STOCKTON WARD 



STOCKTON ON TEES 



elementary school in 1870 and later was incorporated 

 in the Boys' High School. The county court, 

 opened here in 1847, is in Bridge Road, where also is 

 now the custom-house. The sessions of the county 

 court were formerly held in the town-hall. The 

 first custom house, in 1680, was in the yard of an 

 inn, the ' Red Lion.' In 1696 it was removed to the 

 river side at the end of Finkle Street, where a new 

 building w.is made for it in 1 730,''' replaced by another 

 in Housewife Lane, Smithfieid, in 1828.'^- Afterwards 

 the custom-house was removed to Borough Hall, 

 High Street. 



A cottage hospital was maintained on Thistle Green 

 from about 1865 ''' until the Stockton and Thornaby 

 hospital was built in 1876 on a site off Yarm Lane. 

 The Corporation fever hospital, built in l 893, is placed 

 on the Durham road, and there is a smallpox hospital 

 at Somerville. 



Ropner Park, in Hartburn Lane, was presented to 

 the town by Sir Robert Ropner, bart., and was opened 

 in 1893 by the Duke of York, now King George V. 

 There are also recreation grounds at the north end of 

 the town which were opened in 1892 in Portrack 

 Lane and Durham Road. A customary bowling green 

 on the Saltholme is mentioned in the partition of the 

 common lands in 1659.''^ Regattas have been held 

 from time to time since 1825.''^ Cockfighting used 

 to be a favourite sport. 



In the I 8th century the ' Stockton races ' were held 

 on the low ground on the Yorkshire side of the Tees.^** 

 They were discontinued, but revived in 1 8 39, and are 

 held on Mandale Marshes, formerly in Stockton and 

 now in Thornaby.^' There used to be a pack of otter 

 hounds ; otters infested the river according to the 

 rhjme : — 



An otter in the Tees 



You may find at your case, 



and they did much damage to the fisheries. ''" Seals 

 also at one time were numerous and preyed on the 

 salmon, so that a century ago it was the custom for the 

 fishermen to devote a day or two occasionally to 

 hunting the seals.^' 



Stockton has a prominent place in the history of 

 railways, for the first line on which locomotive engines 

 were used is that from Stockton to Darlington. This 

 was begun in 1822 and formally opened on 27 Sep- 

 tember 182;.'" The station was at the south end of 

 the town and is now a goods station. The line 

 was continued along the line of quays. In 1830 a sus- 

 pension bridge was thrown across the Tees to carry a 

 line to Middlesbrough ; this had to be supported by 

 timber struts, and in 1844 was replaced by an iron 

 bridge.'' Coals were delivered at Stockton by the Port 

 Clarence railway in 1833. A railway to Hartlepool 

 was opened in 1841,'- the station being in Bishopton 

 Lane ; the company was incorporated in 1842. In 



1852 it was amalgamated with the Hartlepool West 

 Harbour and Dock Company as the West Hartlepool 

 Harbour and Railway Company,and took over the Port 

 Clarence line.'^ In 1 846 the Leeds and Northern rail- 

 way, now the North Eastern, obtained powers to make 

 a branch to Stockton by way of Yarm and Egglescliffe, 

 and the station in Bishopton Lane was opened on 

 1; May 1852.'^' By amalgamation in 1S54 and later 

 all the lines have been united in the North Eastern 

 system, and the Bishopton Lane station has been en- 

 larged and made the only passenger station in the 

 parish, that called Eaglescliffe Station being just out- 

 side on the south. There is a branch goods line with 

 a station in Norton Road, at the north end, running 

 to the river side ; near this point there is a ferry 

 across to Thornaby. The Stockton and Castle Eden 

 branch passes on the west through Stockton and East 

 Hartburn. The tramways through Stockton connect 

 the town with Thornaby, Middlesbrough and North 

 Ormcsby in one direction and with Norton in another ; 

 they were first formed in 1882,'^ and are owned by a 

 private company. Before that time there was an 

 omnibus service to Norton. 



A weekly newspaper, the Stockton and Thornaby 

 HertilJ, is published at Stockton on Saturdays. It was 

 founded in 1858. The earliest newspaper published 

 here was the Advertiser, begun in 1858, but lasting 

 only a year. A local magazine called the Stockton Bee 

 began in i 793 and continued until I 795 ; it contained 

 essays, poems, puzzles and other miscellaneous articles."' 

 The Gazette was founded in 1859 by the efforts of 

 Robert Spears,"' a Unitarian minister then stationed 

 at Stockton. It continues as th.e. North-eastern Gazette, 

 published at Middlesbrough. The Kc:vs and Adver- 

 tiser, begun in 1 864,''^ and the Examiner, later, did 

 not succeed. 



East Hartburn contains the village so named on its 

 eastern border, adjoining Stockton, and the hamlet of 

 Fairfield has sprung up in the northern corner. 

 Preston has part of the hamlet of Eaglescliffe Junction 

 in the south-west ; north of it lies Cowley Moor. The 

 Whinstone dyke, here 75 ft. wide, enters the county 

 in Preston, where it is being quarried."^ Each of 

 these townships has a Parish Council for administering 

 its local affairs. 



The early history of Stockton is bound up with that 

 of Norton. From the names it may be surmised that 

 Stockton was the original Anglian settlement formed 

 upon a defensible site beside the river, and that Norton 

 afterwards grew up to the north either as pleasanter to 

 dwell in or more secure from attack. Later, while the 

 church w.^s built at Norton, wh ch thus gave a name 

 to the parish, the bishops preferred to establish their 

 manor-house at Stockton,'"'^ which provided a name for 

 the ward or administrative division of the county. 



King John paid three visits to Stockton : in Feb- 



" Brewster, op. cit. 67. 



^* Fordycc, op. cit, ii, 176 ; Richmond, 

 op. cit. 1 52, 21+. 



■^ Heavisides, op. cit. 82. 



^* Brewster, op. cit. 162. 



^ Heavisides, op. cit. 138. 



«« Far. Coll. (Hist. MSS. Com.), ii, 

 431 ; Richmond, Local Rec. 30^. There 

 were races in 1724. A race bill of 17^5 

 is printed on p. 305. Tlie races lasted four 

 days ; on one day was a r;ice for women. 

 There was a main of cocks each day, and 

 an assembly was kept every night. 



^' Heavisides, op. cit. 133, 



^ Fordyce, op. cit. ii, 192, 



*^ Heavisides, op. cit. 40. 



^^ Sykcs, Local Records, ii, 1 87 j Local 

 and Personal Acts, x & 2 Geo, IV, 

 cap. 44 ; Richmond, op. cit, 138, 



'* Fordycc, op. cit. ii, 186. There is a 

 view of the suspension bridge in Brewster, 

 op. cit. 2nd cd. The passenger station 

 was established on the Yorkshire side, in 

 South Stockton. 



'' Richmond, Local Rec, 166. 



351 



'^ Fordyce, loc. cit, 



'« Ibid. 



'* Tramway by-laws in Loud. Gaz. 

 I Aug. 1882, p. 3595. 



•' There is a copy in the British 

 Museum. 



'■ Dice. Nat. Biog. (luppl.), 



'^ Richmond, Local Rec, pp. 93, 234, 

 236, 243, 271. 



''■' I'.C.H. Dur. i, 23 J Fordyce, op. cit. 

 ii, 199. 



''^ The bishops may have continued an 

 ancient arrangement. 



