Yarm, North Yorkshire

High Church Wynd, Yarm

The parish of Yarm covers 1,229 acres, of which 301 are arable land, 606 permanent grass, and 42 woods and plantations. The soil is clay and loam with a subsoil of Keuper marls, and the chief crops are wheat, oats and beans. The parish is bounded on the west and north by the Tees, while part of the north and the whole of the eastern boundary is formed by its tributary the Leven. The ground slopes upwards from the river banks to the centre of the parish, the greatest height being 122 ft. above ordnance datum.

A sharp bend of the Tees forms a peninsula a little over half a mile long and for the most part a quarter of a mile wide. It is on this that the town is built on ground no where exceeding 25 ft. above ordnance datum. The town has frequently suffered from floods, those of 1753, 1771 and 1881 being especially disastrous.

From: ‘Parishes: Yarm’, A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 2 (1923), pp. 319-326.

Billingham Beck Valley Country Park, Stockton-on-Tees

Spindle Tree

Wild Blackberry in September

Crab apple (Malus sylvestris) thrives in heavy soil in hedgerows, woods and areas of scrub.

With its colourful meadows, ponds, marsh and woodland, Billingham Beck Valley is one of Stockton Borough’s most interesting areas of countryside.

Ancient field names here refer to the fact that the valley floods very regulary. These include Flutter Carr (flooded wet land) and Rushy Carr. The Willowgarth is an old enclosure surrounded by willow trees and Willow Crook refers to the large bend in the beck. A water mill powered by the beck existed in the valley up until 1918.

Marton-in-Cleveland

Captain Cook School and School House, Marton-in-Cleveland

Marton Hall Colonnade, Stewart Park, Marton-in-Cleveland.

The parish of Marton lies south of Middlesbrough, covering an area of 3,520 acres, of which the surface is clay on a subsoil of Keuper marls. The arable land, where wheat, barley, beans and oats are grown, amounts to 1,247 acres, the pasture to 1,355 acres, and the woodland to 154 acres. From the north of the parish, where the ground is 25 ft. above sea level, there is a regular and easy ascent to 300 ft. in the south.

The northern district of Marton is now included in the civil parish of Middlesbrough, and forms part of the suburbs of that town. The village is small, and consists chiefly of a few farm-houses and cottages ranged irregularly on the summit of a gentle elevation. The site of the birthplace of Captain Cook is marked in Stewart Park by a granite vase. At the west end of the village is the church with the school, erected in 1850 in honour of Captain Cook, and not far off is a Wesleyan chapel, built here in 1857.

‘Parishes: Marton with Moxby’, A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 2 (1923), pp. 264-268.

Town Hall, Middlesbrough

Town hall and Municipal Buildings, 1883/89 by G.G. Hoskins (Darlington). Statues by W. Margeston (Chelsea). Sandstone ashlar. Lakeland slate roofs. Municipal buildings on 4 sides of courtyard, town hall adjoins north side, fronting onto Corporation Road. French Gothic style; Domestic Revival style courtyard elevations.

Ropner Park, East Hartburn, Stockton

The ornamental fountain at Ropner Park

Ropner Park is a free public park, located in East Hartburn, Stockton.

In June 1890 Major Robert Ropner offered a piece of land, known locally as Hartburn Fields to the people of Stockton which could be used as a public park, providing the local council would lay it out ‘tastefully’ and ‘keep it forever’. On 4 October 1893, Ropner Park was officially opened by the then Duke & Duchess of York. The ceremony involved the royals using an ornate key to open the Golden Gates.

After a century of regular use by the people of Stockton, the park was refurbished and renovated to its former glory between 2004 and 2007 by Stockton Borough Council, thanks to a £2.65m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Park is a roughly square site, with 20th-century railings along its road boundaries and is typically Victorian in style, with rockeries and floral displays. It has a tree-lined avenue which leads to an ornamental fountain and a pavilion with a veranda and also includes a new bandstand, based on the original design, a park ranger’s office, bowling green, quoits green, tennis courts and a cafe, (run by the local charity, The Friends of Ropner Park). A large lake with islands dominates the lower part of the park and offers sanctuary to various species of water fowl and fish.

Seasonal fairs and occasional organised events are staged at the park throughout the year and various bands feature most Sunday afternoons during the summer months.