Ironworks

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For artifacts or architectural features made of iron, see ironwork.

An ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and/or steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the plural of ironworks is ironworks.

Ironworks is used as an omnibus term covering works undertaking one or more iron producing processes. These include bloomeries, blast furnaces, finery forges, and puddling furnaces, slitting mills and rolling mills. The term is also used, perhaps less correctly, for various works that used iron, including iron foundries, and shipbuilders.

Ironworks of various sorts have existed for centuries – the first ironworks in America were established on the James River as early as 1619 – but they became a central part of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century when advances in smelting technology permitted the smelting of iron (using coke) on a truly industrial scale.

Notable ironworks include:

• Bath Iron Works in Maine USA
• The Coalbrookdale Ironworks
• Cyfarthfa Ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, south Wales
• Dowlais Ironworks also at Merthyr Tydfil
• Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd, a shipbuilding firm on the banks of the River Thames
• Tredegar Iron Works at Richmond, Virginia
• East Jordan Iron Works in East Jordan, Michigan
• Cambria Iron Company in Johnstown, Pennsylvania

In the computer game Civilization IV, the ironworks is a national wonder that greatly increases the production of the city it's built in which has access to coal and iron

Ironworks Consulting is a project-based web technology consulting company headquartered in Richmond, VA with offices in Cary, NC and McLean, VA.

IronWorks Magazine is the Journal for Harley Enthusiasts. Headquartered in Montgomery, AL., IronWorks name originates from the metal work associated with the custom Harley-Davidson industry.