History of Stanhope

Stanhope is the `capital’ of Weardale and its Anglo-Saxon name, meaning `stony valley’, is a good description of the Wear and the burns in the area. Like many towns in the North Pennine dales, Stanhope grew most significantly in the nineteenth century as a lead mining centre, but is unmistakably a dalestown. In 1818 Stanhope was the site of a most unusual battle which involved the local lead miners and the Prince Bishop of Durham. When times got hard, the lead miners of Weardale had come to regard it as their right to shoot the game which was so plentiful in their valley.

The Bishop of Durham had a different view and regarded such activities as poaching. He warned the lead miners that it would have to stop.When the poaching continued the bishop brought an army of his men into the Wear valley, arrested the suspected poaching ring leaders and temporarily imprisoned them in a local inn. Hearing of the arrests, a large and angry crowd of lead miners quickly gathered outside the inn and demanded the release of the men.It was not long before a violent `battle’ broke out, in which the Bishop’s men were heavily defeated by the lead miners. Although no one was actually killed, much blood was shed and one man is said to have lost an eye. This bloody event known as `The Battle of Stanhope’ is commemorated in a lengthy folk ballad called The Bonny Moor Hen.

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