Tanfield is a former mining village in County Durham, England, near

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

, and the location of

Tanfield Railway The Tanfield Railway is a heritage railway in Gateshead and County Durham, England. Running on part of a former horse-drawn colliery wooden waggonway, later rope & horse, lastly rope & loco railway. It operates preserved industrial steam l ...

, the Causey Arch and Tanfield School.

History

The village was first recorded in 1179 as Tamefeld, believed to be Old English for "field by the

River Team The River Team is a tributary of the River Tyne in Gateshead, England. Etymology The name ''Team'' may have a Brittonic origin. The name may be from the Brittonic root ''tā-'', with a sense of "melting, thawing, dissolving", plus a nasal roo ...

", but it is mentioned in an account by

John of Hexham John of Hexham (c. 1160 – 1209) was an English chronicler, known to us merely as the author of a work called the ''Historia XXV. annorum'', which continues the ''Historia regum'' attributed to Symeon of Durham, and contains an account of Englis ...

of the Scottish invasion of 1138. The village church is from the 10th century.

Economy

Collieries

* Tanfield Lea Colliery, Tanfield Lea. Closed 25 August 1962. Owners:- Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd; (1947) NCB. Location:- (Sheet 88) NZ188544, 54° 53' 2" N, 1° 42' 25" W, SW of Newcastle. * Tanfield Moor Colliery, Tantobie. Opened before 1828. Closed Oct 1948. Owners:- Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd. Location:- (Sheet 88) NZ169545, 54° 53' 6" N, 1° 44' 12" W, SW of Newcastle. * East Tanfield Colliery, Tantobie. Opened 1844. Closed January 1965. Owners: - James Joicey (from 1844), East Tanfield Colliery Co. Limited (from 1917), South Derwentside Coal Co. Limited (from 1929). National Coal Board (from 1947). Location: - (Sheet 88) NZ194552, 54° 53' 28" N, 1° 41' 51" W, SW of Newcastle The village has the highest rate of people aged 16–74 who have never worked, the figure stands at 33.33 percent, in the whole of

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 ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Religious sites

The village church of

St. Margaret of Antioch Margaret, known as Margaret of Antioch in the West, and as Saint Marina the Great Martyr ( grc-gre, Ἁγία Μαρίνα) in the East, is celebrated as a saint on 20 July in the Western Rite Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic Church and Anglicanism, o ...

dates back to 900 AD, but the present structure was built in the 18th century. It was the parish church of Beamish Hall, former home to the Eden, Joicey and Shafto families. There is a Methodist church in Tanfield Lea.

Notable people

Tanfield was the home of Tommy Armstrong (1848–1919), the "pit-man poet", whose grave is in the village cemetery.

References

* http://www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/t001.htm - Durham Mining Museum Villages in County Durham Mining in County Durham History of County Durham Stanley, County Durham {{Durham-geo-stub