HARTLEPOOL, and West Hartlepool, respectively a municipal borough and a town of England, county of Durham, and included in the parliamentary borough of the Hartlepools, are situated the one on the north and the other on the south side of Hartlepool Bay, about a mile apart, but having connexion by railway, and practically forming portions of one town. By railway Hartlepool is 10 miles and West Hartlepool 12 miles N.N.E. of Stockton-on-Tees. The principal buildings of Hartlepool are the parish church, in the Early English style, dedicated to St Hilda; the borough hall, in the Italian style, erected in 1866, behind which there is a large market; the Durham militia artillery depot, erected in 1861; the temperance hall, the mechanics’ institute, and the theatre. New schools for boys, girls, and infants have been erected by the school board; and Prissick’s schools, founded in 1826, have been constituted elementary schools under the Education Act of 1870. Among the other schools are Crook’s endowed school, founded in 1755, and the school in connexion with Henry Smith’s charity. The town was originally surrounded by walls, of which considerable remains may yet be seen. It is well supplied with water. The principal buildings of West Hartlepool are the athenaeum, the town-hall, the exchange, in the Gothic style, erected in 1875 at a cost of £10,000, the mechanics’ institute, and the theatre. A Government school of art was established in 1874. The manufactures of the two towns are very much alike: they possess iron-works, puddling furnaces, brass and iron foundries, engine and boiler works, sawmills, cement works, tile works, and breweriee. With the addition of the new docks, completed in 1879, the dock area between the towns is 86 acres, besides which there are ponds ...with an area of about 80 acres. Considerable difficulty has been found in maintaining a sufficient depth of water at the harbour bar of Hartlepool, and although the use of a powerful dredge has been so far effectual, it is probable that the only adequate remedy will be the extension of the breakwater. A large lighthouse for guiding the entrance of vessels was erected in 1846-47 at a cost of nearly £6000. In the shipping returns Hartlepool and West Hartlepool are classed together as one port; in 1878 the number of vessels that entered the port, including those in ballast, was 4640, with a tonnage of 885,762; the number that cleared 4662, with a tonnage of 992,370. For the five years ending 1878 the average number of vessels that entered was 5371, with a tonnage of 975,039, while 5447 cleared, with a tonnage of 1,005,740. The principal exports are coal, coke, machines, and cotton, linen and woollen goods, and the principal imports, timber, cattle, corn, provisions, and wool. The fisheries are considerable. The town is much resorted to in summer for sea-bathing. Several caverns, which may be explored for nearly fifty yards, have been excavated by the sea out of the rocks on the shore of the peninsula. The parliamentary borough of the Hartlepools has an area of 7267 acres, and besides Hartlepool includes Stranton (in which parish West Hartlepool is situated), Seaton Carew, and Throston. Its population in 1861 was 27,475, and in 1871, 38,203. The population of the municipal borough of Hartlepool in 1861 was 12,245, and in 1871, 13,166; and the population of Stranton in 1861 was 13,601, and in 1871, 22,166.
The name Hartlepool means the pool or lake of Hart. The town grew up round a monastery which had St Hilda as its abbess, and the harbour was of some consequence as early as 1171. In the 13th century Hartlepool belonged to the Bruces of Annandale in Scotland, the progenitors of the royal family of that name. The town was erected into a borough about 1200. After Bruce ascended the Scottish throne his English possessions were forfeited, and Hartlepool was granted to the Cliffords. It suffered severely from the Scots in 1312, and again in 1315 after the battle of Bannockburn. During the great northern rebellion in the reign of Elizabeth it was seized by the insurgents. In 1644 it was taken by the Scottish army, and it remained in the possession of Scotland till 1647. West Hartlepool was founded in 1844 by Mr R. W. Jackson, the first M.P. for the borough of the Hartlepools. Its first dock was constructed in 1847, after which it increased with great rapidity.
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