Industrial Change in Wolverhampton and District

Iron and Steel Industry

Production of iron in the area goes back hundreds of years. The earliest manufacturing process for the making of iron involved the heating of iron ore until it was soft - the resulting "bloom" was then worked with hammers at a Bloomsmithy.

The "Bloomery" process was replaced in the 16th century by a different process that used a blast furnace and a forge. The iron ore was melted by charcoal. The molten metal was then tapped from the furnace onto the floor. Channels in the floor diverted the molten iron into small ingots (which got their name "pig iron" because the channels were said to look like a sow suckling her piglets). The pig iron was then drawn out into bars by hammering on a forge hammer.

Pig Iron Beds, Bilston Steel Works c.1928 - note the bars of pig iron in the foreground (L6/BIL/E/6)

In the early 17th century Dud Dudley, a son of Edward, Lord Dudley claimed to have produced iron using coal. Dud Dudley had a number of furnaces in Dudley, Himley and it is believed Ettingshall in Wolverhampton.

Dudley claimed that he had produced the iron from coal but that the ironmasters had refused to pay for the pigs as they claimed they made bad iron. The reason for this could be that the pigs contained sulphur, a chemical they could have picked up during the smelting process from the coal. A small amount of sulphur in the iron would cause the iron to shear at redheat and not be workable in a forge.

The breakthrough in the production of iron with coal came about in 1709 when Abraham Darby of Coalbrookdale, Shropshire successfully produced iron with coke, a product made from coal.

The first major producer in the Wolverhampton area was John Wilkinson, known as the "King of the Iron Trade", who built his first
blast furnace in Bradley.

John Wilkinson (1728-1808)

John Wilkinson (Y1/WILK/1)

John's father, Isaac Wilkinson, had established an iron furnace and forge in the Lake District with the idea of producing iron with peat moss. In order to move the peat a canal was dug and a small iron boat (perhaps the first in the world) was built. However, attempts to use peat failed and Isaac changed back to smelting iron from charcoal.

Around 1748 John Wilkinson left his father and moved to Bradley to work in the iron trade. After 10 years, John Wilkinson built the first blast furnace in Bradley. After some initial failures he was able to smelt iron using coke.

So successful was John Wilkinson that in 1772 he bought the manor and estate of Bradley where he built a large iron house, furnaces and rolling mills, brick works, a pottery, a canal wharf and a number houses.

By 1777 John Wilkinson was using steam and in 1786 boiler making was added to the works at Bradley that now covered some 88 acres.

John Wilkinson was passionate about iron, so much so that he used it for almost every purpose. He built iron boats, a small iron chapel at Bradley with a cast iron pulpit, and it was through his efforts that the first iron bridge at Coalbrookdale was built. When Jon died he was buried in an iron coffin!

Bradley Methodist Church Pulpit (E3/BRA/I/1)