11:35am Monday 22nd June 2009
The pier and fishing fleet have disappeared, but Redcar still charms the visitors who flock there each summer, says Keith Proud.
FAMOUS for the past two centuries for its bracing air and eight miles of clean, sandy beaches, the seaside town of Redcar, just to the south of the mouth of the River Tees, continues to be popular.
Despite the changes that have inevitably taken place over such a long period of time, the resort continues to exhibit a particular charmwhich still draws visitors. Yesterday’s patrons, carried to Redcar primarily by train along the line opened by the Middlesbrough and Redcar Railway in 1846, were mostly confined to the town and its immediate environs. Today, however, most people travel there by car and no longer focus exclusively on the town centre.
One of the earliest descriptions of Redcar was penned in 1810 by the Birmingham antiquarian William Hutton who, a year earlier, had travelled 184 miles to reach this “watering place on the Northern Coast of Yorkshire”. In those days Redcar, like its near neighbour Coatham, was little more than a fishing village.
Hutton writes of the two adjacent hamlets of Redcar and Coatham as if they were one, “in the infancy of existence”.
In 1206AD, however, more than 600 years before Middlesbrough was built, Coatham, despite having no harbour, was a more thriving port than Whitby and had a fishing fleet too. By Hutton’s time, in Coatham there were 12 cobles, small fishing boats, and 28 in Redcar.
Hutton also explains how “the two streets of Coatham and Redcar are covered with mountains of drift sand blown from the shore” and says of the local people that “there was something very respectable in the character of the lower ranks”. In their clean and orderly mud-wall dwellings, he found them to be “so wellmannered with such a quiet disposition and not a ragged person to be seen that there was no need for the presence there of a constable”.
The amusements available to Redcar tourists in Hutton’s day might now be regarded as somewhat Spartan.
“Sea-bathing is much in practice. For this purpose there are four (bathing) machines at Coatham and twelve at Redcar. The price is about one shilling each time. There are also conveniences for warm bathing at three shillings and sixpence.”
Although there were quoits, there were, as yet, no archery, bowls, skittles or tennis. Alternative pastimes were the beach and sea during the day and cards at night.
As the years went by, the village gradually expanded into a town with a high street and an esplanade and not one, but two piers, neither of which survives. Work on Redcar pier began in 1871 and the Coatham one was wrecked before completion when two ships smashed through it. Finished to a much shorter length than planned, it was struck again by a ship in 1898. This time, the pier was left to the mercy of the sea while, on the shore end, a glass concert room was built, but replaced in 1928 by the New Pavilion Theatre which became, in the 1960s, the Regent Cinema. Redcar pier survived longer than its neighbour although it, too, was breached by ships in 1880, 1885 and 1897. Deliberately damaged to prevent its use by enemy invaders during the Second World War, the pier finally met its end in 1981. Despite such unhappy existences, both piers brought a great deal of pleasure to countless thousands of visitors.
One of the town’s greatest assets, which each year brings in large numbers of followers of the sport of kings, is Redcar racecourse. The first horse races were held on the firm, flat sands of Coatham beach, where part of the film Atonement was filmed, and continued there until 1870 when some local businessmen took out a 21-year lease on much of the land on which today’s racecourse now stands. The first race meeting was held there in August 1872, with admission set at tuppence, or at six shillings for entry into the enclosure.
DURING the First World War, the racecourse was used for flight training by the Royal Naval Air Service, while just along the road at Marske-bythe- Sea, WE Johns, the creator of Biggles, was acting as a flight instructor for the Royal Flying Corps.
Redcar’s steelworks, situated at nearby Warrenby, were founded in 1917 as Dorman Long, with steel produced there being used to create the Sydney Harbour bridge and the Tyne Bridge at Newcastle.
There are several good nightclubs and numerous restaurants in the town, which is famous for its fish and chips. Also known far and wide are Pacitto’s lemon-top ice-creams, available in the high street and on the Esplanade.
Not far from the town are the Kirkleatham Museum and owl sanctuary, while several spacious, well-kept parks are havens of peace in the town itself.
Not to be missed is the Zetland, the oldest lifeboat in the world, which looks out from its seafront museum onto passing vessels and visitors alike. No doubt it could tell some hair-raising tales of courage and derring-do.
ONE local lad who has made a huge success of a business in the area is Jeff Wynn, a man who knows his stuff. Born a few miles up the coast in Skelton, Jeff went straight into the flooring trade after school and spent 15 years working for local companies before deciding to go it alone.
Nearly 30 years later, he – together with sons Shayne and Simon – is still selling flooring, though the emphasis has changed somewhat: the in-product now is luxury vinyl tiles, which are designed to imitate natural and man-made materials such as wood, stone, metal and glass “They’re so practical,” says Jeff, “fantastic for growing families, and very hard-wearing. We’ve supplied a lot of the new-build in the town and the whole of downstairs is often done in the tiles.” Jeff stocks such well-known brands such as Karndean, Amtico, C&HFlooring, Project and Cavallo. “We’re possibly the only retailer in the country with all the major luxury vinyl tile suppliers under one roof,” says Jeff.
Jeff has seen a lot of changes in Redcar over the years – fewer tourists, lots of new houses, less industry. For a day out on his doorstep he loves nothing better than a trip out to Hutton-le-Hole, on the North York Moors. “We used to take the kids when they were little and still like to go over. It’s such a pretty place with stepping stones and a river running through it.” ■ Jeff Wynn Design Flooring, 50 Station Road, Redcar TS10 1AG. Tel: 01642-481779
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