Steel, Peech & Tozer
previously Phoenix Works, Phoenix Bessemer Steel & Steel, Peech & Hampton
Steel, Peech and Tozer's massive Templeborough steelworks (now the Magna Science Adventure Centre) was, at its peak, over a mile long, employing 10,000 workers, and housing six electric arc furnaces producing 1.8 million tonnes of steel a year. The operation finally closed down in 1993.
Phoenix Works
By the 1830s the Phoenix Works were one of the leading works for the production of large iron forgings producing marine engines, paddle wheels shafts, crank axles and crank throws using water powered tilt hammers. They were based on a large site near the river Don at Templeborough.
Phoenix Bessemer Steel
The Phoenix Bessemer Steel Works were founded in 1871 but failed in 1875.
Steel Peech & Hampton
I am a bit hazy about the various changes of ownership and partnerships here but it may go like this. The assets were purchased by Henry Steel in partnership with Hampton and William Henry Peech. The firm was then known as Steel Peech & Hampton. Hampton left the board in 1883 and at some time the Tozer came along.
Steel Peech & Tozer
Under the name Steel, Peech and Tozer the company became a major force in the production of steel in Britain. The plant was greatly expanded with cogging mills, rail mills and plants for the manufacture of steel springs and railway axles. The Bessemer converters were replaced by three open hearth furnaces by 1897. In Rotherham the name of Steel, Peech & Tozer, colloquially know to all as 'Steelos', was synonymous with steel production well into the 20th 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By the 1950s Templeborough's open hearth furnaces were out of date and the United Steels Company, of which SPT had become a part in 1918, replaced them with electric arc furnaces.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
Brinsworth Strip Mill was completed in 1958. This is still in production and is presently owned by the Indian Company, Tata Steel.
