Edmondsley to the north of Sacriston dates to Anglo-Saxon times but is first mentioned in Durham's Boldon Buke of 1180. A decade later, it also receives a mention in a medieval manuscript about the Life of St Godric of Finchale. A short chapter describes the miraculous cure of a woman called Eda of Edemannesleye.

Early spellings of Edmondsley suggest it was the ley or clearing of a shepherd. It seems that Edeman was an old word for a herder of sheep.

However, there was also a possibility that Edmondsley was named after Eda's man - the husband of the aforementioned Eda.

Edmondsley is on Edmondsley Fell, a moorland location between the fells of Waldridge and Charlaw. The three fells provide good views of distant Tyneside and the Durham countryside to the north and east.

Robert Surtees, Durham's early 19th Century historian, described Edmondsley as a medieval manor carved out of the wastes of Chester-le-Street.

Edmondsley probably did not exist as a village in medieval times.

Early references to the place concern farms and associated land along the south side of the Cong Burn between the present village and Holmside to the west.

Early recorded owners of Edmondsley included William de Edmansley who died in 1362 and John Killinghall in the later 1300s.

The Sacrist of Durham Cathedral also held Edmondsley land about this time, but was more closely associated with Sacriston. Other Edmondsley owners in the late 14th Century included the Umfravilles and Nevilles.

During the 15th Century, Edmondsley belonged to John Herdwick but it had passed to the Tempests and Claxtons by the 1500s. Their lands were confiscated after their involvement in a Catholic rebellion.

Edmondsley then became the property of a Berwick sea captain and a London goldsmith.

John Heath of Kepier purchased Edmondsley in 1573 but the Heaths granted it to the Wardel family of Easington in 1632.

Wardels held East Edmondsley Farm, near the present village, until 1757 when it passed through marriage to the Reed family. However, West Edmondsley Farm, near Holmside village, remained a Wardel property and the family is still remembered there in the name of Wardles Bridge.

Edmondsley village did not really come into being until 1840 with the opening of Edmondsley colliery. Who opened the colliery is not clear, but coal had been mined on a small scale in the Charlaw area since medieval times. The establishment of a larger colliery enterprise was a natural progression.

It is known that Edmondsley Colliery was initially called Wellington Pit and was owned by a Mr Tyzack, of Sunderland, in the 1850s. He gave his name to Tyzack Street, pronounced Tissack, as the mining village grew.

However by the 1890s, Edmondsley Coal Company owned the mine. Edmondsley Colliery continued to operate under this company until the colliery's closure in 1921.

At the western end of Tyzack Street, a lane leads off to the north following the course of an old colliery street called Wellington Terrace.

This existed before Tyzack Street and appears on the 1850s Ordnance Survey map but only a few houses remain.

Edmondsley Colliery stood close by and a wagonway ran from the colliery along part of the terrace and then diagonally through the village.

There were two pubs on either side of the wagonway, before it headed south-east across the centre of the Edmondsley crossroads. One pub, The Fleece Inn, still remains and you can see that a corner of the pub was chamfered to allow coal wagons to pass by smoothly at a tight angle.

At Daisy Hill, a quarter of a mile south of Edmondsley, the wagonway joined another wagonway running north from Sacriston.

Daisy Hill developed later in the 19th Century than Edmondsley or Sacriston and is a much smaller place.

A large Co-operative store existed here and a pub called the Crown Inn, but there was no Daisy Hill colliery.

However, a stationary engine north of Daisy Hill hauled wagons up hill from Sacriston Colliery and under Daisy Hill's main road.

It then lowered wagons downhill to Waldridge Fell, past a short-lived Victorian mine called Byron Pit. This pit was linked to the wagonway a quarter of a mile north east of Edmondsley.

From Waldridge, the wagonway then joined a railway at Pelton. From here coal was transported to the Tyne.

Wagons from Edmondsley and those from yet another short-lived 19th Century mine called Nettlesworth Colliery were also hauled by the Daisy Hill engine towards Waldridge.

Edmondsley, although larger than Daisy Hill, was always smaller than Sacriston and never had a parish church. There were, however, two Methodist chapels and a school.

Edmondsley's Wesleyan Methodist chapel of 1881 was near Wellington Terrace and was demolished in the early 1970s.

In 1875, the Primitive Methodist Chapel and an adjoining school had been built on the east side of the main road from Durham.

This section of road was called Hunters Terrace, after the Nettlesworth Colliery owners. Sadly, the terrace, school and chapel were all demolished in the 1960s. Only the schoolmaster's house of 1881 remains with a more recent school tucked behind.

In the early 1900s, the old school headmaster was Mr Clayton. He was later commemorated in the name of Claytonville village.

Established in 1925, this village stood on the south side of the main road from Edmondsley to Charlaw Inn. Consisting of 164 houses it was known locally as Blackhouse, a name still used for houses near Charlaw Inn.

Despite protests, Blackhouse village was demolished in 1978 owing to persistent problems with dampness in its houses. Residents were re-housed in new homes at Edmondsley's Jubilee Close, itself built on the site of Hunters Terrace.

*I am grateful to Barry Wood for sharing his knowledge of Edmondsley.

Published: 28/05/2004

If you have any memories of Durham City, Chester-le-Street, Derwentside or the Durham coast, including old photos or stories of people and places you would like to share with readers of The Northern Echo, write to David Simpson, Durham Memories, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF or email David.Simpson@nne.co.uk. All photos will be returned.