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Welcome to Yarm on Tees
The Best High Street in Britain, as voted for by BBC Breakfast viewers! Yarm’s town centre is dominated by a cobbled High Street which runs along the centre of the loop formed by the Tees. At the centre of the High Street is the little Dutch style Town Hall built in 1710 by Viscount Fauconberg, who was Lord of the Manor of Yarm.
A marker on Yarm’s Town Hall in the High Street marks the height of the mighty flood of 1771 which reached seven feet above ground level. Yarm is a small town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Stockton-on-Tees in north east England. It is on the south bank of the River Tees and for ceremonial purposes is in the county of North Yorkshire. The bridge at Yarm marked the furthest reach of tidal flow up the River Tees until the opening, in 1995, of the Tees Barrage, which now regulates river flow above Stockton. As the last bridge on the river before the sea, it was superseded by a new toll bridge opened in Stockton in 1771. The oldest part of the town, around the High Street, is situated in a loop of the river and the newer parts of the town extend to the point where the River Leven meets the River Tees. |
Yarm railway viaduct
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Fantastic Pictures of Old Yarm
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The History of Yarm ( Yarum ) in detail
Hard to believe now but, in medieval times, Yarm was the most important town and port on the River Tees. Home to shipbuilders, brewers, rope makers and all manner of traditional crafts men. The town was once a major coaching stop on the north-south route and some of the original coaching inns still remain. A plaque outside the George and Dragon Hotel records the meeting in 1820 when the initial plans for the building of the Stockton and Darlington Railway were discussed.
Built around 1690, Yarm town hall is one of the oldest buildings in the town but previous to the building of the town hall stood a toll both placed to collect revenues from the travellers heading through Yarm. In later years due to the proximity of Yarm and the River Tees, a bell was added so that locals could be alerted of floods which were frequent. In later years it was decided by the Lord Mayor of the Manor that a town hall should be built. Today the town hall sits majestically in the centre of Yarm and from criminal courts to tourist office, it has earned its place in the history of Yarm and today this wonderful building has plaques at various levels to indicate the levels of the most severe floods that affected the towns folk of Yarm. The highest floods to hit Yarm date back to 1771 when the water was over 7ft above the ground.
The River Tees at Yarm forms a northward pointing horse-shoe meander which encloses this attractive little Georgian market town on three sides. For many centuries Yarm was called Yarum, a name deriving from the Anglo Saxon word Gear. Pronounced 'yair', this was a pool for catching fish and would have been formed by a weir with a specially constructed channel to trap the fish. The 'um' on the end of the original name Yarum was an Anglo-Saxon plural, so Yarm means 'fish pools' or 'fish weirs'. Yarm may have been a place of importance in Anglo-Saxon times and there are traces of what are believed to be Anglo-Saxon stones in Yarm's parish church of St Mary Magdalene.
From medieval times Yarm was the most important town and port on the River Tees and was, therefore, home to ropemakers, brewers, tanners, nailers, clockmakers and shipbuilders. In 1207 King John granted Yarm a weekly market and two annual fairs and from then on Yarm's prosperity grew. The wealth of Yarm was so great that it was frequently a target for Scottish raiders who sacked the town five times in the fourteenth century under the leadership of Robert the Bruce. As ships grew in size and became unable to navigate far up river, Yarm's importance declined and the role of the old town was taken over by Stockton and ultimately Middlesbrough, both of which are much further downstream.
Yarm's town centre is dominated by a cobbled High Street which runs along the centre of the loop formed by the Tees. At the centre of the High Street is the little Dutch style Town Hall built in 1710 by Viscount Fauconberg, who was Lord of the Manor of Yarm. The High Street once boasted sixteen inns as Yarm was one of the most important coaching stops on the north-south route. A number of Yarm's old inns still survive including the`Ketton Ox', named after a famous ox bred near Darlington. This inn was at one time noted for cock fighting. The `George and Dragon' was the site of the 1820 meeting at which the decision was made to build the Stockton and Darlington Railway. At the northern end of the High Street, across the Tees into Eaglescliffe is the`Cleveland Bay' which commemorates a well known breed of horse, originating from the hills to the east of Yarm.
Built around 1690, Yarm town hall is one of the oldest buildings in the town but previous to the building of the town hall stood a toll both placed to collect revenues from the travellers heading through Yarm. In later years due to the proximity of Yarm and the River Tees, a bell was added so that locals could be alerted of floods which were frequent. In later years it was decided by the Lord Mayor of the Manor that a town hall should be built. Today the town hall sits majestically in the centre of Yarm and from criminal courts to tourist office, it has earned its place in the history of Yarm and today this wonderful building has plaques at various levels to indicate the levels of the most severe floods that affected the towns folk of Yarm. The highest floods to hit Yarm date back to 1771 when the water was over 7ft above the ground.
The River Tees at Yarm forms a northward pointing horse-shoe meander which encloses this attractive little Georgian market town on three sides. For many centuries Yarm was called Yarum, a name deriving from the Anglo Saxon word Gear. Pronounced 'yair', this was a pool for catching fish and would have been formed by a weir with a specially constructed channel to trap the fish. The 'um' on the end of the original name Yarum was an Anglo-Saxon plural, so Yarm means 'fish pools' or 'fish weirs'. Yarm may have been a place of importance in Anglo-Saxon times and there are traces of what are believed to be Anglo-Saxon stones in Yarm's parish church of St Mary Magdalene.
From medieval times Yarm was the most important town and port on the River Tees and was, therefore, home to ropemakers, brewers, tanners, nailers, clockmakers and shipbuilders. In 1207 King John granted Yarm a weekly market and two annual fairs and from then on Yarm's prosperity grew. The wealth of Yarm was so great that it was frequently a target for Scottish raiders who sacked the town five times in the fourteenth century under the leadership of Robert the Bruce. As ships grew in size and became unable to navigate far up river, Yarm's importance declined and the role of the old town was taken over by Stockton and ultimately Middlesbrough, both of which are much further downstream.
Yarm's town centre is dominated by a cobbled High Street which runs along the centre of the loop formed by the Tees. At the centre of the High Street is the little Dutch style Town Hall built in 1710 by Viscount Fauconberg, who was Lord of the Manor of Yarm. The High Street once boasted sixteen inns as Yarm was one of the most important coaching stops on the north-south route. A number of Yarm's old inns still survive including the`Ketton Ox', named after a famous ox bred near Darlington. This inn was at one time noted for cock fighting. The `George and Dragon' was the site of the 1820 meeting at which the decision was made to build the Stockton and Darlington Railway. At the northern end of the High Street, across the Tees into Eaglescliffe is the`Cleveland Bay' which commemorates a well known breed of horse, originating from the hills to the east of Yarm.
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References : David Simpson
Englandsnortheast.co.uk/Yarm Thanks also too : northeastengland.wix.com/yarm-on-tees |
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