Ever wanted to have a picnic with a T-Rex? You might not be able to do it with a real one, but you can spend a sunny day with steel replicas at Teesaurus Park, located in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire.
Built in 1979 in the Riverside Park estate, Teesaurus park began life as an entry into the “Art to Landscape” competition, ran by The Sunday Times and the Arts Council. Commissioned by Middlesbrough Council, sculptor Genevieve Glatt and Harts of Stockton first created the life-sized Teesaurus for £16,000, before the steel dinosaur became a mother to two additional baby triceratops.
As the years went on, more sculptures were added to the metal family, including a T-Rex, stegosaurus, and a woolly-less mammoth, which this park apparently considers to be enough of a dinosaur to be included.
There are eight sculptures total, and each sculpture is size-accurate, meaning that many will tower above you, with some reaching up to nearly twenty feet! They also come with individual information signs that tell you a bit about the animal.
The park itself is small but it does offer some lovely local wildlife and flora, and it’s also connected to nature trails that can keep you occupied for a good half hour or more. It was fairly peaceful on the day I went, and I mainly saw kids and families playing with the sculptures and the play area that the park also has. There’s also an interactive trail you can also follow on your phone by scanning the QR code located on the park’s sign by the entrance.
Though it may still be standing today, the park has battled its own extinction in the past, such as in 2014 when the city council scrapped plans to sell the land, and more recently in 2024 when a petition was started to combat another plan of relocating the park to make way for a traveller’s site. More positive changes have also been proposed, such as in 2021 when the then-current mayor of Middlesbrough revealed a £25,000 budget to improve the park (though these plans seemed to have fallen through, as the only addition I spotted was the zip-line in the play park area).
Overall, Teesaurus Park is a lovely little space to stretch your legs and soak up this summer sun, while finding some unusually prehistoric statues to keep you company. It’s clear that the locals have grown fond of Teesaurus Park and its metal inhabitants, and there seems to be no sign of it going away anytime soon.
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