1. The History
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 were also part of the British Steel Corporation and at its peak provided 7,000 jobs.
Iron production dates back to Roman times, but it was Chesterfield-born Benjamin Smith and his son Josiah who put Stanton on the iron-making map in 1846. They brought three blast-furnaces into production alongside the banks of the Nutbrook Canal. Between 1865 and 1867 the original three furnaces were replaced with five new furnaces and the site become 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.
Advert from The Engineer, 1943:
Around then it was taken over by the Crompton family who owned it for over eighty years, re-naming it The Stanton Iron Company. Over the years it has produced spun iron pipes, pig iron and cast-iron tunnel segments, used in the construction of both the London Underground and the Mersey Tunnel. Also, during the First War of (1914-1918) it produced large numbers of shell casings and during the Second World War conflict of 1939-45, shell and bomb casings, gun barrels, and concrete air-raid shelter components.
A few archives pictures. One internal:
…and one external:
It was taken over by Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd and was merged with the Staveley Iron and Chemical Company Ltd in 1960 to form Stanton and Staveley before becoming part of the nationalised British Steel Corporation in 1967. Despite being the UK’s largest supplier of iron products, the work’s fortunes fluctuated with nationalisation, privatisation and re-nationalisation taking place. In the early 1980s it became part of the French Pont-a-Mouson Group and later part of Saint Gobain.
Production at Stanton Ironworks came to an end in May, 2007 resulting in the redundancy of 185 workers.
One claim to fame was that locally born actor Robert Lindsay (Wolfie Smith) once worked there in the 1960s before he became his acting career took off. There’s a really interesting video here:
2. The Explore
Had this place on the “to do” list for some time now. It’s a curious place as the ruined bit is bang in the middle of live parts of the complex. It’s a big site and there’s plenty more stuff to see, including a pump house, medical centre, and admin block. See @MotionlessMike and @mookster for their excellent reports for a good coverage of the other bits below:
www.28dayslater.co.uk
www.28dayslater.co.uk
It’s been a while since I’d met up with @Bikin Glynn so we arranged to meet in the middle here for a look round given neither of us had done it before. Having parked up access was a walk up to the derelict part of the factory and although where we though we were going to get in had been sealed up, we soon found another entry point. Once in we started to snap away, aware that it was bang next to a live section. It’s a cracking place free from any graff and in a way, it’s surprising this place isn’t visited more often. On the way back we looked at the long building with its roof crane. Sadly, there was no way in we could see.
Overall, a really great place with plenty to see. Can’t beat a bit of heavy industry…
3. The Pictures
Let’s start with a few externals:
And we’re in. First up a few office rooms:
On to the main part of the factory:
Big hook, little hook:
And even bigger hook:
Loving the roof beam colours:
Old lathe:
And a few previous visitors from 28DL:
Up-stairs to the former viewing platform:
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 were also part of the British Steel Corporation and at its peak provided 7,000 jobs.
Iron production dates back to Roman times, but it was Chesterfield-born Benjamin Smith and his son Josiah who put Stanton on the iron-making map in 1846. They brought three blast-furnaces into production alongside the banks of the Nutbrook Canal. Between 1865 and 1867 the original three furnaces were replaced with five new furnaces and the site become 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.
Advert from The Engineer, 1943:
Around then it was taken over by the Crompton family who owned it for over eighty years, re-naming it The Stanton Iron Company. Over the years it has produced spun iron pipes, pig iron and cast-iron tunnel segments, used in the construction of both the London Underground and the Mersey Tunnel. Also, during the First War of (1914-1918) it produced large numbers of shell casings and during the Second World War conflict of 1939-45, shell and bomb casings, gun barrels, and concrete air-raid shelter components.
A few archives pictures. One internal:
…and one external:
It was taken over by Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd and was merged with the Staveley Iron and Chemical Company Ltd in 1960 to form Stanton and Staveley before becoming part of the nationalised British Steel Corporation in 1967. Despite being the UK’s largest supplier of iron products, the work’s fortunes fluctuated with nationalisation, privatisation and re-nationalisation taking place. In the early 1980s it became part of the French Pont-a-Mouson Group and later part of Saint Gobain.
Production at Stanton Ironworks came to an end in May, 2007 resulting in the redundancy of 185 workers.
One claim to fame was that locally born actor Robert Lindsay (Wolfie Smith) once worked there in the 1960s before he became his acting career took off. There’s a really interesting video here:
2. The Explore
Had this place on the “to do” list for some time now. It’s a curious place as the ruined bit is bang in the middle of live parts of the complex. It’s a big site and there’s plenty more stuff to see, including a pump house, medical centre, and admin block. See @MotionlessMike and @mookster for their excellent reports for a good coverage of the other bits below:
Report - - Stanton Ironworks Miscellany, The Directors Cut! - Ilkeston, Derbyshire – June 2020 | Industrial Sites
Over the course of a couple of visits to the main semi-derelict part of the former Stanton Foundry it became obvious there was probably a lot more bits to see hidden away from the main site. So with a bit of down time during lockdown to scour Google Earth and with some help from a couple of...
Report - - Stanton Ironworks, Ilkeston December 2018 | Industrial Sites
This is somewhere I'm surprised hasn't been done more if I'm honest as it's located in what I'd call the heart of one of the UK's 'rust belts'. At it's peak Stanton Ironworks near Ilkeston used to be one of the countries largest iron foundries occupying a huge swathe of land in the north...
It’s been a while since I’d met up with @Bikin Glynn so we arranged to meet in the middle here for a look round given neither of us had done it before. Having parked up access was a walk up to the derelict part of the factory and although where we though we were going to get in had been sealed up, we soon found another entry point. Once in we started to snap away, aware that it was bang next to a live section. It’s a cracking place free from any graff and in a way, it’s surprising this place isn’t visited more often. On the way back we looked at the long building with its roof crane. Sadly, there was no way in we could see.
Overall, a really great place with plenty to see. Can’t beat a bit of heavy industry…
3. The Pictures
Let’s start with a few externals:
And we’re in. First up a few office rooms:
On to the main part of the factory:
Big hook, little hook:
And even bigger hook:
Loving the roof beam colours:
Old lathe:
And a few previous visitors from 28DL:
Up-stairs to the former viewing platform:
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