Seaton Delaval is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of

Seaton Valley Seaton Valley is a civil parish at the south eastern corner of Northumberland, and northern North Tyneside, consisting of five villages lying between Cramlington, Blyth, Northumberland, Blyth and Whitley Bay. The largest village is Seaton Delav ...

, in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, England, with a population of 4,371. The largest of the five villages in Seaton Valley, it is the site of Seaton Delaval Hall, completed by

Sir John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restorat ...

in 1727. In 2010 the armed robbery of Jimmy's Fish Bar featured in news coverage of Raoul Moat's crime rampage.

History

The name 'Seaton Delaval' was first attested as 'Seton de la Val' in 1270. 'Seaton' simply means 'sea town', referring to the village's nearness to the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. The land was held by the Delaval family, who took their name from Laval in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

in France. Their descendants are still major landholders in the area today and the current Lord Hastings is Delaval Astley, 23rd Baron Hastings. The folk song ‘ Blackleg Miner’ mentions the village: ::::''Oh, Delaval is a terrible place'' ::::''They rub wet clay in the blackleg's face.'' ::::''And around the heaps they run a foot race,'' ::::''To catch the blackleg miner!'' ::::''So divint gan near the

Seghill Seghill is a large village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Seaton Valley, located on the Northumberland border which is the county boundary between Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. Seghill is situated between the villages of Sea ...

mine.'' ::::''Across the way they stretch a line,'' ::::''To catch the throat and break the spine'' ::::''Of the dirty blackleg miner!''

Governance

From 1974 the village was part of the Blyth Valley borough, but as part of the

2009 structural changes to local government in England On 1 April 2009 structural changes to local government in England took place which reformed the local government of seven Non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties: Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, County Durham, Shropshire, Northumber ...

responsibility was transferred to

Northumberland County Council Northumberland County Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Northumberland in North East England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, having also ...

. The village is in the NE25 post code area and the coastal town of

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It was formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

. Unlike other parts of Northumberland, Seaton Delaval and the surrounding villages use the Tyne and Wear 0191 area code. Seaton Delaval was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

and

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parish of Earsdon, from 1866 Seaton Delaval was a civil parish in its own right, on 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished to form Seaton Valley, parts also went to Blyth and Whitley and Monkseaton. In 1931 the parish had a population of 7377.

Geography

The village is centred on the intersection of two main roads: the A192 road running from

North Shields North Shields ( ) is a town in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. The population of North Shields at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom cens ...

to Morpeth and the A190 road running from the Dudley village bypass to

Seaton Sluice Seaton Sluice is a village in Northumberland. It lies on the coast at the mouth of the Seaton Burn (a small river), midway between Whitley Bay and Blyth, Northumberland, Blyth. The population of Seaton Sluice at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom ...

. These main roads are lined by terraced housing from the turn of the 20th century but large post-war and 1970s house development is predominant. There are small pockets of more recent housing and a new estate of houses was completed in 2012. Nearby villages include: *Holywell *

* New Hartley

Economy

The village has its own independent

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

, the Seaton Valley Co-Operative Society, which runs a small

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

and off-licence. There are also several

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

s and

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

s, such as The Keel Row pub/restaurant on Foreman's Row, Hastings Arms on Wheatridge Row and the Victoria and Albert Inn on Seaton Terrace. The other, mainly independent, stores include a regionally renowned

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

parlour (Arrighi's, often incorrectly pronounced "Riggy's"), a pine furnishing store, a

florist Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related s ...

and a garage. The Victoria and Albert Inn was formerly two separate inns, the Victoria dating back to 1839. They were merged to form The Victoria and Albert Inn. In 2012 local residents put up a brave fight and took on Tesco and prevented them from changing their pub to a Tesco Express store. In 2019/2020 the Victoria and Albert underwent a major refurbishment. The Seaton Terrace is now the premier social club in the Village after the demise of the "Top Club". The club has over 850 members and has recently because solvent again, paying off over £250,000 worth of debt and was due to celebrate its "Independence Day" on 4 July after getting its deeds back. Coty had a factory in the village following a merger between Procter and Gamble and Coty for the acquisition of their beauty business, once the independent Shultons factory. Shultons formerly manufactured Old Spice aftershave before Procter & Gamble's acquisition of the brand. The factory closed in 2018. Heather Mills bought the 55-acre site in 2019 and said that it would offer vegan businesses manufacturing, storage and office space. According to

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, "Mills said it would make the region a 'world centre for the creation of planet-rescuing ideas' and the 'northern powerhouse for the brightest vegan minds'."

Landmarks

Seaton Delaval Hall, taken into the care of the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

in 2009, is around east of the village off the A190.

Transport

A railway line runs to the north of the village. A railway station was opened in 1841 but was closed to passengers in 1964. A new station opened on 15th December 2024 as part of the Northumberland Line project, with direct trains to Ashington and Newcastle (Central). There are bus links to nearby

, Cramlington and Blyth as well as to

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Education

The village is served by five main schools: *Seaton Delaval Parent/Toddler Group *Seaton Delaval Pre-school (ages 2 – school) *Seaton Terrace Nursery (closed/demolished) *Seaton Delaval Community First School (previously "The Station School" before being moved to the same site as Whytrig Middle as part of Northumberland County Council's switch from three to two-tier education) *Holywell Village First School *Whytrig County Middle School (moved on to the site of Astley High School as of September 2014) * Astley Community High School (including Sixth Form and Adult Education)

Religious sites

There are a number of

Christian church In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus Christ. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a syn ...

es in the village: *The Church of Our Lady (

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

) *Elsdon Avenue United Reformed and Methodist Church *Holy Trinity, Seghill (

)

Culture

The Seaton Delaval Arts Centre, a small auditorium hosting musical and drama entertainment, often locally produced, is housed in the former Salvation Army Hall in the centre of the village.

Notable residents

* Ralph Delaval – Admiral * George Delaval – Admiral and builder of Seaton Delaval Hall * Noel Forster – Artist and teacher * John Gardner – Thriller writer, continued James Bond books *

Ivor Gurney Ivor Bertie Gurney (28 August 1890 – 26 December 1937) was an English poet and composer, particularly of songs. He was born and raised in Gloucester. He suffered from bipolar disorder through much of his life and spent his last 15 years in psy ...

– Poet and composer *

Ray Kennedy Raymond Kennedy (28 July 1951 – 30 November 2021) was an English Association football, footballer who won every domestic honour in the game with Arsenal F.C., Arsenal and Liverpool F.C., Liverpool in the 1970s and early 1980s. Kennedy playe ...

– Arsenal and Liverpool footballer * Laura Pidcock - Former Labour MP for North West Durham * England football internationals Clem Stephenson and his brother George were both born in Seaton Delaval * Billy Wilson professional footballer Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth F.C. * Gordon Parker - Novelist, Playwright and Literary Critic * Michael Wright - aka Morgoth, British far-right influencer

References

External links

Arts centre
– A building saved by the Community for the Community and now a modern Community Arts Venue
A Seaton Delaval WebsiteA Seaton Delaval History WebsiteResidents Association Official WebsiteAstley High School
(Accessed: 27 November 2008) {{Authority control Villages in Northumberland Former civil parishes in Northumberland