There is evidence that the area was occupied in Roman times as vestiges of Roman buildings, coins and artefacts are occasionally found on the beach. Later during the reign of
Henry I, Seaton came into the possession of Robert De Carrowe and the settlement changed its name to Seaton Carrowe. In medieval times salt was extracted from sea water by evaporation and ash from the fuel used to remove the water was dumped on North Gare and now forms a series of grass covered mounds on the golf course. A
Gilbertine priory or cell to
Sempringham Priory was established in the Seaton area although so far no trace has been found. effectively founding Seaton Carew as a seaside resort. Many stayed at the rows of
stucco houses and hotels built along the seafront and around The Green—a turfed square facing the sea. In 1874 the Durham and Yorkshire Golf Club (now
Seaton Carew Golf Club) was founded by Duncan McCuaig, with a 14-hole course on coastal land to the south-east of Seaton Carew. Four holes were added in 1891 and in 1925 further work was carried out with the guidance of renowned golf course designer
Alister MacKenzie. The West Hartlepool Steel and Iron Works is thought to have closed in 1979.
Lighthouse In 1838, under increasing commercial pressure from the docks at
West Hartlepool, the
Tees Navigation Company decided to improve access to the
river Tees by providing a pair of leading lighthouses (navigation light towers) on the coast at Seaton Carew. The Low Light was on what is now Coronation Drive on the sea front at the junction with Lawson Road. The High Light and cottages were inland to the west at the end of Windermere Road, what is now the Longhill Industrial Estate in Hartlepool north of Tees Bay Retail Park. The lighthouse was decommissioned by the Tees Conservancy Commissioners in 1892 and the building is believed to have been demolished in 1902.
20th century An electric tramway track extension from Church Street, Hartlepool to Seaton Carew was opened on 28 March 1902 linking Hartlepool and Seaton Carew. Trams travelled on reserved track along parts of Seaton Carew sea front, operating until 25 March 1927 when the line closed, ending tram transport in the Hartlepools. During a northerly gale in the early hours of 31 January 1907 the cargo steamship SS
Clavering became stranded near North Gare breakwater in the mouth of the river Tees. During a 31-hour joint rescue the Seaton Carew and Hartlepool lifeboats removed a total of 39 people from the vessel—the
RNLI subsequently awarded
Silver Medals to coxswain Shepherd Sotheran and John Franklin, coxswain superintendent of the Seaton Carew Lifeboat. On North Gare at the end of Zinc Works Road was a
zinc smelter built from 1907 to 1908 by the Central Zinc Company. This works imported zinc concentrates – tailings from the
froth flotation process produced at
Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. The mineral was roasted to produce
zinc, lead and silver with
sulphuric acid as one of the by-products.
Brimstone could also be burnt to improve the yield of sulphuric acid. In 1916 the Central Zinc Company sold the works to The Sulphide Corporation. In 1933 the Seaton Carew Zinc and Acid plant was acquired from The Sulphide Corporation by The Imperial Smelting Corporation.
World War One From 1916 to 1919 there was an
RFC /
RAF airstrip on open land to the south of Seaton Carew at the southern end of Brenda Road near what is now Hunter Houses Industrial Estate, and seaplanes (float planes) were kept in Seaton Channel. This was a detachment of No. 36 Home Defence Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps located at RFC Station
Cramlington, in Northumberland charged with the defence of the
North East and
Yorkshire coast. During the First World War a group of four
Zeppelins attacked targets on the northeast coast. After bombing Hartlepool the
L 34 was caught in a searchlight to the west of Hartlepool, and Lieutenant Ian Vernon Pyott the pilot of a BE 2C
biplane from A flight No. 36 Squadron based at Seaton Carew, on seeing the Zeppelin at about ten thousand feet gave chase for five miles, occasionally firing on the craft. The L 34 caught fire and, engulfed in flames, fell into the sea in Tees Bay with the loss of all crew while the other Zeppelins made their escape—flames were seen as far away as
Melton Mowbray. In February 1921 a war memorial in the form of a
Victoria Cross upon a shaft was unveiled and dedicated on The Green.
Inter-war On 26 September 1930 the Danish
schooner Doris was driven towards Longscar Rocks off Hartlepool, dragging her anchors in a gale and heavy seas. Nine of the crew were rescued by the Hartlepool Lifeboat but the
Doris became a total wreck and after salvage its remains are now embedded in the sands at North Gare. In the 1930s, shelters were built for the seaside visitor. Opposite The Green was the North Shelter and behind the bus station the South shelter, both with toilets and a
life guard. Both shelters were demolished towards the end of the 20th Century because of their crumbling condition. During the Second World War defences were put in place on the beach to prevent invasion--barbed wire, mines and sentries.
Post-war In northern Seaton Carew in 1949 a large fire broke out in a timber yard of imported Scandinavian timber intended for making into
pit props for the
Durham Coalfield. This was similar to an event that occurred in 1922. In 1969 the Seaton Carew Conservation Area was created and extended in 1976 and 2002. In recent regeneration work the crumbling sea-front baths and the North and South shelters have been demolished and the bus station renewed. The sea defences to the north have been strengthened with
rock armour on the upper beach to subdue wave action and the promenade has been extended northwards to
Hartlepool Marina.
21st century The area gained press attention in December 2007 when
John Darwin, believed dead since an apparent canoeing accident off Seaton Beach in 2002, walked into a London police station and gave himself up as a missing person, sparking a major fraud investigation by
Cleveland Police. Following these events, a local prankster erected a road sign near the railway station on Seaton Lane saying "Welcome to Seaton Canoe - Twinned with Panama" — it was quickly removed by the less than humorous Hartlepool Town Council.
Administrative history Seaton Carew was historically a
township in the
ancient parish of
Stranton. Such townships were also made
civil parishes from 1866. A
local government district covering the more urban north of the township, including the village, was created in 1866, governed by a local board. The district was abolished in 1883, being absorbed into the neighbouring district of
West Hartlepool, which was subsequently incorporated as a
borough in 1887. Under the
Local Government Act 1894 parishes were no longer allowed to straddle borough boundaries, and so the civil parish of Seaton Carew was reduced to just cover the part of the old township within the borough of West Hartlepool; the more rural southern part of the township was made a separate parish called Seaton. As an
urban parish, Seaton Carew did not have its own parish council, but was directly administered by the borough council. The parish of Seaton Carew was abolished on 1 April 1921 when the urban parishes within the borough were merged into a single parish. In 1911 the parish had a population of 2265. It is now in the
unparished area of Hartlepool. The rural parish of Seaton continued to exist until 1967 when it and West Hartlepool merged with the older borough of Hartlepool. ==Economy==