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You may find this information helpful when researching the area prior to your visit

Durham Ox Country

Not far to the east of Shildon, is the new town of Newton Aycliffe, which was created in 1947. Nearby are the older villages of Aycliffe and School Aycliffe. The name of latter of these has nothing to do with the site of a former school, but in fact derives from the name of a Viking warrior called Scula, who owned land in this part of south Durham many centuries ago. The former Viking occupation of southern County Durham is also indicated by the predominance of local streams in the area called `becks' rather than `burns'.Across the other side of the A1M motorway from Aycliffe, towards the northern outskirts of Darlington, is the village of Brafferton where the famous Durham Ox was bred.

The Ox was developed by the brothers, Charles and Robert Colling of nearby Ketton farm in 1796 and achieved such great fame that it was exibited throughout England and Scotland in an especially designed carriage. Over a period of five years, the ox journeyed more than 3000 miles before the unfortunate beast dislocated its hip while on show at Oxford in February 1807. It was slaughtered two months later and weighed in at 189 stones. During its lifetime, it reached an incredible maximum weight of 270 stones. The Collings acheived far reaching fame for their development and throughout the country there are many inns named after the Durham Ox of Ketton Farm.

Sedgefield

The untypically flat countryside to the east of Newton Aycliffe and Darlington is among the least populated parts of the eastern part of the County. Parts of the Sedgefield district were not within the Durham coalfield and as a result there are no former colliery villages in the locality. Apart from a few tiny rural villages, many of which are now in the nearby county of Cleveland, the most prominent feature in the area is an old Roman road called Cade's Road, which runs northwards from Dinsdale on the Tees through the village of Sadberge towards the outskirts of Sedgefield on its way to Chester le Street. Sedgefield is a small market town, with the pleasant appearance of a very large village.

The town is at the heart of south east Durham and in days gone by, was fortunate enough to lie just outside the now largely redundant Durham coalfield. The town is the home of County Durham's only racecourse and is situated close to two notable parkland estates, namely Hardwick Hall (and Country Park), to the west and Wynyard Hall (now in Cleveland), to the south. Sedgefield is only six miles north of Stockton on Tees and many of its residents are commuters who work on Teesside. The church at Sedgefield is of particular interest. It contains good examples of the beautiful woodwork of John Cosin, Bishop of Durham (1660 - 1672). Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the architectural historian, has described the work of John Cosin as "one of the most remarkable contributions" of County Durham to the history of architecture and decoration in England. More examples of Bishop Cosin's woodwork can be seen in the church of St Brandon at Brancepeth near Durham City.