Stanley | |
---|---|
St. Andrew's Church, Stanley | |
Location within County Durham | |
Population | 31,300 (2019) [1] |
OS grid reference | NZ197525 |
Civil parish |
|
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | STANLEY |
Postcode district | DH9 |
Dialling code | 01207 |
Police | Durham |
Fire | County Durham and Darlington |
Ambulance | North East |
UK Parliament | |
Website | http://www.stanley-tc.gov.uk |
Stanley [2] is a former colliery town and civil parish in County Durham, England. Centred on a hilltop between Chester-le-Street and Consett, the town lies south west of Gateshead.
Stanley was formerly divided into three distinct settlements – the main town of West Stanley and the mining villages of East Stanley and South Stanley. Through a process of gradual expansion, these have become amalgamated into one town, with East and South Stanley no longer officially used as town names (although they are still recognised colloquially).
The civil parish of Stanley was created in 2007 and takes in not only Stanley, but the villages of Annfield Plain, Tanfield, Craghead, Catchgate, Tantobie, Tanfield Lea, South Moor, White-le-Head, Bloemfontein, Clough Dene, Greencroft, Harelaw, Kip Hill, The Middles, New Kyo, No Place, Oxhill, Quaking Houses, Shield Row, and West Kyo. The current parish covers the vast majority of the former Stanley Urban District Council area, with the exception of Dipton and Burnopfield.
Stanley was first mentioned in historic records in 1211. The discovery of some neolithic and Roman remains in the area indicate much older occupancy by peoples. The town's name is derived from the Old English stān and lēah, meaning "stony woodland clearing". [3]
In John Speed's map of Co. Durham, Stanley appears to be called Standley.
The West Stanley Pit Disaster, one of the worst coal mining disasters in British history, took place at West Stanley Colliery on 16 February 1909. More than 160 people were killed in the Burns Pit disaster, most of them men. [4]
Over recent decades, Stanley has suffered hard times economically, with the closure of the coal pits followed by the loss of major employers at Ever Ready in nearby Tanfield, as well as the closure of both the British Steel plant and Shotley Bridge General Hospital in the neighbouring town of Consett. Local businesses in Stanley town centre were also significantly affected by the development of the giant MetroCentre shopping complex in nearby Gateshead, with local trade decreasing as a result.
In 1999, Stanley briefly garnered attention in various national tabloid newspapers as well as BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles Show when local curry house impresario Harresh Ramadan turned his Indian takeaway restaurant on Front Street into a fish-and-chip shop. He renamed it as Harry Ramadan's, a spoof on the more famous and well-known Harry Ramsden's chain, with signage in an identical font and colours. The Harry Ramsden's chain sued, citing breach of copyright, with Ramadan backing down shortly after the national publicity had subsided. Soon thereafter, the shop took on new ownership and adopted the new name Jump 4 Joy's before closing down entirely in 2001.
In October 2003, plans by Archer and Rostron Ltd. to convert the derelict King's Head pub into a private sex club to be re-christened The Love Shack caused controversy. More than 500 local residents registered formal objections to the plan. [5] Faced with this opposition, the company dropped its early proposals and instead converted the venue into a hotel and health spa called The Local Spa. [6]
In 2005, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister granted permission to plans to form a Stanley Town Council. This followed a campaign by local people, including a petition signed by more than 2,000 names, representing 10% of the population that would be covered by the new Town Council. Campaigners promised that the new Town Council would increase the pace of regeneration within the town.
The Stanley Blues Festival took place during the first weekend in August between 1993 and 2007, with appearances by local, national, and international blues artists and renowned musical acts. [7] In 2005, The Animals played a well-received set. In early 2008, however, organisers announced that the Festival was to be discontinued due to insufficient funding.
In June 2008, an arson attack left a historic building on Front Street in ruins, along with a billiards club and several shops. [8] In November 2008, the burnt buildings were demolished.
Durham County Council was created in 1888 and covered the whole of County Durham.
The Urban District Council area of Stanley was created in 1894. Prior to this, Stanley had been administered for the purposes of the Poor Law and sanitation by the Lanchester Union. The initial Stanley District comprised West Stanley, Shield Row and South Moor, whilst separate Urban District Councils were created in Annfield Plain and Tanfield. After a governance review in 1937, the three Councils were combined and Craghead was transferred from the Lanchester Rural District to form a larger Stanley Urban District.
Under the local government re-organisation of 1974, Stanley Urban District was merged with the Consett Urban and Lanchester Rural Districts to create Derwentside District Council, which was the lower tier authority until a further re-organisation in 2009 abolished all the District Councils in County Durham and combined all local government functions into a unitary authority under Durham County Council.
Politically the local authority is dominated by the Labour Party, with 7 of the town's 8 allotted seats on Durham County Council being held by the party. The town lies in the North Durham Parliamentary constituency, which it shares with Chester-le-Street, and is represented at Westminster by Labour MP Kevan Jones. Prior to 1983 the town formed part of the Consett constituency (now part of North West Durham). The electoral ward named Stanley had at the 2011 Census a population of 9,053. [9]
In recent decades, with the decline of traditional industries and the encroachment of large supermarkets and chain stores, 'Old Stanley' has declined, with many locally owned shops and pubs closing.
The town's main shopping area, Front Street, is pedestrianised, housing independent shops alongside large chains such as Boots. A market is held on Front Street on Thursdays and Saturdays. There are also supermarkets such as Asda and Iceland located within the town. Tesco may construct a new supermarket on the Clifford Road Retail Complex site, which currently accommodates the Clearance Bargains store and a range of empty buildings that had previously housed Kwik Save, Presto, a furniture shop, and an indoor market. [10] Tesco continued to own the land but subsequently sold it to TJ Morris. The former Kwik Save site was then redeveloped into a large Home Bargains store, opening in July 2018. The store created 60 new jobs for the area. [11]
Stanley has also added a Domino's, a larger Greggs store (both opening December 2022) and a drive-thru Starbucks (opened in March 2023) in a newly developed site off of Agnes Street. [12]
Refurbishment of Stanley town centre in recent years has seen the opening of a new solar-powered bus interchange and an extension to the Louisa Centre leisure facility incorporating a new town swimming pool. A new health centre, Stanley Primary Care Centre, was opened in February 2010 along with a Sure Start children's centre. [13] [14]
As well as a number of primary schools, Stanley has two secondary schools. These are:
The town is also served by St Bede's Catholic School and Sixth Form College, based in the nearby village of Lanchester.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(January 2022) |
The C2C Cycle Route skirts Stanley to the north. [15] This 140-mile (230 km) route links Whitehaven (Cumberland) on England's north-west coast with Roker Beach (Sunderland) on the north-east coast.
The Louisa Centre, [16] a sports and leisure complex, contains a gym, a 25-metre swimming pool (with a 300-seat spectators' gallery), a small pool, a sports hall, a shooting range, a soft play area, a nursery, meeting rooms, a café, and Stanley Library. [17]
The Stanley Indoor Bowls Centre, with a large arena and grandstand, offers play for people of all ages and abilities. [18] Inaugurated in 1977, it has hosted several top-level international events. [19] The Centre also provides meeting facilities for a range of community groups and clubs, and can be hired for private functions.
The Lamplight Arts Centre, founded in 1960 and entirely refurbished in 2003, hosts concerts and recitals by local and national musical acts as well as small plays, exhibitions, classes and seminars.
Stanley is renowned for its annual summer playscheme situated at Stanley Youth Centre. This has been running since 1972 and is organised and run by a group of local people, recruiting international volunteers through YAP (Youth Action for Peace). The scheme runs for the first two weeks of the summer holiday, with children participating in games, activities and trips to local cultural and leisure venues.
Stanley Youth Centre offered activities to young people Monday to Friday during school term as well as a summer programme. Located at the top of Tyne Road, facilities included a sports hall, pool table, table tennis, meeting rooms and coffee bar. The range of activities available included DJing, volunteering, Duke of Edinburgh Award, babysitting, first aid and youth work courses. The centre closed in 2016 after many decades of work with young people.
Tanfield is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Stanley, in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. It is near Stanley, and the location of Tanfield Railway, the Causey Arch and Tanfield School. The village was formerly a mining village.
Annfield Plain is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated on a plateau between the towns of Stanley, 4 km (2.5 mi) to the north-east, and Consett, 8 km (5.0 mi) to the west. According to the 2001 census, Annfield Plain has a population of 3,569. By the time of the 2011 Census Annfield Plain had become a ward of Stanley parish. The ward had a population of 7,774. Along with much of the surrounding area, Annfield Plain's history lies in coal mining. While the industry collapsed in the 1980s and 90s, its effects are still apparent both in the landscape and in folk memory.
Derwentside was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district in County Durham, England.
Consett is a town in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England, about 14 miles (23 km) south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019.
Blaydon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons since 2017 by Liz Twist of the Labour Party.
Burnopfield is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated north of Stanley and Annfield Plain, close to the River Derwent and is 564 feet above sea level. There are around 4,553 inhabitants in Burnopfield. It is located 7 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne and 15 miles from Durham.
Medomsley is a village in County Durham, England. It is about 2 miles (3 km) northeast of the centre of Consett, 1+1⁄2 miles (2 km) south of Hamsterley and 1 mile (2 km) southeast of Ebchester along the B6309. Leadgate lies a further mile to the south east.
Greencroft is a village and separately a parish in County Durham, England. Together, they are situated between Lanchester and Annfield Plain.
Rowlands Gill is a village on the north bank of the River Derwent, in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. The Gibside Estate is near the town.
North West Durham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 12 December 2019 by Richard Holden of the Conservative Party.
North Durham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2001 by Kevan Jones of the Labour Party.
Consett was a county constituency, centred on the town of Consett in County Durham. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system from 1918 to 1983.
The Stanhope and Tyne Railway was an early British mineral railway, that ran from Stanhope in County Durham, to South Shields at the mouth of the River Tyne. The object was to convey limestone from Stanhope and coal from West Consett and elsewhere to the Tyne, and to local consumers. Passengers were later carried on parts of the line.
Marley Hill is a former colliery village about six miles to the south west of Gateshead, near the border between Tyne and Wear and County Durham. It has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead since 1974. Prior to this it was part of Whickham Urban District. It lies within the Whickham South & Sunniside electoral ward of the Blaydon parliamentary constituency.
Thomas Armstrong was an English, County Durham-based concert hall songwriter, and performer in the late 19th century. His most famous song is arguably "Wor Nanny's a mazer". He was known as "The Pitman Poet" or "The Bard of the Northern Coalfield".
The county of Durham has returned 7 MPs to the UK Parliament since 1983. Under the Local Government Act 1972, which came into effect on 1 April 1974, the boundaries of the historic/administrative county were significantly altered with the north-east of the county, comprising more than half the electorate, being transferred to the new metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear. In addition, the borough of Hartlepool was included in the new county of Cleveland. These changes were reflected in the following redistribution of parliamentary seats which did not come into effect until the 1983 general election, resulting in a reduction in the county's representation from 16 to 7 MPs.