West Hartlepool

This article is about the place; for the Rugby Football Club see West Hartlepool R.F.C.

West Hartlepool refers to the western part of the what has since the 1960s been known as the borough of Hartlepool in North East England. It was originally formed in 1854 as the result of the opening of seaside docks and railways that connected the docks to cities to the east and west.

History

The town of West Hartlepool was founded by Ralph Ward Jackson after having established the Stockton and Hartlepool Railway in 1839.

The area, having just one farm house in 1845, steadily grew into a centre for shipping and railway transportation. The West Hartlepool Harbour and Dock (8 acres (0.032 km²)) opened on June 1, 1847. Five years later, also on June 1, the Jackson dock (14 acres (0.057 km²)) opened as well as a railway connecting West Hartlepool to Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. This allowed the shipping of coal and wool products east, and the shipping of fresh fish and raw fleeces west, and the area's population grew as a result. Eight shipbuilding yards were established. Supporting shipbuilding and repair were: a canvas manufacturing firm, Bastown Brothers and W. Taylor iron foundries, block and mast makers and other related machinery.

Hartlepool

Coordinates: 54°41′N 1°13′W / 54.69°N 1.21°W / 54.69; -1.21

Hartlepool (/ˈhɑːrtlᵻpuːl/ is a town in County Durham on the North Sea coast of North East England, 7.5 miles (12 km) north of Middlesbrough and 17 miles (27 km) south of Sunderland. The Borough of Hartlepool includes outlying suburban villages including Seaton Carew, Greatham and Elwick.

Hartlepool was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew in the Middle Ages and its harbour served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. After a railway link from the north was established from the South Durham coal fields, an additional link from the south, in 1835, together with a new port, resulted in further expansion, with the new town of West Hartlepool. Industrialisation and the start of a shipbuilding industry in the later part of the 19th century caused Hartlepool to be a target for the Imperial German Navy at the beginning of the First World War. A bombardment of 1,150 shells on 16 December 1914 resulted in the death of 117 people. A severe decline in heavy industries and shipbuilding following the Second World War caused periods of high unemployment until the 1990s when major investment projects and the redevelopment of the docks area into a marina saw a rise in the town's prospects.

Hartlepool (UK Parliament constituency)

Hartlepool /ˈhɑːrtˌlᵻpᵿl/ is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament which has elected a Labour member to serve it since 1964.

Boundaries

The seat is currently coterminous with the borough of Hartlepool, which has close to the average population for a UK parliamentary constituency. The seat includes the town of Hartlepool itself and the nearby villages of Hart, Elwick, Greatham, Newton Bewley and Dalton Piercy. Before 1974 the seat was known as The Hartlepools (reflecting the representation of both 'old' Hartlepool and West Hartlepool).

History

The constituency had previously substantially been in the constituency of The Hartlepools. It became the constituency of Hartlepool in 1974.

Since its creation Hartlepool has been a Labour constituency, although its predecessor did have Conservative MPs both in the early 1960s and during the Second World War. In the 1992 general election, Edward Leadbitter stood down and was succeeded by the former Labour Director of Communications Peter Mandelson. Mandelson's pivotal role in the reshaping of the Labour Party into New Labour has attracted much attention and he has become a prominent target. During the first term of office of the Labour government he was twice appointed to the Cabinet and twice forced to resign amid controversial small scandals. In the 2001 general election, there was a prominent contest when the former leader of the National Union of Mineworkers and current leader of the Socialist Labour Party, Arthur Scargill stood, hoping to exploit uneasiness about "New Labour" in the traditional Labour heartlands. In the event, Mandelson held his seat, while Scargill polled only 912 votes. Mandelson shocked many with a highly triumphalist victory speech in which he declared "They underestimated Hartlepool, and they underestimated me, because I am a fighter and not a quitter!".

Borough of Hartlepool

Hartlepool is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of County Durham, north-east England. In 2003 it had a resident population of 90,161, increasing to 92,028 at the 2011 Census. It borders the non-metropolitan county of County Durham to the north, Stockton-on-Tees to the south and Redcar and Cleveland to the south-east along the line of the River Tees. It is centred on the town of Hartlepool and forms part of the Tees Valley area.

It is made up of 17 council wards and is coterminous with the Hartlepool parliamentary constituency. The local authority is Hartlepool Borough Council.

History

After several unification efforts starting in 1902, the county borough of Hartlepool was formed in 1967 by the merger of the original borough of Hartlepool (the "Headland") with the county borough of West Hartlepool further south on Tees Bay, together with the parish of Seaton Carew to provide coastal land for industrial development.

The district was formed on 1 April 1974, by the merger of the previous county borough of Hartlepool, along with the parishes of Brierton, Claxton, Dalton Piercy, Elwick, Elwick Hall, Greatham, Hart and Newton Bewley, from the Stockton Rural District, all of which had been part of the administrative county of Durham. It was one of the four districts of the non-metropolitan county of Cleveland.