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Teesdale is a dale, or valley, located principally in County Durham, North East England. It is one of the Durham Dales, which are themselves part of the North Pennines, the northernmost part of the Pennines uplands.
The dale is named after its principal river, the River Tees, which has its source below Cross Fell () in Cumbria. The upper dale is remote and high, but becomes gentler after it enters County Durham shortly downstream. The dale follows the river's south-easterly course to Barnard Castle, at which point the landscape begins to flatten into the Tees Lowlands. The Cumbrian part of Teesdale was historically divided between Cumberland and Westmorland, and the County Durham area between the former and Yorkshire.
Large parts of Teesdale are within the North Pennines national landscape, and Upper Teesdale has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Parts of the local climate have been scientifically classified as "Sub-Arctic", and snow has sometimes lain on Cross Fell into June.
Economic deposits in Llandovery Group rocks include soft shales that were previously worked to be used as slate pencils.
More recently, Ice Age glacial activity shaped the valley, and much of the pre-glacial river course is now buried beneath glacial drift.
Part of Upper Teesdale near the Cow Green Reservoir is designated a National Nature Reserve; it contains the unique Teesdale Violet and the blue Spring Gentian as well as more common Pennine flowers such as rockrose, spring sandwort, mountain pansy, bird's-eye primrose and butterwort. Hay meadows in the valley above High Force, some now carefully cultivated to ensure this, contain an extremely rich variety of flowering plants including globe flower, wood cranesbill and Early Purple Orchid. On the south bank of the Tees near High Force can be seen the largest surviving juniper wood in England.
| +Places by the River Tees ! North ! South | |
| Source then Middleton-in-Teesdale | N/a |
| Eggleston | Cotherstone |
| Barnard Castle | Startforth |
| Whorlton | Ovington |
| Winston and Gainford | N/a |
| Piercebridge | |
| High Coniscliffe, Merrybent and Low Coniscliffe | Cleasby |
| Darlington | Stapleton |
| Hurworth-on-Tees and Neasham | Croft-on-Tees and Dalton-on-Tees |
| Middleton One Row | Over Dinsdale |
| Aislaby | Low Worsall |
| Egglescliffe | Yarm |
| Preston-on-Tees | Ingleby Barwick |
| Stockton-on-Tees (Bowesfield, town centre and Portrack) | Thornaby |
| Haverton Hill and Port Clarence | Middlesbrough (Old Middlesbrough and North Ormesby) |
| N/a | South Bank then the mouth |
Both dales gave their names to the former Teesdale district and Weardale district of western County Durham. The south is within the historic county boundaries of the North Riding of Yorkshire, Startforth Rural District, it was transferred to ceremonial County Durham on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972. West Teesdale lies within the parliamentary constituency of Bishop Auckland (County Durham).
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