The furnace was built in 1755 by the Duddon Company of Cumbria, drawn by the abundant local woods capable of supplying the charcoal needed in smelting iron. The village, then called Inverleacainn (the mouth of the River Leacainn) gradually took on the shorthand name of ‘the furnace’ and finally, simply ‘Furnace’. The furnace itself shut down in 1813, made redundant by the coal-fired steam engine.