Birtley

History

Birtley was historically a township and chapelry in the ancient parish of Chester-le-Street, in 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so Birtley became a civil parish. In 1894 Birtley and the adjoining areas of Barley Mow, Vigo and Portobello became part of Chester-le-Street Rural District under County Durham until being moved into Tyne and Wear under the Borough of Gateshead in 1974. It forms an urban area with nearby Chester-le-Street, Washington, Houghton le Spring, Hetton le Hole and Sunderland as part of Wearside. Birtley was a civil parish with a parish council (which also covered the adjoining neighbourhoods) until 1 April 2006, after a local referendum agreed to abolish it. The former parish had a population of 11,377 in 2001. The ward of Birtley in the Gateshead MBC had a population of 8,367 in the 2011 Census. On 3 July 2010 Raoul Moat shot two people in Birtley at the start of the 2010 Northumbria Police manhunt. He went on to shoot a police officer before committing suicide. The manhunt lasted almost seven days, and was the largest in modern British history, involving 160 armed officers and armed response vehicles, many seconded for the operation from other police forces. In September 2024, Prince William visited Birtley as a visit to Birtley Swimming Centre for its reopening.

Most-observed species

• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  15,960
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  13,379
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  13,052
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,532
• Herring Gull

  Larus argentatus Pontoppidan, 1763 · Aves
  12,375
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,652
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,056
• Western Jackdaw

  Coloeus monedula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,321

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2020-01-23
  1 km NW of Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom
• M 3.6 — 2011-01-03
  5 km S of Masham, United Kingdom
• M 2.5 — 2008-05-28
  12 km WNW of Penrith, United Kingdom