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the steel works opened in 1790 and closed in 2001

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the steel works opened in 1790 and closed in 2001

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Ebbw vale leisure centre being demolished 01/7/14

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it was the largest one in the world

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The Bessemer Process: What It Is and How It Changed History

While you may not know what the Bessemer Process is, every single person has benefited from its invention and discovery. The process that allowed for the mass production of steel, the solidification of the Bessemer Process is the turning point in history that set the stage for mass development and growth. In fact, it is the process that may have single-handedly allowed for the industrial revolution.

What Is the Bessemer Process?

The Bessemer Process was the first inexpensive industrial process that allowed for the mass production of steel. Before the development of an open-mouth furnace, the process used a molten pig iron to melt iron. The real difference with this process was that air was forced through the molten iron to remove impurities.

Iron would be added to the molten pig and melted down to a bubbling point. By blowing oxygen in with the molten iron, any impurities would oxidize and separate. These impurities include silicon, manganese and carbon which would then escape the pig iron as a gas or solidify into a slag. Slag simply means by-product left over after a metal has been separated from the ore. Since steel is smelted from iron, these impurities are what is separated in the iron to unveil pure steel for production use.

Who Invented the Bessemer Process?

The Bessemer Process was named after its discoverer - Sir Henry Bessemer. He was an English man born in 1813. The first patent for the process was taken out in 1856. There are some controversial arguments that a different man invented the process. A William Kelly of the United States did patent the same type of discovery but the date was a few years after Bessemer. Today, Sir Henry Bessemer is still widely accepted as the inventor and first inventor of the process.

How The Bessemer Process Changed the World?

There are very few things in history that you can genuinely say changed the world. The Bessemer Process is one of them.

The biggest way that the Bessemer Process changed the world was by making steel cost-effective and mass-producible. Steel became a dominant construction material solely because of this invention. In England, the cost of steel dropped from £ 40 GBP to £ 6-7 GBP per long ton.

The Bessemer Process and the Industrial Revolution

The Industry Revolution is referred to as the move from the Iron Age to the Age of Steel. Once steel became cheaper and easy to mass-produce, stronger rails for railroads were able to be built. The United States, among other countries, could lay railways like never before. Steel rails lasted ten-time longer than steel rails and could support longer trains with heavier loads.

Railroads revolutionized the transportation of both people and goods. It changed the world - and economies - forever.

While railroads are one of the key ways that the Bessemer Process changed the world, one of the other ways was through the possibility of skyscrapers.

The Bessemer Process and Skyscrapers

Iron was absolutely necessary for the production of skyscrapers. In order to survive years against rain and snow while remaining stable against wind and storms, the traditional wood and brick structures just wouldn't do it. More than that, getting enough beams to build a tall building would have taken too much time and money to even be worth it. As of the late 1800s, this was no longer the case. The iconic skyscrapers, skylines and awe that we associate to New York City, Chicago, LA and other mass urban areas would not have existed today without the Bessemer Process.

Moving Past the Bessemer Process

Knowledge of materials grew, scientific understanding advanced, and new smelting processes were discovered, The Bessemer Process became obsolete. The method stopped being used in the US completely in 1968. Electric air furnaces and other more technical oxygen steelmaking processes took its place.

Even though the Bessemer Process has no place in modern-day construction material production it laid the foundation for development as we know it.

Kevin Forestell is CEO of DOZR and one of the co-founders. Kevin first got started as an entrepreneur when he founded Forestell Landscaping right after graduating from University. His love and passion for the industry and desire to help solve an equipment problem that contractors faced every day is what brought the founding team to start DOZR. Kevin is proud of the level of efficiency brought to the industry through DOZR and hopes that DOZR will help change the standard way equipment is rented.

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The Bessemer Process: What It Is and How It Changed History

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Modern-day construction and building all go back to the Bessemer Process. Get to know what this process is, how it works and why it had such a big impact on history.

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(Image: Lewis Smith)

At the heart of the Gwent valleys in the town of Ebbw Vale once stood one of the largest steelworks in Europe.

Reaching several miles long and holding around 14,000 workers in its prime, the works provided jobs to Blaenau Gwent locals for more than 100 years at the forefront of steel making technology.

However, where the clash of metal and churning of machinery could once be heard for many miles around, there is now a comparative silence.
Read more: You can find more of our Blaenau Gwent stories here
With the furnaces replaced by schools, and the machinery replaced by a hospital and leisure centre as part of a Welsh Government development, the absence of the towering plant can often be felt by those who remember it.

And though many say they prefer the now green and modern landscape that replaces the site almost 20 years after its demolition, for both historians and ex-workers they say the identity it gave to the town is still as important as ever.

The original Ebbw Vale ironworks was first established in 1789 with connections to the ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil. It was later at the forefront of experiments to convert iron ore into steel in the early 1800s.

Despite a number of hand-overs by companies such as British Steel and Corus throughout its history, it continued to trade competitively under a number of owners until its eventual demolition in 2002. You can read more about the timeline of the steelworks here.

Louise Miskell is a professor in the department of history at Swansea University and says at its peak the site in Ebbw Vale was not only one of the most significant in the country for the production of steel, but also for the social aspects of life it generated as well.

She said: "I think Ebbw Vale is a really important place historically with a long tradition of producing iron and steel going all the way back to the 1800's, where it was established because of the abundance of coal and iron ore.

"Like a lot of industrial parts of Britain it had times where it struggled, particularly in the inter-war period where it was briefly closed. However there was always a lot of people recruited locally because of the tradition of iron and steel making in the valley, so it was very important to the area in an economic sense.

"Socially it was also important as the companies invested a lot of money in things like sport and social facilities, and it would have been a major focus of social life in the town.

"Even though it's gone I'm sure people in the area will still have fond memories of going to annual outings and steel company events, and it still has a deep connection with the identity of the town today."

Alan Waite, 69, worked on the site in Ebbw Vale for more than 30 years maintaining equipment in his role as a fitter, and reminisces on his days there as some of the best of his life.

He said: "I worked as a fitter maintaining the machinery and equipment on the site where we dealt with anything mechanical, such as changing doors on the open-hearth, or replacing lances that would blow the oxygen in to make the steel.

"I started on a five year apprenticeship and gradually worked my way up to where I was allocating jobs to other fitters, and it was nice to see that progression as you moved on.

"I think my best memory was the comradery we had, as there was a trust with your colleagues that even though it could be dangerous being around the machinery and hot metal, you knew they always had your back and were trained to do the right thing.

"There was also a great social side with a good welfare club and sports teams who used to play off against the different departments every so often. It was great, but of course times move on and it's all gone now."

Former engineer Phil Holloway, 68, stayed on at the steelworks as part of the decommissioning process until 2014, and offers a unique take on the site's integral connection with the town.

He said: "I worked in Ebbw Vale steelworks as a planning engineer and later on as a civil engineer up until 2014, and it was a brilliant job where we all worked for each other.

"When you consider that at one time there was over 12,000 employees, there's nowhere else in the borough that could have employed that amount of men, and looking at the geography the town of Ebbw Vale was actually built around the works and not the other way around.

"Without the steelworks there might not be an Ebbw Vale as we know it today, and since it closed it's left a massive gap in the town's employment because the jobs were always so well paid.

"There's a lot of history here, so thankfully the museum was able to keep many of the records and historical documents before it closed in 2002. For the people who used to work here many of us are starting to get in to our 60s and 70s now, and as time goes on that memory could get lost if we allow it to."

John Evans, 76, was an electrician at the site for a little over 15 years and says while he is happy with the number of developments that have made use of the site in the time since its demolition, he hopes what came before will always be remembered by future generations.

"The place looks really nice now and there's some brilliant facilities here, but every time I come over I can't help but remember the scale of the place and how big it used to be," he said.

"It had such an impact on the area and the people who worked here so I think we have to remember it going forward, and we encourage anyone who wants to learn more to head over to the Works Museum in Ebbw Vale.

"We're doing our part to educate people about what it was like, and we get visitors coming from all over, so it's nice to see that people are eager to learn about our past."

For Alun Davies, 68, who took up a number of positions in his years at the works, he says while he understands that times have to change he feels sorry for later generations who didn't have same local job opportunities that he did.

He said: "It was a fantastic job over at the steelworks in Ebbw Vale, and while it could often be hard, the pay was great and the comradery you had with your colleagues was even better.

"I started like many others did at that time working on the furnace when I was just 17 years old, doing labouring work and gradually working my way up. There was definitely some sadness when it closed, even though I realised it probably had to because of the climate of the industry at the time.

"For me I knew I might not get a job like that again and even though the site is very nice now, in terms of jobs and industry it's very sad that nothing ever came in to take its place."

With new developments such as the Gwent Archives, Ebbw Vale Sports Centre, and Ebbw Vale Town train station, it is clear that the site has remained an integral part of the community over the last 10 years in the absence of the business.

It is also home to the Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan Community Hospital and a new flexible office space built from shipping containers.

For younger residents such as Councillor Jonathan Millard, who grew up in Ebbw Vale, he says it has been fascinating for him to look out of the window and see how the site has changed during his lifetime.

He said: "It is quite fascinating for someone like myself to have seen this change on the Ebbw Vale steelworks site over the years, and in many ways the difference in the site from then to now would only mirror the different opinions local people have about it.

"If you ask the older generation they will tell you they have never seen the valley so green, as they grew up in the midst of heavy industry where coal and ash covered much of the landscape. On the other hand you will speak to those who will only remember the jobs and prosperity the works brought.

"Whatever people's opinions, when you look at what we have on the site now with things such as schools, a hospital and leisure centre, it's clear that although the steel works has gone this part of Ebbw Vale is still fundamental to the success of the town and the wider borough."
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The legacy of Ebbw Vale steelworks according to its former workforce

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At the heart of the Gwent valleys in the town of Ebbw Vale once stood one of the largest steelworks in Europe. Reaching several miles long and holding around 14,000 workers in its prime, the works provided jobs to Blaenau Gwent locals for more than 100 years at the forefront of steel making technology.

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Rebuilding History: General Offices - Ebbw Vale

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the steel works made a lot of smoke

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the steel works was dirty!

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ebbw vale steel works

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our steel works was veryold

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the steel works was  over 100 years
oliver and karim

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it was very old

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this is the steel works

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we have lots of greenre

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they worked hard

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the steel works opende at 10 am and closed at 4.30

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steel are so hard if you kick it will heart

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we have big trns

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Ebbw vale is the best

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the steel works was build where are school is

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the steelworks closed in 2002.

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ebbw vale steel work

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micheal haymon was one of the many people who worked here

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micheal haymon was one of the many people who worked here

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why did ebbw vale steelworks close?

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In the old lesiecenter there was a bar up staris where my dad use to work and now there is a gym

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ebbw vale whas a big steel work

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ebbw vale steelworks was originated in 1789-90.

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thay make lots of steel

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where did my house youst to be

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a bar in ebbw vale was a old movie theartre