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15.05.13
ERIH Annual Conference 2013 - Save the date - Call for papers now open
ERIH Annual Conference 2013 – Back in the Ruhr Subject:...
15.04.13
ERIH Board meeting in Katowice/Poland
On invitation of the Silesian Voivodeship the ERIH board met in Katowice/Poland and discussed with...
01.03.13
Review of the ERIH Annual Conference 2012
More than 100 delegates from 15 European Countries attended the ERIH Conference 2012 in September...
The glow of the blast furnaces. European Theme Route Iron & Steel
Two steps are needed to make iron and steel – the key materials of the industrial era - from iron ore. First, the ore has to be smelted in the blast furnace to produce pig iron, which is then refined in the fire to produce wrought iron or steel. Both steps are dependent on the type of fuel used. Hard coal is not suitable for producing iron because its trace elements, above all sulphur, can damage the metal. For this reason charcoal was used in furnaces and forges until the start of the 18th century when a shortage of firewood made it very expensive.
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Aberdare | Cynon Valley Museum and Art Gallery |
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Depot RoadGadlys | CF44 8DL Aberdare | Great Britain |
| The Museum tells the story of the social history of the Cynon Valley from 1800 to the present. Audio visual presentations in the gallery include films on the iron industry around 1830 and the Miner’... more >> |
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Adamov | Old Ironworks |
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Stará huť | 679 04 Adamov | Czech Republic |
| The ironworks at Adamov 15 km N of Brno probably began operation in the 16th century, but the blast furnace that is now the centre of a conserved historic site was built in 1752, and rebuilt in the 18... more >> |
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Altena | German Museum of Wire |
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Fritz-Thomée-Straße 12 | 58762 Altena | Germany |
| It’s an all rounder: tough, delicate, shining, decorative. It’s always flexible and it’s quite simply indispensable in everyday life. This amazing material is wire and everybody knows what that ... more >> |
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Amay | Les Maitres du Feu - Route du Feu |
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Rue de Bende 5 | B-4540 Amay | Belgium |
| The contrast could scarcely be greater: the little town of Amay, with its old town centre, narrow alleyways, mansions and cloisters situated idyllically in the Mass valley, in the shadows of the massi... more >> |
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Angelsberg | Engelsbergs bruk |
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Angelsberg | Sweden |
| Engelsbergs is one of the best-preserved ‘bruks’ (ironworking villages) in Sweden. Iron was made in the community from 1681 and the manor house in the French style was completed in the 1740s. The ... more >> |
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Annaberg-Buchholz | Frohnauer Hammer Museum |
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Sehmatalstrasse 3 | 09456 Annaberg-Buchholz | Germany |
| The water-powered Frohnauer Hammer is the centrepiece of a restored iron forge at Annaberg-Buchholz that is one of the most important iron-working monuments in the Erzgebirge. The timber-framed buildi... more >> |
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Aube | Musee de la Grosse Forge d’Aube |
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Rue de la vieille Forge | 61270 Aube | France |
| The museum at Paddle in Normandy is one of the best places in Europe at which to observe the Walloon forge method of making wrought-iron, from which evolved the finery-and-chafery process. Ironworkers... more >> |
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Balve | Luisenhütte |
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Wocklumer Allee | 58802 Balve | Germany |
| Smoking chimneys and industrial spires towering into the heavens! Not here! The Luisenhütte in Balve-Wocklum looks almost cosy. No steel, no complicated tangles of pipes, no gigantic engine house. In... more >> |
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Barrow-in-Furness | Dock Museum |
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North Road | LA14 2PW Barrow-in-Furness | Great Britain |
| The Dock Museum is a striking modern building on a scenic channelside site. Built over an historic graving dock, the museum is home to a wealth of objects and information on the social and industrial ... more >> |
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Bendorf-Sayn | Sayner Hütte iron works |
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In der Sayner Hütte | 56170 Bendorf-Sayn | Germany |
| The casting hall in the Gothic style at the Bendorf ironworks, Sayn, 10 km north of Koblenz, is one of the most monumental industrial buildings in Europe. A blast furnaces was built at Bendorf in 1769... more >> |
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Blackpool | Blackpool Tower |
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Bank Hey Street | FY1 4BJ Blackpool | Great Britain |
| One of the most recognised landmarks in the region owes its existence to Victorian engineering ingenuity, opening in 1894 at a cost of £64,000. Situated on the seafront between the North and Central ... more >> |
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Blaenavon | Blaenavon Ironworks |
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North Street | NP4 9RN Blaenavon | Great Britain |
| Blaenavon Ironworks began production in 1789 and is now the best preserved ironworks of its period in the world it is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The site is the main focus of the Blaenavon Industri... more >> |
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Bochum | Hall of the Century Bochum |
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An der Jahrhunderhalle 1 | 44793 Bochum | Germany |
| This impressive hall was built as an exhibition hall by the Bochumer Verein ironworks for the 1902 world exhibition in Düsseldorf, after which it was used as a gas-blower and dynamo station in the ca... more >> |
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Brandenburg an der Havel | Industrial Museum |
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August-Sonntag-Straße 5 | 14770 Brandenburg an der Havel | Germany |
| All the rest have long since been sent for scrap. One furnace after another disappeared and in the huge hall demolition proceeded apace. But then a group of determined workers got together to save wha... more >> |
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Bridgend | Tondu Ironworks |
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Parc TonduMaesteg RoadTondu | CF32 9TF Bridgend | Great Britain |
| The Tondu Ironworks site is the best preserved Victorian ironworks in Wales and the area has now been developed into a heritage park attraction for local people, visitors and schoolchildren with excel... more >> |
