 miles north-east of Chester-le-Street, 2 miles south-west of Washington town centre and 9 miles south-southwest of Sunderland.

When nearby Washington (historically a village) was founded as a new town under the New Towns Act in 1964, Harraton alongside the neighboring villages of Chaters-Hough, Fatfield, Cox Green and Picktree became suburbs of Washington forming the southern suburbs of the town. ^{[1] [2]} Certain developments also took place for overspill for the nearby towns of Chester Le Street and Houghton-le-Spring (also in the City of Sunderland metropolitan borough). ^[3] It is on the main road serving Seahouses and the northern coast. Harraton was a civil parish until 1974.

History

Harraton and the aforementioned villages formed at one time part of the chapelry of Birtley. Harraton was a township in the Chester-le-Street parish, a sub-district and registration district. ^[4] Harraton became a civil parish in 1866. The parish was abolished on 1 April 1974, with the part within the designated area for Washington New Town being added to the new metropolitan borough of Sunderland and the remainder becoming a new parish called North Lodge which stayed in County Durham. ^[5] In 1971 the parish had a population of 4,325. ^[6]

John Wilson's 1870-1872 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales describes Harraton thus:

"The manor belongs to the Earl of Durham; and has his seat, Lambton Castle, on an eminence adjacent to the Wear. There is a chapel-school of the Established church, and chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists. The sub-district contains Washington parish, and six townships and a chapelry of Chester-le-Street parish. ^[4] "

The Anglican parish church of St George's Fatfield is in Harraton, and the ecclesiastical parish of Fatfield also includes Mount Pleasant, Picktree, and Rickleton. ^{[7] [8]} The church was built in 1879 on land given by the Earl of Durham. The church was massively reordered in the 1980s and inside is warm, light and contemporary. ^[9]

Harraton Colliery Chapel was built in 1873 financed by the Earl of Durham and is of brick construction seating 150, the building is still standing. It was used by the Primitive Methodists. This particular branch of Methodism had as its aim the recovery, as they saw it of the principles and practice of the early Methodists which had been lost or at least played down. The chapel was the chosen place of worship for believers of the working classes, where as the Anglican Church was seen as the domain of the "bosses". The Chapel functioned as a place of worship until 1932 when it closed. ^[10]

The Harraton War Memorial was unveiled on 24 July 1922. It was originally sited on Worm Hill, but was relocated in 2012. 102 names are recorded. ^[3]

There was a primary school, Harraton Primary School, which closed in 2004. ^[11]

Mining

The first recorded coal produced at Harraton Colliery in 1594. ^[3] During the English Civil War the trade in Tyne coal was halted. The Port of Sunderland however became significant in the supply of coals to London. Harraton Colliery cam e under the control of Scottish soldiers who were aligned to the Parliamentarian cause and was of some significance in this trade. ^[2]

Large scale mining started in 1794. ^[12] The 1870-1872 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales recorded that "Coal was extensively worked; but the majority of the coal pits are exhausted.", ^[4] and the pit closed in May 1965, ^[12] with many of the miners migrating to the modern pits in Nottinghamshire. The poet Jock Purdon wrote Farewell to Cotia about the pit's closure and the "exodus" to Nottinghamshire. ^[13]

1817 explosion

Row Pit, Harraton Colliery was the scene of a fatal explosion on Monday, 30 June 1817. Some miners were sent to work in an area of the colliery which was not free from firedamp and the men were expressly ordered to use safety lamps. One man, John Moody, ignored this instruction and was observed using a candle. ^[14] The overman ordered Moody to extinguish the candle, which he did. Shortly afterwards Moody was again found using a candle and reprimanded. He extinguished the candle and lit his lamp. The overman had just left him when the explosion occurred. ^[15] 38 of the 41 men underground were killed, including a grandfather, his two sons and seven grandsons. ^[15]

Two days later eight workmen descended Nova Scotia Pit, part of the same colliery. When they did not return another party went down but were forced back by chokedamp. Late on the following day six bodies were recovered and there was "little hope of recovery for the other two". ^[15] All eight were recorded as being buried on 5 July. ^[16]

References

Citations

1. Co-Curate 2022.
2. Simpson 2017.
3. Washington History Society 2022.
4. Great Britain Historical GIS Project 2014.
5. "The New Parishes Order 1973", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 1973/688, retrieved 21 August 2023
6. Great Britain Historical GIS Project 2017.
7. St George's Church 2015.
8. The Church of England 2022.
9. St George's Church 2019.
10. Lake 2011.
11. Harraton Primary School 2018.
12. Northern Mine Research Society 2016.
13. WCML 2020.
14. Richardson 1844.
15. Thomson 1817.
16. Durham Mining Museum 2012, "In Memoriam" section.

Bibliography

• The Church of England (2022), A church near you, The Archbishop's Council, retrieved 23 January 2022
• Co-Curate (22 January 2022), "New Towns", co-curate.ncl.ac.uk, retrieved 23 January 2022
• Durham Mining Museum (2012), Harraton, Nova Scotia Pit , retrieved 17 February 2015
• Forebears (2015), Harraton Genealogy & History , retrieved 17 April 2015
• Great Britain Historical GIS Project (2014), "Harraton, County Durham", A Vision of Britain through Time , University of Portsmouth, Department of Geography, retrieved 17 February 2015
• Great Britain Historical GIS Project (2017), "Harraton CP/Tn through time", A Vision of Britain through Time , University of Portsmouth, Department of Geography, retrieved 23 January 2022
• "Harraton Primary School", www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk, 14 November 2018, retrieved 23 January 2022
• Kelly (1890), Kelly's Directory of Durham. Quoted in Forebears (2015)
• Lake, James (11 July 2011), "Harraton Colliery Chapel – a history" (PDF), Durham in Time, Durham County Council, retrieved 17 April 2015
• Northern Mine Research Society (2016), "Northumberland & Durham Coalfield", Northern Mine Research Society, retrieved 23 January 2022
• Richardson, M A (1844), Local Historian's Table Book of Remarkable Occurrences Connected with the Counties of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Northumberland and Durham , retrieved 17 February 2015. Reproduced on the web site of The Durham Mining Museum
• Simpson, David (2017), "Washington History", England's North East, retrieved 23 January 2022
• St George's Church (2015), Welcome to St George's Church , retrieved 17 February 2015
• St George's Church (August 2019), History , retrieved 23 January 2022
• Thomson, Thomas, ed. (1817), "Explosion in a Durham Coal-pit", Annals of Philosophy , vol. X, pp. 231–232. Copied from the Newcastle Chronicle of July 5.
• Washington History Society (2022), "Notable dates in the history of Washington", www.washingtonhistorysociety.co.uk, based on the work of the Washington Historical Group 1975, retrieved 23 January 2022
• WCML (8 April 2020), "Songs about mining and mineworkers", Working Class Movement Library, retrieved 23 January 2022
• Wilson, John Marius (1872), Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales