Hartlepool [key], borough and unitary authority, NE England. A seaport, Hartlepool imports timber, wood pulp, petroleum, and iron ore. Industries include shipbuilding, iron and steel manufacturing, marine engineering, and brewing. Servicing the North Sea petroleum fields has become increasingly important. Hartlepool is also the home of a herring fleet. A convent founded on the site in 640 was famous under St. Hilda (649–657) and was destroyed by the Danes in 800. In the 12th and 13th cent., Hartlepool was the chief port of the palatinate of Durham. The West Hartlepool dock developed in the 19th cent. as a port for coal export. A nuclear power plant was completed in the early 1980s.
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