Chester-le-Street Town F.C. Players
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Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
and civil parish in
County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly â€About North East E ...
, England, around north of Durham and also close to
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
and
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
. It is located on the River
Wear Wear is the damaging, gradual removal or deformation of material at solid surfaces. Causes of wear can be mechanical (e.g., erosion) or chemical (e.g., corrosion). The study of wear and related processes is referred to as tribology. Wear in m ...
, which runs out to sea at
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
to the east. The town holds markets on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The town's history is ancient, records go back to a Roman-built fort called
Concangis Concangis was an auxiliary castra in the Roman province of Lower Britain (''Britannia Inferior''). Its ruins are located in Chester-le-Street, Durham, in England, and are now known as Chester-le-Street Roman Fort. It is situated north of Durha ...
. The Roman fort is the "Chester" (from the Latin ''
castra In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term. In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular and ...
'') of the town's name; the "Street" refers to the paved Roman road that ran north–south through the town, now the route called Front Street. The parish church of St Mary and St Cuthbert is where the body of Anglo-Saxon
St Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Nor ...
remained for 112 years before being transferred to
Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...
and site of the first
Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
translation into English, Aldred writing the Old English gloss between the lines of the
Lindisfarne Gospels The Lindisfarne Gospels (London, British Library Cotton MS Nero D.IV) is an illuminated manuscript gospel book probably produced around the years 715–720 in the monastery at Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, which is now in the B ...
there. From 1894 until 2009, local government districts were governed from the town. From 1894 to 1974 it had a rural district, which covered the town and outlying villages. In 1909 the inner
rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...
formed an
urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...
, which covered the town as it was at that time. By 1974 the town expanded out of the urban district, during that year's
reforms Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
the urban and rural districts as well as other areas formed a
non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shire counties'') in a two-tier arrangement. Non-m ...
. It was abolished in 2009 reforms when the non-metropolitan county became a unitary authority.


History


Name

The Romans founded a fort named ''Concangis'' or ''Concagium'', which was a Latinisation of the original
Celtic name Onomastics is an important source of information on the early Celts, as Greco-Roman historiography recorded Celtic names before substantial written information becomes available in any Celtic language. Like Germanic names, early Celtic names are ...
for the area, which also gave name to the waterway through the town,
Cong Burn The Cong Burn is a small river in County Durham, England. It has its origin in a number of streams, among them Wheatley Green Burn, that rise on the southern and eastern slopes of Wheatley Hill, north of the village of Burnhope, and other stream ...
. The precise name is uncertain as it does not appear in Roman records, but ''Concangis'' is the name most cited today. Although a meaning "Place of the horse people" has been given, scholarly authorities consider the meaning of the name obscure.
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
forms of the name include ''Cuneceastra'' and ''Conceastre'', which takes its first two syllables from the Roman name, with the addition of the Old English word ''ceaster'' 'Roman fortification'. This was shortened over time to Chester, the name used locally for the town (
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
ised as ''Cestria'').For example the old bell in St Mary and St Cuthbert is inscribed in Latin But "Chester" is a common name for towns in England, and in the Middle Ages "Street", for the Roman road, was added. The Universal etymological English dictionary of 1749 gives the town as "Chester upon Street" (and describes it as "a Village in the Bishoprick of Durham"). At some point this was shortened to the modern form.


Town biography

There is evidence of
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
use of the
River Wear The River Wear (, ) in North East England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers, wends in a steep valley through th ...
near the town, but the history of Chester-le-Street starts with the Roman fort of
Concangis Concangis was an auxiliary castra in the Roman province of Lower Britain (''Britannia Inferior''). Its ruins are located in Chester-le-Street, Durham, in England, and are now known as Chester-le-Street Roman Fort. It is situated north of Durha ...
. This was built alongside the Roman road Cade's Road (now Front Street) and close to the River Wear, around 100 A.D., and was occupied till the Romans left Britain in 410 A.D. At the time the Wear was navigable to at least Concangis, and may also have provided food for the garrisons stationed there. After the Romans left there is no record of who lived there (apart from some wounded soldiers from wars who had to live there), until 883 when a group of monks, driven out of
Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...
seven years earlier, stopped there to build a wooden shrine and church to St Cuthbert, whose body they had borne with them. While they were there the town was the centre of Christianity for much of the northeast, because it was the seat of the Bishop of Lindisfarne, making the church a cathedral. There the monks translated into English the Lindisfarne Gospels, which they had brought with them. They stayed for 112 years, leaving in 995 for the safer and more permanent home at Durham. The title has been revived as the Roman Catholic
titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...
of
Cuncacestre Cuncacestre (Chester-le-Street) was a seat of the Anglo Saxon Bishop of Lindisfarne, and subsists as a Roman Catholic titular see. Start of the Diocese The church was established to house the body of Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, Bishop of Lindisfa ...
. The church was rebuilt in stone in 1054, and despite the loss of its bishopric seems to have retained a degree of wealth and influence. In 1080 most of the huts in the town were burned and many people killed in retaliation for the death of
William Walcher Walcher (died 14 May 1080) was the bishop of Durham from 1071,Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 241 a Lotharingian and the first Prince-bishop (appointed by the King, not the Pope). He was the first non-Englishman to hold tha ...
, the first prince-bishop, at the hands of an English mob. After this devastation wrought by the
Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...
the region was left out of the
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
; there was little left to record, and the region was by then being run from Durham by the prince-bishops so held little interest for London. Cade's Road did not fall out of use but was hidden beneath later roads which became the Great North Road, the main route from London and the south to Newcastle and
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, DĂ¹n Ăˆideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. The town's location on the road played a significant role in its development, as well as its name, as
inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...
s sprang up to cater for the travelling trade: both riders and horses needed to rest on journeys usually taking days to complete. This trade reached a peak in the early 19th century as more and more people and new mail services were carried by
stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
, before falling off with the coming of the railways. The town was bypassed when the
A167 The A167 and A167(M) is a road in North East England. It is partially a trunk road and partially a motorway, where it is commonly referred to as Newcastle Central Motorway. Most of the road’s route was formerly that of the A1, until it was ...
was routed around the town, and this was later supplanted by the faster
A1(M) A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate motorway sections in England. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1, a major north–south road which connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capit ...
. The coal industry also left its mark on the town. From the late 17th century onwards coal was dug in increasing quantities in the region. Mining was centred around the rivers, for transportation by sea to other parts of the country, and Chester-le-Street was at the centre of the coal being dug and shipped away down the Wear, so a centre of coal related communication and commerce. At the same time the growth of the mines and the influx of miners supported local businesses, not just the many inns but new shops and services, themselves bringing in more people to work in them. These people would later work in new industries established in the town to take advantage of its good communications and access to raw materials. One of the most tragic episodes in the town's history and that of the coal industry in NE England occurred during a miners' strike during the winter of 1811/12. Collieries owned by the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral were brought to a standstill by the strike, causing much hardship amongst the people of the town. The strike was broken on New Year's Day, 1 January 1812, when the Bishop of Durham, Shute Barrington, sent a detachment of troops from Durham Castle to force a return to work. It is thought that this uncharacteristic act by Barrington was due to pressure from the national government in Westminster who were concerned that the strike was affecting industrial output of essential armaments for the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. On the evening of 5 October 1936 the
Jarrow March The Jarrow March of 5–31 October 1936, also known as the Jarrow Crusade, was an organised protest against the unemployment and poverty suffered in the English town of Jarrow, near Newcastle upon Tyne, during the 1930s. Around 200 men (or "Crus ...
ers stopped at the town centre after their first day's walk. The church hall was used to house them before they continued onward the following day.


Climate

The town has a mild climate and gets well below average rainfall relative to the UK. It does though experience occasional
flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
s. To the east of the town lies the Riverside cricket ground and Riverside Park. They were built on the flood plains of the River Wear, and are often flooded when the river bursts its banks. The town centre is subject to occasional flash flooding, usually after very heavy rain over the town and surrounding areas, if the rain falls too quickly for it to be drained away by Cong Burn. The flooding occurs at the bottom of Front Street where the Cong Burn passes under the street, after it was enclosed in concrete in 1932.


Landmarks

John Leland described Chester-le-Street in the 1530s as "Chiefly one main street of very mean building in height.", a sentiment echoed by
Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
.


Chester Burn viaduct

The viaduct to the northwest of the town centre was completed in 1868 for the North Eastern Railway, to enable trains to travel at high speed on a more direct route between Newcastle and Durham. It is over 230m long with 11 arches, now spanning a road and supermarket car-park, and is a Grade II listed structure.


Lumley Castle

Lumley Castle was built in 1389. It is on the eastern bank of the
River Wear The River Wear (, ) in North East England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers, wends in a steep valley through th ...
and overlooks the town and the Riverside Park.


The Queens Head Hotel

The Queens Head Hotel is located in the central area of the Front Street. It was built over 250 years ago when Front Street formed part of the main route from Edinburgh and Newcastle to London and the south of England. A Grade II listed building, it is set back from the street and is still one of the largest buildings in the town centre.


The Post Office

Chester-le-Street Post Office at 137 Front Street is in Art Deco style and replaced a smaller building located on the corner of Relton Terrace and Ivanhoe Terrace. It opened in 1936 and is unusual in that it is one of a handful of post offices that display the royal cypher from the brief reign of
Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...
.


Religious sites


St Mary and St Cuthbert church

St Mary and St Cuthbert church possesses a rare surviving anchorage, one of the best-preserved in the country. It was built for an
anchorite In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. While anchorites are ...
, an extreme form of hermit. His or her walled-up cell had only a slit to observe the altar and an opening for food, while outside was an open grave for when the occupant died. It was occupied by six anchorites from 1383 to c. 1538, and is now a museum known as the Anker's House. The north aisle is occupied by a line of Lumley family effigies, only five genuine, assembled circa 1590. Some have been chopped off to fit and resemble a casualty station at Agincourt, according to
Sir Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 20 ...
in his ''England's Thousand Best Churches''. This and Lumley Castle are Chester-le-Street's only Grade I
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
s.


Bethel United Reformed Church

The small United Reformed Church on Low Chare, just off the main Front Street, was built in 1814 as the Bethel Congregational Chapel and remodelled in 1860. It is still in use and is a Grade II listed building.


Sport


Cricket

The Riverside Ground, known for sponsorship reasons as the Seat Unique Riverside, is home to Durham County Cricket Club which became a first class county in 1992. Since 1999, the ground has hosted many international fixtures, usually involving the
England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...
. The ground was also host to two fixtures at the
1999 Cricket World Cup The 1999 Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Cricket World Cup '99) was the seventh edition of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted primarily by England, with Scotland, Ireland, Wales ...
, and three fixtures at the
2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...
. The town also has its own cricket club, Chester-le-Street Cricket Club based at the Ropery Lane ground. They are the current Champions of the
North East Premier League The North East Premier League is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in the North East, serving the historic counties of Durham and Northumberland. Since 2000 it has been a designated ECB Premier League The Premi ...
, won the national ECB 45 over tournament in 2009 and reached the quarter final of the national 20/20 club championship in 2009.


Rowing

Chester-le-Street Amateur Rowing Club is based on the River Wear near the Riverside cricket ground and has been there for over 100 years. During the summer months the club operate mainly on the river, but in the winter move to indoor sessions during the evenings and use the river at weekends. The Club has over 160 members of which 90 are junior members, with numbers increasing annually. The club are well thought of by British Rowing as a lead club for junior development with many juniors now competing at GB level, and some competing for GB at international events.


Football

Medieval football Mob football is a modern term used for a wide variety of the localised informal football games which were invented and played in England during the Middle Ages. Alternative names include folk football, medieval football and Shrovetide football. ...
was once played in the town. The game was played annually on Shrove Tuesday between the "Upstreeters" and "Downstreeters". Play started at 1 pm and finished at 6 pm. To start the game, the ball was thrown from a window in the centre of the town and in one game more than 400 players took part. The centre of the street was the dividing line and the winner was the side where the ball was (Up or Down) at 6 pm. It was played from the Middle Ages until 1932, when it was outlawed by the police and people trying to carry on the tradition were arrested.
Chester-le-Street Town F.C. Chester-le-Street Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, England. They are currently members of the and play at Moor Park. History The original Chester-le-Street Town joined the N ...
were founded in 1972 and compete in the
Northern Football League The Northern League is a men's football league in north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Football League. It contains two divisions; Division ...
Division Two.


Transport


Road

At the time of the football matches 'Front Street' was actually the
A1 road A list of roads designated A1, sorted by alphabetical order of country. * A01 highway (Afghanistan), a long ring road or beltway connecting Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar * A1 motorway (Albania), connecting Durrës and Kukës * A001 highwa ...
from London to
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, DĂ¹n Ăˆideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. A bypass was built in the 1950s, which still exists today as the
A167 The A167 and A167(M) is a road in North East England. It is partially a trunk road and partially a motorway, where it is commonly referred to as Newcastle Central Motorway. Most of the road’s route was formerly that of the A1, until it was ...
. The bypass road itself was partly bypassed by, and partly incorporated in, the
A1(M) A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate motorway sections in England. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1, a major north–south road which connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capit ...
motorway in the 1970s. The northern end of Front Street used to be the start of the A6127, which is the road that would continue through Birtley,
Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...
, and eventually over the Tyne Bridge and become the A6127(M) central motorway in
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
. However, when the Gateshead-Newcastle Western Bypass of the
A1(M) A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate motorway sections in England. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1, a major north–south road which connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capit ...
was opened, many roads in this area were renumbered, following the convention that roads originating between single digit A roads take their first digit from the single digit A road in an anticlockwise direction from their point of origin, and Newcastle Road, which was formerly designated A1, is now unclassified. The A6127 was renamed the
A167 The A167 and A167(M) is a road in North East England. It is partially a trunk road and partially a motorway, where it is commonly referred to as Newcastle Central Motorway. Most of the road’s route was formerly that of the A1, until it was ...
. Car traffic is now banned from the northern part of Front Street and it is restricted to buses, cyclists and delivery vehicles for the shops.


Rail

Chester-le-Street railway station, on the
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
of the National Rail network, between Newcastle and Durham, opened in 1868. It offers local connections and cross-country train services. , train operators serving the station are
CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the Cross Country franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) ...
, TransPennine Express and
Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...
. A local independent company, Chester-le-Track, has operated the station since 1999, as an agent for
Arriva Trains Northern Arriva Trains Northern was a train operating company in England owned by Arriva that operated the Regional Railways North East franchise from March 1997 until December 2004. Arriva resumed operating Northern train services again on 1 April 2016 ...
and Northern Rail, but ceased trading from close of business on Saturday 31 March 2018. The station is now staffed on a part-time basis by Northern Rail. The town is mentioned in the 1963 song "Slow Train" by Flanders and Swann:
'' No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat, At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street.''


Bus

The town is the original home of The Northern General Transport usCompany, nowadays
Go North East Go North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It was previously known as the Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead Northern. The compa ...
, and the company still operates from the Picktree Lane Depot. It also pioneered the use of Minilink bus services in the North East in 1985.


Education


Primary schools

* Cestria Primary School * Bullion Lane Primary School * Woodlea Primary School * Lumley Junior and Infant School * Newker Primary School * Red Rose Primary School * Chester-le-Street CE Primary School * St Cuthbert's RCVA Primary School


Secondary schools

* Park View School * Hermitage Academy


Notable people

*
Michael Barron Michael James Barron (born 22 December 1974) is a former professional footballer. He retired from playing in May 2008. He was previously the assistant manager at Hartlepool United, where he enjoyed a long and successful playing career. Footbal ...
, footballer * Aidan Chambers, children's author, Carnegie Medal and Hans Christian Andersen Award winner *
William Browell Charlton William Browell Charlton (1855 – 30 January 1932) was a British trade union leader. Charlton was born at Burnt House, just west of Chester-le-Street, in County Durham. He began work coupling at the flats at Edmondsley Colliery when he wa ...
, trade union leader,
Durham County Colliery Enginemen's Association The Durham County Colliery Enginemen's Association was a trade union representing engine operators at coal mines in County Durham. The union was founded on 25 November 1871, at a meeting at the Half Moon Hotel in Durham, England, Durham. Workers ...
,
National Federation of Colliery Enginemen and Boiler Firemen The National Federation of Colliery Enginemen and Boiler Firemen was a union federation in the United Kingdom. Its membership changed over time, but was centred on unions representing enginemen at coal mines. The federation was founded in Manchest ...
*
Ellie Crisell Ellen Jane Crisell (born 19 July 1976) is an English journalist and television presenter working for the BBC. Crisell has presented the BBC One 8:00 pm news summary, and is a relief presenter on the BBC News Channel. She was formerly the ...
, journalist and television presenter * Ronnie Dodd, footballer *
Danny Graham Daniel Graham (born 1978) is an American football player. Daniel Graham may also refer to: *Bob Graham (born 1936), Daniel Robert Graham, American politician *Daniel O. Graham (1926–1995), American general and political activist *Danny Graham ( ...
, footballer * Andrew Hayden-Smith, actor and presenter *
Grant Leadbitter Grant Leadbitter (born 7 January 1986) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He made more than 500 appearances in the Premier League and English Football League, Football League, which inc ...
, footballer *
Sheila Mackie Sheila Gertrude Mackie (1928-2010) was an English artist, illustrator and teacher from Consett, County Durham. She was born in Chester-le-Street, and studied art at King's College in Newcastle (now Newcastle University). She taught art at Conse ...
, artist *
Jock Purdon George "Jock" Purdon (16 November 1925 – 1998) was a British poet and songwriter. Born in Nitshill near Glasgow, a former coal mining village whose mine had closed before Purdon grew up, by a strange twist of fate Jock Purdon spent most of h ...
, folk singer and poet *
Adam Reach Adam Michael Reach (born 3 February 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays for club West Bromwich Albion, primarily as a winger. He also can play as a full-back. Club career Middlesbrough Born in Chester-le-Street, England, R ...
, footballer *
Bryan Robson Bryan Robson OBE (born 11 January 1957) is an English football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club captain before moving to Manchester United in ...
, former England
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
captain, and his brothers Justin and
Gary Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran *Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Unit ...
, also footballers * Gavin Sutherland, conductor and pianist * Colin Todd, football manager and former
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
international player *
Olga and Betty Turnbull Olga and Betty Turnbull were child entertainers in the 1930s. Born in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, the sisters trained at the Dorrillian Dancing Academy and performed in their first dancing display at the Church Institute, Chester-le-Street, i ...
, child entertainers of the 1930s who performed for royalty * Kevin "Geordie" Walker, guitarist of post-punk group
Killing Joke Killing Joke are an English rock music, rock band from Notting Hill, London, England, formed in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass). Their first album, ''Ki ...
* Peter Ward, footballer * Bruce Welch of pop group
The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...


Twin Town

It is twinned with: * Kamp-Lintfort in Germany.


Notes


References


Bibliography

* *


External links


Chester-le-Live
community website
Chester-le-Street Heritage Trail


* ttp://www.durhamintime.org.uk/chester-le-street/ Durham In Time – Chester-Le-Street Heritage Group * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chester-Le-Street Towns in County Durham Market towns in County Durham Unparished areas in County Durham