CERAMIC poppies from the Tower of London will be planted near a new memorial on the centenary of the bombardment of Hartlepool.

The anniversary of the bombardment, which left 130 people dead after the German Navy fired more than 1,000 shells at the town, will be marked with a day of events next Tuesday, December 16.

Poppies from the recent Tower of London display - one for each of the town's victims - will be planted alongside 130 wooden crosses.

More than 500 were wounded when German warships rained shells on Hartlepool just after 8am on December 16 1914. Shells were also fired at Scarborough, killing 18 people, and Whitby, killing two.

The Headland's Heugh Gun Battery in Hartlepool returned fire in what was the only battle to be fought on British soil during World War One, and one of the Battery's soldiers, Theo Jones of the Durham Light Infantry, was believed to be the first British soldier killed by enemy action on home ground in the war.

Next Tuesday Hartlepool will pay tribute to those lost in a series of events.

The highlight will be the unveiling of a new Bombardment Memorial on land near the Headland lighthouse.

Wreaths will be laid on the memorial and the names of the 130 victims will be read out before pupils from St Aidan's Primary School - where Theo Jones was a teacher - will plant the 130 ceramic poppies.

Later in the day the poppies will be moved to the Museum of Hartlepool, where they will go on display the next day in the bombardment exhibition.

In the evening, Hartlepool is hosting an outdoor theatre performance in Headland Town Square from 6pm, called "Homecoming" a specially-commissioned play to tell local people's stories about the First World War.

Hartlepool’s Ceremonial Mayor Stephen Akers-Belcher said: “One hundred years to the day, the Hartlepool community is coming together to remember those who died and to unveil a lasting memorial to their memory."

Tug Wilson, chairman of the Hartlepool Combined Ex-Service Association, said: “In presenting our standards at the new memorial we will proudly honour the memory of all those so tragically killed on that fateful day in December 1914.”

In Scarborough, the bombardment will be marked by the early-morning launch of a maroon from Scarborough Castle to simulate the beginning of the attack, and a candlelit vigil will be held in Whitby.

*The Hartlepool Headland Local History will launch their its publication, "The Bombardment of the Hartlepools...Then and Now" at the Hartlepool College of Further Education on Tuesday, December 16.