Whickham

Whickham, an urban district in the Chester-le-Street parliamentary division of Durham, England, 4 m. S.W. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, near the river Derwent. Pop. (1901) 12,852. There is a station (Swalwell) on a branch of the NorthEastern railway. The church of St Mary has Norman and Transitional portions, and in the neighbourhood is the mansion of Gibside, of the 17th century. The demesne borders the Derwent, and is of great beauty, part being laid out in formal gardens and straight avenues. It contains a lofty Doric column and a detached chapel and banqueting hall, and in the vicinity are picturesque fragments of the monastic chapel of Friarside, and of the manor house of Hollinside. Wickham is one of the centres of a coal-mining district, the mines employing the majority of the industrial population; but there are also iron, steel, and chemical works.