Durham E-Theses Some aspects of the urban geography of Chester le Street and Houghton le Spring and other small urban settlements in north Durham Nadur, George A. How to cite: Nadur, George A. (1967) Some aspects of the urban geography of Chester le Street and Houghton le Spring and other small urban settlements in north Durham, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8790/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 r SOME ASPECTS OF THE URBAN GEOGRAPHY OF CHESTER LE STREET AND HOUGHTON LE SPRING AND OTHER SMALL URBAN SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH DURHAM by George A. Nadur (Grey) B.A. London Submitted in candidature for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Durham February 1967 (i) TABLE OF CONTENTS page Table of Contents i Acknowledgements iv Introduction 1 SECTION 1 PART A Chapter 1 Durham Coalfield 9 Migration 12 Employment Structure 18 Mining settlements 23 Chapter 2 Pre-1939 evolution of Houghton le Spring and Chester le Street 26 Pre- 19th century 26 1801 - 1831 31 1831 - 1851 37 1851 - 1875 46 1875 - 1914 57 Inter-war period 64 Chapter 3 Character of the towns c. 1939 71 SECTION 1 PART B Chapter 1 Introduction 77 (ii) page Chapter 2 Employment 82 Employment Structure 82 In and out movement of workers 87 Coal miners 96 Youth Employment 99 Workplaces of residents on council and private estates 103 Chapter 3 Dormitory Status 116 Post-war residential development 117 Previous residence of estate dwellers 122 Previous residence and \irorkplace (private estates) 124 Reasons for moving to private estates 130 Service Orientation of private estates 136 Chapter 4 Sphere of Influence 151 Shopping 151 Retail trade areas 162 Other services 176 Conclusions 186 SECTION 2 PART C Chapter 1 Introduction 193 (iii) page Chapter 2 The Study of Central places - methodological background 207 Problems of application 211 Chapter 3 Shopping centres arid area character 218 The hierarchy of central places 221 Functional structure of selected centres 227 Chapter 4 Consumer shopping habits and the hierarchy of central places 240 Consumer orientation 2,kk Population thresholds 252 Chapter 5 Consumer orientation at each level of the hierarchy 260 Trade areas 289 Chapter 6 Differences in the shopping habits of households 299 Chapter 7 The Shopping centres of the region 309 Cone l\is ions 3^3 References 350 Appendix A 355 Appendix B 365 Appendix C 371 (iv) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author is greatly indebted to all those who have helped him during his research period at Durham. He would especially like to thank the following: Professor Fisher for the opportunity to do research in his Department. Dr. D. Thorpe, his Supervisor, for expert advice and helpful supervision. The Durham County Planning Office (ji. Blair in particular). Various members of staff of the Chester le Street and Houghton le Spring district councils. The technical staff of the Geography Department for their assistance in the preparation of the thesis. He is also extremely grateful to Pauline for her patience in the typing of this manuscript. The Commonwealth Commission for the award of a Research Studentship. Introduction This thesis examines the nature oi' the functional development o±" two small towns in the heavily populated coalfield area or Worth Durham. An examination oi" their evolution is made in Section one. In Section two a broader perspective is introduced in order to understand more fully their roie as retail service centres. Forth Durham is part of the iioroh East coalfield, (it's settlement pattern has been determined by two major factors, the development of coax mining during the 19th century and the siibsequent growth of the industrial complexes on the rivers Tyne and Wear. The significance 01 these two factors has varied over time. Both are still important but increasingly the port conurbations play the dominant role. Fig.A.l shows the regional setting. The effect of coax mining on the settlements of the area is apparent i'rom the sporadic settlement pattern, particularly in north-west Durham. The -rapid development of coai mining in North Durham during the l9'th century, changed the ola settlement structure which had evolved on an agricultural base. Mining villages were grafted on to agricultural villages or else new villages were built specifically to serve the collieries. The decline of coai mining has been such that at the present time 02 virtually no new housing developments are based on. the location oi' collieries. Other factors now determine the settlement pattern of the area e„g. the port conurbations. The ports or the Tyne and Wear grew considerably in size and importance during the J.9th century. The outward expansion oi' the two port settlements in the last hundred years has been such that today it is aimost impossible to provide a meaningful definition to the extent oi each i.e. it is not possible to say where the built-up area or influence of one stops and that of the other begins. In many ways tue two conurbations function as an interacting entity. Robinson (1955) described this wider area as the Tyneside Urban Tract but the' urban complex is more frequently divided into two conurbation units. The Tyneside Conurbation (pop. 850,000) was iormed by the coalescence of several nuclei along the river Tyne; the Wearside Conurbation (pop. 200,000) was oi' unitary growth and developed from the twin nuclei oi Bishop and Monkwearmouth - the present extent oi this conurbation is limited to Sunderland and a small area beyond its administrative boundary. The port conurbations of Tyneside and Wearsiae had their maximum growth rate during the 1850-1914 period. Tynesiae grew from about 200,000 in 1850 to three-quarters or a million "by 194> in xne same period Wearside grew rrom 70,000 to about ±70,000 (see Smaiies, 1960, p. 179)• The elongated spread of housing and industrial development along the river Tyne was a feature of the 19th century growth of the conurbation, but in the inter-war and post-Secona World War perioas the most important feature of its growth has been ii.s expansion to areas north and south oi the river. In its southward expansion the Tyneside conurbation has drawn many 01 the mining and agricultural settlements 01 North Durham, within its built-up area; this is apparent irom the scaie 01 private housing development in this area. During the inter-war period there was some outward expansion of the two conurbations hue it was only in the post-war period that this has assumed the dimensions of a flood. A measure of the present and future needs 01 the conurDations can be gauged frum the fact that they are among the most overcrowded areas in England and Wales. The designation 01 Washington as a New Town, principally to serve the needs 01 the population in the conurbations, is a further indication 01 the scale of the suburban movement. Chester ie Street (u.D. pop. ±9,000) and Houghton le Spring (u.D. pop. 51,000) are two smail/medium towns in Worth Durham. They are more or less equidistant from the ports or the Tyne and wear respectively ana are located at critical poimts relative to the port nuclei. They are at present the largest settlements standing isolated from the continuously built-up areas of Tyneside and Wearside. This thesis examines their development since 1800 in order to see what contribution these locations have had as against their 'in situ1 role as mining settlements and as service centres for limited areas 01 the coaiiieia. During the 19th century the towns were caught up in the coal mindng economy and, in the course of the century, lost virtually all their pre-19th century functions with the exception of their service role. By 19±4 the employment structure of both towns was little diiferent to those of other mining settlements in the area. The growth of tne towns during tnis century was largeiy determined by the size and prosperity of the local collieries. During the inter-war period there was a general decline in the coal mining industry of Worth Durham. It became clear, during this period, that the future of the towns could not depend indefinitely on coai mining - employment at collieries in the vicinity oi' $he two "towns was either static or else declining. Since there were virtually no other industries in the towns it was equally ciear that the future oi tne towns would depend on either attracting new industries or else in becoming a/residential centred for the expanding industrial areas, mostiy in the conurbations. During tnis period the towns continued to act as service centres for the surrounding settlements. In the post-war period the Durham coai mining industry declined even more rapidly. Employment in the iocal collieries has declined considerably and many of t'ne collieries have closed.