This wonderful series of photographs, taken by Steve Wild, show the River Tees frozen over at Stockton in January 2010. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
This wonderful series of photographs, taken by Steve Wild, show the River Tees frozen over at Stockton in January 2010.
Thanks for advice Chris, went into the library a couple of years ago and looked at the photo that appeared in the gazette all those years ago, tried to order a copy of photo from the gazette but told they dont have photos or negatives from that far back – 1975. I would have loved a glossy photo of the time I pulled a salmon out of the river to show my grandchildren.
Derek, if you go to Stockton Libary and look in their archives (the Evening Gazette microfisches) you can probably track it down and order a photograph of it.
Febuary 1975 I was working at Head Wrightsons Thornaby, during one lunch break went for a walk down by the river with an apprentice to look for fishermans floats that had broken off up stream and observed something swimming in the water. The water 2 or 3 ft from the bank was clear I thought it was an eel at first, watching for some time I saw what ever it was disappear behind a tree trunk, part of the tree trunk was on the bank. I found a forked stick and sneaked up on the thing in the water, put the forked stick under and pulled a big 27″ salmon out of the river. A photo of me and my mate holding the salmon appeared in the Gazette on, I think, 25th Febuary 1975. That was rare and now you can go down to the river near the Barrage and see salmon leaping. Wish I’d asked the Gazette for glossy photo from that time.
In 1995 the Teesside Devlopment Corporation constructed a weir across the River Tees, just downstream of where Stockton quay used to be.
The weir, known as the Tees Barrage, stopped the brackish, estuarine waters of the Tees from flowing up to Stockton. As a result of the Barrage, the water in the Tees at Stockton is now fresh water and the river is no longer tidal. So the River Tees now freezes over far more easily than it used to prior to 1995 when the water was brackish and rose and fell with the tide.
I left Stockton a lot of years ago but I cannot ever remember the river being completely frozen over. It was nice to see Barbara Baker`s comment. I remember her well from her time with Picture Stockton and welcome her warm feelings for the town of Stockton. I think that there are many people spread all around the world who entertain thoughts of Stockton on a regular basis – I know that I do.
Well done indeed! I was in Stockton this morning and was very surprised to see it frozen, something I have never seen before. Does anyone remember the last time this happened?
I remember the Tees freezing once before, probably 1963, it was not completely frozen as this appears to be. Rather the river was a very slow moving mass of ice blocks probably too polluted then to freeze over. My mate & I were fishing at Yarm, we were forced seawards as the “floes” moved eastwards, ended up dashing maggots to death on the ice.
Fantastic photographs. I miss Stockon-on-Tees so very much. As an ex employee of ‘Picture Stockon’ please keep up the good work. Well done Mr Wild.