IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Hall Lane, HOUGHTON LE SPRING, DH5 8DA

New bungalows being built in Houghton-le-Spring.

New bungalows being built in Houghton-le-Spring. These new homes are designed to be energy-efficient. This includes installing large solar panels to help generate power.

Houghton Hall is located on Hall Lane, Houghton-le-Spring, and can be found by walking east up Church Street and across the pedestrian bridge over the A690. The building, which dates from the 1600s, has had many uses over the years - including Mansion House, Social Club and YMCA - but is currently home to the Shipman family who have diligently renovated the much-neglected building. Former residents included Captain Robert Hutton and Sir George Elliot, Bart. The old Hall is said to be haunted by the ghosts of the White Lady, Elizabeth Elliot, who died in a fire there, and the spirit of Captain Hutton.

Newly-built houses on Kingsway in Houghton-le-Spring. These houses have been built on the site of older housing which had been cleared. The new buildings are designed to be energy-efficient, with solar panels clearly visible on the roofs.

The A690 dual carriageway cuts through Houghton-le-Spring. It has grade-separated junctions with other roads - these are junctions where traffic leaves or joins the dual carriageway using slip roads, so that the junctions themselves aren't directly on the main road. This enables traffic on the main road to pass through without being hindered by other roads crossing. In this image, the main road is in the centre with a slip road on either side.

New homes being built in Houghton-le-Spring. The houses on the right of the image are already occupied, while to the left of the image, the new buildings are not yet completed. This housing development has been designed to be energy-efficient. Notice the solar panels on the roofs of the houses.

The A690 Durham to Sunderland road climbs 40m in 2Km up the Magnesian limestone escarpment, effectively cutting the town of Houghton-le-Spring in two. From Rainton Bridge where the road crosses the valley on a viaduct, it successively passes through a cutting (seen here), over another viaduct and finally in a cutting up to the top of the hill.

Church Street in the centre of Houghton-le-Spring. A much older image of the same street can be found on the Houghton Heritage website - http://www.houghtonlespring.org.uk/photos/pics/churchstreet05.htm

Single-storey houses awaiting demolition. These homes on Hall Lane were part of a larger estate, parts of which are being cleared so that new homes can be built.