Metallurgical analysis of a mid-19th-century steel crucible furnace from Sheffield
Abstract
In 2008, an archaeological excavation was undertaken by Oxford Archaeology North at the corner of Furnace Hill and West Bar, Sheffield. Historically, this area is known to have contained an 18th-century steelworks, which was later replaced by 19th-century commercial concerns. Whilst the archaeological remains dating to the 18th-century steelworks were extremely limited, the excavation did reveal evidence for small-scale, mid-19th-century steel production. This took the form of a Huntsman-type crucible furnace that was associated with a rich deposit of slag-like material derived from a chimney flue. This latter material has been subjected to metallurgical analysis, which is the first such study to have been undertaken on industrial residues from a mid-19th-century crucible furnace.
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