STOCKTON WARD 



HARTLEPOOL 



activity of Cuthbert Sharp, the town's historian, an 

 Act for improving the port and pier of Hartlepool 

 was passed, which provided that a toll of zd. per ton 

 on every ship entering the port, a rate of 5/. a year 

 on every coble belonging to the port, and a part of 

 the poor rate, should be devoted to the maintenance 

 of the pier.' 



Unfortunately, the sum raised by subscription was 

 not large enough to rebuild the pier properly, while 

 the income from the tolls was very trifling.' The affair 

 was allowed to drift on without any real improvement 

 for many years. In 1823 it was first proposed that, 

 in consequence of the rapid development of railways 

 and the coal trade, the port of Hartlepool might once 

 more be utilized with advantage, but the scheme fell 

 through. It was taken up again in a more practicable 

 form in 1 8 30.' 



The Hartlepool Dock and Railway Company was 

 formed in 1831, and obtained in 1832 an Act for 

 the building of a railway line and docks.' By a 

 further Act the promoters of the new company took 

 over the work of the committee for the maintenance 

 of the pier, which had been almost entirely neglected 

 in recent years.' 



The company was authorized to take ' the whole of 

 the inner harbour and lands adjoining thereto, and so 

 much of the Slake covered at high water, contiguous 

 to the inner harbour on the west side thereof, and 

 also so much of the lands adjoining the Slake on the 

 north side thereof as shall not exceed in the whole 

 60 acres.' After many difficulties the tide basin was 

 opened on 9 July 183;, when coal was shipped from 

 Thornley Colliery. In order to improve the feeble 

 credit of the company, the opening took place before 

 either the dock or the railway line was ready, and, 

 though the experiment was for the moment successful, 

 it was followed by much damage owing to the imper- 

 fect state of the work.' 



In 1837 the dock company obtained a further Act 

 of Parliament for 'The Great North of England, 

 Clarence and Hartlepool Junction Railway Company.' 

 In the following year, i 838, the Stockton and Hartle- 

 pool Railway Company obtained powers to construct a 

 line from Billingham to Hartlepool.'" There was 

 considerable rivalry between the two companies, but 

 they finally came to an agreement that the Stockton 

 and Hartlepool Railway should ship its coals in the 

 Hartlepool docks instead of building a dock of its 

 own at the Slake. The V^ictoria Dock was completed 

 in 1840 for the accommodation of the new line." 

 The profits of the new railway and dock were less 

 than had been expected ; the old dock comp.iny and 

 the railway company quarrelled, and the latter in i 844 

 obtained powers to build docks for themselves on 



the west or Stranton shore." This was the origin of 

 West Hartlepool (q.v.). 



The influence of Trinity House and of the ship- 

 owners whose vessels used the port forced the 

 commissioners to replace the small light on the old 

 pier by a new lighthouse on Crofton Heugh, which 

 was opened on I October 1847, and was the first in 

 which gas was used for the light." 



In 1846 the Hartlepool dock and railway, the 

 Hartlepool Junction Railway, were taken over by the 

 York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway Company, now 

 the London and North Eastern Railway." 



In 1845 the commissioners for the port and pier, 

 to whom further powers were given in 1 837, were 

 reconstituted. The Hartlepool Pier and Port Act 

 of 1851 made further changes in its constitution. 

 By the same act the commissioners were empowered 

 to make a pier or breakwater south-eastward from 

 the Heugh, and to establish and control the ferry 

 between Hartlepool and the new town of West 

 Hartlepool, the profits to be devoted to protecting 

 the Heugh from the inroads of the sea. The Hartle- 

 pool Port and Harbour Act of 1855 incorporated 

 the commissioners and provided for an outer harbour 

 of refuge in the bay, two piers from the shore and a 

 sea wall to be built south from Throston to protect 

 the Headland. Under the Port and Harbour Act 

 of I 86g the commissioners were authorized to abandon 

 the piers and to build a sea wall from the northern 

 pier of West Hartlepool to the stone jetty of the 

 commissioners' harbour." 



In I 870 a breakwater was built to protect the north 

 of the harbour, and the channel was dredged to give 

 a depth of 20 ft. at the lowest tide, and has now been 

 deepened to 25 ft. By 1885 the commissioners had 

 built a part of the sea wall authorized in 1855 ; the 

 corporation was then empowered by Act of Parliament 

 to finish it and make a promenade along it, also to 

 acquire Galley's Field for purposes of recreation."* 



The development of the port necessarily led to a 

 great increase in population and to an extensive re- 

 building of the town. Of all the antiquities which 

 it once possessed, only St. Hilda's Church remains ; 

 the rest were swept away as rapidly as possible, and a 

 few vain attempts to save the most interesting were 

 treated with contempt." The original Hartlepool 

 still showed the lines of the mediaeval town, huddled 

 together in the narrow space of the peninsula, dirty, 

 insanitary and picturesque. If it h.id been rebuilt in 

 the interests of the public health no reasonable person 

 could have objected, but, unfortunately, while its 

 picturesque features were destroyed, the dirt and lack 

 of sanitation were worse than ever." The immediate 

 result was severe outbreaks of cholera in 1832 and 



•Sharp, Hill, of Hartlepool, n8-6l ; 

 Local and Pen, Acts, 53 Geo. Ill, cap. 

 xxn'. 



* Sharp, op. cit. 166. 



* Sharp, op. cit. Suppl. 4, 



' Ibid. 5-6 ; Local and Perional Acii, 

 2 and 3 Will. IV, cap. Uvii. 



^ Sharp, op. cit. I 2 ; Local and Personal 

 Ads, 2 and 3 Will. IV, cap. Uviii. 



' Sharp, op. cit. 18-19. 



'** Ibid. 21 ; Local and Personal Acts, 

 7 Will. IV and I Vict. cap. xcv. 



*' Sharp, op. cit. 40. The Stockton 

 and Hartlepool Railway Company was 

 incorporated in 1S42 {Local and Personal 

 Acts, 4 and 5 Vict. cap. xc). 



" Sharp, op. cit. 41. 



" Ibid. 44-50. 



" Ibid. 50. The Act vrai obtained in 

 1848 [Local and Personal Acts, \l and 12 

 Vict. cap. cxxxi). The lease was for 31 

 years from i July 1848. At its expira- 

 tion the docks and railway were to be 

 amalgamated with the York, Newcastle 

 and Berwick Company (Sharp, loc. cit.). 



'* Ibid. 52-5 ; Exch. Dep. Spec. Com. 

 no. 7147 \ see Local and Personal Acts, 



7 Will. IV and 1 Vict. cap. Ixxri-iii ; 



8 and 9 Vict. cap. cxxxii ; 14 and i; 

 Vict. cap. cxvii ; 18 and 19 Vict. cap. 

 cxxvi ; 31 and 33 Vict. cap. Ixxxii ; Pari. 

 Acctt. and Papers, 1868-9, liv, F.419. The 



toll of II. \d, on decked vessels using the 

 port given to the commissioners by the 

 Act of 1837 had formerly been taken 

 by the corporation for the repair of the 

 walls (see Pari. Accts. and Tapers, 1835, 

 XXV, p. 1533). It was restored to the 

 new corporation in 1851 {Local and 

 Personal Acts, 14 and 15 Vict. cap. xvi), 

 but was again transferred to the com- 

 missioners for their new works by the 

 Act of 1855. 



"a Local Acts, 48 and 49 Vict. cap. xci. 

 " For the removal of the North Gate 



in 1836 see Sharp, Hist, of Hartlepool, 



Suppl. 35. 



" Ibid. 24 and note. 



269 



