Hartlepool is a town and port on the Durham coast of North East England. Serving as the official port of County Durham, the town remained important for several centuries and rapidly expanded in as the region industrialised at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
This history of the town was written by the local historian Sir Cuthbert Sharp and was first published in 1816. The same year the book was printed, Sharp served as mayor of the town and was knighted by the Prince Regent on his visit to Hartlepool. This posthumous edition was published in 1851 and contains a supplemental history of the town, exploring its developments in the following half century.