30-409: Wilton International is a multi-occupancy industrial area between Eston and Redcar , North Yorkshire, England. Originally a chemical plant, it has businesses in a variety of fields including energy generation, plastic recycling and process research. It is named after a village to the south of the area. The site was formerly wholly owned and operated by ICI , a large chemical company which opened
60-479: A beacon, the remains of which can still be seen at Eston Nab . Eston Nab is also home to Bauer Teesside and aerials and transmitters. At only 243 metres (797 ft) above sea level at its highest point, Eston Hills are classed as lowland heath . Wildlife includes lapwing , curlew , green woodpecker and linnet . There are various butterflies and dragonflies. The hills overlooking Eston are managed for their wildlife, archaeology and amenity. Many people use
90-600: A chemist, post office, supermarket, fish shop, Chinese takeaway and a corner shop. The area also benefits from a large local community centre. John Vaughan (Middlesbrough) 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
120-498: A corn merchant looking to get into the iron business. In 1839, Bolckow and Vaughan decided to form a business partnership. They looked at Stockton, on the pioneering Stockton and Darlington Railway , as it had good communications, but could not find a suitable site for an ironworks. However, the railway had run to Middlesbrough since 1833, and the partners started their ironworks there on a cheap plot of land, most of which flooded at high tide. Their iron ore consisted of iron nodules in
150-637: A distinct group for many years before that. Before the church was built a mass took place each Sunday at the Grangetown Royal British Legion Social Club. The town of Eston lies at the foot of Eston Hills , a ridge approximately 200 metres (656 ft) above sea level, and a part of the Cleveland Hills . The same hills that overshadow Eston were used to warn of attack in the Napoleonic Era by
180-523: A simple cross embedded with a bronze sword and mounted on an octagonal base to represent the faith of the majority of commemorations. It can be seen in front of the West Lodge. The cemetery also contains the memorial obelisk to William Henry Short VC (4 February 1884 – 6 August 1916) who was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in
210-466: Is located off Church Lane, north of Eston's old centre. Names on the gravestones tell the story off the families whose daily lives created the history of the wider area, throughout the twentieth century until the present. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is responsible for commemorating all Commonwealth war dead individually and equally, and to this end, war graves with uniform headstones, set in well kept lawns, can be found in cemeteries throughout
240-524: Is mostly bordered by farmland. Eston Nab commands an excellent view of the nearby Roseberry Topping , which stands higher at 320 metres (1,050 ft). Still in active use, the Eston Cemetery was established in 1863 and enlarged in 1882. It built as an extension to the pre-reformation St Helen Church which was one of the many churches belonging to Gisborough Priory . St Helen's has since been dismantled and rebuilt at Beamish Museum . The cemetery
270-697: The British Commonwealth . The Commission lists ninety-eight such graves, at Eston Cemetery, from the First and Second World Wars. The cemetery contains the war graves of 55 Commonwealth service personnel of the First World War and 43 of the Second World War , including one unidentified Royal Navy sailor. Having more than 40 war graves, a Cross of Sacrifice designed by architect Reginald Blomfield has been erected. It shows
300-558: The coal measures , or of imported hematite. As this was limiting their growth and profitability, they decided to make their own pig-iron. In 1846 they built blast furnaces at Witton Park , County Durham for smelting iron ore; the Stockton and Darlington Railway, seeking to exploit the coal and iron trade, was conveniently extended past Witton to several of the Durham collieries; limestone could arrive from Stanhope, and coke from Crook, so
330-796: The economic cluster body the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC). Many occupants of the Wilton International facility are members of the Cluster. The complex is one of the largest R&D facilities in Europe and is home to the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) , part of the Technology Strategy Board 's High Value Manufacturing Catapult network. The site has laboratories and scale-up facilities for
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#1732793931312360-415: The 1960s-built Eston Precinct parade of shops. Eston Square provides an important retail facility for a much wider area than just Eston itself. While some of the shops are well maintained businesses, others, in the words of Redcar and Cleveland Council, "are in need of a facelift". As part of Redcar and Cleveland Council's Greater Eston Regeneration, improvements are planned, including the part-demolition of
390-802: The Precinct Shopping Centre and the building of a new supermarket. Eston has three major churches, two on the High Street and one in Whale Hill. Christ Church, the Church of England church in Eston, is the partner church to St George's Church in Teesville . Christ Church is a traditionally designed church built in red brick. It features sixteen stained-glass windows in dressed sandstone settings that bring warm colourful light into
420-513: The Wilton site as the process industry continues to change and rejuvenate in line with changing consumer demands. In 2001, BP closed its polythene plant (Polythene 5), which it had bought from ICI in 1982. In the same year Basell closed its polypropylene plant. In January 2009, Invista announced it was to close all of its plants on the site. The Teesside Power Station , a partially mothballed gas-fired power station built in 1993 for Enron,
450-522: The area (as well as Lackenby , Lazenby and Wilton ) had a population of 7,005 at the 2011 census . The land around Eston has been occupied since 2400 BC. The 1850 discovery of ironstone in Eston Hills by industrialist John Vaughan and mining engineer John Marley saw Eston develop from a small farming settlement in 1850 to a thriving mining town. Miners' cottages, although altered, can still be seen in parts of Eston. The mining history of Eston
480-478: The chemistry-using process industries, that are accessed by many companies on a commercial or contract basis. Eston Eston is a former industrial town in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary area of North Yorkshire , England. It is part of Greater Eston , which includes the outlying settlements of Grangetown , Normanby , South Bank , Teesville and part of Ormesby . The local authority ward covering
510-533: The face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was awarded the medal after being killed showing gallantry and devotion to duty at the Battle of Contalmaison , during the Somme Offensive , in 1916. Eston also includes the area of Whale Hill, which was initially built between 1966 and 1970, it has mixed tenure housing. It includes a social club and a row of shops, including
540-514: The hills for walking, cycling and horse riding. There are several self-guided walk leaflets, which take in points of interest. These are available at the Flatts Lane Woodland Country Park Visitor Centre, Normanby, Redcar and Cleveland . The Eston Hills provide access to the wider countryside via the public right of way network. The land owned or managed by the Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council
570-691: 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. Vaughan is best known for his discovery of ironstone in the Cleveland Hills , on an exploratory walk with his mining engineer, John Marley in June 1850. Vaughan began his working life, like his father before him, at Sir John Guest's Dowlais Ironworks in South Wales. His first job "at an early age"
600-479: The main body of the building; they are themed around saints. Similarly, St Anne's Church, the Catholic church in Eston, is part of a larger parish, which includes the churches of St Peter's, South Bank , St Andrew's, Teesville and St Mary's, Grangetown . The joint parish is served from, and carries the name of, St Andrew's Parish. St Anne's Church was built in 1970, although the Catholic community had existed as
630-574: The shopping area on the main road passing through Eston, forms more of a triangle than a square. The square has a war memorial as its centrepiece – the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – that shows the statue of a soldier atop a plinth. The plinth lists the names of local people who died during the World Wars. Two sides the square are lined with traditional terraced shops, while the third side has
SECTION 20
#1732793931312660-599: The site appeared ideal. But in 1847 there was "a commercial panic" (an economic crisis), and the Witton Park Ironworks suffered both from difficult trading conditions, and from a continual shortage of iron nodules. Knowing of earlier attempts at extracting ironstone in Cleveland, Vaughan suspected a more abundant supply of ironstone could be found close to hand. He instructed his mining engineer, John Marley , to study Cleveland's geology. On 8 June 1850,
690-519: The site in 1949. Following the fragmentation of ICI, the owner of the site since 1995, Enron owned the facility briefly before it was acquired by Sembcorp Industries , a Singapore company. A number of multinational chemical companies now operate on the site. Sembcorp have built the UK's first wood-fired power station, Wilton 10, and in 2013 announced a new waste-to-energy plant known as Wilton 11. There have been both closures and new chemical plants built at
720-518: The time was the largest of its type in the United Kingdom. Biffa Polymers opened a polymer recycling plant that handles up to 30% of the UK's plastic milk bottles in March 2011. UK Wood Recycling Limited have a facility on the site providing waste wood to fuel the Wilton 10 power station. Wilton International is a multi-occupancy business and research centre and is one of the main offices used by
750-612: The two of them walked the Cleveland Hills and quickly found a plentiful source, in the shape of the main seam of Cleveland Ironstone "above sixteen feet" (about five metres) thick. Bolckow and Vaughan moved rapidly: within 12 weeks, they had signed agreements with the landowners, started the first mine, built a tramway to carry the ironstone, and delivered the first load of seven tones to Witton Park. From that moment, their business grew swiftly. They opened more mines at Eston and added blast furnaces at Middlesbrough. The combination of Vaughan's technical skills and Bolckow's financial skills
780-454: The world's leading iron and steel producing capital initially due to the output of the Eston mines. Eston is part of Redcar constituency and will represented by Labour and Co-operative parties MP Anna Turley in the House of Commons following the 2024 general election. In the 2023 local elections, the following members were returned to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council: Eston Square,
810-428: Was being dismantled in 2014 and 2015. Companies currently operating on the site include SABIC , who built the world's largest low-density polyethylene plant ( LDPE ) in 2009 and still operate an ethylene cracker there. Lotte Chemicals stopped PTA production, however built a new PET production plant. Huntsman manufacture polyurethane intermediates and Ensus built their bioethanol facility in 2009, which at
840-615: Was created in 1968. The town remains unparished . The Teesside steel industry that was started from these mines eventually produced the steel that built the Sydney Harbour Bridge . The mines have been closed since 1949, after 100 years of production. In 1967, the Teesside steel industry became part of the nationalised British Steel Corporation , which in turn became the Corus Group . The Middlesbrough area became
870-572: Was in the scrap mill; from there, he became a puddler, then a furnaceman, then foreman. After Dowlais, he worked in Staffordshire, then to Carlisle in 1825 becoming a factory manager. He then moved East to Walker-on-Tyne near Newcastle, where he became the works manager for the Losh, Wilson and Bell Ironworks. While doing business in Newcastle, he met Henry Bolckow , who at that time was
900-510: Was the subject of A Century in Stone , which describes how the mines were responsible for making Teesside the iron and steel capital of the world. Excluding Ormesby, the wider area came under the former Eston Urban District from 1894 until 1968. This was a single civil parish with a district council which had the ability to gain a charter to be a town and become a municipal borough in this case it did not. The County Borough of Teesside
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