Image ID: 14624

Steetley Works

Steetley Works
Steetley
England

Steetley is located two miles west of Worksop. There has been a long history of the Steetley area being used for stone, earth and mineral extraction and of pre-historic human habitation. Steetley Quarry Cave was found (at the back of the brickworks) in 1976. This cave contained a large number of animal bones dating to after the Last Ice Age 10,000 years ago. Spectacular finds are the two jaws of lynx, and a flint microlith indicates human activity at this time. After this time many small quarries had been opened and closed, but a medieval quarry at Steetley had continued to prosper. Stone had been used for the Chapel, built during the reign of Henry II, and was used in many of the ducal houses of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire, as well as the new Parliament buildings at Westminster. One of these early quarries, a dolomite quarry, which was worked at Steetley might have remained a small quarry except for two important factors. First, the Industrial Revolution, which brought into being a new steel-making process requiring a heat-resisting furnace for which dolomite proved the most suitable material. Second, the steel-making centre of Sheffield was only a few miles away. So, in 1885, a new company called Steetley was formed and, from a modest beginning, a vast industrial organisation has developed. Following the purchase by Mr. Isaac Sharples on 1st January, 1885, the quarry traded as The Steetley Lime and Building Stone Company supplying hard-burnt lime. Three years after the company was established, it succeeded in building a continuous shaft kiln to produce Doloma. The furnace was a vertical shaft, lined with tarred, burnt dolomite. Stone and coke were fed into the top of this air-blown furnace and Doloma emerged at the bottom. The demand for Doloma expanded rapidly, influencing Steetley to look for sources of raw material in other parts of the country. By the outbreak of the First World War, the combined production of Doloma was 50,000 tons per year. The wartime links established between Steetley and the steel industry were further strengthened after the war and the company searched for high quality dolomite deposits near to the steel-making centres of the North, Midlands and South Wales. Growth and acquisition continued and by 1930, there were four companies making up Steetley. These were merged to form a new company, The Steetley Lime and Basic Company Limited (which was changed again in 1944 to The Steetley Company Limited and in 1982 to Steetley plc). As Steetley prospered, funds were made available for research and in 1936 the first research laboratory was built at Steetley Works. One of the first projects was to study the release of magnesia from dolomitic lime to reduce the dependence on imported magnesia. In 1937 a pilot plant was built and in l938 a full production plant was working, just in time to aid the war effort, the product being marketed as Britmag. The experimental work in producing stabilised dolomite was also successful and this eventually led to the opening of the Refractory Brick Company of England, making Dolofer bricks. Steetley eventually expanded its activities beyond dolomite and magnesia-based refractories into silica, taking over the Oughtibridge Silica Firebrick Company in 1947. Dolomite activities were extended outside the UK and in 1952 Steetley acquired the Canada Crushed and Cut Stone Company, which had dolomite deposits in the Niagara Fails area. As customer needs became more sophisticated and more complex, the company recognised the need for development of improved technology and products. In 1959, new research laboratories were opened and the Steetley Organisation Research Department was established in Worksop. Further diversification took Steetley into the ready-mixed concrete business in 1964 and into the techniques of sand and gravel extraction, which were in direct contrast to hardrock quarrying. Improved technology in steel making, especially the 'basic oxygen process' led to a requirement for high purity calcium lime. Thus, in 1968, the company acquired a limestone quarry at Dowlow, Derbyshire. Steetley's next major move was into chemicals in 1970; this also expanded the operations overseas in Australia, France, Spain, Saudi Arabia and eventually in the USA. A decline in the steel industry adversely affected parts of the Steetley operation, as did the energy crisis of the 1970's, while the world recession of the 1980's led to a series of plant closures around the world. However, while the small quarries, mentioned earlier, had closed, Steetley's history has been one of expansion and adaptation to change. Now the company is organised into six main operating divisions covering construction materials, facing bricks and clay tiles, minerals, refractories, chemicals and distribution, engineering and properties. Each area of activity is the responsibility of a subsidiary company.

Date: 01/09/1971

Organisation Reference: NCCN001030

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