Alan Wealleans.

Does anyone know much of the history of these buildings? I remember they looked much like this in the late forties when my friends and I ventured on our bikes from Stockton for a paddling/fishing trip. I passed a few years back (two I think) and the former Georgian house on the right was shored up with scaffolding poles. 06/11/2008 07:13:12

Carole Moore

There is a small, modern housing development there now. There used to be a pub there (I think it was called The Cross Keys). My parents used to cycle there from Thornaby at weekends and holidays in the 1930s and '40s. It was quite popular with locals, as there was a small 'beach' on the river bank at that point, and my mother said you used to be able to get refreshments from a small shop/tea room there.19/06/2009 20:00:35

P Mulhern

The pub was called "Cross Keys". The "executive housing" development is called Bridgewater. The Grade 2 on the Historical Buildings Register Leven Bridge, having lasted 200 years, was closed on 26 February 2010, large cracks in the surface and part of the foundations washed away. Repairs may take 3 months. I think there is no longer public access to the "Leven Beach" or the fishing.11/03/2010 19:37:37

P Mulhern

Leven Bridge re-opened Friday 18 June 2010. Closure caused by scouring of foundations under one of the piers.01/07/2010 10:14:14

Mike Renwick

The Cross keys - a real blast from the past. Like Alan Wealleans, we used to cycle out there to partake. A few hundred yards away, the top of Low Lane, a very steep hill, at High Leven, The Fox Covert. Of course a newer pub The Yorkshire Dragoon at Maltby. According to my information both the Keys and the Dragoon are now closed. I hope that the refurbishment of the bridge was carried out sympathetically can anybody confirm this?01/07/2010 12:13:38

Susan Chatterton nee Callender

I was sad to hear that the Yorkshire Dragoon at Maltby was closed. I think it opened in 1967/68. I have fond memories of working there with a few others who also worked with me at NEEB, Thornaby. In those days not many of us had cars and they use to pick the staff up in a mini bus from Stockton and then take us all the way home after work. I think the bar man who drove the bus was called Kevin. 04/07/2010 12:00:27

Marianne Holt

The Yorkshire Dragoon closed a couple of years ago but has re-opened as The Manor House, Bar and Brasserie. The Cross Keys at the bottom of the Leven Bank closed its doors years ago - but we still have a good 'tipple' in there - it's my house!!14/07/2010 15:57:35

Chris

These buildings in the picture belonged to a brewery. They were listed buildings and had very ornate staircases and interiors. Due to the heavy traffic on Leven Bank lorries etc, hit the last one and it was scaffolded up. How the heavy traffic was allowed to use this way is beyond comprehension. There were quite a lots of huts and flats on Leven Bank used as holiday homes and people could live in them for ten months of the year. There was an old water mill, The Cross Keys at the bottom of the bank and a little shop backing onto the waterfall. On the field at the back of those houses the was sometimes a small fair. At the top of the bank was the Half Moon, now called Fox Covert. There is a public footpath through where the huts were on the bank, it is accessible from the side of the Fox Covert down lane or from the bottom of where these houses stood a little slip road. I have in the past seen a notice there with 'Private Road, but it is not. In the name of money every has to be trampled, how they ever got away with these houses which were listed building we can only guess.31/08/2010 16:26:29