Town in County Durham, England
Stockton-on-Tees
The town where a chemist's accidental scrape of a stick in 1826 gave the world the friction match, a year after its railway arrived.
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Key information
- County
- County Durham
- Nation
- England
- Known for
- Birthplace of the friction match; eastern end of the first public steam railway
- What locals are called
- Stocktonians
- Famous people
- John Walker, Thomas Sheraton
About Stockton-on-Tees
The chemist who struck a light by accident
In 1826, a Stockton chemist called John Walker was stirring a mixture of chemicals with a stick. When he scraped a lump off the end of it on his hearthstone, it burst into flame. He had just made the first practical friction match. Walker went on to sell them from his shop on the High Street. His first recorded sale, on 7 April 1827, was a tin of 100 matches to Stockton solicitor John Hixon. They came with a folded piece of sandpaper to strike them on. He never patented the idea, and other makers were soon selling their own versions across the country. A plaque on the High Street marks the spot where his shop stood, and Stockton still claims the match as its own.
A railway before there was a railway age
A year before Walker's lucky scrape, Stockton was at the heart of another world first. On 27 September 1825 the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened, with Stockton as its eastern end. It is widely celebrated as the first public railway to use steam locomotives. The line was built to carry coal from the Durham coalfield to ships on the Tees. Stockton's quay was where the coal ended up, and the town grew quickly as a result. That is why the town can fairly say it gave the world both the railway age and the match.
The High Street that could land an aeroplane
Stockton's High Street is famously broad, and it is among the widest in the country. The reason is trade. A market charter from around 1310, granted by the Bishop of Durham, turned the street into a place for stalls and cattle, and the generous width stayed. Market days still fill the space with traders. The bishops also had a castle in Stockton, which was pulled down in the 1650s after the Civil War. The town's long link to the Prince Bishops of Durham is a big part of why it feels so rooted in the county. Stockton also gave the world furniture designer Thomas Sheraton, born here in 1751. His name is still shorthand for elegant late Georgian chairs and cabinets.
Ships, steel and a river that learned manners
Stockton grew rich on the Tees. Shipyards and ironworks lined the riverbanks, and engineers and shipbuilders sent vessels out to the world. The Ropner family became a big name in shipbuilding here. The river had a habit of rising and falling with the tide right up to the town. In 1995 the Tees Barrage changed that. It holds back the tide and keeps the water calm and navigable. Beside it sits an international white-water course, where kayakers and rafters tackle rapids in the middle of Teesside.
Two bridges, one riverside
Stockton's riverside now has some of the area's best-known sights. The Infinity Bridge opened in 2009. It is a footbridge whose twin arches mirror themselves in the water to form an infinity symbol. The riverside is also home to the Stockton International Riverside Festival, a street-theatre and circus event that has run since 1988. Streets and quaysides fill with acrobats, giant puppets and performers from around the world. Preston Park Museum, just south of the centre, rebuilds a Victorian street, complete with shops, so you can see what life in the railway-age town was like.