Fernhurst rambling

I made the most of today’s all-too-rare sunshine by driving to Fernhurst to spent a delightful afternoon catching up with family. I'm pleased to report that everyone is in good health. Auntie Shirley joined us for lunch, while cousin Nicolas dropped by for coffee. My cousin Hilary cooked a delicious lunch (a sampling from Waitrose’s complimentary winter cookbook). As we ate the winter sun streamed in the windows making for delightful meal.


David then took all of us for a leisurely ramble through the nearby village fields. The UK has an established tradition called the 'right to roam' that protects public access to England's most wild and dramatic landscapes, heaths, moors, down and areas of registered common land. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act requires private landowners to grant unrestricted walking access across their land via a network of public pathways nationwide.


We wandered through the soggy fields to the site of Fernhurst’s North Park Furnace. More than two hundred years ago a small iron furnace operated on the banks of a local stream, casting cannons and wheels. This early site of the Industrial Revolution is remarkably well preserved. A brick dam still stands, holding preserving a small lake. Water from the lake was used once to power the furnace bellows. Brick water channels and the circular brickwork of the cannon casting pit are also visible.

It was hard to imagine that this quiet, picturesque stream was once the setting for a flourishing iron industry until 1777. However, David indicated the numerous natural resources surrounding this early Industrial Revolution site. Oak trees provided charcoal for furnace, the stream powered the foundry and local sands yielded iron-rich nodules. Once again, I’m reminded that history is very much alive everywhere you look in England.