A dramatic view of the river Tees and the County Bridge with Barnard Castle in the background. Most of the buildings fronting the river were demolished in the 1950s, since those which were inhabited had been heavily overcrowded with poor sanitation. The photograph serves to demonstrate the extent of manufacturing industry which had existed in the town in Victorian times, and though this now seems a rather picturesque image, it belies the squalor and deprivation which lay behind the romantically reflected facades.