Derwentcote Steel Furnace

We had a lovely walk from Chopwell Village to Ebchester and back today, in glorious winter sunshine. The blipgods were kind, so choosing today's blip was tricky. My editor and I finally settled on this shot in view of its interest.

This building is currently owned by English Heritage (but unfortunately we couldn't see inside as it is closed until mid-February..mental note to return in the spring!). It was built in the 1730s and was used until 1891 for "cementation" - a process which converted wrought iron into steel. The chimney houses 2 sandstone chests which were packed with layers of iron bars (from Sweden) and locally produced charcoal, then heated  by fire to 1,100C for 6-10 days, followed by a week for the furnace to cool. The charcoal diffused into the iron and made high quality steel - flexible and strong.

Apparently the Derwent Valley was the centre of the British steel industry in the early 18th Century.

More photos of the lovely walk on flickr here.