I’ve been digging through some of my old images of the South Bank Coke Ovens. I took these around 2015. At the time it barely crossed my mind that within a decade the whole industry would be reduced to rubble.
The conservative government had an opportunity to save the industry and made the deliberate decision not to do so. The conservative mayor who vowed to bring steelmaking back to Teesside has also informed us that ‘a Tsunami’ of jobs are on the way.
Every metropolis
from
Came from
Ironopolis
IRONOPOLIS by Ian Horn
Prompted by a recent visit to the South Gare and seeing the state of the Redcar Blast Furnace, I began to reflect on how this came about and how we failed to grasp an opportunity to create a unique statement in the landscape that celebrates the area and our iron steel making history.
Background
During the past decade, UK and European steelmakers began to fail as they could not compete with the cheaper, imported steel that was flooding the market. A number of EU countries intervened to protect what they viewed as a strategic industry, others chose to allow market forces to run their course.
Steelmaking on Teesside ceased in 2015. The current government was asked to intervene, they chose not to. Steelmaking on Teesside was allowed to fail, the cause of the failure was blamed on falling steel prices due to cheap imported steel flooding European markets.
Over the past 30 years the skylines of many of many British cities and towns have been changed beyond recognition. If you consider that pretty much every new building, bridge, railway, underground network, football stadium, shopping center, and industrial development uses large quantities of steel in their construction, the majority of this steel is imported. Successive governments have failed to provide incentives that would allow developers to source their materials from the domestic market e.g. the Riverside Stadium, home of Middlesbrough FC, was built within sight of the steelworks. The stadium was constructed using German steel.
The Opportunity
With the loss of the steel industry, planning for the redevelopment of the massive steelworks site commenced. We had an opportunity to not only redevelop the site for new industries but also create a new landscape which could benefit the community both economically and culturally and contain at least one genuinely iconic monument to the workers and industry that gave birth to modern Middlesbrough and sustained many of the area’s communities.
In 2017, The South Tees Development Corporation was formed under the leadership of Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen. Following consultations, a master plan was formulated and in November 2019 a revised version was issued. The plan provided details of the redevelopment of the Redcar Steelworks site and included an Open Space and Landscape Strategy which detailed items such the soft and hard landscaping of the site and ‘iconic architectural features’. The plan identified ‘a key opportunity to develop a strong heritage theme within the overall fabric of the developed business park’.
DORMAN LONG TOWER AT SOUTH BANK
This is a local landmark structure that could be retained and adapted for uses such as a viewing platform, climbing/abseiling wall, etc. integrated into the heritage trail given its location near to the Teesdale way/Black Path. The plan would be that the tower be illuminated at night to provide a striking symbol of the area’s iron and steel making heritage at the southern end of the newly established business park.SOUTH BANK COKE OVENS BATTERY
This structure lies along a boundary line of the South Industrial Zone, close to the Teesdale Way/Black Path and it could be retained without impinging on prime development land. The Battery is an impressive example of industrial architecture. There are several examples around the world of coke ovens structures being preserved and made safe as large-scale industrial heritage and visitor attractions, that can be explored by the introduction of stairways and walkways.REDCAR BLAST FURNACE
Source
In many respects the most notable feature of any integrated iron and steel works, whether operational or non-operational, a blast furnace is an impressive example of industrial architecture at its best. Located at the northern end of the development, at the boundary between the North Industrial Zone and Coastal Community Zone Redcar Blast Furnace is ideally situated for preservation as a major landmark and visitor attraction.
The plan was well-received locally, it promised much needed development and jobs whilst also acknowledging a desire to retain and repurpose important elements of our steelmaking heritage in a way that would enhance the local environment and attract visitors to the former steelworks site. This approach was supported by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and was documented in their 2018 Local Plan.
Other people and organisations offered alternative visions of the redevelopment of the site. Artist, Len Tabner’s vision of the site, Hollie Welch’s vision of the Blast Furnace.
The Reality
Ben Houchen was re-elected as Mayor and the clearing and decontamination of the former steelworks site commenced under the banner of Teesworks. In September 2020 the Mayor formed the Teesworks Heritage Committee. The independent committee was co-chaired by Redcar MP Jacob Young and Kate Willard OBE, members were John Baker, Tosh Warwick and Laura Case, Head of Culture & Tourism, representing Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.
In January 2021 the committee recommended the following:
That the Blast Furnace be dismantled. They further recommend that a plan is put in place to identify and record what materials and artefacts of industrial architecture from the Blast Furnace should be salvaged to create one or more Blast Furnace memorials or displays on the Teesworks site and/or at other locations, but not at the current location of the Blast Furnace.
Source
Further, the Taskforce recommends that work on assessing the future of the Dorman Long coal bunker aka ‘Dorman Long Tower’ at South Bank as a potential retained built asset on the site be continued.
The Committee made no reference to the STDC 2019 Master Plan and its bold vision.
During 2021 The Coke Ovens were demolished and the Dorman Long Tower was deemed to be uneconomic and not worth saving. A grass-roots campaign to save the tower was launched and gained national attention. Teesworks Heritage Committee co-chairman Jacob Young MP started an online petition to save the tower but later changed his mind stating that it would be too costly to save and maintain.
In a last-ditch effort to save the Dorman Long Tower, Historic England granted Grade II listing status to the building.
Historic England’s reason for listing
Architectural interest:
- It’s a recognised and celebrated example of early Brutalist architecture, a fine example of austere design that simply, yet wholeheartedly expresses its function.
- It’s a deliberate monumental architectural statement of confidence by the then newly denationalised Dorman Long company in the mid-1950s.
- It’s a rare (considered to be nationally unique) surviving structure from the 20th-century coal, iron and steel industries.
- It’s a design which is above the purely functional which also cleverly combines control-room, storage and firefighting functions for a state-of-the-art coking plant.
Historic interest:
Source
- For its association with, and an advert for, Dorman Long which dominated the steel and heavy engineering industry of Teesside for most of the 20th century, a leading firm nationally with an international reputation, for example building the Sydney Harbour Bridge
In Sept 2021, as one of her first acts in the role, the New Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, revoked the listing on the grounds that the structure did not “merit” listing and the building was hastily demolished. Teesworks Heritage Committee co-chairman Jacob Young MP asked for the lettering on the side of the tower to be saved for posterity, the lettering was destroyed during the demolition of the tower. The demolition of the Redcar Blast Furnace, BOS plant and other parts of the steelworks site is currently ongoing.
The Mayor’s Electoral Pledge
During the Tees Valley Mayoral election of 2020 Ben Houchen also made the following pledge
“Not only am I pledging to bring steelmaking back to Teesside if re-elected in May, but I’m already working on how we can do this. “I’ve already had early discussions with a number of organisations to bring steelmaking back to Teesside. “We’ve developed a plan and I’ve identified a huge opportunity. “Millions of tonnes of steel could be produced on Teesside and be internationally competitive.
Source
This pre-election pledge earned Mayor Houchen a lot of support. Following the election there has been little or no mention of steelmaking returning to Teesside. Quite the opposite, in Sept 2022 Mayor Houchen celebrated the first import into his flagship freeport, a consignment of steel, the Mayor described this as “just the tip of the iceberg” source
Teesside and the surrounding areas badly need new investment and jobs, we have a the highest poverty rates in the UK (overall Teesside rates rates 25%, overall Teesside child poverty 37%, child poverty in Middlesbrough 48%). As well as economic improvement we also deserve to live in a decent built environment. The redevelopment of the steelworks site could have helped to meet both of these needs, especially for the communities who have lived in the shadow of the steelworks.
I’m aware that there was a strong local voice to completely flatten the steelworks and ‘have done with it’. This is understandable, the production of iron and steel is a dirty, polluting process and people naturally wanted to move on. However, much of the opposition was also driven by the mayors ‘either/or’ approach. Whenever the issue was raised, the mayor would brand any opposition as ‘anti-progress’ and ‘activists’. He would state that the repurposing of the iconic structures was unaffordable and, despite their relatively small footprint and peripheral locations, would threaten the building of new factories on the vast 7 square mile site.
My personal opinion is that by deliberately choosing not to take the opportunities to create something unique on Teesside, our local and national politicians, fully supported by local heritage committee members, have failed us and future generations.
Ironopolis
a collection of objects
divorced from context
a digital archive
a name on a plaque.
Articles
Demolishing our past is vandalism in the name of regeneration – Jonathan Meades
C20 Director on the demolition of the Dorman Long tower
The bigger the lie: Houchen’s alternative facts about the Dorman Long Tower
Listing of Dorman Long tower was a ‘farce’, Teesside mayor says
BEN HOUCHEN, DYNAMITE DORRIES & THE DORMAN LONG TOWER- A Cautionary Tale
Teesside enjoys its Palmyra moment, as Redcar Blast Furnace is Torn Down
Mark Lawton very kindly sent me a scan of a book that he’d recently found. It’s a lovely snapshot from 1974 of the South Teesside Works when it employed 16,000 people.
You can download the whole book using the link at the bottom of the page
I’m selling some lovely t-shirts. They were designed by Carl Mole and Oli Heffernan and feature the ‘Dorman Long Tower’ at South Bank, a landmark on the Teesside skyline. The tower was built during the 1950’s to store and supply coal to the South Bank coke ovens.
Designed by Carl Mole
Designed by Oli Heffernan
T-shirts available in 2 colours Grey/White
Sizes S, M, L & XL
Price £15 plus P&P
100% of profits will be donated to the Trussell Trust
email smellofblackpath@gmail.com stating design, colour & size
The Artists
Graham made the film during a recent walk that we took along the path. He filmed it using a 1930’s Ensign Auto Kinecam and expired Ilford FP4 Plus film which he processed himself.
The original soundtrack was created by Greg Marshall, the film was scanned by James Holcombe.
The Black Path is a track that follows, for much of its route, the Middlesbrough to Redcar railway line. The final sections run across Warrenby Marsh and then along the South Gare to the river mouth. It also makes up the final stretch of the Teesdale Way, a long distance footpath that follows the River Tees from its source on Cross Fell to the sea. Although it is now seen as a leisure path it has a legacy that may predate the formation of England itself.
The modern path starts just behind the Navigation Pub in Middlesbrough and runs to the mouth of the River Tees. The original path started at the ancient river crossing at Newport and followed the southern bank of the Tees to the river mouth at Tod Point. It is a route that has tracked a boundary between a number of ancient territories, the earliest of which may have been that of the Celtic Briton kingdom of Gododdin or Hen Ogledd, a name which means ‘the old north’.
In the late 5th century it followed the boundary between of the Anglian Kingdom of Deira to the south and the rival Kingdom of Bernicia to the north. These two territories were later combined to form the Kingdom of Northumbria.
Later, the Vikings founded the Kingdom of York, which stretched from the Humber to the Tees, so the paths route once again followed a significant north eastern boundary. The final ruler of the Kingdom of York was the wonderfully named Eric Bloodaxe, a Viking who could claim to have been the last true king of the North. The Kingdom of York gradually became the county of Yorkshire and the path marked the final land section of the counties north-eastern corner.
Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the north resisted the rule of the conqueror, prompting the new king and his Norman army to ride north to suppress the rebellion. Tradition has it that the English rebels had a camp of refuge on Coatham Marshes. If this is true, the path may well have been the route that the rebels used to escape from the Conqueror when he and his army rode into the district in an unsuccessful attempt to wipe out the rebels. This northern rebellion against king William would eventually lead to the Normans laying waste to much of the North during the infamous ‘Harrying of the North’.
From the Medieval period onwards the path was used by sailors and merchants to travel to and from ships at the ports of Coatham, Dabholm, Cargo Fleet and Newport, the path then became known as The Sailors Trod. This name appears in the early histories and on maps of the new town of Middlesbrough.
During the industrial age, the railway was laid along the route of the track and the path was used by workers as a convenient route to the many industrial sites that had grown up along the river bank. This is when it became known as the Black Path, named for the industrial grime that lined the route.
As well of being used to move goods between the works along the river, the railway was utilised, along with boats and barges, to transport the materials being used to reclaim the land along the river bank, the reclamation of the land, coupled retaining walls being built along the river, resulted in the river bank moving further away from the route of the path.
I have walked the path many times and have recently noted the re-wilding of the area, I have seen foxes and hares along the path. The slag surrounding the path has decomposed to form lime-rich soils which support a variety plants that you cannot find anywhere else in our area, their seeds were carried through the narrow corridor by trains arriving with cargoes of limestone which was used as a flux in iron production.
Today the path is only used for leisure purposes. I believe that, as it winds its way through the industrial hinterlands of Teesside, it is probably one of the most interesting and dramatic public footpaths in the country. If you have never walked the path I suggest you give it a go, it provides a wonderful insight into our industrial heritage and takes you to places that you cannot reach by any other means.
Paintings –
The Black Path by Bob Mitchell. 2016
Coke Oven Triptych by Kirsty O’Brien. Painted as the Clay Lane Coke Ovens were closing in 2016
Maps
Northumbria Map Attribution – A compiled visualization from various public sources, CC BY-SA 3.0, link
England Map Attribution – link
Other Maps – Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
Teesside’s steel industry was born in the 1850’s and died in October 2015. Steelworker Mike Guess took it upon himself to record the final few years of iron and steel making on Teesside. ..the mothball, restart and eventual closing of iron and steelmaking on Teesside was something that I was not going to fail to record. It was almost an obligation to future generations..
As well as Mike’s beautiful book there is currently a new exhibition, Steel Stories at the Kirkleatham Museum.
Teesside World Exposition of Art and Technology is an urgent reaction to the recent closure of Redcar’s steelworks and a bid to make a positive contribution to the future of industry in the North East region.
Capturing the industrial character of Teesside, the exhibition shows how it has formed, from the extraction of raw materials to production, as well as the import/export of goods.
The gallery features the activity of various regional companies alongside a makerspace, archival material drawn from Teesside Archives, the Central Library and the Dorman Museum, and works from artists such as Aikaterini Gegisian, Adrián Melis, David Mulholland, David Watson, Eva Fàbregas, Farid Rasulov, Goldin+Senneby, Hackney Flashers, Mikhail Karikis, MVRD, Norman Appleton, Philip Boville and Len Tabner.
Teesside has always been defined by its industry and has history of making. The eminent past and economic future of the area is explored through historical documents and artefacts, contrasted with a showcase of new industrial technology and works by artists who have portrayed Teesside’s steelworks.
The Exhibition runs until the 9th of October
High and dry in twenty ten. The options roll out but none appeal. he needs his son to feel alive
Seven Pounds of Hope and Five Ounces of Fear by Ray Lonsdale
They may be men of steel but they are men with loves, responsibilities and nowhere to go. They are men who make things…things that have built countries.
Wipe Clean with a Soft Cloth by Ray Lonsdale
No more smoke, dirt, noise or ugly views and peaceful in the job centre queues.
An Arm Full of Sharp Things by Ray Lonsdale
The Smell of Water 
