| Darlington | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
  Darlington Location withinCounty Durham | |
| Area | 19.73 km2 (7.62 sq mi) |
| Population | 107,800 |
| • Density | 4,680.81/km2 (12,123.25/sq mi) (Town) |
| OS grid reference | NZ289147 |
| • London | 219 mi (352 km) south |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Areas of the town | |
| Post town | DARLINGTON |
| Postcode district | DL1, DL2, DL3 |
| Dialling code | 01325 |
| Police | Durham |
| Fire | County Durham and Darlington |
| Ambulance | North East |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | www |
| |
Darlington is amarket town in theBorough of Darlington,County Durham, England. It lies on theRiver Skerne, 13 miles (21 km) west ofMiddlesbrough and 17 miles (27 km) south ofDurham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the2021 Census,[1] making it a "large town" and one of the largest settlements inNorth East England.[2] The town is linked toLondon,Leeds,York,Newcastle andEdinburgh by theEast Coast Main Line railway and theA1 road.
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Darlington started as anAnglo-Saxon settlement. The name derives from the Anglo-SaxonDearthington, which seemingly meant 'the settlement of Deornoth's people' but, by Norman times, the name had changed to Derlinton. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the town was usually known by the name ofDarnton.[3]
Darlington has a historic market area in the town centre.St Cuthbert's Church, built in 1183, is one of the most important early English churches in the north of England and isGrade I listed.[4] The oldest church in Darlington isSt Andrew's Church, built around 1100 inHaughton-le-Skerne.
When the authorDaniel Defoe visited the town during the 18th century, he noted that it was eminent for "good bleaching of linen, so that I have known cloth brought from Scotland to be bleached here". However, he also disparaged the town, writing that it had "nothing remarkable but dirt"; roads would have typically been unpaved in the 18th century.[5]
The so-calledDurham Ox came from Darlington; born in the early 19th century, this steer became renowned for its excellent proportions which came to inform the standard for Shorthorn cattle.[3]
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During the early 19th century, Darlington remained a small market town.[6]
TheStockton and Darlington Railway ran steam locomotives designed for passengers and goods, built to a standard gauge, on a permanent main line with branches. On 27 September 1825,George Stephenson's engine,Locomotion No. 1, travelled betweenShildon andStockton-on-Tees via Darlington, an event that was seen as ushering in the modern railway age.
The population at the time of the 1841 census was 11,008.[7]
Later in the 19th century, the town became an important centre for railway manufacturing. An early railway works was theHopetown Carriage Works (est. 1853), which supplied carriages and locomotives to the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The engineering firm ofWilliam and Alfred Kitching also manufactured locomotives there around this time. The town eventually developed three significant railway works:
During the 19th century, DarlingtonQuaker families such as those ofPease andBackhouse emerged as major employers and philanthropists. IndustrialistJoseph Pease gave Darlington its landmarkclock tower in 1864.[8] The clock face was crafted byT. Cooke & Sons ofYork, and bells cast byJohn Warner & Sons of nearbyNorton-on-Tees.[4] The bells are sisters toBig Ben.[citation needed]
Darlington Mechanics Institute was opened in 1854 byElizabeth Pease Nichol, who had donated towards its cost.[9] In 1853,South Park was laid out, over 91 acres (37 ha), with financial support from the Backhouse family.[10]
ArchitectAlfred Waterhouse, famous for work including London'sNatural History Museum andManchester Town Hall, designed Darlington'sGrade II listedOld Town Hall and Market Hall, Darlington in 1860. Four years later he contributed Backhouse's Bank building that is, as of 2022[update], a branch ofBarclays bank.[4]
During the period,George Gordon Hoskins was responsible for much of the town's architecture, designing buildings such as The King's Head Hotel.[citation needed]
Darlington Free Library, aGrade II listed building in Crown Street, was built for £10,000 byEdward Pease. His daughter, Lady Lymington, opened the building on 23 October 1885 and presented it to the town council who agreed to operate it in perpetuity. As of 2022[update], it contains a library and "centre for local studies".[11][12]
In 1870,The Northern Echo newspaper launched.[13] Its most famous editor,William Thomas Stead, died on theTitanic. Facing the presentNorthern Echo building on Priestgate is the William Steadpublic house named for him.[14]
In 1939, Darlington had the most cinema seats per capita in the United Kingdom.[4]
On the night of 13 January 1945, aLancaster bomber piloted byPilot Officer William Stuart McMullen ofCanada was on a training exercise when one of its engines caught fire and it crashed on farmland near Lingfield Lane. McMullen stayed at the controls while his crew parachuted to safety and directed the stricken aircraft away from the houses below. He was killed on impact. For his actions, Lingfield Lane was renamed to "McMullen Road" and a memorial was erected.[15][16]
Starting in 1993, rail enthusiast groupA1 Steam Locomotive Trust[17] worked on building an all-new steam locomotive, the first to be constructed since the 1960s. It was intended to be the 50th member of the long withdrawnLNER Peppercorn Class A1 engine, calledTornado and numbered 60163, from scratch in the 1853 formerStockton and Darlington Railway Carriage Works at Hopetown. Many of the original fleet had been built atDarlington locomotive works in the late 1940s.Tornado was completed in January 2008.
To commemorate the town's contribution to the railways,David Mach's 1997 workTrain is located alongside the A66, close to the original Stockton–Darlington railway. It is a life-size brick sculpture of a steaming locomotive emerging from a tunnel, made from 185,000Accrington Nori bricks. The work had a budget of £760,000.[18][19][20]
In 2001, Darlington became the first place in England to allow same-sexcivil ceremonies[21] and as of 2022[update], it hosts an annualGay Pride Festival at venues across the town.[citation needed] A 2005Darlington Borough Council project topedestrianise areas of the town centre, this included someVictorian features along High Row.[22] In August 2008, a fire, in which nobody was killed, caused damage and weeks of closure until the damage was fixed for several shops (includingWoolworths). The King's Head Hotel was also affected with damage to the roof and 100 bedrooms, the hotel was able to reopen in 2012.[23][24]
There is one main tier of local government covering Darlington, atunitary authority level, beingDarlington Borough Council. The council is a member of theTees Valley Combined Authority, led by the directly electedMayor of Tees Valley. Most of the built-up area of Darlington is anunparished area, although some outer parts of the urban area now extend into neighbouring parishes.[25] The council is based atDarlington Town Hall on Feethams in the centre of Darlington.[26]
Darlington was anancient parish. It was historically divided into fourtownships:Archdeacon Newton,Blackwell,Cockerton, and a Darlington township covering the town itself and adjoining areas. Such townships also becamecivil parishes in 1866.[27][28] A body ofimprovement commissioners was established in 1823 to provide infrastructure to the more built-up parts of the Darlington township.[29] The commissioners were superseded in 1850 when the whole Darlington township was made alocal board district, governed by an elected local board.[30]
The local board was in turn replaced when Darlington was incorporated as amunicipal borough in 1867. The borough boundaries were enlarged on several occasions, notably absorbing theHarrowgate Hill area from the parish ofHaughton-le-Skerne in 1872, Cockerton in 1915, Haughton-le-Skerne in 1930 and Blackwell in 1967. In 1915 the borough was elevated to become acounty borough, taking over county-level functions fromDurham County Council.[31]
The borough was substantially enlarged in 1974 to take in most of the surrounding Darlington Rural District, such that the modern borough of Darlington covers both the town and a surrounding rural hinterland. The enlarged borough was also reconstituted as anon-metropolitan district as part of the 1974 reforms, with Durham County Council once more providing county-level services to the town.[32] The borough was made aunitary authority on 1 April 1997, regaining its independence from the county council. The borough remains part of County Durham forceremonial purposes.[33][34]
Since 2016, the council has been a member of the Tees Valley Combined Authority along withHartlepool,Middlesbrough,Redcar and Cleveland andStockton-on-Tees. Unlike Darlington, the other four districts in the combined authority had all been part of the short-livedcounty of Cleveland between 1974 and 1996.[35]
As of 2024[update], theMember of Parliament (MP) for theDarlington constituency isLabour'sLola McEvoy. Former members of parliament for the town includePeter Gibson,Jenny Chapman,Alan Milburn (the formerSecretary of State for Health underTony Blair's Labour government) andMichael Fallon (who wasSecretary of State for Defence underDavid Cameron's coalition government andTheresa May's Conservative government).
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Darlington is located in the south ofCounty Durham close to the River Tees, which acts as the border between Durham and Yorkshire. Both theRiver Tees andRiver Skerne pass through the borough, the Skerne later joining the Tees which then flows east and into theNorth Sea. Due toriver bifurcation at the Baydale Beck and Cocker Beck, which later flow into the Tees and Skerne respectively, much of the western side of Darlington forms ariver island.
In the north areHarrowgate,Coatham Mundeville andBeaumont Hill and to the north-east areWhinfield and Haughton Le Skerne. To the east is the suburb of Eastbourne and Red Hall withFirthmoor andSkerne Park to the south. Situated in the west end areHummersknott,Mowden andBlackwell. Finally, to the north-west areBranksome,Cockerton,Faverdale,The Denes,West Park, High Grange and Pierremont which is associated with the notableHenry Pease (MP).[36][37]
| Place | Distance | Direction | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hartlepool | 18 miles (29 km)[38] | North East | Combined Authority area |
| Durham | 17 miles (27 km)[39] | North | Historiccounty town and closest city |
| Middlesbrough | 13 miles (21 km)[40] | East | Combined Authority area |
| Stockton-on-Tees | 10 miles (16 km)[41] | East | Combined Authority area |
The trend of regional gross value added of Darlington at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by theOffice for National Statistics, with figures in £ millions.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added[a] | Agriculture[b] | Industry[c] | Services[d] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 1,115 | 8 | 377 | 729 |
| 2000 | 1,192 | 6 | 417 | 768 |
| 2003 | 1,538 | 6 | 561 | 971 |
Finance and manufacturing are now the main elements of its economy.
The English division of theStudent Loans Company, Student Finance England, is based at Lingfield Point and employs over 1,000 people.[42]
TheCivil Service’s Darlington Economic Campus (DEC), opened in 2022 at its temporary home in Feethams House, is home to staff from various government departments including:
Darlington Building Society is based in the town.
Darlington Borough Council announced that the site for the DL1 complex, previously a car park forDarlington Town Hall, was also to be redeveloped to house riverside office space for theDepartment for Education to replace its previous office on the edge of the town in Mowden, in an effort to safeguard Darlington jobs. This was officially opened on 19 March 2015.[43] TheDisclosure and Barring Service has a national office in the town.[44]Amazon UK operates a warehouse facility, which opened in early 2020, employing 1,300 full-time staff, one of the town's biggest employers.[citation needed]
EE is the largest private sector employer in the town, with 2,500 staff. The company took over its operations from one of its predecessors, Orange Mobile.
The Morton Park area of Darlington is currently undergoing a partial redevelopment, with areas of unused waste land being redeveloped into modern industrial and office space. Other commercial spaces in Darlington include North Road Industrial Estate, Cleveland Trading Estate and Faverdale Industrial Estate. The council depot on Central Park is also to be redeveloped into commercial space.
Darlington has a rich engineering heritage and several notable engineering firms established locally.Bridge building was particularly important in the town. Bridges built in Darlington span theRiver Nile andAmazon.[3]
Local engineering firms include:
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As an historic market town, a weekly outdoor market was held on the market square, which is one of the biggest in the country. An indoor market is located underneath the town clock on Prebend Row.
Retailers in the area include:
In November 2012, a deal was signed between Darlington Borough Council and developer Terrace Hill for a £30 million re-development of the site of the former Feethams bus depot. The proposal had an expected completion date of late 2014, though this did overrun with completion early 2016.[48]
Darlington Memorial Hospital is on Hollyhurst Road,[49] in the corridor between Woodland Road and The Denes. The private Woodlands Hospital is at Morton Park.
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The former Civic Theatre, nowThe Hippodrome, is a popular arts venue in the town, hosting a mix of musicals, dramas, plays and pantomimes. In 2016, Darlington Civic Theatre closed to mark the start of a £12.3 million renovation project that included a £4.5 million lottery grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and revamped asThe Hippodrome and connects to the children's theatreHullabaloo.[50]
The Friends' Meeting House in Skinnergate is a Grade II* listed building. The Friends (Quakers) have met on this site since 1678, having previously met in private homes. The present building dates mainly from 1846.[51][52] Upstairs of The Quaker meeting house is home to Artist Lucas Roy. Lucas is an international fine artist who gained credit for his early work dedicated to theNHS during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[1]
The Forum Music Centre, opened in 2004, hosts regular live music events, from Ska and Punk to Indie and Classic Rock. It also runs a comedy club. As well as live music, the facility houses a state of the art recording studio and several rehearsal rooms.[53] The Carmel Rhythm Club, at Carmel College in the Hummersknott end of town, was another music venue. It opened the same year as the Forum.[54]
Darlington Dog Show was a championship event from 1969. It was usually held in September on the showground inSouth Park; but it has now moved to Ripon.[55]
Darlington has a wide array of churches scattered around the town including the iconic and notable parish church ofSt Cuthbert's in the centre of town, with a towering spire and a grade Ilisted status. Other churches includeMethodist,Baptist,Roman Catholic andJehovah Witness places of worship, as well asHoly Trinity Church and the grade II listedSt John the Evangelist Church which closed for worship in 2023.[56]
The Jamia Mosque and Islamic Society of Darlington is located in the North Lodge Terrace area of the town,[57][58] an area with a relatively high proportion of ethnic minority residents (39.2% of the population in that area, compared to a town average of 6.3%).[59] Constituted as a charity under UK law in 1982,[60] the mosque offers worship facilities, as well as Islamic education, and has its owntelecommunications mast for calls to prayer.[61]
Teesside International Airport is located 5 mi (8 km) east of Darlington town centre; it servesCounty Durham andNorth Yorkshire. The airport was known asDurham Tees Valley Airport from 2004 until mid-2019. It has flights to a few domestic locations across the UK and international flights to some locations in Europe. Many private or general aviation flights use the airport. The airport has a Fire Training Centre.
The nearest large airports areNewcastle (42 mi (68 km)) andLeeds Bradford (62 mi (100 km)).
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Darlington railway station is a principal stop on theEast Coast Main Line; it is served by fourtrain operating companies:
Darlington railway station has a largeVictorian clock tower, which can be seen from most areas of the town.
Darlington is well connected to the North East's major trunk route, theA1(M), which bypasses the town to the west. It was completed in 1965, replacing the Great North Road route which is now known as the A167. The town is served by three closely-spaced junctions of the A1(M): junctions 57 (A66(M)), 58 (A68) and 59 (A167), which is also the access exit for Darlington motorway services (Newton Park), with an on-site filling station, hotel and restaurant.
The town is also close to other major trunk routes, including the A66 trans-Pennine route connecting Darlington to Stockton-on-Tees and theA19.
The £5.9 million 5 mi (8 km) A66 Darlington eastern bypass opened on 25 November 1985. The Darlington Eastern Transport Corridor, linking the Central Park regeneration zone (Haughton Road) and Darlington town centre to a new roundabout on the A66, was opened in the summer of 2008.
Bus routes in the town are provided mostly byArriva North East; its services connect Darlington to neighbouring towns and cities such as Durham, Bishop Auckland, Richmond, Stockton and Middlesbrough. There are also two smaller independent operators running services:Dales & District and Hodgsons Buses.[67]
Stagecoach North East operated originally in the town until 2007, when it sold its operations to Arriva. Stagecoach returned to Darlington in 2023, following the decision by Arriva to end its service 12 from Hurworth to Middleton St. George and Teesside Airport; it took over this service on 23 September 2023, renumbering it as route 6 (6A on Sundays) and extending it to Stockton, via Eaglescliffe, Yarm and Ingleby Barwick.
Darlington was chosen by the Department for Transport as one of three nationalSustainable Travel Demonstration Towns (together with Peterborough and Worcester) in 2004 and delivering a three-year research and marketing programme to promote sustainable travel choices under the brand nameLocal Motion. It was also chosen as one of six cycling demonstration towns in October 2005, receiving £3 million worth of funding from the government and local council money.[68]
The 2007Town Centre Pedestrian Heart Project, an investment of £10 million, saw some of Darlington's town centre modernised; there was an emphasis on vehicles becoming less common in the centre and some roads pedestrianised completely. Other improvements were to cycling facilities and routes, linking the town to the national cycle route network. Darlington is the only place to win both sustainable travel and cycling demonstration town status.[69]
The town's main museum isHopetown Darlington, sited near North Road railway station; it andPiercebridge Roman Fort near the town are run by the Darlington Museum Service.[70]
Teesside University opened a Darlington campus in 2011. It offershigher education in the town to students and businesses.
The town has onefurther education college,Darlington and two sixth form colleges:Queen Elizabeth andCarmel.
There are several secondary schools including:Wyvern,Haughton,Hummersknott,Hurworth School,Longfield andSt Aidan's.Polam Hall is a former independent school and is now afree school.
There are also numerous primary schools, including: Federation of Abbey Schools, Mowden School, West Park School and Skerne Park.
Darlington is home to the regional daily newspaperThe Northern Echo and its sister weekly newspaperDarlington & Stockton Times.[citation needed]
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC North East and Cumbria andITV Tyne Tees from theBilsdale TV transmitter.[citation needed]
Local radio stations areBBC Radio Tees,Capital North East,Heart North East,Smooth North East,Greatest Hits Radio North East,Nation Radio North East,Hits Radio Teesside and Darlo Radio broadcasts from the town.[71]
In November 2009, the town appointed an officialTwitterer in residence, the first of its kind in the UK. Mike McTimoney (known onTwitter asTheDarloBard' ) is a local regular user who has been officially charged with tweeting for and about Darlington,[72] and to help promote The Darlington Experiment 2.0, the town'ssocial media campaign.
In August 2022, Darlington Borough Council confirmed that it would be placing a bid for Darlington to host the2023 Eurovision Song Contest.[73] However, the town was not part of the shortlist of potential host cities released on 12 August.[74]
Several sketches from theBBC comedy programmeThe Fast Show were filmed in the town centre.[75]
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The town is home toDarlington Football Club which play at Blackwell Meadows and play inNational League North.Darlington Railway Athletic F.C., plays in theWearside League Division One and play at Brinkburn Road.
Darlington FC is known asThe Quakers because of the contributions made to the town by men such asEdward andJoseph Pease, members of theReligious Society of Friends. Before the 2012 administration, played at the 25,000 capacityDarlington Arena (after 120 years at theFeethams ground) when it opened on Neasham Road in 2003. In the2010–11 season Darlington won theFA Trophy however they were relegated from theFootball League, into the thenFootball Conference. Administration caused Darlington to play home games at Heritage Park inBishop Auckland and relegation by four divisions to Division One of theNorthern Football League, of which the club was one of the founders of in 1889, for the 2012–13 season.
It moved back to Darlington from the 2016/17 season with a long term groundshare arrangement withDarlington RFC at Blackwell Meadows. Darlington's first home game at Blackwell Meadows (a 3–2 home win againstHalifax Town) took place on 26 December 2016. In the subsequent season, the club was allowed to change back to its current name.[76]
Darlington has twoRugby Union clubsDarlington Mowden RFC andDarlington RFC. Darlington Mowden Park play inNational League 1, the third tier of English rugby union. The club own and play at the Darlington Arena, which played a role in the 2015 Rugby World Cup as hosts to theNew Zealand national team. Darlington RFC play at Blackwell Meadows inDurham/Northumberland 2.
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Darlington's leading athletics club, Darlington Harriers AC, was formed in 1891 and has had a number of successful athletes wearing the club colours as well as competing internationally at Commonwealth, European and Olympic Games (London 1908, London 1948 and Tokyo 1964). The club stemmed from the Darlington Foot Harriers who travelled in packs hunting hares. Some of the key members, including Thomas and Charles Mountford, founded the club which went on to become one of the most notable clubs in the country.
The club celebrated its 125th year in 2016, with anniversary games held at Eastbourne Sports Complex and was also the first club in the UK to be granted a licence via England Athletics new systems whilst the country was coming out of the COVID19 pandemic.
In 2019, the club was awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Services (QAVS), which was created in 2002 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. This was previously known as theQueen's Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS). Equivalent to an MBE, this award (changed to KAVS sinceKing Charles III came to the throne) is the highest award given to local voluntary groups in the UK. The club was also winner of the 2021 and 2022 Regional England Athletics North East VolunteeringClub of the Year awards.
In 2015, the club also moved away from the 'D' vest which had been introduced in the late 1970s, moving initially toDarlington Harriers before a new club logo was introduced in 2018. The new logo shape is theDL postcode area, includes the towns landmarks in Joseph Pease's statue, the town clock and the brick train which represents the town's history in the railway industry. The club has also introduced further events to its athletics calendar in recent years, adding to the existing 'Pitstop' 10km race which has been running since 2001. Multi-lap events held at South Park include South Park 10 (mile), South Park 20 were introduced in 2016 and The Marathon Paarlauf in 2022. The athletics track where the club are based at Eastbourne Complex received a make over in 2023 as part of a £1.6 million re-design of the complex with a new Blue 8 lane track to match the club colours.
The other athletics-based event is the Darlington 10km and 3km road run, which is held every August; it attracts around 2,000 competitors and is managed by the local council.
The Dolphin Centre, which provides a wide range of sporting facilities, was opened byRoger Bannister in 1982. It received a £5 million refurbishment in 2006 which was later officially opened byRedcar athleteTanni Grey-Thompson.
Cricket clubs in the town are Darlington Cricket Club and Darlington Railway Athletic Cricket Club. Both play in theNorth Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League, Darlington CC won the league twenty times during the 20th century.[77]
Darlington Hockey Club is afield hockey club that competes in theYorkshire and North East Hockey League.[78][79]
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Darlington istwinned with:
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