Monkton Cokeworks: A Look Back 35 Years After Closure

Monkton Cokeworks was often at the centre of the spotlight before it finally ceased production.

Black smoke over Hebburn

But there were few tears shed for the loss of the plant, which had billowed black smoke across Hebburn and blighted the lives of generations of townsfolk.

Built in the 1930s, the cokeworks dominated the skyline, but problems started in the 1940s when the Monkton Lane housing estate was built on its doorstep.

Jennie Shearan, who formed the Hebburn Residents’ Action Group, fought a ferocious battle to persuade British Coal to clean it up.

66 coke ovens operating at one stage

Mrs Shearan always maintained that the Monkton estate was built on “false pretences”, under the understanding that the cokeworks would close in the mid-1950s.

It didn’t, and by the 1980s the plant was bigger than ever, with an extra 66 coke ovens operating round the clock, all year long.

The political tide began to change in May 1989, when Tyne and Wear Euro-MP Alan Donnelly pledged to take the residents’ pollution plight to a European level unless action was taken.

Rapid decline in demand for coke led to its demise

By then the clean-up fight had already taken on a distinctly personal slant.

The Shields Gazette reported two months earlier how mother Lorraine Fay’s 20-day-old baby Michael had coughed up dust from the plant.

The tide was turning and British Coal announced a £400,000 anti-pollution scheme.

It was perhaps the laws of supply and demand which sealed the cokeworks’ fate, with the contraction of the steelworks leading to a rapid decline in the demand for coke.

Pictures of your pooches

In other 1990 news, a shop in South Shields was producing the perfect gift for the dog lover in your life. Yours Forever in King Street was doing a roaring trade in doggie snaps.

For £12, you could get a folder of pictures of your perfect pooch.

Question of Sport was one of the television highlights with runner Yvonne Murray, boxer Dave McAulay and footballer David Platt among the guests.

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