Teesside, England – July 1999

What’s Happening

As the history of this area has been linked to the sea, it is only to be expected that a fair amount of attractions should centre around the sea going tradition of the area.

In Hartlepool, there is a tradition of historic ship restoration. In fact, many skills now lost to the majority of the nation still cling on in Hartlepool. This started back in the early eighties when the world’s first iron-clad battleship was towed into the port for restoration. It was an absolute wreck and had only just been saved from being scrapped. HMS Warrior was then, over the next half decade, renovated to a state of near perfection by the skilled folk of Hartlepool.

Then, when it was complete, it was shipped off down to Portsmouth to go on show alongside Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory. All well and good but much needed revenue was lost to carry on the ship restoration renaissance.

However, Hartlepool was hardly a tourist destination and in all fairness would not have drawn the same number of big fat Americans with their big fat wallets as was possible at Portsmouth.

Then along came a couple more ships for restoration. Britain’s oldest floating warship, the frigate HMS Trincommalee (1817), and the paddle steamer SS Wingfield Castle. Again these were transformed, but instead of them leaving the town, they stayed and around it was built a whole tourist attraction. “Hartlepool Historic Quay” is a very accurate representation of a quay in Napoleonic Britain, complete with ’smells’. This is now one of the major tourist attractions in the North East of England attracting over 1 million people since opening in 1994 at a cost of 17 million.

It also forms part of the marina re-development which has seen millions being spent on renovating the old dockland into a leisure and accommodation area. Notable features include the Museum of Hartlepool, Historic Quay, state of the art marina and tidal proof berth, luxury accommodation, renovation of past important dock buildings, a designer factory shopping outlet, a cinema, supermarket and Bingo.

Yes, you heard right, Bingo. Loads of smelly old people travelling from far and wide to the latest in Bingo technology. Despite cynicism, the area is now a joy, but how long it can maintain itself is another matter.

Other Hartlepool maritime attraction includes the old Devon building (Nightclub of extraordinary reputation), where bare knuckle fights would take place between visiting Dutch (or any nationality) sailors who would fight the local champ, amid a furore of whores and drunks.

Across in Stockton, another attraction is the Tees Barrage. Here a barrage has been erected to stem the tidal tendencies of the river. This has allowed leisure and nature a chance to prosper in the once polluted Tees. The barrage has a international standard canoeing course (finest man-made in Britain, allegedly) and white water rafting, wind surfing, pleasure cruises as well as campsites.

Stockton Riverside has also been re-developed with university complex (Teesside and Durham University annexes), offices and apartments. Riverside attractions include an ex-service mine sweeper and a replica of Captain Cook’s ship, the Endeavour. I think he was famous for discovering somewhere or other.

Cruises (boat, not Tom) can be ridden down the river to Yarm on board a party vessel. Basically people get drunk and either fall overboard or throw up in the now unpolluted river.

On the subject of the good captain, he did originate from Teesside. As a homage to his extraordinary talents, there is a Captain Cook Country Tour, some 70 miles long and takes in his birthplace museum in Marton (Middlesbrough), his school in Great Ayton (now restored), the family Parish Church of All Saints (burial place of mother and 5 brothers), then on to a house on a housing estate in Redcar – home of his dealer, where Cook bought his first ½ ounce of Red Lebanese.

A nice brisk walk onto Easby Moor to visit the Captain Cook Monument which looks out over Teesside from the prominence of the North York Moors. This part of the trail is on foot and a 4 mile circular walk. Back in the motor, the trail advances to the Guisborough (medieval market town) and onto the sea cliffs (upto 600 ft high) south Saltburn, onto the Staithes heritage centre (Staithes is personally one of my favourite places in the country, a gorgeous seaside village).

The Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby is the further most point of the tour before returning back to Teesside via the moors. Of course, Whitby is also famous as the landing point for Bram Stoker’s Dracula and most notable of all claim to fames, the quality fish and chips (beware of meanies serving small portions).

Not on the Cook tour but still on a seagoing tip, at Redcar you can visit the ‘Zetland’, the worlds oldest remaining lifeboat. In Saltburn they have Britain’s oldest surviving water balance cliff tramway. I mentioned Staithes earlier as part of the Cook Tour and along with Runswick Bay they are seaside villages of the picture book variety. These are ‘quaint’ British places even beyond what a tour guide could emphasise.

Away from the sea now, Teesside also includes a abundance of early Christian building and architecture – why we should celebrate a religion that has spent the first 2000 yrs of its’ existence (a mere baby in terms of world religion) persecuting and pillaging the world and destroying countless cultures and communities with the insistence that Christianity is adopted.

“Why would you want to roam free hunting buffalo, taking hallucinogens and dancing to a natural God while living in lush valleys when you could be on some barren land farming to make ends meet?” “In the process you can loose all community spirit, passion, freedom and knowledge of nature, you can worship a vengeful God and be wracked with Christian guilt; there you are you are, no longer a Pagan.”

Sorry, I started ranting there. Abbeys, Priories (Mount Grace Priory – best preserved Carthusian monastery in the country), ancient churches and moorland stone crosses litter the area indicating the importance of the church in the region. Whitby Abbey was founded in AD657 and was the place in AD664 where a meeting of the church fixed the dates for Easter.

If your passion is walking, then the North York Moors National Park is ideal. Although not big in terms of height (only around 12-1300ft), the moors can still challenge, particularly the Cleveland Way that will take you through a varied panorama around the whole region, from coast to moor to inland dales. A Smaller 40 mile version known as the Light Wake Walk can be tackled within a target time.

One recent development has been the re-opening of the North York Moors steam railway. It runs from Grosmont in the North to Pickering in the South of the area and is by all accounts a proper blast from the past. Complete with choking fumes and soot, polluting the countryside like the good old days. Seriously though, it is very picturesque.

So, after a hard day scouting the area looking for ways to expand your cultural horizons, what do you do now? Where does one go when one wants to relax have a drink and some scran (food)? Well, the best place to stay if you are looking at Teesside as a whole would be Middlesbrough, although this pains me to say being a Hartlepool lad.

There are an abundance of Indian Restaurants in Middlesbrough (the ‘Boro’ as it is colloquially known – see history section for spelling tale), most notable are the 3 run by the Khan family (best one is in Linthorpe Village). There are several Italians, the ‘coolest’ being The Purple Onion which also has a Jazz / Funk club in the basement. This restaurant was where a certain Fabrizio Ravenelli spent his time when he playing for Boro. There are also Chinese (best being the ‘East Ocean’), American, Vegetarian and Mediterranean eateries to choose from.

The town’s Linthorpe Road is a centre for many restaurants (incl. two of the Khan Indians). It is also festooned with takeaways of every variety, numerous pubs, a Cyber Café and a few coffee shops.

It is strange in Britain, the idea of a Coffee Shop has only recently taken off and tends to be restricted to Cities and cosmopolitan areas (also Student centres – which Boro is). Traditionally, the Brits have cafes which tend to be a cross between a truck stop and somewhere for folks on the dole to sit waiting for their Giro’s (state handouts).

For myself, having travelled extensively in Europe, I think that coffee shops should be a lot more widespread and adopted into the ‘working class’ culture that still prevails. The North East of England is a strange place. You would be looked upon as a bit strange going to a coffee shop when there is a pub around the corner; they are not seen as manly enough.

Although I highlight Teesside as a great area with an abundance of things to do and see, the Towns still are based in a working class culture and some small town mentalities still exist. Often there can be a mistrust of anything new (I am sure this attitude exists throughout the planet) and this includes strangers. On the other hand, the N.E. of England is known for its’ welcoming and friendly spirit. Middlesbrough is a University town, so there are a lot of students about which I think promotes a tolerant attitude. It also gives the lunatics someone to pick on, thus leaving the way clear for ‘normal folk’ (joke). I don’t want appear alarmist. These incidences are rare but none the less, a good travel guide tries to cover for all eventualities.

There is a nightclub in Boro called ‘The Arena’ and I have been going there since it opened in 1991. It has now changed hands and has lost some of the intimate atmosphere it used to have, but it is still the best club within miles. It started amid the fury of ‘House’ clubs and on the back of the rave scene. Although it always was a touch of class compared to your whistle blowing, Vicks sniffing, white glove brigade.

It was a platform for all the top circuit DJ’s, I have seen the majority of big names there incl. Paul Oakenfold, Sasha (it was the only club never to advertise that Sasha was on – he liked this) and the most impressive that I remember was the American, Todd Terry. These days are gone. To its’ credit, the Arena no longer takes part in this scene as do so many other money grabbing clubs still do, and instead uses resident and more underground DJ’s.

It was then one of the fist Drum ‘n’ Base clubs outside of London. All this time it was extremely high on the live music scene, the list of now big names that have played there is astounding; Catatonia, Ocean Colour Scene, Shed Seven, Bluetones, Oasis, Kula Shaker, Properllerheads as well as the established underground of alternative / dance bans; the Aloof, Dreadzone, Lo Fi Allstars, Asian Dub Foundation. Last weekend the Jungle Brothers and DJ Freddie Fresh appeared. This is a quality club.

The original owners of the Arena now run a bar in town called the Cornerhouse, with Gothic Décor, a relaxed style and some innovative nights, it is the best bar in the area. For serious drinkers, try Isaac Wilsons, no music and very cheap drinks.

A selection of Events in July & August

July

17th Jazz in the Garden – Ormesby Hall

18th Motorcycle sand racing – Redcar

24-25th Hartlepool Life boat festival

30th-8th Stockton International Riverside Festival

August

5-6th Twelfth Night – Ormesby Hall

7-8th Horse racing – Redcar Racecourse

14-21st Billingham International Folklore Festival

21-22nd Hartlepool Show

21-27th Whitby Folk Week

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