SEAHAM

The harbour at Seaham was built in the early 19th century as an outlet for the local mining industry, and the modern town grew around it, while to the north is the old village with its Saxon Church of St Mary with a 13th-century font and a 16th-century pulpit. The church is reckoned to be one of the oldest surviving churches in the country. The beach at Seaham is wide and sandy, and there is a clifftop promenade. The harbour has an intricate design, with a series of interconnecting locks and a lighthouse at its entrance, the whole enclosing the Seaham Harbour Marina.  Seaham Hall was home to Anne Isabella Milbanke, who no doubt shattered the dreams of many a young woman when she managed to bag Lord Byron. Their nuptials took place in 1815 in the Hall’s drawing-room. The Hall is now a luxury hotel. There were three collieries at Seaham, but they went the way of the other collieries in the area, due to the twin evils of the Conservative Party’s vendetta against the mines and their unions and cheap competition from Eastern Europe. The local economy was devastated as a result. However, there have been valiant attempts at regeneration, with the Turning The Tide programme leading to this coastline being designated a Heritage Coast. In 2002 the project won an award jointly with Cornwall’s Eden Project.

Map of the area.

Seaham harbour, lighthouse (10203458113). Photo by Roberto Strauss, via Wikimedia Commons.

CASTLE EDEN DENE AND EASINGTON

One feature of this part of the north-east coast is the ‘dene’, a steep-sided wooded valley with a ‘burn’ or stream running through it. Castle Eden Dene near the town of Peterlee is a National Nature Reserve, its jumble of trees, rocky outcrops and steep cliffs providing a habitat for many species of birds, over 450 varieties of plants including yew trees, oak and ash, and mammals such as roe deer and fox. The Eden part of the name derives from the Saxon name Yoden, meaning ‘Yew Dene’, while the castle which was built here was established in the 12th century. The dene borders on the town of Peterlee, a New Town established in 1948, providing housing mainly for mining families. In fact, the town is named after the miners’ trade unionist Peter Lee. Nearby Blackhall Colliery was an early casualty of the rape of the British mining industry during the Thatcher years, closing in 1981. A bit further north, the village of Easington gained notoriety during Elizabethan times when two men were hanged on the village green for their involvement in a bid to replace Elizabeth I with Mary Queen of Scots. The adjacent mining settlement of Easington Colliery lasted somewhat longer than Blackhall Colliery, closing in 1993. In 1951 an event occurred there which served as a grim reminder of the dangers of mining, when no less than 83 men died following an explosion in the mine.


Map of the area.

Castle Eden Burn at Dene Mouth - geograph.org.uk - 1609985. Photo by Andrew Curtis, via Wikimedia Commons.

HARTLEPOOL

The County Durham coast starts at the mouth of the River Tees, where there is a National Nature Reserve.  The reserve stretches as far as the southern edge of the small resort of Seaton Carew and its Golf Club.  The A178 follows the shore from here to the larger town of Hartlepool.

Hartlepool once had a thriving shipbuilding industry, and the docks where this industry took place are now an attraction called Historic Quay, which is a reproduction of an 18th century seaport whose attractions include The HMS Trincomalee, Britain’s oldest floating warship. A museum tells the story of Harlepool from Saxon times. The Quay is also home to shops and restaurants. The Headland Museum in Northgate is an interactive science and technology museum. Nearby is the 12th century church of St Hilda, Abbess of Hartlepool. St Hilda came to Hartlepool around 648 AD and later moved on to Whitby. Hartlepool has an Art Gallery housed in a 100-foot high clock tower offering views over the town along with the artworks.

The importance of Hartlepool as a shipbuilding center unfortunately made the town a target during the First World War, and during a raid on the towns of Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough on the morning of 16 December 1914, 117 people were killed in the town when it was hit by 1150 shells. The town hit back, damaging three German ships. Between the wars, Hartlepool suffered badly during the Great Depression, but the town’s shipbuilding and steelmaking industries gained a new lease of life during the Second World War, the downside being that German bombers raided the town 43 times. The last ship to be constructed in Hartlepool, the Blanchland, was launched in 1961.

Map of the area.

Hartlepool (32693612673). Photo by Alex Livet, via Wikimedia Commons.