Washington

Railway Sleepers Washington Tyne and Wear

Approximate Population: 60,000

Washington is a town within the metropolitan borough of the City of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, England, although it has been in the Newcastle Upon Tyne postcode district since the 19th Century. Historically part of County Durham, it joined a new county in 1974 with the creation of Tyne and Wear. Washington is located geographically at an equal distance from the centres of Newcastle, Durham and Sunderland, hence it has close ties to all three cities.

Washington was designated a new town in 1964 and expanded dramatically by the creation of new villages and the absorption of areas of Chester-le-Street to house overspill population from surrounding cities.

One of the more popular origin theories is that Washington is in fact derived from the Old English verb wascan (said wosh-an) and the noun dūn meaning “hill”; thus making the name Wascandūn, meaning “washing hill”. This theory likely originates from the proximity between the river Wear and the actual Anglo-Saxon hall of the time (most likely where Washington Old Hall stands today).

This idea is not backed by linguistic evidence. Combining the two Old English words “wascan” and “dūn” would actually have meant “washed hill” and not “washing hill”. Also, the Old English “dūn” meant a range of gently rolling hills, as evidenced by the naming of the North and South Downs in southern England.

Washington is located on the mothballed Leamside Line and, until the mid-1960s, had regular passenger services to Sunderland, Teesside and Newcastle upon Tyne, via Pelaw Junction. The presence of the railway was a major factor in selecting the Washington site, but the passenger service was a victim of the Beeching Axe less than two years later. Freight services continued until 1991 and the line is currently out of use, with all major infrastructure extant. Washigton is therefore one of the largest towns in Britain without an operational railway station (see Dudley, Newcastle under Lyme, Gosport and Corby).