Redcar
From Freepedia
Redcar is a town in the historical North Riding of Yorkshire, England, presently administered by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, after a brief spell under Cleveland.
The name is thought to come from the fact that it was on marshy land close to the rocks (Reed-Scar). Until the mid 19th Century it was a sub-parish of the local village of Marske by the Sea (mentioned in the Domesday book).
The town's main employer has been the local heavy industry - chemical and steel.
Politically, Redcar has tended to lean towards the Labour Party. From 1987 to 2001, the local MP was Mo Mowlam, and since 2001 the local MP has been Vera Baird.
The steel used to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge was produced at the Dorman Long steel works on the outskirts of Redcar.
A famous local business is Pacitto's ice cream parlour with its signature dish, the "lemon top". This is an vanilla ice cream cone topped with a delicious lemon sorbet. Pacitto's has previously had up to six outlets in the town, and in the 1950s and 1960s competed with Todisco's rival parlours, now out of business. Pacitto's now has two parlours, one on the High Street and another on the Esplanade (which is never called by its real name, always the "sea front" or the "prom"). Both branches had a refit in the 1990s but maintain their classic look, particularly the Esplanade branch with its "Temperance Bar" sign and in the use of stainless steel ice cream bowls and low-slung Pyrex coffee cups. The High Street branch is a popular meeting place for Redcar women taking a shopping break and has, in effect, become a women's pub.
Redcar is also the home of the UKs oldest surviving lifeboat, the Zetland. There is an RNLI run museum housing it.
Famous people with links to Redcar include:
- Rex Hunt (Governor of the Falkland Islands during the 1982 invasion by Argentina)
- Singer David Coverdale lived there as a youth and worked in the Gentry clothes shop on Station Road
- The late Minister of Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam, represented Redcar in the House of Commons
- Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson, originally from Wales, has lived in Redcar with her husband and daughter for the last few years
- Nathaniel Hawthorne the well-known American novelist, came to Redcar on 26 July 1859 in search of peace and quiet, while he worked on the manuscript of The Marble Faun.Hawthorne's house stands at the junction of High Street and King Street. This was formerly known as the Hawthorne Cafe.
- Gertrude Bell colonial administrator and friend of Lawrence of Arabia spent her youthful years at Red Barns, now the Red Barnes (sic) hotel in adjoining Coatham. Coatham is also the town where Jane Gardam twice winner of the Whitbread Prize was brought up, and where some of her exquisite novels are set.
