This is one of those posts that was lost when we moved to the new site.
This photograph shows the River Tees with a wonderful view of the houses on Thornaby Place, the Bridge Hotel and the Cleveland (Clevo) Flour Mill.
Courtesy of Norman Banks.
We have tried to recreate as many of the original comments as possible…
I am researching some Redcar fishing boats , many of the ‘ double enders’ ( (pointed bow and stern ) at Redcar were built at R.Pickersgills Boatyard Thornaby. Some are still working . This picture may show their boatyard as it was in this location.
Can anyone confirm this or have any other information at all about R. Pickersgill boat builders ?
My grandparents James and Minnie Lisle lived in number 5. I was born there on 1/1/1950.
My Aunty Charlotte Richardson lived a few doors away and worked at an office over the road.
My other aunt Jean O’Grady lived at the end of the street. Their house backed onto the river and they had a boat. They were the last residents to move out of the street.
It would be nice to see pictures of the houses if anyone has any.
My Uncles Harry & Albert Bonner lived in one of the houses that backed onto the river (No4?) and I have a dim memory of going down steps into the house. I have a very strong memory of the horse hair of the chaise lounge tickling the back of my bare legs when we visited.
I have a feeling the big house, nearest to the Victoria bridge was still in use as office premises when I worked opposite at Auto Electrics in the late 60’s. I think it was a plumbing and heating business and remember Phil Routledge either owning the business or working there.
Phil Routledge had a place in West Row .My dad worked for him for years
A great photo and a scene which many of we older members of Tees Rowing Club remember. I wonder if the small double ended fishing boat with the number 303 on it is called “The Gem”? It is very similar to a boat of that name which for quite some time in the 1960s/1970s was moored adjacent to Head Wrightsons works (approx. where Dunedin House now stands). And was there not a boatbuilders just this side of the bridge which built ships lifeboats?
The fishing boat is not the gem, it was as I believe called the blossom. And as you rightly point out there was a boat builders near to the bridge and was called pickersgills hope this answers your question.
My Grandmother and Grandfather (Frank and Jane Stainthorpe) lived at No 2 Thornaby place. I never heard of the houses flooding. The house although small was a standard layout with a “front room, living room, scullery and kitchen and 2 bedrooms and a box room under the pitch of the roof. What was unusual from the back yard is that when you looked up, there was an 8 or 10 meter wall which was the boundary of (I think) Thornaby road. I was told the house belonged to the Railway Company as my Grandfather worked for them after he had been fortunate enough to survive Army Service in the Great War
I knew someone who lived in these houses in the 1950s, as far as I’m aware they flooded once, probably during the “Great Flood of Thornaby and Erimus”, which put the Erimus Settlement under 2 foot of water. My raft sank that day leaving us all paddling about in the water attempting to reach dry land.
I too, did not realise that private residences came so close to the river Tees at Thornaby. Were they ever the victims of regular seasonal flooding, I wonder? The photograph has, at first glance elements of the Ouse at York or even the upper harbour at Whitby. Totally unrecognisable these days.
Our Grandad was one of the enthusiasts who kept his boat down there; the “Dandylion” (no, he spelled it that way on purpose). The boats were pulled out onto the slipways and sheds to work on them, especially in winter when we weren’t using them for holidays at Whitby and Scarborough.
Some of those houses on the Thornaby side had an unusual layout due to being built on the side of a steep riverbank. On entering the front door, the staircase went down to the lower floors instead of up as is usually the case. I remember this from exploring them as a kid in the late 60’s when they were derelict and about to be demolished.
Best photo I’ve seen of this side of the river, I didn’t know there were houses along the bank.