Skinningrove steelworks is a steel mill in
Skinningrove
Skinningrove is a village in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England.
Its name is of Old Norse etymology and is thought to mean ''skinners' grove or pit''.
History
The village had an agricultural and fishing economy until the opening ...
,
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
, England. The business was formed in 1874 as the ''Loftus Iron Company'', after a liquidation of the company reformed in 1880 as the ''Skinningrove Iron Company''. The works expanded from producing only pig iron to include steel production in the early 20th century, with mills specialising in
long products In steel industry terminology long steel products or long products refers to steel products including wire, rod, rail, and bars as well as types of steel structural sections and girders.
Overview
The term long products may include hot rolled bar, c ...
including railway rail. As part of the business the company constructed a jetty at Skinningrove, and owned an
ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
mine in
Loftus.
The works existed as a separate entity under the overall ownership of Pease and Partners bank until nationalisation into the
Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain
The Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain was a nationalised industry, set up in 1949 by Clement Attlee's Labour government.
The Iron & Steel Act 1949 took effect on 15 February 1951, the Corporation becoming the sole shareholder of 80 of ...
in 1951, returned to private ownership in 1963, and renationalised into
British Steel Corporation
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
(BSC) in 1967. Under BSC, the works was rationalised with all primary steel production ended by the early 1970, with the works supplied by a larger steel plant at
Lackenby
Lackenby is a small village in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. It is situated to the immediate east of Eston and Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. I ...
near
Redcar
Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough.
The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...
. The plant became focused on the production of special sections.
Ownership as part of BSC passed to
Corus Group plc
Tata Steel Europe Ltd. (formerly Corus Group plc) was a steelmaking company headquartered in London, England, with its main operations in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The company was created in 2007, when Tata Group took over the ...
(1999), and to
Tata Steel Europe
Tata Steel Europe Ltd. (formerly Corus Group plc) was a steelmaking company headquartered in London, England, with its main operations in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The company was created in 2007, when Tata Group took over the ...
(2006). In 2016, the long products division of Tata Steel Europe including Skinningrove was sold to
Greybull Capital
Greybull Capital LLP is a private investment company that specialises in medium- to long-term investments in UK-based companies. It was incorporated as a limited liability partnership in April 2010. In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 200 ...
.
History
The ''Loftus Iron Company'' was established c. 1873/74 at
Skinningrove
Skinningrove is a village in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England.
Its name is of Old Norse etymology and is thought to mean ''skinners' grove or pit''.
History
The village had an agricultural and fishing economy until the opening ...
on the north east coast of England between
Redcar
Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough.
The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...
and
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...
. Initially two blast furnaces were built, approximately 1 mile from
ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
workings.
In 1877, the business was liquidated, and was acquired by the ''Skinningrove Iron Company'' in 1880. Thomas Charles Hutchinson became manager of the company in 1880. Under Hutchinson a jetty at
Skinningrove
Skinningrove is a village in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England.
Its name is of Old Norse etymology and is thought to mean ''skinners' grove or pit''.
History
The village had an agricultural and fishing economy until the opening ...
was re-established –
hydraulic cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...
manufactured using the blast furnace's
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 ...
was used in the jetty's construction.
In 1894, the works was upgraded and a business relationship formed with Pease and Partners.
(Pease and Partners bank founded by
Joseph Pease Joseph Pease may refer to:
* Joseph Pease (railway pioneer) (1799–1872), railway owner, first Quaker elected Member of Parliament
** Sir Joseph Pease, 1st Baronet (1828–1903), MP 1865–1903, full name Joseph Whitwell Pease, son of Joseph Pease ...
.)
![Skinningrove from the cliffs c 1911](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Skinningrove_from_the_cliffs_c_1911.jpg)
During the company's early period, much of the works output (
pig iron
Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...
) was shipped to Scotland – changes in the iron and steel market caused the works to start producing steel on site.
Under Hutchinson's management, the number of furnaces was increased to four and later five; other improvements included the installation of
Cowper stove
A regenerative heat exchanger, or more commonly a regenerator, is a type of heat exchanger where heat from the hot fluid is intermittently stored in a thermal storage medium before it is transferred to the cold fluid. To accomplish this the hot fl ...
s for heat regeneration, use of the Talbot process (a continuous
open hearth
An open-hearth furnace or open hearth furnace is any of several kinds of industrial Industrial furnace, furnace in which excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of pig iron to Steelmaking, produce steel. Because steel is difficult to ma ...
process); and installation of electrically driven mill machinery. The works established its own mines at
Boulby
Boulby is a hamlet in the Loftus parish, located within the North York Moors National Park. It is in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. The hamlet is located off the A174, near Easington and west of Staithes.
It ...
.
The steel works were operational by 1911.
Hutchinson remained manager until his death in 1918.
During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Skinningrove was targeted by
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
s. On 8 September 1915, an attack on the benzol works (coke oven by product) failed to cause real damage; an attack on 5/6 Apr 1916 damaged laboratory facilities; a further attack on 2 May 1916 also caused only minor damage.
In 1922, Pease and Partners began discussions on leasing the business, in which it already had a stake. By 1927, the Quaker firm of Pease and Partners had taken control of the business. The works began rolling
double-headed rail in lengths in 1929, and lengths in 1937.
Output was c.130,000 tons steel ingots in 1920 and 1929; in 1937 reduced to 100 thousand tons. In 1936/37 the business made a 6.4% profit (c. £0.1 million on capital of c. £1.6 million). Due to a significant downturn in the economy the blast furnaces at Skinningrove were shut down for five months in 1938, together with coke, limestone and mining operations.
In 1945, the works had an output of around 200,000 tons (pig iron) pa, with its main products being angles, and rails. In 1947, the company received approval from the Iron and Steel board for a £1.7 million investment into the works, with a new blast furnace and 300 ton open hearth steelmaking plant to be added, together with improvements to equipment intended to increase steel making capacity 40% to over 300,000 tons (pig iron) pa.
In the same year the Loftus Ironstone Mine was transferred from the parent Pease and Partners to the Skinningrove company.
In 1951, the works (''Skinningrove Iron Co. Ltd.'') was nationalised into the
Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain
The Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain was a nationalised industry, set up in 1949 by Clement Attlee's Labour government.
The Iron & Steel Act 1949 took effect on 15 February 1951, the Corporation becoming the sole shareholder of 80 of ...
. The Pease Partners received £155,850 for the ordinary shares of the company. A
sinter plant
Sinter plants agglomerate iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red ...
was opened in 1960. In 1963, it was taken out of public ownership, acquired by Iron and Steel Investment Ltd., formed by a consortium of steel firms.
In 1967,
British Steel Corporation
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
(BSC) was formed, which had a 90% shareholding in the Skinningrove works. From 1967, the process began of rationalising the UK steel industry. In October 1971, the blast furnaces ceased operation, with open hearth steelmaking facilities closed soon after; with the works to be supplied with steel from the former
Dorman Long
Dorman Long & Co was a UK steel producer, later diversifying into bridge building. It was once listed on the London Stock Exchange.
History
The company was founded by Arthur Dorman and Albert de Lande Long when they acquired ''West Marsh ...
works in
Lackenby
Lackenby is a small village in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. It is situated to the immediate east of Eston and Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. I ...
. The workforce was cut to around 400 with c. 250 redundancies. As part of this rationalisation Skinningrove was chosen to specialise in special profiles within BSC.
A plant of the
Caterpillar Inc
Caterpillar Inc. (stock symbol CAT) is an American Fortune 100, ''Fortune'' 500 corporation and the world's largest construction-equipment manufacturer.
In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 65 on the ''Fortune'' 500 list and number 238 on the ...
company was built on former ironworks land adjacent to the mill in 1997, producing track shoes for construction and mining equipment – the mill's product range includes profiles for such equipment.
![Skinningrove Works](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Skinningrove_Works.jpg)
The works together with other BSC companies became part of
Corus Group plc
Tata Steel Europe Ltd. (formerly Corus Group plc) was a steelmaking company headquartered in London, England, with its main operations in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The company was created in 2007, when Tata Group took over the ...
in 1999, and
Tata Steel Europe
Tata Steel Europe Ltd. (formerly Corus Group plc) was a steelmaking company headquartered in London, England, with its main operations in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The company was created in 2007, when Tata Group took over the ...
in 2006.
In 2016, Tata Europe's
long products In steel industry terminology long steel products or long products refers to steel products including wire, rod, rail, and bars as well as types of steel structural sections and girders.
Overview
The term long products may include hot rolled bar, c ...
division, with
Scunthorpe Steelworks
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 pro ...
as the main site, and including the special sections mill at Skinningrove was sold to
Greybull Capital
Greybull Capital LLP is a private investment company that specialises in medium- to long-term investments in UK-based companies. It was incorporated as a limited liability partnership in April 2010. In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 200 ...
.
See also
*
Cleveland Railway, railway connecting Skinningrove to Middlesbrough, built 1860s/70s
References
Sources
*
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{The Yorkshire coast
Ironworks and steelworks in England
Economy of North Yorkshire
History of North Yorkshire
Tata Steel Europe
Loftus, North Yorkshire