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
Steelmaking
Adventurous Play: Experiencing the post industrial landscape of Redcar Blast Furnace
Royal Institute of British Architects Presidents Medals 2016
Part 2 Project 2016
Hollie Welch
Northumbria University | UK
Unlike many industrial relics, the Redcar Blast Furnace has a positive association with the local population, and stands as a monument to industrial Teesside which should not be lost following closure and decommissioning.
By repurposing the site through the provision of a climbing hub and offshore survival training facility, the Blast Furnace presents exciting opportunities to develop the offshore industry sector emerging in the area and to celebrate local heritage.
Hollie Welch
23 – The Black Path
Read a history of The Black Path here https://teessidepsychogeography.wordpress.com/2020/05/05/the-black-path-8/
Clay Lane Blast Furnaces
During the 1970s, the train ride home from a day out in Redcar passed between the three blast furnaces and the coke ovens at South Bank. It was a hellish vision, fire, smoke and steam, sparks flying everywhere, the smell of sulphur and benzene with the occasional glimpse of men emerging from the murk. I loved it.
I took these photographs in the late 1980’s during the demolition of the blast furnaces.
Teesside Steel – The Final Years
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.
Viva Talbot
Bran Sands
Ephemera
Think on..
The current government had an opportunity to save the blast furnace
they chose not to take it.
Unemployment across the Tees Valley is double the national average at 3.9%. The number of jobless youth is higher, at 5.2%, compared with the national average of 2.3%. And Middlesbrough has more deprived areas than any other local authority in the country, with almost half of its 42 neighbourhoods among the poorest 10% nationally. Source
REGISTER
Sinter
MIMA Exhibition -Teesside World Exposition of Art and Technology
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
David Gentleman 1982 MIMA
Norman Appleton 2012 MIMA
The Smell of Water 