[2] They are located on the edge of a small hamlet called Gorsty Knoll, just to the west of Parkend, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England.

The noted Scottish metallurgist David Mushet moved to the Forest of Dean in February 1810 to take up full-time management of Whitecliff Ironworks in Coleford – although he quickly disengaged himself from the business for reasons that are not known.

The sons constantly quarrelled and just six weeks after their father’s death they attempted to sell Darkhill, and other works bequeathed to them, at auction in July 1847.

Trading as R Mushet & Co., they opened a 'small experimental steelworks' on the upper terrace of Darkhill in 1848, called the Forest Steel Works.

[11] The first coke-fired blast furnace had been constructed in 1709, at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, but it was almost a century later before they began to make an appearance in the Forest of Dean.

Around 1820, however, Moses Teague, whilst borrowing the cupola furnace at Darkhill Ironworks, discovered a way to make good iron from local coke.

[13][14] While it could be argued that David Mushet's most important contributions to metallurgy were made prior to 1818, credit must be given to him for laying the foundations at Darkhill, both literal and metaphorical, upon which the achievements of his son Robert were built.

[15] Robert took out fifty four patents on his work,[16] but a lack of income and commercial acumen meant that he was never to receive full recognition, financial or personal, for his achievements.

Aware of their historic importance, Robert Mushet made repeated requests for their return once they reached the end of their usable life – but they were scrapped in 1873.

Included within the scheduled area are a section of tram-road, built to serve the furnaces, and a large lump of clinker, known as 'the bear'.