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Wilsontown Ironworks

Demolished buildings and structures in ScotlandIronworks and steelworks in ScotlandProtected areas of South LanarkshireScheduled Ancient Monuments in South Lanarkshire
Wilsontown Ironworks Site and the Mouse Water, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Wilsontown Ironworks Site and the Mouse Water, Lanarkshire, Scotland

The ruins of the Wilsontown Ironworks are located near the village of Forth in Lanarkshire in Scotland, approximately 23 miles (37 km) to the south east of Glasgow. The works were founded by the three Wilson brothers in 1779, and operated until 1842. The works had two blast furnaces, and in 1790 a forge was added. Later a rolling and slitting mill and additional forging hammers were installed. This increased the capacity of the works to 40 long tons (41 t) of manufactured iron per week. In its heyday the works employed 2,000 people. The village later had a railway branch line from Wilsontown to Auchengray railway station on the Caledonian Railway. This remained open for some years after the demise of the iron works and served several collieries in the area. It was at the Wilsontown Ironworks that James Beaumont Neilson developed the first hot blast form of the blast furnace, which he patented in 1828.Coal was produced at Wilsontown besides iron. When the ironworks closed, coal continued to be mined, and production did not finally cease until 1955.The buildings were cleared after closure, but the general layout of the site can still be discerned and a heritage trail has been created. The core of the site is legally protected. It has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1968. In 2007 Forestry Commission Scotland, the present owners of the site, launched a project to raise public awareness of the Wilsontown Ironworks. Wilsontown features in the drinking song We're Nae Awa' Tae Bide Awa':

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Wilsontown Ironworks (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

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Latitude Longitude
N 55.7791 ° E -3.67264 °
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ML11 8FE
Scotland, United Kingdom
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Wilsontown Ironworks Site and the Mouse Water, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Wilsontown Ironworks Site and the Mouse Water, Lanarkshire, Scotland
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Nearby Places

Crofthead railway station
Crofthead railway station

Crofthead railway station or Fauldhouse and Crofthead was a station on the Wilsontown, Morningside and Coltness Railway (WM&CR) that served the area of Crofthead and its miners rows, Greenburn and Gowanbrae near Fauldhouse in West Lothian. The station was located 7 miles 40 chains east of Morningside railway station. The company at first adopted the standard track gauge for mineral lines of 4 ft 6 in, often referred to as Scotch gauge. The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway took over the WM&CR in 1849, the track gauge already having been changed in August 1847, from the now almost obsolete 4 ft 6 in to the generally accepted standard gauge of 4 ft 8½ in.Crofthead station had at first just a single short platform and this is clearly indicated on the OS map of 1854, It was accessed off Bridge Street near the hamlet of Drybridge, close to Fauldhouse. In 1895 the station site is shown with several buildings, sidings and loading docks in addition to a single platform. The Caledonian Railway (CR) established a goods and mineral depot nearby and Fauldhouse station is also located in the vicinity of the old Fauldhouse and Crofthead station. A number of mineral lines ran from near the station to collieries in the area, Polkemmet Moor, Cult, Rigghouse, etc.The station is also recorded by the North British Railway (NBR) study group as opening on 02/06/1845 and closing under the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) as Fauldhouse and Crofthead on 1 May 1930.