epw026581 ENGLAND (1929). Consett Iron Works, Consett, 1929

A poem, penned by my son Rob about 5 months ago. Although it is over thirty years

since the mighty Steel Works of Consett closed its memory lives and lives.

Tom Beckwith



Steel Tears

Do you know the earth beneath your feet once blew a dusty red

Sharp whistles in the distance lad rose all from in their bed

Do you know my lad that Consett town was filled with men of muscle

Men of steel and iron ore Front Street awash with bustle

Do you know my lad that when they tipped the slag into the night

Consett clouds shone bright as gold to guide my feet with tender light

Though quiet she did fall my lad a wasteland for the wind

Unto the wall of commoners we found our backs were pinned

In the black yet faced with sack to London once again

Like Jarrow men before we stood beneath a stubborn southern reign

As dark stumps in a moorland field, battered to and fro

By powers far beyond us lad, yet still the works they had to go

A century of history so helpless to defend

And what of you my precious lad on me you did depend

No more the clank of metal or the trains that run through night

I fought as hard as any could but shadows do not fight

And so their insults cut like knives to decimate this town

They even tried to pay me lad to pull the steel works down

Brick by brick and yard by yard your heritage there falling

And to the queues for pennies lad for many this our calling

No more the music of the works play in us their sweet song

The old ways disappearing all but little traces, gone

Black mountains no more grace our land from deepened seams of coal

Still watch the fire as she spits carnations from her soul

Though I no more now walk with you it's this that you must know

Fire burned within us all that lit the heart a glow

She gave this town its industry and in her you are born

Yet hopes upon tomorrow lad lie broken and forlorn

I tried my lad to save for you a future forged in steel

So you my boy before the state would never have to bend or kneel

One hope filled wish I leave behind tis that you'll not forget

That men worked hard with honesty to toil beneath a red rust sweat

Proud men, generations lad, that grafted day and night

Forget this not I beg of you, of this do not lose sight

Don't dream it as a myth my lad, it's true now can you feel

That in your heart their beats the truth young Consett man of steel

Rob Beckwith 2013

A poem, penned by my son Rob about 5 months ago. Although it is over thirty years

since the mighty Steel Works of Consett closed its memory lives and lives.

Tom Beckwith



Steel Tears

Do you know the earth beneath your feet once blew a dusty red

Sharp whistles in the distance lad rose all from in their bed

Do you know my lad that Consett town was filled with men of muscle

Men of steel and iron ore Front Street awash with bustle

Do you know my lad that when they tipped the slag into the night

Consett clouds shone bright as gold to guide my feet with tender light

Though quiet she did fall my lad a wasteland for the wind

Unto the wall of commoners we found our backs were pinned

In the black yet faced with sack to London once again

Like Jarrow men before we stood beneath a stubborn southern reign

As dark stumps in a moorland field, battered to and fro

By powers far beyond us lad, yet still the works they had to go

A century of history so helpless to defend

And what of you my precious lad on me you did depend

No more the clank of metal or the trains that run through night

I fought as hard as any could but shadows do not fight

And so their insults cut like knives to decimate this town

They even tried to pay me lad to pull the steel works down

Brick by brick and yard by yard your heritage there falling

And to the queues for pennies lad for many this our calling

No more the music of the works play in us their sweet song

The old ways disappearing all but little traces, gone

Black mountains no more grace our land from deepened seams of coal

Still watch the fire as she spits carnations from her soul

Though I no more now walk with you it's this that you must know

Fire burned within us all that lit the heart a glow

She gave this town its industry and in her you are born

Yet hopes upon tomorrow lad lie broken and forlorn

I tried my lad to save for you a future forged in steel

So you my boy before the state would never have to bend or kneel

One hope filled wish I leave behind tis that you'll not forget

That men worked hard with honesty to toil beneath a red rust sweat

Proud men, generations lad, that grafted day and night

Forget this not I beg of you, of this do not lose sight

Don't dream it as a myth my lad, it's true now can you feel

That in your heart their beats the truth young Consett man of steel

Rob Beckwith 2013

A great pic of the former iron and steel works at Consett, County Durham, which began in 1840 and lasted for another 140 years, until closure in 1980. The 650-acre site has now been cleared and reclaimed, so that hardly any vestige remains of one of Britain's major inland steelworks, which employed over 7,000 as late as 1970.

The Derwent Iron Company started with two blast furnaces in 1840 and rapidly extended its operations over the next half century. With the growth of the iron works, coke ovens and local collieries, the population expanded from 146 in 1831 to over 9,000 in 1901, and the majority of families relied on the extensive works for their livelihood. By 1893 the Consett Iron Company owned ten collieries, seven blast furnaces, steel melting shops, plate and angle mills,a foundry, brickworks and engineering works. Following nationalisation in postwar Britain, the company became part of the British Steel Corporation, employing 7,250 as late as 1970. However, the isolated geographical location of Consett finally told against it and the steelworks closed in 1980. Today, massive reclamation and landscaping schemes have removed almost all traces of the former 650 acre iron and steelworks. Consett has reverted to its former rural setting, within a cleaner, less-polluted environment.



The main town was laid out to the north-east of the works and when the prevailing westerly wind blew, Consett was covered in brick-red dust. If the wind was an easterly, then the air was filled with black coal dust!