Ferryhill is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
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
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 ...
, with an estimated population in 2018 of 9,362. The town grew in the 1900s around the
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
industry. The last mine officially closed in 1968. It is located between the towns of
Bishop Auckland
Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham.
Much of the town's early history surro ...
,
Newton Aycliffe
Newton Aycliffe is a town in County Durham (district), County Durham, England. Founded in 1947 under the New Towns Act 1946, New Towns Act of 1946, the town sits about five miles to the north of Darlington and ten miles to the south of Durham, E ...
,
Sedgefield
Sedgefield is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It had a population of 5,211 as at the 2011 census. It has the only operating racecourse in County Durham.
History Roman
A Roman 'ladder settlement' was discovered by C ...
,
Shildon
Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...
,
Spennymoor
Spennymoor is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, England. It is south of the River Wear and is south of Durham, England, Durham. The civil parish includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers ...
and the cathedral city of
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
.
Geography
Ferryhill sits on the western edge of the Ferryhill Gap, a natural gateway in limestone escarpment that outcrops on the Eastern Durham Plateau. The main settlement lies along the 'SW-NE' ridge, with later developments made to the south of the ridge.
Ferryhill lies on the medieval
Great North Road, which used to be the A1. It was bypassed when the Ferryhill Cut was excavated in 1923. The road is now the A167, which leads to Durham 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 als ...
to the North, and to
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
in the south.
Ferryhill Carrs is a
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
and designated
Local Nature Reserve at the Eastern edge of the town.
Sections of Ferryhill
*
Dean Bank
Dean Bank is situated on the west incline of Ferryhill, County Durham, in 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 nor ...
*
Ferryhill Station
Ferryhill Station is situated to the south east of Ferryhill, next to Chilton Lane and near the site of Ferryhill railway station
Ferryhill was a railway station located in Ferryhill in County Durham, Northeast England. It was located on wh ...
*
Ferryhill railway station
Ferryhill was a railway station located in Ferryhill in County Durham, Northeast England. It was located on what became the East Coast Main Line between and , close to the junctions with several former branches, including the extant freight- ...
*
Chilton Lane
Chilton Lane is situated a short distance to the south-east of Ferryhill, and immediately to the south of Ferryhill Station. Nearby are Great Chilton, East Chilton, Chilton Grange and Little Chilton.
History
Chilton Lane was developed as ...
*
The Carrs
The Carrs is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Sedgefield district of County Durham, England. It is situated on the eastern outskirts of Ferryhill, between the town and the East Coast Main Line railway.
The Carrs is an area of wet ...
*
Mainsforth Colliery
Mainsforth Colliery was situated between Ferryhill and the small hamlet of Mainsforth in County Durham, England, United Kingdom. It was adjacent to the former Ferryhill railway station in the Ferryhill Station area of the town.
Mainsforth Colli ...
Neighbouring settlements
*
Spennymoor
Spennymoor is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, England. It is south of the River Wear and is south of Durham, England, Durham. The civil parish includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers ...
*
Kirk Merrington
Kirk Merrington is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated between the towns of Bishop Auckland and Ferryhill.
It is part of the Spennymoor township.
A notable resident is TV personality Scarlett Moffatt, best known for appeari ...
*
Chilton, County Durham
Chilton is a town in County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the east of Bishop Auckland and a short distance to the south of Ferryhill, on the A167. The bypass on the A167 opened on 20 June 2005, cutting down the traffic through Ch ...
*
Mainsforth
Mainsforth is a small village in County Durham, England. It is to the east of Ferryhill, and lies within the ecclesiastical parish of Bishop Middleham. The earliest settlement in Mainsforth may have been on Marble (Narble Hill). It has been sugge ...
*
Bishop Middleham
Bishop Middleham is a village in County Durham, in England. The population of the parish as taken at the 2011 census was 1,275 It is close to Sedgefield.
History
Bishop Middleham lies in a dry valley about 9 miles (14 km) south-east of ...
Facilities
Ferryhill has a weekly Friday market in the town centre marketplace, run by Ferryhill Town Council.
There have been many improvements to the town, including the award-winning Mainsforth sports complex, Surtees Doorstep Green, King George V rec corridor improvements at
Ferryhill Station
Ferryhill Station is situated to the south east of Ferryhill, next to Chilton Lane and near the site of Ferryhill railway station
Ferryhill was a railway station located in Ferryhill in County Durham, Northeast England. It was located on wh ...
, new Town Centre public toilets paid for by funding from
Sedgefield Borough Councillors and is now run by Ferryhill Town Council and a youth cafe for the town's young people.
Part of Dean Bank Park has been used to enhance sporting facilities, and the remainder has recently been the subject to consultation by the Town Council. The final plans include a £70,000 play area for which funding has been secured from the lottery, a £50,000 MUGA for which funding is being sought by the Friends of Dean Bank Park but has since been turned down due to it not been a community led group. Also funding has been applied for £50,000 of playbuilder facilities. In addition to this the new park will include a viewing tower, BMX/skatepark, new planting areas to walk and relax as well as a performance arena.
The Town has many community events including an annual summer gala, Christmas market, parading of miners banners, vintage car rally, art and photography exhibitions and many more, all of which are organised jointly by the Town Council and the 2000 Committee.
Governance
An
electoral ward
A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...
of the same name as the town exists. This ward has differences to the parish of Ferryhill, and has a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 8,942.
Newspaper
Ferryhill has a free community newspaper, ''The Ferryhill and Chilton Chapter Community Newspaper'', which is distributed to all households in Ferryhill and the neighbouring community of
Chilton. The paper has its own website where the latest issue, and archive issues going back to 2005, can be viewed.
Education
There are four primary schools in Ferryhill:
Broom Cottages Primary School, Dean Bank Primary School, Cleves Cross Primary School, and Ferryhill Station Primary School.
Ferryhill has one secondary school,
Ferryhill Business and Enterprise College
Ferryhill School (formerly Ferryhill Business And Enterprise College and before that Ferryhill Comprehensive School) is a coeducational secondary school located in Ferryhill
Ferryhill is a town in County Durham, England, with an estimated ...
. It is a specialist
Business and Enterprise College, which used to be known as Ferryhill Comprehensive School.
Sport
Over £1 million in funding was secured by Ferryhill Town Youth, in partnership with Ferryhill Town Council, to develop a new sports facility for the town.
It includes new changing rooms, a recreation area, and six football pitches in Dean Bank Park and the adjacent former
Ferryhill Athletic football ground.
The facilities are to be used by the town's thriving football clubs, Ferryhill Town Youth in particular. The nearby Dean Bank Park is maintained by Ferryhill Town Council, and belongs to the welfare fund for the former Dean and Chapter Colliery of 1968.
The Town Council purchased the former Ferryhill Athletic ground at auction in 2004, which was then provided to improve recreation facilities in the area, after the land could not be sold on.
Notable people
*
Sid Chaplin
Sid Chaplin (20 September 191611 January 1986) was an English writer whose works (novels, television screenplays, poetry and short stories) are mostly set in the north-east of England, in the 1940s and 1950s.
Biography
Chaplin was born into ...
(1916-1986), Novelist and Poet who lived in Ferryhill from 1941 to 1953
*
John McManners
John McManners (1916–2006) was a British clergyman and historian of religion who specialized in the history of the church and other aspects of religious life in 18th-century France. He was Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the Univ ...
(1916-2006), Clergyman and Religious Historian
*
Jack Scott (1923-2008), Weatherman for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...