West Hartlepool was a predecessor of

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

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 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 ...

. It developed in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

and took the name from its western position in the parish of what is now known as the

Headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

. The former town was originally formed in 1848 as an accompanying settlement for nearby railway and docks, which brought and exported coal from the area. The rail network grew, connecting to docks in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

and other cities. Further developments in the area led to the 1960s formation of Hartlepool as a town.

History

The town of West Hartlepool was founded by Ralph Ward Jackson who went on to become managing director of the Stockton and Hartlepool Railway in 1848. The area known as Newburn Raw, part of the ancient village of Stranton, steadily grew into a centre for shipping and railway transportation. The West Hartlepool Harbour and Dock () opened on 1 June 1847. Five years later, also on 1 June, the Jackson dock () opened as well as a railway connecting West Hartlepool to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Massive timber trading with Baltic countries began as timber was needed for pitprops in nearby coal mines. The area's population grew quickly as a result.Lionel Alexander Ritchie, ''Gray, Sir William (1823–1898)'', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 2 May 2011
/ref> Eight shipbuilding yards were established. Supporting shipbuilding and repair were: a canvas manufacturing firm, Bastow Brothers and W. Taylor iron foundries, block and mast makers and other related machinery.Whellan, William, & Co. (1856). ''History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palatine of Durham.'' Whittaker and Company. p. 534. Streets were laid out along which shops and brick homes were built. Standard town services followed including paved roads, gas and electricity, sewers, a slaughterhouse, cemetery and more. Jackson built a large church, Christ Church, from stone excavated from the docks and the parish was consecrated in 1854 by the Bishop of Durham.Whellan, William, & Co. (1856). ''History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palatine of Durham.'' Whittaker and Company. p. 533. Swainson Dock opened on 3 June 1856, named after Ward Jackson's father-in-law. In 1878 the

William Gray & Company William Gray & Company Ltd. was a British shipbuilding company located in West Hartlepool, County Durham, in North East England. Founded in 1863 by John Denton and William Gray as a partnership, it became a private and then a public limited com ...

ship yard in West Hartlepool achieved the distinction of launching the largest tonnage of any shipyard in the world, a feat to be repeated on a number of occasions. The

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

of West Hartlepool was created in 1887, and, with its headquarters at

West Hartlepool Town Hall West Hartlepool Town Hall is a municipal building in Raby Road, Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The town hall, which was the meeting place of West Hartlepool County Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building. History The development o ...

, it was promoted to the status of

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...

, outside the control of Durham County Council, in 1902. In 1967, a

, called Hartlepool, was established by amalgamating West Hartlepool with old Hartlepool.

Sport

The town's

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

was formed in 1881 by men who came to the area to build the railway and dig the docks, and continued until 1908 when the Hartlepool Union's round ball game was in vogue. Until 1968, the football team now known as

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

was shown in the plural - Hartlepools United - to show its links to both

and to West Hartlepool.

Notable people

* Margaret Green, artist, born in West Hartlepool *

Lionel Tertis Lionel Tertis, CBE (29 December 187622 February 1975) was an English violist. He was one of the first viola players to achieve international fame and a noted teacher. Career Tertis was born in West Hartlepool, the son of Polish-Jewish immigra ...

, viola player who commissioned many new works for the instrument, born in West Hartlepool

Gallery

File:West Hartlepool Locomotive Depot geograph-2357150-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg, West Hartlepool Locomotive Depot File:West Hartlepool harbour and railway seal.jpg, West Hartlepool harbour and railway seal File:View from Newburn Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 86889.jpg, View from Newburn Bridge. This is the site of the old railways sheds in West Hartlepool.

References

External links