Homepage   Meetings and Events   Society Membership  Brief Histories 
Ilkeston's Archaeology  Ilkeston and District Heritage  Stanton Road Cemetery  
Publications   Contact Us   Useful Links

THE STANTON IRONWORKS 

For those from further a field than Ilkeston, many may not have heard the recent sad news that almost half of the present workforce at the former Stanton Iron Works are to be made redundant. As part of its present restructuring, Saint Gobain, its present owners, are to end the production of iron pipes at the works, bring to an end almost 150 years of pipe production. From what was once a company which once employed a workforce of over 7,000, the local works will now provide employment for little more than 300. Read on

The Stanton Ironworks was once Ilkeston's largest manufacturing concern and consequently the town's biggest employer of local labour in the area. The Stanton and Staveley group was also part of the British Steel Corporation, forming part of its Tubes Division. At its height, the company employed around 12,500 people of which 7,000 worked at the Stanton works.

Evidence has been found that iron production has taken place in this area since Roman times and the remains of medieval bloom furnaces have been uncovered at Stanley Grange near to West Hallam. In 1788, a small blast furnace had been built and operated in the area between Stanton by Dale and Dale Abbey which, although in operation for little more than 15 years, laid the foundations for one of the largest industries in the area. However, the true origins of the Stanton Ironworks go back to 1846 when Chesterfield man, Benjamin Smith and his son Josiah, brought three blast-furnaces into production alongside the banks of the Nutbrook Canal.

Between 1865 and 1867,  Benjamin Smith's original three furnaces were replaced with five new furnaces. This site becoming known as the Old Works. Smith's furnaces produced about 20 tons of pig iron per day but the company soon experienced financial difficulties and there followed a series of take-overs during the middle of the 19th century.
During this period the business was taken over by the Crompton family. This family owned the company for over eighty years, re-naming the works: The Stanton Iron Company. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 created a huge demand for iron and the works expanded rapidly with the construction of new furnaces and foundries (the New Works) alongside the Erewash Canal in the early 1870s. By the early 20th century the business was named The Stanton Ironworks Company Ltd.

During the Great War War of 1914-1918 Stanton produced large numbers of shell casings, while during the conflict of 1939-45, both shell and bomb casings, gun barrels, and concrete air-raid shelter components were produced. With its experience in high quality concrete products, Stanton was also involved with the production of experimental concrete torpedo casings. During the Second World War, the Stanton Gate Foundry (known to later generations as the Erewash Foundry) produced 873,500 bomb casings.

The years following the war saw Stanton's fortunes fluctuate with nationalisation, privatisation and re-nationalisation taking place. During the early 1980s Stanton became part of the French Pont-a-Mouson Group and later part of Saint Gobain.

Although a shadow of its former self, Stanton is still a major local employer and manufacturer of iron and concrete products.