Hartlepool Borough Council has provisionally allocated funding of £4 million to safeguard the future of the paddle steamer Wingfield Castle following discussions with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, National Historic Ships UK and others.

Built in 1934 in Hartlepool by William Gray & Co on the site where she is currently moored, Wingfield Castle ran on the Humber ferry service between Hull and New Holland for her whole operational career until she was withdrawn after her last voyage in steam taking the 5.30pm departure from Hull to New Holland on Thursday 14th March 1974 under the command of Captain Stan Wright. From time to time in her career she also undertook local excursions from Hull to view the docks as well as taking trippers down the Humber to Grimsby and across to view Spurn Head. In the decade after her withdrawal she led a nomadic life spending time in Brighton, Swansea, London and on the Medway before returning to the place where she was built in Hartlepool in 1986 where she was restored as a museum ship, moored next to HMS Trincomalee and opened to the public.

After more than thirty years in this role her deteriorating structure led to her closure so this is wonderful news that funding has now been earmarked by the Local Authority to safeguard her future as a ship built locally by the local people of Hartlepool with local skills and local knowledge nearly ninety years ago. She is a true reminder of Hartlepool’s once great shipbuilding past. The next stage will be to work up plans for what needs to be done to the ship, how she will be rebuilt and how she will finally be re-opened to the public.*

*Copied from the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society (PSPS) website.

Copyright (c) 2022, Paddle Steamer Preservation Society except where noted.

HMS Trincomalee, the oldest warship still afloat in Europe dominates the authentically recreated historic quayside that is the home of the Royal Navy Museum in Hartlepool.

Now  200 years old, HMS Trincomalee is one of the last survivors of the sailing Navy and a fine example of the classic British frigate.

She was built in 1817 at the end of a long period of conflict and after Admiral Nelson’s victory over the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar. Trincomalee never saw combat and the period of peace in which she worked saw great advances in the Royal Navy, both technical and organisational.  She travelled over 100,000 miles over the world, in extremes of climate, and undertook duties that included policing, protection and exploration.

Now restored to her 1817 appearance, HMS Trincomalee still retains the evidence of adaptations made during her years of service, first as a naval ship and in later years as a training and holiday ship for yound people. As such, she is a unique and beautiful survivor.*

*from the The National Museum Royal Navy Hartlepool guidebook

On our visit to the Heugh Battery I picked up a leaflet for a circular walk around the headland of Hartlepool. The trail is made up of a series of 17 information points located around the Ancient Borough of Hartlepool. After our museum visit we set off on the trail, starting and ending at point 5 on the map.

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Hartlepool Headland is formed on a peninsular of magnesium limestone that reaches into the North Sea. This geological make-up has created a coastline of mixed treasures from golden sandy beaches to teeming rockpools. Much of the areas history and appeal is retold through the Story Boards.*

*information from the walking trail leaflet

The museum tells the story of the Bombardment of the Hartlepools, which took place on Wednesday 16th December 1914, when the guns of the battery were engaged in ship-to-shore combat with the German navy.

The site of the Heugh Gun Battery has been a military position since the 17th century. Now the Heugh Battery Museum sits on the site of the only First World War battlefield in Britain.

The museum boasts a large and eclectic collection of military artefacts and artillery pieces from throughout history.