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.
David Watson’s new online exhibition Raw Town is now open, view it here
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.
Read a history of The Black Path here https://teessidepsychogeography.wordpress.com/2020/05/05/the-black-path-8/
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.
The Smell of Water 
