Georgian industry and commerce Gallery

Dudley blast furnaces OP02658

Blast furnace, Russell'??s Hall, Dudley, West Midlands, 1859. Mr Mills, dilute albumen print. Mr Mills, otherwise unknown as a photographer, recorded the blast furnaces at Russell'??s Hall, west of Dudley, when the industry was producing a vast number of iron products, including nails, boilers, vices and chains. Coal mining around Dudley had been recorded in the early 13th century and the area was famous for the manufacture of iron nails in the early 16th century. By the late 18th century Dudley was at the centre of England'??s iron industry, and the region was dubbed the ??Black Country'?? because of the blackening of the landscape by the coal and iron industries. Russell'??s Hall itself was pockmarked by clay pits and coal shafts, and significant urban development only took place after the Second World War

© Historic England Archive

Ironbridge Gorge EAW024219

THE IRONBRIDGE GORGE, Shropshire. In addition to the famous bridge, Ironbridge was home to a number of the key elements that drove the Industrial Revolution, including the Bedlam Furnaces (bottom right, near to the gasworks cylinder, which is now a picnic area). Also in this view are a foundry, limekilns, coppiced woodland used for charcoal production, claypits, quarries and coal mines, brick and tile works, and the Great Western Railway Severn Valley branch line. Aerofilms Collection (see Links)

© Historic England