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Town in County Durham, England
Photo: James Hearton, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Hartlepool is a post-industrial town on the coast of County Durham in northeast England, with a population of 92,600 in 2024. From 1974 to 1996 it was assigned to a new county, Cleveland, but this was then abolished and Hartlepool returned to County Durham.
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Museum recreating life in a Georgian harbour. The standout exhibit is HMS Trincomalee, the oldest Royal Navy warship still afloat (HMS Victory is older, but is in dry dock). Trincomalee was a frigate, launched in Bombay in 1817 and brought to Portsmouth, but then mothballed until 1845. She thereafter served around North America, including anti-slavery patrols. (Her sister ship HMS Unicorn, mothballed from launch and never in service, can be visited in Dundee). Somewhat anachronistic is the paddle steamer Wingfield Castle, a Humber ferry from 1934 to 1974 when the A15 Humber Bridge was completed. The National Museum of the RN is an umbrella organisation with other exhibits at Belfast, Portsmouth, Ilchester and Gosport.
It is housed in the former Christ Church.
This Anglican church dates from the 12th century, overlying the former Hartlepool or Heretu Abbey founded in 640. Saint Hilda (614-680) was its second abbess and went on to found Whitby Abbey; Hartlepool Abbey disappears from history when she moved on, and it's not clear if it was abandoned or simply unimportant.
Collection of old artillery, and telling the story of the World War I German navy bombardment of Hartlepool.
North African and Med food with marina views.
Reliable Indian restaurant.
Bakery and café with fish n' chips and other trad fare.
Cafe bar does take-away and sit-in dining.
JD Wetherspoon chain pub with reliable ale and food. Ralph Ward Jackson (1806-1880) was the entrepreneur and politician who founded West Hartlepool, nucleus of the modern town.
Clean efficient chain hotel by the marina.
Budget chain hotel, reasonable for what you pay, low water pressure is a common complaint.
It went bust in 2020 but has been taken over by Otway Hotels and is expected to re-open in spring 2024.
Good comfort and service at this trad seafront hotel.
By train
Five trains run daily from London Kings Cross, taking 3 hours via Peterborough, York, Thirsk and Northallerton, and continuing to Sunderland, another 15 min.
By bus
Long distance coaches don't come this way. From London Victoria take the National Express or Megabus heading for Newcastle, and change in Middlesbrough.
By road
From the south follow A1 to Dishforth junction then A168 onto A19, a fast dual carriageway. From the north use A19 Tyne Tunnel to bypass Newcastle and stay on it south.
Bus 1 from Middlesbrough runs through Seaton Carew, town centre and the north suburbs.
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