Furnace and Hot Blast Tower
Date 21 March 2008
Event ID 908784
Category Management
Type Site Management
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/908784
FURNACE BANK: Tall masonry retaining wall, snecked cream sandstone rubble, with evidence of heightening and lengthening since first built in 1801. 2 round-headed arched recesses at northern end, and 5 small rectangular iron-lined openings in centre, with iron pipe projecting at southern end. Present form of bank dates from site improvement by Scottish Development Agengy in 1980s. HOT BLAST TOWER: Red brick 7-storey campanile, with small round-headed windows in inset panels, and machiculated and castellated parapet. Window voussoirs in white brick.
Surviving remains of iron-smelting works, founded 1802. Shotts was one of the early iron-smelting works in Central Scotland, and one of the last to remain in operation. It closed in 1947 as a result of coal nationalisation. The furnace bank is one of three surviving in Scotland, the others being at Dalmellington and Summerlee, Coatbridge. The tower, which contained a water tank to give enough head of water to cool the nozzles (tuyeres) through which air was blown into the furnaces, appears to have been unique to Shotts, and is a remarkable survival. The ironworks supplied much of the iron used for architectural work in the development of the New Town of Edinburgh. (Historic Scotland)
