Saltburn by the Sea
John Farndale focused much of his
writing on the new seaside town of Saltburn by the Sea, built beside the Old Saltburn
of smuggling repute. It was a place of Victorian optimism and inspiration,
driven by the arrival of the railways and the richness of Cleveland’s ironstone
deposits.
Victorian
Dreams
Old Saltburn around Cat Nab, was an eighteenth century fishing village. It became a centre for
smugglers. In 1856, there was a hamlet around the Ship Inn, comprising a row of
houses where farmers and fishermen lived. The authors Laurence Sterne and John
Hall Stevenson raced chariots on the sands at Saltburn, but otherwise it was
but a small fishing hamlet.
In 1858,
Henry Pease visited his brother Joseph Pease who lived at Marske by the Sea. He
walked one day along the coastal path towards Old Saltburn and saw a
prophetic vision of a town arising on the cliff and the quiet, unfrequented and
sheltered glen turned into a lovely garden. The Pease family formed the
Saltburn Improvement Company (“SIC”), which purchased land from the Earl
of Zetland. They employed George Dickinson as their surveyor who designed a
grid-iron street layout, with as many houses as possible having sea views. The
best locations were secured for the company and plots were then sold to private
developers. The Stockton and Darlington Railway (“SDR”) was being
extended and reached Saltburn from Redcar in 1861.
John Farndale
was interested in the idea of Saltburn by the Sea, as it was being designed and
executed by the Pease family. He started to write his Guidebook, A Guide to Saltburn by the
Sea and the Surrounding District. The work describes the evolution of
Saltburn by the Sea in some detail, but he was also interested in the rural
landscape inland from Saltburn, and particularly his beloved Kilton.
The Work
must have been popular, because by 1864, it was in its fifth edition.
John was
enthusiastic about the Saltburn project. In his melodramatic Victorian manner,
he wrote The other day as I rambled in this
enchanted district, viewing the lovely scenery, embracing both sea, land,
woodland, pleasure grounds and the beautiful spot on which the new town stands,
I was moved to sing
|
And now
I mount above the sands, And in
amazement see The
mighty works that’s carried on At
Saltburn by the Sea |
I gazed
delighted on the scene And
found it soon moved me, To
write a book, a little book On
Saltburn by the Sea. |
I thought
of the Queen of Sheba, on her visit to Solomon, when she said
“It was a sure report I heard in my own land; but behold, the one half was not
told me.”
Her
Majesty Queen Victoria has most graciously accepted my little tribute to
Saltburn, and the work is now on the shelves of the Palace of Windsor Castle.
New Town
by the Sea
John
Farndale wrote in 1864 that Saltburn by the Sea lies about six miles SSE of
the well known watering
place, Redcar, in Cleveland, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and stands on
the shore of the German Ocean, fronting fine hard sands stretching for miles,
and where frequently may be seen three hundred vessels in full sail passing to
and fro. The west of this hamlet is bounded by a land
“wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything
in it – a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills though mayst dig
brass.
The North
Sea has had various names through history. Until the First World War, when it
became known as the North Sea, it was often referred to as the German Sea or
German Ocean, or Mare Germanicum.
In 1859
Henry Pease followed the coastal path towards Old Saltburn and saw his prophetic
vision. Returning he told his brother that he intended to build a new town
on top of the cliff. The Pease family formed the Saltburn Improvement Company
(“SIC”), which purchased land from the Earl of Zetland.
After
discovery of iron stone, the SDR and the West Hartlepool Harbour and Railway
Company had developed routes into East Cleveland. In 1861, the Stockton and
Darlington Railway reached Saltburn as an extension of the Middlesbrough to Redcar Railway of 1846.
It was planned to continue the line to Brotton,
Skinningrove and Loftus but the West
Hartlepool Harbour & Railway Company had already developed tracks in the
area.
Land was
purchased from the Earl of Zetland, and the company commissioned a surveyor
George Dickinson to lay out what became an interpretation of a gridiron street
layout with as many houses as possible having sea views. The layout was added
to by the Jewel streets along the seafront, Coral, Garnet, Ruby,
Emerald, Pearl, Diamond and Amber Streets, said to be a legacy of Henry's
vision.
In 1864, John Farndale
wrote At present Saltburn-by-the-Sea, as a watering place, is only in
embryo; but the natural advantages it possesses for sea bathing, and the
beautiful scenery in its immediate environs, will, no doubt, by the united
energy and enterprising spirit of the gentlemen who form the “Saltburn
Improvement Company”, continue to render it superior to most of the watering
places in the north, particularly as it is now favoured with a railway
communication to all parts of Great Britain. In furtherance of this important
undertaking, the Company alluded to are now offering for sale a number of freehold building sites, in suitable lots for
villas, dwelling houses, and cottages, presenting a desirable investment to
builders and capitalists. Already the hand of improvement has effected a revolution at this place. To make it in every way
attractive, a large amount of money has been expended; spacious terraces, with
winding walks, and pleasure grounds most beautiful, are now formed, besides a
magnificent hotel, built at a cost of £31,000, a similar structure to those on
the esplanade at Scarbro’; a beautiful
block of buildings is proposed to be erected – the plans of which are exhibited
– for the magnificent suite of Assembly Rooms, which will cost another £20,000
or £30,000. It is not, therefore, extravagant to suppose,
that in a short period Saltburn-by-the-Sea will be made to eclipse in comfort
and beauty many of those fashionable places of resort to which many thousands
now flock in the bathing season. Within the last thirty years West Hartlepool, with its extensive docks
and shipping, and its 15,000 inhabitants, has risen into mercantile importance
– Middlesbro’, too, with its numerous
iron works, its blazing furnaces, and its 20,000 inhabitants, has become in
equally as short a period a hive of industry, trade, and commerce – then why, I
ask, may not Saltburn-on-the-Sea, with its wide spreading sands, its romantic
scenery, and its healthful position, this soon become the favourite resort of
the invalid and the elite in the fashionable world?
In
imagination even now I see its splendid hotels forming a crescent above Old
Saltburn – I see an extensive terrace in front, and gravel walks winding along
the brow of the hill – I see handsome streets springing into existence, new
roads forming for drives through the surrounding beautiful vales – and I see
groups of gay visitors, in all directions, promenading the sands, and the
walks, and the terrace, as though the place had become as it were a second
Scarbro’. But away with these imaginings – the sun I perceive is now sinking
beyond the spreading woods of Upleatham, the “glimmering landscape” is fading
on the view, so we shall now rest until another day.
John Farndale’s 1862 map of the plans for the new Saltburn by
the Sea
John
continued At the conclusion of the previous
part I have given an imaginative sketch of what I conceive New Saltburn may
become in a few years. Some of my readers may think me too sanguine in my views
on this point; but when the magnificent position of this place is considered,
together with the fact that it is now in the hands of the enterprising
gentlemen who have formed to Saltburn Improvement Society, and who have both the
capital and the energy to carry out their objects, I can come to no other
conclusion, than, as a first rate sea bathing place, it will soon rise into
importance and become a favourite resort of the public.
At
present the hand of industry is busily engaged at New Saltburn. Hundreds of
labourers of various descriptions, are daily employed erecting buildings,
cutting new walks, forming rural seats and grottos, and carrying out the plans
of the projectors. The “Zetland Hotel”, to which I previously alluded, being
now completed, stands on a lofty aclivity, about one
hundred yards from the sea shore, with a broad carriage road in front, and
commands on the left a most magnificent view of the broad ocean, the bold rocky
headlands of Huntcliff, Roecliff,
and Boulby in front, and on the right the picturesque woodland scenery in the
ravine or dell on whose lofty banks it is situated, and which extend to the
retired village of Skelton, a distance of about two miles. The northern
extremity of these banks is now the property of the Saltburn Improvement
Society, and here a variety of winding walks have already been formed, where
the eye of the visitor may delight to dwell on a wide expanse of ocean, the
boldest coast scenery, the innumerable hills and vales, presenting altogether a
delightful prospect. The walks here are so arranged to lead to an extensive
piece of ground, which the Company have laid out in pleasure gardens; laid out
in a style that tend to enhance the enjoyment of the rambler in this
terrestrial paradise. The noble wood to the south of these gardens is at
present the property of the Earl of Zetland. This wood extends for some miles
along the banks of the vale, and it contains numberless trees, the growth of centuries.
Running through the middle of it is a pleasant walk, which the Earl of Zetland,
with a liberality that does him infinite credit, has granted the visitors at
New Saltburn full permission to enjoy. Newly erected, on the opposite side, is
Bell’s beautiful hall, Rush Pool.
After
securing the best positions for development by the SIC, money was raised for
construction by selling plots to private developers and investors. Most
buildings are constructed using Pease brick, transported from Darlington
by the SDR, with the name Pease set into the brick. The jewel in Henry Pease's
crown was the Zetland Hotel with a private platform, one of the world's
earliest railway hotels.
The Zetland Hotel at
Saltburn by the Sea was designed by William Peachey and developed by Henry
Pease. The foundations were laid by the Earl of Zetland on 2 October 1861. When
it opened the rates for a room ranged from 2s 6d to 4s 6d.
The
Zetland Hotel
The residential building in 2023
The SIC
stipulated on the land in the deed of covenant, that any trees planted along
Britannia Terrace, now Marine Parade, were not to exceed 1' 6" above the
footpath to preserve sea views for Britannia Terrace residents and visitors.
From the top
of the high cliffs an inclined tramway constructed in 1884 led to the sands
close to the pier towards the north-east of the town.
The Pleasure
Grounds extended along the west of the Glen, a bridge over which
connected the modern town with the hamlet of Old Saltburn.
The
Pleasure Grounds
John wrote
that the terminus of the Stockton and Darlington railway at New Saltburn is
at the back of the hotel. Here a splendid station is erected. It is more than
300 feet in length, with extensive waiting rooms, and is a most elegant
structure. On each side of the railway a number of
streets are projected, with a parade ground, and a spacious terrace, commanding
a fine prospect of the German ocean and the adjacent country. Some of these
streets to the east of the railway are now erected. About thirty houses, three
stories high. Some flagged in front, with spacious shops, having plate glass
windows, have already been built, and others are advancing towards completion,
so that Saltburn by the Sea already begins to assume the appearance of a town.
The houses have an elegant appearance, as they are built of fire bricks from
Pearse’s West, and appear to be quite in keeping with
the elegance of the new Railway Station and the Hotel.
The
railway station as it terminates at Saltburn
The
Primitive Methodists and the Wesleyans both had chapels here in 1872, and the
Congregationalists built one in 1889, when both the Society of Friends and the
Plymouth Brethren had meeting-rooms.
The
convalescent home, completed in 1872, was situated on the extreme west, not far
from the sea.
The brine
and swimming baths close to the station were opened in 1891, and in 1900 the
town laid out a cemetery of 2 acres.
or
Go Straight
to Chapter 17 – John Farndale and the Industrial Revolution
You can read
more about Saltburn by the Sea.
The History of Saltburn, Chris Scott Wilson, 2021