| Country: | England |
| Static Image Name: | The Village Green at Cotherstone - geograph.org.uk - 1593177.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | The village green |
| Coordinates: | 54.5725°N -1.9832°W |
| Official Name: | Cotherstone |
| Population: | 594 |
| Population Ref: | (2011)[1] |
| Unitary England: | County Durham |
| Region: | North East England |
| Lieutenancy England: | County Durham |
| Constituency Westminster: | Bishop Auckland |
| Post Town: | BARNARD CASTLE |
| Postcode District: | DL12 |
| Postcode Area: | DL |
| Os Grid Reference: | NZ011197 |
Cotherstone is a village and civil parish in the district and county of Durham, England. Its historic county is Yorkshire, being just south of the River Tees. Cotherstone cheese is a celebrated delicacy of the village, famed since at least 1858.[2] It is
It was formerly governed under the historic county's North Riding and was transferred to County Durham's governance in 1974 as it was near Barnard Castle, the former Teesdale district's administrative centre until 2009. The village is between the Barnard Castle and Middleton, there was a for the village on the now-closed Middleton-in-Teesdale Branch Line which ran between the two towns. The railway line crossed the River Balder at the Balder Viaduct just north of Cotherstone.
Hannah Hauxwell, who became famous through a 1970s Yorkshire Television documentary, farmed near Cotherstone and in 1988 moved to the village itself.
In 1973 Maxwell Fry and his wife Jane Drew, both modernist architects, retired to Cotherstone.[3]
The jurist John Cyril Smith was born in the village in 1922.[4]
Miles Stapleton was a notable Lord of Cotherstone (among other places) during the fourteenth century.[5]
John Bowes bred four winners of The Derby at nearby Streatlam Castle (since demolished), including Cotherstone.
Bentley Beetham, the mountaineer, ornithologist and photographer retired here in 1949. He was a member of the 1924 British Mount Everest Expedition.