Scunthorpe
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- For other uses, see Scunthorpe (disambiguation).
Template:Infobox England place with map UA Scunthorpe (popularly known as Scunny) is the administrative centre of North Lincolnshire, England. It is also known as the 'Industrial Garden Town'. The town appears in the Domesday Book (1086) as Escumetorp, which is Old Norse for "Skuma's village". The current population is 62,000.
Ironstone was mined in the area as early as the Roman occupation, but the deposits lay forgotten until the 19th century. The rediscovery of iron ore in 1859 by Rowland Winn on the land of his father, Charles, resulted in the development of an iron and steel industry and rapid population growth. 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. Winn knew that the best way of exploiting the iron ore fields was for a rail link to be built from Keadby to Barnetby. He campaigned tirelessly for the link; construction work started in mid 1860 and was complete in 1864. He persuaded the Dawes brothers, to whose iron works the ore was being supplied, to build an iron works at the site of the iron ore fields at Scunthorpe. Constuction of Scunthorpe's first ironworks, the Trent Ironworks, began in 1862, with the first cast from the blastfurnace being tapped on 26 March 1864. Other ironwoks followed: building of the Frodingham Ironworks began in 1864; North Lincoln Ironworks in 1866; Redbourn Hill Iron & Coal Company in 1872; Appleby Ironworks blow in their first blastfurnace in 1876; and the last constructed being John Lysaght's Iron and Steel works 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. Rowland Winn is remembered in the town by three street names: Rowland Road, Winn Street & Oswald Road. Rowland Winn assumed the title Lord St. Oswald in 1885.
Image:HumbersideScunthorpe.png
Scunthorpe within Humberside
1974-1996
The nearby villages of Ashby, Brumby (or Bromby), Crosby ('by' derivation unknown, to me at least, is the Norse for 'field' and Frodingham (possibly 'Frodda's or Froda's farm' - 'ham' is ON for 'farm') were incorporated into the Borough of Scunthorpe in 1936. At that time Scunthorpe lay in the ancient county of Lincolnshire. Successive local authority boundary changes brought the town into the new County of Humberside in 1974. The opening of the Humber Bridge on 24th June 1981 provided a permanent link between North and South Humberside but did not secure Humberside's future. To the relief of its many detractors, the County of Humberside (and Humberside County Council) was abolished on 1st April 1996 and succeeded by four unitary authorities.
The existing authorities of Glanford and Scunthorpe, and that part of Boothferry district south of the northern boundaries of the parishes of Crowle, Eastoft, Luddington, Haldenby and Amcotts, now comprise the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire.
Despite decline in the 1980s, the steel industry is still the major employer, but there are now a variety of industries, including: electronics, food, plastics, and clothing.
The town is widely known for its football team, Scunthorpe United (nicknamed 'The Iron'). For most of its existence in the professional game (since 1950) it has been in the basement league of the English game.
It gained some internet notoriety in 1996 when AOL's obscenity filter (among others) refused to accept the name of the town, due to its inclusion of a character string which the filter rejected as obscene.
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Persons of note from Scunthorpe (and surrounds)
- Ray Clemence, former goalkeeper of the English national football team.
- Steve Ellis, planner.
- Stephen Fretwell, singer-songwriter. According to his website, "he once described [the town] as having 'no soul'".
- Tony Jacklin, golfer. US open winner, 1970.
- Iain Matthews, singer.
- Joan Plowright, actress.
- Martin Simpson, guitarist.
- Liz Smith, actress.
- Graham Taylor, former manager of the English national football team.
- John Wesley, preacher. From nearby Epworth.
- Rob McElnea, Former 500cc Grand Prix Rider and now Team Manager of the Virgin Mobile Yamaha team in the British Superbike Championship
- John Gregory, a former footballer and coach.
Twinned municipalities:
Musical Links:
- The Toy Dolls covered Charlie Daniels Band's The Devil Went Down to Georgia with their 1997 recording "The Devil Went Down to Scunthorpe".