Iron was used to protect doors and windows of valuable places from attack from raiders and was also used for decoration as can be seen at Canterbury Cathedral, Winchester Cathedral and Notre Dame de Paris.
The viaduct was designed by Thomas Bouch and the ironwork was supplied and erected by Gilkes Wilson; both Bouch and Gilkes Wilson were also responsible for the later Tay Bridge.
Typically in red brick and terracotta, gabled, with steep roofs supported by large arches of internally exposed ironwork, and freely planned, they were towered to provide ventilation using the Plenum system, with fresh air being drawn in from above the polluted ground level, heated if necessary, and vented also from the tower.
An unusual feature was a pair of cast-iron gates featuring Egyptian-style columns, ornaments, and hieroglyphics, with many details of the ironwork elaborately gilded.
Begun in 1965, the Foujita chapel was entirely designed by Foujita in the romanesque style, who drew the plans and designed the ironwork, stained glass and sculptures.
Initially built to serve the estate, the smithy and wheelwright’s shop gradually expanded to serve the much wider area of Warsash and Locks Heath, becoming a small industrial centre providing woodwork and ironwork for the district.
He had a large office of his own in which he prepared the designs for the Stockton bridge for Charles Neate and Harrison Hayter, and designs of the ironwork of the lines and stations of the London underground District Railway extension to Whitechapel for Sir John Hawkshaw.
Local labour and contractors were used: Harrison of King's Stanley were the main contractors; stone carvings were undertaken by Joshua Wall; woodwork by William English and ironwork by T.J Chew.
The elaborate main gate, made of ornate ironwork, was earlier reported as a replica of one of the main gates at Buckingham Palace in London, which is false.
William Hazledine (1763, Waters Upton, Shropshire – 26 October 1840, Shrewsbury, Shropshire) was a pioneering English Ironmaster whose talent for casting structural ironwork helped to realise the designs of engineers such as Thomas Telford and architects including Henry Goodridge and Charles Bage.