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Ian Macdonald (Photographer)
From the Original Side Gallery exhibition text, 1982:
The Greatham Creek community, a small group of houseboats and cabins dating back to the beginning of the century, originally existed primarily to ease the lot of people, principally from Stockton and Middlesbrough, who fished for salmon and shell-fish on the estuary, but served the secondary purpose of acting as holiday homes for their owners. During the economic depressions of the 1920s and 1930s, people spent weeks on end at the creek, living to a fair extent on what could be gathered in the way of fish, fowl, crustacea, mushrooms, water cress and samphire.
Then, during the Second World War, the estuary became heavily polluted, and salmon stocks were drastically reduced. And because the area lies within the river’s tidal zone, the existence of any sort of community was going to be precarious. A high tide can cover nearly the whole area in water.
Despite attempts after the war to revive the salmon fishing, an increasing number of houseboat owners decided to move up to the more productive waters at Hartlepool, and the Greatham Creek fell into decline. When Ian McDonald produced this work in 1975 he found eleven houseboats, three timber built cabins, eight timber built cuddy-houses and one brick cottage. He found the remains of five further cabins or houseboats, which had been burnt down during the previous fifteen years.
Today, there is little trace of the Greatham Creek community. But there is also little chance that the area will be swallowed up by the surrounding industry. The area is a protected habitat for birds and other wildlife. And because of its location within the tidal zone of the river, it is likely to remain that way in the future.