Appleby-Frodingham Steel Company

The Appleby-Frodingham Steel Company was formed in 1912 by a take over of the Appleby Ironworks by the Frodingham Ironworks. Both of these companies, located in villages near Scunthorpe, in North Lincolnshire, are amongst the areas oldest iron producers.

History

Although iron ores had been found in the area in Roman times they had been forgotten until rediscovered in 1859 resulting in the foundation of an iron industry in the villages around Scunthorpe. The extraction of the iron ore commenced in July 1860 and much of this was sold to the Dawes brothers, proprietors of an iron works at Elsecar, near Barnsley. At the time there was no railway east of the River Trent so the ore had to be taken to a wharf at Gunness (or Gunhouse), where it was loaded into barges or taken across the river to join the South Yorkshire Railway’s line from Keadby. The Dawes brothers were persuaded to build an iron works adjacent to the iron fields, which became known as the Trent Ironworks, and construction began in 1862, the first cast being made on 26 March 1864. It was not long before others followed where the Dawes brothers had started. First to come was the Frodingham Ironworks, near the village of the same name and now part of Scunthorpe, on which work began in 1864, Following this came the North Lincoln Ironworks in 1866, the Redbourn Hill Iron & Coal Company (1872), Appleby Ironworks (1876) and finally John Lysaght's Iron and Steel works (1911).

Crude steel was first made at...
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