Chester-le-Street

Chester-le-Street is the main town in the 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 8 miles 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 current Chester-le-Street district 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 & 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".

Chester-le-street was a market town.

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

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

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, part of which still exists in the early 21st century 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.

As of 2008, car traffic is banned from the bottom 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. It offers local connections and cross-country train services. As of 2008, 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.

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 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 1990's.

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.

References

Paul Collingwood has recently been replaced as captain i.e. former captain Collingwood.

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