Teesdale

Teesdale is a dale, or valley, in Northern England. The dale is in the River Tees's drainage basin, most water flows stem from or converge into said river, including the Skerne and Leven.

For a locality in Victoria, Australia, see Teesdale, Victoria. For a former local government district, see Teesdale (district). For west Teesdale, see Upper Teesdale. For south-east Teesdale, see Cleveland, England.

Teesdale
Tees Valley, Teesside & Cleveland
Lower Teesdale (Teesside) from Carlton Bank
Geography
Locationsouth of County Durham and north of North Yorkshire, England
CountryEngland
Population centersBarnard Castle, Tees Valley towns, Great Ayton & Stokesley
Borders on
Coordinates54.545°N 1.927°W / 54.545; -1.927 
Traversed byA66 road, Teesdale Way, Tees Valley Line
RiverTees, Skerne & Leven

Upper Teesdale, more commonly just Teesdale, falls between the Durham and Yorkshire Dales. Large parts of Upper Teesdale are in the North Pennines AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) - the second largest AONB in England and Wales. The River Tees rises below Cross Fell, the highest hill in the Pennines at 2,930 feet (890 m),[1] and its uppermost valley is remote and high. The local climate was scientifically classified as "Sub-Arctic" and snow has sometimes lain on Cross Fell into June (there is an alpine ski area Yad Moss).[2][3]

Lower Teesdale has mixed urban (Tees Valley or Teesside) and rural (Cleveland) parts. Roseberry Topping is a notable hill on the south eastern side, of which this and other adjoining hills form the northern end of the North York Moors.

Newer terms have gained stronger associations with separate parts of the valley due to their use as specific political constituencies and authorities.

Geology
See also: Geology of County Durham; Yorkshire Dales; and Cleveland, England

Unusually for the Pennines, rock of igneous origin (the Whin Sill) contributes to the surface geology and scenery of Upper Teesdale. Around 295 million years ago upwelling magma spread through fissures and between strata in the earlier Carboniferous Limestone country rock. As it cooled (an event which is believed to have lasted 50 years) the rock contracted and caused itself to split into vertical columns. The heating of the limestone above the rock also caused it to be turned into a crumbly marble known as Sugar Limestone.[4][5]

High Cup Nick

Economic deposits in Llandovery rocks include soft shales that were previously worked to be used as slate pencils.[6]

More recently, Ice Age glacial activity shaped the valley, and much of the pre-glacial river course is now buried beneath glacial drift.

Botany
High Cup Nick

In places this impervious dolerite rock, with shallow soil above it, prevented the growth of scrub or trees: this enabled certain post-glacial Arctic / Alpine plants to survive here when elsewhere as a rule they were overgrown. The Sugar Limestone formed by thermal metamorphism of the limestone into which the Whin Sill was intruded also meets the requirements of some of these plants. Teesdale is famous among naturalists for the "Teesdale Assemblage" of plants found together here that occur widely separated in other locations, abroad or in the British Isles.[7]

Part of Upper Teesdale near the Cow Green Reservoir is designated a National Nature Reserve; it contains the unique Teesdale Violet and the blue Spring Gentian as well as more common Pennine flowers such as rockrose, spring sandwort, mountain pansy, bird's-eye primrose and butterwort.[8] Hay meadows in the valley above High Force, some now carefully cultivated to ensure this, contain an extremely rich variety of flowering plants including globe flower, wood cranesbill and Early Purple Orchid.[9] On the south bank of the Tees near High Force can be seen the largest surviving juniper wood in England.[10]

Geography
Middleton-in-Teesdale

Over ledges in the Whin Sill fall the famous waterfalls of High Force and Low Force and the cataract of Cauldron Snout.[11] From the source to the Skerne, Teesdale's principal town and most populous settlement is Barnard Castle,[12] a historic market town that is home to the renowned Bowes Museum.[13] The area also includes the small town of Middleton-in-Teesdale and a number of villages, including Mickleton, Eggleston, Romaldkirk and Cotherstone.[12] Middleton was a lead-mining centre,[14] and plentiful traces of this industry can be seen round the adjoining slopes and side-valleys.[15] On the south side of Teesdale looms the Bronze Age burial site of Kirkcarrion.[16] The Durham Dales are on the northern side and to the south is the Yorkshire Dales, Swaledale with Richmond is the closest.

Places by the River Tees
North South
Source then Middleton-in-Teesdale N/a
Eggleston Cotherstone
Barnard Castle Startforth
Whorlton Ovington
Winston and Gainford N/a
Piercebridge
High Coniscliffe, Merrybent and Low Coniscliffe Cleasby
Darlington Stapleton
Hurworth and Neasham Croft and Dalton
Middleton One Row Over Dinsdale
Aislaby Low Worsall
Egglescliffe Yarm
Preston Ingleby Barwick
Stockton (Bowesfield, town centre and Portrack) Thornaby
Haverton Hill and Port Clarence Middlesbrough (Old Middlesbrough and North Ormesby)
N/a South Bank then the mouth

The Skerne runs through Darlington to Aycliffe Village and Preston-le-Skerne, past Fishburn and through Hurworth Burn Reservoir to Trimdon. The Leven starts and runs between Yarm and Ingleby Barwick then through Stokesley and Great Ayton.

From the Leven to Teesmouth, the Tees flows through flatter country and since the 19th century urban area. Middlesbrough is the most populous town in the dale as a whole and surrounding towns are in this part of the dale with it bounded to the west by the Cleveland Hills or North York Moors. The dale runs roughly parallel to Weardale (including Bishop Auckland, Durham and Sunderland).

Governance

The dale was formerly divided into four with the north in the Darlington and Stockton wards while the south was in the Gilling and Langbaurgh.

Both dales gave their names to the former Teesdale district and Weardale district of western County Durham. The south is within the historic county boundaries of the North Riding of Yorkshire, Startforth Rural District, it was transferred to ceremonial County Durham on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972. West Teesdale lies within the parliamentary constituency of Bishop Auckland (County Durham).[17]

Uses in local culture

See also

References
  1. "Great country walks: Cross Fell, Pennine Hills, Cumbria". The Guardian. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  2. "North Pennines AONB". www.landscapesforlife.org.uk. Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  3. Gilbert, Joe (27 December 1997). "Skiing: Yad Moss: the St Moritz of the north". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  4. Cocker, Mark (27 April 2014). "The strange tale of Cronkley Scar, with its chaotic hem of boulder scree". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  5. "The Whin Sill" (PDF). northpennines.org.uk. North Pennines AONB. p. 2. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  6. Woodward, Horace B (1887). "4: Silurian (Upper Silurian)". The geology of England and Wales: with notes on the physical features of the country. London: G Phillip & Son. pp. 108–109. OCLC 933061775.
  7. "Upper Teesdale SSSI" (PDF). naturalengland.org. pp. 1–5. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  8. "Moor House - Upper Teesdale NNR" (PDF). naturalengland.org. Natural England. 2014. p. 5. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  9. "High Force and Bowlees geotrail" (PDF). highforcewaterfall.com. Landscapes for Life. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  10. "Saving Teesdale's Juniper Wood". bbc.co.uk. BBC Tees. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  11. "Cow Green Reservoir – Visit Cumbria". www.visitcumbria.com. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  12. "Barnard Castle Masterplan Update" (PDF). durham.gov.uk. Durham County Council. December 2016. p. 3. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  13. "The Bowes Museum, About Us > Our History". thebowesmuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  14. "GENUKI - Middleton-in-Teesdale". joinermarriageindex.co.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  15. "Teesdale's industrial heritage". Teesdale Mercury. 27 February 2008. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  16. Lloyd, Chris (8 April 2016). "Kirkcarrion keeps its secrets still". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  17. "History of Barnard Castle". www.barnardcastletowncouncil.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
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