Summerley beehive coke ovens
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Summerley beehive coke ovens by Alan Murray-Rust as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Summerley beehive coke ovens
Image: © Alan Murray-Rust Taken: 23 Feb 2010
Not the easiest subject to photograph because of the invasion of vegetation, but the snow on the ground allows something to be seen. The lower area is the platform in front of the ovens, now partly covered in rubble where the brickwork of the ovens has collapsed. The thin diagonal white line running across the picture about three quarters of the way up is the top of the bank of ovens. There were two banks of 24 ovens, back to back, most of which appear to remain, making this probably the most extensive remaining set in the UK. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and although the citation suggests that they 'survive well', the continued degradation due to vegetation growth, including quite large trees means that this may not be the case for long. The ovens were built between 1871 and 1876 and remained in use until 1921. Their primary market was the specialist steel making industry in Sheffield. A close up view of the entrance arch to one of the ovens can be seen here http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1735333 .
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
53.298573
Longitude
-1.447357