Shotton, John Summers Works And The Dee c.1965

Photo ref: S429006

More about this scene

The production of steel was reaching the end of its competitive life by the time of this photograph, and within a couple of decades the industry was to be transformed - and greatly reduced. This bleak photograph has a certain pathos now. In its heyday, 13,000 men were employed at Shotton; but in 1980, 6,000 jobs were lost. The effects on Shotton and Deeside were devastating as the decline of the steel industry continued. The modern Corbis Steelworks now only employs about 700 men. In 1895, the Summers family had bought 40 acres of reclaimed marshland for £5. By 1909 the site had grown from 40 acres to 10,000 acres of marshland. The intervening years tell the story, and reveal the tribulations of a community.