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| Industry | Heavy Engineering |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | J&W Oliver |
| Founded | 1889 (as Markham & Co.) |
| Defunct | 1998 |
| Fate | Taken over |
| Successor | Davy Markham |
| Headquarters | Chesterfield |
| Products | Coal winder, Valves, Tunneling M/c |
| Parent | John Brown, Kvaerner |
Markham & Co. was an ironworks and steelworks company near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England.
The Victoria Foundry near Chesterfield, Derbyshire was owned and run by William Oliver and his father John Oliver from the mid-1850s until 1862 when, following the death of the father, it became the sole property of William. The Victoria Foundry, located at what was formerly Shepley's Yard, relocated to a greenfield site at Broad Oaks Meadows, south east of the town centre close by the Midland Railway’s main line. Disaster hit the business in 1885, a slump in the coal and iron trades and the high overheads of the new factory and equipment undermined the firm and the following year Oliver called in the receivers. In 1889 the business was sold to industrialist Charles Paxton Markham and became Markham & Co. Ltd. [1]
Mining. Markham's continued the business of building winding engines for collieries begun by Oliver and supplied many collieries in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. So well known were Markham's products that in the ten years from 1927, in a time of economic depression, the Markham works built 20 winding engines for gold mines in South Africa, giving the Chesterfield workforce regular work in a difficult period.
By 1948, the company had built more than 200 steam and electric winding engines and associated machinery for the home and export markets including a mine winder with a 34 feet diameter drum, 7 feet larger than the ones which made William Oliver move to new premises.
The company diversified over the years and in 1948 the Broad Oaks works were making haulage gears, rolling mills and ancillary equipment, steel girders, large steel-framed buildings, light alloy extrusion presses, spun cast iron plant, blast furnace plant, large iron castings and research equipment in addition to its involvement in turbine and tunnelling operations.
Tunnelling. In the early years of the 20th century the company built and supplied tunnelling equipment for the construction of London's new (deep tunnel) Underground, the Mersey Tunnel and during the 1930s the Moscow Underground. The tunnelling equipment was a success and more orders followed, post-war productions included tunnelling shields for the Dartford Tunnel under the River Thames and in the 1980s for the Channel Tunnel.
War Time works During the Second World War the firm worked on several secret projects including building X craft submarines for Vickers-Armstrong. They built X22 Exploit, X 23 Xphias, XE 11 Lucifer, XE 12 Excitable. Others were built by Marshalls of Gainsborough and Broadbent of Huddersfield.
Markhams built a large number of presses for Loewy during the war for other firms making components for the war effort, as well as gun barrel turning lathes and rifling machines for Cravens Ltd, a sister company.
In 1925, Charles Paxton Markham reconstituted his company as part of the Staveley Coal and Iron Company ensuring its future. The following year, Charles Paxton Markham died and ownership of the company changed again. By 1937, the firm had been bought by Sheffield-based steel makers and engineers John Brown & Company for £50,000, the Chesterfield works continuing operations as before. John Brown was taken over by Trafalgar House, who also owned the Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company. Trafalgar House was subsequently taken over by the Kvaerner Group of Norway in 1996. The works was closed by Kvaerner in 1998 and the site redeveloped for housing following a sale by the firm who took over John Brown's parent company.
In 2006 Markham's merged with former Trafalgar House engineering subsidiary Davy in Sheffield to form Davy Markham, specialising in large engineering fabrications and machining works, from the Davy site in Sheffield. [2] Davy Markham worked on the fabrication of the "B of the Bang" sculpture installed outside the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England. This was the tallest sculpture in the UK until it was dismantled.
In February 2018 Davy Markham went into administration after getting into financial difficulties. After a brief period of trading while in administration, its employees were made redundant. The company was dissolved in June 2021. [3]
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer during the Industrial Revolution. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians as a great example of diligent application and thirst for improvement. His chosen rail gauge, sometimes called "Stephenson gauge", was the basis for the 4-foot-8+1⁄2-inch (1.435 m) standard gauge used by most of the world's railways.
Staveley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. Located along the banks of the River Rother. It is northeast of Chesterfield, west of Clowne, northwest of Bolsover, southwest of Worksop and southeast of Sheffield.
Chesterfield is a market town in the Borough of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. It is 24 miles (39 km) north of Derby and 11 miles (18 km) south of Sheffield at the confluence of the River Rother and River Hipper. In 2011, the built-up-area subdivision had a population of 88,483, making it the second-largest settlement in Derbyshire, after Derby. The wider borough had a population of 103,801 in 2011. In 2011, the town had a population of 76,753.
The Chesterfield Canal is a narrow canal in the East Midlands of England and it is known locally as 'Cuckoo Dyke'. It was one of the last of the canals designed by James Brindley, who died while it was being constructed. It was opened in 1777 and ran for 46 miles (74 km) from the River Trent at West Stockwith, Nottinghamshire to Chesterfield, Derbyshire, passing through the Norwood Tunnel at Kiveton Park, at the time one of the longest tunnels on the British canal system. The canal was built to export coal, limestone, and lead from Derbyshire, iron from Chesterfield, and corn, deals, timber, groceries and general merchandise into Derbyshire. The stone for the Palace of Westminster was quarried in North Anston, Rotherham, and transported via the canal.
Bolsover is a market town and the administrative centre of the Bolsover District, Derbyshire, England. It is 18 miles (29 km) from Sheffield, 26 miles (42 km) from Nottingham and 27 miles (43 km) from Derby. It is the main town in the Bolsover district.
Tapton House, in Tapton, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, was once the home of engineer George Stephenson, who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives. In its time Tapton has been a gentleman's residence, a ladies' boarding school and a co-educational school.
Chesterfield railway station serves the market town of Chesterfield in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line. Four tracks pass through the station which has three platforms. It is currently operated by East Midlands Railway.
John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including RMS Lusitania, RMS Aquitania, HMS Hood, HMS Repulse, RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth and Queen Elizabeth 2.
Renishaw is a village in the district of North East Derbyshire in England. It is in the civil parish of Eckington.
The Butterley Company was an English manufacturing firm founded as Benjamin Outram and Company in 1790. Its subsidiaries existed until 2009.
The Adelphi Canal was a small privately owned canal in Duckmanton, near Chesterfield, England, built in 1799. It was used to transport pig iron from an ironworks to a wharf by a road. It is not connected to any waterway. The iron was forwarded by road to the Chesterfield Canal.
The Staveley Coal and Iron Company Limited was an industrial company based in Staveley, near Chesterfield, North Derbyshire.
Staveley Central was a railway station serving the town of Staveley, Derbyshire, England.
Barrow Hill railway station is a former railway station in the village of Barrow Hill in northern Derbyshire, England.
Sir Arthur Basil Markham, 1st Baronet was a British industrialist and politician.
Staveley Town is a disused railway station in Staveley, Derbyshire in England.
The Clowne Branch is a disused railway line in north eastern Derbyshire, England. Which runs from Creswell to Staveley. Historically it ran to Chesterfield. It is now in use as a greenway.
The Doe Lea branch is a mothballed railway line in Derbyshire, England. It connected the Derbyshire towns of Chesterfield, Staveley and Bolsover to the Nottinghamshire town of Mansfield. It also had a branch line to Creswell via the Derbyshire town of Clowne.
Beighton Junction is a set of railway junctions near Beighton on the border between Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, England.
The Hollingwood Common Canal is a disused navigable coal mine adit which terminated at the Chesterfield Canal at Hollingwood, near Staveley, Derbyshire.
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