History of Seaham
Seaham or Seaham Harbour as it is often known lies on the North Sea coast of Durham. Although most of the present village developed in the 19th century as it grew as an important harbour, it has much older roots.
The earliest occupation in the area dates to the Mesolithic period, when the first settlers may have had a temporary settlement close to the sea. Their simple flint tools have been found in several places in the area. At this period people found their food by hunting wild animals and gathering wild food from nature. Coastal sites were particularly important as there would be shellfish, fish and seabirds all year round. Many other similar coastal settlement sites have been found along the coastlines of Durham and Northumberland.
Despite this evidence for the very earliest prehistoric occupants, we know less about other periods of prehistory in Seaham. Farming would probably have begun to be carried out in the Neolithic and Bronze Age, although no remains from this period have survived. I
It is only in the Roman period that we have more evidence. A number of Roman coins have been discovered. A quern and pottery has been found when extending the town cemetery, suggesting that there may be a Roman settlement nearby.
There was certainly a settlement at Seaham in the early medieval period. Seaham Village is first noted in a land grant by the Anglo-Saxon king Athelstane to the Church of St. Cuthbert in AD 933 and the name Seaham meaning 'homestead by the sea' in Old English was first recorded in AD1050. There is also an early medieval cemetery near the church. Human bones have been found near the church since the middle of the 18th century, when burials were first reported in the area to the north of St Mary's church. The site was explored by archaeologists in 1997. When the ten burials found were dated by Carbon 14 dating to the period AD660-880. Records of burial mounds in the area suggest that there may also have been earlier burials. Further excavations were made in 1999. Two of the burials found were placed face down. Another was in a crouched position. Three were found with the remains of wooden coffins.
The village continued as a farming community throughout the middle-ages and into the 19th century. For much of this time it fulfilled a role as an estate and parish centre. By the middle of the 19th century developments initiated by the Londonderry family owners of Seaham Hall lead to the removal of the last few houses in the village to provide a wider landscape setting for the newly rebuilt and extended Hall. It was at Seaham Hall that the poet Byron met and married Isabella Millbanke in 1815. The marriage was not a happy one and the unfortunate wife was later ridiculed in one of Byron's poems as `Lady Millpond'. Byron does not seem to have enjoyed his time at Seaham as in a letter to his friend Moore he complained; "Upon this dreary coast we have nothing but county meetings and shipwrecks; and I have this day dined upon fish, which probably dined upon the crews of several colliers lost in the late gales".
Following the demolition of Glebe cottage the last surviving part of Rectory Farm in 1964, today the village is composed of only Seaham Hall, St.Mary's Church, The Rectory (Greystones) the Hall Lodge and Hall Farm a little to the west of the Hall Although the old medieval village of Seaham declined, a new settlement grew nearby. In 1828 work on building the harbour began. Within three years coal was being shipped out. It was the coal trade which led to the success of Seaham. The harbour lay close to the productive East Durham coal fields and soon much coal was being shipped to London. As the new town grew many miners, working in nearby mines, such as Vane-Tempest, lived in the growing number of terraced houses. In 1880 a dreadful mine disaster claimed the lives of 164 miners. Today, although Seaham was badly hit by the post-war decline of the mining industry. However, its sandy beaches are still popular and many people visit the harbour, which is now a tourist attraction rather than being a commercial port.