The Butterley Engineering sign in 2006

The Butterley Company was an engineering works in the Ripley area of Derbyshire. It had begun as Benjamin Outram and Company in 1790. Map sources for Ripley, Derbyshire at grid reference SK398505 Ripley is a small town in the Amber Valley area of Derbyshire in England. ... Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. ... 1790 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Origins

This area of Derbyshire had been known for its outcrops of iron ore which had been exploited at least since the Middle Ages. Indeed, after the Norman Conquest, nearby Duffield Frith was the property of the de Ferrers family who were iron masters in Normandy. This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings The Norman Conquest of England was the conquest of the Kingdom of England by William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. ... Duffield Frith was, in medieval times, a wooded area of Derbyshire, bestowed upon Henry de Ferrars (or Ferrers) by King William. ... Mont Saint-Michel, one of the famous symbols of Normandy. ...

In 1793, William Jessop, with the assistance of Benjamin Outram, constructed the Cromford Canal to connect Pinxton and Cromford with the Erewash Canal. In the process of digging the Butterley Tunnel for the Cromford Canal, quantities of coal and iron were discovered. Fortuitously, Butterley Hall fell vacant and, in 1790, Outram, with the financial assistance of Francis Beresford, bought it and its estate. 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... William Jessop (23 January 1745 - 18 November 1814) was a noted English civil engineer, particularly famed for his work on canals, harbours and early railways in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. ... Benjamin Outram (1 April 1764 - 22 May 1805) was an English civil engineer. ... The Cromford Canal ran 14. ... Pinxton is a village on the eastern boundary of Derbyshire in the Bolsover district, {England]]. In Anglo-Saxon times it was a small agricultural community, thought to have been recorded in the {Domesday Book]] as Esnotrewic. ... Cromford, in Derbyshire, England, is a village that is one of the significant sites in the development of the Industrial Revolution. ... The Erewash Canal is a broad canal in Derbyshire, England. ... The Eastern Portal of Butterley Tunnel in 2006 The Butterley Reservoir Adit where it enters the Butterley Tunnel about 600 yards along the tunnel from the Western Portal in 2006 The View from inside Butterley Tunnel in 2006 Tunnel Roof Supported by Timbers about 60 yards from East Portal photographed... The Cromford Canal ran 14. ... Coal Coal (IPA: ) is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... 1790 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

The following year they were joined by Jessop, and John, the son of Ichabod Wright, a wealthy Nottingham banker who was betrothed to Beresford's daughter. Nottingham is a city (and county town of Nottinghamshire) in the East Midlands of England. ...

In 1793 the French Revolutionary Wars broke out and, by 1796, the blast furnace was producing nearly a thousand tons of pig iron a year. By the second decade of the next century the company had expanded with another works at Codnor Park, both works then having two blast furnaces, and output had risen to around 4,500 tons per year. 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Combatants Great Britain Austria Prussia Spain Russian Empire Sardinia France The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, beginning in 1792 and lasting until the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states. ... It has been suggested that Old Furnace, Ironbridge be merged into this article or section. ... Pig iron is raw iron, the immediate product of smelting iron ore with coke and limestone in a blast furnace. ...

Early years

Outram died in 1805 and the name changed to the Butterley Company, with one of Jessop's sons, also William, taking over. 1805 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1814 the company produced the iron work for the Vauxhall Bridge over the River Thames. 1814 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Vauxhall bridge looking downstream from the north bank. ... The Thames (pronounced []) is a river flowing through southern England, in its lower reaches flowing through London into the sea. ...

They also owned Hilt's Quarry at Crich which supplied limestone for the ironworks, with limekilns at Bullbridge for supplying famers and for the increasing amount of building work. The steep wagonway to the Cromford Canal at Bullbridge was called the Butterley Gang Road. In 1812, William Brunton, an engineer for the company, produced his remarkable Steam Horse locomotive Map sources for Crich at grid reference SK350544 Crich is a village in Derbyshire. ... Limey shale overlaid by limestone. ... A 19th century limekiln A preserved lime kiln in London A lime kiln is a kiln used to produce quicklime by the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate). ... Wagonways are the horses, equipment, and tracks used for hauling wagons which preceded steam powered railways. ... The Cromford Canal ran 14. ... 1812 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The Steam Horse was constructed by the Butterley Company in Derbyshire in 1813 by William Brunton (1777-1851). ...

In 1817, in the depression following the Napoleonic Wars, the works at Butterley was the scene of the Pentrich Revolution. Following this, however, the country enrtered a long period of prosperity, the Butterley Company with it. In 1830 it was considered to be the largest coal owner and the second largest iron producer, in the East Midlands. By this time the company owned a considerable number of quarries for limestone and mines for coal and iron, and installed a third blast furnace at Codnor Park. 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Combatants Allies: Austria[1] Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Spain[3] Sweden United Kingdom[4] French Empire Holland Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Naples Duchy of Warsaw Bavaria[5] Saxony[6] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack Gebhard von Blücher Duke of Brunswick Prince of Hohenlohe Mikhail Kutuzov... The East Midlands is one of the regions of England and consists of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. ... Limey shale overlaid by limestone. ... Coal Coal (IPA: ) is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ...

They produced a vast array of goods, from rails for wagonways to heaters for tea urns. Thomas Telford's Caledonian Canal used lock gates and machinery with castings produced at Butterley, as well as two steam dredgers designed by Jessop. The company also produced steam locomotives, mostly for its own use, but it provided two for the Midland Counties Railway. Wagonways are the horses, equipment, and tracks used for hauling wagons which preceded steam powered railways. ... Thomas Telford (August 9, 1757 - September 2, 1834) was born in Westerkirk, Scotland. ... The Caledonian Canal in Scotland connects the Scottish east coast at Inverness with the west coast near Fort William. ... Great Western Railway No. ... The Midland Counties Railway (MCR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom which existed between 1832 and 1844, connecting Nottingham, Leicester and Derby with Rugby and thence to London. ...

They produced all the necessary castings for the new railways and two complete lines, the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Iron Railway and the Cromford and High Peak Railway. A winding engine for the latter still exists in working order at Middleton Top near Wirksworth. The Cromford and High Peak Railway was a railway built in the 1830s and operated by the London and North Western Railway to carry minerals and goods between the Cromford Canal at Cromford Wharf and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge. ... Location within the British Isles Wirksworth is a market town in Derbyshire, England with a population of approximately nine thousand. ...

By 1863 the company was rolling the largest masses of iron of any foundry in the country. Among its most famous buildings are the Barlow Train Shed at St Pancras station in London. There was also an extensive brickworks not only for the railways, but for thousands of factories and domestic dwellings. 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar). ... The Gothic Revival facade and clock tower of the disused Midland Hotel are the most visible part of St Pancras station. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of the United Kingdom and the largest city of England (strangely, England has no constitutional existence within the United Kingdom, and therefore cannot be said to have a capital). ...

20th century

At its peak in the 1950s the company employed around 10,000 people.

In 1957, a partnership with Air Products of the USA helped establish that company in the United Kingdom [1]. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. ...

The Codnor Park works closed in 1965. 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ...

The company was acquired by Lord Hanson in the 1968 for £4.7 million [2]. The company was subsequently split up into Butterley Engineering, Butterley Brick and Butterley Aggregates. Butterley Hall, Outram's home and later the companies offices, was sold off to become the headquarters of Derbyshire Constabulary. James Edward Hanson, Baron Hanson (January 20, 1922 – November 1, 2004) was a British conservative industrialist who built his businesses through the process of leveraged buyouts. ... Derbyshire Constabulary is the Home Office police force responsible for policing the county of Derbyshire, England. ...

Butterley Engineering still occupy the Butterley site. In the mid 1980's the foundry closed down and when the surplus buildings were demolished, the original blast furnace of 1790 was exposed.

References

• Schofield, R.B., (2000) Benjamin Outram, Cardiff: Merton Priory Press
• Cooper, B., (1983) Transformation of a Valley: The Derbyshire Derwent, Heinneman, republished 1991 Cromford: Scarthin Books
• Lowe, J.W., (1989) British Steam Locomotive Builders, Guild Publishing
• Christian, R., (1990) "Butterley Brick" Henry Melland Publishing