Scheduled Monuments›England›Wortley Top Forge

Wortley Top Forge

England
List entry 1018262
Nation
England
The designation
Reference
List entry 1018262
Authority
Historic England (NHLE)
Status
Scheduled Monument
Scheduled area
2.16 hectares
Grid reference
SE 29341 00035
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic England (NHLE)

Overview

History & significance

Wortley Top Forge is a scheduled ancient monument located in South Yorkshire that represents an important centre of iron production during the early modern period. The forge operated as a significant ironworking site, with evidence of its industrial structures and activities preserved within the landscape. The site reflects the development of Sheffield's metal-working industries, which became renowned for the production of high-quality iron and steel goods. The surviving remains and archaeological deposits at Wortley Top Forge document the technological and economic significance of iron forging in the region during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Wortley Top Forge is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1018262. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Wortley Top Forge?

Wortley Top Forge is a scheduled ancient monument located in South Yorkshire that represents an important centre of iron production during the early modern period.

Who is responsible for protecting Wortley Top Forge?

Wortley Top Forge is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1018262.

What other scheduled monuments are near Wortley Top Forge?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Handlands Romano-British settlement, 460m south west of Woodseats Farm (6.2 km), Romano-British field system and settlement at Wheata Wood (6.6 km), Ewden Beck round barrow cemetery and cross-dyke (6.7 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Wortley Top Forge

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Wortley Top Forge's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.

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Nearby

Other scheduled monuments within 10 km

Handlands Romano-British settlement, 460m south west of Woodseats Farm
6.2 km
Romano-British field system and settlement at Wheata Wood
6.6 km
Ewden Beck round barrow cemetery and cross-dyke
6.7 km
The Bar Dyke linear earthwork
7.1 km
Wayside and boundary cross on the south side of Elliott Lane
7.1 km
Cowell Flat prehistoric field system, 350m south east of Mortimer House
7.3 km
Ring cairn, 340m north west of Mortimer House
7.3 km
Cairnfield on Broomhead Moor, 500m north west of Mortimer House
7.4 km
The ground beneath

The bedrock under Wortley Top Forge

Wortley Top Forge stands on Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.

The wider landscape

Around Wortley Top Forge

Battle of Adwalton Moor 1643Battle (1643) · ~19 miles
Domesday entry for Thurgoland, Yorkshire →
All Scheduled Monuments