Over recent years Thorpe Thewles History Group (TTHG) have become increasingly aware, through social media and heritage forum posts, of increased public interest in the Grade I listed ruins of St. Thomas à Becket Church at Grindon near Stockton-on-Tees. This former parish church was abandoned in 1848 when a replacement one was opened in nearby Thorpe Thewles. For a short period of time, in the 1980s, the site and ruins of Grindon church were open to the public and maintained by Cleveland County Council before reverting once again into private ownership.

In response to the noted public interest in this scheduled monument, between 2024 and 2026, TTHG undertook an aerial image survey of it with grant funding provided by ‘The National Heritage Lottery Fund’ and ‘Point North’. Amongst the aims of this project was not only to provide a ‘bench marking’ condition survey of the site but to generate a series of educational outputs which would help further engage the public with information related to its fascinating history. The poor condition of the site’s walls and uneven floors makes it unsafe for public access, so one of the project’s key outputs was to create an interactive virtual 3D model of it.

This, along with a ‘fly-through’ video of the model, with historic commentary, will allow the public to safely explore the site from the comfort of their own homes. These, along with the project’s additional outputs, will also help those already familiar with the site to safely re-engage with it while allowing others to discover its history for the first time.

Please find below direct links to the individual project outputs from TTHG’s 2024 Aerial Survey of Grindon Church:

• Grindon Church Aerial Image Survey

• Interactive 3D model with annotations

• Interpretive video presentation

• Basic aerial views video presentation

The results from this project have been presented to Tees Archaeology for inclusion in the local ‘Historic Environment Record’ which they curate. These public records will also be available to ‘Historic England’.

TTHG would like to thank the current owners of the site of Grindon church for allowing permission to undertake the above survey and for kindly supporting the project.

For further information about this project please feel free to contact TTHG.

I believe that this is a photograph of the family of my grandmother, Ada Hemmings. Ada emigrated to Canada around 1920 and here she met and married my grandfather, William Foster in a small town in Alberta called Carbon. They had seven children in homesteaded from Carbon, Alberta to Grand Center, Albert, which is way up north.

I think that the first photo is of my great great grandfather and the back of the photo shows that the image was taken by J. T. Clarke on Bridge Road, Stockton-on-Tees. The third image is of a letter which was sent to Ada regarding her travel to Canada.

Photographs and details courtesy of Randy LaRue.

One of our regular contributors, Ben Brown has been in touch to let us know about his special birthday.

“Hi Stockton, I made 90 years on July 6th, I hope to enjoy your site for many more” – Ben Brown, ex-Stockton AFC and Stockton CC.

From all of us at Picture Stockton Archive we wish you a belated happy birthday!