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Holwell
Works is located close to Asfordby Hill, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.
Operated by Holwell Iron Company, construction of the Works began
in 1878 and the first furnace was tapped three years later.
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Rotary Furnaces
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The Holwell
site was later expanded to include a foundry to cast the pig iron
produced by the furnaces. After amalgamation with Stanton Iron Works
Company in 1918, Holwell was then taken over by Stewart and Lloyds
in 1947.
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Shaking Ladles
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Holwell
Ironworks has seen many technological changes over the past century.
The introduction of a Continuous Casting Plant increased the rate
of production of the foundry significantly. During the 1950s and
1960s there was steady decline in the use of the blast furnaces
at the site.
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This was during
a time of increasing international competition where it made it cheaper
to import pig iron from abroad than to produce it at the works. The quarry
at Holwell closed in 1962. In the 1960s the development of the Kunkel-Wagner
machine made Holwell one of the most up to date foundries in Europe of
the time.
Today, Holwell
is part of Saint-Gobain Pipelines plc specialising in the manufacture
of highway products.
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