Hesleden ( ) is a village in County Durham, England, south of

Peterlee Peterlee is a town in County Durham, England. It lies between Sunderland to the north, Hartlepool to the south, the Durham Coast to the east and Durham to the west. It gained town status in 1948 under the New Towns Act 1946. The act also cr ...

. The name is a combination of

Dene The Dene people () are an indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages. ''Dene'' is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" h ...

and Hesle, which is from "hazel". The combined population of the five communities making up the parish was 14,429 at the 2011 Census.

Governance

Monk Hesleden Parish Council, set up in December 1894, has twelve serving councillors, who act as the first tier of local government for the communities of Blackhall Colliery,

Crimdon Crimdon is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated on the North Sea coast, between Blackhall Rocks and Hartlepool on the A1086 road. Crimdon was formerly a popular holiday resort for miners and their families from nearby towns and vil ...

, Hesleden,

High Hesleden High Hesleden is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated a few miles north of Hartlepool, between Blackhall Rocks and Hesleden. High Hesleden is located mostly along one street, on one side of which lies the village green; there i ...

and

Monk Hesleden Monk Hesleden is a village in County Durham, England. The population of the parish at the 2011 Census was 5,722. It is situated a short distance to the south of High Hesleden, to the north-west of Hartlepool. Etymology and history Hesleden is ...

. The regional tier is provided by the

Durham County Council Durham County Council is a local authority administering all significant local government functions in the unitary authority area of County Durham in North East England. The council area covers part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, ...

, with 126 councillors elected from 63 wards. It is covered by the parliamentary constituency of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington under ...

Education and worship

The community has a primary school, which had 125 pupils on the school roll in the 2018/2019 school year. It was classed as "good" at an Ofsted inspection on 5 March 2020. It offers a pre-school Breakfast Club and an After-School Club to needful pupils. Hesleden Methodist Church, officially closed June 2021,Built in 1876, it was renovated in 1968. There is an Anglican church at nearby Blackhall – St Andrew's, with twice-weekly services.

Amenities

Heselden has a post office and general store in Front Street, also serving hot pies and some other convenience foods. The ''Ship Inn'' at nearby

additionally provides meals and accommodation. The Ship Inn has now closed until further notice. ''The Golden Calf'' at Heselden itself provides accommodation as well. It was renamed in 1972, having been the ''Colliery Inn'' and popular with colliers at nearby pits before they closed.

Sports and recreation

Blackhall Welfare Park, managed and maintained by Monk Hesleden Parish Council, provides recreation and leisure facilities for the community. It is used by village cricket, association football and bowls teams. The park opened in 1929 and was managed and funded by the Miners Welfare Scheme until the closure of the local Blackhall Colliery in 1981. The parish council took over in 1989. Funds from the

Coalfields Regeneration Trust The Coalfields Regeneration Trust is a registered charity that works across the former Coalfield communities of England, Wales and Scotland. The Charity was founded in 1999. The Coalfields Regeneration Trust receives funding from the Department ...

were involved in completing new changing rooms, which opened in October 2010.

Transport

The village is served by the Monday–Saturday No. 206 bus route between

and

Wingate Wingate may refer to: Places New Zealand * Wingate, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt United Kingdom * Wingate, County Durham * Wingate Quarry, a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham * Old Wingate, County Durham * Wingate ...

. The nearest rail service is from

Horden railway station Horden (also known as Horden Peterlee during the planning stage) is a railway station on the Durham Coast Line, which runs between Newcastle and Middlesbrough via Hartlepool. The station, situated south-east of Sunderland, serves the villages of ...

. It offers an hourly service between

Nunthorpe Nunthorpe is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, England. It is part of the historic county of Yorkshire, North Riding. It is near to the village of Great Ayton and formerly part of the Ayton an ...

and

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administ ...

. Hexham has frequent services to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

. Nunthorpe has regular services to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. The B1281 secondary road along the north side of the village provides a link with the main north–south A19 and with the coastal A1086 between

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Notable people

* Colin Bell (1946–2021),

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, was born in Hesleden. He died after a short illness on 5 January 2021. *

Courtney Hadwin Courtney Hadwin is an English singer-songwriter. She rose to fame by competing prominently on ITV's '' The Voice Kids UK 2017'' and the 13th season of the NBC competition show ''America's Got Talent''. Early and personal life She lives in He ...

(born 2004), a noted cover singer, lives in Hesleden with her family.Biographical information
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References

External links

{{authority control Villages in County Durham