Copley is a village of roughly 400 inhabitants in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is situated 9 miles west of

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...

, and 6 miles from

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum has an 18th-century Silver Swan automaton exhibit ...

. It has a rural setting close to the

North Pennines The North Pennines are the northernmost section of the Pennines, a range of hills which run north–south through northern England. They run along the border between County Durham and Northumberland in the east and Cumbria in the west, and are ...

area. The lower part of the village by the

River Gaunless The Gaunless is a tributary river of the Wear in County Durham, England. Its name is Old Norse, meaning "useless".A Potted History of West Auckland - Martin Connolly The Gaunless Viaduct, built in 1825, was the tallest viaduct on the South D ...

still retains the original chimney and some of the buildings from the old Gaunless Valley Lead Mill. Copley has its own weather station run by the

Met Office The Met Office, until November 2000 officially the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and ...

and

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

. Because of its elevation above sea-level, around the 1,000 ft contour, and position in the north-east, this station is often one of the coldest in England with high incidences of ground frosts and snowfalls. Copley is in a relatively dry and sunny rain-shadow area in the shelter of the higher Pennines to the west. The same higher Pennines can create a local gusty effect if the wind blows from the west-south-west. This is called the Pennine Lee Wave and can appear suddenly and disappear just as quickly. Copley has the distinction of the snowiest Met Office site in England and the 5th snowiest in the UK. The North Pennines are one of the snowiest parts of England and Copley Village sees snow falling on average 53 days each year. It is just east of the North Pennines AONB, home to one of only a handful of outdoor ski centres in England. Copley has a village hall which is part of the Teesdale Village Halls' Consortium. No shops or public houses operate in the village.

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Villages in County Durham {{Durham-geo-stub