Memorial

Park 1914-18 1939-45 Tittybottle Park

Eaglescliffe

Memorial Name: Park 1914-18 1939-45 Tittybottle Park (E72.03)

NEWMP Ref No.: E72.03

Parish: Eaglescliffe

Original Location:

At road junction of Yarm Road with Victoria Road and Albert Road, Kingsmead. TS16 0DD. NZ 42208 14901

Memorial Garden is inside a walled area.

Fencing is around the Cenotaph, inside the Memorial Garden.

Which War:

a. 1914-18
b. 1939-45

Dedication, Creation or Publication date:

a. Created 1919.
Rededicated 2004 as a war memorial by Dari Taylor, M.P. for Stockton South.

Materials Used:

Sandstone pillar, metal plaques.

Who Commissioned:

Friends of Victorian Eaglescliffe.

Cost:

£24,000 to restore park and war memorial cross.

How Money was Raised:

Public contributions

Ownership and Maintenance: Stockton on Tees Council

Inscription:

The Memorial Park was
created and the cenotaph
erected in 1919 to
honour the local war dead
of the First World War.
Those local people who
died in the Second World War
were later added.

The Park was restored
in 2003/4 by the Friends of
Victorian Eaglescliffe,
supported by the local
residents with fund raising
and generous grants and
contributions from
various organisations.

Memorial Description:

Park.

There is a pillar 48 inches (1.22m) high on which is a plaque 24 inches high x 16 inches wide (610mm x 410mm) bearing the details following the restoration of 2002/3.

There is a similar plaque on the reverse with a brief history of the park.

On each there is a white line border.

Lettering is in Roman capitals throughout.

Names:

None

Notes:

1. The garden was refurbished in 2003 with new brick paths and new benches, the paving round the cross was renewed along with the railings. New Victorian style seating has been installed, and bulbs planted.

2. The plaque on the other side of the pillar reads:

“Sit a while in this peaceful park
and imagine the world’s first
public passenger steam railway
line from Yarm Road to
Darlington.
As late as 1870 the crossing
gates were still in use here.
With the railways came the
early residents of Victorian
Eaglescliffe, whose nannies used
this park to walk their charges
in their perambulators and it
became affectionately known as
‘Tittybottle Park’
This sandstone was used in a
bridge on the original Stockton
to Darlington Railway.”

3. In total the residents group – working with Preston on Tees and Egglescliffe parish councils and Stockton Council – had raised £24,000 to renovate the park and war memorial. In November 2003 local residents, army cadets and guides helped to plant 3,500 bulbs in the park. New paving and new Victorian-style seating has helped finish off the park as a tribute to the hard work of all involved and a fitting commemoration of those who died in the World Wars.

4. Visit Spring 2024 – the park looks well cared for with Spring bulbs and blossoming trees.

External Links:

Historic England Listing.

Teeside Live.

Sources:

Photos of pillar: C. Sanders; Tony Harding; James Pasby

Evening Gazette
26/09/2005 reports rededication.