ROBERT MUSHET AND THE DARKHILL IRONWORKS by Keith Webb 2001 88 pp
numerous photos, illus maps etc. SB £7.99 Black Dwarf Publications.
http://www.blackdwarfpublications.co.uk
I first “discovered” Darkhill in the early 1990’s whilst searching for
mines in the Forest of Dean. I was surprised to find this vast
industrial complex hidden in the trees. When viewed from below the site
resembles an Inca village, but from above it looks like war zone. The
hotch potch of furnace foundations, ore bunkers, stone rail chairs and a
wheel pit present an industrial archaeological puzzle of some magnitude.
My researches only made me more intrigued. Robert Mushet was a
secretive genius, a pioneer inventor of self hardening steel and these
works were modified time and time again both to confuse his rivals and to
experiment further. Robert was so secretive that he even conducted
experiments at home, mostly alone, but when he need help he got his wife
to work the bellows and hold the red hot billets in tongs while he
hammered them into shape.
He became manager of Darkhill Works in 1845 and was the first to
experiment with manganese, tungsten, titanium and chrome and produced
some fine steel alloys which are still in use today. In its day this was a
dream site surrounded by mines of coal, limestone, iron and possibly clay -
all the raw materials need for the manufacture of iron and steel. A nearby
spring and reservoir provided water.
The Titanic Ironworks were built in 1862. Robert employed three hundred
men to produced “Titanic Cast Steel” but the venture was not a success
and it was wound up in 1874. The buildings were finally demolished in
the early 1960s. The bulldozed material was used as hard-core for the
approach to the Wye Bridge section of the first motorway Severn Bridge
crossing at Chepstow.
Now enter Keith Webb who lives in a house overlooking the Darkhill
Ironworks, and has spent many years researching the area. He modestly
claims no expertise but his book is the key to the riddle of Darkhill.
Mr Webb has identified the locations of individual buildings, furnaces,
workshops, boilers etc. Assisted by examples from Ironbridge in
Shropshire and the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet near Sheffield he has
produced a logical explanation of how the site was organised.
Nowadays it is no longer possible to wander through the works, as, due to
Health and Safety legislation, the whole area is securely fenced off. It is
still possible to view the works from a distance, making this pocket book an
essential companion for your visit.
TO
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