Tanfield, County Durham

Tanfield is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Stanley, in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. It is near Stanley, and the location of Tanfield Railway, the Causey Arch and Tanfield School. The village was formerly a mining village.

Tanfield
St Margaret of Antioch's Church
Tanfield Location within County Durham
Population	8,270 (2011.Ward)[1]
OS grid reference	NZ191557
Civil parish	Stanley
Unitary authority	County Durham
Ceremonial county	Durham
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Stanley
Postcode district	DH9
Dialling code	01207
Police	Durham
Fire	County Durham and Darlington
Ambulance	North East
UK Parliament	North Durham
List of places UK England County Durham 54.897°N 1.703°W / 54.897; -1.703

History

The village was first recorded in 1179 as Tamefeld, believed to be Old English for "field by the River Team", but it is mentioned in an account by John of Hexham of the Scottish invasion of 1138. The village church is from the 10th century.^[2]

Civil parish

Tanfield was formerly a chapelry,^[3] from 1866 Tanfield was a civil parish in its own right, on 1 April 1937 the parish was abolished and merged with Stanley, Consett and Lamesley.^[4] In 1931 the parish had a population of 9236.^[5]

Economy

Collieries

• Tanfield Lea Colliery, Tanfield Lea. Closed 25 August 1962. Owners:- Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd; (1947) NCB. Location:- (Sheet 88) NZ188544, 54° 53' 2" N, 1° 42' 25" W, 7 miles (11 km) SW of Newcastle.
• Tanfield Moor Colliery, Tantobie. Opened before 1828. Closed Oct 1948. Owners:- Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd. Location:- (Sheet 88) NZ169545, 54° 53' 6" N, 1° 44' 12" W, 7.5 miles (12.1 km) SW of Newcastle.
• East Tanfield Colliery, Tantobie. Opened 1844. Closed January 1965. Owners: - James Joicey (from 1844), East Tanfield Colliery Co. Limited (from 1917), South Derwentside Coal Co. Limited (from 1929). National Coal Board (from 1947). Location: - (Sheet 88) NZ194552, 54° 53' 28" N, 1° 41' 51" W, 6.5 miles (10.5 km) SW of Newcastle

The village has the highest rate of people aged 16–74 who have never worked, the figure stands at 33.33 percent, in the whole of England and Wales.^[6]

Religious sites

The village church of St. Margaret of Antioch dates back to 900 AD, but the present structure was built in the 18th century. It was the parish church of Beamish Hall, former home to the Eden, Joicey and Shafto families. There is a Methodist church in Tanfield Lea.

Notable people

Tanfield was the home of Tommy Armstrong (1848–1919), the "pit-man poet", whose grave is in the village cemetery.

References

1. "Stanley Ward population 2011". Retrieved 21 July 2015.
2. "Local History: Tanfield (County Durham)". Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
3. "History of Tanfield, in Derwentside and County Durham". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
4. "Relationships and changes Tanfield Ch/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
5. "Population statistics Tanfield Ch/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
6. "[ARCHIVED CONTENT] UK Government Web Archive - The National Archives".

Further reading

• Armstrong, Tommy (1971). Tommy Armstrong Sings. Newcastle upon Tyne: Frank Graham. ISBN 978-0-902-83383-8. Lyrics of 25 songs, introduced by Tom Gilfellon.

External links

• Durham Mining Museum