History
Here is a brief history of Crook and the surrounding area.
Starting at the early part of the 19th Century, Crook was on the road used by travelers making the journey from Weardale to Durham and the coast. There were gatehouses at Wolsingham, Harperly, Jobs Hill and Helmington Row where tolls were paid. Drovers regularly used Crook Market Place as the overnight stop, where their cattle and sheep could rest and graze, the two public houses providing accommodation and refreshment.
Early in the 1800 there were already two collieries in the area at Wood Field and Bitchburn, although agriculture was the dominant industry.
The 1841 census showed Crook had about 100 houses with 538 residents, much of the increase in housing took place in the vicinity of borings and sinking for coal, but residential development was taking place in the area now known as Commercial Street Wheatbottom.
Many of the new residents recorded in the 1841 census were employed in coal mining, with the advent of the steam engine collieries could now profitably be sunk further inland.
The opening of many new mines in West Durham and the need to convey the coal to the seaports was the major factor that influenced railway development.
The Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway Company was formed in 1837 to extend the Stockton and Darlington line form Bishop Auckland to Frosterley with a branch line to Crook. The branch line was opened in 1842.
The 1851 census shows that the population was 2,764, an increase of 414% in ten years, with almost 500 new housing being built.
Around the period 1870, Crook has a population in excess of 7,000 and because of the changing population pattern, a transformation was taking place in local government.
In 1891 Sunningbrow and Helmington Row, with its population of almost 4,000 became a parish. In 1897 the Crook and Billy Row area was formed into the Crook Urban District.
By the 1880's Crook had developed a pattern of social and community life that was to continue with little significant change until the beginning of the First World War. Following the war there was growing uncertainty in the coal mining industry with 1920 marking the beginning of a depression that was to gather momentum over the next forty years. This change came about with the growth of coal mining in other European countries such as Poland, who were able to export coal more cheaply to several markets such as those in Scandinavia.
The 1921 Census was to record the highest number of Crook residents ever, a total of 12,706. Ten years later it had declined to 11,609 and each subsequent census reveals a continuing downward trend.
The years following the end of the Second World War saw a continuing decline in coal mining in the area. However, hope was seen in new industries coming to town.
In the 1960's further benefits resulted from the 1968 Durham County Council Act to give low interest rates and other inducements for starting up new industrial projects in ex-mining communities.
The 1990's saw a further downturn in all British manufacturing industries and Crook was to suffer as much as every other District. A number of well respected and established firms with a long history had closed leaving behind a gap that has not easily been filled. |
