Thornaby-on-Tees
Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, north of York and south-east of Middlesbrough. On the south bank of the River Tees, Thornaby falls within the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees and the Tees Valley area. The parish had a population of 24,741 at the 2011 census.
The town was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1892, during the Victorian era. The borough was abolished in 1968 on the creation of the County Borough of Teesside. A civil parish called Thornaby was re-created in 1996.
The modern centre was built on the north eastern part of Thornaby airfield and lies south-east of Stockton-on-Tees and south-west of Middlesbrough.
History
Prehistoric
There are other signs of Thornaby being a much older settlement. Traces of prehistoric man have been found, the earliest being a stone axe, 8 inches long, dating back to the Mesolithic Period. In 1926, a dugout canoe said to date from about 1600 – 1400 BC was found in the mud under of water opposite Thornaby High Wood. An arrowhead of the Neolithic Period was found in a garden on Thornaby Village Green.Danes
The name Thornaby came into existence about AD 800 when the land was given by Halfdene, King of the Danes, to Thormod, one of his noblemen, hence "Thormods-by" – Thormod's farmstead. Although the -by suffix originally meant a farmstead, many of these grew into villages, taking the -by suffix with them in their names as with other villages in the area, such as Danby, Faceby, Ingleby, Maltby and Ormesby.During the Battle of Hastings, one of William the Conqueror's noblemen, Robert I de Brus, marched north with a garrison of men and occupied the area of Cleveland. William gave him those lands to control including Thornaby and Middlesbrough.
King Sweyn II of Denmark, on 9 September 1069, defeated the Normans at York by killing the entire garrison of 3,000 men. William swore an oath to take revenge on Sweyn by destroying every house and dwelling in the lands under Sweyn's rule, leaving all the land in the north east of Yorkshire barren and bare.
In the Domesday Book Thornaby is mentioned five times, Thornaby's first mention in the Domesday Book states:- "Robert Malet has these lands and they are waste." It appears that they remained undeveloped until the early 19th century as "Thurnaby waaste" is mentioned in a poem by Tennyson called "The Northern Farmer.".
Over the centuries there have been a number of different spellings of the name Thornaby including Turmozbi, Tormozbi, Tormozbia and Thurmozbi. The form Thornaby first appears in 1665 and refers to old Thornaby village, south western area of the present town which is near the River Tees as it flows north east.
The Five Lamps of St Peter's Church
It is said that Robert de Thormodbi, wounded in the Crusades at Acre, swore to raise a shrine to the Virgin Mary if he survived his wounds. He did, and as part of his wish a shrine niche to the Virgin Mary, lit by five sanctuary lamps, was placed in St Peter's Church.A town from the marshes
In 1825, old Thornaby was centred around St Peter's Church and the old village green. Thornaby Carrs had been a site of intermittent horse racing before moving to the now former Stockton Racecourse after the River Tees was straightened in 1810, a short distance downstream. From 1825, industry started to be built south of Stockton's existing port industry as the Stockton and Darlington Railway had been established with old Stockton railway station on the other side of the bank. The first site was William Smith's pottery and the area quickly grew with shipbuilding and engineering companies established on the marshes. From 1840 until June 1987 heavy engineering firm Head Wrightson was a major employer in Thornaby.The area developing on the south bank of the Tees opposite Stockton was initially known as South Stockton. As Stockton's port industry moved to Middlesbrough, shipbuilding was replaced by iron works. A new railway line opened up the area south of the river for further development, with a South Stockton railway station built in 1882.
The new settlement grew as a workforce for new industry, spreading south down and between Thornaby Road, the new Westbury Street, and Mandale Road. The built-up area of South Stockton grew to merge with the old village of Thornaby; on 6 October 1892 South Stockton and Thornaby formally merged to form a municipal borough which was named Thornaby-on-Tees. South Stockton station was renamed to Thornaby. Thornaby Town Hall was built for the old South Stockton Local Board, and was completed in 1892 a few months before the board was replaced by the new borough council.
The airfield, 608 squadron and Spitfires
The earliest known flying in Thornaby took place in 1912 when Matthew Young of the Vale Farm was paid 100 Gold Sovereigns for the use of a field for an airshow. Taking place on a Saturday afternoon in June or July, one of the main events was flying by Gustav Hamel, an early flying pioneer. The next known use was by the Royal Flying Corps who used the same fields between 1914 and 1918 as a staging post between Catterick and Marske aerodromes.In about 1925 negotiations began on the opening of a full-time aerodrome and in the late 1920s the Air Ministry constructed an airfield to the south of the town and the station which was the second permanent aerodrome to be built in Yorkshire was opened on 29 September 1929. During the Second World War, Thornaby came under the control of 18 group, Coastal Command, before this however it had come under Flying Training, Fighter and Bomber Commands, and post-war under Reserve and Fighter Commands, at this time it was also used by the Royal Air Force Regiment. During the war a variety of tasks were carried out from RAF Thornaby, such as, attacks on targets in Europe, anti-submarine patrols, operational training, strikes against enemy shipping, leaflet dropping and air sea rescue operations.
608 squadron
Of all the squadrons to have been based at RAF Thornaby during its operational period, "Thornaby's own" 608 squadron is probably the squadron best remembered by the townsfolk. It was formed at Thornaby on 17 March 1930 and went on to serve within both Coastal and Bomber Commands during the Second World War. After the war, on 10 May 1946 the squadron was re-formed at Thornaby and carried on in Reserve Command "at home" until the squadron disbanded for the last time on 10 March 1957. 608 Squadron's Standard, which was approved by the Queen and bears their battle honours, can be seen housed in York Minster under the Astronomical Clock where it was laid-up on 14 November 1959. The numerous items of glass and silverware which were presented to the squadron during their service are held by Middlesbrough Council, are housed in Middlesbrough Town Hall and are to be returned to the squadron should it ever re-form.
Post-war expansion
The last R.A.F aircraft to leave the airfield left on 1 October 1958 and further use of Thornaby as a regional airport on 23 February 1962 ended when all but of land was purchased from the Air Ministry by Thornaby-on-Tees Borough Council.The administration of Thornaby changed hands first to the County Borough of Teesside then into the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. The redevelopment of the former airfield began in the 1960s, through the demolition of its buildings and runways, and replacement with new housing, offices, a new town centre and Teesside Industrial Estate.
Many symbols of Thornaby's aeronautical past were placed for posterity with streets, buildings and public houses using names of Royal Air Force aircraft, stations and personnel. The Bader School on Kintyre Drive was named after and opened by Sir Douglas Bader on 10 November 1971. In 1976 a stained glass window in St Paul's Church on Thornaby Road was dedicated to the RAF at Thornaby and in 1997 a statue was erected on Thornaby Road dedicated to all who served at RAF Thornaby.
In 2007 a full-size replica Supermarine Spitfire aircraft was erected on the roundabout at the junction of Thornaby Road, Bader Avenue and Trenchard Avenue. Hidden beneath the roundabout is part of a runway which used to run east to west.
The town centre
The original northern town centre around Thornaby Town Hall declined after World War II with deindustrialisation and the town's population centre shifting south east on to the redeveloped site of the old airfield. As part of this expansion, a new town centre was built in the late 1960s incorporating the Pavilion Leisure Centre and two blocks of flats. In the 1980s, the A66 bypass road was constructed, separating the old town centre from the rest of Thornaby. Following the closure of the Head Wrightson site in 1987, the area north of the town hall was developed into the new Teesdale Business Park.In the late 2000s, the town centre was redeveloped as the Pavilion Shopping Centre, with new shops opposite the existing Pavilion Leisure Centre and ASDA superstore. An official relaunch event was held in the new town centre on 25 April 2009. The high rise flats in the town centre have been demolished and with the towns fund, there are plans for a new swimming pool to be constructed on the site of the former NPower offices to replace the existing baths on Thornaby Road. The former Golden Eagle Hotel is also slated for demolition.
Community and culture
Thornaby won a number of awards in 2008; the silver gilt award for best small cities, Northumbria in Bloom, which was repeated in 2011. Thornaby Cemetery had Cemetery of the Year award in 2006. The cemetery had lost then lost its Green flag award until 2011.On 10 November 2011 an R.A.F. Search and Rescue Sea King Helicopter paid a three-hour visit to Bader primary to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sir Douglas Bader opening the school. The day of activities included a visit by representatives from RAF Leeming, the Commanding Officer at Catterick Garrison, Middlesbrough Armed Forces Careers Office and the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team.
Thornaby held its eleventh Yorkshire Day event in August 2017. The annual Thornaby Show takes place at the beginning of September, it is estimated that more than 10,000 people turn up over the course of the day.
In January 2014 a McDonald's and Asda opened on the site of the former Tristar Neasham site. Teesside Park is the location of a shopping park which occupies a former racecourse.