Industrial Change in Wolverhampton and District

Bilston Steel Works - History

In 1873 Bilston's involvement in the metal trade was aptly summarised in the Guide to the Iron Trade of Great Britain:

" Bilston is surrounded on all sides by Ironworks, collieries,
Iron foundries, and coal mines. The famous iron foundry of T Perry and Sons of Highfields is near here, where steam engines, chilled and soft rolls, and everything appertaining to an iron works is made…Messrs Thompson and Hatton's Tin Plate Works: Grocott's Bradley Bridge; Messrs Hampton, Brierton and Cole, the Bilston Sheet Iron Company, George Hickman's works, Mr Alfred Hickman's furnaces and Mr G Merriman's Lanesfield Iron Works are all in a group, beneath the curtain of black smoke which forms the normal canopy of Bilston"

Click on the image to enlarge

Ordnance Survey Maps 1887 - 1938 showing how the site of Bilston Steelworks changed over time (sheet No. LXII.15)

Bilston Steel Works was situated at Spring Vale, Bilston. With the opening of the Birmingham to Wolverhampton Canal in 1770 industrial activity in the area increased, and by 1780 the first blast furnaces were in use.

In 1866 the Hickman family acquired the works then known as the Springvale Furnaces Ltd. At the time there were three square old type brick furnaces known locally as "The Hot Holes" on the site. Between 1866 and 1883 six new blast furnaces were built at Springvale. The furnaces were hand-fed and the molten iron was run off into pig beds. Despite the crude nature of production the furnaces produced iron of good quality and in large quantities. By the early 1880s five blast furnaces on the site produced 24,944 tons of iron a year.

Blast Furnace, Bilston Steel Works c.1940's (L6/BIL/ E/27) Note the diagonal ramp for filling or charging the furnace. The two hot-blast stoves are to either side of the furnace: The hot-blast furnaces operated in groups of three. Two providing the heat and a third providing the blast for the furnace. On the top of the furnace is a small "bleeder" chimney. This "bleeder" draws off any surplus gas.

Casting Pig Iron Alfred Hickman Ltd c.1900 (L6/BIL/I/3)

In 1897 the Springvale Furnaces and the Staffordshire Steel & Ingot Iron Co were amalgamated to become Alfred Hickman Ltd.

The site continued to expand. In 1907 the first mills powered by electricity were installed, an open-hearth furnace was built in 1911, followed by additional furnaces during the First World War.

Bilston Steel Works c 1920 (L6/BIL/E/28a)

The Bilston works were a major industrial site. During the Second World War the company was an important shell-making centre. In the early 1950's a £16million development scheme was put into place.

In 1954 "Elisabeth", a new blast furnace, was lit replacing three smaller
blast furnaces. Elisabeth alone produced 275,000 tons of steel a year. In her lifetime she produced more than 5.5 million tons of pig iron.

The furnace was named Elisabeth after the daughter of the chairman of Stewarts & Lloyds Ltd, the owners.

Blast Furnace "Elisabeth", Bilston Steel Works (L6/BIL/E/41)

However the workmen who worked the new blast furnace called it "Big Lizzy"!

Bilston Steel Production 1950-1961
Ingot Tons Made

Extract from Stewarts & Lloyds Bilston Iron and Steel Works (DX-231/4)

With the completion of major redevelopments the Bilston works became one of the most modern integrated works of its kind in the country. However by the late 1970s the works had become uncompetitive and expensive to run. On 12th April 1979 the last steel billet was cast at Bilston, so ending more than 200 years of iron and steel production on the site.18 months later, on 5th October 1980 Elisabeth was demolished. It was the end of an era and a major blow to the economy of the area.

For a selection of photographs from Bilston Steel Works click on the gallery button below.

Click on the image to enlarge

Bilston and other steel works - accidents and explosions

The work was heavy and dangerous. There was a constant risk of explosion. One such incident took place on 5th November 1884 when a boiler exploded.

Click on the image to enlarge

Extract from Midland Evening News 12th November 1884 (DX-482/2/35)

The explosion caused the deaths of three workmen, all young men in their twenties. This memorial card was produced at the time:

Click on the image to enlarge

Memorial Card Springvale Boiler Explosion (DX482/2/6)

The verse reads:

On November's eve - the fifth,
In the year of '84,
Three hardy sons of Staffordshire
To labour went once more
'Mid the furnace light and glare,
'Twas indeed a busy scene;
Those sons of toil they little knew
Of the danger - then unseen

A sudden crash! A peal like cannon's roar!
Good God! What can it mean?
Alas, their earthly toil is o'er!
While destruction reigns supreme.
They wrought and toiled as Englishmen
Know only how to do.
And at the post of duty fell,
Mourned by all who knew.

This explosion was not the first in the area. On 15th April 1862 an explosion at the Millfields Ironworks catapulted around 8 tons of molten metal 200 feet into the air. Twenty seven workers were killed. The explosion also destroyed ten furnaces and wrecked a forge.

Click on the image to enlarge

Extract from the Illustrated London News 26th April 1862 (W3/BOI/4)

Wreckage from the boiler explosion, 15th April 1862 (W3/BOI/1)

The Millfields Ironworks had also experienced tragedy a few years earlier. An accident on 5th May 1857 caused the death of five workers including Thomas Fletcher, listed as a moulder and aged just 9 years.

Alfred Hickman

Alfred Hickman began his commercial career with his father GB Hickman, the managing partner in the Moat Colliery Tipton.

In 1866 the Hickman family acquired the works then known as the Springvale Furnaces Ltd. At the time there were three square old type brick furnaces known locally as "The Hot Holes" on the site.

Hickman became a prominent figure. For some years Alfred Hickman was President of the British Iron Trades Council and president of Wolverhampton Chamber of Commerce.

In 1880 he stood as a Conservative Party candidate in the general election, but was unsuccessful, though five years later he was elected Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton.

Hickman Election Poem 1885 (DX-88/1)

Hickman Election Postcard 1885 (DX-479/1)

In 1882 Alfred Hickman formed the Staffordshire Steel Ingot & Iron Company Ltd to produce steel using the Bessemer process.

In October 1902 Sir Alfred Hickman (he had been knighted ten years earlier) was given the honorary freedom of the borough.

Click on the image to enlarge

Citation for Sir Alfred Hickman, Freeman of the Borough, 1902 (CMB-WOL-C)

In the Liberal Landslide elections of 1906 Sir Alfred Hickman again lost his seat in Parliament, not by a Liberal candidate but by Fred Richards, one of the first Labour Members of Parliament in the Midlands.

On his death in 1910 Sir Alfred bequeathed parkland - Hickman Park - to the people of Bilston.