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*[[Russ Swift]] - Stunt driver
*[[Russ Swift]] - Stunt driver
*[[Zoe Birkett]] - Singer and runner up on popular television show 'Pop Idol'
*[[Zoe Birkett]] - Singer and runner up on popular television show 'Pop Idol'
*[[Spencer Tapia]] - Famous Econometrician


==Sport==
==Sport==

Revision as of 14:42, 15 March 2007

Darlington
PopulationExpression error: "97,838 (2001 Census)" must be numeric
OS grid referenceNZ289147
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townDARLINGTON
Postcode districtDL1, DL2, DL3
Dialling code01325
PoliceDurham
FireCounty Durham and Darlington
AmbulanceNorth East
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
County Durham
View of Darlington including the town clock.
File:Darlingtoncentre.jpg
View of the shopping precinct from The Kings Head hotel.
This article discusses Darlington, England. See Darlington (disambiguation) for other places with the same name.

Darlington is a town in North East England and the main population centre in the Borough of Darlington. In 2003, Darlington had a resident population of 98,210. The town lies within the traditional and ceremonial county of Durham. On 1 April 1997, the Borough of Darlington became a unitary authority, which separated it from the non-metropolitan county of Durham, for administrative purposes.

Darlington's main railway station lies on the East Coast Main Line. There are also services from the historic North Road railway station and associated Darlington Railway Centre and Museum. The town is also home to the football team Darlington F.C., known as "The Quakers" because of the contributions made to the town by men such as Edward and Joseph Pease, members of the Religious Society of Friends.

History

Darlington started life as a Saxon settlement on the river Skerne. It has an attractive historic market area in the town centre. St. Cuthbert's church is one of the most important and impressive Early English churches in the north of England.

Darlington is known for its associations with the birth of railways. This is celebrated in the town at Darlington Railway Centre and Museum. The world's first passenger rail journey was between Shildon (via Darlington) and nearby Stockton-on-Tees on the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825.

The town later became an important centre for railway manufacturing, with three significant works. The largest of these was the main line locomotive works, known as North Road Shops, opened in 1863 and closed in 1966. Another was Robert Stephenson & Co. (colloquially: "Stivvies"), who moved to Darlington from Newcastle upon Tyne in 1902, became Robert Stephensons & Hawthorns in 1937, were absorbed by English Electric around 1960, and closed by 1964. The third was Faverdale Wagon Works, established in 1923 and closed in 1962, which in the 1950s was a UK pioneer in the application of mass-production techniques to the manufacture of railway goods wagons.

To commemorate the town's contribution to the railways, David Mach's 1997 work "Train" is located alongside the A66, close to the original Stockton-Darlington railway. It is a life-size brick sculpture of a steaming locomotive emerging from a tunnel, made from 185,000 "Accrington Nori" bricks. The work had a budget of £760,000.

In 1870, The Northern Echo newspaper was launched. It is based in Priestgate and is a long-standing part of life in the North East. Although a local paper, it is a full-bodied newspaper in its own right includes national and international issues in its scope. Independent local radio station Alpha 103.2 launched in 1995.

The Great North Road, now known as the A1, used to run directly through the centre of Darlington. The road has since been diverted to the west of the town; the original route is now the A167 via North Road in the town centre. The £5.9m five-mile A66 bypass opened in November 1985 and is currently undergoing major reconstruction in a effort to reduce congestion at rush hour.

The town is currently undergoing a controversial full refurbishment of the town centre entitled "The Pedestrian Heart" which will see the majority of the town centre pedestrianised by summer 2007.

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Darlington at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year Regional Gross Value Added[1] Agriculture[2] Industry[3] Services[4]
1995 1,115 8 377 729
2000 1,192 6 417 768
2003 1,538 6 561 971
  1. ^ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
  2. ^ includes hunting and forestry
  3. ^ includes energy and construction
  4. ^ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Recreation

The Dolphin Centre provides a wide range of sporting facilities. It was opened by Roger Bannister in 1982. A £5m refurbishment programme was completed in 2006.

The Civic Theatre is a popular arts venue in the town, hosting a mix of musicals, dramas, plays and pantomimes. The smaller but well-used Arts Centre, founded in 1982, features smaller events, film screenings and more experimental material.

Darlington Dog Show has been a Championship event since 1969. It was normally held in September on the showground in South Park, although in more recent years it has moved to Ripon.

The Darlington 10K road run is held every August, and attracts several thousand competitors.

The Rhythm'n'Brews festival is a music and real ale festival normally held in early autumn, with many rock, blues and jazz acts playing at various venues around Darlington, as well as a Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) run bar at the Arts Centre.

The Forum Music Centre, opened in 2004, hosts regular live music events, from Ska and Punk to Indie and Classic Rock. Also runs a popular comedy club. As well as live music, the facility houses a state of the art recording studio and several rehearsal rooms.

Famous natives and residents

Sport

Football

Rugby

Cricket


Suburbs

Official

Other

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