Quebec, County Durham

Quebec is a small village in County Durham, in the north east of England. Once a mining village, it is situated 10 km (6 miles) west of the city of Durham, and close to the villages of Esh, Cornsay Colliery, Esh Winning, and Langley Park. The village has a public house, the Hamsteels Inn, a hotel, Hamsteels Hall, a church, St. John the Baptist Hamsteels, a village hall, a playground and a used car dealership.

Administration

Civic

Quebec is for all purposes (historic, ceremonial and administrative) located in County Durham. The local police force is Durham Constabulary.

Political

Quebec is located in the Derwentside district of County Durham. It is in the Esh ward, which as of 2005 is represented on Derwentside District Council by Gordon Coulson (Labour), Henry Guildford (Labour), and Wallace Tyrie (Independent), and on Durham County Council by Joseph Armstrong (Labour). It is part of the North West Durham parliamentary constituency, which as of 2005 is represented in Parliament by Hilary Armstrong (Labour). It is in the North East England region, which serves as a constituency for the European Parliament.

Geography

* Grid reference: gbmappingsmall|NZ181436
* Latitude and longitude: coord|54|47|N|1|43|W|region:GB (54.78, −1.72)
* Elevation: 200 m (650 feet)
* Road access: Minor roads off B6301 and B6302
* Rail access: Durham, 10 km (6 miles) by road
* Nearest large village: Esh Winning, 3 km (2 miles)
* Nearest city: Durham, 10 km (6 miles)

History

The Roman road known as Dere Street passes through the village on its way from Yorkshire to Hadrian's Wall via the Roman fort at Lanchester.

Etymology

The village takes its unusual name from the more famous Canadian city of Quebec. The fields in the area were enclosed in 1759, the year Quebec was captured from France. It was common at the time for fields distant from their home farm to be given the names of foreign lands, and cases where these names have come to be applied to whole villages are numerous throughout the North East.¹ Just several miles from Quebec, close to the town of Bishop Auckland, is another village named after a Canadian city, Toronto, County Durham.

port

In 1902, after the village's Hamsteels Rugby Club were beaten 77-0 in a match at Quebec against Hartlepool Rovers, the West Hartlepool Mail's Rugby Correspondent described Quebec as an 'outlandish place'. Today the village only plays football and boasts three football teams, Quebec Steelers FC, the Hamsteels Inn FC and Quebec Rangers FC. Two of these sides play at Quebec's Hamsteels Colliery Welfare Ground, while the later is based in nearby Esh Winning. A 20 year old Chris Waddle was working in Quebec's former meat factory, Hamsteels Frozen Foods, when he was signed by Newcastle United in 1980 from nearby Northern League side Tow Law Town for £1,000.

References

# Simpson, David. " [http://www.thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk/Place%20Name%20Meanings%20P%20to%20S.htm Place names and their meanings] ". "North East England History Pages". Retrieved 10 January 2005.

External links

* [http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=418099&Y=544197&width=700&height=410&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=freegaz&pc=&zm=0&scale=10000&down.x=280&down.y=6 Aerial photograph] from Multimap