Teesside pub given Grade II listed status to celebrate Stockton And Darlington Railway 200th Birthday
A Teesside pub is now a Grade 2 listed building as part of celebrations for the 2 hundredth anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway
A Teesside pub is now a Grade 2 listed building as part of celebrations for the 2 hundredth anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
The Cleveland Bay pub, in Eaglescliffe, Co. Durham is one of seven new sites to be listed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of Historic England to mark 200 years of the modern railway.
These new listings celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of modern passenger railway services with the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway on 27 September 1825; an event which ultimately transformed the world.
Listed at Grade II, The Cleveland Bay is the earliest identified pub in the world to be built specifically in association with a railway line. It was built for the chairman of the
Stockton & Darlington Railway for the opening of the railway’s Yarm branch line in 1825. It is a prototype railway station, predating the Stockton & Darlington Railway’s own public houses, which saw the early development of the concept of the railway station.
Although the Cleveland Bay (originally known as The New Inn) was not built by the Stockton & Darlington Railway, it was constructed for the company’s chairman, Thomas Meynell, specifically because of the railway, to oversee the coal and lime depot at the end of the Yarm branch line (this depot was also owned privately by Meynell). The public house and the branch line opened together on 17 October 1825, with contemporary accounts documenting the close association between the inn and the operation of the railway.
The establishment proved to be a success and appears to have prompted the Stockton & Darlington Railway to commission their own public houses at the coal depots at Stockton, Darlington and Heighington. All four buildings can be seen as early proto-railway stations, built before the concept of the railway station had fully evolved.
The Cleveland Bay remains in use as a public house and is located within the Eaglescliffe Conservation Area.
The Stockton & Darlington Railway pioneered and influenced the early development of mainline railways. When it opened in 1825, concepts that we now take for granted had not been conceived, including that of the railway station. The Stockton & Darlington Railway shared its experience generously with visiting engineers and railway promoters, and was highly influential in the early development of other railways in England and abroad.
Claudia Kenyatta CBE and Emma Squire CBE, incoming Chief Executive of Historic England (job share) said: “The development of England’s railway system was one of the greatest achievements of the Victorian era. These new listings highlight key milestones in its growth and demonstrate how the railway has shaped our local places today.
“Every newly listed station announced today is open to the public to visit, so the protection of these sites means that they will continue to be seen and enjoyed by visitors for generations to come.”
Railway 200 is a year-long celebration of 200 years of the modern railway inspiring a new generation to choose a career in rail through collaboration with community and rail groups.