Bonawe furnace was built in 1753 by ironmasters from Newland, near Ulverston in Furness, who used charcoal from the extensive Argyll woodlands to smelt hematite ores shipped from the Lake District. The furnace produced iron until 1876, and its remains are the most complete of any charcoal-fuelled blast furnace complex in the United Kingdom, including charcoal barns and workers’ housing, as well as the stack. The cast-iron lintel on the forehearth bears the date 1753. The former manager’s house has been adapted as holiday accommodation, and there are trails through the Glen Nant National Nature Reserve, the forest that the source of charcoal for the furnace.