In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Consett like this:
CONSETT, a township and a chapelry in Lanchester parish, Durham. The township bears also the name of Conside-cum-Knitsley; lies at the terminus of the Lanchester branch of the Northeastern railway, near Shotley-Bridge, on the river Derwent, 8½ miles N of Wolsingham; and has a post office under Gateshead. Acres, 2, 617. Real property, £52, 239; of which £34, 700 are in iron-works, and £1, 000 in mines. Pop., 4, 953. Houses, 823. This place, besides having very extensive iron-works of its own, is the centre of a great coal mining and iron-working region, including Blackhill, Leadgate, Towlaw, Ebchester, Lanchester, Medomsley, Crook, Blanchland, and other places; and it publishes a weekly newspaper. ...
-The chapelry was constituted in 1862; and is more extensive than the township. Post town, Consett, under Gateshead. Pop., about 5, 500. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value, £300.* Patron, alternately the Crown and the Bishop. There are two Methodist chapels.
Although the Bartholomew and Imperial gazetteers both describe Berry Edge as being east of Leadgate, both the Ordnance Survey First Series one-inch map and the six-inch map of 1862 clearly name the main settlement of what is now Consett as "Berry Edge", with the name "Consett" attached only to the iron works and, further west, Consett Hall.
Consett through time
A Vision of Britain through Time includes a large library of local statistics for administrative units. For the best overall sense of how the area containing Consett has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Derwentside. More detailed statistical data are available under Units and statistics, which includes both administrative units covering Consett and units named after it.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Consett, in Derwentside and County Durham | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/868
Date accessed: 18th May 2013
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