Thorpe Thewles is a village that lies near the A177

A177 road

The A177 is a road in County Durham, England. It runs from Stockton to Durham, passing Sedgefield. It therefore links the two main centres for Durham University: Durham City and the university's Queen's Campus in Stockton, via the NetPark knowledge park in Sedgefield, in which the university is a...

 road between Stockton-on-Tees

Stockton-on-Tees

Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in north east England. It is the major settlement in the unitary authority and borough of Stockton-on-Tees. For ceremonial purposes, the borough is split between County Durham and North Yorkshire as it also incorporates a number of smaller towns including...

 and Sedgefield

Sedgefield

Sedgefield is a small town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It has a population of 4,534.Sedgefield has attracted particular attention as the Member of Parliament for the wider Sedgefield constituency was the former Prime Minister Tony Blair; he was the area's MP from 1983 to 2008,...

 in the Tees Valley

Tees Valley

The Tees Valley is an area in the North East of England. It can be described as "greater Teesside" and consists of the four unitary authorities created by the breakup of the County of Cleveland in 1996: Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland, and Stockton-On-Tees along with the borough of...

. The village is currently made up of 182 households and a total population of 477 people, of which: -

• 96 people (20%) are children aged 0–15
• 313 people (66%) are of working age
• 68 people (14%) are retired

Thorpe Thewles has a small football pitch, two public houses (the Vane Arms and the Hamilton Russell), a church (St James' Church) and a Parish hall. There is a planetarium, walkway and restaurant at Castle Eden Walkway, the site of Thorpe Thewles’ old railway station.

Historically, Thorpe Thewles was originally settled in 1692 with only two farmhouses and has grown to have more than 182 households today.

Origin of the name

Thorpe is of Danish extraction and means farm, Thorp

Thorp

Thorp is a Middle English word for a hamlet or small village, from Old English /Old Norse þorp . There are many place names in England with the suffix "-thorp" or "-thorpe". Most are in East Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk but some are in Surrey.Old English þorp is cognate...

, and Thewles was likely the name of a family that possessed land here in the Middle Ages: the earliest occurrence of the full name is 'Thorpp' Thewles' in 1265. The surname Thewles probably comes from the Old English theawleas 'immoral', though the meaning of the placename is the Farm of the Thewles Family rather than, as sometimes reported, the Immoral Farm.

Politics

Thorpe Thewles is located within the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in the Northern Parishes Ward and the Stockton North constituency. The Member of the UK Parliament for Thorpe Thewles is Alex Cunningham

Alex Cunningham

Alexander Cunningham is a British Labour Party politician. He was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for Stockton North....

and the local councilor for Thorpe Thewles is John Gardner. Because Thorpe Thewles is a civil parish, there is an elected Parish Council that meets to discuss matters relating to Thorpe Thewles on a regular basis. The parish councilors for Thorpe Thewles are William Allison, Gareth Rees and Derek Jones.

Groups

The village has several community groups including:

• Thorpe Thewles History Group
• Thorpe Thewles Residents Association
• Thorpe Thewles Coffee Morning

Business

The main businesses in Thorpe Thewles are concerned with farming and recreation. Notable businesses include: -

• The Vane Arms Public House
• The Hamilton Russell Public House
• Exchange Data Services Ltd.

External links