Wingate 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 ...

, England. Wingate is a former pit village with a mixture of 19th-century, post-war, and more recent housing developments. It was originally inhabited by around 30 farmers before 1839 when coal was discovered. It is located in the East of County Durham, three miles south west of Peterlee, and seven miles north west of

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

. As with most villages in the area, it grew rapidly with the development of coal-mining in the region. The name Wingate is said to derive from the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

words ''windig'' (windy) and ''geat'' (road) meaning windy road. Like many County Durham villages, residents are known to speak the pitmatic dialect, described to be a mixture of both mackem and teesside accents, although new housing developments has seen a sharp increase in the village's population.

History

There is no evidence of settlement at Wingate until the 16th century. However, mining made its presence felt in the 19th century and Wingate became a large settlement and regional centre for the area. The village is located approximately two miles east of the original settlement, which is now called

Old Wingate Old Wingate is a small village in County Durham, in England. It is situated a short distance to the west of Wingate. Most of the village was deserted in the Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period la ...

. Coal was discovered in 1839 when two shafts were sunk; coal was drawn in December 1839. In 1906, an explosion in the mine killed 26 pit workers in Wingate, and in 2006 a march took place to commemorate the miners. On 7 January 1971,

Avro Vulcan The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) was a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe ...

bomber XM610 crashed near the school after suffering an engine fire due to metal fatigue in the number 1 engine. The pilot remained in the burning aircraft before he ejected to direct the aircraft to crash into the sea; however. the aircraft later spiralled down into the village and crashed, leaving a large crater. There were no fatalities in the accident. The pilot was awarded the AFC for his attempts to save the aircraft. Wingate is also the birthplace of Ted Harrison, a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

artist notable for his paintings of the

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the same name exists. This ward stretches north east to Peterlee and has a total population, taken at the 2011 census, of 10,302.

Transport

Car travel

The village has ready access to road links for commuters, with the A181 leading westward to Durham and then north and south via the A1. Heading east towards the east Durham coast leads to the A19, with links to Peterlee,

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

Teesside Teesside () is an urban area around the River Tees in North East England. Straddling the border between County Durham and North Yorkshire, it spans the boroughs of Borough of Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, Stockton ...

. The main road through the village is the B1280.

Public transport

Public transport is provided by

Arriva North East Arriva North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, 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 Kingdom. ...

services 58 and X22, and Go North East service 239. Buses serve a range of destinations including: Sedgefield, Durham,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, Peterlee and

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

Wingate was previously served by two railway stations at Wingate and on the Great North of England, Clarence & Hartlepool Junction Railway and the North Eastern Railway Castle Eden Branch respectively. Both stations are long closed and the majority of the former right of way has been reclaimed and turned into walkways, notably parts of the Hart to Haswell Walkway. One of the level crossing gates survives next to the Railway Crossings pub on Front Street.

References