Blackpool Iron Furnace

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The monument comprises the remains of an iron smelting works which operated for a short time in the early seventeenth century. It was established under a lease of 1635 to George Mynne of Woodcote in Surrey during an important period in the development of blast furnace technology and in the economic reorganisation of the iron industry as it dispersed from its centre in the Weald. It appears to have ceased production within a few years and never to have been redeveloped for other uses. The visible remains now form irregular earthworks, but substantial remains of the blast furnace and other features are likely to survive. The site has been interpreted as containing leats and a waterwheel pit, the furnace site, platforms of associated buildings, and dumps of raw materials and slag.

The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance and illustrate our knowledge and understanding of the development of the iron industry. An ironworks may be part of a larger industrial complex and their importance can further enhanced by their group value.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is roughly is roughly 70m by 120m and bounded by a stream on the east and relict field boundaries on the south and west. The northern boundary is an east west line.