South Hetton is a former mining village

Pit village

A pit village is a term used in the UK for the village serving a deep coal mine.Many of the workers lived in houses that were provided by the colliery. Many villages have experienced depopulation after colliery closures forced people to move to other towns and cities where there are jobs for them...

 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...

, in 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 about six miles to the east of Durham

Durham

Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...

 and nine miles to the south of Sunderland.

South Hetton Colliery

The history of South Hetton is closely related to South Hetton Colliery. The South Hetton Coal Co., owned by Colonel Thomas Bradyll, first sank shafts in 1831. Large scale production began two years later and corresponded with a large increase in population. Employment peaked in the 1930s when over 1400 people worked at the colliery. However, activity declined in the latter half of the twentieth century with the colliery ceasing operations in 1982.

Angus Sibbet Murder

The village came to the attention of the nation in January 1967 when the body of fruit machine magnate employee Angus Sibbett, was found murdered in his Jaguar car under Pesspool Bridge. Dennis Stafford and Michael Luvaglio were later convicted of the crime, although there have been ongoing campaigns to clear both names. All appeals (including the House of Lords) failed due to a proven but unexplained collision between the cars of Sibbett and Stafford & Luvaglio, although Stafford and Luvaglio at their trial denied seeing or meeting up with Sibbett during the vital hours surrounding the actual murder The killing inspired the 1970s gangster film 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...

 starring Michael Caine

Michael Caine

Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....

.

Sports

South Hetton Cricket Club currently play in the Durham Senior League and have a strong link within the community with the goal of developing sport in the area.