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Swindon ironworks

  • 19 February 2011

This is Swindon in Staffordshire, not the other, much larger one in Wiltshire.

I have been browsing through Around Pattingham and Wombourne in old photographs and thought I’d note the following information about the ironworks. Hopefully, this will help me unpick the movements of the Williams family between Swindon, Wolverhampton and Wilden.

  • The first forge at Swindon was converted from a corn mill by Thomas Foley in 1647
  • By 1834 it was owned by George and Edward Thorneycroft of Wolverhampton and produced bar iron and wire rods
  • In 1866 it was leased to E., P. and W. Baldwin who were the owners by 1899
  • In 1873, the works consisted of 12 puddling furnaces and two mills. It produced sheet iron
  • In 1945 the works became Richard Thomas and Baldwin Ltd
  • After nationalisation, the works were known as British Steel Corporation, Swindon Works
  • The works closed in 1976
When the works closed, all the buildings were demolished except for the canteen, which was taken over by the parish council. It opened in 1981 as a community centre for the village.

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