Written and narrated by W.K.V.Gale.

A record of the last Black Country hand steel rolling mill (John Bradley & Co.) made in 1982, only 3 days before it closed. The production follows the process from raw material to the final rolled section, providing an invaluable insight into the old hand skills.

At one time there were over 300 similar mills in the Black Country area alone. This type of works has been almost entirely replaced by modern high speed mechanised mills.

Keith Gale served an apprenticeship at Soho Foundry. After taking up technical journalism in 1950 he became one of the foremost authorities on the history of iron and steel in Britain.

• VHS running time: 12½ mins.
• £9.95
• PAL or NTSC

DVD special features:

All the useable footage recorded in 1982 but not used in the original production is made available for the first time; including the changing of a pair of rolls, and several ‘cobbles’ (incorrectly rolled sections) which occurred before the new rolls were fully adjusted! In addition, there are 34 pages of text: the complete script, a glossary of steel rolling terms and a biography of W.K.V. Gale.

• Running times: Main feature - 12½ minutes
  Cobbles - 2½ minutes, Out-takes & roll change - 32½ minutes
• £11.95 - DVD-R (Full Feature)
• 'PAL' or 'NTSC'

DVD-R: Before buying, do make sure that your equipment will play recordable (DVD-R) disks!
Please read our VHS/DVD page for more information.

For more information, see the John Bradley Ironworks Site Feature