Wilsontown Ironworks 2025

The ironworks opened in 1779, and was one of the most important sites of Scotland’s Industrial Revolution. Although most of the buildings were demolished in 1974, some features are still visible, such as the blast furnace, coke kilns and a number of bell pit mines, as well as ancilliary outworks, limekilns, coal mines, tramways and workers' acommodation, surviving as upstanding and buried features. The works had two blast furnaces, and in 1790 a forge was added. Later a rolling and slitting mill and additional forging hammers were installed. In its heyday the works employed 2,000 people.

Contacts

Operator: Forestry and Land Scotland

Address: 31 Wilsontown Road Forth Lanarkshire ML11 8ER

Telephone: 0300 067 6600 (1)
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Website: View website

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Open Days & Times

Access at all times. Visit various other websites and facebook for more details.

Travel

By Bus: various
By Rail: Breich / 5 miles

Facilities

Parking

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The works had a railway branch line to Auchengray on the Caledonian Railway. It was at the ironworks that James Beaumont Neilson developed the first hot blast form of the blast furnace, which he patented in 1828. Coal was produced at Wilsontown besides iron. When the ironworks closed, coal continued to be mined, and production did not finally cease until 1955. The buildings were cleared after closure, but the general layout of the site can still be discerned and a heritage trail has been created. It has been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1968.

In 2007 Forestry Commission Scotland, the present owners of the site, launched a project to raise public awareness of the Wilsontown Ironworks. There are Illustrated panels along the walking trails that bring the bustling industrial past to life.