seaham

The original village of Seaham has all but vanished; it lay between St Mary's Church and Seaham Hall (i.e. somewhat to the north of the current town centre).Pevsner, N., The Buildings of England: County Durham, Penguin Books, London, 1953/1983. The parish church, St Mary the Virgin, has a late 7th century. The Anglian nave resembles the church at Escomb in many respects.{{Cite web |first=Peter F |last=Ryder |url=http://www.durham.anglican.org/userfiles/file/Durham%20Website/Diocese%20and%20Admin/Care%20of%20Churches/Archaeological%20Assessments/Seaham.pdf |work=The Diocese of Durham |title=Detailed description and history of the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Seaham}}

Until the early years of the 19th century, Seaham was a small rural agricultural farming community whose only claim to fame was that the local landowner's daughter, Anne Isabella Milbanke, was married at Seaham Hall to Lord Byron, on 2 January 1815.{{Cite web|url=https://durhamheritagecoast.org/our-story/history/people-from-the-past/|title=People from the past|website=Heritage Coast}}

Byron began writing his Hebrew Melodies at Seaham and they were published in April 1815.

It would seem that Byron was bored in wintry Seaham, though the sea enthralled him.

As he wrote in a letter to a friend:

{{cquote|Upon this dreary coast we have nothing but county meetings and shipwrecks; and I have this day dined upon fish, which probably dined upon the crews of several colliers lost in the late gales. But I saw the sea once more in all the glories of surf and foam.}}

The marriage was short-lived, producing as its only child the mathematician Ada Lovelace, but it was long enough to have been a drain on the Milbanke estate. The area's fortunes changed when the Milbankes sold out in 1821 to the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry,{{cite book |title=The Londonderrys A Family Portrait|last=Hyde |first=H Montgomery |publisher=Hamish Hamilton|date=1979}} who built a harbour, in 1828, to facilitate transport of goods from locally encouraged industries (the first coal mine was begun in 1845). However, this harbour later proved inadequate to deal with the millions of tonnes of coal and the 6th Marquess commissioned engineers Patrick Meik and Charles Meik to reclaim land and extend and deepen the dock. It was officially opened in 1905. The harbour is of particular interest because it consists of a series of interconnecting locks, rather than the more typical two wall construction.

As early as 1823, the 3rd Marquess had approached the architect John Dobson with a view to his drawing up plans for a town to be built around the harbour. Dobson did so, but the planned approach foundered for lack of funds, and the town instead grew in a more piecemeal fashion.{{cite web |title=Seaham Harbour 1828 - 1851 |url=https://www.seaham.gov.uk/index.php/seaham-harbour-1828-1851 |website=Seaham Town Council |access-date=30 June 2021}} To begin with, the town was itself called Seaham Harbour (to differentiate it from the ancient village); in time, though, the settlement as a whole came to be known as Seaham.

In 1853 John Candlish built the Londonderry Bottleworks in the town. It was the largest glass bottle works in Britain and survived until 1921. Candlish went on to become mayor and, in 1868, Liberal MP for Sunderland. Waste glass from the bottleworks was dumped at sea and is now washed up as glass pebbles, known as sea glass, on local beaches.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=11 February 2010 |title=Candish's Londonderry Bottleworks (Built 1853 - Demolished 1921) - Seaham (seah0195) |url=http://ppparchive.durham.gov.uk/photos/picviewer.asp?next=2129 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111014214707/http://ppparchive.durham.gov.uk/photos/picviewer.asp?next=2129 |archive-date=14 October 2011 |access-date=2 June 2022 |website=Durham County Council}}{{Cite web |title=The Bottleworks history |url=https://east-durham.co.uk/the-bottleworks-history/ |access-date=2 June 2022 |website=East Durham History |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=Rushby |first=Kevin |date=2 June 2022 |title=Spooky shipwrecks and singing sands: 10 of the UK’s weirdest beaches |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/jun/02/beaches-uk-britain-weirdest-sands-coast-shoreline |access-date=2 June 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}

In 1928, production started at the last town colliery to be opened, Vane Tempest. By 1992, however, all three pits (Dawdon Colliery, Vane Tempest Colliery and Seaham Colliery – known locally as "the Knack") had closed, a process accelerated by the British miners' strike. The pit closures hit the local economy extremely hard.

Seaham Colliery suffered an underground explosion in 1880 which resulted in the loss of over 160 lives,{{Cite web|url=https://durhamrecordsonline.com/library/seaham-colliery-disaster-of-1880/|title=Seaham Colliery Disaster of 1880 | Durham Records Online Library}} including surface workers and rescuers.

Many local families were affected by the tragic loss of eight men and one boy in the 'Seaham Lifeboat Disaster', when the RNLI lifeboat, the George Elmy, foundered on 17 November 1962. To commemorate the event, the new coast road was named George Elmy Lifeboat Way.{{cite web |url=http://www.seaham.org.uk/georgeelmy/ |title=The George Elmey Lifeboat Lifeboat Restoration Project - Remember the Heroes |work=Seaham.org.uk |date=17 November 1962 |access-date=28 June 2014}}

An electoral ward with the same name exists. The population of this ward taken at the 2011 census was 8419.{{Cite web |url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11128272&c=Seaham&d=16&e=62&g=6419588&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1437399788970&enc=1 |work=Office for National Statistics |title=Area: Seaham (Parish) Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics |access-date=20 July 2015}}

Seaham is part of the Easington parliament constituency and is currently represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by Labour Member of Parliament, Grahame Morris, who has served since the 2010 general election.

File:Seaham coastline - geograph.org.uk - 624314.jpg

File:Church Street, Seaham - geograph.org.uk - 1529671.jpgSeaham has one secondary school, without a sixth-form, called Seaham High School (before 2016 known as Seaham School of Technology).{{Cite news|url=https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/education/new-name-for-rebuilt-14million-school-1-7284859|title=New name for rebuilt £14million school|access-date=2018-03-06|language=en}}

Seaham's main football team is Seaham Red Star F.C., formerly Seaham Colliery Welfare Red Star, located near Seaham's Red Star park. The club plays in Northern League Division One.

Seaham has two cricket clubs, Seaham Harbour Cricket club, and Seaham Park Cricket Club. Both senior teams play in the North East Premier League

In the 2019-20 rugby season, Seaham RUFC were promoted from Durham/Northumberland 3 into Durham/Northumberland 2. The side won the Durham County Junior Cup

in 2023 and 2025.

The final scene of the 1971 film, Get Carter, was shot at Blackhall Rocks beach, which is down the coast from Seaham.{{Cite web |last=Gillilan |first=Lesley |title=8 Reasons To Move To Seaham, Durham {{!}} Coast Magazine |url=https://www.coastmagazine.co.uk/content/9-reasons-move-seaham-durham |access-date=2 June 2022 |website=www.coastmagazine.co.uk}}{{Cite web |date=10 November 2017 |title=Can you remember where these films were shot in the North East? |url=https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/can-you-remember-where-these-films-were-shot-north-east-355784 |access-date=2 June 2022 |website=www.sunderlandecho.com |language=en}}

The rich mining history of the town was highlighted in the 2000 film Billy Elliot, which was set during the 1984–1985 United Kingdom miners' strike in the fictional County Durham town of Everington but which displayed characteristics particular to East Durham pit communities such as Seaham and Easington Colliery.

Both towns feature as locations in the film, notably Dawdon Miners' Club, into which Elliot's dad runs when he learns his son has won an audition at dance school.

Elliot's "angry dance" scene takes place in Dawdon between Embleton Street and Stavordale Street West.

The opening scene in Alien 3 (1992) was filmed on Blast Beach, at Dawdon.{{Cite web |url=http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/a/Alien3.html |work=The Worldwide Guide To Movie Locations |title=Alien3 film locations |access-date=11 November 2016}}

The town has also served as a location for the BAFTA nominated film Life For Ruth (1962) starring Janet Munro and Patrick McGoohan.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/opinion/latest/1130167.life-lynn/|title = Life for Lynn}}

The town appeared in the BBC Three sitcom Live!Girls! present Dogtown which premiered on the channel in autumn 2006. According to the Sunderland Echo (11 February 1999), scenes from Saving Private Ryan (1998) were also going to be filmed in Seaham, but government intervention moved production elsewhere.

According to Tom McNee's 1992 portrait of the town The Changing Face of Seaham: 1928–1992, St. John's parish church was used as the setting of a 1985 service recorded for BBC Radio 3. Also, a two-part Channel 4 documentary profiled the town in 1991.

To the south, beside the road to Dalton-le-Dale, are the remains of Dalden Tower, comprising the ruins of a 16th-century tower and fragments of later buildings.

The harbour itself may be said to be the principal landmark of the nineteenth-century town; though the Londonderry Institute in Tempest Road (1853-5 by Thomas Oliver) with its monumental Greek-style portico{{Cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/the-londonderry-institute-seaham-8125|title = The Londonderry Institute, Seaham, Durham | Educational Images | Historic England}} provides something of a glimpse of the Marquess's original vision for the town.

Of a slightly later date, the former Londonderry Offices on the sea front once served as headquarters for the mining and other businesses of the Londonderry family.

A statue of the 6th Marquess stands in the forecourt.

Also dating from an early stage in the town's development is the town-centre church of St John, Seaham Harbour (1835–40).

For the very much older St Mary's, Seaham, and its neighbour Seaham Hall, see above.

For just over a hundred years the harbour was towered over by a {{convert|58|ft|abbr=on}} lighthouse on Red Acre Point, immediately to the north, designed by William Chapman. Erected in 1835, it displayed a fixed white light above a revolving red light (an unusual configuration, provided so as to distinguish it from the north pier light at Sunderland); both lights were displayed from the same tower, the upper being {{convert|100|feet}} and the lower {{convert|54|feet}} above mean sea level.{{cite book |last1=Norie |first1=J. W. |title=New and Extensive Sailing Directions for the Navigation of the North Sea |date=1846 |publisher=Charles Wilson |location=London |page=vi}} The lighthouse was gas-lit, with an arrangement of third-order catadioptric lenses provided by Chance Brothers & Co.{{cite web | title = Lighthouse management : the report of the Royal Commissioners on Lights, Buoys, and Beacons, 1861, examined and refuted Vol. 2 | year = 1861 | page = 358 | url = https://archive.org/stream/lighthousemanage02blak#page/358/mode/1up }} It was decommissioned in 1905, when the harbour was expanded and the current black-and-white striped pier-head light was constructed. Red Acre lighthouse was left standing, however, to serve as a daymark, until 1940 when the whole structure was swiftly demolished in case it should serve to assist enemy navigators.{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Robin |title=Lighthouses of the North East Coast |year=2014 |publisher=Halsgrove |location=Wellington, Somerset}}

A steel statue, 1101 (locally also known as Tommy) by local artist Ray Lonsdale, commemorating World War One and initially erected temporarily for three months, was the subject of a local fund-raising drive in 2014 to retain it on the town's seafront.{{cite news |title=Seaham Tommy 1101: Town raises funds to buy sculpture |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-28493552 |access-date=1 September 2014 |work=BBC News - Tyne & Wear |publisher=BBC |date=26 July 2014}}

The open area at the north end of Seaham on the B1287 adjacent to the Seaham Hall Beach Car Park has been designated a Mole Sanctuary{{cite web | title = MoleSanctuary | url = https://englandsnortheast.co.uk/seaham/ }} with a plaque stating "Famous Moles" added to the carpark road sign. The history of this designation is uncertain though a high number of mole hills are observable.

{{gallery |align=center |width=150

|File:Dalden Tower - geograph.org.uk - 314729.jpg|Dalden Tower, in nearby Dalden Dene

|File:Rova at Seaham Lighthouse - IMO 8521490 (5076588514).jpg|Lighthouse on the harbour breakwater

|File:Marquis Point (former Londonderry Offices), Seaham - geograph.org.uk - 1529306.jpg|The former Londonderry Offices

|File:Vane Tempest Colliery interpretive sculpture, Seaham - geograph.org.uk - 1707166.jpg|Artwork on the site of Vane Tempest Colliery

|File:The Parish Of St John Church - geograph.org.uk - 41409.jpg|St John's Church, in the town centre

|File:The rear of Seaham Hall Hotel - geograph.org.uk - 1529768.jpg|Seaham Hall, viewed from the south

|File:Statue of Tommy, Seaham.jpg|Tommy statue by local artist, Ray Lonsdale

||Famous Moles Sign|File:Famous Moles, Seaham Hall Car Park.jpg|Famous Moles sign on B1287 near Seaham Hall}}

Between 1929 and 1935, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Seaham (the defunct constituency which covered the area now renamed Easington) was Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.

Easington constituency has only ever returned Labour candidates to Parliament,{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/constituency/897/easington |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140528060337/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/constituency/897/easington |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 May 2014 |title=Constituency profile: Easington |access-date=13 May 2014 |publisher=The Guardinan }}

and at the 2010 General Election, Labour candidate Grahame Morris was elected with a majority of 14,982{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/results/constituency/b49.stm |title=Election 2010 – Easington |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |access-date=19 April 2013}} votes.

Seaham has also produced several able footballers, some of whom have gone on to play for the local team, Sunderland, such as Richie Pitt and Gary Rowell. Terry Fenwick and Brian Marwood played for England, with the latter, on retirement from football, working as a commentator for Sky Sports.

Paul Gascoigne also lived in Seaham in the late 1990s, while playing for Middlesbrough.

Other notable residents include:

• Baritone Sir Thomas Allen was born in Seaham in 1944
• Martin Brammer, musician
• Bob Fox, musician
• Elizabeth Sterling Haynes (born in Seaham in 1897), Canadian theatre activist
• Janie Jones, singer
• William McNally, Victoria Cross winner
• Ian Pattison, cricketer
• Agony aunt and author Denise Robertson lived in the town for many years
• Alex Russell, former professional footballer
• Peter Willey, Northamptonshire and England cricketer, went to Seaham Secondary School

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Town of Seaham.

{{Expand list|date=August 2022}}

• The 4th Regiment Royal Artillery: 23 July 2022.{{cite web |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/20285153.freedom-seaham-4th-regiment-royal-artillery/ |title=Freedom of Seaham for 4th Regiment Royal Artillery |last=Havery |first=Gavin |date=18 July 2022 |website=The Northern Echo |access-date=25 July 2022 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/20442701.watch-parade-held-regiment-receives-freedom-seaham-award/ |title=WATCH: Parade held as regiment receives Freedom of Seaham award |last=Larman |first=Connor |date=24 July 2022 |website=The Northern Echo |access-date=25 July 2022 }}

• Seaton Sluice
• South Shields
• Seaburn
• Seaton Carew
• Saltburn

{{Reflist|2}}

{{commons category|Seaham}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090808173135/http://www.seahammarina.co.uk/ Seaham Marina Independent Information Website]
• [http://www.east-durham.co.uk/ The history of Seaham and surrounding towns and villages, Great picture archive]
• [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/places/places_features/seaham/index.shtml BBC Wear – Seaham stories and pictures]
• [http://www.seaham.gov.uk/ Seaham council]
• [http://www.east-durham.co.uk/ Seaham history project]
• [https://east-durham.co.uk/abrief-history-of-seaham/ A brief history of Seaham]
• [https://east-durham.co.uk/children-in-the-mines/ Children in the Mines]
• [https://east-durham.co.uk/seaham-colliery/ Seaham colliery]
• [https://east-durham.co.uk/seaham-colliery-disaster/ Seaham Colliery Disaster]
• [https://www.flickr.com/groups/seahamharbour/ Flickr Group, Images of Seaham]
• [http://www.seaham-hall.com/History.asp?tid=2&mid=13 History of Seaham Hall]
• [http://www.seaham.com/ Seaham Harbour Online]
• [http://www.seaham.i12.com/sos/disaster.html Seaham Lifeboat Disaster]
• Tide times for Seaham from [http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast_and_sea/tide_tables/4/189/ BBC], [http://www.ukho.gov.uk/easytide/EasyTide/ShowPrediction.aspx?PortID=0189&PredictionLength=7 Easytide], and [https://www.tidetimes.org.uk/seaham-tide-times Tide Times]
• [https://east-durham.co.uk/george-elmy-lifeboat-disaster/ The George Elmy Disaster].
• [http://www.dawdoncollieryremembered.uk/ http://www.dawdoncollieryremembered.uk/]

{{Coastal settlements

|place = County Durham

|settlement = Seaham

|anticlockwise = Ryhope, Tyne and Wear

|clockwise = Dawdon, County Durham }}

{{Durham}}

{{Civil parishes in County Durham}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Towns in County Durham

Category:Populated coastal places in County Durham

Category:Civil parishes in County Durham