Haswell is a village in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is situated east of the city of Durham, south of the city of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and north-west of the town of Peterlee.

History

The original settlement of Haswell was located where High Haswell is now on the hilltop before the village's centre moved downhill to its modern location on Salter's Lane. In the 14th century, Haswell's small population was nearly wiped out by the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

. Resting on a limestone escarpment,

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

was discovered in the early 19th century and a colliery was sunk by 1831. Haswell became home to the first coal mine in the world with a steel cable down its mine shaft. On 28 September 1844, a

blackdamp Blackdamp (also known as stythe or choke damp), sometimes found in enclosed environments such as mines, sewers, wells, tunnels and ships' holds, is an asphyxiant, reducing the available oxygen content of air to a level incapable of sustaining huma ...

explosion killed 95 Haswell Coal Company workers, with just four survivors. The colliery closed in 1896, and Haswell's population collapsed by 1901 after the miners left, leaving behind a rural settlement.

Notable people

Haswell was the birthplace of world champion

road racing Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a race track, closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily c ...

cyclist Tom Simpson, born 30 November 1937, who died aged 29 on

Mont Ventoux Mont Ventoux (; ) is a mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some northeast of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the department of Drôme. At , it is the highest mountain in the region and h ...

during the 1967 Tour de France.

References

External links

*
www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Haswell and surrounding area
{{authority control Villages in County Durham Civil parishes in County Durham 1840s disasters in the United Kingdom 1844 disasters 1844 in England Coal mining disasters in England 1844 mining disasters