Editing Middlesbrough (section)

===Coal and docks===
In 1801 Middlesbrough was a small farming [[Township (England)|township]] with a population of just 25. From 1829 onwards it experienced rapid growth. In 1828 the influential [[Quaker]] banker, coal-mine owner and [[Stockton and Darlington Railway]] (S&DR) shareholder [[Joseph Pease (railway pioneer)|Joseph Pease]] sailed up the River Tees to find a suitable new site downriver of Stockton on which to place new coal [[staithe]]s. As a result, in 1829 he and a group of [[Quaker]] businessmen bought the Middlesbrough farmstead and associated estate, some {{convert|527|acre}} of land, and established the Middlesbrough Estate Company.

Through the company, the investors set about a new coal port development (designed by [[John Harris (railway engineer)|John Harris]]) on the southern banks of the Tees.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Middlesbrough |url=http://www.billyscarrow.co.uk/middlesbrough.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705070805/http://www.billyscarrow.co.uk/middlesbrough.htm |archive-date=5 July 2015 |access-date=4 July 2015 |publisher=Billy Scarrow}}</ref><ref name="englandsnortheast.co.uk" /> The first coal shipping staithes at the port (known as "Port Darlington") were constructed with a settlement to the east established on the site of Middlesbrough farm as labour for the port, taking on the farm's name as it developed into a village.<ref name="GazDock">{{Cite news |last=Delplanque |first=Paul |date=17 November 2011 |title=Middlesbrough Dock 1839–1980 |url=http://rememberwhen.gazettelive.co.uk/2011/11/middlesbrough-dock-1839-1980.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409123451/http://rememberwhen.gazettelive.co.uk/2011/11/middlesbrough-dock-1839-1980.html |archive-date=9 April 2013 |access-date=24 March 2013 |work=[[Teesside Gazette|Evening Gazette]]}}</ref><ref name="Middlesbrough College">{{Cite web |title=The Archives: History of Middlehaven |url=http://www.mbro.ac.uk/Home/index/collegeinfo/collegehistory/middlehaven.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120225741/http://www.mbro.ac.uk/Home/index/collegeinfo/collegehistory/middlehaven.aspx |archive-date=20 November 2015 |access-date=20 November 2015 |publisher=Middlesbrough College}}</ref>

The port was linked to the S&DR on 27 December 1830 via a branch that extended to an area just north of the current {{stnlnk|Middlesbrough}} railway station.<ref>{{Cite web |title=December 1861 map of Middlesbrough North Riding: A Vision of Britain Through Time |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/25079 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019014334/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/25079 |archive-date=19 October 2014 |access-date=18 October 2014 |publisher=University of Portsmouth and others}}</ref>

The success of the port meant it soon became overwhelmed by the volume of imports and exports, and in 1839 work started on a dock to the east of Middlesbrough.<ref name=GazDock/> The first water for the dock was let in on 19 March 1842, while the formal opening took place on 12 May 1842.