PLANS to bring a town's hidden history to light have been unveiled.

Chester-le-Street Heritage Group, the district council and other organisations have been working for months to develop a heritage trail through the town.

In Saxon times, Chester-le-Street was the capital of the county and the church's administration centre for the North-East. Pilgrims came from across Europe to see St Cuthbert's body, which was kept in St Mary's and St Cuthbert's Church, before being moved to Durham.

It was also the place where the Gospels were translated and before then was believed to be a Roman cavalry base. The town also has Viking and industrial roots.

It is hoped all that rich history will be included in the proposed heritage trail, which will take in most of the town's landmarks, from the viaduct to St Mary's and St Cuthbert's Church.

Chester-le-Street Heritage Group recently gave a public slide show and discussion on the walk in the town's library.

Group secretary Edna Stokoe said about 30 people attended.

She said: "It was a good turn-out and there was a good cross-section of the community, so I hope we might get a few more members."

Mrs Stokoe said the next step will be to get leaflets printed over the next few weeks, which contain the route and town's history. The booklets will be available for tourists and residents at the civic centre and library.

She said: "We hope to have this up and running by summer.

"We're involving both the Hermitage School and Park View Community School, who are designing information boards for sites near the viaduct and near the parish centre."

The heritage group is also trying to raise enough money to place a copy of the Lindisfarne Gospels at St Mary's and St Cuthbert's Church, where they were first translated from Latin into English by Anglo-Saxon monks. It has raised £5,500, but still needs to raise another £1,500.

* On Wednesday, Dr Dorothy Hamilton, from the Workers' Education Association, will be giving a talk on old buildings and families of Chester-le-Street for the heritage group at 7pm in the town's library. Members of the public are welcome.