A selection of aerial photographs of Hartlepool and the surrounding area.

The Borough Buildings, comprising Public Offices, Police Station and a covered market, opened in 1866. They were built on land known as 'Johnnny's Close', in Middlegate, on Hartlepool Headland. The Borough Hall currently hosts a wide range of entertainments and has rooms that can be hired for meetings and functions.

For centuries the Ferry was the quickest way to travel between the Headland and Middleton. The earliest written record of a ferry at Hartlepool dates back to 1600. At its peak it carried thousands of workers to the shipyards at Middleton.
In 1918, Hartlepool Corporation bought the ferry rights from the Hartlepool Ferry & Harbour Company for £500.
It finally closed in the 1950s, when more convenient ways of travelling made it redundant.

Street in old Hartlepool which is at the west end of  High Street

St. Hilda's Church was built between 1100 and 1200 although an earlier church was on the site from AD 640.

The first Roman Catholic chapel on the Headland opened in Prissick Street in 1834 and St. Mary's Church was opened in 1851.

Old Hartlepool is the original fishing village which existed before West Hartlepool. The origins of ancient town of Hartlepool (Old Hartlepool) can be traced back to ca 647 AD. In the 8th century AD, Bede mentions it (“heopru” – the place where harts (deer) drink). The record goes blank then, and does not reappear until the 12th century. In 1201 King John confirmed a charter owned by Robert Bruce V. The name “Brus” or “Bruce” is still associated with parts of the town.

The fine abbey church of St. Hilda is mainly Early English, dating from 1185, on the site of an abbey which flourished as early as 658 AD. St. Hilda’s still flourishes and stands in a prominent place on the Hartlepool headland, and nearby the ancient town walls (completed ca 1322 as a defence against the twin enemies of the Scots and the sea) can still be seen.

On 8th February 1201, the town was granted its first royal charter by King John. A second royal charter was granted in 1593 by Queen Elizabeth (the First).

Hartlepool was visited several times by John Wesley on his preaching tours … he was certainly in the town in 1757 and 1786.

Old Hartlepool continued its independent existence until 1967, when local government reorganisation created the merger with its young neighbour, West Hartlepool.