Cockerton is an area in the north-west of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

in the borough of

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. The Cocker

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

flows through the area and empties into the

River Skerne The River Skerne is a tributary of the River Tees. It flows through County Durham in England. Course The Skerne is about long and begins in Magnesian Limestone hills between Trimdon and Trimdon Grange and ends at Hurworth Place where it ...

via The Denes, an area and string of valleyed parks donated for the town in the early 20th century. It is also near Mowden, Branksome, West Park and

Faverdale Faverdale is a suburb of Darlington in County Durham, England. It is situated in the north west of Darlington, north of Cockerton. The area was rural until the 20th century, a large wagon works was established in the 1920s, with housing develop ...

Etymology

The -''ton'' of ''Cockerton'' is from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''tūn'' 'estate'; the ''cocker-'' element is less certain but seems to have been a

Cumbric Cumbric is an extinct Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North", in Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the ot ...

river-name, still represented as the name of Cocker Beck.

Cockerton Village

The original village layout, known still as "Cockerton Village", remains recognisable. This is mainly due to the village green and surrounding houses and cottages being well preserved, with most rebuilding having been carried out with sympathy to the adjacent surroundings. The village is also largely covered by th
Cockerton Conservation Area
which is managed by Darlington Borough Council.

Amenities, facilities and services

A selection of mostly independent retailers are based around this area with some chain stores such as a

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

food store and a post office. There is local pubs, chemists, a florist, a fruiterer, bakers, butchers, a discount food store, barbers, cafés, estate agents, insurance brokers and financial advisers. A new

Coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

betting shop has replaced the Blockbuster DVD rental store. Cockerton Library has been housed in an award-winning building from 1970. There are several churches on and adjacent to the green, includin
St. Mary's CofE
Holy Family Roman Catholic and Cockerton Methodist Church.

Cockerton Band

The village is also home to the histori
Cockerton Prize Silver Band
The band was established in 1863, when James Hoggett, a local music teacher, brought a number of young Cockerton men together to form a small band. The band was originally known as "The Chickens" but was changed later by Hoggett to "reflect the true values of the band". The band still rehearse twice a week and are regularly out performing.

Governance

Cockerton 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 ...

in the parish of

, in 1866 Cockerton became a separate

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 ...

, on 1 April 1915 the parish was abolished and merged with Darlington and

Archdeacon Newton Archdeacon Newton is a hamlet (place), hamlet and rural Parish council (England), parish of several farms in the borough of Darlington (borough), Darlington and the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of County Durham, in England. ...

. In 1911 the parish had a population of 1099. It is now in the

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

of Darlington.

Education

The community of Cockerton is served by schools across the town of Darlington but particularly by local schools. These include: Primary:
St. Mary's Cockerton Church of England Primary

Holy Family RC Primary School

Mount Pleasant Primary School
Secondary: * Darlington School of Maths and Science * Carmel RC Technology College * Hummersknott School

References

External links

Cockerton Prize Silver Band
{{authority control Suburbs of Darlington Former civil parishes in County Durham