Hartlepool's Maritime Experience

Following our visit to Saltburn we travelled a few miles up the coast to Hartlepool. This was, again, a place we had not visited before.

Hartlepool Historic Quay is a faithful reproduction of an 18th century seaport portraying the exciting experience of what life was like at the time of Nelson and Trafalgar

The Quay is home to the Trincomalee – Europe’s oldest floating warship. The ship was built in Bombay, India in 1817. The ship was restored by the people of Hartlepool so it’s only fitting that it now makes up the centrepiece of the spectacular Historic Quay.

We were able to walk throughout the ship - both on deck and below (beware the very low ceilings!)

The Captain's table

This superb visitor attraction offers the sights, smells and sounds of the naval yesteryear. Experience “Pressganged”, and “Fighting Ships”. For details of the Maritime Experience see Hartlepool's Maritime Experience

But that is not all there is to Hartlepool. We also visited the Headland area, to the north of the town.

Hartlepool Headland is formed on a peninsular of magnesium limestone which reaches into the North Sea. This area was also home to the fabled ‘Elephant Rock’ which finally succumbed to the erosion of the sea on May the 10th 1891.

12th century St Hilda’s church with its oldest parts being the nave and tower. Hartlepool Headland however has a religious history stretching right back to the earliest spread of Christianity in Britain. A monastery was founded here on Hartlepool Headland by St Aidan around AD 640. The nun St Hilda, from which the church derives its name, arrived here in 648 AD. Danish raiders later destroyed the monastery in 800.

Andy Capp is a British comic strip created by local cartoonist Reg Smythe (1917–1998), seen in The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Mirror newspapers since 5 August 1957. This statue was erected in 2007.

For more details of Hartlepool see Old Hartlepool

Saltburn weekend

We recently attended the 16th Saltburn International Festival of Folk Music, Dance and Song. We had not visited this part of North Yorkshire before and we were impressed with what we saw - the Festival was great, too. Saltburn-by-the-Sea is a seaside resort in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire.  Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town is around 12 miles east of Middlesbrough.

The Saltburn Cliff Lift is one of the world's oldest water-powered funiculars. After the opening of Saltburn Pier in 1869, it was concluded that the steep cliff walk was deterring people from walking from the town to the pier.The cliff lift opened on 28th June 1884 and each tram holds 350 gallons of water.The journey lasts approximately 55 seconds.

Although Saltburn's most obvious features are of Victorian origin, its history goes back much further. There is evidence that it was inhabited by a hermit in the thirteenth century and even earlier, during Roman times, it was the site of a fortified Roman signalling station. 

Saltburn's more covert history lies in smuggling and the town is immensely proud of its famous smuggling past.

The resort of Saltburn by the Sea was founded by the Victorian entrepreneur Henry Pease and the legacy of his vision is the Station complex, Zetland Hotel, Pier, Cliff Lift and Valley Gardens as well as the so called "jewel streets" along the sea front.

Old Saltburn is the original settlement, located in the Saltburn Gill. Records are scarce on its origins, but it was a centre for smugglers, and publican John Andrew is referred to as 'king of smugglers'. In 1856, the hamlet consisted of the Ship Inn and a row of houses, occupied by farmers and fishermen. In the mid-18th century, authors Laurence Sterne and John Hall-Stevenson enjoyed racing chariots on the sands at Saltburn

The Pease family developed Middlesbrough as an industrial centre and, after discovery of iron stone, the Stockton & Darlington Railway and the West Hartlepool Harbour and Railway Company developed routes into East Cleveland. By 1861, the S&DR reached Saltburn 

Saltburn's attractions include a Grade II* renovated pier, where mystery knitters leave their wares 

See link for further details of the knitters Saltburn's "yarn bombers"

Saltburn House and gardens

Statue of Henry Pease

A forest walk in the Valley Gardens gives access to the Italian Gardens

I took a short walk along the Cleveland Way to Warsett Hill

A cast iron sculpture created from a mining winding wheel

Standing just a field away from the cliff edge on the rugged coastline between Skinningrove and Saltburn is the Huntcliffe Guibal fan house. This fascinating reminder of a once great industry that was a major regional employer and which led to the development of many of the area’s coastal communities now stands derelict at one of the highest points along this stretch of the coast

The Guibal fan house, named after its Belgian inventor, was built around 1892. It was used for ventilating the ironstone mines whose tunnels criss-crossed their way through the rock beneath Warsett Hill. The central section of the fan house contained a huge fan nearly 10 feet wide fan. It would rotate at a speed of 50 rpm, drawing air through the mine, allowing the miners to work deep underground. It was powered by a static steam engine that drew the foul air up the shaft and then up a specially designed chimney to the open air. Once in operation fresh air would be drawn into the mine through the drift entrances and could be controlled and directed by a series of shutters or doors usually operated by young boys.

Warsett Hill Trigpoint - Flush bracket S4253 and rated 1537th in the "Triggy charts"

For details of the Folk Festival see Saltburn Folk Festival

Dudley Canal Tunnel

After a weekend in Birmingham, where we saw an excellent production of "The Lion King" we wended our way home via the Dudley Canal - well, why not? And we were glad we did.

The Dudley Canal Trust is one of the oldest Canal Societies. Although it wasn’t the first canal restoration to be started, the Dudley Canal was the first to be completed - in 1973. 

The Dudley Canal, as its name suggests, is a canal passing though Dudley in the West Midlands. The canal forms part of the popular Stourport Ring narrowboat cruising route. 

The first short section, which connected to the Stourbridge Canal, opened in 1779, and this was connected through the Dudley Tunnel to the Birmingham Canal system in 1792. 

Almost immediately, work started on an extension, called Line No. 2, which ran through another long tunnel at Lapal, to reach the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. This was completed in 1798, but significant trade had to wait until the Worcester and Birmingham was completed in 1802.

Dudley Tunnel is the second longest navigable canal tunnel in UK.

Most of the canal was abandoned in the 1960s, but a committee was formed, which became the Dudley Canal Trust, and restoration took place, culminating in the reopening of Dudley Tunnel in 1973. 

The Dudley Canal was seen as part of a scheme to transport coal from coalfields near Dudley to Stourbridge, where it would be used for industry. Limestone and ironstone were other cargoes. Dudley Tunnel was also popular with tourists, and was mentioned in guides to Dudley Castle written by The Rev. Luke Booker in 1825 and W. Harris is 1845.

The limestone beds lay beneath Castle Hill and Wren's Nest Hill. These beds were extensively mined in the 18th and 19th centuries. The vast underground workings had lain undisturbed for about a century when it was realised that significant parts of the mines were becoming unstable.

It was decided that the mines should be infilled but the Canal Trust suggested to the local Council that some parts of the mines were still safe and that these safe parts should be preserved.

This in time led to the present day where parts of the mines can be visited by boat from the Canal Tunnel. There are plans to eventually link the neighbouring Black Country Living Museum and nearby Dudley Zoo, making use of the canal basin and a light railway (to be constructed).

The proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel"!!

For more details of the canal and the excellent work of the Trust see Dudley Canal Trust