An unofficial website about the Town and Borough of Rotherham 
Previously known as the Phoenix Bessemer Steel Works the firm became known as Steel, Peech
and Tozer towards the end of the 19th Century. In Rotherham the name of Steel, Peech and Tozer,
colloquially know to all as 'Steelos', was synonymous with steel production well into the
Twentieth Century.
Templeborough Steel Works
The Templeborough Melting Shop, once described as 'the Anvil of South Yorkshire', was built during the early months of the First World War by Steel, Peech & Tozer to meet the demand for steel suitable for shells. It was the largest melting shop of its type in Europe. The structure was nine storeys high, with the main building formed of two 350m long bays containing 14 open hearth furnaces. Here scrap steel from many sources was melted down. Much of the steel needed in both world wars was produced here.
World War Two saw steel production at Templeborough for shells, tanks and wheels increase to such an extent that it became a prime target for the Luftwaffe in the North of England. By the 1950s Templeborough's open hearth furnaces were out of date and the United Steels Company, of which SPT had become a part in 1918, replaced them with electric arc furnaces. At its height in the 1950s the plant employed more than 10,000 people as part of the SPT empire which included Templeborough, Ickles and Brinsworth.
SPEAR (Steel Peech Electric Arc Reorganization) introduced brand new technology and Templeborough thrived as the world's largest electric arc steel making plant providing steel for the railways and motor industry. The nationalisation of the steel industry in 1967 saw SPEAR become part of the British Steel Corporation's Rotherham Division.
In the early 1980s the plant enjoyed a brief revival when a continuous casting machine was introduced producing quality engineering steel, but the doors were finally closed in 1993.
The building is now the Magna Science & Adventure Centre which you can visit at Culture in Rotherham >> Museums >> Magna.
Brinsworth Strip Mill was completed in 1958. This is still in production.