Single long terraces, separated by a back lane with long gardens to the front. Built of pale colliery brick with Welsh slate roofs. Window openings have been changed, there are many rear extensions, porches and conservatories.

Shown on Ordnance Survey first edition (1850) up to fifth edition (c.1960).

The only surviving building within the colliery yard. Built of banded brick with banded asbestos roof tiles.

Laid out within the former Colliery yard (HER 6379).

Shown on Ordnance Survey third edition of 1919.

The board school and school house (HER 12036) were built in 1875. A typical, though attractive tall single-storey stone and slate Board School. It is symmetrical with wings projecting forward. Windows are mullioned and transomed. Some are half-dormers. There is a central cupola housing the school bell and capped by an ogee roof.

These are the oldest buildings in Marley Hill and form a much altered agricultural group of stone and slate. They are shown on the Ordnance Survey first edition map of 1850 as two ranges of buildings arranged in an approximate T-shape and labelled 'Sandy Gate'. They are not labelled as a farm on this or on subsequent editions, but the small cultivated areas shown to the west and south indicate some agricultural activity.
There is supporting documentary evidence that Sandy Gate was a farmstead in the early 19th century. Thomas Burnip is listed in the Durham North Pollbook 1832 for a Parliamentary Election as resident at Sandy Gate in Whickham, his qualification to vote being 'Farm'. Sandy Gate is also shown on the tithe map for Whickham township (ref. DDR/EA/TTH/1/251), dated 1842.
The 1841 census lists the occupants of Sandy Gate in the sub district of Whickham as Thomas Hutchinson, a farmer, his wife Hannah, eight children, and three others including an agricultural labourer. By the time of the 1851 census the Hutchinsons had left, and Sandy Gate was being used to house the Greener, Thompson and Forster families, who worked in the colliery.

Three terraces of red brick houses of late C19/early C20 date, aligned at right angles to Stella Road.

A number of stone houses fronting Summerhill. These include a terrace on the west hand side with small front gardens, and down the bank larger semi-detached and detached houses of some presence in spacious gardens. On the north side of the road, rear gardens ascend the steep slope of Summerhouse Hill.

Designated on 27th April 1990. The Conservation Area was designated to give recognition and protection to an exceptional combination of historic, architectural and ecological sites within the surviving elements of the former Stella Estate (HER 5245). The site of Stella Hall (built soon after 1600, HER 1694) is now a very ordinary modern housing estate and is excluded from the CA. The CA includes part of Newburn Battlefield 1640 (HER 1297). Later C19 stone terraces can be found at Summerhill and Path Head. Elsewhere there are C20 brick terraces. Image Hill and Summerhouse Hill offer commanding views of the Tyne valley. The majority of the CA is in agricultural use, mostly laid to pasture. At Image Hill and Path Head Meadow there are Sites of Nature Conservation Importance designated for their floral and herbal richness. Path Head Wood and Stella Wood are attractive but need managing. Path Head Wood is bisected by the line of the Towneley Main Waggonway (HER 3317). Path Head Farmstead (HER 1679) includes a C19 farmhouse, shelter sheds, a fold-yard, cottage, byre and barn and a corn mill and granary extension. The corn mill has been fully restored. There are a number of stone houses on Summerhill, a terrace with small front gardens and detached and semi-detached houses with larger gardens. Rear gardens ascend the steep slope of Summerhouse Hill. At the bottom of Summerhill there is a stone structure known as the Cowen Fountain (HER 7619). The summerhouse of 1750 still stands on the hill (HER 1699). On Stella Road, Stella Hall Cottage is a simple two-storey three-bay house of late C18 (HER 8336). It was the gardener's cottage of Stella Hall. At the rear part of the original estate wall survives. In Stella Wood walls and a bath house survive (HER 1698 and 7611). The Church of St. Mary and St. Thomas Aquinas (HER 1696) was built 1831-32. Attached to the north is a presbytery in a completely different style. There is a triangular area of brick terraced houses of early C20 date aligned at right angles to Stella Road. South of Stella Lane there is the Board Inn Public House (HER 7655) and two detached stone houses. Part of Image Hill is designated as a Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI) because of the range of flowers which thrive on its acidic soils. Part of Path Head Meadow is also an SNCI due to the diverse range of plants, particularly herbs. Path Head Wood extends over 9 acres.