On 24th July, 1872, a lease of land at Moss Bay was obtained from local landowner Henry Curwen by Peter Kirk, James Valentine, Henry Kenyon and Mary Gibson. A partnership was formed among various relatives of the Kirks and Valentines and operated under the title of The Moss Bay Hematite Iron Company. In 1877 a Bessemer steel making plant and rolling mill were added and the blast furnaces increased to four and the Company rolled their first steel rails on 13th August, 1877. In 1881 the Company was refinanced and renamed The Moss Bay Hematite Iron and Steel Company Limited. Of the numerous different independent iron and steel companies that once existed in West Cumberland, the present day CorusRail can trace its beginnings back to the Moss Bay Company. Steel was produced at Moss Bay until their closure in 1982.