The story of Ancient Cleveland is best started here at the start of the mighty Tees.

 This is High force close to the source  of the river Tees in north east England, this river was named by Ancient Britain's long before Rome became a city. 

The river was worshipped for its life giving contents, some spellings differ in modern records but its thought , Tesse  in some of our most early languages referred to warmth and plenty.

      This may sound strange for the north east of England, but its a fact the Tees basin equals Kent regarding average ground temperatures due to it being protected from all sides by large hill ranges.

Now we head down stream to what would become Cleveland.

          The Tees meanders south east from high force digging deeper and wider passing through Barnard Castle, and ironically what we now know as Pierce bridge, famous for its Roman crossing and fort, yet the fact its first engineered crossing was created by iron age Britain's is never raised in writings or reports.  The facts point towards the Romans buying this right of way, a negotiated corridor between two major undefeated Briton tribes, one being located in what we now know as Cumbria, the other located in what is Cleveland.   

The image shown gives a good idea of what the area looked like during pre Roman medalling, there are records pointing to a tribe that was feared by the Brigantes, who were based in what was to become Cleveland, and they very likely never kneeled to Rome, the same can be said regarding a tribe not named on this map from what we now know as Cumbria.