A bit of history (originally by Mookster)
It was established in 1855 with an office staff of four, and three small furnaces, a small foundry, iron fields at Stanton and in the neighbourhood parish of Dale Abbey, and the Ironstone Bell pits at Babbington. The partners were Messrs George and John Crompton - brothers and partners in the firm of bankers of Crompton and Evans - Mr Newton and Mr. Barber. At first the pig iron was made entirely from local ore, but in 1865 Northamptonshire ores were introduced into the company's mixtures, and a little later iron mines in Leceistershire and Northamptonshire were acquired and developed. In 1878 the pipe foundry, now probably the largest in Great Britain, if not in the world, was started under the management of Mr James Chambers. Ten years prior to this date the company sunk its first colliery at Teversal, the Pleaseley Colliery followed in 1873, and The Silverhill in 1878. As indicating the progress of the firm it may be mentioned that in the twenty years immediately prior to 1914, the output of coal had increased by 94 per cent, the ironstone output by 38 per cent, the pig iron output by 29 per cent and the cast iron pipe output by 184 per cent.
Circa 1914 the company had 7000 people on its pay roll - 3000 at Stanton, the same number at the collieries and 1000 at the ironstone mines.
In 1951 it was nationalised and became part of the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain.
In 1960 the company was taken over by Stewarts & Lloyds Ltd. and was merged with Staveley Iron & Chemical Co. to form the Stanton & Staveley company.
In 1967 Stanton & Staveley was incorporated into British Steel.
During the early 1980s Stanton became part of the French Pont-a-Mouson Group and later part of Saint Gobain, manufacturing cast iron pipes. Production ceased on May 24th 2007, and subsequently a huge amount of the site was demolished around 2009/2010.
The Explore
Visited a few months back with @bmichelle @Gsxrwayne @Nayski_ex and a non member. Whilst waiting for the others to arrive I had a quick look at the Training Centre and Exhibition Centre. Both pretty smashed and plenty of graff (both crap and good) and worthy of a couple of pics.
The exterior of each building was quite nice but for some reason I didn't photograph them. After meeting the others, we headed for the main works. We were armed with a handy map of the site courtesy of @mookster to stop us (@bmichelle) wandering into the live part...
We started off in the long, narrow warehouse. This part of the works looks to be in occasional use and still had power which we realised when one of us decided to press the button opening the roller-shutter door, causing an alarming racket
About half way down was a small office, stores and 'lab' type area
After letting ourselves out of the main door we made our way into another large part of the works - part of which is still in use as a production area, with the derelict part being separated by large white sheeting.
A fallen walkway, slowly sinking into the huge pool of water
A couple of side rooms - bathroom and an bit of a computer room
Small locker area
Overall, very enjoyable
It was established in 1855 with an office staff of four, and three small furnaces, a small foundry, iron fields at Stanton and in the neighbourhood parish of Dale Abbey, and the Ironstone Bell pits at Babbington. The partners were Messrs George and John Crompton - brothers and partners in the firm of bankers of Crompton and Evans - Mr Newton and Mr. Barber. At first the pig iron was made entirely from local ore, but in 1865 Northamptonshire ores were introduced into the company's mixtures, and a little later iron mines in Leceistershire and Northamptonshire were acquired and developed. In 1878 the pipe foundry, now probably the largest in Great Britain, if not in the world, was started under the management of Mr James Chambers. Ten years prior to this date the company sunk its first colliery at Teversal, the Pleaseley Colliery followed in 1873, and The Silverhill in 1878. As indicating the progress of the firm it may be mentioned that in the twenty years immediately prior to 1914, the output of coal had increased by 94 per cent, the ironstone output by 38 per cent, the pig iron output by 29 per cent and the cast iron pipe output by 184 per cent.
Circa 1914 the company had 7000 people on its pay roll - 3000 at Stanton, the same number at the collieries and 1000 at the ironstone mines.
In 1951 it was nationalised and became part of the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain.
In 1960 the company was taken over by Stewarts & Lloyds Ltd. and was merged with Staveley Iron & Chemical Co. to form the Stanton & Staveley company.
In 1967 Stanton & Staveley was incorporated into British Steel.
During the early 1980s Stanton became part of the French Pont-a-Mouson Group and later part of Saint Gobain, manufacturing cast iron pipes. Production ceased on May 24th 2007, and subsequently a huge amount of the site was demolished around 2009/2010.
The Explore
Visited a few months back with @bmichelle @Gsxrwayne @Nayski_ex and a non member. Whilst waiting for the others to arrive I had a quick look at the Training Centre and Exhibition Centre. Both pretty smashed and plenty of graff (both crap and good) and worthy of a couple of pics.
The exterior of each building was quite nice but for some reason I didn't photograph them. After meeting the others, we headed for the main works. We were armed with a handy map of the site courtesy of @mookster to stop us (@bmichelle) wandering into the live part...
We started off in the long, narrow warehouse. This part of the works looks to be in occasional use and still had power which we realised when one of us decided to press the button opening the roller-shutter door, causing an alarming racket
About half way down was a small office, stores and 'lab' type area
After letting ourselves out of the main door we made our way into another large part of the works - part of which is still in use as a production area, with the derelict part being separated by large white sheeting.
A fallen walkway, slowly sinking into the huge pool of water
A couple of side rooms - bathroom and an bit of a computer room
Small locker area
Overall, very enjoyable
