Yorkshire Yields a Glimpse of Britain’s 19th-Century Industry

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that excavations have recently been conducted at two early nineteenth-century steel-making sites in Yorkshire. The region was well suited to industry because iron, coal, and water power were readily available. The excavation at Hollis Croft uncovered an early cementation furnace, which was used to convert iron into blister steel. At the Titanic Works, crucible furnaces, which were developed in Sheffield, have been well preserved in three cellars. “You can see the driving force for Britain’s industrial revolution,” said archaeologist Milica Rajic of Wessex Archaeology. To read more about the archaeology of this period in English history, go to "Haunt of the Resurrection Man."