We are going to have a little tour of
Kirkleatham Ward in Redcar


But to start at the
Town End
and include some of Newcomen Ward
This shows the original
council housing
in the background
handed over to the
Housing Association
and in the foreground
what was built by a
Private Developer
on land vacated by demolishing
Social Housing




left side Mersey Road
original private semis
right side new private dwellings
replacing council houses

This is the new
aged people's tower block



This is the site of an Anglican Church
demolished to make way for housing
and a new church building


This wasn't built as an ASDA


along with the tower block
these are on the site of
Essex and Kent Closes


This is former council houses opposite

New

old

These are the
remaining 2?
tower blocks



The Social Club

What passes for a hospital in these parts
we doubt you would ever be
brought here by an
emergency ambulance










This is supposed to illustrate
how
Right to Buy
lead to
Buy to Let
we found
2 boarded up properties on the whole estate
this means one of two things
either occupancy is very very high
or people are happy to leave properties empty
without boarding them up
either way is good
we will inject a couple of important comments here
When these council houses were built in the 1960s they were
1 cheap wooden huts - hence the later brick cladding
2 they were not intended for
Redcarites
Ah we have not used that term before
Redcrites - people born and bred in Redcar for
a couple of generations at least
The whole
60s as opposed to 30s
Lakes Estate project was intended and used to
get people out of the polluted slums of
Greater Eston
but more directly
Every house in
Warrenby was clear felled and
they were all replace with
an industrial estate
why not the same with
Grangetown and South Bank/
dunno but
planning permission for
nonresidential development in
South Bank was
not available
couldn't even put up a workshop in a garden
if you are determined to be unemployed
getting on the council and
refusing planning permission to potential workplaces is
basic stuff


since tho0se people who did move, moved to
The Lakes Estate
where have they gone?
These are small homes
they were not built for
families of ten
the original tenants have died
after moving into council bungalows
their children and grandchildren...
move back to Greater Eston?
whatever for?
we know that at times it was recommended that
nobody live within
4 kilometers
of some elements of Teesside Industry
That distance has shrunk as
industry has cleaned up its act
but rule of thumb is
take every industrial installation and
assume there is a fire or explosion< BR> we want nobody to be advised
keep your doors and windows closed
let alone be
evacuated
Whitehall Mandarins
must be aware of the concept of
zoning in land use
we have to conclude that they believe that
all of Redcar's industry is
already shut down
or
will shut down in the next five years
'taint never gonna happen


This is the side of Top Lakes
that wasn't clear felled


This is the side that was

on the right - approximately
where the mum lived
and on the right where the murder occurred


these are what were built
near the murder scene


and here we are back on the
Redcar Sculpture Trail
Kelp and cockles
This is where
Janet Carol
was very happy
she was not happy when she was moved from
Top Lakes
to
Lakes
to one of the homes later demolished
so much so that she moved herself to
Private rented in
Soppet Street
and died there
she had been
Ricker's mam's carer
Probably the most difficult thing
Ricker ever had to do was to
go round to hers and tell her that
his mam had died
her son Michael was a truck driver with
Stillers as last heard
her daughter had two
very handicapped sons

This is supposed to demonstrate that
right to buy properties - near
did not get the
extra brick skin

Now we've moved to
Kirkleatham
there is a project to revive the
walled garden
as Ricker would wish

Now we are into the antiquities...










steel works mementoes

this is a casting block for
pig iron
the casts are lined up like
piglets feeding from their mum





the old lifeboat tractor



The old lifeboat is in a shed
this is its sled
from the days when
Redcar had an
ocean going
technically an
All Weather Lifeboat


This is a memento of more adventurous times
this scrape is where there was a pond
and Ricker used to
do pond dipping sessions for
primary School kids
to help them focus for their
SATS
Tees Valley Wildlife Trust days

now...
the animals are made of
Lego




someone broke their leg
installing this fountain...

Time was this was the
Bellamy Pavilion
and Durham University turned down the chance to
adopt it officially so
now it's just
The Pavilion

This is the school
Sir William Turner
One time Lord Mayor of London
built on his estate





So here we have the sum total of
the homes - not including the Alms Houses
in Kirkleatham





this is
The Dower House
The Dower House was the home
the lady of the manor would move to
when her husband died and his eldest son
inherited his estate and titles
and his wife became
Mistress of the Big House

SO now we have moved into the churchyard
Ricker's gran is buried here
without a marker and
his grandad's ashes are nearby

This is the headstone of the couple who lived
next door to where Ricker lives now

This is where
Ricker's dad and his first wife
are buried
along with his elder niece who
survived for eleven hours

This is the location of the unmarked grave of
Ricker's mam

he can find it because it is
next to that of his best friend in
teenage years

detail of the family grave

so, we have made mention of
Miss Clish....
Miss Rutherford was her
housemate, deputy, successor
for many years easily identified around town
as the driver of a
British Racing Green
MGB

more of this anon






Those were pics of the church
St.Cuthbert's
with the mausoleum to the
Lord of the Manor
This is the vicarage

these are fortifications for the manor house
they could not protect it from demolition
in the age of Death Duties
just after the Second World War







we showed the Turner Mausoleum
Tis is in a way
The Kirkup Mausoleum
it was built by the guy with the gravestone
and hasn't been lived in since he died
He was a
Fruit and Veg merchant


We stuck these in to show that
It used to be
The Bellamy Pavilion
anybody remember
Professor David Bellamy?
Off the telly?
we were amused by a news reference to
Saint Isaac Newton
not yet
and no
Sir David Bellamy
took long enough to get
Sir for Sir David Attenborough
despite his brother being in
The House of Lords
Entertainers
trump
entertaining educators

Now we have crossed the road
Kirkleatham Lane
and hereby hangs a sorry tale
This is Kirkleatham Business Park
and it is home to



elringklinger









However,
The Government
have decide that
Redcar is a
Post Industrial Town
and houses should be built on
The Business Park




We said the
Fracking development site was
switched from
Redcar to Kirby Misperton


your nice new home...
is having
gas removed from under it....

handy fore the false teeth laboratory


a clue
British Steel Industry
not a lot of steel in modern false teeth
or elringklinger gaskets


most of the units appear to have tenants




nevertheless
The Government have broken through this
bund
to create an access to
built home on the industrial estate
homes that will probably be in
Dormastown Ward


it's not a well known fact that
we apparently already have
a Labour Government