Fatfield is an area of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

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. The southern part of the village by 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 ...

is popular for country walks and the three public houses and working men's club on the banks of the river. The site of the original village is just to the west.

Mine disaster

In 1814, the Hall Pit in Fatfield exploded with the loss of 32 lives. At 12:30 on Tuesday 28 September a fall of stone from the roof drove

firedamp Firedamp is any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane. It is particularly found in areas where the coal is bituminous. The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata and when they are penetrated the releas ...

into contact with candles used by the miners for illumination. All the men below ground were killed, as was one of the four men in the shaft at the time. Contemporary reports refer to the survivors being affected by the

afterdamp Afterdamp is the toxic mixture of gases left in a mine following an explosion caused by methane-rich firedamp, which itself can initiate a much larger explosion of coal dust. The term is etymologically and practically related to other terms for un ...

. Although the colliery was claimed (by, for instance, the colliery overman) to be safe and well worked, there had been three previous explosions of firedamp which had each killed three men.

Education

Fatfield Primary School is located on Southcroft and educates around 235 pupils aged 4–11. The school has

Investors in People Investors in People is a standard for people management, offering accreditation to organisations that adhere to the Investors in People Standard. From 1991 to January 2017, Investors in People was owned by the UK government. As of 1 February 20 ...

status and Artsmark and Healthy School awards. At their inspection on 14 June 2007,

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

rated the school as Satisfactory, point three on a four-point scale. The older primary school (now demolished and replaced by modern housing) was located adjacent the Harraton Community Centre.

Scouts

The First Fatfield Scouts were located behind the site of the infant school and just north of the dining hall on land adjacent to the primary school. The Schools being relocated to the centre of Fatfield and the land sold off for housing, the Scouts site still now exists beside the new housing development.

Places of Worship

Fatfield, St George's Church in Harraton, Washington

The parish church of Fatfield i
St George's Church
in Washington, which was built in 1879 on land given by the Earl of Durham. The church building is in what is now called

Harraton 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- ...

, one of the Washington villages, but continues with the historic name, St George's church, Fatfield. The church was substantially reordered in the 1980s and inside is warm, light and contemporary, reflecting the informal and lively style of worship that takes place. The newly forme
Catholic Parish of St John XXIII
also covers the area of Fatfield. The Parish was officially created at 10AM on 27 April 2014, when ''

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

'' was canonised by Pope Francis. Originally, the area was served by Washington Parish, founded from St Michaels Houghton in 1864, but the modern Washington cluster was established in 2002, and includes Our Lady Queen of Peace Penshaw in addition to the modern Washington Churches.

Publicity

Fatfield had national publicity in the 1990s when the village was challenged to lose weight on the ''

Fatfield Diet Fatfield is an area of Washington, Tyne and Wear, England. The southern part of the village by the River Wear is popular for country walks and the three public houses and working men's club on the banks of the river. The site of the original vil ...

'' as part of a BBC television programme. Apart from the TV show, Fatfield is well known for the

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

of the

Lambton Worm The Lambton Worm is a legend from County Durham in north-east England in the United Kingdom. The story takes place around the River Wear, and is one of the area's most famous pieces of folklore, having been adapted from written and oral tradit ...

which is said to have terrorised the village.

Notable connections

* Bobby Thompson, comedian, was brought up here. * Sir

Harold Jeffreys Sir Harold Jeffreys, FRS (22 April 1891 – 18 March 1989) was a British mathematician, statistician, geophysicist, and astronomer. His book, ''Theory of Probability'', which was first published in 1939, played an important role in the revival ...

, FRS, astronomer, was born here. *

Alan Price Alan Price (born 19 April 1942) is an English musician. He was the original keyboardist for the British band the Animals before he left to form his own band the Alan Price Set. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a m ...

, keyboardist for

the Animals The Animals (also billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and ...

, was born here.

References

{{authority control Populated places in Tyne and Wear Washington, Tyne and Wear