Monk Hesleden

Coordinates: 54°43′44″N 1°17′38″W / 54.729°N 1.294°W / 54.729; -1.294 Monk Hesleden is a village in County Durham, England.^[1] The population of the parish at the 2011 Census was 5,722.^[2] It is situated a short distance to the south of High Hesleden, to the north-west of Hartlepool.

Etymology and history

Hesleden is believed to be derived from the local word Dene(den) meaning a deep forested Valley, and Hesle a corruption of Hazel, so the original meaning may have been, "Forested Valley of the Hazel trees", which are common in the, Nesbit, Crimdon and Hessleden Denes, that border the village. As for the "Monk", that may either refer to the Church which, once existed, or perhaps some earlier monastic foundation. Or that more likely, the lands around it may have once belonged to the Bishopric of Durham. This had been a common feature, throughout the Palatine of Durham, before the Reformation. The Prince Bishops, later Bishops, had an Archdeaconry in nearby Easington, and it is recorded that a great deal of land in the area lay under their ownership.

The Church of St. Marys, at Monk Hesleden can be dated as far back as the 13th century, though by the time it was photographed in the 19th century, it had been greatly altered, giving the impression, externally at least, of a much later structure, almost Georgian in style. For a long time, St. Marys' was the only local church, until the construction of St. James at Castle Eden, in the 1760s. Even with the advent of the collieries at Blackhall, Hesleden, and Horden, for a great deal of time, St. Mary's was the only local Anglican church, and with Castle Eden, the only local cemetery, so despite the village's dwindling population, the church had survived. Unfortunately the church received some minor vandalism in the 1960s, and the council demolished the structure, leaving us today with only the Graveyard and a post, somewhat like a tombstone, marking the site. Despite the disappearance of the church, the parish lives on in name, and following the reorganisation of parishes in the 1980s, included the churches of St. James at Castle Eden, St. Andrew's at Blackhall, St Marys in Horden, St. Cuthbert in Peterlee, and the Church at Hesleden. In 2016, St. James, Castle Eden was closed. Monk Heselden now sits within the new geographical parish of Castle Eden and Blackhall, with the one remaining parish church at St. Andrew's in Blackhall.

On the first Ordnance Survey Maps, the village appears under the name of "Church Hesleden", and in fact it is High Hesleden, that has the name of Monk Hesleden.

Today only one cottage (once part of a row of cottages, as you enter by the one road, into the village), Browns' Farm, the former Rectory, as well as, a couple of more recent bungalows, are all that remain of the village.

References

↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 93 Middlesbrough (Darlington & Hartlepool) (Map). Ordnance Survey. 2010. ISBN 9780319228777.
↑ "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 8 July 2015.

External links

Media related to Monk Hesleden at Wikimedia Commons

Civil parishes in County Durham

including Stockton on Tees (north of the river)

Darlington	Parishes Archdeacon Newton Barmpton Bishopton Brafferton Coatham Mundeville Denton East and West Newbiggin Great Burdon Great Stainton Heighington High Coniscliffe Houghton le Side Hurworth Killerby Little Stainton Low Coniscliffe and Merrybent Low Dinsdale Middleton St George Morton Palms Neasham Piercebridge Sadberge Sockburn Summerhouse Walworth Whessoe Unparished areas The former Darlington County Borough

Durham	Towns Barnard Castle Bishop Auckland Chilton Ferryhill Great Aycliffe Greater Willington Peterlee Seaham Sedgefield Shildon Spennymoor Stanley Tow Law Parishes Barforth Barningham Bearpark Belmont Bishop Middleham Bolam Boldron Bournmoor Bowes Bradbury and the Isle Brancepeth Brandon and Byshottles Brignall Burnhope Cassop cum Quarrington Castle Eden Cleatlam Cockfield Cornforth Cornsay Cotherstone Coxhoe Croxdale and Hett Dalton le Dale Dene Valley Easington Colliery Easington Village Edmondbyers Edmondsley Eggleston Egglestone Abbey Eldon Esh Etherley Evenwood and Barony Fishburn Forest and Frith Framwellgate Moor Gainford Gilmonby Great Lumley Greencroft Hamsterley Hamsterley Common Haswell Hawthorn Headlam Healeyfield Hedleyhope Hilton Holwick Hope Horden Hunderthwaite Hunstanworth Hutton Henry Hutton Magna Ingleton Kelloe Kimblesworth and Plawsworth Lanchester Langleydale and Shotton Langton Lartington Little Lumley Lunedale Lynesack and Softley Marwood Mickleton Middleton in Teesdale Middridge Monk Hesleden Mordon Morton Tinmouth Muggleswick Murton Nesbitt Newbiggin North Lodge Ouston Ovington Pelton Pittington Raby with Keverstone Rokeby Romaldkirk Sacriston Satley Scargill Seaton with Slingley Shadforth Sheraton with Hulam Sherburn Village Shincliffe Shotton South Bedburn South Hetton Staindrop Stanhope Startforth Streatlam and Stainton Thornley Toft Hill Trimdon Trimdon Foundry Urpeth Waldridge Wackerfield Weather Hill Wood West Auckland West Rainton Westwick Wheatley Hill Whorlton Windlestone Wingate Winston Witton Gilbert Witton le Wear Wolsingham Wolsingham Park Moor Woodland Wycliffe with Thorpe Unparished areas The former Chester le Street Urban District Consett Durham Municipal Borough Parts of the former Bishop Auckland Urban District Crook and Willington Urban District Stanley Urban District

Hartlepool	Towns Headland Parishes Brierton Claxton Dalton Piercy Elwick Greatham Hart Newton Bewley Unparished areas Part of the former Hartlepool County Borough

Stockton on Tees	Towns Billingham Parishes Aislaby Carlton Egglescliffe Elton Grindon Longnewton Newsham Preston on Tees Redmarshall Stillington and Whitton Wolviston Unparished areas Part of the former Teesside County Borough

For further information about the above parishes, see List of civil parishes in County Durham. For the part of Stockton-on-Tees (borough) south of the River Tees, see List of civil parishes in North Yorkshire.

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