Occoquan Iron Works iron sow

Dateca.1755-1785

Manufactured by Occoquan Furnace

Maker John Tayloe

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Prince William County, Occoquan

MediumIron, trace elements and slag.

DimensionsOverall: 24" x 4 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2008-48,2

DescriptionIngot-shaped iron sow, broken at either end, with tw oor three scars where pigs were broken from it.
Label TextOnce extracted from the metal-bearing rock known as ore, the first salable product of the process of iron refining has been known as a pig since the mid-17th century. This long-enduring nickname comes from the manner in which it was cast. Molten iron was flowed into simple channels cut directly into the sand floor of the furnace. Additional channels were dug at right angles to the main channel, and were filled with molten iron at the same time. To early furnace workers this large casting, before being broken up, resembled a mother hog suckling her piglets. Therefore, the castings from the offshoots of the main channel became known as pigs, while those from the main channel became known as sows.

It is in the form of pigs and sows that most iron was shipped as raw material, either within America or abroad. Heavy and compact, it was the perfect material to use as ballast in the hold of a ship returning to Europe. Many that survive have the names of the furnaces that made them cast directly onto their top surfaces, often bearing their date of manufacture too.

This sow was cast at Occoquan Furnace, which stood near present day Occoquan, Virginia. Beginning operation in 1755, the furnace was eventually part of a large industrial complex which included an iron works, grist mill, bolting mill, bake and storehouses and dwellings for the workmen. Shortly after the French and Indian War, the site came under the control of John Tayloe, whose fine house still stands on Nicholson Street in Colonial Williamsburg.