Low Westwood is a 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 ...

, England. It is situated immediately to the west of Hamsterley. Low Westwood is probably best known for Hamsterley Christ Church and Derwent care home. Low Westwood grew as a result of coal mining. Westwood Colliery, located on the Shotley Bridge to Newcastle road, was operational from the 1840s (appearing on the 1856 Ordnance Survey map Durham sheet V). By the 1870s the original colliery had been replaced by the High Westwood colliery. By the 1890s there was housing for the miners as well as a Church Of England church, Christ Church. A Roman Catholic church, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, was established in 1898 and closed in 1998. A school (1898) and cemetery, associated with the church, were also established. The Derwent Valley Railway served the village from 1868 until the closure of High Westwood station in 1942.

Geography

The River Derwent flows at the bottom of the valley, and separates the nearby villages of Blackhall Mill and

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 ...

. Although situated in

, Low Westwood has a

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 ...

postcode (NE17). Low Westwood is approximately from the village of Ebchester, built on the site of the

Roman fort 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 Vindomora.

Transport

Low Westwood lies just off the A694, and is on the 'Red kite' (45/46) Go North East bus route which runs from Consett to Newcastle upon Tyne. There are also regular bus links to

, and a free Tesco bus which runs once or twice a day between Chopwell and the Delve's Lane

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

. Low Westwood lies just off the Derwent Cycle Path, which runs from

Consett Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019. History Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the ...

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 ...

Nightlife

Low Westwood and Hamsterley had one pub between them, ''The Cronniewell'', a popular pub/nightclub. This has recently closed and is now an Italian restaurant. There are two pubs in Ebchester about 15 minutes' walk away.

Economy

Low Westwood saw a huge economic boom in the late 19th century, with the establishment of many of its

residential A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

properties, built with a yellow grey Durham stone, iconic of the area. These are typical of thriving North Durham villages. Many newer houses, flats and apartments have been built within a mile radius in the style of these houses, an appreciation of the

golden age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

of the late 19th Century. The town benefits from local employment in larger nearby towns, such as

and

Rowlands Gill Rowlands Gill is a town situated along the A694, between Winlaton Mill and Hamsterley Mill, on the north bank of the River Derwent, in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Within Gateshead's greenbelt, the town has a p ...

References

Villages in County Durham Consett {{Durham-geo-stub