The ruins of the Wilsontown Ironworks are located near the village of

Forth Forth or FORTH may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''forth'' magazine, an Internet magazine * ''Forth'' (album), by The Verve, 2008 * ''Forth'', a 2011 album by Proto-Kaw * Radio Forth, a group of independent local radio stations in Scotla ...

in Lanarkshire in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, approximately to the south east of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. The works were founded by the three Wilson brothers in 1779, and operated until 1842. The works had two

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 ...

s, and in 1790 a

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...

was added. Later a

rolling Rolling is a type of motion that combines rotation (commonly, of an axially symmetric object) and translation of that object with respect to a surface (either one or the other moves), such that, if ideal conditions exist, the two are in contact ...

and

slitting mill The slitting mill was a watermill for slitting bars of iron into rods. The rods then were passed to nailers who made the rods into nails, by giving them a point and head. The slitting mill was probably invented near Liège in what is now Belg ...

and additional forging hammers were installed. This increased the capacity of the works to of manufactured

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

per week. In its heyday the works employed 2,000 people. The village later had a railway branch line from

Wilsontown The ruins of the Wilsontown Ironworks are located near the village of Forth in Lanarkshire in Scotland, approximately to the south east of Glasgow. The works were founded by the three Wilson brothers in 1779, and operated until 1842. The works ...

Auchengray railway station Auchengray railway station was just outside Auchengray, a hamlet in the Parish of Carnwath, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was served by local trains on what is now known as the West Coast Main Line. It is near Tarbrax and Woolfords. The Wil ...

on the Caledonian Railway. This remained open for some years after the demise of the iron works and served several collieries in the area. It was at the Wilsontown Ironworks that

James Beaumont Neilson James Beaumont Neilson (22 June 1792 – 18 January 1865) was a Scotland, Scottish inventor whose hot blast, hot-blast process greatly increased the efficiency of smelting iron. Life He was the son of the engineer Walter Neilson, a millwri ...

developed the first

hot blast Hot blast refers to the preheating of air blown into a blast furnace or other metallurgical process. As this considerably reduced the fuel consumed, hot blast was one of the most important technologies developed during the Industrial Revolution. ...

form of the blast furnace, which he patented in 1828. Coal was produced at Wilsontown besides iron. When the ironworks closed, coal continued to be mined, and production did not finally cease until 1955. The buildings were cleared after closure, but the general layout of the site can still be discerned and a heritage trail has been created. The core of the site is legally protected. It has been designated a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

since 1968. In 2007 Forestry Commission Scotland, the present owners of the site, launched a project to raise public awareness of the Wilsontown Ironworks. Wilsontown features in the drinking song ''We're Nae Awa' Tae Bide Awa: As I was walking through Wilson toon I met wee Johnie Scobie Says he tae me "Can ye gaun a half Says I, "Man, that's my hobby." CHORUS: For we're no awa', etc.

References

External links

Forestry Commission Wilsontown Ironworks websiteWilsontown Ironworks Heritage ProjectBritish history online
{{coord, 55.7791, N, 3.67264, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Protected areas of South Lanarkshire Scheduled Ancient Monuments in South Lanarkshire Ironworks and steelworks in Scotland Demolished buildings and structures in Scotland