Industrial might

John Hannavy looks at Scotland's industrial heritage.

By the shores of Loch Etive in Argyll stands a reminder that Scotland's industry was not just centred on the great cities and major rivers. The Bonawe Iron Furnace, now a protected historic monument in the care of Historic Scotland, dates from the middle of the 18th century, and for more than a century produced hundreds of tons of iron each year.

Now, you may say, surely they don't have iron ore around Loch Etive – and you'd be right, but what they did have was an abundant supply of timber which could be coppiced and turned into charcoal. Due to its massive bulk and light weight, shipping the charcoal to the ore would have been a hugely expensive operation, so they did the logical thing – they brought the iron ore from Cumbria up to the ready supply of charcoal! But the iron ore was not destined for Scottish manufacturers – it was shipped back south to drive the heavy industries of Barrow-in-Furness.

Scotland's heavy manufacturing industries would develop throughout the 19th century.

Opened in 1753, Bonawe furnace is one of very few industrial monuments to survive in Scotland from the period of the industrial revolution. By the second half of the 19th century, with coke proving to be a much more efficient way of smelting iron ore, Bonawe's commercial viability had gone and the site was abandoned. With no pressure to redevelop the site, it was simply shut down and abandoned.

But for centuries before this, Scotland's coal mining industry had been in the ascendancy, an...

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• By : John Hannavy
• In : Landscapes
• Issue : 52
• Page : 18
• Words : 1,098