Редкар: История города и его развитие

Town in North Yorkshire, England

As seaside holidays became fashionable in the early 19th century, Redcar's facilities expanded. By 1841, Redcar had 794 inhabitants. In 1846, work was completed on the Middlesbrough and Redcar Railway and the presently named station, created to attract tourism and trade. Redcar's population expansion corresponded with Middlesbrough's, with the discovery in 1850 of iron ore in the Eston area of Cleveland Hills. Coatham Pier was wrecked before it was completed when two sailing ships were driven through it in a storm. It had to be shortened because of the cost of repairs and was re opened with an entrance with two kiosks and a roller skating rink on the Redcar side, and a bandstand halfway along its length. Redcar Racecourse was created in 1875. Redcar Pier, another pier as well as Coatham Pier, was built in the late 1870s. In October 1880 the brig Luna caused £1,000 worth of damage to this pier. In New Year's Eve 1885 SS Cochrane demolished the landing stage.

Redcar Pier was deliberately breached (sectioned) in 1940 to prevent its use by enemy invasion forces.

In 1964 the New Pavilion Theatre was transformed into the Regent Cinema. The Redcar Pier pavilion continued in use after the war but storm damage led to it being declared unsafe and it was demolished in 1980–1981. On 18 September 2015, production was paused due to the decline in steel prices. On 28 September 2015, the plant was "mothballed" amid poor steel trading conditions across the world and a drop in steel prices. On 2 October, the owner of the site, SSI UK, entered liquidation. On 12 October 2015 the administrator announced that there was no realistic prospect of finding a buyer and the ovens would be extinguished.

Wards periodically change, as of 2018 the town is made up of Coatham, Dormanstown, Kirkleatham, Newcomen, West Dyke, Wheatlands and Zetland. Redcar is made up of areas that do not lend their name to a ward: Warrenby, Lakes Estate, Redcar East, The Ings, Ings Farm, Mickledales and Westfield. On 5 May 2011 Redcar elected its councillors to Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council. There was a by election on 18 November 2011 for two vacant seats in the Zetland ward, held onto by the Liberal Democrats, and on 19 January 2012 there was a by election for a vacant seat in Newcomen ward subsequently gained by Labour from the Liberal Democrats.

Redcar was formerly a township and chapelry in the parishes of Marske and Upleatham, in 1866 Redcar became a separate civil parish. A district in Redcar's name formed in 1885. Three years after the district was formed, the centuries old Yorkshire authority was replaced by the North Riding of Yorkshire county council. The district became an urban district in 1894. The settlement's town charter occurred in 1922, the district was able to be styled as a municipal borough and the settlement as a town. On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished and merged with Teesside and Marske. On 1 April 1968 the municipal borough was abolished merged into the County Borough of Teesside, part also went to Saltburn and Marske by the Sea Urban District. This removed it from the administrative county however still ceremonially in the area. In 1961 the parish had a population of 31,460. The 1974 reform created the non metropolitan County of Cleveland, under the Langbaurgh non metropolitan district. The county was also inserted into the North East England region. After further changes in 1996, the district became a unitary authority called Redcar & Cleveland in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, the county straddling two regions of England. The North East England region was sub divided into combined authorities, in May 2017 the Tees Valley area voted for their first mayor. The Conservative candidate, Ben Houchen, won the election and is now in his second term.

From 1987 to 2001, the local Member of Parliament (MP) was Mo Mowlam. From 2001 to 2010 the MP was Vera Baird. In the 2010 general election there was a swing to the Liberal Democrats with Ian Swales being elected. But, in the 2015 general election, Anna Turley, a Labour MP, won back Redcar. In the snap 2017 general election, Anna Turley held onto that seat. In the general election on 12 December 2019, Anna Turley lost her seat to Conservative candidate Jacob Young with a majority of 3,527 votes. Young becomes the third conservative MP to represent Redcar, the first being Royal Naval Commander Robert Tatton Bower 1931 to 1945 and Scarborough businessman Wilfred Proudfoot between 1959 and 1964 when Redcar was part of the Cleveland constituency.

The Palace Hub, on the beach front, was built by Redcar and Cleveland Council for the creative and cultural sector of the town. An art gallery and business start up centre are located in the building. The main library is in the Redcar Heart building in the centre of the town and there is a long standing Redcar Literary Institute, which was founded in 1896. Redcar is home to the Tuned In! Centre, which opened in 2011 and overlooks the sea front. The multi purpose venue hosts live music as well as creative workshops for young people. The annual event Clubland on the Beach, which showcases dance acts attracting visitors from across the country, has been held at Majuba Road in Redcar for the past three years.

The town has had several parks built for tourism: Coatham Enclosure, Locke Park, Zetland Park, Lily Park, an Amusement Park with a roller coaster, and a small sea front park known locally as Titty Bottle Park. The Amusement Park near the railway closed decades ago, and Titty Bottle Park was absorbed into the redeveloped sea front around Redcar Beacon.

There are 23 listed buildings in Redcar. The Grade I Listed Sir William Turner's Hospital in Kirkleatham was built between 1674–1676 and listed on the 14 June 1952. On the Esplanade is the Grade II Listed Zetland Lifeboat Museum housing the world's oldest lifeboat Zetland Lifeboat. The Victorian, former Coatham Hotel stands on Newcomen Terrace sea front. The ballroom of the hotel was home to the Redcar Jazz Club, a venue for the up and coming bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In the south east of Redcar is an aircraft listening post built in 1916 during the First World War as part of a regional defence system to detect approaching aircraft, principally Zeppelins, and give early warning. It is an example of an acoustic mirror, of which other examples can be found along the east coast of Britain. The mirror was used up until the invention of radar and although it was built on open fields today a modern housing estate now surrounds it. Only the concrete sound mirror remains and is now a Grade II listed building.

To the east of Redcar is the grade II* listed Church of St Peter, designed by Ignatius Bonomi and built 1822–29. In 1818, Lord Dundas gave land for a church, St Peters. The foundation stone was laid by Lady Turner of Kirkleatham in 1823. Initially it was a daughter church of Marske, but became an independent parish in 1867. It has a window commemorating local benefactor Sir William Turner.

Redcar has two railway stations, on the Tees Valley line, with trains operated by Northern and TransPennine Express, namely Redcar Central and Redcar East. A third station Redcar British Steel, which closed in December 2019, served the steelworks. The main roads through the town are the A1085 and the A1042, with the A174 bypassing. Redcar is served primarily by Arriva North East buses, connecting Redcar with the surrounding towns and villages. The Pangea North and CANTAT 3 submarine telecommunication cables both come ashore between Redcar and Marske by the Sea.

The town's further education college is Redcar & Cleveland College. The town's secondary schools are: Outwood Academy Redcar, Sacred Heart Catholic Secondary and Rye Hills Academy. There are eleven primary schools in Redcar: Coatham, Dormanstown, Green Gates, Ings Farm, John E Batty, Lakes, Newcomen, Riverdale, St Benedict's, Wheatlands and Zetland.

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees, the local television station TalkTeesside also broadcasts to the area. Television signals are received from the Bilsdale TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Tees, Heart North East, Capital North East, Smooth North East, Greatest Hits Radio Teesside, and Zetland FM, a community based radio station which broadcast from its studios on Newcomen Terrace in the town. The town is served by the local newspapers, East Cleveland Herald & Post which is published by the TeessideLive. The Northern Echo also covers the area.