Middlesborough's history is based on 160 years of iron manufacturing, with the town home to 166 furnaces in 1891.

In this photobook, Ian Macdonald presents a combination of portraits, landscapes and social documentary capturing the process of making iron. In particular, Ian Macdonald photographs the giant Redcar No. 1 blast furnace, the largest furnace, which had taken the place of all 166 smaller furnaces by the 1980s.