British Steel's Shelton Works is all that remains in Staffordshire of a thriving Iron and Steel-making industry which first appeared in the county more than 300 years ago.
Staffordshire passed many significant and historic milestones during those three Centuries, but without doubt for the steelmen of Stoke-on-Trent, the most significant must have been the blowing in of three blast furnaces on the Shelton site in the Mid-Nineteenth Century. 
Work on the furnaces began in 1839; the first iron was tapped in early January 1841.
Shelton had been born - A tradition had begun.
Those early industrialists would be in awe of the technology now available to their modern day counterparts which enables Shelton's Rolling Mill to produce more than 400,000 tonnes of finished product a year for world-wide distribution.

This Staffordshire jug was made to commemorate the "Blowing in" of the first three blast furnaces at the Shelton Iron Works on 1st January 1841

SHELTON IRON WORKS
Staffordshire
Erected by Earl Granville
under the Management and Supervision
of
William Forester
Blown in
Jan 1st 1841