Duddon furnace facts for kids
The Duddon Furnace is a very old iron-making factory in Cumbria, England. It's a special type of furnace called a blast furnace. This furnace used charcoal (burnt wood) to melt iron ore. You can find it on the west side of the River Duddon, which is how it got its name.
History of Duddon Furnace
The Duddon Furnace was first built in 1736. Two companies, the Cunsey Company and the Backbarrow Company, worked together to start it. However, in 1741, the Backbarrow Company sold their share to the Cunsey Company.
The Cunsey Company already owned other ironworks. But they closed one of them, Cunsey Furnace, in 1750. After that, the company became known as the Duddon Company.
Some of the original partners in the Cunsey Company were Edward Hall, Warine Falkner, Thomas Cotton, and Edward Kendall. Over time, some partners passed away. The company then became Jonathan Kendall & Co. This group also built another furnace called Argyll Furnace in 1755.
William Latham managed the Duddon ironworks for many years. He helped ship the pig iron (raw iron) to other places. Later, in 1790, William Latham's sons, Richard and Joseph, took over the business. They ran the furnace until 1828. Then, they sold it to a company called Harrison Ainslie and Co. This company kept the furnace working until 1867.
What You Can See Today
The Duddon Furnace still stands tall today! The main part, called the furnace stack, is made of local stone. It is still 29 feet high. The very bottom part, called the hearth, has been removed.
Water from the River Duddon helped power the furnace. It used to have large machines called blowing cylinders. These machines pushed air into the furnace to make the fire hotter.
You can also see the bridge that led to the charging platform. This is where workers would load materials into the furnace. There were even rooms under the bridge where workers lived!
The charcoal barn is still there too. It's 100 feet long and was used to store all the charcoal needed for the furnace. The building where they stored the iron ore also survives. Archaeologists studied the site in the 1980s to learn more about its past.
