THE fascinating stories behind many baffling buildings and other curiosities found in the Tees Valley feature in a new book.

Local author Robert Woodhouse has brought together some of the best, including puzzling earthworks at Thornaby Green; Redcar’s wartime early warning system; Yarm’s octagonal Methodist chapel; Darlington’s Brick Train; and Middlesbrough’s Dock Tower.

The tower features three clock faces and one blank – said to be deliberate to stop the dock workers clockwatching!

The 181,754 bricks which make up the Brick Train pushed the boundaries of brick technology with their overhanging layers.

But one fact that might have escaped the public’s attention is that it also contains six special “bat bricks” to encourage pipistrelle bats to roost within.

The Moorsholm Docks may conjure up pictures of a bustling dockyard but they are in fact a set of cattle troughs in the village high street.

The North-East is famous as the birthplace of the railways but Paddy Waddell’s railway was one which hit the buffers before it was built.

Promoted by Joseph Dodds of Winston, near Barnard Castle, and backed by landowner Lord Downe, the line was intended to transport ironstone from mines around Skelton and Brotton to ironworks at Glaisdale.

A large railway hotel was built at Moorsholm; cottages at Glaisdale and Lealholm served as inns for construction workers; and embankments and cuttings either side of the A171 near Scaling Dam were made – but the line itself ran into difficulties and was never built.

The author lives in Middlesbrough, where he taught for 25 years and now tutors adults in local history courses throughout the North-East.

Tees Valley Curiosities contains more than 100 black and white photographs and is divided into five areas – Redcar and Cleveland; Stockton; Middlesborugh; Hartlepool and Darlington.

A paperback, it costs £12.99 and is published by the History Press, The Mill, Brimscombe Port, Stroud, Glos GL5 2QG; tel: 01453-883300 or visit www.thehistorypress.co.uk.