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.
Due to Covid-19, all of our talks will be held online on Zoom for the forseable future.
Winter 2021/22 Programme
Saturday 18 September @ 10am
A Tale of Two Piers (Coatham and Redcar)
Peter Sotheran
The rise and fall of the piers at Redcar and Coatham
The neighbouring 19th century communities of Coatham and Redcar were constant rivals. When one planned to build a pier, the other followed hard on its heels. Each vied to out-do its neighbour; each was ultimately doomed to disaster as a steady flow of shipwrecks sank their dreams.
Saturday 9 October @ 10am
Women as capital lenders in the expansion of 19th century Middlesbrough and Scarborough
Joan Heggie
This presentation will examine the role that women played as capital lenders in the expansion of industrial towns and development of middle-class suburbs in nineteenth-century Yorkshire, particularly the towns of Middlesbrough and Scarborough in the North Riding. Drawing on original mortgage documentation from the Registers of Deeds, which offer an unique system for tracking property transfers, the talk will share what these documents tell us about gendered patterns of lending and borrowing behaviour and women’s investment strategies. In addition to highlighting the ways in which the Registers of Deeds could be used in family and local history research, the presentation will explore how such investment by women during a period of expansion of industrial towns might be better understood in the wider social and economic context of urban growth and changing legislation regarding married women’s control over their own wealth. Also, given that Middlesbrough and Scarborough had very different histories and economies, how did these gendered investment patterns vary?
Thursday 11 November @ 7pm
Mediaeval Buildings Myths – The Folklore and Archaeology of Historic Buildings
James Wright
This talk looks at some of the most common misconceptions surrounding historic buildings. Stories of secret passages, yarns that spiral stairs in castles turn one way to advantage right-handed swordsmen and tall tales of ships timbers in pubs. The legends are outlined, the origins of the myths are explained and the underlying truth behind each story is revealed. Hopefully the talk will help to give a broader and deeper understanding of mediaeval buildings that will bring us just that little bit closer to their former occupants.
James Wright is an experienced broadcaster and expert on mediaeval and early modern history and archaeology – in particular those subjects which relate to architecture.
Saturday 11 December @ 10am
Ingleby Manor – Its Families Through Time
Geoff Taylor
Ingleby Manor is a building dating from the late medieval period, although parts may be older. One of the most significant features is its central hall which still has the original roof trusses.
Geoff Taylor of the Kirby, Great Broughton and Ingleby Greenhow Local History Group gives this fascinating talk on the families who lived at the manor.
All talks held on Zoom
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