Editing Redcar (section)

== History ==
=== Origins ===
Redcar occupies a low-lying site by the sea; the second element of its name is from [[Old Norse]] ''kjarr'', meaning 'marsh', and the first may be either [[Old English]] ([[Anglo-Saxon]]) ''rēad'' meaning 'red' or OE ''hrēod'' 'reed'.<ref name="YPN">{{Cite web|last=Simpson|first=David|year=2009|title=Yorkshire Place-Names P to S|url=http://www.yorkshire-england.co.uk/PlaceNameMeaningsPtoS.html|access-date=31 August 2010|website=Yorkshire|archive-date=14 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414060038/http://www.yorkshire-england.co.uk/PlaceNameMeaningsPtoS.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="GL:HoR">{{Cite web |last=Fiona |date=29 April 2009 |title=History of Redcar |url=http://ts10.gazettelive.co.uk/communities/history/history-of-redcar.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130420074856/http://ts10.gazettelive.co.uk/communities/history/history-of-redcar.html |archive-date=20 April 2013 |access-date=9 June 2009 |website=Gazette Live}}</ref> The town originated as a fishing hamlet in the 14th century, trading with the larger adjacent hamlet of [[Coatham]].<ref name="GL:HoR" /> Until the mid-19th century it was within the parish of [[Marske-by-the-Sea]] – mentioned in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

=== Zetland lifeboat ===
{{main|Zetland (lifeboat)}}
Numerous ships have foundered off the Redcar coastline and many of their wrecks still exist.<ref name="DN">{{Cite web |title=Redcar Rocks |url=http://www.divenorway.com/wrecks_pages/northseawrecks/redcarrocks.htm |access-date=23 November 2015 |website=Dive Norway |archive-date=23 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123101417/http://www.divenorway.com/wrecks_pages/northseawrecks/redcarrocks.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The ''Zetland'' is the world's oldest surviving [[Lifeboat (rescue)|lifeboat]]. It was built by [[Henry Greathead]] of [[South Shields]] and is housed in a volunteer-led sea-front museum.<ref name="RNLI:TZLMeane">{{Cite web |date=16 March 2015 |title=The Zetland Lifeboat Museum enters a new era |url=http://rnli.org/NewsCentre/Pages/The-Zetland-Lifeboat-Museum-enters-a-new-era.aspx |access-date=3 August 2015 |publisher=RNLI |archive-date=10 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710071514/http://rnli.org/NewsCentre/Pages/The-Zetland-Lifeboat-Museum-enters-a-new-era.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> The lifeboat was first stationed at Redcar in 1802.<ref name="ZLMaRHC">{{Cite web |title=Welcome – Zetland Lifeboat Museum and Redcar Heritage Centre |url=http://www.zetlandlifeboat.co.uk/ |access-date=3 August 2015 |publisher=Zetland Lifeboat Museum and Redcar Heritage Centre |archive-date=18 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018124407/http://www.zetlandlifeboat.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=6 April 2019 |title=World's oldest surviving lifeboat returns to Redcar home |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

=== Victorian Era ===
As seaside holidays became fashionable in the early 19th century, Redcar's facilities expanded. By 1841, Redcar had 794 inhabitants.<ref name="lewis">{{Cite web |title=Raydon – Redditch Pages 645–652 A Topographical Dictionary of England. Originally published by S Lewis, London, 1848. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp371-383 |access-date=13 July 2020 |website=British History Online |archive-date=13 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713201732/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp371-383 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1846, work was completed on the Middlesbrough and Redcar Railway and the presently named {{rws|Redcar Central}} station, created to attract tourism and trade.<ref name="NERA+WiNEE">{{Cite web |title=The Stockton and Darlington Railway |url=http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/m.h.ellison/nera/october_tour_2000.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717191541/http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/m.h.ellison/nera/october_tour_2000.htm |archive-date=17 July 2011 |access-date=16 April 2011 |publisher=Newcastle University}}; {{cite web|title=Railways and Waggonways in Cleveland |work=Waggonways in North East England |access-date=21 June 2012 |url=http://sites.google.com/site/waggonways/railways-cleveland |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427192802/http://sites.google.com/site/waggonways/railways-cleveland |archive-date=27 April 2012  }}</ref><ref name="UoN:TSDR">{{Cite web |last=Ellison |first=M.&nbsp;H. |title=The Stockton and Darlington Railway |url=http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/m.h.ellison/nera/october_tour_2000.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717191541/http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/m.h.ellison/nera/october_tour_2000.htm |archive-date=17 July 2011 |access-date=27 May 2008 |publisher=Newcastle University}}</ref>

Redcar's population expansion corresponded with Middlesbrough's, with the discovery in 1850 of [[iron ore]] in the [[Eston Nab|Eston area]] of [[Cleveland Hills]].<ref name="R:PaP" /> Redcar prospered as a seaside town drawing tourists attracted by eight miles of sands stretching from [[South Gare]] to [[Saltburn-by-the-Sea]].

Plans for a pier were drawn up in 1866, but lay dormant until prompted by the announcement of plans to build a pier at [[Coatham]] in 1871.<ref name="R:PaP">{{Cite web |title=People & Places |url=http://www.redcar.org/index.asp?ItemID=64&mid=88&incid=20 |access-date=5 August 2009 |website=redcar.org}}{{Dead link|date=March 2017}}</ref><ref name="GL:EoPS">{{Cite web |last=Delplanque |first=Paul |date=31 October 2008 |title=The End of the Pier Show |url=http://rememberwhen.gazettelive.co.uk/2008/10/the-end-of-the-pier-show.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415152443/http://rememberwhen.gazettelive.co.uk/2008/10/the-end-of-the-pier-show.html |archive-date=15 April 2010 |access-date=9 June 2009 |website=Gazette Live – Remember When |publisher=Evening Gazette}}</ref> [[Coatham Pier]] was wrecked before it was completed when two sailing ships were driven through it in a storm. It had to be shortened because of the cost of repairs and was re-opened with an entrance with two [[kiosk]]s and a [[Roller Skating|roller-skating]] rink on the Redcar side, and a [[bandstand]] halfway along its length.

[[Redcar Racecourse]] was created in 1875. [[Redcar Pier]], another pier as well as Coatham Pier, was built in the late 1870s. In October 1880 the [[brig]] ''Luna'' caused £1,000 worth of damage to this pier. In New Year's Eve 1885 ''SS Cochrane'' demolished the landing stage.<ref name="R:PaP" /> and in 1897 the [[schooner]] ''Amarant'' went through the pier. A year later, its head and bandstand burned down.<ref name="R:PaP" />

In October 1898 the Coatham Pier was almost wrecked when the [[barque]] ''Birger'' struck it and the pier was thereafter allowed to disintegrate. An [[anchor]] from the ''Birger'' can be seen on the sea front pavement close to the [[Zetland (lifeboat)|Zetland Lifeboat Museum]].

In 1907 a [[pavilion]] [[ballroom]] was built on Redcar Pier behind the entrance kiosks and in 1928 it was extended.<ref name="GL:EoPS" /> A glass house for concerts was added to the remains of Coatham Pier's entrance. The presently named {{rws|Redcar East}} railway station was built in 1929.

In 1929 Coatham Pier's glasshouse was replaced by the New Pavilion theatre. After the war, comedian and entertainer [[Larry Grayson]] coined his catchphrase "Shut that Door!" while performing there, since the stage door was open to the cold North Sea breeze.<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 August 2017 |title=this is Redcar & Cleveland History of the Regent Cinema |url=http://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/rcbcweb.nsf/web+full+list/8a26ebe161477069802579f20040d9ae |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210045526/http://www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk/rcbcweb.nsf/web+full+list/8a26ebe161477069802579f20040d9ae |archive-date=10 February 2017 |access-date=5 December 2016 |website=Redcar-cleveland.gov.uk |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

=== Second World War ===
Redcar Pier was deliberately breached (sectioned) in 1940 to prevent its use by enemy invasion forces.<ref name="GL:EoPS" /> As a result of sectioning, damage by a mine explosion and deterioration it was never reconnected and instead allowed to become even more dilapidated.<ref name="TNE:YDD">{{Cite web |date=13 August 2003 |title=Youngsters delve deep to help uncover secrets of the sea |url=http://archive.thenorthernecho.co.uk/2003/8/13/80909.html |access-date=9 June 2009 |website=The Northern Echo |archive-date=12 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212200133/http://www.newsquest.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Post war ===
{{multiple image|perrow=1|total_width=300px|image1= Regent Cinema, Redcar - geograph.org.uk - 370235.jpg|image2=The Regent Cinema, Redcar (geograph 7340984).jpg|footer=Regent Cinema, at the location of Coatham Pier}}
In 1964 the New Pavilion Theatre was transformed into the Regent Cinema. The Redcar Pier pavilion continued in use after the war but storm damage led to it being declared unsafe and it was demolished in 1980–1981.<ref name="GL:HoR" /><ref name="R:PaP" />

===Redcar Steelworks===
{{main|Teesside Steelworks}}{{multiple images|total_width=300|perrow=1|image1=Redcar Steel Works (49497793713).jpg|image2= Coatham Sands (geograph 7407874).jpg |footer=The steelworks in 2020 and 2023}}
The town's main employers in the post-war era were the nearby [[Teesside Steelworks]] at [[Warrenby]], founded by [[Dorman Long]] in 1917, and the [[Imperial Chemical Industries|ICI]] [[Wilton, Redcar and Cleveland|Wilton]] chemical works. The steel produced at [[Dorman Long]] was used to build the [[Sydney Harbour Bridge]], [[Tyne Bridge]], [[Auckland Harbour Bridge]] and many others. Both the Warrenby and Lackenby sites became part of [[Tata Steel]] when Corus was taken over in 2007, but continued to trade under the Corus name until at least February 2008. SSI bought the plant from Tata Steel in February 2011, for £320&nbsp;million.

After a two-year hiatus following the mothballing of the plant in February 2010, steel was once again being made at Redcar. The Thai owners of the former Corus Plant at [[Lackenby]], Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI), re-ignited the [[Blast Furnace|blast furnace]], one of the largest in Europe, on 15 April 2012.<ref name="BBC:BSC">{{Cite web|date=5 April 2012|title=Blast furnace at former Corus Redcar steel plant relit|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-17719747|access-date=15 April 2012|website=BBC News|publisher=BBC|archive-date=15 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415181702/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-17719747|url-status=live}}; {{cite web|year=2011|title=Welcome to the British Steel Collection|url=http://www.britishsteelcollection.org.uk/|access-date=13 September 2011|work=British Steel Collection|archive-date=13 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913063737/http://www.britishsteelcollection.org.uk/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 18 September 2015, production was paused due to the decline in steel prices.<ref>{{Cite web|date=18 September 2015|title=SSI Redcar steel plant production 'paused'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-34289766|access-date=18 September 2015|website=BBC News|publisher=BBC|archive-date=18 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918184850/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-34289766|url-status=live}}</ref> On 28 September 2015, the plant was "mothballed" amid poor steel trading conditions across the world and a drop in steel prices.<ref>{{Cite web|date=28 September 2015|title=SSI Redcar steel plant mothballed, costing 1,700 jobs|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34377756|access-date=28 September 2015|website=BBC News|publisher=BBC|archive-date=28 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928184820/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34377756|url-status=live}}</ref> On 2 October, the owner of the site, SSI UK, entered liquidation. On 12 October 2015 the administrator announced that there was no realistic prospect of finding a buyer and the ovens would be extinguished.