In the north end of Stockton High Street you can just make out the laying of electricity cables for street lighting. You can also see the Victoria Buildings, the Cash Clothing Company, Stead and Simpsons, Cowley’s and the Temperance Hotel.
Photograph and details courtesy of Deb Branson.
Can anyone post any information on the Cowley shop and name please?
It is interesting to compare this scene with another showing the junction of Dovecot Street with the High Street at http://picturestocktonarchive.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/dovecot-street-and-stockton-high-street-junction/
The chief difference is the presence of street lights on the other photo. So your comment about laying the electricity cables is very appropriate. The Victoria Building looks newly erected, so this photo may date from about 1900?
It appears that the shop under the Temperance Hotel is awaiting a new tenant, as the windows are shrouded and the canvas sun-awning has evidently been removed from it’s framing mechanism.
Whilst there is a row of cabs in the centre of the High Street awaiting fares, it is interesting to note the hand-carts in the foreground. A ‘Carter’ could be both a hand, or horse-drawn profession, being readily available to transport goods around the town for both traders and private-hire work. Today’s equivalent of, ‘a man with a van’.