Cleveland was one of the new non-metropolitan counties created by the English local government reforms of 1972. It straddled the border of the river Tees between Yorkshire and Co. Durham. Middlesbrough and Stockton had been united in Teesside county borough (1968-74), and the town of Hartlepool, and the Yorkshire districts adjacent to Middlesbrough, were added to form Cleveland county. Many people in these areas failed to identify with it and in 1996 the county was abolished.

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