Sedgefield is a small town
and civil parish in County Durham, England
. It
has a population of 4,534.
Sedgefield has attracted particular attention as the
Member of Parliament for the wider
Sedgefield
constituency was the former
Prime Minister Tony Blair.
During November 2003, Sedgefield was visited by the American
president
George W. Bush during a
state
visit.
He visited a local pub, as
well as the local secondary school (Sedgefield
Community College
). This event was preceded by high-intensity
security, which included fastening down manhole covers and drains,
and closing the centre of the village to all traffic. An anti-war
protest coincided with his visit.
St
Edmund's church in Sedgefield is noted for its ornate 17th century
Cosin woodwork, unique to County Durham: this is especially precious now
that the display in Brancepeth
has perished through fire.
The 18th century saw the architect
James
Paine commissioned by John Burdon in 1754 to design and
construct a Palladian estate at nearby Hardwick Hall.
Unfortunately the
building work was never completed as Burdon went bankrupt, but
sufficient landscaping was done to form the basis of the now
renovated Hardwick Hall Country Park
.
In the
19th century, Sedgefield was a great hunting centre, dubbed 'the
Melton
of the North'. Ralph Lambton, the
celebrated hunting man, had his headquarters at Sedgefield: the
humorous writer, Robert Smith
Surtees, who lived at Hamsterley Hall
, was a friend of his. On
23 February 1815, (while
Lord Byron was moping at Seaham Hall, not
far away) Lord Darlington writes: 'Mr Ralph Lambton was out with
some gentlemen from Sedgefield, and a most immense field.'
Sedgefield
was also known in the area because of the very large complex
Winterton
Hospital
. This in its time was an isolation hospital
and an 'asylum'. The site was like a village itself with its own
fire station, bank and cricket team.
Today little trace is
left of the hospital apart from the church which is now surrounded
by the Winterton housing estate and the NETPark
Science
park.
Sedgefield
is twinned with Hamminkeln
, Germany
.
Education
There are
two primary schools in Sedgefield, Sedgefield Hardwick Primary, and
Sedgefield County Primary,
and a secondary school, Sedgefield Community College.
Culture & Customs
The
Shrove Tuesday Ball Game still takes place in
Sedgefield and is an example of
Mob
Football. Another popular annual event is the
Mediaeval
Fayre, which takes place in mid-May.
Sport
Sedgefield is home to the Sedgefield
Racecourse
, a regional thoroughbred horse-racing venue.
Knotty Hill Golf Centre is a 45-hole golf course, comprising of
Courses A, B,C,D, & E. Course E, recently opened in the summer
of 2006, is still maturing. Sedgefield Cricket Club is situated on
the outskirts of the town, and is home to a number of senior and
junior teams.
Sedgefield Youth Football Club (SYFC) run an under
12's team in the Teesside junior football alliance. They are based
at the local community college.
Sedgefield Tennis Club play on three courts at the
Community College. The club enters one Ladies team, one Mixed Team,
and three Men's teams in the Cleveland Tennis League.
References
- Office for National Statistics : Census 2001 :
Parish Headcounts : Sedgefield Retrieved 2009-10-28
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