Heighington, County Durham

Coordinates: 54°35′43″N 1°37′01″W / 54.59537°N 1.61685°W / 54.59537; -1.61685
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Heighington
Darlington
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNEWTON AYCLIFFE
Postcode districtDL5
Dialling code01325
PoliceDurham
FireCounty Durham and Darlington
AmbulanceNorth East
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
County Durham
54°35′43″N 1°37′01″W / 54.59537°N 1.61685°W / 54.59537; -1.61685

Heighington (

linen fold
panels, with an inscription bearing prayers for its donor: an Alexander Flettcher and his wife Agnes.

Heighington previously boasted a

Methodist
Chapel, but this has since been converted into housing. The more recent expansion of the village is in the area around Pinewood Crescent and the area around the Beech Crescent, Manor Court and Orchard Gardens, built in 1997.

A recent, famous resident from Heighington is actor, writer and producer Mark Gatiss. It is often (wrongly) claimed that his father worked at nearby Winterton Hospital, and that this became the inspiration for ideas in The League of Gentlemen, but it was in fact Aycliffe Hospital where his father worked. The confusion likely arose from the fact that both (now demolished) hospitals lay in the district of Sedgefield and someone assumed it was Winterton. This mistake then led onto the assumption that Gatiss must therefore have been born in the village of Sedgefield (being next to Winterton Hospital), but in actuality, he was born only in the district of Sedgefield, in the village of Heighington, some miles away.

Heighington has a Spar shop and three pubs, The Bay Horse, The George and Dragon, and The Dog Inn, which lies just outside the village.

The village had a

Post Office
, which included a shop, next to the village green. The shop closed down and the Post Office, along with the postbox, was relocated to the village hall.

Since the turn of the millennium, a field on the outskirts of the village (on the way to Shildon and Bishop Auckland) has been converted into a football field. The site was being developed, including the construction of an adventure playground.

In 2006 Heighington was judged, by Ptolemy Dean, from amongst 11 other villages around the UK to be the BBC's Perfect Village.

Ofsted as providing an outstanding education.[3]

Heighington was an important stop on the

Stockton and Darlington railway built by George Stephenson in the early 19th century, operated by locomotive Locomotion No. 1. The station, which opened in 1827, is the world's oldest, and was in use until the 1970s. The building, Grade II*-listed, was in bad condition, but was restored in 1984 as an inn. The inn closed in 2017; in 2024 there were plans to renovate the derelict historical station in time for the 200th anniversary of the opening of the railway line.[4] There is also a working Heighington station on Station Road, DL5 6PX.[5]

Gallery

  • St. Michael's church tower, Heighington
    St. Michael's church tower, Heighington
  • Heighington village green
    Heighington village green
  • Heighington village sign - outside the village hall since 2000
    Heighington village sign - outside the village hall since 2000

References

  1. ^ "Home Page". Heighington Parish Council.
  2. ^ "civil parish population 2011". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  3. Ofsted
    , 22 May 2007
  4. ^ Ofori, Morgan (28 February 2024). "Appeal to save 'world's oldest' railway station in County Durham". The Guardian.
  5. ^ "Heighington Station". National Rail. Retrieved 29 February 2024.

External links

Media related to Heighington, County Durham at Wikimedia Commons

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