Hetton-le-Hole
The Hettons
In the 1820s, Hetton, now an outlying part of the City of Sunderland, became the most famous colliery town in County Durham and played an important part in the mining history of the North East. It was the place where coal mining in East Durham (which then included Sunderland) began. It was also home to the famed Hetton Railway, the first railway that was purpose-built for steam locomotives. It was a major stepping stone in the career of George Stephenson.

The beautiful Hetton Lyons Park on the site of Hetton Lyons Colliery
The beautiful Hetton Lyons Park is situated between the former sites of Lyons Colliery and Eppleton Colliery © David Simpson
Hetton coal was of a particularly high standard, similar to that found at Wallsend. Such was its reputation that the Hetton ‘brand’ was repeated in the names of several collieries and mining villages associated with the Hetton Colliery Company.

It began with Hetton Lyons Colliery in 1822 but others followed. The Hettons included Hetton Downs Colliery (also called Eppleton Colliery) and North Hetton Colliery at Moorsley just south west of Hetton. There were even collieries well outside the Hetton area further to the south that adopted the name. So, we had West Hetton Colliery at Coxhoe; East Hetton Colliery at Kelloe and South Hetton Colliery at a place still called South Hetton today.

Da Said "Men Don't Cry" sculpture dedicated to miners in Hetton-le-Hole by Ray Lonsdale
Da Said “Men Don’t Cry”. Sculpture in Hetton town centre dedicated to miners by Ray Lonsdale Photo © David Simpson
Hetton-le-Hole and Hetton-le-Hill
Originally, of course, there was no mining and in medieval times there were only two neighbouring places called Hetton that were tiny farming settlements forming one manor. One of these places was Hetton-le-Hill situated on a hill with Hetton-le-Hole situated below the hill to the north. The two Hettons were originally called ‘Heppedon’ and were of comparable size. In both the name ‘Heppedon’ was corrupted to ‘Hetton’.

Hetton Lyons Park partly occupies what was once boggy land in the hollow of Hetton-le-Hole
Hetton Lyons Park partly occupies what was once boggy land in the hollow of Hetton-le-Hole © David Simpson
Hetton-le-Hole is located in Houghton Vale (the ‘hollow’ or hole of the name) with the streams of the Rough Dene Burn and Hetton Burn flowing through the area. Further downstream they become the Moors Burn and eventually flow into the River Wear near Lumley Castle. Some parts of the vale or hollow at Hetton were noted for boggy marshlands recalled in Bog Row on the west side of Hetton centre and still found in boggy land to the north of the town.

Hetton-le-Hill
Hetton-le-Hill not to be confused with Hetton-le-Hole © David Simpson
Spellings of place-names were often inconsistent in times past and evolved over time but the fact that Hetton was originally ‘don’ (Heppe-don) rather than a ‘ton’ is significant because ‘don’ is a word for a hill.

Since the name ‘Hetton’ derives from a hill then Hetton-le-Hill was likely the original Hetton. ‘Heppedon’ means ‘hill where wild roses grow’. However, long before the development of mining here, Hetton-le-Hole, rather than Hetton-le-Hill had become the principal village, probably because of its more sheltered location.

Old Blacksmiths at Hetton
A late eighteenth century Blacksmiths located off Bog Row, Hetton near the Moorsley Road is a relic from Hetton’s pre-colliery age © David Simpson
The ‘le-Hill’ and ‘le-Hole’ suffixes were added to the two places in medieval times (as was the ‘le-Spring’ suffix at nearby Houghton). It was possibly due to the influence of the French speaking Prince Bishops. It helped distinguish places with similar names for administrative purposes.

The tiny village of Hetton-le-Hill still exists south of Hetton-le-Hole. It is situated between Easington Lane and Pittington not that far from the outskirts of Durham City. It is still little more than a farm-hamlet with a small collection of neighbouring houses and cottages built from magnesian limestone. This same creamy-yellow coloured limestone is extensively quarried around Hetton and features in some of the older buildings in the town.

Lake, Hetton Lyons Park
Lake, Hetton Lyons Park © David Simpson
Hetton-le-Hole’s ‘s low lying ‘hollow’ situation can be appreciated by the descent from Moorsley Bank to its south or from the descent from Downs Pit Lane to the east where there are extensive limestone quarries near the former site of Eppleton Colliery.