Hartlepool

Hartlepool was founded as a village in the 7th century AD, springing up around a convent founded in 640 on a headland overlooking a natural harbour. The convent became famous under St Hilda, who served as its abbess from 649-657, but it was destroyed by the Vikings in 800.

The place-name derives from Old English *heort-ieg 'hart island', referring to stags seen, and pol, 'pool. Records of the place-name from early sources confirm this:

Hertelpolle, 1017 AD
Hierdepol, 1182 AD

During the Middle Ages the village grew into an important (though still small) town, gaining a market and walls, and its harbour was improved to serve as the official port of the County palatine of Durham. Its harbour made it a convenient outlet for the coalfields of South Durham and in 1835 a railway was built to enable South Durham coal to be exported. A rival railway was built in 1847 and docks were established at its terminus, around which a new town, West Hartlepool, was founded.

The two communities grew very rapidly, from only a thousand at the start of the 19th century to a population of 64,000 in 1891. The modern town represents a joining together of "Old Hartlepool", locally known as the "headland", and West Hartlepool. What was West Hartlepool became the larger town and the two were formally joined in 1967. Today the term "West Hartlepool" is rarely heard outside of a sporting context, as a famous but rather unsuccessful Rugby Union team bears the name. More commonly known as 'West' they were playing their rugby in what is now the Guinness Premiership until the mid-1990s, when they were hit by bankruptcy and forced to sell the stadium and players, subsequently tumbling down the divisions. They now play in the North East league two.

The name of the town's Professional Football Club reflected the two boroughs; when it was formed in 1908 it was called "Hartlepools United" in the hope of attracting support from both towns. When the boroughs combined in 1967 the club renamed itself "Hartlepool" before renaming itself Hartlepool United in the 1970s. Many fans of the club still refer to the team as "Pools".

The area became heavily industrialised with an ironworks (established 1838) and shipyards in the docks (established in the 1870s). By 1913, no fewer than 42 ship-owning companies were located in the town, responsible for 235 ships. This made it a key target for Germany in the First World War. The first German offensive against Britain was mounted at Hartlepool between 8.10 and 9.30 am on the morning of 16 December 1914, when units of the Imperial German Navy bombarded Hartlepool, West Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough with a total of 1150 shells, killing 137 people and wounding 592. Two coastal defence batteries at Hartlepool returned fire, firing 143 shells, damaging three German ships including the armoured cruiser SMS Blücher. An attempt by the German High Command to repeat the attack a month later led to the Battle of Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915.

Hartlepool suffered badly in the Great Depression of the 1930s and suffered high unemployment until the start of the Second World War, during which its shipbuilding and steelmaking industries enjoyed a renaissance. After the war, both industries went into a severe decline. The last ship to be constructed in Hartlepool left the slips in 1961. There was a boost to the retail sector in 1968 when Middleton Grange Shopping Centre was opened by Princess Anne, with over 140 new shops including Marks & Spencer and Woolworths. Before the shopping centre was opened, the old town centre was located around Lynn Street but with the construction of the new shopping centre, most of the shops and the market moved from the Lynn Street to the shopping centre by 1973. Most of Lynn Street was demolished to make way for a new housing estate by 1975. Some of Lynn Street still remains but only the north end of the street which is now called Lynn Street North and is where the Hartlepool Borough Council depot is based alongside the Focus DIY store until it moved to the marina in August 2006. By the 1980s the area was again severely affected by unemployment. A series of major investment projects in the 1990s revived the town centre with a new marina, rehabilitation of derelict land, the indoor conversion to modernise Middleton Grange Shopping Centre from the 1960s brutalist architecture and the construction of much new housing, which has led to the town becoming improbably chic in recent years. The town's Historic Quay, an open-air reconstructed replica of a Napoleonic seaport first opened in 1994 and more recently rebranded as Hartlepool's Maritime Experience, is home to Britain's oldest warship still afloat, the frigate HMS Trincomalee, built in Bombay 1817.

Hartlepool Power Station is a advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) type nuclear power plant opened near Hartlepool in the 1980s.

The town is served by Hartlepool railway station. Hartlepool United is the town's professional football club, in recent years the team has become quite successful, they were nearly promoted to the Championship but lost out to Sheffield Wednesday in the 2005 League 1 Play-Off final. Hartlepool were relegated to League 2 in the 2005/2006 season. Danny Wilson is the current manager. The team's main rivals are nearby Darlington Football Club.

[edit] Politics

The Hartlepool constituency was represented in the House of Commons from 1992 until summer 2004 by Labour MP, Peter Mandelson.

Mr Mandelson resigned to take up a role in the European Commission. The by-election on September 30 was won by Labour's Iain Wright with a much-reduced majority following an 18% swing to the Liberal Democrats. He retained the seat with a greatly increased majority in the 2005 UK general election.

Past election information can be viewed online, including full election results. See - Hartlepool Democracy.

[edit] Monkey business

H'Angus the monkey, the Hartlepool United F.C. Mascot.

Hartlepool is famous for allegedly executing a monkey during the Napoleonic Wars. - see The Hartlepool monkey hanging - for more information.

Historians have also pointed to the prior existence of a Scottish folk song called "And the Boddamers hung the Monkey-O". It describes how a monkey survived a shipwreck off the village of Boddam near Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. Because the villagers could only claim salvage rights if there were no survivors from the wreck, they allegedly hanged the monkey.

"Monkey hanger" is a common term of (semi-friendly) abuse aimed at "Poolies", often from bitter footballing rivals Darlington. The mascot of Hartlepool United F.C. is H'Angus the monkey. The man in the monkey costume, Stuart Drummond, stood for the post of Mayor in 2002 as H'angus the monkey, and campaigned on a platform which included free bananas for schoolchildren. To widespread surprise, he won, becoming the first directly-elected Mayor of Hartlepool, winning 7,400 votes with a 52% share of the vote and a turnout of 30%. He was re-elected by a landslide in 2005, winning 16,912 on a turnout of 51% – 10,000 votes more than his nearest rival, the Labour Party candidate.

The monkey legend is also linked with another of the town's sports clubs, Hartlepool Rovers RFC, which uses the hanging monkey as the club logo. On tours it would hang a monkey on the posts of the rugby pitch to spread the story.

In June 2005 a large bone was found washed ashore on Hartlepool beach, which initially was taken as giving credence to the monkey legend. Analysis revealed the bone to be that of a red deer which had died 6,000 years ago.

The bone is now in the collections of Hartlepool Museum Service

[edit] Famous Hartlepool residents

Michael Brown Footballer.
Frank Cook Labour Member of Parliament (born in Hartlepool)
Janick Gers Heavy Metal guitarist (Iron Maiden).
Ted Harrison Canadian artist - born in nearby Wingate - attended Hartlepool College of Art.
Saint Hilda Abbess.
Reginald Hill Author of Dalziel and Pascoe series.
Michael Hunter European Champion boxer.
Andy Linighan Footballer born in Hartlepool.
Jack London British heavyweight champion.
Sir Compton Mackenzie Novelist.
John McGovern Footballer moved to Hartlepool when 7 years old.
Sir Edward Mellanby Scientist.
Philip Middlemiss was an actor who played Des Barnes in Coronation Street.
Darren Morfitt Actor.
William Roberts (Veteran) WWI veteran and present in Hartlepool during the German Navy's bombardment.
Sir Robert Ropner Ship owner (largest fleet in the world).
Sir Ridley Scott Film director (attended the Hartlepool College of Art).
Wayne Sleep Ballet dancer.
Reg Smythe Creator of Andy Capp.
Jeremy Spencer Guitarist with former blues band Fleetwood Mac. Underrated Blues/slide guitar soloist still currently performing.
Lionel Tertis Viola virtuoso.
Jeff Stelling Sky Sports Presenter.
Iain Wright Labour Member of Parliament (born in Hartlepool).
Martha Cook Famous Musician (born in Hartlepool).