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A Century in Stone – The Eston & California Story | |
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Directed by | Craig Hornby |
Written by | Craig Hornby |
Produced by | Craig Hornby |
Starring | Paul Chapman, Jason Etherington, Michael Sheard, Wally K. Daly |
Cinematography | Craig Hornby |
Edited by | Craig Hornby |
Music by | Mike Frankland & Craig Hornby |
Production company | Pancrack Pictures |
Distributed by | Pancrack Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 118 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £103k |
A Century in Stone is a 2004 documentary film by Craig Hornby. It tells the story of how the discovery of ironstone at Eston in 1850 sparked the transformation of Teesside from rural backwater to iron-making capital of the world. [1]
Craig Hornby was awarded a prestigious £75,000 NESTA fellowship award to fund the film. [2] Further funding totalling £28,000 came from Northern Arts, Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, Northern Film & Media, UK Trade & Investment, Teesside University and Middlesbrough Council.
Launched in 2004, "A Century in Stone" attracted thousands to clubs and halls across Teesside [3] before becoming the first local film to be shown at a mainstream cinema chain on Teesside. [4] In its first week at UGC Middlesbrough (now Cineworld), it outsold all the other films leading to an extended run of 18 days.
In November 2004, the film and director were featured at Sheffield DocFest as part of a seminar on independent film-making.
At Xmas 2004, the film became a DVD/VHS bestseller in stores across Teesside. Sales to date exceed 15,000. [5]
In August 2005, the film opened at Dendy Cinemas in Sydney Harbour due to Sydney Harbour Bridge being made with Cleveland ironstone/Teesside Steel by Dorman Long of Middlesbrough in 1932. This was followed with screenings in Brisbane, Melbourne, Fremantle, Adelaide and Newcastle NSW. [6] [7]
In 2010, the film was selected by the British Film Institute for screening at the BFI Mediatheques on London's South Bank and around the UK. [8]
In 2010, audio extracts from the film and interviews on Eston Nab with Craig Hornby were featured in a BBC Radio 4 'Archive on 4' documentary entitled 'Redcar – Made of Steel'. This was produced with Teesside-born actor Felicity Finch in the wake of the first closure of the Redcar Blast Furnace. [9]
Cleveland is a land of hills and dales from the River Tees to Vale of Pickering, England. The name means “cliff-land”.
Eston is an industrial town in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. The ward covering the area had a population of 7,005 at the 2011 census. It is part of Greater Eston, which includes the outlying settlements of Grangetown, Normanby, South Bank, Teesville and part of Ormesby.
Middlesbrough is a town in the Middlesbrough unitary authority borough of North Yorkshire, England. The town is in Teesdale, near the North York Moors National Park. With a population of 148,215, it was classed as large town to smaller city at the 2021 UK census. It is the largest town of the wider Teesside area, which had a population of 376,633 in 2011.
Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located 7 miles (11 km) east of Middlesbrough.
Teesside is a built-up area around the River Tees in North East England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The area contains the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Billingham, Redcar, Thornaby-on-Tees, and Ingleby Barwick. Teesside's economy was once dominated by heavy manufacturing until deindustrialisation in the latter half of the 20th Century, alongside chemical production which continues to contribute significantly to Teesside's economy.
The Tees Valley is a combined authority area in North East England, around the lower River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley; the local term for the valley is Teesdale. The combined authority covers five council areas: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees.
Dorman Long & Co was a UK steel producer, later diversifying into bridge building. The company was once listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Normanby is an area in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. A ward covering the area had a population of 6,930 at the 2011 census. It is part of Greater Eston, which includes the area and the outlying settlements of Eston, Grangetown, South Bank, Teesville and part of Ormesby.
South Bank is an industrial town in the Redcar and Cleveland borough in North Yorkshire, England on the south bank of the River Tees. It is 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Middlesbrough and 6 miles (9.7 km) south-west of Redcar. The town is served by South Bank railway station.
Vincent Paul Garbutt was an English folk singer and songwriter. A significant part of his repertoire consisted of protest songs covering topics such as "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland, unemployment, and social issues. Whilst the subject of his songs featured many political and social topics, Garbutt's on stage wit, humour and storytelling between songs became a hit with audiences and for which he became widely known. He would wish his audiences "All the very best" along with, "I'm knackered now, aren't you?"
Grangetown is an area in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. The area is 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Middlesbrough and 4 miles (6.4 km) from south-west of Redcar.
The Cleveland Hills are a range of hills on the north-west edge of the North York Moors in North Yorkshire, England, overlooking Cleveland and Teesside. They lie entirely within the boundaries of the North York Moors National Park. Part of the 110-mile (177 km) long Cleveland Way National Trail runs along the hills, and they are also crossed by a section of Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk. The hills, which rise abruptly from the flat Tees Valley to the north, include distinctive landmarks such as the cone-shaped peak of Roseberry Topping, near the village of Great Ayton – childhood home of Captain James Cook.
John Vaughan, known as Jacky, was born in Worcester on "St Thomas' Day" in 1799, the son of Welsh parents. He worked his way up the iron industry, becoming an ironmaster and co-founder of the largest of all the Victorian iron and steel companies, Bolckow Vaughan. Where Henry Bolckow provided the investment and business expertise, Vaughan contributed technical knowledge, in a long-lasting and successful partnership that transformed Middlesbrough from a small town to the centre of ironmaking in Britain.
The Teesside Steelworks was a large steelworks that formed a continuous stretch along the south bank of the River Tees from the towns of Middlesbrough to Redcar in North Yorkshire, England. At its height there were 91 blast furnaces within a 10-mile radius of the area. By the end of the 1970s there was only one left on Teesside. Opened in 1979 and located near the mouth of the River Tees, the Redcar blast furnace was the second largest in Europe.
The County Borough of Teesside was a short lived county borough and civil parish in the North Riding of Yorkshire geographical county, around the Teesside agglomeration. It was a 1968 merger of 7 council areas into a single district in. It was the third union of its type and the last to take place until the 1974 reform which replaced it with the wider county of Cleveland.
Eston Nab is a rocky outcrop hill in the town of Eston, Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England.
Fire and Steel Festival was a one-day festival held in Redcar, North Yorkshire, set against the background of the industrial furnace of the largest steelworks in Europe and Redcar’s coast line.
Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., Ltd was an English ironmaking and mining company founded in 1864, based on the partnership since 1840 of its two founders, Henry Bolckow and John Vaughan. The firm drove the dramatic growth of Middlesbrough and the production of coal and iron in the north-east of England in the 19th century. The two founding partners had an exceptionally close working relationship which lasted until Vaughan's death.
John Marley was an English mining engineer from Darlington who together with ironmaster John Vaughan made the "commercial discovery" of the Cleveland Ironstone Formation, the basis of the wealth of their company Bolckow Vaughan and the industrial growth of Middlesbrough. He was an effective leader of engineering operations at Bolckow Vaughan's mines and collieries. He ended his career as a wealthy independent mine-owner and president of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME).
Middlesbrough started as a Benedictine priory on the south bank of the River Tees, its name possibly derived from it being midway between the holy sites of Durham and Whitby. The earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough's name is "Mydilsburgh", containing the term burgh.