Thornley, Durham

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The Thornley War Memorial in 2005, prior to the addition of the John Scott Youll VC monument. The colliery was directly opposite to the Memorial. Hartlepool Street ran down to the right and High Street up to the left.

Thornley is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated about 6 miles (9 km) to the east of Durham and 5 miles (7 km) west of Peterlee. As with most villages in the area, it grew rapidly with the development of coal-mining in the region. The first shaft was sunk in 1835 and the first coals were delivered via a new mineral railway line to Hartlepool shortly thereafter. The village thus played a major role in the development of Hartlepool as a port.

This memorial pit wheel was put in place in 1990. The tree-lined area to the rear covers the site of the actual colliery. The road is the former High Street. Photograph taken in May 2006.

The inscribed stone at the base of the Pit Wheel, photographed in May 2006

Thornley miners played a key role in the formation of the Durham Miners' Association, the first meeting of which was held in the grounds of the village's Half-Way House public house in 1869. The colliery closed in 1970 with the loss of over 900 jobs and there are now virtually no traces of its once extensive plant and machinery.

The former High Street, Thornley, photographed in 2006. The War Memorial and Colliery Inn are visible in the distance. The colliery was off the picture to the right. Photograph taken in May 2006.

Hartlepool St Thornley, in 2005. This was once the main shopping street of the village.

Easington Rural District Council's policy in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s was to actively discourage development and employment in the ex-colliery villages of East Durham in favour of the new town of Peterlee. This had a serious impact on the village. The main shopping parade, Hartlepool Street, was virtually destroyed without replacement and there are still many ugly grassed-over areas of wasted space in the lower part of the village where buildings once stood.

Looking up towards St Bartholomew's Church and the remains of the Coopers Close Estate, Thornley, 2005

Only recently has new house building been sanctioned by the council in the so-called 'bottom end' of the village. In the meantime, two estates of 20th century council housing have recently been demolished due to the decline in the village's population since the closure of the colliery, Thornlaw North and Coopers Close. The latter was built as recently as 1968 at the expense of a children's recreation ground, several mature trees and many local garden allotments which were also not replaced.

St Bartholomew's Church in the heart of the village, which dates from 1843, is now (2006) derelict and awaiting demolition. However, its stained glass windows have been preserved and are currently held in storage for possible future display.

St Bartholomew's Church, Thornley. This photograph was taken in 2005 after the church's closure but prior to the removal of its stained glass windows.

The village once had two cinemas, The Hippodrome, built in 1912 and The Ritz, built in 1938: both have been demolished.

Lt John Scott Youll, a former electrician at Thornley Colliery, was awarded the Victoria Cross during his service with the Northumberland Fusiliers in Italy in World War One. The village's war memorial had a special monument added to it in his honour in 2005.