The Boldons

Lying within the historic boundaries of County Durham, the villages are first recorded in print in 1170. Their names evolved from the words "Bold" or "Botl", meaning a building, and "dun", meaning a type of hillfort. In 1866, work began sinking a pit that began producing coal in 1869; it was then known as Boldon New Winning. The village that developed nearby in the 1870s became known as Boldon Colliery. When the mine was deepened and extended in the 1910s, further housing to accommodate the workforce was built to the south of the pit in an area known as Boldon New Town. Until 1974, the area was administered as an urban district of County Durham, but since then has been part of the borough…