Hamsterley is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is situated a few miles west of Bishop Auckland

Bishop Auckland

Bishop Auckland is a market town and civil parish in County Durham in north east England. It is located about northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham at the confluence of the River Wear with its tributary the River Gaunless...

.

The village lies on a rise above the upper reaches of the Wear

River Wear

The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...

 valley. To the west of the village the land rises to Hamsterley Common at the eastern edge of the fell

Fell

“Fell” is a word used to refer to mountains, or certain types of mountainous landscape, in Scandinavia, the Isle of Man, and parts of northern England.- Etymology :...

 country which lies between the valleys of the Wear and the Tees. In the centre of the village is a pub called the Cross Keys.

Near to the village is Dryderdale Hall, a magnificent grade II listed mansion built in 1872 by the architect Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse was a British architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. He is perhaps best known for his design for the Natural History Museum in London, and Manchester Town Hall, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the...

 for the Backhouse

Backhouse Baronets

There have been two Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Backhouse, once in the Baronetage of England and once in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom...

 family. It was used as a location for the filming of Get Carter

Get Carter

Get Carter is a 1971 British crime film directed by Mike Hodges and starring Michael Caine as Jack Carter, a gangster who sets out to avenge the death of his brother in a series of unrelenting and brutal killings played out against the grim background of derelict urban housing in the city of...

.

Hamsterley has a population of around 550.

There is another, smaller village called Hamsterley

Hamsterley, Consett

Hamsterley is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the north of Consett. Known until recently as Hamsterley Colliery due to the large Mining Colliery which was situated to the south of the village along the southern banks of River Derwent...

in County Durham, 20 miles to the north, near Consett.

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