Normanby Park Steel Works
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Iron and Steel Industry in Scunthorpe was established in the mid 19th century, following the discovery and exploitation of middle Lias ironstone east of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. Initially iron ore was exported to iron producers in South Yorkshire. Later, after the construction of the Trent, Ancholme and Grimsby Railway (1860s) gave rail access to the area local iron production rapidly expanded using local ironstone and imported coal or coke. The local ore was relatively poor in iron (around 25% average) and high in lime ( CaCO3) requiring co-smelting with more acidic silicious iron ores. The growth of industry in the area led to the development of the town of Scunthorpe in a formerly sparsely populated entirely agricultural area. From the early 1910s to the 1930s the industry consolidated, with three main ownership concerns formed – the ''Appleby-Frodingham Steel Company'', part of the United Steel Companies; the ''Redbourn Iron Works'', part of Richard Thomas and Company of South Wales (later Richard Thomas and Baldwins); and
John Lysaght John Lysaght and Co. was an iron and steel company established in Bristol, England, and with later operations in Wolverhampton, Newport, and Scunthorpe. The company was acquired by GKN in 1920. The founder John Lysaght (1832–1895) was bor ...
's ''Normanby works'', part of Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. In 1967 all three works became part of the nationalised British Steel Corporation (BSC), leading to a period of further consolidation – from the 1970s the use of local or regional ironstone diminished, being replaced by imported ore via the
Immingham Bulk Terminal The Port of Immingham, also known as Immingham Dock, is a major port on the east coast of England, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary in the town of Immingham, Lincolnshire. In 2019, the Port of Grimsby & Immingham was the largest p ...
– much of the steelworks was re-established with equipment at or south and east of the Appleby-Frodingam works during the late 1960s as part of the ''Anchor'' modernisation. Primary iron production was at four blast furnaces first established or expanded in the 1950s, and known as the four Queens: named Queen Anne, Bess, Victoria, and Mary. Both the Normanby Park and the Redbourn works were closed by the early 1980s. Conversion to the
Linz-Donawitz process Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS, BOP, BOF, or OSM), also known as Linz-Donawitz steelmaking or the oxygen converter processBrock and Elzinga, p. 50. is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into steel. Blowin ...
(LD) of steel making from the
open hearth process An open-hearth furnace or open hearth furnace is any of several kinds of industrial furnace in which excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of pig iron to produce steel. Because steel is difficult to manufacture owing to its high melt ...
took place from the late 1960s onwards, with an intermediate oxygen utilising open hearth process known as the
AJAX furnace The AJAX furnace was a modification of the tilting open hearth furnace that used blown oxygen to improve productivity. The process was used in the UK during the 1960s at a time of transition from open hearth to oxygen based steel making. History a ...
operated in the interim – conversion to LD operation was complete by the 1990s. Following privatisation in 1988, the company together with the rest of BSC became part of Corus (1999), later Tata Steel Europe (2007). In 2016 the long products division of Tata Steel Europe was sold to Greybull Capital with Scunthorpe as the primary steel production site.


History


Background and Geology

It is thought that the iron deposits in Lincolnshire were worked sometime before the 19th and 20th century exploitations – forges at
Stowe Stowe may refer to: Places United Kingdom *Stowe, Buckinghamshire, a civil parish and former village **Stowe House **Stowe School *Stowe, Cornwall, in Kilkhampton parish * Stowe, Herefordshire, in the List of places in Herefordshire * Stowe, Linco ...
are mentioned in the Domesday Book, and archaeological evidence has been found of iron working at Scunthorpe. The ironstone in Lincolnshire is thought to have been laid down during the Jurassic period and forms part of a series of ironstones found in eastern England found in the Lias Group of
rock strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...
that also includes ironstone formations making up the Cleveland ironstones and Northamptonshire ironstones; iron deposits in Northern France and Southern Germany may also be from the same period and origin. The Lincolnshire ironstone is found in the ''Lower Lias'' band in the Lower Jurassic series/period, it is a nearly horizontal bed, thick, averaging , and consists of calcareous
haematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...
; near the surface the ores are converted to a hydrous form,
limonite Limonite () is an iron ore consisting of a mixture of hydrated iron(III) oxide-hydroxides in varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO(OH)·H2O, although this is not entirely accurate as the ratio of oxide to hydroxid ...
. The deposit is thought to have been originally created by the deposition by precipitation of Iron(II) containing waters, followed by oxidation via weathering to Iron(III). Characteristic fossils found in the ironstone beds included large
Ammonite Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...
s, and
Gryphaea ''Gryphaea'', one of the genera known as devil's toenails, is a genus of extinct oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Gryphaeidae. These fossils range from the Triassic period to the middle Paleogene period, but are mostly rest ...
, Cardinia, and other
mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000  extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
species. The geological strata in Lincolnshire includes a number of iron bearing rocks including (downwards) the
Claxby ironstone The Claxby Ironstone is a geologic formation in England. It preserves fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period. See also * List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in England See also * Lists of fossiliferous stratigraphic units i ...
( Claxby, Lower Cretaceous period); the Lincoln ironstone; the Caythorpe ironstone ( Caythorpe,
Middle Lias The Lias Group or Lias is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) found in a large area of western Europe, including the British Isles, the North Sea, the Low Countries and the north of Germany. It consists of marine limestones, sha ...
period), below which is the 'Frodingham Ironstone' once mined at Scunthorpe. At Frodingham the ironstone existed in a bed up to thick, covered by loose sand. The ore was found in the form of a calcareous hydrated oxide, with some oolitic nodules, much affected by water weathering; local variations within the ore bed included bands with iron content as high as 40%, down to 12%, with an average iron content of 25%, excluding spoil. The ironstone bed dipped slightly towards the east – the bed's proximity to the surface, its fair uniformity, and the general low value of the land on which it stood led to rapid development of open ore workings. The lime content of the ore rendered it self-fluxing, but its high lime content and basic nature were problematic and led to the practice of using it in combination with silica containing ores (for
slag Slag is a by-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and used metals. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (by-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-prod ...
formation). Iron produced from the bed including the fossiliferous lime contained over 1% phosphorus, similar to that from the Cleveland ironstone, as well as a few percent of manganese. Ironstone extraction was almost entirely east of a roughly north–south boundary passing through Scunthorpe between the town and steelworks – this boundary was itself east of the Lower Lias escarpment (
Trent Cliff The Lincoln Cliff or Lincoln Edge is a portion of a major escarpment that runs north–south through Lindsey and Kesteven in central Lincolnshire and is a prominent landscape feature in a generally flat portion of the county. Towards its norther ...
). Iron ore extraction was reduced in the later half of the 20th century, to be substituted by foreign imported ores of better quality.


Establishment of iron ore extraction and smelting (1859–1912)

Roland Winn is credited with (re-)discovering the iron ore in the area, and having it analysed and promoting its use. He suspected that the geology on his estate resembled the Cleveland ironstone which had been discovered and exploited in northern Yorkshire (see Middlesbrough). Initially ore was extracted and exported from leases on his estate, and transported by horse power to the River Trent and onwards by canal. Iron ore began to be commercially exploited in the area from 1859. A narrow gauge railway was opened to Gunness. Winn then was instrumental in the promotion of a line to the ore fields, and with the support of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR) and the South Yorkshire Railway (SYR) as equal third partners; an act of parliament for a new main line, the Trent, Ancholme and Grimsby Railway was obtained in 1861. The new line connected with the SYR via a bridge over the River Trent at Keadby to the west, giving access to the South Yorkshire coalfield; and to the MSLR in the east at Barnetby. The line was fully opened by 1866, and enable rapid expansion of the iron business around Scunthorpe. A branch to further iron ore deposits near Santon was authorised and opened 1872/3. W.H. and G. Dawes (Elsecar) were the first to utilise the ore which was tested at blast furnaces at
Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
, transported there by water. In 1862 the Dawes began to build the first blast furnace in the area, which became operational in 1864, operating as the Trent Iron Company. The Frodingham Iron Company also opened in 1864, established by Joseph Cliff, a firebrick manufacturer from
Wortley, Leeds Wortley ( ) is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins one mile to the west of the city centre. The appropriate City of Leeds ward is called Farnley and Wortley. It was known as ''Wirkelay'' until about 1700. Wortley ...
who used experienced iron makers from
Stockton-upon-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimate ...
to establish the business. Both produced iron from their own local ironstone leases. North Lincolnshire Iron Works, was established by Daniel Adamson of Hyde, Manchester in 1866, supported by Lancashire capitalists; the business was supplied with ore from Winn's own mines. Over the next decade three more works were established: the Redbourn Hill Company, and the Lincolnshire Iron Smelting Company were supported by capital from Birmingham; the Appleby Iron works was established with capital from Scotland. All six iron works were located adjacent to the ore workings, with the low iron content of the ore favouring local working rather than transportation to external sites. By 1875 there were 13 blast furnaces in operation, with others under construction. Coke (or coal) was used, supplied from the Durham coalfield or the South Yorkshire coalfield. Initially the high lime content of the ore (up to 68%) caused production issues, through the amount and form of the
slag Slag is a by-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and used metals. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (by-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-prod ...
produced, and its basic nature, its corrosive effect on the refractories in the furnace, as well as the large amount of water content in the ore, and carbon dioxide release tending to damp the fire in the furnace. The primary solution to the basic ore was to co-fire with an imported silica containing ore. Iron ore production reached 248,329 tons, and iron production 31,000 tons by 1870, both rapid increases. In addition to local blast furnaces the ore was supplied to the
Milton ironworks The Milton Ironworks was an iron works established in the 19th century in the Elsecar area of Barnsley, West Yorkshire, England. History Elsecar, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England was, until the 18th century, a mainly agricultural vi ...
(Barnsley),
Elsecar ironworks The Elsecar Ironworks opened in 1795 in the village of Elsecar near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. The company was bankrupted in 1827 and taken over by the Wentworth estate who owned the land it stood on. The buildings are now part of the Elsecar Heri ...
(Barnsley), the
West Yorkshire Coal and Iron Company West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
(West Ardsley), and the Park Gate Iron Company (Rotherham). By 1875 several businesses were extracting iron ore in the area including Cliff and Sons (Frodingham); the Kiveton Park Company; W.H. and G. Dawes; Cliff and Sons (Leeds); the Park Gate Iron Company (Frodingham); and Charles Winn. Appleby Ironworks was established in 1875. By the 1880s the iron making district consisted of separate villages at Crosby, Scunthorpe, Frodingham and
New Frodingham New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
, with the iron ore fields and irons works to the east, in an otherwise essentially rural landscape consisting of enclosed fields and coppices.Ordnance Survey 1:10560 Sheets 18NE, 19NW 1885 With the exception of housing built at New Frodingham and
New Brumby New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
to the south most of the housing expansion associated with the growth of the industry took place around the former village of Scunthorpe – by the beginning of the 20th century Scunthorpe had grown to town sized, and incorporated schools; churches; clubs; a cemetery; and a courthouse, bank and hotel. By 1901 the local population was 11,167 increased from a combined rural population (Scunthorpe, Ashby, Brumby etc.) of 1,245 in 1851. The last business to establish an iron works in the area was Lysaght's, built 1908-1915 when it then came on stream producing heavy steel products for the war effort, notably armour plate for warships. The choice of the uphill site at
Normanby Park Normanby could be: Places Australia *Normanby, Queensland *Normanby Division, a local government area in Queensland *Shire of Normanby, a local government area in Queensland *Normanby Island (Queensland) *Electoral district of Normanby (disambig ...
, north of Scunthorpe, was made by the Chief Engineer, Samuel Henry 'Harry' Meakin. He was originally offered a site acquired by the Lysaght's at Flixborough on the River Trent, but pointed out that the geological strata were not strong enough to bear the weight of blast furnaces. He needed to build on hard ground, which of course hills always are. Key components of the Normanby Park Works had in practice been designed in the drawing offices of Brymbo Steelworks in Wrexham, which S H Meakin had redesigned during 1905–1908. John Darby, the man in charge of that project, listened to Meakin's professional views on how a steelworks could be made even more efficient than was possible in Wrexham, told him to do the drawings anyway then keep them where they were unlikely to be found, or even understood. In due course (in about 1907) Darby then won a contract from the Lysaght Brothers to build a brand new steelworks in Scunthorpe, which he confidently asserted would be more efficient than anything seen before. That was destined to become Normanby Park. He then told Harry Meakin "I want you to join me on the new project, but my contract precludes me from poaching staff from Brymbo. So you will have to get yourself dismissed." According to Harry Meakin's son Frank: "My father - who was 32 years old at the time - then played ducks and drakes at Brymbo for six months until they were forced to sack him." Harry Meakin then moved to Scunthorpe and joined John Darby again, whereupon he took charge of designing the new steelworks. Its upland site necessitated inter alia building large water mains up from the River Trent - steelworks use a huge amount of water. The design included modernistic features, such as the facility to burn gases from the blast furnace beneath the steel furnaces, but this was not proceeded with in practice. Upon completion, S H Meakin then managed the new Normanby Park steelworks for a year. However his primary interest was new design, rather than production, so he resigned and moved to Sheffield where he took charge of the design offices of Firth-Brown. S H Meakin's hobby was studying and mounting diatoms, for which activity - paradoxically - he is far better known today. (See Google, S H Meakin : the preceding Normanby Park details are taken from an interview in 2020 with Harry Meakin's grandson, Christopher Meakin, citing known family history).


Consolidation (1912–1966)

In 1912 the Frodingham company absorbed the Appleby company, both of which in 1917 became part of the United Steel Companies; the two firms were formally amalgamated into the Appleby-Frodingham Steel Company in 1934. In 1931/2 the former North Lincolnshire Ironworks became part of the group, followed by the Trent Ironworks in 1936. The Redbourn Iron Works became part of Richard Thomas and Company of South Wales in 1917 (after 1948 part of Richard Thomas and Baldwins). The Lysaght's works became part of Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds in 1919. At the beginning of the First World War the three of the six works were converting all of their iron production to steel, whilst much of the remainder was supplied to associated steel companies. Total pig iron production in 1917 was nearly 520,000 tons. Immediately preceding the war (1916) plans had been made to increase UK steel production by 2 million tons. In the Lincolnshire district 2 new blast furnaces and 6 steel furnaces were sanction in 1916; and 2 blast and 3 steel in 1917/18. By 1918 production of pig iron in the district had risen to around 650,000 tons. During the interbellum the three Scunthorpe works increase the share of UK steel production from 3 to 10%. In 1945 all steel produced in the Lincolnshire district was by the basic
open hearth process An open-hearth furnace or open hearth furnace is any of several kinds of industrial furnace in which excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of pig iron to produce steel. Because steel is difficult to manufacture owing to its high melt ...
, with no Bessemer or electric arc plant. Experimental underground mining began in the 1930s, leading to the development of the Santon drift mine, with production beginning after the end of the Second World War. A second mine, Dragonby, was also opened in the post war period. Both mines were worked on the room and pillar system, with approximately height of extraction within the seams, leaving some ironstone for roof support (about depth) and roadway. Drilling and blasting were used for extraction with much of the work mechanised. By the mid 20th century Scunthorpe was expanding into a large town, to the west, north and south of the original village, and its extent now included the former villages of Crosby and Frodingham, and had reached as far south as Brumby. The steelworks and ironworkings had expanded east and to the north.Ordnance Survey 1:10560 Sheets 18NE, 18SE, 19NW, 19SW, 10SE 1948 The population of Scunthorpe reached over 45 thousand in 1941, and was to increase to over 66 thousand by the beginning of the 1980s. In 1951 much of the British steel industry was briefly nationalised, as the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain. However, in late 1951 a Conservative government was elected (see Third Churchill ministry) and the nationalisation decision reversed. The United Steel Companies was recreated; Richard Thomas and Baldwins was re-created with the separation of the
Steel Company of Wales The Steel Company of Wales Ltd was a Welsh steel and tinplate producer. It was formed in 1947 and absorbed into British Steel Corporation in 1967, British Steel then merged with Hoogovens and became Corus UK Limited. The business now forms par ...
; and GKN re-acquired its former steel interests including those at Scunthorpe.


Applebly Frodingham ironworks

After merger the adjacent Appleby and Frodingham works both produced pig iron, with the Frodingham works specialising in bars and sections, and the Appleby works plates and slabs. In 1937 each site had four blast furnaces each, each with two relatively modern builds, with a maximum diameter of in three; capacities of the four modern furnaces were two at 2,300 tons, one at 2,000 tons and one at 1,650 tons per week. Blast furnace gas was used at both sites to power electrical generators, and further energy recovery from the residual hot gas obtained from water tube boilers heated by the gas, or for heating in the steel works. Both works contained similar melting shops – the Appleby works had five tilting furnaces (open hearth) of 250- or 300-ton capacity. Employment over both sites was 6,500 in 1937. In the context of the wider United Steel group, rationalisation during the 1930s led the Appleby Frodingham works to be specialised in plates and heavy sections, whilst lighter section, bars, rod and wire were produced at the group's
Steel, Peech and Tozer Steel, Peech and Tozer was a large steel maker with works situated at Ickles and Templeborough, in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. History An area of land, almost a crescent shape through Masbrough and Ickles, on the edge of Rotherham to ...
and Samuel Fox works in Yorkshire, with rails and ferroalloys at the Workington site. In 1945 the works was the largest in Britain, with a capacity of 700 million tons pa (5.5% national production), and occupied a site. In 1939 two diameter blast furnaces together with associated coke ovens and sinter plant were constructed on a site south of the earlier Appleby works, the location of the former North Lincolnshire Iron works. Here future expansion of the plant was focused replacing plant at the Frodingham works. In the early 1950s the company expanded two of its blast furnaces to diameter (named "Queen Mary", No.9; and "Queen Bess"), and in 1951 took the decision to start the construction of two further new furnaces to a similar diameter. The new furnaces together with addition sinter plant were constructed on former ironstone quarry land. The new furnaces were official opened in mid 1954, and older plant abandoned, with total capacity increased from 900,000 to 1,250,000 tons pa. The blast furnaces were named "Queen Anne" (No.3, 27 ft) and "Queen Victoria" (No.4, 28.5 ft). In addition to the new plant new sinter equipment was constructed, allowing the works to operate on near 100% sinter use in the blast furnaces – part of the rationale for the sinter investment was the deterioration of the quality of the locally mined ore, resulting in increasing quantities of
fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...
s in the ore. The expansion led to the closure of the iron works at Frodingham and the North Lincs works; the last blast furnace in operation at Frodingham, No.1, was shut down in May 1954. During the decade after onwards the Appleby-Frodingham works pioneered the use of a variation of the open hearth furnace utilising oxygen named the
AJAX furnace The AJAX furnace was a modification of the tilting open hearth furnace that used blown oxygen to improve productivity. The process was used in the UK during the 1960s at a time of transition from open hearth to oxygen based steel making. History a ...
. The AJAX furnaces functioned as a transition technology prior to the introduction of the
Linz-Donawitz process Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS, BOP, BOF, or OSM), also known as Linz-Donawitz steelmaking or the oxygen converter processBrock and Elzinga, p. 50. is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into steel. Blowin ...
(basic oxygen) for steel production by the company .


Normanby Park works, John Lysaght

At the beginning of the 20th century
John Lysaght John Lysaght and Co. was an iron and steel company established in Bristol, England, and with later operations in Wolverhampton, Newport, and Scunthorpe. The company was acquired by GKN in 1920. The founder John Lysaght (1832–1895) was bor ...
was seeking entry to primary steel production to feed his rolling mills in South Wales. A number of schemes were considered including a works at
Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...
, South Wales; the acquisition of the Westbury Iron Company (Wiltshire); or a new works near Scunthorpe. Discussions and agreement with Sir Berkeley Sheffield on a lease of the iron ore containing land were made in 1905, and the decision was taken to establish a steelworks, with the estimated capital cost at under £350,000. During the Depression of 1920–21 the works was temporarily closed – iron and steel production was resumed in 1922 but the works operated at under capacity for the remainder of the decade. At the beginning of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
of the 1930s the works was reconstructed at a cost of £400,000 to specialise outside general mass market steels – as a result capacity utilising was at 80% compared to an industry average of nearer 50%, though with very low profit margins. During this period the works was primary supplier to the company's Orb Works in Newport. Due to oversupply in the industry the blast furnaces were again temporarily shut down in 1938. In 1939 the company was notified by government official that the works work be required to supply steel for projectile Shells. During the post war period the works was planned to increase output to 500,000 ingot tons pa – by 1955 this figure had been exceeded with production at 600,000 tons pa. Two
Linz-Donawitz process Basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS, BOP, BOF, or OSM), also known as Linz-Donawitz steelmaking or the oxygen converter processBrock and Elzinga, p. 50. is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into steel. Blowin ...
converters of 60 tons capacity each were installed in 1964.


Redbourn Hill Ironworks

The Redbourne Hill works shares were held by
Monks and Hall A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicat ...
(Warrington) in 1905, but sold to the
Cwmfelin Steel and Tinplate Company Cwmfelin is a village out the southern outskirts of Maesteg, in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales. It was once part of the medieval commote of Tir Iarll, before becoming a part of the parish of Llangynwyd. Since 1974 it has been part of the co ...
(owned by a son of
Richard Thomas Richard Thomas or Dick Thomas may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Dick Thomas (singer) (1915–2003), American singing cowboy and actor * Richard Thomas (actor) (born 1951), American actor * Richard Thomas (author) (born 1967), Americ ...
) in 1907/8. Initially the works functioned as a source of pig iron. In 1933 a bar mill was transferred from the parent company's bar mill at Tredegar South Wales to the Redbourn site. Later in the 1930 Richard Thomas and Baldwins considered to establish a continuous strip mill at their Redbourn works, but under government pressure in the context of difficult economic conditions and unemployment in South Wales reversed their decision and instead place the development at the EbbVale ironworks sites. A single 100 ton oxygen based (Oberhausen rotor) steelmaking converter was installed at Redbourn in 1961. The Redbourn works was originally supplied by two hand charged furnaces built 1875. Furnaces 3 and 4 were added in 1909 and 1919. In 1951/2 the 1875 furnaces were replaced by a single furnace. No.4 furnace was closed in 1977, and No.3 furnace was closed in 1979; the last furnace, No.2 was shut down in October 1979.


British Steel Corporation period (1967–1999)

Nationalisation of UK steel operations led to the formation of the British Steel Corporation (BSC) in 1967. Scunthorpe was chosen by the corporation as one of the five main production centres, formally within the Midland regional division of BSC, and designated as a general steel producers. Placing the three steel producers in the town under shared ownership gave opportunities for rationalisation and greater efficiency – excess liquid steel and sinter were transferred between the works by rail. Within the whole of BSC the 7 ft plate mill at Appleby-Frodingham (and at West Hartlepool) was closed and production transferred to Lackenby, North Yorkshire in around 1970. Under the rationalisation scheme known as the 'Heritage Programme' closures corresponding to 1.59 and 0.81 million tons of ingot steel were announced for Appleby-Frodingham and Redbourn works to take effect in 1973/4 and 1972/3 respectively. The Dragonby and Santon mines were worked as a single unit from 1969. In the early 1970s the UK government announced £3 billion investment plan to modernise the companies main steel production sites (Scunthorpe, Lackenby, Llanwern, Ravenscraig, Port Talbot), increasing productivity by 50%, and reducing the total workforce by 50,000. Changes and modernisation at Scunthorpe were planned under several phases for Scunthorpe, under a scheme known as the "Anchor Project", which had its basis in an £80 million proposal made by the Appleby-Frodingham company in 1966 to the regulating Iron and Steel Board for LD converter conversion with a capacity of around 2 million tons pa, plus a 2 million ton pa slab mill and investment increasing light plate production to 1 million tons pa; foreign ore would also be used to increase productivity. When accepted by BSC in 1969 the expanded project had a cost of £130 million (rising to £230 million by 1971), and included three 300 ton LD converters, as well as a continuous plate mill later rejected, and other improvements. During the formulation of the plan the option of relocating the Scunthorpe-based steel production to a coastal site (i.e. Port of Immingham) had been considered but rejected. Work on the former ore field site south and east of the older works began in early 1970. The new Anchor works including steelmaking, continuous casting and rolling mills was officially opened in 1974 by
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
. The development of an ore terminal as part of the Anchor project was authorised; use of local or regionally imported ores ceased or was greatly reduced, as a consequence of increased importation of foreign ores of far greater iron content. The Port of Immingham became a key part of the overall infrastructure of the Scunthorpe steelworks as an importation point. The
Immingham Bulk Terminal The Port of Immingham, also known as Immingham Dock, is a major port on the east coast of England, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary in the town of Immingham, Lincolnshire. In 2019, the Port of Grimsby & Immingham was the largest p ...
was constructed as a joint venture between BSC and the National Coal Board (NCB). Ore was to be supplied to the steelworks by a Merry-go-round train system. At the Normanby Park site ore was supplied from the stockyards built for the Appleby-Frodingham Anchor project by a conveyor. In the early 1970s BSC planning considered the 5 million ingot steel tons pa Anchor site as a core asset, and the 1.1 million tons pa former Lysaght's Normanby works as marginal. The economic downturn following the
1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
(see Steel crisis) contributed to large scale reduction in the BSC workforce overall, to under a third of the 180,000 employed in the UK industry as a whole in 1975; this in combination with loss of certain privileges and management requests for flexible working, reduction in manning, and wage cuts or wage freezes led to large scale conflict in the industry as a whole over several years. A national strike (led by the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation) took place from January to March 1980. In the wider business steel production ended at Shotton (1978), Consett (1980), Corby (1981) and Clydeside (1982). On 4 November 1975 four workers were killed at the Queen Victoria furnace, and others badly injured following an explosion in a torpedo car due to water ingress into the molten steel filled vessel. In total 11 persons eventually died due to their injuries. At the around the beginning of the 1980s BSC made significant cutbacks to operations at Scunthorpe: all the ore mines closed; and most of the Redbourn works was shut, use of the Lysaght's Normanby Park site ended . with all liquid steel production at the site ended by 1979. In 1982 works employment was 8,900. In 1967 ore production at Scunthorpe had been 4.7 million tons pa; from 1981 to 1987 local ore production had dropped to around 1 million tons and then to 120,000 tons with only one quarry (Yarborough) in operation. Underground mining ended in 1981. In late 1982 a continuous caster for billets was installed. Facilities at the works in 1983 included a 300t basic oxygen steelmaker; billet, bloom and slab continuous casters; and desulphurisation and degassing equipment. BSC was privatised in 1988 by the British Steel Act 1988. By the steelworks had been entirely converted from the open hearth to basic oxygen steel making process – the works employed 7,300 persons and had a production capacity of around 5 million tons pa of steel.


Corus/Tata period (1999–2016)

In 1999 BSC merged with Koninklijke Hoogovens of the Netherlands to form Corus. In 2004 the Heavy Section Mill (HSM) was closed with the loss of about 150 jobs, Manufacture of sheet piling cease at the HSM in July 2004 at Scunthorpe and the company sold the remnants of its sheet piling business (sales) to Arcelor. In 2005 Corus announced an investment plan for its long products division: a £130 million investment at Scunthorpe into the medium section mill, focusing on rail production, with the a corresponding end to rail production at its site in Workington, UK; other investment included a new bloom caster, reheat furnace and breakdown mill for the rod mill. Corus was acquired by Tata Steel in 2007, forming Tata Steel Europe. Following the Financial crisis of 2007–08 the global Great Recession led to reduction in demand for steel and reduced profitability. The Queen Bess furnace was mothballed in 2008. In 2011 a billet caster and bloom mill were closed, replaced by a new £55 million casting machine, ordered in 2005. The Queen Bess furnace was relit in early 2014, to maintain production whilst the Queen Anne furnace was shut down and relined at a cost of around £30 million. The Queen Anne furnace was relit in October 2014. As a consequence of reduced profitability Tata Group sought to sell much of its European steel operations. In 2014 Scunthorpe works were offered as part of Tata Steel Europe's long products division, with the Klesch Group as potential buyer; the acquisition process was ended mid 2015 by Klesch with no sale. In 2015 Tata announced the loss of 900 jobs at the Scunthorpe site, with reductions including the closure/mothballing of the plate mill (350 persons), and closure of the Dawes Lane coke ovens (140 persons). The plate mill ceased production in December 2015, and the Dawes Lane coke ovens ceased production in March 2016, with all coke production transferred to the Appleby coke ovens.


British Steel period (2016–present)

In April 2016 the long products division including the Scunthorpe works as the only primary steel producer and main employer was sold by Tata to Greybull Capital for a nominal sum of £1. The business was renamed British Steel Ltd.


Legacy and environment

The town of Scunthorpe exists primarily due to the development of the iron ore and steel industry in the area, changing the character of the area from almost entirely rural to one of a large heavy industrial enterprise and town in a rural setting. As a consequence most of the buildings in the town date to the late 19th or 20th century. After closure the underground ironstone working caused serious subsidence in some areas due to washing out of clay causing delayed collapse. Parts of the surface ironstone workings were restored using company and governmental contributed funds during the late 20th century; some workings such as the Winterton quarry were utilised as landfill sites. According to the
Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
(2000), British Steel plc (Scunthorpe, Llanwern, Port Talbot, Redcar) was the biggest industrial polluter of
dioxin Dioxin may refer to: * 1,2-Dioxin or 1,4-Dioxin, two unsaturated heterocyclic 6-membered rings where two carbon atoms have been replaced by oxygen atoms, giving the molecular formula C4H4O2 *Dibenzo-1,4-dioxin, the parent compound also known as ...
s in the United Kingdom.


See also

* Monotown, single industry towns, common under centrally planned soviet Russia *
Singleton Birch Singleton may refer to: Sciences, technology Mathematics * Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element * Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing * Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance o ...
, supplier of limestone to works from a nearby quarry in
Melton Ross Melton Ross is a small village in North Lincolnshire, separated from New Barnetby by railway lineanlevel crossing The 2001 census found 186 people in 77 households, the population increasing marginally to 188 at the 2011 census. Geography Traff ...
.


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * * *


Map locations


External links

* *{{citation, url =https://issuu.com/grimsbytel/docs/150yearsofironmaking, title = 150 Years of Ironmaking in Scunthorpe, type = special edition, publisher = Scunthorpe Telegraph, year = 2014 , access-date=20 April 2016 Buildings and structures in Scunthorpe Economy of Lincolnshire Ironworks and steelworks in England