A view of a derelict and boarded-up house in a yard off the south side of Castlegate, seen from Castlegate (previously known as Ferry Lane or Cooks Wynd). In 1825 the building was the Stockton and Darlington Railway terminus. Demolished c1968
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Castlegate, Ferry Lane or Cook’s Wynd, this road must have more names than any other in Stockton! The pack of maps of Stockton published by the Local History Society adds two more names. A map of 1722 shows it as ‘The Water Lane’ , whilst another map dated 1816 has it down as ‘Boathouse Lane’.
The Stockton & Darlington Railway terminus at Stockton was based at ‘The Fleece Inn’ between 1825 & 1833 – there is an illustration on the cover of one of the 1975 celebration books ‘Exploring the S&D’ by P.W.Semmens which shows an artists impression of the scene, the building depicted as the Fleece Inn does have some similar features to the derelict house in the photo.
A Letter to the Editor, in the Evening Gazette of 2 October 1875, contains reminiscences about the early days of the railway. The writer recalled that “A coach used to start from the Horse and Jockey at the bottom of Castlegate.”
The location of The Fleece Inn is shown on this map –
http://picturestocktonarchive.wordpress.com/2003/03/08/stockton-in-steam-24/
In trade directories for 1827 & 1829 there was a pub called the Bay Horse situated at the Foot Of Castlegate. Regarding the Fleece Inn the earliest listing I can find is 1851. On the 1871 census George F. Warne is given as the occupant and the address was 11 Castlegate.
The railway can be seen running along the quayside in the bottom left corner of the photograph, near the base of the street sign on the corner.
Would the narrow path be the site of the original railway? It seems a sin that this historic building was pulled down, although the proper ‘Stockton Station’ was on the North Shore branch. Down here in London there is a similar sized road which belonged to the Croydon Iron Rail Road. This dated from 1804 and was a bit like the Stockton to Darlington in that the trucks were pulled by horses.