Site record MDR23266 - Brimington Moor Furance

This furnace was probably established some time between 1817 and 1860. This is because in 1817 I.J. Farey produced his volume 'General View on Agriculture and Minerals in Derbyshire', not mentioning this furnace. Whilst in 1860 the Brimington Moor Iron Company is recorded as producing and working iron at Furnace Farm, to augment the production of the Staveley Company. Coal from a number of small local mines and turned into coke in '50 coke ovens'. Poor quality local ironstone, which had long been worked in the area for centuries, seems to have been used as the source of iron. The blast furnace seems to have used the very inefficient cold blast technology, in which cold air was blown directly into the furnace, rather than the technology introduced in 1828 in which the air was heated before being introduced to the furnace, saving large amounts of coke. Power probably came from the nearby stream. Production ended c.1880 and the site was sold. (1)