Brymbo Colliery
Bringing it on home shores this time, a place from a while back but seems to be lacking in coverage.
Did a solo visit here & thoroughly enjoyed it despite not getting into the main steelworks buildings which are now part of the trust museum.
After the deaths of William and Charles Darby in 1882 and 1884 respectively, the business was incorporated as Brymbo Steel Co. Ltd. Robertson encouraged John Henry Darby, the son of William, and Peter Williams (father of the MP Christmas Price Williams, who was born at Brymbo) to trial steelmaking using the open-hearth process. The first tap was recorded by Robertson in December 1883 and by January 1885 Brymbo had produced its first commercial steel in a plant which was the first of its kind in the United Kingdom.
Brymbo was nationalised with the rest of the steel industry in 1967, becoming a division of British Steel Corporation. In 1978, the steelworks took its single automated blast furnace out of use, and concentrated on the production of high-quality steels from scrap metal.
The works were served by the Wrexham and Minera Branch of the Great Western Railway, later of British Railways. During its history the steelworks was involved with or supported a number of other industrial sites in the immediate area, including collieries (with the Blast Pit being located within the works itself) and a brickworks at Cae-llo which produced firebricks until 1975.
Steel production lasted until 1990, when the steelworks was closed by its then owners, United Engineering Steels. 1,100 jobs were lost.
First thing I came across was the rather nice remains of this tipler dock.
Continued
