Ravenscraig steelworks

Ravenscraig steelworks was a steel mill in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. At its closure in 1991, it was the largest hot strip steel mill in Western Europe.

History

On 15 February 1951, as a result of the Iron and Steel Act 1949, the nationalised Scottish iron and steel companies came under the ownership of the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain.Campbell, R. H. (1958). "Iron and Steel". Chapter 5, In: Cunnison, J. and Gilfillan, J. B. S. (Editors) (1958). "The Third Statistical Account of Scotland", Volume V, "The City of Glasgow". Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.]

Government ownership was reversed by the Iron and Steel Act 1953, which gradually returned the former nationalised Iron and Steel companies to their original owners. Stewarts & Lloyds was returned to its former owners in 1954; and Colvilles in 1955.

A major expansion of Colvilles, the largest steel manufacturer in the United Kingdom before World War II, [ [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/steelworks/Colville%27s.htm The Company and Its Allied Concerns - Colville's Magazine, 1920] ] was approved in July 1954 by the Iron and Steel Board.

It was first considered that a fourth blast furnace at Clyde Iron Works was to be built, but a shortage of coking coal in Scotland meant that concentrating iron production at Clyde Iron would stop the other Colvilles works in Motherwell from being converted to hot metal working. The new location was found and surveyed in 1953. The name for this new site was suggested, and " 'Ravenscraig' " was formally used from September 1954. [ [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/steelworks/Steelworks%20Ravenscraig.htm Steelworks History - Beginnings] ]

In 1954 the first stages of development began in Ravenscraig turning a green field into a site for steelworks. By 1957 several coke ovens, a by-products plant, a blast furnace and an open hearth melting shop with three steelmaking furnaces were built, and by 1959 a stripmill was complete. [ [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/steelworks/Steelworks%20Ravenscraig.htm Ravenscraig Steel Works History 1954 - 1992] ]

Motherwell was noted as the steel production capital of Scotland, nicknamed Steelopolis. [ [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/clydebridge/Brief%20History.html Brief History] ] Its skyline was dominated by the water tower and three cooling towers of the Ravenscraig steel plant which closed in 1992. The Ravenscraig plant had one of the longest continuous casting, hot rolling, steel production facilities in the world before it was decommissioned.

The closure of Ravenscraig in 1993 signalled the end of large scale steel making in Scotland;Stratton, Michael and Trinder, Barry (2000). "Twentieth Century Industrial Archaelogy". London: E & FN Spon. ISBN 0-419-24680-0.] and was the cause of a loss of 770 jobs, and another 10,000 job losses directly and indirectly linked. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5037/is_199005/ai_n18315273 Still time for a new strategy. (closing of British Steel's Ravenscraig, Scotland steel plant)] ]

References