Historic

Environment

Record

Tees Archaeology maintains a record (Historic Environment Record, or HER) of all the known archaeological sites in Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees.

This is a digital record based on a database and a Geographical Information System (GIS). You can now view an extract of this data online by visiting our project page.

A programme of archaeological investigations took place between 2003 and 2008 involving local people at Preston Park, Stockton-On-Tees. The works identified a range of previously unidentified features relating to the former route of the S&DR.

The original line of the Stockton and Darlington Railway ran along the eastern edge of Preston Park, but this alignment was abandoned in 1852 following the opening of the nearby North Eastern Railway, Leeds Northern Branch line, which is still in use today.

The North East Yorkshire Mesolithic Project

The Mesolithic period lasted for over 6000 years from around 10,000 BC to around 4000 BC.

Although the period was long we know relatively little about it.

The North York Moors National Park and Tees Archaeology have teamed up to find out more and have set up a project with funding from English Heritage.

River Tees Rediscovered is an exciting Landscape Partnership project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and managed by Groundwork North-East. It covers the river corridor from Teesmouth to Piercebridge.

The aim of the project is to improve access and people’s awareness of the River Tees. This will be achieved through a variety of activities including archaeological work and Tees Archaeology has been commissioned to provide the Community Archaeology programme.

The English Civil War in the Tees Valley

The 17^th Century was a time of turmoil in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland resulting in the English Civil War. Each part of the country, each village and each family contained different loyalties and the Tees Valley was no different. 

Although the Tees Valley avoided any major battles there were a number of skirmishes and the Scottish Army occupied the counties of Durham and Northumberland for a considerable amount of time bringing hardship to the area.

The village of Egglescliffe sits high above the River Tees on its north bank, overlooking the medieval town of Yarm.

Local people had expressed an interest in taking part in a Community Archaeology project in the village and Tees Archaeology has worked with them to take this forward as part of the River Tees Rediscovered project. This has included workshops and volunteer based building recording and archaeological excavation.

A Bronze Age Cemetery at Windmill Fields, Ingleby Barwick

When police found human remains at a Stockton building site foul play was suspected.

However the bodies turned out to be over 4000 years old and are an almost unique example of an Early Bronze Age cemetery with an unparalleled wealth of metalwork and grave goods.

In the early 1980s a major archaeological research project was carried out on an Iron Age Settlement site at Thorpe Thewles on the outskirts of Stockton.

The excavations revealed the story of a small native farming settlement on the fringes of the Roman Empire.

To the north of Ingleby Barwick, several hundred metres from the River Tees, archaeologists uncovered a large Romano-British villa complex of buildings and field enclosures in advance of a housing development. 

This is possibly the most northerly surviving villa in the Roman Empire and produced some remarkable finds and structures.

1300 years ago Hartlepool was amongst the most important religious sites of the North. It was established shortly after Lindisfarne and before Whitby .

Hartlepool is one of the most extensively excavated of the Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon monasteries. Significant finds include the ‘namestone’ cemetery discovered in 1833 and moulds from high quality metalworking found at Church Close in 1984.

In the summer of 1982 local children discovered the shallow grave of a young woman.  This turned out to be an important archaeological discovery and led to the excavation of a major Anglo-Saxon cemetery containing over one hundred burials.

The cemetery is one of the most significant of its period in the region.

In 2014 the Friends of Fairy Dell won a Heritage Lottery grant to record and interpret the medieval history of a beck valley within the suburbs of Middlesbrough. 

The works included an excavation of a sunken lane which could have been in use from the 13th century onwards. The project culminated in a major medieval festival that was visited by hundreds of people.

The village of Elwick, on the outskirts of Hartlepool, is an excellent example of a planned Norman settlement with a picturesque green.  The Elwick Village Atlas projects is part of the Limestone Landscapes Partnership and is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

In 2013 a project was established by local people to research the heritage of the settlement including excavating several trial trenches.

The town walls at Hartlepool were an imposing feature of the thriving medieval port.

The surviving section along the Fish Sands including the Sandwell Gate is now protected as a Scheduled Monument and Grade I Listed Building and still acts as a sea defence.

Stockton was an important medieval town on the banks of the River Tees.  The town was under the control of the Bishop of Durham who had a large residence there, referred to as Stockton Castle. 

The town developed into a major port in the 17th and 18th centuries and this prosperity continued with industrialisation in the 19th century and commercial development in the 20th century.

Hart is a historic village on the western outskirts of Hartlepool . Its history can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon period when it was the administrative centre of the estate of Hartness. The layout of the present village dates to just after the Norman Conquest when the area was presented to Robert De Brus.

The Heritage of Hart Project was established in 2009 to work with local people to research and record the archaeology and history of the settlement.

West Hartlepool Cemetery (now North Cemetery) opened in 1856.  It was originally served by a cemetery lodge and two mortuary chapels that have since been demolished.  In 2013 we set out to research the history of the cemetery with the Friends of North Cemetery.

The research culminated in a excavation on the site of demolished buildings.