- A team of archaeologists working in the Ironbridge Gorge
have found the remains of a 17th Century steel furnace.
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- The furnace, at Coalbrokdale, is believed to be the oldest
of its type in England and possibly the world.
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- Experts say it was built in 1620 - nearly 100 years before
the arrival of Abraham Darby, one of the pioneers of the Industrial Revolution.
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- Paul Belford from the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust
in Shropshire says it is a remarkable discovery.
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- 'Industrial revolution'
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- "The idea that an industrial revolution suddenly
began in the mid 18th Century is no longer tenable," he said.
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- "The development of industrial capitalism happened
over a much longer period."
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- The furnace was discovered in the fourth year of a five-year
dig project at the Coalbrokdale site which involves students from the UK,
Canada and the United States as well as schoolchildren and volunteers.
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- Mr Belford added: "This project has placed the events
of the industrial revolution in a new light.
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- "There is no doubt that high-tech industry was already
established in the 17th Century.
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- "The well-known 18th Century names in school textbooks
were merely standing on the shoulders of giants."
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/3576066.stm
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