Middlesbrough started as aBenedictine priory on the south bank of theRiver Tees, its name possibly derived from it being midway between the holy sites ofDurham andWhitby. The earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough's name is "Mydilsburgh", containing the termburgh.
In 686, a monastic cell was consecrated bySt. Cuthbert at the request ofSt. Hilda, Abbess ofWhitby. The manor of Middlesburgh belonged to Whitby Abbey and Guisborough Priory.[1]Robert Bruce, Lord of Cleveland and Annandale, granted and confirmed, in 1119, the church of St. Hilda of Middleburg to Whitby.[2] Up until its closure on theDissolution of the Monasteries byHenry VIII in 1537, the church was maintained by 12 Benedictine monks, many of whom became vicars, or rectors, of various places in Cleveland.[3]
After theAngles, the area became home toViking settlers. Names of Viking origin (with the suffixby meaningvillage[4]) are abundant in the area; for example,Ormesby,Stainsby andTollesby were once separate villages that belonged toVikings called Orm, Steinn and Toll that are now areas of Middlesbrough were recorded in theDomesday Book of 1086. Other names around Middlesbrough include the village ofMaltby (of Malti) along with the towns ofIngleby Barwick (Anglo-place and barley-wick) andThornaby (of Thormod).
Links persist in the area, often through school or road names, to now-outgrown or abandoned local settlements, such as themedieval settlement of Stainsby,deserted by 1757, which amounts to little more today than a series of grassy mounds near theA19 road.[5]
In 1801, Middlesbrough was a small farm with a population of just 25; however, during the latter half of the 19th century, it experienced rapid growth. In 1828 the influentialQuaker banker, coal mine owner andStockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) shareholderJoseph Pease sailed up the River Tees to find a suitable new site downriver of Stockton on which to place new coalstaithes. As a result, in 1829 he and a group of Quaker businessmen bought the Middlesbrough farmstead and associated estate, some 527 acres (213 ha) of land, and established the Middlesbrough Estate Company.
Through the company, the investors set about a new coal port development (designed byJohn Harris) on the southern banks of the Tees. The first coal shipping staithes at the port (known as "Port Darlington") were constructed with a settlement to the east established on the site of Middlesbrough farm as labour for the port, taking on the farm's name as it developed into a village.[6][7] The small farmstead became a village of streets such as North Street, South Street, West Street, East Street, Commercial Street, Stockton Street and Cleveland Street, laid out in a grid-iron pattern around a market square, with the first house being built on West Street in April 1830.[8][9] New businesses bought premises and plots of land in the new town including: shippers, merchants, butchers, innkeepers, joiners, blacksmiths, tailors, builders and painters.
The first coal shipping staithes at the port (known as "Port Darlington") were constructed just to the west of the site earmarked for the location of Middlesbrough.[6][7] The port was linked to the S&DR on 27 December 1830 via a branch that extended to an area just north of the currentMiddlesbrough railway station, helping secure the town's future.[10]
The success of the port meant it soon became overwhelmed by the volume of imports and exports, and in 1839 work started on Middlesbrough Dock. Laid out bySir William Cubitt, the whole infrastructure was built by residentcivil engineerGeorge Turnbull.[6] After three years and an expenditure of £122,000 (equivalent to £9.65 million at 2011 prices),[6] first water was let in on 19 March 1842, and the formal opening took place on 12 May 1842. On completion, the docks were bought by the S&DR.[6]
Iron and steel have dominated the Tees area since 1841 whenHenry Bolckow in partnership withJohn Vaughan, founded the Vulcaniron foundry androlling mill. Vaughan, who had worked his way up through the Iron industry in South Wales, used his technical expertise to find a more abundant supply ofIronstone in theEston Hills in 1850, and introduced the new "Bell Hopper" system of closed blast furnaces developed at theEbbw Vale works. These factors made the works an unprecedented success with Teesside becoming known as the "Iron-smelting centre of the world" andBolckow, Vaughan & Co., Ltd became the largest company in existence.[11]
By 1851 Middlesbrough's population had grown from 40 people in 1829 to 7,600.[9]Pig iron production rose tenfold between 1851 and 1856 and by the mid-1870s Middlesbrough was producing one third of the entire nations Pig Iron output. It was during this time Middlesbrough earned the nickname "Ironopolis".[12][13]
On 21 January 1853, Middlesbrough received itsRoyal Charter of Incorporation,[14] giving the town the right to have a mayor, aldermen and councillors. Henry Bolckow became mayor, in 1853.[1]
A Welsh community was established in Middlesbrough sometime before the 1840s, with mining being the main form of employment.[15] These migrants included figures who would become important leaders in the commercial, political and cultural life of the town:
Much like the contemporaryWelsh migration to America, the Welsh of Middlesbrough came almost exclusively from the iron-smelting and coal districts of South Wales.[20] By 1861 42% of the town's ironworkers identified as Welsh and one in twenty of the total population.[21] Place names such as "Welch Cottages" and "Welch Place" appeared around the Vulcan works, and Middlesbrough became a centre for the Welsh communities atWitton Park,Spennymoor,Consett andStockton on Tees (especiallyPortrack).David Williams also recorded that a number of the Welsh workers at theHughesovka Ironworks in 1869 had migrated from Middlesbrough.[22]
A Welsh Baptist chapel was active in the town as early as 1858, and St Hilda's Anglican church began providing services in the Welsh language. Churches and chapels were the centres of Welsh culture, supporting choirs, Sunday Schools, social societies, adult education, lectures and literary meetings. By the 1870s, many more Welsh chapels were built (one reputed to seat 500 people), and the firstEisteddfodau were held.[23]
"It was delightful to him, to come again to that portion of Wales, called North East England, and meet once again so many of his old friends."
By the 1880s, a "Welsh cultural revival" was underway, with the Eisteddfodau attracting competitors and spectators from outside the Welsh communities. In 1890 theMiddlesbrough Town Hall hosted the firstCleveland and Durham Eisteddfod, an event notable for its non-denominational inclusivity, with Irish Catholic choirs and the bishop of the newly createdRoman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough as honoured guests.[23]
In the early twentieth century this Eisteddfod had become the biggest annual event in the town and the largest annual Eisteddfod outside Wales. The Eisteddfod had a clear impact on the culture of the town, especially through its literary and music events, by 1911 the Eisteddfod had twenty-two classes of musical competition only two of which were for Welsh language content. By 1914, thirty choirs from across the area were competing in 284 entries.[24] A choral tradition remained part of the town's culture long after the eisteddfod and chapels had gone. In 2012 an exhibition at theDorman Museum marked the Apollo Male Voice Choir's 125 years as an active choir in the town.[25]
Industrial Wales was noted for its "radical Liberal-Labour" politics, and the rhetoric of these politicians clearly won favour with the urban population of the North East.Penry Williams andJonathan Samuel won the seats ofMiddlesbrough andStockton-on-Tees for theLiberal Party and Penry's brother,Aneurin would also win the newly createdConsett seat in 1918.[23]
Sir Horace Davey stressed his Welsh lineage and stated that "it was scarcely an exaggeration to say that Welshmen had founded Middlesbrough", courting the Welsh vote that saw him elected MP for Stockton. However, others complained that local Conservative candidates were losing to "Fenians and Welshers" (Irish and Welsh people).[26][23]
These sentiments had grown by 1900 when Samuel lost his seat after a Unionist complained publicly that the town had been "forced to submit to the indignity of being trailed ignominiously through the mire by Welsh constituents". Samuel lost the seat but regained it in 1910 with a campaign that made few, if any, references to his Welsh background.[23]
From 1861 to 1871, the census of England & Wales showed that Middlesbrough consistently had the second highest percentage ofIrish born people in England after Liverpool.[27][28] The Irish population in 1861 accounted for 15.6% of the total population of Middlesbrough. In 1871 the amount had dropped to 9.2% yet this still placed Middlesbrough's Irish population second in England behind Liverpool.[29] Due to the rapid development of the town and its industrialisation there was much need for people to work in the many blast furnaces and steel works along the banks of the Tees. This attracted many people from Ireland, who were in much need of work. As well as people from Ireland, theScottish,Welsh and overseas inhabitants made up 16% of Middlesbrough's population in 1871.[28] A second influx of Irish migration was observed in the early 1900s as Middlesbrough's steel industry boomed producing 1/3 of Britain's total steel output. This second influx lasted through to the 1950s after which Irish migration to Middlesbrough saw a drastic decline. Middlesbrough no longer has a strong Irish presence, with Irish born residents making up around 2% of the current population, however there is still a strong cultural and historical connection with Ireland mainly through the heritage and ancestry of many families within Middlesbrough.
The town's rapid expansion continued throughout the second half of the 19th century, fuelled by the iron and steel industry. In 1864 theNorth Riding Infirmary (an ear, nose and mouth hospital) opened in Newport Road; this was demolished in 2006.[30]
On 15 August 1867, a Reform Bill was passed, making Middlesbrough a new parliamentary borough, Bolckow was elected member for Middlesbrough the following year. In 1875, Bolckow, Vaughan & Co opened theCleveland Steelworks in Middlesbrough beginning the transition from Iron production to Steel and by the turn of the century. Henry Bolckow died in 1878 and left an endowment of £5,000 for the infirmary.[1]
In the latter third of the 19th century, Old Middlesbrough was starting to decline and was overshadowed by developments built around thenew town hall, south of theoriginal town hall, the town's population reaching 90,000 by the dawn of the 20th century.[9] In 1900,Bolckow, Vaughan & Co had become the largest producer of steel in Great Britain and possibly came to be one of the major steel centres in the world.
In 1914,Dorman Long, another major steel producer from Middlesbrough, became the largest company in Britain. It employed a workforce of over 20,000 and by 1929 and gained enough to take over from Bolckow, Vaughan & Co's dominance and to acquire their assets. The steel components of theSydney Harbour Bridge (1932) were engineered and fabricated byDorman Long of Middlesbrough. The company was also responsible for theNew Tyne Bridge inNewcastle.[31]
Several large shipyards also lined the Tees, including theSir Raylton Dixon & Company,Smith's Dock Company ofSouth Bank andFurness Shipbuilding Company ofHaverton Hill.
Middlesbrough was the first major British town and industrial target to be bombed during theSecond World War. TheLuftwaffe first attacked the town on 25 May 1940 when a lone bomber dropped 13 bombs between South Bank Road and the South Steel Plant. One of the bombs fell on theSouth Bank football ground making a large crater in the pitch. The bomber was forced to leave afterRAFnight fighters were scrambled to intercept. Two months after the first bombingPrime MinisterWinston Churchill visited the town to meet the public and inspect coastal defences.[32]
German bombers often flew over theEston Hills while heading for targets further inland, such asManchester. On 30 March 1941 aJunkers Ju 88 was shot down by twoSpitfires ofNo. 41 Squadron, piloted by Tony Lovell and Archie Winskill, over Middlesbrough. The aircraft dived into the ground at Barnaby Moor,Eston; the engines and most of the airframe were entirely buried upon impact.[33]
On 5 December 1941 a Spitfire ofNo. 122 Squadron, piloted by Sgt Hutton, crashed into rising ground near Mill Farm, Upsall, on the lower slopes of Eston Hills. Poor visibility due to bad weather and low cloud is believed to have been the cause of the crash.[34]
On 15 January 1942, minutes after being hit by gunfire from a merchant ship anchored offHartlepool, aDornier Do 217 collided with the cable of abarrage balloon over theRiver Tees. The blazing bomber plummeted onto the railway sidings in South Bank leaving a crater twelve feet deep. In 1997 the remains of the Dornier were unearthed by a group of workers clearing land for redevelopment; the remains were put on display for a short while at Kirkleatham museum.[35]
On 4 August 1942 a lone Dornier Do 217 picked its way through the barrage balloons and dropped a stick of bombs onto therailway station. One bomb caused serious damage to theVictorian glass and steel roof. A train in the station was also badly damaged although there were no passengers aboard.[36] Eight people were killed, and the station was put out of action for two weeks.[37]
TheGreen Howards was aBritish Army infantry regiment very strongly associated with Middlesbrough and the area south of the River Tees. Originally formed atDunster Castle,Somerset in 1688 to serve King William of Orange, laterKing William III, this regiment became affiliated to theNorth Riding of Yorkshire in 1782. As Middlesbrough grew, its population of men came to be a group most targeted by the recruiters. The Green Howards were part of theKing's Division. On 6 June 2006, this famous regiment was merged into the newYorkshire Regiment and are now known as 2 Yorks, The 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards). There is also aTerritorial Army (TA) company at Stockton Road in Middlesbrough, part of 4 Yorks which is wholly reserve.
By the end of the war over 200 buildings had been destroyed within the Middlesbrough area.[38] The borough lost 99 civilians as a result of enemy action.[39]
Areas of early and mid-Victorian housing were demolished and much of central Middlesbrough was redeveloped. Heavy industry was relocated to areas of land better suited to the needs of modern technology. Middlesbrough itself began to take on a completely different look.[38]
Middlesbrough's 1903 Gaumont cinema, originally anopera house until the 1930s, was demolished in 1971.[40] The Cleveland Centre opened in the same year. In 1974, Middlesbrough and other areas around the Tees, became part of thecounty of Cleveland. This was to create a county within a singleNUTS region of England, with the UK joining theEuropean Union predecessor (European Communities) a year earlier.
The A66 was built through the town in the 1980s, Middlesbrough's Royal Exchange building was demolished, to make way for the road. A multi-storeythe Star and Garter Hotel built in the 1890s near to the exchange on the site of a former Welsh Congregational Church, was also demolished.[41] The Victorian era North Riding Infirmary was demolished in 2006 and replaced by a hotel and supermarket.[42]
TheCleveland Centre opened in 1971, Hill Street shopping centre opened in 1981 and Captain Cook Square opened in 1999.[43]
Middlesbrough F.C.'s modernRiverside Stadium opened on 26 August 1995 next to Middlesbrough Dock. The club moved fromAyresome Park their previous home in the town for 92 years.
With the abolition ofCleveland County in 1996, Middlesbrough again became part ofNorth Yorkshire.
The original St.Hilda's area of Middlesbrough, after decades of decline and clearance, was given a new name ofMiddlehaven in 1986 on investment proposals to build on the land.[44] Middlehaven has since had new buildings built there includingMiddlesbrough College and Middlesbrough FC's Riverside Stadium amongst others. Also situated at Middlehaven is the "Boho" zone, offering office space to the area's business and to attract new companies, and also "Bohouse", housing.[45][46] Some of the street names from the original grid-iron street plan of the town still exist in the area today.
The expansion of Middlesbrough southwards, eastwards and westwards continued throughout the 20th century absorbing villages such asLinthorpe,Acklam,Ormesby,Marton andNunthorpe[9] and continues to the present day.
.jpg)
.jpg)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
