A series of six programmes 5: The Iron-Makers
I made a kind of pledge that I would be the last in the iron trade. That I would carry on as far as I jolly well could and make this my object in life - all I can say is that we are the last in the iron trade.'
(CYRIL WALMSLEY , iron-maker)
True wrought iron, the substance of the great works of Stephenson and Brunei, could only be made by hand. The last foundry in the world capable of making wrought iron was the Atlas Forge in Bolton. Here the iron puddler worked entirely by hand and eye, practising a skill which had defied successful mechanisation. The result was a metal of astonishing and unrivalled resilience.
Narrated by KENNETH HUDSON
Producer RAY SUTCLIFFE