Steel, Peech and Tozer - History

History

An area of land, almost a crescent shape through Masbrough and Ickles, on the edge of Rotherham town centre, became well known in the late 18th / early 19th centuries through its involvement in iron and steel making and there could be found the works of many of the towns iron masters. Situated between the main turnpike road linking Rotherham and Sheffield and the River Don was built the Phoenix Works, a leading manufacturer of large iron forgings, made using water powered tilt hammers. It is known that the works made forgings for marine engines, shafts for use in paddle steamers and crank axles etc. In a change to their product base, and to reflect this a change of name, 1871 saw the founding of the Phoenix Bessemer Steel Works, making steel through the use of the Bessemer process.

Unfortunately, after just 4 years the company failed and the assets were purchased by Henry Steel. The new company became known as Steel, Peech and Hampton, taking its name from those of the directors. Mr. Hampton left in 1875 and was replaced by a Mr.Edward Tozer, the company changing its name to Steel, Peech and Tozer, a giant in South Yorkshire steelmaking had arrived.

The steel making plant was changed in 1897 when the Bessemer converters were replaced by three open hearth furnaces and the processing plant increased with the addition of cogging mills, rail mills and specialist plant for the manufacture of steel springs and railway axles. In 1914, following the outbreak of the First World War many iron and steel companies began producing munitions. In this case the work was added to the normal production, which included many component orders for the military. The Ickles site was proving too small to handle the production, and with steel in such demand, the company extended their works towards the Sheffield boundary, to occupy a site between the main Sheffield to Rotherham road and the Great Central Railway line. The new Melting Shop and Rolling Mills were built over the site of the old Roman fort at Templeborough. The Templeborough Melting Shop, when opened, was the largest melting shop of its type in Europe and contained 14 open hearth furnaces where steel scrap was melted down.

At the end of the Second World War there was an increase in demand for steel products such as sheet, plate and strip due to improved living standards. As products became relatively cheap the demand grew for such items as refrigerators, canned foods and cars. SPT had a Strip Mill, which could satisfy some of this demand. It had been producing strip to a maximum width of 230mm since 1921, however the limitation in the maximum width and site restrictions prevented extension, enlargement or modernisation of the plant. A new mill was required which would cater for the increased demand, and to this end market research was carried out to determine the size and potential of the market. When the technical and commercial research was concluded, it was decided to build a continuous Hot Strip Mill rolling mild, carbon and special steels up to 457mm. This new mill filled the gap between the narrow and wide strip mills operating at that time. So in July 1955 it was announced that Brinsworth Hot Strip Mill would be built on Sheffield Road opposite Templeborough Melting Shop at a cost of £3.6 m. In less than two years it was built and the first slabs rolled on 10 June 1957, quite an achievement. Full capacity was expected to be 8000 tonnes per week and in 1956 there were new orders for two to three years. These orders were mainly for the motorcar, bicycle, tube and stamping industries and nearly all of them for the home market.

When building a new plant such as Brinsworth it was necessary to ensure that there would be a good supply of raw material. The ingots produced were rolled to blooms and then slabs in the Templeborough Cogging Mill. The slabs were then delivered to Brinsworth by train on one of the six rail tracks laid. The majority of these tracks have been lifted although there is still evidence on the plant of the old railway system.

Outputs steadily increased and a second shift was added by the middle of December 1957. By September 1959 143,258 tonnes of coils had been produced. Soon records were set and in 1973 the Hot Mill achieved its highest throughput of 425,000 in one year. This reflected the boom in industry in the early 1970s. During this period other records were set. Tommy Walker produced 1,099 tonnes on a shift on 25 January 1974, which also gave a daily record of 2,815 tonnes produced. November 1972 saw the highest production for one week at 11,486 tonnes.