Waterhouses, County Durham

Waterhouses is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the west of Durham, near Esh Winning.HistoryJoseph Pease, a Darlington Quaker, obtained permission in the mid-1850s to mine coal near High Waterhouse, which was a farm on the Brancepeth estate. The land was then owned by Gustavus Russell Hamilton-Russell and his wife Emma Maria, descendants of Sir Frederick Hamilton of Dromahere. There were initial difficulties in the mining, but Pease sinkers eventually located coal, and the Deerness Valley Railway was laid from a junction at the North Eastern Railway at Relly, up the Deerness valley to the new coal pit. The company built housing for the new workers and a village grew up at the Mary Pit with residential areas south of the railway line. Most of the new mine workers were born in Durham or surrounding northern countries. A few came from the Midlands, Cornwall, the southern shires and Ireland. In 1881 the village had a population of 1,053.Waterhouses Community AssociationWaterhouses Community Association is a group of volunteers who own and manage the village hall which is completely self funded and organises a range of activities, including groups and clubs for all ages and a weekly cinema.ReligionWaterhouses has a public church, St. Paul's. The Vicar is Fr. Michael Peers.When the village was first established, Anglican services were held in an old cottage near High Waterhouse Farm, which was also used as a school. About 1866 Arthur Duncombe Shafto, rector of Brancepeth, proposed the building of a new church and school and the community began raising funds. In February 1868 Lord Boyne of Brancepeth Castle donated one rood and 20 perches of land to the rector as a site for the new church. Boyne also contributed funds to the church which was built at a cost of 580 pounds.