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Showing posts with the label Rockley Blast Furnace

Rockley Bast Furnace As It Was.

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After my post yesterday about my walk through Rockley wood and pictures of the old furnace and engine house I was keen to learn more about this 300 year old site and came upon this great video showing the site today and how it was when it was smelting iron ore. Definitely one for the history geeks, like myself! Hope you enjoyed the video as much as I did and a great thanks to GooseyGoo for their excellent article, and video about this site.

After the snow but not quite spring.

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Well early March in Birdwell and the month certainly came in like a lion, it was quite nice the see the snow and it did last for nearly a week.   And then, as if by magic, the snow melted away and I reached for my walking boots and headed out for a Friday afternoon walk out into the countryside a just few minutes from our house in Birdwell. Twenty minutes into my walk and I was deep into local history around the old Rockley furnace. The picture above is the old engine house that would have been the home for a beam engine that would be used to pump water from the adjacent iron ore mine, whilst the pictures below show what remains of the iron ore furnace itself.  This blast furnace was constructed around 1704 and replaces an earlier furnace built in 1650 which no longer survives. If you look through the wood to the right of the picture you can make out the bank of the nearby M1 motorway that obliterated more workings from this site. Whilst res