History of Hunstanworth

Hunstanworth is a North Pennine parish close to the Northumberland/County Durham border and just two miles south west of historic Blanchland. Today’s picturesque cottages and windswept heather moorlands are a stark contrast to the industrialised landscapes of 150 years ago, when lead miners and their families eked out a living in extremely harsh conditions.

Hunstanworth is 2.5 miles south-west of Blanchland close to the border of Northumberland and County Durham, and many of their stories overlap and intertwine.

Here’s a map. Situated within the North Pennines National Landscape, the parish of Hunstanworth is made up of the village itself, the hamlets of Townfield and Ramshaw and several outlying farms and cottages.

Postbox by Tom Oliphant

Hunstanworth Village Life

Daily life in a rural community was much more labour...

Societies and Groups

In days gone by, small rural communities were closer-knit than...

Places

The placename ‘Hunstanworth’ is Old English for ‘Hunstan’s Enclosure’ and...

People of Hunstanworth

Set in the northernmost hills of the North Pennines, it...

It Happened Here in Hunstanworth

by Elfie Waren Today it’s hard to believe anything has...

For Further Information…

Other useful sites:

County Durham Record Office

Keys to the Past page on Hunstanworth

Mindat (mineral database) page on Whiteheaps Mine

Mindat page on Sike Head Mine

Durham Mining Museum page of lead mines in Hunstanworth

Sunniside Local History Society