AN exhibition of photographs chronicling the social history of central Stockton has opened at the town's Green Dragon Museum.

Norton Road is the culmination of years of work by photographer Andy Elliott, who spent much of the late 1990s documenting the area around Norton Road and Stockton town centre.

He said yesterday: "As I started doing this, I realised you can't sum up a town with a single picture. You have to write a story with lots of pictures.

"This collection includes people at work, at home, in the pub, in a set of pictures which show how people of all ages relate to the buildings and structures of the town."

The photographs take museum visitors on a journey from Tilery along Norton Road, Church Road and on to where the old incinerator stood, before returning through the town centre to the starting point.

With the regeneration of Stockton town centre, many of the buildings pictured are no longer there, with some areas having altered beyond recognition.

Mr Elliott said: "The photographs in this exhibition provide a record of a point in time in Stockton's history, but everyone who has lived in, or visited, the town will have their own stories to tell and their own memories of the buildings and environment.

"I hope the photographs will spark people's memories and imaginations so they can record their own tales of the town, leaving us with a written record which will become part of Stockton's history."

The event runs until Thursday, October 21.

The museum is open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday. Admission is free