Faverdale is a suburb of Darlington in County Durham, England. It is situated in the north west of Darlington, north of Cockerton. The area was rural until the 20th century, a large wagon works was established in the 1920s, with housing development starting at the same time. The wagon works closed in the 1960s and further industrial and commercial development took place expanding from the brownfield site. As of 2012 the area has a mixture of industrial, residential and rural land use.
Geography
The modern suburb is bounded by the former Stockton and Darlington Railway (now part of the Tees Valley Line, also known as the Bishop Auckland branch line) to the east, and by the defunct Darlington and Barnard Castle Railway (later known as 'Darlington & Tebay branch') to the south. The A1(M) road marks the extreme western fringe of the area. The area is between above sea level.
As of 2012 the area contain a mixture of housing (southwest), industrial estates (southeast), and farmland (north).
History
There is evidence for prehistoric, Iron Age and medieval activity at Faverdale. In the early 2000s evidence of occupation in the early Romano-British period was discovered – a complex of Roman-style buildings, including a two-room building heated by a hypocaust and with painted wall plaster. The complex probably included a residential villa in an area that has now been completely ploughed out. The settlement was the site of an enterprise manufacturing mortaria and probably other coarse wares; the mortaria are stamped with the name ANAVS and most known examples are from the fort at Coria near Hadrian's Wall. The pottery enterprise may have started as early as the decade 110-120, shortly before the construction of the Wall itself. Evidence of textile working, smithing, and bronze working was also found. ANAVS himself is likely to have been an immigrant, not a native of the area. The importation of Samian pottery to the site peaked 135-150, and the hypocaust was out of use by the end of the century.
The deserted medieval village of Whessoe was located on the northern fringe of the modern ward of Faverdale, between High Faverdale and Whessoe Grange farms; earthwork remains as well as medieval building remnants existed until demolition/bulldozing in the 1950s.
Up to the mid twentieth century the area was completely rural; there were dwellings at Faverdale House (or Hall, plus farms at Middle and High Faverdale),