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The Tees is born
in the North Pennines at Tees Head, on the
easterly reaches of Cross Fell. Here a boundary
stone inscribed 'B/T' marks the place of its
birth. A boundary stone is an appropriate
beginning for a river which for centuries formed
a border between regions, tribes, counties and
nations. For the ancient Celts the Tees was a
river of 'sunshine and heat' and was well known
to the tribal Brigantes, who fought the Roman
invasion of the valley. Three hundred and fifty
years later, the Romans abandoned the north and
the Celtic kingdom of Catraeth emerged in the
valleys of the Tees and Swale, where Romanised
Celts were left to contend with a new wave of
invaders, the Anglo-Saxons, from Germany and
Denmark.
Catraeth was defeated and the Anglo-Saxons
settled the Tees. From east to west we find
their places of settlement, betrayed by names
ending in 'ton' or 'ham' as at Billingham and
Norton. In 1984 archaeologists unearthed
Anglo-Saxon remains at Norton on Tees. To the
Anglo-Saxons, the Tees was a dividing line
between their sub-kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira,
but also unified the two as the Kingdom of
Northumbria. Christianity was introduced to this
kingdom, but centuries passed and pagan ways
returned with the Viking invasion. The Vikings
settled the whole Tees valley, the Danes in the
lower Tees vale, the Norwegians in Teesdale and
parts of Langbaurgh.
Later, a mixed race of Irish-Norsemen, from
Dublin settled the northern side of the Tees at
Billingham and Aycliffe, perhaps colonising the
whole Skerne valley. Along the Tees, Vikings
named their streams 'becks', their waterfalls
'forces' and gave their settlements names ending
in 'by' like Ormesby, Raby, Thornaby and
Stainsby. Yorkshire and Cumbria became the
Viking domain, but in the North East the Viking
Kingdom of Jorvik stretched no further than the
Tees. Here a 'wappentake' or Viking district
called Sadberge emerged extending from
Hartlepool to Teesdale. This district was later
reclaimed by the Norman Prince Bishops of
Durham, for the land of St Cuthbert.
Like the Vikings and Saxons, the Normans made
the Tees a boundary beyond which lay the
Scottish Border Country and the realm of
Durham's autonomous bishops. William the
Conqueror's Domesday Book of 1086, did not
survey the north side of the Tees. Throughout
the early Middle Ages the Scots were a constant
threat to the peace of the Tees, and constantly
raided the whole valley by way of Cumberland
from west to east. More often than not
Hartlepool was their ultimate goal, a busy port
and a rich source of plunder. In 1139 the north
side of the Tees was given to the Scots by King
Stephen and for eighteen years the river formed
the border between England and Scotland. As late
as the seventeenth century the Scots were still
a threat, when the Civil War brought the land
north of the Tees once again into the realm of
Scottish military control.
THE BIRTH
OF TEESSIDE
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
the industry and commerce of the River Tees was
still in its early stages and was concentrated
in little market towns like Yarm, a place later
succeeded by Stockton as the main port on the
Tees. In the Victorian age industry boomed and
gave Teesside a common industrial heritage,
unifying the north and south banks of the river
with a single identity.
In the 1960s the Borough of Teesside was
created and later in 1974, the County of
Cleveland formed. The new county claimed land
from both sides of the river and Teesside's
identity as distinct from Durham and Yorkshire,
was finally recognised. More controversial was
the removal of the south side of rural Teesdale
from Yorkshire into Durham, where Barnard
Castle, provided an obvious focus for the dale.
In 1996 and 1997 more local government reforms
took place. Cleveland was abolished and
Darlington gained unitary status independent of
County Durham.
CROSS FELL
TO CLEVELAND
From Cross fell to Cow Green, Teesdale has a
vague resemblance to the estuary of the Tees at
Seal Sands. Both areas have their marshy land,
their crying birds and blustering winds, but the
trickling sikes and bleak moorland of remotest
Teesdale seem untouched by human presence. Not
for long though, only seven miles from Tees Head
we reach Cow Green Reservoir, Teesdale's biggest
man-made lake. Cow Green, like Northumberland's
Kielder Resevoir, was built to supply Teesside's
thirsty industries and is a striking reminder
that quiet Teesdale and industrial Teesside
really are the same river.
Continuing from Cow Green to historic Barnard
Castle, the Tees has journeyed a further twenty
miles. Here the river has passed through an
upland landscape of waterfalls, breathtaking
views and charming villages. The biggest village
is Middleton, a Quaker owned lead mining centre
of the Victorian age. Leaving the dale at
'Barney' and heading towards Yarm we enter the
sleepiest lowland section of the river's
journey. Here the lush green fields of the Tees
Vale are a continuation of the Vale of York and
provide miles of extensive farmland. Darlington,
at the centre of the vale, has for centuries
been a focus for agricultural communities in
south Durham and North Yorkshire. Darlington was
also the home to the Quakers who held such high
influence in the commercial affairs of the
region.
QUAKERS
FOUNDERS OF MIDDLESBROUGH
Two of Darlington's most influential Quakers
were the father and son Edward and Joseph Pease,
who were arguably the most important figures in
the history of the Tees. Edward was the man
behind the Stockton and Darlington Railway of
1825, the world's first passenger railway. It
was this railway that provided the catalyst for
the birth of industrial Teesside. More
importantly it opened the possibility of
developing a completely new town and port to
rival those of the Tyne and Wear. It was Joseph
Pease who chose the site, a little riverside
farm called Middlesbrough.
Middlesbrough grew from a tiny population of
25 in 1801 to a staggering 90,000 in 1901, Its
industrial growth was based first on coal and
later iron, chemicals and steel. Today the Tees,
with Middlesbrough as its capital, is one of the
most important and most spectacular industrial
rivers of the nation. This book explores the
River Tees from source to sea, in a two-thousand
year journey of discovery along the remarkable
course of the steel river. |
