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IRON working has a long history in our area, extending back to Roman times when small scale smelting took place, using local deposits in North Yorkshire. It continued in medieval times with iron working at Rievaulx and Whitby Abbeys as well as at Guisborough Priory in the 17th century.
But it really came in to its own once Middlesbrough had been founded in the early 19th century and iron deposits were discovered locally, which prompted Bolckow and Vaughan to open their first iron works in 1841.
By 1855 there were 30 blast furnaces along the banks of the Tees.
This had increased to 100 by 1875 when industrial giant Dorman Long was founded, producing two million tons of iron per annum.
By 1879 iron was making way for new technology of steel production and the first integrated steel works were opened in 1902 at Cargo Fleet.
Dorman Long snapped up many of its smaller rivals and in 1929 merged with the Bolckow Vaughan company.
And in 1930 the Teesside Bridge and Engineering Works Ltd was taken under...