The Old Furnace

The Old Furnace is an historic iron-smelting site in Oakamoor, Staffordshire, set in the Churnet Valley within the Staffordshire moorlands. A later Elizabethan blast furnace once stood where Old Furnace Cottage now stands. Lawrence Loggin built the first blast furnace in northern England there in 1592. Stone for the furnace was hauled three miles from Hollington by mule along an ancient trackway. After nine months the site was abandoned, leaving behind its name. Archaeologists and Time Team found evidence of medieval iron smelting on the site from the 13th and 14th centuries. A single piece of late Saxon pottery suggests iron working may have begun as early as the 10th or 11th centuries. George Talbot, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, owned rights to nearby mineral-extraction sites. His widow Bess of Hardwick inherited his business interests after his death in 1590. In 1869 Thomas Bolton built Old Furnace Cottage for his copper-works employees. Visitors today see the cottage standing beside the old trackway. The path still winds through the field next to the building. The cottage’s stone walls recall the Elizabethan furnace that once stood there. Nearby, the Churnet Valley offers quiet walks through moorland scenery. The site shows how iron working shaped the area long before modern industry arrived.