Lanchester is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England, and was in the former district of Derwentside (1975–2009). It is 8 miles (13 km) to the west of the city of Durham and 5 miles (8 km) from the former steel town of Consett, and has a population of slightly more than 4000, measured at the 2011 Census as 4,054.Although there was a small drift mine on the edge of the village which closed in the 1970s, Lanchester's economy was mainly based on agriculture.