Tees Barrage in Stockton-on-Tees opened in 1995 after four years of construction, the Tees Barrage, which contains 650 tonnes of steel, is a magnificent feat of engineering. Built to stabilise a stretch of the River Tees that was previously tidal, four massive flood gates, each weighing 50 tonnes, are operated by hydraulic pistons to make sure the river upstream stays at a constant level. There is also a fish ladder which allows fish to navigate the barrage. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Picture Stockton Archive 
To Benny Brown, when i was a kid i would often go down the river side with the older Swainby Rd lads and we would collect bullet casings, the pointed end { no gunpowder I might add}then with just a piece of string and a couple of bamboos the older lads would make throwing arrows, off we would go down to the rec { Tilery } and spend all day seeing who could throw his arrow the farthest, did you ever do that yourself? Amazing what we got up to pre computer and game consul days, i agree some parts of Stockton should have been left well alone but on balance i think Stockton is not that bad, but the river side is i think beautiful and i for one am proud as punch with it, mind you looking back when i used to go to work winter mornings off to Head Wrightsons steel foundry, i”d get to the dairy and wish there was a bridge just there to take me across the river, now we”re falling over them, a lot of change but not all bad eh!! all the best Derek
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I wonder if anyone remembers ships being scrapped (dismantled) at the old Richardson Ducks Yard. There was a cut out which they used as a dry dock next to the slipway. I can remember from about 1953 till 1956-57 bringing the ships up River at high tide and placing them into this dry dock. I have a box for my oilstone that was made from a peace of Mahogany handrail from one of these ships. When the tide went down there was usually a couple of large salmon that had been trapped by the ship (not edible though). I did see a seal sitting there once when the tide went down. Can anyone remember the owner’s name? I can remember that he had a private aeroplane that he flew from Greatham Airfield.
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George, My Brother Curley Brown was a Crane Driver all his working life on those cranes. until transfered to Middlebrough Docks. He told me of some interesting episodes, one I remember was that some pigs had escaped from Stockton Cattle Market which was quite close to the Docks and jumped in the river, but when they were swimming to freedom they slashed their own throats due to their sharp claws and the way they were swimming, a tall tail but I think it was a true one.
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Derek, I do remember the cranes etc alongside the Tees. From about 1946 until 1963 I lived in Stockton in the Portrack area before my parents moved to Hardwick. I left Stockton in 1963 and have lived in Hampshire ever since. In my youth it would have been virtually impossible for any fish to survive in the Tees as far inland as Stockton but they had a better chance further upstream at Yarm and beyond. One tale I heard, as an apprentice, was that the lads at HW used to place an oxy cylinder on the slipway, hit the valve off it with a sledgehammer and watch the cylinder shoot down the Tees like a torpedo. Whenever I visit Stockton now, I end up leaving depressed at what the “botchers” have done to what was such a vibrant High Street.
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Any one remembering the old river side with ships moored up just behind the High Street, the big cranes for lifting cargo on and off merchant ships, the old railway running down to the river, then look at it all today, what a complete change, now when I walk along the Tees Barrage with my grandchildren seeing the salmon leaping about I always tell the kids about the old days when the river was mucky and I worked at Head Wrightsons steel foundry, when me and an apprentice called David Harris (Thornaby Lad }during one lunch break we were walking down by the river side looking for floats that had broken away from the fisherman’s rods up river, when we spotted some thing swimming about, it took some time before we relished it was a big fish, after some time the fish swam back into the clear water near the side and as luck would have it I found a big forked stick, very carefully I put the forked stick under the fish and with a mighty heave pulled out a 27″ salmon, later that day a reporter from the gazette came and took our photo holding the salmon it appeared in the next nights paper 25th February 11975, I was so chuffed that I never ever asked the gazette for a glossy copy of the photo, but managed to track down the gazette clipping in the library archives, some changes are for the best and I think we can all be proud of the river banks with all the nice clean changes, as for the big salmon me and Harry pulled out of the river well I’ve got old paper clipping to prove that one didn”t get away.
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I went to see this on a visit home recently & was impressed thrice over. Firstly the structure itself was a splendid piece of engineering. Secondly the fact that the design had included, from the outset, the whitewater slalom. Finally was the improvement that the scheme has made to the water quality. Whilst there, one of the gates was raised from the riverbed, I watched the flow increasing and scouring/ flushing downstream. Remembering the state of the Tees up to the 70″s the change is as remarkable as it welcome & this structure adds to this cleanliness. Well done Stockton, the heavy industry may be finished but the engineering skills are still there.
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I was part of the Cleveland County Council team that produced the River Tees Plan in the mid 1970s. I was responsible for studying and producing a report on the River”s recreational issues and potential. (I still have a copy!!) We recognised and suggested that there would be many benefits in constructing a barrage but never really thought that one day it might be built. One of our ideas was for an inflatable structure! I moved to North Wales in 1984. What a magnificent achievement.
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