From its humble beginnings as a Medieval fishing port, and the servicing of supplies and men from the Roman Empire journeying to Hadrian’s Wall, through to becoming a hive of industry during the Industrial Revolution, Hartlepool’s history is inextricably bound to the sea.
The town as we know it today largely profited from the 19th Century shipbuilding industry, which benefited from the ingenuity of the town’s founding fathers. Among them Ralph Ward Jackson, solicitor, Conservative MP and founder of West Hartlepool, who became the instigator of the town’s expansion, both socially and architecturally; and William Gray & Company, three generations of shipbuilders active from the 1860s through to the final ship built in the town in 1961, the Blanchland.
The industry which the townspeople relied upon, and many made their fortunes from, fell into decline after the Second World War, but the development of the current Marina in the 1990s saw ships – albeit more pleasure cruisers than warships – return to the town. Shipbuilding runs in the blood here though, and numerous restoration projects have seen Hartlepool’s skilled craftspeople turn around the fortunes of vessels including the HMS Warrior, the restoration of which became the largest maritime project ever undertaken; the PSS Wingfield Castle, which remains docked on the historic quay; and the town’s major tourist attraction HMS Trincomalee, residing alongside the National Museum of the Royal Navy.
HMS Trincomalee is a Navy frigate, launched in 1817 in Bombay, which variously helped to quell riots in Haiti, stop invasions in Cuba and serve as an anti-slavery patrol vessel before becoming a training ship, in various guises, for 125 years. The oldest warship still afloat in Europe, following a £10.5m restoration which took 11 years, HMS Trincomalee and its accompanying museum, historic dock and reimagined 18th Century seaport – complete with the kind of shops featuring everything a daring seaman would need, from swordsmiths and tailors to gun makers and printmakers (and Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe, of course) – is a shining example of the resilience of the town.
Nowadays, the docks are still in use, with the port serving the renewable energy sector among other industry. The Marina’s fortunes are more closely linked with the town, attracting hundreds of vessels and providing shopping, dining and waterside apartment living at Navigation Point.
It doesn’t take much to be reminded of the town’s shipbuilding heyday though; take a walk along the historic Headland, past the attractive Georgian houses built by the town’s wealthy merchants, and the high rigging of HMS Trincomalee is visible alongside the funnels of cargo ships docked in the port, serving as a constant reminder of what made Hartlepool one of Britain’s maritime masters.
