Middlesbrough
This is the article on the town, for the article on the football club see Middlesbrough F.C., is one of the UK's 3 largest ports, lies 3 miles to the East, and
Durham Tees Valley Airport lies 8 miles to the West, near
Darlington. North East of Middlesbrough, the Tees
estuary with its colony of breeding
seals, has extensive sandy beaches in both directions. Some 7000
salmon and 13,000
sea trout migrated upstream through the estuary in 2000.
Saltburn boasts some of the best and most challenging surf in Britain, and beyond, sheer cliffs rise to
Boulby Head, the highest point on the east coast of England.
Although often thought of as a settlement with no early history, the name Middlesbrough can trace its roots back a long way.
Mydilsburgh is the earliest recorded form of the name. he element '-burgh', from Old English
burh, meaning 'fort' denotes an ancient fort or settlement of pre-
Saxon origin (this being the term on which
Middlesbrough Football Club's ardently chanted nickname, 'The
Boro', plays). Maturing into
brough gave this extension individuality in a country more customarily associated with the alternative
borough in its town names. It is solely by retrospective conjecture that the first element of the name,
Mydil, has come to be identified as a development of the Old English
middel (subsequently morphing into
middle and supposedly a tribute to the settlement's position between the great Christian centres of
Durham and
Whitby). The burgh, though, may have included a monastic cell and was probably situated on the elevated land where the
Victorian church of St Hilda's (demolished in 1969) was later built.
In
686 a monastic cell was consecrated by
St Cuthbert at the request of
St Hilda Abbess of
Whitby and in
1119 Robert Bruce granted and confirmed the church of
St Hilda of Middleburg to
Whitby. Up until its closure on the
dissolution of the monasteries by
Henry VIII in
1537, the church was maintained by 12
Benedictine monks, many of whom became vicars or rectors of various places in Cleveland. The importance of the early church at "Middleburg", later known as Middlesbrough Priory, is indicated by the fact that in
1452 it possessed four altars.
After the
Saxons the area became home to
Viking settlers and it is argued by some that 'old'
Cleveland has the highest density of
Scandinavian parish names in Britain. Names of
Viking origin are abundant in the area - for example,
Thornaby,
Ormesby, Stainsby,
Lackenby,
Maltby,
Normanby,
Tollesby and
Lazenby which were once separate villages that belonged to Vikings called Thormad, Orm, Steinn, Hlakkande, Malti and Toll, but now form suburbs of Middlesbrough. Lazenby was the village belonging to a Leysingr - a freeman; Normanby, a Norseman's village and Danby (in neighbouring
North Yorkshire), a Dane's village. The name Mydilsburgh is the earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough's name and dates to
Saxon times (400 to 1000 A.D.), whilst many of the aforementioned mentioned villages appear in the
Domesday Book of
1086.
In 1801 Middlesbrough consisted of just four farmhouses, but during the latter half of the 19th century experienced a growth unparalleled in England. It was famously dubbed by
Gladstone 'an infant
Hercules' in 'England's enterprise.'
Development began with
Joseph Pease the
Darlington industrialist, who saw the possibilities of Middlesbrough as a port for North East coal, but the great leap forward began with the discovery of ironstone in the Eston Hills in
1850. In
1841,
Henry Bolckow (pronounced Belko), who had come to England in
1827, formed a partnership with
John Vaughan of
Worcester, and started an iron-foundry and rolling mill at Middlesbrough. It was Vaughan who discovered the ironstone deposits. Pig-iron production rose tenfold between
1851 and
1856. Bolckow became mayor in 1853 and Middlesbrough's first
MP.
It took only until
1890 for the town to extend its boundaries southwards, into the villages of
Linthorpe and
North Ormesby and acquire the status of a
municipal borough with around 90,000 residents. In
1930 a now 130,000-strong Middlesbrough had become both a
county borough and
rural district with parliamentary control over the affairs of neighbouring towns, such as areas of
Thornaby-on-Tees and Eston, while its own boundaries proceeded to hit
Acklam and
Marton in the South.
The rapid growth of the town saw the prophetic words (probably spoken by Pease), '
Yarm was,
Stockton is, Middlesbrough will be' come true. Indeed, the motto chosen by the first body of town councillors was in fact 'Erimus'; Latin for 'We will be'. The population of Middlesbrough as county borough peaked at almost 172,000 in the late 1960s but has been in decline since the early 1980s. From 2001 to present, the recorded population has jumped significantly, from 134,000 to 147,000.
The Bell brothers opened their great ironworks on the banks of the Tees in
1853. Steel production began at
Port Clarence in 1889 and an amalgamation with
Dorman Long followed. After rock salt was discovered under the site in 1874, the salt-extraction industry on Teesside was founded. By now Bell Brothers had become a vast concern employing some 6,000 people.
Isaac Lowthian Bell's own eminence in the field of applied science, where he published many weighty papers, and as an entrepreneur whose knowledge of blast furnaces was unrivalled, led to universal recognition. He was the first president of the
Iron and Steel Institute, and the first recipient of the
Bessemer Gold Medal in 1874. Bell was Lord Mayor of Newcastle in 1854-1855, and again in 1862-1863. He served as MP for
Hartlepool in 1875-1880.
Middlesbrough gained a "twin" in
1890 when the town of
Middlesborough, Kentucky was incorporated in the
United States; it was named after its English namesake due to the discovery of ironstone deposits in the region.
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Transporter Bridge at night |
For many years in the 19th century
Teesside set the world price for iron and steel. The
Sydney Harbour Bridge (
1932) was designed and built by
Dorman Long of Middlesbrough, and has MADE IN MIDDLESBROUGH stamped on the side. The company was also responsible for the earlier
New Tyne Bridge across the river at
Newcastle.
Via a
1907 Act of Parliament the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company also built the great
Transporter Bridge (1911) which spans the Tees itself between Middlesbrough and
Port Clarence, and at 850 feet long and 225 feet high, is the largest of its type in the world, remaining in daily use (although it is worth noting, that unlike as is suggested by the plot of popular
BBC drama/comedy
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, the bridge was
not at any point dismantled and removed to
Arizona. It is, indeed, a Grade II*
listed building).
The great steelworks, chemical plants, shipbuilding and offshore fabrication yards that followed the original Middlesbrough ironworks, have in the recent past contributed to Britain's prosperity in no small measure and still do to this day.
Middlesbrough is twinned with the German city of
Oberhausen,
Masvingo in Zimbabwe and
Dunkerque in France.
The Green Howards is an British Army infantry regiment very strongly associated with Middlesbrough and the area south of the River Tees. Originally formed at Dunster Castle in Somerset to serve King William of Orange, later King William III, this famous regiment became affiliated to the North Riding of Yorkshire in
1782. As Middlesbrough grew, its population of men came to be a group most targeted by the recruiters.
Middlesbrough has the distinction of being the first major British town and industrial target to be bombed during the
Second World War when the
Luftwaffe visited the town on the
25 May 1940. Most notably in
1942 a lone
Dornier 217 picked its way through the
barrage balloons and dropped a stick of bombs onto the
railway station. It is a local tale that one or two fish and chip shops also came a cropper to the raids.
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Panoramic view of Middlesbrough |
Middlesbrough is, naturally, not abundant in ancient buildings, and the townscape is largely workaday. There are, however some relatively old buildings still to be found. Located in the suburbs and by some distance the town's oldest domestic building is
Acklam Hall of c.
1680-
3. Built by Sir
William Hustler, it is also Middlesbrough's sole
Grade I listed building. The
Restoration mansion, accessible through an avenue of trees off Acklam Road, has seen progressive updates through the centuries, such that it makes for a captivating document of varying trends in
English architecture.
Ormesby Hall, a Palladian mansion actually technically located within the neighbouring borough of
Redcar and Cleveland, but within one of the town's seven conservation areas, was largely built around
1740, but an older wing dating from around
1599, still exists.
Not to be ignored either are a clutch of interesting churches, for example at Acklam, Marton and Stainton (c.
12th century), or the modern
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral at
Coulby Newham, replacing in the
1980s the previous structure on Sussex Street that was left gutted at the mercy of arsonists in
2000.
Middlesbrough is no longer a heavy industrial town, though there are areas around which still support chemical, fertiliser and iron and steel production.
Neighbourhoods
*
Acklam*
Beechwood*
Berwick Hills*
Brambles Farm*
BrookFields*
Coulby Newham*
Easterside*
Eston*
Grangetown*
Grove Hill*
Hemlington*
Linthorpe*
Marton-In-Cleveland*
Marton Grove*
Netherfields*
Normanby*
North Ormesby*
Nunthorpe*
Ormesby*
Pallister*
Park End*
Priestfields*
Saltersgill*
South bank*
St Hildas*
Stainton*
Teesville*
Thorntree*
Town East*
Town Farm*
Town West*
West Lane*
Whinney BanksFilm
The Ironopolis Film Company was recently established in Teesside. A studio has been created at the Teesside Technology Centre in
Grangetown to the east of Middlesbrough Centre. Its aim is to make films within the area using local actors.
The companies remit is to encourage, promote and develop a film and media culture for the Middlesbrough area which will further expand and increase the profile of Middlesbrough nationally and internationally.Six Bend Trap is the first ever feature film made in the Middlesbrough area. The movie is the first ever independent script to screen shot in High Definition in the UK.
*
The Teesside Tarantino*
Six Bend Trap made in Teesside*
Ironopolis Film CompanyArchitecture
Middlesbrough does not have an abundance of old architecture due to its youth as a town; it was not incorporated until
1853. Even so, the urban centre is home to a variety of architectural buildings and structures such as the new art gallery (
MIMA) and '
Spectra-txt'. Many believe that there is a beauty to be found in the surrounding landscape of industry, but much of this lies outside of the Middlesbrough boundaries in Billingham and Wilton. The terraced
Victorian streets surrounding the town centre are characterful elements of Middlesbrough's social and historical identity. The vast streets surrounding Parliament Road and Abingdon Road are a reminder of the area's wealth and rapid growth during industrialisation.
The Town Hall, built between
1883 and
1887 is a Grade II Listed Building, and a very imposing structure. Of comparable grandeur alongside these municipal buildings is the erstwhile Empire Palace of Varieties of
1897, the finest surviving theatre edifice designed by
Ernest Runtz in the U.K. The first artist to star there in its guise as a Music Hall was
Lily Langtry. Later it became an early nightclub (
1950s), then a bingo-hall and is now once again a night club in the form of 'The Theatre'. It has recently, as of 2005, had the missing ornate glass and steel over-canopy to the front entrance fully restored. Further afield in Linthorpe, can be found the Little Theatre (now Middlesbrough Theatre), the first new theatre built in England after
the Second World War.
The town can also boast this country's only public sculpture by the celebrated modern American artist
Claes Oldenburg, the "Bottle O' Notes" of
1993, which relates to
Captain James Cook. Based alongside it today in the town's Central Gardens is the
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, the successor to previous
art galleries on Linthorpe Road and Gilkes Street. Recently refurbished is the
Carnegie library dating from
1912. The
Dorman Long office on Zetland Road, constructed between
1881 and
1891, is the only commercial building ever designed by
Philip Webb, the great architect who worked for Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell.
The town's centre has been undergoing a modernising makeover in recent years, including the addition of 'Spectra-txt,' a 10 metre high interactive tower of metal and fibre-optics inspired by
Blade Runner. 'Spectra-txt' allows the public to send an
SMS (text) message via mobiles phones to change the colours of the lights. Texting various codes, such as 'Chromapop' produce a display of changing colour lights.
Shopping
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The Spectra-txt sculpture |
There is a large and comprehensive shopping district made up of several separate
shopping centres, which include 'The Mall Cleveland' renamed in 2005 from 'Cleveland Shopping Centre,' 'Dundas Street Shopping' renamed in 2005 from 'Dundas Shopping Arcade,' 'Hill Street Shopping Centre' and 'Captain Cook Square.' Linthorpe Road is home to several independent and national fashion shops, most notably the multi-award winning
Psyche, regularly scooping accolades over the likes of the
Selfridges,
Harvey Nichols &
Liberty stores in
London, and hence regarded as one of the finest of its kind in the
United Kingdom. A recent four-part BBC documentary was made about the store, which highlighted how seriously Teessiders take fashion.
Nightlife
During university term time Middlesbrough is busy throughout the week with student nights taking place throughout the towns bars and clubs. During the holidays the town is predominantly busy from Thursday to Sunday. The most popular venue is the Empire in the centre of town. A range of events are played here which include music from dance and hip-hop.
Club Bongo is another popular weekend venue located near Middlesbrough Train Station and what is commonly referred to as the Red Light District.
The Crown on Linthorpe Road,
Cornerhouse,
Barracuda are also popular. It also has a
Cineworld Cinema on the leisure park on Marton Road.
There are a number of
Nightclubs and
public houses in the
town centre. Such other inner-town structures as The Masham and The Shakespeare, on Linthorpe Road, have long retired from their former purposes as public houses.
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Middlesbrough's proposed skyscraper |
The Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (
MIMA) is an impressive £19 million gallery for contemporary visual art, and has been designed by one of
Europe's top architects
Erick van Egeraat (
Rotterdam and
London). It is due to open in 2006.
As part of it's £1.5 billion investment programme, Tees Valley Regeneration has started work on reclaiming Middlesbrough Docklands with the £500 million
Middlehaven scheme to bring new business and homes to a 250
acre (1 km²) area.
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Middlehaven regeneration scheme |
The first phase around the former docklands has already begun and is visible from the
Riverside Stadium. The master plan drawn up by
Will Alsop in 2004, includes proposals for the relocation of
Middlesbrough College, the building of a virtual reality centre by
Teesside University (part of the
Digital City development), in addition to numerous offices, hotels, bars, restaurants and leisure attractions.
Tees Valley Regeneration now has a shortlist of five developers seeking to build at
Middlehaven, the list includes some of the most prestigious and groundbreaking names in development and regeneration, and a decision on the chosen developer is due to be made in the next few months.
The
Stockton-Middlesbrough Initiative is a 20 year vision for regenerating the urban core of the
Tees Valley, the main focus being the area of 30 km² along the banks of the
River Tees between the two centres of
Stockton and Middlesbrough. The master plan has been drawn up by environmental design specialists
Gillespies, the eventual aim being to create a distinctive high-quality city of over 320,000 citizens at the heart of the Tees Valley, by connecting both Middlesbrough and
Stockton along the
Tees corridor. The project will include not only the existing developments at
Middlehaven and
North Shore Stockton, but many others over a 15-20 year period.
Middlesbrough has also recently announced plans to build a 120-metre tower on the site of the old
Odeon Cinema in Central Middlesbrough at the eastern end of Newport road and will be the tallest building in the North East, surpassing the existing record already held by Middlesbrough's own Centre North East building. This will be the first of such skyscrapers proposed in Middlesbrough with two more visioned for Middlehaven. The second one on the Middlehaven site is the most unlikely but still being considered and could see either an American or Dubai based company to build a skyscraper 250-300 metres in height, showing Middlesbrough is progressing into the future and is a growing centre for commerce and development. The idea for such
skyscrapers is the result of limited land area in Middlesbrough. Instead of building outwards and subsequently having to apply for boundary extension, it makes sense to build up. It sees Middlesbrough a participant in the Skyscraper Boom currently hitting the
UK which the
U.S. experienced in the early 1900s.
Long-awaited flagship art gallery project, the
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art is taking shape and is poised to open in
Winter 2006. Its considerable arts and crafts collections span from
1900 to the present day. Surrounding it is the town's overhauled Victoria Square and Central Gardens, in tandem producing "the largest civic space in Europe".
1 Middlesbrough can boast two major recreational park spaces in
Albert Park and
Stewart Park,
Marton. Originally dubbed in its conception as 'The People's Park' and donated to the town by Bolckow in
1866, to be formally opened by
Prince Arthur, youngest son of the monarch, on
11 August 1868, the former comprises of a 30 hectare (70 acre) site accessible from Linthorpe Road. It underwent a considerable period of restoration from
2001 to
2004, during which a number of the Park's most vaunted landmarks, including a
fountain, bandstand and
sundial saw either restoration or revival. Alongside these two respectively are two of the town's premier cultural attractions, the century-old
Dorman Memorial Museum and the
Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, in close proximity to which is a granite urn marking the spot of the supposed birthplace of the noted explorer.
Newham Grange Leisure farm in Coulby Newham, one of the most southerly districts of the town, has operated continuously in this spot since the
17th century. Now a burgeoning tourist attraction, the chance to view its various
cattle,
pigs,
sheep and other perennial farm animals is complimented by exhibitions of the farming history of the area.
Back in the 'Old Town' or St Hilda's, is the Transporter Bridge Visitor Centre, opened in
2000 and offering its own exhibitions charting the high-octane past of the heart of the surrounding industrial powerhouse, as well as that of the singular structure it commemorates.
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The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough |
The Premiership football team,
Middlesbrough F.C., owned by local entrepreneur and Bulkhaul boss
Steve Gibson, is based at the
Riverside Stadium by the
River Tees, having moved from its traditional home at
Ayresome Park during the 1990s. Having endured 128 years without a major trophy, Middlesbrough finally won the
Carling Cup in 2004, beating
Bolton Wanderers 2â€"1 in the final at the
Millennium Stadium in
Cardiff.
In the 2005â€"2006 season, trying for the
UEFA Cup, Middlesbrough was the only North Eastern team represented in European competition, having finished 7th in the 2004â€"2005
FA Premier League. Having beat
Basel and
Steaua BucureÅŸti 4â€"3 in previous rounds and come back from 0â€"3 down in both games, Middlesbrough Football Club in its first ever
UEFA Cup final unfortunately lost and was on the wrong side of a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of
Sevilla FC at the
Philips Stadion on
10 May 2006. The efforts of then manager,
Steve McClaren, though, were recognised in his appointment to succeed
Sven-Goran Eriksson at the helm of the
England national team after that summer's
World Cup. Taking the helm at Middlesbrough is long-serving defender
Gareth Southgate, to the chagrin of various
FA officials.
Middlesbrough has been a
university town since
1992. The
University of Teesside has more than 20,000 students, and a history dating back to
1930 as Constantine Technical College.
The University of Teesside is internationally recognised as a leading institute for computer animation and games design and along with ARC at
Stockton-on-Tees,
Cineworld cinema in Middlesbrough, and the
Riverside Stadium, hosts the annual
Animex International Festival of Animation.
The university also houses Teesside Business School as well as other specialised Schools of Arts & Media, Computing, Health & Social Care, Science & Technology and Social Sciences & Law. During Middlesbrough's past the University, as Teesside Polytechnic, was a highly regarded institution for the teaching of such disciplines as chemical engineering. It has fared well as of late in the
2005 National Student Survey, with its
Law,
English and
Design departments amongst the nation's 25% most highly regarded. Even so, it could only muster a rank of 91st out of 100 UK universities in the 2006 Times Good University Guide.
The University is not alone in providing
further and
higher education in the town. There is the usual selection of modern
schools and
sixth forms, such as
The King's Academy in Coulby Newham and
Macmillan Academy on Stockton Road and is in the top 25 non-private secondary schools in the country, while with a further 16,000 students
Middlesbrough College covers the four campuses of Acklam, Kirby, Marton and Longlands, including the one-time Acklam Hall. Also on offer in Linthorpe, are two of three campuses of the
Cleveland College of Art and Design, the only such college remaining in the North-East. The college offers several BA (Hons) degrees in art and design, as well as many other further education courses in art, design and crafts.
The £17 million
Unity City Academy which replaced the Langbaurgh and Keldholme secondary schools in east Middlesbrough was one of the first schools to open as part of the government's £5bn programme for transforming failing comprehensives. However, there is specualtion that the school may close due to poor grades . In 2005 an unusually large proportion of pupils gained no GCSEs and only a mere 6% of pupils gained 5 A*-C grades compared with a national average of 51%
The world famous explorer, navigator, and map maker Captain
James Cook was born in Marton, which is now a suburb in the south-east of Middlesbrough.
Other famous people from the town include:
*Sports
** Rugby union player
Rory Underwood** Footballers
Don Revie,
Wilf Mannion and
Brian Clough** Olympic swimmer
Jack Hatfield**
Commonwealth Games swimmer
Alyson Jones**
Middlesbrough and
England football player
Stewart Downing*The Arts
**Comedians
Dave Morris,
Bob Mortimer,
Roy Chubby Brown and
Kevin Connelly**Musicians
Chris Rea,
Paul Rodgers,
David Coverdale and
Vin Garbutt**Actors
Wendy Richard,
Liz Carling,
Thelma Barlow,
Lila Kaye,
Christopher Quinten and
Jerry Desmonde**Visual artists
Mackenzie Thorpe,
Robert Nixon and
Steve Bell**In addition,
Ridley Scott was born in
South Shields but lived in and around
Teesside for much of his life.
**Middlesbrough born
Mike McCarthy wrote and directed the first ever HD feature film made in the Town,
Six Bend Trap.
*Other Entertainers:
**Magician
Paul Daniels**TV Presenter
Kirsten O'Brien**
X Factor Contestants and third place runners up
Journey South**Ukhh Crew
Norf n LightsOther eminent sons and daughters of Middlesbrough and its environs include
Martin Narey, chief executive of Barnardo's,
E. W. Hornung, the creator of the gentleman-crook Raffles (who was fluent in three Yorkshire dialects, and
Naomi Jacob novelist.
Florence Easton, the Wagnerian soprano at the New York Met and
Cyril Smith, the concert pianist, were also natives. The famous M.P.
Ellen Wilkinson wrote a novel
Clash (1929) which paints a very positive picture of ‘Shireport' (Middlesbrough).
Florence Olliffe Bell's classic study
At The Works(1907) gives a striking picture of the area at the turn of the century. She also edited the letters of her step-daughter
Gertrude Bell which have been continuously in print since 1927.
Pat Barker's debut novel
Union Street was set on the thoroughfare of the same name in the town, its central theme of
prostitution still associated with the area around it to this day.
Ford Madox Ford was billeted in Eston during WWI and his great novel sequence
Parade's End is partly set in Busby Hall,
Carlton-in-Cleveland.
Adrian 'Six Medals' Warburton, air photographer, was played by
Alec Guinness in '
Malta Story'.
Over the past decade Middlesbrough was ranked amongst the 10 worst districts for acquisitive crime rates in England (with the TS1 area ranking 1st most deprived area in the UK), peaking at 4th place often behind
Manchester,
Nottingham,
Kingston upon Hull and parts of
Inner London. This is surprising considering the town's size in comparison to the other cities. However, over the last two years recorded crime rates in Middlesbrough have declined including a 50% reduction in robbery. Whilst violent crime has risen with national trends it is important to emphasise the influence of recording methods rather than an actual surge in violent crime. The most serious violent offences within Middlesbrough have declined in the past two years.
Image:Middsbottle37.JPG|The Bottle O' Notes sculptureImage:Middscourt38.JPG|Middlesbrough combined court
Image:Old town.JPG|Old Town Hall image:Torntree.jpg|The Thorntree public house*
Parmo, a local delicacy
*
Middlesbrough Music Live*
List of bands/musicians from North East England*
A66 road*
Middlesbrough Football Club*
mima*
Middlesbrough online forum - Sign up and chat with others from the town*
This is Middlesbrough - Your guide to the town*
Statistics about Middlesbrough from the
Office for National Statistics Census 2001*
University of Teesside*
Official Middlesbrough Council Website*
icTeesside - Local news and information for the Teesside region*
Spectra-txt*
Animex International Festival of Animation*
Tees Valley Blog What to See and Do in the Tees Valley.
*
Tees Valley Information*
Brief History of Middlesbrough*
Genuki - History of Eston parish & District Descriptions from Bulmer's History and Directory of North Yorkshire (1890), retrieved 8th February 2006
*
Middlesbrough Business Information & Forum
