Heritage Portfolio
Derwentside, former iron foundry
Archaeological Evaluation
About the Project
Avalon Heritage were commission by the developers of the former iron foundry works at Derwentside in Belper, Derbyshire to carry out an archaeological evaluation on the groundworks during demotion of the industrial buildings. The first iron foundry in Belper was built in Queen Street in 1820 later taken on by the Smedley Bros and later became known as Eagle Iron Works. It then moved to Becktish Lane around 100m north of the Derwentside works where it remained until its closure in 1960. Unfortunately the site revealed nothing of it's past history as the concrete slabs in some areas were 15 ft thick and could not be penetrated by normal archaeological techniques.