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| Washington | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
.jpg) The old Washington village green | |
  Washington Location withinTyne and Wear | |
| Population | 67,085 |
| OS grid reference | NZ3157 |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WASHINGTON |
| Postcode district | NE37, NE38 |
| Dialling code | 0191 |
| Police | Northumbria |
| Fire | Tyne and Wear |
| Ambulance | North East |
| UK Parliament | |
| |
Washington is a town in theSunderland district, inTyne and Wear, England. Historically part ofCounty Durham, it is the ancestral settlement of the localWashington family, from which the firstPresident of the United StatesGeorge Washington descended. It has a population of 67,085.
It is located betweenChester-le-Street,Gateshead andSouth Tyneside. Washington was designated anew town in 1964. It became part of Tyne and Wear in 1974.[1] The town has expanded dramatically since its designation; new villages were created and areas were reassigned fromChester-le-Street, to offer housing and employment to those moving from adjoining areas and further afield. At the2011 census, Washington had a population of 67,085, compared to 53,388 in 2001.[2]
Early references appear around 1096 in Old English as Wasindone. The etymological origin is disputed and there are several proposed theories for how the name "Washington" came about. Early interpretations included Wasindone (people of the hill by the stream, 1096), or Wassyngtona (settlement of Wassa's people, 1183).[3]
The origins of the nameWashington are not fully known. The most supported theory (especially amongst local historians) is thatWashington is derived fromAnglo-SaxonHwæsingatūn, which roughly means "estate of the descendants (family) of Hwæsa".Hwæsa (usually renderedWassa orWossa inmodern English) is anOld English name meaning "wheat sheaf".
Due to the evolution ofEnglish grammar, modern English lacks theGermanic grammatical features that permeated Anglo-Saxon English. This causes confusion for many in regard to the nameHwæsingatūn. It is essentially composed of three main (albeit grammatically altered) elements:
The combined elements (with all correct conjugations in place) therefore create the nameHwæsingatūn with a full and technical meaning of "theestate of the descendants of Hwæsa".
However, there has been no evidence found of any chieftain/land owner/farmer in the area by the name ofHwæsa, although any such records from the time would likely have been long lost by now.
Another of the popular origin theories is thatWashington is in fact derived from the Old Englishverbwascan and thenoundūn meaning "hill"; thus making the nameWascandūn, meaning "washing hill". This theory likely originates from the proximity of theriver Wear to the actual Anglo-Saxon hall at the time (most likely whereWashington Old Hall stands today).
This idea is not backed by linguistic evidence. Combining the two Old English words "wascan" and "dūn" would actually have meant "washed hill" and not "washing hill". Also, the Old English "dūn" meant a range of gently rolling hills, as evidenced by the naming of theNorth andSouth Downs in southern England.
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TheOld Hall may have been built byWilliam de Hertburn, who moved to the area in 1183. As was the custom, he took the name of his new estates (Wessyngtonlands)[citation needed], and became William de Wessyngton. By 1539, when the family moved toSulgrave Manor inNorthamptonshire, the spelling "Washington" had been adopted.
The present Hall is an early 17th-century small Englishmanor house ofsandstone. Only the foundations and the arches between the Kitchen and the Great Hall remain of the original house.
William de Wessyngton (originally William Bayard[citation needed], later deHertburne) was a forebear ofGeorge Washington,[4] the firstpresident of the United States, after whomthe US capital,a state and many other places in the United States arenamed. Though George Washington's great-grandfatherJohn Washington left for Virginia fromNorthamptonshire in theEast Midlands region of England, Washington Old Hall was the family home of George Washington's ancestors. The present structure incorporates small parts of the medieval home in which they lived.[5]American Independence Day is marked each year by a ceremony at Washington Old Hall.[6]
Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell and his wife Margaret, grandparents ofGertrude Bell, lived in Washington New Hall on The Avenue. After Margaret's death in 1871, Sir Isaac set up an orphanage in the house, named Dame Margaret Home in his late wife's honour. It later became aDr Barnardo's home until World War II. After the war, it was taken over by theNational Coal Board as a training centre, and then a children's home again. It is now a number of private apartments.[7]
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Washington's design was developed through the New Towns concept aiming to achieve sustainable socio-economic growth. The new town is divided into 18 residential "villages". It was originally also divided into the 15 numbered districts, which confused many visitors to the area. The numbered districts were abolished in 1983 though survived for a while on road signs and in postal addresses.[8]
Land in the south west of the area designated for the town was purchased from the Lambton family, theEarls of Durham. Their estate of the same name includes their ancestral home,Lambton Castle.In 1970, Washington hosted the English Schools Athletic Association (ESAA) annual National Championships, attended by the thenLord Lieutenant of County Durham. On 15 November 1977, the very firstSavaCentre hypermarket (aSainsbury's andBritish Home Storesjoint venture) opened at The Galleries.[9] By 2005, however, it had been rebranded as a traditional Sainsbury's as the SavaCentre brand was phased out.[10]
The town is made up of villages and includes the five ancient townships of Washington. Its villages are:
The town also has ten industrial estates, some of which are named after famous northern engineers, such asParsons,Armstrong,Stephenson, Phineas Crowther,Pattinson,Swan andEmerson.
The has aWildfowl and Wetlands Trust nature reserve and TheWashington 'F' Pit mining museum. The Washington Arts Centre is a converted farm building. The Centre includes an exhibition gallery, community theatre, artist studios and a recording studio. The North East Land, Sea and Air Museums is just north of the oldRAF Usworth base. TheNissan plant takes up much of the rest. The municipalairport previously run from the site was closed in 1984 to make way for the Nissan plant.
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Historically, Washington was heavily involved in the coal industry with a number of pits. One of these in the Albany district of Washington is preserved as the'F' Pit Museum (Washington colliery shafts alphabetically A to I e.g. the 'F' Pit). A number of the old communities of Washington grew up around the pits (e.g. Little Usworth grew up around the Usworth Colliery before being renamed Sulgrave. In support of the mines, there was a series ofwagonways and later railway lines to transport the coal. The wagonways took coal to Staithes on the River Wear, where it could be loaded onto barges to be taken to the seagoing vessels at Sunderland.
Washington was also involved in the chemical industry and the Washington Chemical Works was a major employer in the 19th century. This later became the Cape/Newalls Works, which produced insulation. The Pattinson Town area of Washington grew up around the chemical works. This area is now the Pattinson South industrial estate and the Teal Farm housing estate.
Currently, Washington's main industries include electronics, car assembly, chemicals, electrical goods and government offices at the Town Centre and beside the Wetlands Centre. TheNissan automotive plant is the largest car assembler in Britain and the largest private-sector employer in the City of Sunderland.
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, theAmerican tyre production giant, opened a new factory in Washington in 1968, which later became Dunlop and Sumitomo Tyres. However, it closed on 5 July 2006 with the loss of 585 jobs.[11] The site is now occupied byRolls-Royce Holdings making aero engine blades, andBritish Aerospace.
There are several primary, secondary schools and colleges in the villages of Washington.
TheNorth East of England Japanese Saturday School (北東イングランド補習授業校Hokutō Ingurando Hoshū Jugyō Kō), aJapanese weekend supplementary school, held its classes in the Oxclose Community School inOxclose.[12]
Washington F.C. is a club based in theNorthern League Division Two which is the tenth level of the English game.
In 2005, Washington R.F.C was established. The club currently plays in Durham and Northumberland Division 3.
Washington is part of theWashington and Sunderland Westparliamentary constituency and is represented in theHouse of Commons bySharon Hodgson of theLabour Party.
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There is a majorbus station situated at The Galleries, and another at Concord in the north of Washington. The primary provider of transport (buses) in the area isGo North East, with local services as well as connections to Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, and many other towns and cities in the region.
Major roads run through Washington: theA182, theA1231 (Sunderland Highway) and theA195 all connect to theA1(M) motorway (which acts as the western boundary of Washington proper) or its feeder, theA194. Washington Services is situated between Junctions 64 and 65 of theA1(M), and incorporates aTravelodge.
The town'srailway station closed to passengers in the 1960s due to theBeeching cuts and to freight in 1991. The now overgrown site is on the disusedLeamside Line which connectedDurham andSunderland via the town toNewcastle. The line was lifted and mothballed by Network Rail and partly is in use as an unmarked footpath. In June 2009, theAssociation of Train Operating Companies called for a scheme funding the reopening of 33 stations (including the town's station) on 14 lines closed by the Beeching Axe and seven new-build parkway stations.[13] The first stage of a business case was published in 2022, this involved extending theTyne and Wear Metro to Washington if Government funding was secured.[14]
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| Metropolitan districts | |
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| Major settlements (cities in italics) | |
| Topics | |
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| National | |
| Geographic | |
