Park Gate Iron and Steel Co: Additional Notes
Note: This is a sub-section of Park Gate Iron and Steel Co
Additional notes from a contributor.[1]
The Park Gate Iron and Steel Company was situated in the south part of Rawmarsh parish, near Rotherham. The initial site at Taylors Lane spanned the boundary of Greasbrough township because the Greasbrough Canal was the critical location factor. It connected to the Don Navigation, the principal transport route until the Midland Railway arrived in 1840.
The triangular site was the second stage of development, sometime after the OS six-inch survey of 1850-51 (which shows no industry east of the A633 except two ovens.) [1] The works did not expand into "the Park Gate site"; rather, the whole district south of Rawmarsh village became known as Parkgate, including housing etc., (although still given as two words in 1850).
1849 I don't think that Holme Iron Works is connected to the Park Gate Co. There appears to be confusion between Holme / Holmes. I know nothing about Sowerby Bridge which is about 30 miles away, but the Park Gate Co. used blast furnaces at the Holmes. This is a location at the opposite side of Rotherham from Parkgate, but the two sites are connected by the Don Navigation and the Midland Railway.
The blast furnaces had belonged to Joshua Walker and Co. who left Rotherham in 1822. They are listed in: Riden, Philip. British Blast Furnace Statistics 1790-1980, 1995, which I do not have to hand. The following information appears in: Munford, Anthony P. Iron & Steel Town - an industrial history of Rotherham. Sutton, 2003, pp76, 78.
They were operated by Samuel Clark for some years, later rented by Geach & Co. of Park Gate Iron & Steel Works and purchased outright in 1854 because of the need for more pig iron for the rail mill production. They continued in use until 1918 and were dismantled in 1920.
Munford includes the following in his list of sources: Royston, G. P., A History of the Park Gate Iron & Steel Company Ltd., 1823-1923. 1923.
William Oxley appears to be a separate company. There may have been an early partnership with Scholefield, dissolved and thereafter separate. In 1933 both companies gave their founding date as 1823. Source: Rotherham the low-cost iron and steel town. Rotherham Development Committee, 1933, p27.
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Sources of Information
- ↑ 2021/03/17 SS