DARLINGTON DETECTIVE TRAIL
​CLUES & FACTS

*** Please note : this page contains clues for the 'Cluedini Darlington Detective Trail' - if you don't have a copy of the trail it won't make any sense! Trails can be bought online or in branch.***
If you require help, or if you'd like extra info on the location you're at, take a look at the 'Evidence #' from your Detective Trail sheet and select the appropriate one from the list below.

​NOTE - in some instances, the 'Did You Know?' sections may provide spoilers, so be sure to check them out only once you have found the relevant evidence answer.

EVIDENCE #1

🔎 CLUE
Typically you find dates around an entrance door, but not in this case! You will need to look skywards to find the answer.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
Darlington Library was a bequest from the will of Edward Pease and is still sometimes referred to today as the Edward Pease Free Library. Pease's Quaker family donated many of their own books, photographs and paintings to the collection housed inside.

EVIDENCE #2

🔎 CLUE
Unsurprisingly, this can be found on the ground - the building will need to be on your left hand side if you want to locate it.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
William Stead was on board the Titanic at the request of American President William Taft, where he was due to arrive in the United States to take part in a peace congress at Carnegie Hall. After the ship struck the iceberg, Stead helped several women and children into the lifeboats and gave his life jacket to another passenger. A later sighting of Stead has him clinging to a raft but alas he drowned and his frozen body was never recovered.

EVIDENCE #3

🔎 CLUE
The information you need can be found above a door that guards the entry to the Northern Echo building.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
William Thomas Stead was a pioneer of investigative journalism who was best known for his reportage on child welfare, social legislation and reformation of England's criminal codes. His work is said to have paved the way for the modern tabloid press in Great Britain. The building is where The Northern Echo was established in 1870 and was the country's first halfpenny daily newspaper.

EVIDENCE #4

🔎 CLUE
Once you've found the pub you need - ignore this big cat's roar and cast your glance skywards once more.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
At the top of Priestgate is High Row, originally part of the Great North Road from London to Edinburgh until 1965. Pedestrianised in 2007, in the 1860's it became home to the country's third horse-drawn street tram - later replaced by an electric tram in 1904.

EVIDENCE #5

🔎 CLUE
The signpost points the way to a number of places in and around the town - the one you're looking for is home to one of Darlington's most famous exports.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
Behind the signpost is Darlington's most famous landmark  - the Clock Tower. Gifted to the town by Joseph Pease, the bells within the tower were cast by Warner & Sons of Norton-on-Tees - the same company who cast the original Big Ben bell in London.

EVIDENCE #6

🔎 CLUE
The building you require is on a street corner - the blue plaque gives it away a little!
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
The Building Society was started by a group of friends and locals who got together around a table at former eating house and decided to start a society to benefit the local people of Darlington. Originally the 'Darlington Working Men's Equitable Permanent Building Society' it was later renamed to the 'Darlington Building Society', much to the relief of anyone who had to write to them regularly!

EVIDENCE #7

🔎 CLUE
Hard to spot, but not far at all from where you found the last piece of evidence.

Look around a doorway and if you reach the Market Square you've gone too far!
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
Take a look at the road as you leave Church Row and enter the Market Place - you'll notice several train tracks set into the road which give a nod to Darlington's railway heritage.

EVIDENCE #8

🔎 CLUE
There's more wheels than initially meet the eye - be sure to take a look all around the building if you want to find all of them!
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
The Dolphin Centre was opened in 1983 by Sir Roger Bannister - the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes. In the heart of the Dolphin Centre is Central Hall - home to Darlington's first cine screening. Just before the outbreak of WW2, Darlington was actually home to the most cinema seats per head of population in the UK!

EVIDENCE #9

🔎 CLUE
Don't tie yourselves up in knots! The building you need is only a stones throw from the roundabout sign and the name can be found above the entrance door.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
Speaking of names, the name 'Darlington' derives from the Anglo-Saxon 'Dearthington', which simply meant ‘the settlement of Deornoth’s people’. By Norman times its name had changed to Derlinton and during the 17th & 18th centuries ‘Darnton’ finally changing to the 'Darlington' that we know today.

EVIDENCE #10

🔎 CLUE
If you need this clue, chances are you think you've passed it... you probably haven't though - it's one of the last buildings on the right hand side before you reach the roundabout.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
Behind the buildings on the opposite side of the road lies the 91 acre 'South Park'. With origins dating back to 1636, it was formally opened in 1853and originally called 'Belasses Park' after its benefactor Sir James Belasses, later the 'People's Park'.  The park is open year round, and home to 3 Grade II listed structures... a bandstand, fountain and Polam Lane Bridge.

EVIDENCE #11

🔎 CLUE
In quick succession to the last piece of evidence, the postbox you need isn't freestanding.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
In 1726, the Darlington Postmaster applied the first postmark bearing the town’s name to letters. In 1785, the postmark was modified to read “Darlington 239” as the town was 239 miles from London. In 1788, that was modified to “Darlington 244” when people realised if was even further away!

EVIDENCE #12

🔎 CLUE
I hope this one doesn't get you snookered! Not too far into Grange Road, you're looking for a building on the opposite side of the road.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
Once on the Great North Road, Grange Road is today home to a range of independent shops, businesses and continental cafés... but this wasn't always the case. Numbers 10-14 were once home to The Old Police Station, Number 22 to Sloan's with its renowned Victorian Craven Dunnill wall tiles, and Numbers 27-31 to La Bamba nightclub. The latter had a big reputation back in the day, playing host to the likes of Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdink, but sadly suffered a devastating fire in 1968 and never re-opened.

EVIDENCE #13

🔎 CLUE
Not too far into Skinnergate and occupying a property on the left hand side. If you are struggling, it's not a million miles from somewhere you could phone a friend.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
Since 1678, the Quakers have occupied a property in Skinnergate with the current Meeting House being built in 1839. Such was the contribution to the town by prominent Quakers such as Joseph and Edward Pease that, still today, the local football team still bears imagery on its badge and is nicknamed 'The Quakers'.

EVIDENCE #14

🔎 CLUE
Found on the right had side about halfway along the Yard, the well itself is sadly no longer there and lies buried under a semi-circle of stones. As such, it's the wall plaque itself that you're looking for!
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
You will notice that the walls of number 8 and number 11 (opposite), are ‘chamfered’ or scooped out. It was intentionally built like this to allow horse-drawn carriages to pass down the narrow alleyway.

EVIDENCE #15

🔎 CLUE
The lamps are located above head height on the buildings and span the whole length of Buckton's Yard. The lamp atop the Buckton's Yard sign on High Row does not need to be included , but the one on the sign as you emerge back onto Skinnergate does. Make sure you count carefully!
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
All along the 'Yards' of Darlington you'll find a host of artwork which has been created by local students highlighting the town, its local people and the artists themselves. This open space gallery affirms Darlington's commitment to public art and compliments the town's existing artwork.

EVIDENCE #16

🔎 CLUE
This old fashioned street sign is on the corner of a building and has a very different colour scheme to many of its counterparts.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
Medieval in origin. Skinnergate's inhabitants of the past were primarily employed in the leather trade, giving the street its original name - ‘Skin Market’. Latterly renamed Skinnergate. the 'gate' aspect comes from the Medieval Danish word 'gata' which simply means street - you'll no doubt have noticed that many of the street names within the town centre bear the suffix 'gate' this denoting the Scandinavian influence on the town.

EVIDENCE #17

🔎 CLUE
On the right hand side of Bondgate in a slight recess is where you'll find the gate and entrance to Kearton's Yard. Be sure to count both the upper and lower spear topped fleur-de-lys!
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
In the Middle Ages, many folk were bondmen, halfway between slaves and freemen. They were tied to the land and had to spend some of their time working on the Lord's land. These 'bondmen' were to be found on the very street where you are now stood and ultimately game their name to 'Bondgate'.

EVIDENCE #18

🔎 CLUE
On the right hand side and not far from the street corner, you're looking for a plaque which reveals all!
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
The Darlington Mechanics Institute was established with the sole aim of helping members of the working class to educate themselves. It grew from humble beginnings to latterly construct and occupy an imposing building in nearby Skinnergate, which you may have noticed as you passed by earlier in the trail. The building fell into a growing state of disrepair as membership of the Institute dwindled, but has was lovingly restored and re-opened in 2015 after a £2m refurbishment, albeit in a very different capacity to that in which it originally operated!

EVIDENCE #19

🔎 CLUE
The pub you're looking for would be one where a Taurean wouldn't feel out of place. A golden plaque adorns the outside of the building and holds the key to the answer you seek.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
Joseph Pease was elected to represent South Durham in the House of Commons in 1832. He was Britain's first Quaker MP and declined to take the usual Church of England oath. He retained his Quaker dress in Parliament and refused to take off his hat when entering the House. Pease frequently spoke on matters of social and political reform, using his position to speak regularly and eloquently for the abolition of slavery.

EVIDENCE #20

🔎 CLUE
Located at first floor level and on the very left of the building, the builder's name plaque blends nicely in with the existing stonework.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
Darlington has an impressive history in building, particularly when it comes to structural engineering. The Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company was founded in 1877 and, was involved with numerous building projects over the years - Middlesbrough's Transporter Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge in Scotland, Dubai's Burj Al Arab, the Thames Flood Barrier and Wembley Stadium Arch to name just a few.

EVIDENCE #21

🔎 CLUE
If you've found the previous piece of evidence I know you can find this one... its one the same building but at the opposite end.
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
It seems impossible that we've got this far without mentioning the Stockton & Darlington Railway but, as we're talking about architects, now seems a very apt time! In 1821, George Stephenson convinced Edward Pease that he could design and build a steam engine capable of pulling 50 times the load that horses could for his line. On Sept. 27, 1825, railroad transportation was effectively born when the first public passenger train (pulled by Stephenson’s Active - later renamed Locomotion), left Darlington Station bound for Stockton, carrying 450 passengers at 15mph.

EVIDENCE #22

🔎 CLUE
Directly above the doorway, you may need to look carefully to read this ornately carved date
🗣 DID YOU KNOW?
On the opposite site of the road where the entrance to Cluedini now stands, was formerly an archway for horse and carts providing access to the street behind. You can still make out the arched entrance where our doorway is.