SOUTH YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that a nineteenth-century steelworks, including a crucible furnace, has been uncovered in northern England in a cellar at the site of Sheffield Castle, which was destroyed in 1648 during the English Civil War. The crucible furnace would have reached more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit to refine blister steel into higher quality crucible steel. Curving stone stairs to reach the cellar were found, along with a letter “H” scratched into a brick on one of the walls. A loose brick revealed a hole dug out behind it that may have been used as a hiding place. “These remnants of Sheffield’s industrial past not only remind us of the role steel working played in the growth and identity of this city, but also encourage us to consider the people behind it—who would, by modern standards at least, have worked in an unpleasant and challenging environment,” said archaeologist Ashley Tuck of Wessex Archaeology. To read about excavations of one of London's nineteenth-century workhouses, go to "Workhouse Woes."
