Eastgate is a village in
County Durham, England. It is situated in
Weardale
Weardale is a dale, or valley, on the east side of the Pennines in County Durham, England. Large parts of Weardale fall within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) – the second-largest AONB in England and Wales. Th ...
, a few miles west of
Stanhope. In the
2001 census Eastgate had a population of 163.
Eastgate originally marked the eastern border of the private hunting park of the
Prince Bishops of Durham. This was second in extent only to the royal hunting park of the
New Forest
The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, fea ...
in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
.
To the west of Eastgate are a number of medieval sites. A suspected hunting lodge near Round Hill (Cambokeels) and a settlement site at Westerhopeburn. The latter is described as a hunting lodge or shielding and may be connected to the “Westirhirstshele” mentioned in Robert Strangeway's lease of the park in 1419 (described in the Calendar of Rolls of Bishop Booth). It was in use during the period when Strangeways and later his son held the grazing rights in the park. It may have been abandoned around 1458 when the lease was split up.
The hunting lodge and supposed chapel at Cambokeels may also have been part of the Strangeway’s estate. Excavations suggest a five-roomed building with pottery and coin evidence suggesting occupation between 1430-1460, and later pottery indicating secondary occupation into the 16th century. It was suggested that the site was a hunting lodge of the Bishops of Durham.
A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1826 and became a schoolroom when the present chapel was built in 1891.
The Anglican parish church of All Saints was built in 1888 by J.R.W Hildyard of
Horsley Hall. A
chapel of ease was also listed on various 19th century ordnance survey maps (just to the west of the current church) and was certainly active in 1828.
The Cross Keys public house was built early to late 18th century.
William Emerson, the
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
, had an estate near Eastgate where he would repair to work throughout the summer on projects as disparate as stonemasonry and watchmaking.
Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge, the founder of the world's first department store, was born in the village.
Geothermal plant
In 2004 it was announced that a hot
geothermal power plant would go ahead on the site of a former cement works. The geothermal plant was planned to heat the UK's first geothermal energy
model village, the official working title being
Eastgate Renewable Energy Village.
But the plan fell through, and instead of the village a large outdoor set was built for the filming of the ITV series
Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands, first broadcast in 2016.
The exploratory geothermal borehole drilled in December 2004 was the first to be completed in the United Kingdom for more than 20 years.
The water temperature at a depth of was found to be 46.2 °C, and it was estimated that the water temperature of a production borehole with a depth of about would be in the range of 75–80 °C, with a volume of water similar to that already being exploited in the
existing geothermal energy scheme in
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
.
Weardale Railway
The plans for the energy village included constructing a
terminus
Terminus may refer to:
* Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination
* Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination
Geography
*Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...
for the
Weardale Railway
The Weardale Railway is an independently-owned British single-track branch line heritage railway between , Witton-le-Wear, Wolsingham, Frosterley and Stanhope. Weardale Railway began services on 23 May 2010, but decided to run special trains r ...
, which currently runs between
Bishop Auckland and
Stanhope
See also
*
Geothermal power in the United Kingdom
The potential for exploiting geothermal energy in the United Kingdom on a commercial basis was initially examined by the Department of Energy in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. Several regions of the country were identified, but interest in dev ...
References
External links
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Villages in County Durham
Stanhope, County Durham