Earnshaw's Morris Commercial van parked at the Elwick Road end of Osborne Road. The van would have been new in 1945. C Earnshaw Bros. Ltd. were well known in Hartlepool. Their premises were at 5 Thornton Street.

Taken in 1968 from the roof of the newly built College of Further Education, this image shows a quickly changing town centre.

Recognisable today are the Cenotaph and to the right of it, the Grand Hotel, both in Victoria Road. Also visible between these two structures is the old Essoldo cinema or Carlton Bingo as it is now. Two church spires can be seen, the one slightly further away is St Paul's in Grange Road and  the one slightly closer is the now demolished York Road Methodist Church which was on the corner of South Road.

The large shop on the left on Stockton Street is Pounders which had been a plumbing and heating business but a large extension was built to the right of the original shop and in this area a wide range of quite upmarket fancy goods for the home were sold. The street running west beside this shop is Thornton Street. The large sawmill has disappeared as have the streets running north from Thornton St - Peckett, Wesley and Hanover Streets making way for Middleton Grange Shopping Centre which is under construction.

One of Stockton Street's last buildings, the Good Intent pub is the white building at the end of the terrace.

The camera would be about where the Central Library now stands looking along York Road. The bank is on the corner of Thornton St. Going north along the block is Heslop and Thompson, a bakery(possibly Kemp?) Bruce Moore, Find it Out and the church is York Road Methodist Church.

The photo is from the early 1950s.

Robert Adwick outside his off licence in Thornton St about 1910. The shop was on the corner of Bell St and Thornton Street and a landscaped garden is there now.

Looking along Swainson towards Grand Hotel and Raby Road in the background. The house in Thornton Street nearside left is Thornton House (on plaque on wall) Behind the fencing on the right is Messrs F Hills and Co Stockton Street Sawmill and Timber Yard. Binns is just visible on far right.

The photo was from a photographic record of the Central Area of West Hartlepool prepared in 1955/6 at the request of the Town Planning and Redevelopment Committee 'in the hope that it will be of interest to future generations of West Hartlepool'  

The record focuses on areas which were within the next ten years to be completely redeveloped following The Max Lock Plan. It was compiled by WL Taylor and photographs developed by Thomas Clarkson Chemist of Tower Street.

Just before  complete demolition in 1966 the view is of Thornton Street. Across the bottom of the street is probably Swainson Street and the  two streets off on the left are likely to be Peckett Street and closer Wesley Street

HO4100

Taken by Elizabeth Law in 1965, the style of housing looks very much like Thornton Street and the street facing the camera most likely to be Peckett Street or Wesley Street. The area was demolished in 1967 to make way for the shopping centre.

On this 1967 image, the  section of Thornton Street to the east of York Road has almost gone and the area left is virtually that on which Middleton Grange Shopping Centre was built. As the photo shows, the houses were not slums but quite substantial homes.

Stockton Street had at this point to be demolished and can be seen running along in the distance. The shopping centre was built so that the back of Binns was incorporated into it.

Looking east from York Road, Penzance Street is off to the left after the chapel. In the distance is Swainson Street.

The photo was from a photographic record of the Central Area of West Hartlepool prepared in 1955/6 at the request of the Town Planning and Redevelopment Committee 'in the hope that it will be of interest to future generations of West Hartlepool'  

The record focuses on areas which were within the next ten years to be completely redeveloped following The Max Lock Plan. It was compiled by WL Taylor and photographs developed by Thomas Clarkson Chemist of Tower Street.

Although the left hand side of the street has  been renovated, the houses on the right were demolished around the turn of this century and a small park is in their place. Dyers Off licence occupies the same shop as Adwick's on an earlier photo on the corner of Bell St.

This is the lower part of Thornton Street looking towards York Road. The shop on the corner of York Road and Thornton Street is just visible with the white brickwork on the side.

Penzance Streeet is the street off to the right. The large building on the right at the end of Penzance Street was possibly Providence Strict Baptist Chapel originally but appears to be a home on this picture.

The image looks towards York Road and in the distance Clifton Avenue. Earnshaw's Bakery is on the left and Peckett Street is the street off to the right.

The photo was from a photographic record of the Central Area of West Hartlepool prepared in 1955/6 at the request of the Town Planning and Redevelopment Committee 'in the hope that it will be of interest to future generations of West Hartlepool'  

The record focuses on areas which were within the next ten years to be completely redeveloped following The Max Lock Plan. It was compiled by WL Taylor and photographs developed by Thomas Clarkson Chemist of Tower Street.

The factory opened in 1927 in Thornton Street. This shows the side of the building after being bombed in an air raid on 21 July 1940. The premises of Cecil M Yuill, Builder, is to the right of the view.

Workmen start to clear the site after the factory was bombed during an air raid on 21 July 1940.

HHT&N 44

The road off to the left and right is Thornton Street. The left side still exists and the shops are still there wheras the large house on the right is demolished and the Yorkshire Bank, Shopping Centre ramp and Central Library are approximately where the east part of Thornton Street ran down to meet Swainson Street.