Chester-le-Street

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Chester-le-Street

Coordinates: 54.8594° N 1.5699° W Chester-le-Street shown within Tyne and Wear
Population	23,946 (2001)^[1] (this is the population for the old urban district that does not include the whole built up area. The District population is 53,100)
OS grid reference	NZ270512
District	Chester-le-Street
Shire county	County Durham
Region	North East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CHESTER LE STREET
Postcode district	DH3/DH2
Dial code	0191
Police	Durham
Fire	County Durham and Darlington
Ambulance	North East
UK Parliament	North Durham
European Parliament	North East England
List of places: UK • England

Chester-le-Street (postally but incorrectly 'Chester le Street') is the main town in the Chester-le-Street district of County Durham, England. It has a history going back to Roman times when it was called Concangis. The town is located 8 miles west of Sunderland on the River Wear. The Parish Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert is where the body of St Cuthbert was laid to rest for some 113 years before being transferred to Durham Cathedral, and is the site of the first translation of the Bible into English. The current Chester-le-Street district was formed by the amalgamation in 1974 of the former Chester-le-Street Urban and Rural Districts. Chester-le-Street 'town' had long since grown outside the boundaries of the Urban District to cover large parts of the Rural District as well. In a move that was considered controversial at the time, some parts of the Rural District that contained parts of the Chester-le-Street built up area were transferred to Gateshead and Sunderland in the newly formed Tyne & Wear.

The Riverside Ground at Chester-le-Street is home to Durham County Cricket Club which became a first class county in 1992. The Riverside Ground is overlooked by Lumley Castle an impressive fortified mansion house, which is currently used as a hotel, and is next door to Chester-le-Street golf course which is not connected to the hotel

Josh Young is the seven time defending champion of the towns annual pie eating contest.

Famous sons of the town include former England football captain Bryan Robson as well as football manager and former England international, Colin Todd. There is a rich and diverse football heritage in the town, with current professionals including Midlesbrough's Danny Graham, Derby County's Steven Howard and Hartlepool's Michael Barron and Michael Mackay amongst others. Jock Purdon, the folk singer and poet, lived in the town for most of his life, although he was born in Scotland. Bruce Welch of pop group The Shadows was brought up in the town. Rising indie rock band The Catweasels are based in the town and have recently been receiving the attention of the national music press, such as the NME.^[2]

1 Older football version
2 Cricket
3 Transport
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Older football version

An old version of Football was once played in the town. The game was played until 1932 between the "Upstreeters" and "Downstreeters". Play started at 1pm and finished at 6pm. To start the game, the ball was thrown from the Queen's Head hotel in the centre of the town and in one game more than 400 players took part. The centre of the street was the dividing line and the winner was the side where the ball was (Up or Down) at 6pm. The game was finally stopped in 1932, when a number of players were fined under the Highways Act for obstructing the highways and causing an annoyance to pedestrians!

The Catweasels suck signed GFM

[edit] Cricket

Chester-le-Street is the home of Durham County Cricket Club.

[edit] Transport

At the time of the football matches 'Front Street' was actually the A1 road from London to Edinburgh. A bypass was built in the 1950s which still exists today as the A167. This road itself was bypassed by the A1(M) motorway in the 1970s

Today car traffic is banned from the bottom part of Front Street and it is restricted to buses only.