Rotherham
Walker foundries made Victory's cannons. Templeborough works: 10,000 workers, 1.8M tonnes/year (closed 1993). Liberty's EAF makes recycled steel. £50M government commitment 2025. 'Capacity to expand.'
Rotherham made the cannons that won Trafalgar—and the steel that may now save British manufacturing. The Walker family built an iron empire in the 18th century; their foundries produced the majority of guns for HMS Victory. Cast iron bridges followed. By the 20th century, Steel, Peech and Tozer's Templeborough works stretched over a mile, employed 10,000 workers, and produced 1.8 million tonnes annually via six electric arc furnaces.
Templeborough closed in 1993, but steel production continued through Liberty's Rotherham works. The plant pioneered circular economy manufacturing: electric arc furnaces melt recycled scrap metal into high-grade steel—light, strong, and able to perform in extreme temperatures. This is the future British steel production is attempting to reach.
The 2025 steel crisis tested Rotherham's significance. When Speciality Steels UK entered insolvency, the government committed £50 million to keep Rotherham and Stocksbridge sites operational. A proposal would restart Rotherham's mothballed electric arc furnace to supply Network Rail and construction. The Minister for Industry noted Rotherham has 'capacity to expand'—useful as demand for British steel scales up.
The £2.5 billion National Wealth Fund includes steel transformation. Rotherham's arc furnaces represent the technology that could enable British steel to survive in a decarbonizing economy.
By 2026, Rotherham tests whether electric arc furnaces and recycled scrap can do what blast furnaces and coking coal no longer can.