{{Short description|Area of Hartlepool, County Durham, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Use British English|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox UK place | official_name = Middleton | civil_parish = | country = England | region = North East England | coordinates = {{Coord|54.693|-1.1954|display=title|region:GB_scale:5000}} | os_grid_reference = | post_town = | postcode_area = | postcode_district = | dial_code = | unitary_england = [[Borough of Hartlepool|Hartlepool]] | lieutenancy_england = [[County Durham|Durham]] | hide_services = Yes | population = | population_ref = | area_total_km2 = | static_image = Parade of cafes and bars (geograph 7732258).jpg | static_image_caption = The shops overlooking the Marina | website = }} '''Middleton''' is an area of [[Hartlepool]], in the [[Borough of Hartlepool]], [[County Durham]], England.<ref name=OS93>{{cite map|title=Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 93 ''Middlesbrough (Darlington & Hartlepool)''|ISBN= 9780319228777 |publisher=Ordnance Survey|year=2010}}</ref> It is on the [[North Sea]] coast between the centre of [[Hartlepool]] and [[The Headland]].
==History and Etymology== The area takes its name from a wealthy Wesleyan.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Surtees, Robert |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1298760393 |title=The history and antiquities of the county palatine of Durham |date=1816–1840 |publisher=J. B. Nichols and son; [etc.etc.] |oclc=1298760393}}</ref>
In the [[medieval]] era it has long been believed to have served as part of both the sea and military defence for the [[harbour]]. However, as Hartlepool went into decline Middleton gradually lost its significance; by the late 18th century half of neighbouring Victoria and Commissioners Harbour was recorded as being half-filled in and used as a [[Maize|cornfield]].
In the early 19th century, Hartlepool's fate changed as the town began to [[industrialise]], and the Grays, the Swansons, and the Jacksons began investing in the new [[Dock (maritime)|dock]]s that would emerge to the South, as the Dyke House Marshes were drained. Gradually Middleton re-emerged becoming more or less an island, in the centre of the new dockyards. Due to its prominent position, it seemed for some to be the ideal place to establish [[shipyard]]s. A number of shipyards existed at Middleton including those of John Punshon Denton,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hartlepool History Then & Now |url=https://www.hhtandn.org/hartlepool-ships-and-shipping/shipbuilding/207/dentons-shipyard |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=hhtandn.org}}</ref> [[John Winspear]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hartlepool History Then & Now |url=https://www.hhtandn.org/hartlepool-ships-and-shipping/shipbuilding/202/winspears-shipyard |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=hhtandn.org}}</ref> Alexander Withy,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hartlepool History Then & Now |url=https://www.hhtandn.org/hartlepool-ships-and-shipping/shipbuilding/206/withys-shipyard |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=hhtandn.org}}</ref> [[William Gray & Company|William Gray]] & Co.,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hartlepool History Then & Now |url=https://www.hhtandn.org/hartlepool-ships-and-shipping/shipbuilding/200/grays-shipyard |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=hhtandn.org}}</ref> Dring & Pattison and Thomas Richardson.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hartlepool History Then & Now |url=https://www.hhtandn.org/hartlepool-ships-and-shipping/shipbuilding/201/richardsons-shipyard |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=hhtandn.org}}</ref> At its height in the late 19th century, the area had three shipyards and two engineering works based in Middleton. Middleton was a community in its own right, consisting of three streets of [[terrace houses|terraced houses]] and a number of [[pubs]]. It was also home to a "Rocket House" which was used for signalling ships.
In the 1940s, this area of Hartlepool was home to many decommissioned or [[Reserve fleet|mothballed]] [[Royal Navy]] ships, as well as ships of [[Axis powers]], waiting to be refitted or dismantled. These included one of [[Adolf Hitler]]'s yachts.
From the end of the [[Second World War]] the dockyards in Hartlepool gradually fell into decline, partly due to the moving of several key industries, the declines in export of coal. For Middleton it was particularly hard hit by a decline, in the commission of ships built in British shipyards, as well as the fact much of the Dockyards at Hartlepool were gradually considered unsuitable for the modern [[container ship]]s (until the improvements made to Central Dock, which now serves as the main port of the town). This and a combination of the highly polluted, dirty and derelict environment of Middleton, gradually led to the site's depopulation, to a point where by the late 1980s the only inhabited part was a surviving [[pub]]. Most of the buildings with the exception of several derelict buildings, mainly belonging to the Engineering Works, warehouses and the modern buildings of Greys Shipyards, had been demolished. [[File:Apartment block on Commercial Street (geograph 7732269).jpg|thumb|The apartments]] Since 2003 a series of new apartments have been completed, which roughly cover the site of the [[terrace houses]].
== Governance == Middleton was added as a Local Board District in the Hartlepool Borough in 1883.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cookson |first1=Gillian. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.36479 |title=The Victoria history of the county of Durham; ed. by William Page. |last2=Page |first2=William |date=1905 |publisher=[A. Constable and Co.] |location=London|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.36479 }}</ref>
On 31 December 1894 Middleton became a [[civil parish]], being formed from the part of [[Stranton]] in Hartlepool municipal borough,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/hartlepool.html|title=Hartlepool Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=31 March 2024}}</ref> on 1 April 1936 the parish was abolished and merged with Hartlepool.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10058016|title=Relationships and changes Middleton CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=31 March 2024}}</ref> In 1931 the parish had a population of 16,808.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10058016/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Middleton CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=31 March 2024}}</ref> It is now in the [[unparished area]] of Hartlepool.
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Hartlepool}} {{authority control}}
[[Category:Populated places in County Durham]] [[Category:Former civil parishes in County Durham]] [[Category:Hartlepool]]