Last updated 12:27, Saturday, 27 September 2008

THIS was the emotional end of an era for former workers as the final chimney at Workington’s Corus steelworks site was pulled down.

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Former employees of the rail-making site watched with tears in their eyes as the last landmark on the land where they spent most of their working life came to an abrupt end.

One of the spectators, John Newstead, 71, of Ashfield Road, Workington, was a boilermaker there.

He said: “It is a very, very sad day for me as this brings an end to the place where I worked so hard. There were about 5,000 people who learned their trade here.

“This has always been an industrial area and lots of Britain’s railway lines will have Workington tracks laid on them.”

David Powell, 70, of High Street, Workington, who was a shift engineer at the site for 28 years, said: “I started as a fitter and worked my way up to shift engineer.

“Seeing the last chimney go down here is the last piece of Moss Bay’s industrial history. It is an emotional day.”

More than 30 people turned up to watch the steel chimney being pulled down on the site that made more than 64 million railway tracks.

A wedge was cut out around the bottom of the structure and a wire that was attached was pulled by a crane.

Plant manager John Lawson said: “I have worked here for 45 years and every day when I came to work I saw that chimney. I always knew that if white smoke was coming out of it then the plant was running well.

“It is emotional and a lot of the old boys who worked here will be feeling like I do, but the site will be built back up in a couple of years.

“At the moment it is being cleared and, in around two years, Eatonfield will be developing the site.”

Wales-based development company Eatonfield plans to build a £180 million seaside “community within a community”, which will include a mix of apartments, town houses, four, three and two-bedroom detached houses, and two and three-bedroom semi-detached houses and bungalows.

Some of the properties will have sea views and balconies, and an element of affordable housing is proposed.

The developer is working on its planning application, which it is about to submit to Allerdale council.

Ian Arnott, development director for Eatonfield, said: “We will start, subject to planning permission, in the spring of 2010.

“The total phased development will be completed in 2017.”