| Whitecliff Ironworks | |
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| Location | Gloucestershire, England, UK |
| Coordinates | 51°47′18″N2°37′36″W / 51.788373°N 2.626623°W Coordinates: 51°47′18″N2°37′36″W / 51.788373°N 2.626623°W |
| OS grid reference | SO56751005 |
  Location in Gloucestershire | |
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.
The first coke-fired blast furnace was constructed in 1709 at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire. With its huge iron-ore reserves and ready supply of timber, the Forest of Dean had been an area of national importance in the production of iron, using charcoal, for hundreds of years. [1] Despite there also being extensive coal measures, Forest of Dean coal did not produce coke which was ideal for smelting [2] and local 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 in the Forest of Dean, with Cinderford, Whitecliff and Parkend Ironworks being built almost simultaneously. [3]
In 1798, work commenced on Whitecliff Ironworks; the second coke-fired furnace to be constructed in the Forest of Dean. The main impetus behind its construction came from Shropshire, although the partnership responsible almost certainly included James Teague, an industrious entrepreneur from Coleford. The building phase was badly affected by flooding, but the furnace was 'blown in' in 1801 or 1802. [4] By 1808 most of the original partners had sold their shares and Whitecliff was now owned by Thomas Halford, James Teague, Isaiah Birt and Wickenden. Teague was in charge of the day-to-day running of the site, but Halford, a London stockbroker, was the majority shareholder and the driving force behind all the activities there. [5] Halford was not satisfied with the output the ironworks were achieving and in 1808 he approached David Mushet, a noted Scottish metallurgist, offering to pay him for his advice on a major rebuilding of the works. Mushet designed and supervised the project, between 1808 and 1810, while at the same time managing the Alfreton Ironworks in Derbyshire.
Mushet moved to Coleford to take up full-time management of the Whitecliff works in February 1810, after Halford had bought out his partners, and entered into a new partnership with Mushet and a man named Spicer; who had been brought in by Halford as a major investor. [6]
After just six months Mushet quickly disengaged himself from the partnership. He was not known to act impulsively, and the reasons for this decision are not fully understood. The Forest of Dean Local History Society attribute it mainly to a difference of opinion with Halford, [7] though letters between the two, from 1810 to 1812, [8] show them as being on good terms after the split. It has also been suggested that Halford, the majority partner, may have suffered a collapse of his other business interests, for it is known that he became bankrupt in 1816. [9] However, Forest of Dean historian, Ian Standing, points out that it was Halford who bought Mushet's shares upon his departure and he attributes the most likely cause to be technical problems due to a 'combination of difficult ore and an expensive and unsuitable coke'. [10]
Whatever the reason, in late 1810, or possibly early 1811, Mushet left Halford to run Whitecliff on his own. The scale of iron making at Whitecliff, after 1810, is unknown, but it had ceased completely by 1816 and possibly as early as 1812. [11] There is no evidence that iron was ever produced again at the site and it seems there was then a period of rapid decline. A large quantity of items 'connected to the blast apparatus' were transferred to Cinderford Ironworks in 1827. A map dated 1852 shows the structures almost as they appear today although, in the intervening years, it is clear they have been used as a source of building stone.
As part of their centenary celebrations, research into the site was carried out by Samuel Osborn & Company in the late 1940s, and featured in the Dean Forest Guardian in 1949. Interest in the Whitecliff works continued to grow after it featured in several books during the 1950s and 60s. In August 1968 Whitecliff Furnace finally became the subject of a Building Preservation Order, but it was not until 1981 that preservation work was undertaken. [12]
The remains of Whitecliff Ironworks were bought by the Dean Heritage Museum Trust in 1983. [13]
A £65,000 refurbishment programme commenced in August 2011, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Forest of Dean Local Action. [14]
The Whitecliff site is open to the public for viewing only.
Sir Henry Bessemer was an English inventor, whose steel-making process would become the most important technique for making steel in the nineteenth century for almost one hundred years from 1856 to 1950. He also played a significant role in establishing the town of Sheffield as a major industrial centre.
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.
Cinderford is a small town and civil parish on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England, which had a population of 8,494 at the 2011 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 found new life within the tourism sector, primarily as a centre for the provision of tourist accommodation.
Coleford is a small market town in the west of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, two miles 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 two electoral wards in Coleford at the 2011 census was 8,359.
The Dean Forest Railway is a 4 1⁄4-mile (6.8 km) long heritage railway that runs between Lydney and Parkend in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
An ironworks or iron works is a building or site 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.
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.
Milkwall is a village in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. It lies between the village of Sling to the south, and the town of Coleford to the north.
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 Severn and Wye Railway began as an early tramroad network established in the Forest of Dean to facilitate the carriage of minerals to watercourses for onward conveyance. It was based on Lydney, where a small harbour was constructed, and opened its line to Parkend in 1810. It was progressively extended northwards, and a second line, the Mineral Loop was opened to connect newly opened mineral workings.
The Forest of Dean Railway was a railway company operating in Gloucestershire, England. It was formed in 1826 when the moribund Bullo Pill Railway and a connected private railway failed, and they were purchased by the new company. At this stage it was a horse-drawn plateway, charging a toll for private hauliers to use it with horse traction. The traffic was chiefly minerals from the Forest of Dean, in the Whimsey and Churchway areas, near modern-day Cinderford, for onward conveyance from Bullo Pill at first, and later by the Great Western Railway.
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.
Darkhill Ironworks, and the neighbouring Titanic Steelworks, are internationally important industrial remains associated with the development of the iron and steel industries. 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. Historically, Darkhill was sometimes written Dark Hill.
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.
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.
The Monmouth Railway, also known as the Monmouth Tramroad, was a horse-drawn plateway of 3 ft 6in gauge. It ran for about 5 miles (8.0 km) from Howler's Slade, east of Coleford, in Gloucestershire and Monmouth; there were two branches from other mineral sites. It was intended to bring mineral products of the Forest of Dean to Monmouth, and to the works alongside the River Wye.
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.
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