A FORGOTTEN industry which once breathed life into part of Teesside has been remembered in a display.

Shipbuilding in Stockton and Thornaby had ended by 1931 but has now been recorded in a temporary display in the Green Dragon Museum, Stockton.

The exhibition, which will be shown at the museum until late next month, tells of the history of shipbuilding in the area dating back to the 1100s.

It also features family histories of people who worked building ships in the area in the boom years of the 18th and 19th Centuries. Models of ships built on the Tees have been brought over from Preston Hall Museum, at Eaglescliffe, and there is a section on how the ships were built.

Photographs on display include those taken by a Northern Echo photographer during a visit to the old shipbuilding yards by King George V in 1917. During his visit in the First World War, the king went to every shipyard in the North-East.

The display explains it is believed that simple ferryboats were made in Stockton from the 1100s.

It is also thought that the Bishop of Durham commissioned a ship from the area which was used to carry him to the Crusades.

The display tells of how decline of the industry began when modern ships became too large to be built so far upriver.

"We opened the exhibition before Christmas and it was very popular," said a museum spokeswoman.

"It has quietened off a bit now but such is the interest we are expecting local people to flood in again in the coming weeks."

Entrance to the exhibition is free and the Green Dragon Museum is open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.

* A book written by Alan Betteney titled Shipbuilding in Stockton and Thornaby, priced £6.95, has recently been published and is available from Stockton Tourism Office.