The Vane Arms was formerly called the Red Lion. The old sign was taken down in 1821, and the Vane Arms was mounted in its stead, and to mark the occasion, a dinner was given by Lord Stewart, to his tradesmen. This old hotel was a busy house in the old stage coaching days. The first Custom House was situated in the Vane Arms yard. 
From a Photo taken with a No. 5 Poco Camera by M. Heavisides. It is August Bank Holiday, and great numbers of visitors are flocking into “Barney� for the day. The morning is perfect. With pleasurable feelings the elder grace and myself mount our cycles for a run to Greta Bridge, four miles away. The road is high, and, as we wheel along, commands glorious views of the river scenery below. We drop down to Bow bridge, where, from under its arch, “Fair Thor’s murmuring child� quietly and peaceably joins mother Tees. A few yards further on, we enter the gateway and climb the grassy slope leading to Egglestone Abbey. In what remains of the nave are several tomb-slabs, with inscriptions in Latin, fairly legible. As one surveys the scene, the mind can, in imagination, fill in a great deal that in the flight of the ages has taken place. Moving to the North, the buildings, by their enormous fire-places and chimneys, seem to have been devoted to the daily life of the monks. It is said that the Abbey was founded by a Bishop of Durham, as far back as 1208. 
The Barnard Gallery in Theatre Yard, Stockton. 
From a Photo taken with a No. 5 Poco Camera by M. Heavisides. This morning there appear before me two ancient rivermen, Charles Atkinson and Nathan Haw, by name. They are seasoned Tees men, who know every inlet and reach from Tees Mouth to Worsall, as their fathers did before them; and they are ready, at my bid, to row or give me a sail to Yarm. The morning is bright, though boisterous, and after a little cogitation, my reply is Yes. I am conducted to a landing near, and, the boat being ready, we step in and are soon in midstream. As I view the tumbledown and dilapidated buildings on the quayside (in Stockton), I feel ashamed of the town of my birth, and would dearly like a clearance of those ruins, and the erection of buildings for new industries. Now we make the bend of the Horse Shoe; and Preston Hall, the seat of Sir Robert Ropner, Bart., M.P., though some distance away, is best seen from this point, as, on drawing nearer this ancestral hall, it is almost hidden with foliage. Here on the bare shelving banks, are numerous holes which, to my knowledge, for fifty years have been the nestling place of the sand marten.
View from Royal Hotel To Finkle Street. Photograph from the 1909 ’Old Stockton’ slide show by Michael Heavisides 
From a Photo taken with a No. 5 Poco Camera by M. Heavisides. I feel sure that Middleton-in-Teesdale, as a summer resort for those who desire pure moorland air and entire change of scene, when better known, will be more appreciated, as it deserve to be; it is also to be hoped that the Railway Company will do more in the way of giving additional railway facilities, so as to fully open out the grandest scenery of the river Tees. Middleton suffers in a degree by the eager desire of the tourists to go straight on to High Force. If questioned, he will often be quite oblivious that there are such places as Jack’s Scar, The King’s Walk, Fairy Dell, etc., let alone the lovely walks by the banks of the Tees. 
For the quaint bits of old Stockton I am indebted to the kindness of Mr J.H Jackson a veteran amateur photographer of this town. The shop at the northern end was at one time occupied by Barney Keenan, a second hand clothes dealer, while the shop at the southern end was occupied by one Dinah Wiseman, a famous maker of brandy snaps. In the foreground is an old Stocktonian, resting on his handcart, he has passed his 80th year yet is still toddling about, though fast nearing the goal of his earthly pilgrimage?Photograph and extract from Heavisidess Almanack 1904
He possesses a weak intellect; yet he conceives that no man is more cunning and shrewd than himself. He has a kind of mania for watches and seldom has the same watch above a month. Though he exchanges watches, he generally gets the worst of the bargain, yet he does not think so, for with a knowing twinkle of the eyes and an inward chuckle, he brags how he has taken in the party he exchanged with. Photograph and extract from Heavisidess Almanack 1904. Taken from the Annals of Stockton on Tees by Henry Heavisides (father of Michael)
From a Photo taken with a No. 5 Poco Camera by M. Heavisides. As I sit musing, to the constant murmur of the ever-running water, enjoying the pleasant scene, lady cyclists, in their silk blouses of captivating shades, gracefully poised, continually pass along the highway, accompanied invariably by the sterner sex. An occasional motor car or cycle also noisily “grinds� its way past me…. Croft Spa, in a quiet and unobtrusive way, has been a health resort for many, many years. To those who desire pure air, combined with pleasant surroundings in a sheltered position, by visiting Croft they will not be disappointed. 
Quayside behind Castle Walk (c.1870)Photograph from the Heavisides Collection 
From a Photo taken with a No. 5 Poco Camera by M. Heavisides. Thwarted by weather on two occasions, at last I take advantage of a perfect day in the month of September to visit the above noted spot. Longing to photograph the fine old bridge, I pass through a gateway in order to obtain the desired view. A youngster, in red jersey, comes up, and desiring to be friendly, to my request poses. His speech tells me he hails from the North. He is enjoying his holidays, and his greatest delight is to visit a neighbouring orchard. How true is it that “boys will be boys,� all the world over. This posing is rather “catching� to the little nipper, who accompanies me, and, as will be seen, he figures in another picture 
”Some two years or so after the close of the Crimean War (1859), the volunteer movement became very popular. Here (in the High Street) one evening the companies were being put through various military evolutions, and as usual were witnessed by a goodly number of townspeople. Quite unexpectedly there appeared on the scene Bryan Stratford, who in a trice, with much waving of hands, in a stentorian voice gave the command ’Stand at ease!’. So out of place was the order that the officer commanded Bryan to stand to one side. The son of Mars lost all the patience he possessed and spoke smartly to Bryan, who turned slowly to the officer, and, with serious aspect quoted the words Othello addresses to Cassio ’I love thee, but never more be officer of mine’. Then drawing himself up to his full height, he assumed a mock air of wounded dignity and left the officer, his men and the public convulsed with laughter.”
Photograph and extract from Heavisides Almanack 1909.
The quayside between Finkle Street and Silver Street was alive with the movements and chatter of numerous parties, engaged in loading the wooden schooners and brigs and later the iron screw steamers which traded between London and Stockton, and almost daily old Dicky Peacock on his way up Finkle Street, made the neighbourhood re-echo again with his quaint and sudden out-bursts to the amusement of passers-by.
The Northern side remains about the same as it was forty years ago, here and there a new shop front has been put in or a building stuccoed, but the upper portion of the houses, with this exception, remain as they were originally built. The right hand half of the picture is a unique of old Stockton, and in these days of alterations and improvements, it is nothing less than a marvel that it remains in such a perfect state.
Photograph and extract from Heavisides Almanack 1902
It is a splendid view. The sun is high, and the fleecy clouds drift swiftly past, as we look on the busy scene around with interest. The merry click-click of the reaper is heard, and we watch its movements as it is drawn by one of those compact, sturdy little horses so common in the dales; men and women are moving along the distant fields, turning over the half made hay, while others are forming it into cocks. Owing mainly to the high altitude of Upper Teesdale, scarcely a grain of wheat, oats, or barley is grown thus all the land is pasture or meadow. Commodious wooden sheds, with corrugated iron roofs, are universally used; for convenience, they are in many cases situated in the fields, away from the farmstead.
From a photo taken with a No. 5 Poco Camera by M. Heavisides is my last afternoon. The graces, with their newly-formed young friends are enjoying the fun of trampling the hay down in a covered shed, as load by load comes in from the hayfield; while the young scion is plying the gentle art under the shaded trees of Bow Lees Beck. Here all small streams are called becks, while over the hills, in Weardale, they are called burns; so the mater and I decide to have a quiet country walk to Reavelling Gill and Bell Edge, not far away.
