The name of Pittington, east of Durham City, often conjures up images of pit heaps and coal mines, but in fact it goes back to Anglo-Saxon times when a settlement was established here by someone called Pidda.

Pittington lies near the western edge of the magnesium limestone escarpment formed by the creamy-coloured stone upon which grows the lush green grass that dominates the eastern coastal region from Hartlepool to South Shields.

The old farming village of Pittington, or Low Pittington as it is now generally known, sits beneath Pittington Hill, which provides excellent views of the surrounding countryside.

The village was known in earlier times as Piddington Towne, suggesting it was an important medieval settlement.

It has a strongly rural feel that is often missing from larger Durham colliery towns and villages. Nevertheless, there was once much coal mining in the Pittington area, particularly in the 19th Century.

Just to the north of Pittington stood the Lord Seaham Pit and the Belmont Colliery and to the east there was extensive coal mining activity out towards Hetton.

To the south there was a Lambton colliery, at Littletown, while Pittington Colliery itself lay to the south of the village.

This 19th Century colliery gave rise to the larger mining village of New Pittington, now called High Pittington.

On the edge of High Pittington is Hallgarth or Pittington Hallgarth, known in earlier times as Kirkpiddington.

It is a shrunken medieval village which includes earthworks of a manor house that belonged to the Priors of Durham Cathedral. This was built around 1258 and was in use until the 16th Century.

It should not be confused with the buildings of the old Hallgarth Farmhouse, now often known as Hallgarth Manor.

The most important historic building at Hallgarth is, however, the Church of St Laurence, sometimes called Pittington Church. It has medieval origins, and was described by the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as one of the most exciting pieces of architecture in the county.

It was almost certainly built by Christian, the master architect of the powerful 12th Century Bishop of Durham called Hugh Du Puiset, or Bishop Pudsey for short. Pudsey's architects were also responsible for the Galilee Chapel of Durham Cathedral, where the tomb of the Venerable Bede now lies.

The Galilee is often noted for the Moorish influence in its architecture that seems to have taken its inspiration from Islamic designs in North Africa. The similarities of St Laurence to the cathedral's Galilee chapel are quite striking.

In the 19th Century, Hallgarth gained a great deal of notoriety when it was the scene of a murder that captured the imagination of the people of County Durham and even produced its own ballad. The murder took place at Hallgarth water mill, which stood on a stream about half a mile to the south west of Hallgarth on the road to Sherburn not all that far from the eastern terminus of Renny's Lane.

On Sunday, August 14 1830, the mill owners were away visiting friends in Durham. At 6pm, one of the mill servants, a 19-year-old called Thomas Clarke, turned up at a household in Sherburn village about half a mile south of the mill.

He seemed distressed and claimed that six Irishmen had broken into the mill and ransacked the house for its money.

Clarke claimed that he escaped but not before the intruders had assaulted him with a poker and murdered an unfortunate servant girl, Mary Ann Westropp, who was also aged about 19.

The girl's body was found in the mill kitchen with several wounds including a cut to her throat from ear to ear.

Money appeared to have been stolen from the household and it seemed that a whitewash tool had been used to break into the drawers containing money.

However, Clarke's room had recently been whitewashed and in that room was found a blunt piece of metal that was very likely the tool used in the robbery.

Suspicions arose that Clarke was the murderer, particularly as it emerged that he had no signs of an attack upon him.

Moreover, Clarke and the girl had been seen together earlier in the day by the residents of Sherburn and he had apparently been overheard to comment on some "saucy remark" that she had made.

Crowds turned out for the trial at Durham on February 14, 1831 and, despite Clarke's plea of innocence, he was found guilty.

On Monday, February 28, he was hanged on the order of the judge. His last words were: "Gentleman I am innocent, I am going to suffer for another man's crime"

Ballad that recalled a murder most foul

The Hallgarth murder became the subject of a ballad first published in the Durham Advertiser shortly after Clarke's execution. Here is an extract:

At Hallgath Mill near

Pittington

Was done a murder foul

The female weak- the

murderer strong

No pity for her soul.

Her skull was broke, her

throat was cut,

Her struggle was soon

o'er;

And down she fell, and

fetched a sigh,

And weltered in her gore.

Her fellow servant,

Thomas Clarke,

To Sherburn slowly sped,

And told a tale that

strangers six

Had done the dreadful

deed.

Now, woe betide thee,

Thomas Clarke!

For this thy coward lie;

A youth like thee for girl

like her

Would fight till he did

die.

"They've killed the lass,"

it was his tale,

"and nearly have killed

me";

But when upon him folk

did look,

No bruises could they see.