Harraton is a suburb of Washington, in the Sunderland metropolitan borough, in Tyne and Wear, England.

[1][2] Certain developments also took place for overspill for the nearby towns of Chester Le Street and Houghton-le-Spring (also in the City of Sunderland metropolitan borough).

The first part of the name is from here-ford, which refers to a ford suitable for the passage of an army (compare Hereford).

John Wilson's 1870-1872 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales describes Harraton thus: "The manor belongs to the Earl of Durham; and has his seat, Lambton Castle, on an eminence adjacent to the Wear.

[10] Harraton Colliery Chapel was built in 1873 financed by the Earl of Durham and is of brick construction seating 150, the building is still standing.

This particular branch of Methodism had as its aim the recovery, as they saw it of the principles and practice of the early Methodists which had been lost or at least played down.

The chapel was the chosen place of worship for believers of the working classes, where as the Anglican Church was seen as the domain of the "bosses".

Harraton Colliery cam e under the control of Scottish soldiers who were aligned to the Parliamentarian cause and was of some significance in this trade.

The poet Jock Purdon wrote Farewell to Cotia about the pit's closure and the "exodus" to Nottinghamshire.

Some miners were sent to work in an area of the colliery which was not free from firedamp and the men were expressly ordered to use safety lamps.