Henry Cort's Iron Works at Funtley

1784

Henry Cort, one of the most important figures in the Industrial Revolution, operated an iron works at Funtley, just north of Fareham, in the 1780s. It was here that Cort developed and perfected the puddling and rolling process for producing wrought iron, a breakthrough that transformed the iron industry and helped drive Britain's industrial expansion. The puddling process allowed pig iron to be converted into workable wrought iron on a commercial scale, replacing the older and more expensive charcoal-based methods. Cort took out patents for his processes in 1783 and 1784. The Funtley works used a water-powered rolling mill on the River Meon to shape the iron. The significance of Cort's work was enormous, though he benefited relatively little from it personally. A financial scandal involving his business partner Adam Jellicoe, a deputy paymaster of the navy, led to the seizure of Cort's patents by the Crown in 1789. Cort died in poverty in 1800. His contribution to the iron industry was later recognised, and Henry Cort Community College in Fareham is named in his honour. The site of the Funtley works has been largely lost to later development, but the association remains an important part of Fareham's claim to have played a role in the broader story of British industrialisation.