ROTHERHAM AND LINCOLNSHIRE STEEL 73 
the establishment of foundries at small collieries in the 
adjacent villages, but after the Treaty of Vienna, when the 
demand for guns fell off, Rotherham turned to heavy cast- 
ings and bridge work. The firm built bridges at Sunder- 
land and at Southwark. But, for some reason, after that 
date the business declined. In 1821 the firm ceased 
operations and the capital, valued in 1797 at £214,000, was 
distributed. Since then the different members of the firm 
have carried on the iron business; one continued the blast 
furnaces, another took over the rolling-mills, a third set up 
a steel plant at Parkgate, whilst the general foundry work 
was relegated to a fourth. This laid the foundation of the 
cast-iron trade of Rotherham, which is now largely 
confined to stove grates. So important is this business that 
the headquarters of the National Union of Stove Grate- 
makers have been established at Rotherham. Much 
puddled bar, however, is turned out in the district, 
together with large quantities of pig iron, the latter princi- 
pally by the Parkgate Iron & Steel Co. The chief 
firms in the stove-grate trade are: Yates, Haywood & Co., 
Hattersley Bros., W. H. Micklethwait & Co., Newton 
Chambers & Co., and George Wright (Rotherham). 
With the exception of pig iron, the minor trades of 
Rotherham show little progress. But the district is now 
attaining a position in the front rank of steel-making. 
Oxleys of Parkgate, and Stubbs of the Holmes, are still 
working the process of cementation. Newton Chambers & 
Co. own blast furnaces, as well as their famous collieries. 
They have designed cottages built of cast-iron plates which 
compete with the steel houses associated with the name of 
Lord Weir. The works of Steel, Peech & Tozer are amal- 
gamated with the United Steel Co. referred to in a previous 
chapter; and, more important still, the Parkgate Iron & 
Steel Co. has established a plant of the very first order, with 
a share capital of £2,000,000, some of which represents