Things to do in Cleveland

Roseberry Topping is the most distinctive summit in the North York Moors National Park, a conical hill of 320 metres with a characteristic asymmetric profile caused by the partial collapse of one face due to mining subsidence that gives it one of the most immediately recognisable silhouettes of any hill in northern England. Visible from a wide area of Teesside and the Cleveland Plain below, the hill has been a landmark and a destination for walkers since the Victorian period and retains a particular hold on the affections of people who grew up within sight of it. The collapsed east face of the hill, which gives Roseberry Topping its jagged, asymmetric profile, was caused by the undermining of the ironstone beneath the hill during the extensive extraction that took place in the Cleveland Hills during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A major collapse in 1912 removed a substantial section of the eastern face, creating the dramatic profile that distinguishes the hill from all others on the North York Moors escarpment. The instability of the remaining rock means that the summit ridge itself requires care, and the rock faces below the summit are unstable enough to require care. The hill is strongly associated with Captain James Cook, who grew up in the nearby village of Great Ayton and climbed Roseberry Topping as a child. The Captain Cook monument on the hill at Easby Moor nearby provides a further connection to the great navigator who explored the Pacific from beginnings in these Yorkshire hills. The walk from Great Ayton, combining Roseberry Topping with the Cook monument on the ridge above, is one of the most popular short walks in the North York Moors and the views from the summit over Teesside, the Cleveland Plain and on clear days to the Durham coast are excellent.

Runswick Bay on the Yorkshire coast between Whitby and Staithes is one of the most photogenic fishing villages in northern England, a cluster of red-roofed cottages cascading down a steep cliff face to a sandy beach of considerable beauty that combines excellent bathing conditions with the visual drama of the cliff setting and the character of a genuine working community that has fished these waters for centuries. The village's inaccessibility by road, which ends at the clifftop with only pedestrian paths descending to the shore, has preserved its character in a way that road access would certainly have compromised. The beach at Runswick Bay is one of the finest on the Yorkshire coast, a south-facing arc of sand sheltered by the great Cleveland headland to the north that provides calmer conditions and warmer water than the more exposed sections of this coast. The geological interest of the cliffs surrounding the bay adds a dimension that rewards curiosity, the Jurassic shales and sandstones of the Cleveland Hills providing fossil collecting opportunities that have made this section of the coast one of the better sites for finding plant fossils, jet and occasional ammonites in the Yorkshire tradition. The village's history includes a complete destruction in 1682 when the cliffs above the settlement failed, sending the entire village into the sea and killing most of the population. The current settlement was rebuilt on a new site at the same bay but the history of that catastrophic cliff failure adds a poignant dimension to the present-day village perched above its beach. The walking north from Runswick Bay to the spectacular village of Staithes, following the Cleveland Way along the cliff top, provides one of the finest sections of coastal walking in Yorkshire.

Saltburn-by-the-Sea is a Victorian seaside resort on the northeast Yorkshire coast, a planned holiday town developed from 1861 by the Stockton and Darlington Railway and its promoter Henry Pease as the first purpose-built resort in the northeast of England, whose combination of the original Victorian grid plan with its pier, cliff lift and distinctive architecture, the excellent surfing beach and the characterful Victorian terraces of the town provides one of the most complete and most rewarding Victorian seaside resort experiences in the north of England. The cliff lift at Saltburn, opened in 1884, is the oldest working water-balanced funicular railway in Britain, its two counterbalanced cars exchanging the weight of water in tanks beneath each car as they ascend and descend the cliff face in a system of Victorian engineering ingenuity that has been maintained in continuous operation for over 130 years. The lift connects the upper town with the lower promenade and pier in the most direct way possible, and the experience of the ascent and descent provides a unique perspective on the cliff face and the beach below. Saltburn Pier, opened in 1869, is the last remaining pier in Yorkshire and provides a walkway over the sea of considerable Victorian character. The pier suffered storm damage in 1924 and 1953 that reduced it to its current length of approximately 206 metres from its original 411 metres, but the remaining structure has been restored and provides the focus of the lower seafront. The surf at Saltburn is consistent and well-regarded, the northeast-facing beach picking up North Sea swells that provide reliable waves and have developed a surf culture in the town unusual for the northeast coast.

Staithes on the Yorkshire coast is one of the most atmospheric fishing villages in northern England, a settlement of red-roofed cottages packed into a ravine descending to a narrow harbour between the spectacular headlands of Cowbar Nab and Penny Nab. The village was the birthplace of the young James Cook's mercantile career, the future circumnavigator arriving to serve as a shopkeeper's apprentice before the sea drew him first to Whitby and then to the Royal Navy. The village descends steeply from the clifftop through a series of steps and narrow lanes to the harbour below, still used by a small fleet of fishing boats. Staithes has been a centre for artists since the late nineteenth century when a colony of painters formed the Staithes Group, recognising the quality of the light and the dramatic character of the village. The tradition of artists working here continues and several galleries and studios in the village reflect the ongoing creative response to this exceptional setting. The Cleveland Way coastal path traversing the headlands connects Staithes with Runswick Bay to the south, providing some of the finest cliff walking in Yorkshire. The combination of the village character, the fishing heritage, the Cook connection and the coastal scenery makes Staithes one of the most rewarding destinations on the northeast coast.

The Zetland Lifeboat Museum in Redcar on the Teesside coast houses the Zetland, the oldest surviving lifeboat in the world, a clinker-built rowing lifeboat constructed in 1802 by Henry Greathead of South Shields that served the community of Redcar for seventy-eight years, saving over five hundred lives from wrecks in the dangerous waters of the Tees Bay and the north Yorkshire coast. The preservation of this vessel and its display in a purpose-built museum beside the beach where it was launched makes the Zetland Museum one of the most important maritime heritage sites in the north of England. Henry Greathead is credited as the inventor of the modern lifeboat, his design of 1789 incorporating the curved bottom, raised bow and stern, and cork buoyancy that gave his boats the ability to right themselves after capsizing and to operate in conditions where conventional open boats would have been overwhelmed. The Zetland, built to Greathead's improved design in 1802, is the finest surviving example of this pioneering lifeboat type and provides direct evidence of the design principles that made the organised rescue of shipwreck survivors a practical possibility for the first time. The museum provides interpretive displays explaining the Zetland's history, the development of lifeboat design and the extraordinary record of service of the Redcar lifeboat crews across the vessel's active years. The stories of individual rescues in the treacherous conditions of the Yorkshire coast in the days before mechanical power and radio communication give the museum's narrative a human urgency that supplements the technical interest of the historic vessel. Redcar itself is a coastal town with a long beach and a modest resort character, and the museum provides one of the most significant heritage attractions on the Teesside coast.