South Bank is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

in the

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 ...

borough in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

, England on the south bank of 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 bee ...

. It is east 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 ...

and south-west of

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 populatio ...

. The town is served by railway station. The namesake ward had a population of 6,548 at the 2011 census. It forms part of 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's Middlesbrough subdivision in 2011. The area is part of Greater Eston; which also includes

Eston Eston is a Village in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. The ward covering the area (as well as Lackenby, Lazenby and Wilton) had a population of 7,005 at the 2011 census. It is part of Greater Eston, which includ ...

, Grangetown, Normanby,

Teesville Teesville is an area in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. A ward covering the area had a population of 6,517 at the 2011 census. It is part of Greater Eston, which includes the area and the settlements of Eston, N ...

and part of

Ormesby Ormesby is an area which is split between Borough of Middlesbrough and Borough of Redcar and Cleveland in North Yorkshire, England. It is in the Middlesbrough part of the Teesside built up area. Spencer Beck to the east and the B1380 road to ...

. Ormesby's

ancient 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. ...

was split into civil parishes. The area was in Normanby

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 authorit ...

. In 1894, the area gained a higher population with South Bank in Normanby Urban District Council created. A

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

was built for the district in 1878 and was demolished before the

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (his ...

merged with Eston Urban District in 1915. The Eston Urban District was abolished in 1968 with the district becoming part of 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

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...

, with the area remaining unparished.

History

Formerly known as "Tees Tilery", South Bank has a long history of steelmaking in the companies Bolckow Vaughan and

Dorman Long Dorman Long & Co was a UK steel producer, later diversifying into bridge building. It was once listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded by Arthur Dorman and Albert de Lande Long when they acquired ''West Marsh I ...

, and shipbuilding at

Smiths Dock Company Smith's Dock Company, Limited, often referred to simply as Smith's Dock, was a British shipbuilding company. History The company was originally established by Thomas Smith who bought William Rowe's shipyard at St. Peter's in Newcastle upon Tyn ...

. The area was also known by the nickname of "Slaggy Island" as it was surrounded by

slag heaps Slag is a by-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and used metals. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (by-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-produ ...

. It was part of the parish of Eston and formed part of the

constituency from 1867 until 1918.

Shipbuilding

In 1907,

, a firm of shipbuilders from

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

, set up part of its business on the

at South Bank. Smiths Dock closed its

Yard in 1909 focussing its operations on the

. Smiths Dock built many ships that served 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 opposi ...

, including

trawlers Trawler may refer to: Boats * Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing * Naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second ...

that the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

requisitioned and converted to

armed trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built t ...

s of the

Royal Naval Patrol Service The Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS) was a branch of the Royal Navy active during both the First and Second World Wars. The RNPS operated many small auxiliary vessels such as naval trawlers for anti-submarine and minesweeping operations to prot ...

such as or , in which Lieutenant Richard Stannard ( RNR) won the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...

. Smiths Dock prepared the design of the , an

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

convoy escort of the Second World War. In 1966 Smith's Dock merged with

Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three pow ...

to form Associated Shipbuilders, later to become Swan Hunter Group.Fears for Tyneside tradition as Swan Hunter ship is towed to Govan for completion
Guardian, 15 July 2006 In 1968, the company completed the first British-built and owned

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermoda ...

, ''Manchester Challenge'' of 12,039 gross register tons, for operation on

Manchester Liners Manchester Liners was a cargo and passenger shipping company founded in 1898, based in Manchester, England. The line pioneered the regular passage of ocean-going ships along the Manchester Ship Canal. Its main sphere of operation was the transat ...

new container service to ports on the St Lawrence Seaway, Canada. By 1971, the company had delivered three further ships of this design to

South Bank's shipbuilding era came to an end on 15 October 1986, when the last ship was launched from Smith's Dock, the shipyard itself closing in February 1987. The dock was re-used as Tees Offshore Base in 1988 and became home to offshore service industry companies including Tees Dockyard. Tees Dockyard was bought by Cammell Laird in 1998. On 15 April 2001, Cammell Laird closed the ship repair yard.

Politics

South Bank is part of the

Parliamentary constituency, which is represented by

Jacob Young Jacob Wayne Young (born September 10, 1979) is an American actor and producer. He is a five-time Daytime Emmy Award nominee, winning once in 2002 for his role as Lucky Spencer in the soap opera ''General Hospital'' (2000–2003). He is best know ...

of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

Borough Council

In the 2019 local elections, the following members were returned to

Borough Council:

Places of worship

The original Catholic parish of St. Peter was formed in 1874, followed by St. Mary's, in nearby Grangetown, in 1886. Together they served the Irish and Lithuanian immigrants who worked in the smelting works by the River Tees. These days, South Bank's Catholic Church is part of a larger parish, which includes the churches of St. Anne's,

and St. Andrew's,

. The joint parish is served from, and carries the name of, St. Andrew's Parish. The Anglican Communion is represented by the church of St. John the Evangelist. The foundation stone for the church was laid in 1893, and was completed two years later in 1895. It is part of the Deanery of Middlesbrough within the

Diocese of York The Diocese of York is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. It covers the city of York, the eastern part of North Yorkshire, and most of the East Riding of Yorkshire. The diocese is headed by the ...

. The South Bank Baptist Church also dates from the late 19th century and the 'non-aligned' South Bank Mission, although not in its original building, was founded in 1908. Other established places of worship include the Redcar and Cleveland Islamic and Quranic Cultural Association, which mostly serves the Bangladeshi community.

Notable people

* Steve Buxton, footballer * Ken Churchill, paralympic Athlete *

Greg Clark Gregory David Clark (born 28 August 1967) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities from 7 July 2022 to 6 September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as Member of P ...

, Conservative MP, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since 2016. * Jack Curtis, footballer *

Paul Daniels Newton Edward Daniels (6 April 1938 – 17 March 2016), known professionally as Paul Daniels, was an English magician and television presenter. He achieved international fame through his television series ''The Paul Daniels Magic Show'', which ...

, magician * Florence Easton,

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880& ...

Vin Garbutt Vincent Paul Garbutt (20 November 1947 – 6 June 2017) was an English folk singer and songwriter. A significant part of his repertoire consisted of protest songs covering topics such as "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland (''Welcome Home How ...

, folk singer * Wilf Mannion, footballer * David Mulholland, artist *

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who most notably worked for the National Wrestling Alliance, Jim Crocket ...

, footballer * Paul Truscott (boxer)

References

Sources

* *

External links

The Homepage of the South Bank Nostalgia Society
(archived version)
Tribute to the late South Bank painter David Mulholland

* ttp://www.bluestarline.org/list_of_ship_builders.html#sd South Bank built ships sailing with the Blue Star line {{authority control Areas within Middlesbrough Redcar and Cleveland Places in the Tees Valley Villages in North Yorkshire