Crookhall 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 ...

, in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is situated between

Consett Consett is a town in the County Durham (district), County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of County Durham, Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in ...

and Delves Lane. It is named after, and intimately connected to,

Crook Hall Crook Hall, sited near Lanchester, County Durham, some north west of the city of Durham, was the seat of the Baker family and one of two Roman Catholic seminaries which temporarily replaced the Douai seminary in Douai, France when that college wa ...

which once stood nearby.

History

First documented in the

Boldon Book The Boldon Book (also known as the Boldon Buke) contains the results of a survey of the bishopric of Durham that was completed on the orders of Hugh du Puiset, Bishop of Durham, in 1183, designed to assist the administration of the vast diocesan e ...

as “Cruketon pays four marks.” It is also listed in Bishops Hatfield's survey (1381) as, "John de Kirkby held the vill of Crokhogh and a hundred acres of arable arid woodland, by knight's service and 2''s.'' and half an acre at Stokerley, once of Peter del Croke, 4''d.''" The reference to a

vill Vill is a term used in English, Welsh and Irish history to describe a basic rural land unit, roughly comparable to that of a parish, manor, village or tithing. Medieval developments The vill was the smallest territorial and administrative unit� ...

suggests the village or a hamlet existed at that time. The present Crookhall village was created in about 1844 when George Baker, MP of Crook Hall started to exploit the coal reserves on his estate. One up, one down cottages called Red Row and Blue Row were constructed for the mineworkers. The last of the cottages were demolished in about 1958/9 and the Miner's Institute converted to a Community Centre. Coal mining began in 1838 with boring operations followed in 1838 by the opening of the Stockerley House Pit and Crook Hall Colliery. The Crookhall iron works were established in 1845. Crook Hall itself served as one of two Catholic seminaries created in England when the students at the

English College, Douai The English College ( French: ''College des Grands Anglais'') was a Catholic seminary in Douai, France (also previously spelled Douay, and in English Doway), associated with the University of Douai. It was established in 1568, and was suppresse ...

, France were expelled in 1793 after the French Revolution. It was demolished circa 1900.

References

Villages in County Durham Consett {{Durham-geo-stub