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Old Cassop
Old Cassop is a hamlet in the civil parish of Cassop-cum-Quarrington, in County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the south-east of Durham. Old Cassop is about a quarter of a mile south of the A181 road and is accessible only by an unclassified single-track road. In 1981 it became a conservation area to preserve its character, it was reviewed in 2009. The conservation area includes the fields that lie between the village and the A181.
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776 m
Cassop Vale
Cassop Vale is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham, England. It lies between the villages of Bowburn and Cassop, 7 km south-east of the centre of Durham..
The site is important as one of the larger areas of grassland developed on magnesium limestone. This rock has a restricted distribution in England and grassland associated with it is confined almost entirely to south-east Tyneside and County Durham, usually in small, scattered patches that are threatened by quarrying and modern agricultural practices.
Habitats at Cassop Vale include grassland, scrub, woodland and wetland, the last fed by spring-lines. The area also includes recolonised open quarries and mine spoil-heaps, which add to the floral diversity. The main grass species on the magnesian limestone is blue moor-grass Sesleria albicans amongst which grow fragrant orchid Gymnadenia conopsea, cowslip, Primula veris, rock rose Helianthemum nummularium, and quaking grass, Briza media. Several rare and local species are present, including globeflower, Trollius europaeus, birds's-eye primrose, Primula farinosa, lesser club-moss, Selaginella selaginoides, and moonwort, Botrychium lunaria. Elsewhere there is neutral grassland with red fescue and such herbs as cat’s-ear, earthnut and knapweed.
The scrub is dominated by hawthorn, gorse and hazel and on the basic soils grow woodruff, dog's mercury and sanicle. The small flushes on the springline are dominated by rushes and sedges, but are also home to marsh valerian, marsh ragwort, ragged robin and northern marsh-orchid. The wetlands are fringed by common spike-rush, soft rush and greater willow-herb.
The site also supports a diverse invertebrate fauna that includes populations of the Durham argus butterfly, Aricia artaxerxes salmacis, and the least minor moth Photedes captiuncula.
1.4 km
Cassop
Cassop (formerly New Cassop) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Cassop-cum-Quarrington, in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. It has a population of about 500 and is located near the city of Durham. A former mining village, mining is no longer the main occupation of Cassop's inhabitants due to extensive mine closure over the last 30 years.
Cassop Primary School is believed to have been the first in the UK to generate some of its own electricity with its own wind turbine which was erected in February 1999.
1.4 km
Cassop-cum-Quarrington
Cassop-cum-Quarrington is a civil parish in County Durham, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 4,735, increasing to 5,219 at the 2011 census.
The parish covers a number of settlements:
Bowburn
Cassop
Old Cassop
Old Quarrington
Parkhill
Tursdale
Unlike the ecclesiastical parish of Cassop-cum-Quarrington with Bowburn, the civil parish does not include Quarrington Hill.
The civil parish was created in 1887 from the townships of Cassop and Quarrington with boundary changes in 1946 and 1953 (the latter changes moved much of the newly built Bowburn Estate into the parish from Whitwell House). Following a residential development at the north-west corner of Bowburn, falling within the Shincliffe parish boundaries, a small adjustment to boundaries was made in 2014 to bring the development wholly within Cassop-cum-Quarrington.
The parish was divided into two wards from the May 2013 elections. The division between the two is marked by the A1(M) motorway.
West Ward, consisting of Bowburn and Tursdale, has 11 councillors
East Ward, consisting of Cassop, Parkhill, Old Cassop and Old Quarrington, has 4 councillors.
As of 2019 the majority of councillors are members of the Labour Party.
1.6 km
Shadforth
Shadforth is a village in County Durham, England, a few miles east of Durham. The historic centre of the village is a conservation area. The population at the 2011 census was 2,118.
Shadforth is also a civil parish that incorporates Ludworth and Sherburn Hill.