Low Worsall, on the River Tees near Yarm to the east of Middleton St. George, was situated at the highest tidal point on the River Tees until the recent construction of the Tees Barrage at Stockton. In the eighteenth century, a small agricultural port called Piersport was established here by Thomas and Richard Pierse. Piersport was used for agricultural products but was never a real threat to Yarm which was the chief port on the river at this time. The main feature of Worsall today is Worsall Hall which was the residence of Thomas Pierse from 1730 to 1767 when he moved to Acklam Hall. Worsall Hall has a secret tunnel which is said to have been used by smugglers. Not far from Worsall, on the north side of the Tees is the village of Aislaby, a Viking place name which means Aislac's village. It is one of only a small number of Viking 'by' names on north side of the river.
YARUM - THE FIRST TEESSIDE PORT

The River Tees at Yarm forms a northward pointing horse-shoe meander which encloses this attractive little Georgian market town on three sides. For many centuries Yarm was called Yarum, a name deriving from the Anglo Saxon word Gear. Pronounced 'yair', this was a pool for catching fish and would have been formed by a weir with a specially constructed channel to trap the fish. The 'um' on the end of the original name Yarum was an Anglo-Saxon plural, so Yarm means 'fish pools' or 'fish weirs'. Yarm may have been a place of importance in Anglo-Saxon times and there are traces of what are believed to be Anglo-Saxon stones in Yarm's parish church of St Mary Magdalene.

From medieval times Yarm was the most important town and port on the River Tees and was, therefore, home to ropemakers, brewers, tanners, nailers, clockmakers and shipbuilders. In 1207 King John granted Yarm a weekly market and two annual fairs and from then on Yarm's prosperity grew. The wealth of Yarm was so great that it was frequently a target for Scottish raiders who sacked the town five times in the fourteenth century under the leadership of Robert the Bruce. As ships grew in size and became unable to navigate far up river, Yarm's importance declined and the role of the old town was taken over by Stockton and ultimately Middlesbrough, both of which are much further downstream.

Yarm bridges

Bridges over the Tees linking Yarm and Eaglescliffe photographed by David Simpson
YARM HIGH STREET PUBS

Yarm's town centre is dominated by a cobbled High Street which runs along the centre of the loop formed by the Tees. At the centre of the High Street is the little Dutch style Town Hall built in 1710 by Viscount Fauconberg, who was Lord of the Manor of Yarm. The High Street once boasted sixteen inns as Yarm was one of the most important coaching stops on the north-south route. A number of Yarm's old inns still survive including the`Ketton Ox', named after a famous ox bred near Darlington. This inn was at one time noted for cock fighting. The `George and Dragon' was the site of the 1820 meeting at which the decision was made to build the Stockton and Darlington Railway. At the northern end of the High Street, across the Tees into Eaglescliffe is the`Cleveland Bay' which commemorates a well known breed of horse, originating from the hills to the east of Yarm.
YARM FLOODS

Yarm's location within a tight bend of the River Tees resembles the situation of the City of Durham and the town of Warkworth in Northumberland. Yet Yarm differs from both in that it is built on flat ground which, over the centuries, has exposed it to the constant threat of flooding. Most notable were the floods of 1753, 1771 and 1783 all of which inundated the town. A marker on Yarm's Town Hall in the High Street marks the height of the flood of 1771. It is seven feet above ground. The flood of 1753 was witnessed and recorded in a letter by a man from the nearby village of Redmarshall. The letter is dated 9th March;

'About one o' clock in the morning it came into Yarm, throwing down all the garden and orchard walls, and forcing its way through the windows of the houses in the middle of the street. The people got into their uppermost rooms, where they had the melancholy prospect of a perfect sea in the street: horses, cows, sheep and hogs and all manner of household goods floating....There was one thing rather comical than otherwise happened in the midst of this doleful spectacle. A sow, big with young, had swum till her strength was quite exhausted; a wheelbarrow was carried by the torrent out of somebody's yard, which the sow being pretty near, laid her nose and forefeet into, and suffered herself to be carried by the flood till she got safe to land'
YARM BRIDGE

Yarm is connected to the village of Egglescliffe on the north bank of the Tees by a stone bridge built by Walter Skirlaw, Bishop of Durham in 1400. During the Civil War there was a battle for control of this important strategic crossing of the Tees. On February 1st 1643 a Royalist force under the command of General King and General Goring were on their way south to assist troops at York when they were set upon by 400 parliamentarian troops at Yarm as they attempted to cross the bridge. The parliamentarians were defeated but the Royalists soon recognised the importance of this crossing point. A drawbridge had been incorporated into the northern arch of the bridge to restrict movements and on February 14th 1643 the commander of the Royalist force at Stockton ordered the rector of Egglescliffe, Isaac Basire that the bridge should be drawn every night.

In 1803 it was decided that Yarm's stone bridge should be replaced by a new one built of iron. When the new bridge was complete a celebration was held, at which the mayor of Stockton declared;

"May the almighty protect this undertaking,
and may this bridge stand the test of time"

The unfortunate mayor had to eat his words as shortly before the bridge was to be used by the public on the 12th January 1806 it fell into the river with a "tremendous crash". Fortunately the old bridge had not been destroyed and here it still stands to this day.
EGGLESCLIFFE OR EAGLESCLIFFE ?

Until the building of Stockton bridge in 1771 Bishop Skirlaw's bridge was the most easterly crossing point of the Tees. Egglescliffe on the opposite side of the bridge to Yarm is an old village with a name that could mean `church on the hill' This would certainly be a good description of the location of Egglescliffe's old church, however evidence suggests that Egglescliffe may mean Ecgi's Cliffe, the hill belonging to an Anglo-Saxon called Ecgi.

Whatever the origin of the name of Egglescliffe may be, it should not be confused with its larger modern neighbour called Eaglescliffe. The name of this place apparently arose after a misspelling on a local railway station sign, in which an `a' accidentally substituted the `g'. There is not as might be expected, any record of Eaglescliffe ever being the domain of the eagle.
PRESTON HALL AND PARK

To the north of Eaglescliffe in the well wooded Tees valley near Stockton, is Preston Park and Preston Hall. Preston on Tees is mentioned in The Boldon Buke, County Durham's equivelant of the Domesday Book in 1183, when the land was farmed by Adam son of Walter de Stockton, Orm son of Cockett and William son of Utting. Later owners included the Setons, Sayers and the Withams.

In 1722 Preston became the property of Sir John Eden of Windlestone, County Durham and in 1812 the property of David Burton Fowler. It was David Burton Fowler who commenced the construction of Preston Hall in 1825. This was also the year of the opening of the famous Stockton and Darlington Railway, which ran close to the grounds of Preston. On the opening day of the railway, a famous race between a stagecoach and the Locomotion Number One is thought to have taken place along this particular stretch of the line. The victor is unrecorded.

Preston Hall was sold to the local shipbuilder Robert Ropner in 1882 and in the following century passed into the hands of Stockton Borough Council, who opened the hall as a museum in 1953. The museum has an outstanding collection of weapons, furniture, toys, costumes and armour but is best known for its Victorian period rooms and a period street which are surprisingly not as well known as those at York or Beamish. The shops in the museum street include a Grocers, Tobacconist, Taxidermist, Confectioner, Draper, Pawnbroker, Ironmongers, a Chemist and a Bank.

The most outstanding exhibit is the beautiful atmospheric painting by the French artist Georges De La Tour (1593-1652) entitled The Dice Players. The Dice Players was purchased by the avid collector Edwin Clephan, the son of a baker in Silver Street, Stockton. Mr Clephan later moved to Leicester but in a deed of 1911 his art collection passed to his daughter Miss Annie Elizabeth Clephan. In 1930 the entire collection of paintings was left to the people of Stockton by Miss Clephan in memory of her father. The paintings were stored at Preston Hall for many years and it was only during a routine inspection of the collection in 1972 that the importance of the painting came to light. This was a remarkable discovery and is one of only two examples of De La Tour's work in this country, the other is at Hampton Court.

Mydilsburgh is the earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough's name and dates to Saxon times. 'Burgh' refers to an ancient settlement, or perhaps a fort of pre-Saxon origin which may have been situated on slightly elevated land close to the Tees. 'Mydil' was either the name of an Anglo-Saxon or a reference to Middlesbrough's middle location, half way between the Christian centres of Durham and Whitby. In Anglo-Saxon times Middlesbrough was certainly the site of a chapel or cell belonging to Whitby Abbey but despite this early activity, Middlesbrough was still only a small farm of twenty five people as late as 1801.

In 1829 a group of Quaker businessmen headed by Joseph Pease of Darlington purchased this Middlesbrough farmstead and its estate and set about the development of what they termed `Port Darlington' on the banks of the Tees nearby. A town was planned on the site of the farm to supply labour to the new coal port - Middlesbrough was born.

Joseph Pease, `the father of Middlesbrough' was the son of Edward Pease, the man behind the Stockton and Darlington Railway. By 1830 this famous line had been extended to Middlesbrough, making the rapid expansion of the town and port inevitable. In 1828 Joseph Pease had predicted there would be a day when;

"..the bare fields would be covered with a busy multitude with vessels crowding the banks of a busy seaport".

His prophecy was to prove true, the small farmstead became the site of North Street, South Street, West Street, East Street, Commercial Street, Stockton Street, Cleveland Street, Durham Street, Richmond Street, Gosford Street, Dacre Street, Feversham Street and Suffield Street, all laid out on a grid-iron pattern centred on a Market Square.

New businesses quickly bought up premises and plots of land in the new town and soon shippers, merchants, butchers, innkeepers, joiners, blacksmiths, tailors, builders and painters were moving in. Labour was employed, staithes and wharves were built, workshops were constructed and lifting engines installed. Indeed such was the growth of this port that in 1846 one local writer observed;

"To the stranger visiting his home after an abscence of fifteen years, this proud array of ships, docks, warehouses, churches, foundries and wharfs would seem like some enchanted spectacle, some Arabian Night's vision."

By 1851 Middlesbrough's population had grown from 40 people in 1829 to 7,600 and it was rapidly replacing Stockton as the main port on the Tees. An old Teesside proverb had proven true; -

"Yarm was, Stockton is, Middlesbrough will be "
Iron and Steel

In 1850 Iron ore was discovered in the Cleveland Hills near Eston to the south of Middlesbrough and Iron gradually replaced coal as the lifeblood of the town. The ore was discovered by John Vaughan, the principal ironmaster of Middlesbrough who along with his German business partner Henry Bolckow had already established a small iron foundry and rolling mill at Middlesbrough using iron stone from Durham and the Yorkshire coast. The new discovery of iron ore on their doorstep prompted them to build Teesside's first blast furnace in 1851.

Iron was now in big demand in Britain, particularly for the rapid expansion of the railways being built in every part of the country. More and more blast furnaces were opened in the vicinity of Middlesbrough to meet this demand and by the end of the century Teesside was producing about a third of the nation's iron output.

The status of Bolckow and Vaughan reached great heights in Middlesbrough and in 1853 Bolckow became the town's first mayor and fifteen years later became its first M.P. The development of Middlesbrough as an `Iron Town' spurred on its continuous growth and by 1860 its population had increased to an incredible 20,000. Two years later, the town was visited by the Victorian minister Gladstone who remarked;

"This remarkable place, the youngest child of England's enterprise, is an infant, but if an infant, an infant Hercules"

By the 1870s, steel, a much stronger and more resilient metal was in big demand and Middlesbrough had to compete with Sheffield. In 1875 Bolckow and Vaughan opened the first Bessemer Steel plant in Middlesbrough. At first phosphorous ores had to be imported from Spain for the making of the steel, but by 1879 methods were developed which could use local iron ores. The Tees was destined to become 'the Steel River'. In 1881 one commentator described how the ironstone of the Eston Hills processed at Middlesbrough, had been used in the building of structures throughout the world.;

The iron of Eston has diffused itself all over the world. It furnishes the railways of the world; it runs by Neapolitan and papal dungeons; it startles the bandit in his haunt in Cicilia; it crosses over the plains of Africa; it stretches over the plains of India. It has crept out of the Cleveland Hills where it has slept since Roman days, and now like a strong and invincible serpent, coils itself around the world. Sir H.G Reid
Bridges of Tees, Tyne and Sydney Harbour

Associated with the making of steel on Teesside is the construction of bridges, one of the industries for which the area has achieved international recognition. Chief among the bridge building firms was Dorman Long, a firm which began as an iron and steel works in 1875 manufacturing bars and angles for ships. A natural progression from this was to become involved in the construction of bridges particularly when Dorman Long took over the concerns of Bell Brothers and Bolckow and Vaughan in the late 1920s.

The most famous bridge ever constructed on Teesside was Dorman Long's Sydney Harbour Bridge of 1932. This was partly modelled on the 1929 Tyne Bridge, a construction regarded as the symbol of Tyneside's Geordie pride, but also a product of Dorman Long's Teesside workmanship. The great example of Dorman Long's work on Teesside itself is of course the single span Newport Lifting Bridge. Opened by the Duke of York in February 1934 it was England's first vertical lifting bridge. With a lifting span of 270 feet and 66 feet in length it is constructed from 8000 tons of Teesside steel and 28,000 tons of concrete with towers 170 feet high. The electrically operated lifting mechanism allowed the road to be lifted 100 feet in one and a half minutes by means of ropes passing through sheaves in the four corner towers.
The Transporter Bridge

The most notable Teesside Bridge is the Transporter Bridge, which was designed by the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company of Darlington and opened on 17th October 1911, by Prince Arthur of Connaught. A kind of a cross between a ferry and a bridge, vehicles are transported across the river by means of a moving car which is capable of carrying 600 persons or 9 vehicles across the Tees to Port Clarence in two and a half minutes. Like the later Newport Bridge it was designed to facilitate the movement of ships along the River Tees. It has a 160 feet clearance above the river.

Transporter Bridge

Above: Transporter Bridge, Middlesbrough - photo David Simpson
The Incredible Growth of Middlesbrough

The expanding iron and steel industry of Middlesbrough in the 1860s and 1870s spurred on the growth of Middlesbrough with a population of 19,000 in 1861 increasing to 40,000 only ten years later. The residents of this early town came mainly from neighbouring Yorkshire and the North East, but later from Cheshire, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and a some European countries.

At the turn of the century Middlesbrough's population had more than doubled to 90,000 and it must have been hard to believe that only seventy years earlier the town did not exist. Today Middlesbrough has a population of 150,000 and is undoubtedly the heart of the Teesside connurbation and the modern `Capital' of the area. In English history nothing compares to Middlesbrough's rapid growth. It is no wonder that Middlesbrough has been described as the `oldest new town' in England.
Middlesbrough Today and 'Over the Border'

Middlesbrough's town centre today is quite different from the original town planned by Joseph Pease and Partners in 1829. The early town, now called 'St Hilda's' after the parish church that stood here until 1969, was centred on a market square, where the first town hall was built in 1846. Immediately to the south of this early town, lay the railway line and station of 1877. As Middlesbrough grew, its boundaries quickly expanded south of the railway, leaving the old town somewhat isolated between the railway and river. Gradually the centre of commerce, trade and local government shifted south of the railway and in 1899, the old town hall, was succeeded by the grand structure, in Corporation Road.

The town hall and its municipal buildings vaguely resemble the Houses of Parliament and are still an impressive headquarters for local government in Middlesbrough. At the turn of the century, Linthorpe Road, also south of the railway, had become the main shopping street. This road followed the course of an old country route from Linthorpe to Middlesbrough called Linthorpe Lane. Today Linthorpe Road, along with Albert Road, Grange Road and Corporation Road, form the modern centre of Middlesbrough, with the University, the Central Library, the Law Courts, radio stations, shopping centres, car parks and busy shopping streets all located within easy reach.

'Over the border', to the north of the railway, some features of the earlier town can still be seen. Middlesbrough's oldest pub, the Ship Inn, in Stockton Street is still there as is the old Town Hall, which has seen better days. More impressive are the Georgian style houses, (now offices) in Queens Terrace, which belonged to the first Middlesbrough owners and nearby, the one time house of the ironmasters Bolckow and Vaughan. From here a short walk leads to the magnificent Transporter Bridge, ensuring that the old part of town still gets some of the attention.

Middlesbrough is the capital of Teesside and the Tees Valley and is famed for its industry, football club and its bridge, including the Transporter Bridge, the undisputed symbol of Teesside.
The Tees Estuary and Seal Sands

To the north of Redcar, the entrance to the Tees estuary is clearly marked on the coast by the pier breakwaters on either side of the river estuary. These are the half mile long North Gare and the two and a half mile long South Gare. The gares were built following a great storm in 1861 in which 50 vessels were wrecked on the sand bars between Redcar and Hartlepool in the vicinity of the estuary. Both Gares are under the management of the Tees and Hartlepool Port Authority and the South Gare is the sight of a Coastguard station which monitors the busy shipping activity of the estuary.

The Tees estuary is one of the biggest on the North Eastern coast and is dominated on either side by the large areas of reclaimed industrial land called Seal Sands on the northern bank and Bran Sands on the southern bank. Seal Sands is the site of an Oil Refinery and a Chemical Works. The two hundred and twenty mile long EKOFISK oil pipeline has its terminus at Seal Sands by which oil and gas liquids are piped ashore from the Ekofisk oilfield for processing at one of the largest plants of its kind in the world. Today oil exporting is one of Teesside's most important industries.

Despite all the heavy industry the Tees estuary is surprisingly important for its wildlife. Seal Sands now only half its original size due to land reclamation is still the Winter home to thousands of wildfowl and waders. Seals may still be seen `basking' in their man made surroundings. Autumn and Winter is the best time of the year for viewing wildlife at the Tees estuary. The main species are Little Stints, Curlew Sandpipers, Ruffs, Greenshanks, Wood Sandpipers, Bar-Tailed Godwits and Whimbrels. In Winter time Golden Plovers may also be seen but Winter is best for Duck-Watching when the main species are Shoveler Ducks, Widgeon, Long-Tailed Ducks, Goldeneye and Teal.

Darlington
Origins of Darlington

Stockton-on-Tees began as an Anglo-Saxon settlement on high ground close to the northern bank of the River Tees. In later times this area became the site of a Norman castle belonging to the Prince-Bishops of Durham. Dating from at least the Twelfth century this castle was originally a hall belonging to Hugh Pudsey a famous Bishop of Durham. At what date the hall was fortified we do not know although it is first referred to as a castle in 1376. During the Civil War Stockton castle was a Royalist stronghold and in1640 when a treaty was signed making the Tees a boundary between the forces of Scotland and the King, this castle stayed in Royalist hands.

The Scottish forces finally captured Stockton castle in 1644 and it was garrisoned by them until 1646. At the end of the Civil War the castle was destroyed on the orders of Oliver Cromwell and only the castle barn was left standing. Sadly this barn was demolished in the nineteenth century and today nothing remains of the old castle of Stockton on Tees;

"Old Noll in his day out of pious concern.
The castle demolished sold all but the barn."

The site of Stockton castle is now occupied by a prominent hotel its former presence indicated by Tower Street and the Castle Shopping centre. Some of the stonework from the old castle was incorporated into Stockton's Green Dragon Yard, just off the High Street.
THE OLD HEART OF TEESSIDE

By the seventeenth century Stockton was beginning to take over Yarm's role as the main port on the River Tees and was developing an important Baltic trade. It was still nevertheless a largely agricultural district, with farmland described in 1647 as "Champion country, very fruitful though of a stiff clay".With the increasing size of ships Yarm became an impractical place for vessels to reach and Stockton soon became the main port for North Yorkshire, Westmorland and south Durham.

The main goods exported from Stockton were local agricultural produce and lead from the dales of Durham and Yorkshire.Even at Stockton adjustments had to be made to improve the efficiency of this expanding port and great cuts were made across the rivermeanders at Portrack and Mandale, shortening the journey of sea vessels to Stockton by three miles. The result was a dramatic straightening in the course of the River Tees east of Stockton and a resulting confusion in the exact local boundary between Durham and Yorkshire particularly with the transfer of the Stockton race course to the south of the river

Stockton-on-Tees

Above: Old postcard showing Stockton Town Hall and parish churc
STOCKTON AND THE RAILWAYS

The opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825 brought about further significant increases in the trade and population of Stockton as lead from the dales could now be quickly brought to the town along with coal from mines in the Bishop Auckland area. The history of this famous railway to Stockton can be traced by those who explore the town.Of particular interest is Bridge Road where two plaques can be found highligting Stockton's railway history. One plaque commemorates the place where the first section of Stockton and Darlington track was laid by Thomas Meynell of Yarm on 23rd May 1822.

The second plaque marks the building that was arguably the world's first railway ticket office. In Stockton the railway ran along the course of the quayside by the Tees and linked up with four sets of coal staithes which were jetties from which coal could be loaded into the ships. Staithe of course is a Viking word which originally meant landing place or landing stage but in the coal trade of northern England it signified a loading place.

The railway which brought about such a rapid increase in the development of Stockton was ultimately to bring about the downfall of this port, with the extension of the Stockton and Darlington line to Middlesbrough in 1830. Middlesbrough was six miles nearer to the sea than Stockton and had many advantages over the old heart of Teesside. A nineteenth century writer records the change in Stockton's fortunes;

"Vessels now anchor at Middleburgh snug and comfortable, which before strove to mount the river and reach Stockton after overcoming the sad surf tossed over the bar by the easterly gales; so that Stockton as a maritime place has become insignificant"
ROPES, SUGAR, COTTON AND POTTERY

Ropemaking associated with Stockton's role as a shipbuilding centre was an industry of significance at Stockton judging from the import of 1,178 tons of hemp into Stockton in 1825. Stockton's Ropery Street was the site of this particular industry.

Cotton was made at Stockton from a Cotton Mill established in 1839 while an earlier industry located close to the river was the refining of sugar. The Stockton Sugar Refinery situated at a place called `Sugar House Open' dated from 1780 and was the only sugar refinery between Hull and Newcastle.

Brickmaking was a prominent and well-needed industry in the rapidly expanding towns of nineteenth century Teesside. Some of the clay used in Stockton's brick works was also a useful material for the local Pottery Industry. In 1825 William Smith opened his `Stafford Pottery at South Stockton (Thornaby-on-Tees) followed in 1860 by his brother James's factory at Stockton called the North Shore Pottery. Other potteries included the Ainsworth's white and printed ware pottery of North Stockton and the Harwoods Norton Pottery which specialised in the so-called `Sunderland Ware'
JOHN WALKER - MAN OF THE MATCH

Considering all the heavy industries for which Stockton is known, it is perhaps surprising that one of Stockton's most widely famed industrial enterprises can be attributed to a humble High Street chemist. His name was John Walker, the inventor of the Friction Match.

Walker's day book for the period 1825 to 1826 shows that he was regularly selling mixtures of combustible materials in the form of separated powders to young men and to a gunsmith from his Chemist and Druggist outlet in the High Street. In 1826 while at his home on the Stockton Quayside experimenting with a mixture of these combustible materials he happened to scrape the mixing stick against his hearth which caused the stick to catch fire.

Walker's scientific mind was quick to realise that the substance used in this way could have a number of potential applications and he appears to have handed out bundles of matchsticks dipped in the substance to various people in Stockton. Walker seems to have perfected the mixture consisting of specific portions of Potassium Chlorate and Antimony Sulphide as he put the substance on sale in April 1827 in the form of friction matches. They came supplied with a piece of folded sandpaper for scraping against. The price was a shilling plus 2d extra for the tin. The sandpaper was supplied free.

A Stockton solicitor by the name of Mr Hixon was the first buyer, purchasing a tin box containing one hundred. The day book records the sale of what Walker described as Sulphurata Hyper-Oxygenata Frict though at a later stage he renamed his invention `Friction Lights'. Walker's first matches were made of paste board which was later replaced with three inch wood splints cut by elderly people in the neighbourhood who were generously paid by the chemist.

In 1830 Walker was visited by Michael Faraday who is thought to have encouraged Walker to patent his invention. Sadly Walker seemed to have no interest in developing a wider market for his development and in 1830 his idea was taken on board by a Londoner called Samuel Johnson who patented the friction lights as Friction Matches. Johnson termed the matches Lucifers, which is perhaps appropriate because he was a bit of a devil for taking all the credit for the invention of a Stockton man.

Thomas Sheraton, the furniture maker and designer is another of Stockton's famous sons. He was born in the town in 1751 where he learned his trade before moving to London. Sheraton's work did not become fully appreciated until after his death in 1806, so unfortunately he died in poverty.
NORTON ON TEES - DARK AGE ORIGINS

For many centuries Stockton was the most important settlement in the north Teesside area, but in more ancient times Norton and Billingham were places of significance forming important agricultural settlements in the Anglo-Saxon age. Norton, across the Lustrum or Lustring Beck to the north east of Stockton is believed to mean the northern settlement and may have fallen within one of the earliest parts of the North East to be settled by the Anglo-Saxons. It was certainly a place of importance in Anglo-Saxon times, and still has an Anglo- Saxon church. In 1984 excavations at Mill Lane, Norton revealed a large Anglo-Saxon pagan cemetery. More than one hundred burials were discovered at the site.

An interesting assortment of personal items were found in the graves including shields, spears, combs, brooches, belt buckles, beads, keys, pots, and tweezers. One of the most interesting finds was a Frankish style silver plated buckle found in the grave of a female. All the objects found date to the early 6th century and are thus pre-Viking and pre-Christian. They nevertheless demonstrate that the people of the Dark Ages were more culturally advanced than is often thought.

Norton today is a large subburb of Stockton but at its centre stands the unexpected haven of old Norton village, which still retains a rural atmosphere with cottages, a duckpond and a village green. For centuries, old Norton and its Saxon church were the centre of an important parish which included Stockton. Today the status of these towns has been reversed and Norton is now a part of the borough of Stockton on Tees.
ANCIENT BILLINGHAM

Billingham, across the Billingham Beck, to the north east of Norton is very much a modern town, best known as the site of the huge petro chemical works of ICI but like Norton it also has ancient origins and its church has an Anglo-Saxon tower dating from arbout 1000 AD. The name of Billingham is also Anglo-Saxon and means - `the homestead of Billa's people'. In the late Anglo-Saxon period Billingham belonged to the followers of St Cuthbert until it was captured by the Irish-Norse King Ragnald in the tenth century A.D. Ragnald gave Billingham along with other lands in the vicinity of the north Tees vale to one of his men, an Irish-Viking knight called Scula or Scule who was probably encouraged to exercise patronage in favour of his own people. Scula's territory included School Aycliffe to the north of Darlington, the name means Scula's Aycliffe. There are a small number of Viking place names in the Billingham area, notably those beginning with Thorpe, such as Thorpe Thewles which means the 'farm of the immoral'.
SALT - TEESSIDE'S FIRST CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

The earliest chemical industry in the Billingham area was salt making which may have very early origins as an ancient salter's track ran through this area, north to Wearmouth and south to Whitby. Salt may have been made in this area in Roman times. Whatever its early origins, salt exploitation was not specifically mentioned until the year 1290 when a certain Robert de Brus (grandfather of Robert the Bruce King of Scotland) granted a salt pan in Hart village to Sir John Rumundebi formerly held by Adam the Miller "at the rental of a pair of white gloves or a penny at Easter". The large Salt Pans were used in the production of salt through the evaporation of sea water.

The De Brus family were important land owners in the district called Hart which extended along the east coast from the Tees to the valley of Castle Eden. Hart, also known as Hartness is thought to have included Billingham and the port of Hartlepool.

The salt pan granted by De Brus may have been located at Cowpen near Billingham as this is known to have been an important centre of the salt making industry in the fourteenth century. It is recorded that 35 quarters of salt were bought at Cowpen in 1330 at different prices with a total cost of £5,7s and 6d. An early account of salt making at Coatham near Redcar describes the working of salt pans

"And as the Tyde comes in, yt bringeth a small wash sea-cole which is imployed to the makinge of salte, and the Fuell of the poore fisher Townes adjoininge; the oylie sulphurousness beinge mixed with the Salte of the Sea as yt floweth , and consequently hard to take fyre, or to keepe in longe without quenchinge, they have a Meanes, by makinge small vaults to passe under the hearthes, into which by foresetting the wynde with a board, they force yt to enter, and soe to serve insteede of a payre of bellowes, which they call in a proper worde of Art, a Blowecole."

The process of making salt was quite simple, it was extracted by perpetual boiling and reboiling of sea water. The water was boiled in huge shallow salt pans made of lead. Often this necessitated eight boilings before the salt could be obtained. Salt making continued in the area in the later part of the fourteenth century. In 1381 a salt pan in the area is recorded as belonging to the Lumley family. It is difficult to assess how many salt pans there actually were in the area but a manuscript of 1396 lists at least twenty four at Cowpen.

The local salt making industry achieved great heights in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries when Greatham between Hartlepool and Billingham became a salt making centre when `Salt De Greatham ' was famed throughout the land. By 1650 the salt cotes were rendered useless by the tides of the sea and the centre of salt making in Britain had moved to South Shields where there was a plentiful supply of coal for heating the salt water. Large scale exploitation of salt did not return to Greatham until the nineteenth century when the salt was extracted in the form of brine extracted from 1000 feet below the earth.
THE BILLINGHAM CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

In the fourteenth century Billingham was a little village noted for a small brewery and the making of fish oil. In 1834 an extension of the Stockton and Darlington Railway called the Clarence Railway was brought to the deepwater dock on the north bank of the Tees. The railway passed close to Billingham and helped stimulate industrial growth. In 1837 an iron works opened nearby at Haverton Hill and was followed by a glassworks, a blast furnace and more iron foundries. Despite this industry, Billingham was still largely a village in 1857 noted for a brewery and skinnery

World War One and the need to produce nitrates for the manufacture of explosives provided the spark which brought about the incredible development of Billingham as the great chemical centre of Britain. In 1917 Billingham was chosen as the site for the production of Synthetic Ammonia to be used in the manufacture of explosives.

A site of several hundred acres occupied by the flat farmland of the Grange Farm at Billingham was chosen because of its good supply of essential resources - namely air, water, cheap coal, labour a power generating capacity (the Nesco B Power Station) and good access by road, rail and sea.

The war was over before the Billingham Chemical plant was completed, but the works were taken over in 1920 by Brunner Mond. This company adapted the production of synthetic ammonia to the manufacture of fertilisers and their plant formed the basis of what was to become ICI's agricultural division at Billingham.

In 1926 Britain's four biggest chemical manufacturers including Brunner Mond merged to form Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI) and this considerably helped with the development of Billingham. The number of workers employed at the Billingham plant had reached 5,000 in 1932 when the population of Billingham was 18,000. In 1921 Billingham's population had been 8,000.

With the onset of World War II the production of synthetic ammonia at Billingham for explosives was in big demand. Other products were also needed and the plant also became heavily involved in the production of high performance aviation fuel for RAF aircraft. The production of plastics established in 1934 became increasingly important at Billingham during the war and was used in the construction of aircraft cockpits. Other work relating to the war time hostilities included secret work carried out in relation to the development of atomic bombs. This work was given the code name `tube alloys'.

Darlington began as an Anglo-Saxon settlement on the River Skerne which is a northern tributary of the Tees. Later the town seems to have come under the influence of the Danes as there are still many place-names of Viking origin in its vicinity. Since Norman times Darlington has been a borough and the site of an important market and was arguably the capital of southern County Durham though for administrative purposes it is no longer located within that county.

The name Darlington derives from the Anglo-Saxon Dearthington, which seemingly meant `the settlement of Deornoth's people' but by Norman times its name had changed to Derlinton. Confusion does not end here however, because during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the town was generally known by the name of `Darnton' or somewhat less politely as Darnton i' the Dirt. This unfortunate name was probably due to the once unpaved streets of the town which are said to have inspired King James of Scotland to write the following uncomplimentary verses during a visit of 1603;

'Darnton has a bonny, bonny church
With a broach upon the steeple
But Darnton is a mucky, mucky town
And mair sham on the people.'

`Mucky town' is certainly not a good description of Darlington today, as like many large towns in North East England it has a pleasant and attractive appearance. It is especially well endowed with town parks and leafy suburbs although despite its long history the very centre of Darlington is now largely of a Victorian and twentieth century nature.

St Cuthbert's, the "bonny church" referred to in the rhyme is still one of the most admirable features of Darlington. Built in the twelfth century by Hugh Pudsey, Prince Bishop of Durham Sometimes referred to as the `Lady of the North, It is one of the largest churches in the region.
Darlington

Historic view of Darlington showing the Skerne and St. Cuthbert's church
THE CRADLE OF THE RAILWAYS

In the seventeenth century Darlington became a popular place of residence for members of the Quaker faith, who formed an influential and wealthy community in the town by the 1800s. The best known member of this Darlington fraternity was Edward Pease, the man responsible for Darlington's fame as the `Cradle of the Railways'.

It was Pease who rejected an early nineteenth century plan by local businessmen to build a canal for the shipment of coals from south Durham to the mouth of the Tees and made the innovative suggestion that steam locomotives be used instead. The suggestion was accepted.

George Stephenson, the famous engineer of Tyneside was employed by Pease to design the locomotives and develop the railway, though it was Pease who provided the financial support and he was very much in charge. On one occasion Stephenson had suggested an alternative route for the railway which would have bypassed Darlington and altered the railway history books. Pease was clear with his reply;"George thou must think of Darlington; remember it was Darlington that sent for thee"
THE STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY

The Stockton and Darlington Railway was opened on the 27th September 1825, and history was made, for as well as carrying coal, the train included six hundred passengers, most travelling in coal waggons, but some in a specially designed carriage called 'The Experiment'. The Stockton and Darlington Railway was thus the world's first public railway. On the historic day, the coal wagons for the journey were linked up to the locomotive called 'Locomotion Number One' at Shildon and were brought there from Witton Park Colliery by inclines at Etherley and Brussleton. From Shildon the Locomotion travelled for two hours with only minor hitches before arriving in Darlington, where coal was distributed to the poor. From Darlington the Locomotion and its train of passengers continued its journey to Stockton stopping only at Yarm Junction where more passengers, including a brass band climbed on board.

George Stephenson's original `Locomotion Number One', the locomotive that hauled the train on the historic opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway can still be seen in Darlington today on display in the town's fascinating North Road Station Museum. This is one of the oldest railway stations in the world. A full size working replica of the `Locomotion' can also be seen at the Beamish Open Air Museum near Stanley, in County Durham. The `Locomotion Number One' is of course an older engine than Stephenson's more famous `Rocket', which won the victory at Lancashire's Rainhill Trials in 1829.
BRIDGE BUILDING AND JOURNALISM

Railways are not the only industry for which the town of Darlington is noted. Its engineering skills, particularly bridge building have long been important and famous bridges have been built at Darlington which span rivers as far away as the Amazon and the Nile.

Darlington also has an important publishing industry, as the headquarters of the Darlington and Stockton Times and The Northern Echo. The second of these newspapers was once edited by W.T Stead, the influential Northumbrian born social reformer who died on board the Titanic in 1912. Stead began his career as an editor with the `Northern Echo' at the age of only 22.
HELL'S KETTLES AND THE RIVER SKERNE

Although Darlington is undoubtedly in the valley of the River Tees, it is its tributary, the little River Skerne that flows through the centre of the town which is truly the Darlington river. The Skerne rises in eastern County Durham to the north of Sedgefield near the former colliery village of Trimdon and flows south before joining the River Tees at Croft near Darlington, close to the site of the famous `Hell's Kettles' at Oxen-le-Field.

These three, supposedly bottomless pits also known as `Devil's Kettles' or `Kettles of Hell', have been the subject of numerous legends and superstitions. Said to have been created by a ferocious earthquake in 1179, locals may tell you that they are full of green, boiling sulphorous water. People and animals are allegedly drowned or eaten alive by the Pikes and Eels that infest their waters.

The pits once aroused the curiosity of people the length and breadth of Britain and were even visited by the writer and traveller Daniel Defoe, who dismissed them as `old coal pits'. This they certainly are not, as coal has never been mined in the Darlington area.
LEWIS CARROLL AT CROFT ON TEES

Croft on Tees, an attractive village just to the south of Darlington was the place where Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known to us as Lewis Carroll, grew up as a young boy. His father was the rector at Croft and the rectory gardens are thought to be one of the most likely settings for famous scenes in `Alice in Wonderland'.

Lewis Carroll always considered Croft his home and it was here in the company of his large family that his unequalled talent for composing nonsense verse developed on this pleasant spot by the Tees. His earliest pieces were written in a little home made magazine which he wrote for his family at Croft.

Fair stands the ancient Rectory
The Rectory of Croft
The sun shines bright upon it,
The breezes whisper soft.

Lewis Carroll

Pieces written at Croft by Lewis Carroll include the first verse of one his best known poems, the `Jabberwocky', which was written in 1855 though not published until a number of years later. The rest of the poem was written further north during visits to relations at Whitburn near Sunderland where he is also said to have composed the Walrus and the Carpenter. The gravestone of Lewis Carroll's mother and father can be seen in the churchyard at Croft.
LEWIS CARROLL'S JABBERWOCKY - THE SOCKBURN WORM

A mile to the east of Croft, the River Tees makes a large and unexpected meander which penetrates deep into North Yorkshire to form the most southerly portion of County Durham called the `Sockburn Peninsula'. In local legend this area was once the domain of a notorious creature called the Sockburn Worm'.

This terrible beast, a kind of winged serpent or wyvern terrorised the local neighbourhood until it was eventually slain by a certain young man called John Conyers, a member of a wealthy local family.

From that day on each new Prince-Bishop of Durham was presented with the sword that killed the worm upon entering their new Bishopric for the first time at at Croft on Tees. The recently revived ceremony includes the following presentation speech, traditionally made by the Lord of Sockburn;

"My Lord Bishop. I hereby present you with the falchion wherewith the champion Conyers slew the worm, dragon or fiery flying serpent which destroyed man, woman and child; in memory of which the king then reigning gave him the manor of Sockburn, to hold by this tenure, that upon the first entrance of every bishop into the county the falchion should be presented."

The Durham historian Hutchinson was of the opinion that the legend of the Sockburn worm is a reference to some long since forgotten Viking rover who sacked and plundered this part of the Tees valley.The sword used in the presentation known as the `Conyers Falchion' can still be seen today on display in Durham Cathedral. The Sockburn worm itself is almost certainly immortalised by Lewis Carroll in his brilliant piece of nonsense rhyme, `Jabberwocky'

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought-
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood a while in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock
with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through
the tulgey wood
And burbled as it came!
One two! One two!
And through and through
The vorpal blade went
snicker snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And hast thou slain
the Jabberwock
Come to me my breamish boy !
O' frabjuous day
Callooh ! Callay !"
He chortled in his joy.

Worm legends are a feature of both Anglo-Saxon and Viking mythology, where `worms' usually take the form of ferrocious Dragons or serpents. There are a number of other `worm' legends associated with the North East of England, most notable of which are the `Laidley worm' of Bamburgh, Northumberland and the famous `Lambton worm' of the River Wear.

Today Sockburn is little more than a farmstead but in Anglo-Saxon times it was a place of importance as it was here that Higbald, Bishop of Lindisfarne and Eanbald, Archbishop of York were consecrated in the 8th century A.D. In later years the Sockburn area was settled by the Vikings and like the Teesdale village of Gainford, Sockburn was an important centre of Viking age sculpture. Viking settlement in the area is also indicated by local place names such as the nearby hamlets of Hornby, Girsby and further south Birkby. Girsby derives from `Grisa by' - `the village where pigs were reared'.
SURTEES AND PONS TEES

From the southern tip of the Sockburn peninsula, the Tees flows three miles north, before reaching the villages of Dinsdale and Middleton St George. Dinsdale is the site of a manor owned in Norman times by a family called Siward.

When the Siwards settled at Dinsdale in the eleventh century they changed their name to Sur Tees which in Norman French meant `on the Tees'. Descendants of this Dinsdale family later included Robert Smith Surtees, the author, Bessie Surtees, the famous eloper of Newcastle upon Tyne and Robert Surtees the great historian of County Durham.

Under the entry for Dinsdale in `the History of the County Palatine of Durham' Robert Surtees compares this sleepy place of his ancestors to the `Border Country' of the north

"The knights of the Tees might mingle in the border warfare; but the bugle horn of an assailant would seldom startle the inmates of their quiet halls. Their mansions stood without tower or peel"

An important Roman road once crossed the Tees near Dinsdale on its way to the Roman forts at Chester le Street and Newcastle. The road sometimes named Cade's Road after an old Gainford historian, can be traced near the villages of Middleton St George and Middleton One Row. Here the old road is known by the name of Pountey's Lane and is probably named after a Roman bridge which crossed the Tees here called Pons Tesie- `Bridge of the Tees'. The bridge has long since disappeared with some of its foundation stones used in the construction of buildings at Middleton St George. The Roman road from Middleton St George passes through the village of Sadberge a few miles to the north. This was a place of considerable importance in Viking times.
SADBERGE AND OLD VIKING DISTRICT

The village of Sadberge half way between Stockton and Darlington was once the capital or Wappentake of the Viking settled area north of the Tees known as the Earldom of Sadberge which stretched from Hartlepool to Teesdale. Wappentakes were found in those parts of England settled by the Danes and continued to be important administrative centres in medieval times. There were neighbouring Wappentakes to Sadberge at Northallerton in Yorkshire and at Langbaurgh in Cleveland. The word wappentake literally means `Weapon Taking' and refers to the way in which land was held in return for military service to a chief.

Sadberge is a name of Viking origin deriving from Setberg, meaning `flat topped hill', - an accurate description of the location of the village from where good views of the surrounding countryside can be obtained. The place name Setberg from which Sadberge derives also occurs in Norway and in Viking settled Iceland. Closer to home in Norse settled Cumbria we may find the village of Sedbergh near Kendal which has the same meaning.
Northumberland, Durham, Scotland or Sadberge ?

The history of Sadberge can be confusing because in early Norman times the Earldom of Sadberge, though north of the River Tees, was not part of Durham and was not initially under the rule of Durham's Prince Bishops. Instead, the district formed an outlying part of the county of Northmberland by virtue of the fact that it had been part of the old Earldom of Northumbria.

To further add to confusion Northumberland was given to Scotland by King Stephen of England in 1139 so that the Tees actually became the southern boundary of the kingdom of Scotland !. This situation continued for eighteen years until Northumberland was repossessed for England by King Henry II in 1157.

Hugh Pudsey, Prince Bishop of Durham (1153-1195) was the man largely responsible for the decline in importance of the Sadberge district. He added the `earldom' to Durham in 1189 and from then on Sadberge was ruled by Durham's Prince Bishops.

The Earldom of Sadberge included the old parishes of Hart, Hartlepool, Greatham, Stranton, Elwick, Stainton (near Sedgefield), Elton, Long Newton, Egglescliffe, Middleton St George, Low Dinsdale, Coatham Mundeville, Coniscliffe and the baronry of Gainford in Teesdale.

Despite its fall in status, Sadberge retained a degree of independence and continued to be administered as an almost separate county until 1576. Even as late as the nineteenth century there were still occasionally references to `the Counties of Durham and Sadberge'. In 1836 the revenues of the Bishopric of Durham including Sadberge passed to the Crown. A plaque attached to a large ice age stone on the village green reminds us how important Sadberge once was;

"This stone was placed here to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, Empress of India, and Countess of Sadberge 1867"
THE DURHAM OX OF BRAFFERTON

Brafferton on the northern outskirts of Darlington is where the famous Durham Ox was bred. It was developed by the brothers Charles and Robert Colling, of nearby Ketton farm in 1796 and achieved such great fame that it was exhibited throughout England and Scotland in an especially designed carriage. Over a period of five years, the ox journeyed more than 3000 miles before the unfortunate beast dislocated its hip while on show at Oxford in February 1807. It was slaughtered two months later and weighed in at 189 stones. During its lifetime, it reached an incredible maximum weight of 270 stones. The Collings achieved far reaching fame for their development and throughout the country there are many inns named after the Durham Ox of Ketton Farm.