What's on in Cleveland

Cleveland is a former county in the north of England; it was a part of North Riding of Yorkshire and was located to the south of the River Tees. The county was formed in 1974 to include not just the traditional Cleveland area but also the County Durham land north of the River Tees and Redcar, Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesborough were also included. However the county was once again abolished in 1996. Though the ceremonial counties are now split into north Yorkshire and Durham, the area is still commonly referred to as Teeside or Cleveland as well as Tees Valley.

The Cleveland Hills were large suppliers of ironstone used in blast furnaces and consequently what started as a small hamlet in the 18th century became a major industrial town and played an important part in the 19th century boom in iron. This industrial heritage was replicated across the region with Middlesborough Teesport becoming one of the UK’s main ports and Redcar establishing itself as a center for heavy industrial plants.

Though the Tees estuary is extremely urbanized and industrialised the rest of Cleveland is wide open and rural, with rolling farmland and striking moorland as well as an impressive length of cliffs that form a part of the North Yorkshire Heritage Coast. South Cleveland is almost entirely made up of hills and forms the escarpment of the North Yorkshire Moors. One of Cleveland’s highlights is Roseberry Topping, a well-known jutting hill that looks out over Newton under Roseberry along the Great Ayton to Guisborough road.

Other highlights include the wonderful Georgian heritage of Stockton-on-Tees, and its world's oldest railway station building, and some of the historic buildings of Middlesborough such as the Town Hall or Acklam Hall, Ormesby Hall, and St. Mary’s Cathedral. Lastly of course there is wild and beautiful North York Moors National Park, as well as the Penines and the Yorkshire Wolds.