Yorkshire'sbygone age brought back to life in pictures

Now a new book is offering a fascinating journey back in time to a bygone age, when Staithes fishermen led a hand-to-mouth existence that depended on the community's fleet of cobles rather than gift shops and galleries.

Teesside and Old Cleveland Through Time, by local author Robin Cook, focuses on well-known streets and landmarks in the late 19th and 20th century in pictures that have not been seen in some cases for more than a century.

Mr Cook is the author of a number of books of early photos of North and East Yorkshire whose published works date back to 1975.

A member of several historical societies, the Northallerton-based writer also gives talks and slide shows to a range of community groups.

His new book records views that are still here today, matched with current photographs of how they look now, along with others which have passed into history.

They include an eye-catching postcard of cobles drawn up at Staithes, reminding readers what a busy fishing village it was before the First World War.

The scene was captured by photographer Henry Charles Morley, who had a studio in the village – where very few now depend on fishing for a livelihood.

Another HC Morley postcard shows two Staithes fishermen in souwesters and dark blue "gansey" jerseys and sea boots staring out to sea with a telescope.

The houses in the background are still recognisable today and the fact that the village was starting to appear on postcards underlines how attitudes were changing at the turn of the century.

Under Queen Victoria, social reformers had looked at the back-to-back cottages in Staithes with their washing in the back yards and seen only slums that pointed to the need for housing reform.

Other pictures record disasters long been buried in time. The East Row Bridge in the middle of Sandsend is a familiar site to visitors.

But few know that a severe local storm in May 1910 reduced it to rubble as a the beck became a raging torrent that tore up trees from Mulgrave Woods and hurled them into the bridge.

As for flooding, Yorkshire's been there before, as a shot of Stokesley swamped by the River Leven shows. The Esk Valley was a flooding hotspot in both 1930 and 1931 as a result of prolonged rainfall.

It is not the only image that resonates today. Another postcard shows the extensions to Whitby's famous twin piers being built in 1913.

Now there is concern for the extensions, particularly the East Pier, which was branded the "Leaning Tower of Whitby" following storm damage and is currently the subject of a multi-million-pound restoration scheme.

In an age before package tour pampering, Whitby Outdoor Swimming Pool was said to have provided one of the coldest dips in the history of bathing.

Perhaps not surprisingly the gates closed for good in the 1950s and the site on the cliff edge towards Upgang is now grassed over.

Mr Cook will be signing copies of the book at the Guisborough Bookshop, in Chaloner Street, Guisborough, from 11am-1pm on Saturday, March 27.

He said: "The Teesside and Old Cleveland area represents a rewarding catchment because it includes such a wide range of subject material – the industrial heritage of Middlesbrough included the docks, the seaside resorts include Redcar, Saltburn, Staithes, and Whitby

"The fishing industry includes Staithes and Whitby. The tourist attractions include pretty towns, villages and countryside like Stokesley, Osmotherly, and Bilsdale.

"Early photographs continue to turn up, though regrettably not as cheaply or frequently as used to be the case, to present striking fresh images of our unknown past."

Story charted by images

The development of Teesside and Old Cleveland area has been charted in photographs over the past century.

Many of the most striking images come from the golden age of the picture postcard from 1900 to the First World War.

Cleveland used to be part of the old North Riding. But the 1974 local government reform created the county of Cleveland which also included Teesside. The county was abolished in 1996.

Author Robin Cook says the combination of old and new pictures show how much clutter has been created.

Bus shelters, street lamps, traffic signs, bollards and waste bins have all been added to the modern street scene.