| AdminHistory | The Willington ship repair yard opened in 1835. In 1852 the yard was bought by Thomas Anderson of Dundee whose son William created the Willington Patent Slipway Company in 1864. In 1866 William Cleland, former manager of Palmer's Shipbuilding Company, Jarrow, bought the business, which in 1869 was described as 'the best in the north of England'. In 1890 William Cleland and Company Ltd became Clelands Graving Dock and Slipway Co Ltd. In 1920 it was renamed Clelands (Repairers) Ltd.
The economic recession of the late 1920s brought severe problems for the company which was saved from closure in 1934 by Harold Craggs, owner of the Goole Shipbuilding Co Ltd, who bought the yard and promoted shipbuilding at Willington. Under the Craggs family Clelands (Successors) Ltd competed favourably with similar sized yards in Britain building small ships and achieved a reputation for keen prices and on time delivery.
In 1967 the company was taken over by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson. In 1977 Swan Hunter was nationalised and Clelands became part of the Small Ships Division of British Shipbuilders. The yard closed in 1984. |