HARRATON, a township in that part of the parish
of CHESTER le STREET which is in the middle division
of CHESTER ward; county palatine of DURHAM, 8
miles (N.N.E.) from Durham, containing 2217 inhabitants.
There are valuable and extensive coal mines in the
neighboxirhood, one of which exploded in 1708, whereby
sixty-nine persons were killed; and in 1817 a similar
explosion took place in another, by which thirty-eight
individuals lost their lives. There are several staiths
for shipping coal on the banks of the Wear, across which
river is a ferry at the village of Fatfield-Staiths.