Burncross Ironworks

[derek]

Can anyone give me any information about the ironworks that used to be at Charlton Brook near Burncross? I have found out that the licences issued for industrial processes etc ran out in 1979. Apart from that I cannot find any mention of the existence of a foundry in any reference sites. I would like to find out the company name, the area covered by the foundry, and does any of it still exist to be investigated as a local history project. There is a newish estate in the area with a few older houses at the lower end near the pub. Is the new estate built on the site of the works? Any information would be gratefully received. Thanks

[Tony]

It was one of 2 ironworks in that immediate area.

 

The one you're talking about was funnily enough called "Charlton Ironworks". Look at cast iron manhole covers around Sheffield, and before long you will be seeing their name all over the city.

 

Chrarlton Brook is really an area in it's own right. There was a big cancer health scare there in the 70's with the water in the Brook.

 

The other one was Parramores which was on Burncross Road, by the Baths.

 

Both simply went out of business despite valliant attempts to keep them going. The land was sold for housing.

[derek]

Thanks Tony, I've tried putting Charlton Ironworks into google without any success. Was the cancer scare you mentioned connected to the ironworks? If it was,do you know if it contributed to the closure at all, or was it just a victim of the decline of the industry in general around Sheffield.

 

Thanks, Derek

[Tony]

I couldn't tell you the exact cause of the cancer - I was quite young in the mid-70's, but I don't think so. After all, it was an ironworks!

 

I know one of the Parramores so I will ask when I next bump into him. I do know that Parramores closed simply through the general decline. We used to start our school lunchhour on their 1 o'clock hooter

 

I'm sure lots of local people in their mid-50's onwards will know more. There must be various local history groups that will be able to tell you more. There is bound to be a local history expert on Newton Chambers so maybe start off in the Library on Burncross Road? Try googling a few other search terms like "Newton Chambers" Parramores, etc.

[suek]

A local GP, Dr Alan Evans, noticed there was a higher than expected incidence of Hodgkins Lymphoma in people who lived

on the (then ) new Charlton Brook estate. The iron works were

never implicated. Research centred on the dam and the stream

which flows under the road by the Bridge Inn.There was some suggestion that a certain type of insect which lived near the water

could be carrying some factor which caused the disease.

Research results were inconclusive, and no causative factor was

ever identified. I don't think there is an abnormally high incidence of Hodgkins Lymphoma, or any other malignancyn in local residents today.

[Tony]

Now THAT is a comprehensive answer! Thank's suek

[brownieblade]

I remember the old Charlton Ironworks. It shut down in about 1990 and was demolished about 1994.

 

We used to play on the wasteland behind it after it shut down and once got in there and climbed the chimney and tied a Sheffield United towel at the top of it which got be a bollocking from my own man.

[kev21662]

When my brothers and I were kids we used to fish for sticklebacks in the lake at Charlton Brook (mid 1970's). We used to play in the stream and climb down into the tunnel.

 

One hot summer day we were at the lake and heard a couple of lads shouting down to us from the field where Charlton Brook Crescent is now. We couldn't quite work-out what they wanted until we realised they had set the field alight and were calling for help to put it out. Even our combined efforts couldn't put the fire out; which was by now spending-out into a circle 50 yards wide! In the end, the Fire Brigade arrived and put the fire out. Kevin Taylor.