THE bulldozers moved in yesterday to knock down 220 years of North-East history.

Permission was given in 1994 for the Norton's Georgian tannery, on the green near Stockton, to be demolished to make way for a housing development.

The derelict and sinking buildings had become unsafe and developers decided to pull the tannery down to make room for executive houses in keeping with the conservation area of the green.

Yesterday, work started on the demolition which had been halted while a buyer for the tannery was found. Norton historian Bob Harborne said: "The tannery will have been important to a lot of people who have seen it on the green for so long, but it had to be pulled down before it fell down."

The most famous person to work at the tannery was Jonathan Martin, the 19th Century York Minster arsonist.

Martin, a demented religious fanatic, set fire to the minster in 1827, a blaze which gutted the central tower and choir.

The tannery was later bought by ICI but sold again for the housing development.