150 years of the Shelton Works

Summers and Son had a thirst for iron, and set about increasing ironmaking capacity. Their intention was not only to feed Shelton's steel furnaces, but their own at Shotton as well.

Shelton had six old hand-charged furnaces at this time, and work on a new, larger, mechanically charged one was begun. It was blown in in May 1922, and produced as much iron as three of the older ones.
Additional new plant was built around this time, including new boilers, a new foundry, additional by-product plant, and extensions to the washery.

At this stage in its development Shelton turned its back on part of the past and looked towards the future.
As the new blastfurnace was being built, the end was in sight for the wrought iron business on the site. By the end of the year, the old forges and puddling furnaces had closed down.

Developments continued apace, however, and two of the old blastfurnaces were rebuilt. Numbers four & six were enlarged, and mechanical charging was introduced.