Hartlepool
Port and administrative centre of Hartlepool unitary authority in northeast England; 40 km/25 mi south of Newcastle upon Tyne; population (2001) 86,100. Historically a shipbuilding centre, modern industries include chemicals, metalwork, engineering, oil support services, fishing, and brewing. Hartlepool nuclear power station is located 5 km/3 mi southwest of the town at Seaton Carew.
History
There has been a settlement here since the 7th century, when a monastery was founded on the headland north of the harbour. Hartlepool became a local market centre in the 11th century, and when the docks were improved in the 12th century the town became the official port for the Palatinate Bishopric of Durham. The town became fortified in the 13th century, and some of the defensive walls still remain, including the historic Sandwell gate. During the 16th and 17th centuries Hartlepool was recognized for its strategic importance and was seen by many as a potential landing base for enemies such as the Dutch and the Spanish, and then from there as a base for seizing the whole of the north of England. Hartlepool was occupied by the Scots in the 17th century during the Civil War. The townspeople were on constant alert for strangers and foreigners, and legend has it that the fishermen once hung a shipwrecked monkey as a French spy at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. By the 18th century Hartlepool had fallen into considerable decline, and the harbour was in disrepair. It was only the linking of a railway to the south Durham coalfields in 1835 that helped revive the town. A dispute over dock practice led to a rival dock being built for the railway (1847) and this caused a new town, West Hartlepool, to grow up by the new docks; the two settlements remained administratively separate until 1967. An ironworks (1838) and the growth of the shipyards caused West Hartlepool to grow rapidly, and by 1891 West Hartlepool alone had a population of 64,000. By 1913 there were 42 ship-owning companies in the town, responsible for 235 ships. Such was Hartlepool's industrial significance that Germany's first hostile act against Britain in World War I was the bombardment of Hartlepool docks from the sea. Hartlepool's reliance on heavy industry meant that the area suffered hugely during the economic depression of the 1930s, and after World War II its heavy industries declined for good, with the last ship being built there in 1960–61.
Features Hartlepool has redeveloped its dock area, which now includes the Museum of Hartlepool (1995). Hartlepool Historic Quay has a reconstruction of an 18th-century seaport. Remains of the medieval town wall have been preserved, as has the Early English church of St Hilda with its original Norman doorway. The Gray Art Gallery and Museum are open to the public, and the paddle steamer Wingfield Castle (1934), and HMS Trincomalee (1817; the oldest warship still afloat) have been restored. Both built in Hartlepool, they are berthed in Jackson Dock. |
Hartlepool
Locator map for the English administrative region of Hartlepool.
| Unitary authority in northeast England, created in 1996 from part of the former county of Cleveland. |
Towns and cities Hartlepool, Seaton Carew, Dalton Piercy, Elwick, Greatham |
Features a harbour protected by a headland, historic quay, exhibition of HMS Trincomalee (1817; the oldest British battleship still afloat) |
Industries metal, engineering, oil support services, fishing, brewing, nuclear power |
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