Dyfi Furnace - Ruin - Furnace, Ceredigion, Wales.
N 52° 32.299 W 003° 56.425
30U E 436217 N 5821329
Dyfi Furnace - Restored charcoal-fired, iron ore, blast furnace, built in 1755 abandoned by 1810. This 'hidden industrial gem' is located in a heavily wooded area, in the village that was named after the Iron works, Furnace, Ceredigion, North Wales
Waymark Code: WMWCBK
Location: North Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/12/2017
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The Dyfi Furnace is a charcoal-burning blast furnace built around 1755 & was only used for about fifty years to smelt iron ore. By 1810 it had been abandoned and the waterwheel removed.
The smelting works were then converted into a sawmill, for a short time, running off a large waterwheel, which has also now been restored, cosmetically, but alas not working.
After several attempts to use the building as a woolen mill failed. But was in ruin by 1980, the site was then excavated, & restored to its former glory.
It is probably the best preserved example of this type of industrial furnace in Britain.
The site is now owned by the Welsh Government, & maintained & preserved by Cadw. (
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"The iron-smelting works was established in 1755 by Vernon, Kendall, and Company. The Kendall family eventually became sole owners. The Furnace was fueled by charcoal made from locally gathered wood. The blast was powered by a waterwheel, run from water diverted into a channel off the river. It seems likely that most of the iron ingots were shipped to the Kendall's forges in the West Midlands for transformation into finished iron products.
The high heat needed to process the iron ore was generated by a pair of bellows driven by the waterwheel. Raw materials for the smelting process were stored in a large barnlike structure further up the hillside - this can easily be seen from the path at the top of the Furnace building. Material was tipped into the top of the furnace, and the molten iron flowed into molds on the casting house floor at the bottom of the building.
The iron works The smelting works were then converted into a sawmill, running off a large waterwheel, which has also now been restored."
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