Last year I failed to get to the ore bunkers and resolved to come back when the vevetation died down. Well the brambles died down in the winter and came back bigger and sharper in the spring.
The history
This was the site of a charcoal blast furnace which lasted 250 years so I will try to be brief with the history:
Built 1711
Rebuilt 1770
Bought by Harrison Ainslie 1824.
Harrison Ainslie bankrupt in 1903 and 1918
Reopened as the Charcoal Iron Co in 1918. Among other things they made Valley brand cold blast pig iron
and there was a fire in 1883:
This, I think, is the coke bunker
and this the ore bunker. The railway line was on the beams near the roof so hopper wagons could drop the ore straight into the building.
Another ore bunker
Ore crusher
This is the remains of workers houses.
The furnace stack
Porcelein insulators - and a teapot lid
The "Live-work units"
Fusebox
Detail
The roof has gone over the generator
Stack of sand moulds
1920s wiring
This is an electricar TU40.
The handbook is in the records office but it cannot be shown.
A previous report mentioned that Valley cold blast pig iron was made here. Here is a Valley cold blast pig:
Detail
Yellow van man missed that ingot.
Three men admit burglary at Backbarrow Ironworks site (From The Westmorland Gazette)
Thanks for looking.
The history
This was the site of a charcoal blast furnace which lasted 250 years so I will try to be brief with the history:
Built 1711
Rebuilt 1770
Bought by Harrison Ainslie 1824.
Harrison Ainslie bankrupt in 1903 and 1918
Reopened as the Charcoal Iron Co in 1918. Among other things they made Valley brand cold blast pig iron
and there was a fire in 1883:
This, I think, is the coke bunker
and this the ore bunker. The railway line was on the beams near the roof so hopper wagons could drop the ore straight into the building.
Another ore bunker
Ore crusher
This is the remains of workers houses.
The furnace stack
Porcelein insulators - and a teapot lid
The "Live-work units"
Fusebox
Detail
The roof has gone over the generator
Stack of sand moulds
1920s wiring
This is an electricar TU40.
The handbook is in the records office but it cannot be shown.
A previous report mentioned that Valley cold blast pig iron was made here. Here is a Valley cold blast pig:
Detail
Yellow van man missed that ingot.
Three men admit burglary at Backbarrow Ironworks site (From The Westmorland Gazette)
Thanks for looking.
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