Menu
Home
Forum
News
Accommodation
Entertainment
Restaurants & Bars
Shopping
Things to See & Do
Tourist Information
Tall Ships
What's On in Hartlepool
History
Homes
Jobs
Local
Gallery
Heugh Battery
Building Power Station
Ships
Headlander's Blog
Hartlepool United
Education
Democracy
About
Latest from History
The Hartlepool Monkey, Who hung the monkey?
Bombardment of Hartlepool
Andy Capp
Sir William Gray Page 1
Bruce's Port
|
History
We have put together a number of different articles detailing every aspect of Hartlepool history, from the original 'Old Hartlepool' to the ship building firms of Sir William Gray.
Hartlepool has a long proud history. Hartlepool was originally two towns, the ancient town of Hartlepool 'Old Hartlepool', known locally as the Headland, and the more recent 'West Hartlepool'. They amalgamated in 1967 to form what is now the single entity known as Hartlepool.
Surrounded on three sides by the sea, the Magnesium Limestone headland or peninsula called the Heugh at Hartlepool is more familiarly known as Old Hartlepool.
Old Hartlepool is the original fishing village which existed before West Hartlepool. It is usually used to distinguish that part of the town from the “new” town of West Hartlepool. West Hartlepool then became known as Hartlepool and Old Hartlepool, wishing to keep its separate identity, began to be known as the Headland! (See town names above)
Hartlepool may not always readily accept association with Teesside, it has its own natural harbour to the north of the river, but in recent centuries its industrial history has been very closely tied up with the River Tees.
In prehistoric times Hartlepool's headland is thought to have been an isolated tidal island covered by thick forests. In the nineteenth century during excavation of the adjacent marshy area called the Slake, trunks of trees from the ancient forest were found embedded in the clay along with antlers and the teeth from deer that seem to have inhabited the area in large numbers many years ago.
Hartlepool forest is still recorded in existence in the thirteenth century. In fact the ancient Anglo Saxon name for Hartlepool was Heret eu meaning Stag Island which is a reference to either the stag's head shape of the headland or perhaps an indication that the area may have been well inhabited by forest deer.
The Hartlepool Monkey, Who hung the monkey?The monkey-hanging legend is the most famous story connected with Hartlepool. During the Napoleonic Wars a ship was wrecked off the Hartlepool coast.
[
Read More... ]
Bombardment of HartlepoolHartlepool became the first place on mainland Britain to be bombed by the Germans. [
Read More... ]
Andy CappThe subject of a newspaper cartoon strip since 1957, when he first appeared in the northern edition of the Daily Mirror, Andy Capp became the star of a British stage musical in 1982 [
Read More... ]
Sir William Gray Page 1It has been said that although Ralph Ward Jackson founded the town of West Hartlepool, it was William Gray who made it. [
Read More... ]
Bruce's PortIn the thirteenth century the coastal port and fishing town of Hartlepool became a fortified place with defensive walls constructed around the Headland. [
Read More... ]
Medieval PortThroughout the Middle Ages Hartlepool virtually monopolised the shipping of the Durham Bishopric and was one of the busiest places on the eastern coast. Such was its importance that it regularly attracted pirates [
Read More... ]
Old HartlepoolOld Hartlepool is the original fishing village which existed before West Hartlepool. The origins of ancient town of Hartlepool (Old Hartlepool) can be traced back to ca 647 AD. [
Read More... ]
West Hartlepool HistoryAt the beginning of the nineteenth century it was hard to believe that Old Hartlepool, with its small population of only 993 consisting almost entirely of fishermen had been one of the busiest ports on the eastern coast. [
Read More... ]
|
Latest Forum Posts
Top of Page
|
