Sheffield Forgemasters, who date back to the 1750s. This picture was taken in April 2018Sheffield Forgemasters, who date back to the 1750s. This picture was taken in April 2018
Sheffield Forgemasters, who date back to the 1750s. This picture was taken in April 2018

15 pictures of Sheffield Forgemasters down the years that reveal its key role in the Steel City's history

Following the news that Sheffield Forgemasters has just been taken over by the Ministry of Defence, here we look back at its history in pictures.

Sheffield Forgemasters dates back to the 1750s, when it was a small blacksmith forge. Mill owner Edward Vickers started to turn the business into a modern steel producer in 1805.

The firm has been associated with famous steel industry names such as English Steel, Firth Brown, British Steel and River Don Castings.

Its website boasts: “Sheffield Forgemasters is now capable of producing the largest and most technically-challenging cast and forged steel components in the world.”

In recent decades the firm has seen many successes, as well as strikes by steelworkers, job losses, floods that hit its Brightside Lane works in 2007 and the controversial cancellation of an £80m loan by the coalition government in 2010.