---
title: "Architectural ironwork"
url: https://recentruins.com/catalogue/architectural-ironwork/
description: "Architectural ironwork: usual fabric, period range, how to tell age, what commonly fails and what to check before fitting."
---

# Architectural ironwork

[Recent Ruins](https://recentruins.com/) / [Catalogue](https://recentruins.com/catalogue/) / Metal

| Period range | 1830-1930 |
|---|---|
| Usual fabric | Wrought iron, later cast iron and mild steel |
| Usual form | Fence panels, gates, window grilles, floor grates, brackets |
| Wear to expect | Laminating rust at joints, bent pickets, missing finials |

Wrought and cast iron fail in opposite ways, so the first job with any salvaged ironwork is deciding which one you are holding.

## What it is

Wrought iron is worked hot and joined by forging, collaring or riveting; it is fibrous, and it bends before it breaks. Cast iron is poured into a mould, so it carries repeated identical ornament, crisp undercuts and a parting line, and it is brittle. Fence panels, gates and window grilles turn up in both. Floor grates and stair balusters are more often cast; brackets and simple railings more often wrought.

## How to tell age

Look for the join. Forged collars, punched holes and rivet heads point to wrought work. A visible mould seam, identical repeated units and a slightly grainy fracture face point to cast. Later mild-steel reproduction is welded, and the weld bead is usually left proud where a forge weld would have been dressed flush.

## What commonly fails

Wrought iron laminates: rust forms between the fibres at a joint, swells, and jacks the joint apart, which is why old railings split at the collar rather than in the middle of a bar. Cast iron cracks, usually through the thinnest section of the ornament, and the crack is often hairline until the piece is lifted.

## What to check before fitting

Lift each panel at both ends and look for flex where there should be none. Tap cast sections and listen: a dull note where the rest ring bright usually means a crack. Count the finials and the pickets against the panel next to it, because replacements are easier to source before you build the run than after.