Crook, County Durham
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Crook is a
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
in the
district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
and ceremonial county of County Durham,
Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
. The town is located on the edge of Weardale, therefore is sometimes referred to as the "Gateway to Weardale". The town is in an unparished area, until 1974 it was in
Crook and Willington Urban District Crook and Willington was an urban district in County Durham, England from 1937 to 1974. ...
and was parished. It is located a couple of miles north of 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 ...
, Crook lies about 9 miles (14.5 km) south-west of the historic city of Durham, 5 miles (8 km) north-west 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 ...
and 2 miles (3.5 km) from Willington. The A690 road from Durham turns into the A689 leading up through Wolsingham and Stanhope into the upper reaches of Weardale (an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The centre of Crook, a designated conservation area, features a variety of shops and businesses with the market held on Tuesdays and a few stalls on a Saturday. There are two prominent churches, the centrally located St Catherine's CE and Our Lady Immaculate & St Cuthbert's RC on Church Hill. On top of the hills to the east sits Crook Golf Club.


History

Crook first appeared as an agricultural village around 1795 although its surrounding districts; Billy Row, Stanley, White Lea and Helmington Row, were established much earlier. The development of Crook: some background history
In these days Crook was predominantly farmland; however, it also had an Inn and a blacksmith shop, consequently the primary field of employment was within the agricultural industry. 40 years later; Crook became a mining village, and thrived as the coal was very close to the surface and soon there were over 20 mines around the Crook area, and by the end of the nineteenth century the town had developed rapidly in population and economy. However a lot of the population in the area had declined in the following century as the coal mines and industries closed with over 34% of the population being unemployed. Crook's football team,
Crook Town F.C. Crook Town Association Football Club is a association football, football club based in Crook, County Durham, Crook, County Durham, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Sir Tom Cowie Millfield. The club won the FA Amateur C ...
, have won the
FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...
five times, most recently beating
Enfield F.C. Enfield Football Club is an English football club that is currently a member of the . The club plays its home matches at Woodside Park in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, which it shares with owners Bishop's Stortford F.C. Traditionally bas ...
in 1964, before the cup was abolished in 1974. This record is second only to Crook's near neighbours,
Bishop Auckland F.C. Bishop Auckland Football Club is a football club based in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England. They are one of the most successful amateur sides, having won the FA Amateur Cup ten times and reached the final on a further eight occasions. Nic ...
The club have also reached the third round of the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
and formed a key role in the development of
FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...
, playing a number of friendly matches in the 1910s and 1920s. The town is also home to oldest purpose built Cinema in the North, built as the Electric Palace and opened on 21 November 1910. Currently the building is a Car Parts and Accessories shop but a ww.empirecrook.co.ukroup was set up in 2015 with the intention of restoring the building back to a working cinema. Much of the original interior features remain inside and a local charity Empire Electric Palace Theatre (Crook) CIO is working to gain control of the building a restore it to a working theatre for the community. In 2014, Lidl announced they were to open a new store in Crook, on the site of the former
Co-op Food Co-op Food is a brand used for the food retail business of The Co-operative Group in the United Kingdom. Prior to reintroducing the brand in 2016, the group used " The Co-operative" branding, which is still used by a number of consumers' co- ...
store on New Road, the store opened in June 2017. In September 2016,
Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...
announced plans to open a new store in the town on Elliott street, which was to create 30 new jobs. The store opened in October 2019.


Landscape

Crook has a backdrop of traditional and modern buildings. The hills surround the town on all sides apart from the south side of the town. The tallest hill stands at 300 metres above the town, about 980 ft. The highest point in the town is on West Road where the height is 210 metres (about 690 ft). Approximately 2 miles to the west of Crook on the A689, back towards Wolsingham and Weardale is the surviving
World War II 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 ...
Harperley POW Camp 93 Harperley POW Camp 93 is a surviving purpose-built World War II Prisoner of War (PoW) camp built to accommodate up to 1,400 inmates at Fir Tree near Crook, County Durham in the northeast of England. A work camp for low risk PoWs, it was built o ...
.


Landmarks


The Cenotaph

A World War 1 and World War 2 Cenotaph, located in the market place.


The Devil's Stone\The Blue Stone

An erratic of Borrowdale volcanic. Originally located at Dowfold Hill, it is currently situated in the market place.


Education

Crook schools consist of a diverse range of ages and ethnicities.


Nursery


Crook Nursery School

Crook Nursery is an average-sized school that serves the immediate area. The current headteacher is Mrs J C Thompson.


Primary


Crook Primary School

Crook Primary School was opened formerly in 1950. A larger than average community school that shares a site with Crook Nursery School. It has a pupil capacity of 371. It has more disabled, special educational needs and free school meal eligible pupils than the national average. The current headteacher is Mrs Antonella Lupton. Marilyn Tempest – a local legendary teacher – retired after thirty years of employment on 30 April 2014 and received a standing ovation from the then current pupils and teachers. During an interview with The Northern Echo, she said "I have had the most wonderful time here, teaching is the best job in the world.".


Hartside Primary School

A smaller than average community school, it has a pupil capacity of 210. It also has a large proportion of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The current headteacher is Mr Shawn Laws.


St Cuthbert's RC Primary School

An average-sized
voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation (charity), foundation or Charitable trust, trust (usually a religious organisation), contributes to building costs and has a substantial influ ...
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
school, with a pupil capacity of 210. The proportion of pupils with disabilities and/or special educational needs is below average, although the amount eligible for free school meals are above average and ever increasing. The current headteacher is Miss McElhone.


Culture

Crook hosts various annual events including Crook Carnival, Crook Community Christmas Event and the Crookfest music festival. Crook Carnival is held in early July and features a parade, rides, stalls and live music. Crook Community Christmas Event held at the end of November also features a parade and the switching on of the town's Christmas lights. Crookfest is an all day music festival held on the Sunday of the early May Bank Holiday weekend within Crook AFC's Sir Tom Cowie Millfield ground. It is organised by Marshall Rippon on behalf of the football club and features around 20 bands over 3 stages with marquees erected on the pitch.
Malcolm Dixon Malcolm Dixon (18 April 1899 – 7 December 1985) was a British biochemist. Education and early life Dixon was born in Cambridge, UK to Allick Page Dixon and Caroline Dewe Dixon (née Mathews). He received his PhD in 1925, for research supervi ...
(born 1953) is an actor best known as Strutter in the 1981 movie '' Time Bandits''. He has had many roles that take advantage of his 4'1" size, such as
Ewok The Ewoks (singular: Ewok) are a fictional species of small, furry, mammaloid, bipeds in the '' Star Wars'' universe. They inhabit the forest moon of Endor and live in arboreal huts and other simple dwellings, being seen as primitive in comp ...
s and dwarfs. Before becoming an actor, Dixon worked in Jim Henson's
Creature Shop Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based out of Burbank, California, United States. History Jim Henson's Creature Shop was originally ...
.


Notable people

People associated with Crook include: *
Jack Greenwell John Richard Greenwell (2 January 1884 – 20 November 1942) was an English football manager and former player. He is Barcelona's longest serving manager, having coached the club for ten consecutive seasons (initially as player-coach, then as m ...
, FC Barcelona's first official coach who won two Spanish Cups and four Catalan titles. *
Darren Holloway Darren Holloway (born 3 October 1977 in Bishop Auckland, England) is a retired professional footballer. His former clubs include Bradford City (scoring once against Hull), Wimbledon, Scunthorpe United (scoring once against Yeovil), Sunderland a ...
, former professional footballer with English Premier League side
Sunderland AFC Sunderland Association Football Club (, ) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six t ...
. Also played for Wimbledon, Bradford City, Darlington and Gateshead (loans Carlisle United, Bolton Wanderers and Scunthorpe United). *
Bill Rowe William Neil Rowe, (born June 4, 1942) is a former politician, lawyer, broadcaster, and writer in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Rowe was born in Grand Bank and is the son of the late Liberal Senator Frederick William Rowe and the late Edit ...
, 2 time BAFTA Award for Best Sound winning sound engineer who worked on over 160 films between 1955 and 1992. * Constantine Scollen, a missionary priest among the Blackfoot and Cree peoples of Canada in the late 19th century. * Nigel Wright, former 3 time English light welterweight professional boxing champion. Also 2 time challenger for British and Commonwealth titles. * Brian Foster , particle physicist and Donald H Perkins Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Oxford.


Transport

Bus To the north a once a day Crook to Consett Weardale Motor Services service 765. A once an hour
Arriva North East Arriva North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus, which operates bus and coach services across the United K ...
X1 runs to Tow Law Monday to Saturday. Towards Willington and Durham the
Arriva North East Arriva North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus, which operates bus and coach services across the United K ...
X46 services runs every 20 minutes Monday to Saturday and Every Hour on Sundays. Towards the south (Bishop Auckland and Darlington) Weardale Motor Servcies run every hour to Bishop Auckland with there service 101 and
Arriva North East Arriva North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus, which operates bus and coach services across the United K ...
X1 runs every 30 minutes during the day Monday to Saturday. To the West the Weardale Motor Services 101 services runs every hour to Stanhope were you can connect to other bus services up further into Weardale. A town service also runs between thistleflat, Stanley crook and Watergate estate runs during the day Monday to Saturday


Twin towns

Bad Oeynhausen Bad Oeynhausen () is a spa town on the southern edge of the Wiehengebirge in the district of Minden-Lübbecke in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe, East-Westphalia-Lippe region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The closest larger towns are Bielefeld (39 ki ...
Ivry - Sur - Seine


Gallery

File:CrookMarketJune2010.jpg, Crook Market File:CrookChurchHillJune2010.jpg, Looking up Church Hill File:CrookHopeStreet.jpg, Shopping in Hope Street File:CrookViewFromHoleInTheWallFarm.jpg, A view across Crook


References


External links


Community website about Crook

St. Catherine's Church – the Anglican Church website

Empire Electric Palace Theatre – Oldest cinema in the North
{{authority control Towns in County Durham Unparished areas in County Durham