Tees Business Issue 32 | Page 64

The Birthplace of Modern Middlesbrough

A Small Hamlet In stark contrast to the busy town centre that it would become over the century , Middlesbrough ’ s population in 1801 stood at only 25 people , centred around Middlesbrough Farmhouse .
Port Darlington is Born The coal staiths at Port Darlington were officially unveiled by the Stockton & Darlington Railway Company on 27 December 1830 with the opening of the Middlesbrough Branch Railway .
Middlesbrough Dock Opened As the coal export industry thrived , the staiths constructed at Port of Middlesbrough were unable to sustain the expanding enterprise and it was decided a dock would be better suited to the town ’ s needs .
Did You Know ? In the early 1800s there was little industrial activity on the Tees at Middlesbrough . Instead , Stockton-on-Tees was the main port for the area .

1830
1831
Did You Know ? Middlesbrough Dock Clock Tower has four sides but only three clock-faces . It is said that employers to the north of the clock ( where the face is blank ) did not want their workers ‘ clockwatching ’.

1800s

Did You Know ? By 1829 , Middlesbrough had been bought by local businessman and rail pioneer , Joseph Pease to build a new coal port , named Port Darlington , and a town in which the port workers could live . Pease famously predicted ‘ Yarm was , Stockton is , Middlesbrough will be ’.

1825
Did You Know ? Developed as an extension of the Stockton & Darlington Railway , Middlesbrough can lay claim to being the world ’ s first planned railway new town .

1842
1850
Stockton & Darlington Railway Opened The world ’ s first publicly-owned , steam-powered passenger railway opened to great fanfare between Stockton & Darlington in a ‘ red letter ’ day in transport history .
First Cargo Exported The first cargo to be exported from Port Darlington was coal , transported to the staiths and transferred to the steamship ‘ Sunniside ’. As trade increased , Middlesbrough became known as an important port .
‘ Ironopolis ’ - The Birth of Middlesbrough ’ s Iron Age Middlesbrough was transformed from a dependence on coal export to one that would be defined by iron , following the discovery of iron ore in the Cleveland Hills .
AV Dawson owns and operates Port of Middlesbrough and is proud of the heritage of the site . Port of Middlesbrough ’ s history can be traced back to 1830 , when an extension of the Stockton & Darlington Railway opened to deliver coal from the Durham coalfields to the new coal export staiths in Middlesbrough . The port was in fact the birthplace of modern Middlesbrough .
Timothy Hackworth : Rail pioneer
Did You Know ?
The Tees has the capability to support a diverse range of cargo including liquid bulks ( such as oil ), dry bulks ( such as aggregates ) and project cargo ( including cables for offshore wind ).

2020s

Port of Middlesbrough is Reborn In September 2020 , AV Dawson rebranded its facility as Port of Middlesbrough , giving a nod to the heritage of the site and a name that was first used almost 200 years earlier .
1998 : AV Dawson acquired Lin-Din site to extend its port facility
1995 - 2000
Uniting to Protect the Community The Tees community was brought together as the Tees Barrage was built as a flood defence , and Tees & Hartlepool Port Users Association ( THPUA ) was created to protect the interests of the industrial river community .