The Bulmer Stone lies sadly stranded on a little shelf behind a fence since 1923.

It is a Shap granite boulder deposited at the end of the ice age and once marked the northern edge of Darlington and stood on the roadside.

The name is said to come from Willy Bulmer the borough crier who announced news from it. It was also known as the ‘Battling Stone’ by the towns weavers who once beat their flax upon it.
It is also associated with the ancient rhyme :-

In Darnton towne ther is a stane,
And most strange is yt to tell,
That yt turnes nine times round aboute
When yt hears ye clock strike twell.

William Thomas Stead was the second editor of the Northern Echo and is seen as one of the founding fathers of modern investigative journalism. He used this stone opposite the Northern Echo offices to tether his dogs and pony.

Mr Stead was heavily involved in campaigning for world peace and defending civil liberties and was killed on the maiden voyage of the Titanic on his way peace congress at Carnegie Hall.

A series of 8 fountains were donated to the people of Darlington by Joseph Pease in 1866, this is the third and final one i’ve been able to locate (although I happily await any correction on that)

It bears the inscription ‘Water for the Thirsty” although the metal fountain part may not be original as its an identical design to the 1950s one on Tees Cottage.
Happily this particular fountain has been restored when compared to this 1981 picture of it looking in much poorer condition.

Another in the series of 8 fountains which were donated to the people of Darlington by Joseph Pease in 1866.

This time on Grange Road.

A series of 8 fountains were donated to the people of Darlington by Joseph Pease in 1866.

This one still remains on Coniscliffe Road

This fountain in a sorry state can be found on the outside wall of the Tees Cottage Pumping Station.

The plaque reads :-
1850 – 1950
A Gift to Wayfarers
Commemorating the Centenary of the Darlington Women’s Temperance Society

It has deteriorated a lot since this 1981 photo was taken.

The pumping station used sand filters until 1926, machines like this were used to remove and replace the filter sand.

This particular example was actually from Lartington.

The filter beds can still be seen between the two sets of buildings.

The boiler plant associated with the beam engine is housed in an adjacent building.

Boiler No. 101 built by the Teasdale Brothers in 1902

Boiler No. 102 same date and manufacturer which was in use on the day

The spectacular 140 horse power beam engine consists of a Woolf compound engine, by Glenfield and Kennedy built by Teasdale Brothers.


The beam itself is over 30 feet long and weighs 25 tons.

The engine is within a building erected in 1849 for an earlier beam engine.


The engine operated from 1904 to 1926, although remained on standby until the 1950s

It can still be seen in operation on open days.

This 1914 two-cylinder gas engine was built by Richard Hornsby & Sons

The pumps which extracted water from the Tees for Darlington were built by Hawthorn Davey & Co. of Leeds.

The building which houses the engine was built in 1853 and housed an earlier steam pumping engine before the current one.

Gas was originally produced on site, but this part of the plant was damaged in 1955 by an explosion, the results of which can still be seen.

The site in general was operational from 1849 with the final electric pumps still in use until 1980, the site is now run by volunteers who have regular open days.