Cinderford Ironworks, also known as Cinderford Furnace, was a coke-fired

blast furnace 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 "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

, built in 1795, just west of

Cinderford 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. The town came into existence in the 19th century, following the rapid expansion of Cind ...

, in the

Forest of Dean 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 n ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Background

The Forest of Dean, with its huge

iron-ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

reserves and ready supply of timber, had been an area of national importance in the production of iron, using

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

, for hundreds of years. Even the name Cinderford is thought to have derived from the term ' meaning clinker, that was left behind by early Roman ironworks (''ford'' probably refers to the crossing over the Cinderford Brook). The first coke-fired blast furnace was constructed in 1709 at

Coalbrookdale Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge. This is where iron ore was first s ...

, in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. However, despite there also being extensive

coal measure In lithostratigraphy, the coal measures are the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. In the United Kingdom, the Coal Measures Group consists of the Upper Coal Measures Formation, the Middle Coal Measures Formation and the Lower Coal ...

s in the Forest of Dean, local coal did not produce coke that was ideal for smelting and the

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

s 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 Cinderford, Whitecliff and

Parkend Ironworks 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 su ...

being built almost simultaneously.

History

Work began on the ironworks in ; it was the first coke-fired blast furnace to be built in the Forest of Dean and probably came into blast in 1797, or possibly as late as 1798. It was built principally at the instigation of Thomas Teague, although it is unknown who the financial backers were. Coal was brought in by boat, along the Cinderford Canal from Broadmoor, just to the north.

Iron-ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

was brought in by mule, from Edge Hill and other mines. It was working in 1806, but like

, probably ceased production around 1807. The reasons are not certain, but output had not reached 20 tons a week, which was exceptionally low. The difficulties may have been due to poor technical expertise, the unsuitability of the local coke, or perhaps both. Around 1820, Moses Teague, working at

Darkhill Ironworks 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 ...

, discovered a way to make good iron from local coke. To exploit his discovery he re-opened Parkend Ironworks in 1824 and Cinderford Ironworks in 1829. Activity ceased again in 1832, during an economic slump, but resumed in 1835 with financial help from William Crawshay, a Welsh

, of the

Cyfarthfa Ironworks The Cyfarthfa Ironworks were major 18th- and 19th-century ironworks in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South West Wales. The beginning The Cyfarthfa works were begun in 1765 by Anthony Bacon (by then a merchant in L ...

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

. The Ironworks prospered for the next forty years; A second furnace was added around 1835 and in 1841 there were three furnaces producing 12,000 tons of iron a year. A fourth furnace was added sometime before 1855. Crawshay's son Henry, who ran the works from 1847, bought out the only other partner, Stephen Allaway, in 1862. By the late 1870s, however, the iron trade went into recession and only two furnaces were in production at that time. Two new furnaces were built in 1880, but by 1890 only one was in blast. Cinderford Ironworks closed in 1894 and demolition was completed by 1901.Gloucestershire Archives, D8729
/ref> Today, very little remains are visible above ground.

References

{{reflist Ironworks and steelworks in England Industrial archaeological sites in England Forest of Dean Buildings and structures in Gloucestershire Blast furnaces in England Industrial buildings completed in 1795 Industrial history of Gloucestershire

Background

History

See also

References