Free Web Hosting Provider - Web Hosting - E-commerce - High Speed Internet - Free Web Page
Search the Web


SELECT A PAGE
HOME

TEESDALE

PUBS

HISTORY

LANDMARKS

THORNABY SPORT

GUESTBOOK

THORNABY CHURCHES

THORNABY SCHOOLS

REMEMBER WHEN

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE

BACK TO MAIN THORNABY SITE

THORNABY INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE.

THORNABY HOLDS SOME VERY FAMOUS NAMES IN IT`S ILLUSTRIOUS INDUSTRIAL PAST.

Probably the most famous is that of Head Wrightson(Teesdale)Ltd. Based in a vast engineering facility the company was formed in 1860 when engineer Thomas Wrightson, who trained at William Armstrong’s Tyneside engineering works, teams up with the Teesside engineering company Head Ashby & Co.( Head’s firm started in 1840 as a Thornaby foundry). The firm have been involved with many projects around the world. They have built piers,railway engines,wagons,bridges,steel plants and ships to name a few of the projects. They were even involved in the WW11 war effort by building landing craft for the D-day landings despite suffering bomb damage from German air raids.

Some examples of Head Wrightson work

Herne Bay Pier.

Newburn Bridge over the River Tyne

Astley Green
The No. 1 Headgear, which is a prominent landmark, is a steel lattice structure over 100 ft (30m) high. It was built in 1912 by Head Wrightson & Co. of Thornaby-on-Tees to replace the original wooden shaft sinking headgear

Commissioned by the Isle of Man Harbour Board and constructed by the well-known firm of Head Wrightson & Company, this 2241ft (679m) pier was opened on 22nd July 1886 by the Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man. Built at a cost of £45,000 the pier was designed purely as a landing point for steamers plying the Liverpool, Fleetwood, Belfast and River Clyde routes. Because of this Ramsey Queens Pier has never seen the development of leisure facilities, similar to those found at many other pier's around our coastline.

This strange locomotive was built in 1873 by Head, Wrightson & Co of Stockton-on-Tees. These vertical boilered locomotives were usually employed on industrial lines in factories or quarries and are by no means typical of the locomotives usually used in Durham Colliery yards. Number 17 spent almost a century working at Seaham Harbour docks lines linked to the Londonderry Railway. Londonderry was the title of the family who owned the local collieries, and the Londonderry Railway was established to carry coal from their collieries to the coast. The name `Coffee Pot' comes from the shape of the boiler. Darlington Railway Centre and Museum.

Recently renovated steam engine No.16 in place on the roundabout just over Victoria bridge on the way into Stockton.Built at Head Wrightsons.