Local history books these days often fall into one of two categories. Most popular are nostalgic collections of old postcards and photographs neatly arranged two on each page, with a brief caption underneath. Or alternatively, there are academic research papers that go deeper into the subject than most readers tend to find appealing.
A few years ago, one of Teesside’s most prolific local history authors, Paul Menzies, tipped this norm on its head with a new coffee-table sized book about the history of Middlesbrough. The result was incredible, with rave reviews and praise for the completely unique format which mixed old photographs, newspaper articles and other historic material into a visual narrative.
Stockton-on-Tees: A Colourful Past
Relive the glory days of Stockton’s High Street, with its thriving market, lost businesses, trams and iconic Town Hall.
Industry once thrived on both sides of the River Tees. Here, the Thornaby side sees major works and housing side-by-side.
Now, Paul has turned his attention to Stockton for a follow-up book in the same style, and at first glance it is simply incredible!
Paul’s style with these books is in recreating old images and bringing them back to lifelike colour where they were once monotone.
In many case he has restored tiny, grainy pictures into full size with all the detail once missing now easy to see.
The book looks at the interesting story of Stockton-on-Tees – once a small village subservient to Norton, which later grew into a major industrial port with its own manufacturing industries, important buildings, and of course – the country’s widest High Street.
But Stockton takes in much more than that, as does the book. It features the neighbouring towns and villages, like Yarm, Thornaby, Billingham, Eaglescliffe, Norton and Ingleby Barwick, each with their own fascinating histories.
Highlights of the Book
With 2025 being an important year for the history of Stockton thanks to the 200th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, readers will be pleased to find plenty of coverage of the history of this pioneering railway in this book.
However, there’s much more to enjoy too, including:
- Billingham before ICI arrived, seen as a sleeping village
- The development of ICI itself, with the construction of the ammonia plants and laboratories
- Yarm High Street in its early days, including its famous floods
- Thornaby Aerodrome, now lost but seen here in full colour with operational aircraft squadrons
- See Ingleby Barwick before the houses arrived!
- Stockton’s lost theatres and cinemas
- Leven Bank when it was a holiday destination
- Early scenes of Stockton’s riverside industries
- Lost areas like Portrack, Mandale and Erimus
- Central Thornaby and Five Lamps
- Stockton’s sporting history – football teams, cricket and the racecourse
A Book That Lasts
Far from being a throwaway book that can be read in an afternoon, Stockton-on-Tees: A Colourful Past is a large format book with 300 pages that will last a lot longer.
As with the previous Middlesbrough: A Colourful Past book, readers will love dipping in, learning more about the town and region and enjoying the wonderful colourised images that Paul has produced.
If you would like to order a copy of Stockton-on-Tees: A Colourful Past by Paul Menzies, they are available here from Stockton-based publisher Destinworld Publishing at this link: