Samuel Fox and Co (Stainless Steel Section)
of Stocksbridge, near Sheffield. Telephone: Oughtibridge 40871. Telegraphic Address: "Fox, Deepcar"
Part of Samuel Fox and Co
1794 The mill at Stocksbridge was built as a cotton mill.
1842 Mill bought by Samuel Fox and developed into the steelworks which brought prosperity to the district. Initially he used the water power which had been running the nearby Hunshelf cornmill and the mills at Deepcar, but he soon learned to exploit the coal seams in that hillside as machines were developed which used steam power.
Stocksbridge was worked by Samuel Fox and Co with 2 or 3 adits to extract most coal from the Halifax Hard seam with only a little worked for the Halifax Soft seam 55ft below.
The coal was worked by Samuel Fox and Co for many years, the exact dates are not known at this time, but it is known that in the 1930s there were four faces being worked with mechanised coal cutters. No specific spoil heap was created from the colliery, but it is likely that much material was taken to the general works tip at an area known as Soughly (now a junction on the A616 trunk road). The high content of coal here would explain why the tip was on fire until shortly before the road across it was constructed.
Samuel Fox and Co, and later United Steel Companies, operated coke oven and gas producers in Stocksbridge for many years, undoubtedly using a high proportion of their own coal.
1937 British Industries Fair Advert for New Process Stainless Steels. "Silver Fox" new process Stainless Steels, with examples of their uses in various industries. (Engineering/Metals/Quarry, Roads and Mining/Transport Section - Stand No. D.711)
1937 British Industries Advert for "Silver Fox" new process Stainless Steels, with examples of their uses in various industries. (Engineering/Metals/Quarry, Roads and Mining/Transport Section - Stand No. D.711)
1937 British Industries Fair Advert as part of The United Steel Companies. (Engineering/Metals/Quarry, Roads and Mining/Transport)
1947 The Colliery was vested in the NCB and closed shortly afterwards as the supposed 11.4 million tons of coal remaining in the colliery could not be extracted by machine.
1948 Associated with the United Steel Companies
1967 the British Steel Corporation split its stainless steel departments off into a separate business
During the 1980s and 1990s the Stocksbridge works was part of the United Engineering Steels group (a joint venture between British Steel and GKN).
1992 British Steel Corporation and Avesta of Sweden agreed to put their stainless steel activities into a JV company Avesta Sheffield. This included British Steel plants at Sheffield and Panteg[1]
1994 British Steel acquired a larger interest in Avesta Sheffield, giving it effective control[2]
1999 the Stocksbridge works were taken over by Corus Group, becoming part of the Corus Engineering Steels group.
2000 Avesta Sheffield, the stainless steel section of Corus Group, was acquired by Outokumpu of Finland[3]
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Deepcar Mines
- [2] Local History - Stockbridge
- 1937 British Industries Fair Advert p625; and p365
- 1937 British Industries Fair Advert p665