St Peters Church, West Hartlepool Road in Wolviston 1980 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
St Peters Church, West Hartlepool Road in Wolviston 1980
My father Chris Fortune was a steam loco driver at Middlesbrough Dock/Tees Dock in the 1950s and 60″s – I remember riding with him on the footplate – does anyone know of him or have any photos of steam locos around that time as I would dearly love to see them. I think his engine was a J72 but I can”t be certain. His fireman was called Robbie Stockton.
Hi Bob, Cliff Thornton passed on your querie re. you grandad at Smith”s Dock. I served my apprenticship in the Engine works building the triple expansion steam engines then fitting them into the ships hulls. I do remember the gentleman I now know was your grandad because of his accent. Not working directly with the shiprights I only knew him in passing. Shiprights were involved with the fitting out area & the dry docks. I am giving illustrated talks to local retired men”s Clubs on Smith”s Dock and the history of whaling. We built the “catcher” ships after the war. E mail me and I will send you photographs of Smith”s Dock etc. I used to cycle through Wolviston as a lad to go see my Aunt in Hartlepool. It”s a lot different now ! A design draughtsman I remember was Colin Herbert.Very well regarded by the top management. Two vessels sailed from Smiths Dock to be hit by mines.HMS Halcyon (frigate)and on another occasion the Free French Corvette “Bastiaise”. The Germans knew when they were sailing ? Best Wishes Arthur.
For Cliff Thornton: Re Smiths Dock. By any chance could you ask Arthur Dinsdale if he has any recollection of my grandfather from Smiths Dock? He was a shipwright there for many years until retiring around 1950. His name was Nils August Norlund, also known as “Chippy”. Would you also let him know I have a copy of a very fine personal history by agentleman who became cheif draughtsman at Smiths Dock, whos name escapes me at the moment. He is welcome to a copy. Regards from Houston, Texas
You will find the complete story of the bombing of Middlesbrough Station (3 August 1942)–and much more besides– in Bill Norman”s book LUFTWAFFE OVER THE NORTH. There”s bound to be copies in your local library. Bill is a Guisborough author who has written very extensively about northern England during the last war.
Anon – Yes that”s the same Arthur Dinsdale, now a sprightly 81 yr old and busy using his pc to write up his memoirs of working at Smiths Dock, whaling in the Antarctic etc…
Hi Cliff, my family are Thorntons and from 30 St Peters Road in Stockton, my grandparents were Jack and Muriel and their children were Margaret / John and Susan (my mother) I can see this is a very old link but I thought I would say hi.
One wonders at the precision of the German bombing of Middlesbrough and Stockton on Tees. The Newport Bridge in particular was not destroyed. This would have caused major disruption if it was. Maybe it was left intact because the enemy had high hopes of eventually using it themselves. There was no apparent random bombing of the area. The targets appeared to be carefully and precisely attacked. Including very small factories producing munitions out in the country in the middle of nowhere. They received direct hits. So there must have been people working for the Germans on the ground selecting these targets and passing the information and positions back to the enemy. One wonders what happened after the war. Was a concerted effort made to find these traitors. If you look at any history of the bombing of this area you will find that the enemy bombed the targets precisely except where without doubt some missed their mark and landed on nearby houses etc. But, the bombing around the Bowesfield Lane area indicates that the enemy had precise knowledge of the location of premises producing war munitions. Cliff, is Arthur Dinsdale the same one who worked at ICI?
Bob Harbron – re the German bomber attack, I have just asked my uncle (Arthur Dinsdale) what he remembered of that occasion. He was a young apprentice at Smiths Docks in 1942. This is what he said – “When the Railway Station was bombed I was at Smith”s Docks. I saw the German plane come low down the river (to avoid the barrage balloons) The pilots and crew were easy visible. he fired a few rounds from his cannon and passed up river to the town. P.S. he didn”t get home, an RAF fighter was waiting for him. He could have sunk two of our new near complete Corvettes lying along the jetty, but he must have been obeying orders.”
A Dornier 17 dropped a stick of bombs on Middlesbrough Station, 3rd August 1942, killing eight people.
Information please – From 1939 -1945 there was a Royal Observer Corp lookout post just on the Wolviston / Newton Bewley road south side just before N -B t. One of its incidents was the tracking of a German bomber, which attacked Middlesbrough Station Bank Holiday Monday Aug 3rd 1942 after over flying both Norton and Stockton having flown below the radar screen of Teesside. Has anyone any recollections of either that R.O.C post its members and the overflight of that day
This photograph brings the memories flooding back for me. I moved to Billingham with my parents and my brother in the very early 1950″s and was in the choir at St. Peter”s until my mid-teens when the Reverend Harrington was there. With my friend Graham Smith I walked to Wolviston in all weathers for both morning and evening services on Sundays and mid-week choir practices from Malvern Road. I was confirmed there and it was the place 44 years ago where I married Veronica and my son was christened. Memorable times, in my life anyway.