Stockton-On-Tees

The district of Stockton-on-Tees has a number of nationally important archaeological sites.

Amongst the earliest of these is the Thorpe Thewles Iron Age settlement which was excavated in the early 1980’s.

Around the same time school children discovered an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Norton which when excavated produced some of the finest metalwork of the period in the region. Many of the best sites in Stockton have been chance finds.

In 1997 an unusual Bronze Age cemetery was found at Ingleby Barwick by housebuilders.

Stockton has a mixture of urban and rural settlement and many of these were first established in the medieval period. There are excellent examples of surviving medieval settlement in villages such as Cowpen Bewley and Elton.

There are also buried medieval remains just waiting to be discovered beneath the High Street of Stockton town centre which once housed a medieval castle, chapel and commercial quarter. Other centres such as Yarm still retain much of their early character with fine merchant housing from the 18th century, a medieval church and the buried remains of a medieval monastery.

Stockton is world famous as the birthplace of the modern passenger railway system. Relics of this former aspect of our industrial past survive in the form of the original 1825 trackbed of the railway at Preston Park and the Booking office near Victoria Bridge Stockton.

Find out more about the archaeology of Stockton-on-Tees from the following project pages.

Bishopsmill School, Norton
In February 2003 Tees Archaeology started the excavation of an early Christian cemetery in Norton. By the time the work had been finished over 100 skeletons had been discovered and excavated.

Anglo Saxon Norton
Re-visit this landmark excavation. Gallery includes new images of the wonderful collection of finds discovered at the Anglo-Saxon cemetery, Norton.

Thorpe Thewles Iron Age Settlement
An almost complete fossilized landscape.

Yarm Medieval Town

Yarm was a medieval market town which has definite Saxon roots. It was first recorded in the Doomsday book and since then it has had a long and colourful history.

Ingleby Barwick Bronze Age Cemetery
During the construction of a new housing estate foul play was suspected when a body was uncovered. However it seems that some people are now living on an wealthy Bronze Age burial ground.

19th Century Stockton & the Railways
The Borough of Stockton is world famous as the pioneer of the world's first passenger carrying railway. The district is studded with industrial relics such as windmills, railway stations, warehouses and foundries.

Stockton highstreet in 1790

Stockton's Related Sites.

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council.