Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

on the

River Tees The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has be ...

's southern bank. It is in the

Borough of Stockton-on-Tees The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees is a unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the counties of County Durham and North Yorkshire, England. The borough had a population of 191,600 in 2011. The main settlemen ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England. The parish had a population of 24,741 at the 2011 census, in the

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

built-up area. The town had a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

enacted to form a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

in 1892, during the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, before merging into the

County Borough of Teesside Teesside was, from 1968 to 1974, a local government district in northern England. It comprised a conurbation that spanned both sides of the River Tees from which it took its name. Teesside had the status of a county borough and was independent ...

in 1968. A

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

no longer defines a specific settlement's status as a town in England since the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

reforms. The modern centre was built on the north eastern part of Thornaby airfield and lies south-west of

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

and south-west of

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

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 The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymously ...

(about 3000 BC). In 1926, a

dugout canoe A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek – ''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (t ...

said to date from about 1600 – 1400 BC was found in the mud under of water opposite Thornaby High Wood. An

arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, as well as to fulfill some special purposes such as sign ...

of the

Neolithic Period The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

(about 3000 BC) 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 Halfdan Ragnarsson ( non, Hálfdan; oe, Halfdene or ''Healfdene''; sga, Albann; died 877) was a Viking leader and a commander of the Great Heathen Army which invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England, starting in 865. One of six sons of R ...

(Halfdan Ragnarsson), 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 The Battle of Hastings nrf, Batâle dé Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William the Conqueror, William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godw ...

(1066), one of

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

's noblemen,

Robert I de Brus Robert I de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale (–1141) was an early-12th-century Anglo-Norman lord and the first of the Bruce dynasty to hold lands in Scotland. A monastic patron, he is remembered as the founder of Gisborough Priory in Yorkshire, Engl ...

, marched north with a garrison of men and occupied the area of

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. William gave him those lands to control including

Thornaby Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Tees's southern bank. It is in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 24,74 ...

and

. King

Sweyn II of Denmark Sweyn Estridsson Ulfsson ( on, Sveinn Ástríðarson, da, Svend Estridsen; – 28 April 1076) was King of Denmark (being Sweyn II) from 1047 until his death in 1076. He was the son of Ulf Thorgilsson and Estrid Svendsdatter, and the grandson ...

, on 9 September 1069, defeated the

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

by killing the entire garrison of 3,000 men.

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

swore an

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to ...

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 Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

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

as it flows north east.

The Five Lamps of St Peter's Church

It is said that Robert de Thormodbi, wounded in the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

, swore to raise a

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

if he survived his wounds. He did, and as part of his wish a shrine niche to the Virgin Mary, lit by five

sanctuary lamp file:Malta - Mosta - Rotunda in 57 ies.jpg, Malta - Mosta - Rotunda in 57 ies. A sanctuary lamp, chancel lamp, altar lamp, everlasting light, or eternal flame is a light that shines before the altar of sanctuaries in many Jewish and Christianity, C ...

s, 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 A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

. Thornaby Carrs (marshes) had been a site of intermittent horse racing before moving to the now former

Stockton Racecourse Stockton Racecourse (September 1855 - 16 June 1981), also known as Teesside Park, was a British horse racing venue near Stockton-on-Tees in the north east of England, once considered "the finest in the north". Although named "Stockton Racecou ...

after the River Tees was straightened in 1810, a short distance down stream. From 1825, industry started to be built south of Stockton's existing port industry as

Stockton and Darlington Railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darl ...

had been established, old Stockton railway station being just on the other side of the bank. The first site was William Smith's pottery with the area quickly growing with shipbuilding and engineering companies established on the marshes. From 1840-June 1987 heavy engineering firm

Head Wrightson Head Wrightson was a big heavy industrial firm based at Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It specialised in the manufacture of large industrial products such as fractional distillation columns, which sometimes needed special transport ...

was a major employer in Thornaby. It was not until the local government act of 1863 that the district of South Stockton officially came into being. 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 work force for new industry, spreading south down and between Thornaby Road, the new Westbury Street, and Mandale Road (once known as Acklam Road). The settlement's built-up area grew enough down Thornaby to merge with the old village; on 6 October 1892 South Stockton and Thornaby formally merged to form the

of Thornaby-on-Tees, gaining town status. South Stockton station was renamed to Thornaby and the town hall built nearby for when status was granted.

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 Sovereign The sovereign is a British gold coin with a nominal value of one pound sterling (£1) and contains 0.2354 troy oz of pure gold. Struck since 1817, it was originally a circulating coin that was accepted in Britain and elsewhere in the world; ...

s 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 Gustav Wilhelm Hamel (25 June 1889 – missing 23 May 1914) was a pioneer British aviator. He was prominent in the early history of aviation in Britain, and in particular that of Hendon airfield, where Claude Graham-White was energeticall ...

, an early flying pioneer. The next known use was by the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

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 The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

constructed an airfield to the south of the town and the station which was the second permanent aerodrome to be built in Yorkshire (the first being Catterick) was opened on 29 September 1929. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Thornaby came under the control of 18 group,

Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

, before this however it had come under Flying Training, Fighter and

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

s, and post-war under Reserve and Fighter Commands, at this time (post-war) it was also used by the

Royal Air Force Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by royal warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such t ...

. During the war a variety of tasks were carried out from

RAF Thornaby Royal Air Force Thornaby or more simply RAF Thornaby was a former Royal Air Force Station located near the town of Thornaby-on-Tees, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England. Fighter Command, Bomber Command and Coastal Command all operated fro ...

, such as, attacks on targets in Europe, anti-submarine patrols, operational training, strikes against enemy shipping, leaflet dropping and air sea rescue operations. 608 (North Riding) squadron Of all the squadrons to have been based at RAF Thornaby during its operational period, "Thornaby's own" 608 (North Riding) 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 (North Riding) Squadron's Standard, which was approved by the Queen and bears their battle honours, can be seen housed in

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbis ...

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 Middlesbrough Town Hall is a municipal facility located in Albert Road in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. History The current building was commissioned to replace an Old Town Hall in the Market Place ...

and are to be returned to the squadron should it ever re-form.

Acquiring inland areas

The last R.A.F aircraft to leave the airfield ( Hawker Hunter F6s) 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. As Thornaby changed hand to the

(1968–1974) then, on its third attempt, into the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees (this was initially as a district of

Cleveland county Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

). Development in the 1960s and 1970s on transforming the airfield, demolishing its buildings, into housing, shops, offices, a sport centre and a light industrial estate, the light industrial estate was the first in the wider area and therefore called Teesside Industrial Estate. Many symbols of Thornaby's aeronautical past were placed for prosperity with streets (such as Allensway), buildings and public houses using names of

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

aircraft, stations and personnel. The Bader School (built on the former airfield) on Kintyre Drive was named after and opened by Sir

Douglas Bader Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, (; 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared ...

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, it is dedicated to all who served at RAF Thornaby. The Spitfire on Thornaby Road

In 2007 a full-size replica

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

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 (one of three) which used to run east to west.

A mature town centre

In the late 2000s, the post war shops, also known Thornaby Pavilion, were designated as the main centre for the town. Shops were built opposite the older shops to form a pedestrian high street. An official relaunch event was held in the now Thornaby town centre on 25 April 2009.

Future

High rises (2 tower blocks and a former hotel) in the town centre have been demolished. With the towns fund, they are plans for the former Npower offices site will also become an indoor baths, replacing Thornaby Pool on Thornaby Road.

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 The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...

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 Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team (or Cleveland MRT) is one of five search and rescue teams based in the North East region of England, North East region of England. The team is based in the village of Great Ayton in North Yorkshire. They were called ...

. Thornaby held its eleventh

Yorkshire Day Yorkshire Day is a yearly celebration on 1 August to promote the historic county of Yorkshire, England. It was celebrated by the Yorkshire Ridings Society in 1975, initially in Beverley, as "a protest movement against the local government re- ...

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.

Governance

Thornaby lies within the historic county boundaries of the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres). From the Restoration it was used as ...

and was made a

in 1892. It was amalgamated with other boroughs in 1968 to form the

county borough of Teesside Teesside was, from 1968 to 1974, a local government district in northern England. It comprised a conurbation that spanned both sides of the River Tees from which it took its name. Teesside had the status of a county borough and was independent ...

. In 1974, the town became part of the enlarged Stockton-on-Tees district of

non-metropolitan county A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.8 million. The term ''shire county'' is, however, an unoffi ...

. ''Thornaby Town Council'' was created in 1995. Cleveland county was abolished in 1996 under the

Banham review The Local Government Commission for England was the body responsible for reviewing the structure of local government in England from 1992 to 2002. It was established under the Local Government Act 1992, replacing the Local Government Boundary C ...

. Boroughs of

Redcar and Cleveland Redcar and Cleveland is a borough with unitary authority status in North Yorkshire, England. Its main settlements are Redcar, South Bank, Eston, Brotton, Guisborough, the Greater Eston part of Middlesbrough, Loftus, Saltburn and Skelton. Th ...

and

along with six parishes of

Hilton Hilton or Hylton may refer to: Companies * Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc., a global hospitality company based in the United States that owns several hotel chains and subsidiary companies containing the Hilton name ** Hilton Hotels & Resorts, fla ...

Ingleby Barwick Ingleby Barwick is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It is south of the River Tees and north-east of the River Leven. Large scale development of the town started in the late 1970s on farm lan ...

Kirklevington Kirklevington (also known as Kirk Leavington) is a village in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 809. The civil parish had a population of 1,361. The village shares it ...

, Maltby, Thornaby-on-Tees and

Yarm-on-Tees Yarm, also referred to as Yarm-on-Tees, is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It was previously a port town before the industry moved down the River Tees to more accessible settlements ne ...

became a part of ceremonial North Yorkshire and, along with the separate City of York borough, became unitary authorities in the county. Stockton-on-Tees borough, since the abolition, straddles North Yorkshire and county Durham. Thornaby Town Hall - geograph

In 2012 the town council purchased

Thornaby Town Hall Thornaby Town Hall is a municipal building in the Mandale Road in Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The building, which is owned by Thornaby Town Council, is a Grade II listed building. History In anticipation of the proposed merger o ...

from the borough council for restorations. The hall, dating back to 1890–92, had been unoccupied since the 1968 county borough of Teesside amalgamation. It is now the main building used by Thornaby Town Council.

Religion

Church of England

The

Church of St Peter ad Vincula The Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula ("St Peter in chains") is the former parish church of the Tower of London. It is situated within the Tower's Inner Ward, and the current building dates from 1520, although the church was established severa ...

on the village green is of 12th-century origin but a place of worship existed at the time of the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' of 1086. The unusual dedication to

St Peter ad Vincula Saint Peter ad Vincula (Saint Peter in Chains) alludes to the Bible story of the Liberation of Saint Peter, when the Apostle Peter, imprisoned by King Herod Agrippa, was rescued by an angel. Frequently seen translations are: *English – St Peter i ...

(''"St Peter in chains"'') is derived from the ancient

Basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

San Pietro in Vincoli San Pietro in Vincoli (; Saint Peter in Chains) is a Roman Catholic titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, best known for being the home of Michelangelo's statue of Moses, part of the tomb of Pope Julius II. The '' Titulus S. Petri ...

in Rome. The building, with a simple

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and a bell turret with two bells, was originally dedicated to

St Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurre ...

. Grace Pace, the mother of

Captain James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

, was baptised at St Peter's in 1702. The larger St Paul's serves most of the town.

Sport

Acklam Road

Thornaby Cricket Club is situated at Mandale Bottoms ( Acklam Road) and has been in existence since 1892. The main teams are in the

North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League The North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League, commonly abbreviated to NYSD, is the top level competition for recreational club cricket in the north of Yorkshire and south of Durham, England. The league was founded as long ago as 1892, th ...

. Teesside Golf Club opened in 1901. It is in of the Teesside and District Union of Golf Clubs and therefore the Yorkshire Union of Golf Clubs

Thornaby FC Thornaby Football Club are a football club based in Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, England. They play in the , the tenth tier of the English football league system. History The club was established in 1980 when Stockton Cricket Club's football tea ...

play in the Northern League Division one. It was established as 'Thornaby' in 2000. The club play at Teesdale Park ground, Acklam Road.

Thornaby Road

Thornaby and Ingleby Barwick Football Club (TIBS FC) play in the

North Riding Football League The North Riding Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2017 by the merger of the former Teesside Football League and Eskvale & Cleveland League. The league has four divisions – the Premier Division (which stand ...

division one, it was established in 1997. The club play at a grounds off Thornaby Road and train at

Conyers School Conyers School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, in Yarm, Stockton-on-Tees, England. History The Free Grammar School was founded in 1590 by Thomas Conyers of Egglescliffe, who was issued letters patent by ...

Transport

Rail

The town is served by

Thornaby railway station Thornaby is a railway station on the Tees Valley Line, which runs between and via . The station, situated south-west of Middlesbrough, serves the market town of Thornaby-on-Tees, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is ...

, operated and owned by Northern, who operate rail services to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...

and

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

TransPennine Express TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major c ...

provides direct rail services to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

LNER LNER may refer to: * London and North Eastern Railway, a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1923 until 1947 * London North Eastern Railway, a train operating company in the United Kingdom since 2018 * Liquid neutral earthing resistor, a typ ...

also provides a direct rail service to

and

London Kings Cross King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the List of busiest railway stations in ...

Road

Thornaby is served by *the A19 to the town's east heading north–south * A66 to the town's north heading west/ east and * A174 heading south east to

. Public Services

Arriva North East Arriva North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus, which operates bus and coach services across the United K ...

and

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

provide bus services to Thornaby and

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

and

Megabus Megabus may refer to: *Megabus (Europe), a low-cost coach service with services in Europe owned by ComfortDelGro. *Megabus (North America) Megabus, branded as megabus.com, is an intercity bus service of Coach USA/Coach Canada operating in the eas ...

operate coach travel from

Middlesbrough bus station Middlesbrough Bus Station serves the town of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, England. It is located around from the town's railway station. History It was opened in 1982, at a cost of £5.3 million, by the actress Pat Phoenix. It stands pa ...

Education

Secondary

Thornaby is served by three secondary schools;

St Patrick's Catholic College St Patrick's Catholic College is a coeducational secondary school located in Thornaby-on-Tees in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, England. Previously a voluntary aided school administered by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council and the Roman Cathol ...

Thornaby Academy Thornaby Academy (formerly Thornaby Community School) is a coeducational secondary school located in Thornaby-on-Tees in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. Background The school was previously known as Bassleton School ...

and Westlands Academy.

College

Thornaby is home is

Stockton Riverside College Stockton Riverside College is a further education college located in Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The college offers vocational courses, apprenticeship training, higher education and professional courses. It is part of the Educati ...

, a major provider of further education in the Tees Valley with around 10,000 full & part-time students. It is labelled Stockton due to it being in or near the former Stockton South settlement, which lied on the southern banks of the river Tees (Yorkshire) and merged into Thornaby on Tees.

University

Adjacent to the college is

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

's Queen's Campus. Durham University was the second university to be approached due to Teesside University (who were first approached) not having the funds available, at the time, necessary to run the university.

Notable people

* Grace Pace (the mother of Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

). * Award-winning author

Pat Barker Patricia Mary W. Barker, (née Drake; born 8 May 1943) is an English writer and novelist. She has won many awards for her fiction, which centres on themes of memory, trauma, survival and recovery. Her work is described as direct, blunt and pl ...

lived in Millbank Lane and is best known for her

Regeneration Trilogy The Regeneration Trilogy is a series of three novels by Pat Barker on the subject of the First World War. In 2012, ''The Observer'' named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels". * '' Regeneration'' (1991) * ''The Eye in the Door'' (1993) ...

of books about the First World War, the third of which, "

The Ghost Road ''The Ghost Road'' is a war novel by Pat Barker, first published in 1995 and winner of the Booker Prize. It is the third volume of a trilogy that follows the fortunes of shell-shocked British army officers towards the end of the First World War ...

" won the 1995 Man Booker Prize. *TV-Personality

Holly Hagan Holly Victoria Hagan-Blyth is an English television personality, model and singer from Thornaby-on-Tees. She starred on and is best known from the MTV series ''Geordie Shore''. Early life Hagan was born in the town of Thornaby-on-Tees, in North ...

, one of the original stars from

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

show

Geordie Shore ''Geordie Shore'' is a British reality television series that was broadcast on MTV between 24 May 2011 and 22 November 2022. Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England it was the British offshoot of the American show ''Jersey Shore''. The programm ...

was born in Thornaby. * Actor,

Richard Griffiths Richard Thomas Griffiths (31 July 1947 – 28 March 2013) was an English actor of film, television, and stage. For his performance in the stage play ''The History Boys'', Griffiths won a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, the Drama Desk Aw ...

was born in Thornaby and is best known for his role as Vernon Dursley in the

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

movies and as Uncle Monty in the cult film ''

Withnail and I ''Withnail and I'' is a 1987 British black comedy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson. Loosely based on Robinson's life in London in the late 1960s, the plot follows two unemployed actors, Withnail and "I" (portrayed by Richard E. Gran ...

''. He won many awards for his acting in the film ''The History Boys''. * Paul Curran – the championship cyclist was born in Thornaby. * Max Jones, pupil at Robert Atkinson school, was a seven-time Olympic athletics coach and was the GB Team leader at the Sydney and Athens Olympic Games. Max was the Performance Director for UK Athletics 1997 to 2005. * Norma Farnes was born and grew up in Thornaby. She went to London and ended up as Spike Milligan's and Eric Sykes's manager. Norma has edited and written several successful books.

References

External links

Thornaby Town Council

Thornaby Community Information

Thornaby Amateur Swimming Club

St. Patrick's Catholic College

Thornaby Academy

Thornaby Football Club

Thornaby Cricket Club

Thornaby's Mandale and Victoria Resident's Group

Thornaby's Village Park Resident's Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornaby-On-Tees Towns in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire Places in the Tees Valley Borough of Stockton-on-Tees