Most residents of Darlington will be aware of the more prominent historical sites such as the Head of Steam railway museum and the grand Victorian West Cemetery but there are many features around the town which are easily missed. This guide aims to help locals and visitors alike to find them.

Take the lift up to the 6th floor of the Memorial Hospital and you will be welcomed by one of Darlington's most elegant treasures. Carved in Rome from white marble the statue shows Thermuthis, the Pharaoh's daughter, as she discovered Moses, who she went on to adopt as her own son. Appropriately it stands at the entrance to the maternity and baby care units of the hospital.

It is a graceful, intimate piece, produced by an Italian master known for his sculptures of religious female figures. It was owned by Alfred Backhouse who built Pilmore Hall, now the Rockcliffe Hall hotel. Following the death of Alfred and his wife Rachel, and with no children of their own to inherit the estate, Elizabeth Barclay Backhouse presented the sculpture to Darlington Hospital in memory of the couple who had donated a substantial amount of time and money to the hospital. For many years the sculpture stood in the entrance to Greenbank Hospital which was built on the site of Alfred and Rachel's former home and became the town's maternity hospital. It still continues its long connection with child care in Darlington.

Once a common sight, the black poplar is a native British timber tree which enjoys wet habitat of stream sides and floodplains of lowland rivers. Following the introduction of other types of hybrid poplars for timber production, the native form went into swift decline, made more catastrophic by the introduction of better land drainage and more intense river management which destroyed much of the tree's natural habitat. Added to this, the black poplar is very particular about the conditions it needs to reproduce and even worse, most of the surviving trees are male.

A true hidden gem, today Darlington is one of the few places in England where black poplars survive. Until recently only a handful remained, with a single tree in a hedgerow at Whessoe, an avenue of trees in Middleton St. George, and a couple of trees beside the Baydale Beck (shown on the right) and also some near Whessoe Holme but a campaign began in 2002 to raise awareness of the plight of what had become the UK's most endangered native timber tree.

Hundreds of saplings were planted in the Tees Forest Community woodlands at Skerningham and near South Burdon and local folk singer Vin Garbut recorded a song dedicated to the plight of the black poplar to publicise the campaign.

While the young trees will take many years to mature it is hoped that Darlington will become a focal point for the resurgence of these magnificent trees.

The River Skerne originally flowed under the Ketton Packhorse Bridge, providing a crossing point on the ancient Salters Lane. Today the bridge stands high and dry, well away from the river, in open agricultural land.

It is a Grade II listed structure dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, made from sandstone. The bridge can be reached from Glebe Road by following the Ketton Country walk guide or from Barmpton Lane by following the Barmpton & The Skerne Valley walk guide, both produced by Darlington Borough Council.

If you have any suggestions that you consider to be among Darlington's hidden gems, please email history@aboutdarlington.co.uk.