I lived in Urley Nook as a child from 1 to 8. My father worked in the plant so we lived in No 9 house opposite the time clock shed. I went back 15 years ago to photograph the houses to find them demolished and replaced with more working sheds etc. I would love to find photos of the houses? The Picture Stockton Team (email pictures@stockton.gov.uk) will forward on my email address if anyone can help.
Lets have the correct facts on the website please. The banks on the Egglescliffe (North) side of the river were known as the “bog banks” because that is exactly what they were. I and many others lost shoes and wellingtons in those bogs. The river was an outlet for Urlay Nook Chrome works and also the two tanneries in Yarm, one just upstream of the bridge and on at towards the bottom of the high street. Also just above the bridge was the vinegar works. Despite all the pollution the river held a good stock of coarse fish and in the 1950s and 1960s was well fished by myself and friends.
Cliff Thornton – Cliff looking at the picture it”s a shame that it collapsed, a very elegant structure, two qustions: (1) Is the building on the right the vinegar factory or is it housing up on Aislaby road? (2) Do either of the abutments still exist? Re JVS would you please message me on – miker2@tiscali.co.uk – Regards – Mike
Janice – There is an illustration of the cast iron bridge at Yarm on this website. Go to the section on “Bridges, Ships & Boats” Go to page 21, and it is picture s910.
Cliff Thornton – I certainly did walk along the Tees walking past the vinegar factory. It was my grandparents favourite walk with the dogs and I tagged along when in Yarm. We would walk along the river bank and then cut accross to the Aislaby Road crossing Nellies Beck on the way to Aislaby. The tunnel under the road which carried the beck was always explored in both directions and provided wonderful echoes which never failed to amuse me. Both dogs and kid were usually wet after the exploration of Nellies Beck but nobody seemed to mind. I can imagine that you caught very few fish downstream of the Urlay Nook discharge. My grandfather was a keen fisherman and knew every inch of the riverbank. In his youth there was no chemical pollution and the Tees was a very clean river. My great-grandfather actually caught a seal in the Tees at Yarm. Not very sporting of him and I suppose that he would have had the animals-rights people after him in later times.
Allowing for the industrial pollution, Chrome salts from ACC at Urlay Nook, nonetheles the Tees froze in the early to mid sixties. My mate, Alan Earle & I went fishing & by late morning had had to walk back down to Yarm, on the Yorkshire side as the river had become a sluggish mass of mini ice floes. We ended up dashing maggots to death off the ice & on reaching the back of what was to become Strickland & Holts chickened out. We ended up in the Cross Keys for a pint & a warm!
Janice – the story of the collapsing bridge at Yarm can be summarised as follows: About 1800 the old stone bridge over the Tees was too narrow and needed extensive repairs. The repairs would cost £7,000, widening it would cost £14,000, so they opted for replacing it with an iron bridge costing only £8,000. The iron arched bridge was cast at Walkers of Rotherham and was put into position providing a 180 ft span, 27 feet wide. By September 1805 the new bridge was sufficently complete to drive a coach and horses onto, but it could not be used until the approach road on the Yarm side had been completed. This was delayed as the North Riding said it did not have the money to complete the road until the next financial year. But the road was never needed as the bridge fell into the river in the early hours of 13 January 1806. The collapse was blamed on poor supports at the Yarm side of the bridge. Fortunately they had not knocked down the old stone bridge so it was widened and repaired after all. For full details see “A history of Yarm” by John Wardell.
Ged – did you ever go along the river bank in the other direction, i.e.past the vinegar factory (?). I used to go along there fishing but made sure that I was upstream of that drain that was always discharging an ugly stream of yellow water into the river. Looking back I suppose it must have been an industrial discharge from the chemical works at Urlay Nook. You never caught many fish downstream of that discharge !!!
What”s the story about the bridge that was built to replace this one and which collapsed before it was officially opened? I”ve never heard the detailed story.
My maternal grand-parents lived in Yarm all their lives and I spent many happy hours as a child playing on the river bank just to the right of this picture. The locals called them the “Bob Banks” though I have no idea why. There was an old wooden derelect boat near the waters edge and this provided hours of fun to the hordes of kids who sailed the Spanish Main in it. The banks down from Egglescliffe to the river were quite steep so it was also a favourite place to roll your hard boiled Easter eggs that had taken hours to decorate. I used to boil mine wrapped in onion skins which left a wonderfully mottled brown effect, each egg different. There was also a stretch of bog-land which could catch out the unwary. I had many a clip around the ear-hole for getting myself filthy trying to cross the bog patch. The day out wouldn`t be complete without a dip in the river if I had my “cozzie” with me. Simple things but providing hours of fun and costing nowt.
I lived in Urley Nook as a child from 1 to 8. My father worked in the plant so we lived in No 9 house opposite the time clock shed. I went back 15 years ago to photograph the houses to find them demolished and replaced with more working sheds etc. I would love to find photos of the houses? The Picture Stockton Team (email pictures@stockton.gov.uk) will forward on my email address if anyone can help.
Lets have the correct facts on the website please. The banks on the Egglescliffe (North) side of the river were known as the “bog banks” because that is exactly what they were. I and many others lost shoes and wellingtons in those bogs. The river was an outlet for Urlay Nook Chrome works and also the two tanneries in Yarm, one just upstream of the bridge and on at towards the bottom of the high street. Also just above the bridge was the vinegar works. Despite all the pollution the river held a good stock of coarse fish and in the 1950s and 1960s was well fished by myself and friends.
Cliff Thornton – Cliff looking at the picture it”s a shame that it collapsed, a very elegant structure, two qustions: (1) Is the building on the right the vinegar factory or is it housing up on Aislaby road? (2) Do either of the abutments still exist? Re JVS would you please message me on – miker2@tiscali.co.uk – Regards – Mike
Janice – There is an illustration of the cast iron bridge at Yarm on this website. Go to the section on “Bridges, Ships & Boats” Go to page 21, and it is picture s910.
Cliff Thornton – I certainly did walk along the Tees walking past the vinegar factory. It was my grandparents favourite walk with the dogs and I tagged along when in Yarm. We would walk along the river bank and then cut accross to the Aislaby Road crossing Nellies Beck on the way to Aislaby. The tunnel under the road which carried the beck was always explored in both directions and provided wonderful echoes which never failed to amuse me. Both dogs and kid were usually wet after the exploration of Nellies Beck but nobody seemed to mind. I can imagine that you caught very few fish downstream of the Urlay Nook discharge. My grandfather was a keen fisherman and knew every inch of the riverbank. In his youth there was no chemical pollution and the Tees was a very clean river. My great-grandfather actually caught a seal in the Tees at Yarm. Not very sporting of him and I suppose that he would have had the animals-rights people after him in later times.
Allowing for the industrial pollution, Chrome salts from ACC at Urlay Nook, nonetheles the Tees froze in the early to mid sixties. My mate, Alan Earle & I went fishing & by late morning had had to walk back down to Yarm, on the Yorkshire side as the river had become a sluggish mass of mini ice floes. We ended up dashing maggots to death off the ice & on reaching the back of what was to become Strickland & Holts chickened out. We ended up in the Cross Keys for a pint & a warm!
Janice – the story of the collapsing bridge at Yarm can be summarised as follows: About 1800 the old stone bridge over the Tees was too narrow and needed extensive repairs. The repairs would cost £7,000, widening it would cost £14,000, so they opted for replacing it with an iron bridge costing only £8,000. The iron arched bridge was cast at Walkers of Rotherham and was put into position providing a 180 ft span, 27 feet wide. By September 1805 the new bridge was sufficently complete to drive a coach and horses onto, but it could not be used until the approach road on the Yarm side had been completed. This was delayed as the North Riding said it did not have the money to complete the road until the next financial year. But the road was never needed as the bridge fell into the river in the early hours of 13 January 1806. The collapse was blamed on poor supports at the Yarm side of the bridge. Fortunately they had not knocked down the old stone bridge so it was widened and repaired after all. For full details see “A history of Yarm” by John Wardell.
Ged – did you ever go along the river bank in the other direction, i.e.past the vinegar factory (?). I used to go along there fishing but made sure that I was upstream of that drain that was always discharging an ugly stream of yellow water into the river. Looking back I suppose it must have been an industrial discharge from the chemical works at Urlay Nook. You never caught many fish downstream of that discharge !!!
What”s the story about the bridge that was built to replace this one and which collapsed before it was officially opened? I”ve never heard the detailed story.
My maternal grand-parents lived in Yarm all their lives and I spent many happy hours as a child playing on the river bank just to the right of this picture. The locals called them the “Bob Banks” though I have no idea why. There was an old wooden derelect boat near the waters edge and this provided hours of fun to the hordes of kids who sailed the Spanish Main in it. The banks down from Egglescliffe to the river were quite steep so it was also a favourite place to roll your hard boiled Easter eggs that had taken hours to decorate. I used to boil mine wrapped in onion skins which left a wonderfully mottled brown effect, each egg different. There was also a stretch of bog-land which could catch out the unwary. I had many a clip around the ear-hole for getting myself filthy trying to cross the bog patch. The day out wouldn`t be complete without a dip in the river if I had my “cozzie” with me. Simple things but providing hours of fun and costing nowt.