Entering Yarm

Image: © Stephen McKay Taken: 10 Dec 2018

Arriving in Yarm High Street over Yarm Bridge, motorists see these two signs, one using the full name Yarm-on-Tees, which is not used by the Ordnance Survey or anywhere else much, and the other announcing that this is the 'Historic County of North Riding of Yorkshire' which is technically correct but potentially confusing because no modern administrative boundary has been crossed. Yarm was incorporated into the newly created county of Cleveland in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972; when Cleveland was abolished just 22 years later the town became part of Stockton-On-Tees unitary authority. However, for ceremonial purposes the parts of Cleveland south of the Tees were placed into North Yorkshire (which covers a similar, but not identical, area to the old North Riding). To add to the confusion, the Cleveland name lives on in organisations such as Cleveland Police. One thing can be said, though - the people of Yarm consider theirs to be a Yorkshire town - and always have done.

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