Originally said to be the home of a New Zealand family, Kiora Hall has seen many uses, including offices, Army gun battery, POW camp, youth club, school, and Community Centre. It is also said to be haunted… c2002.
Numbers 63-69 including Grade II listed building – Eastry House on Yarm High Street. Taken August 2nd 1979.
A view of the “Victoria Buildings” – it is a crying shame such a beautiful building should be knocked down. The architect has ranged far and wide for his ideas, some of the windows have Greek style arch decorations above them others have Roman style, the facade is topped off with Dutch style gables, these appear to be purely decorative because there doesn’t seem to be any structure behind them, if this is so then presumably the windows in the gables are false as well.
The two octagonal corner towers flare out from the building in a similar fashion to the castles seen in Hungary and Bavaria, the two domes don’t seem to be the normal copper clad variety as they seem to have a slight sheen as if painted instead of the matt look of the copper types. The shop fronts are terrifically high by modern standards, they are at least twice the height of the people in front of them, this would make them at least 12 feet high and possibly higher, I remember the frontages being made with highly polished dark wooden frames and glass which on the odd occasion would be curved.
Other things I have noticed are, directly behind the main building is a hip roof with a chimney stack, to my eye this doesn’t seem to be part of the main building but another building behind it, the chimney stack doesn’t have the black decorative band around it that the main building has and also the chimney pots vary in size unlike the main building.
Slightly to the left of the building is a bay windowed building with words across it just below the eaves, are there any sharp sighted visitors that can make out what the words are?.
The house behind the church has a strange looking object that appears to be perched on the top of the chimney, I have no idea as to what it could be, if it had been 50 years later I would have thought it to be a telegraph pole. Slightly to the left and in the distance is a curved roof box van of the type often seen being towed by steam rollers, these vans carried the tools and equipment used by road repair gangs, they were still in use when I was a child in the 1950s, this one appears to be horse drawn.
Some of the lamp post have cast iron bollards around them, were they hitching posts for the many horses to be seen in that era?, I have seen similar hitching posts in Europe and America where they often have a cast iron horses head perched on top of the post.
In the foreground is a young boy with another child on his back, I remember carrying my many brothers and sisters around in that fashion.
Just in front of the canopy of the leftmost shop is a black sign with two white ovals on it, surely it’s not ‘Specsavers’ circa 1895?
Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
This printed image which I believe, from the velvet frame parts dates from about 1880. The girl is carrying a basket that has Alex Holmes Stockton-on-Tees printed on the side. I was wondering if this was a generic type print, or specific to the company. There are a couple of buildings in the background.
The odd thing is, I found this in Saint John, NB, Canada about 30 years ago. My family on my Mum’s side, including her, all come from around Stockton. They were Dickens (grandmother’s side) and Humplebys (grandfathers side). The print now lives on Canada’s west coast. Any information would be appreciated.
Image and details courtesy of Noel Fowles.
A photograph of the Dovecote located opposite The Friarage in the grounds of Yarm School
The Dovecote is thought to date from the late Tudor period and is one of the town’s oldest buildings in Yarm.
This is one of a number of bowls made from the clay excavated from the basement and foundations of the Municipal Buildings in Church Road, Stockton-on-Tees. The bowls were presented to guests at the Official opening ceremony. The throwing, if that is the correct word, of the bowls was organised by the head of the Art Department at Constantine Technical College, Middlesbrough. I received one having been involved in the design of the buildings when working in the Borough Architects Department. At that time we were housed in the single storey prefab shared with the Corporation Housing Department on Thistle Green. The bowls were of special interest to me as the clay used was possibly under, or very close to, the site of my great grandmother’s shop on Thistle Green circa 1900. She was Lucy Wilkinson born in 1847. The bowls probably have very little value but the provenance of mine is priceless.
Photograph and details courtesy of James Bridge.
Two fantastic views showing the beginnings of the Castlegate Shopping Centre and the south end of Stockton High Street.
Taken in November 1970 by Len Toulson. Courtesy of Neal Toulson.
This 43,000 sq ft contemporary and environmentally-friendly building on the banks of the River Tees is to be the new head office to housing provider Thirteen Group and around 300 of its employees. Northshore, Stockton c2015.
An ecclesiastical looking statue located in the back garden of Commondale House on West Street, Yarm. Does anyone know what it is or if it is still there?
Commondale House is also home to ‘Yarm Castle’.
Here is one of the many models of famous buildings made, it was said out of matchsticks, by a Stockton man around 1900.
I took this photograph in 1972 when it was on display at Preston Park Museum. Can anyone identify the building in the foreground? The one at the back is a Chinese Pagoda.
Photograph and details courtesy of Fred Starr.
This locomotion sculpture can be seen outside the new Barretts housing estate opposite the abattoir on Yarm Road, Stockton.
Photograph and details courtesy of Carolyn Evans.
Crowds gathered around Stockton War Memorial, possibly marking an anniversary… c1930.
The Town Hall and Market Cross in Stockton.
Three photographs showing the Dutch Barn houses under construction and a final one of the completed house.
The photographs have ‘Bishopton Court, Fairfield 1945’ written on the reverse but there has been some controversy about the exact location over the years on Picture Stockton… Bishopton Court or Durham Road…?
A photograph of ‘The Manor House’, no.83 The High Street, Yarm. Until the last half of the 19th century this building was two separate properties, the bowed windows and dormer, being only present on the right hand property. At some stage the left-hand property was then purchased and dramatically altered
to form a ‘twin’ double-fronted facade and roofline, thereby placing the main entrance door off-centre. In the rear yard there is a wall mounted sun-dial attached to the offshot of the original right-hand property dated 1715.The building is currently used as offices by legal-firm Merrit & Co.
Photograph and details courtesy of Chris Bailey.
Picture Stockton Archive 