Cleveland is a land of hills and dales from the

River Tees The River Tees (), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries ...

to Vale of Pickering,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The name means "cliff-land". Yorkshire-Subregions

The area corresponds to the former Langbaurgh Wapentake. The

North York Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of Calluna, heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a national parks of England and Wales, National P ...

national park, established in 1952, covers part of it. A non-metropolitan county under the same name existed from 1974 to 1996 and there is ambiguity today between that county and the historic extent of the name. It is the ancestral home of

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

, who was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States.

Heritage

Cleveland has a centuries-long association with the area from

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

to Pickering and Thirsk to

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...

, effectively the eastern half of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

's North Riding. Ralph, Archdeacon of Cleveland, was the area's first archdeacon recorded, before 1174. A Dukedom of Cleveland was first created in the 17th century.

Metal

The Cleveland Hills were key suppliers of the

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be c ...

which was essential to running

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

s alongside the River Tees. Cleveland's rich ore has created a significant industrial heritage arising from its central role in the 19th century iron boom that led to Middlesbrough growing from a hamlet into a major industrial town in only a matter of decades.

Teesport Teesport is a large sea port located in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland, in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, Northern England. Owned by PD Ports, it is located approximately inland from the North Sea and east of Middle ...

is one of the United Kingdom's main ports, initially due to the iron boom, with other heavy industrial plants between Middlesbrough and Redcar.

Name's usage

Legislation creating the Cleveland Parliamentary constituency ( 1885–1974) was the first use of Cleveland referring narrowly to land around the River Tees. The constituency was created by the division of the North Riding constituency, and was succeeded in name by the Cleveland and Whitby for the February 1974 general election. The county of Cleveland followed on similar boundaries, also including areas north of the River Tees. The official name, from 1974, of the "CLEVELAND" ( TS postcode was formed from "TeeS" or "Tees-Side") postal county refers to a larger area including the non-metropolitan county and to the

moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide Edition 4'', (2004) Cleveland is a common place name in the US and Canada, but relatively few of these places are named directly after this region in England. Many of the towns, as well as two counties and a national forest, are named after US President

. Other towns are named after the City of

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio, which in turn was named in honor of Moses Cleaveland, a founder of the city.

Geographical features

The area is geographically varied: *

* Howardian Hills * Roseberry Topping: a distinctive hill. Its original roughly conical form was undercut by extensive mining, giving it a jagged appearance that many have thought reminiscent of the

Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...

mountain. * Cleveland Basin *

** River Leven * Eston Nab

Districts

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

* Redcar and Cleveland *

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

(south Tees)

Titles

* Lord Lieutenant of Cleveland * High Sheriff of Cleveland * Duke of Cleveland * Earl of Cleveland

References

External links

Images of Cleveland
at the English Heritage Archive {{Yorkshire Ancient subdivisions of Yorkshire