Kettering Furnaces
Closed & demolished 1963
By Francis Clarke
Kettering Furnaces had chimneys which were seen from all of Kettering and when the furnace released the pig iron it could be heard from far afield.
No mention of this establishment is made in any of the local books, but in its heyday there was a considerable workforce, mainly Italian.
Not only pig iron was produced, also gas from the furnace was extracted by BOC, tar was added to the slag to produce road surface and taken away by Tarmac.
My father, Geoff Clarke, was an Engineering Manager at the Furnaces and was employed right up to the closing and demolition. When the chimneys were demolished crowds of people attended or watched from vantage points as the chimneys fell. As the main rail line was adjacent to the furnaces, the line had to be closed for the demolition and re-opened when the all clear given. All that remains of the to remind us of these premises is a lane named "Furnace Lane" that still has a bridge under the main line, which was the back entry to the furnaces and a area to the left of lane before the bridge where the ground is lower - this was a collection pond for the use of cooling in the furnaces. Furnace Lane used to meander past a couple of farms and then past the Crematorium to join the A6.