St Michael's Church, Heighington

Heighington ( HYE-ing-tən) is a village in the borough of Darlington and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,395. It is situated between Darlington and Shildon, near Newton Aycliffe. One of its most significant features is St Michael's Church that sits in the middle of a large village green. The church is Norman, except for the 13th-century south aisle and the 19th-century north aisle. A rare feature in this church is a pre-Reformation oak pulpit with six traceried linen fold panels, with an inscription bearing prayers for its donor: an Alexander Flettcher and his wife Agnes. Heighington previously boasted a Methodist Chapel, but this has since been converted into housing. The more recent expansion of the village is in the area around Pinewood Crescent and the area around the Beech Crescent, Manor Court and Orchard Gardens, built 1997. A recent, famous resident from Heighington, is actor, writer and producer Mark Gatiss. It is often (wrongly) claimed that his father worked at nearby Winterton Hospital, and that this became the inspiration for ideas in The League of Gentlemen, but it was in fact Aycliffe Hospital where his father worked. The confusion likely arose, from the fact that both (now demolished) hospitals lay in the district of Sedgefield and someone assumed it was Winterton. This mistake then led onto the assumption that Gatiss must therefore have been born in the village of Sedgefield (being next to Winterton Hospital), but in actuality, he was born only in the district of Sedgefield, in the village of Heighington, some miles away. Heighington is also known for its Spar shop and three pubs, The Bay Horse, The George And Dragon and The Dog Inn, which lies just outside the village. The village up until recent years was home to a Post Office (which included a shop) next to the village green. That shop closed down and the Post Office, along with the postbox, has been relocated to the village hall. Since the turn of the millennium, a field on the outskirts of the village (on the way to Shildon and Bishop Auckland) has been converted into a football field. This site is currently undergoing development, including the construction of an adventure playground. In 2006 Heighington was judged, by Ptolemy Dean, from amongst 11 other villages around the UK to be the BBC's Perfect Village. Heighington CE Primary School is a voluntary controlled Church of England primary school located in Hopelands. It educates around 260 pupils aged 4–11. It has been assessed by Ofsted as providing an outstanding education.

Heighington CE Primary School is a Church of England primary school with academy status located in the village of Heighington, near Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. As of 2016 it educated 279 pupils aged 4–11. At its Ofsted inspection in 2019, it was classed as a ‘good’ school. The headmaster since 1995 has been Neil Parker.

Hitachi Newton Aycliffe (also known as Newton Aycliffe Manufacturing Facility) is a railway rolling stock assembly plant owned by Hitachi Rail Europe, situated in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, in the North East of England. Construction started in 2013 at a cost of £82 million, with train assembly commencing in 2015. It was the first factory that Hitachi built in Europe, as a result of it winning the Intercity Express Programme tender. Originally on opening, no actual manufacturing operations took place at the site; it assembled components built elsewhere into completed trains. However, for the later classes, some manufacturing took place on site. By October 2017, the plant employed over 1,000 members of staff.In December 2021, it was announced that the rolling stock for the HS2 line, would be a joint venture between Hitachi and Alstom.

Walworth Gate is a hamlet and crossroads village in the borough of Darlington, in the civil parish of Walworth and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated 2 miles (3.2 km) north−west of the edge of Darlington and 0.6 miles (0.97 km) north of Walworth. The settlement is locally notable for New Moor Farm, which is known to Darlington people as a producer of ice cream. The Saxon origin of the name, "Walworth Gate", refers to Welsh−speaking Britons who once lived there.

Heighington is a railway station on the Tees Valley Line, which runs between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn via Darlington. The station, situated 5 miles 62 chains (9.3 km) north-west of Darlington, serves the villages of Aycliffe and Heighington in County Durham, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains. The station is on the Bishop Line which is a community railway from Bishop Auckland to Darlington. It is somewhat unusual in that its platforms are staggered, sited either side of a level crossing. The station has kept its listed manual signal box (which supervises the aforementioned crossing, the connection into the Hitachi plant and the single line section south of here through to Darlington), but this had its semaphore signals replaced by colour lights when the connection into the Hitachi factory was installed and commissioned in November 2014.

UTC South Durham is a University Technical College located in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. It opened in 2016 and caters for 14–19 year olds with an interest in science, technology, engineering, and maths. It is located on the Aycliffe Business Park site, in a purpose-built new building.The UTC is sponsored by the University of Sunderland, Gestamp and Hitachi.

Walworth is a central small village with outlying farmsteads, which together constitute a scattered village in the borough of Darlington and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is a civil parish which does not have a church. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 Census was 240. It is situated 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the north-west of Darlington. The nucleus of the central village is the 16th-century Walworth Castle, which is now a hotel. On the north side of the village, around North Farm, are earthworks signifying a lost settlement, grouped around a barn which was once a chapel.

ROF Aycliffe, was a Royal Ordnance Factory built on an 867-acre (3.51 km2) site off Heighington Lane, Aycliffe, County Durham, England during the early 1940s.

Aycliffe Stadium was a sports facility located in County Durham, England, on the southern edge of the Aycliffe Industrial Estate, which has Newton Aycliffe to the North and Aycliffe Village to the South. The stadium was originally used for greyhound racing and then speedway before stock car racing.

Houghton-le-Side is a small village in the borough of Darlington and the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the south-west of Newton Aycliffe. The population at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are now maintained within the parish of Walworth.

Low Walworth is a hamlet in County Durham, England, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the north−west of the edge of Darlington. It consists of Low Walworth Hall, Low Walworth Farm and their respective cottages, flats and outbuildings. Several of these buildings are listed, and date from the 17th to the 19th century. Attached to one of the late-18th-century farm buildings is a gin gang, or building from which a horse powered a threshing machine by walking in a circle. The hall has accommodated at least one High Sheriff of Durham.

Archdeacon Newton is a hamlet and rural parish of several farms in the borough of Darlington and the ceremonial county of County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are maintained in the parish of Walworth. It is associated with an abandoned village site under pasture and farm buildings, and situated a short distance to the north-west of Darlington. The lost settlement was in existence by the early 15th century, and remained inhabited at least until the 1890s. There was a moated manor house at the southern end, part of which remains as the Old Hall, now a barn. At the north end of the site was the chapel, and in the middle were tofts and enclosures, with a ridge and furrow field and a trackway leading to the south-east. The site of the abandoned village is now a scheduled monument and the Old Hall is a listed building.