MIDDLESBROUGH'S FIRST RAILWAY STATION
Any directions as to where to go next will be in red and bold. Look out for these directions
There is a blue plaque on the wall of the red building east of the Barnes and Woodhouse coal merchant building (with "NORTH EAST COSTUME AND THEATRICAL HIRE SERVICES" painted on the wall) in Commercial Street, (Marked as "2" in the diagram below) which claims to be on the site of the first passenger railway station in Middlesbrough.
This site was predated by seven years (1830) by a halt located near the current entrance to A.V. Dawson’s head office, the Staiths, on the branch line to the coal staithes of Port Darlington, marked as "1" in the diagram. This halt had a wooden shed to serve as a station in 1832.
The line was extended to the new Coal Exchange and hotel* along Commercial Street in 1837, with a new station being constructed on the branch line, two years later. This new, more substantial station was opened by the S&DR in 1839 but was superseded by the station built on the site of the present Middlesbrough Station on the line extension to Redcar in 26 July 1847. This in turn was demolished and replaced by a larger station on the same site in December 1877
* The Coal Exchange was used as a hotel, offices then became the Customs House in the 1880’s and is currently used as My Place.
Read the full branch line report here
Next continue down Commercial Street and turn right onto North Street - across the road the next QR Card is attached to the gate of the MyPlace garden
Page by Leonard Reddy