Some History:
Metal production on Teesside goes back to the 1840s following the discovery of iron ore in the Cleveland Hills. The first ironstone mine opened in 1837 while the first ironworks was opened by Bolckow, Vaughn and Co in 1841. Only ten years later about 60 puddling furnaces were operating in the surroundings of Middlesborough. Around that time, Arthur John Dorman, the son of a Kentish tanning yard owner, relocated to Teeside to serve as an apprentice in one of the local ironworks. Over time he rose to the position of assistant manager and in 1876, having become a metal broker, he partnered with the financier Albert de Lande Long, to acquired the West Marsh Ironworks at Middlesbrough, consisting of about 20 puddling furnaces and three rolling mills. This deal marked the beginning of the "Dorman Long and Co. Ltd.". Burgeoning trade let to the acquisition in 1879 of the Britannia Works from Bernhard Samuelson which increased the number of puddling furnaces operated by Dorman Long to about 120. Shortly afterwards, the firm switched to new steelmaking technologies, such as the open-hearth furnaces and the Bessemer converter which allowed the large scale production of steel. Over the years several other acquisitions followed and in 1902 they build the first fully integrated steelworks, involving conversion of iron ore to finished rolled steel shapes, at Cargo Fleet.
When World War One started in 1914, Dorman Long had 20,000 workers and were one of the dominant firms on Teeside and a major British steel producer. After becoming a major manufacturer of shells for the war effort they started to construct a £4.5m plant at Redcar, which opened in 1917. In addition they had also bought the Walker Maynard & Co steelworks at Redcar. By 1923 the Redcar steelworks covered 150 acres and employed 2500 people. At this stage Dorman and Long was easily the largest iron, steel and coal company in Britain. After WW1, Dorman Long further diversified and entered the bridge-building industry and won a raft of contracts to build what are now iconic bridges such as the Sidney Harbour Bridge (1923) and the Tyne Bridge (1928). In 1929, Dorman Long merged with the oldest steelmaker on Tesside, namely Bolckow Vaughan and Co to form the largest steel, iron and engineering business in the British Empire.
Over the next few decades the fortunes of Dorman Long slowly declined although by 1963 they were still the 38th largest steel producer in the world, employed around 25000 people and were responsible for about a quarter of the British structural steel output. In 1967, Dorman Long merged with South Durham and Stewarts and Loyds to form British Steel & Tube, which was the largest steel producer in Britain, and one of the largest steel manufacturers in the world, with an annual output of over five-million tons. British Steel & Tube was nationalised later that year under the name British Steel. It was under the auspices of British Steel that the site development of the existing steelworks at Redcar began in 1973. In 1979 the new blast furnace opens at Redcar. It was the second largest of its kind in Europe and Teesside's sole remaining blast furnace.
In 1988 British Steel was privatised to become the British Steel Plc. which merged in 1999 with the Dutch steel producer Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus Group, which, in turn, was bought by Tata Steel in 2007. Two years later Corus announced partial mothballing of the Teesside blast furnace, which resulted in approximately 2000 job losses. Another two years passed before the Redcar steelworks were purchased by Thai-based Sahaviriya Steek Industries (SSI). The $470 million acquisition was expected to create more than 800 jobs on top of the existing workforce of 700 and the plant was officially reopened 15 April 2012. However, due to poor steel trading conditions and a significant decline in steel prices production ceased and in September 2015 production ceased and the plant was mothballed. A month later SSI went into liquidation and as no new buyer could be found Redcar steelworks were closed for good.
Around 2019/2020 it was decided to demolish all the abandoned steelworks on Teeside. The Dorman-Long Tower at the Southbank Coke Works was blown up in September 2021, the batteries of the Coke works having almost entirely disappeared already. Demolition at all the other sites such as Redcar and Lackenby is progressing rapidly.
The Explore:
I visited the Redcar Coke Works with @Terminal Decline. The explore was straightforward enough, all we needed to do was to avoid the security vans that were circling around the site. Demolition crews (we visited on a Saturday) were on site but not operating near the coke works. Did not see a single motion detector or camera in the coke works. However, if you would like yo visit the Redcar steelworks you better hurry as parts of it are disappearing quite rapidly. I believe that they plan to raze the whole site to the ground within a year or so.
Hope you enjoy the pictures...
Thanks for looking...
Metal production on Teesside goes back to the 1840s following the discovery of iron ore in the Cleveland Hills. The first ironstone mine opened in 1837 while the first ironworks was opened by Bolckow, Vaughn and Co in 1841. Only ten years later about 60 puddling furnaces were operating in the surroundings of Middlesborough. Around that time, Arthur John Dorman, the son of a Kentish tanning yard owner, relocated to Teeside to serve as an apprentice in one of the local ironworks. Over time he rose to the position of assistant manager and in 1876, having become a metal broker, he partnered with the financier Albert de Lande Long, to acquired the West Marsh Ironworks at Middlesbrough, consisting of about 20 puddling furnaces and three rolling mills. This deal marked the beginning of the "Dorman Long and Co. Ltd.". Burgeoning trade let to the acquisition in 1879 of the Britannia Works from Bernhard Samuelson which increased the number of puddling furnaces operated by Dorman Long to about 120. Shortly afterwards, the firm switched to new steelmaking technologies, such as the open-hearth furnaces and the Bessemer converter which allowed the large scale production of steel. Over the years several other acquisitions followed and in 1902 they build the first fully integrated steelworks, involving conversion of iron ore to finished rolled steel shapes, at Cargo Fleet.
When World War One started in 1914, Dorman Long had 20,000 workers and were one of the dominant firms on Teeside and a major British steel producer. After becoming a major manufacturer of shells for the war effort they started to construct a £4.5m plant at Redcar, which opened in 1917. In addition they had also bought the Walker Maynard & Co steelworks at Redcar. By 1923 the Redcar steelworks covered 150 acres and employed 2500 people. At this stage Dorman and Long was easily the largest iron, steel and coal company in Britain. After WW1, Dorman Long further diversified and entered the bridge-building industry and won a raft of contracts to build what are now iconic bridges such as the Sidney Harbour Bridge (1923) and the Tyne Bridge (1928). In 1929, Dorman Long merged with the oldest steelmaker on Tesside, namely Bolckow Vaughan and Co to form the largest steel, iron and engineering business in the British Empire.
Over the next few decades the fortunes of Dorman Long slowly declined although by 1963 they were still the 38th largest steel producer in the world, employed around 25000 people and were responsible for about a quarter of the British structural steel output. In 1967, Dorman Long merged with South Durham and Stewarts and Loyds to form British Steel & Tube, which was the largest steel producer in Britain, and one of the largest steel manufacturers in the world, with an annual output of over five-million tons. British Steel & Tube was nationalised later that year under the name British Steel. It was under the auspices of British Steel that the site development of the existing steelworks at Redcar began in 1973. In 1979 the new blast furnace opens at Redcar. It was the second largest of its kind in Europe and Teesside's sole remaining blast furnace.
In 1988 British Steel was privatised to become the British Steel Plc. which merged in 1999 with the Dutch steel producer Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus Group, which, in turn, was bought by Tata Steel in 2007. Two years later Corus announced partial mothballing of the Teesside blast furnace, which resulted in approximately 2000 job losses. Another two years passed before the Redcar steelworks were purchased by Thai-based Sahaviriya Steek Industries (SSI). The $470 million acquisition was expected to create more than 800 jobs on top of the existing workforce of 700 and the plant was officially reopened 15 April 2012. However, due to poor steel trading conditions and a significant decline in steel prices production ceased and in September 2015 production ceased and the plant was mothballed. A month later SSI went into liquidation and as no new buyer could be found Redcar steelworks were closed for good.
Around 2019/2020 it was decided to demolish all the abandoned steelworks on Teeside. The Dorman-Long Tower at the Southbank Coke Works was blown up in September 2021, the batteries of the Coke works having almost entirely disappeared already. Demolition at all the other sites such as Redcar and Lackenby is progressing rapidly.
The Explore:
I visited the Redcar Coke Works with @Terminal Decline. The explore was straightforward enough, all we needed to do was to avoid the security vans that were circling around the site. Demolition crews (we visited on a Saturday) were on site but not operating near the coke works. Did not see a single motion detector or camera in the coke works. However, if you would like yo visit the Redcar steelworks you better hurry as parts of it are disappearing quite rapidly. I believe that they plan to raze the whole site to the ground within a year or so.
Hope you enjoy the pictures...
Thanks for looking...
:
