| Forest Hall | |
|---|---|
  Forest Hall Location withinTyne and Wear | |
| OS grid reference | NZ269683 |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE |
| Postcode district | NE12 |
| Dialling code | 0191 |
| Police | Northumbria |
| Fire | Tyne and Wear |
| Ambulance | North East |
| UK Parliament | |
| |
Forest Hall is a village in the borough ofNorth Tyneside,Tyne and Wear, England. It is 4 miles fromNewcastle upon Tyne. It bordersKillingworth to the north,Holystone to the east andBenton to the south. The village was named after the Forest Hall, which incorporated a medieval tower. Woodside Court was built on the site of the Hall, which was demolished in 1962.[1]
Dial Cottage, a grade IIlisted building[2] and home from 1804 to 1823 of railway pioneerGeorge Stephenson,[3] is located on Great Lime Road in Forest Hall. It was while he was living there that Stephenson developed one of the world's earliest locomotives, called the Blücher, as well asseveral others which ran on the Killingworth Colliery from 1814. The trackbed is now a public footpath which can be accessed from Great Lime Road a kilometre east of the cottage.
The cottage is privately owned, though tours occasionally take place. At the cottage there is asundial, which Stephenson built himself and which gives the cottage its name, and a plaque which reads:
“George Stephenson. Engineer, inventor of the Locomotive Engine. Lived in this cottage from 1805 to 1823; his first locomotive (Blücher) was built at the adjacent colliery wagon shops, and on July 25, 1814 was placed on the wagonway which crosses the road at the east end of this cottage."[4]
Forest Hall's main shopping centre is Station Road North and the pub Flying Scotsman is close to the former railway station.[5] Additionally, Springfield Park, a public park, is located near Station Road North; it has sports grounds, a playground and a community centre.[6] In 2019, North Tyneside Council completed a £500,000 public works project into Station Road North; this included replacing the paving tiles, installing new benches and raising the road junction at the western end of the street as a traffic calming measure.[7][8]
Forest Hall is located in the borough ofNorth Tyneside in the ceremonial county ofTyne & Wear. Its parliamentary constituency is also calledNorth Tyneside, represented since 2010 byMary Glindon. The village does not have its own council ward and is divided between multiple wards named after other localities; most of Forest Hall, including Station Road North and the area along Station Road, is in Benton Ward, while most of Palmersville is in Killingworth Ward and most of Westmoor is in Longbenton Ward.[9] As of February 2022, the town's councillors are:
| Labour | Peter Earley | |
| Labour | Janet Hunter | |
| Labour | Pat Oliver |
| Labour | Gary Bell | |
| Labour | Linda Darke | |
| Labour | Erin Parker Leonard |
| Labour | Karen Clarke | |
| Labour | Eddie Darke | |
| Labour | Joan Walker |
TheLabour Party has held all three wards since 2008 when Benton Ward's seat was won by Leslie Birkinfield and Killingworth's was won by Norma Peggs, bothConservatives.[11]
Primary Schools
There are no secondary schools within Forest Hall, butGeorge Stephenson High School[16] in Killingworth andLongbenton High School[17] are both nearby. The nearest higher education providers areNewcastle University andNorthumbria University.
Churches
There are no non-Christian places of worship in the area; the nearestsynagogue is inGosforth[22] and the nearestmosque is inHeaton.[23]
Several bus routes pass through Forest Hall, linking it to both Newcastle city centre and other surrounding areas such asCramlington andWhitley Bay. The number 355 bus takes twenty minutes to travel to theHaymarket bus station,[24] while the 63 takes thirty to theMonument.[25] Both serve bus stops at or near the Ritz, a former cinema and a local landmark on Forest Hall Road.
Forest Hall's two main road thoroughfares are Great Lime Road and Station Road. Great Lime Road is an east-west route through the north of the town between Westmoor and Palmersville and on toHolystone. Station Road is a north-south route from Station Road North through the south of the town and on toBenton. There are no major A-roads within Forest Hall itself but the western terminus of Great Lime Road is at Findus Roundabout on the A189, and Holystone roundabout on theA19 is near Palmersville.
TheEast Coast Main Line passes the village which was once served bya railway station until 1958.[26]Benton station on theTyne & Wear Metro is located less than a mile away. Palmersville, however, does have its ownMetro station, which is located at the far eastern edge of the village, and also serves Holystone.
Media related toForest Hall at Wikimedia Commons