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The public footpath from Duddon Bridge up onto Wrayslack goes through the quiet woods the blanket these slopes of the Duddon valley, with a beck accompanying the path towards the bottom.
©Stephen Dawson
Dist:0.1km<br/>The woodland and the banks of the Duddon nearby are carpeted with wild Daffodils
©Michael Graham
Dist:0.3km<br/>From the road to Thwaites Fell
©Michael Graham
Dist:0.3km<br/>this bridge is a reconstruction of one over which charcoal and iron ore was conveyed to the charging house, where it was tipped down into the furnace.
©Humphrey Bolton
Dist:0.3km<br/>This is the opening into the furnace (see other photo with same title for details).
©Humphrey Bolton
Dist:0.3km<br/>This is one of a group of ruined cottages next to the Iron Furnace.
©Humphrey Bolton
Dist:0.3km<br/>This was built in 1736 and operated until 1867. It has been restored and there is an information panel. There were eight rural blast furnaces in the area, at Duddon Bridge, Nibthwaite (by Coniston Water), Penny Bridge, Newland (near Ulverston), Backbarrow, Low Wood, Leighton (Carnforth) and Cunsey (Windermere). The iron ore (haematite) was mined in the Lindal and Dalton area and came by barges that also took away the iron. The furnaces used charcoal made from coppice wood, and power was obtained using water wheels. The charcoal and iron ore were heated together to 1500 degrees C, using bellows to increase the intensity of the fire, and the carbon combined with the oxygen in the ore leaving pure molten iron and slag. Production was continuous for periods of 20 to 30 weeks, and ten tons of iron was drained off every twelve hours into moulds to make ingots known as pigs. These rural furnaces became obsolete when coke supplanted charcoal as the source of carbon. The buildings were intact until the 1900s. These included storehouses for the iron ore and the charcoal, an office, cottages and a stable.
©Humphrey Bolton
Dist:0.4km<br/>
©Andrew Hill
Dist:0.4km<br/>
©Andrew Hill
Dist:0.4km<br/>
©Andrew Hill
Dist:0.5km<br/>
©Steve Fareham
Dist:0.6km<br/>
©mauldy
Dist:0.6km<br/>
©Andrew Hill
Dist:0.6km<br/>This footpath descends steeply to the A595 at this point - check the sign. There is a footpath fork here and you can see animal tracks in the snow on the path we must take (Cumbria Coastal Way)
©Simon Pudsey
Dist:0.9km<br/>Close to Duddon Bridge
©mauldy

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