Harraton is a suburb of
Washington, in the
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 ...
metropolitan borough, in
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 ...
, England. Harraton is near the
River Wear
The River Wear (, ) in Northern England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...
and is 3 miles north-east of
Chester-le-Street
Chester-le-Street () is a market town in County Durham, England. It is located around north of Durham and is close to Newcastle. The town holds markets on Saturdays. In 2021, the town had a population of 23,555.
The town's history is ancient; ...
, 2 miles south-west of Washington town centre and 9 miles south-southwest of
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 ...
.
When nearby Washington (historically a village) was founded as a
new town
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz
* New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...
under the
New Towns Act in 1964, Harraton alongside the neighboring villages of Chaters-Hough,
Fatfield
Fatfield is an area of Washington, Tyne and Wear, Washington, in the City of Sunderland metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England.
Description
Fatfield is an area of Washington, Tyne and Wear, Washington, Tyne and Wear, England. The sout ...
,
Cox Green and Picktree became suburbs of Washington forming the southern suburbs of the town. Certain developments also took place for overspill for the nearby towns of Chester Le Street and
Houghton-le-Spring
Houghton-le-Spring ( ) is a town in the Sunderland district, in Tyne and Wear, England which has its recorded origins in Norman times. Historically in County Durham, it is now administered as part of the Tyne and Wear county.
It lies betw ...
(also in the
City of Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port 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 populous settlement in the Wearsid ...
metropolitan borough). It is on the main road serving Seahouses and the northern coast. Harraton was a
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 ...
until 1974.
Etymology
The name ''Harraton'' was recorded in c. 1190 as ''Hervertune'' is of
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 ...
origin. The first part of the name is from ''here-ford'', which refers to a
ford suitable for the passage of an army (compare
Hereford
Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...
). The second element is ''tun'' ("farm, settlement").
History
Harraton and the aforementioned villages formed at one time part of the
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 ...
of
Birtley. Harraton was 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
Chester-le-Street
Chester-le-Street () is a market town in County Durham, England. It is located around north of Durham and is close to Newcastle. The town holds markets on Saturdays. In 2021, the town had a population of 23,555.
The town's history is ancient; ...
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
, a
sub-district and
registration district
A registration district in the United Kingdom is a type of administrative region which exists for the purpose of civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths and civil partnerships. It has also been used as the basis for the collation of ...
. Harraton became a
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 ...
in 1866. The parish was abolished on 1 April 1974, with the part within the designated area for Washington New Town being added to the new
metropolitan borough
A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of districts of England, local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan distr ...
of Sunderland and the remainder becoming a new parish called North Lodge which stayed in County Durham.
In 1971 the parish had a population of 4,325.
John Wilson's 1870-1872 ''
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' describes Harraton thus:
The
Anglican parish church of St George's Fatfield is in Harraton, and the ecclesiastical parish of
Fatfield
Fatfield is an area of Washington, Tyne and Wear, Washington, in the City of Sunderland metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England.
Description
Fatfield is an area of Washington, Tyne and Wear, Washington, Tyne and Wear, England. The sout ...
also includes Mount Pleasant,
Picktree, and
Rickleton. The church was built in 1879 on land given by the Earl of
Durham. The church was massively reordered in the 1980s and inside is warm, light and contemporary.
Harraton Colliery Chapel was built in 1873 financed by the Earl of Durham and is of brick construction seating 150, the
building is still standing. It was used by the Primitive Methodists. This particular branch of
Methodism had as its aim the recovery, as they saw it of the principles and practice of the
early Methodists which had been lost or at least played down. The chapel was the chosen
place of worship for believers of the
working class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
es, where as the Anglican Church was seen
as the domain of the "bosses". The Chapel functioned as a place of worship until 1932 when
it closed.
The Harraton War Memorial was unveiled on 24 July 1922. It was originally sited on Worm Hill, but was relocated in 2012. 102 names are recorded.
There was a primary school, Harraton Primary School, which closed in 2004.
Mining
The first recorded coal produced at Harraton Colliery in 1594. During the
English Civil War
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
the trade in Tyne coal was halted. The Port of Sunderland however became significant in the supply of coals to London. Harraton Colliery cam e under the control of Scottish soldiers who were aligned to the Parliamentarian cause and was of some significance in this trade.
Large scale mining started in 1794. The 1870-1872 ''
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' recorded that "Coal was extensively worked; but the majority of the coal pits are exhausted.", and the pit closed in May 1965, with many of the miners migrating to the modern pits in
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
. The poet Jock Purdon wrote ''Farewell to Cotia'' about the pit's closure and the "exodus" to Nottinghamshire.
1817 explosion
Row Pit, Harraton
Colliery
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extra ...
was the scene of a fatal explosion on Monday, 30 June 1817. Some miners were sent to work in an area of the colliery which was not free from
firedamp and the men were expressly ordered to use
safety lamps. One man, John Moody, ignored this instruction and was observed using a candle. The overman ordered Moody to extinguish the candle, which he did. Shortly afterwards Moody was again found using a candle and reprimanded. He extinguished the candle and lit his lamp. The overman had just left him when the explosion occurred. 38 of the 41 men underground were killed, including a grandfather, his two sons and seven grandsons.
Two days later eight workmen descended Nova Scotia Pit, part of the same colliery. When they did not return another party went down but were forced back by
chokedamp. Late on the following day six bodies were recovered and there was "little hope of recovery for the other two". All eight were recorded as being buried on 5 July.
References
Citations
Bibliography
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* . Quoted in
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* . Reproduced on the web site of The Durham Mining Museum
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* . Copied from the Newcastle Chronicle of July 5.
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{{T&W places
City of Sunderland suburbs
Former civil parishes in Tyne and Wear
Washington, Tyne and Wear