Ludworth Village Heritage

LUDWORTH Local History Group has compiled a guide to the heritage of this County Durham Village following archaeological work in 197-78. A scatter of flint tools that were found in fields belonging to Tower Farm indicated that there was prehistoric settlement here in the Bronze Age, which precedes the medieval village by 6000 years.

Archaeologists found 11 pieces of worked flint, including one scraper, one knife and three blades on a spot that is underlying the north-eastern edge of the abandoned medieval village.

The village’s name, meaning Ludda’s Land, comes from a Saxon leader who ruled in this area. The de Ludworth Family are the first recorded Lords of the Manor of Ludworth and Walter de Ludworth built the original manor house around 1209. The Prince Bishop of Durham gave Thomas Holden a licence to fortify his manor house by building a tower.

Ludworth Tower was 9m X 5m and three stories high. It was lighted by narrow casement windows with the two upper chambers being reached by a spiral staircase.

Archaeology has retrieved pottery that proves the existence of the medieval village between 1200 and 1400, though some pieces have been discovered that date back to the 10th or 11th Centuries. There has no pottery from the 15th Century found and it is known that the village was abandoned by 1486.

Fieldwork has proved that the village extended from Ludworth Tower on the west to Tower Farm to the east. It is believed that the village was originally built in two rows as one document refers to North Row and there are extensive earthworks south of Tower Farm. Substantia earthworks beyond the village’s western boundary are thought to be the remains of a water mill.

As in so many parts of the North-east, coal brought prosperity to Ludworth in the early 19th Century, coal brought prosperity to Ludworth in the early 19th Century. The Thornley Coal Company began mining at the Ludworth Colliery and miners travelled with the families from across Britain, seeking employment.

The current playing fields and the Pine Wood area cover the site of the rows of colliery houses that were built by the Thornley Coal Company.

Ludworth had three public houses, two chapels and one church in addition to the scout group, WI, British Legion and the Working Men’s Club during its boom times.

The village lies about four miles east of Durham City.