Coalbrookdale Old Furnace, restoration

Conservation of the furnace in which Abraham Darby I undertook the first trials of smelting iron with coke rather than charcoal - a development that revolutionised the iron industry. The brick-built structure, some parts of which date back to 1631, had been suffering very badly from the effects of many years' weathering, and the only long-term solution was to construct an over-building to protect it.