West Hartlepool

The town of West Hartlepool is an altogether more modern invention. It was founded in the mid 19th century by a group of entrepreneurs, notably Ralph Ward Jackson, and was first named as such in 1847. It grew as the result of a battle between rival railway companies, and Ward Jackson developed a new harbour in competition to the old harbour at Hartlepool. The new town was strategically placed with good access to the sea, to the coal mines of County Durham and to the iron ore mines of North Yorkshire.

West Hartlepool grew around a centre just north of the ancient village of Stranton and quickly enveloped it. Other villages were subsumed into the town, notably Middleton, in the heart of the shipbuilding area of the town, and Seaton Carew, an erstwhile holiday resort, on the coast.

During its rapid growth, West Hartlepool was a rough and ready place. Huge numbers of labourers flooded into the town, and the atmosphere of the town then has been compared to the wild west of America. West Hartlepool boomed ... it grew rapidly and it grew rich. The wealth of the town was based on heavy industry - primarily steel making and ship building. In 1913, just before the First World War, there were 42 ship-owning companies in the town, owning 235 ships.

It is a rather grim reminder of the importance of Hartlepool at that time that the first hostile action by Germany against Britain in the First World War was the from the sea of Hartlepool. This took place at 8:07 am on Wednesday 16th December 1914. The shelling lasted 35 minutes and 119 people died. A plaque at the site records the event.

Hartlepool also flourished as a fishing port. There is still a smallish fleet that operates out of the town. The original fleet dwindled due to some petty politicking by the railway company... the railway company owned the fish quay and would not let fish be loaded onto lorries, only trains. But they provided only one train a day, so fishing boats looking for a quick and easy route to market eventually chose other ports ...

As heavy industries declined throughout the UK, so the town of West Hartlepool declined. The town's last ship, the Blanchland, was built in 1960-61 by William Gray and Company (founded 1874). In 1967 the two towns (Hartlepool and West Hartlepool) were amalgamated under the name Hartlepool, much to the discomfort of many people on both sides ...