Library, Carlton Street, Scunthorpe - 01724 297354 library.enquiries@northlincs.gov.uk

Scunthorpe as a town came into existence due to the exploitation of the local ironstone resources, and subsequent formation of iron works from the 1850s onwards. The regional population grew from 1,245 in 1851 to 11,167 in 1901 and 45,840 in 1941. During the expansion Scunthorpe expanded to include the former villages of Scunthorpe, Frodingham, Crosby, Brumby and Ashby. Scunthorpe became an urban district in 1891, merged as 'Scunthorpe, Brumby and Frodingham Urban District' in 1919, and became a municipal borough in 1936.

The town appears in the Domesday Book (1086) as Escumesthorpe, which is Old Norse for "Skuma's homestead", a site which is believed to be in the town centre close to where the present-day Market Hill is located.

Scunthorpe is located close to an outcrop of high-lime-content ironstone from a seam of the Lias Group strata which dates from the Early Jurassic period and runs north-south through Lincolshire. Ironstone was mined by open cast methods from the 1850s onwards, and by underground mining from the late 1930s. In the 1970s the steel industry in Scunthorpe transitioned to use of ores imported from outside the UK with higher iron content. Underground mining in the area ceased in 1981.

Scunthorpe was close to the epicentre (this was centred at Middle Rasen) of one of the largest earthquakes experienced in the British Isles on 27 February 2008, with a magnitude of 5.2. Significant shocks were felt in Scunthorpe and the surrounding North Lincolnshire area. The main 10-second quake, which struck at 00:56 GMT at a depth of 9.6 mi (15.4 km), was the second largest recorded in the British Isles. In 1984 a quake with a magnitude of 5.4 struck north Wales.

The Iron industry in Scunthorpe was established in the mid 10th century, following the discovery and exploitation of middle Lias ironstone east of Scunthorpe. Initially iron ore was exported to iron producers in South Yorkshire. Later, after the construction of the Trent, Ancholme and Grimsby Railway (1860s) gave rail access to the area iron production in the area rapidly expanded using local ironstone and imported coal or coke. Rapid industrial expansion in the area led directly to the development of the town of Scunthorpe, eventually incorporating several other former hamlets and villages, located in a formerly sparsely populated entirely agricultural area.

From the early 1910s to the 1930s the industry consolidated, with three main ownership concerns formed - the Appleby-Frodingham Steel Company, part of the United Steel Companies; the Redbourn Iron Works, part of Richard Thomas and Company of South Wales (later Richard Thomas and Baldwins); and John Lysaght's Normanby Iron Works, part of Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds.

In 1967 all three works became part of the nationalised British Steel Corporation (BSC), leading to a period of further consolidation - from the 1970s the use of local or regional ironstone diminished, being replaced by imported ore via the Immingham Bulk Terminal. Both the Normanby Park and the Redbourn works closed in the early 1980s. Conversion to the Linz-Donawitz process ( or "basic oxygen" process) of steel making from the open hearth process took place from the late 1960s onwards and was complete by the 1990s.

Following privatisation in 1988, the company together with the rest of BSC became part of Corus (1999), later Tata Steel Europe (2007). In 2016 the long products division of Tata Steel Europe was sold to Greybull Capital with Scunthorpe as the primary steel production site.

As of 2012 the steel industry is the major employer in the area and the largest operator within it is Tata Steel Europe; the number employed in the industry fell from 27,000 at its height[when?] to around 4,500 (excluding outside contractors) by the mid 2010s. In addition to being a major employer the works and former ironstone workings have or have had large scale environmental effects, including air pollution and subsidence.

Industries associated with the steelworks include metal engineering as well as a BOC plant.