Distant Day Out - Middlesbrough

I had a very good Friday recently, when I travelled all the way to Middlesbrough to see Millwall play. More on that later, though...

Middlesbrough

Situated in the north east, not too far from the coast, Middlesbrough's past is fraught with industry, which you can still see to this day. In 1801, it had a population of just 25, but only thirty years later, it was the site of a port where coal would be shipped into and out of the UK. The railways soon arrived here, and not long after, ironworks were established here in the 1850s. Middlesbrough inevitably grew into a key industrial outpost, and though lots of it has since been scaled back, the port is as active as ever (though not particularly so coal-focused).

Middlesbrough Town Hall 

Middlesbrough Town Hall

Every self-respecting town has its own town hall, and Middlesbrough's is fantastic. From the outside, it's almost church-like, what with its Gothic styling and the ornate clocktower that stands over the rest of the building. The town hall's stood here since 1889, and whilst it's served as the centre of the Borough of Middlesbrough since, it's also had a double life as a concert venue. Various artists like David Bowie and the Clash have performed here across the years.

Down by the town hall, you'll find the centre square. There's a fountain here, though it wasn't acting like one when I was there - just a pool of water, without the streamy bits. You'll also find an art gallery here: MIMA opened back in 2007, and is where you'll find contemporary art exhibitions. I believe you can go and see them for free, except when it's closed, like it was when I visited - bank holidays and that. But if you want a hint of the kind of art they host, look no further than the Bottle of Notes sculpture that stands outside MIMA, that's been here since 1993.

The Bottle of Notes

Yet only a few minutes away, you'll find the old town hall that served Middlesbrough from 1846 to 1889. It's been unused since 1996, having last been used as a library, though there have been recent plans to redevelop the area as office space. I didn't visit it, both because I didn't know about it at the time, but also because I'd have no time to look at it regardless. I only had about an hour in total to go all touristy. 

Albert Park

This is the local park, and it's quite wonderful, too. It opened in 1868, having been granted to the borough by Henry Bolckow, who developed the ironworks and later becoming the mayor of Middlesbrough. Bolckow is arguably the main reason why Middlesbrough became such an industrial might at its peak, and Albert Park is just one part of his legacy. In fact, he proposed the creation of the park to provide some much needed green space in such an industrial area...and to be fair, it's great he did this; Middlesbrough is far more grey than it is green.

     

There's a wonderful lake not far from one of the entrances, where you'll also find the East Lodge, which used to house the park keepers, but now houses the Middlesbrough Sea Cadets. There's also a wonderful sundial near one of the entrances by the main road, and opposite the sundial, you'll find a bust of Bolckow. Nearer the centre of the park, you'll find the central fountain with lovely golden decorations, even if it wasn't working as a fountain that day too. There's also the memorial clocktower, which doesn't apparently work, that was donated to the park back in 1900.

The Memorial Clocktower 

Bust of Henry Bolckow

A bit off the footpath, meanwhile, lies a statue of football manager Brian Clough, who used to play for Middlesbrough FC. He was born in Middlesbrough, and even called the place "heaven" when he was growing up. The statue's clothed in a football scarf, and surrounded by fencing, probably because of the impending match that day. Apparently the statue's even looking in the direction of Middlesbrough old stadium, Ayresome Park, which isn't too far from Albert Park. 

Round the main entrance, you'll also find the Dorman Museum, which seems to house various different exhibits about Middlesbrough's history, local pottery, and the design work of Christopher Dresser, amongst other themes. A war memorial to Stanley E. Hollis, the only recipient of the Victoria Cross following the D-Day landings in 1944, can be found here as well - Hollis grew up and worked in Middlesbrough before World War II broke out.

     

The Tees Transporter Bridge

Arguably a national icon, this is the longest transporter bridge in the world, spanning the Tees river from Middlesbrough over to Stockton-on-Tees on the other side. Lots of the time, the bridge looks somewhat awkward, with cars being carried across by a gondola connected to the bridge. However, this hasn't been the case since 2019, when the bridge was closed over safety concerns.

 

The bridge opened in 1911 to transport workers across the Tees, taking the place of ferries which used to do the same job. Apparently it used to be red, but was painted blue in 1961, giving us the familiar look of the bridge to this day. Since then, the Tranny, as it's known to locals, has become a beloved symbol of Middlesbrough, and probably makes its way onto several pretty postcards.

 

I wish I could take a photograph against a glistening purple-bleeding sunset, but I was there at 12pm, so that was never an option. It's astonishing how massive it is, though, not just in length but also height. It completely dwarfs the nearby Vulcan Street Wall (which used to belong to the ironworks that stood here), which means you can get some more photos showing off the bridge's size over the wall. 

Approaching the Riverside (Stadium)

There are some other interesting structures beside Middlesbrough's home ground, the Riverside. Chief amongst them is probably the Hydraulic Clock Tower, built in 1903 to act as both a clock tower and a water tower. It notably only has three clockfaces across its four sides, apparently to prevent dockworkers from clock-watching back in the day, though I can't verify this because I barely had more time than to take a photo and continue walking to the stadium. 

 

You can visit the tower too, which explains why the tower's surrounded by a car park. In fact, the clock tower directly overlooks the docks. Though no longer functional, you can still walk up to the docks and admire a nice view of the town centre from afar, along with some sculptures which stand there.

 

Millwall - Middlesbrough

I quite like the Riverside. It opened in 1995, and as such is unsurprisingly quite modern in design. However, it's not a soulless bowl as you might think from that description. The Middlesbrough fanbase are quite passionate, and were chanting the whole game - the atmosphere was brilliant.

 

Maybe that's because of the stakes at hand that day, though. Middlesbrough in 2nd place vying for promotion; Millwall in 4th, just two points behind. Therefore, if Millwall won, they'd be in the automatic promotion spots. Now I already thought being in 4th was dizzying enough for Millwall, so to be this close to the Premier League was frankly unbelievable. 

The match was also one of the most stressful experiences I've had recently. The whole game was nail-biting, with Middlesbrough's style of play best described as kamikaze. Constant attacks and counter-attacks, consistently relentless, and always so close to goal if not ineffective in the end. Somehow they only scored once in the first half from a well-executed corner. Millwall the whole first half were pathetically apathetic - constantly losing possession, being almost incapable of getting close to goal. It was 1-0 at half-time, but could have been 6-0.

 

Somehow, though, things improved. It was Millwall's turn to dominate come the second-half - Josh Coburn scored our first goal after a dramatic goal-line scramble, where the ball just about eked over the line, to make it 1-1. It then became more even, with Middlesbrough getting several more chances, but being unable to convert any of them. Then, with ten minutes to go, Coburn scored again with a wonderful finish, to make it 2-1. Cue Middlesbrough trying to score, and failing, for the rest of the game, and that was that. 

Somehow, Millwall were second in the Championship, capping off a very good Friday. Since then, we've slid back down to fourth, so maybe the dizziness did come round in the end, but who knows. But it did make the four hour journey back to London a bit more bearable.