HARTLEPOOL

 

The "Make A Wish For The Monkey" statue is in Hartlepool Marina, near the lock gates. Coins thrown into the monkey's lap are donated to Hartlepool & District Hospice.

A £20,000 bronze statue of Andy Capp was unveiled in June 2007, by Jean Smythe, the widow of Hartlepool-born cartoonist, Reg Smythe. The statue can be seen in Croft Terrace next to the Harbour of Refuge public house.

The name of Hartlepool, according to the author Sir Cuthbert Sharp, comes from origins unknown. But in the time of Bede, the old town on the peninsula, was called Heruteu - the island of the stag. By mediaeval times, the town was known as Hertepol - the pool of the hart or, hart in the pool - becoming Hart-le-Pool.

Old Hartlepool and the Abbey Church of St. Hilda in the background with the modern apartments of Hartlepool Marina in the foreground. This photograph was taken from the top of Christ Church which is now the home of the local Art Gallery. I climbed 174 flights of stairs to get to the top which cost me all of 50p!

Seaton Carew as seen from the North Gare. The Grade ll listed clock tower, and bus station, is the prominent building in white to the centre left.

The spring tides during March, 2009 exposed the skeleton of an old wooden boat on Middleton Beach, in Hartlepool. The Port Cities website has the full story.

Sir William Gray, the first Mayor of West Hartlepool between 1887-8. The statue is situated in Church Square in front of the Art Gallery and Information Centre.

As the saying goes 'the best things in life are free' and Hartlepool Art Gallery is no exception. With a frequently changing exhibition programme, you can see contemporary art exhibitions, photography, sculpture and work of national, regional and local importance.

Visitors to Hartlepool might well be impressed with the multi-millon pound marina with its bars and restaurants, but not all about this town is pretty. Take, for example, the former Odeon cinema, in Raby Road, which has been standing in the state of dereliction for quite a number of years. In an article published in Hartlepool Mail in 2008 the town's mayor, Stuart Drummond, said it was on his hit-list of sites that need sorting out. It also appeared in the Mail's Spot the Grots campaign. The Odeon is a Grade II listed building which means that English Heritage would need to see that any future redevelopment was justified - especially if the old cinema had to be demolished and rebuilt. Here we are, well into a new year, the Tall Ships' Races fast approaching, and still nothing has happened to this, once very proud, building!

© Stan Laundon.com