iron_indepth

Until about 130 years ago the riverbank was a salt marsh with its surface level some 6 metres lower than at present. The Middlesbrough Improvement and Extension Act of 1866 was introduced for the purpose of encouraging industry and the ’West Marsh’ as it was called then, was incorporated into the new town of Middlesbrough. The Ironmasters’ District became one of the three major concentrations of iron making plant on the banks of the River Tees, along with Grangetown and Port Clarence.

The lronmasters’ District was the birthplace of modern Middlesbrough, created by outstanding personalities such as John Gjers (Ayresome Ironworks) and Bernhard Samuelson (Britannia and Newport Ironworks). Like all the Ironmasters they were in-comers - Gjers came from Sweden in 1851 and Samuelson from Liverpool.

Skilled workers arrived from older iron-making districts such as South Wales, Staffordshire and Shropshire. Labourers who handled pig iron and slag came from farming areas such as Yorkshire, East Anglia and Ireland. One can barely begin to imagine the dramatic contrast that awaited these rural families when suddenly transplanted into the noisy, crowded streets of the Cannon Street area, across the railway bridge from the lronmasters’ District.

In the late 1970s, a reclamation scheme began to encourage new investment to the Ironmaster’s District. Many of the existing industrial features were demolished and all that remains in many areas are large patches of rubble and building foundations.

Despite clearance, a number of features of interest are still to be seen in the area. These include parts of two of the blast furnaces from the former Newport Ironworks, the empty Middlesbrough Dock, Jetties and wharves alongside the river, 19th century buildings near Dock Street and the newest addition to the area, the Riverside Stadium, which was completed in 1995.

Map Reference NZ 480 200 and NZ 480 210.

Iron Masters District