52/52 Creevelea Iron Works
Near Drumkeeran, Co Leitrim, Ireland.
One of the few coke-fuelled ironworks in Ireland was built in 1852 by a Scottish company at Creevelea, near the town of Drumkeeran in Co Leitrim in the NW of the Irish Republic.
It stood on the site of a charcoal-fuelled furnace built by Charles Coote, Earl of Mountrath (d 1661), that was destroyed during the wars of the 1640s, but revived and worked with charcoal until 1768.
In the the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there was extensive mining, smelting, and milling of iron in north Leitrim, which lasted till the local forests were exhausted, the fuel being wood-charcoal. As the forest disappeared, the fires were put out, the last extinguished being Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim, in 1765. There is still an area in Drumshanbo called Furnace Hill.
For the new ironworks built in Creevelea in 1852 iron-ore was obtained locally and coal, for coking on site, was brought from the Arigna coalfield about 20 miles (32 km) away. The cost of transporting the coal is thought to have led to the closure of the works in the mid-1850s.
They were momentarily revived, in 1861-62 using peat as the fuel. During a further revival from 1896, under the Peat Charcoal Fuel & Iron Company of Ireland, just one pig of iron was cast, although the company invested capital in an aerial ropeway to transport peat.
Iron from Creevelea was used in the construction of the first bridge over the River Tay in Scotland (started construction in 1871 and completed in 1878), in the construction of the Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin, in the manufacture of cannon used in the Crimean War, and in marine engines for Belfast shipyard builders.
It is claimed that Creevelea is the last place in Ireland where iron was manufactured.
Parts of the works were demolished to provide road materials in the 1940s but one of the blast furnaces still stands, and is shown in this photograph.
52/52 Creevelea Iron Works
Near Drumkeeran, Co Leitrim, Ireland.
One of the few coke-fuelled ironworks in Ireland was built in 1852 by a Scottish company at Creevelea, near the town of Drumkeeran in Co Leitrim in the NW of the Irish Republic.
It stood on the site of a charcoal-fuelled furnace built by Charles Coote, Earl of Mountrath (d 1661), that was destroyed during the wars of the 1640s, but revived and worked with charcoal until 1768.
In the the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there was extensive mining, smelting, and milling of iron in north Leitrim, which lasted till the local forests were exhausted, the fuel being wood-charcoal. As the forest disappeared, the fires were put out, the last extinguished being Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim, in 1765. There is still an area in Drumshanbo called Furnace Hill.
For the new ironworks built in Creevelea in 1852 iron-ore was obtained locally and coal, for coking on site, was brought from the Arigna coalfield about 20 miles (32 km) away. The cost of transporting the coal is thought to have led to the closure of the works in the mid-1850s.
They were momentarily revived, in 1861-62 using peat as the fuel. During a further revival from 1896, under the Peat Charcoal Fuel & Iron Company of Ireland, just one pig of iron was cast, although the company invested capital in an aerial ropeway to transport peat.
Iron from Creevelea was used in the construction of the first bridge over the River Tay in Scotland (started construction in 1871 and completed in 1878), in the construction of the Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin, in the manufacture of cannon used in the Crimean War, and in marine engines for Belfast shipyard builders.
It is claimed that Creevelea is the last place in Ireland where iron was manufactured.
Parts of the works were demolished to provide road materials in the 1940s but one of the blast furnaces still stands, and is shown in this photograph.