Consett, Durham

Description
Consett, a town in Conside-cum-Knitsley township and an ecclesiastical parish in Durham. The town lies at the terminus of the Consett branch of the N.E.R., near Shotley Bridge, on the river Derwent, 8 1/4 miles N of Wolsingham, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.) It is governed by a local board of 12 members. Acreage of township, 3090 ; population, 8760. The ecclesiastical commissioners are lords of the manor. This place besides having very extensive iron-works of its own, is the centre of a great coal-mining region, including Blackhill, Leadgate, Towlaw, Ebchester, Lanchester, Medomsley, Crook, Blanchland, and other places, and it publishes a weekly newspaper. There are a large town-hall, erected in 1884, a theatre, an infirmary supported by the Consett Iron Company for the benefit of its employes, and a police station erected in 1877. County courts are held here monthly, and petty sessions on alternate Mondays. The ecclesiastical parish was constituted in 1862, and has a population of 8071. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham; net value, £300. Patron, alternately the Crown and the Bishop. There are Wesleyan, Baptist, and Primitive Methodist chapels.