Quick Car Hire Stockton On Tees

Stockton On Tees town guide

Stockton-on-Tees

Located foursquare in the industrial heartland of the north east of England, Stockton on Tees may at first seem an unlikely place to visit. Like many such places throughout England its industrial past can now be traced in fascinating museums and relics that portray the industrial and cultural life associated with those industries.

Stockton on Tees began as an Anglo-Saxon settlement on the north bank of the River Tees. Later a Norman castle was constructed by the then Bishop of Durham, Hugh Pudsey. N the seventeenth century Stockton saw more development as the main port on the River Tees, serving the Baltic trade.

In 1825 the world's first public railway was opened between Stockton and Darlington, an event that revolutionised the transportation of goods and passengers inland. Although the railway brought prosperity and development to Stockton, its extension to Middlesbrough brought about the demise of Stockton as a port.

Just across the A19 from Stockton lies Billingham, home to important chemical plants and all based upon the extraction of salt from seawater in early saltpans.

Stockton is ideally placed for the visitor with a hire car to explore the beautiful countryside that abounds not far from the town. To the west is the Yorkshire Dales National Park, whilst to the southeast are the North Yorkshire Moors another National Park.

The ancient city of Durham with possibly the most magnificent setting of any cathedral is only a short distance to the north. The upper Tees valley is renowned for its beauty best exemplified at High Force one of the finest waterfalls in England.