Yarm

redirect

Yarm Viaduct seen across the River Tees in 2003

Yarm is a small town which for ceremonial purposes is in North Yorkshire in England. It was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and marked the end of the tidal section of the River Tees until the Tees Barrage was built in Stockton. It is situated in a loop of the river.

Contents

1 Administration
2 Geography

2.1 Rivers
2.2 High Street
2.3 Woodland
2.4 Viaduct and railway stations
2.5 Location

3 Events

3.1 Fair
3.2 Fun Run
3.3 Charities Fair
3.4 Lighting of the Christmas tree

4 Schools

4.1 State
4.2 Fee Paying

5 People
6 Twinned towns
7 External links
8 References

Administration

Administratively, the town is in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, made a unitary authority in 1996, before which Yarm was in the non-metropolitan county of Cleveland, a creation of the Local Government Act 1972 which abolished the Stokesley Rural District in the North Riding of Yorkshire.

The Yarm ward (which includes Kirklevington) has three local councillors sitting on Stockton borough council all of which are Conservatives. As of 2005 they are: Jennifer Beaumont, Brian Jones, and Andrew Sherris.

Geography

Yarm is divided into five estates, and the peninsular area where the town centre is situated. The estates are Willey Flatts, Layfield Farm, The Kebbell (or Spitalfields), Leven Park, and Levendale (or Ingleby Grange).

A map of Yarm showing main roads and estates.

Rivers

Yarm is bordered by two rivers. The River Tees is located to the north, and the Leven to the east. The Leven is a tributary of the Tees. The name of the town is thought to be derived from the old norse word yarum meaning an enclosure to catch fish. In the past, Yarm was the highest port on the river Tees, with merchant vessels travelling up the tidal river to Yarm from the North Sea to unload their cargo.

High Street

The small town hall -situated in the high street- was built in 1710 by Thomas_Belasyse who was lord of the manor.

Woodland

Yarm has multiple areas of woodland. Most of these woodlands are part of private estates. The Rookery is a public area of woodland next to the River Tees situated at the bottom of Goose Pasture. The Ash, Sycamore, and Lime woodland is estimated to be about 200 years in age and is owned by Yarm Town Council. In 2002 a walkway was constructed around the wood to celebrate the golden jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

Viaduct and railway stations

The imposing 2,280 ft long railway viaduct was constructed between 1849 and 1851 for the Leeds Northern Railway company. Its designers were Thomas Grainger and John Bourne. The structure comprises 7 million bricks, and has 43 arches. The original Yarm railway station, now closed, used to be situated on the Eaglescliffe side of the river at the north end of the viaduct. The un-manned modern station, opened in 1996, is now located to the south of Yarm.

Location

Grid reference: NZ421124^*
Latitude and longitude: [54°30′N 1°21′W] (54.50, −1.35)

Road access: A67 from north and south, B1264 from west, A1044 from east.
Rail access: Yarm Station
Nearest airport: Durham Tees Valley Airport

Events

Many events are held in the town each year such as a fair and a 5 km fun run.

Fair

A fair is held on the Tuesday evening to Saturday night of the third week in October in the High Street. It was once a commercial fair that traded in cheese and livestock, but has become a fun fair, although travellers still attend the fair, and ride horses up and down the street on the Saturday. The travellers have to wait outside the town until 6:00PM on the Tuesday, at which point they are allowed to cross the bridge over the River Tees into the town.

Fun Run

Yarm has an annual fun run. The 5KM run starts at Conyers School, and ends on Snaiths Field.

Charities Fair

Yarm and district Lions club run a charities fair on the high street each year. This mostly takes a market like approach.

Lighting of the Christmas tree

A ceromony takes place each advent to light up the town's Christmas tree. Carols are sung, and the high street is temporarily closed for the event.

Schools

Yarm has five schools. Three state primary, and one state secondary, as well as the private Yarm School.

State

There are three primary schools (Levendale, Yarm, and Layfield) in the town and Conyers secondary school.

Fee Paying

The town is home to Yarm School, the senior school being situated at the Friarage and the Preparatory School, Pre-Prep and Nursery at the old Yarm Grammar School (the school was formed after the closure of the grammar school).

The school has plans to re-locate within the next decade, to a site near to their current playing fields on Green Lane at the south of the town. This is subject to planning permission being granted for the sale of the listed Friarage site for development.

People

People associated with the town include John Wesley, founder of Methodism, Tom Brown, hero in the Battle of Dettingen.

Twinned towns

Yarm is twinned with two other European towns:

Schwalbach in Germany
Vernouillet in France

On 2 July 2005, two trees were planted to the north of the town hall to mark the 20th anniversary of the twinning between Yarm and the two towns. The trees were marked with plaques.

External links

References

[Yarm and Eaglescliffe History]

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