Introduction to Scunthorpe

Scunthorpe is a town within North Lincolnshire, England.

Residential population of approx 73, 000.
A predominantly industrial town, Scunthorpe, the United Kingdom's largest steel processing centre, is also known as the 'Industrial Garden Town'.

Scunthorpe shown within Lincolnshire

History of Scunthorpes iron ore.

Iron ore was first mined in the Scunthorpe area in July 1860. Owing to the lack of a mainline railway the ore was transferred to a wharf at Gunness (or Gunhouse), initially by cart then by a narrow gauge railway, for distribution by barge or mainline rail from Keadby.

Construction of Scunthorpe's first ironworks, the Trent Ironworks, began in 1862, with the first cast from the blast furnace being tapped on 26 March 1864. Other ironworks followed: building of the Frodingham Ironworks began in 1864; North Lincoln Ironworks in 1866; Redbourn Hill Iron & Coal Company in 1872; Appleby Ironworks blew in their first blast furnace in 1876; and the last constructed being John Lysaght's Iron and Steelworks in 1911, with production starting in 1912. Crude steel had been produced at Frodingham Ironworks in 1887 but this proved not to be viable. Maxmilian Mannaburg came to Frodingham Ironworks in 1889 to help build and run the steelmaking plant and on the night of 21 March 1890 the first steel was tapped.

Scunthorpe forms an unparished area in the borough and unitary authority of North Lincolnshire. The town forms six of the borough's seventeen wards, namely Ashby, Brumby, Crosby & Park, Frodingham, Kingsway with Lincoln Gardens and Town. The Scunthorpe wards elect 16 of the borough's 43 councillors. As of 2008, all are members of the Labour party. The councillors form the Charter Trustees of the Town of Scunthorpe and they continue to elect a town mayor.
North Lincolnshire Council is based in Pitwood House off Ashby Road (former A159) next to Festival Gardens. It opened in 1963 as the Civic Centre, and was the home of Scunthorpe Borough Council until 1996. It was named after Edwin Pittwood, a local Labour politician, who worked in the opencast ironstone workings near Normanby Park. There are also offices at Church Square House near the Scunthorpe Market

Coat of arms


When Scunthorpe was incorporated as a borough in 1936, it also received a grant of a coat of arms from the College of Arms (See image above). These arms were transferred to the new borough council formed in 1974 and are now used by the town's charter trustees.
The green shield and golden wheatsheaf recall that the area was until recently agricultural in nature. Across the centre of the shield is a length of chain. This refers to the five villages of Crosby, Scunthorpe, Frodingham, Brumby & Ashby linking together as one. At the top of the shield are two fossils of the species gryphoea incurva. These remains of oysters, known as the "devil's toenails", were found in the rock strata from which ironstone was quarried. The crest, on top of the helm, shows a blast furnace. This is also referred to in the Latin motto: "Refulget labores nostros coelo" or "The heavens reflect our labours" popularly attributed to the glow observed in the night sky from the steelmaking activities.