WESTGATE is a village and ecclesiastical parish, formed Nov. 5, 1867, from Stanhope parish, mainly in the Park quarter, but partly in the Forest quarter, situated on the river Wear, 2 miles east from St. John’s Weardale, and 6 west from Stanhope station on the Wear Valley branch of the North Eastern railway, in the Barnard Castle division of the county, Stanhope petty sessional division, Weardale union, Wolsingham county court district, rural deanery of Stanhope, archdeaconry of Auckland and diocese of Durham. The church of St. Andrew, erected in 1869, from designs by Mr. J. Withers, architect, of London, is a building of stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a western tower, with spire, containing one bell: there are 257 sittings. The register dates from the year 1869. The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value £352, net £325, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Durham, and held since 1878 by the Rev. James Schofield, of St. Bees. Here are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. Fairs are held here the last Thursday in February and the Thursday before the last Wednesday in October. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor and principal landowners: Messrs. John Bell, George Emerson and George Sowerby Muschamp are also considerable landowners. The soil is sand and loam; subsoil, limestone. The land is mostly pasture and meadow land. The area is 5,980 acres; the population in 1881 was 978.

Board School (under Stanhope school board) (mixed), built in 1875, for 242 children; average attendance, 166.