Tourist's guide to visit Chester-le-Street

Visit Chester-le-Street – things to do & explore

Overview of Chester-le-Street history & facts by Walkfo

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Planning a visit to Chester-le-Street?

Chester-le-Street (/ˈtʃɛstərlistriːt/), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish north of the River Wear, England. It is in the district, lieutenancy and historic palatine of Durham. The town’s history is ancient, records go back to a Roman-built fort called Concangis. The Roman fort is the “Chester” (from the Latin castra) of the town’s name; the “Street” refers to the paved Roman road that ran north–south through the town, now the route called Front Street. The parish church of St Mary and St Cuthbert is where the body of Anglo-Saxon St Cuthbert remained for 112 years before being transferred to Durham Cathedral and site of the first Gospels translation into English, Aldred writing the Old English gloss between the lines of the Lindisfarne Gospels there. The town holds markets Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It is located 7 miles (11 km) south of Newcastle upon Tyne and 8 miles (13 km) west of Sunderland, the latter also on the River Wear. From 1894 until 2009, local government districts were governed from town. From 1894–1974, it had a rural district, which covered the town and outlying villages. In 1909 the inner rural district formed an urban district, which covered the town as it was at that time. By 1974 the town expanded out of the urban district, during that year’s reforms the urban and rural districts as well as other areas formed a non-metropolitan district. It was abolished in 2009 reforms when the non-metropolitan county became a unitary authority.

Chester-le-Street history

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There is evidence of Iron Age use of the River Wear near the town, but the history of Chester-le-Street starts with the Roman fort of Concangis. This was built alongside the Roman road Cade’s Road (now Front Street) and close to the River Wear, around 100 A.D., and was occupied till the Romans left Britain in 410 A.D. At the time the Wear was navigable to at least Concangis, and may also have provided food for the garrisons stationed there. After the Romans left there is no record of who lived there (apart from some wounded soldiers from wars who had to live there), until 883 when a group of monks, driven out of Lindisfarne seven years earlier, stopped there to build a wooden shrine and church to St Cuthbert, whose body they had borne with them. While they were there the town was the centre of Christianity for much of the northeast, because it was the seat of the Bishop of Lindisfarne, making the church a cathedral. There the monks translated into English the Lindisfarne Gospels, which they had brought with them. They stayed for 112 years, leaving in 995 for the safer and more permanent home at Durham. The title has been revived as the Roman Catholic titular see of Cuncacestre. The church was rebuilt in stone in 1054, and despite the loss of its bishopric seems to have retained a degree of wealth and influence. In 1080 most of the huts in the town were burned and many people killed in retaliation for the death of William Walcher, the first prince-bishop, at the hands of an English mob. After this devastation wrought by the Normans the region was left out of the Domesday Book; there was little left to record, and the region was by then being run from Durham by the prince-bishops so held little interest for London. Cade’s Road did not fall out of use but was hidden beneath later roads which became the Great North Road, the main route from London and the south to Newcastle and Edinburgh. The town’s location on the road played a significant role in its development, as well as its name, as inns sprang up to cater for the travelling trade: both riders and horses needed to rest on journeys usually taking days to complete. This trade reached a peak in the early 19th century as more and more people and new mail services were carried by stagecoach, before falling off with the coming of the railways. The town was bypassed when the A167 was routed around the town, and this was later supplanted by the faster A1(M). The coal industry also left its mark on the town. From the late 17th century onwards coal was dug in increasing quantities in the region. Mining was centred around the rivers, for transportation by sea to other parts of the country, and Chester-le-Street was at the centre of the coal being dug and shipped away down the Wear, so a centre of coal related communication and commerce. At the same time the growth of the mines and the influx of miners supported local businesses, not just the many inns but new shops and services, themselves bringing in more people to work in them. These people would later work in new industries established in the town to take advantage of its good communications and access to raw materials. One of the most tragic episodes in the town’s history and that of the coal industry in NE England occurred during a miners’ strike during the winter of 1811/12. Collieries owned by the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral were brought to a standstill by the strike, causing much hardship amongst the people of the town. The strike was broken on New Year’s Day, 1 January 1812, when the Bishop of Durham, Shute Barrington, sent a detachment of troops from Durham Castle to force a return to work. It is thought that this uncharacteristic act by Barrington was due to pressure from the national government in Westminster who were concerned that the strike was affecting industrial output of essential armaments for the Napoleonic Wars. On the evening of 5 October 1936 the Jarrow Marchers stopped at the town centre after their first day’s walk. The church hall was used to house them before they continued onward the following day.

Chester-le-Street landmarks

John Leland described Chester-le-Street in the 1530s as “Chiefly one main street of very mean building in height.”, a sentiment echoed by Daniel Defoe.

St Mary and St Cuthbert church

St Mary and St Cuthbert church possesses a rare surviving anchorage, one of the best-preserved in the country. It was built for an anchorite, an extreme form of hermit. His or her walled-up cell had only a slit to observe the altar and an opening for food, while outside was an open grave for when the occupant died. It was occupied by six anchorites from 1383 to c. 1538, and is now a museum known as the Anker’s House. The north aisle is occupied by a line of Lumley family effigies, only five genuine, assembled circa 1590. Some have been chopped off to fit and resemble a casualty station at Agincourt, according to Sir Simon Jenkins in his England’s Thousand Best Churches. It is Chester-le-Street’s only Grade I listed building.

Chester Burn viaduct

The viaduct to the northwest of the town centre was completed in 1868 for the North Eastern Railway, to enable trains to travel at high speed on a more direct route between Newcastle and Durham. It is over 230m long with 11 arches, now spanning a road and supermarket car-park, and is a Grade II listed structure.

Lumley Castle

Lumley Castle was built in 1388. It sits upon the eastern bank of the River Wear and overlooks the town and the Riverside Park.

Bethel United Reformed church

The small United Reformed Church on Low Chare, just off the main Front Street, was built in 1814 as the Bethel Congregational Chapel and remodelled in 1860. It is still in use and is a Grade II listed building.

The Queens Head Hotel

The Queens Head Hotel, locally known as The Queens Head, is located in the central area of the Front Street. It was built over 250 years ago when this road was the main route from Edinburgh and Newcastle to the south and London. It is set back from the street and is still one of the largest buildings in the street and so the town centre, and is a Grade II listed building.

The Post Office

Chester-le-Street Post Office at 137 Front Street is in the Art Deco style and replaced a smaller building located on the corner of Relton Terrace and Ivanhoe Terrace, and was opened in 1936. It is unusual in that it is one of a handful of post offices that display the royal cypher from the brief reign of Edward VIII. Chester-le-Street landmarks The railway viaduct over Cong Burn The Bethel United Reformed church on Low Chare The Queens Head Hotel on Front Street The marketplace with the former Civic Heart sculpture (now demolished) Edward VIII Royal Emblem at the main Post Office

You can visit Chester-le-Street, COUNTY/BOROUGH & use Walkfo to discover the best walking places with our free digital tour guide app created especially for Chester-le-Street. Walkfo Chester-le-Street has 300 locations with history, culture & travel facts, that you can explore the same way you can a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Chester-le-Street, being in the moment, without digital distraction and no limitations to a specific walking route – you choose where you want to go, when you want to go and Walkfo Chester-le-Street will keep up.

When you visit Chester-le-Street

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When you visit Chester-le-Street, Walkfo is your digital tour guide while exploring by foot, bike or bus. With numerous walks, hikes, tourist locations & travel destinations available in Chester-le-Street, our travel AI guide helps you get the best from your visit to Chester-le-Street & the surrounding areas. Our explore Chester-le-Street app for iPhone & Android, allows you to experience the hidden history, culture and amazing facts throughout Chester-le-Street whilst out walking. The digital tour guide creates interactive audio stories driven by where you walk, so you can exploration Chester-le-Street’s National Heritage sites, tourist attractions, historic locations or city streets freely, without the restrictions of a predefined walk & walk map.

“The Walkfo AI has curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 0 audio facts in Chester-le-Street alone that form an interactive Chester-le-Street walking map for you to explore.”

Best Chester-le-Street places to visit

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Chester-le-Street has hundreds of places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are five of Chester-le-Street’s best destinations to visit when exploring the area. We have condensed the information with much more detail available within Walkfo when you visit the destinations.

Visit Chester-le-Street plaques

Experience Chester-le-Street audio walks & tours

Visiting Chester-le-Street with Walkfo’s things to do interactive map
The “Chester-le-Street things to do map” below is a preview of the places you can visit in Chester-le-Street and surrounding areas with our digital audio tour guide app. Each spot has content for a plaque, a building, a street or general area, providing history, culture or tourism information the you can explore.

Interactive ‘Explore Chester-le-Street Map’     This Chester-le-Street tourism map shows points of interest within a 4km radius of Chester-le-Street centre

Walkfo App     Walkfo

Walkfo is free to download & use (for a limited time period), so if you are looking to explore Chester-le-Street, go to your App Store to search for “Walkfo” or follow a links below and install on your mobile phone. Walkfo is designed for use with headphones or AirPods, so you can walk & explore whilst learning about the things around you without digital distraction.

  Apple App Store

  Google Play Store

Things to do & visit in Chester-le-Street and surrounding areas

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Getting to / around Chester-le-Street – transport links, stations, streets & traffic map

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Getting around in Chester-le-Street using public transportation may include roads, streets, trains, undergrounds, buses or trams. Walkfo has the following important Chester-le-Street public transport locations with historic / cultural / factual content when you visit:

Chester-le-Street Notable Public Transport Stations		Chester-le-Street Notable Streets & Roads

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Attention local Chester-le-Street historians, tour guides & Chester-le-Street tourism agents