Dorman Long
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Dorman Long | |
Industry | Manufacturing |
Founded | 1875 |
Headquarters | Middlesbrough, UK |
Products |
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Dorman Long & Co was a
History
The company was founded by
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Tyne_Bridges_01.jpg/300px-Tyne_Bridges_01.jpg)
In 1967 Dorman Long was
Iron and steel
Iron-making has been known in Cleveland since the Romans found iron slags in North Yorkshire, with small-scale iron-making known to have taken place at Rievaulx and Whitby Abbeys and at Gisborough Priory in the 17th century.[5]
Some of the key events connected with iron-making in Cleveland:
1837: The first
1841:
1850: 8 June – The Discovery of the Cleveland Main Seam of Ironstone at Eston by Ironmaster
1865: 30 blast furnaces operate within six miles (10 km) of Middlesbrough and one million tonnes per annum (TPA) of iron are produced to make the area one of the world's major centres of iron production.[9]
1879:
1903: Partial amalgamation of Bell companies with Dorman Long.[11]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/SydneyHarbourBridgeandOperaHouse_IB.jpg/300px-SydneyHarbourBridgeandOperaHouse_IB.jpg)
1917: The
1928-9: Dorman Long takes over residues of Bell and Bolckow Vaughan.[12][13]
1946: Dorman Long purchases 600 acres (2.4 km2) of land between the Redcar and Cleveland Works to build the Lackenby development.[14]
1955: The Dorman Long tower, a combined coal silo, firefighting water tower, and control room, was built on the Teesside steelworks site.[15]
1967: Dorman Long, South Durham Steel Iron Co, and Stewarts and Lloyds come together to create British Steel and Tube Ltd.[16]
1967: The steel industry is nationalised and the
1989: Company is privatised becoming
1990: Merged with The Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company, Darlington.[9]
1999: British Steel plc merges with the Dutch steel and aluminium company
2015: Former Dorman Long Steel plant on Teesside ceased production after SSI mothballed the Redcar works following a global downturn in the price of steel and later announced its UK arm had gone into liquidation.[20]
2021: Cleveland Bridge goes into administration.[21]
2021: The Dorman Long tower is demolished,[22] despite its Grade II listed status.[15][23]
Bridge building
The most famous bridge ever constructed by a Teesside company was Dorman Long's
List of bridges constructed
The following is a list of some of the bridges built by the Dorman Long: it is not fully comprehensive.
Bridge | Location | Year | Total length | Notes | Image | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ft |
m | ||||||
Omdurman Bridge | White Nile, Sudan | 1926 | 2,012 | 613 | 7 fixed spans, one swing span, 3,700 tons | ![]() |
[26] |
Desouk Bridge | Lower Nile, Egypt | 1927 | 2,010 | 610 | 10 spans including 194 feet (59 m) swing span, 3,800 tons | ![]() |
[27] |
Tyne Bridge | Newcastle, England | 1928 | 1,254 | 382 | Approximately 8,000 tons, (Road) | ![]() |
[28] |
Alfred Beit Bridge | South Africa | 1929 | 1,515 | 462 | 1,876 tons | ![]() |
[29] |
Sydney Harbour Bridge | Sydney, Australia | 1932 | 3,770 | 1,150 | Total weight of fabricated steelwork 51,000, weight of steel in the arch 38,000 tons | ![]() |
[24] |
Grafton Bridge
|
Grafton, NSW, Australia | 1932 | 1,309 | 399 | It is a dual level road and rail Bascule Bridge , the upper deck carrying a roadway and the lower level carrying the rail line and foot bridge.
|
![]() |
[30] |
Lambeth Bridge | London, England | 1932 | 776 | 237 | 5 spans, 4,620 tons, (Road) | ![]() |
[31] |
Memorial Bridge, Bangkok
|
Thailand | 1932 | 755 | 230 | 1,100 tons, (Road) | ![]() |
[32] |
Khedive Ismail Bridge
|
Cairo, Egypt | 1933 | 1,250 | 380 | 3,000 tons | [33] | |
Newport bridge | Middlesbrough | 1934 | 270 | 82 | The central lifting span 66 feet (20 m) wide, weighing 5,400 long tons (5,500 t); the towers are 182 feet (55 m) high. The total weight is 8,000 tons. | ![]() |
[34] |
Birchenough Bridge | Zimbabwe | 1935 | 1,241 | 378 | 1,242 tons. | ![]() |
[35] |
Storstrøm Bridge | Denmark | 1937 | 10,535 | 3,211 | 21,000 tons, (Railway and Road) | ![]() |
[36] |
Chien Tang River Bridge
|
China | 1937 | 3,480 | 1,060 | 16 equal spans, 4,135 tons, (Railway and Road) | ![]() |
[37] |
Adomi Bridge (originally Volta Bridge) | Atimpoku, Ghana | 1957 | 1,096 | 334 | arch bridge with roadway suspended from arch | [38] | |
Silver Jubilee Bridge | Runcorn and Widnes, England | 1961 | 1,582 | 482 | Road | ![]() |
[39] |
Dorman Museum
In 1904 Sir
Dorman Long Tower
The Dorman Long tower was built from 1955 to 1956 as a coking plant for steel production.[15] The tower was an early example of brutalist architecture.[41] It was scheduled to be demolished in 2021 due its poor state of repair[23] and granted Grade II listed status, in an emergency listing by Historic England on 10 September 2021.[15] The emergency listing cited its significance as a "recognised and celebrated example of early Brutalist architecture", a "nationally unique surviving structure from the twentieth-century coal, iron and steel industries" as well as "for its association with, and an advert for, Dorman Long which dominated the steel and heavy engineering industry of Teesside".[15]
In one of her first acts as Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries revoked the listing – amidst accusations of "cultural vandalism" – enabling demolition of the building to be scheduled.[42] The tower was demolished between 00:00 and 00:20 on 19 September 2021 in a series of controlled explosions.[43]
References
- ^ "North East England History Pages". talktalk.net. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
- ISBN 9780674087255.
- ISBN 9780674789951. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
- ^ Cleveland Bridge history Archived 3 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "History of Gisborough Priory". English Heritage. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
- ^ Tees Valley RIGS Group (2010). "Tees Valley RIGS group: Ironstone". Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
- ^ Simpson, David (2009). "Iron Industry of North East England". Iron Age. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
- ISSN 1753-7843.
- ^ a b c "Dorman Long: The Teesside firm that bridged the world". BBC. 3 October 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
- ISBN 978-3319645407.
- ^ Chandler, Alfred Dupont (1994). Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism. Harvard University Press. p. 328.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48057. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ "The Sydney Morning Herald". British Steel Merger: Dorman, Long and South Durham. 9 May 1933. p. 11. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
- ^ "Lackenby". The Civil Engineer. 1954. p. 399.
In 1946, the whole of the land between the Cleveland and Redcar Works, an area of 680 acres, known as the Lackenby site, was purchased by Dorman Long.
- ^ a b c d e Historic England. "Dorman Long Tower (1477999)". National Heritage List for England. Archived from the original on 13 September 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
- ^ "Dorman Long and Company Limited Collection". National Archives. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
- ISBN 9783110105179. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
- ^ "Timeline: the turbulent life of British Steel". Financial Times. 11 November 2019. Archived from the original on 12 December 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
- ^ "British Steel merges with Dutch rival". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 7 June 1999. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
- ^ Macalister, Terry (2 October 2015). "Redcar steelworks owner goes into liquidation threatening all 2,200 jobs". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
- ^ Whitfield, Graeme (22 July 2021). "Cleveland Bridge goes into administration with 300 jobs at risk". TeessideLive. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
- ^ "Early morning explosion to demolish Dorman Long Tower takes place". Northern Echo. 19 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ a b Blackburne, Elaine (11 September 2021). "Dorman Long tower made listed building in last ditch move". TeessideLive. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
- ^ a b Department of Environment and Heritage, Australian Government. "Draft nomination for Sydney Harbour Bridge" (PDF). National Heritage List: Nomination Form. Engineers Australia. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- ^ Rennison, R. W. (1996). Civil Engineering Heritage: Northern England. Thomas Telford Publishing. p. 91.
- ^ Structurae database
- ^ The Dessouk Railway Bridge Over the Nile. A Description of the Bridge and of the Construction Methods Adopted. Published by Dorman Long & Company Ltd
- ^ "Dorman Long Historical Information". dormanlongtechnology.com. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
- ^ Bridging the Limpopo The Brisbane Courier, 18 June 1928
- ^ "Grafton Bridge – two tenders received – Dorman Long & Co. Ltd the lower". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 June 1926. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ^ "Lambeth Bridge". Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- ^ Bridges: A few examples of the work of a pioneer firm, published by Dorman, Long, 1930
- ^ "A bridge misunderstood". Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- ^ Richards, James M. (1984). The National Trust Book of Bridges. Butler & Tanner Ltd. p. 177.
- ^ "Rhodesian Heritage". Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- ^ "Guy Maunsell". Engineering Times. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- ^ "Chien Tang River Bridge". BFI database. Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- . Retrieved 2 August 2020.
- ^ "Runcorn Bridge". Engineering Times. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- ^ "Linthorpe Art Pottery". The Dorman Museum. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
- ^ Ing, Will (15 September 2021). "Brutalist Teesside tower handed lifeline by Historic England listing". The Architects’ Journal. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- ^ "Dorman Long tower to be demolished after recent Grade II listed status rescinded". ITV News. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- ^ "Dorman Long tower to be destroyed after listed status revoked". BBC News. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
External links
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