Ferryhill

Ferryhill
Ferryhill Location within County Durham
Population	8,942 (2011 census)[1]
OS grid reference	NZ291326
District	County Durham
Shire county	Durham
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	FERRYHILL
Postcode district	DL17
Dialling code	01740
Police	Durham
Fire	County Durham and Darlington
Ambulance	North East
UK Parliament	Sedgefield
List of places UK England County Durham 54°41′N 1°33′W / 54.69°N 1.55°W / 54.69; -1.55Coordinates: 54°41′N 1°33′W / 54.69°N 1.55°W / 54.69; -1.55

Ferryhill is a town in County Durham, England,^[2] with an estimated population in 2018 of 9,362 people,^[3] making it the 12th largest town in the county. The town grew very rapidly in the 1900s around the coal mining industry. The last mine closed in 1968.

Geography[]

Ferryhill sits on the western edge of the Ferryhill Gap, a natural gateway in the Limestone Escarpment that outcrops on the Eastern Durham Plateau. The main settlement lies along the SW-NE ridge, with later development to the south of the ridge. Ferryhill lies on the medieval Great North Road which used to be the A1.lt was bypassed when the Ferryhill Cut was excavated in 1923.The road is now the A167, which leads to Durham City and Newcastle-upon-Tyne to the North, and to Darlington in the south.^[4]

Ferryhill Carrs is a designated Local Nature Reserve at the eastern edge of the town.^[5]

Sections of Ferryhill[]

• Dean Bank
• Ferryhill Station
• Ferryhill railway station
• Chilton Lane
• The Carrs
• Mainsforth Colliery

Neighbouring settlements[]

• Spennymoor
• Kirk Merrington
• Chilton, County Durham
• Mainsforth
• Bishop Middleham

Facilities[]

Ferryhill has a weekly Friday market in the Town Centre market place run by the Local Council Ferryhill Town Council.^[6] There have been many improvements including the award-winning Mainsforth Sports complex, Surtees Doorstep Green, King George V rec corridor improvements at Ferryhill Station, new Town Centre public toilets paid for by funding from Sedgefield Borough Councillors and is now run by Ferryhill Town Council and a youth cafe for the town's young people.

Part of Dean Bank Park has been used to enhance sporting facilities and the remainder has recently been the subject to consultation by the Town Council. The final plans include a £70,000 play area for which funding has been secured from the lottery, a £50,000 MUGA for which funding is being sought by the Friends of Dean Bank Park but has since been turned down due to it not been a community led group. Also funding has been applied for £50,000 of playbuilder facilities. In addition to this the new park will include a viewing tower, BMX/skatepark, new planting areas to walk and relax as well as a performance arena.^[7]

The Town has many community events including an annual summer gala, Christmas market, parading of miners banners, vintage car rally, art and photography exhibitions and many more, all of which are organised jointly by the Town Council and the 2000 Committee.^[8]

Governance[]

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward has differences to the parish of Ferryhill and has a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 8,942.^[9]

Newspaper[]

Ferryhill has a free community newspaper, The Ferryhill and Chilton Chapter Community Newspaper, which is distributed to all households in Ferryhill and the neighbouring community of Chilton. The paper has its own website where the latest issue, and archive issues back to 2005, can be viewed in pdf format.

Education[]

There are four primary schools in Ferryhill: Broom Cottages Primary School, Dean Bank Primary School, Cleves Cross Primary School and Ferryhill Station Primary School. Ferryhill has one secondary school, Ferryhill Business and Enterprise College, a specialist Business and Enterprise College, which used to be known as Ferryhill Comprehensive School.

Sport[]

Over £1 million in funding has been secured by Ferryhill Town Youth in partnership with Ferryhill Town Council to develop a new sports facility for the town including new changing rooms and recreation area public toilets and six football pitches in Dean Bank Park and the adjacent former Ferryhill Athletic Football Ground. The facilities will be used by the town's thriving football clubs and in particular Ferryhill Town Youth. Dean Bank Park is maintained by Ferryhill Town Council and belongs to the welfare fund for the former Dean and Chapter Colliery in 1968. The Town Council later purchased the former Ferryhill Athletic ground at auction in 2004 but unable to sell the land on, it was then given for improving recreation facilities in the Town.^{[citation needed]}

Notable people[]

This article's list of residents may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are residents, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (May 2020)

• Sid Chaplin (1916-1986), Novelist and Poet who lived in Ferryhill from 1941 to 1953
• John McManners (1916-2006), Clergyman and Religious Historian
• Jack Scott (1923-2008), Weatherman for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 for 20 Years
• Alan White (born 1949), was the drummer of Plastic Ono Band and Yes
• Eric Gates (born 1955), Footballer who played twice for England as well as Ipswich, Sunderland and Carlisle
• Phill Nixon (1956-2013), Darts Player, World Championship Runner up in 2007
• Pauline Murray (born 1958), Lead singer of punk rock band Penetration
• Fred Barber (born 1963), Footballer who played over 400 Football League appearances
• Howard Linskey (born 1967), Crime Novelist

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ferryhill.

• Ferryhill Town Council
• Ferryhill and Chilton Chapter Community Newspaper