The Start of the Story
All of Britain’s iron was originally made from ironstone. It was used to make tools, machinery, ships and rails. Finding ironstone transformed this area’s fortunes almost overnight.
The seam of valuable ironstone here, on the site of this museum, was discovered by chance.
The right rocks
Samuel Okey changed Skinningrove’s future in 1847 when he was collecting ironstone on the beach. He confirmed that Anthony Maynard had a seam of the same rock right here on his land. Maynard gave Okey’s friend permission to start mining. The price was just two glasses of brandy and water!
Hitting the Main Seam
Three years later, Middlesbrough ironworks owner John Vaughan and mining engineer John Marley found another part of this rich seam in the Eston Hills. Their discovery triggered the huge growth of the iron industry in Cleveland.
The Story of Iron and Steel
1 Iron Age to Ironworks
800 BCE
People in Britain are making tools and weapons from iron. They make the iron by ‘smelting’ (heating) rocks containing iron ore.
1577
The north of England’s first blast furnace, for making iron, opens near Rievaulx Abbey, Helmsley. The furnace’s bellows are operated by a waterwheel on the River Rye.
1740
Clockmaker Benjamin Huntsman invents a crucible process, which makes high-quality steel from iron. He uses coke instead of coal for smelting, which produces much higher temperatures for melting and dissolving the iron.
1811
Cleveland ironstone is declared ‘good for nothing’. Tyne Iron Works at Lemington test samples from Upsall near Eston, and discover it makes poor-quality brittle steel.