Rowlands Gill

Rowlands Gill
County Durham
The Nine Arches Viaduct from Goodshieldhaugh Hill
Location
Grid reference:	NZ165585
Location:	54°55’15"N, 1°44’39"W
Data
Population:	6,096  (2011)
Post town:	Rowlands Gill
Postcode:	NE39
Dialling code:	01207
Local Government
Council:	Gateshead
Parliamentary constituency:	Blaydon

Rowlands Gill is a large village situated along the A694, between Winlaton Mill and Hamsterley Mill, on the north bank of the River Derwent in County Durham.

The village is just outside the urban spawl of Tyneside, within Gateshead's Green Belt and has a picturesque setting with much open space and views across the valley to Gibside Estate, now owned by the Nte# National Trust.

History

With the coming of the Derwent Valley Railway in 1867, Rowlands Gill became an economically viable coal mining village, and later a semi-rural dormitory suburb of commercial and industrial Tyneside.

Churches

• Church of England: St Barnabas
• Methodist: Strathmore Road Methodist Church

About the village

The village has no licensed premises, other than the Vale of Derwent Working Men’s Club because when the Church of England sold its land for house-building at the end of the 19th century it stipulated that no ale houses were to be built.

The Towneley Arms Public House pre-dated the village, being built in 1835 to serve travellers and their horses on the turnpike road through the valley. It was rebuilt in 1961 but due to lack of business the pub was closed and demolished in 2002 to be replaced with dwellings.

The village is well equipped with a range of local shops and services, including four doctors’ surgeries and a dental surgery, two barbers, two hairdressers, two art shops, a gym, a post office, a library, a grocer, a florist, a pet shop, a garage, and an appliance shop, a bank and two estate agents. There is an Italian restaurant, a Chinese restaurant/take-away, a tea-shop, and a fish and chip shop.

Recreation

The Derwent Park provides access to the river where permit holders can fish; also there are tennis courts, putting, recreational fields and playground facilities.

The Derwent Country Walk runs through the village along the route of the dis-used railway line.

Rowlands Gill, and the surrounding Derwent Valley, was chosen by the Northern Kites Project as the location for the re-introduction of red kites in semi-rural areas. This scheme has proven a big success.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Rowlands Gill)