Town of Stockton-on-Tees

The borough of Stockton-on-Tees, in the North East of England, has a population of about 175,000 and, since 1996, has been unitary authority.  Prior to then, Stockton-on-Tees was a district of the now defunct metropolitan county of Cleveland, which had been formed in 1974. After the abolition of Cleveland in 1996, part of the borough of Stockton-on-Tees (including the core of the town itself and other areas that had been part of County Durham until 1974) was placed for ceremonial purposes in County Durham, although the area to the east of the river Tees, that had been part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, was placed for ceremonial purposes in North Yorkshire.  From 1968 to 1974, Stockton-on-Tees was part of the county borough of Teeside, which had merged the municipal borough of Stockton-on-Tees (with different boundaries from the present borough) with the county borough of Middlesbrough. The world's first railway line, opened in 1825, ran from Stockton-on-Tees to Darlington.

Stockton-on-Tees Jewish Community

Jews began to settle in Stockton-on-Tees in the 1860s and Jewish community activity dates from the 1870s. A congregation was formally established and a cemetery was opened in 1884, the purpose-built Stockton-on-Tees Synagogue being built in 1906. There were never more than about 35 Jewish families in the town. Numbers began to decline following World War II and the synagogue was closed in the 1970s.