River Tees
The
Tees is an
English river that
rises on the eastern slope of
Cross Fell in the
Pennine Chain and flows eastwards for about 87 miles (137 km) to the
North Sea, between
Hartlepool and
Redcar. [
1]
In the earliest part of its course it forms the boundary between the
traditional counties of
Westmorland and
Durham. The head of the valley, of which the upper portion is known as
Teesdale, has a desolate grandeur; the hills, exceeding 2500 feet (760 m) in height at some points, consist of bleak moorland.
A succession of falls or rapids, where the river traverses a hard series of black
basaltic rocks, is called "
Cauldron Snout". From a point immediately below this to its mouth the Tees forms the boundary between the traditional counties of Durham and
Yorkshire almost without a break, although since
1974 much of it lies wholly in Durham. The dale becomes bolder below Cauldron Snout, and trees appear, contrasting with the broken rocks where the water dashes over
High Force, the highest
waterfall in
England and one of the finest.
The scenery becomes gentler but more picturesque as it descends past
Middleton-in-Teesdale (Durham). This locality has
lead and
ironstone resources. The ancient
town of
Barnard Castle,
Eggleston Abbey, and
Rokeby Hall, well known through Sir
Walter Scott's poem, are passed; and then the valley begins to open out, and it traverses the rich plain east and south of
Darlington in sweeping curves.
The course of the valley until here has been generally east-southeast, but it now turns northeast and, nearing the sea, becomes an important commercial waterway, having on its banks the ports of
Stockton-on-Tees and
Middlesbrough. For its last five miles, below Middlesbrough, it is
estuarine.
Teesport is the busiest port in the country, shipping over a million tonnes of cargo per year.
It drains an area of 708 square miles (1834 square km), and subsumes no important
tributaries.
It was featured on the television programme
Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of the North.
Tees derives from Celtic
tes 'heat', referring to a warm river. This refers to the coast by
Hartlepool and
Redcar.
*
List of settlements on the River Tees*
Rivers of the United Kingdom
