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ICCROM I(

IRONWORKS AND IRON MONUMENTS

FORGES ET MONUMENTS EN FER

i

IRONWORKS AND IRON MONUMENTS

study, conservation and adaptive use etude, conservation et reutilisation de

FORGES ET MONUMENTS EN FER

Symposium

lronbridge, 23-25 • X •1984

ICCROM rome 1985

Editing: Cynthia Rockwell

'Monica Garcia

Layout: Azar Soheil Jokilehto

Organization and coordination:

Giorgio Torraca

Daniela Ferragni

Jef Malliet

© ICCROM 1985

Via di San Michele 13

00153 Rome RM, Italy

Printed in Italy

Sintesi Informazione S.r.l.

CONTENTS

Introduction

CROSSLEY David W. The conservation of monuments connected with the iron and steel industry in the Sheffield region.

PETRIE Angus J.

The No.1 Smithery, Chatham Dockyard, 1805-1984 : 'Let your eye be your guide and your money the last thing you part with'.

BJORKENSTAM Nils

The Swedish iron industry and its industrial heritage. 37

MAGNUSSON Gert

The medieval blast furnace at Lapphyttan. 51

NISSER Marie

Documentation and preservation of Swedish historic ironworks. 67 HAMON Francoise Les monuments historiques et la politique de protection des anciennes forges. 89 BELHOSTE Jean Francois L'inventaire des forges francaises et ses applications. 95 LECHERBONNIER Yannick Les forges de Basse Normandie : Conservation et reutilisation. A propos de deux exemples. 111

RIGNAULT Bernard

Forges et hauts fourneaux en Bourgogne du Nord : un patrimoine au service de l'identite regionale. 123

LAMY Yvon

Approche ethnologique et technologique d'un site siderurgique : La forge de Savignac-Ledrier (Dordogne). 149 BALL Norman R. A Canadian perspective on archives and industrial archaeology. 169

DE VRIES Dirk J.

Iron making in the Netherlands. 177

iii page 1 15 page FERRAGNI Daniela, MALLIET Jef, TORRACA Giorgio The blast furnaces of Capalbio and Canino in the

Italian Maremma. 181

CASINI Isabella La Fondation d'etudes et recherches sur la

Maremma Toscane de Capalbio. 227

GERBER Piotr Industrial relics in the Walbrzych cokeries region. VOGEL Robert M. Casting about and forging ahead : The preser- vation and restoration of historic iron-working sites in the United States. BORSI Franco The architecture of iron in Florence and Europe. MARESCA Paola The cultural matrices of the architecture of iron and utility in Tuscany.

MATTEI Marco The Florence Museum of contemporary art in the old "Galileo" factory. The re-use project.

BUSSELL Michael N. Structural appraisal of existing iron & steel construction.

NIEUWMEIJER George G. Conservation problems arising from the lack of structural understanding in the 19th century. 317

ZORGNO TRISCIUOGLIO Anna Maria The Paderno Bridge on the Adda : Italy's greatest example of 19th century ironwork architecture. 333

GUERRIERI Catia Register of the document file existing in the archives of the Soprintendenza ai Beni Ambien-tali ed Architettonici of Florence and Pistoia concerning the pavilion of 'La Meridiane. 365

TAMPONE Gennaro The pavilion of the Palazzina 'La Meridiana' in

Boboli Gardens, Florence. 377

ROZPEDOWSKI Jerzy Iron bridges in the Lower Silesia region. 409 235
251
275
283
291
305
iv

INTRODUCTION

The symposium, "Ironworks and Iron Monuments: Study, Conser- vation and Adaptive Use", was held at the Institute of Indus- trial Archaeology in Coalbrookdale (Shropshire, England) on

23-25 October 1984.

The meeting was organized by ICCROM in collaboration with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and with the co-sponsorship of TICCIH (The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage). Until recently, ICCROM's interest in the preservation of the industrial heritage could not materialize into promotion of actual programmes because of limited resources in funds and staff. Only in 1980 did the availability of a few E.E.C.

research fellowships allow implementation of a field research programme (study and preservation of two blast furnaces in

Central Italy), which permitted us to establish a first contact with problems existing in this comparatively new domain of conservation of cultural property. In particular it soon became apparent that, in this field, there is a relative scarcity of information on conservation techniques and conservation ethics; several ideas that are familiar to the community of specialists devoted to the conservation of more traditional types of cultural property (art, architecture, etc.), are not at all evident to those who study the preservation of industrial heritage, and it is not clear whether they can be transplanted into the new field without modification, in view of some objective differences (size of buildings, necessity of adaptive use to ensure pres- ervation and justify costs, significance of the monument to the public, etc.) at both the conceptual and practical level. It must be considered, for instance, that an important role in the drive for the preservation of the industrial heritage was played (and still is played) by the historian's interest in reconstructing the technology of the past and the public's desire to see it in action. Whereas such attitudes have a deep influence on industrial conservation, they have a marginal one in the conservation of art and architecture. The ICCROM research group therefore reached the conclusion that the implementation of some programme allowing an exchange of ideas between "conservationists" and "industrial archaeol- ogists" (each category actually having a multidisciplinary composition: historians, archaeologists, architects, chemists, engineers, etc.) would be very much in keeping with the stat- utory aims of the organization. As the ICCROM competence was, for the moment, limited to ironworks, this topic was chosen for a symposium, but it was also decided to enlarge its scope and include the structures and monuments that were built with the metal the ironworks v produced, following in this the example set by the main activities of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum. The second section of the programme was meant to stimulate greater interest among architects and engineers and to yield more information on actual conservation projects. The idea of the symposium was gradually refined and brought to the planning stage through a series of informal discussions with Neil Cossons (Director of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum at the time), Barrie Trinder (Deputy Director at Ironbridge) and David Crossley (of Sheffield University) when they came to Italy to help the ICCROM research team set up a plan of studies of the local ironworks. (This plan, incidentally, should be implemented starting in 1985 and constitute the second phase of ICCROM's involvement in the conservation of industrial heritage.) As TICCIH also provided guidance in identifying possible speakers and participants for the meeting, ICCROM could not have enjoyed better support for finding access to a new domain. Notwithstanding these favourable conditions, the outcome of the project only in part corresponds to the aspirations of the organizers, but this is rather logical for a first attempt. In a majority of the written reports, the industrial heritage is considered mainly under the viewpoint of technological history, while the actual problems of conservation of the buildings themselves were less represented; this is also due to the fact that several of the conservation/rehabilitation cases discussed are still at the study level and have not yet reached the stage of design and execution. Further action to improve contacts and increase attention to

the actual conservation problems appears therefore to be required; this might take the form of interdisciplinary work

on a conservation project or of another meeting dedicated to the discussion of several conservation/adaptive-use pro- grammes. In particular, the problem of conservation ethics (i.e. the allowable extent and modes of restoration and reconstruction, compatibility of modern use with the integrity of the monu- ment, etc.), which is seldom faced from the standpoint of the instrinsic historic or aesthetic value of the object itself (which is, instead, the typical angle of the "conservationist" approach), should be more strongly emphasised in the future. Fortunately, at the Coalbrookdale meeting some of these shortcomings were offset by the visits planned by Barrie Trinder, as well as the evidence provided at all levels by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum itself, with its brilliant examples of accurate archaeological investigation and rigorous presentation and protection of the uncovered, ruins (e.g. the vi Coalbrookdale and the Blists Hill furnaces) and of faithful conservation of monumental structures (the Iron Bridge), near which some reconstructions of the techniques are made available to the public on a reduced scale (museum) or even at full size (the new wrought iron plant). These provided an extremely good basis for informal discussion and confrontation of the attitudes of the specialists from various branches. Unfortunately, such discussions did not find their way into the published proceedings of the meeting, because a strenuous schedule of presentations and visits fully occupied all the official time available in the three days. A11 papers are reproduced here as presented by the authors with no editing at all, as rapidity of diffusion and low cost are usually top priorities for ICCROM. The authors themselves are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts in their papers; therefore, the views they express represent only their personal opinion and must not be construed as statements made on behalf of ICCROM. vii

INTRODUCTION

Le Symposium "Forges et monuments en fer; étude, conservation et réutilisation" s'est déroulé à l'Institut d'Archéologie Industrielle à Coalbrookdale (Shropshire, Angleterre) les 23,

24, et 25 octobre 1984.

La réunion a été organisée par l'ICCROM en collaboration avec l'Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust et sous le patronage du TICCIH (le Comité International pour la Conservation du

Patrimoine Industriel).

L'intérêt de l'ICCROM pour la préservation du patrimoine industriel n'a pu se concrétiser que très récemment en raison de l'insuffisance des moyens financiers et du personnel. En 1980, seulement, la disponibilité de quelques bourses d'étude octroyées par la C.E.E. a permis d'établir un pro- gràmme de travail sur le terrain (l'étude et la conservation de deux hauts fourneaux dans l'Italie centrale) ce qui a consenti à l'organisation d'aborder les problèmes existants dans ce domaine relativement nouveau de la conservation des biens culturels. Cette expérience a montré en particulier qu'il existe dans cette discipline un manque d'information vis-à-vis des tech- niques et de la théorie de la conservation; certaines idées

qui sont désormais familières à la communauté des specialistes de la conservation des types plus traditionels de biens

culturels (art, architecture) ne semblent pas être évidentes pour ceux qui s'occupent de la préservation du patrimoine industriel. De plus il n'est pas sur que ces idées puissent être appliquées sans modification dans le nouveau domaine, en raison de quelques différences objectives qui existent soit au niveau pratique qu'au niveau conceptuel (dimension des bâtiments, nécessité d'une utilisation nouvelle pour assurer la conservation et justifier le coût de l'entreprise, signi- fication du monument pour le public, etc.). Il faut noter en particulier, que dans la création d'un mouvement d'opinion pour la préservation du patrimoine indus- triel un rôle important a été joué (et est joué encore) par

des historiens soucieux de reconstruire les techniques indus-trielles plus anciennes et un public désireux de pouvoir les

contraire, un l'art et de conservation Le groupe de recherche de l'ICCROM est arrivé alors à la con- clusion qu'il rentrerait dans les buts statutaires de l'orga- nisation de réaliser une confrontation entre les "experts de la conservation" et les "archéologues industriels", tout en gardant à l'esprit le fait que chacune de ces deux défi- nitions, assez imprécise, englobe en soi une varieté de viii voir appliquées. Ces attitudes qui ont, au moindre importance dans la conservation de l'architecture, influencent profondément la industrielle. spécialistes provenants de disciplines diverses (historiens, archéologues, architectes, chimistes, ingénieurs, etc.). Du fait que la compétence de l'ICCROM était à l'époque limitée aux forges, cet argument fut choisi comme le sujet d'un sym- posium tout en y ajoutant une deuxième section consacrée à la conservation des structures et des monuments bâtis avec le metal produit par les forges anciennes. Le but de l'introduction de cette section était celui d'at- tirer l'attention des ingénieurs et des architectes et de stimuler la présentation de communications concernants des programmes de conservation et restauration. L'idée d'un sym- posium prit plus de consistance grâce à quelques rencontres informelles avec M. Neil Cossons (qui était alors le directeur de l'Ironbridge Gorge Museum), M. Barrie Trinder (Vice- directeur du Musée) et M. David Crossley (de l'Université de Sheffield) qui vinrent aider le groupe de recherche à preparer un plan d'études archéologiques des forges italiennes. Le fait que le TICCIH fournit également une aide pour l'iden- tification de rapporteurs et des participants possible, mis l'ICCROM dans les meilleures conditions pour ses débuts dans un domaine nouveau. Mais, comme il se passe toujours lors d'un premier essai, le résultat de la réunion ne réalise pas entièrement les espoirs des organisateurs, en dépit de toutes ces conditions favorables. Dans les communications presentées au symposium le point de vue le plus fréquent est celui de l'histoire de la technolo- gie, tandis que les problèmes de conservation des bâtiments eux-mêmes sont moins représentés. Cela pourrait dépendre aussi du fait que plusieurs projets de conservation et réutilisation qui ont été presentés sont au stade de l'étude et pas encore à celui de la réalisation. Il semble ainsi qu'une action ultérieure visant à améliorer les contacts et à porter plus d'attention à la phase de réali-

lisation pratique serait souhaitable; cela pourrait consister en un travail interdisciplinaire sur des projets de conserva-

tion/réutilisation ou en une deuxième réunion dediée surtout

à la présentation de projets de ce type.

Ainsi les problèmes liés à la théorie de la conservation (c'est à dire, type et extension des restaurations ou recons- tructions permissibles, compatibilité de la nouvelle utilisa- tion avec l'intégrité du monument etc.) qui, jusqu'à present, n'ont presque jamais fait l'objet d'une étude du point de vue de la valeur intrinsèque, historique ou esthétique, de l'objet lui même (qui est le point de vue typique du "conservateur") devraient être bien plus clairement mis en évidence dans le futur. ix A la réunion de Coalbrookdale, certaines de ces faiblesses furent heureusement compensées par le programme de visites preparé par Barrie Trinder qui occupa tous le jours une partie de l'après-midi. L'Ironbridge Gorge Museum fournit, à tous les niveaux, des exemples qui se prêtent bien à la démonstration et à la discussion des problèmes mentionnés ci-dessus: la fouille archéologique suivie d'une présentation rigoureuse des restes découverts (les hauts fourneaux de Coalbrookdale et Blists Hills), la conservation fidèle des structures en fer (le pont de Ironbridge) mais aussi, à côté, la reconstruction pour le public de la technologie sur petite échelle (au musée) ou même sur grande échelle (la nouvelle forge). Malheureusement les discussions entre les spécialistes qui ont participé au symposium n'ont pas pu trouver de place dans les actes imprimés; pour la plupart elles se déroulèrent hors de la salle de réunion où un programme très serré de presen- tations occupa tout le temps disponible. Les exposés sont reproduits ici tels que présentés par les auteurs, sans correction, la rapidité de diffusion et un coût modeste étant des priorités habituelles pour l'ICCROM. En conséquence les auteurs eux mêmes sont responsables du choix et de la présentation des faits contenus dans leurs articles et les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement celles de l'ICCROM. THE CONSERVATION OF MONUMENTS CONNECTED WITH THE IRON AND STEEL

INDUSTRY IN THE SHEFFIELD REGION

DAVID CROSSLEY*

SUMMARY

The Sheffield Trades Historical Society has pioneered the conservation of sites connected with iron, steel and related industries. Its first venture, in 1933, was the preservation of Shepherd Wheel, a water-powered cutlery grinding works dating from the 16th century. There followed a

30-year campaign to save Abbeydale scythe works, with its crucible-steel

melting shop. Both were eventually restored and incorporated into Sheffield City Museums. In the 1950's the Society purchased Rockley blast furnace (1652), which has since been subject to archaeological excavation and consolidation, and also Wortley Top Forge, a wrought iron works where buildings date from 1713. A new project is to restore Bower

Spring cementation steel furnace, in Sheffield.

*Reader in Historical Archaeology

University of Sheffield

JULY 1984

1 THE CONSERVATION OF MONUMENTS CONNECTED WITH THE IRON AND STEEL

INDUSTRY IN THE SHEFFIELD REGION

Introduction

The history and reputation of the Sheffield area as a producer of high-quality steel and of a wide range of metal goods is based on a combination of resources. Iron has been smelted in the locality since the Middle Ages, but what has distinguished South Yorkshire from so many other ore-bearing regions has been the abundance not only of water power, wood and coal, but of refractory clays and stone, abrasive stone for grinding and, of great importance, communities whose upland agriculture was particularly suited to the pursuit of industrial by-employments (Hey,

1972). Surviving sites and structures are to be found over the Don basin

within and beyond Sheffield itself and cover a range of occupations, from iron-ore mining through iron smelting and steel conversion to the water-powered forging and grinding operations of the secondary metal trades. For over 50 years there has been an active local interest in the conservation of buildings and plant within this group of industries. Although much remains to be done, it is now possible to display an important range of buildings, monuments to this width of activity. The sites relevant to this survey are the pumping-engine house for the 19th-century ore mine at Rockley, the 17th and 18th-century charcoal blast furnace at Rockley, the wrought-iron forge at Wortley, the cementation steel furnace at Bower Spring, Sheffield, the scythe forge with crucible-steel shop at Abbeydale and the grinding shop, Shepherd Wheel, both on streams on the outskirts of Sheffield. This group of sites, rescued, restored and maintained over the last 50 years illustrates many problems of general application. They concern changing attitudes, among local government bodies and at large, as well as questions of organising and safeguarding restoration projects. The sites will be discussed in the order in which restoration has been carried out. First of all some explanation must be attempted for the lengthy history of interest in Sheffield in the conservation of industrial buildings. Long before the term 'Industrial Archaeology' was coined, and before the study of industrial buildings became widespread, there was a vocal group in the city which was prepared to alert public opinion to the disappearance of its industrial heritage and to raise financial and practical help towards the maintenance of representative structures and skills% This latter point, the recording of methods in the skilled trades, is the key to the early emergence of interest among the public, and for an explanation we have to go back to the years immediately following the first world war. In the 1920's there was much local interest in training in the skills which made up the traditional Sheffield metal trades. One 2 manifestation was the foundation of the Sheffield Trades Technical Societies (STTS), which were formed with the support of management in industry and of the trades unions, and with encouragement from the Applied Science departments of the University. A wide range of topics and speakers appeared on the societies' early programmes, and these did much to place the skills of contemporary industry in their historic context. It was clear that some traditional trades would soon only be memories, and a movement emerged which pressed the need to record and practice old skills and to preserve the equipment used with them. The early activity is best illustrated by interest in Shepherd Wheel, a water-powered grinding shop in the Porter Valley, Sheffield whose history is recorded from the 16th century. As with many traditional buildings, the requirements of legislation under the Factory Acts made uneconomic modifications necessary, and in 1925 individuals connected with STTS secured agreement from the Home Office to exempt Shepherd Wheel during the working lives of the existing elderly tenants. This was a crucial move in preventing the abandonment and probable demolition of the building. The most prominent figure in this incident was David Flather, who in 1926 became Master of the Cutlers' Company of Sheffield. Although this position is largely formal and traditional it was, and indeed is, not without influence and helped Flather, owner of a local steel company, to put over his view that due regard should be paid to the preservation of the skills and equipment which had earned the products of Sheffield their reputation. This is the background to the formation, in 1933, of the 'Society for the Preservation of Old Sheffield Tools and Equipment', later re-named the Sheffield Trades Historical Society (STHS). The tradition of an integrated approach to industrial preservation, not only of buildings but of equipment and methods, has characterised the Society and, latterly, the industrial museums which the City of Sheffield has taken over or created since 1970. Valuation of working methods as much as plant is not always found in industrial conservation movements, not least because of the practical problems which arise when old skills die out. But in the

1930's the approach was apt, and attracted the wider public in a way that

the preservation of an unused building might not have done. In 1933, when the Society was formed, attention was still concentrated upon Shepherd Wheel. The building and dam lay within City parkland, and the group of STTS members who had formed the new Society had for some time been refurbishing the Wheel after the departure of its last tenants. When repairs were complete and incongruous equipment had been removed, there began a series of demonstration days, held at summer -weekends. These were manned by grinders who still worked in the industry, and they finished blades on the water-powered stones. These events took place until 1941 and attracted large attendances. It was originally intended also to restore the next works downstream, Ibbotson Wheel, another small grinding shop. The plan was to transfer hand-forgers' hearths and equipment from elsewhere in Sheffield, so that visitors could see the complete sequence of forging and grinding. Unfortunately Ibbotson Wheel was found to be too dilapidated for the Society or the City to repair, and the buildings were eventually demolished. 3 4 The demonstrations of blade-grinding were of significance in attracting a body of interest and support which was important in overcoming difficulties which were to be encountered elsewhere. With this background, the individual conservation projects undertaken in the area will be considered in the order in which they have been carried out.

The Abbeydale Works

This water-powered scythe works lies five miles south west of Sheffield on the river Sheaf, in wooded surroundings which have changed relatively little during the residential development of the area in the present century. Although its origins as a scythe-grinding works date back to the beginning of the 18th century, the present complex of buildings was erected in the period 1770-1830. It comprises a tilt-forge and a grinding-hull, both water powered, a Huntsman crucible steel-melting shop, hand-forges, a warehouse block, manager's house and cottages. Abbeydale was used for scythe manufacture until late in the 19th century when its tenants, Tyzacks, gradually transferred their activities to Little London Works, downstream. The firm retained Abbeydale until 1935, when it was purchased by a charitable trust for presentation to the City. It was clear to the founder members of the Society that Abbeydale would be well suited to use as an industrial museum, and a campaign was started to prevent demolition of the buildings and transformation of the site into a park. Between 1936 and 1938 the opposing proposals were discussed with a good deal of heat, and when in 1938 the Society offered the City Council £300 towards renovation of the buildings, the response was a request for £1250, to be raised within six months with demolition as the alternative. Indeed by the end of the year the City's estimate of repair costs had risen to £1600. Undaunted, the Society launched an appeal for the 'Proposed Sheffield Industrial Museum and Benjamin Huntsman Memorial', which raised £1500. Even when most of this sum had been transferred to the City to allow work to start, the Society's minutes suggest that the

Parks Comittee were still discussing demolition.

In fact, restoration did begin, and it is of interest that the task continued despite the outbreak of war. Volunteer work went on during

1940 and 1941, and the City Architect proceeded with renovation whenever

labour could be spared from the building of air-raid shelters. By the end of 1940 the crucible shop was ready for equipment promised by Sheffield steel firms, and in 1941 work was in progress on the tilt forge. The cottages were in good enough repair to accomodate bombed-out families, and in 1942 a Sheffield firm, Wardlows, began to make crucible steel at Abbeydale, after war damage to their own furnaces. At the end of the war the Society had high hopes of seeing a successful conclusion to their efforts, but this was not to be quickly achieved. The Parks Department was reluctant to give up the storage space in the Abbeydale buildings, but was also allowing the structures to deteriorate, a process hastened by the severe winter of 1946/7. The Society campaigned for a decision, supported by the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments of the then Ministry of Works. The upshot was that the City handed back the money raised by the Society in 1938 and requested the 5

ABBEYDALE

CRUCIBLE STEEL SHOP!

DAM = -

GRINDING HULL

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