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Hartlepool

There are really two Hartlepools - the old town on the headland, and the newer part with the marina and town centre, formerly known as West Hartlepool. A proud maritime town, the old part of Hartlepool dates back centuries. In the Middle Ages it was the only port within County Durham that was allowed to trade outside the Palatinate, thus confirming its importance. After the Norman Conquest, the Bruce family, whose most notable member was Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, acquired the town. In 1201 King John bestowed the market charter on Hartlepool and ordered that the walls be built to defend it against the marauding Scots. Today parts of the wall remain and continue to stand guard over the Headland. There is a particularly fine gatehouse, called the Sandwellgate, with solid turrets on either side. Go through the pointed archway, and you find yourself on the beach.

Built by the Bruces as a burial place, the ornate 13th century St Hilda’s Church stands on the site of a monastery founded by St Aidan in AD 647. The church is dedicated to St Hilda – its most famous abbess, celebrated for her teachings and her mentoring of a poor cowherd Caedmon, now regarded as the creator of religious verse. Hilda subsequently went on to found the great monastery at Whitby, where the Synod of Whitby was held in AD 664. The church houses a collection of religious artefacts, Saxon wall carvings and a tomb, made of Frosterley marble, believed to be that of Robert the Bruce. Parts of the cemetery were excavated in the 19th century, and some of the finds are on display in Durham and Newcastle.

Hartlepool’s harbour gradually went into decline, and by the early 18th century the place was no more than a fishing village. In 1835 work started on opening up the harbour once more, and rail links were established with the coalfields. But it faced stiff competition. In 1847 work started on the West Harbour and Coal Dock, and by 1860 it was thriving with timber and shipyards. Other docks were opened and Ralph Ward Jackson, a local entrepreneur, instigated the building of a new town with streets of terraced houses to house the workers. A park with many sporting and leisure facilities named in his honour is linked by a walkway to Burn Valley Gardens, the town’s central green belt.

On December 16, 1914 Hartlepool was the first town in Britain to suffer from enemy action during the First World War when it was shelled from German warships lying off the coast.

Nowadays the town is a thriving shopping centre, with some interesting tourist attractions, including Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience. The multi-award-winning Heritage and History attraction (Tel: 01429 860077) tells the story of life at sea in the time of Nelson, Napoleon and the Battle of Trafalgar. Grouped round the small dock are various businesses and shops, such as a printer, gunsmith, naval tailor, swordsmith and instrument maker. Visitors can also go aboard HMS Trincomalee, a British warship originally launched in 1817.  Hartlepool’s lifeboat station has an all-weather Trent Class boat and a B Class Atlantic 75. The station can be visited between 9 and 5 (9-12 weekends). Crew training takes place on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings.

Next door is the Museum of Hartlepool, with exhibits depicting life in the town through the ages. It features a new display of bronze Age man, axes, toys, Anglo-Saxon jewellery, Georgian silver, tales of sea monsters and the legend of the Hartlepool monkey. Washed ashore on a piece of wreckage during the Napoleonic Wars, local fishermen, unable to understand the monkey’s gibberings, presumed it to be a French spy and hanged it from a gibbet on Fish Sands. (One of the nicknames of Hartlepool FC is the Monkeyhangers!) Visitors to the museum can have coffee aboard the PSS Wingfield Castle, an old paddle steamer. Hartlepool Art Gallery is housed within a beautifully restored Victorian church (bult by E B Lamb in 1854) on Church Square. It contains a collection of contemporary art and photography and a 100-foot viewing tower commands great views of the town. The Tourist Information centre is located in this building.

Summerhill Visitor Centre is a 100-acre country park on the western edge of Hartlepool that has been transformed for conservation and outdoor sports.