CONSERVATIONISTS are optimistic Wortley Top Forge, which stopped production 100 years ago, has a long future as a tourist attraction.
A meeting was held on Thursday to discuss the forge rescued from neglect in 1953.
Volunteers restored and maintain the equipment which dates back to the early 1600s. It has important evidence of the development of rural industry before the industrial revolution and was operated for three centuries.
The water-powered heavy iron forge is the last in Britain, possibly the world, on its original site. It is opened as a tourist attraction every Sunday from Easter to November.
