Parkend Ironworks | |
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Location | Gloucestershire, England, UK |
Coordinates | 51°46′07″N2°33′26″W / 51.768553°N 2.557111°W |
OS grid reference | SO6168007887 |
Parkend Ironworks, also known as Parkend Furnace, in the village of Parkend, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, was a coke-fired furnace built in 1799. Most of the works were demolished between 1890 and 1908, but the engine house survived and is arguably the best preserved example of its kind to be found in the United Kingdom.
During the 17th century Parkend had been, at different times, the location of two charcoal-fired Crown furnaces, known as the King's Ironworks; In 1612 James I contracted the Earl of Pembroke to build and run a blast furnace and forge at ‘Parke End’, bringing with it the first real settlement at what was to become the village of Parkend. [1] The furnace was destroyed on the orders of Parliament, during the Civil War, in 1644. After the war, in 1653, Parliament instructed that another furnace should be built, a short distance downstream from the first. Being located in a royal forest, control of the furnace returned to the Crown after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. It ceased production, and was demolished, in 1674. [2]
Iron was first successfully smelted with coke in 1709 at Coalbrookdale, in Shropshire. Despite there being extensive coal measures in the Forest of Dean, local coal did not produce coke that was ideal for smelting and Forest ironmasters were reluctant to invest in the new technology. It was not until the last decade of the 18th century that coke-fired furnaces began to make an appearance, with Parkend, and its many coalmines, once again considered an ideal location for iron production. It was one of three coke-fired ironworks, Cinderford and Whitecliff being the others, that were built almost simultaneously in the Forest. [3]
Work commenced on Parkend Ironworks in 1799. It was the third coke-fired ironworks to be built in the Forest of Dean, but was beset by technical problems and ceased production around 1807. Around 1820, Moses Teague discovered a way to make good iron from local coke, while working at Darkhill Ironworks. To exploit his discovery he formed the 'Forest of Dean Iron Co' and re-opened Parkend Ironworks in 1824. [1]
The lower pond at Cannop was built in 1825 to provide a constant supply of water, and a 1.5 mile long leat constructed to transfer water to the top of a waterwheel, which was installed in 1827 to supply power for the blast. It was 51 ft in diameter and weighed 60 tons – reputedly the largest in Britain at that time. [4] A second furnace was also erected in 1827. Despite the enormous effort expended in creating the supply of water, it proved inadequate and in 1828 a 90 horsepower steam engine and engine house were constructed alongside the works. A year later, a second pond at Cannop was also built to boost the water supply.
By 1835 the site had grown to include workers’ cottages, casting houses, blacksmith’s and carpenter’s sheds, a counting house, offices, a beerhouse, and many other ancillary buildings. In 1849 a second steam engine was added.
Business was booming and in 1871 a third furnace was also added; a ‘hot blast’ design which was the very latest technology at that time. Just four years later, however, the iron trade went into recession and the ironworks closed in 1877. [5]
Most of the works were demolished between 1890 and 1908, but the engine house and some ancillary buildings survived to become the country’s first Forester Training School in 1910. During the Second World War, it was used by the American army as a barracks. In 1971 it was sold to Avon County Council and became the Dean Field Studies centre, now known as the Deanfield Outdoor Centre. [6] In 1984 it was afforded Grade II Listed Building protection. [7] The building is not open to the public, but can be viewed from the roadside.
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to the north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. Blast refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure.
Cinderford is a town and civil parish on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The population was 8,777 at the 2021 Census.
Parkend is a village, located at the foot of the Cannop Valley, in the Royal Forest of Dean, West Gloucestershire, England, and has a history dating back to the early 17th century. During the 19th century it was a busy industrial village with several coal mines, an ironworks, stoneworks, timber-yard and a tinplate works, but by the early 20th century most had succumbed to a loss of markets and the general industrial decline. In more recent times, the village has become a tourist destination.
Coleford is a market town in the west of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, two miles (3 km) east of the Welsh border and close to the Wye Valley. It is the administrative centre of the Forest of Dean district. The combined population of the town's two electoral wards at the 2011 census was 8,359. The population of the town's parish was 9,273 in the 2021 Census. The parish includes the village of Baker's Hill.
Coalbrookdale is a town in the Ironbridge Gorge and the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge.
The Wealden iron industry was located in the Weald of south-eastern England. It was formerly an important industry, producing a large proportion of the bar iron made in England in the 16th century and most British cannon until about 1770. Ironmaking in the Weald used ironstone from various clay beds, and was fuelled by charcoal made from trees in the heavily wooded landscape. The industry in the Weald declined when ironmaking began to be fuelled by coke made from coal, which does not occur accessibly in the area.
An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ironworks is ironworks.
Moira Furnace is a nineteenth-century iron-making blast furnace located in Moira, Leicestershire, on the banks of the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal. Built by the Earl of Moira in 1804, the building has been preserved by North West Leicestershire District Council as a museum featuring lime kilns and craft workshops.
Cannop Ponds are two large ponds, just north of Parkend in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. The ponds, and surrounding area, are a popular tourist destination.
Robert Forester Mushet was a British metallurgist and businessman, born on 8 April 1811, in Coleford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. He was the youngest son of Scottish parents, Agnes Wilson and David Mushet; an ironmaster, formerly of the Clyde, Alfreton and Whitecliff Ironworks.
The Cinderford Canal was a private canal, opened in about 1797, in Gloucestershire, England, which was used to provide coke and water to Cinderford Ironworks.
David Mushet was a Scottish engineer, known for his inventions in the field of metallurgy. Mushet was an early advocate of animal rights.
Darkhill Ironworks, and the neighbouring Titanic Steelworks, are internationally important industrial remains associated with the development of the iron and steel industries in the 19th century. Both are scheduled monuments. They are located on the edge of a small hamlet called Gorsty Knoll, just to the west of Parkend, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. Historically, Darkhill was sometimes written Dark Hill.
Whitecliff Ironworks, sometimes referred to as Whitecliff Furnace, at Coleford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, are industrial remains associated with the production of iron, using coke, in the Forest of Dean.
Cinderford Ironworks, also known as Cinderford Furnace, was a coke-fired blast furnace, built in 1795, just west of Cinderford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England.
The Forest of Dean Coalfield, underlying the Forest of Dean, in west Gloucestershire, is one of the smaller coalfields in the British Isles, although intensive mining during the 19th and 20th centuries has had enormous influence on the landscape, history, culture, and economy of the area.
Resolution was an early beam engine, installed between 1781 and 1782 at Coalbrookdale as a water-returning engine to power the blast furnaces and ironworks there. It was one of the last water-returning engines to be constructed, before the rotative beam engine made this type of engine obsolete.
The Bonawe Iron Furnace, was an industrial complex located in Bonawe, Lorn District, Scotland. It operated in the middle of the eighteenth century, with the aim of producing pig iron. Central to this complex was a charcoal fired blast furnace.
The Lithgow Blast Furnace is a heritage-listed former blast furnace and now park and visitor attraction at Inch Street, Lithgow, City of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1906 to 1907 by William Sandford Limited. It is also known as Eskbank Ironworks Blast Furnace site; Industrial Archaeological Site. The property is owned by Lithgow City Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.