Shelton Bar

During World War II it was a frequent target for German bombers as it was impossible to fully blackout the light from the huge blast furnaces.

The half-mile long building was torn down in early 2005, then used as a major supplies depot in the £8-billion upgrade of the West Coast Main Line railway that runs alongside the site.

When Shelton (new works) was constructed in 1964 it used a Swedish design Kaldo converter process which was very quick but the high cost of the refractories that had to be used and the life of them made it very expensive to operate.

The industrial landscapes of Shelton Bar were depicted in art by Arthur Berry, in poetry by Charles Tomlinson and in fiction by Arnold Bennett.

It's believed that Wells also found inspiration for The War of the Worlds there: he wrote in a letter to a friend from the area that "the district made an immense impression on me."

The inspiration for some of his descriptions in it is thought to have come from his short time spent there, seeing the iron foundry furnaces burn over the city, shooting huge red light into the skies.