The Cleveland and Teesside Local History Society operates an active and varied programme.
We provide regular talks and day-schools on a wide variety of topics and covering every period of history, from Anglo Saxon and Roman times to Victorian and Twentieth Century developments.
Details of our current programme of talks are provided below.
Winter 2025/26 Programme
Saturday 17 January 2026 @ 10:30am
Venue: Online (Zoom)
Torn from Home and Welcome in Teesside: Jewish Refugees to Teesside
Martin Peagam
To attend, please sign up at this link
Saturday 14 February 2026 at 10.30am
Venue: The Chapel, Whitehouse Street, Middlesbrough, TS5 4BY
The Battle of the Standard
Anthony Wood
The Battle of the Standard in August 1138 is one of the best recorded events of the 12th century and yet there are many unanswered questions regarding events leading up to it and the subsequent struggles presented to the contemporary chroniclers many of whom had a vested interest in shifting the blame. If history is truly written by the victors then in this instance victory brought with it a new set of problems. This talk (hopefully) explains the long series of events leading up to the conflict and examines the wider social and political landscape at a time of great change in Scotland and Northern England.
Christopher Dresser and the Linthorpe Pottery
Gill Moore
Christopher Dresser is widely regarded as Britain’s first independent industrial designer. His innovative ideas not only influenced Victorian design but also helped lay the foundations for modernism. In 1876, he became the first European designer to visit Japan, which had been closed to the West for nearly two centuries. Inspired by his travels, he planned to create an art complex in Middlesbrough that would produce groundbreaking new products. His first step was the establishment of Linthorpe Art Pottery.
This talk will explore the fascinating story of Christopher Dresser and Linthorpe Pottery, how the largest public collection of Dresser’s work came to Middlesbrough, and why we should take pride in it.
Saturday 14 March 2026 at 10.30am
Venue: Online (Zoom)
A Place In the Country:- The Castle as Holiday Home
Erik Matthews
The standard view of the Medieval Castle is one of a military fortress built to oppress the local population and to defend the interests of its lord. In the Yorkshire context additionally to defend against Scots raids. The reality as recent studies have shown is far more nuanced and far more interesting. With the real military value of castles far more circumscribed they may be seen as symbols of the status, lifestyle and values of their owners. A particular form is those castles built by lords whose principal estates are far away but who wish to take advantage of the hunting and adventure opportunities of the wild and remote. I will discuss two specific examples of this on the edge of the North York Moors, Whorlton which belonged successively to the Meynells and then the Baron’s Darcy of Knaith and Sigston whose origins are all the more mysterious.
To attend, please sign up at this link
Saturday 25 April 2026 at 10.15am
Venue: The Dorman Museum, Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough
Annual General Meeting, followed by
Jet Mining on the North York Moors
Chris Twigg
Revising Pevsner: The Cleveland Experience
Professor Jane Grenville
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