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Most of the preserved blast furnaces around the country, such as the ones at Blaenavon,
post-date Abraham Derby's pioneering use of coke to produce iron at Coalbrookdale in 1709. As such, they are large industrial complexes.
I've always found it difficult to imagine the sort of small scale charcoal based industry that preceded those developments, and it was great to see here a reproduction of a Wealden Blast Furnace.
It really gave me a feel for what it must have been like when iron making was a cottage industry.