Newton Aycliffe, United Kingdom

At the 2001 census, Great Aycliffe had a population of 26,385, although in 2007 Great Aycliffe Town Council reported this had risen to 29,000. It is the largest town within the Sedgefield constituency. Within a radius of 10 miles (16 km) are several towns and villages including Darlington, Bishop Auckland, Shildon and Heighington. To the south of the town is the village of Aycliffe. Newton comes from 'New Town'.

Aycliffe Village is near to the A1(M) junction with the A167 (former A1).

The original Woodham was a medieval village, although apart from a few low mound earthworks (on private land) there is no trace of this original village. It was located on the northern side of the Woodham Burn stream and to the East of the A167 that cuts through the site in a north–south direction. The village itself was said to have been 'burned by the Scots' during the English – Scottish wars of the late 13th and early 14th centuries, and appears not to have been rebuilt, although several buildings did appear in the 18th and 19th centuries, some of which still remain on both east and west sides of the A167.

There appears to have been a small 18th-century stone quarry on the eastern side of this site with associated buildings, which can be seen on the original 1860 Ordnance Survey maps, however most of these buildings were demolished towards the end of the 19th century.

The town has a large industrial estate to the south of the town, split into three.

On the Heighington Lane Business Park, Lidl have a main distribution centre on Millennium Way, and with RF Micro Devices, are to the south of the estate. The RFMD plant was formerly a DRAM factory for Fujitsu until 1999, when bought by Filtronic, who then sold their semiconductor business to RFMD in 2007. The plant uses pHEMT technologies (High-electron-mobility transistor), using Gallium arsenide (GaAs) and Gallium nitride (GaN). The plant makes electronic wafers.

The Ineos plant (former Hydro Polymers PVC plant) is near the railway.

Aycliffe School – North East Centre for Autism – Website[link removed]

Aycliffe Village Primary School – Website in nearby Aycliffe Village

Greenfield Academy – Website# (Formely Greenfield Community College)

St Mary's Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided Primary School – Website

Milton and Marlow Hall's were two adjacent secondary schools which originally served the town. They merged in 1971 to create the Avenue Comprehensive. The Avenue was closed in 1992. It was later demolished and the area stood as wasteland for around ten years. The site is now occupied by a Tesco Extra.