Weardale

Weardale is a dale, or valley, on the east side of the Pennines in County Durham, England. Large parts of Weardale fall within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) – the second-largest AONB in England and Wales. The upper dale is surrounded by high fells (up to 2,454 feet (748 m) O.D. at Burnhope Seat) and heather grouse moors. The River Wear flows through Weardale before reaching Bishop Auckland and then Durham, meeting the sea at Sunderland. The Wear Valley local government district covered the upper part of the dale, including Weardale, between 1974 and 2009, when it was abolished on County Durham's becoming a unitary authority. (From 1894 to 1974 there was a Weardale Rural District.) Upper Weardale is in the parliamentary constituency of North West Durham. The dale's principal settlements include St John's Chapel and the towns of Crook, Stanhope and Wolsingham.