'Quebec' is a small village in
County Durham, in the
north east of
England. Once a
mining village, it is situated 10 km (6 miles) west of the city of
Durham, and close to the villages of
Esh,
Cornsay Colliery,
Esh Winning, and
Langley Park.
The
Roman road known as
Dere Street passes through the village on its way from
Yorkshire to
Hadrian's Wall via the
Roman fort at
Lanchester. A short distance north of the village passes the
River Browney, a
tributary of the
Wear. Quebec has a
public house (the ''Hamsteels Inn'') and a
church.
Geography and administration
Civic history
Quebec is for all purposes (
historic,
ceremonial and
administrative) located in County Durham.
Quebec is located in the
Derwentside district of County Durham. It is in the
Esh ward, which as of 2005 is represented on the District Council by Gordon Coulson, Henry Guildford (both
Labour), and Wallace Tyrie (Independent), and on the County Council by Joseph Armstrong (Labour) It is part of the
North West Durham parliamentary
constituency, which as of 2005 is represented in
parliament by
Hilary Armstrong (Labour). It is in the
North East England region, which serves as a constituency for the
European Parliament.
The local
police force is
Durham Constabulary. Quebec is in the Derwentside division.
Location
★
Grid reference:
★ Latitude and longitude: (54.78, −1.72)
★ Elevation: 200 m (650 feet)
★ Road access: Minor roads off B6301 and B6302
★ Rail access:
Durham, 10 km (6 miles) by road
★ Nearest large village:
Esh Winning, 3 km (2 miles)
★ Nearest city:
Durham, 10 km (6 miles)
Etymology
The village takes its unusual name from the more famous
Canadian city of
Quebec. The fields in the area were enclosed in 1759, the year Quebec was captured from
France. It was common at the time for fields distant from their home farm to be given the names of foreign lands, and cases where these names have come to be applied to whole villages are numerous throughout the North East.¹ England has another
Quebec, in
Sussex.
References
# Simpson, David. "
Place names and their meanings". ''North East England History Pages''. Retrieved 10 January 2005.
External link
★
Aerial photograph from Multimap