Urlay Nook is a village in the

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 part of the

Egglescliffe Egglescliffe is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. Administratively it is located in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It shares a civil parish with Eaglescliffe. The village sits on top of a hill overlooking and across t ...

parish in the

borough of Stockton-on-Tees The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees is a unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the counties of County Durham and North Yorkshire, England. The borough had a population of 191,600 in 2011. The main settlemen ...

. The village is dominated by the site of the former Elementis chromium chemicals plant and the Admiralty Ecology Site, both of which are owned by

Elementis Elementis plc is one of the UK's largest speciality chemicals and personal care businesses, with extensive operations in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It ...

. In March 2011 work was underway to dismantle the chemicals plant, and by November 2011 the work was nearing completion. Urlay Nook contains the Tactical Training Centre for

Durham Constabulary Durham Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing ceremonial county of County Durham in North East England. The force’s area is bordered by Cumbria Constabulary to the west, Cleveland Police to the south east, Nor ...

and

Cleveland Police Cleveland Police is the territorial police force responsible for the policing area corresponding to the former county of Cleveland in Northern England. As of September 2017, the force had 1,274 police officers, 278 police staff, 124 police com ...

Allens West

From the 1940s to the 1990s there was an

MOD Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...

base situated at Allens West in Eaglescliffe. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the base was Metal Reclamation Unit No 2, and was used to dismantle aircraft that were downed in the north of England. It then became the Royal Navy Spare Parts Distribution Centre (RNSPDC), and later the Royal Navy Supply Depot (RNSD) Eaglescliffe, until its closure in January 1997 as part of the 'Defence Cost Study'. The storage and distribution functions were transferred to

Portsmouth Naval Base His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is lo ...

, and the procurement function to MOD's site at

Abbey Wood Abbey Wood is an area in south east London, England, straddling the border between the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Charing Cross. Toponymy The area takes its name from Lesnes Abbey Woo ...

, Bristol. At its height, the depot employed more than 2,000 staff and had a significant influence on the local economy. This later reduced to around 750 just prior to closure in 1997. Part of the former MOD site is now the Urlay Nook Admiralty ecology park, the rest of the site was sold to a distribution company in 1997. Aerial photographs show that the site used to have railway sidings and a small runway. A masterplan has been drawn up to build up to 1000 homes, a 5000 m care home, 500 m of community facilities, and up to 1000 m of retail space on the site.http://www.planningwam.stockton.gov.uk/WAM133/doc/Drawing-1523310.pdf?extension=.pdf&id=1523310&location=VOLUME1&contentType=application/pdf&pageCount=1

References

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Villages in County Durham Borough of Stockton-on-Tees Places in the Tees Valley {{Stockton-geo-stub

Allens West

See also

References

External links