High Westwood
Encyclopedia
High Westwood is a village in County Durham
, in England
. It is situated a few miles to the north of Consett
, near Ebchester
and Hamsterley
. Once a thriving village, due to the local coalmining, it is now little more than a few private houses, and the former Westwood County Junior Mixed and Infant School is now a housing complex where the houses are named after the rows of colliery houses that were demolished in the early 1970s. There is also a row of 6 Bungalows which survived when much of the village disappeared. The school was built in 1879 and a huge centenary celebration was held in 1979. The school was closed in approximately 2003.
Strangely there is still a popular and regularly used cricket pitch although the football pitch is now silent and the other ameneites have been overgrown and forgotten since the 1970s or earlier.
The village which once clung to a coke works and a coal mine is now surrounded by countryside and the once railway line is now part of a country walkway. Like many small villages after the coalmines were shut, the village disappeared. In the nearby woodland you can still see deer, and beautiful glades of bluebells
but the red squirrels have vanished over the last decade. Both Barn Owls and Tawny Owls are common along with a wide range of smaller wild birds.
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
, in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is situated a few miles to the north of Consett
Consett
Consett is a town in the northwest of County Durham, England, about southwest of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is home to 27,394 .Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. In 1841, it was a village community of only 145, but it was about to become a boom town: below the ground was coking coal and...
, near Ebchester
Ebchester
Ebchester is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the north of Consett and to the south east of Whittonstall.The parish church, which is dedicated to St. Ebba is of ambiguous origin, being of partly Norman construction with a foundation, described as being pre-Conquest...
and Hamsterley
Hamsterley, Consett
Hamsterley is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the north of Consett. Known until recently as Hamsterley Colliery due to the large Mining Colliery which was situated to the south of the village along the southern banks of River Derwent...
. Once a thriving village, due to the local coalmining, it is now little more than a few private houses, and the former Westwood County Junior Mixed and Infant School is now a housing complex where the houses are named after the rows of colliery houses that were demolished in the early 1970s. There is also a row of 6 Bungalows which survived when much of the village disappeared. The school was built in 1879 and a huge centenary celebration was held in 1979. The school was closed in approximately 2003.
Strangely there is still a popular and regularly used cricket pitch although the football pitch is now silent and the other ameneites have been overgrown and forgotten since the 1970s or earlier.
The village which once clung to a coke works and a coal mine is now surrounded by countryside and the once railway line is now part of a country walkway. Like many small villages after the coalmines were shut, the village disappeared. In the nearby woodland you can still see deer, and beautiful glades of bluebells
Common Bluebell
Hyacinthoides non-scripta, commonly known as the common bluebell, is a spring-flowering bulbous perennial plant. -Taxonomy:...
but the red squirrels have vanished over the last decade. Both Barn Owls and Tawny Owls are common along with a wide range of smaller wild birds.