Cast iron is very different to wrought iron. Because it starts off as a liquid it could be moulded into lots of different shapes such as cooking pots or gravestones. Cast iron is produced in a foundry. A wrought iron hook from a shipwreck in Swansea Bay. Small items such as this were made in great numbers by skilled blacksmiths throughout South Wales but particularly wherever there was a shipbuilding industry.
Steel is a variety of iron that has been changed by adding amounts of carbon and other elements.
Steel is a much more modern material than wrought or cast iron. It was invented in the 1850s. The early iron industry in Wales was mainly concerned with the manufacture of wrought and cast iron. These are the two main metals at the centre of early Welsh industrial history. This is a free site.