Spennymoor

Spennymoor
County Durham
Spennymoor, Town Hall
Location
Grid reference:	NZ261340
Location:	54°42’0"N, 1°35’24"W
Data
Population:	17,900  (2001)
Post town:	Spennymoor
Postcode:	DL16
Dialling code:	01388
Local Government
Council:	County Durham
Parliamentary constituency:	Bishop Auckland

Spennymoor is a town in County Durham. It stands above the Wear Valley approximately seven miles south of Durham. The town was founded on mining in the nineteenth century and has grown, and declined since then.

The Town Council area includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers Green and Tudhoe, and has a population of approximately 20,000.

Parish church

The parish church is St. Paul's.

History

Like much of the area, Spennymoor has suffered severe economic depression since the decline of the coal mining industry. Local schemes funded by the Single Regeneration Budget are aiming to re-establish the area as a location of economic competitive advantage.

Tudhoe Cricket Ground was the victim of a rogue V1 flying bomb during the Second World War. The blast was powerful enough to make a crater in the cricket ground, and blew out the windows of surrounding houses (including those of the local St Charles' Church) as well as shaking a great many other buildings.

Sights around the town

Whitworth Hall

Dating from 1183, the Whitworth Hall estate was owned by and home to the Shafto family for over 300 years, including the County Durham Member of Parliament "Bonnie Bobby Shafto", made famous by the well known ballad and nursery rhyme. It is now the site of Whitworth Hall Hotel and the deer park for which the estate is famed is still well tended, as is the walled garden.

Spennymoor Settlement

A local arts community founded in the 1930s by Bill & Betty Farrell with the aid of the Pilgrim Trust, "To encourage tolerant neighbourliness and voluntary social services and give its members opportunities for increasing their knowledge, widening their interests, and cultivating their creative powers in a friendly atmosphere". The Settlement was home to the town's first library, and amongst famous local people who were a part of its history were Norman Cornish, "the pitman painter" and Shildon-born writer Sid Chaplin. The building is a centre for the arts- mostly drama and music, but other community events take place here.

About the town

The main attractions in Spennymoor are the local leisure centre, and Victoria Jubilee Park which was given to the people of the town by Queen Victoria to celebrate the jubilee of her reign, and is sited on land which was once part of the Whitworth Hall estate of the Shafto family. Until Second World War there was a cannon from the Crimean War on display in the park, this was taken away to be melted down for munitions. A Millennium arch was erected in the park. The leisure centre houses a swimming pool, and offers swimming lessons, football coaching, martial arts tutoring, tennis lessons, badminton practice, a gymnasium and gymnastic workouts and is also home to a new 'state-of-the-art' Regional Gymnasium Centre, made possible by funding from the National Lottery, Sport England and the borough council, and is amongst the most modern in the country.

There are also plans for a new regional arts centre to be added to the leisure centre, which stands at the junction of High Street and Cheapside in the town centre.

Spenny Cinema, a monthly community cinema is run at St. Paul's Centre in the heart of Spennymoor and is run by Damascus Road Technical Services, in association with the centre.

Sport

• Football: Spennymoor Town FC

Outside links

• St. Paul's Spennymoor - Parish Church
• Picture Spennymoor History - Historical Pictures & Information
• Spennynews - The Community Newspaper for Spennymoor & surrounding villages
• Spennymoor United Football Club (2006)
• Spennymoor Town Council
• Spennymoor Town Band
• Spenny Cinema - Community Cinema in the heart of Spennymoor