Crawcrook is a semi-rural village close to the western border of the

metropolitan county The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, with populations between 1 and 3 million. They were created in 1974 and are each di ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

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 ...

. Traditionally an independent village 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 �About North East E ...

, it was incorporated into the

Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It includes Gateshead, Rowlands Gill, Whickham, Blaydon, Ryton, Felling, Pelaw, Dunston and Low Fell. The boroug ...

on 1 April 1974. The population taken at the 2011 Census of the Gateshead ward (Crawcrook and Greenside) had increased to 8,841.

Location

Crawcrook lies in the Tyne Valley, midway between Prudhoe in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

and

Ryton Ryton may refer to: Places in England * Ryton, Gloucestershire, a location *Ryton, North Yorkshire *Ryton, Shropshire *Ryton, Tyne and Wear *Ryton, Warwickshire (in Bulkington) *Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire *Great Ryton, Shropshire People ...

, also in Tyne and Wear.

Local politics

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

, Crawcrook is located in the 'Crawcrook, Greenside and

Clara Vale Clara Vale is a village situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England. Once an independent village in County Durham it became incorporated into the new metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear in 1974 as part of the Metropol ...

ward'. The ward is at the far west of the borough and borders

. The Crawcrook and Greenside ward is served by three Labour councillors, Helen Haran, Kathleen McCartney and Hugh Kelly. Crawcrook is located within the

parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

Blaydon Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the postal town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blay ...

. Its current MP is Labour's

Liz Twist Mary Elizabeth Twist (born 10 July 1956) is a British Labour Party politician. She has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blaydon since the 2017 general election. Before her parliamentary career, she was the head of health in the Nort ...

History

At the turn of the twentieth century, and in common with the nearby areas of Greenside,

and Stargate, Crawcrook was a village with a vibrant

coal industry Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when de ...

. With major pits such as Emma and Clara, as well as several smaller pits, Crawcrook became a major coal mining centre. However the coal industry collapsed in the village during the 1950s and 1960s. As has happened to a number of other northern English villages employment in tertiary industries has replaced the coal industry. However, Crawcrook's coal mining heritage is still evident; a number of the old miners' homes still exist in the surrounding area, including Clifford Terrace and Morgy Hill near to Crawcrook's main street, and the Simpson Memorial Home in nearby Barmoor. Old wagonways used to transport coal are also still present, although they are now maintained as footpaths. During the 1970s and 1980s, with the creation of the Kepier Chare and Westburn private housing estates, Crawcrook grew significantly in size and became largely suburbanised and is being used increasingly as a

commuter village A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for the conurbation of

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...

. Significant expansion once again took place in the 2010s, with the construction of the Valley Rise estate in the north of the village, and the Fairfields Manor estate in the south. The latter attracted significant opposition due to its encroachment on the popular 'Hill 60' publicly accessible fields.

Amenities and transport links

Unlike many villages of a similar semi-rural character, Crawcrook has maintained its broad range of amenities. Crawcrook main street has several shops including a library, a co-operative food store and two petrol stations. It also has a selection of independent shops, including a family-run freezer centre/bargain store, which in October 2015 was renovated into a One Stop Store which is still family run, a greengrocers, a butchers, Three gentlemen's barbers, two hairdressing salons, a tanning salon, a number of pubs, a

chiropodist Podiatry () or podiatric medicine () is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and leg. A Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM), or a podiatrist, is a healthcare ...

, a doctor's surgery, which was rebuilt with a new pharmacy right next door, two veterinary practices and a restaurant. There are also several churches in the village from a number of denominations including

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

and

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

. After the closure of Kepier Chare school, the village now has only two

primary schools A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

; St Agnes Roman Catholic school and Emmaville school. During 2007, Emmaville school was extended to allow former pupils from Kepier Chare to attend there. In 2009 St Agnes Roman Catholic School relocated to the former Kepier Chare school. There is also a separate private nursery located next to the Doctor's Surgery. The area is also well served by public transport, with regular bus links to

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

, the MetroCentre,

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

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 ...

as well as nearby towns and villages such as Ryton, Prudhoe,

Chopwell Chopwell is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, west of Rowlands Gill and north of Hamsterley, Consett, Hamsterley. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 9,395. In 1150, Hugh de Puiset, Bishop Puds ...

High Spen High Spen is an old mining village in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, historically part of County Durham and the birth place of The Magician. There is an entrance to Chopwell Wood, whose Christmas Trees sales attract many visitors to ...

and Clara Vale. Crawcrook Sits less than 2 miles from the popular Hadrian's and Keelman's ways, providing traffic free cycling routes into Newcastle and Gateshead. Crawcrook has its own village park, located in the Garden House Estate area of the village. Created in the 1950s it consists of toddler play equipment, a tennis court/five a side football area, and a bowling green. The local football club, Ryton and Crawcrook Albion FC are based at Kingsley Park in the north of the village, and play in the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

, Division 2. Other recreational facilities nearby include four

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

courses, Tyneside golf club at Ryton, Ryton golf club at Clara Vale, Close House golf club in Wylam, and Prudhoe golf club in Prudhoe. Golf courses slightly further away include Whickham golf club, at

Whickham Whickham is a village in Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. The village is on high ground overlooking the River Tyne and south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It was formerly governed under the histo ...

, Garesfield golf club at High Spen and Stocksfield golf club in

Stocksfield Stocksfield is a small, yet sprawling commuter village situated close to the River Tyne, about west of Newcastle upon Tyne in the southern part of Northumberland, England. There are several smaller communities within the parish of Stocksfiel ...

Education

There are two primary schools in the village. St Agnes RC school, the school of Crawcrook's

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

parish, and Emmaville primary school. Both schools perform exceedingly well compared to other schools in the Gateshead

Local Education Authority Local education authorities (LEAs) were local councils in England that are responsible for education within their jurisdiction. The term was used to identify which council (district or county) is locally responsible for education in a system wit ...

and nationally. There was a third school, Kepier Chare school. However, in 2007 it was closed with some pupils transferred to Emmaville school or other local schools. In 2010 St Agnes RC school relocated to the former Kepier Chare and is to date still there, the existing St Agnes school building was demolished, with a small housing development taking its place. Secondary education for the village is provided by Thorp Academy in Ryton, and St Thomas More Catholic School in Blaydon.

Surrounding area

Within less than a mile of Crawcrook's main street and its residential areas, lies farmland and rich countryside, particularly to the west and north of the village. To the west of the village these include farmland and Sled Lane, with its woodland and ponds; Bradley Gardens, a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

walled garden and, to the north, more farmland as well as the meadows between Crawcrook and Wylam. Other notable features of Crawcrook's environment include its landed estates, in particular Bradley Hall, and its sand quarries, that have partly encroached on some of its countryside to the north-west of the village. Further down the Tyne valley there are picturesque villages and towns such as Prudhoe, Stocksfield and Corbridge. There are quite a few churches in Crawcrook, one

, one

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

, and one

(St Agnes).

References

External links

Census 2001 Summary of the Crawcrook and Greenside Ward. Provided by Gateshead Council.

Methodist Churches in Crawcrook
{{T&W places Villages in Tyne and Wear Ryton, Tyne and Wear