Mainsforth

Thrislington Plantation is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a national nature reserve in the Sedgefield district of County Durham, England. It is situated about 1 km east of Ferryhill, between the East Coast Main Line railway and the A1(M) road. The site has one of the most important expanses of primary magnesian limestone grassland in Great Britain. In particular, it has the largest area of the grassland type which is characterised by blue moor-grass, Sesleria albicans, and small scabious, Scabiosa columbaria. The eastern part of the site is undisturbed grassland which, as well as species commonly associated with magnesian limestone, has a small population of the locally rare mountain everlasting, Antennaria dioica, and good populations of dark-red helleborine, Epipactis atrorubens, and perennial flax, Linum perenne subsp. anglicum, both of which are nationally scarce. The western part of the site has been disturbed by quarrying and the vegetation here consists of primary turf that was translocated between 1982 and 1990. Although it remains rich in herbs, the characteristic features of magnesian limestone grassland were lost during the translocation: blue moor-grass is uncommon, while coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, and field sow-thistle, Sonchus arvensis, which entered the grassland during translocation, persist. The area supports a diverse invertebrate fauna, which includes the nationally rare least minor moth, Photedes captiuncula, the nationally notable Durham argus butterfly, Aricia artaxerxes salmacis, and the common glow-worm, Lampyris noctiluca.

Chilton Lane is situated a short distance to the south-east of Ferryhill, and immediately to the south of Ferryhill Station. Nearby are Great Chilton, East Chilton, Chilton Grange and Little Chilton.

Ferryhill was a railway station located in Ferryhill in County Durham, Northeast England. It was located on what became the East Coast Main Line between Darlington and Durham, close to the junctions with several former branches, including the extant freight-only Stillington Line to Norton-on-Tees and Stockton.

Ferryhill Station is situated to the south east of Ferryhill, next to Chilton Lane and near the site of Ferryhill railway station, a few miles south of Durham.

West Cornforth is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the south of Cornforth, near the A1(M) motorway, Ferryhill and Spennymoor. It is known locally as “Doggie” though the etymology of this name is uncertain. It may however, relate to the fact that dog irons were made there at one time. The village was recently awarded 'Calor Durham Village of the Year'.

Bishop Middleham is a village in County Durham, in England. The population of the parish as taken at the 2011 census was 1,275 It is close to Sedgefield.

The Carrs is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Sedgefield district of County Durham, England. It is situated on the eastern outskirts of Ferryhill, between the town and the East Coast Main Line railway. The Carrs is an area of wetland that has formed in the low-lying parts of a glacial meltwater channel. A large part of the site is open water, which is fringed by fen vegetation. Woodland and calcareous grassland cover the steep slopes on the western side of the site, where there is also a disused quarry. The site's importance lies mainly in its areas of open water and fen vegetation, which are scarce habitats in lowland County Durham. There is also a small area of equally scarce magnesian limestone grassland, in which blue moor-grass, Sesleria albicans, and glaucous sedge, Carex flacca, are dominant. The site adjoins the Ferryhill Carrs Local Nature Reserve, which extends to the north, alongside the railway line.

Bradbury Cell was a monastery in County Durham, England.

Cornforth is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated a short distance to the north-east of Ferryhill. Before the middle part of the Victorian era, when coal mining was at its height in County Durham, Cornforth was in the parish of Bishop Middleham. Thomas Hutchinson (bap. 1698, d. 1769) was a classical scholar, born in Cornforth and baptised there on 17 May 1698.

Bishop Middleham Quarry is a disused quarry, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north-west of Sedgefield, County Durham, England. Quarry-working here ceased in 1934, and the site has since been colonised by vegetation. The underlying rock is Magnesian Limestone and this has had a strong influence in determining the range of plant and animal communities now found there. In 1968 the quarry was designated as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The SSSI boundaries were revised in 1982 to exclude areas which were no longer found to have high wildlife interest due to tipping and quarry reworking. The site contains a variety of vegetation types including woodland, scrub, and several grassland communities. The most important part of the site from a biodiversity conservation perspective is the species-rich unimproved magnesian limestone grassland, which covers just under 4.6 hectares (11 acres) of the site. Only 270 hectares (670 acres) of this habitat exist in Britain, two-thirds of it in County Durham. Magnesian limestone grassland supports an assemblage of calcicolous plants adapted to growing in thin soils with a short sward. The quarry holds one of the largest British populations of the dark red helleborine, Epipactis atrorubens; a survey in 2010 found nearly 1700 flowering spikes of this nationally rare species. The quarry is a breeding site for the Durham argus butterfly, a local race of the brown argus found only in northeast England. The site attracted the interest of birdwatchers in 2002 when a pair of European bee-eaters took up residence, raising two young, only the third breeding attempt ever in Britain. Bishop Middleham Quarry is managed as a Nature Reserve by the Durham Wildlife Trust.

West Cornforth railway station served the village of West Cornforth, County Durham, England, from 1866 to 1952 on the Great North of England, Clarence and Hartlepool Junction Railway.

Great Chilton is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the east of Bishop Auckland, near Chilton.