# Laskill > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Laskill > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Laskill.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laskill > Source revision: 1318184468 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Hamlet in North Yorkshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Use British English|date=July 2020}} {{coord|54.308|-1.137|display=title|region:GB_scale:10000}} [[File:Abbey Church at Rievaulx.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The ruins of the nearby [Rievaulx Abbey](/source/Rievaulx_Abbey)]] '''Laskill''' is a small [hamlet](/source/hamlet_(place)) in [Bilsdale](/source/Bilsdale), 5 miles (8 km) north-west of [Helmsley](/source/Helmsley), [North Yorkshire](/source/North_Yorkshire), England, on the road from Helmsley to [Stokesley](/source/Stokesley) and is located within the [North York Moors National Park](/source/North_York_Moors_National_Park). [Archaeological](/source/Archaeology) investigations have revealed that the [Cistercian](/source/Cistercian) [monk](/source/monk)s of the nearby [Rievaulx Abbey](/source/Rievaulx_Abbey) had a large woolhouse there, dating from the middle of the 13th century. The Cistercian monks, known to have been skilled [metallurgists](/source/Metallurgy), also had a [blast furnace](/source/blast_furnace) (the only medieval example yet identified in [Britain](/source/Great_Britain)) for the [smelting](/source/smelting) of [iron ore](/source/iron_ore) into [cast iron](/source/cast_iron). The iron ore left in the [slag](/source/slag) at Laskill has been identified by Gerry McDonnell (archeometallurgist of the [University of Bradford](/source/University_of_Bradford)) as more refined than anything else at the time, suggesting a much more efficient blast furnace technology than otherwise existed – perhaps as advanced as a modern blast furnace. The destruction of the abbey at Rievaulx by King [Henry VIII](/source/Henry_VIII_of_England) during the [Reformation](/source/Protestant_Reformation) put an end to this blast furnace and its advanced [technology](/source/technology). Had the monks been allowed to share their new blast furnace techniques, which they frequently did with other advancements, the world might have entered the [Industrial Revolution](/source/Industrial_Revolution) a full two and a half centuries earlier.* R. W. Vernon, G. McDonnell and A. Schmidt, 'An integrated geophysical and analytical appraisal of early iron-working: three case studies' ''Historical Metallurgy'' 31(2) (1998), 72-5 79. {{cite news | title=Henry 'Stamped Out Industrial Revolution' | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1397905/Henry-stamped-out-Industrial-Revolution.html | author=David Derbyshire | newspaper=[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph) | date=21 June 2002}} The name Laskill derives from the [Old Norse](/source/Old_Norse) ''lágrskáli'' meaning 'low [shieling](/source/shieling)'.{{cite web|url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Yorkshire+NR/Laskill+Pasture|title=Key to English Place-names|website=kepn.nottingham.ac.uk|accessdate=22 October 2025}} ==References== {{reflist}} *''How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization'', [Thomas Woods](/source/Thomas_Woods), (2005), {{ISBN|0-89526-038-7}} ==External links== {{commons category-inline|Laskill}} {{authority control}} Category:Villages in North Yorkshire {{NorthYorkshire-geo-stub}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Laskill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laskill) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laskill?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.