By Chris Guy posted on 31 Jan 2015 in Urban

Peterlee is a New Town in County Durham in the North East of England. The town is named after Peter Lee the miner’s leader and county councillor.

Built in the 1950s under the New Towns Act of 1946 the town originally housed coal miners and their families. George Grenfell-Baines was the primary architect on the project, having replaced Berthold Lubetkin who resigned from the Peterlee Development Corporation in 1950, his ambitious plans for tower blocks having been rejected as unsuitable for the geology of the area which had been weakened by mining works.

I wanted to visit the town for two reasons, firstly as part of my project to photograph all of the designated New Towns in the UK and secondly to visit Victor Pasmore’s Apollo Pavilion – a brutalist public artwork that dates from 1969, to celebrate the Apollo missions and moon landing of that year.

I drove up to Peterlee on a bright February weekend in 2014 and had a day to wander around with my camera. I spilt the walks into three;

  • A three mile loop around the housing estate around Passfield Way, starting and ending at Our Lady Of The Rosary church
  • Sunny Bunts and the Apollo Pavilion
  • The Town Centre and Castle Dean Shopping Centre

Passfield Way

Modern brick church with tall vertical windows and a slim spire, labelled 'Our Lady of the Rosary', set on a grassy slope under a clear blue sky.

Our Lady Of The Rosary Church

Two low-rise brick residential blocks and a row of terraced houses around a grassy verge, beside a quiet suburban road under a clear blue sky.

Peterlee housing designed by George Grenfell-Baines

Silhouetted houses and lampposts on a quiet residential street; low, bright sun reflecting off wet road and pavements.

Oakerside Drive Silhouette

Brick suburban bungalow with ivy-clad walls, two diamond-paned windows and a sloping green lawn in front, under a clear blue winter sky.

Peterlee housing designed by George Grenfell-Baines

Two three-storey brick apartment blocks with flat roofs and a recessed central section, facing a quiet road and grassy verge beneath a clear blue sky, streetlamp to the right.

Peterlee housing designed by George Grenfell-Baines

Two brown housing blocks with a white stairwell face a wide grassy green under a clear blue sky, with red‑brick houses and sparse trees beyond.

Peterlee housing designed by George Grenfell-Baines

Low brick pub called The Moorcock with a cream extension, signpost by the lawn and a clear blue sky.

The Moorcock Public House, Peterlee

Leafless trees cast long shadows across a sunlit grassy slope, with a distant church topped by a slender spire under a clear blue sky.

Our Lady Of The Rosary Church

Sunny Blunts and the Apollo Pavilion

Black-and-white photo of a Brutalist concrete sculpture with walkways over a small watercourse in a residential estate, with steps, railings and grassy banks.

The Apollo Pavilion by Victor Passmore

Brutalist concrete structure of cantilevered geometric blocks over a riverbank, with railings and a bench under a clear blue sky.

The Apollo Pavilion by Victor Passmore

Black-and-white photo of a brutalist concrete sculpture with stacked, cantilevered rectangular balconies and round recessed lights, showing weathered, textured surfaces.

The Apollo Pavilion by Victor Passmore

Two-storey boxy family house with dark timber cladding, large front windows, central door and small lawn, set in a suburban neighbourhood under bare winter trees.

Sunny Blunts

Brutalist concrete sculpture of interlocking blocks, raised on pillars above a waterway, with metal railings and grassy foreground under a clear blue sky.

The Apollo Pavilion by Victor Passmore

A small brick bungalow with a white caravan parked beside it on a grassy lawn, neighbouring houses and a trampoline under a clear blue sky.

Sunny Blunts

A block of flats stands beside a grassy slope and a line of bare trees under a clear blue winter sky.

Oakerside Drive, Peterlee

The Town Centre and Castle Dean Shopping Centre

Quiet pedestrian shopping street flanked by brick buildings, shuttered shopfronts and 'To Let' signs, with a bench and pale sky above.

Castle Dene Shopping Centre

Town centre plaza with a large brick civic building and clock tower above shops (Poundworld, Wilkinson), benches and an open paved square beneath a clear sky.

Lee House, Castle Dene Shopping Centre

Empty rooftop car park with marked bays and lamp posts, overlooking a large brick civic building and distant shops under a clear blue sky.

Lee House, Peterlee

Brick civic building with repeating vertical windows and a tall clock tower, clock face near the top, set against a clear blue sky.

Lee House, Castle Dene Shopping Centre

Brick church with a pitched tiled roof and tall green spire against a clear blue sky; rounded apse and bare trees in front.

St Cuthbert’s Church, Peterlee

Low-angle view of a church with a tall green spire, a cross on the front façade and a sunlit sky above, warm light flaring over the tiled roof.

St Cuthbert’s Church, Peterlee

It was a beautiful day to be out shooting and I would have loved to have spent more time exploring the area but as it was I needed to head back down south. However there are more New Towns in the North East (Washington, Cramlington, Killingworth and Newton Aycliffe) so I do indeed plan to return.

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new town

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