ABSTRACT
In 1846 J.W.Ord, one of the first historians of the Cleveland district, described Middlesbrough as ‘one of the commercial prodigies of the nineteenth century’ and added that to a stranger to the area: ‘this proud array of ships, docks, warehouses, churches, foundries, wharves etc., would seem like some enchanted spectacle, some Arabian Nights’ vision, “such stuff as dreams are made of”’ (Ord, 1846, quoted in Briggs 1963: 250). Newcomers to today’s Teesside would be hard pressed to recognize Ord’s dream of Middlesbrough in the derelict industrial sites, redundant shipyards, polluted waterways and vast steel and chemical complexes which now dominate the local landscape. For Middlesbrough, and Cleveland, have shared in, and perhaps suffered most acutely, the problems of the North as a whole. The area has experienced the drastic social, economic and physical consequences of economic recession and industrial restructuring, going from boom to bust in quick time.
