Chester-le-Street, also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around 5.7 miles (9.2 km) north of Durham. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at Sunderland to the east. The town holds markets on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum, in England, located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, in County Durham, England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By displaying duplicates or replaceable items, it was also an early example of the now commonplace practice of museums allowing visitors to touch objects.
Chester-le-Street was a local government district in County Durham, England. Its council was based in Chester-le-Street. Other places in the district included Great Lumley and Sacriston.
Hetton-le-Hole is a town situated in the City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. It is in the historic county of Durham. A182 runs through the town, between Houghton-le-Spring and Easington Lane, off the A690 and close to the A1(M).
Quaking Houses is a small village near to the town of Stanley in County Durham, in England. It may have been originally settled by Quakers, but during the Industrial Revolution it developed into a mining village with traditional terraced houses. The Quaker origin is supported by the 1873 name for a mine with two shafts at the village called Quaker House Pit. However, an alternative origin is suggested by the following; the 1865 OS Map shows a farm called Quaking House to the north at Anniefield Plain and a colliery railway line ran past this farm branching to the village mine. This colliery railway line was called the Quaking House Branch Line. A colloquial name for the village was "banana goat island" perhaps reflecting the livestock kept in the extensive allotments and grazing area around the village.
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.
Iveston is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated a short distance to the east of Consett. Housing in the area consists of a mixture of traditional cottages and large, newer residential properties. Historically, farming and mining formed the chief sources of employment in the village.
Murton is a village in County Durham, England. Lying eight miles (13 km) east of the city of Durham and six miles (9.7 km) south of Sunderland, it has a population of 4,534, increasing to 7,676 at the 2011 Census.
Witton Gilbert is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England.
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.
The Cheadle Coalfield is a coalfield in the United Kingdom. Centred on the town of Cheadle, Staffordshire and its outlying villages it lies to the east of Stoke-on-Trent and the much larger North Staffordshire Coalfield. The area has been mined for many years, with documentary evidence from Croxden Abbey citing coal mining in the 13th century.
The Eglinton Castle estate was situated at Irvine, on the outskirts of Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland in the former district of Cunninghame. Eglinton Castle, was once home to the Montgomeries, Earls of Eglinton and chiefs of the Clan Montgomery. Eglinton Country Park now occupies part of the site.
Waldridge Fell is a Site of Special Scientific Interest located immediately south-west of Chester-le-Street in the northern part of County Durham, England. It is one of the largest areas of lowland heath in County Durham and contains the only lowland valley-mire in the county. The fell is home to a number of plants and insects that are scarce to rare elsewhere in the county.
Open-pit coal mining in the United Kingdom is in decline. Output has fallen every year since 2010. In 2010, the United Kingdom was forecast to produce about ten million tonnes of coal a year from open-pit mines. Most came from Scotland, with the largest operator there being the Scottish Coal subsidiary of Scottish Resources Group. Actual production in 2010 was over 13 million tonnes but this has declined to less than 8 million tonnes in 2014. Deep coal mining stopped completely at the end of 2015 and the UK is planning to phase out the use of coal to produce electricity by 2024.
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.
John Hodgson (1779–1845) was an English clergyman and antiquary, known as the county historian of Northumberland.
Harraton is a former civil parish and now a suburb in the unparished area of the town of Washington, in the City of 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 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. Certain developments also took place for overspill for the nearby towns of Chester Le Street and Houghton-le-Spring. It is on the main road serving Seahouses and the northern coast. In 1961 the parish had a population of 3,565.
The coal industry in Wales has played an important role in the Industrial Revolution. Coal mining in Wales expanded in the eighteenth century to provide fuel for the blast furnaces of the iron and copper industries that were expanding in southern Wales. The industry had reached large proportions by the end of that century, and then further expanded to supply steam-coal for the steam vessels that were beginning to trade around the world. The Cardiff Coal Exchange set the world price for steam-coal and Cardiff became a major coal-exporting port. The South Wales Coalfield was at its peak in 1913 and was one of the largest coalfields in the world. It remained the largest coalfield in Britain until 1925. The supply of coal dwindled, and pits closed in spite of a UK-wide strike against closures. The last deep mine in Wales, Tower Colliery, closed in 2008, after thirteen years as a co-operative owned by its miners.
