This film is part of Free

Stockton-on-tees

Residents of the Cleveland market town smile for the camera in this lively film of Stockton High Street on market day.

Non-Fiction 1910 4 mins Silent

Overview

This fine film of Cleveland market town Stockton-on-Tees was shot partly from a cart travelling up the High Street in market-day traffic. Views include the busy pavements outside a haberdasher's shop, grinning child workers emerging from the Head Wrightson works, and a pan of the shipbuilding yards on the mighty Tees. The film was commissioned by local cinema, the Empire Picture Playhouse.

Similar in style to the Mitchell and Kenyon films, local people would have been encouraged to come and see themselves, their friends and their familiar surroundings on the big screen. Stockton High Street is said to be the widest in the UK - seen here in cobbled glory - and houses the largest outdoor market in the North East. Head Wrightsons was a huge iron founders employing over 1,000 people.