| History | William and John Fowler had established a company called Dunston and Barlow Mineral Company in 1859 to take over mines at Dunston and Whittington, with the hopes of supplying the local iron industry. They also turned to mining coal at Sheepbridge to fuel their iron workings. David Chadwick, an accountant working with the Staveley Coal & Iron Company, saw an opportunity to establish a similar business and with money from other speculators, agreed to buy out Dunston and Barlow from the Fowlers. This was successful, and in 1862 the Sheepbridge Coal & Iron Company was established, being incorporated 2 years later. The company had 28 iron mines alongside the original 3 collieries of Sheepbridge, Dunston and Nesfield, with ironworks at Sheepbridge. The compamy soon took out a minerals lease at Eckington, sinking Norwood Colliery in 1869. New collieries were also sunk at Langwith (1876-1880) and Glapwell (1882-1884). It also sunk a colliery jointly with the Staveley Iron and Coal Company at Newstead, Nottinghamshire. The company combined coal and iron production with engineering processes. The early success of the company was based on coal mining business, which generally to helped subsidise the iron works during times of hardship. It also helped the initial investment of the company’s brickworks at Barlow, which in turn supplied bricks for the lining of mine shafts and colliery workers’ housing.
In the early years of the 20th century the ironworks at Sheepbridge were thoroughly modernised with a resulting increase in quality and diversity of iron products. At this stage it was still considered secondary to the coal mining side of the business. During the early-twentieth century the company decided the best way forward would be to focus on joint ventures with other coal companies that created subsidiary companies, suchas Dinnington Colliery Company and Maltby Main Colliery Company. These weren’t regarded as so risky if they were run by one company, and at it was felt necessary at a time when coal stocks near Sheepbridge were dwindling. The Sheepbridge Stokes Centrifugal Castings Co was also created as one of these subsidiaries in 1922. Attempts were made to market their coal in France, but these were mainly unsuccessful due to the liquidation of the sales company used for this venture. Just before the outbreak of World War II the company purchased the Babbington Companies collieries of Tibshelf and Birchwood.
In 1947 the coal industry was nationalised and control of the company's collieries passed to the National Coal Board. The prospect of the iron industry also facing nationalisation led to the engineering side of the business purposefully being renamed as Sheepbridge Engineering Limited. The main company was taken over by the Staveley Iron and Chemical Company, withh the members of the Sheepbridge being replaced by Staveley men at the end of 1954 with the approval of the Iron and Steel Corporation. In 1962 the remaining mining, land property and other interests were formally transferred to the Staveley Iron and Chemical Company Limited, with the Sheepbridge ceasing to trade. |
| Source | ‘Glapwell Colliery (North Derbyshire) Closed 1974, After 90 Years’, http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/individual/Bob_Bradley/Bk-5/B5-1974-P2.html
‘Norwood Colliery’, http://www.oldminer.co.uk/norwood.html
‘Norwood Colliery Closed After 77 Years’, http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/individual/Bob_Bradley/Bk-3/B3-1943.html
Chesterfield Quadcentenary: A Unique Social History of Our Town (Chesterfield: Bannister Publications Ltd, 1999)
Finney, M., Men of Iron: A History of the Sheepbridge Company (Old Whittington: Bannister Publications Ltd, 1995)
Grace’s Guide to Industrial History, Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Co, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Sheepbridge_Coal_and_Iron_Co
Jackson, K. G., Pause to Remember: The Origins & Development of the Parish of Glapwell (Glapwell Parish Council, 1999)
Jenkins, D. E., Sheepbridge: A History of the Sheepbridge Coal & Iron Company (Old Whittington: Bannister Publications Ltd, 1995)
National Coal Board North Derbyshire Area, Langwith Colliery, 1876-1978 (1978)
Page, J., Langwith: A Mining Village in Transition, 1973-1976 (1976)
Rota for members of the Permanent Guard at the Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Company Ltd LDV (i.e. Local Defence Volunteers, or Home Guard), D5273/2/4
Shropshire History, Mining West of Chesterfield http://shropshirehistory.com/chesterfield/ch_dunston.htm
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