Stanley, County Durham

Stanley is a town and civil parish in County Durham in England. Centred on a hilltop between Chester-le-Street and Consett, Stanley lies south-west of Gateshead. The town's name is derived from the Old English stān and lēah, meaning "stony woodland clearing".

The local economy was once based on coal-mining and other heavy industries; with their disappearance or substantial decline, Stanley is now primarily a commuter town. Its core began to grow in the nineteenth century through the expansion and merger of the mining villages of East Stanley and West Stanley.

The civil parish, created in 2007, incorporates the town of Stanley and the following villages and settlements: to the north of the town centre, Shield Row, Kip Hill, and Causey; to the east, No Place; to the south-east, Bloemfontein, The Middles, and Craghead; to the south, South Moor and Quaking Houses; to the south-west, Oxhill, Catchgate, New Kyo, Greencroft, and Annfield Plain; to the west, West Kyo and Harelaw; and to the north-west, Tanfield Lea, Harperley, White-le-Head, Tantobie, Coppy, Tanfield, and Clough Dene.