This cache is located just past where the original slag bank
started. The height of the slag bank in this area has been reduced
considerably over the years. The slag bank was reduced to hard core
and most of it was sold to the Dutch as landfill.
The slag bank is built from waste from the iron ore smelting
process. The key ingredients in smelting Iron is iron ore
(haematite) and limestone. The furnaces are loaded with a mixture
of iron ore and limestone where the limestone absorbs impurities
from the molten iron and forms slag which floats on top of the
molten iron. The iron was then tapped and drained of into channels
to form pig iron bars and the remaining slag was loaded on a train
where it was transported up the slag bank and was dumped onto the
bank. I know some people (older than me of course) who claim to
remember parts of the slag bank glowing red hot in the night. Often
when the slag was dumped it was still molten and solidified into
solid rock which can be seen at the Northern end of the slag
bank.
The Iron Ore Works were spread across the level land to the south
of this location.
Iron ore is known as haematite which comes from the Latin for blood
and translates as Blood Stone. The iron oxide is red in colour and
can be used as a pigment in paints and dyes, this is why the soil
in the Barrow area is usually a reddish colour.