Chester-le-Street

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Coordinates: 54°51′34″N 1°34′12″W / 54.8594°N 1.5699°W / 54.8594; -1.5699

Chester-le-Street
Front Street
Chester-le-Street shown within County Durham
Population	23,946 (2001)[1]
OS grid reference	NZ270512
Unitary authority	County Durham
Ceremonial county	County Durham
Region	North East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CHESTER LE STREET
Postcode district	DH2, DH3
Dialling code	0191
Police	Durham
Fire	County Durham and Darlington
Ambulance	North East
European Parliament	North East England
UK Parliament	North Durham
List of places: UK • England • County Durham

Chester-le-Street (pronounced /ˈtʃɛstər-liː-ˌstriːt/ (CHESS-tər-lee-street))^[2]) is the main town in the former Chester-le-Street district of County Durham, England. It has a history going back to Roman times when it was called Concangis. The town is located 7 miles (11 km) south of Newcastle upon Tyne and 8 miles (13 km) west of Sunderland on the River Wear. The Parish Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert is where the body of St Cuthbert was laid to rest for some 113 years before being transferred to Durham Cathedral, and is the site of the first translation of the Bible into English.

The district, recently abolished in the 2009 transition to a unitary council for County Durham, was formed by the amalgamation in 1974 of the former Chester-le-Street Urban and Rural Districts. Chester-le-Street 'town' had long since grown outside the boundaries of the Urban District to cover large parts of the Rural District as well. In a move that was considered controversial at the time, some parts of the Rural District that contained parts of the Chester-le-Street built-up area were transferred to Gateshead and Sunderland in the newly formed Tyne and Wear.

Etymology

The Romans called the town Concangis. The Northumbrian Angles called it Cuneceaster, meaning "the camp on the Cune Burn" (now known as the Cong Burn). One source suggests that in the 12th century the town was called Cestra, another claims that the Norman conquerors shortened the name from Cuneceaster to Ceastre, and later simply Chester.

In the Middle Ages it became "Cestrie in Strata" (1372, another source gives "Cestria in Strata", c.1400; meaning "fort on the Roman road"), and subsequently "Chester in the Strett" (1523). The Old English suggests "Ceaster + straet".

Norman influence is apparent in the definite article "le" remaining even after the loss of the preposition. There are other towns and villages in the area which incorporate "le" in their names, such as Houghton-le-Spring, Hetton-le-Hole and Witton-le-Wear.

By the seventeenth century the modern name of Chester-le-Street had been adopted, to distinguish it from the ancient city of Chester standing on the River Dee near the Welsh border. The "Street" is the paved way, the ancient Roman road running north and south, on which the town grew, and which was previously called Hermon Street, but is now known as "Front Street".

Locally the town is often referred to simply as "Chester".

Chester-le-street is a market town;^{[citation needed]} markets are held on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Landmarks

The town has a few noteable landmarks: they include the railway viaduct that spans the Cong Burn; Lumley Castle; the Gateway Arch at the Market Place; and The Civic Centre, designed by Faulkner Brown.

The Jarrow March

In 1933 the Jarrow marchers stopped at the town centre after their first day's walk. The church hall was used to house them before they continued onward the following day.

Sport

The Riverside Ground at Chester-le-Street is home to Durham County Cricket Club which became a first class county in 1992. The Riverside Ground is overlooked by Lumley Castle a fortified mansion house, which is currently used as a hotel. The castle is adjacent to Chester-le-Street golf course.

Early football

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An early version of football was once played in the town. The game was played until 1932 between the "Upstreeters" and "Downstreeters". Play started at 1pm and finished at 6pm. To start the game, the ball was thrown from the Queen's Head hotel in the centre of the town and in one game more than 400 players took part. The centre of the street was the dividing line and the winner was the side where the ball was (Up or Down) at 6pm. The game was finally stopped in 1932, when a number of players were fined under the Highways Act for obstructing the highways and causing an annoyance to pedestrians. Football support in the town is largely divided between Sunderland and Newcastle United.

Transport

Chester-le-Track refurbished the station, re-opening the ticket office and waiting room in 1999, and the coffee shop in 2004^[3]

Road

At the time of the football matches 'Front Street' was actually the A1 road from London to Edinburgh. A bypass was built in the 1950s, which still exists today as the A167. The bypass road itself was partly bypassed by, and partly incorporated in, the A1(M) motorway in the 1970s.

The northern end of Front Street used to be the start of the A6127, which is the road that would continue through Birtley, Gateshead, and eventually over the Tyne Bridge and become the A6127(M) central motorway in Newcastle upon Tyne. However, when the Gateshead-Newcastle Western Bypass of the A1(M) was opened, many roads in this area were renumbered, following the convention that roads originating between single digit A roads take their first digit from the single digit A road in an anticlockwise direction from their point of origin, and Newcastle Road, which was formerly designated A1, is now unclassified. The A6127 was renamed the A167.

Car traffic is now banned from the northern part of Front Street and it is restricted to buses only.

Rail

Chester-le-Street railway station, on the East Coast Main Line of the National Rail network, between Newcastle and Durham, opened in 1868.^[4] It offers local connections and cross-country train services. As of 2008^[update], train operators serving the station are CrossCountry, First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail. A local independent company, Chester-le-Track, has operated the station since 1999, as an agent for Northern Spirit, Arriva Trains Northern and Northern Rail.^[4][5]

Bus

The town is the original home of The Northern General Bus Company, nowadays Go North East, and the company still operates from the Picktree Lane Depot. It also pioneered the use of Minilink bus services in the North East in 1985

Famous residents past and present

Famous sons of the town include the Robson brothers - former England football captain Bryan, Justin (Newcastle United and Gateshead) and Gary (West Bromwich) - as well as football manager and former England international, Colin Todd. There is a rich and diverse football heritage in the town, with current professionals including Middlesbrough's Danny Graham, Leicester City's Steve Howard, Sunderland's Grant Leadbitter, Chelsea's Carl Magnay and Hartlepool's Michael Barron and Michael Mackay amongst others.

Peter Ward from Pelton near Chester le Street is the current Assistant Manager of Stockport County having played for them (amongst others) 4 times at Wembley in the early 1990s.

Jock Purdon, the folk singer and poet, lived in the town for most of his life, although he was born in Scotland. Bruce Welch of pop group The Shadows was brought up in the town. Gavin Sutherland, the conductor and pianist, was born and brought up there.

Aidan Chambers Children's author, winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Hans Christian Andersen Award was born in the town.

Paul Collingwood, England cricketer and former one-day international captain plays for Durham CC and lives in the town.

Jennifer Clark, Big Brother 9 contestant.

References

External links

• Concangis Roman fort or castra
• Parish Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert
• Durham County Cricket Club
• Chester-le-Street Town Football Club
• Chester-le-Street Railway Station
• Chester-le-Street shops
• Chester-le-Street District Council Website
• Red Rose Primary School
• The Hermitage School
• St Cuthberts RC Primary
• Chester-le-Street Scout District

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