Hartlepool

Hartlepool
Town
The Headland, St Hilda's Church, Victoria Road, the Marina and Christ Church Art Gallery
A Hart (red stag)
Hartlepool Location within County Durham
Population	92,600
Demonym	Hartlepudlian
OS grid reference	NZ508331
• London	261 miles (420 km)
Unitary authority	Hartlepool
Ceremonial county	County Durham
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Areas of the town	List Hart Station Headland (parish) Middleton Owton Rift House Seaton Carew Stranton Throston
Post town	HARTLEPOOL
Postcode district	TS24–TS26
Dialling code	01429
Police	Cleveland
Fire	Cleveland
Ambulance	North East
UK Parliament	Hartlepool
List of places UK England County Durham 54°41′N 1°13′W / 54.69°N 1.21°W / 54.69; -1.21

Hartlepool (/ˈhɑːrtlɪpuːl/ HART-lih-pool) is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area. With an estimated population of 92,600, it is the second-largest settlement in County Durham, after Darlington.^[1]

The old town was founded in the 7th century, around the monastery of Hartlepool Abbey on a headland. As the village grew into a town in the Middle Ages, its harbour served as the County Palatine of Durham's official port. The new town of West Hartlepool was created in 1835 after a new port was built and railway links from the South Durham coal fields (to the west) and from Stockton-on-Tees (to the south) were created. A parliamentary constituency covering both the old town and West Hartlepool was created in 1867 called The Hartlepools. The two towns were formally merged into a single borough called Hartlepool in 1967.^[2] Following the merger, the name of the constituency was changed from The Hartlepools to just Hartlepool in 1974. The modern town centre and main railway station are both at what was West Hartlepool; the old town is now generally known as the Headland.

Industrialisation in northern England and the start of a shipbuilding industry in the later part of the 19th century meant it was a target for the Imperial German Navy at the beginning of the First World War. A bombardment of 1,150 shells on 16 December 1914 resulted in the death of 117 people in the town. A severe decline in heavy industries and shipbuilding following the Second World War caused periods of high unemployment until the 1990s when major investment projects and the redevelopment of the docks area into a marina saw a rise in the town's prospects. The town also has a seaside resort called Seaton Carew.