Eston

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Bronze Age Activity on the Eston Hills

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In his 1991 report, Bronze Age Activity on the Eston Hills, Cleveland, (YAJ no.63) Blaise Vyner lists 39 burial mounds and probable burial mounds and 13 cairns on the Eston Hills.

In their book, Prehistoric Rock Art in the North York Moors (Tempus 2005), Paul Brown and Graeme Chappell list over 29 examples of Prehistoric Rock Art from the Eston Hills.

Death of Steel 1875-2010 Ray Lonsdale

Death of steelii

High and dry in twenty ten. The options roll out but none appeal. he needs his son to feel alive

Seven Pounds of Hope and Five Ounces of Fear by Ray Lonsdale

Death of steeli

They may be men of steel but they are men with loves, responsibilities and nowhere to go. They are men who make things…things that have built countries.

Wipe Clean with a Soft Cloth by Ray Lonsdale

Death of steel

No more smoke, dirt, noise or ugly views and peaceful in the job centre queues.

An Arm Full of Sharp Things by Ray Lonsdale

John Poulson

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On a visit to the Dorman Museum in Middlesbrough I noticed this plaque hanging on the wall and didn’t pay it much attention until I noticed the name of the architect, J.G.L Poulson. I’ve recently read Frank Medhurst’s excellent book, A Quiet Catastrophe, which documents the re-development of Teesside during the 1960’s and details the greed, corruption and criminality of elected officials who should have been protecting our way of life but chose instead to line their pockets with Poulson’s bribes.

According to Fitzwalter and Taylor, Brown was the first of the Teesside councillors on Poulson’s payroll. The final figure was alleged to be at least thirty two (Fitzwalter and Taylor) locally elected members who undertook work for Poulson in various ways to provide jobs for his Middlesbrough office. The recruitment was of aldermen and councillors in the towns of Stockton, Redcar, Middlesbrough and Eston’whose payments were recorded in his books as “development spending” ‘ (Fitzwalter and Taylor).

Poulson’s method of working was, as in Eston on the south of the  Tees, to get himself onto the architects’ short list by means of his ‘purchased’ influence and then to win the contract by promising ‘sketch plans in a fortnight, a completed scheme in two months and the job finished within the year’. This way he obtained in Eston the work on a new swimming pool followed by almost all the council building in the town – a town hall, a municipal hall, a sports hall, a labour club, 600 houses and four six-story blocks of flats’.

Extract from

A Quiet Catastrophe, The Teesside Job

Franklin Medhurst

Citizen Papers 2010