Croxdale and Hett

Croxdale is a village in the civil parish of Croxdale and Hett, situated about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Durham City, in County Durham , England and on the A167 road, formerly part of the Great North Road. It is on the route of the East Coast Main Line and at one time had a station. The railway crosses over Croxdale Viaduct, built in 1872, just north of the village. The Weardale Way long distance footpath passes through the nearby Croxdale Hall estate.

Croxdale Hall is a privately owned country mansion situated at Croxdale near Sunderland Bridge, County Durham. It is a Grade I listed building.

Sunderland Bridge is a village in the civil parish of Croxdale and Hett, in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. It is about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Durham city. In 1961 the parish had a population of 907.The village takes its name from a grade I listed bridge just outside the village. Sunderland meaning sundered or separated land, in this case parish lands separated from the parish of St Oswald's in Durham City, by the River Wear. The village is home to St Bartholomew's Church, a Victorian church built between 1843 and 1846 (by George Pickering) and extended between 1876 and 1878 (by C.H. Fowler), with the addition of a new nave and chancel. The church was built to serve the new settlement of Croxdale Colliery which had rapidly developed less than half a mile south of the village to house workers for the new mine workings in the area (now simply known as Croxdale). The land for the church was given by the Salvin family of nearby Croxdale Hall in exchange for the old chapel on the Croxdale estate. The churchyard is the resting place of James Finlay Weir Johnston the founding father of Durham Johnston School in near by Durham.

Hett is a large village in County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles south of Durham. Hett is largely surrounded by farmland. To the south, rape fields are predominant while at the northern end, cattle are grazed all year round. To the north-west of Hett lies Sunderland Bridge, a small hamlet with a population of under 50 people (2004). Hett contains a small pond and a football pitch. It is believed to derive its name from its topography - the village sits on a low rounded hill shaped like a hat (Hætt in old English).Hett gives its name to an igneous dyke which cuts through the local Coal Measures rocks.

Croxdale railway station served the village of Croxdale, County Durham, England from 1872 to 1938 on the East Coast Main Line.

Butterby Oxbow is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Durham City district of County Durham, England. It consists of a former meander of the River Wear which was isolated from the main river in 1811 when, to reduce flooding in the area, a new channel was constructed across the neck of the meander. It is located about 3 km south of the centre of Durham and 1.2 km north of the nearest village, Croxdale. The site is notable for the succession series of swamp, fen and fen-carr which has developed and which is rarely found as a complete sequence in the county. It is locally important as a roosting and wintering area for wildfowl.

Tudhoe is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) south of the city of Durham. It lies just outside Spennymoor, a short distance to the west of the Great North Road. The village is now a quiet backwater, its green a cul-de-sac that runs down from the main road towards the River Wear. In former times, however, Tudhoe lay at the centre of a network of roads: one ran to Durham by way of Sunderland Bridge and Croxdale, another to Kirk Merrington, a third to Bishop Auckland, a fourth to Whitworth and Byers Green, and a fifth across a ford to Brancepeth Castle and village on the far side of the river. All except the Brancepeth road are shown, somewhat schematically, on Thomas Jeffrey's map of County Durham of 1758. Tudhoe is now dwarfed by Spennymoor, an industrial town that grew up around the Tudhoe iron works in the 19th century. The modern town of Spennymoor lies only a few fields from Tudhoe, but the contours are such that it cannot be seen from most of the village, and Tudhoe today gives the impression that it is still an isolated country village. For most of its history, Tudhoe has been in the parish of Brancepeth. The parish church of St Brandon's, dating from the 16th century, was one of the finest village churches in County Durham until its destruction by fire in 1998. Brancepeth lies across the River Wear from Tudhoe; there has never been a bridge, and the ford was not an easy one. In winter, it was often impassable, and Tudhoe baptisms, weddings and burials then took place at Whitworth. Because of this, Tudhoe was always seen (from Brancepeth) as an isolated outpost. Tudhoe's own Anglican churches, Holy Innocents and St David's, were not built until 1866 and 1880, respectively, though there is a large Catholic church, dedicated to St. Charles Borromeo, which was founded in 1858. Tudhoe was renowned as a mining village until the end of the 20th century. Until the closure of the mines, the wealthy Colliery Masters took up residence in a grand mansion known as The Loggins, which stands in several acres of its own land and overlooks the area. Tudhoe United FC are the local football team and play in Spennymoor Sunday League.

The Diocese of Durham is a Church of England diocese, based in Durham, and covering the historic county of Durham (and therefore including the part of Tyne and Wear south of the River Tyne, and excluding southern Teesdale). It was created in AD 635 as the Diocese of Lindisfarne. The cathedral is Durham Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Durham who used to live at Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland, and still has his office there. The diocese's administrative centre, the Diocesan Office, is located at Cuthbert House, Stonebridge just outside Durham City. This was opened in 2015.

Thinford is a small hamlet in County Durham, England. It is situated to the east of Spennymoor, between Darlington and Durham at the intersection of the A167 and the A688. It consists of only a few houses, but contains a pub and restaurant serving a wider area, as well as a McDonald's restaurant, a KFC restaurant, a Starbucks Coffee Drive Thru, a Burger King Drive Thru, and BP filling station serving traffic on the A167, which also features a Spar convenience store, along with a Greg's bakery and Subway. Thinford is in the process of a multimillion-pound redevelopment known as Durham Gate. This is due to bring hundreds of new homes, shops and office facilities. Work has already started on the development and people are already living in new homes built by Taylor Wimpey and Maple Oak Homes. About one mile to the east of Thinford, there is an electrical substation, which is linked by a line of L6 pylons to the Stella West substation in Tyneside, and by a line of L12 400 kV pylons (which replaced the older L66 275 kV pylons in 2011) to the Norton substation in Teesside.

Mount Pleasant is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated immediately to the north-east of Spennymoor, close to Tudhoe.

Burn Hall is a country house in County Durham. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Spennymoor is a town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is south of the River Wear and is 7 mi (11 km) south of Durham. The civil parish includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers Green and Tudhoe.