Teesdale's industrial heritage, Teesdale Mercury

Teesdale's industrial heritage

Mar 4, 2008

TEESDALE is almost totally rural. It's true that Glaxo occupies quite a few acres and employs many of the dales' inhabitants, and there are some large quarries but that's about all really. It comes as a surprise, therefore, to realise that the Industrial Revolution had a noticeable effect on both Teesdale's life and landscape. 

For one thing, the two main towns in Teesdale owe their growth to the changes associated with the Industrial Revolution. In Barney, large mills were built and at the other end of the dale, Middleton became the district's lead mining centre. Both places were transformed by their links with industry. 

Before the mines were developed commercially, Middleton was no more than a small rural village. There were 65 households listed in the 1666 Hearth Tax returns - a population of maybe just about 300. 

With the coming of the London Lead Company, however, Middleton benefited from the addition of many fine buildings - none of them in the slightest way industrial. 

New people came as well, mostly from the mines of the Derbyshire. And when the mining boom was over, quite a number of these Derbyshire miners remained and their descendants are still with us. The mines themselves and their associated buildings and waste heaps must have made huge scars on the landscape. 

Now these have returned to the wild and the mining remains have become part of the heritage of the dale and add to its interest. As for the mining shops - they are now either romantic ruins or desirable holiday cottages depending how near to civilisation they were situated.

As for Barney, the various mills were rather big, dirty and noisy and did nothing for the appearance of the town. On the positive side though, they have made rather attractive blocks of flats - sorry, I mean apartments. And this has meant that Barney hasn't been subjected to the ‘samey' flats that are going up in every other town. For one thing, the mills were built of stone. They were also situated near the river so that the fast flowing water could be used to operate the machinery. This means many of the new flats have great views.

It wasn't just locally-based industry that made such a difference to the dale. Developments in other parts of the country - particularly those happening 30 miles down the river - eventually made their impact on Teesdale. 

The iron works at Teesside needed Teesdale. First, the area around Cockfield had abundant coal for firing the furnaces and then Teesdale also had the limestone needed for lining the same furnaces. The only problem was how to get rather bulky and heavy material along the 30 or so miles of very poor roads. 

We should have known that the Quakers, who owned many of the coal mines and who were later also responsible for the development of Middlesbrough, were more than capable of making use of the new railways. And so, the Stockton and Darlington railway was built, soon followed by the Haggerleazes line up to Cockfield. 

Afterwards, there were lines right up the dale as far as Middleton and over to the west, via Lartington and Stainmore.

The Quakers were an extraordinary group of people, some of them home grown in Teesdale. And, of course, it was the Quakers who were responsible for developing the lead mines in the upper dale and virtually building Middleton. At the mouth of the Tees they became the owners of the Middlesbrough Estate and built the town of Middlesbrough virtually from scratch.

Although the Quakers were tremendous entrepreneurs, the speed of the growth of Middlesbrough must have taken them by surprise. The infrastructure wasn't there at first. Water supplies were insufficient for the people and the works and the water was often contaminated and dirty. So where did the new town look for clean water? Why Teesdale, of course! 

So, one after another and throughout many years, our reservoirs were constructed. And just as happened when the mines were opened, people came into the dale, this time as construction workers. I well remember meeting one such man working on the Balderhead Reservoir who was from Belgium. We met head on the Baldersdale Road and I'm afraid his car suffered the most damage.

Population movement wasn't all one way. During the course of the Industrial Revolution, many dalesmen left for pastures new. Many emigrated to the New World and others went to make their fortune in the new industrial towns in this country. 

Some went east down to Middlesbrough. William Hanson took over the management of Samuelson's works down where the Newport Bridge now spans the river and, no doubt, did very well for himself. And Thomas Roddam Dent left his home in, I think, Staindrop and ended up founding Dent's Wharf on the Tees near the Transporter Bridge. Remarkably, Dent's Wharf is still there - just. There must have been others too who left Teesdale and made their mark in the wider world.

First published in the Mercury, February 27, 2008