Whickham is a village 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 ...

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

, within the

Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It includes Gateshead, Rowlands Gill, Whickham, Blaydon, Ryton, Tyne and Wear, Ryton, Felling (UK), Felling, Birtley, Tyne and ...

. The village is on high ground overlooking the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...

and south-west of

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 ...

History

Whickham underwent some expansion in the 1950s when the Lakes Estate was built just off Whickham Highway. Then later in the decade the Oakfield Estate just off Whaggs Lane was built. Grange Estate began the long-term development by JT Bell, (Bellway), the builder, who went on to build Clavering Park, Clavering Grange, the Cedars and then Fellside Park. In central Whickham, near Front Street, is Chase Park, the former residence of Whickham Chase. The property included a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

, which was demolished in 1960. The park includes King George's Field, in which is a historic tower that is now closed off from the public. The large play area was restored in 2017 with funding from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

and the

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, which included the removal of a large slide and the remodelling of the children's play area, as well as the replanting of Chase Park's many flower beds. Hollinside Manor House

South-west of Whickham, above the River Derwent, are the ruins of Old Hollinside, a fortified manor house once owned by the Bowes-Lyon family.

Governance

Whickham was anciently 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 parish within County Durham. Whickham Urban District, created in 1894, also covered the parishes of Dunston, Marley Hill and Byermoor, and Swalwell. Changes to local government in 1974 saw the parish and urban district abolished and replaced by an

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 ...

, at first within

, then from 1986 within the

. Whickham spans three electoral wards: Whickham North, Dunston Hill and Whickham East, and Whickham South and Sunniside (which extends south-west to include Marley Hill and Byermoor). Each ward elects three members of Gateshead Council. For national government elections it has been part of Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency since 2024, formerly being part of Blaydon constituency.

Schools

Whickham has six primary schools and one secondary school. The Gibside School for special educational needs and disabilities moved to a new location away from Whickham in Spring 2021. Primary schools
Clover Hill Primary School

Fellside Primary School

Front Street Primary School

St Mary's R C Primary School

Washingwell Primary School

Whickham Parochial C of E Primary School
Secondary schools
Whickham School and Sports College

Notable people

* Peter Walters (born 1952, Whickham), Football League goalkeeper

References

External links