WWI Middlesbrough ironworks memorial unearthed from storage

The memorial was once a feature of a social club linked with the former ironworks and was put in storage when it closed

The names of almost 80 fallen World War One soldiers have been unearthed from storage during the redevelopment of a former ironworks on Teesside.

A memorial inscribed with the names of 76 men once employed at Middlesbrough's Newport Ironworks will now be restored.

The site is being transformed into the £55m Tees Advanced Manufacturing Park (TeesAMP), where it will be displayed.

The team behind TeesAMP has launched a search for relatives of those named on the stone memorial.

Building work on the park, which is promised to create about 1,000 jobs, began earlier this year and is due to be completed in mid 2020.

The memorial, including the unusual spelling of "Middlesborough", will be restored

The memorial was a feature of a social club linked with the former ironworks and was put in storage when it closed.

The ironworks was opened in 1864 and closed in the early 1970s.

Geoff Hogg of Cleveland Property Investments, who is working with Middlesbrough Council and Tees Valley Combined Authority to develop TeesAMP, said: "This site's history was always going to be celebrated as part of our redevelopment.

"Newport Ironworks played such a huge part in Middlesbrough's industrial heritage and it's important to give these local heroes the respect they deserve by ensuring the commemoration is restored for future generations.

"We'd love to find out more about those who are honoured on the plaque and invite their relatives to contact us."

The unearthed ironworks site is being recorded and assessed by Durham University and their findings will be published later.

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