Middlesbrough is known for it's envolvment with steel production (as is Sheffield, our 8th stop) through the mining of Ironstone and the presence of foundries and industry, such as ship makers. Teeside set the world price for iron and steel for many years in the 19th century and had a very rapid development, achieving a population of over 180.000. Together with iron and steel production, the city also is dominated by engineering and chemical industry.
For the qualities mentioned, Middlesbrough was the first main British city to be bombarded during WW2, it was first attacked in 25 May 1940.
Captain James Cook, (cited in Whitby) was born in Mason, now MIddlesbrough
- Our research while heading here drowned us with football and Middlesbrough teams, that shouldn't be ignored, the city is a major sport center, we'll be heading to the football stadium to investigate.
"We reached this intriguing city, apparently it is a football city ?" - We are in Middlesbrough, a large industrial town in the Teeside (river Tee) region in North Yorkshire, it's the most populous of the region with 174.700 inhabitants as of 2011. Today it is also a University town.
Many habiticans have the habit of researching about the stops whenever possible, be it internet cafes or free WiFi, however, looking Middlesbrough up only resulted in countless football matches, as if Middlesbrough wasn't a city but solely the name of a soccer team. - "We gotta start visiting stadiums already, they are also pretty important, I guess we start here. This Riverside Stadium opened in 1995 and has been the home to Middlesbrough FC ever since" - "Now, I'm very curious, I've never heard of Middlesbrough FC before, but they exist since 1876!" - We sat down for the first time in 5 weeks, taking 25 seats out of the 33.746, and watched a national macht for 1:30 hours, the crowd was... wild.
We had the opportunity to see the Tess Transporter Bridge in action, one of the few transporter bridges in the world, two are in here in Middlesbrough, one in London, another two in Germany, Vizcaya Bridge in Spain and Puente Transbordador in Argentina. The idea of the transporter bridge is to carry vehicles and passengers in a 'gondola', to cross bodies of water. It was only relevant before the popularity of cars, today there are only twelve transporter bridges left. Tees bridge was built in 1911 and crosses a section of river Tess in 90 seconds. The gondola can carry 200 people, 9 cars, or 6 cars and one minibus
We were told that one of the attractions here in Middlesbrough is the Town Hall, which is actually a concert hall, with a bar beneath it. We arrived just in time for Classical Cafe music event. The hall was built with the same material as the walls in Machu Picchu, sandstone ashtar, in the late 19th century, being one of the last Gothic style town halls built in England.
We visited two of the three cultural institutions in town, the Dorman Memorial Museum and the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum in Stewart Park, the third one is Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art First we stop by Dorman Museum, a social history museum founded in honor of George Loockwood Dorman, who died in the Second Boer War, which we only learned about today. It opened in 1904 and within it's collection are stuffed animals, such as a mounted eagle owl, a rampant lion and insects, a large archive with many documents about the city, botanical collections, coins and medals, costumes and textiles, decoration, Fossils, Rocks and Minerals in the Geological Collection, over 1.500 objects from different world cultures, the fore mentioned Social History collection and more than 150.000 specimens in the Zoological Collection. There are also 8 permanent display galleries; in short, they tell the social history of women in Middlesbrough and the evolution of the town with time including it's original planning, a look at planet earth and it's resources, a gallery based on the work 'Birds of Yorkshire' by Thomas Hudson Nelson. It was a very productive time, we learned quite a lot with the museum's immense collection. Then we took a slight break from it all and visited Steward Park
Steward Park, a place full of nature and life, with only 120 acres (0.5 km²) of extension, still it has all you would expect, including lakes and playgrounds. - "a public possession, open and accessible to all the people for all time" - Councillor Thomas Dormand Stewart in 1924.
Stewart Park was officially opened to the public on 23 May 1928. The site of the cottage where Captain Cook was born is within the park, it is marked with a pink granite urn.
From here we go to Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, it is not a coincidence that it is located here in Stewart Park
Stewart Park was officially opened to the public on 23 May 1928. The site of the cottage where Captain Cook was born is within the park, it is marked with a pink granite urn.
From here we go to Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, it is not a coincidence that it is located here in Stewart Park
Opened in 1978 on the 250th anniversary of Naval explorer and Circumnavigator James Cook, Cook Birthplace Museum is a biographical museum which surveys his life and journeys, with a personal collection including household items. It also includes a series of interactive displays and temporary travelling exhibitions as well as a cafe, gift shop, education suite and resources and archive room.
We heard that Darlington was responsible for the construction of Transporter Bridge, we are heading to another industrial town
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