Rotherham Forge
& Rolling Mills
For a firm so prominently situated near the centre of Rotherham I have been able to find surprising little about Rotherham Forge & Rolling Mills.
Forge Island was not a true island but a piece of land on the Masbrough side of the River Don which found itself almost completely surrounded by water when the River Dun Navigation Company extended their works to Rotherham in the mid-18th century. This was part of the estate belonging to the Earl of Effingham. At some time the Effingham estate must have leased the land for industrial development. The forge and rolling mills were build on Forge Island, only a stone's throw from Rotherham Town Centre. A map of 1860 shows Rotherham Forge occupying the southern end of Forge Island with various other buildings including a corn warehouse to the north.
Rotherham Forge on the right
The company was originally known as Brown's Forge as it belonged to George Brown. I assume that it made all kind of iron and steel but I have only found it on one record as a major producer of equipment for the Royal Navy.
As a child visits to the Odeon cinema on the riverbank opposite the forge were often enlivened by very loud thuds and vibrations that rattled though the auditorium from the drop stamp forge.
The forge closed in 1981 and Hillards supermarket (now Tescos) was built on the Forge Island site.