Yarm

History

The name of the town is thought to be derived from the Old Norse word yarum – meaning an enclosure to catch fish, or from the Old English gearum with the same meaning. Yarm was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and was originally a chapelry in the Kirklevington parish in the North Riding of Yorkshire; it later became a parish in its own right.

Dominican Friars settled in Yarm about 1286, and maintained a Friarage and a Hospital in the town, until 1583. Their memory is preserved in the names of Friarage and Spital Bank.

Bishop Skirlaw of Durham built a stone bridge, which still stands, across the Tees in 1400. An iron replacement was built in 1805, but it fell down in 1806. For many years, Yarm was at the tidal limit and head of navigation on the River Tees.

On 12 February 1821, at the George & Dragon Inn, the meeting was held that pressed for the third and successful attempt for a Bill to give permission to build the Stockton & Darlington Railway, the world's first public railway.

In 1890, Bulmer & Co listed twelve inns in Yarm: Black Bull, Cross Keys, Crown Inn, Fleece, George and Dragon, Green Tree, Ketton Ox, Lord Nelson, Red Lion, Three Tuns, Tom Brown, and Union. Also listed was Cross Keys beside the Leven Bridge.

In the 13th century, Yarm was classed as a borough, but this status did not persist. It formed part of the Stokesley Rural District under the Local Government Act 1894, and remained so until 1 April 1974 when, under the Local Government Act 1972, it became part of the district of Stockton-on-Tees in the new non-metropolitan county of Cleveland. Cleveland was abolished in 1996 under the Banham Review, with Stockton-on-Tees becoming a unitary authority.

House of Commons

Yarm is part of the Stockton South Parliamentary Constituency which is represented in the House of Commons by James Wharton (Conservative), who was elected on 6 May 2010 for Stockton South. James Wharton was re-elected with an increased majority on 7 May 2015. In August 2016 he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for International Development. From 1997 to 2010, the constituency was represented by Dari Taylor (Labour).

Borough Council

The Yarm ward of Stockton, which includes Kirklevington, has three local councillors sitting on Stockton Borough Council. From 3 May 2007 until May 2011, they were Conservative councillors Jennie Beaumont, Jackie Earl and Andrew Sherris.

From 5 May 2011, Conservatives Mark Chatburn, Ben Houchen, and Andrew Sherris became the councillors on the Stockton on Tees Borough Council for the Yarm Ward. Mark Chatburn subsequently defected to UKIP on 22 March 2013.

Town council

The town has a town council which is responsible for certain aspects of the town's administration, including allotments and the cemetery. It meets once a month in the town hall.

Yarm Town Council has eleven seats with a chairman who, for ceremonial purposes, is 'Mayor'. The Standing Orders of the Council restrict the chairman's period of office to two years in any four-year period. The current (2015) chairman is Clr Jason Hadlow. Elections for the council are held every four years.

December 2008 by-election

A by-election was held for two vacant seats on the council after the resignation of one, and disqualification of another Conservative councillor. The Conservative Party fielded two candidates against two Independent candidates who stood under the banner 'Former Councillor'. The Labour Party and Liberal Democrats chose not to field any candidates, the former instead backing the Independents. Turnout for the election was low, with the Conservative candidates elected by a small margin.

October 2009 by-election

After the departure of a Conservative councillor, a by-election was held on 15 October 2009 for one seat on the town council. Peter Monck, a former town councillor and Liberal Democrat candidate for Stockton South in the 1997 general election stood as an independent candidate against Paul Smith, a Conservative party candidate.

Geography

Yarm has five housing estates, and the peninsular area where the town centre is situated. The estates are Willey Flatts, Layfield Farm, The Kebbell (locally known as Spitalfields), Leven Park and Levendale (occasionally referred to as Ingleby Grange).

It is bordered by two rivers, the River Tees to the north, and the River Leven to the east. The Leven is a tributary of the Tees. Yarm was once the highest port on the Tees.

Two road bridges cross the river, Yarm Bridge crossing from the High Street to Eaglescliffe, and Leven Bridge crossing the Leven between Yarm and Low Leven. On 26 February 2010, Leven Bridge was closed after cracks appeared in it. Engineers suggested the bridge would remain closed for at least two weeks. Later it was confirmed that the bridge would be closed for up to three months after major damage was found to the Grade II-listed structure. Repairs took less time than expected, and the bridge re-opened on 18 June 2010.

The town hall High Street was built in 1710 by Thomas Belasyse who was Lord of the Manor. In a poll taken for the BBC's Breakfast programme on 19 January 2007, Yarm's High Street was voted the 'Best High Street': the street and its cobbled parking areas is fronted by many Georgian-style old buildings, with their red pantile roofs.

The A67, which runs through High Street was previously classified as the A19 until a dual carriageway was built in the 1970s, about three miles south of the town near the village of Crathorne. When the A19 ran through High Street, it was heavily congested. The road is still used by heavy goods traffic as a shortcut to Durham Tees Valley Airport, formerly called Teesside Airport. The classification of the road as an 'A'-road means that it is not possible to place a ban on heavy goods vehicles; however the town council has made efforts to come up with voluntary agreements with many haulage firms.

Yarm has multiple areas of woodland, most of which are part of private estates. The Rookery is a public area by the River Tees situated at the bottom of Goose Pasture. The ash, sycamore and lime woodland is about 200 years old and owned by Yarm Town Council. In 2002, a walkway was constructed around the wood to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Within the woodland, close to the river, BMX riders have created numerous dirt ramps which are regularly used during summer months.

Transport

The 2,280-foot-long (690 m) railway viaduct was built between 1849 and 1851 for the Leeds Northern Railway Company. Its designers were Thomas Grainger and John Bourne. It comprises seven million bricks, and has 43 arches, with the two that span the river Tees being skewed and made of stone. The current un-manned modern station, opened in 1996, is located on Green Lane near Conyers School, about a mile south of Yarm High Street.

Arriva North East is the main bus operator serving Yarm and operate the following services:

WP & M Hutchinson operate one route serving Yarm:

Leven Valley Coaches is the other operator, running the following services:

Religion

Yarm Parish Church is the Anglican parish church, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. It is situated on West Street, where there has been a church on the site since at least the 9th century. The Roman Catholic (RC) church of Ss Mary and Romuald, built in 1860, is at the south end of High Street. Yarm Methodist Church, an octagonal church built in 1763, is on Chapel Yard, on the east side of the town by the river, and is the oldest octagonal church in current use in Methodism.

Sports

Yarm Cricket Club is situated on Leven Road, and has been in existence since 1814. It runs three senior teams in the North Yorkshire South Durham League, and four junior sides – under 11s, under 13s, under 15s and under 17s – who all play competitive cricket throughout the season. In recent years, Yarm's third team, who play on a Sunday, have been the most successful team in the club, winning the NYSD Sunday Division 1 on several occasions, along with the League and Cup double in 2008.

Other sports facilities within Yarm include a floodlit state-of-the-art 4G football pitch, located at Conyers School. This facility is run by the Go-Sport group and has been the home ground for local youth and adult football clubs, including Yarm Town Juniors and Yarm FC. In 2016, the Go-Sport group hosted an FA-accredited 11-a-side Midweek Football League, contested by various local clubs, including TIBS F.C. from Ingleby Barwick. The winners of this inaugural trophy were L&H F.C., who had a 3–1 victory in the final.

Events

Many events are held in the town each year such as a Gala, Fair and a 5 km Fun Run. After lying dormant for almost 100 years the Yarm Gala restarted in 2008.

A charter to hold a weekly market was granted by King John in 1207. It lapsed, but was revived in 2011 as a Farmers' Market. It is held on the second Sunday of each month.

A fair is held in High Street in the third week in October. It starts on the Tuesday evening, and is officially opened on the Thursday. It lasts until Saturday night. It was once a commercial fair that traded in cheese and livestock, but is now primarily a funfair. 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 6:00 pm on the Tuesday, at which point they are allowed to cross the bridge over the River Tees into the town.

Yarm has an annual fun run. The 5 km run starts at Conyers School, and ends on Snaith's Field. It used to end outside Yarm Parish Church, but this changed some time around 1998.

Yarm and District Lions Club run a charities fair in High Street every year. This mostly takes a market-like approach.

A ceremony takes place each Advent to light up the town's Christmas tree. Christmas carols are sung to a band, and the High Street is temporarily closed for the event.

Education

There are three primary schools in the town:

Conyers School, with about 1,400 pupils, is a mixed comprehensive school; it has also a sixth-form. It was founded in 1594 as 'the Free Grammar School' by Thomas Conyers. Following the change to comprehensive education, it was renamed to reflect its founder. Conyers is a specialist school for maths and computing.

The town is home to the independent Yarm School, the senior school being situated at the Friarage, and the preparatory school and nursery at the old Yarm Grammar School. The school was founded in 1978, some time after the re-designation of the original grammar school. The school had plans to move within the next decade to a site near to their playing fields on Green Lane, south of the town. However, planning permission was not granted by the local council, and Yarm School is no longer planning to move, instead choosing to renovate and improve the current site.

Public services

On the southern edge of the built up area of Yarm, is HM Prison Kirklevington Grange, a men's resettlement prison for inmates intending to settle, on release, in the North East of England.

Notable people

People associated with the town include John Wesley, founder of Methodism, and Tom Brown, hero of the Battle of Dettingen, who consequently became the last man to be knighted on the battlefield. His old house is still located on the Hight Street and dates from around 1480, pre-dating the Elizabethan period and is the oldest standing dwelling in the former County of Cleveland.

Yarm has also been home to professional footballers including Middlesbrough and Dutch international George Boateng and former Valencia and Spain International Gaizka Mendieta. Former England boss Steve McClaren also regularly visits the town, as his family home is situated in the neighbouring village of Aislaby. Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers, and West End playwright and international screenwriter Graham Farrow also live in Yarm.

Twinned towns

Yarm is twinned with two other European towns:

There is also an agreement with Olkusz, in Poland.

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.