Teesside, located in the North East of England is like a
museum showcasing the rise and fall of the industrial
revolution.
Already brutally sculpted over millennia by the relentless
assault of the North Sea and mother nature, the landscape
came under attack again during the 18th century, this time
at the hand of man following the discovery of ironstone,
the raw material needed to feed the fiery furnace of a
revolution in full swing. An arterial network of railroads
brought in workers from all parts of the country, and as
soon as they arrived they began to chip away at the edges
of a once rural society.
Although the furnace fires are now being extinguished and
mother nature has commenced the process of reclaiming what
she had only loaned, there are wounds to both landscape and
society that may be too deep to fully heal.