Although often thought of as a settlement with no early history, the name Middlesbrough can trace its roots back a long way. Mydilsburgh is the earliest recorded form of the name and the element 'burgh' denotes an ancient fort or settlement of pre-Saxon origin. The burgh may have included a monastic cell and was probably situated on the elevated land where the Victorian church of St Hildas (demolished in 1969) was later built, while the 'Mydil' or middle could be either a person's name or a reference to Middlesbrough's location, half way between the great Christian centres of Durham and Whitby.

After the Saxons the area became home to Viking settlers and it is argued by some that old Cleveland has the highest density of Scandinavian parish names in Britain. Names of Viking origin are abundant in the area - for example, Thornaby, Ormesby, Stainsby, Lackenby, Maltby, Normanby, Tollesby and Lazenby which were once separate villages that belonged to Vikings called Thormad, Orm, Steinn, Hlakkande, Malti and Toll, but now form suburbs of Middlesbrough. Lazenby was the village belonging to a Leysingr - a freeman; Normanby, a Norseman's village and Danby (in neighbouring North Yorkshire), a Dane's village. The name Mydilsburgh is the earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough's name and dates to Saxon times (400 to 1000 A.D.), whilst many of the aforementioned mentioned villages appear in the Domesday Book of 1086.

In 1801 Middlesbrough consisted of just four farmhouses, but during the latter half of the nineteenth century experienced a growth unparalleled in England. It was famously dubbed by Gladstone 'an infant Hercules' in 'England's enterprise'.

Development began with Joseph Pease the Darlington industrialist, who saw the possibilities of Middlesbrough as a port for North East coal, but the great leap forward began with the discovery of ironstone in the Eston Hills in 1850. In 1841, Henry Bolckow (pronounced Belko), who had come to England in 1827, formed a partnership with John Vaughan of Wales, and started an iron-foundry and rolling mill at Middlesbrough. It was Vaughan who discovered the ironstone deposits. Pig-iron production rose tenfold between 1851 and 1856. Bolckow became mayor in 1853 and Middlesbrough’s first MP. The rapid growth of the town, from a few thousand in the 1840s to over 91,000 in 1901 saw the prophetic words (probably spoken by Pease), of 'Yarm was, Stockton is, Middlesbrough will be' come true. Indeed, the motto chosen by the first body of town councillors was in fact 'Erimus'; Latin for 'We will be'.

The Bell brothers opened their great ironworks on the banks of the Tees in 1853. Steel production began at Port Clarence in 1889 and an amalgamation with Dorman Long followed. After rock salt was discovered under the site in 1874, the salt-extraction industry on Teesside was founded. By now Bell Brothers had become a vast concern employing some 6,000 people. Isaac Lowthian Bell’s own eminence in the field of applied science, where he published many weighty papers, and as an entrepreneur whose knowledge of blast furnaces was unrivalled, led to universal recognition. He was the first president of the Iron and Steel Institute, and the first recipient of the Bessemer Gold Medal in 1874. Bell was Lord Mayor of Newcastle in 1854-55, and again in 1862-63. He served as MP for Hartlepool in 1875-80.

For many years in the nineteenth century Teesside set the world price for iron and steel. The Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932) was designed and built by Dorman Long of Middlesbrough, and has MADE IN MIDDLESBROUGH stamped on the side. The company was also responsible for the earlier New Tyne Bridge across the river at Newcastle.

Via a 1907 Act of Parliament the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company also built the great Transporter Bridge (1911) which spans the Tees itself between Middlesbrough and Billingham, and at 850 feet long and 225 feet high, is the largest of its type in the world, remaining in daily use.

This page was last updated: 21 Januar 2006

Town history extracts are taken from Wikipedia and are licensed under GFDL