The Forest of Dean, with its huge iron-ore reserves and ready supply of timber, had been an area of national importance in the production of iron, using charcoal, for hundreds of years.

It was not until the last decade of the 18th century that coke-fired furnaces began to make an appearance, with Cinderford, Whitecliff and Parkend Ironworks being built almost simultaneously.

Around 1820, Moses Teague, working at Darkhill Ironworks, discovered a way to make good iron from local coke.

Activity ceased again in 1832, during an economic slump, but resumed in 1835 with financial help from William Crawshay, a Welsh ironmaster, of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil.

Crawshay's son Henry, who ran the works from 1847, bought out the only other partner, Stephen Allaway, in 1862.