Wingate is a village in County Durham, England. Wingate is a former pit town with a blend of 19th-century, post-war, and also a lot more recent housing developments. It was initially populated by around 30 farmers before 1839 when coal was uncovered. It is located in the East of County Durham, three miles south west of Peterlee, and seven miles north west of Hartlepool. Similar to many villages in the area, it grew rapidly with the development of coal-mining in the area. The name Wingate is claimed to originate from the Anglo-Saxon words windig (gusty) and geat (roadway) significance windy road. Like all County Durham villages, homeowners are understood to talk the pitmatic dialect although new housing developments has actually seen a sharp increase in the village's population. An electoral ward in the exact same name exists. This ward stretches north eastern to Peterlee and has a total population, taken at the 2011 census, of 10,302.