Forest Hall

Forest Hall is a town in the borough of North Tyneside in the United Kingdom. It is a north eastern suburb of Newcastle and lies six kilometres from the city centre. It borders Killingworth to the north, Holystone to the east and Benton to the south. While relatively affluent compared to some surrounding areas, its proximity to Killingworth has led to an increase in antisocial behaviour in recent years.

Layout

Station Road North

Forest Hall's main commercial centre is Station Road North, a compact shopping street with a variety of establishments including shops, takeaway food outlets and restaurants, two small supermarkets, a pharmacy and an optician. On the former site of Forest Hall railway station is the Flying Scotsman pub. Additionally, Springfield Park, a somewhat sizeable public park, is located near Station Road North; it has sports grounds, a playground and a community centre. In 2019, North Tyneside Council completed a £500,000 public works project into Station Road North; this included replacing the paving tiles, installing new benches and raising the road junction at the western end of the street as a traffic calming measure.

West Moor

West Moor, or Westmoor, is a village which, as the name suggests, comprises the westernmost section of Forest Hall. It is a small village which hugs the railway line and has two small rows of shops adjacent to Great Lime Road. To the east of the railway line there is an Indian takeaway, a Chinese takeaway, a pizza shop and a fish & chip shop. To the west of the railway line there is a deli, a bakery, a newsagents and a hair salon. There is also a pub, the George Stephenson Inn. At the southern end of the village, near Findus Roundabout, there is a community centre with a playground and large outdoor sports ground. On the northern edge is the former site of Killingworth railway station. Westmoor is also the site of George Stephenson Industrial Estate. Finally, there is a Lidl supermarket at the eastern edge of Westmoor.

Palmersville

Palmersville is a sizeable residential area which forms the easternmost section of Forest Hall. Centred around Palmersville Green, a large open field with a playground surrounded by houses and flats, the area has a distinct character and community, although suffers from deprivation and antisocial behaviour. It lacks a commercial centre but has businesses scattered throughout, including an Aldi supermarket and a Post Office on Great Lime Road, a fish & chip shop and Chinese takeaway at the corner of Great Lime Road and Bamburgh Road, and a Thai takeaway and newsagents at the corner of the Meadway and Rocket Way. At the far eastern edge of Palmersville and Forest Hall is Palmersville Metro station.

Station Road

The southern section of Forest Hall, on the other side of the railway line from Station Road North, follows Station Road into Benton. Around halfway along the road is a row of shops including a newsagents, a veterinarian's practice, an Italian restaurant and an autoparts shop. There is also a Royal Mail depot. Benton Metro station is around 250 metres south of the southern border of Forest Hall at Benton Cemetery.

Transport

Several bus routes pass through Forest Hall, linking it to both Newcastle city centre and other surrounding areas such as Cramlington and Whitley Bay. The number 55 bus takes twenty minutes to travel to the Haymarket, while the 63 takes thirty to the Monument.

Forest Hall's two main road thoroughfares are Great Lime Road and Station Road. Great Lime Road is an east-west route through the north of the town between Westmoor and Palmersville and on to Holystone. Station Road is a north-south route from Station Road North through the south of the town and on to Benton. There are no major A roads within Forest Hall itself but the western terminus of Great Lime Road is at Findus Roundabout on the A189, and Holystone roundabout on the A19 is near Palmersville.

Although the East Coast Main Line runs directly through the town centre at Station Road North there are no rail links, nor have there been since September 1958; however, Benton station on the Tyne & Wear Metro is located less than a kilometre away. Palmersville, however, does have its own Metro station, which is located at the far eastern edge of the town, and also serves Holystone.

Education and Worship

Primary Schools

* Forest Hall Primary School
* St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School
* Ivy Road Primary School
* Westmoor Primary School

There are no secondary schools within Forest Hall, but George Stephenson High School in Killingworth and Longbenton High School are both nearby. The nearest sixth forms and universities are in Newcastle city centre.

Churches

* St Bartholomew's - Church of England
* St Andrew's - Methodist
* St Mary's - Roman Catholic
* Westmoor Methodist Church
* Bethesda Gospel Hall

There are no non-Christian places of worship in the area; the nearest synagogue is in Gosforth and the nearest mosque is in Heaton.

History

Dial Cottage

Dial Cottage, a grade II listed building and home from 1804 to 1823 of railway pioneer George Stephenson, is located on Great Lime Road in Forest Hall. It was while he was living there that Stephenson developed one of the world's earliest locomotives, called the Blücher, as well as several others which ran on the Killingworth Colliery from 1814. The trackbed is now a public footpath which can be accessed from Great Lime Road a kilometre east of the cottage.

The cottage is privately owned, though tours occasionally take place. At the cottage there is a sundial, which Stephenson built himself and which gives the cottage its name, and a plaque which reads:

''“George Stephenson. Engineer, inventor of the Locomotive Engine. Lived in this cottage from 1805 to 1823; his first locomotive (Blücher) was built at the adjacent colliery wagon shops, and on July 25, 1814 was placed on the wagonway which crosses the road at the east end of this cottage."''

Clousden Hill Free Commune

Local Government

Forest Hall is located in the borough of North Tyneside in the ceremonial county of Tyne & Wear. Its parliamentary constituency is also called North Tyneside, represented since 2010 by Mary Glindon. The town does not have its own council ward and is divided between multiple wards named after other localities; most of Forest Hall, including Station Road North and the area along Station Road, is in Benton Ward, while most of Palmersville is in Killingworth Ward and most of Westmoor is in Longbenton Ward. As of February 2022, the town's councillors are:

The Labour Party performs well in the area; none of the three wards have elected a non-Labour councillor since 2008 when Benton Ward's seat was won by Leslie Birkinfield and Killingworth's was won by Norma Peggs, both Conservatives.

Notes

External links

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Populated places in Tyne and Wear
Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside