A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volumes I and II 9781407354637, 9781407354699, 9781407315126, 9781407354019

Table of contents :
Front Cover: Volume I
Title Page
Copyright
Acknowledgements
Contents
Key Maps
List of Maps
List of Tables
List of Family Trees
Note on Weights and Measures
Abbreviations
Abstract
1 Introduction
Part I. Southeast
2 Weald
3 The Thames Valley
4 Hampshire
Part II. Northeast
5 Northeast England
6 North Yorkshire Moors
7 Northern West Riding
8 The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire
9 Sheffield District
10 Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire
Part III. Northern Midlands
11 The Trent Valley
12 North Staffordshire
13 Cheshire
14 Wrexham and Flintshire
15 Montgomeryshire and the Border
16 Shropshire West of the Severn Gorge
17 North Shropshire
18 Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfi eld
19 Broseley and below the Gorge
20 The Worfe Valley
Front Cover: Volume II
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
List of Maps
List of Family Trees
Part IV. Southern Midlands
21 Penk Valley
22 Cannock Chase
23 The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country
24 The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country
25 The Clee Hills
26 The South Midlands
Part V. Southwest and Wales
27 Around the Severn Estuary
28 The Forest of Dean
29 Tintern and the Lower Wye Valley
30 The Middle Wye Valley
31 Upper Wye and Upper Usk Valleys
32 North Monmouthshire
33 Northern Glamorgan
34 The Cardiff and Newport Area
35 The Bristol Area
36 The Southwestern Penninsula
37 Western Glamorgan
38 Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire
39 The Coasts of West and North Wales
Part VI. Northwest England
40 South Lancashire
41 Furness and North Lancashire
42 West Cumberland and Beyond
Part VII. Scotland
43 The Scottish Highlands
44 The Scottish Lowlands
45 Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendix. Patents of Invention
Index

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‘The proposed gazetteer will provide a ready source of reference for a period of significant industrialisation and be of value to any researcher in that field.’ Dr Peter Claughton, University of Exeter ‘[T]he book contributes a great deal to what is known about the early modern iron industry locally, regionally and nationally. I would rate the contribution as very great, and of assistance to anyone in the future investigating the industry at any of those three levels, either empirically or more theoretically.’ Mr Philip Riden, University of Nottingham `This is a very significant piece of original work. ... [The author] has seen beyond the regional borders that limit some previous work.´ Dr Tim Young, GeoArch

Peter King obtained a doctorate from Wolverhampton University in 2003 on the Iron Trade. He has spent the last 30 years researching the history of the iron industry and published over 40 articles on this and related subjects. He is an honorary research fellow at the University of Birmingham.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490-1815 Volume I

Peter King BAR BRITISH SERIES 652 (I)

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A new process of making iron, using a blast furnace and a forge, both powered by water, was introduced into the Weald in the 1490s, and spread to other parts of England and Wales from the 1550s. This book provides a history of every ironworks of the charcoal blast furnace period, except the Weald. It also covers early coke ironworks (built before 1815) and water-powered bloomeries (of the previous technology). After introductory material on the industry generally, each chapter deals with the ironworks of one district, including also other water-powered mills processing iron, steel furnaces, early ironworks powered by steam engines, and a few other works. Blade mills (and cutlers wheels), which provided the initial cutting edge for tools and needle mills are not included in those areas where they are ubiquitous. The period covered is an era in the technology of an important industry in Great Britain.

BAR  B652 (I)  2020  KING  A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490-1815  VOLUME I

BAR BRIT ISH SE RIE S 652 ( I )

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490-1815 Volume I

Peter King BAR BRITISH SERIES 652 (I)

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Published in 2020 by BAR Publishing, Oxford BAR British Series 652 (I) A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I ISBN 978 1 4073 5463 7 (Volume I) paperback ISBN 978 1 4073 5469 9 (Volume II) paperback ISBN 978 1 4073 1512 6 (Set of both volumes) paperback ISBN 978 1 4073 5401 9 (Set of both volumes) e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407315126 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library © Peter Wickham King 2020 Cover Image Belly helve hammer, Wortley Top Forge © Chris Allen. The Author’s moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. Links to third party websites are provided by BAR Publishing in good faith and for information only. BAR Publishing disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work.

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BAR Publishing 122 Banbury Rd, Oxford, ox2 7bp, uk [email protected] +44 (0)1865 310431 +44 (0)1865 316916 www.barpublishing.com

This work is dedicated to my late parents John Wickham King and Leslie Edith King, who introduced me to local history and provided me with the financial resources and encouragement to enable me to undertake the research, whose results appear in this book.

Acknowledgements This book is principally the result of research that I have carried out in the 1990s and augmented in the last few years, but I cannot but acknowledge my dependence on a large number of other people. First I must mention those, too many to name individually (other than in the bibliography), who have researched and written about this and related subjects previously. I have mined their footnotes for their sources, but have usually examined their sources myself, occasionally reaching different conclusions. Secondly I must thank the many people who have deposited family and other archives in record offices and libraries. The emergence of country house archives, mostly since the Second World War, has revolutionised the study of economic history and enabled modern scholars to see clearly what earlier generations often could only dimly perceive from their study of literary sources. Again considerations of space prevent me listing every depositor, but I must in this connection specifically name The Duke of Devonshire and the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement, The Marquess of Bath and Longleat Estate, and Lord Lumley for permission to examine archives in their estate offices, respectively at Chatsworth (Derbs), Longleat (Wilts) and Sandbeck Park near Maltby (S. Yorks); St. Johns College, Cambridge for access to College deeds; His Grace the late Duke of Norfolk E.M., C.B., C.B.E., M.C., His Grace the Duke of Beaufort, the Earl of Wharncliffe, the Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, S.W. Fraser esq., the late A.T. Foley esq. and then his son Rupert Foley esq. and the Lonsdale Estate for permission to refer to their family archives, respectively Arundel Castle Manuscripts, Wharncliffe Muniments, and Spencer-Stanhope manuscripts (then in Sheffield, but now Barnsley, Archives and Bradford Archives); Foley collection in Herefordshire Record Office; and the Lonsdale collection at Cumbria Record Office (Carlisle). I have greatly appreciated many helpful suggestions as to where I should carry out further research from many persons, without whose help I would probably have missed important sources, but in this connection I must thank the late Brian Awty, John Barney, Michael Bell, Pete Brown, Ruth Brown, Barbara Coulton, David Cranstone, Peter Crew, George Demidowicz, Mrs H. Eaton, Chris Evans, Neville Flavell, Jeremy Hodgkinson, Peter Hutcheson, John Kanefsky, Stafford Linsley, Jeff Morris, Philip Riden, Paul Rondolez, Ian Standing, Howard Ussher, Richard Williams, Tim Young, and no doubt others whom I have forgotten. In the course of my research I have visited the sites of most of the charcoal ironworks described, though often merely viewing the site from a nearby road or

footpath. I must thank several owners who have allowed me access to their property and apologise to a few others for trespassing, for example by deviating from public paths. I am particularly grateful to Eleanor Blakelock who has prepared the maps and to the Historical Metallurgy Society, which provided me with a grant towards the cost of them. Gillian Northcott Liles produced the index, relieving me of a task that I was dreading as onerous. Many friends have encouraged me in this work over the years, of whom I must mention Malcolm Wanklyn the main supervisor for my doctoral thesis and my friend Carl Wright, who encouraged me to bring this work to fruition. Almost invariably I have found the archivists and staff of record offices and libraries most helpful in dealing with my inquiries, even when I have been asking some particularly difficult questions. Particular thanks are due to the archivists of record offices for Cumbria, Derbyshire, Durham, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, East Sussex, Tyne and Wear, and those at Sheffield, Wakefield, Bradford, Leeds, and Birmingham, as well as several others that appear less frequently in the footnotes; and last but by no means least The National Archives. In the course of my research I have visited, with a very few exceptions, every record office in Great Britain mostly with useful results. Similar thanks are due to the librarians and staff of Birmingham, Cambridge, Durham, Hull, Manchester, Nottingham, and Oxford University Libraries, also of the British Library, the National Library of Wales, the Borthwick Institute at York, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Library at Leeds, and of Local Studies Libraries at Birmingham, Chesterfield, Derby, Gateshead, Hereford, Hull, Neath, Newport, Rotherham, Sheffield and elsewhere. Last but not least, I must particularly thank the Wealden Iron Research Group for permission to publish an edition of their gazetteer. This is ultimately derived from that in Cleere and Crossley (1984 edition), as supplemented in their 1995 edition, with revisions from work subsequently published in their journal, Wealden Iron, with some additions from my own recent research. That Wealden gazetteer remains their copyright. My original intention was to publish this as a work on Great Britain excluding the Weald but I was encouraged to include a version of their gazetteer, limited to the period of this work.

Contents VOLUME I Key Maps......................................................................................................................................................................... xiii List of Maps.......................................................................................................................................................................xv List of Tables......................................................................................................................................................................xv List of Family Trees..........................................................................................................................................................xv Note on Weights and Measures...................................................................................................................................... xvi Abbreviations................................................................................................................................................................ xviii Abstract..............................................................................................................................................................................xx 1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction......................................................................................................................................................................1 Sources and methodology................................................................................................................................................1 Technology.......................................................................................................................................................................2 Bloomery processes.....................................................................................................................................................3 Furnaces......................................................................................................................................................................3 Forges and foundries...................................................................................................................................................4 Subsequent processing................................................................................................................................................6 Orthography.....................................................................................................................................................................7 Economics and trade........................................................................................................................................................8 Scope and organisation....................................................................................................................................................9 Structure of gazetteer entries..........................................................................................................................................10 Historiographic issues....................................................................................................................................................11 Part I. Southeast 2. Weald..............................................................................................................................................................................15 Introduction....................................................................................................................................................................15 Origins of ironmaking processes...............................................................................................................................15 New process in the Weald.........................................................................................................................................17 The start of English gunfounding..............................................................................................................................18 Growth and maturity.................................................................................................................................................19 Later Gunfounding....................................................................................................................................................20 The industry after 1713.............................................................................................................................................22 The final decline........................................................................................................................................................23 Gazetteer arrangement...............................................................................................................................................24 Gazetter of the East Weald.............................................................................................................................................24 Ashbourne Catchment...............................................................................................................................................24 Asten Catchment.......................................................................................................................................................28 Brede and Tillingham Catchments............................................................................................................................29 Cuckmere Catchment................................................................................................................................................31 Great Stour Catchment..............................................................................................................................................33 Medway: Eden Catchment........................................................................................................................................33 Medway: Kent Water and Cansiron Catchment........................................................................................................35 Medway: Medway Upper Catchment.......................................................................................................................37 Medway: Teise Catchment........................................................................................................................................43 Rother Catchment......................................................................................................................................................48 Gazetteer of the West Weald..........................................................................................................................................58 Adur Catchment........................................................................................................................................................58 Arun Catchment........................................................................................................................................................60 Mole Catchment........................................................................................................................................................66 v

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815 Ouse Catchment........................................................................................................................................................69 Wey Catchment.........................................................................................................................................................75 Other ironworks in the whole Weald..............................................................................................................................79 Water-powered bloomery forges...............................................................................................................................79 Other ironworks.........................................................................................................................................................80 3. The Thames Valley........................................................................................................................................................81 Introduction....................................................................................................................................................................81 Slitting mills..............................................................................................................................................................81 Ironware for London and export...............................................................................................................................84 Foundries...................................................................................................................................................................86 Iron production in the Thames valley........................................................................................................................88 Gazetteer........................................................................................................................................................................89 Iron processing works...............................................................................................................................................89 Other ironworks.........................................................................................................................................................94 4. Hampshire...................................................................................................................................................................101 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................101 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................103 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................103 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................105 Part II. Northeast 5. Northeast England......................................................................................................................................................109 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................109 Charcoal iron production.........................................................................................................................................109 Crowley & Co.........................................................................................................................................................111 The Cookson firms..................................................................................................................................................113 Other manufacturers................................................................................................................................................114 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................................................115 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................116 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................116 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................123 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................127 6. North Yorkshire Moors...............................................................................................................................................129 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................129 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................129 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................129 Bloomsmithies.........................................................................................................................................................131 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................131 7. Northern West Riding.................................................................................................................................................133 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................133 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................133 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................133 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................135 8. The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire.......................................................................................................................137 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................137 Spencer firms...........................................................................................................................................................139 Other ironmasters....................................................................................................................................................142 Gazetteer of Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................143 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................153 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................154 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................155

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Contents 9. Sheffield District..........................................................................................................................................................159 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................159 The Duke of Norfolk’s Works.................................................................................................................................161 Other Sheffield ironworks.......................................................................................................................................164 Steel.........................................................................................................................................................................165 The cutlery trades....................................................................................................................................................166 Other trades.............................................................................................................................................................167 Merchants................................................................................................................................................................168 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................169 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................169 Bloomery forges......................................................................................................................................................176 Tilts and other forges...............................................................................................................................................176 Steel furnaces near Sheffield...................................................................................................................................179 Steel furnaces in the town of Sheffield....................................................................................................................182 Two early foundry cupolas......................................................................................................................................184 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................185 10. Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire............................................................................................................................187 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................187 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................191 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................191 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................201 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................202 Part III. Northern Midlands 11. The Trent Valley........................................................................................................................................................207 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................207 Early ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................207 Birmingham ironmongers in the east Midlands......................................................................................................207 Iron trade on the river Trent....................................................................................................................................209 Processing imports..................................................................................................................................................210 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................211 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................211 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................216 Coke furnace...........................................................................................................................................................217 12. North Staffordshire...................................................................................................................................................219 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................219 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................223 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................223 Bloomery forges......................................................................................................................................................230 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................231 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................232 13. Cheshire.....................................................................................................................................................................235 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................235 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................240 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................240 14. Wrexham and Flintshire...........................................................................................................................................249 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................249 Isaac and John Wilkinson........................................................................................................................................251 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................252 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................252 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................257 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................258

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815 15. Montgomeryshire and the Border...........................................................................................................................261 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................261 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................263 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................263 16. Shropshire West of the Severn Gorge.....................................................................................................................267 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................267 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................269 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................269 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................274 17. North Shropshire.......................................................................................................................................................275 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................275 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................277 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................277 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................282 18. Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield.........................................................................................................283 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................283 Coalbrookdale..............................................................................................................................................................283 Sir Basil Brooke......................................................................................................................................................283 Late 17th century.....................................................................................................................................................285 The origins of the reverberatory furnace.................................................................................................................286 Abraham Darby I.....................................................................................................................................................286 The Industrial Revolution............................................................................................................................................289 New furnaces...........................................................................................................................................................289 New forge processes................................................................................................................................................290 Later history of the Coalbrookdale Company.........................................................................................................290 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................292 Coalbrookdale furnaces...........................................................................................................................................292 Coalbrookdale forges..............................................................................................................................................293 Other Coalbrookdale ironworks..............................................................................................................................294 Other coke ironworks...................................................................................................................................................294 19. Broseley and below the Gorge.................................................................................................................................299 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................299 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................301 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................301 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................303 Later forges..............................................................................................................................................................304 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................306 20. The Worfe Valley.......................................................................................................................................................309 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................309 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................309 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................309

VOLUME II List of Maps....................................................................................................................................................................... xi List of Family Trees.......................................................................................................................................................... xi Part IV: Southern Midlands 21. Penk Valley................................................................................................................................................................315 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................315 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................316

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Contents 22. Cannock Chase..........................................................................................................................................................319 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................319 Lord Paget’s Works.................................................................................................................................................319 Eighteenth century...................................................................................................................................................322 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................322 Cannock Chase ironworks.......................................................................................................................................322 Charcoal ironworks not within the Chase...............................................................................................................323 Bloomery forges......................................................................................................................................................325 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................325 23. The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country..............................................................................................327 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................327 Early iron production..............................................................................................................................................327 Jennens family and their successors........................................................................................................................329 Other ironmasters....................................................................................................................................................331 New technology.......................................................................................................................................................331 Manufactures...........................................................................................................................................................332 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................333 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................333 Bloomery forges......................................................................................................................................................343 Gun trade.................................................................................................................................................................344 Steel works in Birmingham.....................................................................................................................................346 Other steel works.....................................................................................................................................................347 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................347 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................352 24. The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country....................................................................................................361 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................361 The role of the Stour valley.....................................................................................................................................361 Dud Dudley.............................................................................................................................................................364 The Foleys...............................................................................................................................................................365 Price regulation by ironmasters’ meetings..............................................................................................................368 The Knight family...................................................................................................................................................369 Other 18th-century ironmasters...............................................................................................................................370 The Homfray family................................................................................................................................................371 The pig iron supply.................................................................................................................................................372 Plating forges in manufactures................................................................................................................................373 Gazetteer: Upper Stour Valley.....................................................................................................................................373 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................374 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................379 Smestow Brook and its tributaries...............................................................................................................................383 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................384 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................388 Lower Stour: Kinver and Wolverley............................................................................................................................389 Lower Stour: Kidderminster and Hartlebury...............................................................................................................397 Bell and Wannerton Brooks.........................................................................................................................................402 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................402 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................403 The whole catchment...................................................................................................................................................405 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................405 Gun trade.................................................................................................................................................................407 Steam-powered forges.............................................................................................................................................408 Steel furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................409 Some iron foundries................................................................................................................................................409 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................410 25. The Clee Hills............................................................................................................................................................415 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................415 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................417

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................417 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................425 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................425 26. The South Midlands..................................................................................................................................................427 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................427 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................429 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................429 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................435 Part V. Southwest and Wales 27. Around the Severn Estuary......................................................................................................................................439 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................439 Post-Restoration Period...........................................................................................................................................439 Rowland Pytt...........................................................................................................................................................440 David Tanner...........................................................................................................................................................441 19th century.............................................................................................................................................................442 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................442 Lydney Furnace and Forges....................................................................................................................................442 Other charcoal ironworks........................................................................................................................................444 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................449 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................449 28. The Forest of Dean....................................................................................................................................................451 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................451 The first period of the King’s Works.......................................................................................................................451 An assessment of the first period.............................................................................................................................453 Markets....................................................................................................................................................................454 The Commonwealth and beyond.............................................................................................................................454 Cordwood from the Forest......................................................................................................................................455 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................455 Medieval Forge........................................................................................................................................................455 The King’s Ironworks in the Forest.........................................................................................................................455 Later Ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................457 29. Tintern and the Lower Wye Valley..........................................................................................................................459 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................459 Tintern Ironworks and Wireworks...............................................................................................................................460 Tintern Wireworks...................................................................................................................................................460 Tintern Ironworks....................................................................................................................................................463 Whitebrook Wireworks...........................................................................................................................................464 Wyeswood Ironworks...................................................................................................................................................465 30. The Middle Wye Valley.............................................................................................................................................467 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................467 The Foleys...............................................................................................................................................................467 Other ironmasters....................................................................................................................................................470 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................471 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................471 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................480 31. Upper Wye and Upper Usk Valleys.........................................................................................................................481 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................481 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................482 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................482 32. North Monmouthshire..............................................................................................................................................487 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................487

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Contents Richard Hanbury.....................................................................................................................................................487 John Hanbury..........................................................................................................................................................490 David Tanner...........................................................................................................................................................491 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................491 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................492 The Pontypool Works..............................................................................................................................................492 Other charcoal ironworks........................................................................................................................................494 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................496 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................497 33. Northern Glamorgan................................................................................................................................................503 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................503 The charcoal period......................................................................................................................................................505 The Cynon Valley....................................................................................................................................................505 Rhondda Valley.......................................................................................................................................................506 The Upper Taff Valley near Merthyr Tydfil.............................................................................................................506 The Industrial Revolution............................................................................................................................................507 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................507 Coke ironworks in Cynon valley.............................................................................................................................507 Merthyr Tydfil.........................................................................................................................................................508 34. The Cardiff and Newport Area................................................................................................................................513 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................513 Harford, Partridge & Co..........................................................................................................................................514 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................515 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................516 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................516 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................526 35. The Bristol Area........................................................................................................................................................529 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................529 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................531 Slitting and rolling mills..........................................................................................................................................531 Early Bristol foundries............................................................................................................................................531 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................532 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................533 36. The Southwestern Penninsula..................................................................................................................................535 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................535 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................535 Edged tool works at Mells and elsewhere...............................................................................................................537 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................537 37. Western Glamorgan..................................................................................................................................................539 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................539 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................541 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................541 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................547 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................548 38. Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.....................................................................................................................551 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................551 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................553 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................553 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................................................559 39. The Coasts of West and North Wales......................................................................................................................561 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................561 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................562 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................568 xi

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815 Part VI. Northwest England 40. South Lancashire......................................................................................................................................................571 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................571 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................573 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................573 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................577 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................579 41. Furness and North Lancashire................................................................................................................................581 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................581 Redmine..................................................................................................................................................................581 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................582 The indirect process................................................................................................................................................583 Finery forges............................................................................................................................................................586 Later events.............................................................................................................................................................587 Spade forges............................................................................................................................................................587 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................588 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................588 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................599 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................601 42. West Cumberland and Beyond................................................................................................................................603 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................603 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................606 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................606 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................611 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................612 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................614 Part VII. Scotland 43. The Scottish Highlands.............................................................................................................................................617 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................617 The Early industry........................................................................................................................................................617 Loch Maree.............................................................................................................................................................617 Other early ironworks..............................................................................................................................................617 The Later Industry........................................................................................................................................................618 Gazetteer of Charcoal Ironworks............................................................................................................................619 44. The Scottish Lowlands..............................................................................................................................................623 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................623 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................624 The charcoal period.................................................................................................................................................624 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................627 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................628 45. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................631 Some past errors...........................................................................................................................................................631 Future work..................................................................................................................................................................632 Bibliography....................................................................................................................................................................633 Appendix: Patents of Invention.....................................................................................................................................675 Index.................................................................................................................................................................................679

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Key Maps

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

List of Key Maps Key Map I. Southeast.........................................................................................................................................................13 Key Map II. Northeast .....................................................................................................................................................107 Key Map III. Northern Midlands .....................................................................................................................................205 Key Map IV. Southern Midlands .....................................................................................................................................313 Key Map V. Southwest and Wales ...................................................................................................................................437 Key Map VI. Northwest England ....................................................................................................................................569 Key Map VII. Scotland ....................................................................................................................................................615

Key to Maps Charcoal furnace Coke furnace Finery forge Forge (later processes) Steel works Slitting/rolling mill

G T B W X

Forge and boring mill for gunbarrels Tilts Bloomery Wire mill Other ironworks

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List of Maps Map 2.1. East Weald...........................................................................................................................................................16 Map 2.2. West Weald..........................................................................................................................................................58 Map 3. The Thames Valley.................................................................................................................................................82 Map 4. Hampshire.............................................................................................................................................................102 Map 5. Northeast England................................................................................................................................................110 Map 6. North Yorkshire Moors.........................................................................................................................................130 Map 7. Northern West Riding...........................................................................................................................................134 Map 8. Pennine Dales.......................................................................................................................................................138 Map 9. Sheffield................................................................................................................................................................161 Map 10. Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire........................................................................................................................188 Map 11. The Trent Valley..................................................................................................................................................208 Map 12. North Staffordshire.............................................................................................................................................220 Map 13. Cheshire..............................................................................................................................................................236 Map 14. Wrexham and Flintshire......................................................................................................................................250 Map 15. Montgomeryshire and the Border.......................................................................................................................262 Map 16. The Shropshire Plain: Shropshire West of the Severn Gorge.............................................................................268 Map 17. The Shropshire Plain: North Shropshire.............................................................................................................276 Map 18. The Shropshire Coalfield: Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield............................................................284 Map 19. The Shropshire Coalfield: Broseley and below the Gorge.................................................................................300 Map 20. The Shropshire Coalfield: The Worfe valley......................................................................................................310

List of Tables Table 2.1. Ironmasters whose workers sought denization..................................................................................................18 Table 3.1. Warehouses for lorreners [lorimers] and sellers of ironware above stairs on the east said of the … yard [at Leadenhall in London]...........................................................................................................................................85

List of Family Trees The Crowley family tree...................................................................................................................................................112 The Spencer family tree....................................................................................................................................................139 The Foley family tree........................................................................................................................................................221 The Hall family tree..........................................................................................................................................................237 The Cotton and Kendall family tree..................................................................................................................................238 The Lloyd family tree.......................................................................................................................................................262 The Darby family tree.......................................................................................................................................................287

xv

Note on Weights and Measures My generation were brought up on feet, miles, pounds, and shillings. It is therefore still natural for me to use these units, though I fully appreciate they are either obsolete or obsolescent. My prime reason for using them is however not a variety of antiquarianism, but rather that these are the units, which appear in the contemporary sources for this book, which were all written at a time when those units were what were in current use. Indeed the kilogram, metre, and litre were not even devised until the last years of the period covered by this book. Nevertheless I hope this book will remain a reference work on its subject for many years and it is therefore imperative to provide conversion factors.

Charcoal was measured in loads, also called dozens, comprising 12 sacks (or seams) each of 8 bushels; however in some places the actual bags used held 12 bushels, so that eight of them made a load. This weighed about one ton and made a cart-load. Thus a load of charcoal was about 3814 litres.

Money

Wood for the production of charcoal was measured in cords, a standard cord being a heap of four foot long sticks standing eight foot long and four foot high. Welsh cords were heaps of a different shape and slightly larger. Dean cords were also slightly larger than standard cords.

A load or dozen or bloom of ironstone or mine consisted of 12 bushels, one by the strike (i.e. struck level) and the next by the heap. A load of ironstone was thus about 477 litres, but it is clear that the accuracy of the bushel measures in common use was questionable and the measure in use at a particular ironworks was often specified.

12 pence (d.) = 1 shilling (s.) = 5p. 20 shillings (s.) = 1 pound (£1)

1 standard cord = 128 cubic feet = 3.62 cubic metres.

Sums of money were commonly expressed in the form £x.y.zd., that is £x. ys. zd.

Tinplate

Dates

This was sold by the box of 225 ‘single’ sheets, each 20 inches by 14 inches. ‘Doubles’ were twice this size, with 112 in a box. A box of sheets of the common gauge contained about 108 lb. of tinplate. The precursor blackplate was sold by weight.

Years are corrected to modern style, so that they begin at 1 January. Periods expressed as 1692/3 usually refer to an accounting period that straddled two calendar years. Certain citations give dates in the form ‘1 March 1733[4]’, where the unadjusted date (1733 in the original) is needed to identify the item involved, though in modern style it would be 1734. The Quakers, rejecting Latin-derived month names, numbered their months. Thus October was 8mo [8th month] not 10th, implying the year ran from 1 March. Periods, such as 1800s, refer to a decade.

Weight 16 ounces (oz.) = 1 pound (lb.) = 0.454 kg. 112 pounds (lb.) = 1 hundredweight (cwt.) = 4 quarters (q.) = 8 stones = 50.8 kg.

Length 12 inches =1 foot

20 hundredweight (cwt.) = 1 ton (t.) shortweight = 2240 lb. = 1.016 tonnes

3 feet = 1 yard = 0.914m.

1 ton longweight = 2400 lb. = 1.088 tonnes.

1760 yards = 1 mile = 1.609 km.

Sometimes an alternative system known as longweight was used where the ton was 2400 lb., so that the hundredweight was 120 lb,. Since the ton still comprised 20 cwt. each of 4q., it is only possible to determine which system was in use by working out whether the hundredweight was 112 lb. or 120 lb., unless both systems were in use and a conversion shown. In giving quantities of iron sold or made, I have not distinguished whether tons are longweight or shortweight, as it is not often immediately clear which is meant. In contemporary documents

Volume These all refer to measures of granular materials, where there are air-filled spaces between the granules, so that the application of a density to convert volume to weight is not easy.

xvi

Note on Weights and Measures hundredweight is often abbreviated as c., which I have invariably modernised to cwt. or c[wt.], and occasionally a copyist has misinterpreted this hundred[weight] as 100 and expressed 15cwt. as 1500 or even 15cwt. 23lb. as 1523lb., wherever I have detected this I have converted it to modern form. Weights were commonly expressed in the form a.b.c.d, that is at. bcwt. cq. dlb., but in the Sheffield area third item was often a number of stones rather than quarters. In Yorkshire pig iron was often supplied by the wey, presumably a cart-load, of 22cwt. shortweight (1.117 tonnes). I have usually converted this to tons shortweight. Foreign weights In relation to the import trade foreign units of weight are sometimes mentioned: Sweden: The Swedish system was particularly complicated in that different systems of weight were used according to commodity and place. For the export trade for metals, a system known as Stockholmsvikt or Stapelstadvikt (Stockholm or Staple-town weight) was used, where 1 skeppund [shippound] (Slb.) = 20 Lispund (Llb.) = 400 skålpund = 300 Amsterdam pounds = 299.8 lb. [English] = 136.0 kg. Thus a shippound was about 2.5 cwt. longweight or 2.67 cwt. shortweight, and about 7.5 Slb. = 1 ton shortweight. Russia: The Russian system of weights was based on the pood = 36 lb. = 16.3 kg.

xvii

Abbreviations Certain abbreviations used only in chapter 2 (Weald) are explained at the start of that gazetteer. The full citation of particular accounts, letterbooks, and other such primary sources will be found in the manuscripts section at the beginning of the bibliography. Standard abbreviations of British counties are not listed here: these are commonly pre-1974 counties, rather than post-1974 metropolitan counties. a/c

Accounts

APC

Acts of the Privy Council

Arch.

Archaeological

BL

British Library, St Pancras, London

Bull.

Bulletin

Cal

Calendar

Cal SPD

Calendar of State Papers, Domestic

Co.

Company

Collns

Collections

ed.

edited (or editor)

edn

edition

esp.

especially

FMH

Friends Meeting House Library, Euston Road, London

Foley

Herefs RO, E12 (mostly E12/VI). Part of the collection (though not E12/VI or E12/S) has been returned to Stoke Edith, near Hereford

HER

Historic Environment Record (via Heritage Gateway website)

HMC

Historical Manuscripts Commission

Hist.

Historical

IGMT

Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust library, Coalbrookdale

J.

Journal

Knight

Worcs RO, 899:310 BA 10470, usually cited by item number, not box (as listed in the Kidderminster Library catalogue)

l/b

letterbook

lib.

library

mf

microfilm

LSL

Local Studies Library

MS

Manuscript

NMM

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

NLW

National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth

n.s.

new series

ODNB

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

O.S.

Ordnance Survey

xviii

Abbreviations o.s.

old series

Psh Reg

Parish Register

RO

Record Office

rpm

revolutions per minute

SBT

Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust library, Stratford-upon-Avon

s.v.

Sub verba (i.e. under word, in a alphabetic sequence or index)

Ser.

Series

SML

Science Museum Library, Wroughton near Swindon (and at Imperial College, London)

Soc.

Society

TNA

The National Archives, Kew

tpa

Tons per annum

tpw

Tons per week

Trans.

Transactions

TS

Typescript

UL

University Library (archives or special collections)

VCH

Victoria County History

YAS Library

Yorkshire Archaeological Society Library, Leeds

xix

Abstract at Stourbridge and Bristol; in fixing charcoal process prices in Furness; and in operating furnaces jointly in west Yorkshire. Nevertheless, this was not a market controlled by the ironmasters, due to competition from iron imported from Sweden and Russia, a topic beyond the scope of this work.

In 1490, a new indirect process of ironmaking, involving a blast furnace and finery forge, was introduced into the Weald. Half a century later, this spread to other parts of England and Wales and other parts of Great Britain. First iron ore (sometimes first calcined) was smelted in a blast furnace, using charcoal (later coke) as fuel. The pig iron cast from the furnace was mostly taken to finery forges for further processing to produce (wrought) bar iron. This involved oxidising carbon and silicon dissolved in the cast metal. The resultant bar iron might be further processed in slitting mills (cutting bars into rods for nailmaking), wire mills, or tinplate works (all later introductions) to provide the raw material for (manual) manufacturing processes conducted by nailers and other artisans. This book seeks to provide a comprehensive gazetteer of all such powered works. It also includes other kinds of forge that might be (or have been) mistaken for finery forges producing bar iron. This particularly applies to plating forges, because they were also called forges: only detailed consideration of the evidence distinguishes them from finery forges.

Technological change began towards the end of the period, with the substitution of coke for charcoal as fuel; first in the blast furnace (though initially only for foundry pig iron); and then in the forge, where new fining processes had to be developed, first stampering and then puddling. In the same period, steam power began to be used; initially to pump water back over the dam, so that it could again power a waterwheel; then directly as steam engines began to blow furnaces and turn rolling mills. Both in this and the preceding period, patentees have been linked with particular ironworks, where their inventions were implemented. The gazetteer entries are arranged in a series of regional chapters, each preceded by an introduction drawing together the principal features of the industry in that area and identifying the important ironmasters. The gazetteer entries give a short history of each works with its size and its trading relationships. The terminal date of 1815 has been chosen, because the recession at the end of the Napoleonic War caused many of the old charcoal-using works to close. Nevertheless, the history of works then existing has been continued until their closure, but has usually been less thoroughly researched. Conversely, ironworks established after 1815 have been rigorously excluded, with a few exceptions where confusion is possible as to the date or identity of the works.

The book concentrates on water-powered ironworks and capital-intensive industry. Thus water-powered bloomeries, using the preceding technology of producing bar iron direct from its ore, are dealt with, including some operating before 1490. This direct process is included, partly because some were succeeded by later ironworks and partly to provide a complete picture in a long period of overlap, but the coverage of these may be less complete. Some of the most significant foundries (where artificial power was not usually needed) appear. Steel furnaces are also included, because some were closely associated with plating forges. On the other hand, the manufacture of nails, locks, keys, hinges, edged tools, and a wealth of other ironware is beyond the scope of this book. This was largely undertaken using the domestic system, with ironmongers putting out iron to workmen. Some isolated blade mills (used for sharpening edged tools after manufacture) have been included, but those in the main clusters, west of Birmingham and near Sheffield are not. The cluster of needle mills around Redditch is similarly not covered. The new process entered the Weald in Sussex in 1490 from northern France and gradually became widespread throughout the Weald. Its further spread into the Midlands and Wales is well recorded in the 1560s, but may have begun a little earlier. The need to use wood (for charcoal) efficiently led to forges being established in areas away from orefields and to the long distance transport of pig iron. A viable market in this facilitated the fragmentation of large enterprises in the Midlands. By the 18th century ironmasters cooperated in several areas: in setting prices xx

1 Introduction Introduction

of an appendix in Schubert’s book on the charcoal iron industry.3 Flinn countered a longstanding view that the charcoal iron industry had declined in the period before the industrial revolution as charcoal resources were exhausted. The old view goes back to Mushet, who was referring to the Weald.4 Ashton suggested a decline, but probably only in the period 1720-35,5 but others sought to generalise their comments.6 Flinn’s work was refined by Hammersley and then Riden.7 However all these estimates were based on the output of furnaces, but furnaces operate in discontinuous campaigns. I adopted the new approach of estimating bar iron output in forges, on the basis that forges operated fairly continuously.8 I was thus enabled to use more 18th-century lists and other data. However much of the data, on which my estimates were based, has not been published except as a brief summary of works and dates of operation.9 An objective of this book is to publish the detail lying behind my 2003-5 estimates. These were the result of over a decade of earlier research, but this Gazetteer does not merely reflect what I knew in c.2002, but has as far as possible been brought up to date, with the results of further research.

This work is mainly about the charcoal iron industry in the early modern period. Its main concern is history, economic more than of technological. The technology has been described at length elsewhere,1 but it is difficult to understand anything else without a basic understanding of the technology involved. More strictly, it covers the period from the introduction to Britain of the blast furnace until 1815, a date by which most charcoal ironworks had closed, but its scope will be more precisely defined later in this chapter. It is published in an archaeological series, because it is likely to inform archaeological research, but it is mainly the result of historical (not archaeological) research. However archaeological work is also referred to wherever possible. The subject matter is generally limited to works where artificial power was employed. The artificial power was usually water-power, provided by a waterwheel with a horizontal axle. The use of horsemills and windmills was highly exceptional. From the 1740s water-power was supplemented with steam engines, initially to pump water back over the dam or into a penstock, to power a water wheel. The direct application of steam engines only began in the 1780s, when James Watt’s improved steam engine began to be used to provide rotary motion. The main case where water-power was not needed was in certain other capital-intensive works operating on the reverberatory principle, where the fuel is kept separate away from the charge, principally steel furnaces and foundries using air furnaces, but also in the stampering and puddling processes.

Sources and methodology The gazetteers here have thus been updated to include new material, from sources that were not readily available (or not discoverable) in 2002, when my thesis was completed: searches of digitised archive catalogues identified additional material;10 and searchable newspaper archives have added significant detail at the end of the period covered.11 Further material has been identified from the Discovery catalogue of The National Archives, whose online coverage (though still incomplete) has much improved, as the contents of what were manuscript calendars have been incorporated in that database. Nevertheless, the results are inevitably not as comprehensive as may be possible eventually, as I have inevitably had to depend on what archivists have catalogued in whole or in part over many years. If there is a gap in my research, it probably

The work is structured as a series of regional chapters. These regions are similar to those used by Riden in his Gazetteer (which was limited to charcoal and early coke furnaces since 1660),2 but that only reflects a coincidence of conclusions. The chapters seek to bring together groups of ironworks that have some coherence, rather than being driven by political boundaries. This may involve ironworks having worked together, used similar ore sources, or other considerations, but occasionally mere proximity or lying in an area between other, more clearly defined, groups.

Flinn 1958; Schubert 1957, 366-92. Mushet 1840, 42. 5 Ashton 1924, 13-23 235-8. 6 E.g. Deane 1979, 107. She did not clearly indicate what here sources were. Note also Clow 1956 and the response by Flinn (1959b) to this. 7 Hammersley 1973, 594-5; Riden 1977; 1994. 8 King thesis; King 2005. 9 King, thesis appendices: deposited at Archaeological Data Service; and dataset on Economic History Society website. 10 Even Access to Archives (A2A) – now incorporated into the TNA Discovery catalogue – came on-line too late for me to make much use of it in my thesis. 11 The London Gazette; BL, Burney Collection (via Thomson-Gale); British Newspaper Archive; and Welsh newspapers on-line. 3 4

Riden’s Gazetteer was the culmination of a considerable body of research, towards estimating the output of the British iron industry. This process began with Flinn using

1 Schubert 1957; Tylecote 1991; 1992; Gale 1969, 1-39; Hayman 2005; but note also Bayley, Crossley & Ponting 2008; and King 2012. Young & Hart 2018; 2019 and Williams 2019a; 2019b all appeared as I was finishing this work, throwing very substantial new light on the transition from charcoal to coke. 2 Riden 1993.

1

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I The estate management records kept by landlords are also important: leases to ironmasters, rentals and surveys, rent collection accounts. The property descriptions in the landlord’s title deeds can be helpful, though not always for the greater nobility, whose deeds tend to deal with entire manors, but estate correspondence has only been used where it has been indexed. Sometimes taxation records are useful, particularly Land Tax Assessments. A long sequence of them survives in many counties, because duplicates were lodged with the Clerk of the Peace to provide evidence of who was entitled to vote. This is often not an easy source to use and is liable to contain obsolete information, so that other sources are to be preferred where there is a conflict of evidence. Leases and other agreements, quoted in Chancery, Exchequer, or other court proceedings can fill gaps in what is known from other sources. Occasionally this is the only source for the existence of an ironworks or that it existed so early. Finally, it is occasionally necessary to resort to inference. For example, if a certain ironmaster succeeded another in a group of ironworks, but the exact date is only known in one case, it is likely all changed hands together. If an ironworks probably closed at about a certain date, the precise date is likely to be at the expiry of a lease.

relates to archives that have emerged in recent years, but of whose appearance I have been unaware. In most cases, if I have cited a document, I have examined it myself. However, I have had to draw my research to a close, in order that this book should be completed and published. This has meant that in rare cases, I have had to rely on the description in a record office calendar. The stories told here have frequently been pieced together from scattered scraps in information. There are a number of significant sources. Obviously the most important sources on any ironworks are the internal records of its own ironmasters, but these often only exist (if at all) for part of its history. Ironworks accounts not only provide information on the ironmaster’s own works, but also on his dealings with others. Details recorded of his suppliers and customers provide information on who owned other ironworks, fleshing out what is known from other sources. Records of the sale and purchase of pig iron (also hammers, anvils, and other forge castings) point to both parties being ironmasters. Something similar applies to the purchasers of cordwood (for charcoal) and to the vendors of substantial quantities of bar iron, also cannon, shot, iron ballast, and the like. However, occasionally, the intervention of a merchant as a middleman can be detected. The sources here are mainly accounts, but also the letterbooks and diaries of ironmasters and merchants provide similar information, as do the accounts and other records of the Navy, Ordnance, and Victualling Boards, when they bought the products of ironworks. Details derived from such sources appear in the Trading section of gazetteer entries.

Technology It is very difficult adequately to understand the iron industry, without some knowledge of the processes involved and the organisation of the iron trade.14 Much of this is now well-understood, though historical intricacies of a few of them are still being worked out. In this section various technical terms are highlighted in bold italics to facilitate its use as a glossary. Certain words may be used loosely by some authors, when in the iron trade they had a precise meaning. Occasionally, it is necessary to take this further: in this book production and manufacture are usually used as antonyms (not synonyms) for different aspects of the iron trade: iron manufacture consisted of making nails, locks, hinges, edged tools and a host of other finished iron goods out of bar or rod iron or tinplate, a labour-intensive process, employing substantial numbers of nailers, smiths and other artificers. Conversely, making iron in an ironworks from ore or pig iron is referred to in this book as its production and not as its manufacture; bar iron and rod iron, the semi-finished product, might have been described as unwrought iron distinguishing it from finished iron goods, such as nails, gun barrels, scythes, and awls, which were known collectively, for example to the Customs, as wrought iron. The latter term is today used for fancy metalwork, now usually consisting today of welded mild steel (which is strictly not iron at all) or as a chemical description of commercially-pure iron, irrespective of shape. This is to distinguish it from pig iron (or sow iron) and cast iron (with 4-5% carbon) and

A series of contemporary lists of ironworks from the 18th and early 19th centuries (with earlier lists in the Weald) serve to define the breadth of the subject. Research has established that these are largely complete and reliable, though some (particularly the 1717 list) are open to criticism where they deal with areas remote from their Midland compilers. However that bearing the date ‘1794’ seems to be an updated version of a lost 1790 list.12 Occasionally, it is clear in other cases that such data is slightly anachronistic, the list date is thus sometimes placed in quotation marks. These lists are rarely explicitly cited, but output information attributed to 1717, 1718, 1736, 1750, 1788, 1790 (or 1794), 1805 (or 1806) and 1810 will usually be from such lists. Later statistics usually come from British Blast Furnace Statistics (for furnaces) and Mineral Statistics (for forges from 1860).13 Information of a similar nature can be found in travel diaries, of which the most important is Angerstein’s diary. Material from these is included in the Size section of gazetteer entries.

12 Hulme 1928; King 1996b; 2012. There may be omissions from the 1717 list in the Weald and the Northeast. 13 Riden & Owen 1995; Mineral Statistics; later sources on forges include Wolverhampton Chronicle, 15 Jul. 1846; Hunt 1852; Griffiths 1873; Annual Statistical volumes of British Iron Trade Associations for 1881-1905: see also King 2018b. I have not investigated statistics published in Mining Journal in 1841.

The latest contributions to this are Young & Hart 2018; 2019; and Williams 2019a; 2019b. All of these appeared as I was finishing this work. Any statements here that may appear to contradict their views should be read in the light that what I wrote may be an older view. 14

2

Chapter 1: Introduction steel (with rather less carbon). Pig (or sow) iron refers to a commodity needing further processing, whereas cast iron generally means a finished good.

was applied to the process, enabling production to be increased to 20-30 tons per year, but that was its effective limit of the process. Smelting in powered bloomeries (bloomsmithies or just smithies) persisted in northwest England into the 18th-century, but generally disappeared elsewhere in the late 16th or early 17th century. Because the ironworks involved were also called forges, they fall within the scope of this book, but are dealt with either in a separate section of each gazetteer or are listed among ‘other ironworks’, according to the size of that section. The coverage of powered bloomery forges in this book is as complete as possible, but it is probable that there were others that I have failed to discover. A significant number of those discovered were first mentioned in the late 1530s in Ministers’ Accounts for the estates of dissolved monasteries, but they may be rather older.

The entrepreneurs of the production stage were called ironmasters. Manufacturing was organised by ironmongers, commonly by putting out iron to skilled artisans. This putting-out system, where the artisans worked in (or at) their own homes has been described as proto-industrialisation. The workers in this used hand tools, without any artificial power. In some periods or areas, the terminology may vary. For example, an entrepreneur specialising in a particular product would be identified by a name related to it. At Sheffield, the term hardwaremen seems to have been used. Another term used there factor probably refers to the commercial relationship (as a species of agent) with a distant merchant (often in London). On the other hand, then (as now) most ironmongers were merely retailers of ironware. Relatively little more will be said of ironmongers and of the smiths and others who worked for them, because they did not have any substantial plant and machinery, only warehouses and smiths’ hearths respectively, which are beyond the scope of this work.

Furnaces At the end of the 15th century, a new process was introduced from the continent (see chapter 2), where a more powerful blast enabled a blast furnace to heat its charge beyond the melting point of cast iron, so that liquid iron could be tapped from the bottom of the furnace and cast into ingots known as sows or pigs or (less often) into finished cast iron goods.15 In a preliminary process, the ore (usually known as mine) was calcined – heated. This was sometimes done in a kiln, something like a limekiln; with the result that iron carbonate (ironstone) was converted to the oxide. However, this process was unnecessary where the ore was an oxide, as with the limonite (Fe203.xH2O) ores of the Forest of Dean and with redmine, the haematite ore (Fe203) of Furness and west Cumberland.

Bloomery processes The earliest iron known to man almost certainly came from meteorites and probably had the status of a precious metal. Iron was first smelted probably somewhere in Anatolia shortly before 1000 B.C. The technology spread across Europe and reached Britain in the middle of the last millennium B.C., but remained scarce here until the Roman period. Smelting consisted of the reduction of the ore, iron oxide or iron carbonate, using charcoal at a temperature insufficient to melt iron, for if the iron melted, carbon dissolved in it to produce a brittle material, which we call cast iron. It seems, despite reports to the contrary, that the necessary temperature for efficient reduction could not be achieved in an open bonfire, nor in a confined furnace with merely natural ventilation: it was necessary to confine the raw material in a furnace, known as a bloomery, using a forced draught provided by means of bellows through a hole in the side of the bloomery (a tuyere). Bloomeries were of various designs at various periods, but that need not concern us here. The result of such smelting was a spongy mass of iron and slag, known as a bloom, which was then consolidated into a bar by hammering it. The whole process was thus conducted in the solid state by carbon or carbon monoxide diffusing into the ore. This distinguishes the bloomery process from later indirect processes where iron is intentionally melted.

The blast for furnaces (and also forges) came from bellows, operated by a waterwheel. The bellows might have boards 12 feet long, pivoted at the nozzle and with leather closing the angle between the boards. The leather might be from a bull’s hide, no doubt chosen for its size. The use of water meant that a furnace could be stopped by drought, so that furnace operation was often seasonal, ceasing in the summer. Instances can be found (though rarely) of men being employed to tread the waterwheel to keep a furnace in blast, in the hope that rain would refill the furnace pond.16 In the 18th century, steam engines were sometimes provided to pump water back to the furnace pond, so that it could drive the wheel again. Such a returning engine was installed at Coalbrookdale in 1742 to replace a horsemill pump, dating from 1735.17 However there may have been an earlier case of this as Aston Furnace had ‘one of Newcomen and Cawley’s engines’. The reference to the latter [John Calley, d.1725] probably points to the period before the steam engine patent expired in 1733.18 Most of the new Shropshire furnaces of the 1750s had water-

Because the iron is kept in the solid state, almost any version of the bloomery process must be conducted on a batch basis, the bloomery being allowed to cool between smeltings in order to permit the bloom’s removal. This and the limitations of human strength and endurance limited the output of a simple bloomery to a few tons of iron per year. About the 14th century, the power of a waterwheel

For furnaces generally see Schubert 1957, 232-45; Daff 1973; Tylecote 1991, 209-27; 1992, 95-9. 16 Crossley & Saville 1991, xviii and no. 267; Jones 1987, 16. 17 Raistrick 1953, 111-3 139; Mott 1959a, 275. 18 Dent 1880, 339. John Kanefsky pointed out this reference. 15

3

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I glassmakers for their furnaces. Its use for the hearths of iron furnaces is specifically mentioned in a 1725 mining lease to Humphrey Batchelor, a glassmaker, but not in the preceding lease of 1709.30 The size of charcoal furnaces, or at least their average output increased from 200 tpa of pig iron in 1580-1620 to nearly 400 tpa in the early 18th century. Coke furnaces were making about 750 tpa from the late 1750s to 1785, rising to over 1000 tpa in the late 1790s and over 1300 tpa in the early 1810s.31 This increase was probably the result of an increase in the height of the furnaces and the use of multiple tuyeres. This enabled the furnace to be blown from two or three sides, rather than just one, but this in turn required air-tight joints in the cast iron pipes distributing the blast. Thus Richard Crawshay described Cyfarthfa Furnace in 1791 as 60 foot high and producing 1400 tpa.32 Neath Abbey Furnaces stand 53½ and 63½ foot high and had three tuyeres. The surviving Brymbo Furnace, built in 1796, is similar.33 However, some of this has to be judged from the remains, which represent the final form of the furnace, as it was last used, and not what was originally built.

returning engines. Of these, Madeley Wood may have been unusual in that it apparently did not have a pound. The engine seems to have filled a tank, something like a penstock.19 Bellows began to be replaced by blowing cylinders in the mid-18th century. Isaac Wilkinson obtained patents, related to this in 1738 and 1757.20 The earlier patent is described as for cast-iron smoothing irons, but it also dealt with iron ‘bellows’, consisting of ‘two cylinders of cast iron’ with pistons.21 In 1737, he had cast ‘a pair of cast iron cylindrical bellows’ for his employers’ Backbarrow Forge.22 Cylinder-blowing is recorded at Swalwell Forge in 1754, having been in use for 7 years.23 Wilkinson presumably used his system at Bersham Furnace in the 1750s. The 1757 patent relating to adding a trompe, a cylinder partly filled with water, to act as a regulator and smooth the blast.24 He certainly used cylinders at Dowlais at Merthyr Tydfil (built in 1759), where he was a partner. John Smeaton designed a machine for the Carron ironworks in Scotland with four cylinders operated by two cranks and two beams, but surprisingly, Wilkinson’s Plymouth Ironworks at Merthyr apparently used bellows.25 James Knight of Bringewood had a patent for a machine with cylinders of square cross-section, but this was probably only used there or at Charlcot.26 The direct application of steam engines to operating blowing machinery began with James Watt designing an engine for John Wilkinson’s New Willey Furnace, followed by one for his Snedshill Furnace. The first furnaces in Wales with a Boulton and Watt engine were those at Neath Abbey in 1793.27

Forges and foundries The sow iron or pig iron thus cast using the furnace, containing about 4-5% carbon with some silicon, was taken to a finery forge to be refined into bar iron, which may be defined as commercially pure iron in the form of bars. In practice, bar iron always contains a small amount of slag as an impurity. Forges for refining iron in Great Britain were (strictly) Walloon forges. Osmond iron for wiredrawing was produced by a slightly different process, which is described in chapter 29. The alternative (common in Sweden) of a German forge, where a single hearth was used for the whole process, is not found in Britain. Nevertheless, it is possible that some of the smallest British forges (making 50 tpa or less) may have used a single hearth for the whole process.

Throughout the period covered by this work, the blast furnace underwent very little change, except in size. The hearth may have changed from being square to round. There may have been variations in the angle of the bosh, the part of the furnace that acts as a funnel directing the charge to descend into the hearth.28 The materials used for the hearth changed from refractory sandstone to firebrick and fireclay, both of which were in use at Coalbrookdale by 1720, though they could have been bought for air furnaces.29 The initial source of fireclay was near Stourbridge, where it had long been used by local

Walloon finery forges contained two kinds of hearths, known as a finery and one chafery, or often two or three fineries and one chafery, each with a waterwheel to drive the bellows that provided it with a blast, and one or two hammers lifted also by means of waterwheels. In the finery, pig iron was re-melted, the blast providing an oxidising environment to turn the carbon (and silicon) in the iron into oxides. This produced a mass of iron, called a ‘loop’ or ‘loup’, which was given a few strokes of the hammer to consolidate it (shingling). The finer then returned the bloom to the finery, to await the attentions of the hammerman, who drew it out into a bar, the final product of the forge. He reheated it as necessary (often three times in all) in the chafery. Generally, this whole process took place in the same building, but occasional

Trinder 2000, 33-4. The interpretation is mine. English Patents nos. 565 and 713; for this paragraph see also Tylecote 1992, 227-8. 21 TNA, SP 36/45/2, f.117; C 66/3599/4. Richard Williams pointed this out to me. 22 English Patent nos. 565; Cranstone 1991, 88. ODNB, ‘Isaac Wilkinson’, mentions him and his brother John having a mill for grinding smoothing irons. This was probably derived from Janet Butler’s research (see Butler notes and thesis). 23 McNeil 1989, 103; Angerstein’s Diary, 260. 24 English Patent no. 713. 25 Ince 1989; Stewart 2017, 214-5. 26 English Patent, no. 783; Ince 1991b, 25-6 (citing Herefs RO, T74/407, inventory and T. Daff, ‘Introduction of cylinder blowing’, Steel Times 201(5) (May 1973), 401). 27 Dickinson & Jenkins 1927. 111-2 244-6; Arnott & Sayer 1978; Ince 1992. 28 Tylecote 1991, 220-2; 1992, 97-9. 29 CBD a/c. 19 20

Dudley Archives, DE/4/3/8/74-78; cf. Guttery 1956, 32-43; King, thesis, 55-6. 31 King 2005, 13-15; thesis, 201. 32 Evans 1990a, nos 329 385. 33 King thesis, 57. 30

4

Chapter 1: Introduction Tough iron was suitable for tools, whereas coldshort iron is brittle when cold, but was apparently good enough for most nails, even preferred for them, because it was more ductile.41 Being ductile also made it good for wire,42 but not for horseshoe nails, which needed to be tough.43 A phosphorus content (derived from the ore) made iron coldshort, though this was probably not known at the time. Redshort iron was brittle at red-heat, which made it difficult to forge, and thus commercially useless. This was caused by sulphur, normally derived from coal used as fuel. Several pioneering attempts to produce iron with pitcoal failed for this reason. This applied to Thomas Proctor at Shipley in the early 1590s; to William Wood and then his sons at Frizington in 1728-33;44 and to the Coalbrookdale Company at their Middle Forge in the early 1720s.45 Pig iron was classified as tough or coldshort according to the kind of bar iron that it would provide. Blend (or mixed) iron was also made from a combination of tough and coldshort, either by mixing ore, as Robert Morgan did at Carmarthen in 1761 or by using two kinds of pig iron together as in Cheshire in the 1700s.46 The distinction was known by 1637, when the king erected an Office for Surveying and Marking Iron, according to whether it was tough, blend or coldshort, a project that was repealed in 1639, as ill-advised.47

references can be found to blooms being sold or carried from one forge to another.34 The hammer was, for most of the period considered, mounted on a wooden helve and lifted at its belly (between the head and the pivot); hence called a belly helve hammer. The hammer typically weighed 5 cwt. and had a cast iron anvil to match. The pivot consisted of a cast iron hurst, through which the helve passed, sitting on boyts (gudgeons).35 These various other cast iron components were collectively known as necessaries. However in the industrial revolution, heavier hammers with a cast iron helve were introduced, sometimes mounted as a nose helve, where the lift was provided beyond the hammer head. In a third alternative set up, the tilt hammer (or tail helve), the cams pushed down a helve, pivoted at its middle, at the opposite end to the hammer (its tail). This could produce a faster stroke rate with a lighter hammer. This tended to be used only in plating forges to work smaller pieces of iron, which would cool rapidly. Tilt hammers were not used in finery forges, perhaps because (with the lighter hammer) too much energy was absorbed in elastic deformation, before the desired plastic deformation began.36 Throughout the fuel used was charcoal (often simply called ‘coal’), but mineral coal (known as pitcoal, also as seacoal) could be used in the chafery. Braises, that is charcoal dust, could be used in the chafery, and also for calcining ironstone, reserving larger charcoal for blast furnaces, which would be clogged up by dusty braises.

This technology changed little during the period considered here, but from the middle of the 18th century new methods of production using coke began to be introduced. The ability to use mineral coal (or its derivative, coke) in blast furnaces was an ambition of ironmasters from the 1590s, but the continuous use of coke in blast furnaces only began after Abraham Darby arrived at Coalbrookdale in 1709. Nevertheless, Shadrach Fox, his 1690s predecessor at Coalbrookdale, smelted iron with coke as did Abraham’s great-grand-uncle Dud Dudley (in the 1620s).48 Darby’s success was followed by others in subsequent decades, but their iron was almost exclusively used to make cast iron goods, such as pots and kettles, either casting direct from the furnace or by re-melting pig iron in an air furnace in a separate foundry, a variety of work that began to be established in towns from this period.49 An air furnace is a variety of reverberatory furnace, in which the fuel is kept separate from the charge. Such furnaces were developed in the 1680s for smelting lead and copper and then applied in the 1690s to re-melting pig iron. The lead and copper furnaces are called cupolas,50 but the foundry cupola (as

The resultant bar iron might be drawn into squares or flat iron bars. Flat iron might be narrow or broad. Bar iron might be merchant bar (for sale to merchants) or mill bar for slitting, the latter 2½-3 inches wide and ½ inch thick in bars 13-14 foot long. Tyre iron or strake iron was similar, but slightly thicker and exactly 9 foot long (presumably reflecting a standard size for wheels).37 Tin bar was also broad flat iron, but of a precise cross-section, as this became that of the resultant ‘book’ of plates. At one stage, it was 9 inches wide and ⅜ to ⅞ inches thick, usually 1520 feet long,38 but these dimensions imply heavier bars than were usually made in the 18th century. Short broads seem to have been 4-6 inches wide and an inch thick, these bars (for plating) sometimes being only 4 foot long.39 The Navy Board ordered iron by size, squares ranging from ¾ to 2¼ inch and flat bars from 1¼ to 7 inches wide.40 Much of this strictly refers to imported Swedish iron, but it probably also reflects English practice.

Britannicus 1752. Goodway 1987; Goodway & Fisher 1988. 43 The Navy Board required clench nails to be of the best English rod iron called horse nail rod iron: NMM, POR/A/1, 22 Oct. 1696. 44 Collinson 1996; King 2014b. 45 King 2011, 145-50; explanation: Williams 2019a; 2019b. 46 Morgan l/b, 2 Jul. 1761 to Mr Knight; Johnson 1954, 47. 47 Larkin, Proclamations, no.243; Cal SPD 1636-7, 304; TNA, PC 2/50, 209. 48 For details of this see Chapter 18. 49 Williams (2019a) suggests that Darby operated his Coalbrookdale Furnace at a temperature too low to eliminate sulphur, which would explain why his pig iron (and Dud Dudley’s) was not suitable to be forge feedstock. 50 King 2002a. 41

Bar iron was also classified according to its quality. It might be tough (also spelt tuf), coldshort, or redshort.

42

34 Schubert 1957, 275-97; den Ouden 1981; 1982; Tylecote 1991, 233-4; 1992, 103-5 35 Awty & Phillips 1980, 29-31 (discussing Cumbrian powered bloomeries). 36 As note 34. 37 Bodleian Library (Oxford), MS Eng. Hist, C.305; Kent 1973, 69; Prankard l/b, 24 Dec. 1729; Spencer l/b, 22 Nov. 1739. 38 Jenkins 1995, 89. 39 Prankard l/b, 4 Sep. 1731. 40 E.g. NMM, POR/A/18, 19 Mar. 1756 (for contract of 3 Mar.).

5

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I used today) is a species of small blast furnace, introduced probably by John Wilkinson (or his brother William) in the 1790s, or possibly a little before.51 Since air furnaces do not require artificial power, they strictly fall outside the scope of this book, but a selection of significant early foundries is included in the ‘other ironworks’ sections of some chapters.

made in a refinery or running out hearth was a suitable charge for the puddling furnace. This may have been similar to a first stage in potting and stamping. Puddling was followed by shingling (as in the charcoal process, but the bars were usually drawn out using a rolling mill, another innovation of Henry Cort. These processes are also described in chapter 18.55 This description is probably over-simplified. Fuller detail of this transition has very recently been elucidated by Young and Hart as part of their work on Cyfarthfa ironworks.56 Joseph Firmstone, then a young man connected with John Guest of Dowlais, claimed that he had suggested the idea to Homfray.57

In the mid-1750s, Abraham Darby II succeeded in having coke pig iron accepted as feedstock for finery forges, but their fuel continued to be charcoal. Cast iron existed in two forms, grey and white. Charcoal pig iron is generally white, whereas coke pig iron is generally grey. This is partly the result of the silicon content and partly of how fast the molten metal is cooled. Grey pig iron, with its higher silicon content, was (and is) particularly suitable for foundry work, the area in which Abraham Darby I achieved his success at Coalbrookdale a generation earlier. The precise nature of Abraham II’s breakthrough remains not wholly clear, but it provided him and his partners at Horsehay and Ketley in Shropshire with a market for the (cheaper) coke pig iron among the (charcoal) finery forges of the area.52 It may have consisted of running the furnaces with a greater blast, hence hotter, thus eliminating sulphur.53

Subsequent processing Bar iron was a saleable product, used as a raw material by cutlers, scythesmiths, blacksmiths and numerous other manufacturers, but for some purposes it was desirable to process it further. A plating forge might be employed to make a bar into a plate of iron, for example for the blade of a shovel. At Sheffield, some of these were called tilts, because they had a tilt hammer (or tail lift hammer).58 Slitting mills were employed from 1590 to cut bar iron into rod iron of the dimensions suitable for making into nails: most of the iron firms in the north of England region had their own slitting mills, but in the Midlands many ‘slit for hire’, receiving a fee per ton slit. The process required the iron to be drawn as a flat bar. A piece was cut off this (with powered shears) and passed between flat rolls, making a thick plate. This plate was passed between rolls with interlocking grooves, which sheared it longitudinally into rod iron, of the right dimensions for nail making.59 Alternatively, the rod could be passed again through flat rolls to produce a hoop (for a barrel).60

The first effective process for making bar iron without any charcoal was developed by John and Charles Wood. They were building on the experience that they had gained in failed process of their father William Wood for smelting iron with pitcoal in the 1730s.54 John Wood operated Wednesbury Field Forge recycling scrap iron from c.1740 and Charles had a finery forge at Low Mill near Egremont from 1749, where he also recycled scrap. In 1761 and 1763 they patented a process starting with pig iron. This process was improved by Wright & Jesson of West Bromwich in 1772, and this began to be widely used in the 1780s. The process is known to the historians of technology as ‘potting and stamping’, but probably to contemporaries as stampering or making stamped iron. The first stage involved desiliconising the pig iron to make finers’ metal or refined iron. Then the iron was heated in a clay pot or (from the 1780s) on a ceramic tile known as a pile. Contemporaries called part of the plant for this a melting finery. This was a relatively short-lived process, which began to be replaced by puddling in the 1790s.

Tinmills (also called tinplate works) first rolled bar iron into plates of iron, called blackplate, which could then be rolled still thinner and coated with tin to produce tinplate. The first stage (to produce blackplate) involved a series of cycles of rolling and folding to produce a book of plates. These were separated, annealed, and rolled, before pickling in acid and tinning. Because the cross-sections of the bar and of the ‘book’ of plates (made from it) were the same, the tolerance in the gauge for tin bar iron was limited.61 Tinplate workers were manufacturing artisans who made finished goods out of tinplate, not the workmen in a tinmill.

Puddling consisted of melting the charge in a variety of reverberatory furnace, known as a puddling furnace, the molten iron being stirred. This process was devised by Henry Cort at Funtley Ironworks near Fareham, but only worked if the charge was white cast iron, rather than the grey cast iron that was the usual product of coke furnaces. This problem was solved by Samuel Homfray of Penydarren at Merthyr Tydfil, who found that finers’ metal

Wiremills used osmond iron rather than the usual bar iron. The iron was drawn out into rods using a tilt hammer. Morton & Mutton 1967; Mott 1977; 1983; Hayman 2004; Evans 2005; King 2012. 56 Young & Hart 2018; 2019. I am grateful to Tim Young for sight of these in advance of their publication. 57 Staffordshire Advertiser, 30 Jan. 1830, page 3 column 2 (obituary). 58 There is no good general account of these, but see Schubert 1957, 301 (as osmond hammer) and 302-4 (as battery); Tylecote 1991, 246-7; 1992, 104. 59 Schubert 1957, 304-12; Tylecote 1991, 248-52; 1992, 105; and see chapter 3. 60 SML, Weale MSS, 371/4, 298. 61 Minchinton 1957; Jenkins 1995; Tylecote 1991, 252-4. 55

51 King 2015a. These are referred to as ‘blast furnaces’ in certain 19th century newspaper advertisements for the sale of foundries. 52 See also chapter 18, where an explanation is offered; and Williams 2015; 2019a; 2019b. 53 Williams 2019a; 2019b. 54 For William Wood see King 2014b.

6

Chapter 1: Introduction plating forges making spades and other edged tools, for example in Cumbria and at Stourbridge, (being forges) are included in the gazetteers.

They were drawn, using water power, through holes in drawplates that successively reduced its cross-section and increased its length. The workman used tongs attached to a crank turned by the waterwheel, grabbing the wire as the crank pulled the tongs away from the drawplate.62 More details of this are given in chapter 29. Wireworkers were artisans who manufactured finished goods from wire, but wire was also the raw material for pins, needles, and wool cards. All these tertiary processes altered the shape of the iron, but not its chemical composition. The fuel employed for most of these processes was pitcoal.

Today it is convenient to refer to the ‘iron and steel industry’; this omnibus description is really only an appropriate one from the introduction of the Bessemer and Open Hearth steelmaking processes after the mid19th century, which enabled mild steel to be produced direct from pig iron. Before that steel production was a distinct activity. In the early 16th century (and before) it was no doubt made by a bloomery process, as at Hartfield, Sussex.68 Sir Henry Sidney and others had a patent in 1565 allowing him to bring in strangers to make iron and steel and established steelworks, perhaps using a finery process (apparently without artificial power) at Robertsbridge and Boxhurst in Sussex.69 This was probably the process later used by employees of the Earl of Shrewsbury at Linton (Herefs).70 This process was superseded in the early 17th century by one where steel was produced from bar iron, generally from oregrounds iron made in the hinterland of the Swedish port of Örgrund.71 This ultimately came from ore from the Dannemora mine there, though Örgrund was not in fact its port of export. Bars of iron were laid with charcoal dust in a sealed chest (known as a pot or coffin) and heated. This resulted in carbon diffusing into the iron to turn it into blister steel. From the late 17th century, the bars were broken up and made up into faggots, which were forged, often in tilts, and drawn out into thin strips, called gad steel, but even this was not an entirely homogeneous product. In the mid-18th century Benjamin Huntsman succeeded in melting steel and producing small ingots or other castings of cast steel,72 a very high quality product, whose raw material was blister steel, particularly the ends of bars which had hitherto been good only for scrap. There were steel furnaces and forges near Newcastle and at Sheffield, and also in the Birmingham area, but very few outside these main iron manufacturing areas.73

Knives and edged tools were shaped by hand, and had a strip of steel welded along their cutting edges. However, this edge then had to be sharpened, which was done using a grindstone turned by water power, sometimes several in a row on a single axle. In the Midlands and at Newcastleupon-Tyne these mills were called blade mills, but around Sheffield cutlers’ wheels, scythesmiths’ wheels, etc. according to user. The tilts and wheels of Sheffield have been the subject of a detailed survey,63 and the wheels have therefore been excluded from the scope of this work, but tilts, as a variety of forge, are dealt with briefly in gazetteers. I have described the blade mills in the Stour catchment in an article.64 The blade mills in the Tame catchment are described in somewhat older works, but they may not have adequately elucidated their use of by Birmingham swordmakers.65 A smaller cluster near Mells in Somerset is included here, but is more fully ascribed a book on the Fussell family, who operated them.66 These mills were used for processes that followed manufacture, rather than ones preceding it. They are almost ubiquitous in the manufacturing areas around Sheffield and the Black Country. Having been described elsewhere, they are generally not included in the gazetteers, but the few that operated beyond these clusters are noted. Again the coverage may not be comprehensive. Similarly, needle mills, which used water-power to scour needles in the course of their manufacture, have generally not been included in the gazetteers, and no full survey of them exists. The main cluster of these was around Redditch (Worcs.), but was somewhat more extensive than sometimes is suggested.67 Boring mills, related to the Birmingham gun trade, have been included in the gazetteer, because they were sometimes called forges: a plating forge was needed to make the skelps from which gun barrels were forged. The completed musket (or pistol) barrel then had to be bored and its exterior ground off. I needed to research these, in order to distinguish forges plating skelps for gunmaking from finery forges. Similarly,

Orthography The orthography of names presents a challenge. In most cases I have used a modern spelling. Occasionally, I have preferred a contemporary one that occurs consistently in source material. Thus, Mearheath is preferred to Meir Heath, because the latter name is now used for a district straddling the boundary between one end of a former heath and a farm called Stallington, whereas the furnace was about a mile away at the other end of the heath, making the modern spelling misleading. Welsh names present a particular difficulty as anglicised spellings persisted

62 Schubert 1957, 292-302; Paar & Tucker 1977; Tucker & Wakelin 1981. 63 Ball et al. 2006. 64 King 2007a. 65 Dilworth 1976 and VCH Warks vii. 66 Thornes 2010. 67 Work on the distribution of these remains to be undertaken. Some appear in Booth 1978; Briggs 1981; and Tucker 1982; but I know of no survey of mills on the Bow Brook, southwest of Redditch.

Cleere & Crossley 1995, 115. Cal Patent Rolls 1566-9, no. 1910; Jenkins 1922, 17-18; Schubert 1950b; Crossley 1975a, 33-4 205-31; Barraclough 1984(1), 28. 70 Barraclough 1984(1), 28n. 71 Barraclough 1984(1); 1990; King 2003a. 72 Evans (2008) has questioned Huntsman’s primacy on this, pointing to earlier evidence as to steel being melted in crucibles in London. Also Evans & Withey 2012. 73 Barraclough 1976; 1984(1) and 1984(2); 1990b; 1991. 68 69

7

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I from Danzig (perhaps also other northern European ports), but following the enactment of the Navigation Acts from 1651 and the series of Dutch Wars, the Dutch were excluded from the carrying trade to England, so that most imports came direct from Sweden. In the 1720s, Swedish iron was joined by Russian iron exported mainly from St Petersburg.76 These lower-price producers drove the price down at times to a point where some British ironworks were only marginally profitable. The precise reasons for the decline of the Wealden iron industry are debateable, but it is clear that by the 1660s, its iron was unable to compete with imports in the London market.77 Again in the 1730s and 1740s, Russian iron was being sold at Bristol at prices considerably below the normal price of English iron. This resulted in some forges closing and others only producing the modest amounts required by local blacksmiths in their area. Their production costs, together with the cost of getting their iron to market in a manufacturing area were not covered by the sale price achievable at its destination.78

until about half a century ago, being replaced with an authentically Welsh spelling. I have sometimes preferred the very different spelling, found in contemporary documents. In particular, I have used Kidwelly (not Cydweli) and Dovey (not Dyfi). On the other hand, the town of Llanelli (Carms) is so spelt, in contrast with the village of Llanelly with its charcoal furnace in the Clydach Gorge, in the lordship of Crickhowell (Welsh Crûghoel), formerly in Breconshire and later in Gwent. Surnames have commonly (but not invariably) been reproduced as they appear in original documents, but have been placed in quotes where they appear to be an aberrant spelling.

Economics and trade For much of the period covered, Britain was usually not self-sufficient in iron. Substantially all of Scotland’s iron was imported until the industrial revolution. England (and Wales) imported significant amounts of iron from Spain before the Armada. English output seems to have reached a plateau in the 1610s or 1620s,74 probably reflecting the maximum sustainable output of the country, or rather the rate of the growth of trees (for charcoal) from those woods that were economically available to the industry: wood growing beyond perhaps five miles from an ironworks was not available (or less available) to it, due to the transport costs involved.75 This might be solved by building another ironworks (often a forge) in a rural area, where there was an unutilised wood resource. Many of the costs of production in wages and so on were fixed, the workers being paid so much per ton, at least in the forge. The main variables in the ironmaster’s profit were thus the transport costs and the yield, that is, how much product was obtained from a given amount of raw material, which depended on the skill of the workmen. With iron selling for £14 to £17 per ton for most of the period and land transport costing perhaps 8d per ton per mile, transport costs were a key factor in determining the profitability of a given works. Furnaces generally stood close to mines, so that the mine (ore) did not have to be carried far. An ironmaster generally sought not to have to carry charcoal more than five miles, and reduced the price he was prepared to pay for wood according to its distance from his works, but there are of course many exceptions. Early forges were often sited quite close to furnaces. Later it was found advantageous to have them a few miles apart, so as to utilise charcoal from different districts. It was cheaper to take pig iron to the charcoal than vice versa. Ideally a forge would be located between its furnace and the eventual market for its products or the head of a navigable river, on which transport was far cheaper than by land, but that was not always feasible, due to the impossibility of moving fixed plant that was already in place.

A great deal of the price of a bar of iron was represented by the cost of the wood to make charcoal. As a result a large proportion of the price of iron flowed into the hands of the nobility and gentry, who owned the woods and also mining rights, leaving ironmasters to draw their profit from the added value of their output. The price of the wood thus tended to fluctuate with the price of iron, so that the risk did not fall entirely on ironmasters. Explicit cases of the charcoal price fluctuating with that of iron are rarely found,79 but the trend can be seen in the west Midlands in the 18th century.80 Being tied to a fixed price contract, when other cost factors had changed could be devastating. Zachary Downing complained in 1704 of a contract to sell pig iron at a fixed price, when the iron price (and with it that of charcoal) had risen in wartime.81 Similarly John Churchill’s 1768 bankruptcy was attributed by his son to high prices at which he had contracted to buy wood, which he could not use when Ordnance Board orders suddenly ceased at the end of the Seven Years’ War.82 Charcoal was the least transportable of the commodities involved. This may to some extent be related to its friability. However, with several loads of charcoal (each weighing about a ton) being needed to make a ton of iron, it paid, not to carry charcoal more than a few miles and to bring the other materials to where the trees (from which charcoal came) were growing. Different strategies for controlling the charcoal price were adopted in different times and places. The industry in some areas was monopolised by a few firms, who were each effectively the only available buyer For overseas trade see King thesis, 213-48; summarised in King 2005, 16-20; also Evans & Rydén 2007 (which provides a snapshot, related to a short period); Evans et al. 2002 (on Bristol). 77 Åström 1982; and see chapter 3. 78 King 1996b, 30-3 44-5; and see comments on Mathrafal in chapter 15. 79 The only explicit examples that I have found are Welsh Bicknor in 1615: TNA, C 115/D24, no. 2077; and Aberavan Forge in 1747: NLW, Penrice and Margam 5082. 80 King thesis, 110. 81 TNA, E 112/880/41. 82 TNA, WO 47/81, 236. 76

When imports resumed in the 1620s (after Spanish imports had ceased after the Armada), their main source was Sweden. Initially, much of this arrived as re-exports 74 75

King 2005. Cf. Hammersley 1973.

8

Chapter 1: Introduction finishing point for this study, but the histories of works, particularly long-established ones are traced forward beyond 1815 to their closure. The coverage in this work of charcoal blast furnaces and finery forges is intended to be comprehensive. This also applies to coke blast furnaces, but it is not unlikely that there were more forges with puddling furnaces or using the stampering process than recorded here. Some aspects of the research have been carried forward to c.1830 (occasionally later), but ironworks built after 1815 have purposely been excluded from the gazetteers, so that they provide a very incomplete picture of the subsequent period. Information on blast furnaces is reasonably complete, as a result of Riden & Owen’s compilation of statistics from contemporary lists.89 Nevertheless, a great gap in our knowledge of the bar iron sector remains between 1815 and the beginning of the Mineral Statistics in 1860.90

for cordwood, for example in Staffordshire in the early and mid-17th century. Later, as the greatest of these businesses was broken up in the 1670s, adjoining businesses agreed boundaries within which they would respectively buy wood, but this system was inherently unstable, because the agreements were for fixed terms related to the terms of the ironmasters’ leases and ultimately expired.83 This was the context of Downing’s complaint, just mentioned. By the 1710s, a new system had arisen by which the ironmasters met and agreed the prices at which they would sell their iron. The price they could afford to pay for wood flowed from that. Such price-setting took place on the Ironmasters’ Quarter Days at Stourbridge and on the eve of the two fairs at Bristol. Such price fixing mechanisms persisted at least until the late 19th century.84 In southwest Yorkshire, the solution adopted in the early 18th century was for all the ironmasters to run the furnaces through a single super-partnership, dividing the production between them and in the process closing surplus furnace capacity.85 In Furness, the two firms of ironmasters arranged in 1714 for their wood clerks to operate together buying wood together and selling it on to each firm with a fixed markup. The system used in Furness broke down periodically, sometimes due to a rival furnace being built, but the principle of dividing the charcoal equally was revived again. This lasted until 1820 when one of the two remaining firms bought the works of the other.86

Scope and organisation The rest of this work is arranged in regional sections. Each of these sections consists of a number of chapters, often focused on an orefield, but sometimes on a less well characterised area between them. Some orefields were large enough to need further division by river catchments. In defining the boundaries between the areas covered in different chapters, the objective has been to define economic regions, sometimes related to long-term associations between ironworks. Political boundaries (even the Welsh and Scottish borders) have not been allowed a strong influence. This means that the vagaries of boundary alterations can be largely ignored. The South Staffordshire Iron District is split into the Stour and Tame catchments, with the smaller areas of the Penk valley and Cannock Chase. That Iron District (despite its name) includes parts of north Worcestershire and adjacent areas of Warwickshire, as well as Halesowen, then a detached area of Shropshire. This means it has not necessary to decide whether to place Hales Furnace (in Halesowen) in Shropshire – as it was until c.1840; Worcestershire – its county until 1974; or West Midlands. It appears in the Stour chapter, as does Kinver, which is still in Staffordshire, though its slitting mills were supplying ironmongers in Stourbridge (Worcs), who put out iron to nailers some of whom may have been in Kingswinford (Staffs), all these (except Kinver) now in Dudley Metropolitan Borough, West Midlands.

Much of the period was one of stability. This applied not only to technology, but also to the identity of the ironworks and even in some cases the families of the ironmasters. This stability broke down in the late 18th century, with the introduction of new processes where production was not limited by the amount of cordwood that was economically available to ironmasters. This enabled a great growth in iron production to take place with considerable investment in new plant. The adoption of new technology, particularly in bar iron production, and the subsequent expansion in British iron production constitutes the industrial revolution for the iron industry. Some of this, late in the Napoleonic war, came too late to catch the wartime boom. The end of that war was followed by an economic slump that affected the iron industry to a considerable extent.87 In some parts of the country this resulted in the closure of most of the ironworks continuing to use the old technology.88 This therefore provides a convenient

As blast furnaces were introduced to the Weald, it is appropriate to start there. This leads on to the iron processing mills of the Thames valley and the very modest iron production of Hampshire. The rest of the industry was northwest of the Jurassic ridge. The north of England, east of the Pennines forms the next major section, working from north to south, ending in the east Midlands. Next comes the northern Midlands, which here also includes Cheshire, southern Denbighshire (around Wrexham),

King 2010a, 389-90; thesis, 105-9; and see chapters 23 and 24. King thesis, 111-5; Evans 1997, 126-31; Ashton 1924, 162-85; Birch 1967, 104-18; Smith 1978; cf. King 1996, 28-31. The system of Quarter Days for settling accounts (and taking orders) goes at least to the 1670s: Foley, E12/VI/KBf/62-71; also the use of Bristol Fairs for that: Foley, E12/VI/DAf/3-15. 85 King 2011c, 27; and see chapter 8. 86 See chapter 41; Fell 1908, 135-57. 87 The boom and slump are not necessarily directly related to war and peace in Europe: the American War of 1812 and the embargo that preceded it may also be significant: King thesis, 281-2. The famine in 1816, the ‘year without summer’ cannot have helped: Wikipedia, ‘Year without a summer’ (accessed 27 Feb. 2019). 88 For output see: King 2005, 6-8: note that figures for charcoal pig iron from 1790 had to be corrected in errata in 2006; Riden 1977, 452-6; King 83 84

thesis, 192: note the dip in the graph in the late 1810s. 89 Riden & Owen 1995. 90 For the period from 1860, see King 2018b.

9

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I and east Montgomeryshire, because the industry in those Welsh counties was closely related to that in Shropshire. The need to divide this work into two volumes together with the sheer amount to be written about the West Midlands region has led me to divide it into northern and southern Midlands, with the latter focused on the South Staffordshire Iron District. This includes Birmingham and the Black Country as the most important manufacturing iron area in Britain. The next region had its commercial focus at Bristol, the second most important port in early modern England (after London). This had ironworks on both sides of the Severn estuary, though mostly north of it and the Bristol Channel, including south Wales. Since water transport was so much cheaper than road transport, the Severn estuary (and the river as a whole) served to unite the area, rather than being a barrier to movement, as it is today with our focus on road transport. The next region consists of west and north Wales and the Northwest, where the redmine of Furness and west Cumberland was the major ore source. These were united by the availability of coastal shipping. Except in Furness, most successful ironworks were located close to water navigable by coasters, which brought more and carried away pig iron.

well as bloomeries, steel furnaces, and such like. In the Sheffield area steel furnaces and tilts (a variety of plating forge) have separate gazetteer sections, because they were so numerous there. Near Birmingham, forges making gun barrel skelps and boring and grinding off barrels have been picked out from other plating forges, distinguishing them from those making frying pans, spades, and other things, though the boundary was not a sharp one. On the other hand, the main clusters of blade mills (in the South Staffordshire Iron District) and cutlers’ and scythesmiths’ wheels (near Sheffield) have been excluded,91 as have needle mills in the Redditch area (from another finishing process).92 Nevertheless, edged tool works and needle mills distant from these main clusters are included. This section includes all works of these kinds discovered in the course of research, but with no comprehensive statistical lists for them, the completeness cannot be guaranteed. The final gazetteer section concerns coke blast furnaces: this should be comprehensive on account of the numerous statistical lists of them that exist, starting in 1788 and conveniently summarised in Riden & Owen’s British Blast Furnace Statistics, a book which is sometimes my sole source for their later history.

Each part starts with a key map, but this breaks down for the final parts, which cover such a large area that several key maps are needed. West Wales falls into the redmine zone (part VI), but is shown on key map V, as do the Scottish Highlands, shown on key map VII.

Structure of gazetteer entries Each gazetteer entry consists of a narrative of its history. They give the location of each ironworks. Extensive reliance has been placed on tithe maps, estate maps, and early Ordnance Survey maps, but these are normally only cited if they provide detail on the occupancy of the ironworks in question, not known from other sources. Similarly previous gazetteers of furnaces are not habitually cited: otherwise, citations of Schubert 1957 and Riden 1993 would have appeared on almost every page. I have similarly limited citations of some of my own publications, where their immediate source is actually drafts of the gazetteers in this work.93 Considerable use has been made of directories where they exist, but they have not generally listed them as sources. The gazetteers do not have an apparatus of footnotes, only a bibliography of sources, but relay also on the material appearing under size, trading, and accounts, as well as sources. In the chapter introductions, a limit has had to be placed on the number of footnoted sources for the chapter introductions: ‘q.v.’ is intended to refer the reader to the gazetteer entry for the works mentioned.

Each subsequent chapter consists of an introduction, followed by a gazetteer. The main part of the gazetteer deals with charcoal ironworks: blast furnaces, finery forges, and certain other ironworks (including the earliest coke furnaces), slitting mills, tinplate works and wire mills. This is then followed by gazetteer sections for ‘other ironworks’ and later coke furnaces; in some cases, powered bloomeries, steel furnaces, or other works have been collected into their own sections. The purpose of the introduction is paint a general picture of the industry in the area, providing a picture of that area as a whole, without saying everything that could be said. The main gazetteers aim to provide a full history of each individual ironworks. For those poorly documented, this may be everything that is known, but for well-documented ones, the account is shorter than it could have been. This is in the hope of reflecting their relative contemporary importance, rather than the extent of the surviving archives. In constructing these histories, inferences have drawn from surrounding circumstances. Thus, if a works closed at about a certain date and a lease expired about then, the expiry date is likely to be the closure date.

The size sections of gazetteers provide whatever information is available as to the scale of production of the ironworks and the plant there. Statistical lists have been Those in the Stour catchment are described in King 2007a; those in the Don catchment in Sheffield are described in Ball et al. 2006; those the Tame catchment are included in Dilworth 1976; King 2006; and VCH Warks vii. 92 There is no satisfactory general survey of these. The main cluster was centred on Redditch, but with mills scattered in an area around with a radius of some miles, rather greater than sometimes supposed. There is no comprehensive account of these. Warwickshire ones will be included in Booth 1978. 93 As to this, see also the final paragraph of this chapter. 91

The gazetteer sections entitled, ‘other ironworks’, are a miscellany of such, including ironworks that have appeared in the published literature but are spurious; works that were proposed but probably never built; plating forges whose popular nomenclature (as ‘forges’) does not distinguish them from finery forges; and forges built after c.1794 probably using Cort’s puddling process; as 10

Chapter 1: Introduction with is cited, but usually with a comment as to why it is wrong. More often the consultation of primary sources has revealed details that did not interest earlier researchers, or whose significance they did not appreciate, or which they simply missed: it takes experience to know how to find one’s way around in a deed and to know what is significant and what is mere common form, an area where my legal training has been an advantage.

greatly used, but are not normally cited explicitly. The use of the date (without a reference) implies that the source is a list: see under sources and methodology (above) and ‘lists’ in the bibliography. Dates in quotation marks come from a list, but I consider that the data refers to a slightly different date. The trading section concerns the commercial relations of the works with other ironworks; either summarised from their own internal records (accounts or letterbooks) or derived from references in those of other ones, particularly of the sale or purchase of pig iron. These have been a particularly fruitful source of information. Where only the vendor or buyer is named (but not his works), the transaction has then been attributed to one or other of his works, usually with a cross-reference under the other. Similar information has been derived from records of the Navy Board (mainly cast iron ballast), Ordnance Board (cannon, shot, and small arms), and the Victualling Board (iron hoops for barrels). This matter is discussed further under sources, above. Accounts etc. are usually cited using an abbreviated title, details of which will be found in the bibliography. The accounts of the East India and Royal Africa Companies (for bar iron) have been less helpful, as the bar iron recorded was generally a re-export of Swedish or other imported iron. Such issues of overseas trade generally fall beyond the scope of this book. To keep the index within bounds, mentions of such suppliers and customers and their works in the trading section have not been included in it.

A common error of biographers is to ascribe the erection of a works to their subject, when in fact he began by buying (or leasing) an existing one, which then became the source of his success. On the other hand, historians (usually amateurs) have a tendency to use minor pieces of irrelevant information to suggest that the particular works, which they are describing, was very much older than it actually was or occasionally that it was in use longer. Another occasion where I have differed from an earlier author is where a history is provided, but is attributed to the wrong ironworks. Examples of this are works near Weybridge in Surrey; and Pool Quay and Mathrafal Forges in Montgomeryshire. In the latter case, Davies placed the Duvall family at Pool Quay at a time when it only had a lead smelting works, whereas Powis Estate rentals clearly locate them at Mathrafal and at slightly different dates, as do their probate inventories. Such issues of historiography are noted briefly, often at the end of the sources, to indicate that I know that I am contradicting a previous incorrect view. I hope that this will enable future authors to take a definite position, rather than ‘sitting on the fence’. This study grew from a study of local history in the parishes of Kinver and Wolverley in the west Midlands. I extended my research to cover forges in those parishes and nearby and realised that I was finding details of the history of ironworks not (or not then) published. From this small beginning a very large research project developed. This has constituted a main occupation in the 1990s, and provided the raw data used in my 2003 thesis. After a period when I concentrated on other historical issues, I returned to detailed work on the historical topography of the iron industry in autumn 2015, to investigate newspapers and other material, available on or through on-line resources, with a view to writing up this gazetteer. This process lasted until Spring 2019.

The accounts entry lists any internal records relating to the ironworks, including letterbooks, inventories, and so on. The list of sources in gazetteers is usually intended to be comprehensive, but the resources referred to in the three preceding paragraphs also form part of the source material. The only exception to this concerns a few works and persons, who appear in so many publications that listing them all is not useful. This omission concerns only books and articles which appear to be wholly derived from other published works that are cited here and to add nothing significant to them. Thus, the citation of tertiary (or more derivative) works alluding to Abraham Darby, to Coalbrookdale, or to John Wilkinson has purposely been limited.

The study has had the fascination of a jigsaw puzzle in that the story has frequently had to be built up from small pieces of information from many sources. The basic techniques for the research of an ironworks (or any other mill) are very similar to those for researching the history of a house, but statistical sources and accounts, for example those of other ironworks, often provide further detail of a kind not available to the historian of a house. Since the rivers and brooks on which ironworks stood were often boundaries, it has often been useful to consider evidence deriving from land both sides of it. Information on small payments relating to the right to fix a dam to land on the other side of a river contributes to the history of a works.

Historiographic issues The core of this book inevitably relies heavily on the work of previous scholars, but wherever possible I have been back to the original sources, mostly the title deeds, leases and rentals of landed estates, together with such ironworks accounts as survive. Occasionally I have found previous writers to have misinterpreted their sources: where what I have said in describing a particularly ironworks specifically contradicts what one or more of the published sources listed at the foot of the description of that works, it is normally because I have found reliable primary sources supporting my view. In such cases, the work disagreed 11

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I I, of course, remain responsible for errors in this work. In a work of this size, I expect that I have contradicted myself in places, having used new information (from research) in one place and failed to in another. If so, I hope the user of this book will be able to follow up my sources to determine which is right. If a gazetteer entry contradicts a chapter introduction the gazetteer is likely to be better. It has been necessary to draw this research to a close somewhere. In a few cases, I have had to rely on an on-line catalogue entry for a document, rather than my own study of it. In certain cases, the existence of documents that may throw further light on an ironworks is indicated by ‘note also’ at the end of a list of sources. Principal Sources for the iron industry and its technology generally: Schubert 1957; Birch 1967; Gale 1966; 1967; 1969; (and cf. 1971); Hyde 1977; Harris 1988; Tylecote 1991; Day & Tylecote 1992; Hayman 2005; Evans 2005; King 2012. Ubiquitous sources rarely cited: I could have cited certain works on almost every page, particularly Schubert 1957 and Riden 1993 (also his preceding 1987 edition). Instead, these are only cited sparingly, usually where they have information that I have not found elsewhere. This also applies to Riden & Owen 1985 as a source for the history of 19th-century coke furnaces. The gazetteer in Cleere & Crossley 1995 (and their 1984 edition) is also rarely cited (except in the chapter introduction), because the gazetteer for the Weald in this work is ultimately a revised edition of theirs, as explained at the start of the next chapter. Their book in its turn depends significantly on Straker 1931a, which is thus also rarely cited. I have also been relatively sparing in my citations of some of my own works. Sometimes this is because they are derived from the drafts of work published here, rather than vice versa. I have however cited my own work, where it contains fuller detail than can be given in this work. Awty 2019 appeared as I was completing this book. I decided that it was too late to alter the chapter on the Weald, where I have only edited an existing text, ultimately derived from Cleere and Crossley 1984 and 1995. Elsewhere, I have incorporated a limited number of references to it, where I considered that it had new information that I had missed. Sometimes this was only additional dates, but it enabled me to add a few more sites. On the other hand, I may sometimes have passed silently over a few cases, where he has made more of the evidence than I consider it will bear. Generally Brian Awty’s book is an excellent work that tends to complement this one.

12

Part I Southeast

2 Weald Introduction

ridge), whose upper layers have been eroded to expose older (and lower) formations. The chalk of the Downs and the greensand below it belong to the Upper Cretaceous. Below these are a series of formations together known as the Wealden Beds. The ore used was largely ironstone (siderite) containing iron carbonates with some calcium, magnesium and manganese carbonates as impurities, ones who presence was important, as they served as fluxes. The most important ore was probably a bed of ironstone nodules near the base of the Wadhurst Clay, but ironstone also occurs in the Tunbridge Wells Sand and in beds in the Wealden Clay. Each of these was used where available.1 It should be noted that the same geological formations continue beyond the Channel in the Pays-de-Bray, in the hinterland of Dieppe, from which the blast furnace and forge process was transferred to the Weald.2

The chapter differs considerably from the subsequent ones. Its gazetteer’s content is different, in that it contains a survey of the remains, rather than the rather cursory comments of the present state of sites that appear in the other chapters. This was the result of field archaeology undertaken by the Wealden Iron Research Group in the 1980s, which was subsequently published as an appendix to Henry Cleere and David Crossley’s 1985 book, The Iron Industry of the Weald. Supplementary material was added in the 1995 edition of the book (edited by Jeremy Hodgkinson), incorporating the results of a further decade of research. Subsequently, these have been edited together and the results of additional work by the Group and others over another two decades have been added. All of this is built in turn on Straker’s Wealden Iron (1931). This author’s contribution is modest, largely consisting of research into late 17th and 18th century forges, together with a recent trawl through litigation sources in The National Archives. The gazetteer in this chapter is still essentially a version of the Wealden Iron Database. The Database is the Group’s copyright and is published with their permission. This chapter was completed before the appearance of Brian Awty’s monumental and posthumous Adventure in Iron (2019). Accordingly, no account had been taken in it of such of his conclusions as had not previously been published.

The two ridges of the Downs provide basins from which water could not drain easily. The low country between the Downs and the High Weald is largely drained by rivers that have broken through the two lines of Downs: the Arun, Adur, Ouse, and Cuckmere cut through the South Downs to enter the sea at Littlehampton, Shoreham, Newhaven, and just west of Seaford. The Wey and Mole cut through the North Downs to join the Thames at Weybridge and Thames Ditton and the Medway to enter the Thames estuary. The Ashbourne drains part of the south of the Weald, entering the Sea near Pevensey. The eastern sides of the High Weald are drained by the rivers Rother, Tillingham and Brede, which originally entered the sea at Rye and Winchelsea, ports that have now been left inland due to the draining of Romney Marsh. Water-power does not seem to have been a problem, but most Wealden furnaces only operated from the autumn until the spring. Many were operated using water collected in a pond, rather than just a leat or fleam. Hammer ponds (as they are commonly called) are thus a feature of the Wealden landscape.

The gazetteer has been re-arranged into a series of catchments. Ideally, each of these might have become a separate chapter, with its own introduction, where this author would have sought to compare and contrast the various valleys and to identify the significant ironmasters. However there are still a few ironworks of which no history is known, and many early ones have substantial gaps in their histories. Both the flowering and the decline of the Wealden industry are considerably earlier than that in the rest of Britain, which means that sources are available are often more limited. On the other hand, the Weald has statistical sources on its industry as a whole that are not available elsewhere. These were the result of governmental efforts to control the production of cannon and prevent their export without licence, with the object of denying English munitions to England’s enemies, in a period when the Protestant succession to the English crown was not yet secure.

Origins of ironmaking processes Iron had been made in Britain from prehistoric times by the direct reduction of iron ore in a bloomery. Its initial product is a bloom of what is metallurgically wrought iron, which merely has to be consolidated into a bar by forging it. Only a small number of prehistoric ironworking sites are known.3 There was an important bloomery industry in the Weald under the Romans,4 but production was probably

In simplistic terms, the physical geography of the three south-eastern counties is dominated by three ridges, the chalk North and South Downs and, between them, the High Weald. The whole area is an anticline (or geological

1 2 3 4

15

Worssam in Cleere & Crossley 1995, 1-30. Awty 1981, 531. Cleere & Crossley 1995, 52-6. Cleere & Crossley 1995, 57-86.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 2.1. East Weald. 1, Ashburnham Furnace, Dallington; 2, Ashburnham Upper Forge; 3, Batsford (Clippenham); 4, Cowbeech Forge and Furnace; 5, Kitchenham Forge; 6, Panningridge Furnace; 7, Penhurst Furnace; 8, Warbleton Priory Furnace; 9, Woodman’s Forge, Warbleton; 10, Beech Furnace; 11, Buckholt Forge and Furnace; 12, Catsfield Furnace; 13, Crowhurst Furnace and Forge; 14, Potmans Forge, Catsfield; 15, Beckley Furnace and Forge; 16, Brede Furnace and Forge; 17, Crowham Forge, Westfield; 18, Hodesdale Forge; 19, Mountfield Furnace and Forge; 20, Heathfield Furnace; 21, Markly (Rushlake) Furnace; 22, Steel Forge, Warbleton; 23, Stream Furnace and Forge; 24, Waldron Furnace; 25, Hothfield Forge; 26, Barden Furnace and Forge; 27, Chiddingstone Forge; 28, Chiddingstone Furnace; 29, Crowhurst Forge, Surrey; 30, Old Forge, Southborough; 31, Vauxhall Furnace; 32, Warren (Hedgecourt) Furnace; 33, Woodcock Hammer; 34a, Ashurst (Pilbeams) Forge; 34b, Ashurst Furnace; 35, Bower Forge; 36, Cansiron Forge; 37, Cowden [lower] Furnace; 38, Prinkham Farm Forge; 39, Scarlets Furnace; 40, Bassetts Furnace; 41, Birchden Forge; 42, Brambletye Forge; 43, Cotchford Forge; 44, Cowford Furnace; 45, Crowborough (Grubsbars) Forge; 46, Crowborough Warren Furnace; 47, Eridge Forge; 48, Eridge Furnace; 49, Gravetye Furnace; 50, Hamsell Furnace; 51, High Rocks (Hungershall) Forge; 52, Maynards Gate Furnace; 53, Maynards Gate Forge; 54, Mill Place Furnace; 55, Newbridge Furnace and Forge; 56, Parrock Furnace and Forge; 57, Pippingford Furnace; 58, Postern Forge; 59, Steel Forge, Hartfield; 60, Stone Furnace and Forge; 61, Withyham Forge; 62, Bayham Forge; 63, Bedgebury Forge; 64, Bedgebury Furnace; 65, Benhall Forge; 66, Biddenden Hammer Mill; 67, Breechers (Marriotts Croft) Forge; 68, Brookland Forge; 69, Chingley Forge; 70, Chingley Furnace; 71, Dundle Forge; 72, Gloucester Furnace, Lamberhurst; 73, Henly (Brinklaw) Forge; 74, Horsmonden Furnace; 75, Lamberhurst (Hoadly) Forge; 76, Melhill Forge; 77, Riverhall Forge; 78, Riverhall Furnace; 79, Tollslye Furnace; 80, Verredge Forge; 81, Bivelham (Bibleham) Forge; 82, Broadhurst Furnace; 83, Bugsell Forge; 84, Bungehurst Furnace; 85, Lower Bungehurst Furnace; 86, Burgh Wood (Kitchingham) Forge; 87, Burwash (Collins) Forge; 88, Coushopley Furnace; 89, Darfold Furnace; 90, Darvel Furnace and Forge; 91, East Lymden Furnace; 92, Etchingham Forge; 93, Ewhurst Furnace; 94, Frith Furnace, Hawkhurst; 95, Glazier’s (Brightling) Forge; 96, Hawkhurst Forge and Furnace; 97, Hawksden Forge and Furnace; 98, Iridge Furnace; 99, Mayfield Furnace; 100, Mayfield Forge; 101, Moat Forge, Mayfield; 102, Netherfield Furnace; 103, Northiam Furnace; 104, Old Mill Furnace; 105, Pashley Furnace and Forge; 107, Robertsbridge Forge; 108, Robertsbridge Furnace; 109, Scrag Oak (Snape) Furnace; 110, Socknersh Furnace; 111, Cuckfield Forge; Hartfield Forge; 193 Boxhurst Steelworks; 194 Robertsbridge Steelworks.

only sparse in the early medieval period.5 Fifteen years of intensive fieldwork before 1985 identified 35 of the 246 then-known bloomery sites as Medieval.6

14th centuries. Examples of powered bloomeries can be found in various part of England from the 14th century. Archaeological evidence has been found of one at Chingley.7 A handful of 15th century examples are known from documentary sources.8 Iron production was thus not absent from the Weald, but was on a much smaller scale than in the subsequent period.

Power began to be applied either to operating the bellows or a hammer in France and Spain from the 12th century and spread over much of western Europe in the 13th and 5 6

Cleere & Crossley 1995, 87-96. Cleere & Crossley 1995, 97.

7 8

16

Crossley 1975c, 7-17. Cleere & Crossley 1995, 107-9.

Chapter 2: Weald amalgamated into Lorraine). However, there are others soon after in the region around, including in 1450 at Jausse in Namur (by then part of Burgundy). In 1451, Henry le Feron of ‘Jaux’ le Feron (later called Hennedric l’affineur) and others established an ironworks at Le Becquet near Beauvais in the Pays de Bray on the eastern border of Normandy, establishing the process in a new province, where further ironworks followed. Bray (rather than Namur) was the area from which many ironworkers moved to the Weald.16

A new process of ironmaking was introduced into England in about 1490. This is known to historians as the Walloon process. This is perhaps a translation of Swedish terminology, from a land where the German process was also used, with its single hearth for all forges processes. The new process involved a blast furnace and a forge, the latter with both finery and chafery hearths. This arrived fully formed in the Weald in 1490. The late Brian Awty brought the evidence on the origins of the process together in an article.9 Furnaces are known in Sweden from the 12th century, notably Lapphyttan and Vinarhyttan.10 It is conceivable that the idea of the blast furnace ultimately came down the Silk Road to northern Persia, with further technology transfer by Viking traders, using Russian rivers to access the Black and Caspian Seas: at one point the rivers Dneiper and Volga come within less than 10 miles of each other, so that portage between them is possible.11 Contact between Vikings and central Asia is suggested by the identification of Viking swords as made of crucible steel,12 which may have been imported from central Asia,13 though this relates to steel not cast iron. Nevertheless, the links here remain unproven, as there is a chronological disconnection between the period of the Vikings and Lapphyttan. The idea of making cast iron may have been transferred to Namur (now in Belgium) following the marriage of Blanche, a sister of Willem I Count of Namur to Magnus Eriksson of Sweden. Willem selected March-les-Dames near Namur as the site for seven forges in 1345, but this was probably not the first such forge as one at Jausse-les-Ferons is probably slightly earlier. Improvements to the furnace, adding a forehearth where molten iron could lie, may have been developed in the 1340s for furnaces that also cast lead shot.14

The brief summary above has involved several aristocratic, indeed royal, vectors related to technology transmission. The precise mechanisms are unclear, but could have involved courtiers, travelling in the royal train recruiting artisans, rather than direct royal sponsorship. Following Edward IV’s coup against Henry VI, Henry’s wife Queen Margaret was in exile between 1463 and 1470 at SaintMihiel in the Duchy of Bar. Among her entourage was John Morton, whom Henry VII appointed Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury.17 It was on his archiepiscopal estates that the first English blast furnace was located. Brian Awty’s work went on to trace the descendants of ironworkers from Namur and Bray into the Weald, other parts of England, and its American colonies. However he died leaving his magnum opus incomplete. This has now been published as Adventure in Iron, but come too late for it to be significantly used in this chapter. New process in the Weald Buxted was part of the archbishop’s manor of South Malling. On 31 December 1490 £67.0s.2d was paid by the archbishop’s master surveyor for the ‘Iernefounders at Buxstede’. This large payment by a principal officer points to direct sponsorship of Morton and probably his ownership. The location is identified by a reference in 1509 to certain assarts as adjoining to the ‘furneys … used in the days of the lord Sir John Morton, Cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury’. The contemporary name was Queenstock, but the site was recorded by Straker as ‘Iron Plat’ from another field name. The personnel during Morton’s time are unknown, and the works may have been disused on Morton’s death in 1500, but were probably let to John and Lambert Symard alias Pownsley, probably sons of Pauncelett Symart.18

The development of the great hammer, mounted on the legs fixed to a massive drome beam, saved much labour, an important factor in the period after the Black Death. The earliest reference to a ‘great hammer’ was in 1395 at Acoz, southeast of Charleroi, though a decade later Germans are mentioned as operating the works, and hammers appear in Siegen in Germany. Adjacent to these areas was the County of Luxemburg, the patrimony of the heads of the House of Luxembourg, who inherited the kingdom of Bohemia, and became Holy Roman Emperors. Their heiress married Otto von Hapsburg Duke of Austria. This seems to provide the link by which Walloon forging methods were transferred to Styria (in Austria).15

The next ironworks had royal sponsorship. It was located on royal property, in Ashdown Forest, which was part of the Duchy of Lancaster. Henry Fyner a Southwark goldsmith was instructed to produce iron for the artillery for the Scottish campaign in December 1496. The land was leased to a Frenchman Peter Roberts (also called Graunt Pierre), then Fyner became joint tenant, but both

In the mid-15th century, there is evidence that furnaces were producing larger sows. A separate finery would have been of advantage in fining sows of this size. The earliest known dates from 1445 at Vaux in the Duchy of Bar (later Awty 2007; 2019, 1-45; den Ouden 1981; 1982. Awty 2007, 786; Björkenstam 1995. 11 This suggestion is made by Wagner 2008, 347-56. 12 Williams 1977; Edge & Williams 2003; Wikipedia, ‘Ulfberht swords’ (accessed 31 October 2017). 13 Feuerbach 1997; 2006. 14 Awty 2007, 786-90; 2019, 10-30. 15 Awty 2007, 791-6; 2019, 10-30. 9

Awty 2007, 796-800; 2019, 28-30. Awty 2007, 800-1; Awty & Whittick 2004, 72-73. Previous discussions include Schubert 1957, 157-72; Tylecote 1992, 76-7 95-100; Tholander & Blomgren 1986; Awty 1987a; 1990a; 1994; 1996; for Liège region see also Awty 2006; for Bray Awty 1990b; also for both regions, Awty 2019, 10-187. 18 Awty & Whittick 2004, 71-4.

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16 17

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I The start of English gunfounding

were imprisoned for debt, after which another Frenchman Pauncelett Symart took a 7-year lease of the works, but he too fell into arrears with his rent.19

Early cannon were often built up of wrought iron staves, bound with hoops. Others were cast, but had a separate chamber at the breech in which the charge was placed. Neither system was wholly satisfactory. The latter suffered from the difficulty of providing a gas-tight joint between the chamber and the barrel. The inventory taken for the Newbridge Works in 1509 included ‘guns and chambers’, indicating that this kind of cannon was being made.25

Subsequent expansion can be followed from the immigration of ironworkers from France, mainly from Bray. This amounted to less than one person per year until the late 1500s, and continuing until the early 1530s.20 This marks the growth of the Wealden industry under the patronage of lords and gentry. These immigrants paid for denization (similar to naturalisation) in the mid-1540s. In the denization roll, many appear in groups linked to landowners, enabling ironworks in operation by that period to be established. Some 15 proprietors are named, most of whom can be identified with specific ironworks, but with anything from three to a dozen immigrant workers each (see Table 2.1), but another 30 or more ironworkers cannot certainly be ascribed to any ironmaster. Some of these subsequently became the lessees of ironworks;21 some may already have had ironworks of their own. In the subsequent period, those operating ironworks were commonly people of fairly modest status.22 This is in contrast with Stone’s conclusion tha the Elizabethan aristrocracy were heavily involved in ironworks.23 The difference is probably that the industry’s arrival elsewhere was later. In the 17th century, most ironmasters were entrepreneurs in their own right, operating their own businesses, not estate employees.24

The solution adopted for this was to cast the whole cannon in one piece and load it through the muzzle. In the 18th century, a culverin (18-pounder) weighed over two tons, and larger guns required even more iron.26 All of the metal for this had to be run into the mould together. This has a bearing on the dimensions required for the furnace. This may have been the reason why two sites have two adjacent furnaces, which could be tapped together. This applies to Newbridge; and to works at Worth on lands forfeited from the Duke of Norfolk. The standard method of doing this was for the cannon mould to be placed vertically in a pit (lined with planks) in the casting house floor. The top of the mould had to be below the level of the forehearth, so that the iron could run by gravity from the furnace when tapped. The introduction of the technology to England seems to have been a byproduct of Henry VIII’s ill-fated marriage to Anne of Cleves. Nicholas Wotton, who negotiated the marriage, may also have recruited a founder from Jülich, one of Anne’s brother’s duchies. Certainly Parson William Levett (who was operating Queenstock Furnace) was the casting of cannon at Buxted from 1543.27 The process of making a loam mould was a long one, as it had to be built up in stages. First a core was formed, representing the interior of the barrel, with a strickle board (to define the exterior) pivoted at its centre. Then a grass rope was wound around this and covered in a friable material, including a gunhead, beyond the end of the barrel into which slag would float. The models of the external decoration and of the trunnions were added. The whole was then coated in loam, the strickle board being used to ensure it was cylindrical. The whole was then dried and roasted, firing the clay in the loam. This provided a rigid mould, which could be moved into the casting pit. Next the grass rope was pulled out, to leave a cannon-shaped void. A core was mounted in this, and iron was run into the mould. After casting, the mould was broken off the cannon, which then had to be bored out to remove any unevenness in the interior. A new mould had to be made for each cannon.28

Table 2.1. Ironmasters whose workers sought denization Sponsor

Ironworks

William Levett clerk

Queenstock; Steel Forge, Hartfield1

John Baker

Old Mill Furnace

[Joan] Isted widow

Moat Mill Forge2

Nicholas Eversfield

Pounsley

Richard Wakes

Mountfield; Netherfield Furnace

Duke of Norfolk

Sheffield

Kings Forge

Newbridge

Sir Robert Tyrwight [Tyrwhitt] Etchingham Master [Nicholas] Pelham

Waldron

Master Lunsford

?

Master [William] Wybarn

Bayham

Master [Thomas] May

Pashley

John Barham

Brookland

Sir William Sidney

Robertsbridge

Sir William Barrentyne

Horsted Keynes

Sources: Awty 1979 except 1Awty & Whittick 2004 and 2Awty 1986.

Cleere & Crossley 1995, 111-3. Awty 1981, 525-8. 21 Awty 1979; cf. 1978; 1981. See now Awty 2019, which appeared after this section was written. 22 Goring 1978. 23 Stone 1965, 348-52. 24 See for example King 1999a; 2010a, 287-8. 19 20

Cleere & Crossley 1995, 118-9; Awty 1991a. Lavery 1983-4 ii, 148. The figures may be those of the 1743 establishment. 27 Awty 2007, 75-8; also Awty 1987b; 1989. 28 Evans 1958; Browne 1960. 25 26

18

Chapter 2: Weald Growth and maturity

hostilities at the time of the Armada, as a re-export from French ports such as Bayonne, but imports were a mere shadow of those earlier. 3,000 tons had been imported to England annually in 1490 and 1540, but less than 500 tons in 1590, a low from which there was some subsequent recovery.37

The denization roll perhaps indicates that 15 ironmasters were operating. Complaints in 1548 from the Cinque Ports of a lack of fuel, due to ironworks, led to the appointment of a commission, where juries presented that there were 53 ‘furnaces and iron-mills’ in Sussex, presumably including about 25 furnaces. Modern research has so far failed to identify quite all of these, but this probably reflects gaps in our knowledge, not that the juries were wrong.29

The expansion of the 1560s and 1570s had taken the industry out from its heartland in eastern Sussex. It extended west as far as the Arun and Wey valleys and north to the Tonbridge area of Kent.38 However the pattern remained largely one of individual ironworks, with one furnace and one forge. There are few cases, where an ironmaster or partnership had multiple works. In particular Ralph Hogge the gunfounder had Hendall, Langley, Marshalls, and Queenstock Furnaces. In a sense this fits with the pattern in other parts of Elizabethan England, but elsewhere industrial organisation developed. In the Weald the pattern fossilised until after the Civil War, when gunfounding became the most important activity of Wealden furnaces.

Levett’s successor, Ralph Hogge of Buxted, the Royal Gunstonemaker, complained that other ironmasters had left off casting sow iron and were making ordnance; he made this for the crown at £7 per ton; others were supplying south coast ports for export at £12 and £13 per ton, instancing 30 pieces sent to France and Flanders without licence.30 This led to the Privy Council ordering a survey and extracting bonds from all ironmasters not to export ordnance without licence. Seven versions of the returns exist, providing a comprehensive survey of the Wealden industry in 1574. It had approximately doubled in size since 1548 to 52 furnaces and 58 forges.31 This is the last complete survey for a long time, but my count of furnaces and forges from the gazetteers in the second edition of Cleere and Crossley’s book indicated that the industry reached its peak in terms of the number of work in c.1589 with 72 forges and 69 furnaces.32 There was a further attempt to control gunfounding for export in 158890, but unfortunately, records of this only survive for Kent.33

The Weald suffered later from an economic disadvantage compared to ironmaking areas in the Midlands and the North in that the Weald has no coal. While charcoal was (at this period) the only fuel suitable to use for making iron, mineral coal is better for manufacturing iron into useful artefacts. Thus manufacture hardly took place at all in the Weald. Coal was also comparatively expensive in London, the Wealden industry’s most important market, because London’s coal came from Newcastle. Its prime cost at the pithead or a nearby staith was augmented by freight, a coastal customs duty (applying only to coal), and of course the middleman’s profit, before it was available for sale in London.

Converting furnace and forge numbers into outputs is difficult, because there are very few surviving accounts. A multiplier of 130 tons per forge per year can be justified for Robertsbridge in the 1540s and 1550s,34 but may be too high for later times and other places, perhaps referring to a two-finery forge when many Wealden forges only had one finery and one chafery. In the 1640s, Brightling and Bibleham Forges sometimes produced 120 tons per year, but sometimes barely more than half that,35 so that the multiplier used was perhaps too high. My estimate in 2003-5 was over 9,300 tons per year at the peak. However, if the multiplier was a more modest 90 tons per forge per year, the total would only have been some 6,500 tons per year. This would tend to mitigate my slightly improbable conclusion that there was a modest decline in total English iron production during the early 17th century.36 However large the growth, it is clear that its effect was to drive Spanish iron out of the market. Some Spanish iron continued to be imported even after the outbreak of

Åström attributed the Weald’s decline to the arrival of imported Swedish iron.39 However, the expansion of the Swedish iron industry, and with it exports to Holland and England, only really began when Dutch entrepreneurs (such as Louis de Geer) began to build ironworks in Sweden in the 1610s. This enabled them to supply the Netherlands with iron to replace what had hitherto come down the Rhine from Liège and Westphalia, areas that were cut off by a Spanish blockade in the latter part of the Eighty Years’ War. The Dutch were also denied English ordnance by an export embargo. The exports of Swedish iron to England hardly started until the 1620s and were not significant until rather later. The decline in the Weald is more likely to be related to Midlands ironware being sold in London in the 1610s, a subject that will be explored further in the next chapter. Some production of bar iron long continued in the Weald, but the output of each forge gradually declined. In 1735, John Fuller told Sir John Lade,

Cleere & Crossley 1995, 123. TNA, SP 95/16, f. 40v (www.wirgdata.org, s.v. Ralph Hogge). For Hogge see also Teesdale 1984; Awty 1990b. 31 Cleere & Crossley 1995, 131-2; Cattell 1979. 32 King thesis, file Weald 2D; cf. 2003b, 160; 2005, 6-7 9. 33 Hodgkinson 2004, printing Staffs RO, D 593/5/4/28/3-4 17. 34 King 2003b, 161. 35 King 2003b, 164, from Pelham a/c. 36 King 2003b, 191; 2005, 6-7 12. 29 30

37 38 39

19

King 2003b, 216-20; 2005, 16-7. Cleere & Crossley 1995, 132. Åström 1982.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I than naval ones and less carefully finished. Such guns were not generally subject to Ordnance Board’s process of proof at Woolwich, but proof there was permitted to the East India Company and guns sold to foreign monarchs. Since merchantmen carried guns as a means of defence (not aggression), their use was probably expected only to be infrequent. They could be made lighter and cases are known of guns that failed the Board’s proof being bored to a greater calibre for sale to merchants.48

There has not been any bar iron made in Sussex for this 40 year last past but for our own consumption that anything has been gotten by, which is the reason we have so few forges.40 The last profitable period had probably been during the Dutch Wars of the mid-17th century. In 1661, the Grand Jury attributed the decline to Swedish imports, but efforts on that period to secure an additional import duty failed. A list of ironworks, made in 1667, is split into those in use in 1664; those closed before 1664, but which were stocked on account of the late war; and those that were ruined and remained so. The first category covered 15 furnaces and 21 forges; the second had 11 furnaces and 5 forges. However, some of the furnaces reappear later.41 Another group of forges (including Benhall and Bayham) disappeared due to the difficulties of the Browne family in the ordnance business in the 1680s.42 By 1717, there were perhaps 15 furnaces and 15 forges, but the 1717 list (despite its Wealden provenance) was not locally produced, and may not be entirely accurate.43

Thomas Johnson succeeded Ralph Hogge in the office of the Queen’s Gunstonemaker and Gunfounder and was delivering shot by January 1593. He was in turn succeeded in 1596 by Thomas Browne, who had Chiddingstone Furnace in 1588 and Horsmonden Furnace from 1604.49 This began a long period when successive members of the Browne family held the office, with his son John following in 1615. Trade was probably not easy, as government contracts were irregular and at times payment was slow. Export markets sometimes filled a gap, but swings in government policy over exports (and export monopolies) made this difficult, as did Sir Sackville Crowe holding a monopoly on exports. At some stages export to the United Provinces was allowed and at another to Spain. A contract for 4000 tons for the Dutch in 1629, to earn money for the king to redeem jewels pawned abroad, merely resulted in the market being glutted with unsaleable guns.50 In 1640 Browne provided 120 guns for the king’s ships during the Bishops War. During the Civil War, the Southeast was largely under Parliamentary control, so that he probably supplied that side. At the beginning of the war, the royalists tried to put Browne in charge of part of the King’s Works in the Forest of Dean, but he probably never obtained possession.51 Henry Cruttenden was his partner between 1638 and 1643.52

Later Gunfounding After the Restoration, the emphasis of the Wealden iron industry was increasingly on gunfounding, together with the related production of shot. Because the government was a major (indeed the major) buyer of ordnance, this trade is relatively well recorded. The measures taken in 1574 have already been mentioned. In fact there is little evidence of enforcement action between then and the Armada, when Lord Buckhurst and Lord Cobham were appointed to regulate the trade. There was probably another general survey of ironworks, but this only survives for Kent.44 The sudden change caught some gunfounders, such as John Johnson and Ephraim Arnold with an uncompleted export contract and needing a licence from the Privy Council to complete it. In the early 1590s, a trading monopoly, led by Robert Sackville, received a patent, authorising export, or rather in practice to authorise others to cast guns for export. Enquiries in 1609 indicated that Thomas Browne (who had Chiddingstone Furnace) provided 463 tons for export in 1591-8 and 898 tons in 1604-9.45

During the Commonwealth, after John Browne’s death in 1651,53 his son George, his son-in-law Thomas Foley I(W), and others were partners in several furnaces, particularly Horsmonden (or Brenchley), Barden, Cowden and Hawkhurst, all previously John Browne’s. This certainly started by 1655, when Foley, Alexander Courthope, Herbert Springett, and Edward Herbert became partners, joined by John Horsmonden in 1657. In 1660, all but Courthope transferred their shares to George Browne.54 In 1668, George’s son John Browne and William Dyke joined George and Courthope in an ordnance contract and they additionally leased Hamsell Furnace in 1677.55 This lease was probably in response to a government order for guns. These were for 30 ships, which Parliament authorised for a ‘French War’ (which never happened). John Browne

The trade in guns for merchant shipping was regulated, by the Crown requiring guns for merchantmen to be landed and Tower Wharf. It, and later Tower Hill, were the only place where ordnance could legally be sold.46 Some accounts survive for Henry Quintyne’s management of sale there in the 1650s for Thomas Foley and his father-in-law John Browne.47 Merchant guns were commonly shorter Crossley & Savile 1991, no. 182. Parsons 1882; discussed Crossley 1975d; Cleere & Crossley 1995, 187-91 & note. 42 They appear in accounts etc: East Sussex RO, SAS-CO 712-7; Foley, E12/VI/Bc/1-2; Bf series and E12/P5, ‘439’. 43 King 1996b, 25-30. 44 Hodgkinson 2004. 45 Cleere & Crossley 1995, 170-2; Brown 2001, 16. 46 Brown 2010. 47 Foley, E12/VI/Bf series; also E12/VI/Pf5. 40

Brown 2010. Brown 2004. 50 Cleere & Crossley 1995, 170-80; Brown 2005. 51 Cleere & Crossley 1995, 183; Hart 1971, 16. 52 Herefs RO, E12/VI/Bc/3-4; E12/VI/Bf/25. 53 TNA, PROB 11/217/122. 54 Herefs RO, E12/VI/Bc/1-2; cf. E12/VI/Bf/1-26; E12/P5. 55 East Sussex RO, DYK/611 614; cf. accounts: East Sussex RO, SASCO/717.

41

48 49

20

Chapter 2: Weald over the 30 ships programme, when their proponents were unable to persuade the Commons (who were financing the programme by voting taxes) and Ordnance officers (who implemented it) that ‘neiled’ guns were so much better than ‘rough guns’ as to merit payment of the high price demanded. The nature of the process is not wholly clear as it was kept a secret. They were certainly turned on a lathe. ‘Neiled’ is an archaic equivalent of ‘annealed’. This was done in an arched furnace and took place over a considerable period. It is probable that the process involved partially decarburising the surface of the gun, a process rediscovered in the 19th century and then known as malleablising. The resultant malleable cast iron can be engraved and worked more easily than ordinary cast iron.63 Perhaps the project’s downfall was ultimately due to greed. The identity of the partners certainly made it look as if their price involved a corrupt profit.

seems to have been awarded a contract for part of the guns and he (then his widow Mary) made them all, though not all the ships were in fact built and warrants were probably not issued for arming the final (unbuilt) batch of ships. This seems to have left Mary in financial difficulties with a substantial quantity of unsold ordnance on hand. Certainly the last indication, of this gunfounding business operating, was William Dyke supplying some grenado shells in 1681 and Mary some brass mortars in 1682 under a 1677 contract.56 By 1664, George Browne no longer had a monopoly on ordnance production. A small number of others also made shot and in some cases cannon during the Second and Third Dutch Wars. The most important of these was Thomas Westerne who took a lease of Brede Furnace in 1660 with a partner and began supplying cannon in 1664. The quantity of guns that he provided (445 tons in three years) was smaller than George Browne’s supply during the Second Dutch War,57 but he also supplied over 1100 tons of shot, quantities that suggest he had at least one other furnace.58 Unlike certain other new entrants to the ordnance business, he continued providing ordnance between the two wars.59 He also had Ashburnham (or Dallington) Furnace and Crowham Forge in Westfield from 1677, Collins Forge in Burwash from 1672, and the Robertsbridge Works from 1692. He also used sow iron from Socknersh and Conster Furnaces in 1671.60

Government contracts for ordnance were scarce in the final years of Charles II, following the secret Treaty of Dover, and for much of the reign of James II. War returned with the accession of William and Mary, which resulted in the outbreak of the Nine Years War, and was followed not long after its end by the War of the Spanish Succession. A new programme of expanding the navy during the earlier war led to a new demand for ordnance. This involved another 30-ships programme, where the main contractors were Thomas Western and William Benge, who respectively cast 3225 and 1130 tons of cannon.64 Substantially all the surviving furnaces engaged in ordnance production. It was even necessary for new ones to be erected. John Fuller built Heathfield Furnace in 1693 and immediately started producing ordnance. It is not clear who built Pippingford Furnace, but it seems to have been in this period. William Benge, who had entered gunfounding by 1686, built Gloucester Furnace at Lamberhurst in 1695.65 In 1692, he was supplying grenadoe shells from Coushopley, Cowden, Hamsell, Hawkhurst and Conster Furnaces.66 He produced over 1200 tons of ordnance in 1695, but his career ended with his bankruptcy in 1702. The only other person operating on such a large scale was Thomas Westerne, who had Ashburnham, Brede and Robertsbridge Furnaces, but retired in about 1700. He had started handing some of his works over to his sons Maximillian and Thomas jun. in 1693. During the Nine Years’ War, the Weald did not quite enjoy a monopoly in the ordnance business: Shadrach Fox of Coalbrookdale made shot and shells which he delivered at Gloucester or Bristol and Edward Lloyd of Plas Maddock made shot, delivered at Chester Castle.67 Both ports were no doubt convenient for supplying the artillery train in Ireland.

A development of the period was the introduction of ‘neiled and turned’ guns according to Prince Rupert’s process, patented in 1671 and 1672. Prince Rupert (the Lord High Admiral) assigned a quarter share each to Sir Thomas Chicheley (Master-General of the Ordnance) and Anthony Lord Ashley (Chancellor of the Exchequer, later Earl of Shaftesbury). Experiments were carried out using a horsemill in the royal stables at Eton. This led to the proposal to arm the St Andrew with patent guns. These were paid for at the normal price of £18 per ton, but with an additional allowance for the ‘workmanship and materials with loss of metal of £2 per ton. This was followed by a contract with John Browne for ‘new turn’d iron ordnance’ with the extraordinary price of £60 per ton. However guns surplus to the contract were ultimately paid for at £28 per ton in 1682, but John Browne’s widow was left with 1,171 tons of undelivered neiled and turned guns. Some of these had been mortgaged to the patentees as payment for their royalty.61 The last of the guns were eventually received by the Board of Ordnance in 1690 and 1691, some from ‘Lord Ashley and partners’; others from Thomas Western and John Baker, but were paid for at the rate of £18, used for (ordinary) ‘rough guns’.62 The project had run into political trouble during the debates 56 57 58 59 60 61 62

During the War of Spanish Succession, the demand was lower. The largest player was Peter Gott, who took over

Based on data extracted from TNA, WO 51/4-26. Brown 2001. Data from TNA, WO 51/5-9. Brown 2001; TNA, WO 51/10-14; WO 50/13, loose papers. Q.v. Barter Bailey 1989; 2000; TNA, WO 51/13, 137; WO 51/15, 142. TNA, WO 51/41-3.

63 64 65 66 67

21

Barter Bailey 2000, 78-96. TNA, WO 50/14. Q.v. Brown 1993, 25. TNA, WO 51, passim.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I some of Benge’s contracts.68 He inherited Conster Furnace as his wife’s share of the estate of Peter Farnden in 1683, but only began to make ordnance himself in 1696, following the expiry of a lease. He then bought Gloucester Furnace after the bankruptcy of Benge.69 Thomas James (probably Scarlets at Cowden) also made cannon in 1703-8.70 A new development in this war was casting shot by melting old guns, which must have reduced the demand on furnaces, but was done near London and so belongs in the next chapter. The contractors for this were Stephen Peters and Richard Jones. Jones also undertook some contracts for guns, but the Board had to call on his sureties (including William Harrison) to ensure performance.71 Jones also cast the railings for St Paul’s Cathedral at Gloucester Furnace.

Foley clerk, though Westfield had reverted to Samuel Gott, the landlord, by 1722. Hussey took over Waldron Furnace and Bivelham and Brightling Forges in 1718 and Gloucester Furnace at Lamberhurst and Chingley Forge in the 1720s. Hussey, Rea and Mr Gott were partners in Beckley Furnace and Westfield Forge in 1725, probably also in other works under the management of Legas.76 Samuel Gott was probably a partner in Westfield Forge and Conster (or Beckley) Furnace by 1715.77 The death of Samuel Gott in 1724 and William Rea’s difficulties may have led to a new partnership. Certainly, Hussey and Legas took a lease of Hawksden Forge in 1727. Both Hussey and Maximilian Gott died in 1735, when the partners were Hussey, Legas, Gott and also William Jukes and William Harrison.78 The appearance of the last two in the list suggests that Robertsbridge, which they had leased in 1733, was included.79 Management probably passed to Legas who was an executor of both Hussey and Gott. Hussey is not named in Ordnance Board records as a gunfounder, nor is Legas until 1743, but Gott, Jukes, and Harrison all appear.80 It thus seems that their business, conducted at many ironworks was largely making bar iron. It is possible the purpose of the partnership was to control the price of wood (for charcoal), as happened in Yorkshire, the Midlands, and Furness.81

The industry after 1713 After the Peace of Utrecht, orders largely ceased until 1717 when a fleet was sent to the Baltic, during George I’s intervention as Elector of Hanover in the Great Northern War. In the following twenty years, the Board’s demands were modest, so that only 4-5 gunfounders were at work; and this continued during the War of Jenkins’ Ear. John Fuller (Heathfield) and Samuel, and later Maximillian, Gott (Brede) were Sussex gentry. George and William Jukes (Robertsbridge from 1724) were London merchants, who also bought pots from Coalbrookdale.72 William Harrison (Brede from 1721) was also a London ironmonger with manufacturing interests near Newcastle.73 He cast in Sussex steam and pit cylinders of up to 42 inches diameter for steam engines, for Sir James Lowther’s coal mines at Whitehaven.74 Peters and Remnant (later just Samuel Remnant) had a contract at Woolwich as the Board’s smiths and acted as agents to several other gunfounders. It is not clear whether they also had a furnace: it is possible their contracts were fulfilled by subcontracting to others. This was probably convenient to the ironmasters, as not all guns passed proof, but the Board would not pay until all the guns specified in a warrant had been delivered. This enabled Remnant (when acting as John Fuller’s agent) to juggle deliveries between warrants. The activities of John Fuller (d.1745) and his son (also John) are particularly well documented, due to the survival of a letter book.75

In 1741, Legas formed a new £10,000 equal partnership (formalised in 1743) with William Harrison for Brede, Lamberhurst, Beckley and Waldron Furnaces and Bivelham, Brightling, Westfield and Hawksden Forges (without a Gott or a Jukes). This may have been a continuation of the 1725 firm. After Legas’ death, the firm became Harrison, Bagshaw and Tapsell: Richard Tapsell was Legas’s nephew by marriage and clerk at Lamberhurst. Robert Bagshaw, the other partner, was Harrison’s clerk at Stone Wharf, Southwark. This partnership continued until the end of the Seven Years’ War. Harrison had been a partner of William and George Jukes at Robertsbridge since 1734. He reopened Hamsell Furnace in about 1739, this having been derelict since Robert Baker’s bankruptcy in 1705. When he died in 1744, Legas and Samuel Remnant were his executors, in trust for his sons Andrews and John Harrison.82 The demand for guns increased, as the War of Jenkins’ Ear (with Spain) expanded into the War of Austrian Succession (with France), bringing in more furnaces to produce ordnance. Until late in the war most shot was made by Samuel Remnant at Woolwich, with a contribution from Richard Ford (probably the Furness ironmaster). However, Ambrose and John Crowley, who had leased Ashburnham and Darvel Furnaces (probably initially to

A new entrant to the Weald in the latter part of the Spanish war was the Foley Forest Partnership, whose manager was William Rea on Monmouth, the compiler of the 1717 list. He sent one of the firm’s clerks Thomas Hussey to Sussex, where he obtained leases of Ashburnham Furnace and Westfield Forge. At some point, the partnership withdrew from their Wealden business, but the business was continued by Hussey with John Legas, another former

Foley, E12/VI/DGd/10; TNA, PROB 11/602/200; King 1995c; note also Hodgkinson 2019b, published after this chapter was completed.. 77 ESRO, DUN 46/12, 1 Sep. 1715 (Wirgdata website s.v. Samuel Gott). 78 TNA, PROB 11/674/135; PROB 11/674/375; note also Hodgkinson 2019b. 79 Whittick 1992, 53. 80 Not mentioned in TNA, WO 51/79-150. Legas first appears at TNA, WO 51, 275. 81 See chapters 8, 23 and 41. 82 Hodgkinson 2009; Guildhall MS 6482a; Harrison a/c. 76

68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75

TNA, WO 47/22, p. 121. Q.v. TNA, WO 51/67-77, passim. Brown 1999, 38-42. CBD a/c. Hodgkinson 2009; and see chapters 3 and 5. Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W2/1/91-100, passim. Crossley & Savile 1991; Blackman 1926; Salt 1966; 1968.

22

Chapter 2: Weald agreed the price, but then excused himself, saying he could not proceed, because the season was too far advanced for cutting the wood.90

supply Swallwell and Winlaton Forges near Newcastle), began making ordnance in 1745, as did William Bowen, a Southwark founder, who had Cowden and Barden Furnaces. Philip Sone and Son of Sowley in Hampshire joined in the next year.83

Gradually some others joined in, particularly Eade & Wilton and Edward Raby in 1766, but the majority of the guns supplied in the late 1760s were cast at Carron. However, their role came to an end abruptly, when they were told on 22 Mar. 1771:

The pattern was repeated.84 There was a dearth of government orders in the early 1750s, when Fuller, Bowen and Sone continued to deliver ordnance, largely by completing what was ordered under old warrants. They filled in by making guns for the East India Company and foreign governments. In early in 1755 news of conflict with the French in America made it clear that war was inevitable. Contracts for some 1,450 tons were placed on that May and June, including a contract with John Churchill, a Midlands ironmaster, who had leased Robertsbridge.85 Jonathan Eade of King Edwards Steps Wapping had provided guns for the East India Company during the peace. He and his partner Wilton also started supplying smaller cannon and substantial amounts of shot in 1756; it is not clear from what furnace, but they may have been subcontracting to William Clutton of Gravetye Furnace, a new one of this time. As the war proceeded others joined in. This included Robert Morgan of Carmarthen in 1757, but after his gunfounder died, he had to subcontract his outstanding warrants to John Churchill & Son of Robertsbridge.86 The Southwark ironmonger Edward Raby began making guns in 1758, at Warren Furnace, a newly rebuilt one. Beyond the Weald, John Wilkinson made guns from 1759 and Thomas Pryce of Bryn Coch near Neath started making ordnance, but when most of Pryce’s guns failed proof, he asked for his warrants to be cancelled and to provide shot instead, which was agreed. The Carron Company in Scotland began supplying shot in 1761.

The Board are greatly alarmed at the frequent bursting of guns cast by them of late, which must be due to some fault in their construction or the badness of the metal; and as the same may be attended by fatal consequences, the Board expect they will immediately explain from what causes they apprehend the same to have proceeded and what satisfaction or security they will give [to prevent its repetition].91 This was followed in November 1772, by sample guns being subject to severe proof.92 John and Peter Verbruggen of the Royal Brass Foundry reported on a gun that had burst, that its metal was not properly skimmed and cleaned at the time of casting as a quarter of it was dross.93 The Company tried to explain that it was the fault of a ‘principal servant … who had since lost his senses’.94 After two more proofs at which guns burst, the Board ordered them to cast no more.95 Ultimately, all Carron guns were withdrawn from service.96 This again provided an opportunity for Wealden ironworks. The contracts for 1773 were awarded at £16 per ton to Bourne & Co (Robertsbridge), Wright & Prickett (Fernhurst and Gloucester), and Theodosia Crowley & Co (Ashburnham).97 However, this was only a short-lived revival, as new coke ironfounders entered the fray, such as Walker & Co of Rotherham and Jones & Winwood of Bristol (from 1774) and Cookson & Co of Newcastle (from 1775).98 Then John Wilkinson provided a gun cast solid and bored. Reports to the Board considered ‘casting guns solid … is infinitely better than in the ordinary way, because it makes the ordnance more compact and consequently more durable’, though more expensive.99 There is of course a detailed story to be told as to the ordnance industry in the American War of Independence and beyond, but it is not a story about the Weald.100 From this point, all further guns ordered were required to be cast solid. Those who had failed to complete warrants in

The final decline The end of the war in 1763 brought considerable difficulties for several Wealden ironmasters. New orders from the Board of Ordnance dried up. It allowed uncompleted warrants to be cancelled, issuing a warrant of justification for actual deliveries. It initially refused goods that arrived late, but these seem to have been accepted in 1764 and 1765, though at reduced prices. Some ironmasters were badly caught out by the return of peace. The causes of Richard Tapsell’s bankruptcy are not known, but John Churchill’s son stated in 1773 that his father had leased coppice woods and was in great difficulty when the price was reduced.87 At the end of 1764, the Carron Company had offered to cast guns at £14 per ton.88 The response of Rose Fuller (of Heathfield) was that he could not afford to cast anything with charcoal at that price.89 William Bowen

TNA, WO 47/65, 27 104. TNA, WO 47/77, 258. 92 TNA, WO 47/80, 206-13 269. 93 TNA, WO 47/81, 41. 94 TNA, WO 47/81, 148. 95 TNA, WO 47/81, 497. 96 This whole affair is also described by Campbell (1961, 82-7). 97 TNA, WO47/81, 99. 98 TNA, WO 47/83, 88 1560 186. 99 TNA, WO 47/83, 240. 100 Braid 1992c deals with guns bored from solid. The full story of the subsequent period may still need to be written, but see Brown (R.R.) 1988; 1989; Cole thesis, chapter 5. 90 91

Q.v.; for the Crowleys see chapter 5. This paragraph and the next two rely heavily on Hodgkinson thesis; 1996b; and Ordnance Board Minutes: TNA, WO 47, passim. 85 TNA, WO 47/45, pp. 497-597 passim. 86 Williams 1959. 87 TNA, WO 47/81, 236. 88 TNA, WO 47/64, 236. 89 TNA, WO 47/65, 57. 83 84

23

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I relevant to this chapter, but it appeared too take for me to use it in this chapter. The published edition of the Fuller letterbook (Crossley & Savile 1991) is rarely explicitly cited, as citations from the original appear.

1774 were subsequently told that their guns would not be received unless cast from solid.101 This appears effectively to have been the end of Wealden gunfounding. William Collens of Brenchley (Gloucester Furnace) had a contract in November 1782,102 but the war then ended and the Board in January 1783 gave orders to all gun and shot founders to discontinue production.103 Wealden furnaces had probably continued to supply guns for merchantmen. These continued to be cast with a core, not solid. Guns used included 4-pounders, a size unknown in the Royal Navy.104 A gun cast as Ashburnham, bearing the date 1790 has been identified in Oman.105

Statistical sources: In addition to the usual sources for 1717 1718 1735 1749 and 1790/4. The following exist for the Weald: • 1574: Cattell 1979; Teesdale 1986. • 1588-90 (Kent only): Hodgkinson 2004. • 1653 and 1664: Crossley 1975d. Gazetteer arrangement

Some bar iron production continued throughout this time. Ambrose Galloway regularly bought pig iron from Waldron Furnace from 1696 and from John Fuller between 1710 and 1740.106 He was the tenant of Ardingly and Maresfield Forges, but also an ironmonger at Lewes. Similarly, James Goodyer, probably the last tenant of Abinger Forge and Wiremill, was a Guildford ironmonger at his death in 1777. This pattern may apply to other forges. Goodyear’s warehouse and a steel furnace were in Castle Street, Guildford.107 The 1790/4 list records 2 furnaces (Ashburnham and Heathfield) and four forges (Robertsbridge, ‘Marshfield’ [Maresfield], Burwash, and Bibleham), each with one finery and one chafery and making 40 or 60 tons per year (180 tons in all). Accounts survive for Ashburnham. These show pig iron being supplied to J. Fuller until 1796 and smaller amounts to a few others. The sales to Fuller point to Heathfield Furnace closing by 1793. A new forge was built at Ashburnham in 1794-5, after which the furnace was blown every few years to provide pig iron for the forge. The forge was still making over 60 tons per year in 1812-14, but only 3040 tons in 1816-8 and even less in 1819-25. It may have still belonged to the Crowley firm (in which the Earl of Ashburnham was a partner) until about 1792, as the Earl was being paid separately for wood and rent. From 1793, there was a simpler accounting system, probably pointing the works becoming an estate enterprise of the Earl. It closed in 1826.108

The gazetteer in this chapter is largely a version of the Wealden Iron Research Group’s gazetteer, which is an updated version of that in Crossley and Cleere 1995. For this reason, this gazetteer is in a slightly different form from that the remaining chapters, as I thought it best not to remove in-line citations and collect them in sources at the end of each entry, as I have done in the other chapters, but this has meant that some entries appear to have no sources. Similarly, detailed site descriptions are reproduced, though nothing as detailed appears in other chapters. These largely derive from survey work undertaken by members of the Wealden Iron Research Group in the 1970s and early 1980s, and may not reflect subsequent changes. So that ironworks that were in close proximity to each other, but are divided by a watershed, are placed close to each other in the gazetteer, the Weald has been divided into West Weald (consisting of the Adur, Arun, Mole, Ouse, and Wey catchments) and East Weald (the rest), Abbreviations: ESRO: East Sussex RO, Lewes; HAARG: Hastings Area Archaeological Research Group; HEH: Henry E. Huntingdon Library, San Marino, California; KHLC: Kent History and Library Centre; LMA London Metropolitan Archives; SHC: Surrey History Centre (which includes archives formerly at Guildford Muniment Room); SML: Science Museum Library; WSRO: West Sussex RO, Chichester. In Site Descriptions, the length (L) and height (H) of the bay are given. Warning References have not necessarily been updated to reflect cataloguing work by the various record offices since the original publication of Cleere & Crossley in 1985. This may mean that some citations are now obsolete.

General Sources: Straker 1931a; Cleere & Crossley 1995; Hodgkinson 2008b. For trunnion marks see Brown 1989. Ordnance Board records have been extensively used. However there is an inconsistency in the way in which they are cited. Many volumes (particularly of the Board minutes, TNA, WO 47) have both a contemporary pagination and a modern foliation. I have used the former, as they are used in the classified contents lists bound into the volumes. However Hodgkinson and Brown have used the modern foliation. A great deal of Awty 2019 is directly

Gazetter of the East Weald Ashbourne Catchment The Ashbourne drains the south side of the Weald, flowing into the Pevensey Levels and enters the sea between Bexhill and Eastbourne. Its catchment lies between that of the Cuckmere to the west and that of the Asten to the east.

TNA, WO 47/86, 90 171. TNA, WO 47/100, 550 592; cf. KHLC, U120/C67/7. 103 TNA, WO 47/101, 123. 104 Brown 2010; Riden 1990b, 133. 105 Brown 2011, 54. 106 Pelham a/c; Fuller a/c. 107 Public Advertiser, 29 Dec. 1777; for forges: q.v. 108 Ashburnham a/c; cf. Beswick et al. 1984. 101 102

24

Chapter 2: Weald Ashburnham Furnace in Dallington

[1] TQ 6860 1710

Working area: 1: Immediately below bay, served by wheelpit (see above). Some broken cannon moulds found (Wealden Iron, Ser.1, 12, 7). Working area 2: 90m S of bay. Served by dry leat which was culverted under present stone-revetted causeway near ‘Pay Cottage’. Wheelpit just S of causeway. Thence the race ran through a culvert, which curves to pass beneath the length of the house called ‘Furnace’ emerging to run along the present ditch to flow into the head of the Upper Forge pond 75m to S. There are two inspection holes, one at each end of the house. Just before this point a bank runs along E side of tail-race, turning E at right angles to join W bank of main stream. This probably secured working area 2 from possible flooding from Upper Forge Pond. Bank contains many broken cannon moulds.

This was built before 1554 by John Ashburnham (KHLC, U1475/B3/6) and owned by him in 1574. The date could be as early as 1549, when Ashburnham was employing aliens (TNA, E 179/190/233). His son (also John) was in dispute with a creditor in 1581-2 (BL, Harl. 703, f.12b, TNA, STAC 5/08/36). Thomas Hay and Thomas Glidd were in occupation from 1579 until their partnership ended in acrimony (TNA, STAC 5/G4/28). It was sold in 1611 to William Relfe (ESRO, ASH B488); in 1640 to John Gyles and Benjamin Scarlett (ASH B607); then via Joan Gyles to her son Anthony May (ASH B740). The furnace was recorded as working in 1653 and as discontinued but stocked in 1664. Guns were being cast here for George Browne in 1665 (TNA, WO 47/7, f. 77v), who had agreed a 3-year lease of the furnace with Anthony May from Michaelmas 1664 (ESRO, SAS-CO/1/714-718; TNA, C 8/173/15). Thomas and Maximilian Western occupied it 1696-1701 (ESRO, ASH 1178 f. 94-5, 219). Contrary to Cleere & Crossley (1995, 311), it did not pass to a Crowley-Hanbury partnership in the early 18th century. Accounts show it from 1708 until at least 1717 to be in the hands of the (Foley) Forest Partnership, whose managing partner was William Rea of Monmouth (Foley, E12/Pf5, partnership schedule; King 1995c; and see chapter 30). The furnace and Westfield Forge (q.v.) were locally managed by Thomas Hussey. Iron sows were sent from the furnace to Bewdley, Worcs (Foley, E12/VI/Bf/28-9; E12/VI/DFf/813). From about 1739, Ashburnham was occupied by the Crowleys, and from the 1750s until 1792 Crowley & Co and their successors, Millington & Co, were casting guns at the furnace for the Board of Ordnance (until 1783) and for the merchant trade (ESRO, ELT Dallington; Suffolk RO, HAI/CD/2/3; Hodgkinson 1993, 94-5; Brown 1994, 47). Incidental references occur in the Fuller letterbook until 1757 (ESRO, SAS-RF 15/25) when the surviving run of yearly accounts begin. The final years (1793-1813) are covered by less detailed accounts (ASH 1818, 1820, 1822-3). It closed in early 1813 (Beswick et al. 1984, 2267). An ordnance trunnion mark of ‘A’ is associated with this furnace. A surviving Asburnham gun of 1790 has been identified in Oman.

Accounts Journals and ledger 1757-93 (blasts AF-AZ): ESRO, ASH 1815-7; and using a different accounting system, 1793-1826: ESRO, ASH 1818-32. If the numbering of the blasts began with A in 1739, it is likely that the sequence included about ten blasts at Darvel. Size 1717 350 tpa; in 1760 and 1761, it made nearly 430 tpa, including over 300 tpa guns, but in peacetime usually less than 300 tpa. Remembered ‘From the testimony of two or three other inhabitants, who though not engaged in the works had opportunities of observing them, we gather the following facts: When the works were abandoned there were two fires, a larger and a smaller; to serve these there were two pairs of bellows blown by means of wheels turned by water power, the current of which may still be seen. The lower furnace was much the larger, and there the ore (brought from the neighbouring woods) was smelted, and poured into moulds in which it was shaped into such form as might be required. Here were made fire backs, brand irons, and sometimes cannon and shot of various sizes; but, as a rule, the molten iron was shaped into pigs for general purposes. At the upper and smaller furnaces, near the present water gate, the guns were bored, and afterwards tested by the discharge of balls, many of which are still from time to time dug from the banks of the opposite wood in which they had been embedded.’ (from Whistler 1888, 3-5).

Site Description: Bay: L 70m, H 2m/4m good condition; revetted in masonry to half height on downstream side. 23m from E end a stone and brick tunnel (now blocked) leads through bay to wheelpit; 23m from W end is a spillway with sluice gate. Water system: Pond; now dry, supplemented by pen ponds. Wheelpit tailrace culverted to join overspill stream which passed below working area to join Upper Forge pond 160m to S. Trackway to furnace fords overspill stream; several bears revet ford banks. W of spillway a now-dry leat from pond passed through or under bay to serve second working area. A leat, approx. 4.5km, and believed to have been constructed in the 1730s, brought water from above the former furnace pond at Penhurst (q.v.) to supplement to supply for Ashburnham (see Beswick and Ennever).

Sources Whistler 1888, 3-6; Crossley 1977; Goring 1978, 208; Beswick & Ennever 1981, 4-7; Houghton 1983; Beswick et al. 1984, 226-7; Brown 1993, 21; 2011, 54; Hodgkinson 1993, 94-5; 2019b; King 1995c; note also Smith 2019. Ashburnham Upper Forge

[2] TQ 6870 1610

Earliest reference is for 1572-3 (WSRO, Lavington 8301), to a forge of John Ashburnham, owner in 1574. He was in dispute with a creditor in 1581-2 (BL, Harl. 703, f.12b, TNA, STAC 5/08/36). Thomas Hay and Thomas Glidd were in occupation from 1579 until their partnership ended in acrimony (TNA, STAC 5/G4/28). Sold in 1611 25

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Cowbeech Forge and Furnace or Cralle

to William Relfe (ESRO, ASH B488), when George Littleboy was tenant; in 1640 to John Gyles and Benjamin Scarlett (ASH B607); then via Joan Gyles to Anthony May, her son (ASH B740). Working in 1653, but ruined in 1664, the forge was known as a boring mill by 1677 when Thomas Scarlett leased it to Thomas Western, ironmonger of London (ESRO, ASH B983) and in 1683 (ESRO, ASH B1084) after the Ashburnham re-purchase of the estate (ESRO, ASH A159-161). The forge site remained a boring mill through the 18th century (ESRO, ASH map 4385 of 1717; ASH 1815, 1817), until 1789. The site was reinstated as a forge about 1796 (ESRO, ASH 1818) and used until 1828 (ESRO, ASH 1833).

[4] TQ 6120 1510

Straker suggests that this forge belonged to the Cheney family. Pelham Cheney had an iron mill in the manor of Badhurste when he died in 1559 (TNA, C 142/128/80). John Manning was co-heir in 1635 (Attree 1912, 149), and ownership passed down through the descendants of his sisters, Anne Lawley and Elizabeth Caesar, later Coventry (ESRO, SAS-RF/16/10). John Akehurst of Crawle was presumably occupying the furnace in 1649 when he was purchasing mine from Clippenham, from Lord Dacre, and also renting Steel Forge (Daniel Tyssen 1872, 262; Essex RO, D/DL/E22). In 1653 he was casting shot for the Office of Ordnance (TNA, SP 18/39/31). The furnace and the forge both operated in 1653 but were ruined by 1664. A road leading to Cowbeech Forge was mentioned in 1655 and 1693 (ESRO, SAS RF3/89 and 4/2). There is no reference in the 1717 list, although the forge is marked on Budgen’s map of 1724. A sale of 1780 describes ‘a decayed iron forge called Crawle Forge otherwise Cowbeech forge and a decayed mill called a Hammer mill’ (ESRO, SASAN/289 & AMS/1896).

Site Description: Bay: L 140m H 3m/4m now road, so probably raised. Downstream side revetted with forge bottoms and cinder. Water system: At W end culvert through bay brings water along wooden trough 68cm wide and 30cm deep to wheelpit for undershot wheel. Tail-race passes under house (‘Ammerbrook’) to open ditch which joins main stream. At E end main stream passes under bay (road); slightly W of this a silted culvert comes from under a long low building (now cottage) built parallel to bay, and empties into stream. Local tradition of banked 4km channel following 30m contour from TQ 7030 1700 to forge or furnace is justified on ground and in documentary evidence (Wealden Iron, Ser.1, 2, 4-7). Working area: Two cottages built over culverts (perhaps tail-races) appear to be part of the works. Material more characteristic of a furnace are bears on roadside W of ‘Ammerbrook’ and scatter of glassy slag.

Site Description: Bay: L 130m (originally) H 1.5-3m/1.53m. Gap between present N end and River Cuckmere; all of N end across river removed. Further gap at S end. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Modern course of Cuckmere has been altered by construction of sheep dip and by operations of water authority, in course of which heavy timbers were found underground. Roof-tiles occur in disturbed ground at S end of bay. Glassy slag and forge cinder occur on bay; due to proximity of public road main slag heap would have been carted away.

Accounts as furnace. Size 1717 not listed (being a boring mill).

Sources Attree 1912, 52. Sources as furnace; Hodgkinson 1997b. Batsford (Clippenham)

Kitchenham Forge or Ashburnham Lower Forge

[3] TQ 6310 1530

[5] TQ 6790 1350

This was one of the two forges of John Ashburnham occupied by John Gardner in 1574. By 1578 Thomas Glydd and Thomas Hayes worked Kitchenham in conjunction with Panningridge Furnace (TNA, STAC 5/G4/28). In 1590, when the Crown had briefly taken possession of John Ashburnham’s lands, the Commissioners of Sewers threatened unsuccessfully to demolish the forge as an obstacle to drainage (Jack 1982, 25, citing TNA, E 123/4, p.270). The forge was sold to Edward Broomfield and Thomas Overman in 1611 and by them in 1634 to Laurence Sommers and others, their tenants being William Relfe and sons. After 1640 it was owned by John Fagge and William Hay (ESRO, ASH/4501/605). Its continued use is implied in a marriage settlement of 1661 (ASH/4501/776). It was listed as ruined by 1664, but the deed by which it was repurchased by John Ashburnham in 1667 suggests otherwise (ASH/4501/851-3).

This was built in 1571 by Thomas Glydd and Simon Colman on land leased from Gregory Fiennes, Lord Dacre. Glydd was the occupier recorded in 1574, although one version of the list does place him with Colman, another version mistakenly records Glydd as owner. Colman assigned the lease to Herbert Pelham in 1577 without Dacre’s knowledge (BL, Add. Ch. 30187; TNA, REQ 2/34/49; APC, x (1587-8), 176, 190). The furnace is referred to in the boundary-clause of a land transaction of 1591 as ‘a watercourse from Batsford Furnace to Chilthurst Bridge’, not indicating whether it was in operation (ESRO, AMS 1981). Site Description: Bay: L 85m H 4m/4m, breached by stream SW end. Water system: Pen pond 240m upstream (bay L 80m H 2.5m). Working area: Wheelpit at SW end in present stream. Excavated 1978: Bedwin 1980.

Site Description: Bay: L 280m H 0.75m/9.75m. Does not span Ashburn valley but encloses part of SE side against

Sources Goring 1978, 206; Bedwin 1980.

26

Chapter 2: Weald high ground. Water system: Pond dry. Probably filled by leat (1,000m long) from River Ashburn, now indicated by shallow ditch along NW side of Hammer Wood. Tail-race probably by E ditch of meadow on S side of site. Deep ditch running NW to River Ashburn may have been used for navigation. Working area: At SE end of bay where erosion has exposed large quantities of forge bottoms and cinder.

aqueduct to Ashburnham forge or furnace ponds. Working area: Tree-topped mound near W end of surviving bay, surrounded by glassy slag, may indicate furnace. Sources Awty 1984, 27; TNA, C 1/1225/11. Warbleton Priory Furnace

It was possibly worked by Richard Woodman in about 1550 (Awty 1984, 19). In 1574 Thomas Stollion held the furnace from John Baker, and an entry in the Dallington parish register for January 1599 refers to a person resident at the Priory Furnace. Thomas Roberts, of Warbleton, bequeathed to his brother, John, the remainder of the lease of the Priory in his will of 1648 (TNA, PROB 11/205/128). His debts were to be paid from the stock at the furnace, left to his wife, Dorothy.

Sources Goring 1978, 208; Jack 1982, 25-6. Panningridge Furnace

[6] TQ 6870 1740

This is the best-documented early furnace in the Weald, with accounts from 1542 to 1563 (KHLC, U1475, published as Crossley 1975a). The furnace stood on Penshurst glebe, let in 1541 to William Spicer (U1475 E59; Crossley 1975a, 41-2), probably on behalf of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst. The tenancy of Relfe and Jeffrey (1563 onwards) is ill-documented, apart from their supply of pig iron to Robertsbridge Forge. This must have ended in or before 1572 when John Ashburnham is said (WSRO, EpII/5/3, f.48r) to have occupied the furnace, as he did in 1574. In 1584-6 it was run by Thomas Glydd (ibid; TNA, STAC 5/G4/28). James Caigheym, who worked at Panningridge, appears in Ashburnham parish registers in 1582 and 1586. By 1611 the furnace was no longer standing (ESRO, ASH/4501/488).

Site Description: Bay: L 65m H c.8m (inaccessible due to dense undergrowth). Breached by stream near W end. Projecting bank at E end, to protect working area from spillway flooding, widens to form loading platform. Water system: Spillway at E end. Spillway channel turns abruptly W behind bay, to avoid hollow way leading to site, and has sandstone blocks and a bear set to protect corner from erosion. Wheelpit probably on line of present stream. Two pen ponds 50m and 100m upstream. Working area: On E side of stream are glassy slag, charcoal, roasted ore, roof tiles and Tudor-type bricks. Levelled area on E side of spillway channel has high charcoal content. No evidence for forge (or pen ponds).

Site Description: Bay: L 100m H 1.5m/2.5m. Broken in centre by present stream. Water system: Pond dry. Spillways originally at each end of bay, with banks to maintain dry working area. Working area: See Crossley 1972. Two periods of operation found: radical revision of wheelpit and race layout.

Sources Galloway 2005; Awty 1984, 19. Woodman’s Forge, Warbleton

Size The accounts show little regard to the tonnage of sow iron made, the production averaging 9.5 sows per founday [6 days], a sow perhaps being 10 cwt. (Crossley 1975a, 19).

[9] TQ 6030 1760

Firm facts are short for this site. Straker, followed by Schubert, regarded it as a furnace, under Sir Richard Baker’s name in 1574, but the lack of slag should be noted. As a forge it seems likely, by process of elimination, to be one of those in Warbleton in 1548, the subject of complaint from the Sussex coastal towns. The Woodman ascription is unproven: he was active at this time, for immigrants made charcoal for him in 1549 and 1550 (TNA, E 179/190/233 239 244 247; cf. Awty 1984, 17), but it is not known for certain where he worked.

Sources Crossley 1966; 1972; 1975; Cleere & Crossley 1995, 143-6. Penhurst Furnace

[8] TQ 6440 1740

[7]TQ 7050 1630

This is probably the furnace referred to in TNA, C 3/73/58 in c.1545: Ninian Burrell leased part of his manor of Penhurst to Sir Nicholas Pelham to build a furnace. This was operated by Thomas Glazier until 1549 and, after his death, was the subject of a disputed sub-leasing to John Glazier of Penhurst. There is a useful reference to the roasting of ore in this case. Awty (1984, 27) has suggested that the furnace, which was run by Harry Westall, Charles Jarrett and Christopher Draper, who supplied pig iron to Robertsbridge, is Penhurst Furnace in 1551.

Site Description: Bay: L 170m H 3m/3.6m. Breached by stream at E end. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway at W end, from which leads deep, now dry channel 75m long which does not rejoin main stream. Slightly E of centre of bay a slight depression may indicate wheelpit. Working area: On E side, where ploughed field has black area with much forge cinder and bottoms, which also occur on bay and in stream. No evidence for furnace on site apart from some small pieces of glassy slag in stream on either side of bay, probably washed here from Heathfield Furnace (less than 1.5km upstream). Stream bank section shows deep silt layer overlying working area. This, together with

Site Description: Bay: L 100m H 2m/2.5m. Only 50m of E end now remains. Water system: Pond dry. After disuse, part of water source for pond was diverted via Ashburnham 27

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I short spillway stream, suggests later use as pen pond for the Steel Forge downstream.

Sources Teesdale 1984, 36-7; Whittick 1992, 34-5, 43-4; Wealden Iron, ser. II, 6 (1986), 4-6.

Asten Catchment

Buckholt Forge and Furnace

This is a modest catchment south of Battle. The Asten enters the sea between Bexhill and Hastings. The Ashbourne catchment lies to the west and that of the Brede to the north.

Bartholomew Jeffrey was the tenant of Lord Dacre for a furnace and forge at Buckholt in 1574. He died in 1575 (ESRO, A6/321-3; TNA, REQ 2/84/37), and left the tenancy to Thomas Alfrey and others in respect of debts owed to them. They let it to William Waters with 500 loads of coals per year, but this was subject of disputes in 1578-9 (TNA, REQ 2/80/18; 84/37). By 1634 the works, probably only the forge, was operated by Richard Farnden (ESRO, Dunn 49/19); Richard Alchorne was paying rent for the forge from 1643 (Bedwin 1980, 96) and it (referred to as Buckhall) was in use in 1653, but by 1664 it was infrequently operated. However Richard Alcon supplied nearly 70 tons of shot in 1667 (TNA, WO 51/9). Anthony Gardiner of Bexhill described himself as hammerman in his will of 1652 (TNA, PROB/11/241). The forge alone is mentioned as abandoned, in 1683 (ESRO, RAF 9/3).

Beech Furnace

[10] TQ 7280 1670

Tentatively associated by Schubert (1957, 367-8) with Richard Wekes, supplier of pig to Robertsbridge forge from 1568 (KHLC, U1475/B3/10), this reference is probably to Netherfield Furnace. The first firm reference is in 1574 when the furnace was held by Thomas Hay of Hastings. In use in 1653, it was discontinued but restocked in 1664. In 1671 William Hawes held ‘Beechers’ with ironworks: BL, Add. Ch. 66,693 (Survey of Bodiam), m.9. In 1692 government shot was cast here for William Benge (TNA, WO 51/46, f. 171r). The sale, in 1702, of wood belonging to Lord Montague in Battle to Richard Hay, including the right to make charcoal, suggests Hay was operating the furnace himself (ESRO, SAS-BA/148), but it was in the hands of Maximilian Western in 1708 (ESRO, ASH 4502/66/1126-1140; Whittick 1992, 34 434). Underwood from Great and Little Beech Woods, sold to Jarrett Holloway, gunfounder of Salehurst in 1711, was probably for use at this site. Production was 120 tons in 1717 and it was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724. The furnace was leased by Richard Hay to Lord Ashburnham and Sir Thomas Webster in 1724 (Straker 1931a, 325, citing Battle Abbey Charters). Accounts for Webster’s operations there survive between 1726 and 1733, and guns were being cast then; Webster’s operations are mentioned in a Fuller letter of 1730 (ESRO, SAS RF 15/28). It is unlikely that it was in blast after 1740 when Sir Thomas Webster covenanted with the Jukes brothers not to use the furnace thereafter (HEH, BA vol 69; 72). The furnace was out of use by 1756 (ESRO, ASH A197) but had probably not worked since 1737 when Thomas Webster gave it up so as not to compromise the sources of raw materials for Robertsbridge Furnace (Whittick 1992, 36).

[11] TQ 7460 1130

Site Description: Bay: L 85m H 4m/3m. Breached by stream towards N end. Water system: Pond dry. Overspill at extreme S end of bay from which 220m channel (now dry) joined stream. Working area: 3m behind bay, just S of stream, many bricks (5cm thick) and roof tiles (square pegholes) under layer of forge cinder and bottoms. Nearby, rusted mass of square-section nails found. Quantities of forge waste in and behind bay; little glassy furnace slag. Buckholt Farm house is contemporary and probably for the ironmaster. Sources Bedwin 1980, 96. Catsfield Furnace

[12] TQ 7320 1150

The furnace is mentioned as part of the manor of Bexhill, owned by the Sackvilles, in 1567. It is not otherwise known (ESRO, photocopy ACC 2631 of original in KHLC, U269/ M20). William Gardner’s map of Sussex 1795 shows cornmill pond. Site Description: Bay: L 92m H 0.5m. Breached by stream at S end. Apparent 18m projection to W, along N bank of stream. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Possibly at levelled area at S end of bay of stream. Small amount of glassy slag in stream and bank, with horizontal timbers, all below c.1m silt. Re-use: Corn mill (250m downstream); the mill pond covered the furnace site.

Site Description: Bay: Curved L 130m H 2m/3.5m. Breached by present main stream at NE end. Overspill channel W end. Water system: Obscured by later mill. Present main stream after passing through bay cuts across valley to SW to join overspill stream. From this, near NE end of bay, a culverted channel once flowed SE to join main stream. Pond dry. Working area: Furnace probably between present main stream and bay; Bear on bay just SW and another just NE of stream. Large slag heap in NE bank of stream SE of farm road. Re-use: Corn mill.

Sources Upton 1981, 16-17 Crowhurst Furnace and Forge

[13] TQ 7570 1220

A forge is first definitely mentioned in 1574, held by John Relfe. However, the Pelhams owned Crowhurst, and as ‘Mr Pelham’ employed aliens in 1544 (Westminster Abbey, WAM 12661), Crowhurst must be a possible

Accounts 1726-33 HEH, BA Vol 4.

28

Chapter 2: Weald location for an early ironworks. This impression is strengthened by a reference-back in a Crowhurst Court Roll of 1591 (ESRO, Acc. 2300) to an iron mill said to have been extant in 1556. Gregory Relfe rented the forge in 1588-90 (BL, Add. MSS 33142, fos. 13, 24) but an extent of 1588 (ibid) also shows a furnace. George Martin rented the forge in 1626 (BL Add. MSS 33144), and in the following year Peter Farnden leased the forge and furnace, working it with his brother Richard in 1634, and keeping both until his death in 1653, when Samuel Gott was named as tenant (ESRO, DUN 29/1-3; 47/1; 49/19; other refs: BL, Add. Ch. 29970, BL, Add. MSS 5679). Thomas Gunter of Crowhurst described himself as iron founder in his will of 1646 (TNA, PROB/11/217). The furnace was listed in 1653 and 1664, but the forge, in use in 1653, was out of action by 1664.

the forge by Peter Farnden the elder (ESRO, Dunn 27/2). James Payton of Beckley was described as forgeman in his will of 1656 (TNA, PROB 11/267). Peter Gott (grandson of Peter Farnden the elder) took a 2/7 share that year (ESRO, AMS/5442/4/12), but the forge was out of use by 1664, when the furnace was listed as discontinued but re-stocked. In his will dated 1675, of which Peter Farnden the younger was an executor, John Roberts of Beckley, described himself as a founder (TNA, PROB 11/366/49). In a codicil of 1681, Roberts, by then of Salehurst, left the forge and furnace to his wife, Elizabeth. The Farnden involvement at the furnace (ESRO, DUN 27/4, 27/6) ended after the death of Peter Farnden the younger (DUN 46/9) in 1681. In 1692 it was in the hands of Peter Gott, and government shot and shells were cast here for William Benge (TNA, WO 51/46, f. 171r). In 1715 Samuel Gott was operating the furnace (DUN 46/12) whose output in 1717 was 200 tons; Gott left the furnace to his brother, Maximilian, in 1725 (TNA, PROB 11/602/200), but shortly afterwards it was run in partnership by Mr Gott, William Rea and Thomas Hussey (Foley, E12/VI/DGd/10). It was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724. In the 1740s the furnace was run by the HarrisonLegas partnership (Guildhall MSS 3736: ESRO, SAS-RF 15/25), and presumably then by Harrison, Bagshaw and Tapsell. In 1787 it was out of use but still standing (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13). See also ESRO, D165, Box 11, for a sketch of the furnace buildings (1746), and a reference to the furnace pond in water (1771). Brass skillets were cast at Beckley Furnace in the 18th century by a man named Rumens (Austen 1947, 90; see also Butler and Green 2003, 93-4). An ordnance trunnion mark of ‘C’ [Conster] is associated with this furnace.

Site Description: Bay: L 110m H above stream level; N end 0.5m; S end, where breached by steam, 3m. Middle section levelled for houses and gardens. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Occupied by main road, public open space and domestic property. Glassy furnace slag and force cinder in stream with forge bottoms. Potmans Forge, Catsfield

[14] TQ 7250 1170

Straker’s early 16th century references relating to Potmans do not confirm the existence of a forge, which is more likely to have been built by William Waters after 1579, for in 1582 it was ‘lately erected’ (ESRO, ASH 4501/298) when it was leased to Michael Martin for ten years. Waters sold the forge to Thomas Alfraye in 1588 (ASH 4501/333), among whose property at his post-mortem inquisition in 1590 was ‘an iron mill in Catsfield’. Richard Alfray was his son and his lease in 1637, presumably as a result of a mortgage, is the last known reference (ASH 4501/573).

Site Description: Bay: L 165m H main part levelled to 70cm; N and S ends 3m. Short projection to E along N bank of Tillingham river. Water system: Present course of river is that of the forge and boring mill tail-races. Ditch S of Mill House garden probably the furnace tail-race. Working area: Several large morticed timbers in river bed probably form part of the forge wheelpit. Much boring swarf and forge cinder in river. At N end (Mill House garden) is a low circular mound behind the bay, probably the furnace base with cast-iron slab 1.25m x 50cm x 15cm and much glassy slag. Re-use: Corn mill (but possibly contemporary) served by leat from upstream.

Site Description: Bay: L 112m H 3m/3.25m. Breached by stream and also near W end. Curves to S at E end. Water system: Pond dry. Probably spillway at W end. Working area: Destroyed by large quarry behind bay. General scatter of forge cinder on and behind bay; apparent bloomery tap slag on bay just W of stream. Brede and Tillingham Catchments

Sources Austen 1947, 90; Hodgkinson 1979, 13; Butler & Green 1993, 93-4; Crossley & Savile 1991, xxiii and nos. 386 513 516 719.

The river Brede reached the sea (or rather the Camber, a former inlet of the sea) at the former port of Winchelsea, now some distance inland. The river Tillingham, flowed into the Camber at Rye. With the draining of Romney and other marshes, both the Brede and Tillingham have become tributaries of the river Rother. Beckley Furnace and Forge or Conster

Brede Furnace and Forge

[16] TQ 8010 1920

Built in 1577, the furnace was originally operated by David Willard, Michael Weston and Robert Woddy (APC, x (1587-8), 265; ESRO, RYE/1/4/285). It is not known when the works became Sackville property, but a theft of an iron pot from a furnace in Brede, property of John Sackville, was recorded in 1609 (ESRO, QR/E/9.108). Lawrence Lenard (d.1605) and Richard Lenard were successively tenants, and the fireback of 1636, portraying

[15] TQ 8360 2120

The forge was built by Edmund Hawes of Robertsbridge and Richard Mullinax of Brede in 1587 (ESRO, RYE/1/5/109). The furnace was in use by 1653, run with 29

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I a furnace is assumed to have been made at Brede (Straker 1931a, 342). Agreements over the subsequent 25 years show how the Brede works were run by Peter Farnden (sen.) and the executors of Thomas Sackville (d.1639), how in 1652 the second Sir Thomas Sackville leased the works to Nathaniel Powell who, in 1659, assigned the lease to Samuel Gott and Peter Farnden (jun.), and how Farnden and Gott leased the works, then referred to as a furnace and forge, to Thomas Western and Charles Harvie in 1662 (ESRO, DUN 27/3, 48/2). The furnace worked in 1653 and 1664. Thomas Western was casting iron mortar carriages at Brede in 1687 (TNA, WO 51/34, f. 110r). According to VCH, John Browne acquired the site from Sir Thomas Sackville in 1676/7, but it was Browne’s son, also John, who sold it to the younger Thomas and Maximilian Western in 1693 who, in turn leased the works to their brother, Samuel Western in the same year (Suffolk RO, HA 108/5/3). In 1717 it was noted as producing 200 tons. It was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724. William Harrison was paying Land Tax for the furnace from 1720 and was casting guns at Brede in 1735, and the operations of Harrison and his executors are well documented 1741-7 (Guildhall, MSS 3736, 6482; Fuller l/b) and was presumably run by Harrison Bagshaw and Tapsell during the Seven Years’ War. Weale refers to it as ‘down’ in 1787 (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13) while Straker’s information was that abandonment took place in 1766, before conversion to a powder mill (Straker 1931a, 343). An ordnance trunnion mark of ‘B’ is associated with this furnace.

presumably relating to the 2km long leat from the Rother near Sedlescombe (ESRO, RYE/47/24/13). Peter Farnden acquired the Manor of Crowham in 1624 from the Cheney family (Dunkin 1914, 115) and operated the forge until his death in 1653 (ESRO, DUN 27/2, 5, 6; 46/2, 4). It was listed as working in 1653 and 1667, in the hands of Farnden’s nephew, also Peter, and lessees. John Denham had it in 1702, followed by Peter Gott from 1706. It then formed an outlying part of the (Foley) Forest Ironworks Partnership on a 7-year lease from 1710, managed by Thomas Hussey (Foley, E12/Pf5, no. 550; King 1995). In 1717 it produced 50 tons. It perhaps reverted to Samuel Gott’s possession by 1722, when he left the forge to his brothers (ESRO, DE 22), but in 1725 it and Beckley Furnace were being run in partnership by Mr [Maximilian?] Gott, William Rea and T. Hussey (Foley, E12/VI/DGd/10). It was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724. Output in 1736 was listed as to 40 tpa. In November 1743 the forge was included in the partnership between John Legas and William Harrison, with Beckley and Lamberhurst Furnaces (Sotheby’s sale catalogue, 6 Jun. 1966), the operations of which are detailed in the Harrison accounts (Guildhall, MS. 3736). Following the bankruptcy of Richard Tapsell in 1765, later tenants were John Standen, followed by Henry Bourne and partners (KHLC, U274 T54). The forge was out of use by 1787 (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13). Site Description: Bay: (pre-1980) L 110m H 1.90m. Confused at N end, with possible right-angle projection. Wide breaches by stream at centre and near S end (1980). It was all levelled SE of stream by Southern Water Authority, and spoil used to make up right bank of stream. Water system: Pond dry. Dry ditch running NE from near SE end of bay may indicate spillway or old stream course. Squared timbers (140 x 140mm to 225 x 225mm) occur lying horizontally in stream on either side of bay line. Possible pen pond SW of road at TQ 8120 1690. A leat takes water from the river Brede at Sedlescombe to supplement the pond (HAARG Jnl., 8 (Dec 1999), 10-15). Working area: Probably was indicated by irregular ground 27m SE of stream, where was scatter of forge cinder and roof tiles. Spread of charcoal near SE end of bay. Levelling of bay revealed stone wall foundation 62cm wide, starting 34m from stream on downstream side of bay line, extending 7.8m. Spoil from bay included complete sow 3.4m long (now at Crowham Manor), many forge bottoms, and scrap metal (casting risers, sheet lead etc.). Fragment of cannon previously dredged from stream. The cannon is in Anne of Cleves Museum, Lewes. ‘Forge Cottage’, now destroyed, was at TQ 8120 1710.

Site Description: Bay: Completely destroyed by later reservoir construction but probably ran across valley between reservoir dam and main road to S. Working area: In bay area is black soil, glassy slag and a bear just inside gate leading to road. In field opposite on S side of road, is also black soil, slag and clay moulds. Re-use: Powder mill. Sources Hodgkinson 1979; 2007; VCH Sussex ix, 168; ESRO, ELT/Brede; Crossley & Savile 1991, xxiii and nos. 188 345 429 719. Crowham Forge, Westfield

[17] TQ 8140 1720

Although this forge was not included in the 1574 lists it had in fact been planned in 1573 (ESRO, RYE/60/9 f.13), but was still to be erected in 1577 (ESRO, RYE/47/15/9). The London ironmongers Sir William and John Webb provided a great sum in c.1578 to William Relfe to finance ironmaking. The forge was continued by his widow Constance after his death, and John Webb (without his brother’s approval) continued to finance her, or rather her factor (subsequently husband) James Hobson. They were also involved in ironworks in the Taff valley in Glamorgan, which were also the subject of major litigation, due to Relfe dying insolvent (TNA, C 2/Eliz/H10/57). The presence of a finer in 1579 confirms that it was in operation by then. Straker (1931, 338-9) notes the complaint from Rye about the diversion of water by this forge in 1581,

Sources Padgham 1999; Hodgkinson 1997b; King 1995c; 2002c; ESRO, ELT/Westfield; Kamer & Bell 1982; Dunkin 1914, 115; for Relfe: cf. Rees 1968, 255-8; for Foley see chapter 30. Hodesdale Forge

[18] TQ 7480 1830

In his will of 1552, Sir William Fynche referred to his iron mill in the parishes of Battle and Mountfield (TNA, 30

Chapter 2: Weald PROB 11/36/122). The identification of Hodesdale with the ‘forge in Netherfield or thereabouts’ in 1574 has not been challenged. A watercourse, used for forty years, to a forge in Battle was in dispute between Sir Moile Finch and John Browne in 1591 (TNA, C 2/Eliz/F5/54). The forge was in use in 1634, operated by Richard Farnden (ESRO, DUN 49/19), and in 1653, and although listed as ruined in 1664 is named, as Woodsdale (Whodsell), in 1669 and 1678 (ESRO, ASH 4501/886; ASH 4501/1027), but in neither year is there any reference to it operating, and in the latter year is referred to as the old forge.

In the 1717 list it is shown producing 200 tons a year and it was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724. The furnace lies at the centre of the Fuller operations in the production of ordnance in the 18th century (in particular SAS-RF/15/1, 15/25-27). In 1787 it was recorded as casting 100 tons (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13). The furnace was last used in 1793. Site Description: Bay: L 150m on S side of stream; possibly a further 75m on N side (now destroyed). H 2.3m/3.3m Gap in centre recently enlarged. Water system: Pond dry. Furnace wheelpit probably at S end, where semicircular bank surrounds low area. E of this, possible culverted tail-race emerges to feed ditch along valley edge. Main pond is small, but tributary streams have pen ponds, and estate map of 1795 shows in addition 12 pen ponds on main stream. Existing pond at TQ 5940 1960 has a brick spillway of exceptionally fine workmanship. Working area: Furnace almost certainly at S end, where high ground provides loading platform served by hollow way. Burnt stones and clay occur just below turf in this area. Boring mill probably located to N, towards stream, where occurs rusted swarf and scraps of cannon mould. No evidence found of second boring mill further downstream. At TQ 5970 1860 small wooded quarry was traditionally a gun-proving site; part of cannon said to have been found here.

Site Description: Bay: L 250m H 2m/2.75m S-shaped. Large breach by stream at S end. Water system: Pond dry. Heavy timbers with mortice slots, in stream bed, may indicate wheelpit. Working area: At S end where there are forge bottoms and cinder. Charcoal in Eastland Wood. Iron plate (70x24x5cm) in stream. House at Woodsdale may be contemporary. Mountfield Furnace and Forge (Lyne Stream)

[19] TQ 7490 1960

This was a forge in 1548 (Straker 1931a, 114). That it was Richard Weekes’ furnace in the 1574 list is shown by Robertsbridge survey of 1567-70 (D’Elboux 1944, 159). In his will of 1578 Richard Weekes refers to his ‘new iron work or furnace and ponds called Lyne stream’ (TNA, PROB 11/60/298). The stream from the furnace is referred to in a deed of 1603 (ESRO, SAS-AN/362). Deeds of 1668, 1669 and 1676 (ESRO, ASH/4501/870, 886, 951) mention an old furnace.

Accounts Fuller a/c: ESRO, SAS-RF 15, various Letterbook Crossley & Savile 1991. Sources Blackman 1926; Salt 1966; 1968; Butler 1981; Saville thesis; 1983; Whittick 1997; Houghton & Hodgkinson 1990; Hodgkinson 1979, 13.

Site Description: Bay: L 125m H 3.5m/3m. Breached by stream at W end and farm track at E end. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Probably at far E end where hollow, surrounded by low circular bank, may indicate furnace site. Nearby is scatter of furnace lining, bricks, roof tiles and glassy slag. Forge possibly at W end where stream contains possible forge cinder.

Markly (Rushlake) Furnace

It is uncertain whether this furnace existed in the 16th century, for none of those listed in Warbleton parish in 1574 satisfactorily fit this site. Nevertheless, the four works in the parish in 1548 could well include Markly (Straker 1931a, 114). In 1617, Thomas Stolion mortgaged ‘Rushlake Furnace’ to Sir Thomas Pelham (BL, Add. Ch. 30920), the first convincing reference. Anthony Fowle of Newick mentions his stock of sows there in his will of 1647 (TNA, PROB 11/201/189). Straker noted purchases of pig iron from this furnace for the Pelham forges at Bivelham and Brightling in 1645 and 1655 respectively, but it was not included in the 1653 or 1664-7 lists.

Sources Straker 1931a, 114 326; D’Elboux 1944, 159. Westfield see Crowham Cuckmere Catchment The Cuckmere river drains part of the south side of the Weald, entering the sea east of Seaford. The catchment of the Ashbourne and other streams flowing into the Pevensey Levels are to the east and the Ouse catchment to the west. Heathfield Furnace

[21] TQ 6240 1830

Site Description: Bay: L 85m H 5m/4.5m. Breached by stream. Water system: Pond dry. Wheelpit and tailrace probably in present stream, where are timbers and a bear. Ponds further upstream fed leat to the corn mill downstream at TQ 6220 1800. Working area: Probably on E side of stream close to bay where are furnace lining, bricks and glassy slag.

[20] TQ 6001 1855

Although there are references to a furnace in Heathfield parish in the 16th and early 17th centuries (Cattell 1979, 167 and ESRO, SAS-RF/4/73), there is no link with this site. So far as is known, Heathfield furnace was a new development, built by the Fullers in 1693 (SAS-RF/4/11). 31

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Steel Forge, Warbleton

[22] TQ 6040 1700

about there, and some pieces of clay mould were found. Raw material for the furnace seems to have been brought along the bridle road from the W. Just E of the bridge over the weir, a ramp was built leading down from the top of the bay to the low ground below. The mill stream is now mainly dry but about 100 yards below the mill house its right bank is revetted with forge bottoms. Bay: L 155m H 1.6m/3m Carried bridle road. A ramp leads down towards working area. Water system: Pond reduced to swamp. Modern spillway at W end. Position of forge and furnace wheel-pit and tail-race probably obscured by those of later corn mill at E end. Working area: Probably in present mill house garden, where much charcoal occurs, and where was found the cannon boring bar now in Anne of Cleves Museum, Lewes (Butler and Tebbutt 1975, 3841). Recent excavations of crashed German aircraft in field immediately S of bay revealed much glassy slag and fragments of cannon mould. 100m down the mill tail-race the bank is revetted with forge bottoms. The interpretation of the site is discussed in Smith 2016.

This is a strong contender for inclusion among the four iron mills and furnaces in Warbleton of which the coastal towns complained in 1548. The identification with the ‘Warbleton Forge’ of 1574 and 1610 (ESRO, SAS-RF/4/73) is probable but not certain. The forge was purchased from Thomas Stollion, of Warbleton, by John Butten, of Laughton, who bequeathed it to his son, Edward in his will of 1630 (TNA, PROB 11/159/647). Lord Dacre was renting the forge from Butten between 1643 and 1649 (Essex RO, D/DL E22). He sublet to a Mr Choone [Chowne?] in 1644 but by 1649 was receiving rent from John Akehurst, of Cralle Furnace. The forge was in use in 1653, but was listed as ruined in 1664. The name Steel Forge was used about 1719, when charcoal was carried thence to Heathfield Furnace (ESRO, SAS RF15/26), but there is no reference in the 1717 list. Site Description: Bay: L 140m H 1.5m/2m very irregular and broken. Breached by stream at E end. Water system: Pond dry. Hollow at E end, from which dry ditch leads to stream, probably represents wheelpit and tail-race. Pond for Woodmans Furnace 550m upstream may have been used as pen pond (see Woodmans Furnace, Warbleton). Working area: At E end, where occur forge bottoms, cinder and charcoal.

Sources Butler & Tebbutt 1975; Parsons 1882, 30; Whittick 2002, 19. Waldron Furnace

The presence of an ‘alien’ working for Nicholas Pelham in 1543 suggests this furnace could have been in operation by that date (Awty 1984, 57). It was certainly in existence by c.1570, the tentative date given to the survey of woodlands in Framfield parish, which includes Waldron in the list of works within 3 miles (5km) (ESRO, SRL 13/1; Whittick 2002, 19). In 1574 it belonged to Sir John Pelham, leased to Thomas Stollyan. Straker notes their carriage of iron to Pevensey. The furnace and its woods are mentioned in Sir Thomas Pelham’s will of 1620 (ESRO, SAS/A106; TNA PROB 11/145/217). The operation of the furnace by the Pelhams is well documented from 1639 to 1715 apart from the years 1678-92 (BL, Add. MSS 33154-6), and the major source is supplemented by reference in the Fuller collection between 1625 and 1703 (ESRO, SAS-RF2/49, 57, 58, 109, 154). It is included in the 1653 and 1664/7 lists, and in 1717 cast 150 tons. In 1695 government shells were cast here by Sir John Pelham (TNA, WO 51/50, f 124v). By 1725, Thomas Hussey probably took over the furnace (cf. Brightling), and thus John Legas later operated the furnace principally for casting shot. The purchase of loam for this furnace, by Richard Tapsell, indicates that it was working until at least 1758 (ESRO, SAS-RF 16/V/19). It was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724. In the 17th century pig iron and shot, rather than ordnance, were cast, but from 1747 guns were made. The furnace was by this time run within the partnership which included Legas and Harrison (Guildhall, MSS 3736, 6482; ESRO, SAS-RF 15/25). The last date of operation is not known, but it is unlikely to have worked beyond the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763 or the bankruptcy of Richard Tapsell two years later; the furnace had been demolished by 1787 (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13). An ordnance trunnion mark of ‘W’ is associated with this furnace.

Sources Bedwin 1980, 96. Stream Furnace and Forge

[24] TQ 5660 1810

[23] TQ 5555 1550

This site began as a forge, the hammer at Chiddingly being included in the complaint of the coastal towns in 1548 (Straker 1931a, 114). John French had a hammer in c.1570, within three miles (5km) of woods in Framfield (ESRO, SRL/13/1; Whittick 2002, 19), and in 1574. The building of a furnace is suggested by the lease by Stephen French ‘forgemaster’ in 1597 of the ‘lower furnace, called ‘the New Furnace’ for twenty one years to Edward Montagu (BL, Add. Ch. 30132). In 1648 the pond was still called the ‘Forge Pond’ (ESRO, SAS-RF/5/26), yet a forge and a furnace are mentioned in 1653 and 1667. Thomas Dyke and John Fuller leased the forge and furnace in 1650 (Parsons 1882, 30). Guns were cast at Stream Furnace in 1692-3 (ESRO, SAS-RF/15/26). Use by the Fullers probably ceased in 1693 when they built Heathfield (q.v.). However, Sir Thomas Dyke cast guns and shot in 1696-8 (TNA, WO 51/53, 16 39 49 72; WO 51/56, 65 85). The furnace is marked on Budgen’s map of 1724 but had not been listed in 1717. Site Description: This site was last used as a corn mill, and since Straker’s time the pond has finally gone. The bay, along which a public bridle road runs, is 170 yards long, with a weir in good condition almost at its W. end. It is only 5 feet high on the upstream side and 10 feet on the downstream. The working area seems to have been at the E. end, where the present mill house and its garden are. There is plenty of black soil and black glassy slag 32

Chapter 2: Weald 1630 (KHLC, Q/SRp/1/m.1r A79-86), when pots were being cast, and 1645 (TNA, SP 16/507/122), when John Browne was casting ordnance. In 1646 it was visited and described by Sir James Hope (Marshall 1958, 14650). Henry Cruttenden was his partner (Foley E12/VI/ Bc/3). After John Browne’s death in 1651, Thomas Foley, Alexander Courthope, John Horsmondon, Herbert Springate and Edward Herbert became partners in 1655. In 1660, the works were assigned his lease to George Browne and Alexander Courthope (Foley, E12/VI/Bc/2). It was included in the 1653 list, but in 1664 there is a conflict between the list of that year which shows the furnace as ruined and stock accounts (KHLC, TR 1295/62, 68) which imply otherwise. A memorandum of 1666 notes guns cast at the furnace that year (ESRO, SAS-CO/1/717). Edward Herbert cast shot in 1673-4 (TNA, WO 51/15, 146 204) and occupied it in 1677 and probably 1683 (KHLC, U458/T1T2). He was probably followed by George Herbert, who made sakers in 1696 (TNA, WO 51/52, 64) and bought wood in 1703 (Chalklin 1965, 107). The furnace only is listed in 1717 (100 tpa), but John Ball was working a forge in 1724-8 (ESRO, SAS-RF 15/26-7). This forge is listed in 1736 (40 tpa) and 1761 (Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 9 Mar. 1761). Reference to William Bowen’s ‘iron and brass foundry’ at Tonbridge in 1771 seems to confirm the suspected existence of bronze casting at the site (Bingley’s Journal, 7-14 Dec. 1771). Bowen had a foundry at Marigold Steps, Southwark, probably from 1722 (q.v.) and had the furnace by 1729, when he bought refused guns from John Fuller. He had a contract to provide cast iron ballast in 1729 (TNA, ADM 106/2544, 8 Jan. 1728[9]; King 1995b) and cast guns regularly until 1770. It was demolished before 1787 (SML, Weale MSS).

Site Description: Bay: L 75m H 2.5m/2.5m. Downstream height may have been increased by recent removal of soil from recent pond to S. Breached by main stream at E and small stream at W ends. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Channel through E end stops short, suggesting wheelpit and culverted tail-race. Black soil in this area. At W end where stream cuts through bay are bricks (5cm thick), roof tiles, fragments of cannon mould and glassy slag. Accounts 1630-40 1656-7 1678-1715: Pelham a/c. Sources Hodgkinson 1979, 13; 2009; Awty 1984, 57; Whittick 2002, 19. Great Stour Catchment This catchment contains a single forge, which is an outlier of the Weald, near Ashford. Hothfield Forge

[25] TQ 9765 4445

There are references to forge workers in Hothfield parish registers from 1653 to 1661, and in contemporary marriage licences. In 1663 there was a claim of theft from the ‘Cluttery’ alias the ‘finery’, a house on Lord Thanet’s land in Hothfield (KHLC, Q/SB/9/21). The site is mentioned in the inventory of the property of John Tufton, 2nd Earl of Thanet following his death in 1664, which included a list of tools, 181 tons of bar iron and the names of bond debtors for iron (KHLC, U455 E2). In the marriage settlement of Nicholas Tufton, 3rd Earl of Thanet, to Elizabeth Boyle, daughter of Richard, Earl of Cork, the same year, is listed ‘all that messuage or tenement and forge in Hothfield now or late in the tenure or occupation of John Missing’ (KHLC, U48 T32). A reference to ‘Horsfeild nr Cissingherst’ in the list of 1667 may suggest a confusion between this site and the Hammer Mill at Biddenden (q.v.).

Accounts 1655-7: Foley, E12/Bf/22-23; inventories 1651 and 1655: E12/Bf/30-31. Site Description: Bay: L 140m H 2m/3m by present road and probably much altered. Water system: Pond now dry. Impossible to distinguish between original system and that of later corn mill. Working area: Obscured by later mill. Plentiful glassy slag, shelly limestone and red plaintiles with square peg holes in bank of mill-race.

Site Description: The site of the forge has not been positively identified, but indications on 18th and 19th century maps of parallel channels flowing from a residual pond on the site now known as ‘Waterfall’ make this the probable location. Sources Rivers & Russell 2007, Singleton 2013; Pettitt 1973, 3-4; Parsons 1882, 23.

Sources Hodgkinson thesis, 96-8; 1996b, 156; 1997b; 1998 Marshall (P.) 1958, 127-97; Houghton 1983; Brown 1993, 21; Chalklin 1965, 134-6.

Medway: Eden Catchment

Bournemill see Vauxhall

The river Eden is a tributary of the Medway, draining part of the Surrey Weald, then flowing into Kent to join the Medway near Penshurst.

Chiddingstone Forge or Bough Beech

Barden Furnace and Forge

[27] TQ 4770 4730

Small quantities of forge debris in the stream reported by Tebbutt in 1980 (WIRG unpub. site notes) offer the possibility that this site may be the forge referred to the 1589 list of Kent ironworks.

[26] TQ 5487 4249

The works was operated by David Willard in 1574 and certainly leased by Edmund and Abraham Willard from Thomas Smith in 1588-9, when ordnance was produced (Staffs RO, D 593/S/4/28/3, 16, 17). It was in use in 33

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Old Forge, Southborough

Site Description: Bay: L 30m. Breached by stream near centre. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway probably at W end.

David Willard built this forge in 1553 (TNA, C 66/874, m.27). Ten years later he was challenged by the copyholders of Southfrith for use of timber, and for building one more iron mill than permitted (TNA, REQ 2/285/39). This was one of the two forges worked by Willard in 1574. It is probably the forge mentioned in a dispute of 1610 which indicates that the tenant had been John Levett [of Salehurst] and then his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Michael Weston of Leigh (TNA, STAC 8/196/18). Leases from 1622 to 1678 include a furnace (KHLC, U38/T1-15; see Vauxhall), but for how much of this period they were capable of working is not clear, particularly as they do not appear in the lists of 1653 and 1664. There is a risk of confusing this forge with those at Postern (and perhaps Rats Castle).

Sources Hodgkinson 2004, 11; 2019a. Chiddingstone Furnace or Bough Beech

[28] TQ 4815 4760

The only references are for the years 1588-90. Thomas Willoughbie owned a furnace and forge in Chiddingstone parish. The furnace was let to Thomas Browne who, with his founder, Ephraim Arnold, cast ordnance (Staffs RO, D 593/S/4/22/3, 16, 17). Schubert (1948b, 245-6) is cited in KHLC, U1000/3/T5 in support of Willoughbie’s sale of land and furnaces to Browne in 1589. However, the probate inventory of Richard Streatfeild made 30th September 1601 includes an iron forge at Pilbeams and a furnace in Chiddingstone.

Site Description: Scatter of forge cinder; all other traces obliterated during construction of railway viaduct. Sources Chalklin 2004, 99-101.

Site Description: Bay: L 120m H 4m, pond dry. Water system: Present stream through centre of bay, possible channel at NW end. Working area: Slag on both sides of stream and in field to NW.

Vauxhall (Bournemill) Furnace

[31] TQ 5925 4402

The furnace was in operation by 1552, when the Duke of Northumberland contracted with Richard True, ironfounder, to blow ‘13 foundays and 2 days’. This arrangement was disputed by True (TNA, C 1/1387/53). At the end of 1552 the Duke leased Southfrith, with furnace and forge, for forty years to Sir George Harper and Thomas Culpepper, who were allowed to build another furnace and forge (BL, Harl. 85, H6; TNA, C 66/874, m.27). Thomas Culpepper died in 1558. In 1571 Alexander Culpepper (Thomas’s son) took the option of relinquishing the lease, the wood being virtually exhausted (TNA, E 178/1093). In 1574 David Willard worked for Sir Thomas Fane, at a furnace which appears to be Vauxhall: in 1588 Edmund and Abraham Willard worked Fane’s furnace in Tonbridge parish, near Southfrith, called Bournemill Furnace (Staffs RO, D 593/S/4/28/3, 16), but whether this was Vauxhall or a different furnace is discussed by Chalklin (2004, 101-2). Bournemill Furnace, and probably the forge at Southborough, the former owned by the Fanes, was let to John Levett of Salehurst, his widow (who was daughter of Michael Weston) continuing the tenancy. However, the furnace was out of use by 1615 (ESRO, DYK/557).

Sources Schubert 1948b; Hodgkinson 2004, 11 147. Crowhurst Forge, Surrey

[30] TQ 5940 4280

[29] TQ 4008 4694

Thomas Gaynesford, of Crowhurst Place, left his forge to his half-brother, Erasmus, placing it in the charge of his executor, Sir George Harper, in his will of 1551 (TNA, PROB 11/34/285). In 1553 Harper and William Ayloffe leased the forge to John Cole, Thomas Holloway, John Tychborne and Regnold Holmeden for seven years, with charcoal from lands Gaynesford had purchased from Sir John Gage in 1550, possibly indicating when the forge was built. Thomas Holloway’s will of 1558 suggests problems with Holmeden’s partnership (TNA, PROB 11/42A/528), and in an agreement of 1560 between Erasmus and Thomas Gaynesford’s daughter, Anne (later Forster), William Forder is listed as occupier of the forge (SHC, 2186/30/59). Forder was still in possession of Crowhurst Place in Erasmus Gaynesford’s will of 1581, but the forge is not mentioned (Webb 1999). It does not appear in the lists of 1574 and no further documented history is known, although the existence of Nicholas Gelke, an alien recorded in Crowhurst in 1576, suggests the forge may still have been working then.

Site Description: Bay: L 60m H 2.5m/2.5m. Breached by stream at W end where section shows height had been raised by slag. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway probably at W end. At E end dry tail-race joins stream. Working area: At E end is a levelled area 4m from bay and near tail-race.

Site Description: Likely site is former mill noted on map of Crowhurst manor in 1679 (SHC, 6960/1). Bay: L 40m. Water system: Pond in water, formerly fed by a leat, 1.37km long, from TQ 4010 4791, N of Caterfield Bridge. Working area: Small number of forge bottoms located under grass NE of pond and present stream.

Sources Chalklin 2004, 99-103; Jack 1982, 23-5. Warren (Hedgecourt) Furnace

[32] TQ 3477 3928

Sources Hodgkinson 2012a; Webb 1999. There are two distinct periods of use, both in association with Woodcock Hammer. For the first, from before 1567 34

Chapter 2: Weald until about 1627, the furnace was Gage property, let to John Fawkner and John French in 1567 and operated by John Thorpe in 1574 (ESRO, SAS-G 13/97, 35/15, 43/32, 45/16). The Thorpe family continued to occupy the furnace site, but in 1628 a particular of the manor stated that ‘the old furnace in Mylwood is now to be letten’, indicating that it was no longer in operation.

(Gazette and Daily Advertiser, 29 Oct. 1765). Francis Dorset of Woodcock Hammer was imprisoned for debt in 1776 (London Gazette, 11674, 7 – 11 Jun. 1776), probably marking its closure. It was certainly out of use by 1787 (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13). From 1800-16 it was a wiremill. Site Description: Bay: L 165m H pond in water/3m. Water system: Existing spillway at E end, wheelpit and tail-race all appear to relate to re-use of site. Working area: Scatter of forge cinder on bay. Re-use: Wire mill and corn mill.

As property of the Evelyn family, Edward Raby and Alexander Master cast iron ordnance here from 1758. Both were bankrupt in 1764, but in 1766 Raby recommenced casting in iron and probably bronze until his death in 1771 (Hodgkinson 1978a, 24-5, 1978b, 11-24). During this period, guns cast at Gravetye (q.v.) were brought to The Warren ‘with their heads on’, indicating that they were bored at the latter site. It may be the site occupied by Wright & Prickett in succession to Alexander Raby from 1772-4 (TNA, WO 47/81, f. 99r). In 1787 the Weale list noted its abandonment (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13).

Sources Hodgkinson 1979, 13; 1997b; King 2002c, 34. Medway: Kent Water and Cansiron Catchment The Kent Water rises near East Grinstead and flows eastwards becoming the northern boundary of Sussex, before joining the Medway to the west of Tunbridge Wells. Ashurst (Pilbeams) Forge

Site Description: Bay: L 80m H pond in water/5m. Recently restored. Water system: Spillway (restored c.1919) at W end. Stonework at E end, from which leads a culverted channel, probably indicates wheelpit and tailrace, though possibly for the corn mill later built on the site. Working area: Scatter of glassy slag, together with small amounts of coal and bronze slag. On E bank of spillway stream, c.30m from bay, flat metallic area may be remains of boring swarf.

The forge was first mentioned in 1574, owned by John Stace but worked by another, named only as Thomas (possibly Thomas Browne). In his will of 1590 Stace left his ‘yronworke’ to his brother, George, who, in 1592 leased ‘Pilbeams Forge’ to Richard Streatfeild (KHLC, U908/218). George Stace was involved in a dispute over delivery of iron at Tonbridge in 1597 (TNA, REQ 2/15/25). William Bassett had the forge in 1593 (TNA, STAC 5/B90/39; Awty 1989a, 33 8). The forge was still in the possession of Richard Streatfeild at his death in 1601 (KHLC, U908/T303/3).

Sources Hodgkinson 1978a; 1978b; 1979, 13; 2000; 2012b, 18-19 21; Hodgkinson & Houghton 1992. Woodcock Hammer

[33] TQ 5062 4040

[32a] TQ 3690 4190

Site Description: Bay: L 140m H irregular, 1-1.5m. Breached by Kent Water at N end and twice further S. Working area: Probably at N end where black soil occurs. Forge bottom and cinder in stream bed. An unexplained system of ponds, banks and channels occurs for 100m along the W bank of the mill (furnace) tail-race (TQ 5070 3910), where large quantities of forge cinder and forge bottoms occur.

Lingfield parish registers refer to ‘Swanne of the Hammer Mills’ in 1561. The forge was worked by John Thorpe in 1574, with Hedgecourt/Warren furnace. It appears in Gage leases between 1629 and 1738 (ESRO, SAS-G 33/69, 43/52 (with inventory), 54, 58, 109, 123, 144, 148). The forge was worked by the Thorpe family until 1654, when it was worked by James Littleton of Cowden (ESRO, SAS/G 33/69), then by John Newnham until 1664, when a lease was taken by Jeremy Johnson, of Charlwood, whose forge it was in 1717, the output then and in 1736 being 40 tons. Pig iron from Waldron furnace was being worked up 1698-1702 (BL, Add Ms 33,156). Thomas Stanford converted sows from Heathfield between 1729 and 1732 (ESRO, SAS-RF 15/27). He was still in occupation in 1738, but the forge was in the hands of Samuel Baker in 1743-4 (ESRO, SAS-G 43/52-70; 110-6; 123-8). His lease must have ended in 1747 when the forge was advertised to let (London Evening Post, 25 Aug 1747). The forge is included in a survey of land belonging to Edward Evelyn in 1748 (SAS Map Catalogue, p.7; Mercers’ Company Library). From 1758 to 1771 it was used by Edward Raby (Hodgkinson 1978a, 11), and then by Wright and Prickett. Nailing and slitting tools were included in the stock advertised for sale following Raby’s bankruptcy in 1765

Ashurst Furnace

[34] TQ 5070 3900

John Stace held the furnace as well as the forge in 1574. In 1588-90 Sir Walter Waller owned the furnace (Staffs RO, D 593/4/28/3 and 17), which was occupied by John Phillips of London. In 1599 Thomas Browne sold cannon at Ashurst Furnace (TNA, E 178/4143). Site Description: Bay: No remains, only possiblity being line of present main road. Water system: No identifiable remains. Working area: No remains. Glassy slag and black soil in garden of Mill Place (site of mill). Downstream at TQ 50703910 is small embanked pond (dry) with scatter of forge bottoms and cinder. Re-use: Corn mill on N side of road burnt down by 1934. Mill had dam and spillway across Medway upstream, with leat to small pond (under

35

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I present railway station) and thence under road. This system was possibly used for furnace. Bower Forge

Site Description: Bay: L 130m H 2.5/2m. Breached by stream at S end. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway probably at present stream. Working area: Tilt hammer shaft and wooden anvil base (now in Anne of Cleves Museum, Lewes) found during setting of present electricity pylon. Forge bottoms and cinder in stream. Much glassy slag at N end of bay.

[35] TQ 4410 3840

In his will of 1558, Hugh Bottinge of The Bower, left his son, Henry, ‘two tonnes of yron’ (TNA, PROB 11/48). The forge was working in 1653 but ruined by 1664. A conveyance of 1702 refers to the highway from Forest Row to Bower Forge, indicating that the forge building was probably still standing (WSRO, Add Mss 17169),

Sources Clark 1904, 286-9. Cowden [lower] Furnace

Site Description: Bay: (Farm Road): L 200m. Water system: Pond dry. Leat on N side of main stream from sluice 400m upstream. Working area: Cinder only found under farm road bridge; forge bottom at TQ 4420 3860. A 1788 copy of a 1641 map of the manor of Bower shows the hammer pond with two adjacent channels issuing from the north end of the pond bay, presumably the former wheel races (ESRO, AMS 6747/1). No re-use: But site much altered and confused by later ornamental ponds downstream. Site confirmed by house and field names: Hammerwood, Little Forge Meadow and Forge Meadow and Forge Meadow N and S of stream downstream of bay. Cansiron Forge

[37] TQ 4550 3990

Two furnaces, Scarlets and Cowden, lie from west to east within Cowden parish, on or close to the Kent Water. The list of 1590 (Staffs RO, D 593/S/4/28/17) suggests confusingly that there were three, described as ‘Scarlets’, ‘the Upper furnace in Cowden’ and ‘the furnace in Cowden’. However, references to the ‘upper’ furnace refer to Scarlets, and those to the ‘lower’ refer to Cowden. In 1574 Michael Weston had a furnace in Cowden where he had cast guns for six or seven years; this is more likely to have been Cowden than Scarlets in view of the site’s similar use fourteen years later. In 1588-90 Francis Johnson cast guns there for John Swaysland. In the 17th century John Browne worked at Cowden: 1638-43, he was partner of Henry Cruttenden (Foley, E12/VI/Bf/25); he is mentioned in 1651. There are accounts for 1651 and 1655 (E12/VI/Bf/22-23) and an inventory for the latter year (E12/VI/Bf/31). After John Browne’s death in 1651, Thomas Foley, Alexander Courthope, John Horsmondon, Herbert Springate and Edward Herbert became partners in 1655. In 1660, the works were assigned to George Browne and Alexander Courthope in 1660, clearly naming Cowden Furnace (E12/VI/Bc/2). They had equipment there in 1664 (KHLC, TR1295/62). Two Cowden furnaces, Scarlets and ‘the lower’ appear in the 1664 list. Scarlets was active, but ‘Cowden the Lower’ was ruined, which seems to conflict with the reference to Browne’s equipment, unless of course the Cowden furnace ascribed to Browne was really Scarlets. In 1692 government shot and shells were cast at Cowden for William Benge, although a 1695 reference to Scarlets being used for the same purpose suggests that the earlier date may relate to Scarlets also (TNA, WO 51/46, f. 171r; 50, f. 130v). Neither of the Cowden furnaces appears in the 1717 list, but a deed of 1742, whereby William Bowen, purchased the furnace from George and Susan Lewis, cites earlier deeds identifying this site as the ‘Lower’ furnace, and confirms that the property had remained in the hands of the Swaysland family until 1732 (KHLC, 1280 T2). The map of 1743 (KHLC, U650/P1) shows Cowden (lower) furnace complete and occupied by Bowen. He also had Barden Furnace and was a gun founder referred to in the Fuller correspondence between 1747 and 1764 (ESRO, SAS-RF 15/25, fos. 199, 206, 211 inter alia; Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 10 Sep.1764), The furnace probably closed on, or soon after, Bowen’s death in 1771 (TNA, PROB 11/973 f. 469), but he had stocked the furnace in 1768 (TNA, WO 47/72, p.235).

[36] TQ 4535 3818

In spite of the finds of furnace slag, the only references are to a forge. A survey of Duchy of Lancaster lands in 1563 mentions the forge, with adjacent lands belonging to William Bowyer (TNA, DL 42/112, f. 165 73). Michael Weston was in occupation in 1574. Straker notes that in 1578 it passed from William Bowyer to his daughter, Frances, who later married Sir George Rivers, of Chafford in Penshurst. In the following year Cansiron Forge is referred to on the boundary of Faulkenhurst (BL, Add. MSS 5681, f.220). In 1587 Richard Barton and Richard Manning of London leased the forge to Thomas Browne for eleven years but the lease was reassigned to Richard Streatfeild two years later (KHLC, U908/T461/2). Straker then notes Sackville Turner’s acquisition of the site in 1613, the sale to the Courthopes in 1627 and their sale in 1637 (ESRO, SAS-CO/1/101). In 1612, Sir George Courthope, of Whiligh in Ticehurst, had married Alice, the daughter of George and Frances Rivers (above). In 1639 it was acquired by Benjamin Tichborne and John Maynard who sold it again after two years. John, Lord Craven of Ryton was owner when he made his will in 1647, bequeathing the income from the manor and forge to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge to endow four scholarships. However, the estate was confiscated by the Commonwealth government until reclaimed by Lord Craven’s older brother and executor, William, later Earl of Craven, who sold it to trustees in 1664 (TNA, C 54/4105; Clark 1904, 286-9). Although working in 1653 and said to be ruined by 1664, the conveyance of that year implies the forge was still a going concern. Its further survival is suggested by a reference of 1700 to a road to Cansiron Forge (ESRO, FA 374).

36

Chapter 2: Weald Note: Early writers on the Cowden ironworks have attached much importance to the alleged ownership or occupation of one or other of the furnaces by the Tychborne family; no such connection has been established. An early castiron gun found at Furnace Mill, Cowden, in about 1850 now lies at Crippenden, former home of the Tychbornes. A ‘falconet’, it was a faulty casting, and may date from as early as the 1550s (Smith 1991, 36-7).

partner of Henry Cruttenden (Herefs RO, E12/VI/Bf/25); Browne is mentioned in 1651 and 1655 (E12/VI/Bc/3-4; E12/VI/Bf/22) and had equipment there in 1664 (KHLC, 1295/62). Scarlets was recorded as active in the list of 1664, making guns or shot in the Dutch wars, while the lower furnace was described as ruined, which seems to conflict with the reference to Browne’s equipment, unless of course the Cowden furnace ascribed to Browne was really Scarlets and the ‘lower’ was only so in relation to Scarlets. Mine left at Scarlet Furnace was delivered at Cowden ‘per agreement’ in 1655-7 (Foley, E12/VI/Bf/24). James Littleton of Cowden (John Browne’s son-in-law) could have had it. He owed money for wood and rent at Woodcock Forge, (ESRO, SAS-G 33/69 cf. KHLC, TR 1295/23). If so, this would have been where he cast shot for as subcontractor for George Browne in 1665 (TNA, WO 47/12, f.113) and supplied 190 tons shot in his own right in the following years (TNA, WO 51/7-9). In 1695 government shells were cast at Scarlets for William Benge (TNA, WO 51/50, f. 130v; Brown 1993, 28), suggesting that a 1692 reference to the same ‘at Cowden’ may relate to Scarlets also (TNA, WO 51/46, f. 171r; WO 51/50, f. 130v). In 1703, Leonard Gale married Richard Knight’s daughter; however, his presence in Cowden had been noted in 1686 so he may have been in possession of the furnace by then (Turner 1868, 114). Thomas James (son of Robert), who cast guns somewhere (probably here) in 1703-8, may have been a tenant (TNA, WO 47/22, 133; WO 51, 67-77). Neither Cowden Furnace appears in the 1717 list. This one had ceased working before Gale’s death in 1750.

Site Description: Bay: L 125m H pond in water/5m. Forms public road. Water system: Present spillway at N end, but map of 1743 (KHLC, U650/P1) shows spillway at S end, pond of 14 acres and sluices for two wheelpits with tailraces. Working area: The 1743 map shows furnace at N end and ‘boring house’ at S, with ‘workhouse’ between. A surviving building may be the latter. Also depicted is a ‘kiln’ to NE of furnace, possibly where ore was roasted or cannon moulds baked. Re-use: Cornmill. Sources Smith 1991, 36-7; Brown 1993, 25; Hodgkinson 1993, 9-10; 2004, 10; 2014a, 60. Prinkham Farm Forge

[38] TQ 4940 4090

Aliens in the 1560 subsidy for Somerden hundred, working for Andrew Firminger, are likely to have been at this forge (Awty 1984, 72), and Peter Russell, a hammerman, was also probably working there in 1563. The 1616 postmortem inquisition of John Courthope (SHC, 204/3/10) refers to his property called Forge Lands in Chiddingstone Cobham manor, leased from Lady Katherine Burgh of Starborough.

Site Description: Bay: L 70m H 1.5m/3m. When breached by flood in 1968 section showed original bank of clay, raised by soil containing glassy slag. Pond side was revetted by wall 0.6mm thick with lower courses of stone and upper of brick. Water system: Pond now in water (restored in 1977). Modern spillway at S end with bank protecting working area. The flood breach revealed two wooden tunnels through bay, with control gates, which may refer to later corn mill as may the wheelpit which they serve. Working area: No evidence for forge operation has been found (cf. Straker). Excavation near N end revealed furnace site, wheelpit and gun casting pit. (Adams 1976, 23; Crossley 1979, 239-49). Re-use: Corn mill.

Site Description: Bay: L 185m H 2m/2.6m. Only the portion S of Kent Water survives, with 3 gaps. Water system: Pond dry. N gap in bay indicates spillway; remaining 2 possibly wheelpits. Working area: Small amount of forge cinder. Sources Awty 1984, 72. Scarlets Furnace

[39] TQ 4429 4006

References to the Cowden Upper Furnace refer to Scarlets. Awty suggests that the furnace worked in Cowden in 1574 by Quintine/Quyntyn is Scarlets (TNA, SP 12/95/20 & 12/95/21; Awty 1984, 74). In 1588 John Knight occupied a furnace in Cowden making only sows. In 1590 Thomas Burre (possibly Burgh) was recorded as working the ‘Upper’ furnace, but Francis Johnson (not Knight as stated in Cleere & Crossley) entered into a bond as the occupier of Scarlets (Staffs RO, D 593/S/4/28/17). In 1618, John Knight left this furnace to his son Jonas (TNA, PROB 11/133/85); however, in 1633, the furnace was property of Richard Knight, John’s brother, who left it to his son, John (TNA, PROB 11/164/615). A 1641 map of John Knight’s estate shows the furnace pond, furnace and boring mill (ESRO, ACC 9638/1). In 1644 the furnace passed to his son, Richard, a minor (Attree 1912, 137), who later worked the furnace with Robert James. During this period John Browne worked at Cowden: from 1638-43 he was

Sources Crossley 1979; Hodgkinson 2004. Early writers on the Cowden ironworks have attached much importance to the alleged ownership or occupation of one or other of the furnaces by the Tychborne family; no such connection has been established. Medway: Medway Upper Catchment The river Medway rises at Turners Hill, east of Crawley, and passes through Forest Row and Hartfield. This section also includes ironworks on several tributaries joining it from Ashdown, classified by Straker as North Ashdown and East Ashdown. It also includes Postern Forge, which is below the confluences of the Eden and Kent Water. The 37

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I river Medway was anciently navigable upto Maidstone. This was extended in 1746 to Tonbridge.

Robert Sackville in 1602, but the forge was not mentioned (TNA, C 3/289/8).

Bassetts Furnace

Site Description: Bay: None surviving. Water system: Pond probably in dry hollow, downstream of which present stream has unnatural right angle bends. Working area: 10m downstream of junction with ditch coming in from NE are forge bottoms in stream bed and horisontal timbers in both banks at water level. Timber in N bank is large slotted baulk, possibly part of a hammer support. Re-use: Dry pond area has mound of brick kiln debris with 52mm thick (i.e. before mid-17th century) brick wasters, perhaps indicating early disuse of forge. Straker wrongly believed forge to be at site of later Brambletye Mill. Auction particulars of Brambletye estate (1831) show a 2-acre enclosure named Forge Mill Mead. (Inf. from P. Wood of Turner, Rudge and Turner, East Grinstead).

[40] TQ 4680 3740

The name presumably refers to William Bassett, who held Ashurst Forge in 1593, but this is unproved. Site Description: Bay: Existence uncertain; possibly on line of present road to Bassets Manor, at TQ 46703750. Water system: Possibly by long leat, but confused by that of later mill. Working area: Glassy slag occurs in S bank of stream under 0.75m of silt, and in grass field and shaws on S side. Re-use: Corn mill. Sources Herbert 1983; Awty 1989b, 37; Straker 1939, 531. Birchden Forge

[41] TQ 5330 3530 Sources Tebbutt 1982.

In his will, proved in 1524, Roger Machyn lists the iron mill of Birchden as his (TNA, PROB 11/21/19). John Baker leased the forge by 1553 (ESRO, WA3, fos. 186-7). In 1574 it belonged to Sir Walter Waller, but was sold to Michael Weston in 1579 (TNA, C 142/243/39; Attree, 237). In 1595 the Earl of Dorset bought the forge, his tenant in 1597 being Thomas Richardson (Straker 1933, 40). It was sold to John Baker in 1617. Richard Maynard was tenant in 1618 (ESRO, DYK/1011). In 1619 Richard Maynard left to his son-in-law, John Hatch, his half share with John Baker in Hamsell furnace and Birchden forge (TNA, PROB 11/133/663). The forge was operating in 1653 and 1667. John Browne built a boring mill near the forge in 1677 (ESRO, DYK/614). It is absent from the 1717 list, probably having closed upon Robert Baker’s bankruptcy, though papers record two iron mills at Birchden (the forge and Hamsell Furnace) in 1709 and 1719 (BL, Add. MSS 5681). The forge remained in the Baker family until 1737 (ibid.), but probably unused.

Cotchford Forge

References to this site being identified as Cruckford have been shown to be incorrect (Awty 2003, 21; see Worth). The forge is mentioned in 1579 in a survey of lands in Falkenhurst borough (ESRO, ASH 117a). A conveyance of 1627 refers to Sir John Shurley making the forge over to Nicholas Smith of London during the lifetime of his wife, Dorothy, the widow of Sir Henry Bowyer (Straker 251, citing C 54/2715). The Parliamentary Survey of 1656 valued the forge buildings, then Crown property in the farm of a Mr Pickering of Lewes, at £35 per year, but leased to James King and Richard Jones (TNA, E 317, Sussex/25), but it does not make it clear that the works were in operation. Site Description: Bay: L 55m H 1.5m/1.8m. Water system: Pond dry. Probably at N end where forge cinder and bottoms occur in stream. Working area: Glassy slag in stream is from road surface at N end of bridge. Charcoal and forge cinder also occur in wood N of stream.

Site Description: Bay: Road to Forge Farm L 155m H 75cm/2m. Overgrown stone tunnel at N end. Water system: Pond dry (weir is modern). Working area: Probably now occupied by house of later date; garden has black soil. Behind bay at N end is an iron forge plate, also round forge bottoms and slag.

Sources Awty 2003b; Daniel-Tyssen 1871, 293-4. Cowford Furnace

Sources Attree 1912, 237; Burchall 1983; London Gazette, 4421 (22 Mar. 1708); 4840 (26 Apr. 1711). Brambletye Forge

[43] TQ 4704 3386

[44] TQ 5590 3200

Built in 1562, it is shown in TNA, STAC 5/A2/25 that the builders William Relfe and Bartholomew Jeffrey were in dispute with Lord Abergavenny over a time-sharing agreement. The furnace does not appear in the 1574 list, and a reference of 1603 to the furnace does not suggest recent operation.

[42] TQ 4140 3500

The forge was built by 1562, when Thomas Lutman of Balcombe, who was in debt, leased it to Henry Bowyer, who paid six years rent to enable Lutman to discharge his obligations. The details were in dispute between Bowyer and Lutman in 1572, when the former still held the lease (TNA, C 3/24/65). By 1574 Drewe Pickhayes, who later had Crayford Mill (q.v.) owned the forge, which was leased to Robert Reynolds, who also worked Mill Place Furnace (TNA, C 3/289/8). Pickhayes sold Brambletye Manor to

Site Description: Bay: L 70m H 2.5m/3m. Breached by stream at E end and by field entrance near W end. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway and channel at W end. Wheelpit probably on site of present stream. Working area: Glassy slag in bay and stream banks. Sources Pullein 1928, 278. 38

Chapter 2: Weald Crowborough Forge or Grubsbars

[45] TQ 4989 3260

lease in 1644 (ESRO, AMS 5699/2). In 1653 and 1667, the forge was continued in hope of work. Pig iron from Waldron Furnace was being worked up in 1700-1 (BL, Add Ms 33156). The forge appears on the Budgen’s map of 1724. In 1717 the output was 30 tons, but it is absent from the list of 1736. It is possible that the tenancy was successively in the hands of Henry and Robert Weller of Frant. The former took pig iron from Waldron in 1700-1 (BL, Add. MSS 33156), the latter from Heathfield in 1723 (ESRO, SAS RF15/27). The Wellers are not known at any other local forge.

The alternative name of Grubsbars for this site is found in a Star Chamber case of 1593, when it was in the hands of William Bassett of Withyham, who probably worked it with Oldlands furnace. Site Description: Bay: L 120m H 2m/3m. Breached by stream 35m from original W end. 6m of W end destroyed. Gap 4m from E end, on W side of which bay projects to N. Section at stream breach shows that bay has twice been raised. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway at extreme E end of bay with dry ditch towards existing stream. Working area: In locality of stream breach. Preserved in stream bed immediately downstream of the bay is the circular wooden base of an anvil block with associated planking; just downstream near right-hand bank is an apparent iron plate. Small amount of forge cinder in stream.

Site Description: Bay: L 145m H 2m/2.4m. Breached by stream and farm track. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Lying along stream bed immediately downstream of bay is 5m length of timber, c.30 cm square, with mortice slots near each end. Timber of similar width can be seen in bank section, protruding at right angles; above it is layer of roof-tiles. These probably indicate the site of the wheelpit. Much forge cinder visible in stream and banks. ‘Forge Cottage’ may be contemporary.

Sources Awty 1989b; TNA, STAC 5/B90/39. Crowborough Warren [46] TQ 4960 3220 (also described as Withyham) Furnace

Sources Phillips 1985, 42; King 2002c, 32. Eridge Furnace

Straker (1931, 252) assumed that the ornamental lake at TQ 4960 3500 obliterated ‘Withyham’ furnace: however, as there is no evidence that there was ever a furnace there, the Crowborough Warren site is at least as likely to be John Baker’s furnace of 1574.

Lord Abergavenny owned this furnace in 1574, but a much earlier origin is possible. French workers appear in the Rotherfield parish registers in 1538, and Schubert suggested that they worked here. The agreement with Relfe and Jeffrey on the sharing of Cowford Furnace (q.v.) has been taken to indicate that Lord Abergavenny had his own workers and thus his own furnaces in 1562 (Schubert 1951, 241 and TNA, STAC 5/A2/25). In 1603 Court Rolls of the Manor of Rotherfield show there was a furnace in Eridge Park (Pullein 1928, 278).

Site Description: Straker incorrectly places this furnace at New Mill (TQ 4890 3090) but admits confusion with Withyham Furnace (see Sussex Record Society 39 (1933), xviii, and Wealden Iron, Ser.1, 12). Bay: L 115m H 4.5m/5.25m Breached by stream. A 55m extension at W end is of slighter construction and was probably made after the Ashdown Forest enclosure of 1696 to divert a stream from private land on to the forest. A dry ditch indicates the former course of the stream into the furnace pond. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway probably at W end of bay, from which runs a dry ditch banked for 65m to prevent flooding of working area. Working area: Furnace site still visible at E end, 35m downstream of bay on E side of strea, where courses of stone remain. Steep natural bank above this may have served as loading platform. The packhorse bridge at present spanning the stream where it breaches the bay is of later date, the bay being a bridleway.

Site Description: Bay (present): L 210m H pond in water/7.5m. Believed to have been raised and extended in 19th century. Water system: Overspill, previously at centre of bay, was moved to present position at S end in the 19th century. Several pen ponds upstream. Working area: No evidence, but small quantity of glassy slag on lower slope of bay. Sources Pullein 1928, 278; Schubert 1951, 241. Gravetye Furnace

Sources Straker 1931a, 252; 1933, xviii; Tebbutt 1977c, 2; Teesdale 1986, 36-7. Eridge Forge

[48] TQ 5640 3500

[49] TQ 3660 3420

Straker’s ascription to John Blacket in 1574 has not been substantiated (see Chittinglye Furnace). This was a late furnace, operated by William Clutton and James Norden, William Clutton being bankrupt in 1762 (Hodgkinson 1978, 24, citing Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 13 Dec. 1762). Guns were carried from Gravetye for Eade and Wilton in 1762, but in the following year Ralph Clutton and Samuel Durrant were the consignors. Eade and Wilton, who were ships’ chandlers at King Edwards Steps, Wapping and supplied shot to the Board of Ordnance from 1758, and ballast from 1755, later also ordnance (until 1780). As

[47] TQ 5600 3500

Included in the 1574 lists under Lord Abergavenny as his ‘forge in Waterdowne’ (TNA, SP 12/95/20, f.49r), it is possible but not certain that this was John (and William) Luck’s ‘new forge’ of 1636 (ESRO, QR/E/35/91) and of 1644 (ESRO, AMS 5699/1) near ‘Park Place’. Following John Luck’s bankruptcy Thomas Weller was assigned the 39

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Clutton does not appear in Ordnance records, they may have been subcontracting to him. Messrs Raby & Rogers operated this furnace in conjunction with Warren furnace (q.v.) from about 1766 until at least 1769 (Hodgkinson 1978b, 20-3). It was demolished by 1787 (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13).

had an air furnace somewhere (TNA, WO 47/46, p. 285; WO 47/51, p. 405). It was perhaps one of the furnaces used by Harrison, Bagshaw and Tapsell during the Seven Years’ War, but they undertook less work after 1760. It was demolished by 1787 (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13). Ordnance trunnion marks of ‘H’ and ‘HF’ are associated with this furnace.

Site Description: Bay: L 110m H 1.25m. Much damaged. Breached by stream at E end. Modern pond bay with pond in water 45m to S. Water system: Pond dry. Possible wheelpit at E end of bay, N of which Straker’s ‘sump hole’ may be part of the tail-race. Working area: Probably at E end, N of which is a small amount of glassy slag. (The bear at E garden entrance to Gravetye Manor is from Mill Place Furnace).

Site Description: Bay: L 73m H pond in water/2.4m. Water system: Spillway at NE end. Working area: Probably near NE end where glassy slag occurs in spillway stream. Obscured by modern landscaping. Sources Dalton 1983, Bell-Irving 1903, 117-9; Attree 1912, 14-5; Brown 1993, 25; Dunkin 1914, 42; London Gazette, 4421 (22 Mar. 1708); 4840 (26 Apr. 1711).

Sources Hodgkinson 1978b, 20-3; 1979, 13; 1989; thesis, 23; 1994d; 2008a, 18-21. For Eade & Wilton, see also TNA, ADM 106/3605, 4; 106/3606, f.128; 3607, f.137; WO 47/50-96, passim; Tomlinson 1976, 398; Kent’s Directory (various edns).

High Rocks Forge or Hungershall

This forge, held of Lord Abergavenny, by Roger Breecher, was transferred to James Ellis of Penshurst for six years in 1568 (TNA, C 3/197/22).

Grubsbar Forge see Crowborough Hamsell Furnace

[51] TQ 5570 3820

[50] TQ 5380 3440

Site Description: Bay: L 80m H 2m/2.5m. Breached by streams S of centre, by gap 8m N of stream, and by slight gap just S of stream. Projecting bank at S end protecting working area from spillway stream. Water system: Pond dry. Possible wheelpit at present stream; another possibly indicated by dry shallow ditch leading from low bay gap. Spillway and stream at S end. Pen pond (dry) 120m upstream, with bay L 60m H 2.5m/2.5m with spillway at N end. Working area: Probably in S part, where forge bottoms and cinder occur. Few pieces of cinder also at pen pond bay.

In his will of 1567 John Waller of Leigh referred to his ‘furnace named Hamsell Furnace now in the occupation of John Baker of Battle’ (TNA, PROB 11/50/322). Ralph Hogge’s complaint of 1573 shows Alexander Fermor to have been casting ordnance at Hamsell within the previous six or seven years (TNA, SP 12/95/15, 16). Fermor occupied Richard Waller’s furnace in 1574. Robert Baker owned Hamsell in 1583, John Baker in 1638 (Attree 1912, 15). In 1619 Richard Maynard left his son-in-law, John Hatch, his half share with John Baker in Hamsell Furnace and Birchden Forge (TNA, PROB 11/133/63). The furnace appears in the lists of 1653 and 1667; in 1664 John Baker sold metal, made for shot at Hamsell, to George Browne (KHLC, TR1295/73), and supplied over 220 tons in his own right in 1667 (TNA, WO 51/8). Robert Baker supplied over 130 tons in 1672-3 (TNA, WO 51/14, 149; WO 51/15, 146). John Baker leased the furnace to John Browne in 1677, for the casting of ordnance (ESRO, DYK/614). In 1692 government shells were cast here for William Benge (TNA, WO 51/47 f. 171r). Robert Baker was bankrupt in 1708. Straker cites an inventory of that year mentioned by Bell-Irving (1903, 177-9). The furnace does not appear in the 1717 list. References to Birchden Forge in 1709-37 (BL, Add. MSS 5681, f.452) include mention of a furnace, perhaps Hamsell, but both probably closed in 1708.

Sources Straker 1939, 531. Maynards Gate Furnace Maynards Gate Forge

[52] TQ 5390 2980 [53] TQ 5400 2980

It is probable but not certain that Anthony Fowle operated at Maynards Gate by 1562 (TNA, STAC 5/ A2/25, cited in Schubert 1957, 381). In 1574 Maynards Gate was a gun-founding furnace, owned and operated by Arthur Middleton but, in one version, owned by Lord Buckhurst. Edward Fyltness sold charcoal to Thomas Johnson, of Cowden, for Middleton at Maynards Gate in 1576 (Pullein 1928, 135-6). In 1647, Anthony Fowle of Newick, who had probably inherited the works from Middleton, his stepfather, left the furnace to his son Richard (TNA, PROB 11/201/189), who sold it to his half-brother, Nicholas Fowle, in 1652. It was operating in 1653, but ruined by 1664.

William Harrison purchased the manor of Birchden in 1739 (Dunkin 1914, 42) having occupied the furnace from the previous year, although it was not in production until 1742. It was used for casting ordnance between 1744 and 1750 (ESRO, SAS RF15/25, 28 Aug. 1744; Guildhall, MS 3736, 6482, 6482a). An air furnace was built there in 1745 (Guildhall, MS 6483). Harrison & Co offered to cast shot out of ‘melting iron’ in 1758, suggesting they

Furnace Site: Bay: L 70m H 1m/3.75m. Breached by stream. Gap at N end. Water system: Pond dry. Wheelpit at S end. Pen pond at TQ 5330 3020. Working area: At S end, where furnace and gun-casting pits were

40

Chapter 2: Weald revealed by rescue excavation in 1976 (Bedwin 1977-8, 163-78).

Abergavenny sold to Lambert Symart sufficient wood to make 20 loads of charcoal, but the same year the tenancy was taken by Humphrey Walker, the king’s gunfounder. He died in 1516. The furnace was leased to Thomas Boleyn in 1525 (TNA, DL 29/445/7160), after being untenanted since 1518 when the ‘farmer’ had been one Ewen. An account during the tenancy of William Nysell (TNA, E 32/197), probably of 1539, records costs and yields in an unsatisfactory form (Cleere & Crossley 1995, 146). It shows the furnace and forge to have been some distance apart. It also indicates that this furnace was very small, with only 160 tons’ annual production. A Duchy of Lancaster deposition shows that the furnace was decayed by 1539, and that it had been re-sited outside the forest at a place called the Stumlegh; presumably Stumblets (q.v.). The forge remained in good repair (TNA, DL 3/36/5). In 1574 Henry Bowyer had a royal furnace and forge in Ashdown Forest; in one version of the list this is identified as a double furnace at Newbridge. The last reference is in 1603 (TNA, DL 29/451/7250, 459/7420).

Forge site: Bay: As Maynards Gate Furnace, with dual use of pond. Water system: High above stream, on N side, a possible leat banked on stream side runs from near the level of the furnace bay downstream for 125m; the 35m nearest the bay have been destroyed. Leat ends abruptly above levelled area towards the stream, with indications of wheelpit and tail-race. Working area: Forge-type cinder occurs in stream, adjacent to and downstream from the levelled area; upstream of this point only furnace slag was found. Sources Bedwin 1978; Schubert 1951; 1957, 381; Pullein 1928, 135-6. Mill Place Furnace

[54] TQ 3740 3499

An owner of this land, Richard Amill, had allowed ore to be dug in 1565 (ESRO, A6/380). In 1574 Mills is described as owner of a furnace, leasing to Robert Reynolds (TNA, SP 12/95/79), who worked Brambletye Forge. Chancery proceedings show the furnace was in the hands of the Infield family, and later of Henry Faulconer, in the early 17th century (TNA, C 2/Chas I/I24/58). The furnace was in use in 1653, a travelling woman dying there in 1660 (East Grinstead register), but was discontinued by 1664, but then restocked. It does not appear in the 1717 list, but in 1763 Robert Knight carried 100 guns for Clutton and Durrant, assignees in the bankruptcy of William Clutton, who then owned Mill Place and operated Gravetye. It has not been established that Mill Place was in blast at this time (Hodgkinson 1978b, 18 and subsequent research).

Site Description: Bay: L 180m H 2m/3m. Breached by road and Newbridge Mill leat; partly removed W of road. E end has earthworks suggesting a possible spillway. W end forms a semicircle, part of which was probably designed to protect the working area from spillway flooding. Two gaps in the semi-circular portion may indicate inlets to wheelpits. Water system: Pond dry. Present restored spillway probably on original site. Two dry hollows within the semi-circular part of the bay, with dry ditches to main stream, may indicate wheelpits and tail-races. Working area: The semi-circular portion of the bay contains forge cinder and bloomery-type tap slag. N of destroyed length of bay, next to the road, is a scatter of glassy slag and charcoal. Large quantities of glassy slag are known to have been removed from small field to N, and considerable quantities were noted during the construction of a horse exercise manège in the field south of Moss Cottages.

Site Description: Bay: L c.100m H 0.5m/0.75m. Destroyed except for small portions at N and S ends. Breached by stream at S end. Signs of stone revetment along base of middle destroyed section. Water system: Pond dry. Silted ditch from near centre of bay to main stream may indicate spillway or tail-race. Working area formerly: Much glassy slag in present stream and on farm roads in vicinity. Apparent bear protrudes from road surface 75m E of bay. Large bear at E garden entrance to Gravetye Manor is from this site. Mill Place farm house may be contemporary. Since destroyed on becoming a vineyard.

Sources Awty 1991a. Parrock Furnace and Forge

Straker’s outline begins with John Warner who, during the reign of Henry VII, was supplying gunstones, possibly from this site, and references to the supply of iron ‘bowles’ [balls] for guns in 1491 seems to confirm this (TNA, E 404/80/318 and 331). Robert Scorer was lessee, supplying shot, in 1513. In his will of that year he left the lease to his brother, Richard, but in 1518 a lease of the manor and ironworks was granted to John Carill, and in about 1544 to Denise Bowyer. The Warner family, latterly Richard and then William, were owners until the sale to William Saunders in 1547. There were aliens at Parrock in 1544 (Westminster Abbey, WAM 12261). Disputes between Saunders and the then lessee, Bowyer, in about 1547-9 are recorded (TNA, STAC 2/24/422, 25/107, 27/30 and STAC 3/8/38: Mundy 1913, 61-2). In 1574 the furnace and forge were worked by George Bullen for Lord Buckhurst, who had in 1571 leased the works to John Garreway (ESRO,

Sources Hodgkinson 1994a; 1994b; 2001, 6-8. Newbridge Furnace and Forge

[56] TQ 4580 3570

[55] TQ 4560 3250

Finds of bloomery-type slag may suggest the use of this site prior to the establishment of the blast furnace in 1496. The ironworks was built in 1496 by Henry Fyner, a Southwark goldsmith. By the following year it was leased to Peter Roberts, a Frenchman also known as Graunt Pierre, but he was imprisoned for debt in 1498 and the leased passed to Pauncelett Symart. In 1512, Lord 41

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I SRL 7/3). Details of tenancies are contained in TNA, REQ 2/272/1 (1579) which states, however, that the tenancy had been given to John Wiken in 1571 by William Saunders, just before the latter’s death. In 1595 Thomas Johnson, the Crown gunfounder, was involved in a dispute over iron at Parrock (REQ 2/228/13). By this time Parrock was the property of William Garway and, by 1600, of John Garway. No references have been found subsequent to this, Straker’s final date.

Sources Crossley 1975c; Tebbutt 1977b, 9-13; Brown 1999, 36. Postern Forge

[58] TQ 6060 4620

This is liable to confusion with Rats Castle Forge and Old Forge, Southborough, but probably among the five ironworks operated by David Willard (TNA, REQ 2/285/39). Postern was constructed after the right to build a forge was leased to Sir George Harper and Thomas Culpepper in 1553 (TNA, E 178/1093; C 66/874, m.27). Sows were carried to the forge from Riverhall Furnace in 1600 (Cockburn, no. 1934). A Chancery case of 1622 shows that Walter Kipping of Tudeley had the lease, letting it to Robert Wenborne and others (Chalklin 2004, 103-4).

Site Description: Bay: L 70m H 1.5m/1.5m. Probably originally extended a further 80m to N and 120m to S. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway probably at present River Medway. One wheelpit may be indicated by a hollow 30m N of presents S end of bay (between bay and farm road) with ditch (tail-race?) under road to join River Medway. Ponds in valley to S may be pen ponds. Working area: Much forge cinder and bottoms occur near right bank of Medway in field immediately E of farm road, with small scatter of glassy slag. Excavation of the nearby 16th century pottery kiln in 1977 revealed an area where iron artefacts were manufactured (Freke 1979, 87).

Site Description: Bay: L 140m H 1.5m to 2.75m. Forms ‘Postern Lane’ Water system: Pond dry. Spillway at W end. Working area: Forge bottoms and cinder, and cannon balls found by owner of Postern Forge house, which is timberframed and probably contemporary. Sources Chalklin 2004, 103-4; Cockburn 1975, 384.

Sources Freke 1979, 13; Mundy 1913, 61-2; Dunkin 1915, 338; Jack 1981, 8-9; TNA, C 1/1484/14-19; C 78/19/29. Pippingford Furnace

Steel Forge, Hartfield

[57] TQ 4500 3160

[59] TQ 4500 3160

The Steel Forge was built in 1503 (TNA, DL 42/21 p.185), and is presumed to have used a variant of the bloomery process. In 1509 Claud Rombonson was granted a lease for forty years by the Crown (TNA, DL 29/455/7331). In 1512 Lord Abergavenny sold sufficient wood to the (unnamed) tenant of the mill to supply it with charcoal. Roger Machyn lists the Steel Forge in his will proved in 1524 (TNA, PROB 11/21/19). The forge, which the Crown let for 13s. 4d., was reported to be ruined in 1539 (TNA, DL 3/3615). References to lessees appear in Duchy of Lancaster accounts (TNA, DL 29/445/7153 et seq).

The first furnace was built very close to the site of the Steel Forge, on Steel Forge River. The Steel Forge pond, marked on a map of 1692 (SAS, Map Cat, p.7 accn 1398 stack 2/f) appears to be slightly upstream (north) of the furnace bay. No furnace is mentioned in a survey of 1693 (ESRO, Add. MSS 4084/4) but in 1696, when this part of Ashdown Forest was enclosed, a furnace had been built on land belonging to Alexander Staples and sold, with the manor of Duddleswell, to James Hooper and Francis Diggs (Tebbutt 1977b, 12-13). In 1717 Charles Hooper, James Hooper’s brother and executor, leased a furnace here to the slitting mill owner Charles Manning of Dartford (ESRO, Add. MSS 683). A gun with the trunnion mark CM has been found there. In 1705 he had supplied 35 tons of cannon to the Ordnance Board, these were paid for, despite initially being refused as overweight (TNA, WO 47/22, 205; Tomlinson 1976, 398; Brown 1999, 36), suggesting the 1717 lease was a renewal. He was allowed timber to repair the furnace. In 1723 some of Manning’s gun tackle was sold (ESRO, SAS-RF15/27, f.207). On Budgen’s map of 1724 ‘New Furnace’ is marked, but it is not known whether this had been ‘new’ in 1696, or whether the later furnace found on the site was thus known, and whether this was built in 1717. No ironworking is indicated on a map of 1738 (SAS, Map). In the 1717 list a furnace in Ashdown Forest is mentioned, but without an output figure.

In 1548 it was granted with ‘Stumlet’ Furnace to Thomas Gaveller and Francis Challenor (TNA, DL 29/447/7187), who appear to have sub-let to John Rowley. It presumably then became a finery forge. John Gage was granted the lordship in 1554 (ESRO, SAS-G/19/6), which he retransferred to the Crown in 1555 (ESRO, SAS-G/19/8), although the existing leases may not have been affected. The forge and furnace in Ashdown, marked as held by Henry Bowyer in 1574, are more likely to be Newbridge, as the Steel Forge may have been abandoned by then. The site was certainly waste by 1634 (KHLC, U269/E171). The reference to the Steel Forge in the 1658 Parliamentary Survey (TNA, E 317/Sussex/26) does not show if it was operating. Site Description: No surface indications have yet been recognized, but the position of the forge can be estimated from a map of 1692 (see under Pippingford) which shows the Steel Forge pond downstream from the confluence of the streams at TQ 4490 3120, and less precisely from a survey of the forest of 1539 (copy in possession of Ashdown

Site Description: Bay: L 125m H 3.5m. Breached by stream at E end. Water system: Pond dry. Working areas for two furnaces: see Crossley 1975b. 42

Chapter 2: Weald Forest Conservators, differing from TNA, E32/197) describing the forge as ‘standing on the brook at Newbridge in distance from the said iron mills [Newbridge] a space of two flight shots or more’. No sign of the Steel Forge or its dam were found when silt was removed in 1980 from the dry pond of Pippingford Furnace; it is possible that the latter may overlie the forge, although no such indications were found during excavation of the furnace.

until 1608 (will of Anthony, Viscount Montague, 1592: TNA, PROB 11/21/22 refers only to ‘my ironworks’; cf. Imbhams Furnace also), being tenanted by John Porter of Battle in 1574 and 1603 (Jack 1981, 10 citing TNA, E 112/127/249). Purchased by Stephen Barnham in 1608 (KHLC, U840/T5), it passed by marriage and inheritance to the Dobell family of Streat. It was acquired by Walter Covert and Samuel Gott in 1654 (Dunkin 1914, 29), Walter Dobell leasing the forge to Humphrey Tuckey in 1665. George Browne was tenant in 1654 (KHLC, U840/T5), acquiring the ownership in 1665 (Straker 1931a, 268), and being co-partner in 1668 with Alexander Courthope and others (ESRO, DYK/609, 611, KHLC, U609/T3). It is recorded as working in 1653 and 1667. A Private Act of Parliament of 1714 (13 Anne, c.20) enabled Ambrose, the son of George Browne, to sell the property, by which date it had ceased to operate.

Sources Cleere & Crossley 1995, 115; Daniel-Tyssen 1872, 269. Stone Furnace and Forge

[60] TQ 3819 3430

The 1574 reference to a furnace owned by Payne and operated by Duffield fits this site; as there is forge cinder, Duffield’s forge is also likely to have been here. Site Description: Site is now under W end of Weir Wood reservoir. Drought in 1973 permitted access. Bay: L 135m H 1m/1m (reservoir silting). Breached by stream near centre. Working area: Evidence for both furnace and forge. Heaps of glassy slag occur at N end; forge cinder and bottoms near centre and at southern end. Withyham Forge

Site Description: Bay: L 100m H pond in water/3m. Carries road to Bayham Abbey mansion. Water system: Spillway at S end. Working area: Converted to ornamental gardens, now derelict. Flowerbeds contain much forge cinder and some glassy slag. Cinder also occurs in N bank of stream.

[61] TQ 5000 3530 Sources Jack 1981, 9-10; Eeles 1947, 143-4l; Dunkin 1914, 9; cf. TNA, PROB 11/32/564; C 142/88/80.

Nothing has been discovered to add to the 1574 reference to John Baker’s forge at Withyham. See also Crowborough.

Bedgebury Forge Bedgebury Furnace

Site Description: Bay: L 85m H 2m/2.75m. Breached by stream near NE end. Water system: Pond dry. Remains of stone and brick wheelpit at NE end probably relate to later use. Working area: Small amount of forge cinder downstream. Present house at SW end of bay named as ‘Forge Cottage’ in early deeds. Re-use: Corn mill.

The furnace was owned by Sir Alexander Culpepper in 1574 and 1588, when it was operated by his son Anthony; the furnace was leased by Richard Ballard, who had transferred it to John Dunmoll or Dunnednoll, of Lamberhurst, by 1590 (Staffs RO, D 593/S/4/28/3, 17) with six years of the lease outstanding. According to a note of 1843 with ESRO, Courthope MSS 715, Peter Courthope purchased the furnace in 1613, John Browne was casting there in 1637, when there were complaints from Cranbrook about his consumption of wood (TNA, SP 16/363/55-6). George Browne was in partnership with the Foleys in 1657, when Alexander Courthope had become the owner (Foley, E12/Pf5, no.437). The list of 1667 notes it as having been discontinued before 1664 but re-stocked for the Second Dutch War; Courthope and Browne made an agreement in 1664 with Thomas Culpeper, John Rabson and Elias Blewett to cast guns (KHLC, TR1259/71), and guns were cast there in 1665 and 1673-7 (KHLC, TR1259/62; ESRO, Courthope MSS 715/7). All documentary sources refer only to a furnace, so that it is not clear when the forge operated.

Medway: Teise Catchment The river Teise drains a substantial part of the Weald of Kent. It joins the Medway at Yalding, between Maidstone and Tonbridge. This area is the most easterly section of the north side of the Weald. Bayham Forge

[63] TQ 7280 3590 [64] TQ 7390 3470

[62] TQ 6420 3660

William Wybarne was the tenant of the monastic forge in the 1520s (TNA, SC 12/18/60), and he is listed as having the farm of the forge in late 1526 in a valuation of the manors belonging to Cardinal College, Oxford (Christchurch Coll. Archives, DP/iv/b/1). A Mr Wybarne had ironworks with alien employees in 1544 (Westminster Abbey, WAM 12261) which are likely to have been at Bayham, where William Wybarne was living at his death in 1549. Ownership by the Lords Montague began in 1530 with the granting of the manor of Bayham to Lucy Lady Browne who bequeathed it to William FitzWilliam, Earl of Southampton, and his half-brother, Anthony Browne, the latter assuming full ownership in 1542. It remained in the hands of the family

Site Description: Furnace Bay: L 125m H 3m/4m. Breached by stream at SW end. Ramps at SW end and centre leading to working area. Working area: At NE end a scatter of bricks and tiles; top of 25cm x 25cm wooden post in situ. At SW end a brick floor of building 34m x

43

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I 15m, perhaps of later date. Nearby Furnace Farm house probably contemporary.

is almost certainly Frith in Hawkhurst (TNA, PROB 11/84/86), as there is a clear statement in 1588 that there was no furnace at Biddenden at that time. A Chancery bill was exhibited to establish a lease of property which included the forge, between Sir Richard Baker’s widow and Sir Stephen Thornhurst and his wife (TNA, C 2/ Eliz/B18/43). However, a furnace had been built by 1606 as, in the settlement following Sir Henry Baker’s marriage, there is a clear reference to both a furnace and forge in the property called Upper Betnam (KHLC, U24/ T278), in the occupation of Peter Courthope and Thomas Washer. The inquisition held on the death of Sir Henry in 1624 also makes reference to a furnace as well as a forge, by then in the hands of Thomas ‘Courthop’ (KHLC, U24/T425). A furnace in Biddenden or Sissinghurst was stocked in 1653 and 1664, and a forge at Horsfeild near Sissinghurst, which is presumably the Hammer Mill site, also worked in 1653 and 1667, although this may be evidence of confusion with the forge at Hothfield (q.v.). Working at this date, however, is confirmed by parish overseers’ assessments which record the tenants as Thomas Plummer, Robert Drayner and Alex Homesbe (KHLC, P26/12/1). However, the valuation for the stockin-trade declines until none is recorded in 1666. A nil return in 1674, when the tenants were replaced by the descendants of Sir John Baker presumably indicates abandonment.

Forge Bay: Bay: Mainly destroyed. Possible part survives as 22m long bank between disused railway and stream; faint signs of W end on road leading to Bedgebury Furnace. Present ‘Forge Farm’ house probably occupies remainder of bay and working area; has pond-like meadow to S. Remainder of bay and all cinder probably removed to construct nearby railway bank. Benhall Forge

[65] TQ 6080 3760

It was built by Roger Breecher prior to William Waller’s death in 1555 (ESRO, DYK/70). Waller’s grandson and heir, Sir Walter Waller, sold the farm of the forge to Richard Leeche in 1574 (ESRO, DYK/69-70), but Leeche appears to have already been working the site in the previous year (DYK/603). He refers to it in his will of 1596 (TNA, PROB 11/88/89), leaving it to his brother, William. Richard Woody was then working the site for Leeche. Straker (1931, 266-7) details the ownership through from Leeche’s brother, William, and nephew Richard Fogge. A reference of 1605 to a forge formerly in the occupation of John Saunders and then of William Wybarne probably refers to Benhall (ESRO, DYK/48), but the Wybarne connection may indicate Marriott’s Croft (q.v.). However Robert Wembourne leased the forge in 1618 for eleven years (TNA, C 2/JasI/M16/46). John Baker and Edward Honeywood’s purchase of the manor of Frant in 1634 gave them ownership of the works (DYK/72 & 224). Fogge’s son, Whittingham, conveyed the forge to William Dyke by 1634 (DYK/72), which was let to Henry Dyke and William Hendley in 1640 (DYK/990). It was leased to Foley, Courthope and others in 1652, with a schedule of the components and tools for one finery, chafery and hammer (Parsons 1882, 26); there was a further lease etc. in 1655 (DYK/609). There is a stock account of 1657 (Foley, E12/Pf5, no.437). Thomas Foley, Herbert Springate and Edward Herbert, assigned his lease to George Browne and Alexander Courthope in 1660 (Foley, E12/VI/Bc/2), but it was not in their 1668 partnership (DYK/611). A deed of 1671 refers to Benhall as formerly a forge (North Yorks. RO, ZAZ/70/9/17).

Site Description: Bay: L 220m; extension to S to Hammer Wood probably dates from construction of the corn mill in the late 18th century H (E end) 1.75m/2.5m. Water system: Pond dry. Straight channel used by former cornmill may have been the original spillway for the ironworks. Working area: Furnace site in angle of bay at E end. Depression here represents wheelpit, whence channel runs to stream. Scattered bricks, tiles, round forge bottoms, cinder, glassy furnace slag. Rectangular iron slab 1.25m x 75cm. Forge site is probably on the east side of the Hammer stream where a level area with a bank on the east side is adjacent to forge slag in the stream. Sources Hodgkinson 2004; 2014b. Breechers Forge or Marriotts Croft

Site Description: Bay: L 90m (present road) H 4m downstream. At NE end, bank L 35m at right angles separates river Teise from working areas. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Obscured by later mill. Forge cinder near mill wheelpit. Re-use: Corn mill. Biddenden Hammer Mill

[67] TQ 6270 3840

This forge is apt to be confused with Benhall and Melhill. A Mr Wybarne had ironworks with alien employees in 1544 (Westminster Abbey, WAM 12261) but these are more likely to have been at Bayham. It was probably his son, John, who is listed with Leeche in 1574, as holding two forges, named Breechers in Frant, both worked by Robert Woddy, but the likelihood is that Wybarne had Marriotts Croft and Leeche had Benhall (q.v.). Woddy signed the bond. An enigmatic paper (printed in Hodgkinson 2015b) suggests that this may at one stage have been a bloomery forge, rather than a finery forge. Straker names Roger Breecher as tenant in 1557, holding it from the Manor of Frant, and Galfridus/Jeffrey May in 1576, but Breecher’s descendants retained control

[66] TQ 8220 3830

Sir Richard Baker built this forge in 1570, and he was in dispute with the parishioners of Biddenden over damage to the new bridge over the overflow channel in 1583 (KHLC, P26/28/2). Baker was the owner in the lists of 1574 and 1588 (Staffs RO, D 593/S/4/28/13, 16), but the furnace mentioned in Sir Richard Baker’s will of 1591 44

Chapter 2: Weald until 1612. The forge is specifically named in 1589 in the hands of John Wybarne (ESRO, DYK/237); in 1602 when Edmund Willard was named as tenant (DYK/240); and in 1612 in the hands of Hugh Muddle (DYK/242). The forge in the hands of William Wybarne, but formerly of John Saunders, described as ‘lately decayed’ in a deed of 1605 (ESRO, DYK/40) is more likely to be Benhall. Straker names the tenants in 1614 and 1618 as Hugh and John Muddle, and found a reference of 1634 (KHLC, U840/M12, Synninglye Court Baron 1523-1656) to a place ‘where the iron mill lately stood’ (Straker 1931a, 265-6). This document notes that the forge ceased operation and was dismantled during the lifetime of John Muddle (d.1629).

shallow stream bed is hollowed-out wooden trough L 7m w 30cm, and further section L 4.5m (in line) possible trough for overshot wheel. Working area: Stream bed has much forge cinder and bottoms. On grass meadow downstream of bay molehills show black soil with bloomery tap slag. Chingley Forge

Excavations at the site of the post-medieval forge revealed the remains of a timber-framed wheel-pit dated from associated pottery to 1300-50. Other debris suggested a use probably connected with iron forging, rather than corn milling or cloth fulling. Payments of iron were due to the Abbot of Boxley, from Chingley manor, temp. Edward I, and there is clear evidence, from Ministers’ Accounts, of the existence of an ironworks on the demesne of the manor between 1340 and 1354.

Site Description: No sign of bay, water system or working area to be found. Some cinder in the path and field at TQ 6270 3870.

It was built after 1574 but before 1588, when Richard Ballard was tenant of Henry Darell (Staffs RO, D 593/5/4/28/3). Darell sold the property, including the forge, to Sir Edward Culpeper in 1589, who sold it on to Edmund Pelham of Catsfield, who already had an interest in the furnace, and James Thatcher (uncle of Culpeper), of Priesthawes in Westham, in 1595 (Loder 1907, 52-3). The overflowing of the pond is referred to in 1599 (ESRO, DYK/712). In 1628-9 pig iron was brought from Snape Furnace (ESRO, Q1/1, 15 Jan. 1628[9]), the wording implying that Alexander Thomas, who brought the pig from Snape, was also the lessee of Chingley; he certainly was in 1626 (TNA, E 367/90). By 1637 William Darell, part-owner of Scotney and Chingley, leased the forge to Henry Darell (TNA, SP 23/67/811). The highway and water course to the forge were mentioned in 1653 (ESRO, DYK/503). It was not mentioned in the lists of 1653 or 1664, but was in operation in 1717, producing 46 tons. It was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724. John Legas was tenant in 1726 (KHLC U409/T2), but the forge does not appear in the 1735 list.

Sources Eeles 1947, 155-7; Hodgkinson 2015b. Brenchley see Horsmonden Brinklaw see Henly Brookland Forge

[69] TQ 6820 3350

[68] TQ 6180 3490

Bloomery tap slag in a meadow downstream of the bay suggests possible use as a water-powered bloomery prior to long, well-documented occupation during the postmedieval period. The earliest reference, cited by Straker, is to John Barham’s purchase of Brookland and Verredge forges from Humphrey Lewknor in 1521 (KHLC, U840/T109). They remained in the Barham family until their abandonment. In 1544 aliens were employed by John Barham (Westminster Abbey, WAM 12261), and a case of 1552 shows him operating the two forges (TNA, C 1/1201/14). A furnace is mentioned in 1534 in connection with a murder, of which William Fownder alias Frengman of Wadhurst was accused (TNA, KB 9/529). In 1556 Barham was involved in a case regarding the supply of 92 tons of iron to Humfrey Collet of St. Saviours, Southwark (TNA, C 24/41 pt 1). In 1574 John Carpenter farmed Brinklaw/Brokelaw Forge (q.v.) from Thomas Gresham (see also Henly Furnace): the latter must have in turn leased from John Barham (1574 list), in whose will of 1583 (TNA, PROB 11/64/41) Brookland was left to his son. Abandonment lies between a lease to Thomas Saunders of 1610, and 1640, this being the first occasion when the forge was described as decayed (KHLC, U840/T109/5). A reference of 1636 (ESRO, DYK/497) does not state whether the works was in use, although as late as 1629 sows were brought there from Snape Furnace (ESRO, Q1/1, 15 Jan. 1628[9]).

Site Description: The site is now flooded by Bewl Reservoir. Previously to excavation: Bay: L 100m H barely discernible. Breached by stream at W end. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Cinder seen at head of tail-race before excavation. Sources Crossley 1975c; Loder 1907, 52. Chingley Furnace

[70] TQ 6850 3270

Built after 1558, the furnace supplied cast iron to Robertsbridge steel works in 1565 (KHLC, U1475 B4/1; Crossley 1975a, 207). In 1574 Thomas Darell owned Chingley Furnace, with Thomas Dyke as tenant. Dyke took a new lease for forty one years in 1579 which he assigned to Richard Ballard and his sons in 1597 (ESRO, DYK/607), contradicting the statement in 1588 when the furnace had been described as ‘fallen downe and utterlie decayed’ (Staffs RO, D 593/S/4/283).

Site Description: Bay: L 65m H 1.5m/long gentle slope. The length away from stream may be natural. Section at N bank of stream shows two periods of construction of equal height, turf line between. Water system: Pond dry. In 45

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Site Description: The site is now flooded by Bewl Reservoir. Previously to excavation: Bay: L 50m H 2.5/2.5m. Breached by stream towards S end. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Waterlogged, with furnace debris seen before excavation in angle between dam and northern hill-slope.

the site was sold in 1795, it had not been worked for eleven or twelve years (KHLC, U840 EB317; TNA, WO 47/100, p.550 592; WO 47/101, pp. 106 123 173; Brown 1994, 41 3). It is marked on a map of 1795 (KHLC, U120/P15), but William Collins only had a cottage and 10 acres in 1790 (ESRO, PAB 198). An ordnance trunnion mark of ‘G’ is associated with this furnace.

Sources as Chingley Forge. Dundle Forge

Site Description: Bay: No bay. Water system: Leat from River Teise near Hoathly Farm, culverted under Furnace Mill House and along (now dry) channel in Cherry Orchard Field (S of Furnace Mill House and W of road leading to it), ends at furnace site. Plentiful supply of water could have been made available for both forge (Lamberhurst, q.v.) and furnace by diverting the whole flow of River Teise if necessary. Working area: Furnace site probably indicated by glassy slag and roasted ore just inside gateway S of Cherry Orchard Field. Adjoining high ground would be convenient as loading platform and probably determined furnace position. No sign of wheelpit; tail race was probably culverted under road to join nearby forge tail race stream. No trace remains of boring house site and its curious linear feature shown on 1795 map. Boring wheel may have been on forge and furnace tailrace stream. Present Furnace Mill House believed to date from c.1722. Re-use: Corn mill built by 1795, where in 1811 John Prickett, a partner in the Falcon Foundry at Southwark, was a miller (Hants RO, 11M59/E2/15480).

[71] TQ 6290 3850

As Derondale forge, belonging to the Darrells, it was conveyed to Thomas Dyke in 1573 (ESRO, DYK/602-5) and listed under Dyke in 1574 and in 1588 (Staffs RO, D 593/5/4/28/3, part 1). There are no further references to the forge in operation, although the forge is mentioned in 1640, without the usual description of ancillary buildings and storage for charcoal etc. (DYK/990), and a ‘forge place’ in 1678 (DYK/961) implies a site, not continued operation. The iron mill described in 1605 as ‘lately decayed’, formerly in occupation of John Saunders, and then occupied by William Wybarne (DYK/48), is more likely to be Marriott’s Croft (q.v.). Site Description: Bay: L 150m. Now a public road, so probably modified. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Orchard area mentioned by Straker is now hard tennis courts. Apparent forge cinder can still be seen beneath bridge over River Teise.

Sources Hodgkinson & Dalton 1999, 55-6; Herbert 1992; 1993; Hodgkinson 2016c; Melling 1961, 94-101.

Sources Hodgkinson 2004, 8; Eeles 1947, 159. Gloucester Furnace Lamberhurst

[72] TQ 6615 3596

Henly (Brinklaw) Forge

[73] TQ 6007 3388

Identifying this site in Great Wood, Straker assumed this to be John Carpenter’s forge on Sir Thomas Gresham’s land, recorded as Brinklaw (or Bunklaw) and Brokeslaw in 1574 (but see also Brookland). There is no written evidence to dispute this, but the apparent absence of forge cinder must make the identification tentative. Cleere and Crossley list it as a furnace from the predominance of furnace slag. References to a Henly Lower Furnace properly relate to Riverhall Furnace (q.v.)

The furnace was built by William Benge in 1695 on land purchased the previous year (KHLC, U120/L1, P14, 15). Samuel Gott became owner soon after Benge’s 1702 bankruptcy. In 1717 it produced 200 tons, and its design was noted by Swedenborg in 1734. It takes its name from having been visited by Queen Anne’s son the Duke of Gloucester (d.1700). It was marked by Budgen on his map of 1724. Richard Jones cast the railings for St Paul’s Cathedral here (Straker 1931a, 207). John Legas leased the furnace in the early 1720s (Melling 1961, 95). In 1743, John Legas brought the furnace into the group of works run in partnership with William Harrison (Guildhall, MSS 3736, 6482; ESRO, SAS-RF 15/25, f.213v 214; Sotheby documents sale catalogue, 6 Jun. 1966). It was presumably one of the furnaces of Harrison, Bagshaw and Tapsell during the Seven Years’ War. A late 18th-century abstract of title shows the site to have been occupied by George Rumens, and later by Wright and Prickett (cf. Fernhurst), following the bankruptcy of Richard Tapsell (KHLC, U274 T54; TNA, WO 47/81 p.46). Wright and Prickett were still the occupants when the furnace was advertised for let in September 1781 (British Chronicle). William Collens and George Mathews leased the furnace in 1782 and may briefly have cast solid guns for the Board of Ordnance, until the order to stop in January 1783. When

Site Description: Bay: L 40m H 3m/4.5m. Breached by stream. Water system: Pond dry. Previous suggestions that this may be a pen pond for Riverhall Furnace (formerly erroneously identified as a lower Henly site) are mistaken (Herbert 1993). Working area: Flat area W of stream may be furnace site, with much glassy slag and no sign of forge cinder. There is a pen pond at TQ 5995 3400. Sources Hodgkinson 2016a; Herbert 1993; Eeles 1947, 148-9; Wealden Iron 39 (2019), 33.

46

Chapter 2: Weald Hoadly Forge see Lamberhurst Horsmonden Furnace or Brenchley or Serenden

Sources Brown 1993, 21; 2004; Barter Bailey 2000; Houghton 1983; Hodgkinson 1993, 8-9. [74] TQ 6950 4120 Lamberhurst (Hoadly) Forge

This was a gun-casting furnace through much of its existence. The date of construction is not known, but in 1564 it was occupied by Nicholas Leysand (Cockburn 1975, no. 123). In 1574, it was owned by Thomas Bartell or Brattle and worked by Mr. Ashburnham. In 1579 it was leased by Thomas and Henry Darrell to Thomas Dyke, Brattle retaining an interest (ESRO, DYK/606). The Brattles were scythesmiths (ESRO, DYK/606), and early use of the furnace may have been to provide the bar iron for that trade. In 1588 Brattle’s lessee is referred to as William Ashburnham, who in turn sub-let to the gun founder Thomas Johnson of Hartfield (Staffs RO, D 593/S/4/28/3, 16). Thomas Brattle’s grandson, John, inherited the property in 1591, his grandfather’s subsequent post-mortem inquisition in c.1600 mentioning his furnace and other property called Serenden (TNA, C 142/262/112). Johnson was gun-stone maker to the king (TNA, E 351/2629), but his use of the furnace was shortlived, as in about 1596 John Iden and Robert Pothill worked the furnace for Sir Thomas Waller (TNA, E 178/4143); in 1604 Thomas Browne had taken over operations (BL, Add MSS 34218). In 1625 John and Richard Porter sold the freehold of the furnace to John Browne citing the previous ownership of John Brattle (ESRO, SAS-CO/234). £1000 was spent rebuilding it in 1638 (Chalklin 1965, 137). Dyke let it to Thomas Foley, Alexander Courthope, and others in 1652 as an ironworks or forge formerly in the occupation of John Browne (ESRO, DYK/609; Parsons 1882). There is an inventory for 1655 (Foley, E12/VI/ Bf/31). All the partners except Courthope assigned their shares to George Browne in 1660 (Foley, E12/VI/Bc/2). In 1668, Browne, his son John, Courthope and William Dyke were partners (ESRO, DYK/611; Melling 1963, 102). The furnace is listed as working in 1667. The Brownes’ involvement lasted at least until 1677; during their use of the furnace it was as important as any ordnance works in the Weald, casting ‘brass’ (i.e. bronze) as well as iron ordnance (BL, Harl. 429/153, ESRO, DYK/611). In 1701, Elizabeth Taynton, granddaughter of John Browne, sold the ‘iron and brass furnaces’ at Horsmonden to William Benge (LMA, E/MW/C/208/1), from whom it passed to Peter Gott. His son, Samuel, sold it to Sir Thomas Roberts in 1714. The only later reference is to the boring mill at Horsmonden operated by the Harrison-Legas partnership. Rating assessments indicate this was in operation by 1732 (KHLC, P192/12/1), and still functioning in 1744 (LMA, CLC/B/111/Ms03736).

[75] TQ 6622 3617

Hoadly Forge was newly built by Alexander Collins in 1548 (Tawney and Power 1924 i, 237 8), he having acquired the manor from Sir Thomas Cawarden and his wife two years earlier (SHC, LM/346/24/1-2). It is referred to in the inquisition into Collins’s property (TNA C142/142/75). In 1574 it was owned by Stephen Collins, but in 1584 he sold the forge to Robert Filmer (KHLC, U120/T99). In 1614 Thomas Saunders and Thomas Ballard of Wadhurst were renting the forge from Sir Edward Filmer (KHLC, U120/ L1). Saunders’ lease was renewed in 1642 (Melling 1961, 95). It is listed as working in 1653 and 1667, and John Saunders was lessee in 1672. In 1691 William Haines was the tenant. It remained Filmer property until 1694 (KHLC, U120 L1; U120 C52/1), when it was bought by William Benge prior to the construction of Lamberhurst (Gloucester) Furnace. Site Description: Bay: Now a hedgerow. Water system: Former forge pond marked on 1795 map (KHLC, U120/ P15), fed from 800m leat, W half of which is present course of River Teise and remainder is dry. Working area: Forge slag and forge bottoms in River Teise adjacent to former spillway from pond in area marked as Upper Forge Field. A leat fed small pond from which culvert led to forge site (present disused corn mill). Tail race is culverted under road to present stream. Re-use: None: water was diverted to Gloucester Furnace. Sources Herbert 1993; Melling 1961, 94-7. Marriots Croft Forge see Breechers Melhill Forge

[76] TQ 6150 3810

Straker was cautious over ascribing references to forges in this valley to Melhill rather than Benhall (q.v.) However, references in 1630 and 1633 (ESRO, DYK/97 & 100) show that Whittingham Fogge had an iron mill and forge at Melhill, sold to William Dyke in the latter year. As Straker’s succession of 16th-century references to a forge culminate in its possession by the Fogges at the beginning of the 17th century, it is likely but not certain that the site’s existence can be taken back to 1567, when a forge was first mentioned (manor rolls of Frant, cited by Straker). Site Description: Slight undulations may represent siltedup pond and bay. Forge cinder scattered in main and side streams, but no clear nucleus.

Site Description: Bay: L 135m H pond in water/4m. Water system: Spillway at S end. Working area: Probably indicated by irregular ground and glassy slag at middle to S end. Bear in spillway stream. Finds are described in Smith 2017.

Sources Straker 1931a, 264-7; Eeles 1947, 153-5. Riverhall Forge

[77] TQ 6073 3353

Reference to ‘Mr William Fowle’s forge’ in 1636 is likely to be to this site (ESRO, QR 35, mm.93, 105). In 1648 47

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Riverhall had a forge (ESRO, QR 78/104). By 1664, the furnace and the forge were ruined, having been working in 1653.

NE end where there is concentration of glassy slag and charcoal. Sources Jack 1981, 9-10; Eeles 1947, 134.

Site Description: Bay: L 60m H 0.6m/2m. Traces of an extension across present road, curving N to divert tributary stream into pond. Near the centre a spur, probably the loading platform, protrudes N at right angles. Water system: Pond now dry. Difficult to determine owing to re-use as corn mill. Upstream are pen pond bays at TQ 6050 3330 and TQ 6060 3340. Working area: No signs of forge or furnace working at two pen ponds (cf. Straker). At the lowest bay, however, was much glassy slag, also forge bottoms and cinder. It is possible that the site of the forge was actually at about TQ 6069 3352, beneath the later extension to the pond that was constructed for the subsequent corn mill.

Verredge Forge

The sources for Verredge correspond closely with those for Brookland (q.v.). They are first mentioned in 1521, at a time when both are more likely to have been bloomery than finery forges. They were still Barham property when they went out of use in the mid-17th century (KHLC, U840/T109). They were not, however, leased out as a pair. In 1573-4, Christopher Darrell rented Verredge from John Barham (ESRO, DYK/603; also 1574 list), in contrast with Brookland which was held by John Carpenter via Thomas Gresham. In 1610, however, Thomas Saunders was tenant of both forges (KHLC, U840/T109/7). The final reference to this forge is in 1642 (U840/T109/1).

Sources Hodgkinson 2016; Phillips 1985, 42; Cockburn 1975, 384. Riverhall Furnace

Site Description: Bay: L 120m H 3m/3m. Forms present road. Water system: Pond dry. Present stream passes under bay (road) at S end before turning sharply N parallel to bay. Near N end it again turns E and is joined by tributary culverted under road. Working area: At N end, where stream turns E, is a mass of forge bottoms and cinder in stream bank and bed. In left bank are roofing tiles and 6cm thick bricks; in right bank are courses of laid stonework at water level. In stream bed is iron plate 1.3 x 0.55m.

[78] TQ 6011 3355

It was operated by Nicholas Fowle in 1562 (Schubert 1951, 242), and in 1573 and 1574 (TNA, SP 12/95/20, f.48r & 49r; SP 12/95/21, f.51), when it was noted that the furnace was entirely devoted to gun production. Sows were carried to Postern Forge in 1600 (Cockburn 1985, no.1934). By 1664, the furnace and the forge were ruined, having been working in 1653. Cleere and Crossley (1985 & 1995) erroneously identified this site as Henly Lower Furnace (Hodgkinson 2016).

Rother Catchment

Site Description: Bay: L 50m, plus probably 20m washed away by stream at N end. H 2m/3m. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Probably at S end where is a large bear and much glassy slag. Hollow may indicate wheelpit. Square metal plate from site is preserved at Earlye Farm. No sign of forge cinder.

The river Rother rises near Heathfield and Mayfield and flows east originally entering Romney Marsh. Drainage operations in the early modern period diverted its flow, so that its effluent is now (with the Brede and Tillingham) near Rye. Below Bodiam Bridge, it was navigable from (or by) the 14th century, and perhaps for smaller vessels even higher. Steel plates for Robertsbridge were landed in the 1560s at Bodiam or The Oak, perhaps a little further upstream (Crossley 1975, 15 142-5). Later the navigation was no doubt used for guns cast at Robertsbridge. Its use was specifically allowed in leases of Robertsbridge in the 1730s and 1740s (Whittick 1992, 52-3).

Sources Hodgkinson 2016; Tebbutt 1978; Berners Price 1993; Cockburn 1975, 384. Tollslye Furnace

[80] TQ 6210 3520

[79] TQ 6322 3712

John Porter of Lamberhurst had in 1603 paid Anthony, Viscount Montague, £320 for a lease of Bayham Forge and Tollesley Forge [sic] and all their buildings and equipment from 1605 for twenty-one years (TNA, E 112/127/249). The name ‘Furnace Wood’ appears to have replaced ‘Kingswood’, the latter appearing on a Bayham estate map of 1640, copying an original of 1599 (Eales 1947, 134). In 1634 Alexander Thomas was to deliver 10 tons of sows at ‘Tedye’ furnace (ESRO, DYK/1086). There are no references in the 1653 or 1664 lists.

Bivelham (Bibleham) Forge

[81] TQ 6410 2660

Possibly a Pelham forge in 1550 or before (Awty 1984: 24), Bivelham is noted as in the possession of William Pelham in 1561-2 (BL, Add. Ch. 31,234) and in 1567 the forge was included in a settlement by John Pelham (BL, Add. Ch. 29,744). The tenant in 1574 was Thomas Ellis. It was operated by Pelhams until c.1716, working up pig iron from Waldron Furnace (BL, Add. Ch. 29,745, Add. MSS 5679-85; Add. MSS 33144-6). It was listed in 1653 and 1667. It was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724 when it was in the hands of Thomas Hussey. William Harrison and John Legas used the forge 1741-5 (Guildhall, MSS 3736), with Legas continuing as lessee until his death in 1752.

Site Description: Bay: L c.120m H not recorded c.3m. Breached by stream at SW end. Water system: Pond dry. Tail-race may be indicated by line of ponds leading from NE end of bay to join stream. Working area: Probably at 48

Chapter 2: Weald Following the bankruptcy of Legas’ nephew by marriage Richard Tapsell in 1765, the forge was let to David Collins who rented it until at least 1792 (ESRO, GLY 2825-47). Pelham ownership came to an end in 1770 when it was sold to Richard Trevor, Bishop of Durham. Its output is listed as 30 tpa in 1787 (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13).

being party to the earlier deed, presumably as mortgagers. It was working in 1653, but ruined by 1664. The forge was apparently revived, as it was occupied by John Busbridge 1702-6; Henry Gorham 1707-9; John Gorham 1713-5; Mr Busbridge and Mr Gorham 1716-21; perhaps a tenant 1722-4; William Busbridge 1725-49; and John Snepp 1750-99, with a mill appearing in 1800. Mr Busbridge also appears at Etchingham, where he bought pig iron from the Fullers until 1732. However, the natural source of pig iron for this forge would be Robertsbridge. The forge is not listed in 1717 or 1735.

Site Description: Bay: L 98m H 1m/2m. Breached at S end; fades out near River Rother. Probability that left bank of Rother was also raised originally to form pond on N side. Water system: Pond dry. Long leat leaving Rother 500m upstream served pond; now flows through N end of bay to join ditch on S side of Newbridge Wood, flowing into Rother 600m downstream. Rother below bay may have been used for navigation. Working area: Deep hollow and platform behind bay just S of leat stream, another hollow N of it. Much forge cinder and bottom near bay at this end and from nearby ditch SW side of Newbridge Wood, where Tudor pewter spoon was found (now in Barbican House Museum, Lewes).

Site Description: Bay: L 90m H 0.5m, partly levelled. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Completely obscured by later corn mill. Large quantity forge cinder and bottoms in remains of bay SW of mill. Re-use: Corn mill, which appears to have been supplied by upstream leat to smaller mill pond, bypassing forge pond. Sources Vivian 1953, 114; Teesdale 1986, 34; King 2002c, 33, from ESRO, ELT & LT, Salehurst, Iridge.

Size Accounts show production of 60-80 tpa 1640-55; about 50 tpa 1655-78; 40-60 tpa in 1690-1703; but only 30-40 tpa in 1704-15 (Pelham a/c). Listed as 50 tpa in 1717; 40 tpa in 1736; and 30 tpa in 1787 (Weale)

Bungehurst Furnace Lower Bungehurst Furnace

Accounts Pelham a/c 1638-1715.

There are no certain references, it may have been operated by the Baker family, as in 1574 Sir Richard Baker had two furnaces in Heathfield and Warbleton.

Sources Hodgkinson 1979, 13; General Evening Post, 22 Dec. 1770.

Site Description: Bungehurst Furnace: Bay: L 48m H 2.5m/3m. Breached by stream and 1 dry gap. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: A gap has been formed in the middle of the bay and this probably represents the position of the sluice which fed the waterwheel of the furnace, as adjacent to this gap, on the downstream side, there is a mound of brick and slag debris which was, in all probability, the site of the furnace stack. The present course of the stream from the south flows towards the gap, but it veers south eastwards along the bay before breaking through at the extreme eastern end. The stream then traverses the site and continues to flow along what was probably the original tail race. The stream has broken through the bay where the former spillway may have been sited. Projected away from it along the length of the site, there is an embanked, man-made channel to remove overflowing water from the working area. This rejoins the stream about 75m to the north cast. This channel has been blocked at the south west end. The mound of debris that probably constitutes the remains of the furnace lies at the end of a raised bank which may have formed the charging bank. Near to the end of this bank and uphill from it, is a dense area of charcoal fines and pieces. The position of this area probably represents the location of the charcoal store. Although there is blast furnace slag in most parts of the site, the principal heap is located beside the embanked spillway channel, and this has extended sufficiently to cause the course of the present stream to bend round the heap. Straker’s description matches this site, but the location he gives is incorrect. Cleere & Crossley’s

Brightling Forge see Glaziers Broadhurst Furnace

[82] TQ 6310 2420

Awty (1984, 31) has suggested this may be the furnace at which Bartholomew Jeffrey was employing ‘alien’ ironworkers between 1549 and 1552. Site Description: Bay: L 55m H 4m/4m across steep narrow valley. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway stream from dip at E end of bay for 100m to stream. Pen pond bays (Straker) uncertain. Working area: Much glassy slag in stream and E side of valley. Trackway on terrace to E end of bay. Sources Awty 1984, 31; Hodgkinson 1997b. Bugsell Forge

[84] TQ 5992 2356 [85] TQ 6005 2407

[83] TQ 7233 2556

This forge was built in the lifetime of Joan Walsh (d.1559) (ESRO, A4/506), who leased to Hugh Collyer/ Collyn (Vivian 1953, 114; TNA, C 3/13/103). George May operated the works as a tenant in 1574. In 1611 Sir Robert Walsh sold the forge to Thomas Foxall and Edward Allen (ESRO, SAS-RF/9/63), only for them to transfer the property to John Busbridge in the following year (ESRO, SAS-RF9/63, 64), Busbridge, with Edward Heigham,

49

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I description and location do not match this site, but refer to another site further downstream (Lower Bungehurst, q.v.), no evidence of which appears to have survived.

forge in 1584 and received licence in 1596 to lease it for eight years to Robert Cruttenden. Cruttenden died at the end of the year (TNA, PROB 11/189/5) and Collins, his father-in-law, died in 1600, around which time the forge passed to Thomas Hepden (ESRO, D165/60). Throughout the 17th century it was known as ‘Collins Forge’. In 1661 John Hepden of Burwash sold the forge to Jeffrey Glyd of Dallington (ESRO, SAS-RF1/1); it was not in use in 1653 and 1667. By 1672, it was purchased by Thomas Western for his son, Samuel (ESRO, SAS-RF/1/12). John Fuller purchased Burwash forge from the Westerns in 1700 (ESRO SAS-RF1/19) and it remained Fuller property until their production ceased in 1803. From that year members of the Standen family may have continued to operate the forge until 1810.

Lower Bungehurst Furnace: Bay: This furnace site had a bay c.45 yards long, c.8 feet high on the upstream side and 12 feet on the downstream side. Below the bay there is much cinder and blast furnace slag both on the land and in the stream. The slag was mainly dark in colour and some of it unusually porous and light in weight. Samples were taken. At c.24 yards below the bay and 5 yards from the stream was found what appeared to be a circular laid stone foundation which may be the furnace site. Between it and the bay is a boggy hollow that suggests the site of the wheel pit. Field investigation in 2003 found no evidence of this site, landscape works suggesting that all evidence had been covered over.

Production was 40 tons in the 1717 list, a figure repeated in 1736, and 30 tons in 1787 (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13). From 1719 until 1741 there are many references in ESRO, SAS RF 15/26.

Sources Bell-Irving 1903, 176; MacLeod 1926, 224; Straker 1931a, 287; Houghton & Hodgkinson 2005. Burgh Wood Forge Kitchingham

[86] TQ 7170 2755

Site Description: Bay: L 65m H 1m/1.25m. Breached by stream at N end. S end now swamp. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Featureless. Scattered forge cinder in and behind bay and in stream. A line of dressed stone in the bed of the stream where it breaches the bay is likely to be the remains of the weir marked on the 1st ed. O.S. 25in. map. A former bay is visible from the air, 100m W of present one, supporting a smaller pond. Behind this is scatter of equal quantities forge cinder and glassy furnace slag.

In his will of 1542, John Fowle of Kechyngham, in Etchingham, left his iron mill to his daughter, Mildred. According to the resulting Inquisition Post Mortem, in 1543, the land on which the forge stood, was owned by Robert Tyrwhitt. By 1548 the property was in the hands of Goddard Bachelar, who had married Fowle’s daughter, Marion. By 1597 the property had become a possession of the May family of Pashley, although there is no evidence that the forge was working by that date.

Sources Hodgkinson 1979, 13; 1997b; Mees 2010; ESRO, ELT & LT, Burwash.

Site Description: Bay: L 100m H 2m/2.5m. Breached at E and W ends, and by stream. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway site and deeply scoured pit at W end. Spillway stream runs for 370m along W side of valley to where earthworks suggest possible mill. Working area: Black soil, forge cinder and bottom behind and in bay at E end where there is a slightly raised area. Shallow pits at W end may denote removal of cinder heaps.

Coushopley Furnace

The earliest reference is to John Barham as tenant from John a Lyghe for six and a half years from 1547 (TNA, C 1/1202/14.). In 1556 John Barham was supplying large quantities of iron to the London trade (TNA C 24/41 pt 1), but Barham made the furnace over to John Baker which suggests that Coushopley was the furnace in Mayfield parish operated by Baker in 1574. A reference to ‘Paylersfurnace’ in coroner’s records in 1592 (Hunniset 1996, 111) may relate to Coushopley, as John Cooper, alias Paler, was father-in-law to the elder Stephen Penkhurst, and a succession in ownership from Cooper to Penkhurst has already been established with Freshfield Forge, both works possibly being conveyed as part of a marriage settlement. It was in operation in 1611, referred to in a case of that year (ESRO, QR/E 11/7a.51). In 1651 Stephen Penkhurst and Thomas Sackville worked the furnace in copartnership, and in 1658 Elizabeth Penkhurst made it over to Ferdinando and John Marsham (ESRO, DYK/624-5, 781, 823, 957). It was listed as working in 1653 and 1664, with Richard Cumber and Thomas Sands noted as tenants in 1658 (ESRO, DYK/624, 625), but nothing further is known until 1692 when it (described as Cursey Platt or Combe Furnace) was still in Penkhurst hands but worked

Sources Attree 1912, 90-1; Dalton 1997; Hodgkinson 1997a, 6-8. Burwash (Collins) Forge

[88] TQ 6040 3020

[87] TQ 6630 2310

This was probably not the 15th century forge recorded in Burwash, the rent for which indicated it was more likely to have been a smithy. John Collins had the farm of the forge in 1523-4, only to be replaced the following year by David Harvy (ESRO, ASH 200A). However, Collins seems to have had the works thereafter, in conjunction with Socknersh Furnace. His son, also John, held the forge in 1574. It was in Pelham hands by 1589 (BL Add. MSS 33142, f.22). It was let to Thomas Hepden in 1589, but he assigned the lease to Robert Crottenden and John Pylcher, who had trouble over a way (TNA, C 2/Eliz/ C4/47). John Collins’s son, Henry, was admitted to the 50

Chapter 2: Weald by Peter Gott (ESRO, DYK/838), shot and shells being produced there for the government by William Benge, with whom Gott seems to have been operating (TNA, WO 51/46 f.171r). It was mortgaged to Robert Baker in the following year. In 1712 the site was described as a pothouse (ESRO, SAS/PN/77, 538, 540, 541, 544; SAS-AB 199) and in the occupation of the mortgagor (i.e. in hand) and previously of Garret Holloway. Coushopley appears in the 1717 list, without an output figure. The inclusion on Budgen’s 1724 map is probably anachronistic. It probably closed on Robert Baker’s bankruptcy in 1708 (cf. Crossley & Cleere 1995, 334).

but another, (SP 12/95/175), shows Glydd as Tyrwhitt’s tenant at a furnace in Mountfield parish, where Darwell lay. In 1588 Glydd was still tenant, but had probably sublet it with Etchingham Forge (TNA, REQ 2/68/50). Further confirmation of the location of Thomas Glydd’s tenancy appears in WSRO, EpII/5/3, which shows that he was cutting wood in Tyrwhitt’s Darvell wood in the parish of Battle in or about 1572. Tyrwhitt ownership came to an end in 1622, the property passing to Henry English and Thomas Lord, and remaining with English and then his son, also Henry, until the latter’s nephew and executor, another Henry, sold the manor to John Nicoll in 1698 (Dunkin 1915, 313; Dunkin papers, Sussex Arch. Soc. library, Lewes). This sale followed protracted litigation over the nephew’s attempts to redeem his uncle’s 1662 mortgage of Mountfield, during which Nicholl was in possession and advanced £1000 ‘towards setting up the furnace’, apparently let to William Benge (TNA, C 6/376/1; C 6/408/47). In 1695 government shells were cast here for William Benge (TNA, WO 51/50, f.130v). In 1717, output of the furnace was 150 tons and that of the forge 30 tons (Hulme 1929, 22). James Nicoll put the furnace and forge up for sale in 1732, possibly unsuccessfully (Hodgkinson 2012b, 15, 16).

Site Description: Bay: L 100m H 2.6m/3.4m. Contains much slag. Breached by stream near N end. Water system: Pond dry. First pen pond bay at TQ 6020 3030 (L 140m H 2.5m/3m) with overspill at N end. Further pen pond bays occur at TQ 6000 3040 and TQ 5970 3050. Working area: Probably at S end, from where large quantities of glassy slag have been removed. An old track leads to N. Isolated cottage (now demolished) at TQ 5990 3020. Sources Hunniset 1996, 111. Darfold Furnace [89] TQ 7010 2800 or Kitchingham or Burgham (?), in Etchingham

The Crowleys leased Darwell, with Ashburnham, from c.1739 until the peace in the early 1750s (Suffolk RO, HAI/ CD/2/3). In 1742 the works, including a clear reference to a forge, were advertised for sale (London Gazette, 14-18 Sep 1742). Purchase of the works was contemplated by Josias Wordsworth but not concluded (BL, Verelst Papers, Ms Eur F218/113/79). By 1787 it was in the hands of Mr Bourne but ‘entirely down’ (SML, MS 371/1). This is likely to be James Bourne who leased Robertsbridge Furnace and Forge in succession to John Churchill. Churchill’s projected output in 1757 was appreciably greater than the capacity of one furnace, so Bourne’s occupation of Darwell may have been in succession to Churchill’s (TNA, WO 47/49 p. 314). Trunnion marks on cannon appear to confirm this (Brown 1989, 326). An ordnance trunnion mark of ‘D’ is associated with this furnace; also with the letters IC opposite D, probably referring to John Churchill (Brown 1989).

There has been a good deal of confusion between Darfold and Darwell (Darvel) furnaces, both Straker and Schubert believing that 16th century references to a furnace indiscriminately spelt in either form referred to the site located close to Burgham Farm, probably now misleadingly known as Darfold. The proximity of the latter to Etchingham Forge, leased with the furnace, encouraged this interpretation. In fact, as indicated under Darvel (q.v.), the evidence is strongly in favour of this other site, in Mountfield parish. Thus the furnace at Darfold has no recorded history. Site Description: Bay: L 137m H 2.5m/2.5m. Breached by stream and farm track at S end. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Disturbed by poultry houses built on slightly irregular ground near centre of bay. Scatter of glassy slag; two large lumps of slag (bears?) in stream and one E of bay. Darvel Furnace and Forge or Darwell, in Mountfield

Site Description: (Submerged under Darwell Reservoir c. 1950. Information is from notes made before submergence and when exposed by drought 1973). Bay: L 137m H 5.5m. Breached by stream near N end, and by cart track c.25m S of stream. Built of clay, either side filled in with slag. (50m at S end remained above water level in 1981). Water system: Pond dry before 1950. Working area: Excavations by J.M. Baines 1949 revealed ‘line of masonry with furnace earth and slag’ between stream and cart track (notes in Hastings Museum). Also scatter of bricks 114 x 229 x 57mm. Bear and supposed sub-hearth iron plate 1219 x 610 x 127mm removed to Hastings Museum (Schubert 1957, 203n.1). Beswick noted ‘half circles of bricks 1m diameter at ground level near S end of bay’ Wealden Iron, Ser.1, 7 (1974), 27. A pond bay at TQ 7098 2058 was investigated by South Eastern Archaeological Services in 1999 as a

[90] TQ 7080 2070

In the 16th century a furnace variously spelt Darfold and Darvell was leased with Etchingham forge. A lease held by Joan Welshe, and formerly by her husband from 1540 was to be surrendered to Sir Robert Tyrwhitt in c.1545 (TNA, C 78/1/57). In 1568 Tyrwhitt let the forge and furnace (spelt Darvell) to Thomas Glydd (ESRO, Dunn 14/1, cf. Vivian 1953, 191). The contemporary Robertsbridge Survey refers to lands adjacent to Darfold or Derfold Furnace, the location being unquestionably the ‘Darwell’ site (D’Elboux 1944, 141-2). One version of the 1574 list spells Tyrwhitt’s furnace ‘Darfold’ (TNA, SP 12/95/149) 51

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I possible site of the forge but no conclusive evidence was found. Another possible use might have been a boring mill but again no conclusive evidence was found.

Furnace. It produced 50 tons in 1717 but was absent from the 1736 list. It was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724. Henry Jarman had it in 1702-18. John Busbridge bought pig iron from 1721 and probably had it until 1733 (ESRO, RF 15/27, f.205; Crossley & Saville 1991, no.46). The forge was leased to Sir Thomas Webster in 1733 (HEH BA vol 61). It probably worked in association with Beech Furnace which Webster also leased. ‘Forge land’ was occupied by the Squires family from 1755 to 1790, but the forge may have closed before that. A settlement of 1780 notes the previous occupancy of William Western (ESRO, AMS 1896), possibly long before.

Sources White 1976; Tebbutt 1980; Baines 1980; D’Elboux 1944, 141-2; Dunkin 1915, 313; Hodgkinson 2012b. TNA, E 101/674/39 is listed as referring to this ironworks, but is more likely to refer to Darvel Forest in Herefordshire, the delivery of wood being for Bringewood Ironworks. East Lymden Furnace

[91] TQ 6775 2907

The presence of Thomas Shoyswell as an employer of immigrant workers may suggest a role at this furnace. John Oxenbridge left 10 loads of wood out of his lands called Lymden in Ticehurst to his wife in 1597 (TNA, PROB 11/91/43), but no ironworks is mentioned.

Site Description: Bay: Semi-circular shape. Water system: Former pond bisected by railway; small pond survives north of railway line, but is dry to the south. Water was conveyed by 850m leat from River Rother, east of Crowhurst Bridge, flowing into (now dry) pond. Pen pond to south with channel to pond tail. Working area: On a confined site between the pond, river and tailrace, where there are forge bottoms.

Site Description: Bay: L 107m H 3m/4m. Breached at S end by stream and at N end by cart track. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway probably at S end in present stream. Working area: Probably at N end where mound E of bay may indicate loading platform. Small quantity of glassy slag in N bank of stream downstream from bay. The site remains were reinterpreted in Smith 2016.

Sources Vivian 1953, 191; Awty 1979; Jack 1981, 8; Herbert & Cornish 2012; Whittick 1992, 35 41; King 2002c, 32-3; ESRO, Rape of Hastings Architectural Survey, P15/L5; ELT /Etchingham.

Sources Cleere & Hemsley 1971; Awty 1984, 22 24.

Ewhurst Furnace

Etchingham Forge

Probably built by 1580 (ESRO, RYE 47/26/22), little more is known. John Levett, who acquired the manor of Bodiam in 1588, may be the ‘Mr Lyvitt’ at whose furnace Thomas Glydd had sows, mine, and coal in his will of 1590 (TNA, PROB 11/77/6). A letter, probably from Sir Nicholas Tufton, who had purchased the manor from Levett in 1623, mentions cinder from his iron works for improving the roads (ESRO, RYE 47/109). However, an isolated 17th century reference to a list of tools at Ewhurst Furnace in the Tufton MSS, (KHLC, U455/E1) in about 1664 may relate to Northiam furnace (q.v.), Tufton having sold the manor to Sir Nathaniel Powell in 1645. It was listed as working in 1653, discontinued but re-stocked in 1664. Lower’s list (Lower 1866, 15-16) cited two furnaces, Ewhurst and Northiam, while Parsons (Parsons 1882, 21-2) prints ‘Ewhurst at Norjam’. Lower’s version was considered faulty by Straker, who did not know of this furnace.

[92] TQ 7016 2667

A reference, of 1521, to John Ongerfield, hammersmith, of Etchingham may be a pointer to an early forge here (TNA, KB 9/486). This site was certainly in operation by 1540 (TNA, C 78/1/57); Sir Robert Tyrwhitt employed alien workers, probably here in 1544 (Westminster Abbey, WAM 12261). It was included in the complaint by coastal towns about timber shortage in 1548, and in 1568 was let by Sir Robert Tyrwhitt to Thomas Glydd with Darvell Furnace (q.v.) (ESRO, DUN 14/1, Vivian 1953:191). Tyrwhitt and Glydd were named owner and tenant in 1574. The forge is referred to in a rental of 1584 (ESRO, DUN 37/3). The last 16th century references are to a case involving Glydd in 1588: Thomas Glid sublet in c.1584 the forge to Henry Gardiner and two years later he assigned it to Thomas Hayes (TNA, REQ 2/68/50; 72/21). The forge was acquired by Sir George Strode of Westerham from George Duncombe and Thomas Howard, and descended to the Robinson Lytton family. It was occupied by Edward Heigham between 1628 and 1637; by widow Heigham in 1658; and Walter Heigham in 1662. It had been used in 1653 but was laid aside in 1664; however in 1693-4 hammers and anvils were bought from the Pelhams’ Waldron Furnace (BL, Add. MSS 33156). In 1691 Sir George Strode appointed Ralph Platt as his bailiff to look after the forge, but he gave up in 1696 (TNA, C 6/311/24). Strode reserved ways to his ironworks in leases in 1689 (Herts. RO, 46855-7). In 1699 John Nicoll, of Mountfield, had the forge (ESRO, AMS 1402; Herts RO, 46860), probably working it in association with Darwell

[93] TQ 8100 2480

Site Description: Bay: L 175m H 2m/2.5m. Breached by stream, 30m levelled at N end. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Main scatter of glassy slag is at S end, together with bricks and roof-tiles. Sources Tebbutt 1977; Parsons 1882, 21-2; Lower 1866, 15-16; Pook 1989.

52

Chapter 2: Weald Frith Furnace, Hawkhurst or Hernden

[94] TQ 7360 3250

Size It often made 120 tpa on 1639-50; 70 tpa in 1650s; 4060 tpa in 1660-79; but 40 tpa or less 1690-1715 (Pelham a/c). It is listed as making 40 tpa in 1717; 40 tpa in 1736.

This is the site of ‘Sir Richard Baker knyght occupier of the furnace at Hernden in Kent’ (Staffs RO, D 593/5/4/28/17), Baker’s forge at Sissinghurst (Biddenden, q.v.) being specifically stated to have had no furnace at the time (Staffs RO, D 593/4/28/3). This document states that Baker’s furnace was about 4 miles (6.5km) from his home (at Sissinghurst), however the approximate distance to Frith is nearer 10km. Even so, Baker’s will of 1591 (TNA, PROB 11/84/86) is worded in a way which does not exclude Sissinghurst as a site for his furnace. A lease of 1628 (ESRO, DAN 1697) of a farm at Hernden in Hawkhurst refers to the old furnace there, implying that it was no longer operational.

Accounts Pelham a/c 1638-1715. Sources Hodgkinson 1979, 13; thesis, 110; 1997b; King 2002c, 32; ESRO, ASH 1640-60 (rentals). Hawkhurst [96] TQ 7740 3130 or Wenebridge Forge and Furnace Straker’s view that this site belonged to Richard Baker in 1574 is hard to support, his furnace probably being at Frith (q.v.). In 1579 Stephen and Agnes Atkyns conveyed Wenebridge Forge, Hawkhurst, to Francis Culpepper (ESRO, DAN 1550). ‘The Wents’ is a name still in use c.2km to the north of this site. The Danny collection (ESRO, DAN 1551-2, 1560, 144, 146) contains references through to 1667: a new channel to the forge pond was dug from Hooke Farm in 1607, and in 1615 the works were bought by Peter Courthope. A furnace on the site may be indicated by the presence in Hawkhurst of a pot founder in 1631 (Cowper 1894, 638), although the first definite reference to a furnace is in 1644 (DAN 144) and by 1657 it was being used by the partnership of Foley, Courthope, and others (Foley, E12/Pf5, no. 437). In 1660 it was assigned to George Browne and Alexander Courthope (Foley, E12/VI/Bc/2), and in 1664 there is an inventory of Browne’s goods at the furnace and the forge (KHLC, TR1295/62). The 1664 list confirms that the furnace was stocked, though it had been out of use. In 1665 this site had been brought back into use by George Browne (TNA, WO 47/7, f. 77v). In 1668 John Browne entered the partnership (KHLC, U1500/A17 and U609/T/3). In 1692 government shells were cast here for William Benge (TNA, WO 51/47 f. 171r). The furnace is included in the 1717 list without an output figure (Hulme 1929, 21), and rate books from 1714, still under Courthope ownership, show that it was last assessed with any value in 1721 (KHLC, P178/5/8-9). The corn mill is shown in a map of 1779 (KHLC, U814/P14).

Site Description: Bay: L 100m H 3m/3.5m. Used as farm road. Near S end a bank projecting E was probably a loading platform, and separates the working area from a deep pit. Water system: Pond dry. Small stream passes through stone culvert under bay to the former wheelpit. Here a timber baulk, 30cm x 30cm with mortice holes, lies across the stream and just E of this are 2 vertical posts 18cm x 18cm, all below water level. Working area: At furnace site, below loading platform, many bricks lie just below the surface. Glazier’s (Brightling) Forge

[95] TQ 6510 2130

In 1548 Thomas Glasier left 6s.8d. to ‘every one of the workmen’ of his forge (TNA, PROB 11/32/29). His sons were in dispute with Nicholas Pelham over water rights for his forge and about a furnace a little after that (TNA, C 1/1225/11 – partly illegible). In the 1574 list Thomas Stollyon worked the forge for Sir John Pelham. Throughout the 17th century the Pelhams operated Brightling and Bivelham Forges using pig iron from Waldron Furnace (BL, Add. MSS, 33154-6). Brightling was listed in 1653 and 1667. It was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724 when it was operated by Thomas Hussey, who had probably had it since 1717. John Legas’s accounts of 1741-6 provide details of operation during his tenancy, and partnership with William Harrison (Guildhall, MSS 3736). Richard Tapsell succeeded to Legas’s tenancy until his bankruptcy in 1765. Thomas Willis was tenant from 1768, purchasing iron from the Fullers (Hodgkinson 1993, 110). The Earl of Ashburnham leased it to James Bourne in 1785 for seven years (ESRO, ASH A192), but Weale shows the forge as abandoned in 1787 (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13), though Bourne paid rent in 1788.

Site Description: Bay: L 95m plus an unknown length at N end destroyed in building Furnace Farm. H 1.5m/ nil (completely silted up by later corn mill pond). Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Furnace; probably on site of present Furnace Farm, where there is a scatter of glassy slag. Forge: Probably at S end where large quantities of forge cinder and bottoms occur near present Forge Mill House (converted from later corn mill). Reuse: Corn mill at S end, working up to 1914; this had 500m long leat from upstream, along S side of furnace pond, to mill pond contained on its W side by furnace pond bay. (See Ellenden and Furnace Farm map 1779: KHLC U814/P14).

Site Description: Bay (Road): L 55m H 1.25m/3m. Revetted in stone on downstream side. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Lawn between (probably ironmaster’s) house and stream made up to some depth with forge cinder. Many forge bottoms in stream, also glassy furnace slag supporting Straker’s belief in furnace here also. Mould for 14cm cannon balls preserved at Glaziers Farm. This is about 5.5 inches, about the diameter of a 24lb ball (Lavery 1983-4 ii, 148).

Sources Brown 1993; Cowper 1894, 638; Houghton 1983.

53

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Hawksden Forge and Furnace

[97] TQ 6230 2660

Hernden Furnace see Frith

If, as Awty (1984, 29-31) suggests, the subsidy rolls show French workers employed by Anthony Pelham from 1549 to 1551 were at Hawksden, it was probably under a tenancy, the Morleys having already acquired the property through marriage. Hawksden Forge was Morley property in the 16th century (ESRO, GLY 1225-1231; BL. MSS 5679, 5682), the date of the first reference being 1554 (GLY 102 and TNA, C 142/124/160). In his will of 1559 Thomas Morley of Glynde referred to his ‘iron mill and furnace at Mayfield’ (TNA, PROB 11/42B/34). In the 1574 list no Morley is mentioned and, of the two occupiers of forges at Mayfield, Richard Greene is more likely to have been leasing Hawksden for the other, Isted, is said in one version of the 1574 list to have worked his own forge (see Moat Mill). Two years earlier, Thomas Greane, presumably a kinsman of Richard Green, was noted as employing aliens in the same part of Hawksborough Hundred. By 1593 the site included a furnace (GLY 1225), but not in 1603 (GLY 1277) or in successive leases (some with inventories); in 1651 (GLY 1229) and 1727 (GLY 1234). It is, however, listed as working in 1653 and 1667. In 1651, Nathaniel Powell leased the site from Herbert Morley (Gardner & Whittick 2008, lvi). Thomas Sands and his descendants, as tenants by this time of the Trevors, obtained pig iron from Waldron furnace between 1699 and 1704 (BL, Add. MSS 33156) and from Heathfield in the years 1720-5 (ESRO, SAS-RF15/27). They were tenants between 1702 and 1719 (GLY 2784), and it was making 40 tons of bar in 1717 (listed as ‘Mayfield Sands’), a figure repeated in 1736. It was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724. In 1727 the forge was leased to Thomas Hussey and John Legas, in 1741 becoming part of the Legas Harrison partnership, which operated the forge until Richard Tapsell’s bankruptcy in 1765, when it was taken on by Samuel Baker until 1776 (ESRO, GLY 1234; Hodgkinson 1993b: 95). The forge was demolished before 1787 (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13).

Iridge Furnace

Site Description: Bay: L 88m H 2.3m/1.5m. Breached by stream near N end. (Recent cutting into bay N of stream has revealed successive additions to height; the first of blast furnace slag, then clay, and finally of forge cinder). Water system: Pond dry. Wheelpit and tail-race probably on site of present stream. Long marshy pond at S end, probably site of spillway, has culvert leading to it under S end of bay. Working area: At N end, where is much forge cinder. Area has been raised by metalled farm road. The associated timber-framed house is probably contemporary.

Iron Plat see Queenstock

[98] TQ 7490 2770

This furnace was projected in 1575 (Vivian 1953, 115) when Thomas Walsh sold to John Wilgose a strip of land in Bexhurst, which Wilgose intended to use for water supply for his proposed furnace, and in a Star Chamber case concerning the misdemeanours of his workmen, John Wildgose stated that he built his furnace about Whitsuntide 1584 (TNA, STAC 5/W2/1). The furnace and a watercourse are referred to in 1607 (TNA C 142/292/162). In 1613 (not 1654 as stated in Cleere & Crossley 1995, 339) a furnace in Salehurst was included in a settlement made by Sir John Wildgose on the marriage of his son Annesley (ESRO, DUN 48/3), although the estate passed to Sir Annesley’s son, Robert, Sir Annesley predeceasing his father. A map of the Iridge Estate dated 1637 shows the site of the furnace and the extensive system of ponds feeding it, but does not confirm that it was working at that time (ESRO, ACC 6732/2). In a deed of 1654 (ESRO, AMS 521) relating to the division of the estate among the descendants of Richard Wildgose, reference is made to the furnace but the phraseology suggests it is copied from an earlier deed and cannot be taken as an indication that the furnace was still working. It does not appear in the lists of 1653, 1664 or 1717, although Straker found it marked on 18th century maps. Site Description: Bay: L 80m H 2.25m/3.25m. Breached by stream at N end where it curves to W. Near S end at right-angled projection served as a loading platform and protected the working area from flooding by the spillway stream. Water system: Pond dry. S of loading platform shallow gap in bay opposite dry ditch indicates spillway. Working area: Furnace site located by burnt clay and bricks protruding from base of N side of loading platform. Much glassy slag. Sources Hodgkinson & Houghton 2000; Vivian 1953, 115.

Mayfield Furnace Mayfield Forge

[99] TQ 5930 2820 [100] TQ 5940 2810

Schubert (1957, 381) refers without citation to ironworks on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s lands at Mayfield in 1545, but these were not necessarily this furnace. Thomas Gresham was working the furnace by 1572, a letter of March in that year referring to ‘Mr Danyell’ his founder, who was leaving his employ. It is referred to in Hogge’s petition of 1573 as casting guns, and was licensed to export cannon in 1574 (TNA, SP 12/95/62) and 1578 (HMC Hatfield, v(2), 216; Bell-Irving 1903, 59, 175-6). He was listed as owner in 1574. In 1597 Thomas May bought Mayfield Manor with the furnace from Sir Henry Neville, who had inherited it from Gresham (but who probably did not become actively involved with the site until about 1585). Earlier suggestions that Barnabe Hodgson was

Sources Hodgkinson 1979, 13; thesis, 95; 1997b; Holt 1984; Dalton 1998; King 2002c, 33; Gardner & Whittick 2008, lvi.

54

Chapter 2: Weald Moat Forge, Mayfield

working there between about 1599 and 1609 (TNA, E 178/4143) have now been shown to relate to Maresfield. John Baker was the next purchaser in 1617. The furnace is listed as working in 1653, and repaired in 1664. See a map of the lands of John Baker c.1653, on which the furnace is shown (ESRO, AMS 5831). The guns found in the Gresham ship with Sir Thomas Gresham’s initials and grasshopper badge cast into it (Ní Chíobháin 2014, 48-9) were presumably cast here.

[101] TQ 5920 2510

Awty (1986, 45-9) has shown that this was the forge operated by Joan Isted, probably from as early as 1544 until her death in 1557. She was succeeded by her son, Thomas, who is shown in the lists of 1574 as occupying a forge in Mayfield, which he still held in 1590 (ESRO, GLY 1224). Mayfield parish burial register records the death of a boy at the Moat Forge (19 Jan. 1588) and J. Gayn of Moat Forge buried on 3 May 1616. A forge in Mayfield (probably this one) was rented by Richard Maynard for a period before 1617 (TNA, C 78/311/11).

Furnace Site: Bay: L 110m H 2m/2.5m. Breached by stream near SW end. Disused Mayfield-Tunbridge Wells road (old coach road) runs along SE side of bay and cuts through its NE end, displaced soil being banked on SE side of road. Water system: Pond dry. Prominent banked dry channel, originally from extreme NE end of bay, probably leat to forge site downstream. Remains of lesser channel to S may be furnace spillway. Wheelpit probably on site of present stream. Pen pond with bay at TQ 5880 2840 and another with bay on line of present road at TQ 5900 2820 and TQ 5880 2810. Working area: Partly destroyed by old road. Levelled platform just downstream of bay, above left bank of stream, from which bricks and stones are being eroded. Scatter of glassy slag all over area, especially at SW end. Partly submerged bear just downstream of present bridge, and part of wooden trough near right bank.

Site Description: Bay: Possible L 50m H 0.5m/0.75m. Follows line of public footpath N from the above NGR, with possible extension S along right bank of main stream. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Only evidence is forge bottom lying in main stream at footpath bridge. No cinder found where indicated by Straker. Sources Awty 1979, 45-9; 1986. Netherfield Furnace

[102] TQ 7217 1709

In 1574 both Richard Wekes and Thomas Hay are recorded as working a furnace at Netherfield. Given later ownership, it is likely that Hay’s works was Beech Furnace, and that Wekes occupied the Netherfield site together with the forge at Mountfield, where he also built a furnace. Schubert (1957, 367-8) tentatively associated Beech Furnace with Richard Wekes, supplier of pig to Robertsbridge forge from 1568 (KHLC, U1475/B3/10), but this reference is probably to Netherfield Furnace.

Boring Mill Site: Tributary on SW side joins main stream 110m downstream of bay. On this tributary is secondary bay (L 60m) with spillway at SE end, breached by present stream. Immediately downstream of breach, on right bank, is small level platform and in stream are large stone blocks apparently part of a structure. Downstream, the banks have scatter of broken cannon mould and boring swarf. Pen pond at TQ 5910 2800.

Site Description: Bay: L 80m H 2m/2.3m. Breached at N and S ends. Clay construction visible at N end. Water system: Present stream cuts through bay at N end crossing site to join dry channel (tail race) from S end of bay at E end of site. Four pen ponds upstream. Working area: Furnace probably sited adjacent to tail race where it cuts through bay. Slag heaps in same area.

Forge Site: Bay: Dual use with Mayfield furnace. Water system: Leat, now dry, originating from the extreme N end of the furnace pond bay runs in partly banked channel for c.170m before joining stream. Just before stream is reached, and N of public footpath, another dry channel loops round to join stream 45m further downstream. Wheelpit may be in this area. Working area: Probably within loop. Forgetype cinder and forge bottoms occur in stream at this point, but not immediately upstream. Section exposed in N bank shows filled-in hollow with charcoal, slag and roof tiles at base, 150m downstream on N bank are Great and Little Forge Fields (Mayfield Tithe Award). The interpretation of the remains of the forge is controversial. Rival views have recently been put forward by Cornish & Herbert and by Hodgkinson.

Sources Callow 2003; Crossley 1975a, 30 191-2. Northiam Furnace

[103] TQ 8170 2450

Nathaniel Powell was in partnership with the Earl of Thanet here in 1636 (Gardner & Whittick 2008, lv). ESRO, QR/E/38, 105 (Apr. 1637) refers to a lodge built on the top of Northiam Furnace, and to a theft of iron. It worked in 1653 but in 1664 it had been out of use but subsequently restocked. (See also Ewhurst Furnace). Site Description: Bay: L c.55m H 2m. Destroyed except for 9m at SW end. Water system: Pond dry (Straker records restoration). Modern spillway at SW end. Water area: Glassy slag on bay and in stream banks.

Sources Burgon 1839 ii, 425-6; Bell-Irving 1903, 58, 1412, 159-60; Schubert 1957, 381; Tebbutt 1982; Cornish & Herbert 2016; Hodgkinson 2017a.

Sources Tebbutt 1977c, 2-3; Gardner & Whittick 2008, lv.

55

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Old Mill Furnace

[104] TQ 5880 2450

120m H 2m/3m. Breached by main stream at E end and tributary at W end; TQ 7114 3007; and TQ 7078 3007. Working area: At W end, enclosed on three sides by bay, loading platform and protective bank with forge and blast furnace slag. Level platform in bank may be furnace site. Thick scatter of glassy slag; also on bay and in stream bank.

Information on the ownership of this furnace is circumstantial, involving a presumption that it belonged to the Bakers through the 16th century. In 1543 John Baker of Isenhurst employed aliens, and Old Mill is close to Isenhurst. However, in 1544 Isenhurst manor was acquired from Richard Sackville by Sir John Baker of Cranbrook (who had married Sackville’s daughter), passing by purchase to John Baker of Withyham (no relation known) by 1547. In 1561 a Chancery case involved a dispute between John Relfe of Old Mill and Agnes Maynard, widow, of Mayfield, over her removal of iron sows from the furnace, suggesting that Relfe may have succeeded Maynard’s late husband as tenant (TNA, C 3/150/81). In 1574 John Baker had a furnace in Mayfield: Coushopley (q.v.), on the parish boundary but just in Wadhurst, is a less likely candidate. However, there is no doubt that in 1618 John Baker (grandson of the former) owned Old Mill (ESRO, SAS-D/131). Both John Fuller and Richard Maynard had been tenants, and the latter’s inventory (ESRO, DYK/1011) includes items at an unnamed furnace, assumed to be Old Mill. It appears that Maynard had been in arrears with rent before his death (TNA, C 78/311/11). This case confuses the issue by referring to Richard Heath as owner in 1616; he was owner of The Moat in Mayfield.

Sources Vivian 1953, 153; Hodson & Odell 1925, 133-4 154. Robertsbridge Forge

This was built by Sir William Sidney in 1541-2 (KHLC, U1475/B5/1-2). The accounts for the forge are virtually complete until 1574 (KHLC, U1475 passim; ESRO, Shepherd deposit, A1745) when it was leased to Michael Weston and partners. Steel was made from 1566 (KHLC U1475/B4/1-2) and the buildings so used were described in 1609 (BL, Add. MSS 5680, 91r). The forge and furnace were leased to Thomas Culpeper in 1609 and assigned to Henry English on Culpeper’s death in 1613, the lease being renewed for seven years (in partnership with John Culpeper of Astwood, Worcs) in 1623 (HEH, BA vol 71). Henry English was tenant in 1628 (KHLC, U1500 T287/1, 28), William and Robert Hawes in 1651 (KHLC, U1500 T287/2-3) and John Roberts in 1677 (KHLC, U1500 T287/4). The forge was listed as working in 1653 and 1667. In a codicil to his will, dated 1681, John Roberts of Salehurst, founder, left the forge to his wife, Elizabeth (TNA, PROB 11/366/50). Land Tax records indicate that Thomas Western was the occupier of the furnace and forge in 1692 (ESRO, ELT Salehurst). Stock is listed for 1703 (KHLC, U1500 C2/17). Thomas Snepp, sen. and jun., worked the forge from 1707 until about the time when Sir Thomas Webster bought the estate in 1726, and then worked the forge himself. The forge was leased to William and George Jukes in 1737, until 1754 when it was taken, with the furnace, by John Churchill (HEH, BA vol 72; 71, f24; f28). The leases refer to two sheds either side of the forge, used as boring houses. Correspondence between Churchill and Sir Whistler Webster mentions that the second finery at the forge had been converted to an air furnace by the Jukes brothers, not by Churchill – as stated by Straker (HEH, BA vol 21; Whittick 1992, 45 62), which may account for the absence of output figures in the lists of 1717 and 1736. In 1768 James Bourne and his partners, William Polhill and David Guy, leased the forge and furnace. In 1787 Bourne was listed making 50 tpa (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13). In c.1790 1 finery and 1 chafery, making 60 tpa. It is not known to have worked after ceasing to be rated in 1793 or after a bankruptcy sale in 1801.

Site Description: Bay: Almost certainly the present main road. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Much glassy slag in swampy ground E of road. House at N end of bay probably contemporary; name suggests re-use as corn mill. Sources Awty 1986, 47. Pashley Furnace and Forge

[107] TQ 7560 2360

[105] TQ 7100 2950

The furnace was the property of Sir James Boleyn until 1543, when it was sold to Thomas May who was probably already renting the works. In 1544 May employed aliens (Westminster Abbey, WAM 12261). It remained May property throughout the 16th century (1574 list), the last reference being to Anthony May in 1614 (Vivian 1953, 135; Straker, citing Odell). The use of the site as a forge has no known documentary evidence. Site Description: Bay: L 80m H 3m/3m. Complete, as present stream follows course of spillway stream at W end. Spurs from W half form probable loading platform and protective bank. Water system: Pond dry. Indications of wheelpit and tail-race near W end. The spillway does not appear to be where the present stream has broken through, but instead just west of the river as there is a definite gulley through the bay. This would then provide two wheel races for the forge site (the present stream and one just east of this). There is a third possible wheel race just east of the platform (although this may be natural erosion) and one closer to the eastern end of the bay which would have supplied the furnace. Four pen ponds, now all dry: TQ 7096 2968: Bay L 90m H irregular. Breached by stream near centre. Spillway at W end; TQ 7101 2988: Bay L

Site Description: Bay: No bay at site of forge. Water system: Pond dry. Water supply was from distant pond by way of a leat c.280m long deeply cut through rising ground. Possibility of small pond at forge site indicated by higher ground (silting?) on W side of present access road.

56

Chapter 2: Weald Sources as forge.

Working area: On E side of access road, where there is a scatter of forge cinder and roofing tiles.

Scrag Oak (Snape) Furnace Size The finery forge had an average output of about 135 tons for nineteen years between 1543 and 1573 (accounts). The sow iron used came from Panningridge for most of that period. 1788-90: see above.

The date of construction is not known. William Barham had this furnace at the time of his death in 1616, latterly in partnership with his brother, John, who was to take it over. In Quarter Sessions records of 1629 Snape pig iron is recorded as delivered to Brookland, Chingley, Hoadly and Verredge Forges (ESRO, Q1/1, 15 Jan. 1628[9]). In 1634 sows were delivered by Alexander Thomas at the furnace (ESRO, DYK/1086) and in 1640 sows were carried to Burwash Forge (ESRO, QR/E.48.11; Phillips 1985, 43). John Barham left it to his son, John, in 1639 (TNA, PROB 11/180/105). The furnace was working in 1653 but ruined by 1664. Land ‘formerly a furnace pond’ was referred to in 1703 (ESRO, SAS-Courthope 296).

Accounts 1541-73: Crossley 1975a; 1725-37 see Whittick 1992. Sources Crossley 1966; 1975a; Whittick 1992; Dalton 1996; Hodgkinson 1997b; King 2002c, 34; ESRO, ELT & LT, Salehurst, Robertsbridge. Robertsbridge Furnace

[109] TQ 6370 2970

[108] TQ 7510 2310

The furnace was built, with the forge, in 1541-2, by Sir William Sidney (KHLC, U1475 B5/1-2). It was abandoned in 1546 and not re-used until 1574 when the Sidney ironworks were leased to Michael Weston and partners. It is referred to in a survey of 1567 (D’Elboux 1944). The 17th century tenancies follow those of Robertsbridge Forge. The furnace appears in the 1653 and 1667 lists. In a codicil to his will, dated 1681, John Roberts of Salehurst, founder, left the furnace, with the stock of guns, iron, coals and mine, to his wife, Elizabeth (TNA, PROB 11/366/49). Land Tax records indicate that Thomas Western was the occupier of the furnace and forge in 1692 (ESRO, ELT, Salehurst). The furnace was run by the estate at the beginning of the 18th century (KHLC, U1500/C220-2), being leased with the forge to Thomas Snepp and his son in 1707. It was listed in 1717 as making 120 tpa. After the 1725 sale to Sir Thomas Webster the furnace was run by the estate for eight years from 1726 during which time guns were cast, but was then leased to William Harrison, and William and George Jukes in 1734, who renewed in 1740 (HEH, BA vol 71, f.15; 72). References to Jukes’ activities between 1742 and 1749 appear in Fuller letters (ESRO, SAS-RF 15/25). The lease of 1754 to John Churchill the ironmaster of Hints in Staffordshire, shows a late interest in the Weald by a Midland founder. In 1768, following Churchill’s bankruptcy and death, James Bourne and partners took a short lease, though this is likely to have been extended as, in 1787, the furnace was still standing, capable of operation (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13), with Bourne listed as occupier, but is not in the 1790/4 list. The last rating was in 1793. An ordnance trunnion mark of ‘R’ is associated with this furnace.

Site Description: Bay: L 100m H 0.3m/1m. Most has been levelled but its line can still be traced. Breached by stream near E end. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Probably at W end, from which hollow way leads to Scrag Oak farm house (contemporary). Sources Collins 2003; Phillips 1985, 43. Socknersh Furnace

[110] TQ 7059 2330

Likely to have been one of the earlier furnaces, Socknersh appears in John Collins’ will of 1535. Evidence in the Star Chamber case of 1594 (below) refers to Alexander Collins having built the furnace; he had secured rights to flood neighbouring land in 1537, but this must have been after the furnace was built. As John Collins had employed aliens in 1525 and rented Burwash Forge from 1526, a similar starting date could be sought from the furnace. The Collins family were involved in the building and early operation of the nearby Panningridge and Robertsbridge works for Sir William Sidney (KHLC, U1475/B9, B2/3). Socknersh Furnace is referred to in Alexander Collins’ inquisition in 1553 (Holgate 1927, 10). In 1574 it belonged to Thomas Collins. A dispute over water rights in 1594 (TNA, STAC 5/C1/7; STAC 5/C25/10) outlines the operation of the furnace as far back as 1537. Thomas Collins’ will of 1612 (TNA, PROB 11/120/75) refers to the furnace, stocks and woods. The previous year he brought proceedings against John Busbidge, who had obstructed the way from Socknersh Cross over Socknersh Down, used ‘time out of mind’ (TNA, C 2/Jas I/C28/58). It worked in 1653 then went out of use but was re-stocked in 1664 for wartime operation. In 1671 it was leased by Thomas Collins for four years to Peter Farnden and John Roberts (ESRO, DUN 27/16; see also 47/4, 5, 7, 36; BL, Add. MSS 5680, 117r). Although marked on Budgen’s map of 1724, it does not appear in the 1717 list.

Site Description: Bay: c.200m recently levelled except at W end where it forms part of a farm road. Levelled portion appears to have glassy slag forming part of its foundation. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: At W end, where low mound indicates site of furnace. Around it are scattered pieces of furnace lining, roasted ore, cannon mould and roof tiles with square peg holes. An existing ditch, running N, is presumably the tail-race. Glassy slag is scattered nearby. House immediately W of bay has bear in garden.

Site Description: Bay: TQ 7030 2320 L 100m H 1m/2m. Breached by stream at S end; has right-angled projection at N end to contain spillway stream. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway channel at N end turns abruptly round bay 57

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 2.2. West Weald. 112, Cuckfield Furnace; 113, Gosden Furnace; 114, Knepp Furnace; 115, Shipley Forge; 116, Barkfold (Idehurst) Forge; 117, Barkfold Furnace; 118, Birchenbridge Forge; 119, Burningfold Forge & Furnace; 120, Burton Forge; 121, Chithurst (Iping) Forge; 122, Combe Furnace; 123, Dedisham Forge; 124, Dedisham Furnace; 125, Ebernoe Furnace; 126, Fernhurst Furnace; 127, Frith Furnace; 128, Habin (Rogate) Forge; 129, Inholmes Copse Furnace; 130, Lurgashall Furnace; 131, Milland Furnace; 132, Mitchell Park Forge; 133, Pallingham Furnace; 134, Roundwick Furnace; 135, Shillinglee Furnace; 136, St Leonards Lower Forge and Furnace; 137, St Leonards Upper Forge; 138, Verdley Wood Furnace; 139, Warnham Furnace; 140, Wassell Forge; 141, West End Furnace, Chiddingfold; 142, Witley Park Furnace; 143, Bewbush (Ifield) Furnace; 144, Blackwater Green Forge; 145, Ewood Furnace and Forge; 146, Ifield (Bewbush) Forge; 147, Leigh Hammer; 148, Rowfant Forge; 149, Rowfant Supra Forge; 150, Tilgate Furnace; 151, Tinsley Forge; 152, Worth Forest (Crookford) Furnace; 153, Ardingly Forge; 154, Ardingly Furnace; 155, Blackfold Furnace; 156, Chittingly Furnace; 157, Fletching Forge; 158, Freshfield Forge; 159, Hendall Furnace and Forge; 160, Holmsted (Gastons Bridge) Forge; 161, Horsted Keynes Furnace; 162, Howbourne (Buxted) Forge; 163, Huggetts Furnace; 164, Langley (Langles) Furnace; 165, Little Forge, Buxted; 166, Maresfield: Boring Wheel Mill; 167, Maresfield Forge; 168, Maresfield Furnace; 169, Marshalls Furnace; 170, New Place Furnace, Framfield; 171, Oldlands Furnace; 172, Pounsley Furnace and Forge; 173, Queenstock Furnace and Forge; 174a, Sheffield Forge, Fletching; 174b, Sheffield Furnace, Fletching; 175, Slaugham Furnace; 176, Strudgate Furnace; 177, Stumbletts Furnace; 178, Tickerage Forge and Furnace; 179, Abinger (Shere) Hammer; 180, Bramshott Hammer; 181, Coldharbour Hammer; 182, Imbhams Furnace; 183, Pophole Hammer; 184, Sturt (Wheeler’s) Hammer; 185, Thursley Lower Hammer; 186, Thursley Upper Hammer; 187, Vachery (Cranleigh) Forge; 188, Vachery Furnace; 189, Coneyhurst Gill Forge; 190, Rats Castle Forge; 192, Woolbridge Forge.

projection to join main stream, and continues for 250m to furnace site. Working area: Unusual position, on present main stream 250m downstream from pond bay. Furnace site indicated by mound on N bank from which protrudes glassy slag and furnace-lining material. Pair of stone-built cottages c.80m to NW may be contemporary; gardens contain much charcoal. Roasted ore dump, disclosed by uprooted trees, occurs to N (in same field) where footpath to site leaves old cart-track.

Gazetteer of the West Weald

Sources Jack 1980, 31; Holgate 1927, 10.

The dispute between Sir Walter Covert and Roger Gratwick in 1577 (TNA, C 3/207/25), over Gratwick’s half-tenancy of the works, remains the only firm source, apart from the parish register entries of 1613 referred to by Straker.

Adur Catchment The river Adur enters the sea at Shoreham. Its catchment lies between those of the river Arun to the west and the river Ouse to the east. Cuckfield Forge

Wenebridge see Hawkhurst

58

[111] TQ 3025 2354

Chapter 2: Weald Site Description: Bay: L 70m H 2.5m/3.75m. Breached by stream. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway probably at E end. Working area: Dry shallow ditch-like depression at W end of bay may represent wheelpit and tail-race, and joins present stream 55m downstream. Forge cinder on bay and in stream. Cottage at W end of bay may be contemporary.

to swampy hollow and ditch which may indicate wheelpit. At pipe exit are two collapsed stone slabs 1.5m x 30cm x 8cm. Working area: Small heaps of black glassy slag containing sandstone occur near E end. Most of the area is swamp due to leakage from spillway stream. An old track leads to W end of bay.

Sources Evans 1988; and see furnace.

Sources VCH Sussex vi(3), 21-5.

Cuckfield Furnace

Knepp Furnace

[112] TQ 3037 2300

[114] TQ 1630 2110

In 1566 the Duke of Norfolk leased land in Cuckfield to Henry Bowyer, including with it permission to build a furnace and a forge (SHC, LM/1084/11). Sir Walter Covert and Roger Gratwick were in dispute over Gratwick’s halftenancy of the works in 1577 (TNA, C 3/207/25). A case of 1583 (TNA, REQ 1/125/14) shows Simon Bowyer sending sows to Burningfold Forge from Cuckfield, presumably from this furnace. The Assize records of February 1612 noted that ‘the highway from Lindfield to London is utterly decayed and spoiled by the carriage of men [mine?] and coal to Cuckfield ironworks’ (Cockburn 1975, no. 239). Straker noted a reference to a filler at the furnace in Cuckfield parish register, 1613.

Straker, citing Burrell, states that the Carylls worked the furnace for the Duke of Norfolk from 1568 until 1604, although Dunkin (1915, 393) indicates that the Carylls were already owners. A Roger Tylor alias Quentens of Shipley, founder, died in 1617 and was buried at West Grinstead (WSRO, Mf 818). The works appear not to have been recorded in 1574. A document of 1650 refers to ‘the old furnace’ (BL, Add Mss 28,249 f. 1).

Site Description: Bay: L 65m H 2m/3m. Breached by River Adur at W end. Water system: Pond dry. Pen pond 300m upstream but bay only survives on E side of stream. Working area: Steep natural bank on E side provided charging platform; furnace site is 25m S of bay and 7m from foot of the bank. 2m W of furnace is the wheelpit from which the tail-race was culverted. Now a dry ditch from E end of the bay (overspill stream) passes along the foot of the bank and crosses valley to W to join Adur 105m below bay. Plentiful glassy slag in furnace area; charcoal on field at top of bank.

Sources Straker 1931a, 431; Dunkin 1915, 393-4, 497.

Site Description: Pond still in water, but present outlet is not that of the furnace; original bay is in the vicinity of Floodgate Farm and (contrary to past views) appears to survive.

Shipley Forge

[115] TQ 1490 2080

The forge was in existence in 1615 (ESRO, QR 12, m.106; Phillips 1985, 42). Reference, in a deed of 1655, to the state of the hammer pond in 1641 may imply it was working at the earlier date (WSRO, Add Mss 12804). The same deed also establishes the descendants of Sir Thomas Caryll of Bentons as owners of the site. Straker’s assertion that the forge was worked by the Apsley family does not appear to be substantiated.

Sources Cockburn 1975, 41; Berners Price et al. 1989. Gosden Furnace

Site Description: Bay: L 110m H 2.5m/3m. Curves round pond at S end; breached by stream near centre. Water system: Spillway at N end where some stonework remains and dry channel leads to main stream. One wheelpit is almost certainly at the site of a deep pool through which the present stream passes downstream of the bay. Possibly another wheelpit was at S end from which another dry channel converged on present stream. Modern bay parallel to old about 10m west has restored pond to water. Working area: Concentration of forge slag below bay at southern end and area of soil stained dark with charcoal and slag in field adjacent to this. Forge cinder and bottom occur near S end and in present farm track W of bay. Part of nearby Hammer Farm house probably contemporary. Quantities of blast furnace slag adjacent to the bay, noted in 1976, are likely to have been for its repair and to have been brought from Knepp Furnace, rather than evidence that there was a furnace at Shipley.

[113] TQ 2290 2510

This was erected in c.1580 by Roger Gratwick, apparently relying on a power in his lease of St Leonard’s Forest ironworks (TNA, E 112/45/11). It is likely that the furnace was supplied with wood granted under a patent of 1578 to Sir Thomas Sherley and assigned to Gratwick among others (TNA, E 178/2313). The Court of Exchequer ordered it to be suppressed and pulled down, but Edward Carrill of Shipley was using it in 1587 (TNA, E 112/45/58 and 61). In 1595 a lease was taken by William and Neville Cheeseman from John Middleton, who was also an assignee of Sherley’s rights in the forest. Disputes centred on quantities of wood to be delivered to the furnace and of sows to be furnished for the lessor (TNA, REQ 2/186/35, 166/46). The case still proceeded in 1602. Site Description: Bay: L 95m H pond in water/4.75m. Projection at E end protected working area from spillway stream. Water system: Spillway at E end is stonebuilt and may be original. Modern pipe through bay at W end leads

Sources Phillips 1985, 42.

59

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Arun Catchment

1601 has John Middleton as tenant (TNA, REQ 2/186/35). The site is mentioned in a Quarter Session deposition in 1614 (ESRO, QR 10, m.72). This is presumably the iron mill referred to in a survey of Crown manors in 1627 (City of London RO, RCE papers no. 123 Q4). It does not appear in a similar survey the following year, and there are no further references.

The river Arun enters the sea at Littlehampton. It and its tributaries drain the south side of the western Weald. Barkfold (Idehurst) Forge

[116] TQ 0290 2590

Elucidating the ownership and tenancy of this site is complicated by the various branches of the Strudwick family in Kirdford. Owned by William Strudwick in 1584 (will of William Strudwick 1584; WSRO, wills 13, p.160), it passed to his son and grandson, both William. It is possibly mentioned in the 1613 will of William Strudwick (transcription is unclear), who leased it to John Middleton and then to William Alderton and Henry Strudwick, whose relationship to William is obscure (TNA, C 2/Jas I / S25/57). Passing to the third William’s son, Henry, he was partnered by William Westdean in 1634 (BL, Add. MSS, 39386). The forge is mentioned in Henry Strudwick’s will of 1657, in which it is left to his son, another William (TNA, PROB 11/308/327).

Site Description: Bay L 80m H 8m/3m. Forms modern A281 road. Water system: Enlarged pond in water. Substantial later brick spillway. Possible overflow leat on N side of site. Probable pen pond, Roasthole Pond, upstream on tributary. Pipe through bay relates to subsequent corn mill. Working area: Abandoned wheelrace is separated from mainstream by bank with much forge slag. Large masses of slag and timbers in stream. Some large blocks from corn mill, below bay. Sources Evans & Hodgkinson 1984. Burningfold Furnace & Forge, in Dunsfold

Site Description: Bay: L probably originally 90m; now almost all levelled on W of stream. On E of stream c.12m remains. H 1.2m. Contains cinder. Water system: Pond dry, deeply silted. Existing spillway with brickwork of several periods on probable site of original. Sump area and ditch to W of stream probably indicate wheelpit and tail-race. Working area: Much disturbed, probably when bay was levelled. Forge cinder in banks of stream.

The earliest references, in 1568-9, are to a forge (TNA, REQ 2/115/2; 177/32), although the presence of foreign workers, associated elsewhere with the iron industry, suggest operation as early as the 1550s. Richard March had the works in 1570 (Malden 1910, 68) and they were being operated by Thomas Gratwick in 1574. In 1579 Thomas Smith of Petworth left a share in this forge to his wife, Barbara (TNA, PROB 11/61/388). Dunsford Hammer was worked jointly by 1583 Simon Bowyer and Edward Carrell, making 163½ tons of iron in three years (TNA, REQ 2/28/13; 125/14). A furnace is mentioned by Norden in 1595 (BL, Add. MSS 31853). In 1604 the ironworks were sold by William Marsh to George Duncombe and partners (TNA, C 54/1924, m.29; Malden 1910, 73). It was in the ownership of John Middleton and Richard Wyatt at the latter’s death in 1618, when he left his part to his son Francis. From 1638 it was entirely in the hands of the Middletons, until being sold in 1667 to Sir Henry Goring. A forge at Dunsfold is listed as working in 1653 and 1667. Aubrey mentions an iron-mill in 1673 (Aubrey, Surrey, preface: letter from J. Evelyn). The Gorings sold to John Tanner in 1722. In Jan 1753, Thomas Tanner sold the ironworks and equipment to Lord Montague (WSRO, Add MSS 5833, 5836-7); ‘Mr Jewkes and Company’ (see Robertsbridge) are listed as former tenants at that time. Lists of furnaces closed between 1750 and 1787 mention a site referred to respectively as ‘Burnham’ and ‘Burhamfold’, owned by Mr Butler (SML, MS 371, 11), who died in 1775.

Sources Kenyon 1952, 238 241n. Barkfold Furnace

[117] TQ 0300 2690

In use in 1602 when Robert Edsawe was given as the owner (see Kenyon 1952, 238). The commitment by Henry Strudwick in 1652 to cast 60 tons of iron shot, and the order being partially complete the following year, implies that the furnace was working then (TNA, SP 25/68 f.97; SP 18/39, f.62). Site Description: Bay: L 60m H 4m. Some dressed stone visible. Working area: Depression, with bank to S, may be wheelpit; glassy slag in stream. Sources Kenyon 1952, 238. Birchenbridge Forge

[119] TQ 0040 3430

[118] TQ 1930 2920

The forge is not in the lists of 1574. It is noted in a survey of the woods of Sir John Caryll in 1598, who had leased the Manors of Chesworth and Sedgwick from the Crown in 1572 (BL, Add. Ch. 18,883). Arthur Myddleton and Stephen French had the forge in 1586, which Sir Thomas Sherley and John and Edward Carrill had had built, though with a pond that encroached on St Leonard’s Forest (TNA, E 112/45/10). This was probably to exploit the 2000 cords of wood granted to Sir Thomas Sherley in 1579 (Cal. Patent Rolls 1578-80, 299). Court of Requests case of

Site Description: Bay: L 110m H 3m/4m. Breached by stream at S end. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Furnace site in copse, with much charcoal dust. Glassy slag in stream but no forge cinder seen. Sources Malden 1910; Teesdale 1986, 26-7; Hodgkinson thesis, 98. 60

Chapter 2: Weald Burton Forge

[120] SU 9790 1800

Dedisham Forge

Sir William Goring’s forge at Burton was described by Lieutenant Hammond in 1635 (Wickham Legg 1936, 38). In the 1653 and 1667 lists, the forge was in operation. John Woods of Burton described himself as a ‘ffyneryman’ in his will of 1657 (TNA, PROB/11/273). The inventory of George Tanner of Battlehurst, Kirdford, in 1667 includes ‘12 tons of iron at Burton Hammer’ (WSRO, Ep1/29/116).

In 1597 Thomas French, Anthony Fowle and Thomas Middleton ran ‘Detsom’ Forge in conjunction with Gosden Furnace (TNA, REQ 2/166/46). The forge is mentioned in a Quarter Sessions case of 1614 (ESRO, QR/E/10/72). In the same year the inventory of Richard Otway of Rudgwick shows him to have had a fourth part in the forge and furnace (WSRO, MP 1261). Straker notes a Close Roll reference (TNA, C 54/2892) to the forge in 1631. In 1636 the co-heirs of Robert Blount sold the Dedisham estate with its ironworks to Sir Richard Onslow and George Duncombe (Brewhurst Estate Deeds, Wisborough Green, R. 21). An assignment of 1650 included the forge (SHC, G97/15/5 & 9).

Site Description: Bay: L 175m H pond in water/4m. Forms present road. Water system: Modern spillway at E end. Spillway at W end may be original, as spillway stream forms parish boundary. Working area: Forge cinder behind mill. Re-use: Corn mill. Sources Wickham Legg 1936, 38. Chithurst (Iping) Forge

Site Description: Bay: L 400m, most of which runs E to W along N side of River Arun from TQ 109330 to 105329, where it turns N for the short distance to high ground. H (near E end) 1.25m/0.75m. Much breached and levelled. Water system: Leat 475m long brought water from Arun at TQ 113331 to pond at TQ 109330. Stream from Dedisham Furnace must also have been diverted into pond. Working area: Difficult to define. but much forge cinder at TQ104329.

[121] SU 8463 2364

Sir Peter Bettesworth is noted as owner of a forge and furnace in Iping in 1632 in a dispute over the supply of charcoal, begun two years earlier, with his clerk, Roger Pearson (TNA, C 78/416/6). Site Description: Bay: L 100m H pond in water/3.25m. Water system: Present spillway at E end. Water-filled hollow near centre of bay may be site of wheelpit. Working area: Small quantity of forge cinder in bank of black soil between spillway and hollow. Combe Furnace

[123] TQ 1030 3290

Dedisham Furnace

[124] TQ 1070 3330

Richard Blount of Dedisham had 300 or 400 loads of mine dug at Roughfold or Roughland (Rowlands Wood) in 1593 (TNA, E 133/7/1107). There is a Quarter Session reference in 1614 (WSRO, QR/E/10/72). In the same year the inventory of Richard Otway of Rudgwick shows him to have had a fourth part in the forge and furnace (WSRO, MP 1261). Humfrey Durrant, pot founder, who died at Rudgwick in 1617, was probably working at the furnace (Hodgkinson 2010, 31). In 1636 the co-heirs of Robert Blount sold the Dedisham estate with its ironworks to Sir Richard Onslow (Brewhurst Estate Deeds, Wisborough Green R. 21). The last reference is an assignment of 1650 (SHC, Onslow 97/13/732).

[122] SU 8150 2690

The furnace at Harting Combe was built about 1588 on the site of a corn mill (TNA, E 178/3119). In that year Francis Fortescue the builder had part-leased the works to his son, whereupon they had both leased to Henry Gleed of Arlington and Michael Martin of Rogate, finding 5,000 cords of wood a year and sufficient ore. In 1591 enquiry was made (TNA, E 178/2305) into destruction of wood; in this it was confirmed that the ponds for the furnace and the forge at Habin (q.v.) were built c.1588, and that Richard Michelbourne had subsequently joined with Gleed (see Yates 1955, 2-5).

Site Description: Bay: L 145m H 2.25/3.5m. Breached by stream at E end. Recently much altered during restoration of pond. Water system: Pond dry until restoration. Overspill was at extreme W end, indicated by dry ditch with bank on E side. Working area: Probably at E end where much glassy slag occurs in stream, and where restoration work uncovered, at depth of 66cm, a heap of chalk lumps possibly for use as flux. Present gamekeeper’s house near E end of bay is probably contemporary.

Site Description: Bay: L 166m H pond in water/3m. Partly dug away at N end to make level track and consolidate pond edge. Water level now lower than original, leaving bay back from pond edge. Water system: Present modern spillway at S end set to reduce original pond level. Dry channel just N of above probably represents original spillway. At N end are two semi-dry channels, one probably tail-race. Working area: At N end where glassy slag is concentrated.

Sources Hodgkinson 2010, 31. Ebernoe Furnace

[125] SU 9760 2770

Sources Yates 1955; Jack 1982, 26-8. This furnace probably provided pig iron for Wassell Forge (q.v.) both being the property of the Smythes of Wassell from the purchase of the estate by John Smythe in 1594 (Kenyon 1952, 235, citing WSRO, Shillinglee B37/97). 61

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I John Norden cited Ebernoe as an example of the use of woodlands by iron-smelters (Norden 1610, 175).

earlier mill, or re-use of timbers when the furnace was being built in the early-17th century (Bridge 2013).

Site Description: Bay: L 96m H pond in water/3m. Water system: Present spillway at S end of bay may be on site of original. Apparently 3 tail-races on downstream side of bay at S end. Working area: Probably at S end of bay, where glassy slag occurs in stream banks. Forge bottom also found.

Sources Magilton 2003; Bridge 2013; Magilton. & Wildman 1992, 41-4; Magilton 1990, 30-5; Hodgkinson 1994e; 2015a, 4-5; 2016b; Butler & Butler 1845, 10; Barnes 1991; Swanton & Woods 1914, 152; Cochrane 1967, 46. Frith Furnace

Sources Kenyon 1952, 235; Hodgkinson & Houghton 1997. Fernhurst Furnace or North Park

[127] SU 9554 3096

This furnace is easily confused with Shillinglee; Cattell (1979, 165) argued convincingly that ‘Frith’ belonged to the Earl of Northumberland in 1574, leased to Margaret Blackwell, occupied by William Walpole. Schubert had thought (1957, 375) that the 1574 ‘double furnace’ was Frith, but Cattell considered Shillinglee a more likely identification. Depositions in a Chancery case quoted by Jerrome (p. 67) mention a Mr Wiseman and a Mr Bacon as erstwhile partners of Mr Blackwell in the time of Thomas, 7th Earl, i.e. before 1572. In 1578 it was leased to John Smith and Sampson Coulstocke. John Smith’s son, George, had the furnace on a 21-year lease from 1619 but William Yalden rented the furnace and Mitchell Park Forge in 1636 and again in 1645 (Kenyon 1952, 237). His son, also William, leased it in 1652 and 1658. It is included among the furnaces listed in 1653 and 1664. See Leconfield 1954, 93-103, for details of the 17th century history of the furnace. It is included in Budgen’s map of 1724. Schubert’s note (1957, 375) that this furnace closed in 1776 is a misreading of Straker’s description of Fernhurst. There is no evidence of its operation in the 18th century.

[126] SU 8795 2820

This is the furnace noted in the Shulbrede Court Roll as having been built in 1614, tenanted by William Shotter (WSRO, Cowdray 264). There are references to Northpark Furnace in the Linchmere parish registers in the 1630s. The furnace was operating in 1653, probably in the hands of the Yalden family who had leased the Cowdray estate in 1643, but ruined by 1664. There is a map of 1660 which gives a sketch of the furnace (WSRO, Cowdray 1640). It was probably working in 1683-4 when iron was carried by local tenants to Pophole Hammer (WSRO, Cowdray 96). By 1762, John Butler had begun casting ordnance at Fernhurst (Swanton and Woods 1914, 152; Butler and Butler 1845, 10). However, the claim by the authors of the former that Butler was a stranger to the business is incorrect: John Butler of Bramshott had sought to buy 18 pounder guns from Heathfield Furnace in 1738 (ESRO, SAS-RF15/25, L91). It may have been rented by Masters & Raby, the Southwark ironmongers, presumably before their bankruptcy in 1764 (TNA, WO 47/81, 27). In 1769 the site was leased to Joseph Wright and Thomas Prickett, ironfounders of Falcon Foundry Southwark (WSRO, Cowdray 1444). In 1775 a lease was taken by James Goodyer, a Guildford ironmonger, and it was the furnace advertised for sale in early 1777 (WSRO, Cowdray 1445; Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 13 Jan 1777). It does not appear to have worked subsequently (Barnes 1991, 268). It is improbable that the furnace used coke. The source for this is its appearance at the end of a list of furnaces that closed in 1750/87, following a list of coke ones, but this was perhaps merely closed a late addition to the list, not because it used coke.

Site Description: Bay: L 100m H 4m. Slightly curved. Breached by stream at W end. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway was probably at W end. Working area: Probably at E end of bay where a bear remains and a small stream (tail-race) joins the main stream. In this area are roof-tiles and Tudor-type bricks. A farm track, from Eastland Farm to N leads here and a short way to the SE is the site of a nowdemolished house, probably contemporary. The earth bay, which curves slightly, shows evidence of stone revetment at its western end, where a spillway may formerly have allowed excess water to overflow, and where the present stream cuts through the bay. The channel through the bay, which is straight and appears to have been deliberately cut, has stonework along both of its sides at water level. A series of stone foundations across the stream may have been the remains of attempts to shore up this weak point in the bay. However, they may also be the remains of structures, the purpose of which is now unclear, related to either a spillway, or to an access onto the bay from the field to the west of the site.

Site Description: Bay: L 90m H pond in water/4m S end revetted with sandstone. Water system: Pond restored. Disused spillway at S end rebuilt, but recent flood damage showed older timber construction. Flood damage to modern spillway at N end revealed stone and brickwork, remains of wheelpit and tail race. Excavation has revealed base of furnace and gun-casting vault. Working area: at N end where there is much glassy slag. Dendrochronological dating of two cut timbers from beneath the northern spillway produced dates of 1334-1465 and 1406-1537, suggesting either the construction of the pond bay for an

At the bay’s eastern end a dry channel extends southward from an area where there is much evidence of burnt material, including brick. This is probably what remains of the tailrace of the furnace bellows waterwheel, and a roughly square mound close to the bay may indicate the 62

Chapter 2: Weald base of the furnace stack. East of this, on the natural bank of the side of the valley, there is an area of charcoal dust suggesting the site of a storage shed which typically would be situated in a high position relative to the furnace, allowing easy access, via a charging bridge, to the throat of the furnace some six or seven metres above its base. To the south of this a large heap of slag, which includes at least one ‘bear’, has been dug into, presumably after the period of operation of the furnace, and removed for use as hardcore elsewhere. Although the top of the bay is relatively narrow, the heaps of slag which abut the bay along its length on the downstream side, and which have the appearance of having been tipped there from above, suggest that the top of the bay was formerly wide enough to carry a path or track.

To recover debts, the Crown took possession and at the expiry of the lease granted to Gleed (by then in partnership with Richard Michelborne), granted it to William Beech in 1595. Three years later, he assigned it to Sir Edward Caryll who held it for ten years. In 1632 it was recorded in the ledger book of Harting Manor that ‘Harting Coombe’ was formerly a great wood, being cut down and the soil cleared to the benefit of herbage and feeding. Site Description: Bay: L 100m H 2m. Silting on both sides. Water system: Two marshy hollows at N end may indicate wheelpit and spillway. Two possible pen ponds. The 1588 agreement included permission to build a leat 550m long. Working area: Buried under silt. Sources Yates 1955, 82; Jack 1982 26-8.

Slag covers the site, in considerable heaps on the south side of the stream, and from the evidence of a section formed by the bank of the stream which traverses the site, lies to a depth in excess of 1 metre in areas where there are no obvious heaps. The presence of such a section raises the question as to whether the present stream followed such a course during the working life of the furnace. A map drawn by Ralph Treswell in 1610 (WSRO, PHA 5417) shows the furnace pond, and a stream flowing across the site along a roughly similar course to the present stream but issuing from a source in the corner of Frith Wood, which abuts the furnace on the south side. A small steam still flowing on that side of the furnace site, which joins the main stream and divides the area covered with slag from the area where none is to be found, may be the residual of such a stream.

Inholmes Copse Furnace

[129] SU 8550 2630

This may be the furnace in Iping associated with Sir Peter Bettesworth’s forge at Chithurst (q.v.), but its location does not match the description of the furnace at Iping Marsh in the Coroner’s records (Hunniset 1998). Site Description: Bay: L 88m H pond in water/3m. Working area: Extensively damaged during 1968 floods. Much glassy slag carted away. Sources Hunniset 1998, 26. Lurgashall Furnace

[130] SU 9418 2612

Built before 1584 by Peter Yonge of Midhurst; the following year Yonge sold the three acres to Anthony, Viscount Montague (WSRO, SAS-BA/54, 62). A pot founder was at Lurgashall in 1634 (Hodgkinson 2010). Straker supposed that the furnace had been operated by William Yalden for the Montagues in the 17th century.

To the east of the track which approaches the site from the north, lies a deep channel which is clearly man-made as it is cut steeply into the land surface which otherwise slopes gently to the east. This follows a generally straight course in the same direction for a distance of about 225m until it reaches a confluence with the main stream. It is marked as a watercourse on the 1610 map, which suggests that is formation may have been significant in the laying-out of the furnace site. A culvert in the corner of the the former pond was probably used to drain it when it was later used for fish. Access, both in 1610 and in the present day, was along a track from Eastland Farm, entering the site at the north-east corner.

Site Description: Bay: L 60m H 4m. Water system: Pond dry. Formerly long and narrow. Working area: An area of black earth lies in the SE corner of the bay. Slag and roasted ore is concentrated on a bank to the east of the stream. Straker’s suggestion that this site was a bloomery is not confirmed by the slag. Sources Hodgkinson 2010, 30.

Sources Kenyon 1952, 236-8; Leconfield 1954, 93-103; Houghton & Hodgkinson 1999. Habin (Rogate) Forge

Milland Furnace

[128] SU 8000 2240

[131] SU 8320 2810

There are no contemporary references, but Thomas Bettesworth of Trotton supplied sows to Bramshott Hammer post-1594; Milland was formerly in Trotton parish (TNA, REQ 2/165/34). Bettesworth acquired the Manor of Rogate Bohunt, which included the site, by 1583, and lived at Milland Place adjacent to the site. By 1635 the manor was in the hands of Henry Hooke who also worked Bramshott Hammer (VCH Sussex iv, 64). The ‘old furnace pond head’ is mentioned in a conveyance of 1713 (WSRO, Add Mss 1676, 1677).

Two Exchequer commissions of 1589 (TNA, E 178/3119) and 1591 (E 178/2305) confirm that this forge operated with Coombe Furnace (q.v.). They were established in c.1587-8 on the lands of Francis Fortescue of Harting. The site of the forge had formerly been that of a corn mill. In 1588 the works were leased to Henry Gleed of Arlington and to Michael Martin of Rogate. The enquiry of 1591 enumerated the felling of timber trees in 1590-1. 63

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Site Description: Bay: L 85m. H 3 4m. Revetted in early 20th century. Bridleway. Water system: Pond in water. Forded stream flows over bay at west end. Small pond is fed by abundant springs. Working area: atypical. Very confined with little obvious level area. Large lumps of slag with some brick where the stream turns south. Some disturbance caused by later hydraulic ram.

Site Description: Bay: L 147m H 3.7m/5m. Forms present road. Low berm 4m wide on pond side. Contains large quantities of slag. Water system: Pond dry. At extreme N end a dry spillway and channel, with protective bank, lead to the natural stream course. Adjacent to S is a smaller channel which may be the wheelpit and tailrace of boring mill. Present stream, banked along the S side of the dry pond and running close to the bay on its downstream sde, is almost certainly artificial. Working area: At S end artificial level-topped mound is probably loading platform. N of this, irregular ground may indicate site of furnace, wheelpit and tail-race. Flat area near N end may be the site of a boring mill. There are large quantities of glassy slag all over site. One piece of clay mould has been found.

Sources Hodgkinson 1992, 11-12. Mitchell Park Forge

[132] SU 9767 2968

Straker thought of this as Thomas Smith’s forge of 1574 at Shillinglee, but Cattell favoured a pairing with Frith Furnace, making Mitchell Park Blackwell’s forge. If this were so, Mitchell Park could be the forge of Thomas Blackwell where pig was taken from Ifield in 1569 (TNA, REQ 2/244/25). The forge was let, with Frith Furnace, to John Smith and Sampson Coulstocke in 1578 for eighteen years, and was part of the lease of Petworth Great Park to Sir Edward Francis in 1614, although the furnace was not included at this time. Two leases, each for a year, were to Mrs John Mose in 1636 and to Henry Penfold in 1638/9. The long-term connection between Frith and Mitchell Park is strengthened by this joint lease to the Parliamentary supporter William Yalden of Blackdown in 1645 (Kenyon 1952, 235). Yalden’s son, also William, leased the forge and furnace in 1652 and again in 1658 (see Leconfield 1954, 93-103). However, it is not included in the lists of 1653-67. John Yalden had sowes shipped from Pevensey to Arundel in 1682 and 1683. There was a similar shipment from Rye for William Dipple in 1688 (TNA, E 190/779/4; 780/22; 781/14; 785/17). However the names Yalden and Dibble also occur at Abinger and Thursley, which might be the destination.

Roundwick Furnace

No satisfactory evidence is available for this furnace, supposed by Straker from a passage in The High Stream of Arundel (c.1636-7) to have operated at that time. Site Description: Bay: L 130m H 5m. Breached by stream at N end. Water system: Pond dry. Marshy hollow at S end probably indicates spillway and another opposite bay centre may be wheelpit. Working area: Probably opposite centre of bay, where there is a bear. Glassy slag in stream. At E side of site an old track running NW-SE has incline to top of bay, possibly used for loading. Sources Fowler 1929, 40. Shillinglee Furnace

[135] SU 9714 3077

In operation by 1574, worked by Thomas Smith and John Duffield, Cattell (1979, 165) has argued that it was the double furnace in Northchapel. In 1579, Thomas Smith of Petworth bequeathed to his son John the lease of Shillinglee Park, with the ‘woods, furnaces, iron works’, etc. (TNA, PROB 11/61/33). Sows for Burningfold Forge were weighed at Shillinglee in 1583 (TNA, REQ 2/125/14). The works had closed by 1620, when it was used as a mill (Kenyon 1952, 236).

Site Description: Bay: Much altered. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Only visible remains are in stream, downstream of Hammer Bridge, 20m away is a short section of rough stonework, below a cinder layer, and at 50m two cinder layers. Sources Leconfield 1954, 93-103; Straker 1931a, 429; Cattell 1979, 165; Kenyon 1952, 235.

Site Description: Bay: L 220m H pond in water/5.5m. Forms present road; brick wall on pond side. Local information suggests former height 1m below present. Water system: Three existing sluices (1) Main sluice at N end has brickwork similar to bay wall, and stone dated 1703 (1708?) (2) Corn mill sluice, adapted c.1900 to provide electricity for Shillinglee House has similar brickwork to (1), (3) Overspill sluices at S end in brick and concrete with 1779 date-stone. Pen ponds at SU 963324, SU 963321, SU 962315. Working area: Occupied by present farm house and buildings. Scatter of glassy slag. Re-use: Corn Mill.

North Park see Fernhurst Pallingham Furnace

[134] SU 9920 2870

[133] TQ 0410 2270

Built in 1586-7 by Edward Caryll, this furnace was listed as working in 1653 and 1664. In about 1627 Walter Bartlett or Barttelot leased the site with Thomas Middleton (TNA, C 2/Chas I/B88/45). In addition to Straker’s reference to Walter Bartlett carrying ore to the furnace in 1630, Bartlett also shipped pig iron from Rye to Arundel in 1633 and 1636, suggesting that he was short of pig with which to supply forge customers (TNA, E 190/764/9, 766/19). It was listed as in working order in 1664. 64

Chapter 2: Weald St Leonards Lower Forge and Furnace Upper Forge

(TNA, LR 2/143 ff 25-8). The forge was said to be ruined by 1664 and derelict in 1676 (BL, Add. MSS 5705).

[136] TQ 2130 2910 [137] TQ 2190 2890

Lower Works site: Bay: L 95m H 2.5m. Mainly straight but appears irregular on account of quarrying from each side and gap cut for cart-track. Starts at Hawkins Pond stream at E end; breached by Goldings stream 30m from W end. Projection near W end for loading platform. Water system: Pond (formerly known as Boothlands Pond) now dry. Supplied by water from Frenchbridge Gill and Pyefall Gill. Working area: Forge area was to the E next to Hawkins stream where forge bottoms and cinder occur. Furnace site is on W side, 2m from bay and 4m from Goldings stream. In a deep hollow are many large displaced stones and 5cm thick bricks, with some upright remains of furnace lining still in situ.

It is impossible to separate the operation of the St Leonards works for much of their existence. The date of the works is uncertain. In 1590, Roger Gratwick said he and his father had them for forty years (TNA, E 112/45/88). Earlier statements referred to the Duke of Norfolk leasing to John Broadbridge what was later the Upper Hammer and that he dealt with Roger Gratwick the elder who built the Lower Hammer (TNA, E 112/45/11). They were in operation in 1561 and leased until 1568 (Schubert 1957, 386). Following an exchange with Norfolk, the crown leased the forge with 250 loads of coals, 30 cords of wood (apparently for workmen’s fuel), and the right to mine iron ore to Roger Gratwick the elder (TNA, E 112/45/29). William Dix and John Bleverhasset leased the forest in 1573, subject to this lease (TNA, STAC 5/ G3/6, G3/32; C 66/1103/448; E 112/45/10-11 58 61). In 1575 Gratwick obtained sows from Walter Covert at Cuckfield Furnace, which Gratwick leased in 1577 (TNA, C 3/207/25). St Leonards Furnace was built in 1584 and was the subject of dispute between Gratwick and the lessees of Gosden Furnace. Much litigation took place in the 1580s, probably because rival parties had rights in the same land. Edward Caryll of Shipley obtained the property in Bleverhasset’s and Dix’s lease in 1587, and had Gratwick’s lease declared forfeit, though the rent had been paid (twice over), leading to the Lord Chief Baron imposing a settlement in 1588. A riot had also taken place between their respective men, when Carryll’s men took ore that Gratwick’s men had mined, leading to Star Chamber proceedings against the men (TNA, E 112/45/61 and 88). About then Gratwick’s lease expired. In 1601 the works were granted to Sir John Caryll for sixty years (BL, Add. MSS 5705, fos. 10r, 17v), passing to his descendants. It was in use in 1653, despite apparently being destroyed by Parliamentary forces in 1643. In the Parliamentary Surveys of the Forest in 1656 (TNA, E 317/Sussex/35; Daniel-Tyssen 1872, 238-41), the lower forge was valued at £32, it being described as comprising two fineries and a chafery, but the furnace had been out of use since about 1615; in 1655 it was tenanted by Walter Pawley. The ironworks and appurtenant rights had been excluded from the 1631 sale at fee farm of the Forest to trustees for Sir William Russell, having been included the Queen’s jointure. Sir Edward Greaves, the Royal physician was thus obliged to renew it in 1662, but was unsure of the extent of the royal property. He mentioned one iron mill in the possession of Leonard Gale and another in the possession of William Pawley, who had a lease of the ironworks granted in 1659 with Hawkins’ Pond and Bartolomew’s Farm (TNA, E 112/526/30 and 62). Greaves had Pawley outlawed for debt in 1665 (TNA, E 112/526/87). Greaves’ lease was part of a larger grant of the whole forest out of the jointure of Charles II’s queen, Catherine of Braganza. Following Greaves’ death the ironworks lease was renewed to William Broxholme, a Lincolnshire MP, in 1681. But he died three years later

Upper Forge site: Bay: L 100m H pond in water/4m. Carries present main road. Stone revetting wall can be seen opposite wheelpit. Water system: Supplied by water from Hammer Pond and from Newstead Gill, Hyde Gill and Darkalley Gill; there are pen ponds at TQ 2320 3020, 2470 2980 and 2480 2990. Shallow circular pit near centre of bay indicates wheelpit. Tail-race ditch recently filled in. Present spillway at SE end is probably on original site and has a bank protecting the working area. Working area: Much disturbed by landscaping by golf club. House near N end of bay probably contemporary. Sources Schubert 1957, 386 400; Houghton & Hodgkinson 1989; Daniel-Tyssen 1872, 238-41; Blandford 2013; Langley 2014; Blencow 1860, 48. Note also TNA, E 134/30 Eliz/East17; E 133/4/643. Verdley Wood Furnace

[138] SU 9067 2639

Reference in the 1574 lists to a new furnace in Haslemere set up by Lord Montague may be to this site, the one at Fernhurst (q.v.) being of early 17th century date. Ownership of land at Hurstfold, close to Verdley, by John Lambarde of ‘Farnehurst, yron fownder’ in his will of 1591 suggests possible operation at that time (TNA, PROB 11/81/409). A reference to this site as possibly using coke for iron smelting in the second half of the 18th century has not been substantiated (Hodgkinson 1994a; 1994b). Site Description: Bay: L 65m H 9m/9m. Breached near centre, by present stream. Water system: Pond dry. Sandstone blocks of wheelpit and tail-races remain in present stream. Working area: Furnace foundations remain above ground level just W of stream. Sources Ovenden 1971; Hodgkinson 1994a; 1994b. Warnham Furnace

[139] TQ 1680 3230

This was in existence by 1609, when a watercourse was leased by John Middleton to Sir John Caryll (Horsham Museum, MS 5003). The death there of a poor boy is recorded in 1608 (Horsham Psh Reg). Horsham 65

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I churchwardens (Straker 1931a, 441) borrowed the furnace weigh-beam in 1621 and 1645. It was working in 1653 but ruined by 1664.

bay widens, indicating wheelpit. Tail-race was probably culverted but reappears when about to enter tributary to main stream. Parallel dry watercourse to N of present stream, which joins stream further down, was probable former overflow channel. Working area: Level area S of wheelpit probably indicates furnace site. Cart track to S leads over culverted tail-race to ramp at bay top.

Site Description: Bay: L 180m H pond in water/4m. Water system: Relates to later use. Working area: Much glassy slag found during road widening over area; small amounts E of present mill buildings. Re-use: Corn mill. Wassell Forge

Sources Worssam 1964, 540; Holling 1970; Tebbutt 1977c, 3.

[140] SU 9810 2810

Probably newly built in 1574, for Cattell argues (1979, 165) that this is listed as the forge of Thomas Smith in Shillinglee Park as yet unused (Kenyon 1958, 45). In 1579 Thomas Smith of Petworth bequeathed this forge to his son John (TNA, PROB 11/61/33). In 1582-3 sows were sent from Shillinglee Furnace to Wassell Forge by Simon Bowyer (TNA, REQ 2/125/14). It was working in 1621 and 1640 (Kenyon 1952, 235).

Mole Catchment

Site Description: Bay: L 80m H 1.5m/3m. Forms present road. Pond side faced with unmortared sandstone blocks. Projection at W end to protect working area from spillway stream. Water system: Pond dry. Stone-built spillway at W end may be original. Present sluice and wheelpit for mill are of later origin; 20m W of mill sluice is shallow ditch leading from pond to face of bay, which may indicate site of forge sluice. Working area: Levelled for modern use. Forge bottoms in boundary wall; cinder in stream banks and bed below spillway. Re-use: Corn mill.

There is a risk of confusion with Ifield Forge, less than 1km distant. Roger Gratwick, sen. left the lease of his furnace at Ifield to his son, also Roger, who had the forge as well in 1574; there are forge and furnace slags at both sites. The first references to a furnace at Ifield are in 1567, when sows were taken to Burningfold (TNA, REQ 2/115/2), followed by a case in 1569 (REQ 2/244/45). Four years later Roger Gratwick held the furnace (REQ 2/226/4), which corresponds with the list of 1574. Wood in the forest was let to Sir Thomas Shurley in 1578, who quickly assigned the rights to Arthur Middleton, Stephen French and John Middleton, to last until 1597. Some wood was also assigned to Roger Gratwick. Wood was made over by John Middleton to Edward Cavill [Caryll?], who had grant of timber elsewhere in the forest. The confusion and the waste of wood gave rise to an enquiry in 1597 (TNA, E 178/2313). In 1602 sows were carried from Gosden Furnace to Bewbush Forge, occupied by John Middleton (REQ 2/166/46). A 1632 survey of the king’s lands in Bewbush and Shelly, co. Sussex, ‘lately disparked’, then in lease for 3 lives refers to ‘one furnace with bellowes & a water current to drive the same for the meltinge of iron ore’ (Cheshire RO, DAR/C/84/3). Bewbush Furnace, according to a Parliamentary Survey of 1649, went out of use about 1642 (TNA, LR 2/299, f.20) but it appears in the list of furnaces working in 1653. It was leased by Thomas Middleton to Bray Chowne in 1654, former occupants being named as Walter Burrell and Jeremiah Johnson (Staffs RO, D(W) 1788/P38/B6). By 1664 it was ruined. Nevertheless, it was perhaps what was incorrectly called ‘Mr Johnson’s furnace in Surrey’, though actually in Sussex, only the associated Woodcock Forge being in Surrey. In 1665, this was producing 23-24 tons of shot per month, under a subcontract from George Browne (Brown 1993, 21). Jeremy Johnson supplied 223 tons himself in 1667 (TNA, WO 51/8, 21 85; WO 51/9, 46). He had also cast shot in c.1656 (WO 51/2, 60).

The river Mole is a tributary of the river Thames, with a catchment east of that of the river Wey. Iron processing works on the lower part of the river appear in the next chapter. Bewbush (Ifield) Furnace

Sources Kenyon 1952, 235; 1958, 45. West End Furnace Chiddingfold

[141] SU 9392 3445

A candidate for the ‘newe furnace set up in Haselmore by my Lord Montague which as yet hathe never wrought’ in Christopher Baker’s 1578 list. Otherwise no documentary sources have been found. Site Description: Bay: L 64m H 2.5m. Breached by stream. Concave towards pond. S end covered by public road. Water system: Pond dry. Course of overspill channel (dry) survives from N end of bay. Present stream probably site of wheelpit and tail-race. Working area: Loading ramp protruding from S end of bay indicates probably furnace site. Scatter of black glassy slag. Sources Hodgkinson 1984; Draper 1986. Witley Park Furnace

[142] SU 9276 3736

It is likely, though not proven, that this furnace operated in association with the ironworks at Thursley (q.v.). Site Description: Bay: L 65m H 4m/5m, breached by stream at E end; approached by ramp at W end. At SW end projection to NE is probably loading platform. Water system: Pond dry. Dry channel from about. centre of 66

[143] TQ 2390 3565

Chapter 2: Weald The very high fuel consumption of Bewbush Furnace and Ifield Forge can be illustrated by transactions over the seven-year period from 1589-1596 when 56,000 cords of wood, worth £4,200, were cut down in Shelley and Bewbush Parks (Staffs RO, D(W) 1788/P41/B20, abstract of title). The furnace in Ifield was built by John Mayne esquire, who leased it to Edward Fenner gentleman, for twenty one years. It was then involved in the dispute between Thomas Ilman and Roger Gratwick, described under Ifield Forge. Meanwhile, the title to possession of the furnace was encumbered and it was in the physical possession of Ninian Challenor and Richard Ilman (TNA, REQ 2/226/4).

of London, and in the same year sold their interests in the property (a share being bought by Anthony Pelham of Buxted). Nevertheless, some Darrell involvement appears to have continued, for a Frenchman, Robert le Jean, worked for George Darrell in 1557 (TNA, E 179/185/275) and in 1563 Darrell was licensed to cut wood notwithstanding statute regulations (Cal. Patent Rolls, 5 Eliz, 478). Christopher Darrell bought his way back into the property in 1574, when the ironworks were leased for 21 years to Robert Reynolds (TNA, C 2/Eliz/ D11/14), who also had Mill Place Furnace and Brambletye Forge. Darrell was suggested by Straker (1931, 146-7) to have had assistance from the Crown in this purchase. The ironworks were exempted from the 1581 Act restricting wood close to the Thames (Statute, 23 Eliz. c.5), and in 1582 the Crown was in possession of the wood, leasing to Henry Darrell. A survey of 1575 (TNA, E 178/2242, printed in Giuseppi 1902), refers to a furnace and a forge, slag evidence of both being found on site.

Site Description: Bay: L 275m H 1.5m/2.5m. Forms bridle road with surface of sandstone and forge bottoms (perhaps from Ifield Forge). Downstream side revetted with brick and stone. Water system: Pond dry (drained 1939-45). Spillway probably present stream. Dry channel 11m N of stream may be tail-race. Working area: Glassy slag in bank S of stream. Re-use: Corn mill.

Site Description: Bay: L 190m H 2.75m/3m. Centre section has limestone revetment. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway at W end. There are now two culverts through the centre of the bay. The western culvert, in ashlar sandstone is now dry, the eastern culvert leads to a pool (mill wheelpit) and tail-race. Working area: Obscured by later corn mill. Glassy slag near wheelpit and in tail-race stream. There is forge-bottom cinder between the timberframed mill house and the bay.

Sources Gibson-Hill & Worssam 1976, 261-2; Jack 1983, 30; Comber 1919, 42; Archaeologia Cantiana 85 (1971), 192; Langley 2014. Blackwater Green Forge

[144] TQ 2912 3624

No firm references have been found, although Blackwater is likely to have been one of the two hammers in Moore (Worth) Forest in 1574 (Cattell 1979, 166), but there were difficulties in determining the division and descent of ownership of the forest. It was probably the forge listed in the inventory of ironworks belonging to the Lord Admiral, Sir Thomas Seymour, in the Forest of Worth in 1549 (Ellis 1861,128-31) and, in 1574, in the ownership of Lord Abergavenny, let to John Caulfield alias Eversfield of East Grinstead. With Worth Furnace, it is probably the forge leased by Edward More in 1617, rather than Tinsley as has been suggested elsewhere.

Sources Giuseppi 1902; see also Close Rolls (TNA, C 54/486 506 777 and 934). Ifield (Bewbush) Forge

There is a risk of confusion with Bewbush Furnace, less than 1km distant. Roger Gratwick’s forge in 1574 list, is assumed to have been at Ifield, but as both forge and furnace slags can be found at Ifield and Bewbush, this attribution is open to question. Eleanor Fenner leased an iron mill in Ifield to Thomas Fenner. By 1566, he set this over to Thomas Illman, who mortgaged the forge to Roger Gratwick in February 1568. Roger’s son Roger would not allow him to redeem this at midsummer 1569, because he had also guaranteed the delivery of 5 tons of iron for Illman. Illman’s servant Thomas Hode kept possession of the furnace for a year then yielded it to Roger Gratwick (TNA, REQ 2/226/4). The reference to sows carried to Bewbush Forge in 1602 (TNA, REQ 2/166/46) probably relates to Ifield. John Middleton of Horsham leased Ifield Forge and Bewbush Furnace from Crown trustees in 1608 (WSRO, Add Mss 33,389). The forge was burnt by Waller’s forces in 1643 and appears not to have been rebuilt. The very high fuel consumption of Bewbush Furnace and Ifield Forge can be illustrated by transactions over the seven-year period from 1589-1596 when 56,000 cords of wood, worth £4,200, were cut down in Shelley and Bewbush parks.

Site Description: Bay: L 140m H 2.75m/indeterminate, much altered. Forms bridle road. Breached by stream (bridged) 46m from N end. Water system: Pond dry. Small existing pond at S end of bay with outlet to main stream may indicate position of spillway. Working area: Slaglayer in N bank of stream. Forge bottoms in road surface on bay. Glassy slag in stream. Excavation by the UCL Field Unit in 1988 revealed remains of two timber-lined, double wheelpits, and an anvil base. Sources Place & Bedwin 1992. Ewood Furnace and Forge

[146] TQ 2445 3644

[145] TQ 2010 4470

The ironworks had been built by 1553, when the Nevills’ manor of Ewood was sold to the Londoners, George and Christopher Darrell. In 1554 they leased the manor, including the ironworks (as well as Leigh Forge, q.v.) to John Stapley of Framfield and Gregory Newman, grocer

Site Description: Bay: L 140m H pond in water/5m. Working area: The site of the forge was revealed by 67

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I reconstruction of the pond outflow (2014) to have been at the western end of the bay about 60m west of the later mill and about 20m to the north of the edge of the pond. Glassy slag and forge cinder on bay. Re-use: Corn mill.

and pipe through bay S of spillway. Stream originating from S side of site crosses to join main stream. Pen pond next to Rowfant House is shown larger on 1692 map, with further pond upstream. Working area: S side of site confused by stream bed. Forge slag concentrated close to bay at N end, and in middle of bay with charcoal and slag to W. Slag quantity suggests a short working life.

Sources Gibson-Hill & Worssam 1976, 262. Leigh Hammer

[147] TQ 2224 4616 Sources Hodgkinson 1986b.

In 1551 lands named Burghett and Grovelands were leased by Henry Lechford to Richard Wheler and William Hawthorn (Straker 1931c, 146-7). By 1554, when the lease was transferred to George and Christopher Darrell, the ironworks were in operation presumably in conjunction with Ewood Furnace (q.v.), although evidence of forge cinder at the latter suggests a forge there also; it was included in the right given to the Darrells to cut wood in 1563 (TNA, C 66/982, m.9) and the 1574 lease to Robert Reynolds (TNA, C 2/Eliz/D11/14). A map of Shellwood Manor of 1636 shows the pond in water and two channels issuing from it to the north, but no indication of buildings (Arundel Castle Mss., Acc. 147).

Tilgate Furnace

Henry Bowyer had the forge at Tinsley and a furnace in ‘Moore Foreste’ (probably Strudgate) in 1574, but died in 1588 possessed of two iron mills and land called ‘Tynsley’ held of Sir Edward More in his manor of Crabbett (Cooper 1899, 47). In 1606 Sir John Shurley and David Middleton formalised their 21-year partnership here and at Tinsley Forge (ESRO, SAS-H/202), the need for formalisation perhaps being prompted by the death of Sir Henry Bowyer, from whom they occupied at least one of the sites. A furnace and forge in Worth, leased by Sir Edward More to John Middleton and John Needler in 1617 (WSRO, Lytton/127), are probably Worth and Blackwater, the Eversfield family holding the other moiety of the Forest of Worth. More had no connection with Tilgate, and Tinsley (which was More’s) was separately occupied under More’s agreement with the Bowyers and later Sir John Shurley (Sir Henry Bowyer’s widow’s second husband). By 1636, Thomas Burrell was working the furnace for his brothers, John and Walter (Cooper 1900, 14). In 1653 Walter Burrell was recorded as having set his furnace to work for casting shot (TNA, SP 18/39/31) and it is most likely that this relates to Tilgate. In the 1653 list the furnace was in use, then discontinued but re-stocked in 1664. Roads to and from the furnace are referred to in 1685 (WSRO, Lytton/202-3). When in 1690 Leonard Gale and Henry Johnson, owners of Tilgate farm, enjoined their tenant Thomas Budgen to maintain the upper and lower ponds, there was no indication that these were kept in water other than for fish (TNA, C 5/79/84).

Site Description: No features remain, but forge cinder found in stream. Rowfant Forge

[148] TQ 3155 3773

To set up this forge Robert Whitfield, of Wadhurst, leased land for a forge pond and bay in 1556 (ESRO, SAS-E/146). It was in the same hands in 1574 and owned by Thomas Whitfield in 1600-3 (TNA, REQ 2/414/143). The forge was conveyed by him to his son, John, in about 1618 (ESRO, AMS 5813/3).The forge was in use in 1653 but out of use in 1664; however an annuity had continued to be paid on a furnace at Rowfant c.1660 (ESRO, Wadhurst United Charities deeds). Site Description: Bay: L 100m H pond in water/high (inaccessible). Forms present road. Water system: Modern spillway at W end, probably site of original. Working area: Occupied by houses and gardens. Forge bottom in garden of ‘Studio’.

Site Description: Bay: Has been levelled and almost all traces removed by Furnace Green housing estate, Crawley New Town. Tithe Award map shows pond near Furnace Farm, supplied by channel from main stream at TQ 2810 3510. Existing (dry) channel returns to main stream at TQ 2870 3610.

Sources Hodgkinson 1986b. Rowfant Supra Forge

[150] TQ 2843 3550

[149] TQ 3192 3718

Listed as working in 1653, it was ruined by 1664. Straker tentatively identified this site, the location of which is confirmed on a map of the Rowfant Estate dated 1692 (WSRO, MP 2746), which refers to both the Old Hammer Pond and the New Forge Pond, distinguishing this site from Rowfant Forge (q.v.). There is no indication that the forge was working at this date (Hodgkinson 1986b).

Sources Attree 1912, 35; Cooper (J.H.) 1900, 14. Tinsley Forge

[151] TQ 2919 3936

Richard Culpeper leased Tinsley to Henry Bowyer in 1572 (LMA, Acc 1360/127/1). This was Henry Bowyer’s forge in the 1574 lists; when he died in 1588 he had two iron mills and land called Tinsley, held of Sir Edward More in his Manor of Crabbett (Cooper 1899, 43), and stock at works unnamed, of which Tinsley forge would be one

Site Description: Bay: L 1 10m H 2m/1m. Water system: Pond in water. Modern spillway at N end probably on site of original. Small stream issuing from NW corner of bay, 68

Chapter 2: Weald (TNA, PROB 11/74/74). Sir Henry Bowyer transferred the forge just before his death in 1606 to his cousin, William Bowyer (WSRO, Lytton/125). ‘Tinsley Fornace and Tinsley Hammer’ appear to have been worked by Sir John Shirley of Ifield and David Middleton of Chailey from about 1585, their partnership being formalised in 1606 (ESRO, SAS-H/202). A furnace and forge in Worth leased by Sir Edward More to John Middleton and John Needler in 1617 (WSRO, Lytton/127) are probably Worth and Blackwater, the Eversfield family holding the other moiety of the Forest of Worth. More had no connection with Tilgate, Tinsley, which was More’s, being separately occupied under More’s agreement with the Bowyers and later Sir John Shurley (Sir Henry Bowyer’s widow’s second husband), already noted. In 1656 the forge was worked by Leonard Gale in partnership with Thomas Burrell. William Soane of Worth described himself a ‘fforgeman’ in his will of 1662, witnessed by of Leonard Gale (TNA, PROB 11/309/10). In 1660 reference was made to a 21-year lease to Jeremiah Johnson that had expired over ten years before, the current partners being Burrell, Johnson and Gale (TNA, C 7/81/117). It was in use in 1653 and 1667. The reference to a Mr Gale’s forge in the 1717 list fits Tinsley despite the list placing of the forge in Surrey, for the Fullers supplied Henry Gale with sows between 1721 and 1736, one delivery specifically to Tinsley (ESRO, SAS RF15/27, f.207). It appears as ‘Gales’ in the 1737 list, but probably closed soon after.

the ironworks, but as this was at a mere £10 p.a. compared with the £90 paid in 1550, their potential must have been seen as poor. In 1587 ‘a poor man who died at Crookeford Fornis’ was buried at Worth. In 1617, a lease of a furnace and forge in Worth by Sir Edward More of Odiham, hitherto considered to relate to Tilgate and Tinsley, is more likely to refer to this site and the forge at Blackwater (WSRO, LYTTON/127 22).

Site Description: Little remains to be seen. The bay was levelled some years ago. Only a small quantity of forge cinder can be found.

Ouse Catchment

Site Description: Bay: L 60m H E side of stream 3m/2m W side 2m/3m. Breached at centre by stream and probably at W end by railway. Just W of stream, projection to N probably served as charging platform and protected working area from flooding. Water system: Pond dry. Present stream probaby site of overspill. Working area: Wet area behind bay 5m W of stream may indicate wheelpit, and slight depression running N from it, the tail-race. Sow (now in Haxted Mill Edenbridge) found in stream 18m below bay and bear 15m further downstream. Scatter of glassy slag. On E side of stream the high ground level compared with the W side suggests a silted up pond. This ends 25m below the bay in a slight bank and a 1m drop, possibly site of an earlier furnace. The bear and glassy slag on the bank nearby may be connected. Also here on W side of stream is N-S bank 55m long. Sources Awty 2003b; Guisseppe 1912; VCH Sussex vii, 192-200.

The river Ouse drains an area of the south side of the Weald. It flows past Lewes and it enters the sea at Newhaven. The catchment is between those of the Cuckmere river and river Adur.

Sources LMA, ACC/1360/127 (Bowyer family deeds 1575-1692); Cooper 1899, 37; Attree 1912, 35; Holgate 1927, 36.

Ardingly Forge Worth Forest Furnace Crookford

[153] TQ 3340 2890

[152] TQ 2900 3350 John Bardyng, a hammerman of Ardingly, is mentioned in assize records in 1559 (Cockburn 1975) and in 1568 in Ardingly Parish Registers (Sussex Record Ser. 17 (1913), passim). The forge, which was owned by Francis Chalenor of Lindfield, was operated by Ninian Challenor of Cuckfield in 1574. Between 1656 and 1685 John Spence became tenant (WSRO, Add. MSS 3893-5, cited in Bedwin 1976, 36), and operation is certain in 1653 and 1664. Ralph Drake leased the forge from Thomas Pilbeam in 1689 (WSRO, Add Mss. 44,445), demolition of the forge stated to have been in 1694 (WSRO, Add Mss. 44,456). This is contradicted by its use by Ambrose Galloway in 1695-6. Pig iron from Waldron furnace was being worked up 1698-1702 (BL, Add. Ms 33,156). The forge does not appear in the 1717 list and was presumably closed.

This was a double furnace, built for the Crown in 1546, under the supervision of William Levett, on the confiscated lands of the Duke of Norfolk (Giuseppi 1912, 276-311). Guns were cast under Levett’s control from 1547, and when the works were leased to Clement Throckmorton in 1550 (TNA, E 315/221, fos. 119-20), the condition of the works was noted, and an option was given to pay rent in the form of guns and ammunition. The property was restored to the Duke of Norfolk in 1553. Guns and shot were being delivered from here to the Office of Ordnance by Sir Richard Sackville, Chancellor of the Augmentations, c. June 1553 (Royal Armouries Lib, I. 119; Barter Bailey 1991, 21-2). In 1566 Sackville left the lease of this furnace for which, together with Sheffield, he was paying Thomas Hogan an annuity of £50, to his son Thomas (TNA, PROB 11/48/470). In 1574 Lord Abergavenny was stated to be owner, and the lease held by John Eversfield. At his death in 1595 it was stated that he had had been jointly seised of a moiety of the Forest of Worth with Edward Moore. In 1580 and 1582, Eversfield was paying rent on

Site Description: Bay: L 45m H 2.5m. Breached by stream at N end. Re-use: Fulling mill. Excavated 1975-6 in advance of destruction and submergence under Ardingly reservoir. Sources Bedwin 1976: 34-64; King 2002c, 31. 69

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Ardingly Furnace

[154] TQ 3370 2870

rising ground to W may indicate a loading platform. Heavy scatter of glassy slag over whole area.

Francis Challoner’s Post Mortem Inquisition notes ‘a messuage and land belonging to it at Sauceland in Ardingly and certain buildings by the furnace lately erected upon the premises’ (Holgate 1927, 31).

Sources Giuseppi 1912, 294; Hodgkinson 2008a, 17; Teesdale 1986, 30-1. Fletching Forge

Site Description: Bay: L 75m H pond in water/5.25m. Forms present road. Projection at N end forms protective bank and possible loading platform. Water system: Spillway at N end takes present stream. Slight indication of wheelpit with shallow dry tail-ditch returning to stream. Working area: Scatter of glassy slag over area, on bay and in stream. Plain roofing tiles and bricks in stream. Blackfold Furnace

In 1574 the forge was owned by Lord Buckhurst and worked by Richard Leeche. Site Description: Completely destroyed by later corn mill. Iron slab (1m x 1m x 5cm) used as well cover at Mill Farm house may have come from forge. Re-use: Corn mill.

[155] TQ 2743 2940

Freshfield Forge

Property of Ninian Challoner in 1574 and worked in association with Holmsted (Gaston’s Bridge) Forge (TNA, SP 12/95/20, f.50r).

[158] TQ 3861 2443

It was mentioned in 1548 in the complaint about ironworks (Straker 1931a, 114). In 1564 and 1565 Drewe Barantyne owned a forge at Freshfield (ESRO, GLY 2046, 2048), as is confirmed in the 1574 list, though Anthony Morley is also named as occupier. Cattell (1979, 168) suggested that there were two forges on the River Ouse. However, Morley was able to sell land adjoining the forge to Anthony Bartley in 1580 (WSRO, AM/1115/1). John Cowper apparently bought the forge from Morley and in 1602 conveyed it to Stephen Penkhurst the elder (ESRO, DYK/780), the Chancery case arising from encumbrances on the property involving William Cowper (son of John), William Crowe and David Middleton (TNA, C 3/284/51). The forge was extant in 1633 (ESRO, QR/E/33/2), 1652 (DYK/957), 1653 (list) and 1656, when sold by Stephen Penkhurst the younger to the brothers, Richard and Robert Knight of Cowden (DYK/783), with all equipment, and in the occupation of John Cripps. The list of 1664 shows the forge to be ruined, and a deed of 1677 refers to the ground ‘whereon a Forge Hamer or Ironworke lately stood’, formerly occupied by Edward Cripps (ESRO, DYK/784).

Site Description: Bay: L 55m H pond in water/3m (probably restored). At E end widens to form furnacecharging platform. Water system: At W end stone stepped spillway in good condition (probably restored). Further spillway at E end of bay. Pen ponds upstream said to be modern. Working area: At E end below charging platform low mound represents furnace base, with wheelpit hollow to S. Much glassy slag and charcoal waste nearby. The spillway forms an overflow at the south-west corner of the pond and runs along the base of the bay, between it and a substantial bank. At a point about halfway along the present bay the stream turns south through quantities of slag. It was noticed that there was no evidence of slag on the present bay, nor on the downstream side until beyond the bank referred to above. It was suggested that this bank was the original bay of the furnace and that, rather than rebuild the old bay when the pond was landscaped, a new one was constructed upstream.

Site Description: Bay: None. Water system: Used water from tail-race of contemporary (16th century) corn mill. This watercourse is now the main river. Working area: 90m E of existing remains of corn mill foundations, timbers can be seen lying lengthwise in stream bed. Downstream the S bank is revetted with forge bottoms and cinder. Mill House (c. 1550) has charcoal in garden.

Sources Hodgkinson 1985. Chittingly Furnace

[157] TQ 4240 2290

[156] TQ 3460 3220

This furnace was operated by Thomas Michell in 1546. In that year he supplied 65 tons of pig to Sheffield Forge (Giuseppi 1912, 294), and Straker notes that he held Chittingly manor in 1536. He mentioned one of his ironworkers in his will of 1551 (TNA, PROB 11/34/438). He was probably succeeded by his nephew, Edmund, and then the latter’s son, also Thomas, who is the ‘Mr Michael’ in the 1574 lists, his tenant being John Blacket.

Hendall Furnace and Forge

[159] TQ 4710 2590

Schubert (1957, 377) suggests that the Pelhams employed French workers here in 1544, but there is nothing to confirm such an early start. Hendall was owned by Nicholas Pope in 1574, and a ‘Pope’s furnace’ is referred to as being within 3 miles (5km) of wood in Framfield manor c.1570 (ESRO, SRL/13/1). It was occupied (1576-81) by Ralph Hogge (Dulwich MSS). Nicholas Pope referred to his forge in his will of 1598 (TNA, PROB 11/93/15). A Ralph Pope kept sows at Buxted in 1618-20 (ESRO, DYK/1011: Inventory of Richard Maynard of Birchden Forge; Burchall 1983); this might suggest that Hendall was still

Site Description: Bay: L 90m H pond in water/3.25m. Curves away from pond. Water system: From overspill at W end the stream flows E along downstream side of bay to about its centre where it turns S, perhaps to follow original tail-race. Working area: Near centre of W half of bay is pear-shaped mound, probably the furnace site. Steeply

70

Chapter 2: Weald in use. The existence of an iron fireback bearing the Pope arms and initials, SP, suggests that operation continued into the ownership of Sackville Pope, Ralph’s son.

Site Description: Bay: L 155m H pond in water/3m. Water system: Modern spillway 45m from NW end probably lies on the original site. At SE end tail-race from adjacent corn mill is culverted under bay into banked channel (now breached) to bypass furnace area (which it now floods). Water-filled hollow 60m from SE end probably indicates wheelpit. Working area: Glassy slag in area of wheelpit. Farm track from NW along base of bay mounts to its top opposite furnace site to form probably loading platform, on which occurs roasted ore and burnt clay.

Site Description: Bay: L 70m H 3m/4m. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Glassy slag and charcoal on steep left bank of streams S of bay, where sloping track leads to site. Partially buried in stream S of bay is a wooden trough, possibly a flash for overshot wheel. The presence of forge slag on the site indicates such use. Sources Crossley 1974; Burchall 1983; Whittick 2002; Hodgkinson 2013.

Sources Bird 1971, 24-5; Dunkin 1914, 225. Howbourne (Buxted) Forge

Holmsted Forge or Gastons Bridge

Scot levied by the Commissioners of Sewers in 1537 included the hammer pond at ‘Oborne’ in Buxted in the occupation of Thomas at Well and John Page (ESRO, GLY 84). John Relfe and Robert Olyffe had joint occupation in 1568, this ending in a dispute between them (TNA, C 2/ Eliz/R10/31). The forge was mentioned as being within 3 miles (5km) of woods in Framfield manor in a survey of c.1570 (ESRO, SRL 13/1). In 1574 it was owned by John Wells and worked by John Paler (alias Cooper) of Rotherfield. It was still in use in 1653, but ruined by 1664 and remained so for many years.

Straker’s assumption that Ninian Challoner operated this forge in 1574 is acceptable, although this may have been a joint arrangement with Richard (rather than Walter) Covert (Cattell 1979, 168). The interests of these two men in Slaugham and Cuckfield have not been satisfactorily resolved. Straker showed that the forge became Burrell property in 1605, and it appears in Ninian Burrell’s will of 1615 (TNA, PROB 11/125/50). Pig came from the Burrell furnace at Tilgate between 1636 and 1656. In 1629 a partnership existed between John Warden of Cuckfield and an unnamed party of Cranbrook [probably Peter Courthope] regarding the stock, implements and accounts at the forge (SHC 892/1/2). It was listed as working in 1653, but ruined by 1664.

The forge was revived by Christopher Cripps by 1756 (ESRO, ELT Buxted) under the ownership of John Whitfield. Records of the Manor of Owborne suggest his involvement continued until at least 1767. For two periods it was worked in conjunction with Gravetye furnace, under William Clutton and later Edward Raby. Although assessed for Land Tax until 1785, it was void from 1772 (Combes 1987).

Site Description: Bay: Destroyed 1928. Water system: Pond dry. Working area: Forge cinder in stream and adjacent field. Horsted Keynes Furnace

[162] TQ 5150 2500

[160] TQ 2820 2740

[161] TQ 3790 2870

Site Description: Bay: Completely destroyed. Possibly ran NW from Howbourne Farm along present farm track to where forge cinder and bottoms occur in stream. Water system: Pond dry.

Sir William Barrantyne employed Frenchmen in Danehill Horsted in 1544 (Westminster Abbey, WAM 12261, cf. Awty 1978, 18; 1979, 7), thus it is presumed that the furnace was in use by this time. Sir Richard Sackville left his furnace or iron mill at Mr Barrantyne’s to his wife, Winifred, in 1566 (TNA, PROB 11/48/14). It remained Barrantyne property in 1574, worked by Anthony Morley, although the manor of Horsted Keynes had been sold to Richard Michelborne in 1567 (Dunkin 1914, 225). A series of references in Glynde MSS (ESRO, GLY 20678, 2087-8, 2094, 2119) cover the years 1643-75 in which the ownership passed from the Michelbornes to Edward Lightmaker. In 1648 John Cripps of Homestall left his (leased) furnace in Horsted Keynes parish to his son Walter, but operated by his oldest son, John, and his son Edward (TNA, PROB 11/201/189). Operation at this period is confirmed by the lists of 1653 and 1667. See also Giles Moore’s diary for reference to purchases from the furnace of iron pots and plates in 1656-9 (Bird 1971, 24-5), the named founders being John Tully and Stephen Marden.

Sources Combes 1987; Whittick 2002, 19; Dunkin 1915, 335; Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 1 Nov. 1766; 17 Mar. 1766; St James’s Chronicle, 13 Mar. 1766; ESRO, SAS-FA 483; Hodgkinson 1997b; 2016c, 33-6. Huggetts Furnace

[163] TQ 5344 2596

In 1573 Ralph Hogge claimed that Arthur Middleton, who had Huggett’s Furnace, had begun to cast guns in William Levett’s time (TNA, SP 12/95/16). It was mentioned in the survey of Framfield manor woodlands of c.1570 (ESRO, SRL 13/1). Arthur Middleton was the owner in 1574. Site Description: Bay: L 100m. Levelled except at NW end. At SE end ran slightly N of present farm road with which it converged at NW end. Had stone revetment on both sides. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway was at SE end. Wheelpit and tail-race are probably indicated by remains of ashlar wall in SE bank of later corn mill tail-race, but not aligned 71

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Nicholas Ongly of Lamberhurst contracted to buy wood from Alexander Fermour. In 1677 a share in the forge may have been occupied by Katherine and Thomas Ongly. In 1696 John Fuller and Edward Ongly occupied the forge, when it was sold to John Newnham (ESRO, SAS-AB/192-7). The property remained in the Newnham family until at least 1765, but it is not clear how long the forge remained in use (ESRO, ADA 114-8, passim, esp. 115, f.64). It does not seem to be listed in 1717.

with mill wall. Working area: Covered by later corn mill and farm buildings. Present farm road probably acted as ramp to loading platform on bay. Plentiful glassy slag. Tudor-type bricks occur in stream; cannon balls have been found. Re-use: Corn mill and sawmill. Timber-framed house at TQ 5321 2613 probably contemporary. Sources Whittick 2002, 19. Langley (Langles) Furnace and (Kinians?) Forge

[164] TQ 4510 2390 Site Description: Bay: L 85m H 0.75m. Breached by stream at both ends. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway probably at E end, on course of present tributary stream. Wheelpit and tail-race at W end. Working area: Almost certainly at W end, to which hollow-way leads. This site appears to be of three periods: (1) indicated by bloomery slag and forge or furnace bottoms, stratified below silt of later pond, in left bank of W stream 20m N bay; (2) glassy furnace slag and 16th century pottery (including Raeren stoneware) occurs in lowest layers of filled-in pit being eroded by E stream as it turns sharply W. S bay of bay; (3) indicated by forge cinder as main filling of pit.

The furnace was used by Ralph Hogge in the 1570s and 1580s (Crossley 1974, 48-79), casting shot in 1577, but there is no other firm information. George Kenyon, later of Fletching, had a supervisory role at Hogge’s ironworks and may have continued to operate this site after his master’s death. In the 1597 will of John Bartholomew, forgeman, of Maresfield, George ‘Kennion’ of the same parish was appointed overseer, hinting at a continued role for Kenyon (ESRO, PBT 1/1/10/68). Sir Sackville Crowe, held the Manor of Marshalls from 1638, but it is not known if he operated the ironworks during that time. A map of 1653, made during the brief ownership of John Nutt, shows an active forge at the west end of the bay, with no sign of a furnace at the east, except for a channel, perhaps the disused tail-race (ESRO, SAS-AB/17a).

Sources Whittick 2002, 19; King 2002c, 32. Maresfield: Boring Wheel

Parliamentary Survey of Ashdown Forest, 1658 (DanelTyssen 1872, 191 206) refers to ‘sluices and water courses to west end of bay of the boringe wheele pond’, inferring working area here, i.e. not on site of later corn mill. Only evidence for connection with iron industry is in name (going back to 17th century) and local tradition.

Site Description: Bay: L 100m H 2m/2m. Projection at W end to protect working area. E end widened to form loading platform. Gap at E end. Water system: Pond dry. Original spillway probably at W end on site of present stream. Modern (disused) spillway at W end probably replaced wheelpit and tail-race for forge. Furnace wheelpit at E end has dry channel to mail stream. Working area: Forge at W end where forge cinder predominates. At E end, W of wheelpit, low bank consisting of collapsed wall of burnt stones and clay surrounds probable furnace area. Immediately to W circular hollow may be site of casting pit. Large scatter of glassy slag with one piece of cannon mould. On line of bay, on high ground to E, level platform with charcoal may be site of charcoal store.

Site Description: Bay: L 110m H pond in water/3m. Water system: Spillway at NE end, used by later corn mill, was probably original. Corn mill took water by leat from SE corner of pond, bypassing bay. Working area: No trace now remains. Sources Daniel-Thyssen 1872, 191 206. Maresfield Forge

Sources Crossley 1974; Meades 1988; Coombes 1996; Hodgkinson 2015c. Little Forge, Buxted

[166] TQ 4560 2650

[167] TQ 4600 2280

Built before 1574, the forge was then recorded as Gage property, leased to John Faukenor. It remained in Gage ownership throughout, being referred to in 1590 and 1594 (ESRO, SAS-Gage 13/45 and 6/3). It was leased by William Crowe in 1619 (Gage Addnl. 918, TNA, C 3/319/23), by Anthony Fowle in 1645 (Gage 13/49) and by John Newnham in 1669 (13/50). It was listed as working in 1653 and 1667. Pig iron from Waldron Furnace was being worked up 1699-1702 (BL, Add. Ms 33156). The forge was not entered in the 1717 list, despite the lease (with inventory) to Ambrose Galloway in that year (Gage 13/53). In 1736 the output was listed as 60 tons, and 30 tons in 1787. Galloway used the forge for much of the century, although in 1772 Benjamin Molyneux announced that he had taken it (Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 6 Jan. 1772) while in the following year Elias Standen was advertising

[165] TQ 5130 2600

‘Little Buxted Hammer’ was within 3 miles (5km) of woods in Framfield manor c.1570 (ESRO, SRL 13/1). It was operated by Arthur Middleton in 1574, owned by Thomas Sleche in 1596 and by John Sleche (not Anthony Fowle) in 1611 (ESRO, SAS/PN/110). Iron was carried to the forge in 1636, to be made into dripping pans by Hugh Pray (ESRO, R/E/35, 91). Straker notes a possible conveyance of 1652 including a furnace as well as a forge by which ownership was transferred from Stephen Penkhurst to John Marsham (ESRO, SAS/PN/42). A forge at Buxted was working in 1653 and 1667 and certainly retained equipment in 1667 (ESRO, AB193). In 1658, Thomas Ongley of Frant and 72

Chapter 2: Weald the main stream. Present stream may indicate the site of one wheelpit. Working area: Levelled for houses and gardens. Much glassy slag in all gardens; forge cinder and bottoms in stream bed. Three houses, ‘Burnside’ ‘Forge Cottage’ and ‘Green Ford’ and their gardens, occupy this site, making identification of features difficult. A watching brief on the excavation of a trench adjacent to the western wall of the property called ‘Old Forge’ revealed part of a wooden chute (2007).

thence (ibid, 26 Apr. 1773). Land Tax records indicate a succession of tenants: Richard Tidy in 1750; Daniel Beard of Lewes 1751-61; William Clutton of Gravetye Furnace (q.v.) 1762-3; a Mr White 1764-6; Benjamin Molyneux of Lewes 1767-72; Elias Standen 1773-7; and Richard Prickett 1778-9 (ESRO, ELT/Maresfield). Tidy was also in occupation in 1743-4 (SAS-G 11/30). In 1787 the tenancy was held by Thomas Willis (SML, Weale MSS; Hodgkinson 1979, 13). The forge is shown on Budgen’s map of 1724. The Dawson map, claimed to be of that year and reproduced by Straker, has been shown to be a fake (Pettitt 1976, 20).

Sources Crossley 1974. New Place Furnace Framfield

Site Description: Bay: L 175m H pond in water/4m. Probably altered by later use and landscaping. Water system: Apparently much altered. Working area: Probably in area of present spillway at SW end of pond, where forge bottoms and cinder are concentrated. Wheelpit and tailrace N of spillway may be of later late. Re-use: Powder mill, early 19th century.

[170] TQ 5090 1950

There are no firm references, apart from the possibility that this is one of the furnaces noted as within 3 miles (5km) of woods on Framfield manor c.1570-1 (ESRO, SRL 13/1).

Sources Hodgkinson 1979, 13; 1997b; Pettitt 1976; King 2002c, 33.

Site Description: Bay: L 110m H pond in water/1.75m. Water system and working area: Extensively altered and landscaped. Glassy slag in S tributary stream near main road.

Maresfield Furnace

Sources Whittick 2002.

[168] TQ 4620 2320

Oldlands Furnace

The furnace was closely associated with the forge (q.v.). In 1614-19 the furnace was operated by David Middleton and William Crowe, between whom were disputed the costs of equipment (TNA, C 3/319/22), Sackville Crowe also being a party. The furnace was used by Sackville Crowe during his monopoly of the casting of merchant guns (TNA, SP 14/118, f.67).

It is now considered unlikely that William Levett cast ordnance here in the 1540s, although he owned land at Oldlands (TNA, PROB 11/37/39). There is no proof that Ralph Hogge had a furnace here (ESRO, SRL 13/1; Dulwich MSS). William Bassett had the furnace in 1593, which he probably worked with Crowborough Forge (TNA, STAC 5/B90/39; Awty 1989b, 33-8). William Wood of Crowhurst, who owned the Oldlands estate 1609-14, employed Symon Colman, pot founder, there (Hodgkinson 2010, 31-2). Later there is a clear reference to a furnace at Oldlands, leased by William Crowe and David Middleton between 1614 and 1617 (TNA, C 3/319/23). Reference to a furnace and iron mill among the properties in the manor of Oldlands settled on Thomas Nutt in 1651 implies continued working to that date (Combes 1996, 13).

Site Description: Bay: L 75m H 1.25m/1.75m. Water system: Pond dry. The present stream seems inadequate to fill this pond. Working area: From high ground on W side of bay a short bank running E parallel to bay, may have been loading platform. Much glassy slag with pieces of cannon mould S of bay. Marshalls Furnace at Old Forge, Maresfield

[171] TQ 4770 2720

[169] TQ 4590 2580

Site Description: Bay: L 70m H pond in water/4m. Projecting bank at W end to provide loading platform and protect working area. Water system: Original spillway at W end, now dry. Present spillway stream cuts through probable working area. Working area: Destroyed by modern spillway. Glassy slag in stream.

In 1574 there was a furnace and a forge at Marshalls, the furnace being one of those referred to in Ralph Hogge’s accounts of 1576-81 (Dulwich MSS; Crossley 1974). Hogge built the house (Marshalls) about a mile away. A new furnace was built by David Middleton and William Crowe between 1614 and 1619 (TNA, C 3/319/23, E 190/755/20); an inventory of Middleton’s gun-founding equipment, on an extent for debt, is in TNA, C 239/86.

Sources Awty 1989a; Coombes 1996; Stevenson 1999, 164; Hodgkinson 2010, 31-2.

Site Description: Bay: L 130m H 3m/3m with a projection towards the pond at S end, which forms N bank of probably spillway stream. Breached by stream 100m from N end, by ‘Green Ford’ garage driveway. Water system: Dry channel (unusually narrow) at extreme S end is probably spillway stream. Part of this is still culverted under the garden of ‘Burnside’ and the main road before joining

Pounsley Furnace and Forge

[172] TQ 5290 2190

The iron mill in Framfield, included in the complaint of the coastal towns in 1548, can safely be named as Pounsley. The furnace is mentioned in the survey of woods in Framfield (ESRO, SRL 13/1) dating from c.1570. John 73

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Harvo left his furnace and mill in Framfield (as tenant of Nicholas Eversfield) to his wife, Anne, in 1562 (TNA, PROB 11/48/337). He had been noted in the parish as early as 1550 and had been supplying guns to the Crown since 1547 (Barter Bailey 1991). Robert Hodgson was a beneficiary of Harvo’s will. In 1574 Pounsley was held by Hodgson in 1586 by Lawrence Levit (Attree 1912, 141). In 1586 Levit still occupied the lands (TNA, C 142/211/192). It was held by 1608 by Mary Eversfield, née Levett (Attree 1912, 84), and worked by Thomas Hodgson in 1609 (TNA, E 178/4143). The notorious Stephen Aynscombe, founder and illegal exporter of ordnance, worked the furnace in 1619-21 (ESRO, GLY 1671; APC 1619-21, 321-2; 1621-3, 13-14). The founder at Pounsley, John Tyler, was brought before the Quarter Sessions in 1629 (ESRO, QR 29, mm. 63, 64). It worked in 1653 and in 1664, though discontinued, was restocked. In 1671 ordnance was transported to South Malling from Framfield, most likely originating at Pounsley (ESRO, QO/EW 6.54). John Newnham was occupier of this furnace in 1691 (ESRO, ADA/115 ff. 1 2). He or a namesake supplied ordnance and shot during the Second and Third Dutch Wars (TNA, WO 51/7-17 passim) and may have had the furnace then. Government shells were cast here for William Benge in 1695 (TNA, WO 51/50 f. 130v; Brown 1993, 28). Newnham supplied shot to the Board of Ordnance in 1705-7 (WO 47/22-5). A furnace enigmatically named ‘Mr Pounsley’ is included, without output, in the 1717 list (Hulme 1929, 22). It was marked on Budgen’s map of 1724. A ‘Pounslow’ forge is listed as working in 1653, but ruined in 1664. Contrary to earlier statements, Pounsley started off as a property of the Levetts of Hollington, near Hastings, descendants of John Levett, whose brother was Parson William Levett. It descended through the Levett line to Mary, the sister of Lawrence Levett. Shortly after his death in 1586, Mary married Thomas Eversfield and ownership continued in that family. The earlier connection with the Eversfields may be accounted for by them leasing the property from the Levetts, the association eventually leading to the marriage.

cardinal and archbishop of Canterbury’, i.e. before 1500, and payment was made to the archbishop’s surveyor for ‘iernefounders at Buxstede’ in December 1490 (Lambeth Palace Library, ED 1352), making this the earliest blast furnace in England. This is probably the ‘iron mille of Buksted’ operated by Roger Machyn, of Rotherfield, in 1524 (TNA, PROB 11/21/19). In 1537 scot was levied by the Commissioners of Sewers on ‘the hammer pond at Quenstoke’ in the hands of William Olyffe and Thomas Hudson. It was probably the furnace at which William Levett pioneered the casting of iron guns in the 1540s. His brother John, whom he had succeeded in the iron business, had taken over Machyn’s other works. This strengthens the likelihood that this was one of Ralph Hogge’s works. In the years of 1576-81 (Crossley 1974, 52), he had a furnace in Buxted; this (called Iron Plat by Straker) is the probable site. Site Description: Bay: L 100m H 1.25m/1.25m. Breached by stream at W end and by farm gateway near E end. Water system: Pond dry. Depression at W end 20m from stream probably indicates spillway. Near E end, 25m downstream of bay, shallow circular pit with dry ditch-like depression to S may represent tail-race. Series of pen ponds upstream to TQ 4980 2490. Working area: Probably at E end, where natural bank with much charcoal could have served as loading platform. Some glassy slag on bay. Sources Awty & Whittick 2002; Awty1987a; Combes & Whittick 2002; Meades & Houghton 2002; Crossley 1974, 52. Sheffield Forge, Fletching

It was built before 1546 (Giuseppi 1912, 278), probably by 1544, when the Duke of Norfolk employed aliens (Westminster Abbey, WAM 12261). The forge was mentioned in the complaint of the coastal ports in 1548. Its condition was noted in 1550, when it was leased for 21 years to Thomas Hogan (TNA, E 315/221, f.119). In 1574 the forge belonged to Lord Buckhurst whose family sold it to Christopher Nevil in 1623 (BL, Add. MSS 5682, f.158r). The building and implements are noted in 1597-8 in the Buckhurst Terrier (Straker 1933, 72), in which it was noted that Charles Howard, younger son of Lord Howard of Effingham, who had married Charity, widow of Richard Leeche, had become lessee, renewing it in 1617. In 1633 it was referred to in a case of disorder at Quarter Sessions (ESRO, QR 33/2; Phillips 1985, 42). The forge operated in 1653; was laid aside in 1664; yet was leased in 1670 (ESRO, ACC 4504).

Site Description: Bay: L 140m H 2m/3.75m. Two gaps in NW half. Breached by stream at SE end. Water system: Pond dry. Tail-race may be indicated by culvert emerging at NW end of site. Working area: Levelled area at NW end, under which culvert stream flows, and on which a bear remains with much glassy slag. At SE end are large heaps of apparent bloomery slag under thin layers of glassy slag. Sources Barter Bailey 1991; Brown 1993, 28; Whittick 2002, 19. It ought to be possible to fill in more details of its history before 1690 from Framfield manor rolls in KHLC. Queenstock Furnace & Forge or Iron Plat, Buxted

[174a] TQ 4040 2380

Site Description: Bay: Much altered or destroyed by canalization of River Ouse, and by a railway bridge. Originally it partially surrounded a pond against high ground on the E flood plain of the river. Remaining is a bank L 170m, H 1m/1.5m running parallel to present river for 100m before turning E at right angles to reach the high ground. Water system: Pond dry. Original leat from Ouse destroyed by railway. E boundary ditch of meadow,

[173] TQ 4990 2420

Draft court books of South Malling manor refer to a furnace at this site ‘in the days of Lord John Morton, 74

Chapter 2: Weald known as Hammer Ditch, is almost certainly the tail-race. Old meanders of Ouse can be seen S of the site. Working area: Almost certainly at E end, where occur many forge bottoms and cinder. Traces of buildings in plough-soil at TQ 4060 2400.

Gilham, founder) implies that the furnace was in operation by 1565. Site Description: Bay: L 100m, has been restored and raised. Water system: Pond in water. Working area: Glassy slag in stream. This site was much altered in the late 19th or early 20th century for use to drive turbines. The bay is now c.100 yards long and has been raised from the original. There is much highly glazed green and streaked pale blue slag in the E bank of the stream, extending 50 yards below the bay.

Sources Giuseppi 1912; Ellis 1861, 127-8; Phillips 1985, 42; Straker 1933, 72. Sheffield Furnace, Fletching

[174b] TQ 4160 2570

Like the forge, the furnace was in operation by 1545, and subject of accounts while in Crown hands following the attainder of the Duke of Norfolk (Giuseppi 1912, 278). Thomas Hogan’s lease of 1550 (TNA, E 315/221), if maintained after the restoration of Norfolk property in 1553, would have run to 1571. However, in 1566 Sir Richard Sackville left to his son Thomas the lease of this furnace, for which, together with Worth, he was paying Thomas Hogan an annuity of £50 (TNA, PROB 11/48/470). No furnace is mentioned in 1574. A corn mill had been built on the furnace site by 1597-8 and nail-making was carried out in the brewhouse (Straker 1933, 72).

Stumbletts Furnace

[177] TQ 3990 3060

Built in 1534 on Duchy of Lancaster lands, it was at first let to John Levett who died in 1535. It was managed by William Levett, the Buxted ordnance maker (TNA, DL 29/446/7168-76). The furnace was leased with the Steel Forge in 1548 to Thomas Gaveller and Francis Challenor (TNA, DL 29/447/7187), and ownership granted to John Gage in 1554 (ESRO SAS-G/19/6). The last reference is in 1570 (TNA, DL 29/458/7836); it does not appear in the 1574 list.

Site Description: Bay: L 85m H pond in water/3.5m. Pipelaying through E end revealed core wall of sandstone blocks. Water system: Spillway at W end probably original. Wheelpit and tail-race obscured by later mill. Working area: 30m S of bay and 2m E of mill tail-race are foundations of building 6m x 6m. Large heap of glassy slag between present house and overspill stream. N end of house is probably contemporary, but S half was built later on slag foundations. Re-use: Corn mill, ceased work in 1928.

Site Description: Bay: L 70m H 3m/3.5m. Breached by stream in S half; gap due to soil removal in N half. Righangle projection 45m long at centre to protect working area from flooding. Water system: Pond dry. Overspill at extreme N end of bay joints main stream to W. Working area: Furnace site just S of main stream close to bay. Glassy slag in the stream. Re-use: Probably the site of Vinolds Mill (Straker 1933, 53).

Sources Giuseppi 1912; Ellis 1861, 127-8; Straker 1933, 72.

Tickerage Forge and Furnace

Slaugham Furnace

Sources Hodgkinson 2008a, 15-16; Straker 1933, 53.

The first reference is to a cottage near the hammer in 1617 (ESRO, ADA 137, f.117). The forge, working in 1653, was ruined by 1664.

[175] TQ 2490 2800

Worked in 1574 by Ninian Chaloner and Richard Covert, the furnace was occupied by William Cheeseman of Rotherfield in 1597 and 1601 (TNA, REQ 2/166/46; REQ 2/186/35).

Site Description: Bay: L 73m H pond in water/2.75m. Carries bridle road. Water system: Existing spillway at S end and wheelpit at N end likely to be original. Working area: Part levelled, remainder occupied by corn mill. Furnace and forge unlikely to have been contemporary owing to restricted space. Forge cinder in stream below bay; forge bottom in mill house garden. Glassy slag on road surface, and much, with charcoal, in mill house garden extending at leat 80m from road. Found on site (now in Tickerage House garden) are cannon balls of 4, 5, 6 and 7in diameter (102, 127, 152, 178mm), also one half of iron single mould for 7in ball and some part-spheres, probably mould cores. Re-use: Corn mill (locally known as ‘Striking Mill’).

Site Description: Bay: L 185m H pond in water/5.5m. Forms present road. Low projection at E end protected working area from spillway stream. Water system: Spillway at E end (modernized); spillway stream recently diverted. Possible wheelpit and tail-race indicated by dry hollow and ditch c.30m W of spillway stream. One pen pond. Working area: Glassy slag at E end. Strudgate Furnace

[178] TQ 5150 2110

[176] TQ 3298 3225

This furnace is only known from the 1574 list, in which it was operated by Henry Bowyer, and from a lease of 1584, in which Lord Abergavenny let it to Ralph Valey (TNA, C 154/1308). Several ironworkers from the same period are noted in Ardingly registers, the earliest of which (John

Wey Catchment The river Wey is a tributary of the river Thames. Its lower reaches were made navigable up to Guildford by 75

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Sir Richard Weston in the 1650s. This was extended to Godalming in the 1760s. Further extensions of navigable water were subsequent made, but only in the period after the Wealden iron industry had ceased. The Wey catchment contains few ironworks, but these form the westernmost part of the Weald. There were also iron processing works on the lower reaches of the river, but these are dealt with in chapter 3.

end. Working area: No trace, but forge bottoms and cinder occur near house. Sources VCH Surrey ii, 270-1; Hodgkinson 1996; 1997b; King 2002c, 31 34; Journal of House of Commons i, 63. Bramshott Hammer

Formerly erroneously described as Standford Furnace. In August 1590 Edmund Fysher leased lands in Bramshott, part of Ludshott manor, to Henry Champion, for the erection of a forge, although the manorial roll suggests that it may have already been in existence the previous year (TNA, REQ 2/186/6; C 2/Eliz/F9/55; Queen’s College library, Oxford, Z.23(17)). About the same time Champion, of Bramshott Forge, was purchasing sows from Thomas Bettesworth of Trotton (REQ 2/165/34). The freehold tenancy was sold by Peter Fysher in 1609, probably to Henry Hooke who was certainly tenant before 1640 (Queen’s Coll., Z.23(19); Hants RO, IM36/4). His son, John, supplied shot to the government in 1667-75 (TNA, WO 47/8 f. 19r). The forge was sold to Henry Streater in 1684 and a paper mill occupied the site from 1690 (Hants RO, IM36/4).

Identification of the locations and extent of the ironworks on Witley and Thursley Heaths (Thursley Upper Hammer Thursley Lower Hammer and Coldharbour or Horsebane Hammer) is confused by the way the respective works have been described in the succession of deeds relating to them. The potential for reinterpretation still exists. Abinger (Shere) Hammer

[180] SU 8187 3439

[179] TQ 0968 4738

Ownership of this site, on the Tilling Bourne, descended with the Manor of Paddington in Abinger. The forge was built before 1557, when it was sold by Owen Bray to Thomas Elrington (inf. from J. Pettitt, citing Evelyn MSS, Christchurch, Oxford), who was licensed to cut wood locally in 1560 (BL, Add Ch. 44,558). Edward Elrington operated the forge in 1574. There are references to leases, water, timber and cinder offences, in 1579-1613, in Evelyn MSS. Elrington sold the property in 1579 when Thomas Kelsey was tenant, and the latter was succeeded in 1589 by John Forest, of Etchingham, and John Levett, of Salehurst. Robert Nunne had the forge in 1609, and Francis Pellett by 1628 (Christchurch College, Oxford, Evelyn Deeds bundles 141-3). Listed as working in 1653 and 1664 and active c.1673 (Aubrey, Surrey, preface: letter from J. Evelyn). Mr Dibble paid rent for the forge in 1703/4 (Evelyn MSS 240), and appears in the 1717 list (as ‘Dibbles’, making 80 tpa, twice as much as most Wealden Forges, possibly indicating the entry covers two forges, perhaps also Thursley). William Dipple occurs in an Arundel Port Book of 1688 (see under Mitchell Park Forge). The forge is also listed in 1736. In 1729, John Hiat of Abinger ironmaster was imprisoned for debt (London Gazette, 6784, 9 – 3 Jun. 1729). In 1734 Mr Delonsae paid the Poor Rate for the forge (Evelyn MSS 286). Its letting was advertised in 1740 (London Evening Post, 17 Apr. 1740). Other occupants were James Goodyear 1766-80, James Eade 1781-2, and Alexander Raby 1783-7 (SHC, Rates, P1/5/1, 2; Land Tax, Q56/7). A forge and a wire-mill were advertised for sale in 1777 (Gazetteer and Daily News Advertiser, 6 Nov 1777). This was followed by sales of the late James Goodyear’s property in Guildford, including an ironmonger’s business and a steel furnace (Public Advertiser, 29 Dec. 1777). This may have been in connection with his 1771 steelmaking patent, for a process involving incomplete decarburisation in a finery process.

Site Description: All features now covered by modern industrial development but glassy slag can be found in stream banks. Sources Hodgkinson 1986a. Coldharbour Hammer or Horsebane

[181] SU 9200 4060

The Coldharbour works are first mentioned in 1633 when they were leased by Henry Bell to Anthony Smith, a year before the former’s death (SHC, G5/4/51). In a Chancery bill of 1641 (Giuseppi 1903, 37-42), Francis Wyatt was noted as lessee in 1635. He died the same year and the seven year lease was held by his executors, Peter Courthope and Walter Burrell, who, in turn let the forge to Burrell’s brothers, Thomas and James. It is likely that the Burrells’ tenancy was followed by that of Henry Penfold and his son (Godalming Museum, PWD/7/2/3), who may have sub-let to a Mr Dibble (possibly also associated with Abinger Hammer, q.v.). In 1666 Smith leased the forge, together with the other Thursley forges, to William Yalden, an inventory of the works being included with the lease (Godalming Museum, PWD/7/2/4). In 1681, Smith’s brother, Thomas, leased the hammer to Henry Roker, having leased the other works to him ten years earlier. No further record is known. Site Description: Bay and water system: New pond: possibly the ironworks pond. Working area: Forge cinder in stream below New Pond.

Site Description: Bay: L 180m H 2.7m/3m. Portion towards S end levelled for modern house and garden. Water system Pond level lowered to make watercress beds. Present: stream flows through brick sluice 30m from N

Sources Giuseppi 1903.

76

Chapter 2: Weald Guildford: steel furnace see under Abinger Imbhams Furnace

as a forge on Budgen’s map of 1724. Sows are recorded as being carried to Pophole Forge in 1683-6 (WSRO, Cowdray 96). It operated with Fernhurst or Northpark Furnace (q.v.) from 1769, when it was leased by Joseph Wright and Thomas Prickett; and in 1774, when it was occupied by James Goodyer (WSRO, Cowdray 1443-5), and in 1777 as a foundry (Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 13 Jan. 1777).

[182] SU 9320 3290

None of the late 16th century references is entirely certain. Straker (1931, 420) suggested construction c.1570; Cooper (1900, 40-50) thought a water-course in Thomas Quennell’s will (1571) related to the furnace; the furnace as yet unused in 1574 may well have been Imbhams, leased by Lord Montague (Cattell 1979, 164). It may, therefore, have been one of the unnamed ironworks in Anthony Viscount Montague’s will of 1592 (TNA, PROB 11/81/22). A reference in Haslemere Parish register to a child born in 1608 at ‘Mr Robert Quynnel’s furnace in Chiddingfold’ may refer to either Imbhams or to West End Furnace (Penfold 1906, 6). A summary of the resolution of a dispute between Peter Quynell, the elder, and a Mr Newton indicates that Imbhams was still in the hands of Peter Quynell the younger in 1665 (SHC, LM/1298). The furnace operated in 1653, and was listed as equipped to cast guns in 1664: in February 1665 George Browne and Alexander Courthope had indeed leased it from John Yalden (KHLC, TR1295/43) and stocked it; in 1666 output figures are given (ESRO, SAS-CO/1/714-718), and the problems of carrying heavy guns from Imbhams through Guildford are mentioned in a letter to Browne from his agent or manager (KHLC, TR1295/92). The 1667 list shows Imbhams as laid aside by Browne.

Site Description: Bay: L 51m H 2m/2m. Breached by sluices for the two modern streams. Water system: Pond dry. 3m wide stone sluice at N end in working order. Smaller ruined sluice near S end, below which shallow trough-like stone may be from sluice cill. Smaller sluice probably formed wheelpit. Working area: Cinder heap and scatter on bay and in stream. Ruined walls of stone building c.10x5m beside smaller sluice stream, with one short side revetting bay. ‘Hammer Lane’ leads to site. Sources Cochrane 1967, 47; Barnes 1991; Turner 2004, 115-50; Hodgkinson 1997b; 2016b. Sturt (Wheeler’s) Hammer

Turner has argued convincingly that this was the ‘blomary’ built by Edward Tanworth or Tanner of Tillington in 1601/2 (TNA, E 159/425, m.154 [Hilary 1 Jas. I, 1603/4]; Turner 2004, 212). Wheeler’s Hammer is mentioned in Haslemere parish register in 1609 (Penfold 1906). From 1546 until 1625 the copyhold of Sturt, which belonged to the estates of the bishopric of Winchester, was in the hands of the Wheeler family (Hants RO, 11M59/E1/119/4), and specifically Richard Wheeler, who mortgaged the property in 1627. He redeemed it in 1630, and in the same year reserved his rights to the watercourse which flows down to the forge, suggesting that he may not have been actively involved in the site then (11M59/E1/120/5). From 1624 there are references to Sturt Hammer. In 1636, on Richard Wheeler’s death, his son sold Sturt to Edward Rapley (11M59/E1/121/7). The following year Rapley sold the property but excluded from the sale an ironworks, land called the hammer place, and a pond and watercourse (11M59/E1/122/6). In 1649 the hammer was purchased by John Hoad, who may have been working the forge during Rapley’s tenancy; there are references to members of the Hoad family ‘at ye hammer’ in the Linchmere registers as early as 1631, although these could relate to Pophole. However, from 1654 entries mention Hoad ‘of Sturt Hammer’. In 1697 Hoad was succeeded by his son, also John, who was described as a sicklemaker in the Haslemere register in 1710 (11M59/E1/131/5). By 1735, when it was sold to James Simmons, the site was described as a corn mill, although it is known as Sickle Mill to this day (11M59/E2/153060).

Site Description: Bay: L 90m H no access/4m. Forms present road to Furnace Place. Water system: Pond dry. Bridge over present stream probably indicates original spillway. Working area: Level area at S end of bay, opposite house ‘Furness’, where charcoal and roasted ore are scattered, is probably furnace site. ‘Furness’ may be the ironmaster’s house or built on its site. Boring mill pond to the NW at SU 929355 is still in water. Sources Cooper 1900, 20; Houghton 1983; Brown 1993, 21. Pophole Hammer

[184] SU 8870 3250

[183] SU 8739 3265

In 1574 Pophole was listed as a furnace, having been built about that time, but thereafter is only referred to as a forge. Edward Tanner had been occupier from about 1592 until after 1598, following the Fawkener family (WSRO, EpI/11/8 ff. 66v 73v). In 1610 the forge was surrendered to Lord Montague by Roger Shotter (who may not have worked it himself) (WSRO, Cowdray 264 f. 29v 30; Turner 2004, 137-8). The later history of Pophole is the same as Fernhurst furnace (Barnes 1991, 23 8). Disputes over rent are recorded in 1601 (TNA, REQ 1/21, pp.263, 289, 304, 630, 637). William Yalden was paying rent for the works in 1659. In 1653 and 1667 Pophole was a working forge. In 1709-11, Lord Montague had plates from Ashburnham Furnace (King 1995c, 257-8). This also points to it being ‘Lord Montague’s forge’, listed in 1717 as making 50 tons, although it is absent from the list of 1736. It appears

Site Description: Bay L 100m H 4m (downstream). Water system Pond dry and filled in to top of bay. Two spillways: one, in middle of bay, carries culverted stream under buildings and road; the other, at north end of bay, is disused. Working area The site was subsequently a paper 77

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I mill, braid mill and, latterly, a gas works. It is largely built over. The mill house, at the north end of the site, may be contemporary with the forge. Substantial quantities of slag can be found under the road (A287), and in the garden of Sturt Meadow House, opposite, where a number of iron artefacts have been found (now in Haslemere Museum).

described as the upper finery and furnace, but subsequently known as Hammer Pond. Guiseppi cites a mortgage by Sir George More to Henry Bell of 1617 (C 54/2383, no. 1) in which a deed of 1610 was recited wherein the works, then leased to Sir Edward More, were described as ‘lately erected and built’ and which is likely to be the site leased by More in 1608 to Edward Parker (SHC, LM/349/53). Bell’s subsequent purchase of the works in 1623 refers to ‘all that iron forge, iron hammer & iron worke’ on Thursley or Witley Heath. The property, including the manor, purchased in 1614-15 (SHC, LM/349/100), was settled on Bell’s great-nephew Anthony Smith in 1629 (TNA, C 142/526/54). Bell left the works to Smith, in 1634. The following year Smith leased the forge and a ‘newly built’ furnace, as well as Horsebane Hammer, to Francis Wyatt. Wyatt died the same year and his executors, Peter Courthope and Walter Burrell look over the lease for the remainder of its seven-year term, sub-letting to Burrell’s brothers, Thomas and John (Giuseppi 1903, 3742). Henry Penfold and his son may have been the next lessees at this time, the inventory surviving without the actual lease, and occupying the furnace and upper finery as well as the chafery and lower finery (Godalming Museum, PWD/7/2/3). Another possible lessee was a Mr Dibble, whose brief inventory was attached to the lease to William Yalden in 1666 (Godalming Museum, PWD/7/2/4). Again the entire ironworks were leased, the two year period either suggesting an earlier lease or the possibility of a later extension. Anthony Smith died in 1669, the works being inherited by his brother, Thomas, who leased the upper finery and furnace, and the lower works, to Henry Roker of Witley for nine years in 1671 (Godalming Museum, PWD/7/2/5), continuing an earlier lease (now lost). Roker leased the Horsebane works ten years later. Aubrey refers to iron ore and to two forges in Witley Park in 1673 and two great hammer mills in Thursley or Witley parish (Aubrey, Surrey, preface: letter from J. Evelyn). The final lease of the site, presumably by a later Thomas Smith, was to Thomas Hamshere, a local millwright, in 1719. Rocque’s map of 1762 (SHC, G9025/5) shows the upper site as ‘hammer pond’.

Sources Barnes 1991, 20-1; Turner 2004, 208-23. Thursley Lower Hammer

[185] SU 9160 4080

The site can be identified as the lower finery and chafery. Its presence is first implied in the Chancery case brought in 1641 by Peter Courthope and Walter Burrell, the executors of Francis Wyatt, who had leased the works, together with the upper finery and furnace and the Horsebane works from Anthony Smith in 1635. Wyatt had died the same year and his executors had continued to work the lease until the expiry of the seven year term, sub-letting to Burrell’s brothers, Thomas and James (Giuseppi 1903, 37-42). Smith leased the site, again with the Horsebane works and the upper furnace and forge to William Yalden in 1666, the deed containing an inventory of all the works (Godalming Museum, PWD/7/2/4). Another inventory of the same sites relating to a missing lease to Henry Penfold and his son may predate the lease to Yalden (Godalming Museum, PWD/7/2/3). Thomas Smith, Anthony’s brother, leased the site, together with the upper works, to Henry Roker in 1671 (Godalming Museum, PWD/7/2/5). Aubrey refers to iron ore and to two forges in Witley Park in 1673 and two great hammer mills in Thursley or Witley parish (Aubrey, Surrey, preface: letter from J. Evelyn). It and Abinger probably appear together in the 1717 list as ‘Dibbles’, making 80 tpa. John Yalden and William Dipple occur in Arundel Port Books of in the 1680s (see under Mitchell Park Forge). The site was the last of the Thursley works to close, being named as an ‘iron mill’ on Rocque’s map of Surrey in 1762 and on the 1767 map of the Guildford to Liphook turnpike (SHC, LM/1064/9), to which pig iron was being carried. Owen Knight & Co were listed as paying land tax for Thursley Hammer and ponds in 1769 (SHC, P46/1/1). James Goodyear, a Guildford ironmonger, was still assessed to Land Tax in 1780 and 1781, though he died in 1777 (see Abinger) but Mr Lowe’s assessement in subsequent years was for Thursley Ponds, suggesting closure. It was marked as a silk mill on the 1809 Ordnance Survey draft drawing, the ‘Crape Mill’ referred to in 1805 by Malcolm (1805 i, 103).

Site Description: Bay: L 100m H silted pond/3m. Water system: The hammer pond, now bisected by the A3 road, is fed by a chain of ponds on a stream which flows north from Gibbet Hill. From the bay the stream flows to the Lower Hammer pond; a second channel bypasses the lower pond, flowing to the Forked Pond, now named Warren Mere. The latter post-dates the 1874 O.S. map, which shows the channel, which does not appear on the Tithe map of 1840, so post-dates the ironworks. The pond bay was breached in December 2013 and the pond has drained. Working area: Forge cinder present.

Site Description: Bay: L 100m – restored, pond in water. Water system: Pond fed from the Upper Hammer pond. Working area: Re-used for silk (‘Crape’) mill. Sources Guisseppi 1903; Malcolm 1805 i, 103; SHC, Land Tax, Thursley; Hodgkinson 1997b; King 2002c, 34.

Sources Guisseppi 1903; Graham and Graham 2015.

Thursley Upper Hammer

Vachery (Cranleigh) Forge

[186] SU 9160 4030

This is likely to have been the first of the Thursley works to have been built, corresponding to the site sometimes

[187] TQ 0620 3700

References by Lady Jane Bray in 1563 to the timberwork of her iron mill, and to one of her miners, indicates the 78

Chapter 2: Weald existence of the forge and the furnace before that date (SHC, G85/4/4). It was being operated for Lady Bray in 1571 by John Lambard or Gardener and Richard Gratwicke (English 1999, 26), and Lambard was summoned for illegal use of wood in 1573 and 1581. He was partnered by John Duffield in 1574. Lambert claimed to have bought a house called Shurlockes and the forge and the right to use water from the furnace and hammer ponds, but feared losing this due to a grant to John Griffith (TNA, C 2/Eliz/ L12/27). The hammer pond and the furnace pond were leased to Lambard in 1587 (SHC, G85/13/205) suggesting that he was still operating the works (see Straker 1941, 48-51). John Gardener alias Lambard died in 1593. All his children were minors and he left the use of the forge to his cousin John Gavis alias Blacket to satisfy various debts owed to him (Hants RO, DW/PA5/1593/176). Lady Bray’s son, Edward, sold the works to John Thorpe and his son, Richard, in 1580 (Straker 1941, 48-9). Later, Richard Middleton became the owner, it remaining so at his death in 1641 (Attree 1912, 160). A reference to ‘the highway to the mill called the hammer’ in 1648 suggests the forge may still have been working (SHC, G125/2/6), although use of the same phrase in 1735 is likely to be mere repetition by a scrivenor (SHC, G30/1/16).

Other ironworks in the whole Weald

Site Description: Bay: L c.140m H much eroded. Breached by present stream. W end curves towards S. Forms public footpath with footbridge over stream. Hammer Lane, with ford, cuts through bay and runs parallel to upstream site. Water system: Pond dry, crossed by railway embankment. Thornhurst and Cobblers Brooks join within pond area. Wheelpit probably at site of present stream. Spillway indicated by dry channel W of stream. Working area: Forge cinder in stream bed and W bank; much charcoal at field edge. At Hammer Farm house (part possibly contemporary) are many forge bottoms and an iron plate 46 x 30 x 5cm with fused slag on one face.

Site Description: Bay: L 25m H 2m/3m. Breached by stream near centre. Water system: Pond dry. Spillway at SE of present stream where excavations by A.J. Clark in 1961 (Surrey Arch. Soc., Annual Report 1961, 6-7) revealed wooden wheelpit and tail-race trough, 46cm wide, comprising floor and sides supported by interior uprights. Trough (estimated length 15.5m) terminates in revetment timbering at base of bay.

Sources Straker 1941; Smith 1981; English 1999.

In the will of Thomas Wildgose of Hartfield, dated 1491 (proved 1496; Garraway Rice & Godfrey, 1936, 265), he left a bequest ‘to the sufficient repacon and amending the King’s Highway lying thoroughly between my forge which John Stile occupieth and the churchyard gate of Hertefeld lying against the parsonage gate there’.

Vachery Furnace

Water-powered bloomery forges This section collects a few water-powered forges where evidence points to them only having operated in the bloomery period. Others, such as Chingley, that were reused as finery forges in the 16th or 17th centuries appear in the section (above) for their catchment. This also applies to Steel Forge, Hartfield, which probably made steel by a bloomery process, but later became a finery forge. Steel Forge, Warbleton is suggested by its name to have been similar, but evidence is lacking. Marriots Croft Forge may also have been a bloomery forge. Some are at best dubious. Coneyhurst Gill Forge

[189] TQ 0830 4040

An industrial site on Coneyhurst Gill, Ewhurst was excavated by the late A J (Tony) Clark in 1962 and was supposed to have been a water-powered bloomery. However, analytical survey has shown a larger complex and documentary research has led to the alternative suggestion that the earthworks represent a series of waterpowered sawmills for commercial timber production.

Source English 2014. Hartfield Forge

[188] TQ 0710 3750

References by Lady Jane Bray in 1563 to the timberwork of her iron mill, and to one of her miners indicates the existence of the forge and the furnace before that date (SHC, G85/4/4). The furnace pond was leased to John Lambard, or Gardener, in 1587 (Surrey RO, G85/13/205). Whether this means that a furnace had by then gone out of use, and its pond was used as storage for the forge or whether Lambard, described as ‘forgeman’ had extended his operation to a newly-built furnace is not clear.

[190] TQ 4750 3630

Site Description: ‘Close to the Medway near Chartness Farm is a large mound of very red earth, with a copious spring of very ferruginous water. We may perhaps have here an instance of iron bacteria depositing iron from the water that wells out from ore beds. There is a little forge cinder and the vestiges of a leat are visible in the next meadow up river. On an estate map of 1593, preserved at Old Buckhurst, the meadow in which the mound stands is called Mill Mead. The pond names are some distance above, and do not now show any bays or banks ... The ancient parsonage and gate still remain and the course of the highway can be traced past the above-mentioned mound. It is ‘amended’ with forge cinder’ (Straker 1931a, 244-5). The location is, therefore, uncertain.

Site Description: Only evidence for this furnace is documentary, suggesting a furnace upstream of the forge in 1587. Fieldwork has failed to locate it on either Thornhurst or Cobblers brooks; the site is probably covered by the later (1814) Vachery Pond. Sources as forge.

79

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Rats Castle Forge

[191] TQ 6123 4669

Other ironworks

This is not positively associated with any documentary source. It was possibly another of David Willard’s 1553 forges, as Southborough Old Forge and Postern (q.v.), but the presence of possible bloomery cinder makes this a candidate for the Tudeley medieval site.

Sturt Hammer became a sickle mill. Woodcock Hammer became a wire mill and Abinger Hammer had one. These are dealt with as forges (above). There was also a (blister?) steel furnace in Guildford (noted under Abinger). This leaves two sites where steel was made, probably by a finery process, for Sir William Sidney in the 1560s. Details of the process are not clear, but it is possible that these were not water-powered sites.

The visible evidence is not in favour of it being a finery forge. To begin with, there are no forge bottoms on the site. These are the only method of proving a finery forge site, apart from a very precise documentary reference. Secondly, there is no sign of a bay. In fact it would be difficult to construct a bay on such flat terrain so close to the Medway. Thirdly, there is a finery forge, Postern Forge, only 0.8km upstream from Rats Castle; this has a conventional bay. Nevertheless, Rats Castle is definitely an iron-working site, for there is a great deal of bloomerytype slag, some pieces over 30cm square. It was probably a water-powered site because there appears to be a tailrace in a convenient position. There is also a raised slaggy area which is assumed to be the working area. Because Rats Castle is so different from any other Wealden iron-working site, one can only speculate upon its use.

Boxhurst Steelworks

Building works at Boxhurst were under way in 1566 and production of steel was appearing in accounts later the same year (KHLC, U1475 B4/1), Gervase Krisker being paid for 34 and a half barrels of steel. Later accounts of ‘The Steele Workes in the Countie of Kent’ for 1567-8 may be presumed to refer to them also (KHLC, U1475 B4/2). Boxhurst lies half a mile SE of Sandhurst village, but the site of the steel works has not been identified. Sources Jenkins 1922; Schubert 1950b; Crossley 1975a, 33 205-31.

1. It could be a water-powered bloomery site. 2. It could be a pre-blast furnace hammer forge. These production forges are known from books of a later period and should not be confused with the conversion forge of the blast furnace period. 3. It could be the site of the Tudeley bloomery. Straker only assumed its position on the ground from the documentary evidence that it was on the Clare estate of Southfrith, near Tonbridge.

Robertsbridge Steel Forge [194] perhaps TQ 756 237 [194] Steelworks were set up in 1566 for Sir William Sidney in the buildings of Robertsbridge Abbey. This is probably a slightly different site from the finery forge. This may have produced steel until at least 1609. Sources Jenkins 1922; Schubert 1950b; Crossley 1975a, 33 205-31; BL, Add. MSS 5680, 91r.

Site Description: Bay: Completely destroyed, but position may be indicated by hedge line to W of an area containing heaps of forge cinder and bottoms. Water system: Pond dry. Source Herbert 1986, 52. Woolbridge Forge

[193] near TQ 816 275

[192] TQ 5710 2660

Quantities of tap slag and bloomery cinder have been found behind the bay and in the stream, suggesting that this may be a water-powered bloomery site. No post-medieval slag has been noted. Suggested by Cattell (1979, 171) as one of the Mayfield forges of 1574: ‘Hammer Wood’ is adjacent. Site Description: Bay: L 65m H 2m. Breached by river Rother near centre. At W end small projecting bank to N end and larger one to S protected working area from flooding by overspill channel. Water system: Pond dry. Overspill channel beyond W end of bay joins Rother downstream. Working area: Scatter of forge and bloomerytype slag occurs behind bay and in stream. Sources Tebbutt 1977a, 5.

80

3 The Thames Valley Introduction

before and rebuttals to the effect that it had been long carried on.5 Certainly the nails disappeared from lists of goods imported during the Elizabethan period.6 Apart from this, until the late 17th century the only mills concerned with iron in the Thames valley were an armoury mill near Greenwich, probably a plating forge with a grinding and polishing mill, another mill making armour at Crayford,7 and an iron plate mill at Wimbledon, associated with the frying pan trade at Wandsworth.8 Of these little is known, save of the Greenwich Mill (actually at Lewisham), which was built for Henry VIII. It was largely derelict in the 17th century due to the declining use of armour. It was subsequently put to other uses, the occupiers, as tenants of the Ordnance Board, promising to make any armour required. It became the Royal Small Arms Factory for the Board from 1805 to 1818, but that activity was then transferred to Enfield (which is not included in the gazetteer).9

The valley of the river Thames is devoid of any commercial source of iron ore and was never a place where iron was smelted in the usual way. The iron-producing works of the southeast were confined to the Weald. However there were a number of mills which at various periods were engaged in the secondary processing of iron, altering the shape of bar iron to make it ready for manufacture. The production of iron in the Thames valley was in fact prohibited from 1581 by statute. The prohibited area extended for 22 miles on either side of the Thames up to Dorchester (Oxon.), but excluded those parts of the Weald beyond 18 miles from London and eight from the Thames and also Christopher Darrell’s woods in Newdigate.1 This chapter is concerned with ironworks within the prohibited area. During the reign of Elizabeth iron and iron goods were imported to London in small quantities from the continent; in 1566/7 this amounted to a mere 45 tons, including 27 tons of ‘Ames’ iron and 6 tons of ‘Lukes’ [Liège] iron; in addition there came white (i.e. tinned) and black plates and a variety of manufactured goods, almost all brought in in mixed cargos from Antwerp.2 The imports of iron had amounted to nearly 4000 tons in 1560 reduced to a mere trickle during the rest of the Elizabethan era.3

The mill at Dartford continued as a slitting mill until 1790, but by the 18th century its business, like most of the other iron mills of the region seems to have been rolling iron hoops for barrels, rather than rods for nailmaking. Certainly by 1749, rod iron was not made near London and a proposal to prohibit the slitting of imported American iron was dropped, because it was unlikely it would be taken to the Midlands for economic reasons.10 However Berdoe, Wilkinson & Deacon, owners of Crayford and Byfleet Mills, were purveyors of rod iron in 1784.11 The transition seems to have occurred in the early years of the 18th century, when mill-owners took to contracting with the Victualling Board themselves, leaving out the London ironmongers, who had previously been intermediaries.12 There were at this time three mills operating, Dartford, Ember, and Crayford. Dartford had since 1687 belonged to Charles Manning, who probably slit for Anthony Tournay (or Turney), a leading London ironmonger, who was probably importing the iron himself.13 Crayford was purchased by William Paulin and William Loggin from Edward Proby in 1682.14 They obtained a patent the following year for ‘making things of iron by millwork

Slitting mills A slitting mill was built at Dartford, Kent, under the patronage of Bevis Bulmer, an Elizabethan mining entrepreneur, and was worked by Godfrey Box, whom he brought over from Liège in about 1590. Though there are earlier references to rod iron, the first clear mention of the slitting mill was in 1579 at Linchamps Forge of Jean David of Mézières on the Upper Meuse, followed by that of Remancle Kock near Liège in 1583. An illustration of the machine was published at Nancy in 1584.4 Bulmer’s 1590 patent is said to have been renewed in 1606 by Sir Bevis Bulmer and the mill was clearly working in about 1610, when it provided a model for a slitting mill built on Cannock Chase by Walter Coleman and Thomas Chetwynd. The patent was renewed by Clement Dawbeney in 1618, who had evidently purchased Bulmer’s patent by 1612, when he unsuccessfully sought a prohibition on the import of Flemish nail rods. This controversy elicited statements that little nailmaking had been carried on until 30 years

Jenkins 1918, 445-6; Schubert 1957, 305-11; King 1999a, 71; Noble 1889, 66-7; TNA, C 2/Chas I C5/67, answer; TNA, C 21/C45/18, John Wilkes and Edward Hill; Schubert does not mention the renewal of 1606, and I have also failed to trace it in indices to the patent rolls. 6 Millard 1955. 7 TNA, REQ 2/2544/33 and q.v. 8 Gerhold 2009, 40-4 46-7. 9 Hogg 1963, 88; Macartney and West 1979, 1-5. 10 Bining 1933, 74n. 11 Bailey’s British Directory (1784). 12 This is conclusion from the material in the Gazetteer below. 13 Cf. India a/c; Navy a/c: TNA, ADM 106/3583, 39 and 76; ADM 106/3590, 108. 14 TNA, C 78/923/3; John Loggin was initially a partner, but was excluded because he had drawn out his capital. 5

Statute, 23 Eliz c.5. My computations from Dietz 1972: the figures relate only to imports by English and Hanse merchants, not alien merchants. 3 Millard 1955, applying rate of £5 per ton given by Willan 1962, 35. 4 Awty 2019, 164 712-3. 1 2

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 3. The Thames Valley. 1, Abby Mill, West Ham; 2, Temple Mills, Bisham; 3, Byfleet Mill; 4, Clapton Wire Mill; 5, Coxes Lock Mill, Addlestone; 6, Crayford Mill; 7, Dartford Slitting Mill I; 8, Dartford Mill II; 9, Downside Mill, Cobham; 10, Ember Mill; 11, Esher Mill; 12, Horton Mill; 13, Mapledurham Wiremill; 14, Southcot wire mill; 15, Taplow Mill, Maidenhead; 16, Wandsworth Pan Works (at Point Pleasant); 17, Weybridge Ironworks; 18, Wimbledon Iron Mills; 19, Wraysbury Mill; 20, The Armoury Mill, Greenwich; 21, 20 Burr Street, London; 22, Blackfriars, London; 23, Bucklebury Foundry; 24, Harefield Copper Mills, Uxbridge; 25, Lambeth: Pedlar’s Acre; 26, Millwall Ironworks; 27, 8, New Square, Fetter Lane; 28, Rotherhithe: Cuckbold Point; 29, Rotherhithe: Another Foundry; 30, Rotherhithe Ironworks; 31, Southwark: Falcon Ironfoundry; 32, Southwark: Bear Garden; 33, Southwark: Marigold steps; 34, Temple Mills, Hackney; 35, Vauxhall Foundry; 36, Wandsworth Iron Mill; 37, Whitefriars Foundry; 38, Woolwich Foundry; 39, Woolwich Works.

only instead of by hand and hammers, as sheaths, tire for wheels, plates, ...’,15 evidently a variety of rolling mill. William Paulin supplied to the Victualling Commissioners from 1687 to 1689 and again in 1697, while Thomas Westerne, another ironmonger but better known as a gunfounder,16 did so in the intervening period. The third mill, Ember Mill, was converted from a grist mill in 1693 to one to make brass wire and iron hoops. The originator of this scheme was rapidly bought out by John Hitchcock and Thomas Wethered; ‘Thomas Wethered & Company’ supplied the Victualling Board with one consignment of hoops in 1695; Samuel Wethered, presumably a related ironmonger, supplied them in 1701 and 1702, and then for two years from 1704 to 1706 John Hitchcock apparently had the trade to himself.17

Battery Works. The abolition in 1688 of this monopoly led to the establishment of several new copper and brass battery works, to supplement those that had previously operated under licence from these companies. This led to the erection of battery works for brass at Esher and Wimbledon and at Temple Mills at Bisham (near Marlow, Berks). In some of these brass works combined that with other processes. Thus at Temple Mills tinplate production was started. Samuel Clarke, the leading partner, obtained a patent for this in 1694.19 Samuel Davis of Mitcham, who had a similar patent,20 may possibly have been connected with a copper works near there. At Ember Mills, John Hitchcock and his partners combined rolling hoops with brass production; indeed in 1696 he left off hoop production due to the low price. After he returned to the trade in 1702, he undercut his rivals, as mentioned, and became sole supplier to the Victualling Board for two years. In three years to August 1706 he made 1565 tons of hoops, of which the Board took 1120 tons. The Royal Africa Company was another customer. Charles Manning of Dartford beat him in the bidding for the following contract, probably about June 1706. In August Anthony

Prior to the passing of the Mines Royal Acts 1688 and 1693 copper had been claimed by the crown,18 which had however granted its rights to two chartered companies, the Mines Royal Company and Company of Mineral and

15 16 17 18

English Patent, no.229. Tomlinson 1976, 386n and 398; Brown 2001. The latter part of this paragraph is largely based on Vict a/c. Statute, 1 W. & M., Sess. I, c. 30; 5&6 W & M, c.6.

19 20

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Morton thesis, 248-51 etc; TNA, C 5/151/70; Brown (R.R.) 1988, 45. Brown (R.R.) 1988, 45.

Chapter 3: The Thames Valley may then have been converted back to an iron mill by John Berdoe, who was a hoop contractor in 1733/4, 1740-2, and 1758-9, and owned Crayford and Byfleet Mills at his death in 1774.27 He had taken over Byfleet Mill in 1755 and converted it from making brass wire to rolling hoops. He was succeeded by his son-in-law John Wilkinson, his son Marmaduke, and Thomas Deacon, an unrelated partner, who traded as Berdoe & Co or as Berdoe, Wilkinson & Deacon until 1790.28 In that year, Richard Crawshay, then primarily a London iron merchant, thought he had bought both mills, but both actually passed to Jukes Coulson.29

Tournay, who had thus been cut out of much of the hoop trade for a couple of years approached Hitchcock on behalf of a syndicate of ironmongers and they agreed for three years to send enough iron to slit 350 tons of hoops, so that he could return 300 tons to the syndicate and supply 50 tons to Thomas Wethered (actually his partner). The ironmongers entered into similar agreements dividing any surplus orders between Charles Manning of Dartford and ‘one Loggins of Crawford’ [Crayford]. Ambrose Crowley, who had a slitting mill near Newcastle, joined in the agreement. He undertook not to make hoops if others did not make rods. But the agreements ended in acrimony: the Victualling Board probably did not order as many hoops as the syndicate had anticipated and Manning entered the bidding for the hoop contract after the first year, alleging the agreement to be void, because Crowley had built another mill.21

Jukes Coulson first appears as an anchorsmith with works probably at Rotherhithe.30 He also had Wraysbury Mill until 1775 (when it became a copper mill), and Dartford Mill throughout the 1770s, before taking over Ham Haw Mill in 1776.31 Ham Haw Mill (or Weybridge Ironworks), on the river Wey, was built in 1691, and became an iron mill probably not later than 1730, when John Hitchcock (of Ember) acquired it. After him came Champayne & Tull, a hoop contractor in 1776.32 An increasing requirement for hoops during the latter part of the 18th century seems to have led to the conversion of more mills to rolling mills: Byfleet became one in 1755, but also at times participated in other trades: there was in 1760 a grindstone house (suggesting a blade mill) and three nailing houses; and the ‘manufacture of iron and steel’ being carried on in 1773. It was briefly sublet by Berdoes & Co at the end of the American War of Independence for William Forbes to roll copper plates for the bottoms of warships.33 Esher Mill also probably went over from making brass wire to iron hoops in this period. Joseph Tealing, a minor hoop contractor in 1759, 1761, and 1776 had it and Ember Mills around 1780.34 Coxes Lock Mill, which adjoins a lock on a canal section of the Wey navigation, was built in the late 1770s by Alexander Raby & Co, who had had converted Downside Mill (or Cobham Ironworks) to an iron mill in 1772. 35 Raby was another London ironmonger, as was his father Edward Raby. He survived bankruptcy in 1765, when the goods of Raby and Masters were auctioned at their house at St Margarets Hill, Southwark; a warehouse and shop at West Smithfield; a wharf and smith shop at Grove Street, Deptford; at their warehouse and foundry at Bankside near St Mary Overy Steps; and forges and furnaces at East Grinstead.36 The latter evidently Woodcock Forge and Warren Furnace,

From this time until about the 1770s the Victualling Commissioners’ contract was generally with one supplier at a time: most were probably making the hoops themselves, including John Hitchcock (supplier 1716-8), but a few particularly Thomas Hazard (contractor 1715-6 and 17189) and Anthony Tournay (1720-1) were probably purely ironmongers; William Poyntz and Samuel Malcher (173258 intermittently) may be connected to Samuel Melchior, the owner of Dartford Mill in 1740. John Crowley (supplier 1719-20 and 1724-9) and his widow Theodosia (1735-40) had mills near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as did Richard Thomlinson (1729-32): see chapter 5. From 1776, more than one contractor was sometimes employed in a year, but almost without exception they were still London merchants with mills in north Kent and Surrey. Interference in the trade from Wales and the Midlands did not begin until the 1800s.22 However, towards the end of the American war, the Board tried to break the monopoly of the Thames mills, by persuading Henry Cort of Funtley near Portsmouth to provide hoops, but it did not give him a long enough contract to enable him to make money from the business. Nevertheless, this gave him the impetus to develop his puddling process, a story that cannot be explored at this point.23 It is not always clear precisely which trade or trades some of these mills were engaged in at a particular time. John Hitchcock at Ember was certainly involved in the brass trade in 1713,24 perhaps in conjunction with slitting hoops, but Crayford Mill became battery mills, which were occupied by John Lane before 1735.25 This was probably the same John Lane who established copper and brass works in southwest Wales and was bankrupt in 1726.26 It

Vict a/c; Surrey History Centre, G54/1/19. Vict a/c; land tax, Crayford and Byfleet; Bailey’s British Directory (1784). 29 Evans 1990a, 46-7; land tax, Crayford and Byfleet. 30 TNA, ADM 106/3607, 111 and 154; Kent’s Directory (1774); Bailey’s British Directory (1784). 31 Q.v. 32 Vict a/c; Surrey History Centre, G129/92/1: its history is not precisely clear, as other documents suggest other occupants. 33 Surrey History Centre, K3528/7; Peter Northover, pers. comm. from Forbes papers. 34 Vict a/c; land tax, Ember and Esher. 35 See under Cobham, below. 36 Lloyd’s Evening Post, 1 Feb 1765; Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, 6, 23 and 25 Mar. 1765; Public Advertiser, 3 May 1765 4 and 6 and Nov. 1765. 27 28

TNA, C 5/355/57; C 5/358/59; C 8/658/26; Morton thesis, 252-3. Vict a/c. 23 Mott 1983, 28-29 (referring incorrectly to mast hoops); King 2012, 110-17; see Titchfield Hammer (in next chapter); puddling is also considered briefly in chapters 18 and 33. 24 Morton thesis, 252-3. 25 Kent AO, U1515/T134. 26 See Roberts 1951 and 1972; Emery 1969; for Lane’s bankruptcy London Gazette, no. 6526, 2 (1 Nov. 1726). 21 22

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Board during the Seven Years War, also mooring chain; and made anchors at Deptford.45 However they did not have any iron mill near London: their manufacturing works were near Newcastle (see chapter 5). Richard Crawshay of George Yard, Upper Thames Street, was the partner of Anthony Bacon in ordnance contracts from 1777 to 1785, the guns being cast at Cyfarthfa Furnace in Merthyr Tydfil (Glam),46 and also in a separate firm of ironmongers called Crawshay, Cornwall, & Moser.47 As mentioned, he failed to buy Crayford and Byfleet Mills in 1789, and had also failed to buy Ember Mills the previous year. His letter book for 1788-87 shows that much of his business related to the products of the Cyfarthfa ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil, but he was also importing Russian iron and probably exporting to America, and the West Indies.48 On the other hand, Thompson & Foreman, another south Wales firm with a London house, had Coxes Lock Mill from 1813 to 1817.49

whence Edward had also supplied iron ordnance.37 The sales presumably cleared Raby’s debt, as in October 1766 he had his furnace in blast and was seeking orders from the Board of Ordnance.38 It is not entirely clear why the number of hoop mills in the Thames valley declined from about 1790. It could be due to greater reliance of the country in English iron, whose production greatly increased in this period, or the opening of the Oxford Canal in 1790, enabling iron hoops from the Midlands to reach London by water. English ironmasters with access to slitting mills would naturally tend to have the hoops made in the country, rather than supplying their iron to London in bars. Hoops (being less than ¾ inch in cross-section) were probably classified by the Customs as manufactured iron, bearing a higher rate of duty than bar iron. This would make it advantageous to import bars and slit them in England, as long as London depended on imported iron. Dartford closed in 1790; Ember Mill reverted to a corn mill in 1804; Esher passed to William Saville & Sons in 1809 and became copper mills; and Crayford was probably converted to another use when Jukes Coulson gave it up in 1812.39 Having made considerable losses in ventures into mining and blast furnaces at Dale Abbey (Derbs), Penrhiwtyn (Neath, Glam), and Llanelli (Carms), Alexander Raby had in 1805 to dispose of his works in Surrey.40 At Cobham he was succeeded by John Bunn & Co, who had a hoop and iron warehouse at Dowgate in London. They gave it up and moved to Weybridge in 1808 and then to Coxes Lock in 1817, issuing a trade token while at Weybridge Mill. After they left, both mills lay idle for a time, Ham Haw Mill at Weybridge until 1840.41 John Bunn further reduced the Victualling Board’s demands for new hoops by devising means of manufacturing new hoops from their old ones.42 He continued Coxes Lock Mill until 1829, when it became a corn mill.

Ironware for London and export The scarcity of surviving records means that it is difficult to know precisely how much iron manufacture took place in and around London. There was a Blacksmiths’ Company, but their records are disappointing.50 The Ironmongers’ Company was one of the great city companies, but they had no power of search,51 and so did not control their own trade. Those iron traders, who were freemen of the City, belonged to a variety of companies. For example Robert Plumsted (to whom Ambrose Crowley was apprenticed) was a draper.52 Thomas Westerne (died 1706), also known as a Wealden gunfounder, was a grocer.53 London was in fact not a good place to manufacture iron, because the fuel needed was coal, which was relatively expensive. Coal had to be brought from Newcastle, so that in London, the cost of freight, a middleman’s profit, and (uniquely to coal) a Customs Duty on coastal trade had to be added to the prime cost at Newcastle.

The later proprietors of these mills were probably among the more important London iron merchants, but far from every iron merchant had mills. Some were primarily importers. Others, such as Robert Plumsted of Gracechurch Street, London,43 and probably William Sitwell of Foster Lane, London,44 were primarily exporting ironware to America, importing some American pig iron in exchange, and perhaps organising manufacture too, though it is not known where. Others were dealers in ironware made in Birmingham and elsewhere. Harrison & Co were London ironmongers and were also the largest single supplier of iron ordnance to the Ordnance Board, with furnaces in the Weald. They also supplied cast iron ballast to the Navy

In the early 17th century, Midland ironmongers were penetrating the London market. John Jennens of Birmingham was among the first to do so. From about 1616, he traded in partnership with his brother Ambrose Jennens (who was a London citizen, and hence free to trade there). John sent ironware to Ambrose to sell. John then continued the business with Ambrose’s widow Hester, but then had difficulties with Roger Norton (her

45 Ordnance: Tomlinson 1976; TNA, WO 47/35-80, passim; ballast: TNA, ADM 106/3604, 123; TNA, ADM 106/3605, 4; mooring chains: TNA, ADM 106/3604, 154 and 187; anchors: Bailey’s British Directory (1784). 46 TNA, WO 47/89, 734 to WO 47/106, 809 passim; Evans 1993b, 1618. 47 Bailey’s British Directory (1784). They supplied some American pig iron to Mitton and other forges in 1774-5 and the mid-1780s: SW a/c. 48 Evans 1990a, 23 46-7 and passim. 49 Humphries 1954. 50 In Guildhall Library; for this livery company see Adams 1951. 51 Noble 1889, 19. 52 Skeel 1916. 53 TNA, PROB 11/493/38; Brown 2001.

Q.v. TNA, WO 47/68, 133. 39 Q.v. 40 See under Downside Mill, Cobham below. 41 Q.v. 42 English Patent, no. 3601 dated 1812; cf. Vict a/c from 1811. 43 Skeel 1916; Plumsted l/b; Kent’s directory (1753). 44 SIR a/c, for 1750 and 1752; Kent’s directory (1736) as ‘Parkin & Sitwell’ (1753). 37 38

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Chapter 3: The Thames Valley 1647 and 1649, but it is not clear that it was successful.59 This is an element of the general breakdown of the control of trade by guilds in England in this period.

Table 3.1. Warehouses for lorreners [lorimers] and sellers of ironware above stairs on the east said of the … yard [at Leadenhall in London] Richard Folly

A warehouse

£4

Richard Sparrow

A warehouse

£4

Richard Post

A warehouse

£4

John Turton

Two warehouses

£8

John Simmack

A warehouse

£4

John Jennings

One Chamber

£4

John Winchurst

One Chamber

£4

Mr Hopkins

One Chamber

£4

Mr Humphrey Osborne

One Chamber

£4

Henry Newell

One Chamber

£4

Henry Partridge

One Chamber

£4

Certainly by the 1730s, there are strong indications that the ironware was being sold from inns. The evidence for this comes from bills of exchange that passed through the hands of Graffin Prankard, who imported iron through Bristol. Bills of exchange were a predecessor of cheques, but were payable by a merchant rather than by a bank. They often passed through several hands between being drawn and presented for payment. When Prankard (for example) sold iron to a customer in the Midlands, such as John Kettle of Birmingham (who converted Swedish oregrounds iron into steel), Kettle paid him with bills of exchange that he had received from his customers, Birmingham ironmongers who had bought steel from Kettle. These bills were in practice often drawn on someone in London. The movement of the bill towards Prankard thus reflects a trade in goods that moved in opposite direction. A significant number of these bills were payable at the White Horse in Friday Street or at the Saracens Head (variously described as in Snowhill or without Aldersgate). There were a number of drawees in each of these locations. Those at the Saracens Head included Thomas Austwick, Joseph Cross, Joseph Farmer, Malachi Barns, and Thomas Harvey.60 These two inns were the London termini for the two most frequent carriers’ services to Birmingham, some of which continued to Bridgnorth, Stourbridge, Kidderminster or Bewdley.61 This implies that ironmongers’ goods from the Birmingham area were delivered (probably by wagon) to these inns for sale. Farmer’s goods were probably guns or their components.

Source: Dale 1931, i, 177-8.

executor) after her death in about 1644.54 However, he was certainly not the only person doing this. Of the eleven persons listed in Table 3.1 (as renting space in Leadenhall in 1638) Foley, Turton, Simcox, Jennens, and Winchurst were almost certainly members of Birmingham or Black Country ironmonger families.55 The identities of the other five are not known. The yeomanry of the London Ironmongers Company following complained that ‘certain country larymers, cutlers, and naylemen that lye at Blossomes End and the Maydenhead and other inns retayle their ware within this city to foreigners’ [i.e. non-citizens]. The company petitioned the City Corporation for a remedy against this.56 This led the corporation to make an ordinance providing a market in the Green Yard, parcel of Leadenhall where ‘foreigners’ could sell ‘iron steele and cutlery wares’, and forbidding innkeepers and others from permitting: ‘foreigners … to keep any shop, warehouse, place … for shewing, selling or putting on any nailes, knives, wares made of iron or iron and steel, or cutlery wares or other the commodities’.57

Something similar can be observed in another trade. Blackplate made at Bringewood (Herefs) from 1742 was taken by land to Mitton (now part of Stourport) to be tinned. Tinplate destined for London, initially two-thirds of the total made, and over half until 1770, went by various routes. Initially, most of this went via Lechlade, the head of navigation on the Thames, probably being landed at Gloucester for a portage over the Cotswolds. From 1745 the preferred route was ‘by land’ or via ‘Hollows End’ (probably near Stourbridge). From 1752 to 1757, Bristol was an intermediate point, implying coastal shipping, but with the start of the Seven Years War, the Lechlade route was revived, until about 1770, when traffic moved to Newnham-on-Severn. This was presumably due to the start of a regular packet service from there to London.62 By the 1750s, and probably from the 1700s, most musket barrels and locks for the Board of Ordnance were made near Birmingham.63 The route, by which these reached

or other saile of steel or foresaid

This system may be compared with that for cloth at Blackwell Hall, in which manufacturers in various rural areas sent their products to Blackwell Hall factors to sell.58 However, the intended Leadenhall system for ironware did not persist. In 1640 (presumably in an attempt to prevent abuses), the Company obtained an order that they could nominate the porters there. In 1645, the yeomanry complained again, but it was decided to do nothing until the passing of ‘these distracted and troublesome times’ (meaning the Civil War). The complaint was repeated in

Guildhall Lib., MS. 16967/4, 441 444; 16967/5, 30 67 69 73 75-6; Nicholl 1866, 257. 60 Prankard l/b, passim. 61 Complete Directory (1740). 62 BW a/c. 63 TNA, WO 47, passim, s.v. ‘small gun office’; and see chapter on Tame valley; also Satia 2018. 59

Harrison and Willis 1879, 445; cf. TNA, C 2/Chas. I/J20/19; C 33/169, 155. 55 Rowlands 1975, 11-12 and passim. 56 Guildhall Lib., MS. 16967, 175-6. 57 Nicholl 1866, 194-7 from Guildhall Lib., MS, 16960, f. 38v. 58 Westerfield 1915, 296-304; Gill 1954. 54

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cutler and the author of Essays concerning Iron and Steel (1773), perhaps with a laboratory at Clapham.74 The locations of most of these enterprises are insufficiently precise for them to be included in the gazetteer.

The Midlands was not the only source. The Crowley family and other London ironmongers had factories near Newcastle, which will be discussed in chapter 5. Nails made in south Yorkshire also reached London, as described in chapters 8 and 9. It is likely that much of this ironware reaching London was sold to other merchants for further distribution or export. Numerous ironmongers can be identified from directories and other sources,64 but their businesses were probably not all the same. Some were no doubt mere shop keepers; others wholesalers, including Crowley and Harrison (discussed further in chapter 5). Others (such as Plumsted) were specialist export merchants.65 Anthony Bacon (who founded the Cyfarthfa ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil) began in the Virginia trade.66 Jukes & Co had premises next to the Steelyard in Thames Street were Wealden gunfounders between about 1724 and 1753, but supplied ‘foreign mettle’ [probably American pig iron] to Attercliffe and Wadsley Forges from 1752 to 1762 and bought pots from Coalbrookdale in the 1720s and 1730s.67 Examples could be multiplied; often (as with Jukes) the scope of their activities is only apparent from few passing references.

Foundries With a few brief exceptions (usually not requiring charcoal) iron was not produced in the Thames valley. However, as the nation’s commercial metropolis, it had at least its quota of ironfoundries. There has been a Founders Company in London (a livery company) since medieval times, but their craft was concerned with base metals rather than iron.75 It was generally a relatively small scale activity and was not dependent on power from, for example, a mill. Accordingly it is difficult to determine the locations and numbers of the iron foundries that remelted pig or scrap iron. The production of cast iron goods was until the beginning of the 18th century generally a sideline at blast furnaces. Some had a potfounder, who made cast iron pots and other small castings, but from the 1700s they began to be replaced for such smaller wares by separate foundries, commonly located in towns. Gunfounding, the production of cast iron ‘necessaries’ (hammers, anvils, hursts, gudgeons, etc.), and later, cast iron ballast remained wholly or largely the province of blast furnaces until at least the 1780s.76

It is not clear to what extent ironware continued to be manufactured in or near London. There were certainly a number of smiths, some with official posts, operating in the capital in 1731: they were asked to judge the quality of iron, made by William Wood’s patent process.68 Steel was apparently also made at some periods. The original patentees for blister steel, William Elliottes and Mathias Meysey were apparently in London, but they apparently assigned their rights to Sir Basil Brooke.69 They complained of imports of steel by Thomas Western.70 The outcome of this was that Brooke was required to surrender his patent. A new patent was granted to Dr Robert Fludd, who brought over men including John Rochier, a Frenchman.71 However nothing is known of this subsequently. English blister steel was not as good as German steel, which continued to be imported. It included ‘heart and club’ steel (from Westphalia) and ‘Venice steel’ from Styria.72 The former commanded a higher price than blister steel.73 Claims were made as to the high quality of steel made on behalf of Mr Kemp of Dartford before 1721; by Benger Higgins, a London watchmaker (d.1748); by John Pingo, who was melting sword blades in 1710; by John Waller of White Cross Alley, a roller of silver and gold wire, who refined steel from 1735; and by Henry Horne, a London

It is not certain where such iron founding was first practised in England: there were gunfoundries at Houndsditch, Vauxhall, and Moorfields (all near London) in the 17th century, but these were brassfoundries. After the Moorfields Foundry blew up in 1715, killing Matthew Bagley and several others, a new Royal Brass Foundry was built at Woolwich.77 Iron guns were cast in the Weald from the early 16th century (and continued to be until the Seven Years’ War and beyond), but until about 1690, substantially all ironfounding was conducted at blast furnaces. Separate ironfoundries began with Sir Clement Clerke’s development of the ‘air furnace’, a modification of the reverberatory ‘cupolas’ that he had used for smelting lead and then copper. These were quite different from the modern foundry cupola, which is a small blast furnace. The first of these was at Vauxhall (‘Fox Hall’) and probably formed the basis for the chartered ‘Company for Making Iron with Pitcoal’, who cast shot for the Board of Ordnance in 1693 and 1694.78 Shadrach Fox of Coalbrookdale worked for the company, and bought coal in 1690, for which he expected the Company to pay.79 This may be his dispute with the Company, alluded to in Ordnance Board minutes in a period when Shadrach was delivering shot at Bristol to the storekeeper of the Board of Ordnance. Shadrach’s brother Thomas was the Company’s founder, casting grenado shells and ‘bulletts’ for the crown.

Kent’s directory (1753) and other London directories. Skeel 1916; Plumsted l/b. 66 Namier 1930; Price 1944; ODNB, Anthony Bacon. 67 Tomlinson 1976, 398; Cleere and Crossley 1995, 352-3; SIR Y a/c; CBD a/c. 68 King 2014b, 175. 69 APC 1616-7, 394-5; 1617-9, 135 279 291. 70 TNA, E 112/101/1226. 71 APC 1619-21, 77 212 284 319; Barraclough 1984(1), 54 57. 72 Evans and Withey 2012, 534-8. 73 Prankard a/c. 64 65

74 75 76 77 78 79

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Evans and Withey 2012, 538-40. Hadley 1976. King 2015a. Ffoulkes 1937; Hogg 1963, 245-52. King 2002a. TNA, C 7/312/5.

Chapter 3: The Thames Valley A major source of metal for such foundries was old guns. Thomas Johnson’s stock involved in the dispute in (17034) over the Falcon Foundry included a quantity of them.92 In 1735 John Fuller referred to ‘air works in Town’ being supplied with old cast guns from Spain and elsewhere imported by Harrison and Jukes.93 Samuel Remnant and his son regularly bought old iron from the Ordnance Board from 1731 to 1776, sometimes in payment for small shot and shells.94 The 1704 witnesses in the disputes over the Falcon Foundry included Thomas Bowen of St Margaret’s parish, Southwark, who had worked for Johnson.95 He was probably related to William Bowen who regularly bought old guns from the Ordnance Board in 1756 and 1770.96 In 1748, he renewed a lease (originally granted in 1722) at Marigold Stairs, Upper Ground in Christchurch Parish for a further 31 years, which was evidently where his foundry was.97 However, he is perhaps better known as a gunfounder at Barden and Cowden in the Kentish Weald,98 and as the first contractor for casting iron ballast for the Navy Board.99

This was before he became Warden of the Fleet Prison in 1693, where to the alarm of his opponents he stored bombs and grenadoes, no doubt empty of gunpowder. The Fox brothers also used Wombridge Furnace, but Coalbrookdale exploded and Thomas died in debt in 1704.80 After Shadrach gave up furnaces in Shropshire, he cast shells for Richard Tolson and James Puckle, some for the East India Company. Thomas Styles, a Russia merchant, then recruited him to go to Russia to cast ‘new fashioned mortars, square musketoons and granadoes to burn ships’, with a salary of £500 per year, but he died of ‘collick’ soon after, leaving his widow destitute.81 Puckle in 1718 patented a musket revolver, claimed as the first machine gun, one version of which fired square bullets.82 Until 1706 roundshot and mortar shells had usually been cast ‘from ore’ at blast furnaces. However in 1706, the Ordnance Board agreed with Richard Jones for him to cast ten tons of shot from old metal. This was followed later that year by a contract to cast 97 tons of shot from old ordnance and that November he was authorised to set up a furnace in the saltpetre house at Woolwich for this purpose.83 He also had an ironfoundry at the Faulcon in Southwark, which was by 1723 in the hands of John Wood (a son of the notorious William) and later of William (another son).84 The foundry on Bankside had been the subject of a dispute between rival claimants of a furnace owned by Peter Elers until 1701 then Thomas Johnson.85 This foundry enjoyed a long history and will be mentioned again below. By 1715 Stephen Peters was also engaged in the shot trade.86 He was in 1720 briefly in partnership with Samuel Remnant in the smiths’ contract at Woolwich and may thus also have preceded him in a foundry there.87 This foundry passed after Samuel Remnant’s death to his son Stephen, who cast shot until the end of the American War.88 Samuel Remnant’s foundry at Woolwich certainly had an air furnace.89 Until the 1762 the Ordnance Board continued to prefer shot ‘cast from ore’, when they could get it,90 Later references to shot founding indicate that shot was cast in moulds. However later in the century grapeshot was cast in sand: thus in 1779 Captain Tovey reported to the Ordnance Board that 3lb shot cast in sand would do as well as that cast in moulds for quilting 32lb grapeshot.91

Shot and shells were also cast for the Board of Ordnance by Jukes Coulson & Co (1779-84); by Richard Gilpin & Co, followed by Thomas English & Co in 1770, and then from 1777 Francis Roper of Cuckbold Point, Rotherhithe (1756-84); by James Jones of 20 Burr Street, London (1776-80); by Thomas, Francis and William Kinman of 8, New Square, Fetter Lane, London and Pedlar’s Acre, Lambeth (1781-91); by Stephen Remnant (1756-83); by Arthur Scaife of 244 Rotherhithe (1776-83); and by Joseph Wright & Co of the Falcon Foundry, Southwark, and their successors (1759 to 1792 or later).100 The history of the Falcon Foundry is unknown between the collapse of William Wood’s enterprises in the early 1730s and 1759. Joseph Wright & Co became Wright & Prickett by 1771.101 Wright sold his share to Gilbert Handasyde in 1787, the firm being called Prickett and Handasyde by 1789,102 and then probably Handasyde and Pricketts from Thomas Prickett’s death in 1795 until Gilbert Handasyde bought out Prickett’s sons in about 1813.103 After his death his widow renewed the lease in 1827 and undelet to Samuel Pegg and William Bailey, ironmerchants, whose underlease was renewed in 1842, and again in 1867 by Crawshay Bailey, William Petley and Henry Pegg Chappell, iron merchants and founders.104 Crawshay Bailey was a partner in Nantyglo and Beaufort ironworks in south Wales.105

80 TNA, E 112/833/957; C 11/1379/19; King 2002a, 38-40 and 45; however, Cleator Furnace probably belonged to certain members of the company, rather than the company itself. 81 TNA, C 6/357/34; SP 91/5, no. 167 (f.162). 82 Wilcock 2012, 185-6 195-8; English Patent, no. 418. 83 TNA, WO 47/23, 403; WO 47/24, 97 and 151; Hogg 1963, 238. 84 Flinn 1961, 56, quoting the Swedish visitor Kahlmeter; King 2011b, 69-70. 85 TNA, E 112/827/215; E 133/74/64; E 134/3 Anne/East/26; E 134/3 Anne/Tr/26; King 2015a. For William Wood, see King 2011b; 2014b. 86 TNA, WO 47/28, 149. 87 Elliston-Erwood 1950; Hogg 1963, 266 and 268; Peters also preceded Remnant as agent to John Fuller the gunfounder: TNA, WO 47/31, 248; Crossley and Savile 1991, 5n. 88 Crossley and Savile 1991, no.194; Hogg 1963, 397; TNA, WO 47/47101 passim. 89 Crossley and Savile 1991, no.194; Hogg 1963, 397. 90 TNA, WO 47/47,100 134 165; WO 47/59,30. 91 TNA, WO 47/94, 79.

TNA, E 112/827/215. Crossley and Savile 1989, no. 182. 94 TNA, WO 49/236. 95 TNA, E 134/3 Anne/East 26. 96 TNA, WO 47/45, 459; WO 49/256. 97 Southwark LSL, MS 8287. 98 Hodgkinson thesis, 97-8; Hodgkinson 1996b, 156; TNA, WO 47/72, 235; Kent Hist. & Lib. Centre, U1280 T2. 99 King 1995. 100 TNA, WO 47/47-120 passim; addresses from various directories. 101 TNA, WO 47/78, 159. On the Prickett family see Hodgkinson 2016c. 102 TNA, WO 47/113, 581 etc. 103 Hants RO, 11M59/E2/154802 and 154805/1-2. 104 Hants RO, 11M59/E2/154808E. 105 Ince 1993, 129-30. 92 93

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Iron production in the Thames valley

Bailey, Pegg & Co also has a foundry at Brierley Hill near Stourbridge.106

This chapter started by denying that iron was made in the Thames valley, because the use or wood or charcoal for this was made illegal. There were however a few exceptions to this, where iron was made without charcoal. Thomas Tomkyns obtained a patent (in the name of Roger Woodhouse) for a process of making iron in 1724. The process was tried successively at Nine Elms (near Vauxhall), at Oakamoor (Staffs), at Taplow (Bucks), and Lydney (Gloucs). The process involved melting pig iron in a reverberatory furnace. This was given up as unprofitable, probably because of low yields, too much iron being lost into the slag.125 William Wood patented a process for making iron in 1728, but wanted a company to be chartered to exploit it. After his death, the government paid for his sons to demonstrate whether his process was viable, before it would charter a company. The process had been developed by his son Francis at Bellingham (Northumb) and then operated at Frizington (near Whitehaven) involved smelting pulverised iron ore and coal dust in a reverberatory furnace. The iron, made in the demonstration furnace at Chelsea, was tried by smiths. They found it to be even less workable than ‘ordinary redshort’ iron, itself an undesirable variety. The failure of the trial rendered the chartering of a company politically impossible.126

Most of the shotfounders were only employed by the Ordnance Board as shot and shell founders, but Wright & Prickett seem to have been equipped to produce small special orders, for example for experiments,107 and equipment for the powder mills at Faversham.108 They appear to have had a boring mill near London, presumably at their foundry,109 which contained an ‘engine house’ by 1811.110 From 1773 they had two furnaces in the Weald, where they cast ordnance and probably also pig iron to supply their foundry: one formerly of Masters and Raby, and the other formerly of Harrison and Bagshaw,111 the latter probably Gloucester Furnace at Lamberhurst, as Thomas Prickett’s sons were living there in 1811.112 Fernhurst Furnace and Pophole Forge were theirs prior to 1774.113 The Kinmans were similarly employed to cast mortars and for other small special orders.114 James Henckell started an ironworks at Garratt Lane, Wandsworth about 1777. By 1783 he had a slitting mill, sundry forges and furnaces, tilt and lift hammers, and engines for boring cannon.115 In 1780 he tendered to provide double-headed hammered shot,116 and in 1782 claimed to be able to cast 15-20 tons of ordnance per week at this foundry,117 but a gun burst, the breach separating from the rest forming a regular section,118 and he subcontracted the rest to George Matthews (of Broseley, Shrops). Henckell became bankrupt in 1783,119 but seems to have recovered from the experience and was later contracting with the Ordnance Board for smith’s work and ordnance.120 He also occupied Ember Mills from 1791 to 1793 and the copper mill at Wimbledon in 1791.121 His works were in 1808 referred to as the casting of shot, shells, cannon, and other implements of war. Later it became the Royal Paper Mills.122 He had a hoop iron warehouse at 164 Upper Thames Street, London in 1792,123 and supplied the Victualling Commissioners with that commodity from 1801 to 1805.124 His mill at Wandsworth thus seems to have engaged in every variety of mechanically-powered iron manufacture, except the actual production of iron.

Another firm in the London area at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution that is worthy of note was Foliott Scott & Co, the Rotherhithe Co. They were in 1784 the first licensee of Cort’s patent, for making bar iron by puddling and rolling, paying a royalty of 15s per ton. In 1788 Crawshay contracted to supply them and Cort and Jellicoe at Gosport (Hants) with 1000-1500 tons of blooms made under Cort’s patent, but this was apparently not a great success.127 The works were presumably powered by a steam engine, and may have passed to Manser & Co soon after this. It is possible that Gardner & Co (1801) and Martin and Gardner (1804-8), vendors of hoops,128 followed them and preceded Gardner, Howard & Co, who were ‘chiefly forming iron bolts out of old iron hoops’ about 1810, or there may have been two distinct works, the Union Works and King and Queen Ironworks.129 Jukes Coulson & Co similarly had a rolling mill powered by two steam engines at Millwall.130

Robins 1995; q.v. E.g. TNA, WO 47/89, 15. 108 TNA, WO 47/57, 27 Oct 1761; WO 47/114, 498, 4 Dec 1789. 109 TNA, WO 47/97, 1011. 110 Hants RO, 11M59/E2/154803. 111 TNA, WO 47/81, 27. 112 Hants RO, 11M59/E2/154802. 113 Hodgkinson 2016c. 114 E.g. TNA, WO 47/99, 317; WO 47/110, 150 and 277. 115 Aris Birmingham Gazette, 17 Feb. 1783. 116 TNA, WO 47/95,192. 117 TNA, WO 47/99, 339. 118 TNA, WO 47/100, 516-8. 119 Aris Birmingham Gazette, 17 Feb. 1783. 120 TNA, WO 47/117-120 passim. 121 Land tax, Ember; Lysons 1792, i, 539. 122 VCH Surrey ii, 414; Lysons 1810, i, 379; tithe award, Wandsworth. 123 Universal British Directory ii (1792). 124 Vict a/c. 106

John Bunn contracted to supply iron to the Navy Board in 1807, while occupying Downside Mill at Cobham (see slitting mills section, above).131 This implies that he was making (or more probably recycling) iron. His predecessor Alexander Raby bought substantial amounts of old metal from the Ordnance Board between 1794 and 1801. Earlier such sales were to founders, but an early sale included

107

King 2015b. King 2014b; see also chapter 42. 127 Mott 1983, 52; Evans 1990a, xiii-xiv 7-8 12 30-1. 128 Vict a/c. 129 Lysons 1810, i, 354. 130 Lysons 1810, ii, 710. 131 TNA, ADM 106/2670, 17 Mar. 1807. 125 126

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Chapter 3: The Thames Valley hammered and bushel iron.132 Bushel iron was scrap and suggests that he was recycling iron, probably at Downside Mill from 1794. This is confirmed by the presence of iron slag with a magnetite content, thought to be characteristic of puddling or recycling.133

aside,’ presumably in the early years of the mill. Samuel Clarke obtained a patent for making tinplate in 1694, one of several obtained in that period, but this manufacture was laid aside before 1711, though thimbles were made at Marlow in that year. This was a forerunner (rather than the initiator) of a successful tinplate industry: that must be attributed to Pontypool in c.1725. Temple Mills continued as a battery work. In 1720, John Parry, Leonard Fletcher, John Shorey and Thomas Humphreyville the chief proprietors floated the mills as a bubble company. The mills were used to make Bisham Abbey brass batteryware by William Ockenden in 1759. On his death, in 1761, the mills passed to his nephew George Pengree, who also had copper interests at Swansea. Thomas Williams the ‘Copper King’ bought the Temple House estate for his son Owen in 1788. He operated the mills in partnership with Pascoe Grenfell. After this there were a hammer mill, a flat rolling mill and a bolt mill, all concerned in the providing copper plates for the bottoms of naval ships and the bolts to fix them. Mr Prestage was referred to as master of the mills in 1827. The mills were converted to a paper mill in the 19th century. In King 2015b, I wrongly attributed certain events near Taplow to this mill: Taplow Mill (q.v.) is a more probable venue.

With canals leading from the Midlands and west to London and the decline of the importance of imported iron (with the growth of the British coke iron industry) the importance of the iron mills of Kent and Surrey (probably processing imported iron) declined. Most of them, as stated, were turned to other uses. Manufacture of iron goods in the provinces had long been the norm and this seems to have applied at least as much in the early 19th century as before. Such ironware as was made in London was almost certainly merely what was needed locally. General Sources Potter 1982 has surveyed the Surrey mills, but did not elucidate the nature of the ironworking. County surveys of water mills generally, particularly Hillen 1951, Stidder 1990, and Freese 2008 are also useful. Morton’s thesis was on copper and is in a sense the counterpart to this chapter. However the most important sources for this chapter are primary ones, concerning the supply of shot and other cast iron goods to the Ordnance Board (TNA, WO 47; WO 51; etc.) and hoops to the Victualling Board (Vict a/c).

Sources Morton thesis, 248-251; TNA, C 5/151/70; VCH Berks i, 382; VCH Berks iii, 144 & 148; Minchinton 1957, 12; Brooke 1944, 137-8; Berkshire Chronicle, 4 Aug. 1827; cf. Brown (P.J.) 1988, 44-5; Gibbs 1950; 1951c, 113-4. http://www.templemillisland.com/history

Gazetteer Iron processing works

Byfleet Mill Abby Mill, West Ham

The mill stands on the old river Wey where the river is bypassed by an artificial cut. It is probably on the site of the manorial mill and was owned by the crown as lord of the manor and their lessees until the 19th century, the occupiers being underlessees. In the 17th century Byfleet Mill was a corn and paper mill, and converted by Thomas Weathered and Walter Kent, partners in Ember Mills to a brass wire mill. Their partnership was dissolved, but the business at Byfleet was continued by Walter Kent and his son, Stephen, passing by 1723 to the Bristol Company of Wiredrawers.

This oil mill was let on long lease in 1726. When the lease was amended in 1735, it was grinding corn and forging iron, but by 1768 it was merely a corn mill. The mill was beside a lock on the Channelsea River, a branch of the River Lee, and occupied by William Bodaker at the time it was converted to a forge, probably a plating forge. The mill-tail known as Abbey Creek is tidal. Sources London Guildhall, Mss 13533; cf. Gardner 1960. Temple Mills, Bisham or Bisham Abbey Battery Works

[2] SU840844 The mill was again altered, this time to a forge, probably in 1755 by John Berdoe, who had lived at Byfleet from about 1740, he bequeathed it and Crayford Mill in 1775 to his son, Marmaduke Berdoe, on condition he continued the business, otherwise to his son-in-law, John Wilkinson. The ironmongers business in the City was conducted by Berdoe, Wilkinson & Deacon, as perhaps was the mill. The mill was advertised in 1783 as having a tilting forge and steel furnace. It was occupied until 1786 by William Forbes, who rolled copper bolts for ships. He patented a rolling mill, which was probably the first of the classic 19th-century type rolling mill, in which the metal was reduced in dimensions by passing it between progressively smaller grooves in the rolls. Thomas Deacon had the mill until 1789, when Richard Crawshay thought he had bought

The mills stood on river Thames about a mile and a half above Marlow Bridge. A ruinous mill and weir were leased in 1694 on behalf of a partnership of London braziers and merchants by Samuel Clarke and John Nicholson, in order to build a mill for making brass kettles and wire and also tinplate. The mills were essentially a battery work for brass with three hammers and a rolling mill, but occasionally worked other metals. The manufacture of tinplate there ‘was performed with great exactness for a short period, but when it did not compensate the charge ‘twas laid 132 133

[3] TQ073606

[1] TQ38898326

TNA, WO 49/236. Phelps et al. 2012.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I it from him, but Jukes Coulson & Co were the eventual buyers and occupied it until 1806. In that year Thomas Rhyde converted it back to a corn mill.

proprietors being entirely a royalty on their freight carried on the river. In 1798 the minimum royalty was increased to £225, representing freightage on 4500 tons, but this was beyond the capacity of the mill, though 1945 tons of iron were sent up in 1800/1, 1500 tons being returned as hoops. In 1807 Raby sold the mill to John Taylor, who in 1813 sold it to William Thompson and William Foreman. They were iron merchants at Dyers Hall Wharf, Upper Thames Street London, but also partners in the ironworks at Tredegar in south Wales. In 1817 or 1819 they sold the mill to John Bunn and A.C. Johnson, who had a hoop iron warehouse at Dowgate Wharf, London and had previously had Haw Haw Mill at Weybridge. John Bunn disposed of the mill in 1829, shortly after which it was converted to flour and silk mills. The present building on the site is a tall flour mill, built about 1900 and converted into flats in 1983. Barker reproduces a diagram of ‘Hackering Jack’, the hammer at the mill, was a tilt hammer whose head weight 2½ cwt and operated at 2700 strikes per hour (i.e. 45 per minute). There were apparently 5 cams, so that the waterwheel operated at 9 revolutions per minute.

The works in 1760 comprised two iron mills with three water wheels; there were three nailing houses and a grindstone house; it was used for the manufacture of iron and steel. About 1784 Berdoe, Wilkinson and Deacon of 95 Upper Thames Street London were described as manufacturers of iron hoops and nail rods, the products of a slitting mill. In 1784 Berdoe, Wilkinson & Co also had a hoop iron warehouse at 4 New Broad Street. Crayford Mill was in the same occupation from before 1774 until 1806 and further details concerning John Berdoe will be found under Crayford, below. It was dealt with in 1775 and 1789, and Deacon & Co also had Dartford Mill in the early 1780s. In 1794 Colson (sic) & Co, who had several iron mills, had 1 H[oop Mill?]. Sources Surrey History Centre 3528/7; 174/6/6; G54/1/19; TNA, LR 1/119, 67; TNA, LR 1/121, 105; TNA, LR 1/122, 19v; Nottingham UL, Mss, Ne A 621-3; Morning Herald, 19 Jun. 1783; English Patent no. 1381 (1783) and specification; Harris 1992, 183 188; Morton thesis 253-4; Evans 1990a, 46-7; land tax, Byfleet; Potter 1982, 2145; Stidder 1990, 110. I am grateful to Mr J.W. Bardoe of Guildford for information on his family history and to Peter Northover for details from his research on Forbes. Clapton Wire Mill

Sources Humphries 1954; Buttriss 1985, 2-4; Surrey History Centre, G129/10/41; G129/69/1; G129/35/1-12; G129/15/1-4; G129/8/2, fo 85 205 424; G6/32/68; Potter 1982, 217; 2000, 12-3; Barker 2000; Stidder 1990, 112-3. Crayford Mill

[4] SU91008997

The mill, on the river Cray, was built about 1597 to make plates for armour and for frying and dripping pans, having a licence for the purpose from the Company of Mineral and Battery Works, who had a monopoly in that, but it also contained a slitting mill. There was a dispute over it in 1602 between Drue Pickayes and Edward Brandon as tenants of the mill and John Whitbred ‘stranger’ who brought over two men from abroad to plate iron and make frying pans, Godfrey Box (of Dartford Mill) also being named as a defendant. Drew Pickhayes had earlier owned Bramletye Forge in the Weald. After this the mill’s history remains unknown.

Clapton Mills comprised rolling and wire mills for iron and brass. They belonged to George Stehn, and were sold in Chancery, probably following his death, sales being advertised in 1737, 1741, and 1742. Stehn appears in Quarter Sessions records from 1725 (Records of Bucks. v, passim). In 1754, it belonged to Mr ‘Berck’ and made 20 different kinds of iron wire, using iron from Wales made from grey ore and cinders from the Forest of Dean. It made 1500 bundles (of 62 lb) of wire (c.40 tons) per year, The freehold was again for sale in 1781, when the mills were in the possession of Sarah Peltzer and Gilbert Beck, there also being a paper mill, and in 1805, on the bankruptcy of William Amsinck. It was called ‘late wire mills’ in the 1820s, paper having fully replaced wire.

In the late 1670s it seems to have been in the hands of Thomas Harvey, who devised and in 1679 patented a means of making round iron for bolts. In 1682 the iron mill, making ‘bolt staves, round iron and other ironworks’, together with a patent were sold by Edward Proby to William Paulin and John Loggin, who devised a way of making ‘streaks’ for waggons, carts, and coaches, also patented. William Loggin joined them and the capital was increased, but in 1684 John Loggin was found to have drawn out his capital and following arbitration was excluded from the partnership. They were probably still in occupation in 1706, but it subsequently came to be occupied by John Lane as ‘battery mills’, presumably John Lane of Bristol, a pioneer of the Welsh copper industry, who was bankrupt in 1726. John Berdoe, iron mill master, referred to Byfleet and Crayford Mills in his will in 1774, and as he supplied hoops to the Victualling Board in 1733 it is likely he bought it on Lane’s bankruptcy. He was probably

Sources London Gazette, no. 7615, 2(28 May 1737); no. 8094, 4 (16 Feb. 1741); no. 8130, 3 (22 Jun. 1742); Oxford Journal, 13 Oct. 1781; 13 May 1805; Angerstein’s Diary, 183; Freese 2008, 157-8; ubp.buckscc.gov.uk/ SingleResult.aspx?uid=MBC7788 Coxes Lock Mill, Addlestone

[6] about TQ527754

[5] TQ062642

The mill stands beside a lock on an artificial section of the Wey Navigation and was dependent on this canal-like navigation for its power. Its construction appears to have started in 1777, but the grant to Alexander Raby and O.W. Rogers of the right to use the waste water at the lock was not formalised until 1782, the rent payable to the navigation 90

Chapter 3: The Thames Valley succeeded, both in his mills and as an ironmonger at 95, Upper Thames Street, London by Berdoe, Wilkinson, and Deacon, who in 1790 sold this mill and Byfleet to Jukes Coulson. When Coulson gave it up in 1812, it was converted to another use. In 1790 it had 1 H[oop mill?].

Poyntz did likewise from 1732 to 1758, supplying 969 tons in 1756 (Vict a/c). Charles Manning leased Pippingford Furnace (q.v.) in 1717, and cast cannon (presumably there) in 1705. Charles Wood’s notebook gives brief details of ‘Dartford Air Furnace’, built by Samuel Wood (probably Charles’ brother) for heating iron [for] slitting and rolling iron for hoops.

Sources TNA, REQ 2/2544/33; C 78/923/3; C 105/33/10; English Patents, nos. 207 and 229; Kent Archives, U1515 T134; Surrey History Centre, G54/1/19; Land tax, Crayford; Evans 1990a, 46-7; Hasted, Kent, ii, 265; Cleere & Crossley 1995, 318; for Lane cf. London Gazette, no 6526, 2 (1 Nov. 1726).

Sources TNA, C 5/355/57; C 5/358/69; C 8/658/26; Dunkin 1844, 315; VCH Kent iii, 388; Hasted, Kent ii, 288; Gross 2001, 199-200. Downside Mill, Cobham

Dartford Slitting Mill I

Downside Mill on the river Wey became in 1771 an ironworks, following the bankruptcy of a papermaker. It was taken over by Alexander Raby, then newly married. He converted it to an iron mill and two forges. He was the son of Edward Raby, who, surviving his bankruptcy in 1764, had been an ironmonger in Southwark and latterly also a gunfounder. Raby and his partner Mereton are reported to have made small iron goods. By 1777 the firm was Raby and Rogers, and in 1782 they took a lease of Coxes Lock Mill. The following year, they were selling hoop iron at Mill Street, Rotherhithe. The firm later became Holmer & Raby. In 1805, following the failure of blast furnace operations at Penrhiwtyn (Glam) and Dale Abbey (Derbs), Alexander Raby disposed of his leases in Surrey, including Cox’s Lock, and moved to Llanelli, where his furnace was for a time somewhat more successful. John Bunn, who followed him, held the forge from 1806 to 1809. He subsequently occupied Weybridge and Coxes Lock Mills. Downside Mill was later a flock mill and was subsequently used for other purposes. The building contains waterwheels that probably belong to these later phases of its use. The presence of iron slag indicates that iron was made (rather than merely processed) at some stage, probably from about 1794 when Raby began buying substantial quantities of iron (including hammered and bushel iron) from the Ordnance Board. Bunn had a contract to supply iron to Deptford Dockyard in 1807.

The site of the original slitting mill has been described as lost. It does not seem to be identical to the later one, which was apparently erected by John Browne. However, the mill, which was by 1694 used as the Hither Paper Mill, seems to have no prior history, and therefore appears to be a probable site. The slitting mill was introduced to England by Godfrey Box of Liège about 1590, under the patronage of Bevis Bulmer. It continued working after his death in 1604, and provided the model for the mill built near Rugeley (Staffs) about 1610. The latter mill was granted a licence by James Lasher and Delionel Russell, presumably assignees or exclusive licensees of Sir Bevis Bulmer, who allegedly renewed his patent in 1606, or an. The mill was sold in 1627 by John Bennett to William Burgess (d.1641); his heirs sold it to Thomas Deakin, who became bankrupt in 1651, with the result that the mill was sold to Nicholas Tooke (d.1672); in 1674 and 1678 it was occupied by Edmond Tooke, who was trying to retire in 1674, and it is not referred to again. By 1713 Ironmills Brook, presumably a leat, was known as Papermills Brook. It became a zinc mill by the mid-19th century, and it is so shown on the tithe map. Sources TNA, C 78/595/3; Kent Archives, U36 E14; U47/22 T36; Hasted, Kent, ii, 288; Dunkin 1844, 307 315; VCH Kent iii, 388; as to slitting mills and the patents: Jenkins 1918; English patent no. 10; Schubert 1957, 30411. I have failed to verify a 1606 patent renewal. Dartford Mill II

[9] TQ118583

[7] perhaps TQ547733

Sources Taylor 2000; Crocker 2000b; Stidder 1990, 113; Potter 1982, 217-20; 2000, 11-2; Buttriss 1985, 2-4; land tax, Cobham. As to iron production: TNA, WO 49/236; ADM 106/2670, 17 Mar. 1807; Phelps et al. 2012.

[8] TQ544744

The mill stood below the town and was, according to Hasted, built by John Browne about 1650. Hasted refers to it as a brasel (sic) mill, probably a mill grinding brazil wood as a dyestuff. Charles Manning (d.1719) had it from 1687, followed by his sons Henry (d.1725) and Charles. After that Samuel Melchior had it for 30 years, and then John Randall in 1768. Jukes Coulson used it from 1770 to 1779. Then, Deacon & Co occupied it for a few years, before it was converted to a saw mill and then in 1790 to a cotton mill. It took the name ‘Phoenix Mill’ due to being burnt down, and was rebuilt several times more.

Ember Mill

[10] TQ146671

The river Ember is an effluent of the river Mole, an effluent that may well owe its existence to the erection of this mill, originally a corn mill. It is alleged to have been used by Jacob Momma and partner to make brass wire in 1649, but probably remained a corn mill until 1693. In that year the mill was let in 1693 to John Stapleton on condition that he rebuilt it to make brass and iron wire. Stapleton took Christopher Turner as a partner and they were shortly afterwards joined by John Hitchcock and Thomas Wethered, who bought out the two original

Charles Manning supplied hoops to the Victualing Board from 1696 to 1715 and Samuel Malcher and William 91

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I partners in 1694 and probably then further enlarged the mill to roll hoops. Walter Kent was their partner from 1704 to 1711. John Hitchcock renewed the lease for himself and Wethered in 1714. In 1717 Wethered made a will (proved in 1729) bequeathing his remaining quarter share to his cousin Joseph Saxton. By 1735 a quarter share, perhaps Wethered’s, had passed to Francis Wood and to Thomas Hopley, while the other shares had passed to James Creed, Humphrey Hill, Richard Hyett, William Hitchcock, and William Ockenden. Francis Wood, son of William Wood of Irish Halfpenny infamy, was a brass wire miller at Ember Mill at his bankruptcy in 1732. The office of master of ‘Imber Mill’ was said to be attracting great interest with the English Copper Company, following the death of Mr Hitchcock in 1737.

East Molesley; Stamford Mercury, 13 Oct. 1737; London Gazette, no, 7123, 2 (2 Sep. 1732); Hampshire Chronicle, 15 Sep. 1806. Esher Mill or Royal Mills

[11] TQ131658

The mill was on the river Mole above the point where the river Ember flows out of it. Jacob Momma and Daniel Demetrius were making brass wire in 1649. The business was taken over by William Dockwra (of Redbrooke, Mons.) with John Coggs and another London brazier in 1691. In 1709 this firm merged with the Bristol Brass and Battery Company. From 1740 a corn mill was in use, but so apparently was a wire mill in 1762. William Hughes bought a copyhold warehouse and land, perhaps including the mill, in the name of a trustee in 1752, and let it to Joseph Biddle. Prior to 1724, this property had belonged to Sarah and Elizabeth Momma. From 1783, it was occupied by John Puplett and Mr (or widow) Tealing. Matthew Puplett in 1798 insured a hoop mill, which he ran until 1808 with a succession of partners, including successively Kennett, Astley, and Hogarth. In 1809, William Saville & Co (or & Sons) back converted it to copper mills, which continued beyond 1833. Royal Mills has been redeveloped as an industrial estate; the only sign of the old mill is a large concrete wear in the former mill fleam, which carries a substantial amount of water. It was probably only an iron mill for some thirty or so years prior to 1808.

For much of this period, the mill was concerned both in the brass and iron trades: in 1695 it was rolling hoops, but from 1697 to 1702 it only made brass; then Hitchcock won the Victualling Board’s hoop contract and for a few years it concentrated on hoops, making about 600 tpa. However, that did not last and he agreed to make 350 tpa, mainly for Anthony Tournay and a syndicate of ironmongers, who then did not order as much as they promised. The shortfall was probably made up by returning to brass, which was being made in 1713. Hoops were again made for two years from 1716, but then there is no sign of their production again until the 1750s, and it must be assumed it concentrated on brass, and perhaps iron wire. Kalmeter, a Swedish visitor, certainly found brass being made in 1723.

Sources Surrey History Centre, K546; K81/3/1; K3696/17/2; K54/1/1, fos. 30 32v 51 90-3 139; K54/1/2, fos. 34-46 58-60 137-40 304-9 374-7; land tax, Esher; Potter 1982, 218-20; Stidder 1990, 122; Day 1973, 40; Morton thesis, 242-8; Roque, Map of Surrey (1762); Day 1973, 23 and 40.

Wethered and Kent converted Byfleet Mill to a brass wire mill, this passing to Kent when they dissolved their partnership in 1710. Was Ember Mill their supplier? John Hitchcock also had Ham Haw Mill at Weybridge from 1730 to 1758 and William Ockenden’s executors renewed the lease there in 1761. Ockenden also had Temple Mills at Bisham. Ember Mill was still called a wire mill in 1762, but Joseph Tealing had been producing hoops somewhere a few years before. In 1780 it was held by Joseph Tealing; in 1781 and 1782 by Mrs Tealing, presumably his widow; then until 1785 by George (or Charles) Papps, and in 1786 by Zachariah Cave. The owners from 1787 to 1793 were the Ember Mill Co, who had flattening mills, presumably a rolling mill, but Mr ‘Hankell’ was their tenant from 1791. It was sold in 1795 and let to Alexander Raby, but it reverted to a corn mill after he left in 1802. The mill building survived in the 1990s as a house standing on the west bank of the easternmost channel of the river. Mr ‘Hankell’ was presumably James Henckell of Wandsworth. Alexander Raby, as mentioned under Cobham, had several iron mills in the area.

Horton Mill

[12] TQ020757

This is reported to have been an ironworks, which closed in the early 19th century. Nothing more is known of this, but it is likely to have operated in conjunction with Wraysbury Mill, which would however place its being an ironworks in the late 18th century: it is more likely to have been a plating forge or rolling and slitting mill than to have made iron. It is said to have been an ironworks about 1800, but for most of its 17th to 19th century history the mills were paper mills. Sources VCH Bucks, ii, 126; Freese 2008, 178-9. Mapledurham Wiremill

[13] SU66937675

A wire and corn mill, capable of making 40-50 tons of wire per year was advertised on the bankruptcy of Thomas Antrum in 1785 and advertised again by Mr Brown in 1790. They were advertised to let in 1792, when several potential uses were mentioned, but not wire, probably indicating that its production ceased in 1785. The present mill building is a corn mill building and grade II* listed. It is on the river Thames, opposite Mapledurham Lock.

Sources Surrey History Centre, K81/3/1; G97/13/593 611 624 654 681-2; G21/4/7; TNA, C 5/355/57; C 5/358/69; C 8/658/26; E 126/20, fo.174v-176v; Vict a/c; Potter 1982, 221-2; 2000, 13; Stidder 1990, 116; Morton thesis, 2523; Roque, Map of Surrey (1762): Carey, Map of Surrey (1793); Evans 1990a, 46-7; land tax, Ember; land tax, 92

Chapter 3: The Thames Valley next advertisement found relates to a cotton mill with 10 years of a term of 22 years unexpired in 1783. Subsequently it became a paper mill.

Sources Reading Mercury, 17 Jan. 1785; 14 Feb. 1791; 2 July 1792; Historic England, listed building 1059523; www.mapledurham.co.uk/ www.mapledurhamwatermill. co.uk/ Southcot wire mill, near Reading

Sources King 2015b, 82-3 (misattributed); John 1943, 101; VCH Bucks iii, 243-4; TNA, ADM 106/1080/318; London Evening Post, 23 May 1747; 2 Apr. 1765; Whitehall Evening Post, 10 Mar. 1783.

[14] SU693713

The inclosure award for Tilehurst shows a wire mill on land of John Englebert Libenrood of Prospect Hill House, but in a detachment of the parish of St Mary Reading; this is described as disused on the 1880 O.S. map. The mill was probably operating from the 1790s. Charles Pocock announced the opening of a warehouse at 11 Bouveries Street, London in 1805. In 1818, he retired from his partnership with his son Charles Montague Proctor and Thomas Golden both here and at Sowley Forge in Hampshire. Both works were auctioned in 1820. The partnership of Christopher Forster and W.T. Hislop (metal merchants) in the mill ended in 1835. In 1839, the assignees of Gamer and Hislop advertised the mill for sale. It was then held on lease from the Kennet and Avon Canal Co and had recently been used as a zinc manufactory, but had power to drive six pairs of stones.

Wandsworth Pan Works (at Point Pleasant)

Frying pan production at Wandsworth probably began about 1634, when one of the Harrow family (batterers) occurs there. The works probably belonged to Edward Barker and/or Nicholas Tonnett or Toney and were used in conjunction with Wimbledon Iron Mills, one probably producing iron plates and the other making them into pans. Edward Barker’s will (of 1670) mentions mills in Surrey (as well as Bye Mill in Somerset). His inventory shows a stock of pans and plates worth £1332. His son Edward operated the works subsequently and renewed a lease in 1687. He seems to have been followed by Peter Essington (died 1704) and his widow Margaret. She transferred the business to her son John in 1711. He took partners and then sold the business to the English Copper Company for shares, whose value subsequently fell. He was bankrupt in 1727. Frying pan production may have continued until 1771, but the 18th century business seems to have concerned copper and brass frying pans, not iron.

Sources Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 28 Jan. 1805; London Gazette, no. 17358, 845 (9 May 1818); no. 17763, 2212 (10 Nov. 1821); Reading Mercury, 21 Sep. 1839; Bartlet 1974, 33. Taplow Mill, Maidenhead

[16] about SU254752

[15] SU903821

Sources Gerhold 2008, 40-3 46-7.

Several mills were associated with the weir at Boulter’s Lock near Maidenhead Bridge. Boulter’s Mill was on the Maidenhead side, but there were also two mills in Taplow on the Buckinghamshire bank. Boulter’s Mill and one of the Taplow mills were probably corn mills until modern times, but the third one may not. In 1709 Mr Norris took a 50-year lease, a term length suggesting that a mill was to be built. In the late 1720s George Robinson (stock jobber with an estate at Taplow, perhaps only leased) was among those concerned in the works, then managed by James Halliwell, perhaps concerned in the copper trade. He introduced the use of Thomas Tomkyns’s patent ironmaking process at some works near Taplow: probably here, rather than at Temple Mills (as I suggested in 2015). This is this presumably the Maidenhead Forge in the 1735 list, said to have made 100 tons of iron in ‘1718’, but only 40 tons in 1735. About 1718 Lord Mansel’s agent suggested the spade makers of Maidenhead as possible buyers of bar iron made at Avon Forge (now Aberavon, Port Talbot, Glam.), possibly indicating the existence of a plating forge. Robinson fled abroad in 1731, having lost enormous sums on the stock market and hidden his losses though the Charitable Corporation (a pawnbroking company). In 1747, a tinplate works was advertised for sale or to let. In 1750, Thomas Elcock supplied iron plates to the Navy Board. In 1765, the last 16 years of the lease a mill, lately built, was offered for sale, together with an engine for making shot and bullets and a patent for this. This lease may have been a renewal of that of 1709. The

Weybridge Ironworks or Ham Haw Mill

[17] TQ072654

The mill stood on the Weybridge side of the Wey Navigation, but was in fact formerly in Chertsey. The first mill on this site was built in 1691 by Robert Douglas, who also owned the adjoining manor of Ham. After the death of his widow the manor and mill were sold about 1730 to Lord Portmore, who owned a large share of the navigation. He apparently let it to John Hitchcock, who was also the principal partner in Ember Mills and occupied it until 1758. Though the lease was renewed to the executors of William Ockenden of Weybridge, (another partner in Ember Mills, who also owned Temple Mills at Bisham) in 1761, a list of tenants names Captain Fletcher as tenant until 1764, then Norten Champayne until 1774, and John Tull until 1776, the last two presumably being the partners in Champaigne (sic) & Tull, who supplied hoops to the Victualling Board in 1776. Jukes Coulson & Co probably bought the mill during 1776 and used it until 1808 and followed by John Bunn & Co until 1817. After this it appears to have been abandoned and left derelict until 1842. The building, which was damaged by fire in 1963 and was probably rebuilt at that time. Trading John Hitchcock was the principal partner at Ember Mills; Champaign & Tull supplied 520 tons 93

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Other ironworks

iron hoops for victualling the navy in 1776 and Jukes Coulson & Co 530 tons more the same year, their works probably being able to produce 100 tons per month (Vict a/c). Jukes Coulson & Co were iron merchants at 10 Allhallows Lane, Thames Street and later at Rotherhithe Wall and 95 Upper Thames Street, where they had a hoop iron warehouse. At various times they also had mills at Byfleet, Crayford, Dartford, Wraysbury, and Millwall. Both they and then John Bunn & Co supplied hoops to the Victualling Board, Coulson’s supplies reaching 2100 tpa in 1793 (Vict a/c). ‘I Bunn & Co’ issued a trade token payable at their hoop iron warehouse in Dowgate and at Weybridge. The token shows a building with four smoking chimneys and a water wheel. In 1790 Mr Colson (sic) had 1 H[oop?] and 1 R[olling mill?]. Bunn & Co had previously had Cobham Mill and moved from here to Cox’s Lock about 1817. John Bunn, while at Weybridge, obtained a patent for manufacturing new hoops out of old ones (English patent no. 3601).

The Armoury Mill, Greenwich (or Lewisham)

Henry VIII had a Royal Armoury associated with his tiltyard at Greenwich. Connected with this was an armoury mill, on the Ravensbourne River, the boundary with Lewisham. This was described in 1649 as having been used until 12 years before for grinding armour and other implements (which suggests it was a blade mill), but had been let in 1646 to Anthony Nicholl M.P. for grinding potters colours. It came under the oversight of the Board of Ordnance following the Restoration and was occupied in 1695, by an armourer called Bolden in 1695. Subsequent tenants were: Robert Parker 1707 to 1712; Thomas Hollier 1716 to 1753; Richard Hornbuckle 1756 to 1784 and Jonathon Hennem 1784 to 1805. John Rennie advised on the water supply about this time. The Board rebuilt the mills in 1807, as a small arms works called the Royal Arms Factory, Lewisham. Following the end of the war, its work was transferred to the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock on the river Lea, ending with its closure in 1818. When sold in 1819, it was a two-storey weather-boarded building with a waterwheel 14 foot by 12 foot on a cast iron shaft and a 36-hp steam engine. It was bought by a miller but he sold it again and it was converted to a silk mill, later also used for drawing gold and silver wire.

Sources Surrey History Centre, G129/92/1-2; G129/69/3; G129/10/41; G129/15/2; land tax, Chertsey; Hillen 1951, 124-6 (misattributed to ‘Cox’s Lock’); Potter 1982, 215-7; Stidder 1990, 113-4 125. Wimbledon Iron Mills

[18] TQ261716

The mills were iron mills in 1636 and in 1649, when the lane leading to the iron plate mills is mentioned. These iron mills seem to have been two plating forges associated with the pan trade at Wandsworth (see above). An iron mill is shown on the version of Morden’s Map of Surrey, which is printed in a modern edition of Aubrey’s Surrey. In 1762 a copper hammer mill was let to the Company of Copper Miners of England (a company chartered in the 1690s), and a hoop or rolling mill in 1768. That company sold the mill to William and Edmund Pontifex in 1846.

Sources TNA, E 317, Kent 30; Hogg 1963, 88-91 93; Williams 2009, 27 84 126; Macartney and West 1979, 1-5; note also Lewisham LSL, A63/10-11 (sale particulars); Institution of Civil Engineers, REN/GRB/072 and REN/ RB/04/385. 20 Burr Street, London

[21] TQ340203

James Jones had a foundry that supplied the Board of Ordnance with shot from 1777, langridge in 1779, some experimental guns in 1780, and mortars in 1789. He bought a total of 56 tons of Snedshill pig iron in 1782 and 1786. The firm may have become Jones and Bullock, who received old ordnance in 1794-5. The street is now called Burr Close.

Sources Gerhold 2009, 40-4 and 46-7; Surrey History Centre, 72/1-23; Hart 1871, 133-5; Millward 1989, 93; De Seife 1986, 8. Wraysbury Mill (once Wyrardisbury)

[20] TQ379761

[19] TQ015743

Wraysbury Mill had been a paper mill since 1605. In 1772 Jukes Coulson used it as an iron mill. In 1777 it was converted to a copper mill by the Gnoll Company. In 1790 they sold it to Thomas Williams, after whose death business was continued as Williams & Grenfell. It was later used by George and Thomas Glascott brassfounders before being converted to a paper mill in 1820. It appears in the 1790 list without an occupier as 1 ‘C’[opper? mill]. The mill, on the Colne brook, was converted back to paper making after Mr Glascott retired in 1845, and has been replaced by a large food factory.

Sources TNA, WO 47/89-94 and 113-19, passim; WO 49/236; Universal British Directory i (1791), 196; Snedshill a/c. Blackfriars, London

[22] about TQ307809

Moses Stringer had a foundry and laboratory at Hugh Court, Blackfriars in 1700, when he advertised for work. In 1701, he had a contract for casting shot from old ordnance, but only delivered a few tons. In the late 1700s, he and his friends obtained effective control of the combined Society of Mines Royal and Company of Mineral and Battery Works, expelling those not attending meetings in 1711. The companies had become

Sources Gyll 1862, 72 and 198; Freese 2008, 180-1; VCH Bucks ii, 126; cf. Harris 1964, 155-6.

94

Chapter 3: The Thames Valley moribund in 1693, when the Mines Royal Act had the effect of abolishing their mining monopoly and other factors had removed any other economic purpose. Several meetings of the company were held at Stringer’s ‘elaboratory’ at Blackfriars, making plans to their inability to recover their monopoly. Stringer published his book Opera Mineralia, in which he gave a history of the two companies from records in his hands in 1713, but died in 1714. The patents of incorporation were then used by others as a front for an insurance scheme, before being sold on again, when the insurance scheme was incorporated as Royal Exchange Assurance. It is not known what happened to the foundry after Stringer’s death. There was later a foundry at Blackfriars, though not necessarily in the same premises.

Lambeth: Pedlar’s Acre

[25] TQ306797

Sources Post Man and the Historic Account 24 Dec 1700; BL Loan 16/2, 222-66; Rees 1968, 658-65; for Stringer: Appleby 1987; ODNB, ‘Moses Stringer’; Yamamoto 2015.

Sources Survey of London 23; Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, 8 Feb. 1790; Morning Chronicle, 26 May 1817; Petree 1934, 40-2.

Pedlar’s Acre forms part of the site of the old London County Hall. On the bankruptcy of Messrs Kinman in 1790, in addition to their premises at New Square (see below), they had a ‘capital iron foundery’ with two steam engines at Pedlar’s Acre near Westminster Bridge, whose stock included ‘ships guns’. Possibly their trunnion mark P stands for Pedlar’s Acre. The stock of Joseph’s Foundry was sold for the benefit of creditors in 1817, including 3 ‘blast furnaces’ [presumably cupolas]. Subsequently it came into the hands of Henry Maudsley & Co, later Maudsley, Sons and Field, the notable mechanical engineers. Maudsley moved to Lambeth in 1810, Joshua Field becoming his partner.

Millwall Ironworks Bucklebury Foundry

An ironworks, with rolling mills powered by two steam engines, was established by Jukes Coulson & Co shortly before 1810.

The Hedges Family were 18th-century blacksmiths, whose accounts for 1736-1773 survive. In about 1820, a foundry was added, with a water wheel to blow the bellows and operate a forge. The works remained in the Hedges family until 1908 and closed in 1986.

Source Lysons 1810, ii, 710. 8, New Square, Fetter Lane (now New Street Square), London

Accounts: West Berks HER, MWB4122; Berks RO, D/ EX 223; D/EX 1643; Mf 690. I have not studied these accounts.

[27] c. TQ313814

William, Thomas and Francis Kinman had an iron and brass foundry from about 1780 and from 1781 cast ordnance using the trunnion mark P. Much of the work for which the Ordnance Board employed them was small or special orders, a few mortars, a few shot to be cast under supervision of artillery officers for experiments and such like. They bought 187 tons of Snedshill pig iron in 1782. This could be the location of a steam engine used for cannon boring, built by Thomas Hunt by 1783. In 1790 they were bankrupt and had at New Square two 16-foot horse-wheels, various forges and two ‘blast furnaces’ (probably foundry cupolas). They also had premises at Pedlar’s Acre in Lambeth.

Sources Major 1964; 1970; Palmer 1970. Harefield Copper Mills, Uxbridge

[26] c. TQ355804

[23] SU551710

[24] TQ042913

Longstanding corn and paper mills were let in 1781 to Mines Royal Company, which converted them to mills to roll copper, smelted in Glamorgan and brought by canal. They were under the direction of R.G. Spedding. Stephen Amherst owned brass, copper and iron mills at Uxbridge, prior to his bankruptcy in 1810. Difficulties over claims of annuitants, going back to at least 1808 delayed their sale. In 1809, the sheriff levied execution on the leasehold of which 34 years remained, including a hammer mill and copper mills, perhaps pointing to a 63-year lease being granted in 1781. VCH quotes a local historian that conversion to a copper mill was in 1803, but this is improbable: the mills probably go back to the start of the production of copper plates for sheathing ships. It is unclear how long it rolled iron, but that is likely to have been a minor feature of its activity.

Sources Brown (R.R.) 1988, 107; TNA, WO 47/99-117 passim; Snedshill a/c; Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, 8 Feb. 1790; cf. Tann 1979, 189. I owe the 1790 reference to John Kanefsky. Rotherhithe: Cuckbold Point

[28] about TQ365804

In 1791 Francis Roper gave this address as where he was a gun and shot founder. The business may be traced back to Richard Gilpin, who was a brass founder in 1753 (Hogg 1953, 404) and casting shot from old metal from 1756 (TNA, WO 47/47, 165 243 etc). The business passed in 1770 to English & Co (Thomas English, John Bradley, and Mrs Gilpin), who contracted to cast brass ordnance, and in 1777 to Francis Roper (TNA, WO 47/76, 232; WO

Sources VCH Middlesex iii, 247; London Gazette, 16399, 1294 (25 Aug. 1810); 16514, 1627 (17 Aug. 1811); Morning Advertiser, 30 May 1809; Blythman 1996, 31-2. No archival sources have been investigated for this mill, as it was primarily a copper mill.

95

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Southwark: Falcon Ironfoundry

47/89, 24). John Bradley and Son subsequently operated their own foundry by 1781 (WO 47/99, 640 &c) at Bear Garden Southwark (which Richard Bradley insured in 1791) and later at 32 Bankside, Southwark. They made brass ordnance at ‘their works in Wales’ in 1771 (WO 47/77, 374); where these works were remains unknown. Bradley took out a patent for a cast iron tuyere in 1783; and James Bradley one for a hollow iron bar for fireplaces.

The foundry was at Falcon Steps, Southwark, occupying the site of the Falcon Inn and adjacent Falcon Wharf, in the Bishop of Winchester’s liberty there and probably at one stage extending west across the boundary, into the manor of Paris Garden. The occupants of the foundry were not until 1778 direct lessees of the bishops of Winchester. The leased premises included an Inn called the Faulcon, occupied by Henry French in 1708 and 1713, also another two houses and two wharves partly occupied by the Governor and Company of Mine Adventurers, at that time a Welsh lead mining enterprise. The premises were apparently unchanged in 1733, when Thomas Gardner had the inn, but about then the lessee purchased a share in the adjoining lease. Following the renewal of that lease in 1734, he and the other lessee partitioned the property. In 1723 an advertisement was placed:

Sources TNA, WO 47/42-103 passim; English patents 1362 and 3061; Sun Fire Office policy, 11936/376/ 583369; VCH Surrey ii, 414. Rotherhithe: another foundry

[29] c.TQ355804

Arthur Scaife was in 1774 a coppersmith and brazier at 47 Gracechurch Street, London. In 1776 he seized the opportunity of the American war to move into foundry work, casting shot and shell and shortly after the war described himself as an ironfounder at 244 Rotherhithe. In 1779 he contracted with ‘a house in town’ to deliver 30 tpw shot, which he asked to deliver in the name of his son, John Scaife, to prevent confusion (TNA, WO 47/92, 397).

At the ironfoundry late Mr Richard Jones at the Faulcon in Southwark are made and sold by John Wood backs for chimneys; stoves; plates for hot presses, glass grinders and paper mills, coach cart and wagon boxes; cockles for maltsters or sugar bakers; anvils and roles for sugar mills, and pipes turn’d or unturn’d; all sorts of pots and pans; three square bars for furnace-grates, mouths and plates for the same; all sorts of cast ironwork for chymists and refiners; and smiths work done great or small, and all manner of turning and boring at reasonable rates. Also money for iron guns, broken or whole or any old iron.’

Sources TNA, WO 47/87-101 passim. Rotherhithe Ironworks King and Queen Ironworks Union Ironworks

[31] TQ318805

[30] perhaps TQ357804

This item probably refers to two distinct works, whose histories are hard to separate. Folliott, Scott & Co had a rolling mill at Rotherhithe, powered by a Watt engine which they bought in 1785. A second engine, a twocylinder Newcomen engine was provided by one Bowser (possibly the failed entrepreneur at Carne Furnace, Aberdare) soon after to blow the works. They took a licence to make puddled iron under Cort’s patent. In April 1788 they were being supplied by Crawshay & Co with blooms from Cyfarthfa (Glam.), but that November Richard Crawshay wrote, ‘The Rotherhithe works are likely to stop.’ Their first engine was subsequently moved to Wilsonstown in Scotland. A few years later Tolliot Scott (sic) were ironfounders at 208 Rotherhithe, while Manser & Co of King and Queen Steps, Rotherhithe called themselves ‘Rotherhithe Iron Co’, having taken the works over in c.1789. Gardner and Manser had a steam engine (a third one) in 1790 to power a hammer and a set of rolls as well as a foundry. Another Watt engine was provided, also in 1785, to Thomas Allingham of Union Ironworks Rotherhithe, but this perhaps amalgamated with the King and Queen Works. Gardner and Howard bought another engine for it in 1810. Gardner, Howard & Co formed iron bolts out of old iron hoops, pans, etc.

Richard Jones was also casting old guns into shot at Woolwich (see below). This reference to Richard Jones may go back to 1706 when he had contracts to cast shot and shells for the Board of Ordnance before he authorised to set up a furnace in the saltpetre house at Woolwich. It is conceivable that it began as the works of the ‘Governor and Company for Making Iron Ordnance’, who supplied 11¾ tons of carcasses and grenado shells to the Board in August 1693. If so, this was probably the Governor and Company for casting and making guns and ordnance in mould of metal, whose incorporation was sought by Thomas Puckle, William Dockwra and Richard Povey that month, a patent of invention having been obtained by Puckle for casting great guns in moulds of metal the previous March. It is probably the ironworks near Bankside, making iron backs, gunshot, pots and pans, apparently from old ordnance, which was sold by Peter Ellers and to Henry Johnson in 1701. After Henry’s death, the landlord let it to Dr Thomas Wadworth and John Adams, who bought the chattels there from John Neale, Henry’s principal creditor and administrator, thus defeating a claim by Thomas Johnson who financed Henry’s purchase. Richard Jones provided shot (made from old metal) to the Board of Ordnance in 1706-10. However, he was in arrears on his contracts in 1715 and with the result that his sureties (including William Harrison) were called on to make good his default. He apparently partnered Samuel Gott in a gunfounding

Sources Evans 1990a, 12 25-6 and 30-1; Mott 1983, 52; Birmingham Archives, B & W box 36/13; MS 3147/5/13/ 243 and 432; Tann 1970, 82; Dickinson & Jenkins 1927, 317-8; Sun Life policies, 11936/386/600648; 11936/ 375/578613; Lysons 1810, i, 354. 96

Chapter 3: The Thames Valley Southwark: Marigold steps

contract in 1717. That year he also provided some guns in lieu of some lent to Mr Portello on behalf of the King of Portugal.

William Bowen, who owned Barden Furnace in 1729 and bought the freehold of Cowden Furnace in 1741, had a brass foundry at Marigold Steps, Upper Ground in Christchurch parish, Southwark with an air furnace. Bowen had the first ever contract with the Navy Board for cast iron ballast in 1728, taking old guns, iron ballast, or shells in part payment, a requirement that suggests he had a foundry by then and was casting iron as well as brass. He joined a number of master smiths who examined the quality of iron made by William Wood’s process in 1732. In 1748 he renewed a lease originally granted in 1722, which may therefore be the date when the foundry was built. However he advertised for work for his foundry about a year before this (after an illness) and had apparently left a partnership in a foundry at Whitefriars (q.v.) in 1719. Bowen continued in business as a founder until his death in 1771, but it is difficult to determine what contracts were fulfilled at Southwark and what at Barden and Cowden: guns were almost certainly cast at a blast furnace. Bowen’s heir was his niece Mary Noye, who married John Warren (a clergyman), who seems to have operated an ironmonger’s business from the premises in partnership with James Lukin.

John Wood (who was operating the works in 1723) was the son of William Wood, and perhaps only a manager for his father’s firm; certainly when John Kelsall visited it in 1727, it was described as W. Wood’s foundry. John fell out with his father in 1727, after which the foundry was probably run by his brother William. In the aftermath of the collapse of his father’s Frizington enterprise, William Wood of Southwark founder was made bankrupt in 1732. The fate of the foundry over the next 27 years has not been discovered. The foundry was occupied from 1759 by Joseph Wright & Co, but by 1771 the firm became Wright and Prickett and then Prickett and Handasyde in 1787. During the 1770s the firm were gunfounders with two furnaces in the Weald. During and after the American War of Independence, besides the usual work of shotfounders, they were employed to make special castings for experiments and such like, sometimes from draughts and also to make fittings for the powder mills at Faversham, Kent. The foundry seems to have continued in use in conjuction with an iron merchants’ business at least until the late 1860s. This is recalled in the name, ‘Founders Arms’, a 19th-century public house, itself rebuilt on the river bank in 1979 in connection with Southwark Council’s Hopton Street housing scheme.

Sources Southwark LSL, MS 8287; Weekly Journal or Saturday’s Post, 5 Mar 1720; Hodgkinson 1996b, 156 1656; Hodgkinson thesis, 97-8; & pers. comm.; King 1995b, 17; cf. TNA, WO 47/35, 260; WO 47, 42-47, passim; TNA, ADM 106/2544, 8 Jan. 1728/9; ADM 106/3308, 6; King 2014b, 175.

Sources Flinn 1961, 56 (from Kalmeter’s journal); Hants RO, 11M59/E2/154801-7 and 154808E; Survey of London, xxli, 58 65 118; TNA, E 112/827/215; E 133/74/64; E 134/3 Anne/East26 (including an inventory); E 134/3 Anne/Tr22; WO 47/53-120 passim; King 2011b, 71-2; King 2014b, 165 177; Hodgkinson 2016c; cf. Tomlinson 1976, 398; Brown 1989, 322; Scott 1910-12, iii, 108-9; TNA, WO 47/22, 121 and passim to WO 47/30; WO 51/71100, passim; King 2011b, 69-70; 2015a; Episcopal leases: Hants RO, 11M59/E2/154801/2-5; 11M59/E2/154806/910. Southwark: Bear Garden

[33] c. TQ805315

Temple Mills, Hackney

[34] TQ357854

This mill was apparently where Prince Rupert’s process of nealing and turning iron ordnance was implemented, after initial experiments in the king’s stable yard at Eton. Daniel Defoe, writing in 1697, identified the mill as at Hackney Marsh, a location frequently named by later historians. However, this is not wholly certain, as the mills were in use as gunpowder mills between 1673 and 1690 (when they exploded). The mill was later used by Sir Talbot Clerke and George Moore, who had a patent for rasping brazil and other wood as dyestuffs and converted the mill for that in 1691. Then they and Henry Corbett of Southwark blacksmith formed a partnership for forging plating and making copper plates, frying and dripping pans and iron plates. The mill was offered for letting in 1700, after which one of the mills was used by plumbers.

[32] perhaps TQ322804

A foundry on Bankside near the Bear Garden advertised for work in 1703, 1708 and 1712 on the second occasion it belonged to George Bachford & Co and on the last was late Robert Baden’s. The ownership of this appears to differ from that of the Falcon Foundry, which it must have been very near, unless Richard Jones was one of Bachford’s partners. Nothing else is known of it, but Robert Gadd of Bear Garden smith was one of the smiths, who made a trial of iron made by William Wood’s patent process, and he provided the premises.

Sources Barter Bailey 2000, esp. 3-4; Thomas 1976, 214; Fairclough 1991, 118-9. Vauxhall Foundry

[35] perhaps TQ303783

A house called Copped Hall was purchased by Charles I in 1629 and converted to a works for making guns. The original idea seems to have been for Captain Robert Scott (d.1631) to produce the light ‘leather guns’, used with

Sources Post Man and the Historic Account, 17-19 Jun 1703; 13-15 Mar 1712; Daily Courant, 7 Sep 1708; King 2014b, 176-7.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I success in Gustavus Adolphus’ campaigns in Germany during the Thirty Years’ War. These are said to have been made of tinned iron covered in a leather jacket and wound with rope. The works were apparently extended about 1639, when an adjoining soap house was purchased by the Marquis of Worcester (then Lord Herbert) from Sir Richard Weston. The Marquis was an inventor and used the premises partly for experimentation, including an engine for pumping. It was described in 1649 as ‘a place of resort for artists mechanics etc. and a depot for models and philosophical [i.e. scientific] apparatus’. The premises were sequestrated by Parliament but retained for the Commonwealth until sold in 1652. They were recovered by Worcester (then an Earl) to bestow on Gaspar Calehof [Kaltoff], his mechanic there, and on the latter’s son. After the elder Kaltoff’s death in 1666, it became a sugar refinery until 1675 when it was acquired by the inventor Sir Samuel Morland. Morland sublet the premises in 1684. An inventory of the works was taken in 1645, which suggests it was also being used to make muskets and carbines and as a foundry for guns and waterworks and other things of brass. This indicates that the gun foundry only made brass cannon at that period.

Wandsworth Iron Mill

[36] TQ258742

Probably in the 1690s, Mr Huggins had a ‘cupoloe’ (reverberatory furnace) for reducing lead with pitcoal at ‘Fox-hall’, and in about 1694 Robert Lydall set up his patent furnace for refining or parting lead from silver with pitcoal, a process he patented in 1697. Furthermore there was an air furnace ‘for remelting and casting old iron with sea coal …, which was the first of these and built by direction of Sir Clement Clerke’. This probably became the ironworks of the Company for Running Iron with Pitcoal, chartered in 1693 to exploit a 1692 patent to Thomas Addison. The charter bears great similarity to that of the Company for Smelting down Lead with Pitcoal and (like the English Copper Company) was based on an innovation by Sir Clement and promoted by his son Talbot and others. Shadrach Fox bought coal for the foundry in 1690, which he expected the Iron Company to pay for, presumably because they had used it, but the debt was still due in 1695 and may be the dispute between the Iron Company and Fox alluded to in Ordnance Board Minutes. Shadrach’s brother Thomas was the Company’s founder and stored shells (no doubt empty ones) in the Fleet Prison, while he was its warden in 1693-5. Both Fox brothers were later involved in furnaces at Coalbrookdale and Wombridge in Shropshire. By the mid-1700s the foundry was disused and Lydall’s furnace had been demolished. However Joseph Hambleton advertised for work his foundry at Vauxhall in 1735. It is not certain if all the works mentioned were identical or precisely where they were.

Whitefriars Foundry

Sources Jenkins 1936, 28-33; Thorpe 1932; Ffoulkes 1937, 51-54; Dickinson 1970, 53 91; King 2002a, 39-41; TNA, C 7/312/5; Country Journal or The Craftsman 30 Aug 1735; cf. Allen 1827, 358-72; Wikipedia, s.v. leather cannon, citing R. Brzezinski, The Army of Gustavus Adolphus: (2) Cavalry (Oxford: Osprey, 1993), especially 17–20.

Sources Hogg 1963, 238; Tomlinson 1976, 398; TNA, WO 47, 23-25 and 28-33 passim.

An integrated foundry and iron manufacturing mill was established by James Henckell in about 1777, and included a boring mill and slitting and rolling mill, with a waterwheel designed by John Smeaton in 1779. He made ‘double-headed hammered shot’ from 1780. In 1782 he said he had built a foundry capable of 15-20 tpw iron ordnance, but one of his guns burst at proof, because it had been cast from more than one furnace. Henckell became bankrupt in 1783, but survived this and was making ironwork for gun carriages in 1791 and 1792. His works greatly impressed visitors. In 1794, it had two air furnaces, two balling furnaces with a hoop mill and a rolling mill. In 1808 Henckell had a slitting mill, shears and a hammer of 5½-6 cwt. The mill gives rise to the name ‘Ironmill Lane’. He was tenant of Ember Mill from 1791. Sources Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 17 Feb. 1783; Whitehall Evening Post, 13 Feb. 1783; TNA, WO 47/95, 192; WO 47/99, 316; WO 47/100, 516-8; Lysons 1792, i, 379; Lysons 1810, i, 379; Hobson 1924, 107; Wilson 1955, 38. [37] about TQ316807

William Bowen and Anthony Ireland junior advertised for work for their foundry at Whitefriars in 1717. The latter advertised alone in 1719, suggesting that Bowen had moved on. George Matthews of Broseley obtained a patent for a steam engine in 1781 and built a steam engine for a forge at White Fryars Wharf in 1786, with a 500 lb. hammer operating 150 times per minute. These may refer to different premises. Sources Post Man and the Historic Account, 15-17 Aug. 1717; Original Weekly Journal, 24 Oct 1719; Dickinson & Jenkins 1927. Woolwich Foundry (within the arsenal)

[38] near TQ438794

Richard Jones had leave to set up a furnace for casting shot in the saltpetre house at Woolwich in 1706, and had started buying old ordnance before that, suggesting he had a foundry somewhere else, apparently the Falcon Foundry. About 1712 he took up gunfounding, implying access to a blast furnace, but got into arrears so that his sureties were called upon to see his contract was performed. This seems to have led to his foundry business from 1718 passing to William Harrison, one of the sureties and a leading London ironmonger.

Woolwich Works

[39] TQ435794

In 1749 Samuel Remnant had a foundry on the river bank between Watergate and Surgeon Street, Woolwich. He 98

Chapter 3: The Thames Valley was master smith to the Board of Ordnance there. He had held that contract jointly with Stephen Peters in 1719 and also succeeded him as John Fuller’s agent. Stephen Peters had been a contractor since 1705 for ordnance and shells and was permitted to erect forges in Woolwich Warren in 1715. He replaced Silvester as the Board’s master smith in 1719, joined by Samuel Remnant in 1721. Remnant later continued this business alone and retired a rich man in favour of his son Stephen about 1750. Samuel Remnant also supplied ordnance from 1733 until 1750. This might suggest he had a blast furnace somewhere, but it is more likely that he was subcontracting the guns to Fuller and also Harrison and Legas, for whom he acted as agent. He was in 1750 found to owe £10,370 to the Board, but died before any drastic action could be taken against him, leaving his executors to settle this debt. His son, Stephen Remnant, continued both the foundry and smiths business, but lost the smiths’ contract in 1791, when someone else bid less. Sources Elliston-Erwood 1950; Crossley and Savile 1991, passim; Hogg 1963, 266-8 and 396-400; Tomlinson 1976, 398; TNA, PROB 11/794/136; WO 47/22-116 passim; WO 55/504, 3 139 165; WO 55/507, 29; WO 55/517, 27; WO 55/513, 11.

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4 Hampshire Introduction

Sowley Furnace was let to Henry Corbet and Edmund Dummer in 1700 and a forge was built there for them soon after. In 1701, on account of his debts, Corbet had to sell his share to Dummer, becoming his clerk; the transaction included manufacturing premises at Southwark (London) and Portsea (Portsmouth), Corbet being a navy contractor. Despite this, Henry Corbett and other members of his family continued fulfilling blacksmiths’ and anchorsmiths’ contracts with the Navy Board for Portsmouth dockyard,2 only being replaced by Edmund Dummer in June 1711 and then by Thomas Dummer that October. Edmund Dummer had in turn got into debt, suffering distraint in 1711 and 1712, and his stock was bought by his son, Thomas. The debts in both cases were almost certainly due to the state of the public finances in wartime. The budget deficit was not financed and debts paid to government contractors in the order they were registered, so that the time for payment became progressively longer and longer, until all wartime government debts were exchanged into stock of the South Sea Company. Though retaining this dockyard contract until 1721,3 Thomas Dummer gave up Sowley ironworks about 1717 and they were let to John White of Monmouth,4 where he had the forge (until 1723) and relatives had New Weir Forge nearby. In 1722 the lease was renewed to him and two Gloucestershire partners, together with Miles Troughton, who was managing the landlord’s iron ore mines in Furness.

This chapter is concerned with a few ironworks to the west of the Weald, in Hampshire. Bramshott Hammer, though in Hampshire, is dealt with above as part of the Weald. Ironworks existed on the estate of the Earl of Southampton before his attainder in 1601. A date of about 1595 for their erection is suggested, because the manorial jury at Beaulieu was instructed to enquire as to the customary rights of the lord and the manorial tenants to woods there. The works consisted of a furnace at Sowley and a forge at Funtley [now Fontley], known as Titchfield Hammer. Initially the works were supervised for the Earl by his bailiff, but by 1621 they were being let. John Chamberlain was tenant in the 1630s, until execution was levied on his goods in 1636. Apart from a passing reference to an occupant during the civil war, their history is obscure until the latter part of the century. Following the death of the fourth Earl, the Southampton estates were in 1671 partitioned, with the result that Sowley, as part of the Beaulieu estate, was in different ownership from Funtley, as part of the Titchfield estate. A forge was built at Sowley, probably in about 1699, and a furnace at Bursledon, a few miles from Titchfield, a few years before 1725. Titchfield Forge was occupied by successive members a local Quaker family called Gringo for over a century from before 1647; John Greengoe (in 1647) and Peter Gringo (in 1661) were described as hammermen, suggesting this is a case of senior workmen rising to be ironmasters. It is likely Robert Greengoe, the occupant of Titchfield Iron Mill at the time of the partition, also had Sowley Furnace, and was succeeded by Roger Gringoe who retained the furnace until 1700. It is not clear when Bursledon Furnace was built, save that it was before 1725, but the loss to the Gringo family of the Sowley Furnace in 1700 provides an appropriate context for its erection, despite its absence from the list of 1717. Nevertheless the total listed production for Sowley and Titchfield Forges required more pig iron than the recorded output of Sowley Furnace. Very little is known of the Titchfield works in this period except that they were continuously occupied by members of the Gringo family throughout the early and mid-18th century. There is nothing to indicate they were not primarily concerned with the production of bar iron by the finery process: there is no evidence for ordnance production and the description of John Gringo as an ironmonger in 1715 might suggest he was himself having his iron manufactured, rather than selling it as bar iron. However the absence of a slitting mill rules out the production of nails locally.1 1

By 1729 White and his Gloucestershire partners had been replaced by Thomas Hall of Cranage (Ches), the managing partner of the Cunsey Company and Cheshire Ironmasters.5 The production of ballast for the Navy was a significant part of Troughton’s business from 1729.6 In 1742, when the demand was beyond his capacity, he subcontracted some of this in Yorkshire.7 Miles Troughton, with his son-in-law, Philip Sone, and grandson Philip Troughton Sone continued the works until 1756. In 1744 Miles Troughton made an agreement with John Coulson, a London ironmonger, for the supply of iron cannon, rollers and other castings and apprenticing Philip Sone to the iron trade. This trade increased with Philip Sone and Son, and later Sone and Stephens supplying iron cannon to the Board of Ordnance. Philip Sone also supplied ballast to the dockyards at Portsmouth and Plymouth and cannon for the East India Company. This foundry business was NMM, POR/A/3, 31 Jan. 1703/4 29 Sep. 1704; POR/A/4, 9 Aug. 1707. 3 NMM, POR/A/7, 12 May 1722. 4 Bartlet 1974, 12-15. 5 Bartlet 1974, 17-18. For these firms see chapters 13 14 and 41. 6 NMM, POR/A/9, 25 Feb. 1729/30; TNA, ADM 106/2549, 8 Jan. 1734[5]; NMM, POR/A/13, 24 Sep. 1744; POR/A/14, 15 Jul. 1746. 7 Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60534/H, 11 Feb. 1741[2]. 2

For the Gringo family see Mott 1983, 22-6; Awty 2019, 644-7.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 4. Hampshire. 1, Bursledon Furnace; 2, Sowley Furnace and Forge; 3, Titchfield Hammer; 4, Wickham Plate Mill; 5, Warsash Furnace; 6, Whitefield Forge.

manor of Hardley, to the west of Southampton Water, which was probably acquired as a source of wood.9 Mine came from a variety of sources: Ironhill near Lindhurst is thought to take its name from iron ore mines, but their date is uncertain. Iron ore was certainly found on the coast near Hengistbury Head and Christchurch ore was among goods sold by Abel Walter to his landlords when he surrendered Sowley Furnace in 1763. Miles Troughton had a share in iron ore mines in Furness, whence he was no doubt importing redmine to use at Sowley, and it was probably this interest in Furness that led Thomas Hall of Cranage (Ches), the managing partner of the Cheshire ironmasters and of the Cunsey Company in Furness, to become a partner at Sowley in 1722. Succeeding Sowley ironmasters continued using redmine, Philip Sone having a share in Furness mines and Abel Walter importing redmine thence. To provide him with ironstone, presumably so that he could make a blend pig iron, he began the practice of exchanging redmine for ironstone with Robert Morgan of Carmarthen, redmine from Furness being landed at Carmarthen and exchanged for a lading of ironstone to take on to Sowley.10 Some of this Welsh mine also remained in 1763. The use of redmine was presumably continued under Ford. Sowley pig iron, probably carried as a back cargo by ships bringing ore, reached the Stour valley in north Worcestershire in small quantities in the 1730s and in very much larger amounts in the final years of the furnace’s operation.11 Presumably further amounts were used in south Wales in the same periods.

successful enough for Sone to dispense with the services of his finer, because he could not keep him adequately employed, but in 1756 his partner, John Stephens, became bankrupt and, while avoiding insolvency himself, Sone gave up the ironworks. Abel Walter, who succeeded him, contracted in 1757 to supply 230 tons of guns but only completed 47 tons. In 1762 he had a contract for 100 tons of shot. The year after this he gave up the ironworks, and they were let to Richard Ford, the managing partner of the Newland Company in Furness.8 Advertisements in Wessex having evidently produced no response, recourse was again had to the landlord’s Furness estate for a tenant. Following the deaths of Richard Ford and his son, William, the Newland Company’s interest ceased, and advertisements again failed to produce a response; the furnace may have been blown in by the Beaulieu estate in 1772, but perhaps only to consume the stock. Soon after Sowley Farm and ironworks were let to Mr Stairs, but he never used the furnace, and possibly not the forge. The forge was repaired in 1789 and was used by members of the Pococke family, sometimes with partners, and seems to have supplied a wire mill near Reading, also belonging to the Pococke family. In the difficult period after Waterloo the family made losses and had ultimately to give up the forge, which was demolished in 1822. Charcoal for both ironworks came primarily from the adjacent Southampton estates rather than from the royal New and Bere Forests, which were managed primarily to produce timber for the navy. John Gringo owned the

9 10 8

Bartlet 1974, 27-8; Fell 1908, 217-8.

11

102

Hants RO, 45M69/114-23; 4M60/70 96. Morgan l/b, 1 Jan., 24 Apr, and 7 Jun. 1760. SW a/c.

Chapter 4: Hampshire single letter dated 1623 from John Tilte to relatives near Bromsgrove (Worcs).17 The mill was let in 1628 to Arthur Bromfield of Titchfield and Thomas Jupp, a girdler living in Crooked Lane, London, whose residence and livery company both suggest he was a tinplate worker and thus that the mill made tinplate. The Plate Mill was in the hands of the Earl of Southampton by 1647 and John Greengoe was a hammerman there, but its subsequent history remains obscure, save that it is mentioned for one last time in the will of John Smith in 1720.

During the 1770s both furnaces were apparently finally blown out. Titchfield Hammer, now usually referred to as the Funtley Ironworks, passed to Henry Cort, who was at first a navy agent, then an ironmonger in succession to his wife’s uncle, who held the ironmonger’s contract with Portsmouth Dockyard, a family business for half a century.12 His father-in-law, a local land agent, probably helped him to secure a lease at Funtley, but the nature of his early business there is not clear. In 1780 Cort contracted to take payment for iron he supplied to the navy in the form of old iron. He then devised a means of recycling this iron by faggotting it, welding it together with a hammer and rolling it; for this purpose he built a rolling mill at Funtley. He also contracted to provide the Victualling Board with hoops, by which means the Board hoped to break a cartel of the Thames mills.13 He then proceeded to apply the same principle to the production of iron from pig iron. This was the puddling and rolling process that superseded both the old finery and newer potting and stamping processes in the early 19th century. He obtained patents for both processes and began demonstrating it to leading ironmasters to persuade them to adopt it and pay him a royalty. Unfortunately for him he had overextended himself and taken Samuel Jellicoe as a partner. The money provided belonged neither to Jellicoe nor his uncle Adam Jellicoe, a naval paymaster, but was in the hands of the latter in that capacity. In 1790 instant payment of this money was required, and despite the firm’s assets exceeding its liabilities, Henry Cort was forced into bankruptcy. The Navy Board as his main creditor took no steps to exploit his patents, which therefore in effect lapsed.14 Cort was an innocent victim of the political witch hunt against corruption in the Navy. A few years later, he was partly compensated with a government annuity, which was continued to his widow and then his unmarried daughters.15 Samuel Jellicoe somehow, presumably due to assistance from relatives, bought back some of the assets of the firm and continued in business at Funtley. He also continued Cort’s contract as the Navy Board’s ironmonger for Portsmouth dockyard, until at least 1809, when he declined to provide shafts for metal mills.16 The Funtley works continued as an iron mill, apparently using the scrap process until the 1850s, but had long lost such importance as they had briefly had in Cort’s time.

The final charcoal ironworks in Hampshire was undoubtedly the last charcoal furnace to be built in England: Harrison Ainslie & Co of Newland (and Backbarrow) in Furness – the same Newland Company that William Ford had managed a century before – built a blast furnace at Warsash which was first in blast in 1869 and operated intermittently until 1877.18 General Sources Bartlet 1973; 1974; TNA, C 3/397/88; Mott 1983.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Bursledon Furnace

[1] about SU479092

The furnace stood on the brook forming the boundary between Bursledon and Hounds. The furnace was probably built by a member of the Gringo family a few years before 1725, as it is marked as Mr Gringo’s furnace on a map of that date. It presumably continued supplying Titchfield Hammer for the next forty or fifty years, and belonged to John Gringo at his death in 1773, probably having been blown out in 1772. Nevertheless, it is possible that it operated a few more years, as the Hammer would have needed a pig iron supply. It probably made 200-300 tpa, sufficient to supply Titchfield Hammer. The area where the furnace was has been developed for housing. Water to power the wheel came through leats on the west (Hounds) side of the valley. The former wood there is now a public open space, but no trace of the leat remains; silted up ponds have been noted by local industrial archaeologists, and a mound of ironstone on an earlier occasion.

Apart from those at Titchfield and Sowley, just described, the area was virtually devoid of ironworks. There was a forge at Whitefield (in Fawley) around 1610, which is only known from a single source. There was also an iron mill at Wickham, a few miles above Funtley on the river Meon: a plate mill, presumably a plating forge. This mill, rather than that at Funtley may have been the venue for an attempt, under the patronage (at least) of the Earl of Southampton, to produce tinplate, that is known from a

Sources Hants RO, Copy 641; Hants RO, 1773/P9; Mott 1983, 24 & 26; Moore 1984, 28; 1988, 34; Fox 1944, 2878; Awty 2019, 646. Sowley Furnace and Forge or Beaulieu Furnace

[2] SZ378966

Sowley is a farm in Beaulieu parish, and lies a few hundred yards from the shore. A most obvious feature of

NMM, POR/A/7, 20 Jul. 1722; TNA 49/120, 148; Eley 2000. Mott 1983, 27-9, but the hoops were for barrels, not (as Mott thought) for masts: Vict a/c for 1782 and 1783. 14 Mott 1983; Riley 1971. 15 Mott 1983, 64-6. 16 TNA, ADM 106/2748 (digest), s.v. ‘iron’. 12 13

Knight 6443, printed Minchinton 1957, 249: its presence in the Knight collection is fortuitous: the result of these ironmasters having acquired the property at Bromsgrove that had belonged to the Tilte family. 18 Riden 1993, 143. 17

103

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I the landscape is the extensive Sowley Pond, whose dam carries the road. The ironworks, at Sowley Farm below the east end of the dam, was probably built by the third Earl of Southampton about 1595 and was under the management of his bailiff in 1607. In 1621 Sowley Furnace was let to Stephen March with Titchfield Hammer for seven years. John Chamberlain was tenant in c.1636 when execution was levied on his goods; and probably from 1627 when he acknowledged a recognisance. James Winfries was probably his successor by 1644. Subsequently, members of the Gringo family had it with Titchfield (q.v.) until 1700.

Lindal and Dalton in Furness in 1729 (Fell 1908, 34; Awty 1957, 108), and Hall sold a couple of small parcels of Sowley pig iron to Stour valley forges in 1734 and 1737 (SW a/c). Robert Morgan of Carmarthen was exchanging his coldshort ironstone with Abel Walter for Furness redmine from William Shaw: Shaw shipped redmine to Morgan, who shipped an equal amount of ironstone to Sowley (Morgan l/b, 12 Jan., 24 Apr., and 7 Jun. 1760); some of this Welsh ironstone was left when Walter surrendered the furnace in 1763. Miles Troughton had a standing contract for cast iron ballast from 1730 until 1746, when it was replaced by one limited to 600 tons per year (see note 5 above). In 1742, his partner Hall was negotiating to subcontract some of this to Yorkshire ironmasters (Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60534/H, 11 Feb. 1741[2]). In 1750 P.T. Sone dismissed his finer because he could not keep him fully employed (Fell 1908, 288-90). Miles Troughton contracted with John Coulson of London to supply cannon in 1744, apprenticing his grandson Philip Sone to Coulson and for a future equal partnership between them in London and at Sowley (Bartlet 1974, 19). Philip Sone & Son supplied the Ordnance Board with cannon and shot in 1746-56 (TNA, WO 51; WO 47/47-62, both passim; Hodgkinson thesis, 118). Between 1758 and 1760 Abel Walter had a contract for 150 tons ballast in 1756 (TNA, ADM 106/3605, 4). In 1757 he contracted for 230 tons of guns, but only delivered 47 tons; and in 1762 for 100 tons of shot (TNA, WO47/49, 177 & 190-1 WO47/59, 65). 351 tons of Sowley pig iron was used at Mitton Forges (Worcs) in 1768, and less in subsequent years (SW a/c). The furnace is marked ‘down’ in the 1787 list.

Subsequent occupiers were: Henry Corbett and Edmund Dummer 1700 to 1701; Edmund Dummer 1701 to 1712; Thomas Dummer 1712 to 1717; John White (of Monmouth) from 1717; John White, Thomas Rous of Wotton-underEdge and William Giles Wickwar (both Gloucs), and Miles Troughton (of Beaulieu and Dalton in Furness, Lancs) in 1722; Thomas Hall (one of the Cheshire Ironmasters) and Miles Troughton by 1729. It is not clear how long Hall remained a partner, but probably beyond 1742. Philip Sone (Troughton’s son-in-law) succeeded to the business in about 1746. His son Philip Troughton Sone renewed the lease and continued it with his father. John Stephens, their agent in dealing with the Ordnance Board, began guaranteeing the firm’s debts in 1749 and became a partner from January 1754. However, John Stephens became bankrupt in 1756 and Philip Troughton Sone authorised the assignees to receive his share of their debentures. Abel Walter bought Stephens’ interest from the assignees, probably in 1757. From then until Walter, perhaps wisely, did not renew the lease in 1763, the ironworks belonged to him. It was then apparently let to William Ford of the Newland Co in Furness. They were selling Sowley and Lorn pig iron together until 1773, the furnace having been blown out the previous year. The farm and ironworks were rented by James Stairs until 1784, and then by Joshua Cope until 1790, but they probably did not even use the forge. Charles Pocock and his son Henry acquired the tenancy about 1790 to supply their wire mill near Reading. Charles retired from the partnership in 1818 with Charles Montague Pocock and Thomas Golden and they dissolved their partnership in 1821, this being followed by both works being advertised for sale, which marks its closure. It had been demolished sometime about 1825. Apart from the pond, little trace of the ironworks remains today.

Accounts Some payments from the ironworks 1660-3: Notts RO, DD 5P/7; cordwood used in 1606/7: Hants RO, 5M53/950, fo.1. Inventories 1601: TNA, E 178/2062; 1701 and 1763: Bartlet 1974, documents. Sources Bartlet 1974; Hants RO, 5M53/767, ff. 17v 34v; Bartlet 1973, 112 161-2 194 230-234; Awty 2019, 645-6; TNA, C 3/397/88; Tomlinson 1976, 398; TNA, WO 47/36, 380; WO 47/36, 9 Nov. 271; WO 47/47, 489; E 140/21/13; Hants RO, TOP Beaulieu 3/2 [= Bartlet 1974, documents]; land tax, Beaulieu; London Gazette, no. 17358, 845 (9 May 1818); no. 17763, 2212 (10 Nov. 1821); Morning Chronicle, 15 Jul. 1820; Ellis 1975, 13; Moore 1984, 278; 1988, 34; King 1900, 238; Garrow 1825, 68; cf. TNA, E 178/152.

Size In 1607/8 the ironworks used 2642 cords, suggesting production of 130-150 tpa bar iron from 195-220 tpa sow iron; in the 1621 lease there was an allowance of 800 cords each for the furnace and Titchfield Hammer, probably representing 100 tpa pig iron. 1717 furnace 200 tpa and forge 100 tpa; 1718 1736 & 1750 forge 50 tpa.

Titchfield Hammer or Funtley Iron Mill, now Fontley

[3] SU550083

The forge was probably built about 1595 to operate with Sowley Furnace, and the two probably remained in the same hands for just over a century. In 1661 John Gringo was a hammerman at the forge; by 1671 Roger Greengoe [Gringo] had become tenant, and remained so until 1700; by 1703 he had been succeeded by Robert Gringo (d.1715), who was in turn succeeded by his son

Trading Initially ironstone for the furnace was found locally; Christchurch ironstone is mentioned in 1763. Thomas Hall and Miles Troughton leased iron ore mines under the Duke of Montague, the landlord of Sowley, at 104

Chapter 4: Hampshire John Gringo. John Gringo occupied the forge for over half a century, and still had Bursledon Furnace when he made his will in 1773. He was succeeded by Henry Cort, ironmonger to Portsmouth dockyard or perhaps his predecessor Thomas Morgan.

Sources Hants RO, 5M53/950, f.1; 5M53/767 ff.17v & 34v; 5M53/1178-1218, ‘Segenworth’; 5M53/1250-65; 36M83/76-77; Land tax, Titchfield (Sarisbury); Tithe, Titchfield; Bartlet 1974, 1-5 7; Awty 2019, 645-6; TNA, C 3/397/88; Mott 1983, 22-30 & 57-63; Census 1841 & 1851; Freeman 1971; Riley 1971; Ellis 1975, 13; Moore 1984, 28; 1988, 35; Shore Memorial volume, 14 & 28; Fareham past & present 1(5), 6-8; 1(6), 3-6; 1(8) 1618; Hants Notes & Queries 10, (1900); cf. Hants RO, 45M69/114-23 134.

Henry Cort’s innovations in iron processing and then its production by the puddling process took place here. These are discussed in detail in the chapter introduction. Cort was ruined by the death in 1789 of Adam Jellicoe, the uncle of his partner Samuel Jellicoe. The business was dependent loans from Adam, which were thus suddenly called in. Cort’s inability immediately to pay off this large loan led to his bankruptcy. Samuel Jellicoe avoided bankruptcy and became the sole tenant of Funtley Iron Mill until 1815. It then passed to John Bartolomew who was tenant in 1837. James Bartolomew, an ironfounder aged 66, worked there, and it appears to have closed a few years later, being then merely an insignificant rural forge.

Wickham Plate Mill

[4] about SU579125

This plate mill, which battered iron, was on the river Meon upstream from Titchfield, and was probably owned by the Earl of Southampton in 1623, when John Tilte sought to make tinplate there. In 1628 it was let for twenty one years to Thomas Jupp (a girdler of Crooked Lane London) and Arthur Bromfield, who probably also sought to make tinplate. Bromfield and Robert Pegge were the claimants in disputes in 1637 over goods taken in execution from John Chamberlain as tenant of Sowley and Titchfield. The plate mill was excluded when the Earl let his ironworks to John Greengoe and another in 1647; thereafter its history is obscure save that in 1719 John Smith of Wickham bequeathed his lease of it to his brother Thomas Smith. Sir William Uvedale, another name mentioned in connection with the mill, was lord of Wickham manor but probably merely its landlord. It is conceivable that the patents granted in 1661 and 1673 to William Chamberlaine (the first jointly with Dud Dudley) are related to this, but this is a mere guess. The site was already devoid of any mill at the time of the tithe map, nothing remains there except some brickwork in Upper Field on Northfield Farm.

In 1779 Cort described the mill as having a penstock three foot wide with an undershot waterwheel three foot wide and 12½ foot in diameter making 25 rpm. This worked a hammer of 5 cwt which was lifted 20 inches 100 times per minute. In 1806 the rolling mill had rolls 11 inch in diameter and 2½ foot long, one roll being turned by its own waterwheel, which turned at 15 rpm, while the rolls turned at 52 rpm; the hammer was working balls of scrap, but its weight was now 7½ cwt. Today one branch of the river Meon runs through a narrow brick-lined channel, which may well have been a wheel pit. Nearby there is an arched footbridge across it and a paved area, which may be the floor of the ironworks. An adjacent a large dwelling correctly bears the name, ‘Ironmasters House’. Size In 1607/8 Sowley Furnace, presumably with this forge, used 2642 cords, suggesting production of 130-150 tpa bar iron. The 1621 lease provided an allowance of 800 cords each for that furnace and this forge, implying production of under 100 tpa bar iron, possibly as little as 70 tpa; 1717 140 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 200 tpa

Sources Knight 6443 (printed: Minchinton 1957, 249); Hants RO, 5M53/511-2; TNA, C 3/397/88; Hants RO, (wills) 1720/A96; Bartlet 1974, 3-4; Mott 1973, 84n (perhaps misidentified); Moore 1984, 173; Moore 1988, 34; Awty 2019, 646. Other ironworks

Associations The forge was occupied with Sowley Furnace in the 17th century; from its erection, probably in the early 18th century, the forge was supplied from Bursledon Furnace. The Gringo family owned the manor of Hardley (in Fawley, across Southampton Water) no doubt as a source of charcoal.

Warsash Furnace

[5] unlocated about SU4906

Harrison Ainslie & Co was one of the Furness iron companies, commonly known (from their second furnace) as the Newland Company. In 1820 they bought the assets of the Backbarrow Company. In the 1750s, a predecessor had built Lorn Furnace at Bonawe in Argyllshire. Presumably because of a plentiful supply of wood in the area in 1868 they began building a blast furnace at Warsash on the east bank of the Hamble river. The furnace appears to have been in blast in 1868, and again from 1874 to 1877. In this period the company’s furnaces at Duddon and Lorn were blown out for the final time, and that at Newland followed them in the following decade. One must presume that the furnace at Warsash was built to meet some temporary increase in the demand for charcoal iron, perhaps the need

Trading John Gringo bought 12½ tons of (American) Union pig iron in 1756 (Plumsted l/b). He built a wharf at Fareham in 1736 (TNA, ADM 106/880/117). He offered to supply boltstaves for Portsmouth Dockyard in 1745, but was refused (TNA, ADM 106/1008/163 180 189). Thomas Morgan, Cort, then Cort & Jellicoe, and finally Jellicoe were successively ironmonger to Portsmouth dockyard until at least 1809 (TNA SDM 19/120, 148; ADM 49/121, 10-12; ADM 106/2748 (digest), s.v. ‘iron’.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I for non-phosphoric so-called Bessemer pig. However, the rise of the Gilchrist-Thomas (or Basic Bessemer) Process from 1878 led to its abandonment. Source Riden 1993, 143. For technology see Barraclough 1990; King 2018b. Whitefield Forge

[6] SU44460048

There was an early 17th century forge, which in 1609 was occupied by someone called Astell under an 18 year lease but subject to an annuity of 40s per week, which Sir Walter Longe of South Wraxall (Wilts) bought, Sir Carewe Raleigh providing half the £400 needed. However after Longe’s death in 1610, Astell failed to pay his rent and Charles Thynne took over the forge. Two years later he sought to be released having lost over £500. He therefore besought Katherine Longe (the widow) and Sir Carewe Raleigh to take over the forge, which they did in 1611. There was still no profit and in 1612 Katherine Longe persuaded Raleigh to rent her share, promising him a share in some unspecified alum works and copperas works, possibly on the Isle of Wight. An agreement was signed and then she married Sir Edward Fox of Ludlow. A year later the Privy Council ordered Raleigh to close the alum works and thus frustrated the agreement, leading to litigation. The forge probably stood on the Cadland estate in Fawley, which included land called Whitfields, which had been assart lands of the New Forest, but no forge was mentioned in a conveyance of that land in 1643, presumably confirming its closure. Sources TNA, C 2/Jas. I/F2/44; Pastscape, 229971; cf. Hampshire RO, 4M60/144 & 177; 46M48/176-179.

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Part II Northeast

5 Northeast England Introduction

With these exceptions the ore used was probably almost invariably argillaceous ironstone.

The prosperity of Newcastle-upon-Tyne derived from its coal trade, particularly supplying London. The traditional fuel for cooking and heating in English homes was wood, and in most places people formerly had the customary right to ‘firebote’, that is to take sufficient wood from the commons lands of the manor or from the lands they occupied.1 Towns were supplied from the adjoining countryside, and London from the adjacent region, evidently including the Thames valley. Following the development of the Wealden iron industry and despite a statute of 1581 prohibiting ironworks within 22 miles of London or of the Thames, the supply of wood to the capital became inadequate and this fuel gap was made up by the import of coals coastwise from Newcastle. Paralleling the growth of iron production in the Weald,2 this trade grew twelvefold between 1560 and 1625. This coal trade dominated the Northeast and accounted for the vast majority of the shipping clearing the port of Newcastle, and in importance coal dwarfed any other trade. Certain trades, such as glass and salt, were closely connected to coal, in that coal (as fuel) was one of their raw materials.3 That does not apply to iron production, which was until the late 18th century made with charcoal, but coal was used in manufacturing it into finished goods.

The Northeast is not notably well wooded, but as elsewhere on the Pennines there are remains of bloomeries scattered over the moors. The obvious remains of those generally merely consist of heaps of slag. They lie outside the scope of this work.6 However their distribution suggests the Pennines were formerly more wooded. Power supplied by a waterwheel was probably first applied to the process in this area when the Bishop of Durham had a forge built at Kyrkeknott near Bedburn in 1408,7 where it appears to have been applied both to the hammer and the bellows. Iron smelting took place in a number of places in the bishopric in the 15th and 16th centuries,8 but there does not seem to have been any continuity between this and the blast furnace period. Charcoal iron production Further research is still required on the charcoal blast furnace period, as there are sites for which there is documentary, but no field evidence, while at Wheelbirks the base of a blast furnace has given (by archeomagnetometry) the very early date of 1570 ± 20 for its closure,9 but it is impossible either to confirm this date or provide a definite alternative history from documentary sources. Even where furnaces sites are known the location of the associated forges, which must have existed, often remains unknown. The key, which has provided a better understanding of the beginnings of the indirect process in the area than hitherto, has proved to be mining leases granted, generally at minimal rents, on episcopal estates in County Durham.

The 19th-century coke iron industry in the Northeast used two sources of ore: spathic ores from the Pennines and argillaceous ironstone from the coalfield, the former thought not to have been worked before 1855.4 Iron made from spathic ore is potentially suitable for conversion to steel, but there is little evidence of its profitable use. Sir John Zouche built an iron and steel works somewhere in upper Weardale in 1630 (see Stanhope steelworks), and made steel successfully there, but ceased his operations about 1638 because they were unprofitable, partly on account of the distance of the works from the sea or a navigable river. It has also been suggested that the steel at Blackhall Mill came from pig iron made at Allensford from spathic ore, as the only suitable ore.5 This is certainly supported by their proximity and by the interest of Dennis Hayford & Co in both. Though direct evidence is lacking, it is significant that German steel was apparently only made at Blackhall Mill while Allensford was at work.

An ironworks was built about 1600 by James Lisle on the Stanley (or Twizzel) and/or Cong Burns west of Chester le Street, using ironstone from Chester and Lanchester Moors. This passed to Henry Killinghall by 1608, and the lease later stood in the name of his son, William, who also worked coalmines, but the rent had stopped being paid about 1609, suggesting the closure of the works. These certainly included a blast furnace, that whose discovery was recorded in the late 18th century, three miles west of Chester le Street. A second ironworks, also using the Chester mines, was built at Gibside in 1614 by Hon.

1 This right is limited to ‘ancient messuages’ that are entitled to the right and has disappeared in most places as a result of the inclosure of commons. 2 Cleere and Crossley 1995, 130-143. 3 As to the coal trade generally see Nef 1932; Hatcher 1993; Hughes 1952, 150-257. 4 Kendall 1893, 137-43; Louis 1930. 5 Barraclough 1984(1), 64.

E.g. Kendall 1893, 39-40 mentions the presence of iron slag on the moors near Lanchester and Chester. 7 Q.v. The name should perhaps be Kyrkeknott, but the initial letter is illegible and the site has previously been published as Byrkeknott: Lapsley 1899; Tylecote 1960. 8 Drury 1992; Threlfall-Holmes 1999. 9 Linsley 1981: but the date may be unreliable. 6

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Map 5. Northeast England. 1, Acklington Mill; 2, Allensford Forge; 3, Allensford Furnace; 4, Beamish Forges:High Forge; 5, Beamish Forges:Middle Forge; 6, Beamish Forges:Low Forge; 7, Bebside Mill; 8, Bedlington Ironworks; 9, Bellingham Ironworks; 10, Blackhall Mill; 11, Busy Cottage, near Jesmond; 12, Chester Moor; 13, Derwentcote Forge; 14, Derwentcote Steel Furnace; 15, Gibside Ironworks; 16, Helmington Furnace; 17, Lumley Forge; 18, Swalwell Mill; 19, Teams Mill; 20, Wheelbirks Furnace; 21, Whitehill Furnace, Chester le Street; 22, Winlaton Mill; 23, Witton le Wear Forge; 24, Bedburn Forge; 25, Blaydon Burn: Massey’s Forge; 26, Burtree Ford Mill; 27, Dunston (in Whickham); 28, Eltringham; 29, Ford Forge; 30, Gateshead Foundry; 31, Gateshead Steel Furnace; 32, Gateshead: New Deptford; 33, Gateshead: New Greenwich; 34, Kyrkeknott Bloomery; 35, Hexham; 36, Lintzford Mill; 37, Lumley; 38, Muggleswick; 39, Newcastle: Closegate Foundry; 40, Newcastle: Pandon Dene; 41, Newcastle: Skinnerburn; 42, Sedgefield Forge; 43, Shotley Bridge sword mill; 44, Shotley Grove Mill; 45, Stanhope steelworks; 46, Urpeth Forge; 47, Wolsingham Forge; 48, Bedlington Ironworks; 49, Lemington Ironworks; 50, Walker ironworks; 51, Whitehill Furnace, Chester le Street.

used the furnace until about 1669, when the rent disappears from the episcopal accounts. A solitary account by John Hodshon for the works survives and shows charcoal being bought from the bishop’s demesne woods at Bedburn and Birtley.10

Edward Talbot, later (briefly) Earl of Shrewsbury, and iron was apparently made for him and then for his widow until shortly after her death. A few years later Sir William Blakiston of Gibside renewed the mining lease and he and his son, Sir Ralph, continued the ironworks at least until the sequestration of the latter’s estate during the Civil War. By the time of the Restoration his lease had expired and he did not renew it. Instead the mines were leased to Sir James Clavering, but there is nothing to suggest that he worked them.

The history of the ironworks at Allensford, on the Northumberland side of the river Derwent remains incomplete. A forge there existed in 1670 and a furnace and forge were operated by Dennis Hayford & Co from 1692 to 1713, but in trading up to 1702 the partners made no less a loss than £4172, and the works may well have closed not long after, but Francis Watts seems still to have

Further south the mines of Hunwick provided ironstone for a furnace at Helmington, presumably built by Thomas Wharton of Gilling Woodhall, near Richmond soon after the grant of the mining lease in 1636. In 1663 Bishop Cosin let the mines to his own nominees and probably

10

110

Q.v.; Gates 2015; accounts printed VCH Durham ii, 280-1.

Chapter 5: Northeast England Apart from Allensford, hardly any works producing iron in the northeast existed after 1670. Subsequently there were:

been clerk of these North Works until 1708. The partners in 1702 were William Simpson, William Cotton, and Dennis Hayford with a quarter each, the remaining share being split between John Simpson and John Smithson. Most of these men will be meet appear again under Yorkshire, their principal area of activity.11 After 1708 the business, so far as can it existed was a mere sales agency for the Sheffield ironworks of some of the partners, old debts being collected by the Hayford’s steel business and deducted from Dennis Hayford’s capital at Sheffield. His father’s share, then amounting to a mere £31.10.9d was paid off to W.W. Cotton in 1721.12 In 1713 the forge was sold and it subsequently belonged to the Crowley family. Such deeds as are now available relate only to the forge and not to the furnace, whose history thus remains obscure. Its absence from a list of ironworks dated about 1717, suggests it was then closed, and the absence of stock at the forge from the inventories taken at enormous length following the untimely death of John Crowley in 1728, suggests the forge was not in use then.13

• An ironworks, of which little is known, at Bellingham (beside the north Tyne), run by a son of William Wood (probably Francis) in the 1720s,17 • A coke furnace at Whitehill in Chester le Street was probably built about 1747 to supply pig iron to foundries in Newcastle and Gateshead.18 • A blast furnace operated at Bedlington from about 1759 until the 1780s, whose surviving accounts show it to have been producing cast iron goods.19 With the possible exception of Whitehill, works producing pig iron cannot be said to have been significant in the Northeast. Indeed this might almost have been the end of the story, but it was not: there were several forges in the 18th century: Derwentcote, Busy Cottage at Jesmond, and the Crowleys’ works at Winlaton and Swalwell. The Crowleys supplied their manufacturing business with imported iron, often shipped from London, but there is no obvious source of pig iron for the forges, other than the furnace at Allensford, if still in use. This makes interesting the discovery of a blast furnace and its slag at Derwentcote,20 suggesting that pig iron was produced there to supply local forges. The area in which the Northeast was important was in the manufacture of iron, particularly on the Gateshead side of the river Tyne.

Dennis Hayford had bought Blackhall Mill in c.1687. This had been a corn mill with a fulling mill in 1628 and 1665, but was apparently already a steel mill when he bought it. In 1712 he rebuilt the mill which was always a purely family concern:14 Millington Hayford was probably a partner by 1719 and Dennis Hayford II (d.1732) lived in the Newcastle area and may have managed this business;15 and Millington Hayford probably continued it until his death in 1742. Double shear steel (blister steel that had twice been bundled and forged) was also known as Hayford steel because it was first made by Hayford.16 The conversion of Blackhall Mill to a forge and the establishment of a community of German swordmakers at Shotley Bridge (under the auspices of the founders of the Hollow Sword Company in 1688), are very probably related, but it is not wholly clear which came first. The ‘hollow’ of the company name refers to grooves in the blade, which were made by the use of an anvil and tools with this shape, probably in workshops rather than in a powered forge. There were two sword mills, whose function was probably to sharpen the blade. As blade mills, they strictly lie beyond the scope of this book, but have nevertheless been included in the gazetteer below. William Bertram, the steelmaker Blackhall Mill, who was shipwrecked on his arrival (or return) in 1693 was succeeded by his son, but they did not own the mill, which was probably let by Millington Hayford’s widow after 1742 to John Cookson and partners, apparently including John Hodgson, a former Bertram apprentice.

Crowley & Co The decline of iron production in the northeast coincides with the growth of the import of Swedish iron. Indeed access to Swedish iron probably inhibited the resumption of local iron production. However, this availability of Swedish iron and also of cheap coal gave rise to a new industry, iron manufacture. This was initially begun by Ambrose Crowley at Sunderland in 1682 with Flemish rods, but he moved it to Winlaton on the river Derwent a few miles southwest of Newcastle about five years later. The motive for this move was almost certainly the ability to set up a slitting mill there. Ambrose Crowley came from a family of ironmongers living in Stourbridge (Worcs) in an area where nail making had been carried on even before the introduction of the slitting mill. In 1685, when he wrote boasting of the project to the Birmingham ironmasters, he had recently become free of the Drapers Company in London. He had been apprenticed to Clement Plumsted (a member of that guild, but an ironmonger by trade) at an unusually late age, presumably to enable him to avoid trading restrictions there. He is said to have established the manufactory at Sunderland with 100 nailers, some Liègois, for whom he had to seek protection from persecution by

See chapter 9. SIR Y a/c 1701 J, 107; 1721 L, 221; 1716J, 92; cf. 1727 J, 66. 13 Q.v. 14 Its stock was separate from the North Works: SIR Y a/c, 1719J, 92; 1718 J, 89; 1718 L, 197; 1711 J, 83. 15 M. Hayford: SIR a/c 1719 J, 92; D. Hayford II died at Newcastle: Cranstone 1997, 18-9 and pers. comm.; Newcastle Courant, 20 May1732; will of Dennis Hayford, proved Durham 1732. 16 Schubert 1957, 329. 11

12

King 2014b, 165 169. Q.v. 19 TNA, E 112/1895/20; E 134/12 Geo III/Hil 10-11. 20 Channel 4 TV, ‘Time Team’ Series 18, episode 5 (broadcast Mar. 2011); Wessex Archaeology 2012. 17 18

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The Crowley family tree.

the Bishop of Durham. However the Sunderland port books are surprisingly silent as to this trade. Sunderland was probably not as advantageous a place to make nails as he had originally thought, due to the lack of a slitting mill. This must have forced him either to have his iron slit at Dartford in Kent or to import it as rods, which the Customs deemed to be ‘manufactured iron’, thus attracting higher import duties.21

A rival business was set up (from Rotherham) at Swalwell in 1702, but was bought up by Crowley in 1707. Another such business, at Teams, was probably established by Alderman Ralph Read and two members of the Thomlinson family in the following decade, but was bought by the Crowleys in 1734. A finery forge was added to Winlaton Mill probably a few years before 1715 and another was under construction at Swalwell in 1718. There were also steel furnaces at each of the mills, as well as plating forges and blade mills and numerous workshops. It is not clear where pig iron was obtained for the forges, as Swedish law prohibited its export and the area was devoid of blast furnaces in area (unless Allensford was still in use). Other members of the Crowley family were partners in Ynyscedwyn Furnace and Forest Forge in the Swansea valley from 1697 and pig iron was sent from there at least once. From the 1720s, when its import from America began, the Crowleys were major users of American pig. It has been stated, but incorrectly, that Crowley and John Hanbury, the other partner at Ynyscedwyn, leased Ashburnham Furnace in 1708: despite some earlier negotiations to this end, the lessees of Ashburnham were the (Foley) Forest Partnership from Gloucestershire, who did however sell some pig iron to Crowley. It was not until c.1739 that later members of the family rented Ashburnham and Darvel Furnaces.22

From this beginning, he developed a great iron manufacturing business that continued operating until the middle of the 19th century. The business shows a number of unusual facets. Sir Ambrose, as he became, and his successors lived in London and controlled his business though a resident Council of officials with several committees, guided by ‘Council Instructions’ from the master, of which some early examples survive. There was an enlightened welfare policy for his workmen with the provision of a Poor Fund for sick and aged workmen and certain other purposes (funded by contributions from master and man), and a Court of Arbitrators to deal with disputes between the owner and his piece-rate workers. A doctor, a chaplain, and schoolmasters were also employed. The products ranged in size from nails to anchors. Some of the workmen had shops at the firm’s mills; others worked in stalls at its factories; others again were probably outworkers. The whole was a complex organisation, governed by carefully drawn regulations designed to prevent losses to the firm through dishonest workmen or officials (and presumably relatively effective in this).

Sir Ambrose was succeeded on his death in 1713 by his son John, after whose premature death fifteen years later the business was carried on for more than a decade by his widow (with other executors). Neither of John’s sons, Ambrose (who succeeded to it in 1739 and died in 1754) and John (who died the next year), left any children, so that the business passed to their mother and sisters operating as Theodosia Crowley & Co. R.R. Angerstein recorded in

21 Flinn 1962, 31-40; Newcastle port books (Sunderland); Kent 1973, 60-70; Ashton 1924, 21; Plumsted: later members of the family were ironmongers: e.g. SIR Y a/c 1706/11 L, 74; Plumsted l/b; and see chapter 3.

22

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King 1995c; Flinn 1962, 14-15 30 99-101.

Chapter 5: Northeast England leased a ‘founding house lately built’ (probably by them) on Old Trunk Key [Quay] at Gateshead. This is a very early date for a foundry to have existed separately from a blast furnace. The foundry air furnace had been invented in the early 1690s, but their spread was not rapid.28

1754 that the total iron used in manufactures at Newcastle to be 2350 tons per year, of which 400 tons were made at Swallwell and Winlaton and the rest was Swedish and Russian imports, mostly bought in London.23 After the death of the elder John the business was increasingly run by salaried managers, first John Hanmer (who had worked for Sir Ambrose), then John Bannister until 1740, followed by Abraham Alleyne, Roger Hanmer, and finally Isaiah Millington, who was in office when Theodosia Crowley died in 1782. At that point her sons-in-law, the Earl of Ashburnham and Charles Boone, brought Isaiah Millington, their manager, into the firm as a partner, the firm being thereafter known as Crowley, Millington & Co. Teams was disposed of shortly after Theodosia’s death, but bought back probably in 1819.24 The last of the Crowley descendants withdrew in 1805, but the firm was continued by members of the Millington family until the 1860s.

Six months after leasing the foundry, Isaac Cookson with his brother William he acquired land at Little Clifton near Workington (Cumb) where they built a blast furnace, one that as far as can be determined always used coke.29 Like other coke furnaces of its period, its product was cast iron: cast iron goods or melting pig iron for foundries, rather than the feedstock for forges. Workington seems exceptionally distant from Newcastle to have supplied the foundry, but there is no other obvious source of supply for it. In 1729, by which time there was also a foundry in Pipewell Gate, the two partnerships were amalgamated, with Cookson’s partners at Little Clifton, Edward Kendall and John Williams of Stourbridge becoming partners at the same time. Edward Kendall also had ironworks at Cradley near Stourbridge and was a partner in the Cheshire and Lancashire ironmasters partnerships, whose interests extended from Cunsey (in Furness) to Cannock (Staffs).30

The business continued to be conducted from The Doublet in Thames Street and a mansion and warehouse at Greenwich, but its manufacturing operations were not entirely confined to the Newcastle area: there were warehouses in the west Midlands, no doubt organising manufacture, and in London and at Ware, evidently handling sales. The warehouse at Ware, at the head of the Lee Navigation closed between 1728 and 1742.25 The later Crowleys had furnaces at Ashburnham and Darvel in Sussex from about 1739, presumably initially to supply their forges in the North, but they entered the gunfounding business there from 1745. When most Wealden gunfounding ceased in the 1770s, but the firm continued Ashburnham Furnace and made guns for merchantmen until perhaps 1792. The Earl of Ashburnham, one of the sons-in-law, then continued it into the early 19th century, building a new forge in the mid-1790s.26

Following the expiry in 1760 of the second lease of the foundry at Old Trunk Staith without renewal, the foundry was advertised to let in 1763, probably unsuccessfully, and therefore closed. Cookson & Co had probably moved their foundry business to premises outside Closegate, Newcastle, where they had a foundry by the 1780s. Sometime before the closure of the first foundry, probably in 1747, another blast furnace had been built at Whitehill at Chester le Street, on an estate there which John Cookson had bought following the death (in 1745) of his father, Isaac. It is probable, but not certain, all these works belonged to a single partnership, including John Williams and also John Hodgson. Ironstone mines there were leased by John Williams from the bishop in 1758, but royalty payments were made in the name of Cookson & Hodgson in the early 1770s.31 The furnace at Little Clifton closed about 1781 when Sir James Lowther, on account of his disagreement with another ironworks over the price of coal, decided to stop pumping out his mines.32 Whitehill probably closed in 1787.

The Cookson firms The Cookson family originally came from Penrith (Westmoreland), Isaac Cookson settling in Newcastle about 1704. In the course of time the family became involved in many of the industries carried on in the Newcastle area, including salt, glass, and lead. John Cookson was from 1756 a partner in the first Newcastle bank,27 but these do not touch on the subject matter of this book. The involvement of the family in the iron industry began about 1721, when Isaac Cookson and Joseph Button

The involvement of John Hodgson probably began with his management of the steelworks and forge at Derwentcote, which were probably built, like Teams Mill, by William and Richard Thomlinson and Ralph Reed in the late 1710s. These works had been managed by Mr Bertram, to whom Hodgson had been apprenticed. In 1748 Derwentcote was advertised for sale and then withdrawn. It is likely that John

23 Angerstein’s diary, 266. This is corroborated by Newcastle Port Books (TNA, E 190, passim): see below. 24 Q.v.: contrary to what is said in Flinn 1962. 25 The foregoing account of the Crowley iron business is largely based on Flinn 1962, but supplemented by other material listed as sources under the works mentioned. See also Flinn 1955; Flinn 1957a; Young 1923; Cranstone 2011. 26 King 1995c, 260; East Sussex RO, ASH 1815-32: the assumption implicit in the Record Office list for the archive, that all the accounts are for the business of the Earl of Ashburnham, is probably incorrect; and see chapter 2. 27 As to the activities of the family generally see: Durham UL, Cookson I/9-15 & II/19-23; Warden 1927?; Cranstone 1997, 18-22; ‘Newcastle partnership deeds’; Tyne & Wear Archives 1512, various. William Cookson of Hull seems not to have been related.

King 2002a; 2015a. As to this furnace see chapter 42; Riden 1993, 114-6; Lancaster and Wattleworth 1977, 19-20; Wood 1988, 32-33; Beckett 1981, 126-7. 30 Kendall: Riden 1993, 61 76-77; Fell 1908, 265; King 1993, 5 1213; Staffs RO, D 593/I/3/20; Cheshire RO, DCR 59/2/1, f.245; see also chapters 12 13 and 22. 31 Q.v. 32 Wood 1988, 76. 28 29

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I John Ridley (an edged tool maker), and then Thomas Longridge. Hawks and Longridge acquired and enlarged a plating forge at Beamish in 1779. They with another partner leased a site for a forge on Lumley Burn near Chester le Street in 1784, together with the land and rights needed for them to build a large slitting mill powered by the river Wear at the mouth of the burn, but they never built there. This may have been connected with a proposal to use Cort’s puddling process under licence. However, it is likely that they were discouraged by technological problems with this process that were only solved a few years later.36 This may be why the mill (which could also have rolled blooms) was not erected. In (or before) 1789 they took over the furnace site at Bedlington and used it as a foundry.

Cookson bought an interest in the works about that time. Hodgson was certainly managing it in 1753, and members of the family continued to be partners there until 1872, though there may have been an intervening period when the works were in other hands. The forge at Blackhall Mill was bought by John Cookson from Millington Hayford’s widow and daughter in 1768, but he and his partners were already in occupation, as indicated by the will which Gabriel Hall made the previous year. Hall was a saddler and a partner in an oil leather mill and was, with John Cookson, an executor of John Button, one of the foundry partners, who died about 1760. John Button had had his own steel business, having built a steel furnace on Old Trunk Key next to the foundry in 1752. This passed about 1782 to David Landell and Richard Chambers, Chambers having become Gabriel Hall’s partner in a hardware business in 1760. They proposed in 1784 to use Cort’s puddling process at Derwentcote,33 but may not have done so. The Cookson family retained Blackhall Mill well into the 19th century. The fate of the other works has not been determined, but the impression is of a series of businesses sharing some partners, who quite probably controlled a significant proportion of the iron and steel business around Newcastle.34

The firm also had a London house (presumably handling sales), anchor shops on Ouseburn, and an edged tool work in Pandon Dene in 1784. It was clearly a substantial affair, probably concentrating on the ironmongery for ship-building. The London house was a successor of A. & J. Harrison, whose agent Hawks became in 1781 (for their nail manufactory at Skinnerburn). In 1786, William Hawks advertised, both for himself and Co and for Harrison, Gordons and Stanley, with William and Jane Barras concerning servants embezzling iron.37 London partners included William Stanley and David Gordon, of whom the former was connected to the Hawks family by marriage. Gordon & Co also occur as gunfounders in 1796, which could refer to Bedlington.38 While the Hawks family were involved in all these businesses, there may have been several separate partnerships. That for the hardware business in London and Gateshead was dissolved and reconstructed at least twice in the 1800s. At Lumley the forge passed to Lord Durham in 1838, but at Urpeth members of the family were still in occupation at the time of the tithe award, while at Bedlington a member of the Longridge family was manager or proprietor until the 1850s.39 Bedlington is famous as the first ironworks to produce wrought iron rails, as used for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the 1820s.40

Other manufacturers Following the disposal by his father and brother of their Teams Mills to the Crowleys, William Thomlinson established a slitting mill and nail manufactory at Bebside near the mouth of the river Blythe. However his premature death in 1739 led to its sale to Bannister & Co (of whom below). A further sale was advertised in 1750, and the mill was in the hands of Thomas Simpson in the mid-1750s. He attempted to raise capital to set up a forge to make iron out of bushel iron (a variety of scrap). Across the river at Bedlington, William Malings of Sunderland and partners established a blast furnace in 1759. An advertisement of 1766 refers to air furnaces and boring mills. This furnace was thus also participating in the foundry trade no doubt including making pumping engines for mines, but this probably did not long survive the year 1778 when it was offered for sale.35

Others evidently attempted to make inroads into the domination of manufacture by the Crowleys, but these often only lasted a decade or so. The origins of Swallwell and Teams have already been mentioned. John Bannister, Crowley Hallett, William Harrison and Josias Wordsworth, having probably purchased Bebside Mill, established a manufactory at Dunston about 1740 to supply their warehouse at the Harrow and Anchor in Thames Street (London), and warehouses and wharfs in Deptford.

The Bebside mill was bought by Hawks & Longridge. William Hawks’ father (another William) had been a foreman smith at Swallwell. The son established his own business at Gateshead, which expanded in 1756 into new buildings on the adjacent Salt Meadows (or South Shore ballast grounds). This manufactory was subsequently known as New Greenwich. He also brought back into use an adjacent derelict mill, probably as a blade mill, and this was later used for boring cannon. John Friend (a local ironmonger) was his partner in the 1750s, then

For the problems, cf. King 2012, 112-3; Young & Hart 2018. London Gazette, 9 Dec. 1786. 38 Cole thesis, 189-90. 39 The account of Hawks & Co and of Bedlington and Bebside ironworks is based on Evans 1992; 1996; Rennison & Scott 2008; Flinn 1962, 82; Newcastle Courant, 24 Nov. 1798; 28 Apr. 1804; 6 Jul. 1805; and 3 Oct. 1807; London Gazette, no. 16301, 1568 (26 Sep. 1809) and sources cited under individual works. 40 Duffy 1981, 318 323-5; Kirby 1993, 41-3. 36 37

SML, Weale MSS, 371/3, 206. This account of the Cookson family and their associates is based on ‘Newcastle partnership deeds’; Newcastle Courant, 11 Jun. 1763 p.2 c.2; Cranstone 1997; Warden 1927?; and other sources cited under individual works. 35 TNA, E 112/1895/20; E 134/12 Geo III/Hil 10-11. 33 34

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Chapter 5: Northeast England out of 328 tons imported, the two largest shipments came from Amsterdam, 52 tons for Nicholas Ridley and 150 tons for Timothy Davison. Ten years later, when Ambrose Crowley had entered the trade, of 681 tons or more imported, he brought in 301 tons and Nicholas Ridley 188 tons. By 1724 James Moncaster was the principal local importer, responsible for 250 tons, mostly shipped in the James Galley with Jos. Liddell, Cuthbert Smith and others importing lesser amounts, but these are dwarfed by John Crowley’s 1020 tons of bar iron and 110 tons of bushel and cast iron, all brought from London, mostly in his own ships, Ambrose and John. This provides the pattern for the rest of the century, the Crowleys bringing large amounts coastwise in their own ships, for example Ambrose, Theodosia, and Mary in 1771; and local merchants importing smaller amounts direct from the Baltic, presumably to satisfy local demand: thus in 1752 Cuthbert Smith, Ralph Carr, Isabel Moncaster, Reay & Co, and others were importing 10-30 tons at a time from Gothenburg and St. Petersburg, but John Button received two consignments totalling 146 tons both from Stockholm in the Betty, which were probably of oregrounds iron for steel. Sometimes the Crowleys made some direct imports, and, when they did, this seriously distorts the figures.45

Bannister & Co were customers of William Spencer for nails.41 From 1748, this business was continued by Wordsworth and Hallett, but Chancery proceedings followed, resulting in the premises at Dunston being sold to John Crowley and a further sale of the Bebside Mill. Throughout this, Harrison had continued a separate business as a gunfounder with furnaces in the Weald, and Wordsworth continued his business as a bar iron importer.42 By the 1770s Andrews and John Harrison of Old Broad Street (London) had a manufactory at Skinnerburn in Newcastle, where John Friend was their agent until his death in 1781, after which William Hawks & Co took over the agency.43 Gordon and Stanley of London (probably previously Harrisons’ junior partners) built a manufactory called New Deptford at Gateshead in 1791. Latterly there was a partnership between them and the Hawks, family but earlier they operated independently. George Crawshay bought into the firm in the late 1830s and subsequently took it over.44 Conclusion The businesses of the Crowley, Thomlinson, and Hawks families were essentially concerned with iron manufacture rather than with its production, while the Cooksons had a foundry business and a steel business. None of this is the traditional iron production business of smelting ore and refining pig iron to produce bar iron, such as was carried on in the Midlands, the West Riding of Yorkshire, and elsewhere. Crowley had first established his works in the northeast as being a convenient place for manufacturing Swedish iron, due it being on the nearest coast and having abundant cheap coal. Therefore there were slitting mills and plating forges, rather than blast furnaces and finery forges. Some bar iron production did take place, at the forges at Derwentcote, Winlaton and Swalwell, but this amounted to a mere fraction of the iron imported for slitting, plating and manufacturing. The production of iron is perhaps comparable with the quantity of the Swedish oregrounds iron, which was converted to steel. Later there were forges with balling furnaces for refining scrap at Lumley and Beamish, but again it is unlikely that their output was significant when compared with the vast amounts of Swedish and Russian iron imported.

There were coke furnaces to produce foundry iron at Whitehill and Bedlington in the mid-18th century, but both closed before 1790. Lemington, the first coke ironworks to be concerned in producing bar iron was not built until the turn of the 19th century, and remained almost the only example until after the depression of the mid-1810s. The slitting mill at Bebside, near Bedlington, has also hardly been mentioned;46 and there were clearly some other firms, though probably not on the scale of those already mentioned. For example Allen, Robinson & Co, who imported grain from East Anglia, became Losh, Robinson & Co on the retirement of Mr Allen in 1792. They and predecessors ran Teams Mill from 1784, and in 1800 built Balgonie or Levens Furnace in Scotland, a singularly unsuccessful ironworks that suffered a series of bankruptcies, leading to the sale of Teams Mill in 1803; from 1808 Losh & Co had an ironfoundry at Walker, which developed into a significant ironworks in the 19th century. This was no doubt the destination of pig iron supplied by the Butterley Company to Losh, Wilson & Bell from 1812, after the third financial collapse at Balgonie.47 Losh (with George Stephenson) was involved in early railway development. However, their patented cast-iron fish-bellied rail (of 1816) was superseded by John Birkinshaw’s patented wrought-iron fish-bellied rail, developed at Bedlington, used on the Stockton and

The charcoal iron industry of the early 17th century was perhaps sufficient to satisfy the local demand for iron, but this, such as it was, largely disappeared by the 1670s, to be replaced by secondary iron processing and manufacture. This is reflected in the imports recorded in the Port Books. In spite of Newcastle merchants having initially developed direct trade in Swedish iron, in 1686 See Chapter 8. TNA, C 33/394 ff. 543-7: I owe this source to J.S. Hodgkinson; and q.v. under ‘Dunston’. 43 Q.v. under ‘Newcastle: Skinnerburn’; Newcastle Chronicle, 22 Sept. 1781. 44 Q.v. under ‘Gateshead: New Deptford’; Newcastle Courant, 6 Jul. 1807; Newcastle Chronicle, 14 Oct. 1809; Newcastle Courant, 17 Mar. 1827. 41

Based on various Newcastle Port Books. Q.v. 47 Grain: Cambs. RO, 1035/B.1-17; Teams: Caledonian Mercury, 14 Jul. 1784; Newcastle Courant, 26 Nov. 1803; London Gazette, no. 15847, 1238 (28 Sep. 1805); Balgonie: Butt 1966, 199-200; Duckham 1970, 145-46; Walker: Holden’s Biennial Directory (1816-7), ‘Newcastle’; Butterley: Butterley a/c, 1812-15.

42

45 46

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Associations George Kendall was a son of Edward Kendall of Stourbridge, who had been Isaac Cookson’s partner in Gateshead Foundry. At this time the family who still had extensive ironworks in Cheshire and Staffordshire, where George Kendall had probably managed the tinplate works at Oakamoor (Staffs), before moving to Northumberland.

Darlington Railway. That in its turn was superseded by rolled rails of even cross-section.48 As in parts of south Wales there is a gap between the early charcoal furnaces and the new coke ironworks of the industrial revolution, but the dates of all these events are several decades later than their Welsh equivalents. The major difference is the Newcastle region developed an active manufacturing sector, with some bar iron production to support it. The wider area was important later in the 19th century ironworks: works were built to exploit the Weardale ores from the 1840s. From the 1850s, the Cleveland orefield became a major sector of the iron and steel industry, leading to the development of the town of Middlesbrough, but this lies beyond the scope of this book.

Sources Northumberland Estates Archives (Alnwick Castle), J/xi/14/passim; Northumberland County History 5, 382-3; Smeaton’s designs, 35; Smeaton’s Reports ii, 324; Atkinson 1974, 225; Turner 1978, 47-8; Wilson 1955, 39; Morning Herald, 14 Jun. 1792; Newcastle Courant, 1 Sep. 1792; Skempton et al. 2002, 621; inf. from Northumb. HER. Allensford Forge

Principal sources: There is no adequate account of the 17th century industry, the nearest approaches being Tylecote 1983 and Clavering and Rounding 1997. The present account is largely based on manuscript sources. For the succeeding century, the Crowleys have been discussed very fully in Flinn 1962, also Flinn 1955 and 1957a. Some of the many activities of Cookson family are described in Warden 1927?. Barraclough 1984(1) is the prime source on steel, while Evans 1992 and 1996 and Cranstone 1997 and 2011 have dealt with certain works.

The forge, somewhat downstream of Allensford Mill and opposite Shotley Grove Mills, has long merely been a cottage. It is mentioned in a conveyance of 1670 and was presumably, like the furnace, held by Mr Davison and then from 1692 by Dennis Hayford & Co, evidently their ‘North Account in Company’, where the partners were William Simpson, William Cotton, Dennis Hayford, with John Simpson and John Smithson having the other quarter between them. The business was apparently not initially successful and the partners charged themselves with accumulated losses of £4176 in June 1702 in accounts kept by John Fell at Sheffield. His next ledger shows considerable activity, whose nature cannot be determined for want of the corresponding journal. Francis Watts seems to have managed the business until about 1708, after which Hunt Smithson collected in debts and applied them to Dennis Hayford’s steel forge concern (Blackhall Mill), a compensating adjustment being made in his balance in the books at Sheffield. The forge was sold to Nicholas Fenwick of Newcastle in 1713, and is mentioned in the will of John Crowley in 1727, but was not stocked at the time of his death, suggesting it had closed.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Acklington Mill

[1] NU206029

The rolling mill was built on a site previously not used for industry in about 1776 by George Kendall of Oakamoor (Staffs) and William Jones of Hatton Gardens, Holborn. The dam was designed by John Smeaton. In 1793 Kendall sold the mill to John Reed, a Newcastle mercer and draper, who converted it to a woollen mill, which closed in 1884. It was then used for other purposes until the 1930s. The building, which is listed, was converted to flats in the 1980s.

Size 1717 not listed; 1718 130 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 omitted. Sources Northumb RO, ZMI/B2/v/6-13; ZMI/B2/vi/2-3; ZMI/B1/xii/1; Linsley and Hetherington 1978, 1; Flinn 1955, 261; Flinn 1962, 47; Northumberland County History vi, 301; VCH Durham ii, 289; Tylecote 1983, 94 99; Sheffield Archives, SIR Y a/c, 1701 J, 107; 1727 J, 66; Suffolk RO, HAI/GA/3/6; HAI/GD/5.

Size ‘1794’ 1 rolling mill & tinmill. The lease of 1776 referred to making iron from pig metal and scraps, slitting iron, manufacturing steel, making crane necks for carriages, and other business, and £1500 was to be spent building it. It is reputed to have been too remote from other ironworks to be successful, and George Kendall was disheartened by the drowning of a daughter. There was provision for a supply of coal, but not of charcoal, it is therefore probable that the potting and stamping process was intended, if iron was to be produced at all. The mill was described in 1792 as capable of 5000 boxes of tin [i.e. tinplate] annually.

48

NZ084518

Allensford Furnace

[2] NZ080504

The furnace stood on the Northumberland bank of the river Derwent. The furnace is known primarily from its excavated remains, described by Linsley and Hetherington. The excavation revealed a fairly typical blast furnace and a mine kiln. The furnace is creditably reported to have been held by Mr Davison before 1692 and by Dennis Hayford & Co from that date. Its absence from the forge conveyance of 1713 need not be significant since earlier ones do not

Duffy 1981; Lewis 2003, 105.

116

Chapter 5: Northeast England mention it either. Its omission from the 1717 list might imply it was then out of use, but its remoteness from the compiler may means the list is incomplete. By the time of the 1718 list there were several forges making iron in the area, and these would be expected to have had some local source of pig iron. Like many of the ironworks in this area, the furnace remains something of a mystery. The furnace probably consumed Weardale (type) ore, a brown haematite rich in manganese, which could potentially have been used to produce steel. The discontinuation of the production of German steel at Blackhall Mill may well be related to the furnace’s closure.

Gateshead. From 1877 to 1881 the forges were occupied by Thomas Craggs and others. At High Forge there are traces of a leat and an arch under the road. At the other sites, where the river runs in a narrow wooded valley, scarcely anything remains. Sources Durham UL, Shafto 365 367-8 377 799(iii); Durham RO and UL, land tax, Urpeth; Flinn 1962, 92; Public Ledger, 4 Jul. 1765, citing Newcastle Chronicle, 29 Jun. 1765; Brockie 1887; Manders 1977, 66-70; VCH Durham ii, 288; Wade 1968; cf. Bourne 1893, 98. Bebside Mill (later part of Bedlington Ironworks)

It is probable that 300 tons of grenado shells and about 105 tons of roundshot, which Philip Fincher supplied to the Board of Ordnance in 1695, were cast here, as he was London sales agent for the nail trade of the partners’ Sheffield firm and for Hayford’s steel forge. The old guns, sent to Knottingley Forge in 1701 for conversion to bar iron and credited to the ‘North Account’, may have been part of the broken and unserviceable iron ordnance supplied him in payment for the shells and shot (TNA, WO 47/18, 25 73 393; cf. Sheffield Archives, SIR Y a/c, 1695/99L, 124; 1699/1702L, 71 194; 1702/06L, 53).

There were two ironworks close to Bedlington, which were latterly in common ownership. Several histories of the works have been written, but unfortunately, all except Evans have failed to distinguish between the two works, whose early histories are different. The upper mill was in Bebside on the south bank of the river Blythe. A slitting mill was built in Bebside by William Thomlinson in 1736. It was sold in 1739 following his death to Bannister & Co and again in 1750, during disputes between its partners, to Thomas Simpson. In the late 1750s, unable to afford to add a forge to use scrap, he advertised the works. Simpson apparently let it in 1759 probably to Hawks, Longridge & Co of Gateshead. With various changes in partnership retained the works until the mid-19th century, following the same descent from c.1777 as Bedlington (below). They may have bought the original long lease in 1789. In 1845 the works were a steam engine manufactory capable of making 50 locomotive engines per year.

Sources Linsley & Hetherington 1978; Barraclough 1984(1), 63-4; Northumberland County History vi, 301; see also under Allensford Forge above. Beamish Forges: High Forge Middle Forge Low Forge

[6] NZ268812

[3] NZ226543 [4] NZ226539 [5] NZ231538

The three forges lay on the Pockerley side of the headwaters of the river Teams. Low Forge was described in 1785 as ‘formerly called Hussey’s old forge.’ This was presumably the forge for manufacturing iron plate on Beamish Burn, for which a 21-year lease was offered for sale in 1765. Members of the Hussey family are found elsewhere – in the Sheffield area and the Midlands – operating plating forges, making frying pans, salt pans, and the like; and this is its probable function.

Size 1782 500 tpa rod or hoop iron (1782 advert); 1794 1 slitting mill. Sources Evans 1992; 1996, 24; Bergen 1941?; Martin 1974; Northumberland RO, ZMD/66/32; TNA, C 33/394 ff. 543-7; Durham UL, CCB, M.9, f.45; London Evening Post, 16. Sep. 1738; Newcastle Courant, 3 Mar. 1750; 26 Feb. 1757; 20 Jan. 1759; 18 Jul. 1789; Manchester Mercury, 9 Jul. 1782; www.pitwork.net/terrymcbedl.htm.

In 1779 William Hawks and Thomas Longridge, both Gateshead ironmongers, leased Piggs Mill and converted it into High Forge. In 1785 they took over the two mills below, Skin Mill which had recently been used by Solomon Holmes skinner, and Hussey’s Old Forge, already mentioned. This lease was renewed in 1794, perhaps so as to enable the tenants to enlarge the works, a file cutter’s shop having recently been added. Beamish Forges remained in the tenure of Hawks & Co (from 1829 Hawks, Stanley & Co then from 1856 Hawks Crawshay & Co) until 1877 when the mill dam was swept away and the works closed. A reduction in the land tax assessment may indicate that one forge closed between 1830 and 1858. Hawks & Co also had Urpeth Forge (further downstream), forges at Bedlington and Lumley, and a slitting mill at Bebside (Bedlington), as well as manufactories at

Bedlington Ironworks

[7] NZ276820

The ironworks stood within the curtilage of Bedlington (corn) Mill on the north bank of the river Blythe. A blast furnace was probably built about 1759 by a partnership led by William Maling of Sunderland at the suggestion of Mitford Flower. Both the dam and furnace were badly made, requiring substantial rebuilding. William Dockwray, who came from Backbarrow (in Furness) to be managing partner, left in 1766. Neither he nor his successors as managers were able to make it profitable, leading to litigation from 1769. Shares in the works (including 3 air furnaces and collieries) were advertised for sale in 1766. These were presumably Dockwray’s shares, but if so, they were not sold. In 1777, the whole of it was offered for 117

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I sale, including a double air furnace stack, a large casting house, and a boring mill. This probably marks the closure of the furnace, which was listed as ‘wholly declined’ in 1788. However, Thomas Philpott and Francis Domet, merchants of Bedlington Furnace, were required to appear in bankruptcy proceedings in 1783.

No deeds have been traced for this works. Tylecote found what he identified as the remains of a furnace and also bloomery slag. However, Bell thought Wood had made pig iron. Sources Wallis, Northumberland i, 125; Tylecote 1983, 90; Riden 1993, 125-6; cf. Butler thesis; Treadwell 1974; King 2014b, 165 169.

Hawks, Longridge & Co held the site in 1788, but thereafter it was only described as a foundry. A rolling mill was erected about that time and from 1797 the headlease of the property, still described as a corn mill, was held by William Hawks & Longridge; and from 1815 by John Biddulph; later with C.D. Gordon, London merchants. The firm traded as Bedlington Iron Co, with Michael Longridge as resident manager. Possibly Biddulph and Gordon were mortgagees rather than partners, as the firm seems to have been Hawks & Longridge throughout. However this could be where Gordon & Co cast cannon in 1796. In 1815 there was a blast furnace (perhaps derelict), a ‘slit or bolt mill,’ and various houses. In 1825, a rolling mill with eccentric rolls was installed to exploit John Birkinshaw’s patent for rolled fish-bellied rails of wrought iron, as used on the Stockton and Darlington Railway. In 1830 there were recently built forges and anchor-shops. A new blast furnace was built shortly before 1849, and another probably just after its sale by Michael Longridge in 1853 to James Spence, but he became insolvent in 1855. Cooper Mounsey & Dixon held the works without using the furnaces from 1861, and Bedlington Coal Co, trading also as Bedlington Iron Co from 1865 to 1867. The works was principally known at this period as an engine manufactory, but probably incorporated a rolling mill.

Blackhall Mill

Blackhall Mill was a steel forge on the north side of the river Derwent, and has traditionally been linked with sword making at Shotley Bridge. It supplied the swordmakers with steel, but did not belong to them. It was a fulling mill and corn mill in 1628 and 1665, but subsequently converted to a steel forge, probably before 1687, when Dennis Hayford bought it. This was a separate enterprise from Hayford’s Sheffield firm’s Company in the North, and as such was the original source of ‘Hayford steel’, that is double shear steel; William Bertram, the steelmaker, was shipwrecked on his arrival (or perhaps return) in 1693. The forge initially produced German steel as well as using the cementation process. Its establishment in, what was for the iron industry, a relatively remote location may be connected to the suitability of Weardale iron ore for the production of steel. It is not clear for how long, after the death of Dennis Hayford jun. (in 1732), it continued to be used by the family. However in 1768 Millington Hayford’s widow and daughter sold their leasehold interest in the mill (and also in a coal mine) to John Cookson, who was probably already in occupation. Mrs Hayford may have let it shortly after her husband’s death in about 1745. It was run by William Bertram and then by his son, apparently working in 1753 for Hall & Co. They were probably named from Gabriel Hall, who had a share in partnership with John Cookson at his death in 1767. The business was later conducted as Thomas Eltringham & Co, but members of the Cookson family were probably partners throughout and Isaac Cookson was certainly involved in 1828. It probably then remained in the Cookson family well into the 19th century, like Derwentcote. The steel furnace was demolished in 1916.

Accounts TNA, E 112/1895/20. Sources Evans 1992, 190-6; Bergen 1941?; Martin 1974; litigation reported Bath Chronicle, 30 Jul. 1772; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 3 Nov. 1766; Newcastle Courant, 28 Mar. 1767; Newcastle Chronicle, 6 Jun. 1777; Manchester Mercury, 12 Aug. 1783; Durham UL, CCB, 419/1859638; CCB, 54001, p.177; CCB, M.9, f.32v-33r 45; Evans 1996, 24; Riden 1992c, 37; 1993, 124-5; www.pitwork. net/terrymcbedl.htm; Duffy 1981, 318; Kirby 1993, 41-3; gunfounding: Cole thesis, 189-90. Bellingham Ironworks

[9] NZ116568

Size In 1754 the son of William Bertram (d.c.1742) used one hearth for making German steel, another for ‘chafing’ and a third for ‘chafing’ blister steel. The steel furnace, with two chests, took 10 tons of iron, with 12 campaigns per year, but would last only 10-12 years.

[8] NY861796

There was a furnace adjoining the river North Tyne at Lea Hall. Its very existence is only known from the account of John Wallis in his History of Northumberland (1769), who states it was under the conduct of a son of Mr Wood the projector, who moved to Lancashire when charcoal became scarce. This identifies it with events in the late 1720s and the son as Francis. He patented a process for making iron with pitcoal in a reverberatory furnace, a process which his father used as a vehicle for fraud and stock-jobbing in company shares. However the process was subsequently used at Frizington (Cumb – not Lancs), but proved incapable of making good iron. While here, they had ‘sharpt’ a Mr Wallace out of several hundred pounds.

Trading There are a few references to sales of ‘English steel’ and ‘German steel’ in SIR Y a/c, s.v. ‘Dennis Hayford’: usually when Philip Fincher or another agent had accounted together for sales of steel by him personally and of nails by his Sheffield partnership. Sales to the Shotley Bridge swordmakers are mentioned in Tyne and Wear Archives, 3415/CM2/444-502. Anconies, supplied from Roche Abbey to Dennis or Millington Hayford, were perhaps drawn out here (e.g. SIR Y a/c 1717 J, 19; 1719 J, 45). 118

Chapter 5: Northeast England Sources TNA, C 11/1744/7; Awty 1957, 84; Barraclough & Awty 1987; Lincs RO, Thorold 2/4/12; Barraclough 1984(1), 63-9 209-10 etc.; Cranstone 1997, 18-20, who citing (inter alia) Northumberland RO, ZCE 10/2 and will of Gabriel Hall; Angerstein’s Diary, 267-71; Durham UL & RO, land tax, Chopwell; Parsons & White, Directory (1828), ii. Busy Cottage, near Jesmond

In 1609 the accounts refer to ‘le iron mylnes’. In view of the subsequent discovery of the remains of a furnace three miles east of Chester le Street, it would seem that James Lisle and then Henry Killinghall had a furnace and forge, albeit shortlived ones. The remains were discovered at a place then called Old Furnace in the 1780s by Mr Smith, the agent at the Whitehill works, but their location has not been rediscovered in modern times. Tylecote doubted its existence, perhaps due to his failure to locate it, but it seems unlikely that Smith, as a blast furnace manager, would be mistaken.

[10] NZ26176627

This forge, on the Ouse Burn, in Heaton, 1½ miles east of Newcastle, is largely only known from newspaper adverts. In 1764, George Laidlaw the younger (manufacturer of iron and steel) had a forge with a finery, a chafery, and balling furnace; a grinding mill with seven stones; a small foundery; and smiths shops for 14 men with three hearths, under a lease that had begun about 1756. It was offered for sale in 1777, possibly by John Hodgson, comprising a steel forge, steel furnace, tilt forge, and balling furnace. In 1785, it was offered again, following the bankruptcy of Thomas Menham (a son-in-law of John Hodgson) and Robert Hodgson, having a balling furnace, a finery and two hearths, with a large steel furnace and smiths shops. The tilt forge had been replaced by a boring frame; and a corn mill was also grinding box and sad irons. It was apparently not making iron in 1790, but was advertised for sale following the death of Thomas Menham (from a fall from a horse) as a forge and foundry. By 1801 the works belonged to Malin Sorsbie. He was succeeded by his grandson Jonathan Sorsbie in 1819. His cousin Frederick Malin Lubbren (ironfounder) succeeded in 1821, but was soon bankrupt. When advertised again in 1824, Mr Greener was in charge. It then passed to Robert Rayne and David Burn It apparently operated until at least 1842. They surrendered the lease in 1842, but perhaps to renew it, as D. Burn of Busy Cottage ironworks was a member of the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers in 1849 and 1863.

The location of the works thus remains uncertain: there was a Furnis Hill adjoining Morrow Edge on Langley Moor (part of Lanchester Moor). However that (NZ185500) would be an improbable location, but a site a little to the north (such as NZ183505) would be conceivable. Nevertheless, anywhere in that area would be in Lanchester rather than Chester and six rather than three miles west of Chester. The location is likely to remain a mystery, unless someone can identify a pile of slag or some other reference to ‘Old Furnace.’ Sources Durham UL, CCB, 184858, 385 & 581; CCB, Transumpt books, ‘Chester ball.’; Hutchinson, Durham, ii, 398n; Tylecote 1983, 91-2; Riden 1993, 125; cf. Durham UL, CCB, plan 48. Derwentcote Forge Derwentcote Steel Furnace

Derwentcote lies on the south side of the River Derwent near Hamsterley. The forge stood on the flood-plain of the river. The steel furnace, an ancient monument, stands on the hillside above and is undoubtedly the best-preserved steel cementation furnace in Britain. Seventy two years of the lease were unexpired when the works were offered for sale in 1748, though not sold because the demands of George Blenkinsop (later of Shotley Bridge Mill) were unsatisfied. This suggests a 99-year lease granted in 1721. The forge had belonged previously to Alderman Ralph Reed (died 1720) and William Thomlinson (died 1743) and his son Richard. The Thomlinsons sold it in 1733 to Cuthbert Smith, Thomas Wasse (died 1745), Ralph Harle (died 1746), and George Blenkinsopp. James Moncaster joined the next year as a fifth partner. Blenkinsopp’s management role was terminated in 1743. Sales were advertised in 1742 and 1748, but withdrawn on the latter occasion due to Blenkinsopp’s objection. Joshua Cotton (a son of William Cotton of Haigh) may have been manager then, but he was replaced (by 1753) by John Hodgson, a former apprentice of William Bertram of Blackhall Mill. Hodgson is named in other contexts as a partner of Cookson: John Cookson probably bought shares in the forge about this time, as probably did Hodgson. John Hodgson’s one-fifth share was offered for sale in 1782 with his half share in a brickworks, following his bankruptcy. In the late 1780s, the firm was apparently called Ruben Richley & Co.

Sources Newcastle Courant, 6 Oct. 1764; 29 Nov. 1777; 19 Feb. 1785; 1 May 1824; Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 19 Jun.1790; London Gazette, no. 10558, 3 (17 September 1765); no. 17754, 2047 (13 Oct. 1821); Weekley 1961, 3940; S. Linsley, pers. comm.; Tyne & Wear HER, 5680. Chester Moor

[13] NZ130566 [14] NZ130564

[11] c.NZ2251 and/or NZ2349

In 1601 the Bishop of Durham let ironstone mines adjoining the Cong and Stanley (i.e. Twizell) Burns to James Lisle or Lisley, with the right to build mills. The rent was in the Chester bailiff’s collection and as such only appears in the Transumpt books of the bishopric when unpaid, as it was in 1604 and regularly from 1609, when the tenant was Henry Killinghall. Despite the arrears of rent the lease was renewed in March 1614, Henry Killinghall surrendering the right to mine except adjacent to the burns, so that the other mines could be let to Hon. Edward Talbot. From 1621 the defaulting tenant is named as William Killinghall and the rent continued to be charged but exonerated as unpaid every year at least until the 1660s. 119

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I In 1797 Isaac Cookson & Co advertised that they were operating the works, not the “Owners of Derwentcote”. It may be that the 1733 partnership agreement (with various changes in share ownership) continued at least to this time. This would account for various apparently conflicting references to who owned the works: Landell and Chambers, a steel and hardware firm in Newcastle, are mentioned in the 1784. Isaac Cookson died a rich man in 1831 and was followed by his son Thomas, who became bankrupt in 1850, but the business was continued by C.E. Cookson & Co until 1872. After that the steelworks was continued by Charles Winter and the Derwent Cote Steel Co Ltd until about 1891.

presumably converted to other uses when the available wood was exhausted. A new ironworks, consisting of a furnace and a forge, was built there in 1613 by Hon. Edward Talbot, who at the same time leased the rights to build a weir across the river Derwent and to mine in Chester and Lanchester Moors. He also built a mill at Winlaton. Edward Talbot succeeded his brother as Earl of Shrewsbury in 1616, but died the following year. His widow died in 1627, after which the rent for the ironmines went unpaid for some years, but the mines were let in 1634 to Sir William Blakiston of Gibside, who was succeeded by his son Sir Raphe in 1641. A forge (but not a furnace) is shown on a plan of 1633. Following his sequestration, the estate (including the mills) was let in 1644 to John Blakiston, but the ironworks were discontinued not long after. His failure to pay his rent resulted in the mines being let in 1662 to Sir James Clavering, who also failed to pay any rent, so that it is uncertain whether an ironworks worked after the Restoration. Even it did, the lease was not renewed and the Chester ironstone was not worked again at least until the erection of Whitehill Furnace in the following century. A sale of Gibside cordwood to Ambrose Crowley was considered in 1702.

Size 1717 not listed; ‘1718’ & 1736 125 tpa; 1750 120 tpa; 1754 150 tpa from 2 hearths, with a hammer for drawing out steel and a steel furnace; 1790 2 fineries 1 chafery and 1 balling furnace. In 1754 the steel furnace held 1011 tons, but made a little more than 100 tpa for want of reasonably priced oregrounds iron. The source of the pig iron used is not clear and no 18th-century document has any mention of a blast furnace, but the remains of one (and a substantial amount of blast furnace slag) were found on excavation by Time Team. Certainly local furnace capacity (as recorded in 1717) would have been inadequate for the the needs of local forges, so that pig iron must have been brought coastwise or imported in considerable amounts, something not recorded in the Port Books. Nevertheless, bushel iron (i.e. scrap) was imported, though often not in sufficient quantities to keep the various forges occupied.

Sources Clavering & Rounding 1995, 255-6; Durham RO, D/St/D5/1/65-6 & 70; D/St/D5/6/1; Durham UL, CCB, 184958, 581; 184961, 178 (=186261); CCB, 141/121346; CCB, Transumpt books, under ‘mines’ (usually at p.18); Durham UL, Sharpe 167 (Bishop Cosin’s survey 1662), 178; Hughes 1952, 63-4; Surtees, Durham ii, 253; Tyne & Wear HER, 5121.

Landell & Chambers took out a licence to use Cort’s puddling patent in 1784 (SML, Weale MSS, 371/3, 206), but probably did not persist in its use: at that time there were still technological difficulties with it. Angerstein reported that the forge was mainly used for drawing steel down to inch and ¾-inch bars, sent to the East India Company. The lack of reference to such purchases in their accounts may mean that the goods were shipped in the Company’s ships for a private merchant, something that happened in this period (see Bowen 2003). The archaeological work also investigated a crucible steel furnace, which had six melting holes in c.1864 but that was probably a 19thcentury addition.

Helmington Furnace

[16] NZ19855332

Ironstone mines on Hunwick Moor (NZ1733) were let in 1636 to Thomas Wharton of Gilling Woodhall (near Richmond). An ironworks at Helmington was mentioned in the course of litigation following his death, suggesting that the corn mill, Furness (formerly Furnace) Mill at Helmington was preceded by a blast furnace, as is confirmed by its name and the presence of slag there. The furnace site, perhaps subject to a lease, was conveyed by Charles Vane of Raby Castle to Sir Arthur Haselrige in 1649. After the Restoration the mines were leased to nominees of Bishop Cosin, for whom the furnace was probably managed by John Hodshon. The ironworks was probably closed in 1669, the rent being deleted from episcopal accounts from that year. There must also have been a forge, but where it was is unknown.

Sources Cranstone 1997; Angerstein’s Diary, 272; Daily Advertiser, 2 Nov. 1742; Newcastle Journal, 30 Jan. 1748 to 20 Feb. 1748; Barraclough 1984(1), 37-40 62-9 passim etc.; Evans 1992, 181-2; Newcastle Courant, 6 Jul. 1782; 8 Apr. 1797; Channel 4 TV, ‘Time Team’, Season 18, episode 5 (broadcast March 2011); Wessex Archaeology 2012; Andrews et al. 2017. [15] unlocated c.NZ171586

Accounts Durham UL, Mickleton 91/69 (printed VCH Durham ii, 280-1; and Gates 2015).

Richard Hodgson of Byersmoor built an iron mill, presumably a bloomery forge, at Gibside in 1545. Roger Blakiston and Hodgson bought out two other partners (including Richard’s father William) in 1553, but it was

Sources Gates 2015; Durham UL, CCB, 184963, 15; CCB, Transumpt books (under ‘mines’, usually p.18); Durham UL, Sharp 167 (Bishop Cosin’s survey 1662), 178; VCH Durham ii, 280-1; Proceedings of Soc. of Antiquaries of

Gibside Ironworks

120

Chapter 5: Northeast England to 1728; Theodosia Crowley and other executors 1728 to 1739; Ambrose Crowley IV 1739 to 1754 (probably with John Crowley II as partner); John Crowley II 1754 to 1755; Theodosia Crowley & Co 1755 to 1782; Crowley, Millington & Co 1782 on. Isaiah Millington bought out his partners in 1805 and died in 1806 followed by his son, Thomas, in 1808. The latter’s son, Crowley Millington, died in 1849 and his son-in-law disposed of the business in 1850s. The business was apparently transferred to Thomas Fergus and Robert Graham, trading as Crowley Millington & Co from 1858, but may have belonged to Joseph Laycock (a former manager) in the preceding years. Graham & Graham were bankrupt in 1862. The next owners (1863-78) were Pow and Faucus, followed by Ridley & Co from about 1880. A paper mill was built on part of the site about 1901, but metal working continued on other parts until about 1912.

Newcastle n.s. 6, 186; Riden 1993, 128; Alan Blackburn of Rookhope, pers. comm. Lumley Forge

[17] NZ301509

In 1784, when letting ground for a proposed slitting mill, the Earl of Scarborough also let a mill (see below), apparently a leather fulling mill, known as the Skin Mill, which had been erected in 1763 by George and Matthew Bell, both skinners from Houghton le Spring. Hawks, Longridge, and Todd converted this to a forge, which they advertised to let in 1786, probably unsuccessfully. On the expiry of the lease in 1825, Hawks & Co renewed it for twenty one years more, the partners then being Sir Robert Shaftoe Hawks, John Hawks, Joseph Hawks, Addison Fenwick, and John Wright, the latter being the resident partner. This partnership was dissolved in 1834. This lease included the meadow at the mouth of the brook, but not the fishery and ferry or other detailed rights granted by the previous lease for constructing what, if built, would evidently have been a large ironworks (see other ironworks, below). The firm became insolvent and the forge passed to the Earl of Durham, a nearby landowner. About 1838 he sublet it to John Ward, who converted such buildings as had not already collapsed through neglect to a mill grinding barley and charcoal. In 1790 there was a forge with a chafery and balling furnace; in 1825 there were two forges with 4 waterwheels, a foundry, and a rolling mill. Today the site lies in overgrown woodland in a deep valley, in which a wheelpit can be detected with part of the burn running through it. The rest of the burn runs over a cascade, which may be the remains of an overflow wear.

Size 1717 120 tpa; 1718 1736 & 1750 (with Winlaton and Teams) 250 tpa. In 1754 there were a bar-iron forge with two hearths making 150 tpa, a plating forge making sheets for pans and smaller bars, a slitting mill, a foundry with 2 furnaces, a grinding mill with 6 stones, and 2 or 3 steel furnaces converting 400 tpa, 2/3rds oregrounds and 1/3rd Russian Sable. 1794 2 fineries 1 chafery 1 balling furnace 1 rolling mill 1 slitting mill. Inventory: tools 1707: Suffolk RO, HAI/GC1/19; stock 1730: HAI/GD/5/15. Sources Clavering & Rounding 1995, 256-7; Cranstone 2011; Proctor 2011; Flinn 1955, 258-60; Flinn 1957a; Suffolk RO, HAI/GA and HAI/GC, passim; Durham RO, D/CG/19/23-35 D/CG.6/353-4 D/CG.7/1577-83; Flinn 1962, 52-55 & passim; Tyne & Wear Archives, DX 104/1; Angerstein’s Diary, 260-3; Bourne 1893, 92-100; Bourne 1896, 116-132.

Sources Sandbeck Park (Maltby, S. Yorks) estate office archives, MTD/A27/2-3; MTD/A50/1 & 13; EMS/16/10; EMS/40, 36-7; Newcastle Journal, 4 Nov. 1786; London Gazette 19125, 209 (4 Feb. 1834); NAA 2012; Brockie 1887, 28-29; Manders 1977, 66; VCH Durham ii, 288. http://durhamcow.com/durham-places/lumley-forge/ Swalwell Mill

Teams Mill (in Gateshead)

[19] NZ236617 and NZ244612

Teams High Mill and Teams Low Mill were once corn mills, being the last mills on the river Teams before it joins the river Tyne. In 1718 these were probably let to Ralph Reed and William and Richard Thomlinson, who built slitting mills and steel furnaces there. This must be the firm that began Derwentcote. In 1735, following Richard’s retirement, they were acquired by Theodosia Crowley and followed the same descent as Winlaton and Teams until about the 1780s: Theodosia Crowley 1735 to 1739; Ambrose Crowley IV 1739 to 1754 (probably with John Crowley II as partner); John Crowley II 1754 to 1755; Theodosia Crowley & Co 1755 to 1782; Crowley, Millington & Co 1782 on. In 1784, the mill was purchased by Joseph Liddell, John Hall, Thomas Allen and William Lloyd. The firm, and became Allen, Robinson & Co by 1790 and was later Losh, Robinson & Co. This probably continued until the Losh bankruptcy of 1803, when it was probably sold to Morrison, Mossman & Co (Martin Morrison, William Mossman, Robert Scott & H.J.

[18] NZ203623

The mill stood on the east side of the river Derwent a short way from its confluence with the river Tyne, so that vessels could come up to just below the mill, the river being tidal up to the mill weir at NZ194616. Hon. Edward Talbot built an ironworks of some kind in 1614, which probably passed after his death to Blakistons of Gibside and presumably shared the history of that works, closing sometime in the mid-17th century, perhaps in 1643 when Holme Mill was described as ‘recently burnt’. The mill was converted to slitting in 1702 by John Wood of Masbrough (in Rotherham), Edward Harrison, and William Bayliss, the first presumably the slitter at Rotherham Mill. Because they were attracting away his nailers, Ambrose Crowley bought the mill in 1708. It remained part of the Crowley empire for the rest of its life: Ambrose Crowley (latterly Sir Ambrose) 1708 to 1721; John Crowley I 1721 121

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Hounsom, with N.J. Winch until 1805). The ironworks was again offered for sale in 1819. The purchasers were probably Millington & Co, who retained them until the mid-19th century, shortly before their business was wound up in the 1863.

remains a mystery, unless conceivably the grant of dotard trees in the crown woodlands in Chopwell to Henry Vane in 1636 has any relevance. Sources Linsley 1981; Historical Metallurgy 16 (1983), 120; Northumberland County History, vi, 1612; Richardson 1907; cf. TNA, E 164/37; LR 2/223; LR 1/184, 215; LR 1/189, 94v; LR 1/201, 364-374; C 66/1429, m.29; Northumb RO, 2762/E/B22 etc.; Hammersley 1957, 153.

Size 1718-50 (listed with Swalwell and Winlaton). In 1733, it had slitting mill, a steel furnace, a plating forge, and 2 blade mills and buildings to manufacture 700 tpa. Angerstein mentioned a steel forge with two hearths, a slitting and rolling mill, and a grinding mill, as well as various workshops. In 1784, it was called a slitting mill, forge and other ironworks; but is omitted from the 1790 list. In 1803, it had two forges, a slitting mill, steel furnace and ‘foundery’. In 1800, Losh & Co built the Balgonie or Levens ironworks in Scotland, but it was sequestrated (bankrupt) in 1803. When the stock at Team warehouse in the Close was auctioned in 1820, it included spades and shovels, ship’s spikes and nails, and plough and cart chains.

Whitehill Furnace at Chester le Street

The furnace stood just west of Chester le Street on the lower reaches of the Cong Burn and was built by John Cookson, perhaps shortly after his purchase of the Whitehill estate about 1747. It belonged to the Cookson iron firm, who at various times owned Little Clifton Furnace, and foundries at Gateshead and Newcastle: all the indications are that it was a coke furnace producing foundry pig iron. John Williams, one of the partners, leased iron mines in the commons of Chester in 1758 and ironstone from Waldridge Fell was also used, as also was ore collected on the beaches at Robin Hoods Bay. Cookson suggested to one of the Kendall family that they should exchange some of this for Furness redmine, but nothing seems to have come of this. Isaac Cookson had about 1736 leased the right to collect ironstone from eleven miles of shore in the manors of Whitby and Irling. The furnace had probably recently closed in 1787, when a counsel’s opinion was sought as to whether the fixtures there belonged to John Cookson’s widow for life under a settlement or absolutely as his executrix. Mr Smith was the agent probably from the late 1750s until its closure. Iron ordnance and shot were cast from 1775 to 1783 (TNA, WO 47/85-102, passim s.v. ‘gunfounders’). A steam engine was provided in 1776 to raise water to turn the wheel.

Sources Suffolk RO, HAI/GA and HAI/GC, passim; Flinn 1962, 79 & passim; Evans 1992, 181-2, citing (inter alia) Northumberland RO, ZAN/M13/C7; Daily Journal, 24 Sep. 1733; 21 Jan. 1734 (‘near Newcastle’); Angerstein’s Diary, 258-9; Caledonian Mercury, 14 Jul. 1784; Newcastle Advertiser, 19 May 1792; Newcastle Courant, 26 Nov. 1803; 30 Mar. 1805; 19 Jan. 1819 (not named); 21 Aug. 1819 and 15 Apr.1820; 22 April 1826; Morning Post, 18 Feb. 1804; London Gazette, no. 15847, 1238 (28 Sep. 1805); Bourne 1893, 92-100; Bourne 1896, 116-132; Manders 1977, 65; cf. Newcastle Courant, 24 Dec. 1803. Flinn failed to appreciate that the mill was not in the hands of the Crowleys’ successors between 1784 and 1819. Wheelbirks Furnace

[21] NZ255510

[20] NZ049580

This furnace is only known as an archaeological site, discovered by a local farmer in 1884 and excavated and restored by him. The remains are of a hearth with a tuyere and the walls of the casting arch. An archaeomagnetic date of 1570±20 has been obtained for its last use, but may be unreliable due to the past restoration of the furnace. The furnace lies within the extensive manor of Bywell, which was forfeited to the crown by the attainder of Ralph Earl of Westmoreland in 1569. Wheelbirks Farm was a leasehold tenement of a dozen or so acres, but only a lord of the manor could have provided enough fuel for a furnace. However there is no reference to a furnace in surveys of the manor in 1570 and 1608: in the former, there were in the lordship several woods of considerable growth, which makes it unlikely that the furnace is really that old. Certain woods in the manor were leased in 1597, and by 1608 Sir William Bowes, the assignee of the lease, had cut 80 acres of oak and birch, but he probably had no mines. The underwood was suggested as a source of profit for the crown in 1608, but nothing seems to have been done with it. A more probable occasion for a furnace to have worked is after the manor was sold to the Fenwick family in 1630. However, its history

Letterbook Cookson l/b refers to it 1755-57 and 1764-67. Sources Newcastle Courant, 26 Jul. 1760; Northumb RO, ZCK/7; ‘Newcastle partnership deeds’, 170-71; Durham UL, CCB, 218/220564/12/2-8; CCB, 429/186260 (=184074, 269); Warden 1927?, 14-16; Hutchinson, Durham ii, 398n; VCH Durham ii, 290; Riden 1993, 1268; Riden 1992c, 39-40; Brown (R.R.) 1988, 107; Hastings 1981, 31; Bell 1864a, 79 84; 1864b, 79 84; Atkinson 1974, 85; Harrison (J.K.) 1979, 51; North of England Institute of Mining Engineers, Gibson View Book, 9 May 1776 (a reference I owe to Les Turnbull, via John Kanefsky); cf. Surtees, Durham ii, 152. Winlaton Mill

[22] NZ186606

The mill stood on the northwest side of the river Derwent and is shown in great detail on a map of 1718. In more recent times most of the site has been covered with waste from a gasworks, but the foundations of the works 122

Chapter 5: Northeast England Other ironworks

were thought to survive below ground, leading to its excavation. Ambrose Crowley II leased a corn mill and fulling mill in 1691 and converted it to a slitting mill. In 1701 he added a steel furnace and plating forge, and subsequently a finery forge. The map of 1718 shows two fineries, a chafery, a blade mill, and three steel furnaces, together with a number of other shops. The mill remained part of the Crowley works throughout their life generally only passing on death: Ambrose Crowley II (latterly Sir Ambrose) 1691 to 1721; John Crowley 1721 to 1728; Theodosia Crowley and other executors 1728 to 1739; Ambrose Crowley IV 1739 to 1754 (probably with John Crowley II as partner); John Crowley II 1754 to 1755; Theodosia Crowley & Co 1755 to 1782; Crowley, Millington & Co 1782 on; Isaiah Millington bought out his partners in 1805, but died in 1806 followed by his son, Thomas, in 1808. The latter’s son, Crowley Millington died in 1849 and his son-in-law disposed of the business in 1863.

Bedburn Forge

This forge was for lumping and forging iron, with a tilting hammer, for plating spades, and making scythes and edged tools, etc. It was built in 1820 and probably belonged to John Walter Elliot (died 1827) and then to John Fogg (later called John Fogg Elliot). It had been a fulling mill and corn mill in 1789 and also a linen bleaching works. It was in 1856 a forge and sawmill occupied by Matthew Dodd. It has (wrongly) been claimed as the site of Kyrkeknott bloomery. It is also not the iron mill, called a ‘sith’ [scythe] mill, mentioned in 1688. Sources Durham UL, DHC II/148, f.189v-190; DHC II/150, f.170; DHC II/151, f.51; DHC II/160, 211; DHC II/162, 17; Land tax, South Bedburn; Durham County Advertiser, 5 Apr. 1828; Parsons & White, Directory (1828) ii, 234-35; cf. Tylecote 1960, 452, correcting Lapsley 1899; North Yorks RO, ZQH.2/14/121-2.

Size 1717 120 tpa; 1718 1736 & 1750 (with Swalwell) 250 tpa; 1754 forge with three hearths, forges for plates, saw blades, and drawing down steel (making 250 tpa), a slitting and rolling mill (capacity 500 tpa), and grinding mill with six stones; 1790 1 slitting mill.

Blaydon Burn: Massey’s Forge

[25] NZ417634

A forge on Blaydon Burn (probably built about 1770) and a house and quay at Blaydon leased about three years before were offered for sale in 1778, following the bankruptcy of George Hudson (ironmonger) of Scotswood in Benwell. The warehouse had 42 tons of iron, but the type of ‘iron manufactory’ carried on is not clear. Hudson had been managing partner of the Dalnotter Iron Company near Glasgow until 1774. He subsequently moved to Bear Garden, St Martin-in-the-Fields and was bankrupt again in 1783. The works were in the hands of Emerson & Co in 1808. The Emmerson family were ironmongers at the Side, Newcastle by 1771 and became ironfounders in the late 1790s, but it is not clear when they took over the works in 1808 or earlier. It was called Dockendale Steel Forge in 1823. When offered for sale in 1835, it was an iron and steel forge with lift and tilt hammers and a cast steel furnace and clay mill; it had a 14 hp steam engine, but Emerson & Milner took a further lease in 1837. The works were apparently in the hands of William Cochrane Carr soon after, though using the brand E&M for the products of an associated brick works. The site was partly excavated in 1982.

Trading Sir Ambrose Crowley bought 5¾ tons of cast iron necessaries etc. from the Foley Forest Partnership’s Ashburnham Furnace about 1710 (Foley, E12/VI/Bf/27) and paid £316 for pigs in 1712/3 and £150 for goods 1715/6 (Foley, E12/VI/DFf/8 & 11, both fo.17). It is likely pig iron was sent from Ynyscedwyn (Glam.) where members of the family were partners probably from 1697 to 1725 (cf. Flinn 1962, 14-15). Council Instructions: 1700-4 in Library of Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne. Inventory of stock 1730: Suffolk RO, HAI/GD/5/12. Sources Suffolk RO, HAI/GA and HAI/GC, passim; Durham RO, D/CG/19/23-35 D/CG6/353-4 D/CG7/157783; Flinn 1962, 42 48-9 & passim; Tyne & Wear Archives, DX 104/1; Angerstein’s Diary, 263-6; Flinn 1955, 256-9; Flinn 1957a; Bourne 1893, 92-100; Bourne 1896, 116132; Hughes 1952, 65-66; Cranstone 1991b; 2011; Postmedieval archaeology 26 (1992), 151. Witton le Wear Forge

[24] NZ101317

Sources Newcastle Courant, 21 Feb. 1778; London Gazette, 12014, 4 (14 Sep. 1779); 12414, 6 (11 Feb. 1783); Newcastle Journal, 21 Mar. 1835; Post-Med. Archaeol. 17 (1983), 201-2; NAA 2005.

[23] c.NZ1531

In 1626, William, Lord Eure, leased a mill to George Dobson for conversion to a forge. Nothing else is known of this.

Burtree Ford Mill Sources Durham RO, D/Cr 76-77. Note also: Durham RO, D/Ch D 111; N. Yorks RO, ZQH.

[26] NY853405

According to Pilkington’s Survey of the Bishopric in 1595, Sir William Bowes had opened an iron mine and built (on his own ground) an iron mill during his time as the Bishop’s Moor Master. He (or rather his men) conducted trials with the ore and made iron, but he later converted it to a lead mill. It was presumably a bloomery forge. The 123

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I lead mill may have become a 19th-century corn mill, the location given. This might be a candidate for the Stanhope steelworks (below).

worked until at least the 1820s, being occupied by Thomas and James Black, ironfounders and spade manufacturers. Daybooks and ledgers survive from 1770 to 1774. It seems to have been replaced by Heatherslaw Mill, a 19th century corn mill, preserved as a tourist attraction.

Sources Durham UL, CCB B/21/44; cf. Durham HER, D226. I owe this reference to Ian Forbes and David Cranstone. Dunston (in Whickham)

Sources Northumberland RO, 2/DE/2/64-5 & 2/DE/16 passim; Evans 1992, 188n.

[27] NZ2246277 Gateshead Foundry

An iron manufactory (probably unpowered) was established on the bank of the River Tyne at Dunston in 1739. The copyhold for this, consisting of a keelroom (or quay) and about eight acres, was bought by John Bannister, but the business belonged to Bannister, Hallett, Harrison and Wordsworth of the Harrow and Anchor in Thames Street, London. Bannister had been the Crowleys’ manager and Crowley Hallett was a grandson of Sir Ambrose Crowley. The business ended in acrimony after the deaths of certain of the partners. The premises were sold to John Crowley in 1755. The premises, consisting of a quay and about 40 cottages were advertised for sale in 1810, but evidently were not sold. John Crowley’s grandson George Earl of Ashburnham sold them to a trustee for Mary Millington and others in 1814, and the trustee’s son passed his title to Crowley Millington and T.I. Millington in 1838, when part of the premises were required for the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway. Mary Ann Millington in 1860 sold it all, then consisting of over 20 houses called Big Square and Little Square. These squares may well have been built in the mid-18th century.

In 1721 Isaac Cookson and Joseph Button took a 19-year lease of a ‘founding house late built’ on the east end of Old Trunk Key, Gateshead. Two years later, Isaac and William Cookson built a coke-fired blast furnace at Little Clifton in west Cumberland. In 1729 these partnerships merged, with John Williams and Edward Kendall both of Stourbridge (Worcs) coming in as partners. Edward Kendall was an important figure in the iron industry with interests stretching from Furness to Worcestershire. The lease was renewed by Isaac Cookson, John Button and John Williams in 1739, but not in 1760. The building probably stood idle until 1766 when it was let to Gateshead Fell Colliery with the adjoining quay and was presumably then used for other purposes. Sources Tyne and Wear Archives, 3415/CA/2/65 111 & 122; ‘Newcastle partnership deeds’, 170-1; Newcastle Courant, 11 Jun. 1763 p.2 c.2; Cranstone 1997, 20; Riden 1993, 127. Gateshead Steel Furnace

Sources Durham UL, DHC1/III/22, 301-3; DHC1/III/23, 145-63; DHC1/III/26, 65-71; DHC1/III/27, 230-43; DHC1/III/VB/46A nos. 116-20; DHC1/III/VB/46D, nos. 121-8; TNA, C 11/1671/15; C33/394 ff. 543-7; Newcastle Chronicle, 30 Jun 1810. Eltringham

[31] NZ252635

In 1752 John Button built a steel furnace, warehouse, and other buildings on Old Trunk Key adjoining the foundry, in which he was also a partner. He died about 1760, but business was continued by his executors John Cookson and Gabriel Hall (d.1767) and the lease was renewed by John Cookson in 1776. Hall, a saddler, had since 1740 been a partner of Thomas Button in making oil leather in a mill on Beamish Burn. In 1760 Hall, Roger Heron, and Richard Chambers become partners in a hardware business. A successor of this firm, Landell and Chambers, took over the steel furnace, probably about 1783 and renewed its lease in 1792. They also built or rebuilt the steel furnace at Derwentcote (q.v.).

[28] never finished: near NZ070630

Shortly before 1764, George Laidler (who established ironworks at Busy Cottage) planned to expand his operations with a forge at Eltringham. He secured a site and dug a mill race a quarter of a mile long, but did not secure the right to dam the river Tyne, so that the millrace generated little power and soon silted up. He became bankrupt in 1764 when the uncompleted forge and the hammer beam, wheels and other timber for a forge were offered for sale. It probably never was finished.

Sources Tyne and Wear Archives, 3415/CA/2/116 149 153; Newcastle Courant, 27 Jun. 1760 p.3 c.3; Angerstein’s Diary, 191; ‘Newcastle partnership deeds’, 170-1; Cranstone 1997, 20; Barraclough 1984(1), 67 ‘Newcastle’.

Sources Newcastle Courant, 6 Oct. 1764; Weekley 1961, 39-40.

Gateshead: New Deptford Ford Forge

[30] NZ252635

[32] NZ258637

[29] NT933385 A manufactory was established on the South Shore east of Gateshead where Joshua Henzell (a bankrupt glass manufacturer) had in 1785 intended to build a glasshouse for flint glass. His rights were assigned in 1791 to David Gordon, Adam Gordon and Joseph Stanley of London merchants, and they built the manufactory, which they

The forge was about five miles east of Coldstream on the river Till, close to the Scottish border. It was a plating forge associated with the production of spades, shovels, nails, and ironware. The forge was initially, at least, an enterprise of the Ford estate and was built in 1769 and 124

Chapter 5: Northeast England called New Deptford. Their lease was renewed in 1806. This probably did not enjoy any waterpower. This probably passed into their amalgamated partnership with Hawks.

been their local partner) leased Lintzford corn mill and converted it to a sword mill, but by 1703 it had become a papermill, and remained such for many years. Sources Richardson 1973, 39; cf. Durham UL, DHC I/90, f.1308v.

Sources Tyne & Wear Archives 544/17, 6-7; 575/10 /24/48; 575/15/40/49.

Lumley Gateshead: New Greenwich

In 1784 when the Earl of Scarborough let what became Lumley Forge (see above) to William Hawks, Thomas Longridge, and William Todd, he included Chester or Lumley fishery with a salmon lock and wear on the river Wear, the ferry there, and a meadow at the mouth of Lumley Burn. Though the lease included all the necessary rights, such as diverting the water of the river into a reservoir to be made in Lumley Castle lawn, damming Lumley Burn, and building a mill on the meadow, there is nothing to indicate any mill was ever built there, though an estate valuation of 1787 refers to ‘slit mill and ground for erections.’ The meadow (but not the other rights) was included in a renewed lease of Lumley Forge in 1825.

William Hawks apparently established a smiths shop in the main street of Gateshead. This subsequently grew as a result of his leasing premises from 1770 in the Salt Meadows (to the east) where he built a manufactory, which he called New Greenwich. In doing so, he rebuilt a derelict mill, probably as a blade mill. A plan of part of these premises on a lease of 1795 shows they included smiths shops, a steel furnace, and a foundry. The Hawks business apparently amalgamated with Gordon & Co. It continued operating until the 1840s, when it was sold to Tyne Slitting Mill at Salt Meadows. The works (which William Rary would show) offered for sale in 1819 was perhaps a different mill.

Sources Sandbeck Park (Maltby, S. Yorks.) estate office archives, MTD/A27/2; EMS/16/2, 11.

Sources Tyne & Wear Archives 544/11, 338 500; 544/17, 96 549 875 and 916; 575/15/20/49; 575/15/22/49; 575/15/33-34/49; 575/16/12-13/49; 575/11/13/49; Evans 1996; Durham County Advertiser, 13 Feb. 1819. Hexham

Muggleswick

Sources Threlfall-Holmes 1999. Newcastle: Closegate Foundry

Sources D. Cranstone, pers. comm.

[39] probably c.NZ252638

As well as being a partner in the foundry on Old Trunk Key at Gateshead, John Button was a partner in a freehold foundry and pothouse in Pipewellgate, carried on by John Hodgson & Co. This business was apparently subsequently carried on in a foundry outside Closegate, roughly opposite Old Trunk Key. The foundry remained in the family at least until the 1820s. The suggestion that there was a steel furnace here may be mistaken: the buildings drawn by Angerstein are probably the foundry and a glasshouse. Mr Hall’s furnace, described by him, was that at Gateshead.

[34] NZ108322

A bloomery forge that was built in 1408 on the Bishop of Durham’s demesne at Bedburn was excavated by Tylecote about 1960. It is an important site in that accounts survive for its erection and early operation and it appears to have been the first powered bloomery for many miles around. Mott argued that waterwheels powered both the hammer and the bellows. It is not clear how long it operated, but the site was subsequently used for a corn mill called Harthope Mill.

Sources ‘Newcastle partnership deeds’, 170-1; Newcastle Courant, 27 Jul. 1760; Angerstein’s Diary, 252; cf. Cranstone 1997, 19-21; Barraclough 1984(1), 65.

Sources Lapsley 1899; Schubert 1957, 124-140 passim; Tylecote 1960; Mott & Wilkinson; Mott 1961; Drury 1992. Lintzford Mill

[38] near NZ0450

The prevalence of Muggleswick as a source of ‘Weardale iron’ supplied to Durham Cathedral Priory between 1464 and 1520 raises the possibility that there was a bloomery forge in that area.

[NY945583]

The existence of a Furnace Wood near Steel in Hexham Low Quarter raises the possibility that there may have been a blast furnace on the northwest side of Devil’s Water. However there is neither documentary nor archaeological evidence of one. The reference could be to a nearby lead mill.

Kyrkeknott Bloomery (or Byrkeknott)

(not built) NZ283512

[33] NZ264638

Newcastle: Pandon Dene

[36] NZ150572

[40] about NZ255650

There were three mills on Pandon Burn, which ran a short distance east of the centre of Newcastle, flowing under Barras Bridge and so into the Tyne, but the valley has been filled in and built over. A forge and grinding mill

After parting company with the Hollow Sword Blade Company, probably in 1691, John Sandford (who had 125

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I (presumably an edged tool works) were built next to a corn mill in Pandon Dean. A lease of them from 1764 was offered for sale in 1772. Mrs Marina Charlton, who was to show it, could have been the widow of its builder. It was in the possession of Mr Hawks in 1784 when offered to let as from following May.

Mill (or it may have been vice versa) A mill was built immediately north of the bridge by Peter Justice and John Parsons of London and John Bell and John Sandford of Newcastle, the first three of whom in 1691 procured the incorporation of the Hollow Sword Blade Company, to take over their business. From about 1709 William Cotesworth of Gateshead was the Company’s local agent and the following year he purchased the mill for it. By then the company’s principal activity was a speculation in forfeited Irish estates, which led it into difficulties. After this, it was used as a corporate cloak for banking and insurance activities carried on as the Hollow Sword Blade Bank, but was apparently still marketing swordblades in 1715. It survived the bursting of the South Sea Bubble in some degree and retained the mill until 1733. The mill was then sold to Ralph Harle, who was succeeded in 1749 by George Blenkinsop. It was probably when he died in 1768, leaving an heir under age, that the mill was let to William Oley, a descendant of one of the immigrant swordmakers. He purchased the mill in 1805 and left it to his three sons about 1810, and Christopher Oley, who by degrees bought out his brothers, continued it until 1833, when it was sold to Peter Annandale, a papermaker.

Sources Newcastle Courant, 16 May 1772; 30 Oct. 1784; Northumbrian Mills 25 (2003): northeastmills.wordpress .com/mill-research/watermills-of-pandon-dene/ Newcastle: Skinnerburn

[41] near NX246634

Skinner Burn formed the boundary between Newcastle and Elswick. A manufactory there was conducted by Richard and William Thomlinson, presumably using iron slit at their Teams Mill, until they disagreed in 1735. William Thomlinson then advertised his warehouse and business (including a water mill, presumably Teams Mill) for sale. By the 1770s, manufacturing was carried on by Andrews and John Harrison, prominent London ironmongers, but as far as is known this did not involve any mill. The involvement of the Harrison family may go back to the late 1740s, after the dissolution of the original partnership at Dunston, in which William Harrison, the father of A. & J. Harrison, was a partner. If so, William Harrison and his partners may have been the 1736 purchasers. John Friend was the local agent for A. & J. Harrison until his death in 1781, when William Hawks & Co of Gateshead were appointed to replace him.

The swords were probably made (or partly so) in workshops at the mill or in cottages owned by some of the German immigrants and their descendants, rather than in the mill itself, which was probably a blade mill for sharpening the swords. In slack times the mill was also used for sharpening scythes and other blades. Swordmaking seems to have been continued by members of the Oley family until about 1840.

In 1778 Surtees and Co had a ‘foundery’ here. In 1785, this was offered for sale (with Busy Cottage) following the bankruptcy of Thomas Menham and Robert Hodgson, including four air furnaces, held under a lease that had commenced in 1778. Sources Evans 1992, 182 186; Cranstone 1997, 19; Newcastle Chronicle, 22 Sept. 1781; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 13 Dec. 1784; Newcastle Courant, 19 Feb. 1785; cf. Spencer l/b, 14 Aug. 1742 and 3 Jan. 1742/3; www. pitwork.net/terrymcbedl.htm

Sources Tyne and Wear Archives, 3415/CA/19/30-33; CM2/444-502; Durham UL, DHC I/90, f.1126v; DHC I/93, f.30; DHC I/94, 284 431; DHC II/106, f.163-4; DHC II/107, f.189 233; DHC II/108, f.164; DHC II/109, f.197; DHC II/110, f.161-2; DHC II/111, 69 138 196 285; Durham UL, land tax, Benfieldside; Richardson 1973; Atkinson 1987; Northumberland County History vi, 3023; VCH Durham ii, 288-9; Jenkins 1935; Hughes 1952, 59-62.

Sedgefield Forge

Shotley Grove Mill

[42] NZ361275

In 1773, Joseph Barker advertised for a man to plate spades and shovels by water, a man to finish them, and two persons to assist them; and again for a spade maker in 1793. Someone advertised for a hand to finish spades in 1824. It was still a forge in c.1857.

A second sword mill was built on the site of or adjoining a corn mill by Herman Mohl, another of the original German immigrants, about a mile upstream of Shotley Bridge, probably in 1710. He was not party to agreements with the Sword Blade Company in 1703 and 1710 and may well have been operating independently already, but, as a swordgrinder rather than a swordsmith, perhaps he would not have contracted directly with the Company. He was arrested for suspected smuggling of swordblades at Morpeth in 1703 on returning from Germany, perhaps bringing in extra immigrant workers. Following Herman Mohl’s death the mill and adjacent land were sold to George Surtees, William Mohl (a son) bought the mill back at once, selling it in 1725 to John Proud, who probably let it two years later. In 1732 it was purchased by John

Sources Newcastle Courant, 30 Jan. 1773; 1 May 1824; Newcastle Chronicle, 16 Feb. 1793. Shotley Bridge sword mill

[44] NZ084517

[43] NZ091528

Sword making at Shotley Bridge when began Germans from Solingen were brought over about 1687. Shotley Bridge was probably chosen because of the availability of Hayford steel, i.e. forged blister steel, from Blackhall 126

Chapter 6: North Yorkshire Moors Stephenson, a Newcastle merchant, a maltery and corn mill having by then been added. His son sold it in 1761 to Thomas Johnson, the sitting tenant and a swordmaker, but in 1777, following his death, it passed to his nephew John Johnson, a papermaker, who then mortgaged it for substantial sums, no doubt to convert it to a paper mill. Richardson’s suggestion (1973, 60) that there were in all four sword mills at Shotley is erroneous, the result of a failure to appreciate that mills sometimes changed hands. There was, of course, another briefly at Lintzford, already mentioned.

occupied by William Blackett was advertised in 1815, while he was in Durham Gaol (presumably for debt).

Sources Durham UL, DHC I/94, f.361-2; DHC II/106 ff.23-4 39-40 54 61 85 87v 103 132 139 143 159 189190; DHC II/108, ff.70 96 153 191v; DHC II/109, ff.36 77 etc.; Durham UL, land tax, Benfieldside; Richardson 1973; Atkinson 1987; Jenkins 1935.

This coke ironworks, was built shortly before 1801 by a firm called the Tyne Iron Co, and also Bulmer & Co. In their early dealing with Boulton & Watt they were called Fishwick, Gibson, & Co. They bought blowing, forge and rolling mill engines. The partners included J.P. Bulmer, who in 1803 bought out the others. There were soon two furnaces, with two English helves, a cupola, puddling furnaces, and a rolling mill. It is said to have used Cleveland ironstone between 1815 and 1820. The estate of John Gibson (a former partner), subsequently of Hallbeath in Scotland, was sequestrated in 1821. Tyne Iron Co (and later Bulmer & Co) continued to have furnaces in blast until about 1867. Initially ore came from Whitley and Scarborough.

Stanhope steelworks

Sources Durham County Advertiser, 20 May 1815. Coke ironworks Bedlington Furnace see among charcoal works Lemington Ironworks or Tyne Ironworks

unknown

The last Sir John Zouche of Codnor Castle, Derbyshire leased the Bishop of Durham’s mines of steel and iron stone in the Stanhope and Wolsingham parishes and part of West Auckland in 1630. The rent for these was paid for some years, but the lease was surrendered about 1640. According to the Parliamentary Survey of the bishopric in 1647 some quantities were made ‘which were experimented (especially steele) to be good’, but they lay so far from the sea as to be unprofitable and had been abandoned. The location of the works is not known and even in 1662 Bishop Cosin was unable to discover ‘whether the mines were wrought or no or the rent ever paid’. It is to be presumed that Zouche was seeking to exploit the spathic iron ore, which unlike most British ores was suitable for steel, but whatever his technological success he was defeated by transport costs.

[49] NZ186645

Sources Birmingham Archives, MS 3147/5/314-5 702; Flinn, Svedenstierna, 109-111; Tylecote 1983, 98-9; Hoskinson 1946, 74; Harrison (J.K.) 1979, 52; Hastings 1981, 31; London Gazette, no. 17665, 21; Warner 1802, 315. I owe this reference to S. Linsley. Walker Ironworks

[50] NZ297638

The forge lay a short distance downstream from the forge of Hawks & Co at Beamish and seems to have been built (or bought) by their Lumley Forge Co about 1810, so that the firm was sometimes called Wright & Co. Hawks, Crawshay, and Sons gave it up in 1878, and it was let to Robert Bulman, who remained in occupation until at least 1926.

The Walker Ironworks began in 1809 with a foundry built next to the alkali works there, in which John Losh was a partner. Its owners were William Losh (John’s brother), Thomas Wilson and Thomas Bell. In 1816, George Stephenson and William Losh patented an improvement to the fish-bellied rail, which may be regarded as the ultimate in cast iron for railway track. However, cast iron rails were superseded in the 1820s by rolled wrought iron rails, as adopted for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and its many successors. The firm (which did not appear in furnace lists until 1847) continued to be Losh, Wilson & Bell until 1872, shortly after which the business was incorporated as Bell Brothers Ltd. This became a significant engineering works in the later in the 19th century, with rolling mills and blast furnaces. However this was after the period of this study.

Sources Durham RO & UL, Land tax, Urpeth; Tithe, Urpeth; Newcastle Courant, 1 Apr. 1809, p.3 c.4.

Sources Northumberland County History xiii (1930), 439; Lewis 2003, 105; Duffy 1981, 323-5.

Wolsingham Forge

Whitehill see above among charcoal works

Sources Durham UL, CCB, 184960, 620; CCB, Transumpt books, ‘mines’ (usually p.18); Sharp 167 (Bishop Cosin’s survey), 178; Parliamentary Survey of Bishopric of Durham (Surtees Society 183, 1971), 152. Urpeth Forge

[46] NZ235542

[47] NZ074370

An iron forge with large and small hammers for manufacturing iron and welding and plating scythes,

127

6 North Yorkshire Moors Introduction

19th (and 20th) century Northamptonshire iron industry. It may thus be that the silicon content of the ore made it uneconomic, just as it was probably uneconomic to use coke-smelted pig iron in forges until the mid-18th century.

The very existence of Cleveland and Rosedale Ironstone district was largely forgotten for a long period. The orefield is one of the few in Britain which was not also a coalfield; it lies in the secondary rocks extending under much of the North Yorkshire Moors. There were also two deposits of magnetite adjacent to each other with some ironstone in Rosedale. Nodules found on the shore at Robin Hoods Bay near Whitby were shipped to Whitehill Furnace in the 18th century.1 Later the outcrop of the ironstone in the cliffs there was worked. Ironstone was sent to be assayed on several occasions in the early 19th century, but it was not until about 1850 that the continuation of this deposit inland began to be worked and ironworks to be built to smelt it.2

The next period of activity began about 1730 when members of the Wortley wiremills partnership built Seamer Forge, to exploit woods in what has come to be known as the Forge Valley, a few miles inland from Scarborough. The forge, like the wiremills, passed to the Cockshutt family and were usually managed by a member of that family until their closure in the early 19th century. There is not known to have been a furnace in the area at that time. The forge must either have used pig iron brought from southwest Yorkshire, or (more probably) American pig iron or scrap imported through Scarborough, though the surviving port books do not indicate any such imports. As already stated, the main period of exploitation of the Cleveland orefield did not start until the second half of the 19th century.

There is considerable evidence that the hills were well wooded in medieval times. Some 125 sites of probable early iron-working have been found; most of these were bloomeries of Roman, medieval or nondescript date.3 Amongst these were works belonging to Rievaulx Abbey in Bilsdale, which were operating in 1180 and probably by 1145. It is likely these continued in use throughout the Medieval period and shortly after the dissolution of the Abbey they were being used by Lambert Seimar under the Earl of Rutland, as grantee of the Abbey.4 These were succeeded by a very few works using the indirect process. Some three such ironworks are known or suspected. Of these good documentary evidence has been found only for Rievaulx. Works at Spiers at Hartoft End and Furnace Farm at Great Fryup are known only from litigation over wood use in the 1580s and 1590s and the discovery of remains.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Great Fryup: Furnace Farm

[1] NZ742069

This site appears in lists of bloomeries, but the farm name suggests the existence of a blast furnace. Between Furnace Farm and Furnace Bridge, there is a large slag heap. The vernacular terms for bloomery forges were ‘smithy’, ‘bloomsmithy’, ‘bransmithy’, and ‘forge’. Elsewhere, as at Furness Mill, Helmington (Durham), the use of ‘furnace’, in a place-name almost invariably proves to be the site of an ironworks; the only possible exceptions are where (as here) evidence is lacking. The whole of the manor of Danby belonged to the Danvers family from 1577 until 1655, when much of it was sold to sitting tenants, the new lord of the manor merely being the buyer of its unsold parts. No ironworks is mentioned in the detailed documentation arising from this sale, and it is therefore likely any ironworks had already closed. When Furnace Farm was built an ‘ingot’ of iron was found, marked or stamped with letters or figures. This might describe a pig of iron, for example a furnace lintel, but bar iron was marked in Sweden and Russia and only by the best producers in the 19th century: earlier English practice is uncertain.

Useful accounts relating to Rievaulx survive at Belvoir Castle, and were studied by H.R. Schubert, for whom they were an important source on metallurgical technology in the late 16th century, but I have not had access to them. The last reference to the ironworks at Rievaulx is from 1647 and this was the last of the iron industry in the area (with one exception) for two centuries.5 It is presumed this disappearance had the same causes as that in County Durham. However the Cleveland ore comes from the same geological formation as that which was the basis of the

Cookson l/b, 28 Jul. 1755 & 9 Jan. 1757; Hastings 1981, 31. Birch 1967, 331-32; Kendall 1893, 36. 3 Hayes 1978. 4 Hayes 1978, 24; McDonnell 1963, 459; 1972, 116 123; Schubert 1957, app.vii; Awty 1960, 250-51. 5 Schubert 1957, passim. 1

In 1590, depositions taken accused Sir John ‘Davers’ [Danvers] and his clerk Robert Hytche of converting timber to fuel for ironmaking in Lelam [Leaholm] Park, Crompton or Cromkyll Gyll and Danby Forest, in 1587 to

2

129

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 6. North Yorkshire Moors. 1, Great Fryup: Furnace Farm; 2, Rievaulx Ironworks: Furnace; 3, Rievaulx Ironworks: Forge; 4, Seamer Forge, at East Ayton; 5, Spiers Furnace, Hartoft End; 6, Bilsdale Smithy; 7, Blackburn’s Mill.

1589. This points to the existence of an ironworks, which at this period would have comprised a furnace and a forge, but the location of any forge is unknown. Ironworkers occur in Danby Parish Register until 1621.

of 1642 shows that 788 acres of wood had been cut in the previous sixteen years, the period probably representing one cycle of coppicing, suggesting the production of about 100 tpa was sustainable from the estate’s own woods.

Sources TNA, E 133/6/871; E 133/7/1055; Awty 2019, 735-6; Hayes 1978, 21; Atkinson 1884, 44n etc.; 1891, 165-6 cf. 295; cf. VCH Yorks, North Riding ii, 332-3 348-9; TNA, C 104/84-5 (deeds of manor of Danby, including land in Leaholm and Glaisedale – no ironworks mentioned).

Trading In 1582 iron was being sold at the Earl’s storehouse at York. In 1605 the earl gave security for the delivery on board keels at York of 710 tons of iron.

Rievaulx Ironworks: Furnace Forge

Sources Schubert 1957, 385 and passim (see index); HMC 12th Rep., App. I (Belvoir) 138-9 149 & 261; HMC Rutland iv, 484 491 & 494; TNA, SC 6/Hen. VIII/4553, m.1; SC 12/22/36; Rye 1900, 76-7; Hayes 1978, 24; McDonnell 1963, 175-79; 1972; Stone 1965, 347; Ferguson et al. 2006, 30 42-3; cf. VCH Yorks, North Riding i, 492 & 502.

Accounts and other papers are preserved at Belvoir Castle, but I have not examined them.

[2] SE575851 [3] SE576830

The monks of Rievaulx owned two bloomery forges at the dissolution, one of which was south of the Abbey (below the scite of the monastery), and may therefore have preceded the forge. That one was in 1539 late in the tenure of Lambert Sem’, probably Lambert Seimar, who worked them from 1541 for the Earl of Rutland when he took over the Abbey after its dissolution (see also Bilsdale Smithy below). Alone of the ironworks of the North Yorkshire Moors, this one is reasonably well documented. A furnace and forge were built by the third Earl of Rutland in 15778 and descended with Rievaulx Abbey and the manor of Helmsley. These passed on the death of the sixth Earl in 1632 to his daughter Katherine and her husband the Duke of Buckingham. Their younger son, Lord Francis Villiers had the ironworks in use in 1647, the last known reference. The furnace was close to the reredorter of Rievaulx Abbey; a slag heap is reported at SE576851, close to a later corn mill. The forge was further down Ryedale, where the forge leat has been misinterpreted as a “canal”.

Seamer Forge, at East Ayton

[4] SE984871

The forge does not appear in the 1717 or 1736 lists, nor in an estate survey of 1735. It was however built about 1730 by Matthew Wilson, William Murgatroyd, and James Oates of the Wortley wiremills partnership. William Murgatroyd was declared bankrupt in 1738 and it presumably passed, like the wiremills, to John Cockshutt I as Wilson’s legatee; a Mr Cockshutt certainly held it in 1762. In 1780 the rent was increased from £10 to £40 per annum, evidently at the end of a long lease, and from then until at least 1794 the tenant was Edward Cockshutt. He had been succeeded by 1798 by Joseph Bland (his brother-in-law or nephew). The forge was advertised to let from Ladyday 1803, but may have closed about then. It was certainly closed by 1811. It stood in Forge Valley, a deep wooded valley, to the north of East Ayton, the woods now being a national nature reserve. There are some foundations near the site, but it is not clear of these

Size In 1591/2 in a blast lasting exactly six months 192 tons of pig iron and cast necessaries were made (Schubert 1957, 401-6), enough to make 140 tpa bar iron. A survey 130

Chapter 6: North Yorkshire Moors are those of the forge, or of Ayton Forge Cottages, which appear on early ordinance maps.

furnace site is close to Spiers Bank House and just east of the parish boundary of Lastingham, whose main manor was Spaunton. The furnace is thus to be linked to Taverner and Brockman. Their clerk was Mr Hamond and they had a hammerman Mabrey, whose presence implies a forge somewhere nearby, probably on the river Seven. In 1593 Thomas Russell of Warbleton, Sussex claimed his late father Richard had been employed by Robert Taverner of Raynham, Essex to manage a furnace and forge in Cropton and had spent £50 of his own money on stock, but William Horseley a local landowner (the crown’s lessee of the manor of Cropton) asserted that Taverner had granted Spiers to Hugh Bethell and Thomas Blenkarne, under whom Horsley then occupied the ironworks. Litigation over the cutting of wood in the area continued for some years, but the ironworks was probably relatively shortlived, as the tops and lops of trees in woods in Spaunton including one called Spyers were being apparently used to make charcoal for glass making from 1607.

The forge was remote from any obvious source of pig iron; it is to be presumed that it was built because there was a wood available to provide charcoal. In 1790 iron was sold locally in small amounts at £20 per ton. Some, perhaps most, was carried to Scarborough and then shipped to Newcastle at a cost of eleven shillings per ton. The forge does not seem to have been in full production in the preceding period, suggesting that it was by this period only marginally profitable. Size 1750 120 tpa. In 1790 there were two hammers each weighing 45 stones (about 5½ cwt.) operated by a single hammer wheel and three hearths, only two of which were fit for use; 1794 1 finery 1 chafery and 1 balling furnace. Associations The same partnership built Derby slitting mill in 1734 and it was probably held either by the proprietors of Wortley Wire Mills or their close associates throughout its life. The desire of Rupert Hurst (who was Thomas Tomkyns’ manager at Oakamoor) to go to Scarborough in 1728 (King 2015b, 82) is probably unrelated.

Sources TNA, E 178/2655; LR 1/185, 34; E 133/7/1055; E 133/6/871; STAC 8/64/7; E 112/54/517; E 112/53/486; Awty 2019, 735; Scarborough & District Arch. Soc. Trans. 1975, 3(18), 30; Hayes 1970, 11 16; 1978, 23; McDonnell 1963; 1978; cf. (as to manor) TNA, LR 1/182, 191; LR 1/190, 143; LR 1/197, 274 281.

Trading William Murgatroyd bought 20 tons of Backbarrow pig iron in 1732 and up to 35 tpa. Invergarry pig iron in the previous two years in both cases from Nehemiah Champion of Bristol, but it is not clear whether these were used here or at Wortley. However, the direct sales (of 69 tons and 85 tons respectively) from Backbarrow to James Oates & Co in 1732 and 1737 were certainly for this forge (BB a/c; Invergarry a/c). In 1754, it was using 150 tpa American pig iron (Angerstein’s Diary, 228-30).

Bloomsmithies Bilsdale Smithy

As elsewhere in the Moors, Bilsdale has long been the site of bloomeries, whose presence is indicated by place names such as Smiddales (SE575953), recorded in 1145. This was at times explicitly named as Ironsmiths Dale, a side valley occupied by Kyloe Cow Beck, which joins the river Seph at Low Mill. A little further south is the name Smithy Ellers (SE574951). In 1539, Richard Rawlinson had an ‘yron smethes’ with liberty to dig ore, but in 1541, a bloomery in the valley at Laskelle (now Laskill), under Lambert Seimar, was making iron under the Earl of Rutland. This was then taken to a hammersmithy, perhaps at Rievaulx itself; if so, probably a predecessor of the forge there.

Picture: Hinderwell 1798, 294. Sources TNA, C 12/1575/31-34; Sheffield Archives, SpSt60514/39; East Yorks Archives, DD Lo, box 17(c), letters from Robert Dunn and William Binks; box 8(b), rentals; box 9(a), rentals and 1735 inventory; West Ayton Inclosure Map; Hinderwell 1798, 294 & 1811, 327; Leeds Intelligencer, 4 Oct. 1802; Hastings 1981, 31; Raistrick and Allen 1939, 169 & 172; Hopkinson 1961, 136. Spiers Furnace, Hartoft End

[6] possibly SE572954

[5] SE752931

Sources Schubert 1957, 148 and app.vii; cf. Hayes 1978, 24; McDonnell 1963, 459; 1972, 116 123.

A dam up to eight feet high and up to eighteen feet wide and some 50 yards long stanked up water for a furnace a short distance to the southwest. The remains of this furnace stand some four or five feet high (Scarborough Trans.). A potential profit of 40 shillings per year is recorded in 1583 for the sale of ironstone, moor coal (i.e. peat) and quarries in a wood called Cropton Spiers: this hardly seems enough for a furnace, but the crown granted a lease to Thomas England. However, depositions were taken in 1590 accused Robert Taverner and John Brockman of cutting timber and converting it to charcoal for ironmaking, in the previous two and a half years in the lordships or grounds of Spayers and Spawyngton [Spaunton]. The identified

Other ironworks Blackburn’s Mill

[7] perhaps NZ893097

In 1801, the building lease of a corn mill, with twenty four years unexpired, on the south side of the navigable river Esk, one mile from Whitby was advertised for sale. This had initially been intended as an iron forge. As the term of the original lease is not stated, it is not clear when or for how long it was a forge. It is not clear what mill this advert refers to. The location given appears on O.S. maps as Batts Foundry and is now on the north side of the 131

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Esk, on a tidal stretch of the river. It is however south of the parish boundary that elsewhere follows the river. The river appears to have been diverted when a railway was built down the Esk valley. R. Hutton of Batt’s Foundry advertised the sale ‘furnaces’ (large vessels), giving his address as Steam Mill Yard, a name possibly indicating his power source. Sources York Herald, 17 Jan. 1801; cf. Whitby Gazette, 12 Jul. 1762.

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7 Northern West Riding Introduction

At Tanfield, Brimham, and Somerbridge a dearth of ore may have limited their lives, more than a shortage of fuel, but the evidence is clear that the problem at Shipley was technological.3

From the river Wear to the southwest of Durham to the river Wharfe north of Leeds and Bradford is an area where the geological uplift that formed the Pennines also lifted the coal measures, which must have continued between the Yorkshire and Northeastern coalfields. As a result, the coal measures have largely been eroded away, so that their base lies exposed in a few places on the tops of the moors. The result is that the sources of ironstone that formed the basis of the iron industry elsewhere are absent. Generally this would be so severe a disadvantage as to militate against the establishment of any iron industry at all.1 Nevertheless there were several attempts to establish iron production mostly in the 1590s.

This essentially non-ironmaking area was the scene of some of the earliest (but unsuccessful) attempts to use mineral coal in iron-making: Thomas Proctor, who had the first patent for the use of mineral coal had works at Brimham in Nidderdale and then at Shipley, near the river Wharfe close to Bradford. In 1595 Sir Robert Cecil, whose brother owned Tanfield, had another, a matter known to the Countess of Cumberland, who with her partners owned the Crimple works. Subsequent patentees of pitcoal smelting (so far as they had any ironworks at all) worked in other areas, including Robert Chantrell, who was connected with Monmouth Forge and the Pentyrch works, north of Cardiff (but only before he had the patent) and Lord Dudley, whose natural son Dud Dudley ran Cradley ironworks and other furnaces for him in south Staffordshire.4 As far as is known all these attempts proved unsuccessful either technologically or commercially. Iron was not smelted with coke in Yorkshire until the second half of the 18th century, as will appear in subsequent chapters.

All were short-lived and it is often unclear where their iron ore came from. It could be the spathic ores of the Weardale area, found in veins surrounding lead ore, which provided the basis of the 19th century iron industry of Weardale. These ores may similarly have been used further north at Allensford and Wheelbirks, both discussed in chapter 5. However, there may have been a local source, perhaps one that was soon worked out. The ironworks on Crimple Beck (near Harrogate) and also that at Shipley, just south of the river Wharfe presumably relied on ironstone from the northern extremity of the Yorkshire coalfield, but the two ironworks, in the area between the coalfields have no obvious source of supply. It is possible there were also small quantities of spathic ore available, since they were in or near the lead mining district; or they may have exploited some minor source such as nodules of ironstone in the Namurian beds, which provided the basis for the medieval ironworking at Dacre in Nidderdale. Bell pits have been found in Stonebeck Down.2 This or some other outcrop of the same geological formation may have supplied the furnace at Brimham.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Brimham Furnace

The furnace was probably built in the early 1580s and by Thomas Proctor, a heavily indebted local landowner, who owned Warsill, one of the granges of Fountains Abbey, and whose son Stephen later built Fountains Hall. It would seem he experimented with smelting iron with coal, presumably due to a scarcity of wood and eventually obtained a patent for this, but by then the furnace was out of his hands, having in 1586 been sold to William Brokebank, a member of the London Grocers Company. William Grene of Egham, Surrey, possibly a relative of Stephen’s father-in-law, considered buying this Brimham property and took Thomas Dyke, a Wealden ironmaster to see it, as Grene knew nothing of ironworks. Dyke professed not to be interested, but to Grene’s annoyance subsequently bought the property. Dyke was prosecuted in 1590 for using great timber to make charcoal for

As elsewhere in the Pennines there were scattered bloomeries in the medieval period, which probably implies the Pennines were more heavily wooded than today. As in south Wales, the combination of ironmasters (who were prepared to pay for wood) and sheep (which prevented regrowth after felling) proved fatal to woodlands, but the situation may well have been aggravated by pollution from lead smelting. It is thus not unlikely that the environs of each of the ironworks was more wooded at the end of the 16th century than today. All the ironworks were relatively early and almost certainly short-lived.

Q.v Schubert 1957, 227-9; Ashton 1924, 10-12; HMC Hatfield House v, 159: for Chantrell at Monmouth: TNA, C 33/110/286 & 391; STAC 8/218/16; C 2/Jas. I/C22/69; for Dudley: King 1996a; 2002b. 3 4

1 2

[1] perhaps SE224644

For background to this area, see Jennings 1992a. Blacker et al. 1996, 144-6.

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Map 7. Northern West Riding. 1, Brimham Furnace; 2, Crimple Ironworks in Knaresborough Forest; 3, Crimple Ironworks in Knaresborough Forest; 4, Dacre; 5, Shipley Furnace; 6, Shipley Hurst Forge; 7, Somerbridge Forge; 8, West Tanfield Furnace and Forge; 9, West Tanfield Furnace and Forge; 10, Bolton in Craven Smithy.

ironmaking in Warsill and Dacre Pasture, but Thomas Were deposed that any timber had been reserved. When he made his will in 1615 Dyke owned it jointly with his sons but left it to Thomas Dyke jun. It is not clear how long the works remained in use, nor even that it was actually at Brimham. A forge has been suggested at Warsill Corn Mill, but it became a corn mill by 1635. It is more likely that Summerbridge was the associated forge: it is known to be operating in 1592. The precise site of the furnace remains open to question.

in 1596 as to rebuilding it reported that George Earl of Cumberland had built an ironworks there and there was a suitable place to rebuild the corn mill and another ironworks and also a pond and a house to go with them. The commissioners staked out three acres of ground to be held with the house. The two ironworks were a furnace and forge respectively above Almsford Bridge and at the later Crimple Mill. The objective was apparently to exploit Thomas Proctor’s patent for smelting iron with coal, peat, and charcoal, that is a mixed fuel. The lease was granted to the Earl of his existing ‘newly built’ ironworks and the sites for the new buildings and so on for twenty one years. The earl also bought a large quantity of wood growing in the Earl of Northumberland’s manor of Spofforth in 1595, on the expiry of which grant in 1611 the ironworks probably closed. Production of 100 tpa pig iron and 70 tpa bar iron from it has been suggested. There are some remains of leats at Crimple Mill (now a farm), but these will be at least as much the remains of the corn mill as of the shortlived ancient ironworks.

This descent of Brimham Furnace does not fit with that of the Ingilby estates there, which included the manor of Brimham, extending into Dacre and to Fellbeck in Low Bishopside (i.e. Pateley Bridge), and the Dykes may therefore have owned Brimham Lodge. No mines are known in the immediate area of Brimham, but an outcrop of the Namurian ironstone nodules (not far away) may have been used, such as were mined and smelted in medieval times on the Fountains Abbey estates in Dacre. Sources Collinson 1996; Blacker et al. 1997; Hodgkinson 2015b, 50; Awty 2019, 733-6; TNA, E 133/7/1055; E 133/6/871-2; E 178/2705; STAC 5/G14/27; North Yorks RO, ZAZ, Mic.1987/0432; cf. Leeds Archives, Ingilby 442-452 2635 2641 etc.; Speight 1906, 226. Crimple Ironworks (Knaresborough Forest)

Sources TNA, DL 44/584; DL 42/37A, 31v-32v; Spence 1992, 162-7; Leeds Archives, Ingilby 2824; West Sussex RO, PHA 3429 (map); Schubert 1957, 277; Stone 1965, 347; Awty 2019, 736-7.

[2] furnace: SE307524 [3] forge: SE330538

Shipley Furnace Shipley Hurst Forge

Fullwith Mill lying on the north side of the Crimple Beck or Water, in what are now the outskirts of Harrogate, was burned down accidentally. A commission issued

[5] perhaps SE149372 [6] perhaps SE123382

This early ironworks is virtually only known from litigation. Thomas Proctor had a bloomsmithy at Shipley;

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Chapter 8: The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire he claimed to have smelted ‘Crackers’ ironstone using coal. In 1589 he took out a patent to smelt iron and lead with coal mixed with peat and charcoal and started to build a blast furnace to exploit his invention. He and his sons then persuaded Edward Cage to spend his own money building or completing a furnace and forge. However the Proctors’ work was of little use, because the leat had been made so that the water would not run to the furnace and because the furnace walls were too thin. After Thomas Proctor’s death, his sons brought proceedings seeking a royalty (or such like) from Cage. This was resisted on the grounds that iron made from Crackers ironstone was unsaleable. An attempt was made to refine pig iron made by Proctor’s method at Somerbridge Forge. It was found that 5 cwt ‘rough iron’ only made 2 cwt of very bad bar iron and so much charcoal was used in refining that the process would have made a loss even if the pig iron was free. The minute yield suggests that the iron was highly redshort, no doubt due to sulphur in the coal.

Sources TNA, E134/35 & 36 Eliz/Mich./34; STAC 5/ G14/27; North Yorks RO, ZAZ, Mic.1987/0432; cf. Leeds Archives, Ingilby 442-452 2635 2641 etc.; Speight 1906, 226. West Tanfield Furnace and Forge Furnace: [8] about SE262784 Forge: [9] about SE263780 The very existence of this ironworks would probably be unknown, but for record of the sale of hammers and anvils from Rievaulx in 1615-17 and for field names. It lay on the northern side of the river Ure, where it leaves the hills. The Tanfield estate belonged to the Cecil Earls of Exeter and subsequently descended to the Marquesses of Aylesbury. The Red Deer Park there was disparked and let off in several parcels in 1628. This would probably have been preceded by the clearance of trees from the park, very probably by using them to make iron. However, beyond that, no more can be said of it, nor is it known where ore was obtained. It is noteworthy that Sir Robert Cecil had a patent for smelting iron with pitcoal in 1595, having taken an assignment of Thomas Proctor’s. Some iron and nails were sold to the Earl of Cumberland for building his forge at Brougham in Westmoreland in 1619.

The furnace stood on ground called Bruecroft belonging to Thomas Wayles of Wyndale and Richard Jewett of Rowley in Bradford and the forge was at Shipley Hurst, both in Shipley manor. Thomas Proctor’s bloomsmithy was somewhere else in Shipley: Shipley or Gawcliffe Smithies containing the usual bloomsmithy and ‘stringsmithy’, mentioned in a survey of the manor of Idle in 1584. This was probably on Bradford Beck close to Shipley, probably near Windhill in Idle manor. It had been occupied by Richard Wille in 1579. The implication seems to be that the works were in use. Thus it is likely Edward Cage was making iron there in the usual way, but not for very long.

Sources Schubert 1957, 389; Spence 1991, 103; Awty 2019, 736-7; cf. Schubert 1957, 227; Ashton 1924, 10; Blacker et al. 1996, 135; cf. North Yorks RO, ZBS/70-85 etc.; ZJX/4/2-4. Other ironworks

Sources Collinson 1996; Schubert 1957, 227; Awty 2019, 723 736; TNA, E 134/35 & 36 Eliz/Mich 34; Baildon 1913-26, ii, 232-41; Jennings 1992a, 152; cf. Speight 1906, 219-232. Somerbridge Forge

Bolton in Craven Smithy

[10] perhaps SE082576

Lambert Semer of Rievaulx (d.1558) left his sons his tools at his ‘smedyes’ at Bolton in Craven. Awty suggests this was at Smithyman Nook in the Valley of Deolation in upper Wharfdale, pointing to scoriae at Aigill.

[7] possibly SE196628

A forge of this name, presumably a finery forge, existed in 1594, presumably at Summer Bridge on the Nidd near Pateley Bridge, when it was used to try ‘rough iron’ made at Shipley. Its then proprietors were not named, save as the ‘forgemasters.’ Francis Sharroe (d.1601) may have worked there. The mill at Summer Bridge (SE199623) lay on the Dacre side of the river and was subsequently a corn mill, which enjoyed suit of mill from farms in the neighbourhood, which were in turn, under long leases granted in 1603, responsible for maintenance of the mill dam. If that was where the forge was, then it was evidently closed by 1603. Alternatively however it may have preceded another of the mills there, most probably New York Mill, which was later a flax mill and afterwards a hemp spinning mill. The forge probably operated with the ironworks at Brimham, whose history it therefore shares. This suggests that the ‘forgemasters’ were members of the Dyke family.

Sources Awty 2019, 210. Dacre

doubtful

In about 1151, minerals in the Forest of Nidderdale were granted to Fountains Abbey. In 1308, an agreement was made limited the Abbey to their forge at Dacre and one other, these being moveable from place to place. The tithes of iron mines were mentioned in 1362, but are not mentioned in the Abbey accounts in the mid-15th century. The site or sites (SE190622 and SE195623), on what is now called Smelt Maria Dyke and Smeltman Rashe, may have been bloomery forges, rather than the furnace suggested by Blacker et al. However, the term ‘smelt’ is much more associated with lead production than iron. This name may derive from a late 16th century smelt mill, or even a 15th century slag hearth. Sources Blacker et al. 1996.

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8 The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire Introduction

single network.3 Their common faith has only very little more relevance than that the Shore family (of Sheffield), the Finch family (of Dudley and Cambridge), the Kendall family (of Stourbridge and elsewhere) and the Wilkinson family (of Bersham and elsewhere) were all Presbyterians. Indeed, some of the partners in John Fell & Co held offices at Sheffield that imply they were churchmen (not Quakers).4

As described in the preceding chapter, there has been between County Durham and West Yorkshire a geological uplift, followed by the erosion of almost the whole of the coal measures in northern Yorkshire, so that ironworks are equally almost absent. This dearth ends on the northern edge of the west Yorkshire clothing district, which also had a few ironworks. That area is marked by the presence of powerful rivers flowing in the deep valleys, particularly the Aire and Calder. These valleys penetrate deep into the Pennines and provided convenient routes across the hills. A couple of the ironworks included in this chapter actually lay on the Lancashire side of the hills. The rivers Aire and Calder were made navigable into the heart of the industrial district in the early 18th century, providing a cheap means of egress for goods.1

In Yorkshire, landowners often sold wood, not by the cord, but by the acre. Sometimes wood bargains were taken by a partnership only some of whom were ironmasters, who then sold charcoal to their ironworks. This was therefore the source of a separate profit or loss. The Spencer archive thus includes accounts for various wood partnerships. Sales of minerals, both coal and ironstone, were frequently also by the acre, rather than by the load or ton. In the case of minerals, the reason for this may be that early workings were invariably by means of bellpits, which were often surrounded by a mound of spoil which prevented the use of the land other than for grazing. In the industrial revolution, this was evidently a convenient method of sale and is sometimes found elsewhere.

The coalfield extends southwards almost to Derby and further portions of it will be described in two subsequent chapters. The iron industry in Yorkshire was closely integrated at some periods and it has been not easy to identify a convenient boundary between districts, between this one and the Sheffield area. Accordingly an organisational demarcation has been chosen, so that this chapter is mainly concerned with the Spencer family and their associates and the following one with the ironworks managed by the Fell family of Attercliffe for themselves and various other partners. Some authors have referred to most of the Yorkshire ironworks as belonging to the ‘Spencer group’. This is misleading, as the Spencer family were only sleeping partners (mere investors) in the works round Sheffield. This also applied at times even in their own area. They were also concerned in Staveley and Carburton, even further south, for nearly thirty years. This was a joint venture between Spencer & Co and the Sheffield group, but was managed separately from either of them. The concept of the ‘Spencer group’ is more an artefact of survival of archives and of their description by Raistrick than the result of any genuine coherence of all the various groups of works concerned,2 though, as will appear, at some periods most of the Yorkshire ironmasters worked very closely together. Similarly the fact that John Fell and some (only) of his partners and also the Backbarrow Company (in Furness), the Coalbrookdale Company (in Shropshire), the Lloyd family (of Dolobran, Monts and Birmingham), and Reynolds, Getley & Co, later Harford, Partridge & Co, (of Bristol) were all Quakers is no reason to suggest (as someone did) they all formed a

1 2

Apart from a few short-lived ventures at the end of the 16th century near or beyond northern edge of the coalfield (dealt with in the previous chapter), the iron industry remained based on the bloomery process well into the 17th century. Early archaeologists identified a number of bloomeries, usually on the sides of valleys rather than on the summits. Most were undated, having been identified from place-name evidence.5 Within the coalfield almost every township seems to have had a smithy (that is bloomery forge). Thomas Barnby of Barnby was perhaps one of the most important ironmasters in the area in his time, though the extent of his activities is not certain. At least some of his works were smithies (bloomery forges); it is possible they all were. Before 1618 his daughter, Frances, married Walter Spencer of London.6 This was probably what brought into the area the Spencer family, whose origins were on the Welsh borders. Thomas Barnby was interested in Silkstone smithies from 1609 and claimed some title to Colnbridge Forge in 1623. At Barnby, where there was still a bloomery in 1635, the furnace stood on his land. Sir Richard Beaumont, mentioned in 1623 as a former occupant of Colnbridge Forge, was also a partner The notion, apparently first formulated by Hyde (1977, 16) but repeated by others, that they were a network is the result of the overinterpretation of material in Raistrick 1950. 4 Hey 1991, 213-7. 5 Maill 1870; Kerr 1892; Maxim 1919; Newell 1918; 1925, 208-17; Jennings 1992b, 40. 6 TNA, C 2/Jas.I/B6/68. 3

Unwin 1964 and 1967; Wilson 1969. Raistrick 1938; Raistrick & Allen 1939.

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Map 8. Pennine Dales. 1, Nether Bank Furnace; 2, New or Upper Bank Furnace; 3, Barnby Furnace; 4, Bretton Furnace; 5, Colnbridge Forge; 6, Holmes Chapel Furnace; 7, Hunslet Ironworks; 8, Kilnhurst Forge; 9, Kirkstall Forge; 10, Knottingley Forge; 11, Monkbretton Smithies; 12, Ramsden Furnace; 13, Rockley Lower Furnace; 14, Rockley Upper Furnace; 52, Wentbridge; 15, Wortley Forges: Top; 16, Wortley Forges: Bottom; 17, Wortley Tinmill (in Hunshelf); 18, Wortley Wire Mills:Old Wire Mill; 19, Wortley Wire Mills:New Wire Mill; 20, Wortley Wire Mills:Tilt; 21, Barnsley Smithy; 22, Colne Smithies at Lepton; 23, Cawthorne; 24, Dodsworth; 25, Farnley Smithies; 26, Oxspring Smithy; 27, Rakehead: Smithy Croft; 28, Rockley Smithies; 29, Rothwell Haigh; 30, Silkstone Smithies; 31, Stainborough Smithies; 32, Weetwood and Hesylwell Smithies; 33, Holbeck Forge; 34, Holm House Mill, Warley; 35, Oxspring wire mill; 36, Swamp Hall, Liversedge; 37, Swamp Mills, Boulder Clough, Sowerby; 38, Swamp Mills, Boulder Clough, Sowerby; 39, Thornhill Lees Forge, Dewsbury; 40, Bierley Ironworks; 41, Birkenshaw Ironworks; 42, Bowling Ironworks; 43, Calder Furnace; 44, Emroyd Furnace; 45, Fieldhead Furnace; 46, Low Moor Ironworks; 47, Royds Furnaces; 48, Seacroft Furnace; 49, Shelf Furnace; 50, Silkstone Furnace, at Low Mill; 51, Swallow Hill Furnaces.

in Silkstone Smithies until 1621. Possibly a furnace at Ramsden near Todmorden, whose existence may be inferred from a late 19th century description, could have been the first supplier of pig iron to Colnbridge, where a finery is mentioned in 1623, but the date and the history of that furnace remain wholly unknown;7 or perhaps the ‘finery’ was merely the bloomhearth of a bloomery

forge, according to the terminology of Furness in the 17th century.8 Of a different status, but perhaps of similar significance, were the Wood family: Ambrose Wood was a partner in Wortley Smithies prior to 1621. William Wood of Masbrough inherited a share in Silkstone Smithies and built Wortley wiremills in the later 17th century. He was succeeded in 1692 by his son, John, who owned the

7 Colnbridge: Bradford Archives, SpSt 5/5/4/1; Silkstone: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/1; Barnby: Raistrick & Allen 1939, 130; Ramsden: q.v.

8

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Awty & Phillips 1980; and see chapter 40.

Chapter 8: The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire John Spencer of Criggion, Monts Fownes _________|____________________________ _________ | | | | | | Frances dau of = Walter John I Randolph Elizabeth= William Gilbert Thomas Barnby | c.1600-1658 | Fownes Fownes ________|__ | (d.c.1647) | | | | William Edward Mary = Russell John II Wilson Allsopp 1629-81 ______________________ | | | | John Spencer III= Ann Matthew Susannah c.1655-1729 = Rev. Thomas _________|_________ Cockshutt | | | William Edward John Cockshutt I c.1696-1756 d.1729 (1692-1765) ___________________| ___________________| | | | | | John Spencer IV Ann=Walter John II James Thomas 1719-1775 Stanhope (d.1789) (d.1819) | Walter Spencer-Stanhope The Spencer family tree.

wiremill until his death in 1722. The wiremills were then let to a partnership associated with Wortley Forges.9 This John Wood was, like his father, the slitter at Rotherham slitting mill and concerned in building Swalwell Mill (Durham) in 1702.10

works. The lease of Barnby was renewed in 1665, which suggests it was built in 1644. In 1675 Bancks, Allsopp, and Fownes sold their interest in Kirkstall Forge and Barnby Furnace to Thomas Dickin and William Cotton II, who at once brought in John Spencer, Edward’s cousin. William Cotton had leased Colnbridge in 1665, added a slitting mill to it, and made Dickin as his partner there. Wortley and Bank were leased to Lionel Copley prior to his death in 1675. They then passed with his Sheffield Works to William Simpson and his partners, of whom more in the next chapter. From 1690, they should have been occupied, with Sheffield Forge, by John Eyre and Lionel Copley II, but Eyre became bankrupt and Copley went abroad. The origins of that business are unclear, but may be related to a lease of Rockley Furnace to John Eyre and two others in 1682.12 The result was that Sidney Wortley found it necessary to take the forges in hand and run them himself, until in 1695 they were let to Thomas Dickin, and they thus rejoined the group led by the Spencer family.

Spencer firms The events of the mid-17th century can only be inferred. By 1658 a partnership consisting of John Spencer (3 shares), Elizabeth Fownes and her son John (1 share) and William Cotton, as executor of his mother-in-law Elizabeth Fownes (1 share) had Bank and Barnby Furnaces and Wortley and Colnbridge Forges. The original partners in this firm seem to have been John Spencer I and William and Gilbert Fownes. Certain old debts belonged to the same partners equally, suggesting Spencer contributed all the capital on some expansion of the firm; Kirkstall Forge was added to it in 1658. In about 1660 Edward Spencer inherited his father’s shares and transferred one of them to his brotherin-law, Russell Allsopp in satisfaction of a legacy. He later assigned the others as security for money due. Also about 1660 John Bankes bought William Cotton’s share, and their partnership apparently continued until about 1675.11

Many of the ironmasters mentioned came to Yorkshire from Shropshire. The Spencer family, from Criggion on the Montgomeryshire border, were introduced to the area through the marriage of Randolph Spencer, a London merchant, as already mentioned. William Fownes was a partner of William Boycott in a series of ironworks in Shropshire and adjacent parts of Wales from the 1620s to the 1650s.13 The Cotton family, though related, were probably already involved in the iron industry. William Cotton I’s father, Thomas Cotton, who died at Weston under Lizard (Shropshire) in 1671, was perhaps related to William Catton of Kemberton, who was an assistant to the

Bank Furnace and Wortley Forge belonged to the Wortley family. The expiry in 1642 of a 1621 lease is marked by an alteration in the terms of a trust deed, giving the current owner of the estate the right to cut a quantity of wood that could only be needed for a furnace and forge; this probably marks the beginning of this partnership’s interest in those

9 10 11

Will of William Wood: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 64713/6; q.v. Slitter: SIR Y a/c, Rotherham Mill; Swalwell: q.v. TNA, CHES 16/89, Allsopp v Spencer; cf. Mott 1972.

12 13

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TNA, C 6/413/19. VCH Shrops viii, 89; Edwards 1958, 189; Awty 1957, 82.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I it may have been intended to supply the Willmott family’s Upper Mitton Forge in north Worcestershire, but there is no sign of the arrival of any of its pig iron at Gloucester nor, in sample coastal port books examined, of its departure from Lancashire ports.16 Members of the Cotton family probably remained partners at Colnbridge until 1732, when their share was bought by John and Francis Watts, who had become managers there and at Kirkstall where they also bought shares. John Watts had previously, around 1715, managed the Staveley Works and his brother, Francis, managed the ‘Company of the North’.17

clerk of Lizard ironworks in the 1620s. William Cotton I was a partner of the Middletons of Chirk in Ruabon Furnace and Pontyblew Forge from 1665 (see family tree in chapter 13), his share passing on his death to his widow and his son William Cotton II, who went to Denbighshire each year to pass the accounts. From the 1680s until 1695, William Cotton II was a partner of Dennis Hayford in works in Cheshire, probably Lawton Furnace and Warmingham and Cranage Forges. At Cranage he remained a partner of Thomas Hall & Co for several years more. He similarly took shares with Hayford and Simpson in Upper Bank Furnace and Knottingley Forge and in their ‘North Works’ (near Newcastle). Thomas Dickin’s share of the Cheshire Works was probably an asset of the Colnbridge partnership. Thomas Hall was also a cousin and developed a substantial business for them in Cheshire and Staffordshire, which will be described in chapters 12 and 13.14

In 1722 Burley sold half his share of Wortley Forge and Bank Furnace to Matthew Wilson and James Oates, who became their managers respectively. About the same time John Spencer III transferred a third of his share to his sons William and Edward. A related partnership, including William Murgatroyd (the intended manager) and William and Edward Spencer, but not their father, took over the Wortley Wiremill in 1723. Matthew Wilson built a second wiremill a few years later and also a tilt forge. Then, he with Oates and Murgatroyd built Seamer Forge near Scarborough in 1730, but William Spencer declined to take up the offer of a share there. John Spencer III and his son Edward both died in 1729. John Spencer’s remaining share was divided between his sons, but Edward, considering himself ill-used by his brother, left his estate to his uncle, Matthew Wilson, on whose death in 1738, Edward’s share passed with his own and the rest of his estate to his nephew, John Cockshutt, but that is to get ahead of events.18

In the 18th century, the Spencer works were run by several separate partnerships. This was partly a consequence of the events that followed the sudden and untimely death of Thomas Dickin II in 1701 from a fall from a horse. At Wortley, John Spencer III, claiming by survivorship, excluded the Dickin family and brought in Nicholas Burley and Matthew Woodhead in as partners. Burley brought into the partnership his wife’s share, as one of Dickin’s sisters, in Colnbridge and Kirkstall. Spencer excluded the Dickin sisters from Barnby by buying half the freehold. At Colnbridge where Cotton and Dickin had been partners without Spencer, the division of the works into two (and later eight) shares persisted until its closure towards the end of the 18th century, but there was a new partnership in 1706 where Anna Cotton had 2 shares and Spencer and Woodhead one each.15 At Kirkstall there were five shares, apparently representing Thomas Dickin’s five sisters. John Spencer III bought one of these shares in 1706 from Robert Willmott and his wife, another of the Dickin sisters. This fragmentation of ownership sowed the seeds of discord in the 1740s.

William Murgatroyd had, in 1734, built a slitting mill at Derby, which was brought into the Seamer partnership in 1736. Finding sales of iron difficult in the 1730s, Murgatroyd began to organise its manufacture into nails, both round Wortley and Derby. He lost money in this trade, and, when his ironworks partners refused in 1738 to join in paying these losses, he was unable to avoid bankruptcy. Having declined to join in establishing works at Seamer and Derby, William Spencer excluded his partners from participation in his shares of Colnbridge and Kirkstall Forges, as the leases came up for renewal in the early 1730s. About the time of Murgatroyd’s bankruptcy and following the deaths of most other partners, William Spencer took a lease of Bank Furnace and Wortley Forge by himself, while John Cockshutt, as Matthew Wilson’s heir and thus owner of the wiremills, in practice excluded Spencer from them,19 though after initial difficulties he slit Spencer’s iron. John Cockshutt had been his uncle’s assistant and had seriously considered going to America following his death.20

Holmes Chapel Furnace, just beyond the Lancashire boundary, remains enigmatic. It was built by 1703 probably by Robert Willmott, with John Spencer and Nicholas Burley becoming partners in 1713, after which it was probably blown in just twice. There was no potential market for the profitable sale of its products, and the large quantity of unsold pig iron there in the 1720s was mostly eventually carried to Preston and shipped off from there, leaving the furnace partnership with a loss. Possibly it was built after John Spencer III excluded the Dickens family from Bank and Barnby Furnaces and Wortley Forge, to prevent him from driving them out of the industry completely, by depriving them of pig iron. Alternatively

William Spencer assumed control of Wortley Forge in 1738, and brought Thomas Cope over from Cheshire Cf. Awty 1957, 90; Liverpool and Lancaster port books for 1697 and 1707; Gloucester Portbooks Database. 17 Watts diary; SIR Y a/c, 1707J, 18-19. 18 Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495; SpSt 162/1; q.v. 19 Q.v. 20 Spencer l/b, 23 Mar. 1738/9; 23 May 1739. 16

Edwards 1958, 159; Edwards 1960, 40-48; Awty 1957, 84-87; TNA, C 9/372/11; SIR Y a/c, 1707 J, 80-81; Foley, E12/VI/MDf/22-24; E12/ VI/MDc/2; E12/IV/18, inventory of Henry Glover; William Catton: TNA, E 134/5 Chas I/Mich 30. For the North Works see chapter 5. 15 TNA, C 11/2630/13. 14

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Chapter 8: The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire of their share there. The agreement was renewed for eleven years in 1699, and again in 1707 for a further eleven years; Rockley was allowed to go out of lease, the rent saved being divided in the same way.24 This division of the profits of Bank, Barnby, and Chappel Furnaces continued until June 1721, when the shares of Spencer & Co and the Sheffield partnership in the furnaces were equalised, the same change taking place at Staveley.25 The shares were again adjusted in 1727, so that Spencer & Co had sixelevenths and Fell & Co five-elevenths, an arrangement that persisted until 1738.26 After that each firm seems to have relied more on its own resources for pig iron.

(where Thomas Cotton could no longer give him work) to manage it, but he found it necessary to continue having his iron manufactured into nails in order to sell it. Slitting mills were widespread, but generally in Yorkshire usually only processed the products of their owners’ own forges. Much of the slitting was done by members of the Wood family who seem to have employed one or more sets of workmen and to have travelled round from mill to mill slitting wherever they were required. Kirkstall and Colnbridge each had its own slitting mill, as did Kilnhurst. Renishaw Mill (Derbs.) worked exclusively for Staveley and Carburton Forges, and Wortley’s slitting was done at the wiremill there. This system made inefficient use of capital, as only at Rotherham can the slitting mill even have approached being used to capacity, and the others must have lain idle much of the time. Evidence of the early use of imported iron for nailmaking in Yorkshire is scarce: William Spencer certainly sought to discourage its use in 1742, when trade was particularly difficult, but considered using it in 1748, when he no longer had a forge of his own. However it was Hull merchants, who, having supplied his Derby Mill with iron (presumably foreign) made William Murgatroyd bankrupt. The stock of the nail trade, evidently his, was found by the 1745 arbitrators to be in the hands of John Cockshutt and was therefore awarded to him.21

About 1728 a proposal was put forward for a similar sort of arrangement. By this time there were three active businesses; it was proposed that Spencer & Co should have 5/12ths, the Sheffield partners 4/12ths, and Kilnhurst, Thrybergh, and Mousehole the other 3/12ths,27 but this was apparently not implemented. Nevertheless pig iron from one firm was sometimes still used in forges belonging to others, but less commonly. Of course after Spencer lost Wortley, his Barnby Furnace had no forge and John Watts as manager of Colnbridge and Kirkstall had no furnace, so that they were in some degree dependent on each other. This relationship was also acrimonious at times, but this did not stop Watts also buying Bretton pig iron.28 An arbitration was begun in 1749, though not completed until after John Watts’ death. This was between him as manager of Kirkstall and Colnbridge Forges and William Spencer as owner of Barnby and former lessee of Bank, as to the price of pig iron, a matter that had been in contention for at least a decade.29 It is not improbable that most of the Spencer accounts that survive were prepared for the purpose of this arbitration and an earlier one referred to below. John Watts had managed both forges since the death of his brother in 1737. The shares of both brothers ultimately passed to Francis’ daughter, Susannah and her husband, William (later Sir William) Horton along with Barnes Hall in Ecclesfield.30

In this period there was another ironworks in the area, consisting of New or Upper Bank Furnace and Knottingley Forge. These were built at some unknown date prior to 1690, perhaps by Dr John Arthur. The furnace was about a mile from Nether Bank Furnace, rather too close for them both to get sufficient wood. It does not seem to have been used after the 1696, when all the Yorkshire ironmasters agreed to share their furnaces (of which more below). About 1691 William Cotton, Dennis Hayford and William Simpson took over the works. William Cotton’s share was paid out in 1720 and two years later Knottingley was retired, to preserve wood, and it is hardly heard of again. The descendants of Simpson and Hayford retained the farm where Upper Bank Furnace had been until the early 19th century, but it was merely a farm.22

The shares of William Cotton in ironworks had passed to his widow in 1703 and were paid off in 1720 to their son, William Westby Cotton, when he withdrew from Upper Bank, Knottingley and the ‘North account’ to establish a brand new ironworks comprising Bretton Furnace and Kilnhurst Forge, perhaps with Thrybergh Forge. His partners were Thomas Cotton and Edward Hall (two of his Cheshire ironmaster relatives), as well as Samuel Shore, the Sheffield merchant, who owned a farm at Kilnhurst, on which the forge stood. Shortly after this, they leased land at Stainborough in order to build another furnace, but availed themselves of a clause in the agreement enabling

In 1696 an agreement was reached between all the Yorkshire ironmasters that they should pool pig iron production, sending charcoal to the nearest works. This was evidently intended to prevent each other forcing the price of wood up.23 The initial agreement was for seven years and provided for Spencer & Co to pay two-fifths of the costs and receive two fifths of the pig iron because they had two furnaces; the remaining shares belonged jointly to the Sheffield partners (with William Cotton) who had three furnaces. In 1698 the two firms agreed to take over Staveley and associated works in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire in the same proportions, but the Sheffield partners in fact introduced some new partners to take part

Bradford Archives, SpSt 5/5/4/6; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/15; TNA, C 9/372/11. 25 SIR Y a/c, 1720 J, 96; 1721 J, 68 70. 26 SIR Y a/c, 1727 J, 104; 1737 J, 32. 27 Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60483/77. 28 E.g. Spencer l/b, 24 Nov.1741; 14 Aug. 1749. 29 Bradford Archives, SpSt 5/5/2/20; cf. SpSt 5/5/5/3-4. 30 Cf. pedigree: Hunter, Hallamshire, 442-43. 24

Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60513-14. Q.v. 23 The arrangements described in this and the next paragraph are described in more detail in King 2011c. 21 22

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Bretton to Kirkstall and Colnbridge in the 1740s;38 but no sales are known to or by John Cockshutt or to Kilnhurst by the other firms.

them to repair Rockley Furnace instead. The furnace in question was not that built by Hayford in 1651, but another further downstream, whose remains survive. The origins for that furnace are obscure, but it seems to have been used in the 1700s by Lewis Westcombe, a son-in-law of Francis Rockley its landlord.31 None of the internal records of this business survive and even landlords’ records are sparse. When the partnership expired, the Cheshire partners withdrew, perhaps in 1730.32 Relations between the partners may have been strained. Thomas Hall wrote to William Spencer in 1742 recommending him to accept a subcontract for ballast from Hall’s associate, Miles Troughton of Sowley, the Navy Board’s contractor. He then added,33 ‘I have written to Mr W. Cotton on the same occasion, but very likely he will refuse it because I offer it’.34 Early in 1743 Cotton managed to secure a lease of Sir George Savile’s ironstone, which William Spencer had previously been working, causing Spencer some difficulty. Cotton also viewed Kirkby Furnace (Notts.), which he did not however rent.35 W.W. Cotton was succeeded in 1749 by his son Thomas, who lived until 1802. John Cooke (d.1774) and Thomas Cooke were successively clerks at Kilnhurst and at least the latter was a partner there and at Bretton, perhaps latterly without Thomas Cotton.36 Thrybergh was idle by 1736 and it is probable Rockley closed about 1742, when its lease expired: a letter of 1743 refers to ‘Mr Cotton’s furnace’ (in the singular), evidently meaning Bretton, but Rockley was certainly in use in the late 1730s.37

After William Spencer’s death, an investment was made in Barnby by the Sheffield partnership under the management of Benjamin Dutton, who had long been Spencer’s clerk.39 William Spencer and then his son-in-law, Walter Spencer-Stanhope, continued to enjoy a share in Kirkstall with various partners until 1778 and also in Colnbridge probably until its closure about 1796: Walter SpencerStanhope was certainly still a partner in 1785. Barnby Furnace was probably closed about 1774 and consideration given to reopening it in 1778 came to nothing. This left Bretton Furnace to supply Kilnhurst, Kirkstall, and Colnbridge. Bank Furnace presumably supplied Wortley Forges, possibly also Seamer, but apparently closed before 1788. Even allowing for some use of scrap, this seems an enormous demand to have been met by just Bretton, which said to have made 600 tons in 1788; but perhaps some coke pig iron was also used. Other ironmasters From about 1743 to 1782 Joseph Broadbent, his widow Sarah, and his son Thomas, who were Sheffield merchants, were successively partners of John Cockshutt I and John Cockshutt II in all their works around Wortley. This was ended by the bankruptcy of Thomas Broadbent, a banker, in 1782, and thereafter successive members of the Cockshutt family continued the ironworks alone. Wortley Tinmill (in Hunshelf) was probably built by the partnership shortly after the 1744 lease, but had become a rolling mill by 1790, perhaps for Cort’s process. By then Bank Furnace was defunct and John Cockshutt II was apparently a partner in Bretton Furnace. His brother, James Cockshutt, managed the Pontypool Works for ten years; then from 1786 until 1791 was a partner of Richard Crawshay in the Cyfarthfa works at Merthyr Tydfil,40 ending at about the time when Cort’s puddling process was perfected at Merthyr by preliminary refining.41 He was on the Committee of the Monmouthshire Canal in 1793 and worked on the Swansea Canal, returning to take over the Wortley Works.42 In 1800-8, he was consulted about the Beaumont lead mines near Hexham, perhaps as a trustee.43 In 1819 James Cockshutt left the Wortley works to his brother, Edward, and his nephews, Joseph and J.T. Bland, and about 1825 the nephews sold them to Vincent Corbett. The family do not seem to have built a coke furnace, but following the discovery of a bed of ironstone in Silkstone Fall, a furnace was built at Low Mill, Silkstone, which survives virtually intact. This must be the charcoal furnace near the Barnsley Canal mentioned in advertisements in 1824 and sold to

As already mentioned, in 1729 John Spencer III left the rest of his interest in the ironworks to his sons, William and Edward. However the latter outlived his father only by six months, and left his estate to his uncle, Matthew Wilson. Wilson (to the disgust of William Spencer) in 1739 made an heir of his other nephew, John Cockshutt. William Spencer’s refusal to be a partner in the new works which the managing partners built, then his exclusion of them from the older ones, together with the failure to close off the accounts yearly, led in 1745 to a dispute which was referred to arbitration. The award does not seem to survive, but evidently confirmed the status quo. Cockshutt, the new lessee in 1744 of Bank Furnace and Wortley Forges kept those works, and William Spencer continued to enjoy his own Barnby Furnace and his shares in Colnbridge and Kirkstall Forges. The executors of Oates and Burley were presumably paid off. The furnace partnership had ended in 1738 and with it significant cooperation between the various Yorkshire iron firms. Spencer, who had become a partner in the Sheffield ironworks in 1727, continued to supply them from Barnby, and some pig iron was sent from Crossley 1995; Sheffield Archives, TC 671. Staffs RO, D 6065/2. 33 Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60534/H, 11 Feb. 1741/2; as to ballast generally see King 1995b, where these subcontracts are not mentioned; as to Sowley see Bartlet 1974. 34 Somewhere I have seen him referred to as the ‘small man’. Perhaps obstinacy went with that. 35 Spencer l/b, passim from 25 Dec. 1742. 36 Q.v. 37 Spencer l/b, 24 Nov.1741; 15 Mar. 1742/3 to John Watts. 31 32

Sp Colnbridge a/c; Sp Kirkstall a/c. SIR Y a/c, 1757/9L, 244; 1759/65L, 91 124. 40 NLW, John Lloyd 109; Evans 1993b, 17-8 63. 41 King 2012, 115-6. 42 Evans 1993b, 63n. 43 Letters in Tyne & Wear Archives, DF/HUG/149, published at www. dukesfield.org.uk/documents. 38 39

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Chapter 8: The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire forges (probably manual ones), using ‘Dans’ iron [Danks], probably ordinary Stockholm iron, drawn down to halfinch square, with fine wire being made at Clifton, 12 miles towards Halifax, perhaps actually at Brighouse.47

Henry Hartopp of Hoyland Hall and others, probably the firm that also had Milton Furnaces.44 However despite the addition of a second tuyere it was abandoned, apparently after very little use. Vincent Corbett was succeeded at Wortley by two generations of Thomas Andrews, the latter dying in 1907. The forge then passed to J. & B. Birdsell. However the wireworks were then held by others. Wortley Top Forge closed soon after this. It has been restored as an industrial museum. The Bottom Forge worked somewhat longer and little of it remains.

Principal sources: The primary source for the iron industry in this area is the Spencer-Stanhope archive now unfortunately divided between Barnsley and Bradford Archives. This was used for Raistrick 1938 and Raistrick & Allen 1939, which remain the leading published authorities, and was also a source for Hey 1972. However further research has shown a few of Raistrick’s inferences to be unjustified. Wortley and Kirkstall Forges have each been the subject of entire books, Andrews 1956 and Butler 1954, added to and corrected by Mott 1971 and 1972, though some of Mott’s inferences on Wortley are unwarranted. The excavation of surviving Rockley Furnace and the histories of both furnaces are published in Crossley 1995, but a few of his conclusions conflict with mine. The primary sources for the Yorkshire furnace partnerships are Bradford Archives, SpSt 5/5/4/4 & 5/5/4/6; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/15 & 60483/77, which I discussed in King 2011c.

Kirkstall Forge was leased in 1778 by Beecroft and Butlers. They were interested in Calder Ironworks, a coke furnace at Mirfield, which worked with limited success for a decade up to 1815 and then, surviving bankruptcy, they reverted to just having their forge and other works at Kirkstall. Besides the forge and slitting mill, the Kirkstall works included a number of workshops where finished iron goods were made. As the 19th century progressed, both Wortley and Kirkstall moved to the production of a new product, axles for railway waggons. The Butler family incorporated Kirkstall Forge Company Ltd in 1907 and then floated the business on the stock market as Kirkstall Forge Engineering Ltd in 1949.45 This was taken over in 1974 by Guest Keen & Nettlefolds Ltd, the successors of the Dowlais Company of Merthyr Tydfil (Glam). Kirkstall Forge thus remained in use by GKN Axles Ltd, but processing steel rather than making iron until it closed in 2003. The site has been excavated in advance of redevelopment.

Gazetteer of Charcoal ironworks Nether Bank Furnace

[1] SE263156

The furnace belonged throughout its life to the owners of Wortley Forge and the two works were usually let under a single lease. A quarter share in the preceding Midgley Bank Smithies was bought by Francis Wortley from Thomas Barnby in 1619. The furnace was probably built in the 1640s by Fownes & Spencer. Since the lease of Wortley had to be renewed in 1658, the erection of the furnace may have been in 1637, 21 years earlier. However it was in 1642 that the settlement of the Wortley estate was altered to permit the sale of wood in large quantities. After the deaths of Fownes and Spencer, Bank Furnace passed in 1660 with their other works to Spencer, Allsopp & Bancks. This partnership was dissolved in about 1676 and the furnace was then let to William Simpson of the Sheffield partnership. John Eyre and Lionel Copley II took the works from 1690, but Eyre became bankrupt soon after, and Copley took up an appointment abroad. Thus Sidney Wortley probably had to operate the works himself. He let them in 1695 to Thomas Dickin, who brought in John Spencer III as partner. The furnace was thus held by Spencer & Co until 1738, then by William Spencer alone until 1744. In the arbitration about that time the furnace was with Wortley Forge assigned to John Cockshutt, who was by then its lessee. It continued to be run with Wortley until the furnace closed probably around 1780; certainly before 1788. Perhaps the coke Chappel and Park Furnaces

The manufacture of ironwares has never been a major activity in this region. There were however very probably colonies of nailers, making nails with iron from Kirkstall and Colnbridge Forges. The nailers forming the equivalent colony dependent on Wortley lived in the northern outskirts of Sheffield and are discussed in other chapters. Barnsley had a colony of wire-workers, who evidently used wire made at Wortley wire mills to make wool cards and other goods. Colnbridge Forge maintained a stock of rod iron at Rochdale and Manchester in the 1690s, just as further south the Sheffield partnership had had a Lancashire trade until 1694.46 Coke ironworks were not introduced until after 1780. The first one, at Seacroft, now a north-eastern suburb of Leeds was not a success. The Emmetts at Birkenshaw, the Low Moor Company (Hird, Hardy, Jarratt, Dawson, and others), Bowling (Sturges & Co), and others with works near Bradford enjoyed a much greater success. Low Moor remained in use until 1937, but some of the less successful furnaces, like Calder, only operated for a few years during the Napoleonic War, and, like the longer lived Birkenshaw, were not revived after it. Angerstein also in 1754 mentioned wiremaking at Barnsley in ‘Nakins’

Angerstein’s Diary, 214-7. Danks iron occurs in SIR Y a/c as a variety used in their plating trade, e.g. SIR Y a/c, 1725, J, 68. Danks refers to Dantzig (or Gdansk), but by that time little iron was being imported to Hull from Dantzig (TNA, E 190, Hull port books). Danks probably meant ordinary Stockholm iron (as opposed to oregrounds). 47

Bradford Archives, SpSt 5/5/1/27; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60609/9 202-05; Manchester Mercury, 6 Apr. 1824. 45 Butler 1954. 46 Sp Colnbridge a/c, 1693 1698 etc. Sheffield: SIR Y a/c. 44

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I took over its role. The furnace was included in the various general partnerships for Yorkshire furnaces in 16961738. Today a small leat, now dry, runs through Bank Wood, Midgley (in Shitlington), but there are no obvious remains of the furnace where it ends. The furnace no doubt succeeded Sir Francis Wortley’s Midgeley Bank Smithies, whose relation to a medieval forge built by Rievaulx Abbey in the area is uncertain.

Size The furnace is only known to have been blown in 1691-2 and 1695 and made between 300 and 400 tons in each blast. As it was not in use around 1717, the whole listed 400 tpa production of ‘Banks’ is to be attributed to Nether Bank Furnace. Accounts SIR Y a/c. Sources SIR Y a/c, 1699 J, 148-9; 1720 L, 221 & 1720 J, 74; 1721 J, 70; 1727/46 J, 32 (in volume with 1726 J etc.); Lincs RO, Thorold 2/5/7 2/6/4-9 & 2/6/14-18; Wakefield Deeds Registry, D/333/567; FB/234/281 FB/715/956 & TB/139/248.

Size 1717 400 tpa; actual production fluctuated between 300 and 500 tpa. Associations always held with Wortley Forges (q.v.). Trading The furnace accounts are not particularly informative, but the forge accounts for Colnbridge and Kirkstall Forges show that they drew most of their pig iron from Bank (Sp Colnbridge a/c and Sp Kirkstall a/c). Rather less went to Knottingley until 1721, to Wadsley until 1726, and also to Attercliffe from 1719 to 1735, with occasional substantial amounts thereafter (SIR Y a/c). After 1745 it would appear John Cockshutt used it to supply his own forges, since very little is known to have reached other works.

Barnby Furnace

The furnace stood on a modest brook running down from Silkstone to the river Dearne. Thomas Barnby built Colnbridge Forge about 1613, apparently as a finery forge; this might suggest he had a furnace on his own estate at Barnby. However there was only a bloomery in 1635. The furnace seems to have been in the hands of John Spencer I (d.1658) and Gilbert Fownes perhaps with William Fownes (d.c.1647). From 1660 to 1675 the partners were Edward Spencer (executor of John Spencer I), William Fownes, John Banks and Russell Allsopp. In 1675 John Bancks, Russell Allsopp, and William Fownes II (son of Gilbert Fownes) sold the furnace (with Kirkstall Forge) to William Cotton I and Thomas Dickin I. In 1690 Eleanor Cotton and Thomas Dickin I brought their sons William Cotton II and Thomas Dickin II into the partnership. On the sudden death of the latter in 1701, by falling from his horse, John Spencer III secured the furnace for himself & Co by acquiring half the freehold.

Accounts 1658-65 Sp early a/c; 1696-1744 Sp Bank a/c; (also Sp Bank and Barnby a/c). Letterbook 1738-43 Spencer l/b. Sources TNA, C 9/372/11; CHES 16/89, Allsopp v Spencer; Sheffield Archives, WhD 576-90; Bradford Archives, SpSt 5/5/4/4 & 5/5/4/6; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/8-17, passim; SpSt 60495/15; SpSt 60483/77; Mott 1971; Raistrick 1938, 54 68-9 & 78; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 168 & 171-2; Awty 1957, 82-3; VCH Yorks ii, 388 392; cf. Andrews 1956. New or Upper Bank Furnace

[3] SE299075

After this the furnace descended as part of the Spencer family’s works, probably in the same partnership as Wortley Forge, but subject to the general furnace partnerships until 1738. It remained in the hands of William Spencer after he lost Wortley Forge, probably at Ladyday 1745. Following the death of William Spencer about 1756, his son may have let the furnace to the consumers of its pig iron: certainly the partners in John Fell & Co of Sheffield paid £1265 as a ‘resting stock’ for it to Benjamin Dutton, who had been William Spencer’s clerk in early 1757. It is not clear what other partners there were (if any), but it is likely the partnerships at Colnbridge and Kirkstall Forges also had shares. It closed probably in August 1774. Francis Dorsett, a Shropshire ironmaster, considered repairing it in 1778, but was offered another furnace and so did not. In 1790, the water mill or works called Barnby Furnace, lately fitted up as a wiremill were offered to let. There are no remains of the furnace, except as a place name.

[2] c.SE253143

The furnace stood about one mile upstream of Nether Bank Furnace. Its existence is recalled by the farm name, ‘Furnace Grange’. The date of its erection is not clear, save that it was before 1690. Dr John Arthur may have preceded Hayford & Co there. From 1690 to 1720 the profit from this furnace and Knottingley Forge, after the manager’s share, was divided equally between Dennis Hayford, William Simpson, and William Cotton, but the furnace was not used after 1695. In 1720 Cotton withdrew from the partnership and the other two enjoyed it in equal shares. By that time the furnace was long defunct and the only income was the rent of ‘Emley Farms’. This was excluded from the new Sheffield partnership of 1727, the old account books being continued until 1746 to deal with this. Hayford’s share passed to his daughter, Jane Hayford who married Sir John Thorold. Under her marriage settlements her Yorkshire property was transferred to her father-in-law, who used it to provide for his younger sons, exonerating his Lincolnshire estate. She and her mother were granted compensating interests in the Thorold estate. This property was sold to the sitting tenant in 1808.

Size 1717 300 tpa; in the 1740s it probably made 400 tpa, but was not blown quite every year (Spencer l/b, e.g. 24 Nov. 1753). Associations From before 1658 it was always in the Spencer network. 144

Chapter 8: The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire Trading In the 1690s Barnby was the largest supplier of Wortley. In the next decade it was a modest supplier of Kirkstall (Sp Kirkstall a/c). Until 1720 it was a modest supplier of Colnbridge (Sp Colnbridge a/c). From about 1705 Attercliffe Forge was a major customer; lesser amounts went to Roach Abbey and Knottingley Forges (SIR Y a/c). In 1742 62 tons ballast was cast for sale (via Mr Troughton of Sowley, Hants, the contractor) to the Navy Board. Further ballast was made until 1747 including 40 tons hired to the Salisbury after the end of the war, these later sales being handled through Thomas Fenwick, Spencer’s then London agent (Spencer l/b, 27 Apr. and 31 May 1742, 9 Nov. 1747, 27 Jan. 1748/9, 8 Sep. and 12 Nov. 1750 etc.). Sales to Attercliffe etc. were resumed in 1749 after a break of nearly ten years and continued at least until 1764. The Spencers continued supplying it with wood after they stopped running the furnace themselves (Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60662/3).

Associations It was long held with Kilnhurst Forge; Thrybergh Forge may also initially have been associated. The ‘1790’ occupiers respectively had Wortley and Kilnhurst Forges, which between them could easily have used up all the pig iron it made, and perhaps more. Trading The furnace supplied pig iron to Colnbridge Forge intermittently from 1720 to 1750 (Sp Colnbridge a/c), and was its only source of pig iron from 1775 to 1785 (Sp Colnbridge a/c). It similarly supplied Kirkstall Forge from 1728 to 1757 (Sp Kirkstall a/c). Like the Spencer furnaces, Bretton made ballast 1742 as subcontractor to Miles Troughton of Sowley, Hants. (Spencer l/b, 6 May 1742 22 Jul. 1742 etc.; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60534/H, 11 Feb. 1741[2]) and W.W. Cotton contracted with the Navy Board direct for 250 tons in 1745 (King 1995b, 17). Beecroft & Butlers bought 33 tons Bretton pig iron from Thomas Cotton in 1785 (Kirkstall a/c). Thomas Cotton was a partner in a mine at Dalton in Furness in 1779 (NLW, John Lloyd 109). He bought redmine from the Backbarrow Company in 1791/2. Further amounts bought by Cockshutt in 1799 and 1801 were presumably used here (BB a/c).

Accounts 1658-65 Spencer early a/c; 1727-37 Sp Bank and Barnby a/c; 1738-42 Sp Barnby a/c; Letterbook Spencer l/b 1738-43 and 1747-54. Sources TNA, CHES 16/89, Allsopp v Spencer; Bradford Archives, SpSt 5/5/2/1-2 5/5/4/4; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/3 & 17; SpSt 60579/2; SIR Y a/c, 1751/8 L, 244; 1759/63 L, 124 and corresponding journals; Leeds Intelligencer, 31 Aug. 1790; Edwards 1958, 189; Awty 1957, 82; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169-171 & 175; Raistrick 1938, 68-9. Bretton Furnace

Sources YAS Library, DD 70/84; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/30; Awty 1957, 100; Spencer l/b, passim; cf. Staffs RO, D6065/2. Colnbridge Forge

[5] SE176202

The forge stood in the manor of Bradley on the river Colne near Huddersfield, near its confluence with the Calder. About 1613 a forge, apparently (from the terminology used) a finery forge, was built by Thomas Barnby. It was afterwards occupied for a time by Sir Richard Beaumont. Thomas Barnby was again occupying it himself, but perhaps not very actively about 1620, after which its history remains obscure for a considerable period.

[4] SE295123

The furnace was built in 1720 by William Westby Cotton and Samuel Shore; Cotton had withdrawn from his partnerships with Hayford, Simpson and others so as to be free to begin this venture. Besides the two tenants, Edward Hall and Thomas Cotton (of the Cheshire Ironmasters) were partners in the firm, which also built Kilnhurst Forge and perhaps Thrybergh Forge. The lease and a partnership expired in 1741, at which point (if not before) the Cheshire partners probably withdrew: Thomas Cotton may have left in 1731. W.W. Cotton (d.1749) and his son, another Thomas Cotton (d.1802), continued the furnace, but it is not known whether or not there were other partners. Thomas Cotton appears as a creditor in the accounts of Colnbridge in the 1770s, probably in respect of the supply of pig iron. Although Kilnhurst Forge stood in the name of John Cooke by 1781, Bretton Furnace was still held by Thomas Cotton in 1785; the ‘1790’ list names Cooke and Cockshutt as occupiers. In 1806 Cooke & Co held it. It was listed as in blast in 1810, the last known reference. It stood in the grounds of Bretton Hall, in or adjoining what is now Bretton Country Park. Power came from a leat, now dry, from the River Dearne, which remains a prominent feature of the park.

From about the 1640s it was occupied by John Spencer I and William and Gilbert Fownes and then their executors; and from 1660 to 1662 or later by John Spencer with William Fownes, Russell Allsopp, and John Banks. In 1665 it was let to William Cotton. In 1685 the lease was renewed by him and Thomas Dickin I. From this followed a division of the forge into two equal shares which continued (with subsequent division into eight shares for most of the rest of its life. Thomas Dickin I and Elinor Cotton brought in their sons as partners in 1690. Following the sudden death in 1701 of Thomas Dickin II, his share somehow came into the hands of the Spencer partnership, which held Wortley Forges. Anna, widow of William Cotton II assigned her share to her son W.W. Cotton and sons-in-law William Vernon and Edward Kendall in 1716, but Mr Cotton held this share in 1721. Possibly this was in exchange for shares in Kemberton Furnace and Norton and Winnington Forges, which W.W. Cotton, Kendall, and others operated together in the north Midlands (see chapter 12). The firm probably remained Spencer & Co and Mr Cotton until 1731, but Francis Watts may have bought an eighth share

Size 1788 600 tpa; 1790 a charcoal furnace; 1796 250 tpa; 1806 & 1810 in blast.

145

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I in 1721, having been clerk since 1709. William Spencer excluded his Wortley partners from their 3/8ths share, this being confirmed by the 1745 arbitration. About 1731 Francis Watts bought the Cotton share and sold an eighth share each to John Fell II (of Attercliffe) and to his brother, John Watts, the Kirkstall clerk, who succeeded as clerk on Francis’ death in about 1738. The partnership was renewed following the arbitration of 1745. On John Watts’ death about 1750, his share was sold to John Brooke and John Crookes, the respective new clerks of Colnbridge and Kirkstall and probably previously his deputies.

tough metal, which was delivered at Manchester (Herefs RO, E12/VI/MDf/1, J, 9). The main source of pig iron was Bank Furnace from 1690 until 1743. Considerable amounts of scrap iron were used at various periods, some of it imported. Barnby Furnace was a major supplier in the 1700s and again in the 1750s. Modest amounts came from Bretton Furnace from 1728 on. From 1775 to 1785 ‘metal’ came only from Bretton and scrap.

In 1753 the lease was renewed and the partnership again reconstructed, the two clerks acquired an extra eighth share from William Spencer; Francis Watts’ three shares, which passed to this daughter, Susannah Watts, now came to William Horton (her husband) as John Watts’ executor; Joseph Clay bought part of John Fell’s share at this time and the rest later, probably in 1765. In 1760, the proprietors announced the dismissal of John Brooke and appointment of John Crooke as clerk. Perhaps this was the occasion (about 1760) when William Horton sold his share to John or Charles Brooke, who had succeeded to the clerkship by 1775. Thus on the next renewal of the lease, in 1775, the tenants were John Spencer IV, Thomas Cotton, Joseph Clay and Charles Brooke. The presence of Thomas Cotton is anomalous, as the accounts indicate Miss Crookes had a share; possibly he was her trustee. Charles Brooke continued to manage the forge until the end of the lease. About 1796 William Rosthorne replaced it with a mill, presumably the textile mill where a number of children died in a fire in 1818. However, the bursting of a pan (boiler?) of a steam engine at the iron forge was reported in 1801. The mill building occupying the site in the 1990s was used as a light engineering works.

Sources TNA, CHES 16/89, Allsopp v Spencer; C 9/372/11; C 11/2630/13; YAS Library, MD 335/70/ 12331; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/5; Bradford Archives, SpSt 5/5/4/1 5/5/4/4 5/5/2/4-20 5/5/5/1-5 etc.; Spencer l/b, passim; Tolson 1929, 5 51 64 108 & 143; Wakefield RO, land tax, Fartown; Leeds Intelligencer, 8 Jul. 1760; Lancaster Gazette, 4 Jul. 1801; Edwards 1958, 189; Awty 1957, 82; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 170-2 & 175; Raistrick 1938, 69-71; Hopkinson 1961, 140.

Accounts Sp early a/c 1658-66; Sp Colnbridge a/c 1700 & 1703-57 (at Bradford), and 1775-85 (at Barnsley).

Holmes Chapel Furnace

[6] SD881277

Much of the history of the furnace remains obscure. It was probably built after 1700 by Robert Willmott, whose father had had a forge at Mitton in the Stour valley. However I have found no evidence of the shipment of pig iron from Preston to that forge. The 1713 accounts include a ‘cost of workmanship’, which may refer to erection costs. That year, he and John Silvester of Burthwaite Hall in Darton entered into a partnership with John Spencer III and Nicholas Burley, who held Wortley Forge. They planned to build a forge and slitting mill, but there is no evidence they did. The last certain reference to the furnace is 1727, when Spencer and partner and Hayford and partners shared the losses. Subsequent mention of it in an arbitration bond of 1742, is rather the result of its accounts remaining unsettled between Spencer’s partners, than of its use. It became a pottery in 1760. The site is marked on early O.S. maps, but there are no substantial remains.

Size In 1620 there was probably only one finery; the 1665 lease permitted the addition of a second finery and a slitting mill. 1717 80 tpa; 1718 140 tpa; 1736 140 tpa; 1750 150 tpa. Accounts show actual production more like 110 tpa, rising to 150 tpa in the 1720s and usually exceeding 170 tpa after 1750; around 1780 it was back to about 100 tpa. Between 1757 and 1775 the practice of selling some of the iron in bars ceased, it all being slit and sold as rod iron.

Size Its omission from 1717 list may not be significant, but the failure of a forge to appear in the 1736 list suggests none was built. Two blasts probably one before 1720 and one after, made 329 tons and 200 tons, and an overall loss of £1100.

Associations It is not known what furnace (if any) operated with the forge in its early years, but it could be that at Ramsden. Thomas Barnby’s other works were apparently mainly bloomeries. From 1675 to 1779 Kirkstall Forge belonged to a separate partnership, but with a number of common partners, in the Spencer network. From 1685 to 1695 William Cotton II represented the Colnbridge Company in making a joint investment with Dennis Hayford (on behalf of the Sheffield ironmasters) in ironworks in Cheshire (see chapter 13; also the next chapter).

Trading An ironstone drift mine, rediscovered in 1880 in the escarpment of Ruddle Scout, is near this furnace and was therefore probably its source of mine. Small amounts of pig iron were used at Colnbridge and Kirkstall Forges from 1702 to 1717 (Sp Colnbridge & Sp Kirkstall a/c). The majority of Spencer & Co’s portion of the final 529 tons made was sent to Preston and shipped off from there, so that Mr Champion [of Bristol] could sell it. Redmine sent from Furness to ‘Holmes Chapel’ in 1664 was probably sent to the proprietors of Cranage Forge for use in Cheshire rather than to here.

Trading The 1675 Kirkstall partnership articles contained provisions for Colnbridge Forge to use ‘metal’ from Barnby Furnace. In 1696/7 Mr Dickin bought 10 tons of Vale Royal 146

Chapter 8: The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire Accounts partial account 1713 and 1721-8 Sp Holmes Chapel a/c. Loss: SIR Y a/c 1727/44 J, 30.

have been interested in Bretton Furnace and so presumably in this forge, but the precise composition of the partnership remains unclear. About 1814 they were succeeded by Faber, Spence & Slagg (C.D. Faber, resident partner). R.H. Slagg, and Edward Wilson ended their partnership in 1827 as ironmakers and steel converters, being followed by Thomas Wilson & Co (Thomas and Edward Wilson) until 1831, then Thomas and Charles Wilson, then other members of that family until 1887. Its ruins were demolished in the 1960s and little now remains of it.

Sources Bradford Archives, SpSt 5/5/2/15; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/16; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169 & 172; Raistrick 1938, 54 & 56; Awty 1957, 76 90-1; Aitken 1880, 261-268; Newell 1925, 217; Pastscape 1471102; Post-medieval archaeology 25 (1991), 164. For the Willmott family see Wilmot & King 2012. Hunslet Ironworks

[7] SE320313 Size 1717 not included; about 1720 (‘1718’) 190 tpa; 1736 190 tpa; 1750 220 tpa; 1790 2 fineries 1 chafery. There was a slitting mill by 1742 (Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60513/54; Spencer l/b, 25 Nov. 1742, cf. 21 May 1740). John Smeaton drew plans for it in the 1765.

The ironworks stood on an island on the Hunslet side of the River Aire, but was in Leeds township, the channel between the works and Hunslet, which provided their power, evidently being the old course of the river. That channel has been filled in and there has been more recent building on the site. The works were built sometime in the late 18th century, perhaps between 1775 and 1779 when the Aire and Calder Navigation proprietors rebuilt Hunslet Lock. It appears to be the New Mills of James Armitage & Co, who received a rent from the navigation for a cut until the end of 1778. The following year this was paid for three quarters to Fenton & Co, presumably until the cut was filled in. Fenton & Walker’s New Mills took slabs and scrap from Kirkstall Forge in 1785, and were making iron plates in 1786 and 1792, but the slitting mill already existed in the previous decade. The Fenton family were important colliery owners and Thomas Walker (died 1793) was also their partner in a glassworks. In 1799 John Butler of Kirkstall Forge arranged its sale to Joseph Shaw. Shaw & Co still occupied the works at the time of the tithe award, at which time their landlords were the Aire and Calder Navigation. Shaw was also interested in Royds Furnaces, but survived their bankruptcy in 1811. The iron forge and scribbling mill of Mr Hodgson, burnt down in 1805 was probably a different works, perhaps steam-powered. This also applies to the newly erected forge, with a 30-hp steam engine and rolling mill and occupied by James Day before his bankruptcy, advertised in 1829.

Associations Bretton Furnace was built at the same time and they were held together. Rockley Furnace probably also belonged to this partnership. Edward Hall and Thomas Cotton are better known as partners in the Cheshire ironworks, where Hall was managing partner. Samuel Shore was a leading Sheffield iron and steel merchant. Trading Mr Shore paid £24.4.0 for Principio pig in 1730 (Robbins 1986, 214); a contract for 150 tons or 160 tons of iron was thought to have been made in 1742 with Francis Holmes, whom William Spencer brought to Yorkshire, hoping he would take over his nail trade (Spencer l/b, 1 Oct., 26 Nov. 1742 etc.). There is little trace of sales to Kilnhurst from Spencer & Co or Fell & Co in their accounts. Sources Awty 1957, 100; Dane 1985; Land tax, Swinton; Wakefield Deeds Registry, AQ/671/861; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/30 & 60512/31; Smeaton’s designs ii, 95v-104v; Smeaton’s reports ii, 424-5 & 439; London Gazette, 17431, 81 (11 Jan. 1827); Wilson 1955, 39; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169 & 1721; Raistrick 1938, 69 & 78; cf. Hey 1991, 188-93.

Sources Taylor 1991, 161; Goodchild 1978, 81; Butler 1906, 165 315 etc.; Butler 1954, 87; Kirkstall a/c, 1785 J, passim; Hadfield 1972, 30-35; TNA, RAIL 800/215, 52; cf. RAIL 800/7, 77 90; Lancaster Gazette, 16 Feb. 1805; Leeds Intelligencer, 20 Aug. 1829. I have not examined deeds at the Leeds office of Canals and Rivers Trust. Kilnhurst Forge

Kirkstall Forge

[9] SE249365

The forge was on the River Aire in the eastern outskirts of Leeds. There were goits from Low Beck and the river. The latter was very obvious on the ground in the 1990s, though now largely dry. The goit from Low Beck was made before 1221 to serve a mill at Kirkstall Abbey. While there was a forge belonging to the abbey in medieval times, it seems to have been elsewhere. There were corn and fulling mill here at the dissolution. A forge, perhaps not a finery forge, was excepted from a settlement of 1618 of which Sir Francis Fane, Sir Edward Barrett, Robert Leigh and George Hemsworth were feoffees; and John Viscount Saville (d.1630) may have used it himself. The forge was subsequently in the hands of John Spencer I (d.1658) and William and Gilbert Fownes, who may have converted it to a finery forge or that may have been the work of the 1618 firm. From 1660 it was occupied by Edward Spencer (as executor) with John Bancks, Russell Allsopp, and William

[8] SK466975

The forge stood north of the road through Kilnhurst, on a short goit cutting off a bend in the River Don. The forge was built in 1720 by Samuel Shore, William Westby Cotton (died 1749), and Edward Hall and Thomas Cotton (two of the Cheshire Ironmasters) on land of Shore, a Sheffield merchant. In 1759 it was held by Thomas Cotton & Co, this Thomas Cotton (d.1802), being W.W. Cotton’s son. John Cooke (d.1774) and then his son Thomas Cooke (d.1817) were clerks and the firm was in the late 18th century usually described as Cooke & Co. Thomas Cotton seems still to 147

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Fownes. In 1675 Banks, Allsopp and John Fownes sold it to William Cotton and Thomas Dickin (died 1690), who immediately admitted John Spencer II as a partner.

(Bodleian Library (Oxford), MS. Lister 1, 25). In the first decade or so of the 18th century production averaged about 120 tpa; from 1717 it usually averaged about 150 tpa, but was a little less for a few years on either side of 1740. The 1718 list figure of 230 tpa cannot be justified from the accounts. 18 tons were made at a bloomery in 1718/9. 1717 80 tpa; 1718 230 tpa; 1736 150 tpa; 1750 160 tpa; 1790 2 fineries. Spade and shovel makers were sought in 1790 and 1810.

In 1690 it was let to Thomas Dickin II. Following his death intestate in 1701 the forge was held in five shares, probably representing the interests of his five sisters, but the precise descent of these shares is not always entirely clear: Thomas Dickin’s brothers-in-law included Matthew Woodhead, then lately clerk of Kirkstall, who brought in his wife’s share in the Wortley Partnership of 1702. In 1706 Robert Willmott, another brother-in-law had two shares and sold one to John Spencer III. The partners were then Messrs Moore, Willmott, Elmsall, Spencer, and Woodhead; John Moore seems to have been the clerk. Later it was agreed Spencer and partners [that is the Wortley Company] should have two fifths and John Moore and partners three fifths for the rest of a term of twenty one years from 1715; John Moore and Elmsall were presumably also Dickin’s brothers-in-law.

The slitting mill is first referred to in 1690, but may well have been built a decade or more before. In 1732 the shingling hammer is mentioned, perhaps implying there was another. The slitting mill was rebuilt as a plate mill in 1785; around the same period a rolling mill with adjustable rolls (hence known as the screw mill) and a plating forge (for making spades) were added. By 1796 there were a foundry and 14 workshops. The following year puddling furnaces were built. Later a grinding mill (for edged tools) was also added. In 1835 a steam engine was installed. The manufacture of axles and wheels and of railway wagons began in the late 1830s; this trade grew to dwarf all others. In 1860, 20 puddling furnaces, but 45 in 1861; and then fluctuating between 22 and 52 until 1867 after which there were 22 to 26.

Francis Watts (d.1738) and John Watts subsequently became partners, and respectively managers of Colnbridge and Kirkstall Forges. After the lease was renewed in 1736, William Spencer excluded his Wortley partners from their share here. William Elmsall, the landlord’s agent, and then Sarah Elmsall his widow were partners throughout this period. Francis Watts was succeeded by his daughter, Susannah Watts. John Crookes was clerk of the forge under John Watts and continued so from John Watts’ death about 1750 until his own in 1766; Richard Crookes was the firm’s last manager until 1778, not long before he too died. From John Watts’ death until 1759 William Horton, who married his niece, Susannah Watts, held the one of the Watts shares, the other belonging jointly to John Crookes and John Brookes, the clerk of Colnbridge.

Associations Spencer, Fownes & Co held Bank and Barnby Furnaces and Wortley and Colnbridge Forges. It was in Spencer network from the 1640s to 1778. Beecrofts and Butlers were interested in the Calder ironworks at Mirfield during the late 1800s. Trading From 1700 to 1750 the main source of pig iron was Bank Furnace. Subsequently Barnby and Bretton were the main sources, having only been minor sources earlier. In the decade or so from 1710 considerable amounts of scrap iron were also worked up. Beecroft and Butler were mainly using scrap in their early years at the forge. This may imply difficulty in obtaining pig iron, perhaps because established ironmasters were trying to freeze them out as newcomers.

In 1779 George Beecroft and his brother-in-law, John Butler, leased the forge. It remained in both families until the death of George S. Beecroft in 1869, the Butler family continuing to be connected with the works until at least the mid-20th century. The firm survived the bankruptcy of Calder ironworks (in which they were partners), but the firm was Beecroft and Heath in 1812. Kirkstall Forge Company Ltd was incorporated in 1907. This was liquidated in 1949 and replaced by Kirkstall Forge Engineering Company Ltd, a public company involving the Butler family. The forge continued to be used for industrial purposes, latterly by GKN Axles Ltd, having been acquired by Guest Keen and Nettlefold in 1974. The works finally closed in 2003, and was excavated in advance of redevelopment for housing. A report of the excavation by Prospect Archaeology is being prepared for publication.

Accounts abstracts of accounts 1700-1757: Sp Kirkstall a/c; 1778 on: Kirkstall a/c. Sources Butler 1954; VCH Yorks ii, 388 392 citing an inquisition post mortem; BL, Lansdown 900, f.1; Northants RO, Bru/ARS/559; Bru/ARS/16-33; Bru/A/ xiv/21; TNA, CHES 16/89, Allsopp v Spencer; Bradford Archives, SpSt 5/5/2/1 & 8 & 15-17; 5/5/4/4-8; 5/5/5/3-4; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/17 & 24; Thoresby Soc. Publications 27 (1930-2), 187; and 40 (1953), 68 78 103; Mott 1972; Edwards 1958, 189; Raistrick and Allen 1938, 169-72 & 175; Raistrick 1938, 69-71 & 78; 1950, 154; Awty 1957, 82; Mott 1971, 65; Hopkinson 1961, 120; Jones 1987, 395-96; Stamford Mercury, 25 Dec. 1812; Leeds Intelligencer, 27 Apr. 1790; 7 Aug. 1813; Lancaster Gazette, 8 Sep. 1810; Bodleian Lib. (Oxford), MS, Lister 1. Claims that the forge is of medieval origin seem to be mistaken: TNA, SC 6/4590; Mott 1971, 65. An excavation

Size In 1632 the forge used 600 loads of charcoal per year, the same as for Wortley Forge in 1621, which, if it was a finery forge, would make 150 tpa bar iron from pig iron made elsewhere, but the status of each forge remains an open question; both were certainly finery forge by 1658. The finery process carried on here about 1680 is described 148

Chapter 8: The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire report by Glyn Davies is in preparation. archaeology.wyjs. org.uk/documents/archaeology/newsletters/News25pag4. pdf Knottingley Forge

evening prayer, presumably enabling a pound serving the other mills to fill, but otherwise the corn mills could only use surplus water. The problem may well have been exacerbated in 1581 by the re-erection of a fulling mill by George Wood, who alleged no rent had been paid for it for many years. That was probably because the smithy had replaced it. This is a case of the short-sighted policy employed in managing the crown estate of seeking to recover ‘concealed land’ and revive decayed rents, without adequate investigation of the circumstances.

[10] SE493242

The forge stood on River Aire, next to Knottingley Mill, and is likely to have been built sometime in the late 17th century, but its early history is unknown. From 1690 to 1722 it belonged to the partnership of John Simpson, Dennis Hayford and William (then Anna) Cotton. The Cotton family withdrew in 1720 when W.W. Cotton built Bretton Furnace and other works. It was managed separately from the Sheffield group by Richard Tyas, who received a quarter of the profits without having put up any capital and the rest of the profit was distributed through the Sheffield accounts. In June 1722 it ‘was let stand for the advantage of the furnaces’; from then only a dead rent was paid for it. The road down to the mill continues to be called Forge Hill.

Elizabeth Valiance (John’s widow) renewed the lease in 1598, and after a dispute with Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury over the performance of an agreement, she (by then living at Attercliffe) assigned the lease to two of his servants. After he took possession (but perhaps before completion of the assignment), he sent ‘raw iron or fonture’ [presumably pig iron] to the forge to be worked up at the hammer, implying it was a finery forge. However soon after he was restrained by a decree of the Court of Exchequer and his manager had to fill up the hammer goit and build a new pair of smithies where the old ones were. This seems to mark the end of the end of its brief career as a finery forge. The Earl apparently sublet the mill to George Wood of the corn mill and his heirs were still receiving rent for land there in 1624. That year there was also a dispute as to whether George and Robert Wood of Smithy (corn) Mill were interfering with the rights of the millers at Barnsley Old Mill in grinding corn for the inhabitants of Barnsley. In the course of this it was stated that the iron smithies were ‘about thirty years ago converted to a forge’ and this ‘did stand for a space of 12 or fourteen years’, after which ‘the gote [goit] of the hammer was filled up and the water turned again to the smithy and mill.’ This suggests the finery forge existed from about 1598 to 1610, but was only used for a couple of years. Later, there was a paper mill at the Smithies.

Size 1717 & 1718 100 tpa; 1736 idle. It was certainly capable of production on this scale, but the amounts of pig iron supplied to it suggest it commonly made more like 40-50 tpa in its latter years, unless it had another source of pig iron. Associations The same partnership held Upper Bank Furnace; William Cotton also had shares in Colnbridge and Kirkstall Forges, and earlier in works in Denbighshire. The other partners were from the Sheffield group. Trading Pig iron mainly came from Bank and Barnby. Accounts 1690-1721 SIR Y a/c: not full accounts. Sources SIR Y a/c, 1724 J, 54; Raistrick 1938, 69-78 passim; Hopkinson 1961, 134-5; Unwin 1967, 157. Monkbretton Smithies

Sources TNA, E 112/52/326; E 112/52/338; E 134/21 Jas I/Hil 5; E 134/30 Eliz/East 28; E 178/2709; LR 1/177, 109-112; LR 1/183, 258; LR 1/189, 31-31v; C 2/Eliz/U1 /34; SC 6/Hen VIII/4539, m.2v; SC 6/Ed VI/532, m.20, repairs; VCH Yorks ii, 392-3; Elliott 1988, 121; Schmoller 1992.

[11] SE347080

A pair of smithies, of unknown date belonged to Monkbretton Priory at its dissolution in 1539, at which time John Gascoigne and William Thwaites were tenants. In 1549 it was let, with a house in Ambleford, to Robert Thwaites and a reversionary lease for a further thirty years was granted in 1552 to Richard Vincent, who sold it to Robert Thwaites in c.1577. The pair of smithies survived, though in decay, so that little iron was made.

Ramsden Furnace

[12] SD915214

There was a farm (or building) called Furnace where Foul Clough and Under Clough joined to form Ramsden Clough, prior to the construction of the Ramsden Reservoir for Rochdale Waterworks in 1880. Nothing is known of it, but the name suggests the presence of a blast furnace, presumably dating from the 17th century. A spoil heap and some pieces of cast iron were found during the construction of the reservoir. One was described as ‘presenting the appearance of having been used as a die’. The site has been described as a bloomery, but bloomeries normally appear as place-names as ‘smithy’ or ‘forge,’ rather than ‘furnace’; cast iron certainly implies a blast furnace.

In 1588 Robert Thwaites and others sold the lease to George Woodruffe and John Valiance, who apparently quickly resigned his interest, but was living there at his death in 1592. They rebuilt the premises with larger waterwheels, giving rise to complaints by George Wood and others, as tenants of adjacent corn and fulling mills that the iron mills were taking too much water, as the new waterwheels were larger than the old ones. It was settled that the shuttle at the iron mills should be closed from Saturday noon (instead of Saturday night) to Sunday after 149

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Rockley Upper Furnace

Sources Aitken 1880, 272; Holden 1912, 62-3; Newell 1918, 105; 1925, 209. Rockley Lower Furnace

[14] SE33810215

This furnace was built by Lionel Copley as tenant of Francis Rockley in 1652. William Simpson and Dennis Hayford took it over following Copley’s death in 1675. However in 1682, it was let to John Eyre of Sheffield, Robert Broughton (a mercer) and Valentine Hurt of Kelsall, who found they could not use it because William Simpson had acquired the lease of a nearby corn mill, and diverted the water from the furnace. The furnace was back in the hands of Simpson and his partners by 1690. It was used with their Sheffield ironworks until 1705, when it was allowed to go out of lease to save paying the rent, during the first agreement between furnace owners for sharing pig iron. After this the furnace does not seem to have been used. It used to be believed that this story related to the surviving furnace, but Crossley (1995) has shown that there was a second furnace further upstream, whose description fits this location.

[13] SE338022

This furnace narrowly missed destruction by the motorway, M1. Rockley Smithies, a bloomery forge (see below), was excavated before their site was buried by it. The furnace stack and surrounding ground became the property of Sheffield Trades Historical Society (now South Yorkshire Trades Historical Trust) and is the best preserved charcoal blast furnace in Yorkshire; indeed the only one in the North of which there are any substantial remains. The stack stands to a height of about 15 feet and retains its lining, but the hearth has been removed. The area round the stack has been excavated (Crossley 1995; 1980), but backfilled. This was the second furnace at Rockley and its early history remains obscure. Like the earlier one it was part of the heavily mortgaged estate of Francis Rockley. It was used by his son-in-law, Lewis Westcombe, who had his furnace stock seized by John Spencer in 1704. Westcombe delivered 67½ tons of round shot to the Board of Ordnance in 1706 under a warrant dated the previous June. He and James Hackett, who married Rockley’s widow, borrowed £500 to stock it in 1708 and probably still had it in 1711. Both furnaces were let to a Mr Green in 1712, who appears not to have used it. Its appearance in the list of c.1717 is not necessarily significant as the list may not be reliable for Yorkshire. However no forge is known to have belonged to Westcombe that could have used its products, nor is there any other obvious outlet for them.

Size The furnace was regularly in use from 1690 to 1705 making about 300-400 tpa. Trading Under Hayford & Co the furnace mainly supplied the associated forges. It or Chappel Furnace also produced 25-60 tpa of miscellaneous cast iron goods most years. Accounts 1690-1705 SIR Y a/c. Sources TNA, C 6/413/19; Crossley 1995, 382-5; Sheffield Archives, WorsM 765-8; Hunter, Hallamshire, i, 287-9; Raistrick & Allen 1938, 171-5 passim; Raistrick 1939, 54 & 78; Hey 1991, 169-70; Awty 1957, 74 84; Hopkinson 1961, 124 & 134.

W.W. Cotton and Samuel Shore leased a mill near Stainborough Smithies with the right to convert it to a blast furnace, but instead rebuilt Rockley Furnace in 1726, taking a lease for sixteen years. It was included in the furnaces proposal of 1728, but may not have survived the end of the lease in 1742, its history being obscure at this period. It (as ‘Stainborough’) is listed as ‘down’ [i.e. closed] in 1788. It is alleged to have been used with coke in 1799 by the last Earl of Strafford, but this is contrary to the evidence of a rating valuation of 1806 and may be a garbled reference to the nearby (but slightly later) Worsborough Furnaces. Nevertheless some brief use cannot entirely ruled out.

Wentbridge Forge

[52] c.SE492172

The very existence of this forge, close to the Great North Road between Doncaster and Knottingley, is only known from the address of John ‘Mowbray’ [?Maybury], a hammerman who gave evidence in a dispute between Allsopp and Spencer in 1680. Sources Awty 2019, 707 & 739, from TNA, CHES 15/88, Spencer v Allsopp. Wortley Forges: Top Forge Bottom Forge

Size 1717 ‘Borchly’ 400 tpa.

[15] SK294998 [16] SK291995

Both sites stand on the River Don about 10 miles northnorthwest of Sheffield. Top Forge is undoubtedly the best preserved finery forge in Britain. Even so, what remains is in essence a 19th-century axle forge, the fineries having long since been removed. Two hammers are in situ, one with an iron helve in an earlier frame. There is also a twohigh rolling mill, said to be a slitting mill from the Bottom Forge, but without the mechanism powering it. Certain other exhibits have also come from elsewhere.

Associations as to W.W. Cotton and Shore see Bretton. Trading It is mentioned in 1741 to have supplied Wortley in or before 1737 (Spencer l/b, 24 Nov. 1741). Sources Crossley 1980; 1995; Sheffield Archives, TC 671; Publications of the Surtees Soc. 65, 262; Hey 1991, 191; Awty 1957, 100; Andrews 1956, 57-60; Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group 1(8) (1967), 40-1.

150

Chapter 8: The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire Top Forge was probably built by William Fownes about 1639. It belonged to the same Fownes & Spencer partnership as Bank and Barnby Furnaces and Kirkstall Forge, in which William Banks and Russell Allsopp were subsequently partners. William Cotton I (died 1675) lived there as manager. Bottom Forge is first mentioned when making cannon shot (‘bullets’) for the Royalists in 1643, during the Civil War. In 1658 it had been occupied by Sir Francis Wortley and was then let to John Spencer I for seven years. It is possible this was not within the partnership. The next lease does not survive, but may have been to Edward Spencer. William Simpson used it, with his partners, in conjunction with their Sheffield works from 1676 to 1690, the partners seemingly being Simpson, Thomas Barlow, Dennis Hayford and Mr Wilson, their shares being slightly adjusted after for the first seven years. After this the forge was probably briefly rented by John Eyre and Lionel Copley II, but upon bankruptcy of the former about 1690, Hon. Sidney Wortley, the landlord, probably occupied the forge himself for a few years.

The Top Forge was re-opened as an industrial museum in 1955 by what is now South Yorkshire Trades Historical Trust. There is a house at Bottom Forge, but little very obvious sign of the forge, except a hammer. A date plaque from there is preserved at Top Forge. The restoration work at Top Forge progressed slowly, but three waterwheels are now operational. The buildings include a former foundry and the walls of a building (with a modern roof) identified as a cementation furnace for steel, probably a small one from the 18th century, probably built by Matthew Wilson or one of the Cockshutts. The two hammers with cast iron helves, rather than the traditional timber, probably date from the early 19th century and were used in railway axle production. The massive wooden drome beam and spring of one must derive from those for a preceding wooden helve hammer. The present form of the buildings is as they were last altered (in 1865), but other alterations are known to have been made in 1825 and 1855. They had also been enlarged in 1713, as shown by a date plaque in situ with the initials ‘MW’ presumably Matthew Wilson.

From 1695 to 1701 Thomas Dickin II leased it with John Spencer III. After Dickin’s death in 1701 John Spencer insisted on choosing his own partners and, as such, admitted his friend, Nicholas Burley, and his clerk, Matthew Woodhead, whose wife was a sister of Thomas Dickin II. In 1722 Nicholas Burley sold half his share to Matthew Wilson and James Oates, who like John Spencer married Matthew Wilson’s sister. On John Spencer’s death his share passed to his sons William and Edward Spencer. Matthew Wilson managed the forge until his death in 1739. He left his share to his nephew John Cockshutt. Edward Spencer’s share had passed by his will to Wilson and then (despite the objections of William Spencer) to Cockshutt. From 1739 to 1744 William Spencer used it alone with Thomas Cope as his clerk. In 1744 John Cockshutt I (d.1774) and Joseph Broadbent (d.1762) took over the forge under a lease granted the previous year. An arbitration shortly after assigned the forge and associated nail trade to Cockshutt. This partnership continued beyond the deaths of each partner until John Cockshutt II in 1782 bought in Thomas Broadbent’s share following his bankruptcy. Land tax records list John Cockshutt as occupier until 1799. He was succeeded by his brother, James Cockshutt, who died in 1819 leaving his ironworks to his brother Edward and nephews Joseph and James Timothy Bland. They advertised the forge in 1823, with the result that it was occupied by 1826 by Vincent Corbett. A Mr Turner, who is said to have run the works at about this time, was perhaps a manager, but Waterfall & Co were tenants shortly before 1851.

Size The allowance, made in 1642, of 2000 cords per year for (Nether) Bank Furnace and the forge suggests production of at least 130 tpa bar iron. In 1695 there were three fineries and one chafery, all the fineries being in the upper forge; there were two hammers; 1695-1702 average 155 tpa bar iron of which the majority was slit and sold as rod iron; the average annual profit was about £430. 1717 160 tpa; 1718 & 1736 150 tpa; 1750 350 tpa; 1754 two fineries making 3½-4 tpw [200 tpa] in the upper forge and two fineries and a chafery in the lower (Angerstein’s Diary, 217); 1794 4 fineries 2 chaferies (also wire, slitting, rolling, and tin mills, which are described separately below). John Cockshutt carried out experiments in ironmaking and took out a patent in 1771 (English patent 988). Vincent Corbett (occupier in the 1820s) was described a manufacturer of scrap and charcoal bars, rods, hoops, and sheet iron, share-moulds etc.; he was clearly basically a charcoal ironmaster. The manufacture of railway axles began about 1838, and they became one of the works major products. The firm is listed as having 3 puddling furnaces in 1860, then none until 1867 when it had 11. After that the number varied between 12 and 16 except in 1874-5 when only 6 were in use, probably due to difficulties in the export market for railway iron. These puddling furnaces may have been at the Bottom Forge with the Top Forge concentrating on making axles. Associations Nether Bank Furnace was included in most leases of the Forges. Simpson & Co also operated the Duke of Norfolk’s Works around Sheffield. Dickin was a partner in Colnbridge and Kirkstall Forges. After his death, the Wortley Company held shares in both these forges and at Holmes Chapel. The Spencers also had an interest in Staveley and its associated works in 1696-1727 and in the Duke of Norfolk’s works at Sheffield (John Fell & Co) from 1727 probably until 1765. Several partners had a share in the separate Wortley Wiremills partnership. Successive members of the Cockshutt family were also concerned in Seamer and Mousehole Forges, and in ‘1794’ in Bretton Furnace. A newly erected charcoal furnace adjoining the

In 1849 the works were taken over by Thomas Andrews I (d.1871) and his half-brothers Samuel and John Burrows trading as Andrews, Burrows & Co. The firm became Thomas Andrews & Co in 1876. Thomas Andrews II then ran the works until his death in 1907. J. & B. Birdsell incorporated Wortley Iron Co Ltd, which then ran the Top Forge until 1912 and Bottom Forge until its closure in 1929. 151

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Barnsley Canal is mentioned in ther 1824 advertisement of the wire mills, evidently Low Mill at Silkstone.

occupied with Wortley Forges. The process, as conducted here, is described in Gibbs 1955.

Trading Pig iron was taken from Wortley to Simpson, Hayford & Co’s other forges in 1690. In 1695 Hon. Sidney Wortley bought 158 tons of pig iron made by Mr Dickin (SIR Y a/c). In 1695-1702 it received rather more of its pig iron from Barnby Furnace than from Bank Furnace. This presumably continued, though the accounts of Bank Furnace do not distinguish the forges supplied (Sp Bank a/c). From 1711 modest tonnages, mainly of hammers and anvils, were sent from Chappel Furnace (SIR Y a/c). In the 1730s William Murgatroyd and 1738-48 William Spencer had iron from here manufactured into nails (TNA, C 11/1575/31-34; Spencer l/b). In 1799 and 1801 the Cockshutts bought 20 tons of pig iron from Backbarrow and a much larger quantity of ore, presumably for Bretton (BB a/c), but their main pig iron source in this period was probably Bretton (Andrews 1956, 49).

Sources Andrews 1956, 65-66; Sheffield Archives, WhD 503 520 590; Mott 1971, 63 & 67; Angerstein’s Diary, 219-20; Gibbs 1955; cf. Evans 1990a, 118 181 and passim. Mott’s interpretation is not entirely supported by his sources. Wortley Wire Mills: Old Wire Mill New Wire Mill Tilt

All the mills are in Thurgoland, upstream of Wortley Forges. An attempt was made by Mott to link the Old Wire Mill to ‘divers iron smithies’ in Thurgoland, Dodworth, and Silkstone, relet in 1621, but this would require it to be the property of the Wortley family, which none of the mills were until long after. The date, 1624, has been claimed for the first wiremill, later called the Old Wiremill, from a date plaque. However this ought to be too early for a wire mill here, since the Company of Mineral and Battery Works seems to have been able to enforce their wire monopoly at that date. Also when Jonathan Swinden’s title to the property was being impeached in 1725 by one Hobson, claiming under an old deed of entail of 1758 (sic) [1658?], as the son of the person who had sold it, it was said Swinden’s uncle Wood had bought it at its full value and improved it considerably. Nevertheless this account (in a letter) is not quite right as the mill was owned by William Wood (d.1689), and he left it to his son John Wood (d.1722), giving Dennis Hayford, then tenant of the forge, the option to continue using the slitting mill. This John Wood seems to have been the slitter at Rotherham and his nephew, Jonathan Swinden let the wiremill with a slitting mill to Matthew Wilson of Wortley Forges. A year later, this wiremill and Barnage Forge in Gloucestershire were included in an equal partnership between Wilson, William and Edward Spencer, James Oates, and William Murgatroyd of Wortley Wiremills. R.R. Angerstein (in describing them) wrote that wiredrawing was introduced to the neighbourhood ‘not so long ago’ from Wales. This might suggest that wire production only went back Matthew Wilson’s acquisition.

Accounts Stock & profit: Sp early a/c 1658-65; brief annual accounts: Sp Wortley a/c 1695-1701 only; production and prices 1695-1723: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60512/1. Letterbook 1738-45: Spencer l/b, also much correspondence received: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60511-34 passim. Map: Sheffield Archives, Wheat 162M. Sources Mott 1971; Andrews 1956; Bulletin of the Historical Metallurgy Group 1(8) (1967), 36-40; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/8-14 & 17; WhD 576-90; WhM 654, 138; SIR Y a/c, 1709 J, 14 cf. 9; Borthwick Institute (York), prerogative, Apr. 1820, will of James Cockshutt; Hopkinson 1961, 136; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169-75 & passim; Raistrick 1938, 69-79 passim; Barraclough 1977b; Leeds Intelligencer, 17 Apr. 1823; Prince 1922, 187; Awty 1957, 84. Wortley Tinmill (in Hunshelf)

[18] SE278005 [19] SK285998 [20] SK287999

[17] SK294989

The mill was on the site of a smithy (bloomery), possibly used prior to 1621 by Ambrose Wood, but there was no mill there when William Wood took an agricultural lease of the farm in 1684. It was in Hunshelf township on the west side of the River Don, downstream of the forges. The tinmill was built in 1743 presumably by John Cockshutt as tenant of the Wortleys. Angerstein found little difference from what he has seen at Pontypool. The lease was renewed in 1793. By that time it was a rolling mill. This was probably rolling blooms under the Cort puddling process. The mill is listed as a tinmill in the 1790 list. This suggests that the mill was altered shortly after the dissolution of James Cockshutt’s partnership with Richard Crawshay at Cyfarthfa at Merthyr Tydfil in September 1791. The mill continued to be held with Wortley Forges after 1826 when Vincent Corbett had replaced the Cockshutt family, and was included in the 1849 lease to Andrews, Burrows & Co, suggesting its continued use until at least 1870. The mill-pound, a large one, survives as a fishpond. The foundations of the mill may be detected adjoining the dam. It was always

The descent of the Old Wire Mill has been further confused by Mott referring to a corn mill, known as Old Mill, in Wortley. This was let in 1685 to a skinner, Christopher Wood (died 1715) and was clearly not a wiremill. However in 1724 the latter’s widow and children sold to Richard Wilson (Matthew Wilson’s brother) land on the south side of Huthwaite. This was subsequently the site of the New Wiremill, which was no doubt built soon after the purchase. This was inherited by Matthew Wilson, and passed with the rest of his estate to John Cockshutt. Matthew Wilson probably also built the tilt, a little below the New Wiremill, presumably to tilt steel made in the steel furnace at Top Forge. Under the arbitration of 1745 the wiremills, like Wortley Forges, were assigned to John 152

Chapter 8: The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire Cockshutt, who had owned and occupied them since his uncle’s death, and like the forges they remained in the Cockshutt family for about eighty years. The freehold of the mills was offered for sale on 1747, which could be when John Cockshutt bought it. At that time there was also a corn mill. At the beginning of that period the works may have included a bloomery forge, as in the early 1770s John Cockshutt told William Lewis of bloomery iron having, thirty years before, been drawn into iron two yards long at Barnsley for stocking frame needles.

WhM654, f.145-47 153; WhM675-83 passim; Wakefield Deeds Registry, U/246/304; NN/334/467; BR/507/607; KH/292/230; Gibbs 1955; Angerstein’s Diary, 2189; Borthwick Institute (York): prerogative, Apr. 1820, will of James Cockshutt; Doncaster, Aug. 1715, will of Christopher Wood; and Jan. 1722, administration of John Wood; Spencer l/b, passim (passing references); General Evening Post, 30 Jun. 1747; Leeds Intelligencer, 17 Apr. 1823; Birmingham Gazette, 12 Apr. 1824; Manchester Mercury, 6 Apr. 1824; Elliott 1988, 133-37; Crossland 1994; Lewis c.1775. As to the Company of Mineral and Battery Works, see Donald 1961 (on an earlier period) and their original minute book: BL, Loan mss.16/2.

The mills were advertised with Wortley Forges in 1823 and again (without them but with a blast furnace – presumably Silkstone) in 1824. Possession passed in (or by) 1826, with the forges, to Vincent Corbett, but James Cockshutt’s legatees sold the freehold with the bulk of the Huthwaite estate in 1828 to Lord Wharncliffe, the heir of the Wortley family. In 1828, the Old Mill comprised a wiremill and a slitting mill and the Tilt had two tilting mills, but these were probably converted to wiremills in the 1830s. This wiremill was used by Dyson & Poynton and later by John Dyson (died 1895). The Old Wiremill was used by George Jubb from the 1830s to the 1850s and Joel Jubb was paying rent in 1866, but so were J & G Jagger; and it is stated to have been used by the Jagger family for many years up to its closure in 1950, having been rebuilt in 1850. The New Wiremill was occupied by Joseph Sanderson in the 1830s, but was void and out of repair in 1851, after which the Wordsworth family owned it from the 1840s to 1974, five years before it finally closed.

Bloomeries The bloomeries appearing here are those for which I have found documentary references. The occurrence of ‘Smithy’ in place-names suggests there were others. Barnsley Smithy

[21] unknown

A smithy at Barnesley Berkes then in decay was mentioned in 1624, but this may identical with Monkbretton Smithies (see above). Source Mott 1971, 64-5. Colne Smithies at Lepton

[22] about SE1817

These belonged to Sir Thomas Beaumont at his death in 1561, and have been taken to be a predecessor of Colnbridge Forge, but the description seems not to fit this theory, though Lepton does not adjoin the river Colne.

Size In 1724 there were a nealing [annealing] oven and smithies adjoining the mills, probably blacksmiths shops. In 1772 there were two tilting mills near the New Wire Mills (evidently the Tilt). In 1824, the old wire mill had a fall of 14 foot 4 inches; the new wire mill 11 foot 6 inches; and the tilt and rod mill and small wire mill 7 foot.

Source TNA, C 142/129/63. Cawthorne

Associations Members of the Wood family were slitters at Rotherham Mill and elsewhere, and John Wood was a partner in founding Swalwell Mill (Durham). From 1722 until the 19th century it was almost always closely connected with Wortley Forges.

[23] unknown

The manor of Cawthorne was extended for a debt of £120, due to the crown from Mary Waterton, apparently for recusancy. The property included certain iron smithies, a springwood called ‘Cawthorn Park’ and a corn mill. The crown granted a lease to Edward Bird and John Terrie in 1590.

Trading John Wood bought small amounts of iron and steel from John Fell and sold nails (e.g. SIR Y a/c 1715 L, 239), but some of this may have been for his use as slitter at Rotherham Mill. Wire was sold though the Wire Warehouse at Old Swan Stairs in London, where Joseph Janson acted as factor in the 1730s and 1740s for William Murgatroyd then for John Cockshutt. Customers included the ‘Froom people,’ probably wood cardmakers in Somerset, including Mr Maskin and Mr Marks (TNA, C 11/1575/31, Joseph Janson, Sch. B, 31 Jan. 1735/6 and 22 Jun. 1737; woolcards: cf. Mann 1971, 285-86).

Source TNA, E 367/1163. Creskelde Park

[24] about SE2644

A bloomery in the park of Creskeld had two olivers in 1352. It has been suggested this was water-powered, but an oliver is usually a treddle-operated hammer. The better view is probably that it was not and thus should not appear here.

Accounts summary only: Sp wiremill a/c 1724-38.

Sources Crump 1950; Jennings 1992b, 40; Awty 2019, 3.

Sources Notts RO, DDSR 1/17/82; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 64713/6, will of William Wood (d.1689); cf. ibid./21; 153

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Dodsworth

[24] unknown

guardian of Robert Swifte complained that Sir Francis Wortley was preventing him enjoying it and had entered the smithy and cut up the bellows. As an interim measure the court directed that Wortley should enjoy the smithy every fourth week, but there is mention of tools belonging to John Kaye and Nicholas Bradley, who may have been Swift’s tenants. In 1635 Thomas Barneby’s bloomer was John Shenton, who agreed to make a bloom of at least 3 cwt, for every 9 seams of charcoal and three of them for every dozen of ironstone, being paid 30 shillings wages and 10d per bloom. The smithies may have remained in use as late as the 1699. A moiety of the late smithies was sold in 1699, and a corn mill known as New Mill was probably then built. The location suggested above is implied by field names, but the mill in question may be Low Mill, where there is a 19th century furnace (see below).

Dodsworth is mentioned with Silkstone and Thurgoland in a deed in 1621 and might refer to a further smithy. Source Mott 1971, 64. Farnley Smithies

[25] perhaps SE255330

This bloomery was in use in the early 1580s by Richard Wille on behalf of Sir Thomas Danby. Source Collinson 1996, 105. Monkbretton Smithies see main section above Oxspring Smithy

[26] about SE2603

This occurs in the Elizabethan accounts of the Earl of Shrewsbury.

Sources Sheffield Archives, WhD 94 & 420; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/1-2; SpSt 64713; HMC 3rd Rep., 226; TNA, E 125/11, 170v 192v.

Source E of Shrews a/c.

Stainborough Smithies

Rakehead: Smithy Croft

[27] unknown

These may be of medieval origin and probably operated for much of the 17th century. The assignment of Silkstone smithies to Thomas Cutler of Stainborough was prohibited in 1612, suggesting he was a rival. In 1696 they were let to John Spencer III and Thomas Dickin and then had two ‘tuirons’ and two stringhammers, implying they had recently been in use. They were included in the furnaces partnership of the same year, apparently with the object of suppressing them. When again leased in 1723 they were a ruin, whose site was made available for Samuel Shore and William Westby Cotton to build a furnace on, but instead they repaired Rockley Furnace.

This field, part of Bradwood and Coupe Farms in Rossendale, belonged to the Ashworth family as tenants of Whalley Abbey in 1518. Other members of the family rented Ellebanke in Spotlands in the late 16th century and were cutlers. The name and their occupation suggests a bloomery. Sources Kerr 1872, 62ff, citing Coucher Book of Whalley Abbey 4, 1228-9 (Chetham Soc. o.s. 20, 1849). Rockley Smithies

[28] SE 3395 0229 Sources VCH Yorks ii, 388; Sheffield Archives, WhD 420; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/6; TC 698.

This is one of the few bloomery forges to have been excavated in advance of motorway construction, so that the site was destroyed. Nothing seems to be known of his history, but it probably worked from about 1500 to about 1640.

Weetwood and Hesylwell Smithies

[32] unknown

Whettwood and Hesyllwell smethes were in lease to Sir Robert Neville in 1539, who claimed to have paid an entry fine for a 100 year lease to the Abbot of Kirkstall. They were apparently in Addyll and Cuckrigg and were let to Robert Pakeman in June 1540 and were included in a grant of Kirkstall Abbey in 1547.

Sources Crossley & Ashurst 1968; Crossley 1967. Rothwell Haigh

[31] unlocated c. SE3202

[29] about SE 3428

There was an ironworks at Rothwell Haigh which was operating about 1548, but nothing else is known of it. Sources VCH Yorks ii, 392 from BL, Lansdown 900, f.1.

Sources TNA, SC 6/Hen. VIII/4590, m.1v; Cal. Pat. R. Edward VI, ii, 106; VCH Yorks. ii, 344 (misattributed); Mott 1971, 160-1.

Silkstone Smithies

Other ironworks

[30] SE296064

The lords of the manor sold the smithies to Robert Swifte and Robert Greaves; Greaves used it every fourth week and Swift the rest of the time. In 1609 Swift let his three quarters share to Thomas Barneby, who three years later assigned it Nicholas Brodeley. Thomas Barneby sold the other share to Sir Francis Wortley in 1618. In 1632 the

Fall Ing Foundry see Bowling Furnace (below) Holbeck Forge

[33] unidentified

Sturges & Co of Bowling had a Holbeck estate that included a ‘steam engine, forge, and implements’ from 154

Chapter 8: The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire 1804 to 1809. This was advertised in 1805 as within a mile of Leeds, being near the bridge and having 2 hammers and necessary furnaces as well as a corn mills with three pairs of stones.

partnership of William Shaw and Edwards Taylor was dissolved in 1833. Shaw took new partners, including Edward Raisbeck, but some partners left in 1834 and 1835. Raisbeck and Edward Moore were bankrupt in 1838, but Raisbeck survived this to open a warehouse in Leeds in 1843. A boiler explosion did £1000 damage to the works and killed a man in 1813, and Mr G. Armitage ironmaster gave evidence for Thornhill Lees Iron Co at the inquest. In 1813, the preparing finery was capable of 20 tons per week, and it had two puddling furnaces, a drawing hammer with a wooden helve and a rolling mill. In 1816, it was powered by a 56-hp engine. It became Thornhill Iron and Steel Works, which belonged to Monk Bridge Iron Co and had 14 puddling furnaces in 1863. It was taken over by Thornhill Iron & Steel Co Ltd in 1886. James Austin and Sons (Dewsbury) Ltd owned the works from 1923 and were in business as structural engineers in 1960.

Sources Leeds Intelligencer, 14 Oct. 1805; and see Bowling. Holm House Mill, Warley

[34] SE040280

A mill built on the Holm House estate as a cotton mill was in use as a wiremill in 1818. Sources Leeds Intelligencer, 9 Mar. 1818. Oxspring wire mill

[34] SE263027

A wire mill in Oxspring in the occupation of Michael Camm, Benjamin Downing and Benjamin Rayner was advertised for sale in 1821. The works belonged to J.W. Wordsworth & Co in 1870 and then Winterbottoms.

Sources Butler 1954, 87; Calder a/c, ledger 2, 41; Wakefield Archives, Goodchild, iron notes, Emroyd; London Gazette, 16179, 1221 (3 Sep. 1808); 19057, 1138 (11 June 1833); 19635, 1599 (13 July 1838); Leeds Intelligencer, 28 Jun. 1813; 10 Aug. 1816; 9 April 1842; Leeds Mercury, 10 Aug. 1816; 23 May 1835; Birmingham Journal, 7 Jun. 1827; Hull Packet, 18 Jul. 1834; Halifax Courier, 9 April 1853; www.gracesguide.co.uk.

Sources www.gracesguide.co.uk; Leeds Intelligencer, 1 Jan. 1821. Swamp Hall, Liversedge

[36] SE189239

Space in Swamp Hall Liversedge was advertised in 1815. Brooke and Nowell had lately used it as a wiremill, powered by a 10-hp engine.

Coke furnaces Bierley Ironworks

[40] SE169284

Sources Leeds Intelligencer, 24 Apr. 1815 Swamp Mills, Boulder Clough, Sowerby

The first furnace here was built by Mr Mowson and John Aked in 1809 and passed by 1813 to James Marshall, Henry Leah and others; Henry Leah had previously been the cashier at Bowling. It was in blast in 1810. The Leah family were concerned in it until the 1840s, after which it passed to the Low Moor Company, who used it until its closure in the 1880s.

[37] SE037241 and [38] SE039242

Two wire mills called Upper and Lower Swamp Mills both in the occupation of John Ramsden, being copyhold of the manor of Wakefield, were offered for sale in 1815. This was perhaps the Gateshead Wire Mill near Halifax where John Ramsden used iron from Old Park Ironworks in the 1822-4.

Sources Bradford Archives, 68D 6/6/c/377-80; Firth 1990, 134-5.

Sources Leeds Intelligencer, 16 Jan. 1815; OP a/c; Hayman thesis, 240. I have not investigated the Wakefield manor rolls. Thornhill Lees Forge, Dewsbury or Dewsbury Ironmills

Birkenshaw Ironworks

[41] perhaps SE201287

Emmett, Holden & Bolland announced the erection of the furnace and advertised for work at it and their foundry in Halifax in 1780, which John Emmett had by 1768. The other partners withdrew within a few years, the firm being called John Emmet & Co by 1783. In 1796 it made 846 tons and 612 tons in 1805; the furnace was in blast in 1810, but closed in 1815. John, Emmanuel and William Emmett bought land in 1785.

[39] SE237198

These were presumably rolling mills with puddling furnaces, standing on Forge Lane on the bank of the New Cut of the Calder & Hebble Navigation. They belonged to Samuel Day, Joseph Hall and Samuel Day jun. until 1808 and then to Joseph Hall, who bought some pig iron from Calder Furnace until 1811. Joshua Ingram in 1813 and his widow in 1816 offered it to let, Mr Day having run it as the manager for many years in 1816. By 1821 the firm was again Day & Co. Day was also probably a partner in Emroyd Furnace. It was again advertised in 1827. The

Sources Sheffield Archives, MD 1441-4; Firth 1990, 134-5; Parker 1904, 290-6 (including price list 1799); Goodchild 1959; Wakefield Archives, Goodchild, iron notes, Birkenshaw; Leeds Intelligencer, 5 Dec. 1780; 9 Sep. 1783; Wakefield Deeds Registry, CR/331/495; Parker 1904, 290-7. 155

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Bowling Ironworks

[42] SE1813122

The firm (John Butler, George Beecroft the elder both of Kirksall Forge, Thomas Butler, Thomas Butler and Walter Edward Hodgson of Calder) were bankrupt in 1812, but the works were continued by the assignees, who declared a dividend in the bankruptcy in 1818. The site is marked by Calder Cottage. Beecrofts and Butlers recovered from bankruptcy, but the furnace did not.

The works were built by Sturges & Ellwell, who established Fall Ings Foundry at Wakefield in 1784. In 1787 John Sturges sen. & jun. formed a partnership with Richard Paley and John Ellwell to build these ironworks; William Sturges joined the firm soon after. Two furnaces were blown in in 1791; one of these made 2,000 tpa in 1796. Ellwell withdrew in 1793, taking over the Wakefield works alone. Sturges cast howitzers and carronades in 1795 and 1796. A new partnership was agreed in 1804 as John Sturges & Co. In 1805 2,473 tpa were made; one of the three furnaces was out of blast in 1806; all three were going in 1810. John Sturges & Co supplied cast iron ballast to the Navy in 1809, 1812, and 1814. The firm remained Sturges & Co until 1866; Bowling Iron Co Ltd was incorporated in 1870 and continued the works until the mid-1890s. From 1804 the firm was making both castings and iron, the later presumably in puddling furnaces, the assets employed rising from about £100,000 to over £160,000, of which £84,000 was partners’ share capital, periodically augmented by partners’ loans retained out of profit, amounting to a further £27,000 by 1823. They had a forge at Bowling by 1801 when they advertised for hammermen and ball furnace-men. The firm had Holbeck Forge from 1804 to 1809. The firm issued its own notes as currency around 1813. It had 27 puddling furnaces in the 1860s, falling to 12 in 1885.

Accounts complete accounts books (except first ledger): Calder a/c 1803 to 1816. Sources Butler 1954, 100-8; Wakefield deeds registry, EH/173/219; EQ/520/644; EQ/536/644; ES/469/576; EU/472/577; FH/347/429; FN/83/104; FN/86/105; FN/88/106; Wakefield Archives, Goodchild, iron notes, Calder; London Gazette, no. 16183, 1272 (13 Sep. 1808); Stamford Mercury, 25 Dec. 1812; Leeds Mercury, 19 Feb. 1814; Leeds Intelligencer, 27 Feb. 1815; 30 Oct. 1815; 11 Dec. 1823; Morning Chronicle, 30 Jan. 1818. Emroyd Furnace

The furnace was built under a lease to James Milnes dated 1798, but does not appear in the 1825 list. In 1810 Day & Co had it in blast. When James Milnes died in 1814 his estate included the stock of the furnace. William Coe was subsequently bookkeeper and ironfounder there. Coe and Day seem to have been the same firm who owned Dewsbury Ironmills (later Thornhill Lees Forge). The furnace was on Emroyd Common near Middlestown in Thornhill. In 1825 an idle furnace listed as at Mirfield and belonging to Mr Miln may refer to this site rather than Calder, or may be a conflation of the two. In 1830 it had ‘not been worked for several years’. The remains of the furnace were destroyed by opencast mining.

Accounts Annual balance sheets etc. 1804-23: SML, Ms. 486. Sources Bradford Archives, 68D 82/6/6/c/358; Cudworth 1891, 205-43; Long 1968; Dodsworth 1969; Firth 1990, 120-32; Brown 2009; Cole thesis, 188-9 227-8 from TNA, SUPP 5/54; Leeds Intelligencer, 27 Apr. 1801; NMM, CHA/N/1, 141-2 148 153; Pressnell 1956, 28; Tann 1979, 104. Fall Ing: Norman 1969, 74-6; TNA, RAIL 800/7, 180.

Sources Wakefield Archives, Goodchild, iron notes, Emroyd; Wakefield RO, land tax, Shittlington. Fieldhead Furnace

Calder Furnace

[44] probably c.SE263178

[45] SE305071

[43] SE223190 Various earthworks, which are probably the remains of this furnace can be detected in Hugset Wood in Dodworth, the track past the site being a former railroad (mentioned in 1804). The Fieldhead estate was bought in 1799 by William Parker, who built a furnace there in partnership with George Scott. The partnership was dissolved in 1801 and Parker tried letting the furnace (with a patent engine) in 1804, but had it in blast in 1806 and 1810; however it is described as having been blown out in 1806. It had been out of use for a number of years by his death about 1820. The estate was advertised for sale in 1820 and 1824. In 1804 it was stated to make 13-14 tpw (about 600 tpa).

The works of the Calder Iron and Coal Company at Hopton in Mirfield, consisting of a single furnace, were built from 1803 and in blast from June 1805, built on an estate of 193 acres of land at Mirfield. There were probably several short blasts in the first few years. It entered the fifth year of the seventh blast in November 1814 and was blown out in March 1815; the company was then dissolved. It was managed by Thomas Butler and the partners included Beecroft & Butlers of Kirkstall Forge. It made 1,040 tpa in 1805. The furnace was probably built by Jonathan Smyth of Thunderbridge, but the 1805 list names the owner as Emmett (probably a mistake). Smyth dealt with quarter shares in 1805 (perhaps a mortgage) and 1809 (evidently a sale). The partnership of Jonathan Smyth of Thunder Bridge, Thomas Butler, George Beecroft and Samuel Marsden of Calder ironworks was dissolved in 1808. The whole was apparently bought by Beecroft and Butlers in 1809.

Sources Wakefield Deeds Registry, EC/163/270; EP/556/683; EP/57/684; Wakefield Archives, Goodchild, iron notes, Parker’s (Fieldhead); Leeds Intelligencer, 27 Apr. 1801; 29 Oct. 1804 (‘near Barnsley’); Slatcher 1968, 58; Leeds Mercury, 12 Feb. 1820; Morning Chronicle, 29 Mar. 1824. 156

Chapter 8: The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire Low Moor Ironworks

[46] SE155285

Royds (citing Leeds Intelligencer, 15 Sep. 1810, 3 Nov. 1810, and 24 Dec. 1810; Leeds Mercury, 5 Jan. 1811).

The ironworks firm developed out of the Bradford Lime Company which was established in 1772, following the opening of the canal. Preston, Hird, and Jarratt leased the lime works in 1783 and then in 1789 acquired the Willesley Low Moor estate. Following the death of John Preston, who had been a partner in the original lime firm, Hird and Jarratt admitted three new partners including Joseph Dawson (a Unitarian minister), and John Hardy (the Spencer-Stanhope steward). Two furnaces were blown in in 1791; in 1796 these made 2500 tpa; in 1805 four furnaces made 5143 tpa, making this the largest ironworks in Yorkshire. The works produced cannon in the 1790s. The additional furnaces were added from 1801; these were followed by a forge in 1803 and a rolling mill in 1804, and they were improved in 1806. John Jarratt retired from his partnership with C.H. Dawson and John Hardy in 1819 and three-quarters of the shares were offered for sale. The firm was subsequently Hird, Dawson and Hardy, who remained owners until 1887, after which the works were operated by Low Moor Co Ltd and other companies until their demolition in 1938. The works included 44 puddling furnaces in 1861 and often at least 38 until 1883, but only 24 in the two following years. Joseph Dawson of Royds Hall provided James Weale (Lord Sheffield’s secretary) with a long description of current ironmaking processes, including puddling (SML, Weale MSS, MS 371/2, 504-11), presumably describing those in use at Low Moor.

Seacroft Furnace

The furnace was built on the site of a corn mill, probably in 1779, the blowing engine being designed by Smeaton; Wigglesworth, Eyres & Co advertised for moulders in January 1781, but it was not a success and was closed down by 1788. It was advertised for sale in 1792 and again in 1802, but probably did not work again. Raistrick included the furnace in lists of those working in the early to mid18th century, but this is contrary to the surviving evidence, in particular the complete absence of any reference to it in the abundant and detailed accounts of other ironworks in that period. Raistrick may have drawn false inferences from Smeaton’s designs. Sources Leeds Archives, DB 219/2-3 6 & 8; Smeaton’s reports ii, 373-4; Smeaton’s designs pp. 63-5; Thoresby Soc. Publications 40(3) (1953), 161 & 44 (1955), 26; Leeds Intelligencer, 5 Jul. 1802; cf. Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169 & 172 (no evidence cited); Riden 1992c, 43; Stewart 2017, 214. Shelf Furnace

[49] SE131292

John Ellwell, after leaving Bowling, joined John Crawshaw and John Stocks in leasing a mineral estate at Shelf in 1793 and building a furnace. In 1795 this was blown in and made 3,442 tons pig iron in the next three years. In 1796 it is listed as making 1,140 tons; in 1805 two of the three furnaces were in blast and made 2,716 tons. John Crawshaw left the firm in 1800, it being continued by Samuel Aydon and Sarah Ellwell. There was a new partnership from 1802 consisting of John Crawshaw, Samuel Aydon and Sarah and William Ellwell. In 1810 Aydon & Co again had one of their furnaces out of blast. Aydon and Ellwell were bankrupt in 1825, but the bankruptcy was superseded in 1825, their debts presumably having been paid. From 1825 the works belonged to Hird, Dawson & Co of Low Moor, who closed them about 1850.

Sources Dodsworth 1971; Bradford Archives, MM 44/1-3; MMC 33/1; Firth 1977; Firth 1990, 97-119; Brown 2009; Cole thesis, 188-90 from TNA, SUPP 5/54; London Gazette, no. 17548, 2358 (28 Dec. 1819); Leeds Intelligencer, 10 May 1819. Mirfield Furnace see Calder (above) Royds Furnaces

[48] SE335353

[47] possibly near SE271315

John Crawshaw jun., who appears in a poll book of 1807, may have erected the works. He and two other partners left the firm in 1808, Royds Iron Co being continued by Richard Pullan, Samuel Popplewell and Joseph Shaw. As Shaw & Co, they had two furnaces at Royds in blast in 1810, but a furnace burst that September, killing a man and a boy. Following this, the ironworks was offered for sale as capable of 25 tpw (about 1,150 tpa). Royds Iron Co was liquidated in 1811, and the works were advertised for sale as capable of 35 tpw. They were eventually sold to their landlord for £3800 in August 1812. They do not appear to have been used again. Shaw & Co also owned Hunslet ironworks, which seem to have survived the failure of the furnace business. The precise location of the works has not been determined.

Sources Bradford Archives, 68D 82/6/6/c/370-376; Firth 1990, 135-6; Norman 1969; London Gazette, 15272, 766 (1 Jul. 1800); 17772, 2413 (11 Dec. 1821); 17781, 2413 (12 Jan. 1822); Edinburgh Gazette, 3386, 212 (15 Nov. 1825). Silkstone Furnace, at Low Mill

[50] SE297068

This furnace, standing on private property, is perhaps the best preserved one in Yorkshire, but its history is one of the more obscure. It was built with one tuyere, but has had a second added, implying the use of blowing cylinders (or tubs), rather than bellows, which is probably confirmed by the furnace having evidently been charged from a floor over the blowing house. Nevertheless power came from a waterwheel, probably of eighteen feet diameter. All this suggests a date at the end of the 18th century or

Sources Leeds Archives, KF 1/4, 408-9; Butler 1954, 100; Ashton 1924, 151n; London Gazette, 16183, 1273 (13 Sep. 1808); Wakefield Archives, Goodchild, iron notes, 157

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I early in the 19th. The stack is square with vertical walls and a circular brick lining, which now stands higher than the surrounding rubble fill, which has been consolidated by the present owner. The casting house is substantially intact. The furnace stands on land formerly of the SpencerStanhope family, part of their Silkstone main colliery. Their correspondence indicates that the mines there were not worked for some years after Barnby Furnace closed. They were then let to the Low Moor Company in 1803. They had spent £46,000 on them by 1806 (probably their turnover, not their loss), but were still losing money, and so discontinued them.

being terminated in a way that left both parties bearing their own costs. In 1823 the site was leased for conversion to a manufactory for oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) and was later a bleach works. Sources YAS Library, DD 70/84; DD 70/137; Hey 1977, 256; Slatcher 1968, 58; Leeds Intelligencer, 31 Jul. and 1 Aug. 1820; TNA, ADM 106/2747 (digest).

James Cockshutt’s will, prepared in 1815, refers vaguely to ‘furnaces’, conceivably referring to this one. Mr Bland, Cockshutt’s nephew agreed terms with Mr Stanhope in 1819. It must be the newly-erected charcoal blast furnace near the Barnsley Canal, mentioned in the 1824 advertisement for Wortley Wire Mills. However, the furnace apparently was still to be built in 1825 when the lease was sold to Graham & Co (Henry Hartopp of Hoyland Hall, William Graham of Worsborough, and Robert Graham of London). On the dissolution of this partnership, the furnace was assigned to Messrs. Graham, who were in dispute with John Spencer-Stanhope over arrears of rent and royalty in 1832. Henry Hartop was bankrupt in 1830. The furnace was evidently already out of use. However the ironstone may have been worked until about 1843. The furnace does not appear in any statistical list, unless hidden in the entry for the same firm’s Milton Furnaces. Sources Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60579; 60609/202-214; Bradford Archives, SpSt 5/5/1/27; Wakefield Archives, Goodchild, iron notes, Low Mill (citing Geo. Keir’s l/b i, 80 and Barnsley Canal accounts); Birmingham Gazette, 12 Apr. 1824; Manchester Mercury, 6 Apr. 1824; London Gazette, 18669, 672 (2 Apr. 1830); Clarke 1964; Baker 1944, 116 (plan and elevation only). Swallow Hill Furnaces

[51] probably SE325092

Richard Swallow jun., whose father held Chappel Furnace at Chapeltown and Attercliffe and other associated forges, took a series of leases in 1796 from T.R. Beaumont of Bretton: a building lease for two furnaces, a lease of ironstone mines in Kexborough and Cawthorne, a lease of coal mines there, probably also a farm tenancy. The furnaces were at Swallwell, which he called Swallow Hill. Swallow spent £8,000, building three furnaces, two of which would make 50 tons per week, but Col. Beaumont failed to provide as much coal as agreed, so that Swallow could make only one ton per day (not four). Despite becoming bankrupt in 1808, Richard Swallow had two furnaces in blast in 1810. He contracted to supply the Navy Board with ballast in 1806 (not necessarily from here). The matter was the subject of a trial at the assizes in 1820 (reported at length) when Swallow’s assignees sued Col. Beaumont, possibly in response to his claim for dilapidations at the end of a 21-year lease, the proceedings 158

9 Sheffield District Introduction

Thomas Earl of Arundel and Alathea are descended the later lords of the manors of Sheffield and Rotherham, the Dukes of Norfolk and Earls of Effingham. Sheffield, with Worksop, was settled in 1627 on the Earl and Countess of Pembroke (d.1649), then in default of issue on the Countess of Kent (d.1651), and finally on the Earls of Arundel and his issue, who were restored as Dukes of Norfolk in 1660. Such estates (including the Kimberworth ironworks) were part of the northern revenue of the Earls of Pembroke until 1649. However the Earl of Arundel and his lady had some interest in Sheffield so that courts were held in the joint names of the Earls of Pembroke and Arundel. The Earl of Arundel and family were able to grant the first lease of the ironworks later called the Duke of Norfolk’s Works.4

Sheffield lies where the River Don runs through the coal measures of the Yorkshire Coalfield. This river and its tributaries, the Rivelin, Porter and Sheaf provided large amounts of water-power, whose greatest use was for cutlers’ wheels, mills where knives and other blades were sharpened. The main disadvantage of the area was its relative inaccessibility. The nearest head of navigation until well into the 18th century was some twenty miles away at Bawtry, at the head of the navigable lower section of the River Idle. Sheffield was thus in a landlocked coalfield, where coal was cheap and could be used in metal manufactures. In common with those other centres of iron manufacture, Birmingham and Dudley (also landlocked), it was a medieval market town, but had no corporation and did not elect members to Parliament, being a mere seigneurial borough. In the 16th century, the Earls of Shrewsbury were chief lords of the whole of Hallamshire, owning large parks at Sheffield (east of the town and south of the Don) and at Kimberworth (north of the Don) in Rotherham.1 As in so many places, the introduction of the iron industry, on a larger scale than just bloomeries, goes back to the initiative of George Earl of Shrewsbury (d.1590), in this case in about 1573.2 These ironworks are shown by surviving accounts to have comprised two hammers at Attercliffe, supplied by furnaces at Kimberworth and Wadsley and using mine from Tankersley. In 1585/6 these made 229 tons of iron in all.3 It is not clear how long these works operated, but there is reason to suspect they were subsequently discontinued. From the mid-17th century, the manor of Sheffield belonged to the Dukes of Norfolk, who were absentees. Most of the archives of the Earls of Shrewsbury, which had been kept at Sheffield, were dispersed or lost. This is a pity, because the surviving fragments show a carefully managed estate, from which a great deal might have been learnt.

The Dukes, as absentee owners, had their extensive estates managed by resident stewards and it is convenient to refer to successive owners of the estate as ‘the Duke’, although sometimes the owners were trustees under the will of a preceding duke or such like. In the early 18th century, leases were usually for twenty one years and sometimes granted at a premium. Later in the century leases for sixty three or ninety nine years became usual for houses and industrial property, no doubt to encourage improvement, and in the early 1800s the freehold in much of this industrial and residential property was sold. On such sales, the counterparts of such long leases were usually handed away. Accordingly, the series of leases in the Arundel Castle Muniments at Sheffield Archives is accordingly far from complete. However, this deficiency is more than remedied by the survival of an excellent series of 18th century leasebooks and rentals, which, supplemented by maps of William Fairbank, enable the history of individual properties to be worked out. This has been done for cutlers wheels, tilts, and other mills by D.W. Crossley, C. Ball and others.5 I have therefore generally only carried out detailed research on steel furnaces, tilts, and a few mills that fell outside the scope of that important study. I have also intensively studied the accounts of the main group of works that made iron, which survive almost complete from 1690-1764.6 Unfortunately, the dearth of equivalent sources for the most of the 17th century leaves earlier periods obscure.

Earl Edward, who succeeded in 1616, survived his brother Earl Gilbert by only a year. The earldom and in some estates (for example in Staffordshire) passed to a distant cousin, but Sheffield and various other estates passed to Earl Gilbert’s daughters. They were partitioned among their husbands, the Earls of Kent, Pembroke, and Arundel. Of the three only Alathea Countess of Arundel left any children, but the terms of family settlements enabled Elizabeth Countess of Kent to pass her Herefordshire estate to later Earls of Kent, relatives of her husband. From

1 2 3

4 Copy settlement: Foley, E12/II/30/1; Hunter, Hallamshire, 99; TNA, C 5/22/27. 5 Ball et al. 2006: a new edition of Crossley et al. 1989. 6 Sheffield Archives, Staveley ironworks records, SIR/1-24, cited here as SIR Y a/c.

For background generally see Hey 1991, ch.2; also Hopkinson 1956. Awty 1981b. E of Shrews. a/c.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

160

Chapter 9: Sheffield District Map 9. Sheffield. The second inset shows steel furnaces (if all kinds). T indicates Tilts. 1, Attercliffe Forge; 2, Attercliffe Slitting Mill; 3, Brightside Forges; 4, Chappel Furnace; 5, Conisbrough Forge; 6, Conisbrough Forge II; 7, Middlewood Forge:; 8, Middlewood Slitting mill:; 9, Mousehole Forge; 10, Norton Furnace and Forge; 11, Owlerton slitting mill; 12, Pondmill; 13, Roche Abbey Forge; 14, Rotherham Mill; 15, Holmes Ironworks; 16, Sheffield Forge; 17, Thrybergh Forge; 18, Wadsley Forge; 19, Wadsley Furnace; 20, Ecclesfield; 21, Treeton; 22, Abbeydale Works; 23, Birley Meadow Wheel and Tilt; 24, Blackburn Forge (formerly Wheel); 25, Clough Wheel; 26, Cooper Wheel, Row Lees and Rolling Mill; 27, Glass or Loxley Tilt; 28, Heeley Tilt; 29, Little London Works; 30, Nova Scotia Tilt; 31, Parker Tilt; 32, Pond Tilt; 33, Slack Wheels; 34, Storrs Wheel; 35, Walkley Bank Tilt; 36, Whiteley Wood Forge; 37, Whiteley Wood Rolling Mill; 38, Wicker Tilts; 39, Wisewood Forge; 40, Woodhouse Steel Forge; 41, Attercliffe cast steel furnace; 42, Attercliffe: crucible furnace; 43, Attercliffe: steel furnace; 44, Attercliffe: steel furnace; 45, Ballifield steel furnace; 46, Darnall steel furnaces; 47, Grenoside Steel Refining Furnace; 48, Holmes Steel Works; 49, Kimberworth steel furnace; 50, Kimberworth steel furnace; 51, Richmond steel furnace; 52, Steel furnace in Beast Market; 53, Arundel Street; 54, Bailey Field near Trippetts Lane; 55, Balm Green crucible furnaces; 56, Blind Lane cementation furnaces; 57, Broomfield, Little Sheffield; 58, Castle Fold; 59, Castle Green; 60, Garden Street; 61, Gibraltar; 62, Crucible furnace in Gibraltar Street; 63, Crucible furnace in Gibraltar Street; 64, Green Lane; 66, Steel furnaces at Millsands; 67, Orchard Place; 68, Furnace off Orchard Street; 69, Pea Croft; 70, Rockingham Street; 71, Scotland Street; 72, The Wicker; 73, The Wicker; 74, Grenoside Foundry; 75, Sheffield: Gibraltar Foundry; 76, Elsecar; 77, Milton Furnaces; 78, Park Ironworks at Sheffield; 79, Thorncliffe Ironworks; 80, Worsbrough Ironworks.

The Duke of Norfolk’s Works

The ironworks at Kimberworth (in Rotherham) seem to have been built in 1608 and passed after the death of Earl Gilbert to the Earl of Kent in the 1620s, and then in the 1630s to the Earl of Pembroke. They were managed for the earls by clerks and then, from 1639, farmed to Sir William Savile, who was followed in 1643 by his widow and then by Francis Nevile of Chevet, another executor. There were difficulties over settling accounts for this period, partly as a result of the Civil War. Though the works were referred to as at Kimberworth, only the forge was there: on the Holmes goit which leaves the river Don at Jordan Dam. The furnace was at Chapeltown.11 Francis Nevile sublet the works to Lionel Copley in 1651. Another ironworks, at Norton (now a suburb of Sheffield, but formerly in Derbyshire) is not well documented: there was a bloomsmithy in 1608 and two corn mills under one roof in 1617, but they were succeeded by a furnace and forge by 1637. These were assigned by Gervas Nevile to Lionel Copley in 1670 for the remainder of a short lease.12

The main group of Sheffield ironworks consisted of Attercliffe Forge, Wadsley Forge, Rotherham Slitting Mill, and Chappel Furnace, commonly known together as ‘the Duke of Norfolk’s Works’, a term sometimes extended to apply to certain other works which were used with them but did not belong to the Duke, notably Roche Abbey Forge and Rockley Furnace. Hunter claimed that the works, to which this title strictly applied, were let to an unspecified member of the Copley family in 1618.7 Careful investigation of the archives shows that Hunter was wrong. The works derive from a lease of 1639, when the Earl of Arundel in 1639 let ‘Worlds End’ [Wardsend Farm] and meadows on both sides of the river Don at Attercliffe to Lionel and Christopher Copley, Leonard Pinkney, and Thomas St Nicholas (the Copleys’ brotherin-law). The partners undertook to build two forges and one or two furnaces, being permitted to take over cutlers wheels and have the benefit of their weirs.8 This is confirmed by careful reading of Harrison’s Survey of the manor of Sheffield, in 1637, where Attercliffe Hammer appears as ‘Forge Wheels’. The Survey said, ‘There may be within the manor raised an iron work’. Against Forge Wheels is an annotation (though in the same hand), ‘put into ye ironworkes Col[one]l Copley’. The military rank very probably was probably a Civil War one, dating the annotation to after the war. The wheel at Wadsley Bridge has a similar note.9 The lease thus marks a new beginning for the ironworks, the earlier furnaces and hammers being defunct. This lease led to the erection of forges at Attercliffe and Wadsley and furnaces at Wadsley and, a little later perhaps one at Ecclesfield, whose location is unknown, unless the reference to it relates to Rockley Furnace, though it is beyond the bounds of Ecclesfield.10 It ought not to be the furnace at Chapeltown, as that was then used with Kimberworth Forge.

Downstream from Sheffield, Lionel Copley, Thomas Bosevile, Henry Wigfall, and George Sitwell wished to build a forge at Conisbrough in 1638, but neighbours alleged this was detrimental to the need for naval timber. Members of the Privy Council inquired into the matter, but they appear to have decided not to intervene, having found that the use of wood from coppices (as opposed to timber proper) was lawful.13 A lease was granted to Lionel Copley and Thomas Bosevile, the other two agreeing to provide sow iron from their furnaces in Derbyshire. During the Civil War, the royalists plundered the forge on account of Copley’s allegiance, when ‘no man could enjoy any visible goods thereabouts’. In 1644, Copley lent money to the landlord, but in 1649, the rent was in arrears, and Lord Rochford forfeited the lease while Copley was in prison. In 1654, the Court of Chancery granted him relief from this forfeiture, but no subsequent 17th-century reference to the forge has been traced.14 Copley, Bosevile, Wigfall, and

Hunter, Hallamshire, ii, 190. Sheffield Archives, ACM/S180; TNA, C 5/22/27; King 2011c, 23-4. 9 Hunter, Hallamshire, ii, 190; Harrison’s survey, 4 32, printing Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 76, which is apparently the original manuscript; Sheffield Archives, ACM/SD 180. 10 See note 8. 7

1608: Schubert 1946, 525; Kent: Bodleian Library (Oxford), Ms. Selden supra 116, pp. 22-24; Pembroke etc.: Savile & Nevile a/c. 12 Q.v. 13 TNA, PC 2/49, 268; q.v. 14 TNA, C 5/403/70; q.v.

8

11

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I In 1666 Lionel Copley renewed his Sheffield lease: he rented Chappel Furnace and the forges at Wardsend (or Wadsley) and Rotherham (that is, Kimberworth) with the meadows where Attercliffe Forge stood and agreed to convert Rotherham Forge into a slitting mill.19 He still had Rockley Furnace and probably secured Wortley Forge on the dissolution of the partnership of Spencer, Allsopp, and Bancks in 1675 shortly before his own death. He tried to tie up his estate in trust to prevent his son spending it, but only appointed one trustee, William Simpson. Simpson appears to have agreed to renounce trusteeship on the basis that Lionel Copley II sold him the iron business. This enabled Lionel Copley II to become administrator and to get control of the capital of the estate, presumably thus frustrating his father’s intentions. By this or some other means, the whole enterprise came to Dennis Hayford and William Simpson.20 Lionel Copley II seems to have attempted to re-enter the iron business about 1690, by leasing Sheffield and Wortley Forges with John Eyre, who had long had coalmines in Sheffield Park,21 but Eyre soon became bankrupt and Copley obtained an honourable exile as governor of Maryland.22

Sitwell were also partners in a forge at Stone (also known as Roche Abbey Forge). However, the first two apparently soon withdrew, and Wigfall and Sitwell (only) transferred the forge to John Wright in 1642, agreeing to supply him with pig iron from their furnaces in Derbyshire. George Sitwell made a similar agreement with a later tenant, John Parker, in 1660.15 The Sheffield works also suffered greatly during the civil war. George Clarke had been appointed by Thomas St Nicholas, who lived in London, to represent him in taking accounts in the first two years of the partnership there. In May 1642 when the Earl of Newcastle occupied Sheffield Castle for the King, Sir Raphe Hausby as the Earl’s commissioner appointed George Clarke as overseer of the ironworks, and set them casting ordnance. Leonard Pinkney warned Lionel Copley by letter that there were pursuivants out for him, advising him to flee. He went to Hull and served on the Parliamentary side. In August 1644, Sheffield Castle was taken for Parliament, and when Thomas St Nicholas and Christopher Copley visited the works, they found George Clarke overseeing them and thought it best to leave him and Edward Barber, another clerk, in charge. In 1649, the partners met at Windsor, where Lionel Copley was in prison, to try to settle accounts, but not all the necessary books were there. The partners met in Yorkshire in June 1654. The other partners, concluding that Lionel Copley had taken more money out of the works than they had, appointed Clarke to liquidate the stock. Lionel Copley refused to agree and the dispute came before the Court of Chancery. The main issues were on what salaries should be allowed to clerks and what Lionel Copley should be allowed for providing transport with teams of horses and by boat on the River Don.16 The outcome seems to have been that Lionel Copley bought his partners out and continued the works alone. He had taken over Chappel Furnace and Kimberworth Forge from Francis Nevile in 1651. In 1652, he built another furnace to the north of Sheffield, at Rockley, on the estate of Francis Rockley.17

Thus, in about 1676, Simpson with Dennis Hayford, the son of the steward of the Rockley estate, took over a large integrated ironworks. Though the period up to 1690 is not well known, the succeeding three-quarters of a century are so well documented that little need remain unknown, as a result of the survival of the complete general accounts of the whole group of works (except two or three volumes of the journal). It is probable that the works they acquired included Norton Forge, run for them (rather than for himself) by Robert Hanson until it closed sometime before 1690. By 1690, William Simpson had a half share, with Thomas Barlow and Dennis Hayford sharing the rest. These may not always have been the shares: in 1709, when some old debts from the second lease of Wortley (168390) were written off, John Simpson was charged with his father’s third; Thomas Barlow with 7/24ths; and Hayford with 9/24ths for himself and Mr Wilson. For a debt from the first lease, (1676-83) Hayford was charged with a third for his own and Wilson’s shares and Simpson and Barlow with a third each.23

George Sitwell obtained a lease in 1658 of Wadsley or Wardsend Forge and Furnace, but sold it following year to Lionel Copley, who agreed to buy 850 tons of sow iron over the following seven years from Sitwell. At the same time they established a boundary between them: Copley was not to lease any of Sitwell’s works in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and was not to take Clipstone Forge, and Sitwell was not to interfere with Copley’s works or with Wadsley or Wortley.18 This arrangement in practice continued until the Yorkshire ironmasters acquired these Derbyshire works nearly forty years later, and at a management level until the end of the charcoal era.

When the partnership rented Roche Abbey Forge in 1680, Simpson and Hayford provided equal amounts of capital and Barlow rather less. When they took an interest in Staveley and other works south of the Yorkshire border

Sheffield Archives, PhC/136. Will: TNA, PROB 11/350/134/103. The mode of transfer is not certain, but see Hunter, Hallamshire, ii, 190. 21 Wortley: Mott 1971; coal: Hopkinson 1957, 297; Sheffield Archives ACM/S 148, G-H. 22 Cal. Treasury Papers 1556-1690, 266-67 402. 23 SIR Y a/c, 1709 J, 14 cf. 9; Wilson’s identity is not clear; Norton: SIR Y a/c, 1690/2 L, 11; 1695/99 L, 1: Hanson’s status as a clerk is implied by the use of the word ‘arrears’ in the title of his account in the ledger, this being exclusively used for dealings with other businesses of the proprietors for which separate accounts were kept, as ‘Knottingley arrears’ and ‘Carburton arrears’. Certain of Hanson’s arrears were cleared during the 1690s, but at a date when the journals do not survive. 19 20

Riden 1985, nos.534-5 562-3 A1 etc. TNA, C 3/439/39; C 5/22/27; ordnance: Newcastle 1667, 36; boats: King 1995a. 17 Chappel: Sheffield Archives, 570/z5/1; Rockley: Hunter, Hallamshire, i, 287-89n. 18 Doncaster Archives, DD CROM 202/35. 15 16

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Chapter 9: Sheffield District as Church Burgesses, a role that implies conformity to the established church. The firm thus seems to have left any Quaker roots.26 Times were clearly difficult, and Wadsley Forge was idle for four years and then only worked at half capacity until 1747. Otherwise, business continued much as ever. Pig iron continued to come from Spencer’s Bank and Barnby Furnaces and from the firm’s own Chappel Furnace. Small amounts of scrap were worked up, but significant amounts of American pig iron were only used in 1750 and 1752: essentially, it was a business relying on local resources. The iron produced was mostly sold in small parcels locally. In 1746, a new slitting mill was built for the firm at Attercliffe, which about ten years later replaced the older one at Rotherham, which then passed into the hands of the Walker family.

in 1698, jointly with Spencer & Co, Barlow and Hayford each financed a quarter of the Sheffield Works’ share; William and John Simpson took another quarter between them; and the rest was provided by Henry Wood and John Fell I. Fell was the managing partner of the Sheffield Works. His father William Fell (d.1696) and maternal grandfather John Kaye had both been ironworks clerks. Upper Bank Furnace and Knottingley Forge were leased in 1690 by Hayford, Simpson and William Cotton. All these partnerships, and later a separate one in the steel trade, were dealt with in a single set of books. However, these do not contain the full trading accounts of some associated works: not for Upper Bank and Knottingley; for Staveley and Carburton; for the ‘North account in Company’, their iron business near Newcastle; or for their ironworks in Cheshire. All of these were evidently under separate management, but the transactions between the various businesses, and their profits do appear.24

Various changes in the composition of the firm took place during the thirty-seven years and more of its existence. Gamaliel Milner and his executors and John Fell and his widow were partners throughout. Gervase Simpson sold his shares to Millington Hayford in 1738, but John Simpson bought them back two years later. Millington Hayford’s share was sold by his widow in 1744 to Fell, Milner and Speight. John Watts and his niece Susannah were replaced about 1752 by William Horton (her husband), and Arthur Speight by Joseph Clay, his son-inlaw, in 1738. On the death of John Fell II in about 1762 management devolved upon Richard Swallow, his adopted heir.27 According to Hunter, most of the partners withdrew in 1765, which certainly applied to the related business carried on at Staveley.28

One of these associated firms operated in Cheshire, having Lawton Furnace, Cranage and Warmingham Forges in succession to Richard Foley III of Longton, Staffs from c.1683. This was managed by Thomas Hall, who rented also Madeley Furnace (Staffs) in 1683. Hall, with partners, took over this business from his Yorkshire masters in 1695 (see chapter 13). The business seems to have been a joint venture between Dennis Hayford and William Cotton II. Hayford’s interest was shared with Mr Simpson and Mr Smithson, probably John Smithson of Bolsover, who was also a partner in the North Works. Cotton’s part was shared with Thomas Dickin I, his partner at Colnbridge Forge.25 As mentioned in the previous chapter, William Cotton’s share in the partnership at Upper Bank and Knottingley was paid off in 1720, enabling W.W. Cotton to start a separate business comprising Rockley and Bretton Furnaces and Kilnhurst Forge, possibly also Thrybergh Forge, all entirely new, except the derelict Rockley.

The partnership in the associated Staveley Works in Derbyshire was reconstructed in 1765, so as to have three equal partners, Joseph Clay, J.T. Young, and Richard Swallow. It is thus probable they were also equal partners in the Duke of Norfolk’s Works, where no further accounts survive. In 1775 Swallow, the manager, bought out his partners at Sheffield and apparently ran the business successfully for the rest of his life. He probably converted Chappel Furnace to coke smelting in 1779, when he took a lease of a nearby colliery and probably built the second furnace. After his death in 1801, his son, Richard Swallow II, gave up Roche Abbey Forge, which the successive firms had rented for over century without (except initially) having more than an annual tenancy. The next year he took a new 42-year lease of Chappel Furnace. He or his father had in 1796 built new furnaces near Barnsley; at a place they called Swallow Hill. However, most of this came to grief in 1808, when he was declared bankrupt, Chappel Furnace being sold to Darwin & Co of Elsecar ironworks. The death of Richard Swallow I ended the unity of the group that went back to their erection by Lionel Copley

In 1727 the membership of the Sheffield partnership was completely reconstructed, a new generation taking over from the old. Emley Farms, where Upper Bank Furnace had stood, was left out of the firm, but otherwise all the businesses of the previous partnerships (except the steel trade) were consolidated into a single firm. Millington Hayford and Gervase Simpson replaced their fathers; John Fell II, the manager, considerably increased his share; and Arthur Speight took shares both in the ironworks and steel trade. New partners concerned in works north of Sheffield joined the firm: William Spencer, James Oates, and Francis and John Watts, of whom at least Spencer and Oates were reinvesting capital withdrawn from the Staveley works at the same time. There were in all nine partners holding from one (James Oates) to eight (John Fell) out of the thirty-two £250 shares in the firm. Several of the partners, including John Fell II and Arthur Speight served

Hey 1991, 215 259. The Church Burgesses were trustees of endowments of the Parish Church. Tenure of this office thus points strongly to its holder’s religious affiliation. 27 Based largely on SIR Y a/c; cf. Hopkinson 1961; Hayford: SIR Y a/c, 1744 J, 31. 28 Hunter, Hallamshire, ii, 190; Staveley: SIR St a/c. 26

24 Based on SIR Y a/c, distribution of profit, usually at the end of each year’s journal; cf. Hunter, Hallamshire, ii, 190n; Hey 1991, 172. 25 Awty 1957, 84-6; Edwards 1960, 46; King 1993, 4-5; SIR Y a/c, 1692 J, 62; 1708 J, 80-81.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I nose- helve hammer, as opposed to a tilt hammer, where the tail of the helve is pushed down. In 1782 Booth & Co expanded their operations by leasing Royds Mill and a nearby cutlers’ wheel to rebuild on a more substantial scale. At the same time they renewed their Brightside lease, without the previous restrictions on use, and leased further land in 1791. The Park Ironworks were built on the site of the ruinous Smith’s Wheel in the mid-1780s.34

and others over one hundred and sixty years before.29 Wadsley Forge was converted to a cutlers’ wheel in 1805, and Attercliffe slitting mill was in decay by 1802. Sales by the assignees must have cleared Richard Swallow’s debts, as he retained Attercliffe Forge until 1822.30 This date, significantly, almost coincides with that of the conversion of his Swallow Hill Furnaces to a vitriol works. The Swallow Hill lease seems to have been a disaster, as the landlord failed to provide as much coal as agreed.31

At Rotherham, a new business had been begun in the 1750s by Samuel Walker and his brothers. They had begun as nailers at Grenoside, but had expanded into ironfounding.35 For this purpose, they moved to Masbrough and built works on the Holmes goit, having presumably obtained a lease of the slitting mill there. Along this goit, they eventually had three furnaces, slitting and rolling mills, the latter for tinplate, and a forge, as well as boring mills, a grinding wheel, and foundries. In partnership with John Booth they also had steel furnaces at Holmes there. In addition, in 1763, they rebuilt Thrybergh Forge, which had been in decay for 25-30 years, and in 1770 built a forge at Conisbrough, where there had been none for over a century. This whole business was built up from a very modest initial capital, apparently by the proprietors leaving their profits in business, rather than spending it on a life of luxury. In the early 19th century they built further furnaces at Milton. They also bought Gospel Oak ironworks at Tipton in the Black Country, to which one branch of the family moved, while others went into lead manufacturing.36

Other Sheffield ironworks Following the amalgamation of the ironworks at Kimberworth and Norton with the Duke of Norfolk’s ironworks, the only other works that may have been making iron in the immediate vicinity of Sheffield was Mousehole Forge. Aspects of its history in the 1720s and 1730s remain obscure, but it was certainly in the hands of John Cockshutt of Wortley Forge by 1739 and remained in his family for the rest of the century; William Armitage, his manager there from 1762 had become a partner by 1794. The Cockshutt share disappeared about twenty years later, but the Armitage family remained until 1875. Latterly its products were wrought anvils; the production of these may well go back into the 18th century. In the early 1740s it was making something that produced iron scraps, but could not use them: it evidently no longer had any finery.32 In or near Sheffield there were also slitting mills at Pondmill, Owlerton, and Middlewood. By 1790 these all belonged to the Kenyon family and were all built during the third quarter of the 18th century. They are all also called forges, but were again apparently not finery forges, since they lack any source of pig iron. It must therefore be presumed that they reworked scrap and plated and slit Russian and Swedish imports for cutlers, nailers, and other manufacturers. The upper forge at Middlewood was built some time prior to 1761, initially as a tilt for steel. It was called a forge when some building work was carried out in 1763, possibly making it into a tinplate works. The slitting mill there was built further downstream probably by 1784. Owlerton Mill was built in or before 1753 by John Booth and Henry Downes and, after use by John Pashley in 1777, passed by 1790 to the Kenyons, who were in turn succeeded by Armitage of Mousehole Forge in 1801. Pondmill passed to the Kenyons by 1765.33

Many of the mills and forges on the rivers of Sheffield continued in use in metal trades, until late in the 19th century or even beyond, as long as water power remained in use. The old finery forges went out of use mostly in the 1800s, or were converted to other uses. The Walker family gave up their Holmes works at Masbrough about 1830, to concentrate on their other business, lead. They had previously pursued a policy of not renewing their leases of their forges below Rotherham as they expired. Subsequently, there was a considerable change as new ironworks replaced old, so that relatively few, even of the coke ironworks of the industrial revolution, remained in operation into the 1860s and beyond.37 There were a lot of works with puddling furnaces in the Sheffield and Rotherham area, but very few old enough to appear in the gazetteer here. In due course, as elsewhere, new methods of producing mild steel gradually replaced iron as the end product of the industry, involving another group of new works.38 The retrenchment of the industry in the early 1980s resulted in the closure of most of the steelworks that occupied the lower Don valley in Sheffield and left it as an industrial wasteland, a victim of ‘progress’. Long gone

Somewhat similar was the ironworks at Brightside on the lower Don, which more closely rivalled those managed by John Fell and then Richard Swallow. In 1763, John Booth leased Brightside Wheels and Tilt to rebuild as a slitting mill and a ‘tosshammer work for working up Holland scrap’. A toss-hammer must be a hammer that is tossed up by the cams on the wheel-shaft, that is, a belly- or

Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 378, 306; ACM/S 382, 136 138; ACM/SD 5; Ball et al. 2006, 30 192; Hey 1971. 35 Hey 1971. 36 Q.v.; John 1951; Baker 1945; Sheffield Archives, WC 2725; Morley 1998. 37 Mineral Statistics, passim. 38 Ibid.; British Iron Trade Association, Annual Statistical Reportsboth discussed in King, ‘Zenith’. 34

Hey 1977; Hopkinson 1961. Ball et al. 2006, 11-12 31-34. 31 YAS Library, DD 70/84; DD 70/137; Leeds Intelligencer, 31 Jul. and 1 Aug. 1820. 32 Q.v.; Smith 1975. 33 Q.v.; Sheffield Archaises, Fairbank, FB 25, 23-5. 29 30

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Chapter 9: Sheffield District Robert Harrison senior, of whom the last two died before 1675.42 Stacy was George Harrson’s father-in-law and owned the site of Ballifield Furnace. Richmond Furnace is also connected to the Harrison family and may have belonged to the two Robert Harrisons.43 George Hellifield may have been associated with a furnace at Kimberworth, occupied by ‘Lionel Copley or William Hellifield’ in 1674.44 However, it is not yet possible to link all parties to the agreement with specific furnaces.

are the independent cutlers, whose product was replaced by stainless steel. Gone too are the nailers, replaced by machines. Steel To deal only with the production of iron is to present a very incomplete picture of industry in Sheffield in the period and to miss the great themes of industry in Sheffield. Nails have already been mentioned, but they were more the product of hamlets in the area round Sheffield, particularly to the north, rather than of Sheffield itself. The two products, for which Sheffield has been traditionally famous, are cutlery and steel. Steel initially was produced to provide a hard cutting edge for knives, scythes, and other products of the cutlery and associated trades, the rest of which (apart from the handle) consisted of wrought iron. In 1574 the Earl of Shrewsbury’s steward received six barrels of steel and stored it in Sheffield Castle, presumably for sale to cutlers.39 While this is usually thought to be a foreign import, it is possible it came from the Earl’s steelworks at Linton (Gloucs.), first referred to in 1590, but probably somewhat older.40

In the early 18th century there were furnaces at Ballifield and Richmond in Handsworth, east of Sheffield, one (or both) of them perhaps belonging to Harrison and Anderon, and another at Darnall. Darnall and Richmond were apparently used by George Steer, while Field Sylvester (d.c.1718) used Ballifield Furnace (and perhaps occasionally hired others) to make steel for Fell & Co’s steel trade, a business in which there were fewer partners than in their ironworks. Fell & Co built a second furnace about 1737 on John Fell’s land near Washford Bridge, Attercliffe.45 Thomas Parkin had two steel furnaces in Blind Lane (now Holly Street), and Samuel Shore had one at Castle Fold and also by 1737 at West Bar Green (later Gibraltar Street), all in Sheffield, as well as one at Darnall built shortly before 1717.46 The raw material for the production of blister steel was bar iron, principally Swedish oregrounds iron, produced in the Uppland region of Sweden (north of Stockholm). It ultimately all came from ore from the Dannemora mine. However, the use of Spanish or Russian iron (for a less good product) is occasionally recorded.47

In the early 17th century, a means of making steel from bar iron (by cementation), producing ‘blister steel’, was introduced to England, though not initially (so far as is known) to Sheffield. The earliest record of the process in the Sheffield area takes it back to before the Civil War. On 9 May 1643, Charles Tooker of Rotherham asked for employment in the garrison or elsewhere, because he had lost £80 when his workhouse had been burnt down the previous September and because he had been plundered by the Roundheads the previous week. Tooker, who probably owned the cementation furnace that existed in the Beast Market at Rotherham until 1709, probably arranged for Sir John Reresby and Sir Thomas Strickland to obtain a patent for making steel in 1662. The ‘Cutlers of Halomshire’ objected to the patent, saying that the process was not original and as good steel was being made cheaper by George Harrison and George Anderon (also locals), with the result that the patent was repealed in 1666.41 By 1669, there were four makers of steel, led by Charles Tooker of Rotherham Mooregate, Francis Barlow of Sheffield, George Harrison of Richmond, and Robert Harrison of Handsworth Woodhouse. They agreed that they and their partners would equally advance £30 to pay the debts of George Hellifield, a blacksmith with expertise in steelmaking. In c.1667, the owners of four businesses had ‘agreed amongst themselves for managing the mistery of making steel’, no doubt in a spirit of compromise following the repeal of the patent. The parties to this agreement (presumably some kind of cartel) also included Thomas Stacy, John and Nicholas Anderon and

In the mid-1730s, the other three firms seem to have bought, probably for suppression, George Steer’s furnaces at Richmond and Darnall. This was probably in the same way that a rival in the Beast Market at Rotherham had been disposed of twenty years before. Indeed, this may conceivably have been a continuation of the same arrangement, for the Fell steel firm paid several years rent for Richmond in the 1720s. By 1751, William Binks had built two furnaces at Darnall, one jointly with John Dickson. The basis on which steel furnaces were bought up (for suppression) suggests that that Samuel Shore was reputed to have double the trade of Fell & Co, and this was reputedly equal to that of Thomas, then Elizabeth, Parkins.48 High prices around 1760, partly due to an attempt to corner the market in the Swedish oregrounds iron that was needed to make steel,49 resulted in the TNA, C 6/278/29. Cf. Hey 1991, 185-7; Barraclough 1984(1), 56 74-5. 44 Hey 1991, 185. 45 Hey 1991, 186-88; Barraclough 1984(1), 69-80; until 1737, some of the stock of the Fell steel trade was at ‘the furnace’ (singular), occasionally named as Ballifield; after this Ballifield and Attercliffe are usually named: SIR Y a/c, closing stock of steel trade (usually near the end of each year’s journal); and q.v. 46 Hey 1991, 188-90 193; and q.v. 47 Barraclough 1990; King 2003a; Mackenzie and Whiteman 2006. 48 Barraclough 1984(1), 74-77; Darnall: Wakefield deeds registry, KK/389/513; Richmond: Sheffield Archives, TC 699; SIR Y a/c, 1727/44J, 18; Rotherham: q.v. Binks: Wakefield Deeds Registry, AE/486/628. 49 King 2003a; 2011c, 19-23. 42 43

Hey 1991, 184. HMC Talbot I, Ms. 705, f.67; Ms. 708, f.174 209. The Hull coastal port book for 1574 indicates this steel was shipped from London; D. Cranstone, pers. comm. 41 King 2003a, 30; Hey 1991, 185-6; Leeds Archives, Mx/R 1/7; patent no. 148. 39 40

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I The cutlery trades

erection of a number of new furnaces, such as those of the Cutlers Company, with steel furnaces being built at Millsands, Scotland Street, and elsewhere in Sheffield. A few years earlier, in 1748 Samuel Walker & Co had built a furnace at Holmes Green, Rotherham, and in 1750 a house and furnace for refining steel at Grenoside.50

The other product for which Sheffield is rightly famous is its cutlery. This, like so many manufactures, was a domestic industry carried on by individual workmen in workshops in or adjacent to their homes. There they fashioned knives, welding on to the edge a thin strip of steel that would retain a sharp edge. Scissorsmiths and shearsmiths were distinct occupations from cutlers by 1624; the awlbladesmiths joined the Cutlers Company in 1676; fork-makers were becoming a separate trade in the late 17th century; and razorsmiths began regularly to be so described in documents a little later. The equipment required consisted of a smith’s hearth with bellows, a small anvil (called a stithy), and a hammer. After fabrication, the blade was reheated and cooled in a coultough containing oil and water. It then had to be sharpened a cutlers wheel, which consisted of grindstones turned by a water wheel. Until well into the 18th century, cutlers sharpened and polished their own blades, but by the mid-18th century, grinding was becoming a separate trade. This, then, was the purpose, to which much of the power of Sheffield’s rivers was applied,55 but this subject lies beyond the scope of this book and I cannot go into it in detail.56

Blister steel is not a homogeneous product, even when bundled and drawn out into shear steel, and Benjamin Huntsman, a Doncaster watchmaker, found he needed something better for watch-springs. Accordingly, he developed a process for melting blister steel and casting it, resulting in a homogeneous one, and therefore better product. He moved to Worksop Road, Attercliffe and was certainly there in 1751, but lack of security of tenure for the tenant of those premises after 1750, suggests that the works there were established and a crucible furnace built at a somewhat earlier date, perhaps 1742, when Huntsman moved from Doncaster to Handsworth.51 That is an elaboration on the traditional story. However, it has recently been claimed that the innovation took place in London, and was only then transferred to Birmingham, and then to Sheffield.52 Up to this time, modest amounts of German steel, imported from Holland, were used at Sheffield: Richard Dalton imported steel marked ‘IB bird and pinchers’, importing a ton per year in 1735 and 1736, but he complained when his friend, Samuel Mowld sent him ‘a ton of steel along with the iron. I wish you had let the “IB” alone as I have a great deal by me’. He sold some for Thomas Mowld in 1745 and 1746, but did not account for the proceeds until the beginning of 1748.53 The slowness of the sales may imply that cast steel was replacing German imports, for those special purposes for which they had been necessary.

Water-power was also used in forges of a kind known locally as tilts, whose name indicates they had tilt hammers, lifted by pushing down the tail of the helve, rather than at the belly. This mode of operation was probably only practicable where the hammer was rather lighter than would be normal in a finery forge. In 1750 someone wrote,57 I am informed it is the only method made use of in Germany for reducing bar iron into smaller dimensions fit for manufactures, and is of late much used in England, inasmuch so that, at and near Sheffield, there are within these past few years no less than fifteen tilting mills erected for reducing iron and steel to a smaller dimension.

Huntsman’s furnace, and an early rival built by the Walkers of Rotherham, were followed by one built by the Cutler’s Company, whose steel business from 1765 to 1769 included casting steel; by a crucible furnace run from before 1769 by John Marshall for the Cutlers’ Company and Sarah Broadbent at Millsands; by Love and Manson (later Love and Spear) in 1765 in Gibraltar Street; and by of Hague and Parkin in 1787 on the corner of Trinity Street.54 No crucible furnaces are known outside in the Sheffield area until the final years of the century. Nevertheless, it is probable that only a modest proportion of the steel made at Sheffield was melted and cast, probably only where particularly tough steel was necessary. The majority was used as blister or shear steel, as it long had been.

50 51 52 53 54

William Fairbank noted on A correct plan of the town of Sheffield ... (1771), ‘Tilts are water works used for forging out small bars of iron and steel.’ In fact five tilts (including Brightside, Parker, Pond, and Wicker Tilts) were built in the 1730s, also Nova Scotia Tilt in 1749 and Heeley Tilt about then, while Middlewood and Wortley Tilts, whose precise dates are uncertain, probably belong to the same period. Almost all of these were built on the river Don, mostly at or below Sheffield. Their introduction may be related to the increasing specialisation in those trades, but after this initial rush, growth in numbers was slow. It is noteworthy that the ironmasters generally did not build tilts, leaving this to factors such as the Broadbents, Gilbert Roberts

Cutlers Co: Barraclough 1972; Rotherham: John 1951, 3. Barraclough 1984(2), 2; for detailed argument q.v. Evans 2008; Evans & Withey 2012. Dalton l/b, 6 Jun. 1739; 22 Oct. 1746; 4 Feb. 1748/9; etc. Barraclough 1972; and q.v.

Hey 1991, 102-34; Lloyd 1913, passim; Binfield & Hey 1997; Hey 1997. 56 For cutlers’ wheels see Ball et al. 2006, but this does not cover those wheels beyond the present Sheffield city boundary. 57 Hey 1991, 181-2. 55

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Chapter 9: Sheffield District trades. In 1682 rural scythesmiths, from just outside the Hallamshire (the area of the Company’s jurisdiction), voluntarily joined it, no doubt considering the Company’s support to be an advantage (rather than a hindrance) to their trade.61 The Company promoted various schemes designed to benefit trade at Sheffield, the most important being that in the early 1720s to make the river Don navigable.62 In the 1760s, they made steel for sale to their members at something less than the common price.63

and Samuel Broomhead, and to cutlers and scissorsmiths, including John Woolfendale, George Marriott, and Thomas Wilson.58 This failure of the ironmasters to invest may indicate that the production of plate was merely the first element of a trade, perhaps then involving putting out to a working cutler and then again for sharpening at a cutlers wheel. Indeed several of the owners of tilts named also owned wheels, enabling them to have both ends of the process done in their own works. The introduction of tilts approximately coincided with the disappearance of wheels where the troughs were let off individually to cutlers and with grinders appearing as a separate occupational group. This seems to point to the cutlery trades going over from an entrepreneurial manufacture to a putting out system. Unfortunately too little is known of the activities of the people named for certainty to be possible.

Other trades The manufacturing trades were localised: the nailers were mostly in hamlets to the north of Sheffield near Wortley and Rotherham slitting mills, and also in Eckington, near Renishaw Mill.64 The small cutlery trades were mainly in Ecclesfield and Sheffield, many, but by no means all, in the town of Sheffield.65 Scythe and sickle making were concentrated further south in Norton and northern Eckington.66 The cutlers and scythesmiths seem to have been their own masters, rather than working under a putting out system, such as applied in the nail trade. However, the marketing of their products in London and other more remote areas was in the hands of a small number of merchants or factors, who arranged for the distribution and sale, at least of cutlery.67 However (as mentioned) some of the merchants began to have tilts and wheels in the 18th century, suggesting increased control by them. The identities of the principal scythe and sickle merchants does not seem to have been worked out, but Thomas Biggin, Martin Goddard, and John Hall claimed in 1782 to be the biggest dealers in the scythe branch, when they applied (unsuccessfully) to lease Staveley Forge, intending to secure a supply of bar iron of the proper size.68

The use of the name ‘tilt’ for such works (as opposed to their hammer) is also largely unique to the Sheffield area, the equivalent plating forges elsewhere almost invariably being called ‘forge’. Such plating forges made frying pans, saw-plates, and spades. Other Sheffield examples of plating forges include Pond Forge, which may have been converted back from a wheel in 1731; Mousehole Forge, which probably ceased to be a finery forge in this period; Blackburn Forge probably started making pans in 1747 when it passed to David Hussey. Hussey had been the panmaker employed by Fell & Co, until he bought the stock of their pan trade in 1753.59 There is no obvious correlation between steelmakers and forges: in particular, Thomas (then Elizabeth) Parkin never had a forge. There was a ‘steel forge’ adjoining Woodhouse Mill from 1685 to 1731, but its next owners were not makers of steel; however, Samuel Shore, the 1731 vendor, was by then a partner in Kilnhurst Forge. Fell & Co’s steel trade had stock at Attercliffe Forge, where their steel was no doubt forged; and it is possible Wortley and Nova Scotia Tilts titled steel. Double shear steel, as made at Blackhall Mill near Newcastle, was only introduced to Sheffield when Thomas Eltringham was brought thence to work for Thomas Boulsover. However Eltringham was later back at Blackhall Mill.60

In the early 17th century there was another cluster of scythe-mills around Belper,69 no doubt manufacturing iron made at New Mills Forge, but several of these were put to other uses by the late 18th century,70 for example, Malbourne Mills were scythe-mills by 1600, but papermills by 1763.71 There was another substantial cluster of what were there called blade mill on the south and west of the Black Country, latterly concentrated on Belbroughton, but earlier more widespread.72 Another smaller cluster was the works of the Fussell family of Mells in Somerset.73

The cutlery trade was regulated by the Cutlers Company, a sort of guild, whose origins go back at least to 1565. In that year, the ‘ancient customs and ordinances’ were codified in the manor court under Earl George (of Shrewsbury). With the weaker control of the lords of the manor following the death of Earl Gilbert, the cutlers sought and in 1624 obtained an Act of Parliament incorporating the Cutlers Company. They were empowered not only to regulate the making of knives, but also of scissors and of shears and sickles, which were already accounted to be separate

Hey 1990; Lloyd 1913, ch.5; Hey 1991, 93-146. Willan 1965; Hey 1991, 62-5. 63 Barraclough 1972. 64 Hey 1972, 31-41. 65 Hey 1972, 25-30. 66 Hey 1991, 94-95; Hey 1990, 359-66. 67 Hey 1990; Hey 1991, 93-146 157-161. 68 Chatsworth (Derbs ), ms. L/114/38/1, 26 Dec. 1782. 69 Hey 1990, 359. 70 Many of them were copyhold and can be traced in the manor rolls of Makeney (Derbs RO, D 1404); unfortunately a gap in the rolls and a dearth of indices has prevented my tracing them forwards. Scythe mills are beyond the scope of this work. 71 Derbs RO, D 1404/1, 68 104; D 1404/45, 42 157 284 287 etc. 72 King 2007a. 73 Thornes 2010. 61 62

Hey 1991, 181-83; Tylecote 1992, 104; Sheffield Archives, Fairbank SheS/1S; see also ‘tilts and other ironworks’ gazetteer (below) and Wortley Wiremills in chapter 8. 59 Q.v. 60 Barraclough 1984(1), 66n ; SIR Y a/c, closing ‘stock of steel trade’; and q.v. 58

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Merchants

The London merchants, with whom the Sheffield merchants traded, were often of the sons or grandsons of Sheffield men. The Sitwell family of Renishaw were Derbyshire gentlemen and ironmasters, rather than Sheffield factors. Nevertheless, they perhaps provide an example of something similar. During the early 1660s, the London correspondent of George Sitwell of Renishaw was his cousin Ralph Franceys. However by 1677, his sons, George and Robert Sitwell were established there, having previously gone abroad in the Levant and Spanish trade. They were succeeded by a nephew Francis, who was in turn succeeded by his nephew William. This William Sitwell partnered William Parkin in Parkin & Sitwell, hardwaremen of Foster Lane, London. Parkin had a nail trade in the Sheffield area.77 They supplied American pig iron to Attercliffe and Wadsley Forges in 1750 and 1752.78 By 1757, this merchant house was in new hands, and William Sitwell himself was ‘out of business and vastly rich’.79 His successors seem to have been Tappenden and Handby, who continued the business, its precise nature probably varying with time, until they became bankrupt in 1814, as a result of their involvement in the Abernant Ironworks, near Aberdare in south Wales.80

Some of the Sheffield merchants have already been mentioned, due to their involvement in the iron industry. Samuel Shore (1676-1751) was, in about 1720, a founding partner at Bretton and Kilnhurst. He was apprenticed to John Wright for much of the 1690s, and may then have partnered Mrs Wright (presumably John’s widow) in a steel house at Sheffield. He also made steel at Darnall, besides his mercantile activities. He was succeeded by his son Samuel Shore II (1707-85). About 1775, he in turn transferred his Sheffield interests to his second son John Shore (1745-1832), who like his younger brother was a partner in the first Sheffield Bank.74 The Broadbents, like John Fell I, were Quakers. Nicholas Broadbent (died 1736) had been apprenticed to Thomas Ward, who, like his own father, was a scissorsmith, but he grew rich as an ironmonger. His son, Joseph (died 1761) partnered John Cockshutt I at Wortley Forges from 1744; and Thomas Boulsover in Beeley Wood Tilt from 1749. He traded with Europe and America and also rented Sandbed, Limerick, and Owlerton Wheels. These (apart from Owlerton, which may have been his father’s from 1726) were purchased in 1741 from a successor of John Justis, who had built most of them about 1723 and then mortgaged them to Nicholas Broadbent. By 1769, when his widow renewed the lease of a house in Millsands (Sheffield), there were, as already mentioned, both steel converting and melting furnaces, run by John Marshall and probably built about 1760. Their son, Thomas Broadbent, continued all this business, with Jacob Gehrwin as partner, in wholesaling hardware. He also became a banker, but went bankrupt in 1782.75

Elias Wordsworth (1664-1723), a Sheffield mercer and draper, rented Holmes or Hawksley Wheel in 1713 with a partner, and in 1714 by himself took over Sheffield Walk Mill, where there were also cutlers wheels. His successor, Samuel Wordsworth, was called a Sheffield merchant in 1742, but a London merchant in 1747 and ‘esquire’ in 1756.81 Elias’ brother (Josias Wordsworth) was a London merchant, who supplied Swedish iron to the Navy Board from 1732 until 1747; and was a partner of John Bannister, William Harrison and Crowley Hallett in a manufacturing business in the Newcastle area (see chapter 5). He was perhaps succeeded in about 1747 by Samuel Wordsworth, who supplied iron (perhaps imports from Gothenburg) for the East India Company to export in the two succeeding years, and was one of the Cutlers Company’s suppliers of oregrounds iron when they began making steel about 1760.82

Thomas Parkin (c.1644-1729) was a Sheffield ironmonger by the 1680s and, as mentioned, had steel houses in Blind Lane by 1720. He was one of the larger buyers of iron from the Sheffield group of ironworks. His second son, William, became a London ironmonger. The third son was a Bristol merchant, whose his daughter, Elizabeth, came back to Sheffield to be her grandfather’s heir, her father and her uncle William Parkin of London being passed over, no doubt because they declined to return. This ‘Mrs Parkin’ (as she was known) died a wealthy spinster in 1766. She was succeeded both in steelmaking and in the hardware trade by her cousin, Walter Oborne, who had been her partner for some years. He imported iron from Russia and conducted a hardware business in partnership with Thomas Gunning, as well as following his two predecessors in making steel. Thomas Gunning also had a steel furnace next to Huntsman’s at Attercliffe.76

Principal sources: Though referred to in Raistrick 1938, Raistrick & Allen 1939, and Baker 1944 for the period when William Spencer was a partner, the best accounts of the iron industry at Sheffield are Hopkinson 1954 and 1961 and Hey 1977. Hopkinson’s major source was evidently ‘Staveley ironworks records’, here cited as SIR Y a/c, though he does not say so. This archive, consisting of 25 large volumes of accounts covering the period 1690 77 Hey 1991, 158 193; Riden 1985, xxxi-xxxii and passim: e.g. nos. 158 160-1. Kent’s Directory (1736). It is, nevertheless, not wholly certain that the London Sitwells were iron merchants throughout. 78 SIR Y a/c. 79 Plumsted l/b, pp.255 268. 80 Ince 1993, 36; Tann 1996. 81 Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 376(1), 38 67; ACM/S 377, 154; ACM/S 378, 71 195; cf. Hey 1991; Ball et al. 2006, 6 26. 82 Navy: TNA, ADM 106/3592-3600 passim; East India Co: BL, India Office Records, L/AG/1/1/18, ff.38-9; Cutlers Co: Barraclough 1972, 25; Gothenburg: cf. Bowen 2002.

Hey 1991, 190-3. Hey 1991, 178-9; Ball et al. 2006, passim; Sheffield Archives, WC 1585-88; WC 1604-09; WC 2506-16; ACM/S 379, 147-9 232. 76 Hey 1991, 193-4; Holderness 1973; 1973b; Sheffield Archives, OR/16; Sheffield Archives, Fairbank FB/25, 38; and q.v. 74 75

168

Chapter 9: Sheffield District in 1727 as Simpson and partners. Following the death of John Fell II, the firm became Clay & Co. The end of surviving accounts at Sheffield in 1764 coincides with a reorganisation at Staveley, where the firm was an equal partnership between Joseph Clay, J.T. Young and Richard Swallow. Despite being accounted for separately, there was probably precisely the same partnership at Sheffield. The next lease at Sheffield, in 1775, was to Richard Swallow I alone, and he continued the works until his death in 1802. He was succeeded by his son, Richard Swallow II, who appears to have retained the works until 1822, evidently recovering from his 1808 bankruptcy. In 1822, the lease was bought by Naylor and Sanderson. In 1869, the freehold was sold to Sandersons and apparently continued in use until the late 19th century. The lower Don valley, in which the forge lies, has continued to be the heart of the Sheffield steel industry, though devastated by the closures of the 1980s.

to 1764 gives an unrivalled picture of Sheffield’s iron production in this period. Sheffield’s mills have been described exhaustively in Ball et al. 2006, with which I have occasionally disagreed. This survey renders Miller 1949 obsolete except in respect of the Blackburn Brook. My research on Blackburn Forge and also a forge on the river Rother has therefore been more detailed than was perhaps strictly necessary. Sheffield’s steel industry (and that elsewhere) are the subject of Barraclough 1984(1), 1984(2), and various articles by him, but the topography and chronology of individual steel furnaces have had to be deduced here from manuscript sources, augmented from Flavell 1996. I have made relatively little use of books etc. on the cutlery trade, such as Lloyd 1913 and Hey 1990, as being beyond the scope of this book. However Hey’s books (Hey 1991 and 1980: 2nd edn 2001) on Sheffield and on transport in the area are important, as are his papers on Chappel Furnace and the Walker and Booth families (Hey 1971 and 1977). Without John 1951 we would know much less of the business of the Walker family of Rotherham, whose background is described in Hey 1971. This account was largely completed before King 2011c was prepared. It is only thus sparsely cited, as it is derived from drafts of this chapter.

Size In two years (1585/6 and 1586/7) the hammers made 229 and 195 tons respectively, consuming the whole output of Wadsley and Kimberworth Furnaces (E. of Shrews. a/c). From 1690 actual production varied between 150 and 200 tpa (SIR Y a/c); 1717 (‘J Horcliffe’) 100 tpa; 1718 listed as 350 tpa, which was actually the total production of all the firm’s works; 1736 180 tpa; 1750 260 tpa; 1794 2 fineries 1 chafery 1 slitting mill.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Attercliffe Forge

Associations Martin Ashe, who was a clerk here in 1587, later built Whaley Furnace and Cuckney Forge. Robert Revell, his fellow clerk, was later at Lizard (Salop.). The forge was part of the Duke of Norfolk’s Works at Sheffield, a group comprising Chappel Furnace, Wadsley Forge, Rotherham Mills (until 1757), and Sheffield Forge (1690-95), and also outside the Duke’s estates Roche Abbey Forge (1680-1801), Rockley Furnace (until 1705), and Wortley Forge (1676-90).

[1] SK377892

The forge was powered by goits from a weir on the River Don below Sheffield. There were works on either side of the river both taking water from the same dam. Those on the south of the river may have been the late 16th century Upper Hammer, but were used for cutlers’ wheels until rebuilt as a slitting mill in 1746 (see below). The 16th century Nether Hammer, on the north bank, became the 17th century and later forge. Its weir is well preserved as is part of the goit. The remainder has been culverted. The outline of the forge dam is marked by buildings beside it. The Hammers were built by George Earl of Shrewsbury about 1573 and were probably managed in hand for successive earls by agents, but, almost certainly before the death of Earl Gilbert in 1616, they were converted to cutlers’ wheels called Forge Wheel.

Trading Between 1690 and 1707 most pig iron came from whichever of Chappel and Rockley Furnaces was in blast, but rather less thereafter. From 1696 to 1738 significant amounts came from (Nether) Bank and Barnby Furnaces. Accounts Brief annual accounts 1585-90: E. of Shrews. a/c; journals and ledgers largely complete 1690-1764: SIR Y a/c; also summaries 1728-53: Spencer a/c.

In 1639 a new forge was built by Lionel and Christopher Copley, Thomas St Nicholas and Lionel Pinkney. Their partnership broke up acrimoniously in 1655, the business being continued by Lionel Copley alone. He renewed the lease in 1666 and died about ten years later. By 1683 (and probably from 1676), the forge was used by Hayford, Simpson and Co and was from about 1690 until 1765 managed by John Fell I (1666-1724), then by John Fell II (1696-1762). The partnership was reconstructed in 1727. It underwent a number of changes of partners in the 1740s, thus becoming John Fell & Co. This name may have been used from the 1690s, but strictly it was probably Simpson and Co. The old firm is referred to

Sources Ball et al. 2006, 31-4; King 2011c; Bodleian Library (Oxford), Mss. Selden supra 115, 9v-10; Harrison’s survey, 4 32; Sheffield Archives, ACM/SD 180; TNA, SP 23/115/999-1005; TNA, C 5/22/27; C 3/439/39; Sheffield Archives, PhC/136; ACM/S 129, rental; ACM/S 377, 29; ACM/S 378, 132 177; ACM/S 379, 34; ACM/S 380, 69; ACM/S 158, Brightside; Hunter, Hallamshire, ii, 190; Awty 1981b; Mott 1950, 233-5; Callum 1962, 791-2; Hey 1991, 55 169-73; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169 & 172; Raistrick 1938, 54 & 69; Hopkinson 1954; Hopkinson 1961, 134 & 145-6; Stone 1965, 347; Awty 1957, 72 & 84; Hey 1977, 252; King 1995a, 414.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Attercliffe Slitting Mill

[2] SK376889

Associations The Booths also leased Royds Mill in 1782 and both were comprised in the partnership of Binks, Booth & Hartopp from 1784. They leased Smiths Wheel in 1782 to build Park Furnace.

This mill may have been Attercliffe Upper Hammer in the late 16th century and, if so, shared the history of the Nether Hammer (see Attercliffe Forge above). Subsequently it seems to have been a cutlers wheel, reports that it became Sheffield Forge (q.v.) being incorrect. It was rebuilt as a slitting mill in 1748 and leased to Fell and Co, who used it not only to slit iron but also steel. It thus followed the descent of Attercliffe Forge and was let with it, being described as ‘decayed’ in a lease of 1802 and seems to have been left so.

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 377, 30 106; ACM/S 378, 213 306; ACM/S 382, 136; ACM/S 158, wheels; WC 2441-2486; Hey 1971; Ball et al. 2006, 347. However Sheffield Archives, FB 3, 37 probably refers to the building in 1753 of Owlerton Mill, rather than here. Note also A. Badcock, ‘Archaeological Appraisal of land at Jessops Riverside, Brightside, Sheffield’ (2000: unpublished ARCUS report 595.1).

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S378, 106; ACM/S383, 273; Ball et al. 2006, 31-2 and as Forge (above). Brightside Forges

Chappel Furnace (coke) furnace

[4] SK355967 [5] perhaps SK360967

[33] c.SK385901 and SK387904 The furnace was at Chapeltown in the northern part of Ecclesfield parish on the Black Burn. Its early history is connected the Earls of Shrewsbury’s Kimberworth Forge (see Rotherham below), and seems to have led to its at first being known as Kimberworth Furnace, even though it was beyond the pale of Kimberworth Park. It was a new ironworks in 1608 built for Earl Gilbert and after his death in 1616, it presumably passed with the estate to his brother Earl Edward (d.1617) or direct to his daughters. As such, it was by 1628 being used by his son-in-law, the Earl of Kent, and then became part of the northern revenue of the Earl of Pembroke farmed by Sir William Savile of Thornhill (d.1643) and then by Francis Nevile of Chevet. From 1639 Savile, his widow, and from 1646 Nevile were probably tenants rather than agents, but their legal status is not entirely clear. John Kaye was the clerk.

There were cutlers wheels from the 17th century, which were let to numerous cutlers by the day until 1738, when the whole of Brightside and Parker Wheels were let to John Wooffendale and Thomas Allen, except the Gig Wheel, which remained in the occupation of John Henfrey and was in the hands of widow Henfrey in 1763. A couple of years before the wheels were leased, a tilt had been built, on Brightside Green (beside them), by the same Thomas Allen and John Wooffendale. They sold it in 1751 to John Booth and partners, the partners in 1757 being named as John Booth, Samuel Robinson (razormaker), Robert Dent (ironmonger) and William Hartop (tilter). Also in 1751, the wheels passed to Richard Swallow and William Garton (of Brightside Paper Mill). In 1763, all the mills powered by water turned by the river at Brightside Dam were let together to Binks & Co, consisting of John Booth, Robert Dent, William Hartop, and George, William, and Benjamin Binks. The works then consisted of Brightside Wheels, a wheel called the Gig, and Brightside Tilts. They were given liberty to build a slitting and rolling mill and to convert the existing works into a ‘tosshammer work for working up Hollands scraps’, i.e. a forge with a helve hammer to recycle old iron, and to build other buildings. However, they were prohibited from building a forge or furnace for making iron, or more slitting and rolling mills than agreed. In 1782 the then partners, John Booth (5 shares), William Binks (3), George Binks (4), and John Hartop (4), renewed the lease of the works, which still included a tilt and a grinding wheel. At the same time they leased Royds Mill and Georgia Wheel near the mouth of the river Sheaf and built Park Furnace on the site of the latter. The Brightside works remained in the Booth family ownership until 1844, but the occupiers in the 1840s were William Jessop & Co (later & Sons), who used it as a steel works. Archaeological investigations took place in advance of redevelopment in 2000. The tilt hammers (owned by South Yorkshire Industrial History Society) are at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet.

Francis Nevile assigned Chappel Furnace and Kimberworth Forge to Lionel Copley in 1652. From this time, these were occupied with Attercliffe Forge and the rest of the Sheffield Works. It thus passed about 1675 to Hayford, Simpson & Co. It thus descended as part of the works managed by John Fell I & II, although subject to the wider Yorkshire Furnaces Partnership (see preceding chapter) from 1696 to 1738. Following the death of John Fell II in 1762, the works were managed by Richard Swallow. He became their sole proprietor in 1775. Despite a disastrous experiment with the use of coke in 1761, the furnace went over to coke by 1779, at about which time a second furnace was built. The business apparently prospered until his death in 1801, but his son, Richard Swallow II, who succeeded him, became bankrupt in 1808. The furnace was then acquired by Darwin & Co, owners of the Elsecar works. After twenty years of successful operation, they became bankrupt in 1828. The assignees failed to sell the works for the price they wanted and continued them themselves, with John Darwin junior as manager, until about 1850, when the works were sold to Nesbitt & Marsden (later David Marsden & Co) of Birmingham. In 1860, Newton & Chambers (of Thorncliffe ironworks), who were already substantial buyers of its pig iron, purchased the works, which they continued until 1913.

Size 1790 2 fineries 1 chafery and a slitting mill.

170

Chapter 9: Sheffield District Size In 1640 the Kimberworth works were provided with 3000 cords, suggesting production of 300 tpa bar iron from 400 tpa pig iron. The furnace was out of blast from 1700 to 1705 and again in six individual years between 1729 and 1745. Production in the two decades up to 1727 was generally 200-300 tpa; in the following three decades 400500 tpa was more usual. 1717 200 tpa; 1790 2 furnaces 2 fineries and a chafery; 1796 1456 tpa; 1806 (with Swallow Hill) five furnaces, 3 in blast, which made 3737 tpa in 1805; 1810 1 furnace in blast; 1825 2 furnaces both in blast making 2600 tpa. In 1808, besides the two furnaces, there was an air furnace, cupolas and two refineries, with a steam engine with a 44-inch steam cylinder, operating an 88-inch air cylinder.

Associations Lionel Copley was managing partner of Attercliffe and Wadsley works. Bosevile was another local gentleman. They were also concerned together with Henry Wigfall and George Sitwell in Stone Forge (also called Roche Abbey: q.v.) Trading A supply of ‘raw’ iron was contracted for from Henry Wigfall and George Sitwell from a furnace 10 miles away, perhaps Plumbley Furnace. The opposition mentioned related to the question of what wood it could use, the ironmasters having bought the wood in Thrybergh Park. The controversy was settled by the Vice-President of York ruling that they could erect the forge; and that it was lawful for them to use coppice wood but not timber. Copley was prosecuted in 1638, for not paying a workman making charcoal.

Associations From its erection it was used held with Kimberworth Forge at Rotherham. From the late 1650s, it was part of the Duke of Norfolk’s works at Sheffield (see Attercliffe).

Sources TNA, C 5/403/70; C 78/539/7; PC 2/49, 268; PC 2/50, 97 & 197; Cal SPD, 1637, 89 130; 1637-8, 57; 1638-9, 45 304 317; Baker 1944, 115; King 1995a, 415; Barber 1879, 372.

Trading 1690-1764: The furnace was mainly engaged in supplying the firm’s forges, but there were occasional sales of hammers and anvils to other Yorkshire ironmasters and until the mid-1720s a modest trade in cast iron goods, but rarely more than 50 tpa. Richard Swallow owed money for ore from Whitriggs Mine in Furness in 1780 (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/1/4). He supplied cast iron ballast to the Navy from 1801 (NMM, CHA/N/1, 109 119 132).

Conisbrough Forge II

Samuel Walker & Co of the Holmes at Rotherham built new forge, probably close to the site of the earlier one in 1770. It remained in their hands until 1823, when it passed to Messrs Mullins. It is however neither mentioned in their minutes (John 1951) nor in the 1790 list, unless concealed in the entry for the Holmes works. It also bored cannon, and was boring a large howitzer when John Byng visited it in 1792. Messrs Mullins were sickle manufacturers and sold the works in 1841. The works continued to make sickles etc. until 1976 under a succession of owners, ultimately Spear & Jackson.

Accounts 1639-51 some details in Savile & Nevile a/c; 1690-1764 journals and ledgers: SIR Y a/c. Sources Hey 1977; King 2011c; Bodleian Library (Oxford), Mss. Selden supra 116, 22-24; YAS Library, MD 335/70/67-100; Notts RO, DDSR 211/128/1 passim; Doncaster Archives, DDCROM 202/11 29 33 67; Sheffield Archives, 570/z5/1; ACM/S 129, rental; ACM/Ecc 217L; Baker 1944; Schubert 1946, 525; Mott 1950, 233; Callum 1970, 791; Hopkinson 1954, passim; 1961, 124 133-6 143-5 etc.; Hunter, Hallamshire, ii, 190; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 168-9 171-2 175; Raistrick 1938, 78; King 1995a, 414. Conisbrough Forge

[6] SK517993

Sources Sheffield Archives, WC 2725, 47; Wakefield RO, land tax, Conisbrough; Byng 1996 edn, 290; Allport 1913, 71; Conisbrough & Denaby Main Heritage Group website. Ecclesfield Furnace

[6] SK517993

location unknown

A furnace at Ecclesfield was referred to in the answer of Thomas St Nicholas during the litigation concerning Attercliffe and other works with Lionel Copley in 1655. Its location is unknown and it is conceivable this is a mistaken reference to Chappel Furnace or to that at Rockley, which was not in Ecclesfield.

In 1639, despite considerable local opposition, Lionel Copley and Thomas Bosevile built a forge and appointed Thomas Gill as clerk. Operations were interrupted by the civil war: ‘it being the heat of war no man could enjoy any visible goods thereabouts’. Royalist soldiers seized much of the stock, because Copley was in arms for Parliament. The rent went unpaid and Lord Rochford re-entered and let the forge to John Kaye and John Crosse, its managers. Relief from the forfeiture was granted in 1655, and Copley and Bosevile therefore presumably continued the forge until the lease expired in 1660. While its subsequent history is unknown, it probably closed not long after that date. It was presumably in the same place as the later forge (see next item).

Source TNA, C 5/22/27. Holmes, Kimberworth, and Masbrough see Rotherham below Middlewood Forge: Middlewood Slitting mill:

[7] SK308932 [8] SK313927

The works both stood on the upper River Don. By 1761, three cutlers’ wheels and a mill for tilting steel 171

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I had passed to J. & J. Kenyon from George Marriott and partners, who had built them. They had also in 1732 built Pond Tilt. J. & J. Kenyon carried out building works to ‘Middlewood Forge’ in 1763. This involved making ‘tin houses’ and ‘pots’, suggesting that it became a tinplate works. Members of the family retained the works until 1865 or later. The upper works have disappeared apart from the dam, and the lower works were largely demolished in the 1980s. The dam there having been filled in, little remains except the weir and a couple of massive culverts.

of iron (Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60513/75). Indeed the lack of any obvious link with a furnace may indicate it was not originally a finery forge. In 1794, there were a balling furnace and chafery, implying the production of iron from scrap. The cessation of Charles Armitage’s attendance at the Sheffield ironmasters meetings after 1811 probably marks the end of this second period of iron making. In the first quarter of the 19th century, a second opening in the dam was made. In 1828 there were four water wheels, driving two hammers, grindstones and a furnace blower. At this period, the forge produced anvils, being awarded a prize at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Anvil manufacture continued until the closure of the forge in 1933. The forge, like Kirkstall and Wortley, also produced axles in the mid19th century.

Size ‘1794’ a slitting mill: it is probable the forge was not a finery forge at least not at that period. Associations The Kenyon family also had slitting mills at Owlerton and Pondmill.

Associations John Cockshutt was also proprietor of Wortley Forges (q.v.) and other works.

Sources Ball et al. 2006, 2-5; Sheffield Archives, Fairbank, FB 25, 23-5. Mousehole Forge

Trading The forge is most notable by its absence from the accounts of other works. Where its pig iron came from in its early years remains obscure. It is linked with Kilnhurst and Thrybergh in the 1728 furnace proposals, which might suggest that it belonged to Cotton & Shore.

[9] SK325891

The forge is in west Sheffield on the north bank of the River Rivelin near its junction with the River Loxley. Its early use remains obscure. In 1664, it was a lead mill, but referred to as ‘my new forge’ by Edward Barker of Loxley in the same year. William Carr was tenant in 1709. In 1728, it is linked with Kilnhurst and Thrybergh Forges in the pig iron proposal suggesting that it belonged to Cotton, Shore & Co. By the end of 1739 John Cockshutt I (d.1774) had it, possibly in succession to his uncle, Matthew Wilson, and he was succeeded by his son, Edward Cockshutt, its tenant until at least 1790. Cockshutt & Armitage rented the forge by 1794 and until 1819. William Armitage, who had been Cockshutt’s manager, died in 1816. Edward Cockshutt retired from his partnership with George Armitage, a younger William, and Charles Armitage (other partners having also died). The firm became then George and Charles (d.1827) Armitage, then Morgan and Henry (d.1850) Armitage, followed by the latter’s trustees and sons, until George C. Armitage died in 1875. After this, William Cooper had the forge with Brookes until 1927, followed by Owen Thomas & Co from 1927 to 1933, since which the site has not been used. The weir is in good order, but the entry to it is eroded leaving the dam dry. The buildings have been demolished to leave a ruin, in which are the decayed timbers of two hammer frames. These ruins, which are on private property, have been consolidated and the restoration of internal features is being undertaken.

Sources Smith 1975; Ball et al. 2006, 108-11; London Gazette, no. 17536, 2068 (20 Nov. 1819); Hey 1991, 18182; Raistrick and Allen 1939, 169 & 175. Norton Furnace and Forge

[10] SK344839

The works stood on the Derbyshire side of the River Sheaf in what has since become a suburb of Sheffield. In 1608 Richard Cowley had the bloomsmithy there that had existed since the late 15th century. This is recalled by the name Smithy Wood and was probably near (rather than at) this site. A few years later corn mills and a cutlers wheel are mentioned. However, there were by 1637 a furnace and forge, which were probably used by the owners, the Bullock family until the 1660s, William Bullock using it himself in 1658. Gervas Nevile leased the furnace and forge in 1669 and assigned them to Lionel Copley. He may have been followed at the forge (as elsewhere) by Simpson and Hayford with Robert Hanson as clerk, but the works were closed and abandoned before 1690; perhaps shortly before. Identifiable ironworkers were buried at Norton in 1625 and 1659. Norton is an obscure ironworks and likely to remain so; it was probably a fairly small one. SIR Y a/c in 1690 refers to ‘Robert Hanson’s arrears’. Other ‘arrears’ accounts refer to running accounts with associated business sharing partners, but with different shares from the main one: ‘Sandbeck Arrears’ refers to the partnership that had Roche Abbey Forge; and ‘Knottingley Arrears’ to the firm with that forge. This should be similar.

Size 1717 80 tpa; 1718 80 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 60 tpa; despite its appearance in the 1750 list the forge was probably not making iron: William Spencer desired John Cockshutt to send scraps from Mousehole to Wortley Forge in 1739, which would have happened if iron was being made (Spencer l/b, 24 Dec. 1739). In 1744, Mr Cockshutt bought iron from Wortley Forge for his ‘Mousehole business’, which was therefore presumably not the making

Size In 1658 the excise duty agreed for it implies an output of 40 tpa. Sources Sheffield Archives, JC/479 482 & 700; TNA, E 112/537/28; Doncaster Archives, DDCROM 202/3d & 172

Chapter 9: Sheffield District Roche Abbey Forge or Stone Forge

72; SIR Y a/c, ‘Robert Hanson’s arrears’; Mott 1950, 231; 1969b, 214; Riden 1985, 396; Ball et al. 2006, 169-70; Hey 1991, 169. Owlerton slitting mill

The forge was on Maltby Dike some miles east of Rotherham between the village of Stone and the Abbey. Raistrick and (following him) Hey have written of Stone and Roche Abbey as two distinct forges. However, all the evidence points to the two names being alternative titles for a single one forge. The leases of 1693 and 1802 refer to it as Stone Forge, while accounts always call it Roche Abbey Forge, and articles of 1681 call it the ‘forge at Roche Abbey’. The partners and the landlords were identical, and the archives of both disclose only a single forge.

[11] SK341901

The mill was on the river Don about a mile above Sheffield and was being managed by John Booth in 1753, when he, Henry Downes, and their landlord, John Burton of Owlerton Hall paid to make (or enlarge) the dam there. It was rented by John Pashley in 1777 and was either converted to a slitting mill or altered in some other way in the following decade. John Kenyon occupied it in the 1790 as a slitting mill. In 1801, it passed to the Armitage family of Mousehole Forge, who retained it until at least 1829. John Lee had it by 1854 and until at least 1871 and Swift Bros. in the 1880s. It was demolished in 1936.

The origins of this forge are obscure, but it does not appear in estate records of the mid to late 1620s, and it is thus not improbable it was built in the late 1630s, like that at Conisbrough. It was apparently (like Conisbrough) initially leased by Lionel Copley and Thomas Bosevile, with Henry Wigfall and George Sitwell. The latter two (only) sold it, probably in 1642, to John Wright, who had John and Arthur Parker as his partners two years later. John Parker had it alone from before 1660 until 1671, when he was succeeded by Nicholas Yates, who certainly there in 1677 and probably until 1681. In 1681 William Simpson, Francis Barlow and Dionis (sic) Hayford bought 2170 trees in Sandbeck Park and elsewhere and leased the forge, sharing its profits in slightly different manner from their works at Sheffield. From 1727, it belonged to the new Sheffield ironworks partnership, and followed the descent of those works until Richard Swallow I died in 1801. Exceptionally after the expiry of the 1681 agreement, the forge was never held by the tenants under a lease, merely by an annual tenancy, which surely points to its relative insignificance. In 1802, it was let to George Brookfield, a miller, who spent £250 converting it to a corn mill. The area below the mill has been a farm. The building at the west end of this, a house standing on a bank, is presumably the former corn mill, the meadow upstream no doubt being the silted up dam. While it is possible some portion of the forge building was incorporated into the mill, there is no superficial sign of this.

Sources Ball et al. 2006, 14-15; Sheffield Archives, Fairbank, FB 3, 37. Pondmill

[13] SK552898

[12] SK359874

This mill, on the river Sheaf, appears again below in a previous incarnation as Sheffield Forge. After its closure as a forge, the mill was used as a cutlers’ wheel, briefly appearing among those where troughs were let by the Duke individually, but was again a forge by 1754. In 1731 they were let to Thomas Wilson with licence for it to be converted to another use; he was to leave going gear of the same value as any he removed at the end of the lease. He was replaced about 1742 by Mr John Bowden, who also rented a colliery from the Duke. In 1765, the Kenyons of Middlewood Forge took over the mill and enlarged the dams, further improvements being made in 1779, when the river was straightened. The works belonged to successive partnerships including the Kenyons, such as Kenyon, Firth and Woolhouse (from which Samuel Stephenson retired in 1796) and Kenyon and Firth until well into the 19th century. William Parker had it from before 1841 to 1852 and Marsh Bros thereafter, but the mill lost water-power with the coming of the Midland Railway in 1853. In 1790 it was listed as a slitting mill, but it is also described as a forge. Like the other Kenyon works, it had no obvious source of pig iron and is likely to have been a steel forge or plating forge, rather than one making iron. This part of the Sheaf valley has been much altered by the arrival of the railway and other Victorian and modern development, which includes a forge building, built in 1872.

Size This was a small forge with a moderate power supply, and never had more than one finery and one chafery, production varying between about 45 and 75 tpa. Often when the highest production was achieved, only part of the anconies made by the finers were drawn out at the forge, the rest being taken to Attercliffe or other forges for drawing out. 1717 80 tpa (‘Hoachabby’); 1718 & 1736 40 tpa; 1750 50 tpa.

Associations The Kenyons also had works at Owlerton and Middlewood, and were also steel converters. Kenyons, Firth & Co imported bushel iron though Hull in 1770 (suggesting they had a forge recycling it); and John Kenyon 222 tons of iron in 1785 (Hull Port Books).

Associations From 1681 it always closely associated with the Duke of Norfolk’s works at Sheffield (see Attercliffe), but in a distinct partnership until 1727.

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 376(2), 220; ACM/S 378, 163; Fairbank SheS/895S; Ball et al. 2006, 188-9; cf. Barraclough 1984(1), 88 91 94; London Gazette, no. 13952, 1110 (16 Nov. 1796).

Trading In 1642 John Wright agreed to buy all the sow iron he needed from Henry Wigfall and George Sitwell’s furnace in Eckington parish, presumably Plumbley. In 173

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I is probable this one that was built in 1608. The forge was assigned (with Chappel Furnace) by Sir Francis Nevile to Lionel Copley in 1653. On the renewal of the lease by the eventual sole heir to the Shrewsbury estates in 1666, Copley was given leave to convert the forge to a slitting mill. As a slitting mill it shared the history of the rest of the Duke of Norfolk’s works, passing following the death in 1675 of Lionel Copley to Dennis Hayford, William Simpson and others. It was managed by the 1690s by William Fell and later by John Wood, the slitter there. The works remained in this partnership following its reconstruction in 1727, but was not used to capacity after a slitting mill was built at Attercliffe in 1748, even if so used before, but the firm nevertheless retained the mill until 1756.

the early 1660s, John Parker was buying 30-60 tpa from George Sitwell’s Staveley and Foxbrooke Furnaces (Riden 1985). Between 1690 and 1705, pig iron mostly came from Chappel and Rockley, but afterwards until about 1730 a considerable part came from Barnby. Occasionally until 1725 anconies were sent to Newcastle for ‘Mr Hayford’, named in 1719 as Millington Hayford (SIR Y a/c, 1719 J, 218). These were presumably drawn out at Blackhall Mill. At various times it also supplied blooms to Attercliffe and Carburton Forges. Accounts 1690-1763 SIR Y a/c. Sources Riden 1985, A1 etc. (see its index); Derbs RO, D1000M/1/2, 6 Feb. 1644; Sandbeck Park estate office (Maltby, S. Yorks.), archives MTD/B8/4; MTD/B85; MTD/C20; EMA/4, ‘Stone’; EMS/37, 33; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169 172 & 175; Raistrick 1938, 71 & 79; Hopkinson 1961, 134 & 145; King 2011c; Hey 1991, 169. Rotherham Mill etc. once Kimberworth Forge Holmes Ironworks

In 1756 the works were leased by Samuel Walker and his brothers, who had been nailers at Grenoside, a nailing community on the edge of Sheffield parish, and from 1741 ironfounders there and later at Yellands in Masbrough at Rotherham. In 1754, they built a forge and in 1756 bought the lease of the Holmes estate. They built a blast furnace at Holmes Green in 1759, a second in 1767, and a third in 1770. The Walkers’ arrival was followed by a long-winded dispute until the early 1770s with the Don Navigation over water to drive the works or float vessels on the river. Boulton and Watt provided a blowing engine in 1781. The firm was known as Samuel Walker & Co or Samuel Walker & Bros, and, after Samuel Walker’s death in 1792, as Joshua Walker & Co. The Walker family apparently continued the works until 1829, when they sold them to the Don Navigation Company, but the works were continued thereafter by Samuel Clarke. However, the property was advertised for sale in 1822, as lately used by Messrs Walker; Samuel Clerke would show it. The tinplate works were bought for Henry and J.J. Habershon in 1829. By 1854, the furnaces were (like the Parkgate Ironworks) being used by Samuel Beale & Co and from 1864 by Park Gate Iron Co Ltd. The area has been subject to redevelopment and little is likely to remain of the ironworks.

[14] SK41359232 and later Masbrough or mill: [15] SK411923

All these works were powered by the Holmes goit, which left the river Don at Jordan dam. The works were on two or more sites adjoining the goit, the upper being at Holmes Green in Kimberworth and the lower at Yellands in Masbrough. The works have enjoyed three or even four phases of use: first as Kimberworth ironworks (a furnace then a forge) of the Earls of Shrewsbury and successors; then as Rotherham Mill of the Sheffield ironmasters; and finally as the Masbrough and Holmes Ironworks of the Walker family, which included a large foundry and used the goit to blow furnaces. These phases are distinct but there are probably no gaps between them, the slitting mill replacing the forge in 1666 and the blast furnaces being added when the Walker family took over the works in 1756.

Size 1585-90 furnace making perhaps 130 tpa; sales from the forge in 1617 and 1618 amounted to 141 tons and 114 tons respectively. 1644-6 in two and a half very disrupted years the forge made 412 tons, that is 165 tpa. As a slitting mill it could slit at least 270 tpa, but usually only 100 or 200 tpa was cut for its proprietors. The Walkers set up a steam engine from 1777, but it is not clear if this was a colliery engine or to power ironworks. In 1782, they added a Watt engine to power the works, perhaps casting the cylinder themselves (Hunter 2018, 28-9). ‘1794’ 2 coke and 1 charcoal furnaces 3 fineries 1 chafery 1 balling furnace 1 rolling mill and 1 slitting mill; 3 furnaces made in 1796 2,000 tpa. The charcoal furnace was probably not in use in 1788 as only one is listed in Yorkshire, probably Bretton. The 1796 output is likely to have been that of the two coke ones. In 1805 2 furnaces here and 1 at Milton made 3,000 tpa. In 1810 all three furnaces were in blast. The annual production of castings is shown annually in minutes up to 1783

Under George Earl of Shrewsbury (died 1590), Kimberworth Furnace supplied Attercliffe Hammer by 1585. Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury had a new furnace and forge built at Kimberworth in 1608. In 1618, after his death, William Vesey and William Pleasington were the clerks in charge. His estates passed to his three daughters and their husbands, and the Earl of Kent was thus interested in the ironworks in 1628 and the Earl of Pembroke in the 1630s. The northern revenue of the latter (including the ironworks) was farmed by Sir William Savile from 1639 to 1643, then by his widow, and then by Sir Francis Nevile of Chevet (1646 to 1653). John Kaye (died 1669), the fatherin-law of William Fell and grandfather of John Fell I, was then the clerk. By the late 1630s the furnace, despite its current name, was not in Kimberworth at all, but was the one was later called Chappel Furnace (q.v.), which was a little distance beyond the northwest corner of Kimberworth Park, and it 174

Chapter 9: Sheffield District (John 1951, 1-19). Some of the plant listed in 1794 may possibly have been elsewhere (e.g. at Conisbrough). The firm also had a boring mill at Burcroft Mill on a brook, where the water supply to the wheel was enhanced by a steam engine built in 1779 recirculating water. Park Gate Iron Co Ltd had 110 puddling furnaces in 1864, many of them probably at Park Gate or elsewhere.

head. Sheffield Forge was in the hands of John Eyre at the time of his bankruptcy in 1690 and it was taken by the main Sheffield partnership of Simpson, Hayford and Barlow. They ran the forge for a few years, but closed it in 1695: it was really too small to be useful. After this the forge was converted to a cutlers wheel, known as Forge Wheel, which name provides the principal evidence for the identity of this mill as Sheffield Forge. In 1751, the mill described as ‘Pond Forge formerly known as Forge Wheel’ was let to James Bowden, and its subsequent history is given above as Pondmill.

Associations As an early furnace it supplied Attercliffe. From 1608 (probably) until 1756, it was occupied with Chappel Furnace, both of which were continuously used with Attercliffe (q.v.) and the rest of the Duke of Norfolk’s Works around Sheffield. The Walkers also held forges at Thrybergh and Conisbrough and built Milton ironworks. The firm also briefly had furnaces at Gospel Oak in Tipton in the West Midlands from 1817, but they were bought out in 1821 by the members of the family who were managing them.

Size Sheffield Forge was only a small one, probably with a single finery and never made more than 45 tpa after 1690. In the 1690s pig iron came from associated furnaces. Associations John Eyre’s main business was as a coalmaster in Sheffield Park and in Whiston. He was (or intended to become) a partner in Wortley Forge and Bank Furnace, but became bankrupt before the lease started. 1690-95 like Attercliffe, one of the Duke of Norfolk’s works at Sheffield.

Trading In 1643-46 most of the iron was sold at the forge or in London, with lesser amounts sold at Hull and York. As a slitting mill, it received iron almost exclusively from associated works. Prior to their acquisition of the Holmes estate, the source of the pig iron used by the Walkers is unclear. Their move to Masbrough in 1756 would be to be near the navigable river (John 1951, 2). From 1774 Samuel Walker & Co were important gunfounders, becoming the Board of Ordnance’s sole supplier from 1786 until war loomed again (TNA, WO 47/83-120, passim, s.v. ‘gunfounder’ or ‘founder’). They were again prominent in the French Revolutionary War (Cole thesis, 188-91).

Accounts SIR Y a/c 1690-5. Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 129, no 231; Ball et al. 2006, 189-90. Thrybergh Forge

This was one of the few forges on the River Don between Rotherham and Doncaster. It probably stood immediately north of Thrybergh weir on the River Don where ‘old mill or scite of mill’ is shown in the tithe award. It does not appear in the 1717 list. It is thus likely to have been built during (or just after) the Swedish embargo, and it appears on a map of 1722. Its origin would therefore seem, like the nearby Kilnhurst Forge, to be associated with the erection of Bretton Furnace (see preceding chapter). It was perhaps leased for a shorter term than them, since it was idle by 1736. In the 1728 pig iron distribution proposal, it was linked with Kilnhurst and Mousehole Forges, suggesting tenure by W.W. Cotton and others, but nothing is certainly known. After that it was apparently left to decay for nigh on thirty years. The forge was rebuilt by Samuel Walker & Co on a much more substantial scale, when they were granted a 42 year lease in 1763. The forge remained with that firm throughout that lease. They may have been succeeded by John Leggatt, who had left it by 1814. As at Rotherham, there was conflict between the Walkers and the Don Navigation Proprietors over the use of river water.

Accounts 1585-90 E of Shrews a/c; 1615-20 brief a/c: TNA, C 2/Jas I/M18/59, m.4-5; 1639-49: Savile & Nevile a/c; as a slitting mill 1690-1756: SIR Y a/c. Minute Book of the Walker family (John 1951) records the quantity of castings made each year. Sources Awty 1981b, 58-61; Schubert 1946, 525; Bodleian Lib. (Oxford), Ms. Selden supra 116, 22-24; Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 129, rental; Hunter, Hallamshire, ii, 190; Hopkinson 1954; 1961; Callum 1970, 791-2; Preston 1939, 329-31; Stone 1965, 347; King 1995a; Notts RO, DDSR 9/104; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169 & 172; Raistrick 1938, 69; John 1951, 1-21; Morley 1998; Brown 2008; 2009; Hunter 2018, 28-9; Sheffield Archives, WC 2707 2723-6; Birmingham Archives, MS 3147/5/548 689; Leeds Intelligencer, 20 May 1822; Baker 1945; Hadfield 1972, 77-8; Brooke 1944, 160 (from Iron and Coal Trades Review, 17 Jul. 1936). Sheffield Forge

[17] SK465963

[16] SE359874

Size 1717 not listed; ‘1718’ (c.1721?) 60 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 not listed. In 1794 there were 2 fineries a chafery and a rolling mill. The latter was added in 1768 and presumably produced blackplate to be finished and tinned in the tinhouse built two years earlier at Masbrough.

Sheffield Forge seems to have been a predecessor of the slitting mill at Pondmill, which stood beside the River Sheaf very close to the town. The water to fill the dams came from the tail goit of Pond Tilt. Two corn mills called Pond Mill and Town Mill were let to Edward Hobson and Thomas Cooke about 1663. Sometime after this date a forge was built adjacent to Pond Mill, and sharing its

Associations see Rotherham. 175

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Size Production at Attercliffe 1585-90 suggests it could make at least 150 tpa. Cannon and other ordnance supplies may have been cast in 1643 during the Civil War (Newcastle 1667, 36).

Sources Palmer, Survey of river Don in 1722 in Willan 1965; Sheffield Archives, WC 2725, 44-5; John 1951, 7 9 etc.; Baker 1945; Wakefield RO, land tax, Thrybergh; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 172 & 175; Raistrick 1938, 79; Hadfield 1972, 78.

Accounts E of Shrews. a/c 1585-90. Wadsley Forge or Wardsend Forge

[18] SK336905 Sources Ball et al. 2006, 10-11; Mott 1950, 234-5; and see Wadsley Forge (above).

This forge was also on the river Don, but above Sheffield. It was built by Lionel Copley and his partners in 1639. George Sitwell took a lease in 1658, but sold it back to Lionel Copley before the term was due to commence, Sitwell agreeing to supply him with 850 tons pig iron over seven years from Foxbrooke and Staveley Furnaces. Thus Copley enjoyed it continuously until his death in 1675. He was succeeded, as at Attercliffe Forge, by Dennis Hayford, Simpson, and their partners and successors until 1775, when Richard Swallow leased it and the rest of the Sheffield ironworks alone. He sold the works in 1805 to Thomas Rawson, who converted it to a grinding wheel. Except a full dam and a possible buried wheelpit, nothing remains of it.

Bloomery forges Ecclesfield

There is a Smithy Wood beside the Blackburn Brook. Its name suggests that there was a bloomery forge. Treeton

[21] presumably SK426876

The existence of a powered bloomery is recorded in 1507. This produced 41 tons 12 cwt of iron, an output that may suggest it had two bloom hearths. Sources Schubert 1957, 141 346, citing Bodleian Lib. (Oxford), Ms. Top. Yorks. c.23.

Size The forge usually made 150-180 tpa, but once 250 tpa; it was wholly out of commission 1727-30 and then had only one finery in use until 1747, making 80-110 tpa 1717 120 tpa; 1718 180 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 200 tpa; 1790 2 fineries 1 chafery.

Tilts and other forges Abbeydale Works

[22] SK326819

A cutler’s wheel was built here in 1676, later used for scythes. In 1777, the dam was enlarged by Thomas Goddard, who built a tilt forge in 1785. He was followed by Cutts & Co from 1804 to 1808 and by Vickers and Carr until 1822. Subsequently the works were occupied for long periods by the Dyson and then Tyzack families. On its closure in 1935, it was bought and presented to the Sheffield City Council for an industrial museum, but the main restoration did not begin until 1964, eventually enabling Sheffield City Museums (now Sheffield Museums Trust) to open the works now fully restored in 1970. The works include a five-hole crucible steel furnace, a tilt with two tilt hammers and shears, and several grinding hulls all in situ. Another tilt hammer and a nose helve hammer from other works are also displayed.

Associations One of the Duke of Norfolk’s works at Sheffield (see Attercliffe). Its sources of pig iron differ little from Attercliffe’s at most dates. Accounts 1690-1750 SIR Y a/c. Sources Ball et al. 2006, 11-13; King 2011c; Harrison’s Survey, 4 32; Sheffield Archives, ACM/SD 180; TNA, C 3/439/39; C 5/22/27; Bodleian Library (Oxford), Mss. Selden supra 115, 9v-10; Doncaster Archives, DDCROM 202/35; Sheffield Archives, PhC/136; ACM/S 129, rental; Hunter,, Hallamshire, ii, 190; Hopkinson 1961; Callum 1970, 791-2; Hey 1977; Raistrick 1938, 69-70 79; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169 172 175; Hopkinson 1954; Awty 1981b; Hey 1991, 55 169-73; King 1995a, 414. Wadsley Furnace

[20] near SK362951

Sources Peatman 1981; 1989; Ball et al. 2006, 159-62; Bestall 1967.

[19] SK335909

Beeley Wood see Nova Scotia below

The furnace stood close to Wardsend Farm. It was powered by an eastern tributary, known in 1797 as Bark Mill dam. A furnace here supplied Attercliffe Hammers at least between 1585 and 1590, having perhaps succeeded a bloomery forge (‘smithy’). Sometime during Earl Gilbert’s time (1591/1616), it became a cutlers wheel, but it was rebuilt by Lionel Copley and partners shortly after 1639 and was in the same hands as the forge until its abandonment between 1683 and 1690, having been rendered redundant by Chappel and Rockley Furnaces.

Birley Meadow Wheel and Tilt

[23] SK339898

A cutler’s wheel probably existed by 1709, but the tilt was probably not added until the late 18th century. A onethird share in Birley Meadow Tilthouse is mentioned in a will in 1776. Georgius Smith and John Greaves occupied ‘Owlerton Tilt’ in 1782 and Greaves in 1794. It remained in use throughout the 19th century.

176

Chapter 9: Sheffield District Cooper Wheel, Row Lees and Rolling Mill

Source Ball et al. 2006, 76-7. Blackburn Forge (formerly Blackburn Wheel)

[24] SK393914 A cutler’s wheel was probably built in 1742. In 1766 it was let as a rolling mill to John Hoyland and William Middleton (button-makers) and others, passing to J.T. Young (one of the original partners) alone from 1788. The mill seems to have been engaged in rolling Sheffield Plate, rather than iron.

In 1784, the mill was described as a cutlers wheel, formerly in lease to Philip Smilter, late in lease to Hildreth and Greaves. William Hildreth and Charles Greaves had leased it in 1769; the name of David Hussey also appears as a tenant, but is deleted. Hussey had rented the wheel since 1747, with Vincent Eyre as partner until 1757, and then Mr Staniforth and perhaps other partners (possibly Hildreth and Greaves) from 1762, but details of the lease to Philip Smilter have not been traced.

Sources Ball et al. 2006, 178. Glass or Loxley Tilt

[27] SK315897

This is first mentioned in 1777 as in the occupation of Mr Schofield. John Hawkesley had it in 1794 and John Wilson from 1814.

David Hussey had conducted the plating trade of Fell & Co, probably at Attercliffe, until the stock of that business was sold him in 1753. He may have been related to Peter Hussey who worked at Wolverley Lower Mill (Worcs) and then built Hardwick Forge (Shrops: see chapter 25); and to Thomas Hussey, a clerk in the Foley works, and then an ironmaster in the Weald (see chapter 2). In 1763, Hildreth and Greaves with William Parker took Edward Gibbons as their active partner to run a sawmaking business, another use that traditionally required a plating forge. There are thus indications that this was a plating forge from the beginning of Hussey’s 1747 lease. It certainly was a forge in 1777, when occupied by William Bland. He took it over in 1774, following the bankruptcy of Hildreth and Greaves in 1771, and is also shown as such on Jefferys’ map of about that date. However, it is called a cutlers wheel in leases of 1769 and 1784. In 1784 it was let to John Hartop, one of the partners in Brightside Forge, on whose death in 1790 it passed to William Littlewood. He transferred it to another John Hartop in 1803. It was let in 1809 to Jonathan Marshall ‘steelburner’, who had an extensive steelworks at Millsands in Sheffield, and he bought the freehold the following year. The next mill upstream, on the Kimberworth (Rotherham) side of the Blackburn brook, was (confusingly) also called Blackburn Wheel, but remained a cutler’s wheel and so falls outside the scope of this book.

Sources Ball et al. 2006, 60-1. Heeley Tilt

[28] SK354854

Holm Wheels, cutlers wheels, and a wire mill were let by Samuel Shore in 1747 to Matthew Fenton, an ironmonger. He built a tilt and sublet it in 1751 to John Turner, who was still its tenant in 1779. By 1807 Joshua Binney was tenant and he and his brother continued so until the late 1830s. Sources Ball et al. 2006, 108-9. Little London Works

[29] SK347847

A cutler’s wheel, in existence by 1720, was purchased by Samuel Shore in 1777. Thomas Biggin became his tenant about 1783 and added a tilt by 1789. After his death before 1804, William Webster succeeded him at the works and was later making scythes. Sources Ball et al. 2006, 172-3. Middlewood Tilt see forge etc. above Nova Scotia Tilt or Beeley Wood Tilt

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 379, 214; ACM/SD 870/62; ACM/SD 214; ACM/S 158, Brightside; WC 31013 519 819; Jefferys’ map in Hey 1991, 189; Miller 1949, 100.

[30] SK317922

This was built in 1749 by Thomas Boulsover with Joseph Broadbent as partner; the latter was followed by his widow and then his son Thomas, who were its sole proprietors from 1777 until Thomas’ bankruptcy in 1783. The following year John Sutcliffe, one of his assignees in bankruptcy, renewed the lease and sold it to Joseph Walker and William Booth, who brought it into their steel partnership at Rotherham. Thomas Boulsover was a button-maker and the inventor of Old Sheffield Plate (see Whiteley Wood, below). Broadbent was a banker and partner of John Cockshutt at Wortley (q.v.).

Brightside Tilt see Brightside Forge above Clough Wheel

[26] SK355856

[25] SK356861

This was called a forge in 1814, but was a newly erected scythe manufactory in 1809, occupied by James Camm and others perhaps from 1805. Sources Ball et al. 2006, 179-81.

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 158, wheels; WC 2707; Ball et al. 2006, 5-6; cf. Hey 1991, 125-6. 177

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Parker Tilt

[31] SK391910

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 377, 11 54; ACM/S 378(1), 169; ACM/S 380, 66; ACM/S 158, Sheffield; Ball et al. 2006, 185-9.

Parker Wheel was leased in the 17th century, but (like Brightside Wheel) was let in the early 18th to a large number of tenants presumably individual cutlers, sharpening their own knives. In 1738 both Parker and Brightside Wheels, with 25 troughs in all, were let to John Wooffendale and Thomas Allen at the enormous rent (for wheels) of £43.6.0. Allen left in 1741 and John Wooffendale’s rent fell into arrears, but he recovered from this and sold Parker Wheel in 1752 to Robert Dent and Samuel Robinson. Their partnership, with the substitution of William Binks for Samuel Robinson (his father-in-law) in 1767, continued until 1782, when the wheel passed to James Cresswick, the owner of the adjacent paper mill. This paper mill had been built about 1752 by Thomas Atkinson and Susan Holton on or adjacent to the site of some of the wheels. They sold it in 1757 to Samuel Garton, whose son-in-law Cresswick succeeded to it about 1772. In 1737, shortly, before the lease of Brightside and Parker Wheels, a tilt had been built adjoining each wheel: Parker Tilt was built by Robert Dent and Thomas Webster, Webster being succeeded by his widow in 1749 and in 1760 by William Garton, who became its sole tenant of the tilt in 1768. He apparently converted it to a leather mill, but from 1771, there was also a mill for grinding logwood, a dyestuff. Elizabeth Dickinson was his partner in the logwood mill (the former tilt) from 1773 to 1778, followed by Thomas Fox, John Turner and others. Thus gradually all the mills on the Parker dam passed into the hands of James Cresswick, and by the 1790s they were all used for papermaking.

Slack Wheels

As cutlers wheels, the use of the site goes back into the 16th century. A tilt and plating hammer was built in 1791 at Nether Slack Wheel by George Newton, then partner of Charles Hodgson as manufacturers of spades etc. Newton then joined Thomas Chambers in building Thorncliffe ironworks and probably surrendered his tenancy here to Camm & Co, tenants of the whole of the wheels. Sources Hey 1977, 257, citing Sheffield Archives, Thorncliffe Records; Ball et al. 2006, 78-80. Storrs Wheel

[34] SK291902

A cutlers wheel was built in 1720. This was let to John Harrison in 1785 and he added a tilt by 1794. Thomas Harrison bought it in 1800 and there were two tilt hammers as well as grinding wheels by 1811. Sources Ball et al. 2006, 45-6. Walkley Bank Tilt

[35] SK324888

A cutlers wheel erected about 1751 was converted to a tilt forge by Jonathan Parkin and William Hawkesworth in 1762. The firm became Shemeld, Parkin & Co in 1783 and Staniforth, Parkin & Co on a lease renewal of 1793. However, it was called Shemeld and Oakes (or Shemeld & Co) from 1795 to 1814 or later.

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 377, 31 106; ACM/S 378, 238 264; ACM/S 380, 119; ACM/S 158, wheels; Schmoller 1992, 17ff; Ball et al. 2006, 37-8.

Sources Sheffield Archives, CB/1229-30; CB/360-419; Ball et al. 2006, 106-8.

Pond Forge see forges above Pond Tilt (or Pond Lane Tilt)

[33] SK341895 and SK343895

Whiteley Wood Forge Whiteley Wood Rolling Mill

[36] SK303849 [37] SK311851

[32] SK357871 Thomas Boulsover bought Whiteley Wood Hall in 1752 and began building the rolling mill beside the river Porter about 1760. He was a button-maker and discovered how to plate copper with silver, producing ‘Old Sheffield Plate’. As such working iron may not have been the primary concern of the works, but a survey of 1774 calls the rolling mill ‘Bottoms saw works’. In 1794 this was a ‘rolling mill and wheel’. Like the forge, it was described as occupied by Thompson & Co. Thompson had been the manager prior to Boulsover’s death in the early 1790s, but other sources name the occupier as Mrs Hutton, and from about 1800, the business passed to Hutton and Mitchell (Boulsover’s grandsons) and from 1817 Mitchell, Wreaks & Co manufactured saws, scythes and edge tools. Boulsover’s products included cast steel, some of it rolled, which he supplied to Boulton & Fothergill of Birmingham.

The tilt, at the beginning of the goit leading to Pond Forge (formerly Sheffield Forge), was built by Thomas Hardy (a millwright), George Marriott (a scissorsmith), Thomas Allen (a cutler) and Benjamin Milns in 1732. A few years later Marriott built a wheel at Boatman Bridge called Marriot Wheel (later the Lead Mill) and, at some stage with partners, a tilt at Middlewood. In 1746 the lease passed to John Wooffendale, Gilbert Roberts and Robert Holton, but when it was renewed in 1754, the partners were Gilbert Roberts (a factor), Jonathan Moore, and John Sykes. Samuel Broomhead (a factor) was Moore’s partner from 1765 until about 1785, when the firm became Moore and Ward (or Wards and Moore), Joseph Ward being Broomhead’s executor. William Law (a silver plater) replaced Moore, probably in 1799.

Sources Ball et al. 2006, 117-21; cf. Hey 1991, 125-6 Birmingham Archives, MS 3782/1/1, 30. 178

Chapter 9: Sheffield District Wicker Tilts

[38] SK359879 and SK357878

plan of Woodhouse Mill dated 1784 marks it as a freehold sickle mill and rentals call it Woodhouse Mill wheel.

Both tilts were on a goit leaving the river Don at Ladys Bridge weir, beside the main road to Rotherham, one standing by the bridge next to Wicker Wheel and the other ‘the dyehouse tilt’ on a goit from there. There were cutlers wheels on the north-eastern site here from the 16th century. Thomas Wilson, a shearsmith and tenant of Wicker Wheel, was authorised to erect a new tilting mill in 1731 and to build another in 1736 on a ‘dyehouse garden and tenter garden’, though this has not been found in the rentals until ten years later. He was succeeded by his widow, Hannah Wilson, and then by their sons, Joseph and John, who shared all the Wicker works between them. Joseph Wilson, also a shearsmith, rented Hind Wheel, the Bridge Wicker Tilt and one end of Wicker Wheels. John Wilson had the Dyehouse Tilt and the other end of the wheel and had partners from 1757. In 1772 when both Wilsons renewed their leases, the partners were John Wilson, Joseph Ibberson (cutler), Benjamin Withers (cutler) and Joseph Withers. At this time, a new tail goit was made. Soon after Joseph Ibberson and Samuel Broomhead appear to have acquired Joseph Wilson’s interests. Then or subsequently, these businesses were amalgamated as Joseph Ibberson and Co. Not later than 1785 when a new 63 year lease of all the premises was agreed, Benjamin Blonk joined the firm with a quarter share (like Joseph Ibberson and Samuel Broomhead). The latter died and the lease was completed with Mr [Joseph] Ward, his executor as a partner, but the firm continued to be named as Ibberson, Broomhead, Blonk & Co in rentals. Blonk and Co occupied the works far into the 19th century.

Sources Sheffield Archives, MD 6071; ACM/S 376(3), 24; ACM/Han.73S; ACM/S 158, Handsworth; Hey 1991, 186-7 191. Steel furnaces near Sheffield The following gazetteer may well not be comprehensive, particularly after 1790: unlike the majority of works dealt with in this book, steel furnaces were not, and did not need to be associated with, watermills. They were sometimes not specifically mentioned in deeds etc., being treated like barns and stables merely as ‘other buildings’ belonging to a house. Even where they are described, it is often as ‘steel furnace’, without distinguishing between cementation (or converting) furnaces making blister steel and crucible furnaces making it into cast steel. The problem is compounded by a relative dearth of surviving documents, partly because the owners of smaller properties have less frequently deposited them in record offices than great estates. Nevertheless, it has been possible to discover a good deal from the lease-books and rentals of the Dukes of Norfolk and of others. Attercliffe cast steel furnace

The garden of a cottage or house, in which John Pogmore lived until 1745, and then John Stones until 1763, became the site of a cast steel furnace subsequently described as ‘lately built ... upon Oaks Green’, Attercliffe. No preceding lease has been traced, but the increase in rent in 1764, when William Hildreth and [Charles] Greaves succeeded John Stones as tenant, probably marks its erection. On the bankruptcy of Hildreth and Greaves in 1771, the furnace was bought by Clay & Co (of Attercliffe Forge). The lease, as at Attercliffe, was renewed by Richard Swallow in 1775 and probably remained in the hands of him and his son until the latter’s bankruptcy in 1808. In 1785 Mr Swallow paid rates for 2 steel furnaces and a cast steel furnace; two of these were at Oaks Green, Attercliffe, where Richard Swallow bought the freehold in 1804, the other being at Washford Bridge, Attercliffe (q.v.). The low steel furnace was sold to Laurence Potts, Joseph Parkin, and two others in 1809.

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 377, 2 49; ACM/S 378, 14-15 168-9; ACM/S 380, 25-26; ACM/S 383, 3; ACM/S 158, wheels; Ball et al. 2006, 27-8. Wisewood Forge or Loxley Forges

[39] SK324895

This 17th-century cutlers’ wheel was converted to a forge at some date after 1794 by Armitage & Co (of Mousehole Forge). Sources Ball et al. 2006, 66-7. Woodhouse Steel Forge

[41] SK378886

[40] SK434857 Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 157-7; ACM/S 158, Brightside; ACM/S 380, 71; Rates books, Attercliffe; Wakefield deeds registry, EP/739/887; FK/471/588; King 2011c, 21-23.

A corner of Mill Dore Close, adjoining Woodhouse (corn) Mill, was sold to George Harrison in 1685 and this was apparently the site of the steel forge at Handsworth Woodhouse, which he mentioned in his will in 1707. In 1724, Samuel Shore agreed to pay a modest rent for the right to take surplus water from Woodhouse dam for the management of his steel forge ‘as formerly had’. He paid this rent until 1731 when he was succeeded by John Marshall, Ed. Bramhall, and Joshua Hancock, who, as John Marshall and partners, paid the same rent until the 1790s, when the firm became Benjamin Marshall and partners. A

Attercliffe: crucible furnace (Huntsman’s)

[42] SK382887

Benjamin Huntsman is celebrated as the inventor of cast steel, though his originality has recently been questioned. He is thought to have experimented with this at his cottage at Handsworth, but the works he established were at Attercliffe. In 1768 Benjamin Huntsman was subtenant to 179

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Attercliffe: steel furnace at Washford Bridge

William Fullard of property fronting to Attercliffe Green (now Worksop Road), which was owned by the Capital Burgesses of Sheffield. Their previous tenant was Richard Barnes (1759-64), preceded by William Harvey, whose premises were described in 1743 as ‘late Twigg’: this identifies them as a cottage, barn, kitchen, smithy, and garden and two other pieces of land let in 1729 to Thomas and Joshua Twigg, brothers and cutlers. The lease expired in 1750 and subsequent occupiers were merely tenants at will. This presumably would not have provided sufficient security for investment in substantial new buildings and may suggest that Huntsman’s furnace was built somewhat earlier than the conventional date of 1751 for the start of his business. It is no doubt significant that other members of the Twigg family were steel makers, working for Fell & Co, and perhaps for Thomas Parkin.

This, rather than Darnall, seems to be the Attercliffe Furnace, which appears in the accounts of Fell & Co, from 1737, when a ‘new furnace’ is mentioned. It stood on land belonging to the Fell family, who were credited with rent for it. It thus passed to Richard Swallow and was sold on the bankruptcy of Richard Swallow II to Joseph Bailey, who was still using it in 1820. Accounts 1737 to 1765 SIR Y a/c: named at 1737 J, 60 67; 1746 J, 35; 1764 J, 451; etc. Sources Wakefield deeds registry, NN/463/649; EP/739/887; Sheffield Archives, CA/19, no. 41; Fairbank FB 35, 16; Fairbank SheD 24S; King 2011c, 21-3; Barraclough 1984(1), 69-80; Flavell 1996, 50.

After succeeding Barnes in c.1764, William Fullard took a 21 year lease in 1772. This was purchased, following Fullard’s bankruptcy, by William Huntsman and Robert Asline in 1776, also the year when Benjamin Huntsman (William’s father) died. However, Thomas Fox and his executors replaced them as tenants from 1785 to 1794, after which William Huntsman again appeared in the Church Burgesses’ rentals, but now alone. The reason for these changes in tenancy is not apparent, but it is possible that the tenants named in the Church Burgesses rentals were financiers who provided money for the Huntsmans. Certainly by 1794 William Huntsman was paying rates for a steel furnace and a converting furnace, the latter probably built in 1772, which is also the date of the house (now the Britannia Inn). Previously the crucible furnace had used purchased steel scrap, such as the ends of bars of blister steel that had previously been thrown away. The works were continued from 1810 by John and Francis Huntsman, Francis dying in 1869, and then by William Huntsman Ltd until they moved away in 1899.

Ballifield steel furnace

[45] SK416863

The origin of this cementation furnace is probably related to the activities in the late 17th century of George Harrison, who married a daughter of Thomas Stacey of Ballifield Hall, on whose land it stood. The site of the furnace is indicated by the field name, Steelhouse Close, on the north side of farm buildings there, suggesting that it was among those buildings. His steel business dates back to the Restoration, when the Cutlers Company sought the repeal of Charles Tooker’s patent on the grounds that George Harrison and George Arderon also made good steel and cheaper. Thomas Stacy was a party to the c.1667 cartel, and presumably George Harrison’s partner here, though he lived at Richmond. George Harrison died in 1691 after which its immediate descent is not clear. Ballifield was certainly used for Fell & Co’s steel trade by 1711, though perhaps in early years not exclusively by them. Nevertheless they were paying rent for it in 1749 and still using it when their accounts end in 1765. A second furnace may possibly have been built about 1739.

Sources Sheffield archives, Fairbank FB/25, 38; ACM/ SheD 769S; ACM/SheD 71S; CB/1633, map 2; ACM/X1; CB/352-419; CB/653; Rate books, Attercliffe; Barraclough 1977a; Barraclough 1984(2), 1-6 9-19 etc.; King 2011c, 20-3; Hulme 1944; Mott 1965; Hey 1991, 194; Flavell 1996, 55; Cradock et al. 2017, 29-30; Wakefield deeds registry, BZ/335-6/455-6. Attercliffe: steel furnace

[44] SK373884

Accounts 1699 to 1765 SIR Y a/c: named 1725 J, 75; 1746 J, 35; 1749 J, 70; 1764 J, 451 etc. Before 1726 the accounts merely refer to the ‘steel furnace’, but Ballifield was occasionally named as the destination of goods, e.g. 1711 J, 68.

[43] SK382887

Sources TNA, C 6/278/29; Barraclough 1984(1), 520 69-80; King 2011c, 21-3; Hey 1991, 186-8; Sheffield Archives, Fairbank Han/42S.

Immediately adjoining Huntsman’s premises was another furnace built on ground rented by Samuel Scholey from the Duke of Norfolk. In 1781 this was occupied, probably as his undertenant, by Thomas Gunning, who had been a partner of Walter Oborne, Elizabeth Parkin’s heir. The furnace is not shown on a plan of 1763, but appears on a revision dated 1782: its history is unclear.

Darnall steel furnaces

[46] SK393888

The furnace was probably built in or shortly before 1714, when Samuel Shore had the lease of a house and steel furnace in Castle Fold, Sheffield renewed ‘in regard that he hath erected a new steel house at Darnall.’ Evidently this enabled him to escape paying a premium to renew the lease, the Duke of Norfolk’s agent presumably being

Sources As preceding item.

180

Chapter 9: Sheffield District anxious to keep him as tenant, as he would not be able to let the furnace. Darnall Furnace was apparently used in 1720 by George Steer, who mortgaged it in 1734 and sold it to Samuel Shore II, John Fell, and Elizabeth Parkin in 1736, the three principal Sheffield steel producers. After this the fate of this furnace is obscure: there is no sign in their accounts that Fell and Co received a profit from it or used it, but the cost of its purchase was carried forward in their accounts until 1749, but not thereafter. The three firms may thus have bought it to keep it idle.

Sources John 1951, 3; Barraclough 1984(2), 6; Morley 1998; Smith 1998; and see Grenoside Foundry below. Holmes Steel Works

In 1748 Samuel Walker and John Booth, who was subsequently concerned in ironworks at Brightside, built a steel furnace, which remained in use for many years. John Roebuck and Sons were partners from 1750 to 1751. This is distinct from (but near) the Walkers’ foundry at Masbrough (see Rotherham, in the main gazetteer above). John Roebuck was subsequently a partner in founding the Carron Company near Falkirk.

In 1751 William Binks gave his sons two-thirds of a steel furnace on land he had bought from John Horrabin and Steer Binks and disposed of the remaining third in his will in 1760; the earlier transaction also dealt with a half share in another steel furnace built by William Binks and John Dickson. In 1780 Bayliffe and Binks sold an iron house and steel furnace occupied by Elliot and Hawksley to Joshua Hawksley and by 1819 Thomas and Joshua Hawksley’s assignees had let it to Benjamin Neal and Ruth Oates etc.

Sources John 1951, 2-3; Sheffield Archives, WC 1839-41; Flavell 1996, 52; King 2003a, 35. Kimberworth steel furnace

unknown c.SK4092

‘Willm Hellifield or Lionel Copley per steel furnish’ appears in the 1672 hearth tax assessment for Kimberworth as assessed for four hearths. Nothing further is known of this, but it evidently did not survive long. George Hellifield who was bailed out by the members of the c.1667 cartel was presumably connected with this furnace.

The second furnace was sold in 1760 by Dickson’s widow and daughter to William Parker, who still owned it in 1774. Following the bankruptcy in 1784 of Thomas and Ebenezer Parker, it was sold to John Micklethwaite of Leeds, and his nephew sold it in 1797 to Thomas Knutton junior. By 1819 it belonged to John Hoult.

Sources Hey 1991, 185; TNA, C 6/278/29. Kimberworth steel furnace

Sources Barraclough 1984(1), 74-77 85-6; Ward diary, 237; Hey 1991, 188-191; Sheffield Archives, ACM/S99 and CA/13; SIR Y a/c, 1738 J, 73; 1739 J, 50; 1749 J, 81; Wakefield Deeds Registry, AE/486/628; AS/507/681; AT/361/465; AU/469/465; CG/687/930; CQ/535/770; DZ/405/555; King 2011c, 21-3; Flavell 1996, 56-58. Grenoside Steel Refining Furnace

[48] SK41459285

unknown c.SK4092

In 1751 at the end of his partnership with the Walkers at Holmes, John Roebuck built his own furnace at Kimberworth. He made his sons, Benjamin, Thomas, and Ebenezer partners in it. Benjamin Roebuck transferred it (or shares in it) in 1771 to his sons, John and Benjamin.

[47] SK330942

Sources Wakefield deeds registry, AD/165/219; AD/702/902; BO/469/678; King 2003a, 35.

In 1750 Samuel Walker and Co, by then carrying on business principally at Masbrough, built a house and steel refining furnace at Grenoside, presumably adjacent to the foundry there. K.C. Barraclough, on information from a local historian, stated that Benjamin Tingle took over a steel melting furnace built by the Walkers. Samuel Walker & Co certainly built a ‘house and furnace for refining steel in, at Grennoside’ (sic) in 1750, but there is no contemporary evidence of any member of the Tingle family making or refining steel at Grenoside. However Townrow, Bundekin and Tingle of Townhead-well, Sheffield are listed in the 1797 Sheffield directory as steel refiners and there were certainly members of the Tingle family, who had cottages at Grenoside, and had very probably been fellow nailers of the Walkers there. Tingles’ cast steel furnace is either a legend resulting from the conflation of these facts or a rather later one. However Josias Ashton of Grenoside ‘cast steel maker’ had partners from 1805 to 1807. It has been suggested that its relatively remote location was related to its resulting from the leaking out of Huntsman’s secret, but it is more likely merely to be because that is where they lived.

Richmond steel furnace

[51] near SK399854

This furnace probably goes back almost to the Restoration when George Arderon and George Harrison were competitors of Charles Tooker. As Ballifield probably belonged to George Harrison, this one may have belonged to Robert Harrison the elder and younger at the time of the c.1667 cartel. George Harrison died in 1707 and was apparently succeeded by Francis Roper, who probably let the furnace. Fell & Co paid some rent for it in the 1720s, but appear not to have used it. In 1735 George Roper renewed the lease of Richmond furnace to George Steer, who two years later sold his lease to Samuel Shore jun., John Fell, Elizabeth Parkin, the other Sheffield steelmasters of the period. The purchase was probably made to close it or keep it closed. Sources TNA, C 6/278/29; Sheffield Archives, TC.699; SIR.6, 1727/46J, 18; Barraclough 1984(1), 74-77; King 2003a, 21; King 2011c, 21-3; Hey 1991, 186-8 cf. 229-30; Wakefield deeds registry, BB/233/317. 181

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Rotherham: Steel furnace in Beast Market

Thomas Gunning. The accounts also refer to Upper and Lower Furnaces, each with a pair of pots, which his partnership with Mrs Parkin (as she was known) hired to Oborne and Gunning. It was probably Walter Oborne who added crucible furnaces in Balm Green and his widow’s executor sold them all to Younge, Sharrow, and Whitelock in 1786. These may have passed to James Camm by the 1820s and Francis Hobson in the 1830s.

[52] c.SK427927

This was probably the furnace of Charles Tooker of Rotherham, who was making steel at Rotherham before the Civil War. Later he operated under a patent for making steel, obtained in 1662 by Sir John Kearsby [recte Reresby] and Sir Thomas Strickland. The patent was however repealed in 1666, as not being an invention. Dysney Staniforth sold the furnace in 1709 to Field Sylvester, who made steel for Fell & Co and was refunded quarter of the cost by them. By 1717 the furnace had been replaced by a barn. The purchase thus seems to have been a joint one by the Sheffield steelmasters, presumably to dispose of an unwelcome rival.

Accounts stocktaking book 1754-66: Sheffield Archives OR/2. Sources Hey 1991, 193-4; Wakefield Deeds Registry, X/591/773; BB/445/596; CR/554/818-9; Barraclough 1984(1), 77-8; Flavell 1996, 56 65; Holderness 1973b, 37; Belford 1998, 9; King 2003a, 21.

Sources King 2011c, 21; Leeds Archives, Mx/R 1/7; Sheffield Archives, WC 1966; MD 401 403; Barraclough 1984(1), 74-5; Hey 1991, 185-6; English patent 148.

Broomfield, Little Sheffield

Steel furnaces in the town of Sheffield

John Wright, a saw and edge-tool maker, leased a parcel of land in 1800 and shortly afterwards built a house and cast steel furnace, which was still in use in 1814.

The content of Belford 1998 suggests that this listing may be incomplete.

Source Flavell 1996, 67.

Arundel Street

Castle Fold

[53] about SK357872

George Brittain built a house, warehouse, smithies and cast steel furnace in Arundel Street, part of the Duke’s Alsop Fields development about 1785, as subtenant under a 1781 lease.

[54] c.SK351874

Benjamin Bell built a house and small cast steel furnace here in 1787. Sources Flavell 1996, 64 citing Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 380, 117; ACM/S 382, 14. Balm Green crucible furnaces Blind Lane cementation furnaces

[58] SK35858765

Samuel Shore’s furnace was one of two reported to exist in the town of Sheffield in 1720. It was, with an adjacent house (divided in two) and two smithies, the subject of leases dated 1714 and 1735 to Samuel Shore I (d.1751), one dated 1755 to Samuel Shore II, and dated 1776 to the latter’s son John Shore. At the end of that lease the premises, then ruinous, were abandoned by Shore. Before 1714 Samuel Shore’s tenancy was a joint one with widow (Lidia) Wright, perhaps from 1698, a date prior to the main series of lease books and rentals for the Dukes’ Sheffield estates. The Shore family were leading ironmongers and merchants, and after 1720 were partners in ironworks at Kilnhurst and Bretton. In 1709 he already had ‘several steel furnaces’, when he employed Henry Ball as steelmaker, perhaps indicating his use of Richmond or Ballifield.

Sources Flavell 1996, 65 citing Wakefield deeds registry CQ/354/507 and Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 382, 94. Bailey Field near Trippetts Lane

[57] about SK3486

[55] c.SK352870 [56] c.SK352873

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 376(1), 75; ACM/S 378(rev.), 37; ACM/S 378, 170; ACM/S 380, 63; ACM/S 158, Sheffield; cf. Barraclough 1984(1), 77.

Thomas Parkin was one of the principal merchants (or cutlery factors) in Sheffield in the early 18th century and, like Samuel Shore, had his own steel furnace, for which he paid rates in 1716. This has been identified as being in Blind Lane (now Holly Street), where he also rented a second one near a cottage occupied (significantly) by someone called Twigg. Their tenure shows they were distinct. Having outlived his eldest son, Parkin left his Sheffield property in 1729 to his granddaughter, Elizabeth Parkin. She lived as a wealthy spinster, managing the business very successfully, and bequeathing it in 1766 to her cousin Walter Oborne (died 1778). His surviving accounts indicate he was importing Russian iron and trading in hardware (mostly cutlery) in partnership with

Castle Green

[59] about SK355876

George Greaves and George Woodhead bought four houses on Castle Green in 1775. A steel furnace and iron house were erected there soon after. These were sold to John Walker, the ironfounder in 1805, the furnace not being mentioned. Source N. Flavell, pers. comm. citing Wakefield Deeds Registry, BW/25/35; CJ/408/588; GR/564/549.

182

Chapter 9: Sheffield District Garden Street

[60] SK34968755

with a view to their succeeding to the business. In 1786 Jonathan Hague jun. and John Parkin, presumably their sons, agreed to be partners as steel casters and the next year leased land in Gibraltar Street from the Duke’s trustees probably as a site for a furnace, acquiring additional land in 1792. They also had a seven-ton cupola converting furnace, which was sold with the cast steel furnace on their bankruptcy in 1796. One of their leases was assigned to Dr Frith in 1803 and the freehold was sold in 1805.

In 1782 a building lease was granted to John Harrison, a cutler, of land on both sides of Garden Street with workshops steel furnace and other buildings. The furnace was on the part of it away from Broad Lane. John Harrison & Sons were suppliers of cast steel by 1787. Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/SD 870/55; ACM/SheS 1535L; Flavell 1996, 65. Gibraltar

[61] SK35268782

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 383, 28; ACM/S 158, Sheffield; PC/740; cf. PC/735; Flavell 1996, 66; Wakefield deeds registry, DQ/699/720.

Samuel Shore had a steel furnace near the corner of Furnace Hill in 1775, when he joined with others in laying out that street, and this may be the pair of furnaces shown on Thomas Outibridge, View of Sheffield (1737). The furnace may also have given its name to Steelhouse Lane, a small street running from Spring Croft to Gibraltar Street, though that street is slightly nearer the town centre. Its precise date is uncertain, but it may well go back to the 1710s. Samuel Shore II gave it to his second son, John, in 1775 when he also gave him other property in the town, including houses near Irish Cross occupied by Samuel Shore, Joseph Roberts, and the company of John Shore and Joseph Roberts (presumably as factors). These had been purchased of Mr Wright and his wife, who were possibly also the Shores’ predecessors at Castle Fold.

Green Lane

A furnace was probably built by Nicholas Steade (a merchant) in 1762, in what had been Joseph Wood’s tanyard. By 1777 when his executor sold it to John Micklethwaite of Leeds, the business had become that of John Mekin of Attercliffe, and by 1794 Joseph Mekin and Richard Hall had been succeeded by Joseph Blake. Sources Wakefield deeds registry, AW/481/624; AX/25/32; CA/293/406; CA/666/947; DO/224/290; EB/519/741; Flavell 1996, 54-55. Green Lane: cast steel furnace

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/SheS 1524L; Wakefield deeds registry, BX/477/659-60; Hey 1991, 192, fig.10; Flavell 1996, 50 54. Crucible furnace in Gibraltar Street

[65] i.SK350882

George Carr (steel caster) acquired a plot in Clout or Dam field in 1792 and ten years later his daughter, Elizabeth Carr, and her partners in trade, William Hirst, George Carr, and James Carr were using the premises, which included a cast steel furnace.

[62] SK35588796

Sources Wakefield deeds EN/155/212; Flavell 1996, 66.

John Love entered into a partnership with Thomas Manson, who was to be the active partner, in 1765. The following year Love obtained a lease from the Capital Burgesses of land on the corner of Gibraltar Street and West Bar Croft or Townfield Street (subsequently called Trinity Street). Love agreed a new partnership in 1769 with Alexander Spear, this time including his own drapery trade as well as steel casting. The furnace continued to belong to Love until his death in 1802, after which a share passed to William Caldwall, a saw manufacturer. A direct successor of the 1769 firm survives to this day as Spear and Jackson (now a trading name of Neill Tools Limited).

Steel furnaces at Millsands

registry,

DK/634/781;

[66] SK35638782

The date of erection of a melting furnace in Millsands, the island between the Town Mill goit and the river Don, is not entirely certain. Part of the site belonged to the Town Trustees and the rest to the Duke of Norfolk until 1794 when the Duke acquired the Town’s part by exchange. The Duke’s part had been a house let to Thomas Buck in 1747 and subsequently passing to his son-in-law, Joseph Broadbent, and then his widow. By the time she renewed the lease in 1769 John Marshall was living in the house and there was a melting furnace on its north side and a steel furnace on its south side, straddling the boundary of the Town land. John Marshall had made steel for the Cutlers Company from 1760 to 1763 and ‘Milnsands’ Furnace was referred to in the latter year. Joseph Ibbotson, the Cutlers’ manager, is named in the rate book for 1761 as occupying premises at Water Lane (which probably then included Millsands), suggesting it was this furnace that the Company built in 1759. John Marshall paid rates for a house from 1765 and for the steel house from 1767.

Sources Sheffield Archives, TC 200 & 172; CB/181, no.126; CB/1633, map 15; ACM/X1; Barraclough 1984(2), 7; Flavell 1996, 62 68; Belford 1998, 7-8. Crucible furnace in Gibraltar Street

[64] about SK350882

[63] c.SK3587

In 1767 Joseph Shemeld formed a cutlery partnership with Jonathan Hague and Jonathan Parkin, evidently 183

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Rockingham Street

The leases passed to John Marshall on the bankruptcy of Thomas Broadbent in 1782. He was succeeded on his death in 1793 by his son Jonathan, who in 1796 took a long lease of the whole site from the Duke, and bought the freehold in 1803. Jonathan Marshall sold the premises, by then including four cementation furnaces to Naylor & Co, later Naylor, Vickers & Co, who, as Vickers plc, are still in business, though not now making steel. In 1802 Jonathan Marshall was using 800 tpa oregrounds iron, suggesting the 1796 lease was, as may be expected, followed by substantial development. His cast steel was as renowned on the continent as Huntsman’s. The site was excavated in advance of redevelopment, revealing the remains of both cementation and crucible furnaces.

David Ward and Francis Pearson, edge-tool makers, had a cast steel furnace at the junction of West Street and Rockingham Street by the end of 1805, whose mortgage Ward redeemed in 1818. Sources Flavell 1996, 67. Scotland Street

[71] c.SK350877

The Cutlers Company built their second cementation furnace in 1764 during the management of Joseph Hancock and the loss sustained in that period may well be due to the cost of building it. The Company withdrew from management in 1772 and let it to Watson Raynor and Taylor, who had latterly been their principal customer and then in 1784 sold it to Peter Cadman and James Camm.

Sources Andrews 2015; Andrews et al. 2017; Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 378, 41; ACM/S 379, 232; ACM/S 383, 230; ACM/SheS/1495L; LD/1679, map 9; TT/14 & 31; rate books, Sheffield lower; Barraclough 1972; Barraclough 1984(1), 81-94 104-5; 1984(2), 7-8; Belford 1998, 11; Craddock et al. 2017, 30-2. Orchard Place

[70] about SK350874

Sources Barraclough 1972; 1984(1), 81-9; Wakefield deeds registry, CO/687/930; DE/206/283; Flavell 1996, 56. The Wicker

[67] SK35328736

[72] SK359883

In 1755 George Greaves took a lease of a piece of land in Brelsforth Orchards, on which there was subsequently a steel furnace, presumably a cementation furnace. In 1763 he assigned it to a trustee for himself and his partners, William Brightmore, Edward Lofthouse, and Mr Matthewman, usually called George Greaves & Co in rentals, but trading as Loftus. Brightmore & Co, according to directories. In 1798 the premises were transferred to Robert Brightmore, whose name does not however appear in rentals until 1809.

John Walker and Thomas Wilde in 1784 leased land in the Wicker, where they had built a steel furnace and two houses by 1794. In 1801 they each leased additional land there, presumably to extend their works, and at 500 tpa were among the largest consumers of Swedish iron. By 1836 Walker, Eaton & Co had four furnaces.

Sources Sheffield Archives, CB/181, no.137; CB/1633, map 12; CB/365-419; Flavell 1996, 55.

The Wicker

Furnace off Orchard Street (now Leopold Street)

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 382, 121; ACM/S 383, 268-9; ACM/S 86, nos.462-3; Barraclough 1984(1), 94 104; Flavell 1996, 65.

Peter Cadman, who had acquired a share in the Scotland Street furnace in 1784, leased land in the Wicker in 1801, which was no doubt where Peter Cadman & Son made steel in 1824.

[68] SK35318738

Land for a second steel furnace in Brelsforth Orchards was leased to Ebenezer Brooks in 1791 and John Brooks sold it to William Meggitt in 1830. However John Brookes had rented the ground since about 1768, initially only having a 21 year lease.

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 383, 268; Barraclough 1984(1), 89n. Two early foundry cupolas The introduction of the ironfoundry cupola as used to the present time is generally attributed to John Wilkinson, probably in the 1790s, or perhaps to his brother William. However the word ‘cupola’ is associated with two rather earlier foundries in the Sheffield area. This seems anomalous. One possibility is that they were air furnaces of the kind used for remelting iron for foundry work from the 1690s near London and at Coalbrookdale. If so, ‘cupola’ is being used in the same sense as in the smelting cupolas of the copper and lead industry (which have a similar origin). The Latin ‘cupa’ means a barrel; hence cupola is a small barrel. In the copper and lead industries and also the air furnace for iron, this refers to a vaulted

Sources Sheffield Archives, CB/181, no.238; CB/1633, map 11; ACM/X1; CB/372-419. Pea Croft

[73] about SK3688

[69] about SK351876

Flavell suggested Thomas and Samuel Smith (cutlers) had a steel furnace in 1778, but his source refers to a steel house, probably at this date merely meaning a warehouse. However, William Parkin had a steel furnace there by 1810. Sources Flavell 1996, 55 citing Wakefield Deeds Registry, CD/560/759; Belford 1998, 10. 184

Chapter 9: Sheffield District roof, the national barrel being on its side. In the foundry cupola (which resembles a small blast furnace), the barrel is on its end (see King 2015a). Grenoside Foundry

between them, constituted most of the contemporary South Yorkshire iron industry. It is referred to as the ‘cupola’ in rate books from 1757. However Clay & Co (or Fell & Co) of Attercliffe Forge etc. were interested in foundries at both Sheffield and Rotherham from 1754. The nature of the furnace remains unclear.

[74] SK330942

The Walker family who rose to prominence as ironfounders at Rotherham originated at Grenoside, a squatter settlement of nailmakers on the ridge above above Ecclesfield, where they were nailmakers, with two cottages. Following an unsuccessful experiment with casting in pots in Abram Booth’s smithy in Oughtybridge Lane, Samuel and Aaron Walker in autumn 1741 tried it in Samuel Walker’s nail smithy, which proved successful and led them to build a new foundry with two air furnaces in 1744. However they enjoyed little security of tenure at Grenoside and needed to be nearer a navigable river in order to reduce their overheads and therefore moved to Masbrough, while retaining their premises at Grenoside, where Samuel Walker & Co agreed in 1757 to pay an extra shilling rent for a ‘foundery’ and barn built on the waste by their cottages. Despite their rise to great prominence as industrialists at Rotherham and only being tenants at will at Grenoside they kept their original home. Thomas Walker took a 99-year lease of this in 1793, but this apparently did not result in additional buildings being built. The foundry was referred to as Walker’s cupola in 1790 and ‘The Cupola’ became a place-name by the mid19th century. There was also a furnace for refining steel from 1750 (see Steel near Sheffield, above).

Sources Sheffield Archives, MD 3301-3335; SIR Y a/c, 1762 J, 269; SIR Y a/c, 1754/9 L, 220; WC 2512; WC 2516; rate books, Sheffield lower; cf. ACM/SheS 1524L; Wakefield deeds registry, AD/705/906; AH/432/572; AK/638/847; King 2015a, 142. Coke ironworks Chappel see above as a charcoal furnace Elsecar

Darwin & Co built this furnace in 1795 as tenants to Lord Fitzwilliam. It made 950 tpa in 1796, and 2 furnaces made 2,495 tons in 1805. The firm acquired Chappel Furnace about 1810 and had 3 furnaces in 1815. William Darwin became bankrupt in 1817, but the firm apparently recovered. Joseph Ridge retired from his partnership with John Darwin and Francis Frith in 1825. In 1828, Darwin & Frith called a meeting of their creditors and were declared bankrupt. The works were subsequently operated as an estate enterprise by Earl Fitzwilliam, but from the 1850s let to Dawes & Co, who operated them with Milton ironworks. The works continued in use until 1882. At their peak in the 1870s, the firm had 68 puddling furnaces, including those at Milton, where there were 26 in 1877. Parts of the works including a Newcomen engine have been preserved as an industrial museum, Elsecar Heritage Centre. There are the remains of a bank of furnaces, a blowing engine house and other buildings.

Sources John 1951, 1-3; Hey 1971, 31-4; Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 157; ACM/S 158, Ecclesfield; ACM/S 870/95; cf. Barraclough 1984(2), 6-7; Sheffield Archives, PC/828; Morley 1998; Smith 1998; King 2015a, 142. Sheffield: Gibraltar Foundry

[76] SK386997

[75] SK352879

Leading off Gibraltar Street is a small street called ‘Cupola’, which as ‘Cupoolow Street’ was the location of a foundry cupola (remelting furnace). This belonged in 1780 to Clay & Co, who sold it in 1786 to Thomas Appleby and Edward Scholfield. The latter leased more land from the Duke of Norfolk in 1792 and subsequently built a blast furnace at Renishaw, Derbs, the partnership being enlarged, probably for this purpose in 1795, but dissolved in 1801. On the dissolution the foundry became the sole property of James and Edward Scholfield, in whose hands it remained until their respective deaths in the 1820s. It subsequently became the Hope Works and had a frontage to Furnace Hill, a street which had been laid out in 1775 to connect the upper ends of Copper Street and Trinity Street with other streets.

Sources Clayton 1955, 1-23; ‘Sheffield furnaces’, 1; London Gazette, 17893, 196 (4 Feb. 1823); cf. Hey 1977, 259. Holmes or Masbrough Works see Rotherham in charcoal section above Milton Furnaces

[77] SE376002

Walker & Co of Holmes and Masbrough leased land and mines for a furnace here in 1797, which, with their two at Masbrough, made 3,000 tpa in 1805. They had added a second furnace by 1810. Boulton & Watt supplied an engine in 1799. The Walkers decided to retire from the iron trade in 1820 and resolved to negotiate with Lord Fitzwilliam to give up Tankersley ironstone works and Milton Furnace. The ironworks were then taken over by Hartop & Co, the firm that bought Silkstone in 1825. Henry Hartop left the firm in 1829 and was bankrupt a year later. The works were continued by William and Robert Graham. From about 1850 until their closure in about 1883, the furnaces were run by the proprietors of Elsecar.

In 1751 the site of the cupola with unspecified buildings, which they had built, was mortgaged by William Bingley, Thomas Holden and William Holden. Two years later they sold the property including an ‘iron foundry or building for melting and casting iron’ to Joseph Parkin and Joseph Dearden, who in turn sold it in 1755 to Joseph Clay, John Fell, Thomas Cotton, and Joseph Broadbent. They, 185

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Worsbrough Ironworks

Sources Clayton 1955, 24-32; John 1951, 27; Birmingham Archives, MS 3147/5/688; catalogue of old engines; Leeds Intelligencer, 9 April 1829; London Gazette, 18669, 111 (2 Apr. 1830). Park Ironworks at Sheffield

The furnace stood at the head of the Dove branch of the Dove and Dearne Canal about a mile from Rockley Furnace, with which it has been confused. Its date is probably indicated by that (1813) of the engine house at Rockley, though the furnace appears in the 1810 list. The firm was Faulds and Woodiwiss in 1816 and Field, Cockrane and Faulds in 1821, then Field, Cooper and Faulds or Cooper & Co until 1861, but is listed (perhaps wrongly) as held by J. Darwin & Co with Chappel and Elsecar in 1825. It was advertised for sale in 1827, with a 30-hp steam engine. It was last used by Worsbrough Iron Co in 1865.

[78] SK368882

Booth & Co of Brightside Forge took a lease of Smith Wheel, then ruinous and ‘unequal to the situation’, in 1783 for sixty three years to build new works. This was followed in 1791 by a lease of additional land to build a furnace and foundries. The site was a waterpowered one, water coming from the tail of another cutler’s wheel and ultimately from the river Sheaf, augmented by surplus water from the Walk Mill Dam on the river Don. The partnership agreement of Binks, Booth, and Hartop was not signed until 1784 and it is probable the furnace was not actually constructed until 1785 and blown in in February 1786. They provided corf wheels and ‘roadplates’ for John Curr’s railway from Sheffield colliery to the town from November 1787 (Lewis 1970, 318). They advertised that they made steam engine cylinder, and other components in 1790 (Hunter 2018, 28-9). In 1796 a single furnace made 853 tons; and in 1805 1,905 tons. Boulton & Watt supplied an engine in 1809, probably for the second furnace which was in operation in 1810. Booth & Co continued the works until their bankruptcy in 1843. From the late 1840s, the works (no longer with blast furnaces) belonged to Davy Brothers. This business was floated as a public company in 1872, becoming Davy and United Engineering Company in 1937, Davy-Ashmore Ltd in 1960, and later still DavyMarkham.

Sources Moore, ‘Worsbrough’; Wakefield Archives, Goodchild, iron notes, Worsborough; Sheffield Independent, 2 Jun. 1827.

Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S 382, 138; ACM/SD 5; WC 2441-86; Birmingham Archives, MS 3147/5/672; Hey 1971, 34-6; Ball et al. 2006, 192; ‘Sheffield furnaces’, 2; www.gracesguide.co.uk. Thorncliffe Ironworks

[80] SE352054

[79] SK348975

Newton, Chambers & Co built two furnaces about 1794 as an extension of the business of their Phoenix Foundry, built in 1792 in Sheffield. The furnaces (or one of them) made 712 tons in 1796, and 2500 tpa in 1805. A third furnace was added before 1810. The accounts show the furnaces in their early years to have been mainly engaged in producing small cast iron goods, also rails and water pipes. The last of the furnaces of Newton, Chambers & Co Ltd was dismantled in 1943. Accounts Substantially the complete books of entry survive: Sheffield Archives, Thorncliffe Records. I have not studied these in detail. Sources Ashton 1924, 156-61; Hey 1977, 256-9; ‘Sheffield furnaces’, 2.

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10 Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Introduction

on its way to chapmen to whom Cromewell had sold it. He then sold it himself, taking 30 people to assist him in this theft. Subsequently Isley Cromewell was assaulted in his house for three days, putting him in fear of being murdered. After this chapmen were unwilling to buy iron, fearing to loose both their money and the iron or even to have their houses plundered for it. In 1598 the works were vested in trustees and were probably run by a succession of short-term tenants, including Thomas Johnson. John Zouche sought to redeem the works in 1609.1

This area is the southern end of the great coalfield that extends from Leeds and Bradford almost to Derby and Nottingham. The coal measures are exposed in east Derbyshire and concealed under overlying Magnesian limestone further east in Nottinghamshire. The outcrop is thus generally along a north to south line, not far from the main road from Derby to Sheffield, and the furnaces are mostly distributed along the line of this outcrop. Forges are rather more dispersed, with several lying to the east in or around the Forest of Sherwood, which occupied a large portion of western Nottinghamshire. The extreme south of Derbyshire will be described in the following chapter with works in the Trent valley and Ashby coalfield.

By then a new source of pig iron may have become available, probably after the marriage of the younger John Zouche in about 1605 to Isabel daughter of Patrick Lowe of Denby, for there was a blast furnace in Denby Park by 1612.2 It is likely Loscoe or Denby Furnace continued providing pig iron for New Mills Forge, and also Bulwell: they must have had it from somewhere, though evidence is lacking. A key figure in this at the operational level may have been Thomas Johnson: in 1600 he and a partner rented both Zouche’s forges. He was in 1630 a tenant in Denby Park, where that furnace was, and in 1619 with Henry Willoughby he bought coal mines at Loscoe, where Zouche’s furnace was. Zouche sold New Mills Forge in 1617 to someone else, but it was Thomas Johnson who sold it to Timothy Pusey in 1619.3

There does not seem to have been any great difficulty in finding suitable sites with an adequate water supply to power ironworks. However, many of the longest enduring works were on or near the river Rother in the north of the area or the rivers Derwent and Erewash in the south. This is an inland area without easy access to water transport until the canal era, but works in the north of the area, such are Staveley and Carburton, were, like Sheffield, within a manageable distance of Bawtry, whence there was access, via the river Idle to the river Trent. Those in the south of the area, had access at Nottingham to the river Trent, which in turn led to the sea at Hull, but upstream towards Birmingham only after river improvements in the early 18th century, Nottingham being the ancient head of navigation. Some exploitation of ironstone can be traced from medieval times, but the arrival of blast furnaces and finery forges was a relatively late and slow process. As in many parts of the country, the early history of some ironworks cannot be recovered completely, but (as so often) the initiative was that of landed magnates including the Earls of Shrewsbury and Kingston.

Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury had ironworks on several of his Derbyshire estates, as well as at Whitchurch (Herefs), Shifnal (Shrops) and Sheffield; Toadhole Furnace, Crich Chase Forge, Hoppinge Mill Forge, Barlow Furnace, and probably a forge at Dunston; and iron was also made at Stretton. Most of these were built about the first decade of the 17th century and continued until the Civil War, but they are mostly only known from passing references.4 (North) Wingfield Furnace and Pleasley Forge were built on estates of Sir Francis Leeke of Park Hall, probably about 1610.5 The origins of John Frecheville’s ironworks at Staveley, existing by 1633, remain obscure, as do those of Sir Henry Hunloke at Wingerworth, mentioned in 1645, though both were probably rather older.6

Sir John Zouche set up ironworks and his son also John Zouche continued them in a vain attempt to save his fortune. Their works comprised a furnace at Loscoe and forges at Hartshay and New Mills, Makeney. The son mortgaged his works to Sir Francis Middleton, who, it was proposed, would erect an additional furnace at Codnor Park. However it is improbable that this planned second furnace was ever built, and, in consequence, there probably was not enough pig iron to keep both forges busy. This was Zouche’s own fault, for to support his evidently extravagant ‘order of life’, he sought to have ‘money or iron from the works at his pleasure’ despite the terms of the mortgage. When Willoughby supported his clerk, Isley Cromewell, against his ‘unjust and untrue accusations’, Zouche detained iron,

Whaley Furnace and Cuckney Forge were built in 1616 by Martin Ash on the estate of Robert Pierrepont, later Smith 1968, 115-128; Notts RO, DDCH 32/8-11. TNA, C 2/Jas I/L18/40; cf. TNA, STAC 8/311/31. 3 Derbs RO, D 158M/T25; D 1404/14, 16v; Notts RO, DDCH.32/1415; Nottingham UL, Dr D/6/32; Kerry 1907, 51n. 4 Q.v.; Riden 1990, 67 5 Kettle 1988; Riden 1990, 68; APC, 1613-4, 316-7. 6 Riden 1990, 67-8; however a finery man from Staveley is mentioned 1633: TNA, C 21/C16/23; Wingerworth’s age depends on a tradition that it was 180 years old in 1784, conceivably from a date on a plaque or a beam. 1 2

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Map 10. Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. 1, Alderwasley Ironworks; 2, Alfreton Wire Mill; 3, Barlow Furnace; 4, Bulwell Forge; 5, Carburton Forge; 6, Clipstone Forge; 0, Codnor Furnace; 7, Crich Forge; 8, Cuckney Forge; 9, Denby Furnace; 10, Dunston Forge; 11, Foxbrooke Furnace; 12, Harthey Forge; 13, Hathersage: Atlas Works; 14, Higham Forge; 15, Hopping Mill Forge; 16, Kirkby Furnace; 17, Loscoe Furnace; 18, New Mills Forge, Makeney; 19, Pleasley Forge; 20, Plumbley Furnace; 21, Renishaw Slitting Mill; 22, Shipley Furnace; 23, Staveley Furnace and Forge; 24, Stretton Ironworks; 25, Toadhole Furnace; 26, Walton Ironworks; 27, Whaley Furnace; 28, Wingerworth Furnaces; 29, Wingfield Furnace, North Wingfield; 30, Eckington bloomsmithies; 31, Hathersage: Barnfield Mill; 32, Hathersage: Dale Mill; 33, Killamarsh Forge; 34, Plumley Smithy; 35, Adelphi Works, Duckmanton; 36, Alfreton Ironworks; 37, Butterley Ironworks; 38, Calow Ironworks; 39, Codnor Park Ironworks; 40, Dale Abbey Ironworks; 41, Griffin Foundry, Little Brampton, Chesterfield; 42, Griffin Foundry, Little Brampton, Chesterfield; 43, Hasland Furnace; 44, Morley Park Furnaces; 45, Renishaw Furnaces; 46, Stone Gravel Ironworks, Newbold.

Among the first professional ironmasters, along with Thomas Johnson, were Timothy Pusey and Silvester Smith, who were renting Bulwell Forge together in 1618. Timothy Pusey had been one of the household of Elizabeth of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury in the 1590s, when Silvester Smith worked for Sir Francis Willoughby. William or Silvester Smith (both names appear) ‘dealt in ironworks for her Ladyship’ [the Countess] in 1593. Timothy Pusey bought New Mills Forge in 1619 and ran it, presumably with a furnace, until he sold it to Henry Smith in 1642.8 Pusey also leased Hoppinge Mill Forge in about 1620.9 Further north, the first professional ironmasters were probably George Sitwell (1600-67) of Renishaw and his stepfather, Henry Wigfall. Younger sons of the Sitwell

the Earl of Kingston. Ash’s capital appears to have been modest, and the price agreed for charcoal too high to enable him to make a profit, with the result that he absconded leaving his debts unpaid. A previous injection of capital had been secured from his landlord, whose nominees became partners. The Earl told the men he put in charge that they would be liberal sharers in the profit if they could perform Ash’s bargain. The man, who proved to be an effective manager, suffered from the disadvantage of being unable to write and so had to be provided with an assistant, who could. So much informality led to Chancery proceedings in the early 1630s, in which the executor of one of the managers claimed his share of the profit. In these proceedings the Earl gave a series of inadequate answers as to what had been agreed and there the matter appears to have rested.7

7

Bulwell: TNA, C 2/Jas I B17/10; ‘dealt’: Chatsworth (Derbs), Hardwick ms.7, 15 Apr. 1593; New Mills: Derbs RO, D 1404/14, 138 150; D 1404/17, 30. 9 TNA, DL 4/74/2. 8

TNA, C 2/Chas I C6/37; C 21/C16/23; C 21/C19/4.

188

Chapter 10: Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire by the Byron family of Newstead Abbey, goes back to the first two decades of the century and also belongs to this category. Richard Neale and then his son rented Clipstone Forge from about the 1670s to 1722, but never owned a furnace. In contrast to the Severn basin, the presence of such independent forges unconnected with furnaces is an unusual (or perhaps temporary) phenomenon in the east Midlands, probably because there were too few participants in the industry and too much dear land transport was involved.14

family had been ironmongers in the previous century. George Sitwell’s father, another George, rented coal pits and bloomsmithies in Eckington in 1606, the year after his own father died. Following his death the next year, Henry Wigfall married his widow and presumably continued the business,10 but this remains obscure until the late 1630s, when Wigfall and Sitwell were concerned, with Lionel Copley, in building Conisbrough and Stone Forges, which were apparently to receive pig iron from their furnace.11 Sitwell and Wigfall had furnaces at Plumbley and Foxbrooke in the 1640s, both in Eckington. Sitwell rented the Staveley works in partnership with William Clayton in the 1650s; and by himself Wingfield Furnace and Pleasley Forge in that and the following decade. He also secured a lease of Wadsley Furnace in the late 1650s, but, before his term actually began, sold the lease back to the sitting tenant, Lionel Copley. These furnaces supplied forges generally to the east, including Pleasley, Cuckney, Carburton (which he built in 1654), and Clipstone Forges, the latter probably also built during that decade. There were also slitting mills at Renishaw, where George Sitwell lived, and at Clipstone, the former was built in 1656 and was probably the first in the east Midlands. George Sitwell’s letterbook throws considerable light on a short period, and a small collection of other documents preserved by the family also help, but there is much about which one can only guess.12 After George Sitwell’s death in 1667, the ironworks were probably continued by his sons Francis (d.1671) and George (a London merchant), with Katherine Sitwell (Francis’ widow) succeeding her husband. A small group of documents date from the coming of age in 1678 of the grandson, another George, but George Sitwell of London was probably the sole tenant from 1685, and it was he who sold the works in 1695. In the thirty years odd between the end of the letterbook and the sale, the business was greatly simplified, being reduced to furnaces at Staveley and Foxbrooke, which were probably used alternately, forges at Staveley and Carburton (the latter included from 1671) and an underemployed slitting mill at Renishaw.13

New entrants to the area in the Restoration period were two families of Birmingham ironmongers, Thomas Pemberton and members of the Jennens family. The full extent of Thomas Pemberton’s business remains unclear, but it certainly included Wingerworth Furnace from 1681 and New Mills Forge from 1672.15 The Jennens family were ironmongers who had become ironmasters. Their widespread business will be described more fully in the following chapter and chapter 23. However it was as a relatively established ironmaster that Humfrey Jennens became involved Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, when he built Kirkby Furnace (Notts) in 1673 and leased Pleasley and Bulwell Forges. He built a new forge at Barton Fields in 1669 and rebuilt Hartshorne Furnace the following year.16 He evidently developed a substantial business in sending east Midland iron to Birmingham for manufacture there. This business, along with his Birmingham interests, passed on his death in 1689 to his younger son John Jennens.17 In 1693 John agreed a new lease of Kirkby Furnace and to rebuild that at Barlow, but his landlord apparently changed his mind and refused to execute a lease for Barlow. The furnace was therefore not rebuilt, causing Neale to complain he had lost a bargain of 156 tons of pig iron for eleven years.18 In (or by) 1702 John Jennens took over Wingerworth Furnace from Thomas Pemberton. However during the 1700s John Jennens seems to have retired from business and sold most of his works to his manager Humphrey Vaughton or to his sons Riland and Christopher Vaughton. By 1720 the Birmingham works, New Mills Forge and presumably their others in the east Midlands passed to their sister Phelicia Weaman and John Mander, the husband of their other sister. They leased Kirkby Furnace and Clipstone Forge, probably in 1727 for fifteen years, also with their sons Wingerworth Furnace in 1740.19 John Mander & Co’s business was managed by Humphrey Mather by about 1729.20 Humphrey Mather and his son Walter took over the business, perhaps about 1747 when John Mander & Co gave up their Birmingham works.21 However the succession from Vaughton to John Mander & Co in the

William Clayton, who partnered Sitwell at Staveley in the 1650s, continued there after they split up and later occupied Carburton and Clipstone Forges, which were surrendered by his widow and son in 1683. The family fortune appears to have suffered, as a result of investing in forfeited estates during the Commonwealth, under titles that became void at the Restoration. There remained a modest amount of activity by independent ironmasters in the area in this period: Samuel Newton of South Wingfield evidently had an ironworks, and Henry and Ralph Smith and Edward Barber were, like John Parker of Stone (or Roche Abbey) Forge, customers of George Sitwell for pig iron. Bulwell Forge, six miles north of Nottingham, owned

Riden 1985, passim; Neale: see Clipstone; Severn: see later chapters. New Mills: Derbs RO, D 1404/24, 224; Wingerworth: Riden 1990, 71. 16 Barton: Pastscape 310509; Hartshorne: TNA, C 78/1030/2. 17 See next chapter. 18 Notts RO, M 657-95; DD 104/3; DDP 84/15-16; cf. SIR Y a/c, 1721 J, 233. 19 See next chapter. 20 Notts RO, DD4P 58/77. 21 See next chapter. 14 15

Sitwell 1943, 112; Riden 1985, vii-ix. See preceding chapter 12 Riden 1990, 71; Riden 1985; Derbs RO, D 1000M/1-2 passim. 13 Derbs RO, D 1000M/1-2, passim; Riden 1985, ix xxiii; Notts RO, DD6P 1/1/74; Chatsworth (Derbs), H/91/4; Foley St a/c. 10 11

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I into blast by the firm twice in the 1750s; Cuckney Forge is not heard of and had probably long since closed. Kirkby Furnace and Clipstone Forge were also in their hands but were not used at all, their only obligation being to keep the weather out, while Foxbrooke Furnace was converted to a sickle mill in 1749.27 W.W. Cotton of Haigh (Yorks.), the owner of Bretton Furnace, in January 1743 viewed Kirkby Furnace, apparently then idle, but evidently decided not to rent it.28 The share at Staveley that belonged to William Horton as the successor of John Watts was bought in 1760 by John Fell, and he transferred half of it to Richard Swallow in 1762. Following Fell’s death the partnership was reconstructed with just three equal partners, Joseph Clay, J.T. Younge, and Richard Swallow, a situation that probably persisted until they gave up Staveley in 1783.29

east Midlands is not one of total continuity. At Kirkby and Clipstone (and also at Carburton) a firm including Richard Knight, presumably the Bringewood ironmaster from Herefordshire, intervened probably between 1720 and 1727, and William Soresby & Co had Wingerworth between 1725 and 1740.22 Pleasley Forge was, until he gave it up in 1737, rented by William Parkin, a London ironmonger and son of a leading Sheffield iron merchant, and he employed Jos. Spencer to take in nails made of his iron at Belper.23 New Mills Forge and probably also the ill-documented Bulwell and Bartonfields Forges probably passed directly from Jennens to Vaughton to Mander to Mather. Bartonfields probably closed in this period. The other major business in the area consisted of Staveley Furnace and Forge, Foxbrooke Furnace, Carburton Forge, and Renishaw slitting mill. These passed in 1695 from George Sitwell to John Wheeler of Wollaston, near Stourbridge, who managed ironworks in Staffordshire, north Worcestershire, and the Forest of Dean, in partnership with his patron, Philip Foley and others. The stimulus for the move into the east Midlands was probably securing a contract to buy a large quantity of wood from the Duke of Newcastle, probably negotiated by his patron, Philip Foley. However the works were a long way from their others and they only kept them until 1698.24 The 1698 purchasers were all the Yorkshire ironmasters together. They shared them in the same way as the production of the Yorkshire furnaces, Spencer & Co having two shares and the Sheffield partnership three shares until 1721 when their shares were equalised. These works were managed separately from those in Yorkshire, but the Sheffield group passed their share of the profit through their Sheffield accounts until 1727. This is a slight oversimplification as what would have been William Simpson’s share was divided between him, John Simpson, John Fell, and Henry Wood. The firm lost Carburton Forge from 1720 to 1727.

The Staveley Works thus continued in the hands of Sheffield ironmasters beyond 1773, when surviving accounts cease. They remained modestly profitable, at least until the 1760s, probably because of their proximity to Sheffield.30 It is possible that Walter Mather was doing rather less well at Wingerworth Furnace and Bulwell and New Mills Forges, if one can judge by the amount of pig iron sent from Wingerworth to the forges, which was not enough to keep them going, but he may have been using American pig iron or scrap as well or buying pig iron from Alderwasley (a new ironworks).31 If they were working below capacity, it was probably a reflection of the southward orientation of this group of works, with bar iron being forged close to Derby and Nottingham, rather than close to Sheffield. Walter Mather acquired Borrowash slitting mill in 1764, and renewed the lease there in 1781.32 He rented Bulwell until the lease expired in 1783 and renewed the lease of part of the New Mills works, but failed to renew his lease of Wingerworth in 1781, which may have closed four years earlier. It was others who built the coke furnace there. Instead he secured Staveley in 1783 and built a coke furnace there. He did not renew the lease of Borrowash Mill in 1801, but New Mills Forge continued to be held by the proprietors of Staveley until about 1808.33

In 1727 the Sheffield partnership, as described in the previous chapter, was reconstructed with William Spencer taking a share in the ‘Duke of Norfolk’s’ works there in lieu of his share at Staveley, Staveley (again with Carburton) being continued by Millington Hayford, perhaps initially without partners.25 Sometime before 1750, probably in 1744 when he ceased (by death) to be a partner at Sheffield, Hayford was succeeded by several of his partners there, but in different proportions from the Sheffield works. However, their accounts only survive from 1750.26 By that date these partners were occupying several other works in the district, but mostly only on a care and maintenance basis: Whaley Furnace was brought

In the mid-18th century the Derbyshire iron industry thus seems to have consisted of just two businesses, the Staveley group and that of John Mander and then Walter Mather. The east Midland iron industry had sunk to a relatively small scale, probably in consequence of competition from imported Russian and Swedish iron. Nevertheless, a new ironworks was built in 1764 by Francis Hurt at Alderwasley, consisting of a large forge, with a rolling and Whaley: SIR St a/c; Hopkinson 1961, 133; Kirkby and Clipstone: Notts RO, DD2P 28/20; Foxbrooke: Barnsley Archives: SpSt 60495/23. 28 Spencer l/b, 23 Jan. 1742/3. 29 SIR St a/c, annual division of profit; Chatsworth (Derbs), ms. L/114/38/1. 30 Ibid. 31 SIR W a/c; Plumsted l/b, e.g. pp.355 371 436 441. 32 Notts RO, DDM/97 101. 33 Derbs RO, land tax, various; Riden 1990, 74-78. This revises some previous accounts, which imply that the forge closed when the first cotton mill was built there. 27

Knight: DD4P 80/15-17; cf. Ince 1991, 2ff; Wingerworth: Riden 1990, 73. 23 Pleasley: Janson letters, 22 Aug. and 19 Nov. 1737; ironmonger: Hey 1991, 193. 24 Johnson 1952, 330-31; Foley St a/c; Herefs RO, E12/VI/MBc/1-3. 25 SIR Y a/c, division of profits: usually at the end of each year’s journal; Hopkinson 1961, 134-36; Carburton: Notts RO, DD4P 80/16. 26 SIR St a/c, 1750; cf. SIR Y a/c, 1744 J, 31, where Mrs Hayford sold her share in the ‘Yorkshire ironworks’ (and ‘steel trade’), suggesting the possibility of a similar transaction concerning the Staveley works. 22

190

Chapter 10: Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Apr. 1796). The Molds apparently had 4 puddling furnaces in 1866, but perhaps provided no data before that. It was not listed after that.

slitting mill. The remains of a blast furnace stood nearby until they were demolished, shortly after being identified as such, in the 1960s. This must have operated in the 1760s and 1770s, but the erection of the furnace at Morley Park soon after 1780 rendered the furnace redundant, though it may be the one listed as active in 1788.34

Associations The furnace was probably partly superseded by Morley Park in 1780. The Mold family also had Wychnor Mill (Staffs) until about 1824.

The transition from the use of charcoal to the use of coke in blast furnaces was sudden. It began with the erection of furnaces by Ebenezer Smith & Co and David Barnes & Co in the Chesterfield area in the late 1770s and barely a decade later charcoal smelting had completely ceased.35 This coincides with the building of the Chesterfield Canal, Stone Gravels Furnaces (Barnes’ ironworks) also being called Wharf Furnaces.36 This mirrors events in Staffordshire and Shropshire, which similarly produced coldshort pig iron from argillaceous ironstone, but in Shropshire the transition began sooner and took longer. As already mentioned Staveley and Wingerworth Furnaces were rebuilt as coke blast furnaces, and Alderwasley was replaced by Morley Park. However, the demise of the forges was rather less abrupt. Some forges such as Cuckney and Clipstone had disappeared long before, while Bulwell became a spinning mill in 1783. On the other hand, New Mills Forge had a melting finery (for the potting and stamping method of refining pig iron) by 1790 and, as stated, remained a forge until 1808. Staveley and Alderwasley Forges continued working in conjunction with coke furnaces well into the 19th century, no doubt being reequipped for puddling and rolling. Iron or steel production at Staveley continued until the 1960s.

Trading Ironstone for the furnace was obtained from Heage Common. Sources Riden 1988; Riden 1990, 74; Judge 1993; Nixon 1969, 217-8; Naylor 2008, 22-4 29-30. Alfreton Wire Mill

The usual view is that Sir John Zouche’s wireworks, which offended against the patent of the Company of Mineral and Battery Works, were at Makeney (see below). However contemporary litigation indicates that there was a mill at ‘Alvferton or Avlerton’, presumably Alfreton, a manor of which Zouche was the lord. These were operated between about 1578 and 1581, latterly by Olyver Thacker of Derby and John Wood of ‘Alvferton’, previously Zouche’s servants. Sources TNA, E 112/9/52; cf. Donald 1961, 160-2. Barlow Furnace

Charcoal ironworks [1] SK340522

The ironworks, on the west bank of the river Derwent, was established by Francis Hurt in 1764. He was succeeded in 1783 by his son, Francis Hurt II, and in 1801 by his grandson, Francis Hurt III. In 1811 the works were let to John and Charles Mold. The death of John Mold in 1845 led to Chancery litigation. From 1862 to 1874 W.S. Longridge rented the forge, after which they were let to Richard Johnson & Nephew, wiredrawers; and Johnson, Nephew & Co Ltd continue to occupy the site.

Associations It was held from 1653 to 1682 with Clipstone Forges and in the 1660s with Staveley. Sources Notts RO, M 659; DDP 7/22; DD4P 22/144 18891; DDP 42/64-65; DDP 43/36 & 43/76; DD4P 28/467-73; Kiernan 1989, 203; Scarsdale Surveys (not mentioned); Riden 1990, 67 73; Hopkinson 1957, 296; Mott 1950, 22535; Nixon 1969, 227; VCH Derbs, ii, 355; Smith 1965, 55; Derbs HER.

Size ‘1794’ 3 fineries, a chafery, a rolling mill, a slitting mill, and a lead mill. There was a furnace, which is listed in 1790 as a coke furnace (Scrivenor 1841, 359), but may be the Derbyshire charcoal furnace of 1788 (ibid. 360); a second forge was built in 1776, but abandoned in 1794. By 1811 there was a boring mill, and puddling furnaces had replaced the fineries. This may be the mill of C. Hurt at ‘Harrowslee’ that produced sheet iron in 1796 (KB l/b, 23 34 35 36

[3] SK347754

The furnace was on the Barlow Brook a few miles northwest of Chesterfield, where a forge, presumably a bloomery, had existed in 1578. This was replaced by a furnace in 1605, perhaps with a forge. It was converted to a corn mill by the 1650s, but it was let in 1653 to James Moseley and William Clayton during the Commonwealth, and the lease renewed to the latter in 1662, but his widow and son surrendered it in 1682. John Jennens agreed in 1693 that he should rebuild it in 1697, but the lease to him had still not been completed in 1703 and the furnace was probably never rebuilt. Some structural remains existed about 1950, but were subsequently removed with the slag heaps there.

Gazetteer

Alderwasley Ironworks

[2] about SK4054 to SK4056

Bulwell Forge

[4] SK547472

The forge (also called Bestwood Forge locally) stood on the river Leen about six miles north of Nottingham at the southern end of a long protrusion of the parish of Papplewick. The forge existed in 1615 and may have been

Riden 1988. Riden 1990, 74-78. Canal: Hadfield 1970, 34-36; Stone Gravel: Stephens 1980, 111 121.

191

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I built about 1606, like Staunton Harold Furnace. In 1618 Timothy Passye and Silvester Smith were John Byron’s tenants, but thereafter its history is obscure, though Smith was living there in 1624. In 1655 Thomas Dawes was living at the forge, but Ralph Smith was its owner in 1658, probably under a lease expiring in 1663, when George Sitwell offered to supply Lord Byron and his son with pig iron. However Ralph Smith was still buying sow iron in 1666. Soon after it probably passed to Humfrey Jennens (d.1689) and so to his son John Jennens. Direct evidence of its subsequent descent is lacking, but it probably continued to be in the same hands as Wingerworth Furnace or New Mills Forge and certainly was from 1772 to 1777. The lease was due to expire at old Michaelmas 1783, after which it was replaced by a cotton mill built by Mr Robinson. Lord Byron sold the freehold in 1774 with his Hucknall Torkard estate to Duke of Devonshire and it was then exchanged to Duke of Portland in 1814. Its site is occupied by a three-storey stone building, presumably the cotton mill. The dam still stands some ten feet above the lane, no doubt providing a very substantial head for the forge. Stone buildings on the other side of the lane may perhaps have been warehouses associated with the forge.

be fined for it at the Forest Eyre. It is not clear whether the forge was demolished or merely left to rot. In 1671 Francis Sitwell and his brother George Sitwell (a London merchant) bought Duke of Newcastle’s wood in Mansfield and Edwinstow woods and presumably also rented the forge. Katherine Sitwell succeeded Francis the same year, on his untimely death. The site was let to John Wheeler, who built a new forge in 1695. Three years later he transferred his works to Dennis Hayford and partners. The works were then held in partnership between Hayford & Co of Sheffield and Spencer and Co of Wortley etc., for which brief accounts survive. This partnership continued here only until 1720, but longer at Staveley. The next occupier was Richard Knight. From 1727 Millington Hayford followed him, possibly with partners, but separately from his Sheffield firm. All the partners in 1750 were also partners in the works at Sheffield, but with different shares. The beginning of the series of accounts in 1750 probably merely marks John Fell II becoming the manager, rather than any fundamental change in the partnership. Richard Swallow succeeded as the clerk in 1763 on the death of John Fell II. In 1765 the partnership was reconstructed as an equal partnership between Joseph Clay, Richard Swallow, and J.T. Younge. The forge closed in about 1777, a little after the expiry of the 1753 lease. It does not appear in the 1794 list, and there was no mill there at the time of the tithe award.

Size 1658 124 tons; 1717 120 tpa; 1718 150 tpa; 1736 & 1750 150 tpa; 1754 (according to a Swedish visitor) 4 tpw in summer and 5 tpw in winter [i.e. 220 tpa] in 2 fineries (Angerstein’s Diary, 195-6; Chapman 1981, 15). Associations Sir John Byrom (sic) was a partner in building Staunton Harold Furnace in 1606. Timothy Pusey owned New Mills Forge from 1618 to 1642. As to 1680s to 1783 see the next chapter.

Size 1717 150 tpa; 1718 180 tpa; 1736 150 tpa; 1750 220 tpa. Actual production between 1700 and 1720 fluctuated between about 115 and 150 tpa, but reached 189 tpa in 1719/20. Production from 1750 to 1773 was usually between 150 and 200 tpa, but over 215 tpa in 1751 and 1752.

Trading 1664 George Sitwell sold Ralph Smith 21 tons of sow iron from Wingfield Furnace and 120 tons in 1666, but had offered some to Lord Byron and his son in 1663 (Sitwell l/b). 1772-7 it received some 60 tpa pig iron and some cast iron goods from Wingerworth, hardly enough to make 50 tpa bar iron (SIR W a/c), but perhaps this was supplemented from Alderwasley and with imported bushel iron, or in earlier years by American imports.

Associations As to George Sitwell see Staveley. From 1695 until its closure (except 1720-27) Carburton belonged to the same partnership as the Staveley Works (q.v.). Trading Pig iron came mostly from the associated furnaces at Staveley and Foxbrooke. Modest amounts (mainly hammers and anvils) came from Chappel Furnace. From 1713 to 1716 some pig iron was bought from Mr Vaughton’s Whaley Furnace, also from ‘Mr Jodrell’s Furnace’ [Disley, Ches], and in very small quantities from ‘Mr Rea Sussex’ [Ashburnham]. Scrap was also being worked up. Between 1750 and 1773 most pig iron came from Staveley. The other sources were imported pig iron (probably from America) and scrap, both from London merchants; also pig iron cast at Whaley during its final brief period of use in the mid1750s. In the same period a significant proportion of the iron that it made, often short broads, was sent to merchants in eastern England, including Edward Everard & Co of Kings Lynn and Attlesey and Aldridge of Norwich, as well as several Hull merchants.

Sources TNA, C 2/Jas I/B17/10; TNA, E 112/537/28; DL 4/74/2 (address only); Derby LSL, Kerry ms.17, 159; Notts RO, DD4P 59/42-3; Riden 1985, no 132; Johnson 1960, 44-5; HMC Portland 2, 309; Riden 1990, 70 & 74; Smith 1965, 233; cf. Herefs RO, T74/13; Notts RO, DD4P 16/12; DD4P 79/63; note also Nottingham UL PL E 12/3/1-7. Carburton Forge

[5] SK592722

Forge Dam is one of the pools on the River Poulter along the edge of Welbeck Park. The forge was built in c.1656 by George Sitwell, on an estate forfeited by the Earl of Newcastle as a delinquent. It was used by George Sitwell and Robert Clayton until shortly after the Earl recovered the estate following the Restoration. In 1662 they divided the stock between them. George Sitwell asked for leave to remove the forge in 1662, when it appeared he would

Accounts 1695-8: full annual accounts: Foley St a/c; 16981720: some details: SIR Y a/c, ‘Carburton arrears’; 170120: annual accounts: Sp Carburton a/c; 1750-73: complete 192

Chapter 10: Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire ledgers and journals: SIR St a/c. Letterbook 1715: Watt’s diary.

the important west Midlands ironmaster, who lived at Bringewood in North Herefordshire. For John Mander see next chapter. The leases to Richard Knight and subsequent tenants also included Kirkby Furnace.

Sources Riden 1985, nos 56 103 121 127 539 etc.; Notts RO, DDR 39/1; DDP 7/22; DD2P 28/16 19-20; DD4P 22/190-1; DD4P 16/95; DDP6 1/1/74; DDP6 4/2/4-12; DDP6 4/3/28; DD4P 80/16; DD4P 84/23; Riden 1990, 7073; Johnson 1952, 325 & 330; Raistrick 1938, 73-5 & 78; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169 172 & 175; Hopkinson 1952; Hopkinson 1961, 145; King 1995c, 259; Awty 2019, 730; SIR Y a/c, 1719 J, 93. Clipstone Forge

Trading Richard Neale had a contract in 1693 for pig iron from John Jennens’ furnaces at Kirkby and Barlow, for 2034 tons over fourteen years; but only received 106 tons per year because Barlow was never rebuilt (Notts RO, M 659). From 1727 (and probably also before that) the woods of the Welbeck estate were divided equally between Clipstone, Carburton, and Kirkby.

[6] probably about SK608654 Accounts The repair of the forge, and payment of outgoings are recorded in SIR St a/c from 1750.

The site of the forge appears to be indicated by field names at the location above, but the tithe map appears to show a long goit leading to a possible mill sites at SK578650 and SK586652. It would seem to have been built by William Clayton, who invested his wife’s fortune in 1658 in the purchase of Clipstone Park. However this title became void at the Restoration as derived from ‘usurping powers’, since it depended on a sale (under a Commonwealth ordinance) of the sequestrated estates of the Earl of Newcastle. The forge thus reverted to the Earl at the Restoration. The Earl was persuaded this was a hard case and granted Clayton a lease of Barlow Furnace and ‘two forges and a slitting mill in Clipstone and Edwinstow’. This lease seems to have been renewed in 1668, but in 1683 William Clayton’s widow and son surrendered their claim to the property.

Sources Riden 1985, passim; Derbs RO, D 1000M/1/9 18 43 etc.; Notts RO, DD4P 104/3; DD4P 80/14-17; DD4P 22/144; DD4P 22/188-91 201; DD4P 28/43-46; DDP 7/22; TNA, C 11/2730/129; Riden 1990, 70-71; Riden 1985, nos 4 41 44 121 396. Crich Forge

[7] perhaps about SK3353

The forge at Crich, whose precise location is not clear, probably existed by 1601 and operated with Toadhole Furnace, which was mentioned about 1620, in the course of a dispute shortly after the death of Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury between his widow and the Earl of Pembroke, whose wife was one of the coheirs. It formed part of Pembroke’s northern revenue and as such was farmed by William Savile of Thornhill in 1639. He died in 1643 and his widow was succeeded him. Savile’s estate was sequestrated and Sir John Gell held it from 8th April 1644 until January 1645, but the works were plundered by both sides. When Francis Nevile of Chevet got there the following Michaelmas, there was no stock left. In 1647 in recovering Savile’s estate from sequestration, Anne Savile and Nevile as executors disclaimed title to the forge. Accounts with the Earl were settled in 1647. Disputes between Nevile and the widow continued, until an arbitration in 1651. The matter was reopened in Chancery by Sir George Savile, the heir, in 1655. Accounts with William Newton, the clerk were not settled until January 1649[50], but it is unlikely the forge worked after about 1645.

In the meantime Richard Neale seems to have had the slitting mill in about 1668 and presumably thus also the forge. Although Richard Neale was buying wood by 1673, it was a Mr Sitwell who bought materials there in 1668 and there is an inventory of ‘mettle’ and tools there in 1681 among some Sitwell papers. Nevertheless the ironworks seems to have been in the hands of Richard Neale and his son until about 1720. This ambiguity could be due to the conflation of two separate forges. They were followed by Richard Knight and partners, for whom Francis Knight was manager. Then there was probably a fifteen year lease to John Mander from 1727 (cf. Kirkby). It is not clear when the forge stopped working, except that it was between 1736 and 1750. When the lease of Carburton Forge was renewed for twenty one years by John Fell and Joseph Clay in 1753, Clipstone Forge was included, but the tenants were not obliged to do more than keep up the roof and walls, unless they used it (which they never did). Accounts from 1750 suggest that there had been a similar clause in their preceding lease, perhaps one of c. 1743.

Size 4,370 cords were provided for Toadhole Furnace and Crich Forge in 1642, enough for almost 300 tpa bar iron. Associations The Kimberworth works had a similar history, but they operated completely separately.

Size In 1658 John Gardham agreed to pay £54 for excise, that is for 108 tpa for all William Clayton’s forges (TNA, E 112/537/28). In 1681 the upper forge at Clipstone had 1 finery and one chafery; 1717 100 tpa; 1718 150 tpa; 1736 120 tpa; 1750 not listed. In 1720 there is reference to the ‘upper finery’, suggesting that there was another.

Trading The Derbyshire County Committee provided 190 tons of pig iron from Mr Frecheville’s works [Staveley] and 13 tons from Sir Henry Hunloke’s [Wingerworth] in lieu of iron which the garrison of Derby had plundered.

Associations The identity of Richard Knight’s partners is not known. The Richard Knight concerned is presumably

Accounts various partial accounts: Savile & Nevile a/c. These are not very informative. 193

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Sources Kiernan 1989, 208; YAS Library, MD 335/70/67122; Notts RO, DDSR 211/128/1/1-20; Riden 1990, 6768; Preston 1939, 329 332. Cuckney Forge

Castle in about 1606. This suggests a link with Hopping Mill Forge, which was built by a Patrick Low (presumably the same man) in 1591, but probably given up by him before 1607. From that time the furnace may have been used to provide sufficient pig iron to keep New Mills and Harthey Forges fully employed, the purpose for which a furnace at Codnor had been planned.

[8] SK560710

The forge was built by Martin Ash in 1617 on the site of a mill. Having failed to run it profitably alone, he took Matthew Gardam and Stephen Bentley (nominees of his landlord, the Earl of Kingston) as partners. Finally Ash became ‘nonsolvent’ and left and went into Ireland. The Earl then took the works in hand and ran them until at least 1632, with Matthew Gardam as manager. As he was illiterate, he had to be provided with a clerk to do the paperwork for him. After this it probably run by successive heads of the Pierrepont family until George Sitwell took a four-year lease in 1662. The history of the forge is then obscure, save that it was still in use in 1720 when blooms from Carburton were brought to it, but probably not long after: two workers were buried in 1723. It certainly closed before 1736. The forge stood on the River Poulter in Cuckney village. The dam had been drained and the forge had long disappeared when, in 1784, the site was let to amongst others a worsted manufacturer. This mill was used as a school in the 1990s, but nothing remains of the forge.

Sources TNA, C 2/Jas I/C18/46; cf. Nottingham UL, Dr D/6/24 32; TNA, STAC 8/311/31; Awty 2019, 367 568 722. Dunston Forge

In the early 17th century the furnace at Barlow (q.v.) seems to have supplied a forge at Dunston, which shares the furnace’s history at that period, but was probably not revived after the Civil War. Sources see Barlow. Foxbrooke Furnace

[11] SK428772

The furnace was built on George Sitwell’s own estate in or before the 1650s and was, like Renishaw Mill, run by him and his successors until 1695. It then passed with Staveley and Carburton to John Wheeler 1695 to 1698 and then, like them, to a partnership of Yorkshire ironmasters. By 1749 the furnace was ruinous and Francis Sitwell let it to John Fell with liberty to convert it to a scythe wheel, a conversion that cost his firm about £100. The site is marked by Old Furnace Wood between Foxstone Wood and Slitting Mill Farm.

Size 1717 & 1718 120 tpa; 1736 idle. Associations Whaley Furnace was built at the same time as the forge and shared its early history, but its later history is also obscure. Martin Ashe had been clerk at Attercliffe in 1586/7 (E of Shrews. a/c). Trading By 1632 ironstone was being obtained from the manors of Chesterfield and Calowe, and wood, charcoal, and sow iron from Francis Earl of Rutland, William Earl of Devonshire, Sir George Manners, Lady ‘Portingetonn’, Sir John Road and others. The significance of several of these people (in terms of furnaces owned) is unclear. In 1662 the Marquess of Dorchester (on granting the lease) sold George Sitwell 11 tons of bar and 40 tons new sow iron worth £417, evidently his stock, when granting him the lease.

Size The furnace made 358 tons of pig iron between October 1662 and April 1663 and its production included about 3 tons of pots the following campaign. Though included within John Wheeler’s business he did not use it. His successors probably blew it in 1699 and then regularly from 1707 to 1715. In effect it blew alternately with Staveley at this period, and this is reflected in the ‘1717’ production of 150 tpa, which is considerably less than it made in the preceding years, but Staveley Furnace was then out of use. There is little sign of its having operated after 1715.

Sources TNA, C 2/Chas I/C6/37; C 21/C16/23; C 21/ C19/4; Riden 1985, nos 429 & 545-546; Gloucs RO, D 2525/36/E2; Sp Carburton a/c, 1719-20; Riden 1990, 68 74; Smith 1965, 124; Awty 2019, 730. Denby Furnace

[10] possibly SK362753

Associations Almost always held with Carburton Forge and Renishaw Slitting Mill and usually with the Staveley Works (q.v.). The latter may conceivably have been its associated forge, if the furnace was older than the 1650s.

[9] somewhere near SK385470

This furnace is only known from a single reference, a deed of 1611 that was mentioned in Chancery proceedings in 1614. It was in Denby Park, which lay west of Smithy Houses. However it is not mentioned in a manorial survey of 1600 nor specifically in a lease of 1621 though (significantly) the tenants included Thomas Johnson of Loscoe. The park belonged to Patrick Lowe, whose daughter Isabel married the last John Zouche of Codnor

Trading In the 1660s George Sitwell supplied pig iron to several neighbouring forges. 2 tons pig iron were sent to Roche Abbey in 1699 (SIR Y a/c). In 1708-9 accounts there is reference to Mr ‘Neal’ of Clipstone Forge, presumably as a customer. Accounts 1660-6 see Riden 1985; 1695-8 Foley St a/c; 1700-15 Sp Foxbrooke a/c. 194

Chapter 10: Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Sources Derbs RO, D 1000M/2/86; Sheffield Archives, SpSt 60495/23; Riden 1985, nos 6 251 & A6; Riden 1990, 71 73-4; SIR St a/c, 1750 L, 121; VCH Derbs ii, 359; Raistrick 1938, 54 & 78; Raistrick & Allen 1938, 169 & 172; Awty 1957, 54. I have not examined the Sitwell family muniments at Renishaw Hall, but all material on the iron industry is stated to have been deposited at Derbs RO (D 1000).

Sources Donald 1961 (not mentioned); Nixon 1969, 50-1; Bunting 2006, 77-9; Derby Mercury, 3 Oct. 1811; Manchester Courier etc., 6 Nov. 1830; Nokes 1969, 32; www.bamfordmethodists.org.uk/history.html (accessed c.2016); Tomlinson 1979; cf. Ullathorne 2004, 88; Porter 2004, 115; note also Sheffield Archives, D Cam/24 60-67.

Harthey Forge

A forge, owned by Robert Bainbridgeth, was worked by an employee of George Earl of Shrewsbury in 1578, but little else is known of it.

Higham Forge

[12] probably SK381514

Sir John Zouche built this forge about 1582 to operate with his Loscoe Furnace (q.v.), whose history it shares. It was let to Thomas Johnson and Matthew Walker in 1600 with New Mills Forge, and they were to have 160 tons of pig iron from the furnace. It was estimated in 1591 that the two forges would make 200 tpa in their four fineries (Smith 1967, 117 138). There are no obvious remains.

Source Schubert 1946, 524. Hopping Mill Forge

[15] SK348454

The Earl of Shrewsbury was lessee, from the Duchy of Lancaster, of the manor of Beaureper (now Belper) and probably also of the mill from about 1580. He sublet it about 1591 to Patrick Low who pulled down the old mills and built a forge on the site of the corn mill and a new corn mill (probably) on the site of a scythe mill. Lowe is known to have had a furnace in his park at Denby, presumably built to supply this forge. The Earl renewed his lease of the mill from the Duchy in 1599, and by 1607, he had taken the forge in hand. After Earl’s death, his successors let it to Silvester Smith and Timothy Pusey, who passed it to the latter alone. In 1633 John Crosse and William Nevile, hammermen there, gave evidence as to the status of Cuckney Forge. The freehold of the mill, still called a corn mill, was sold to William Earl of Devonshire when the crown sold off most of its mills in c.1608 and descended with that title until 1818 when the Duke sold it to the Strutts, who had acquired the adjacent fulling mill in 1781. Its site, a short distance above New Mills, is now occupied by a large factory.

Sources Smith 1967, 115-40; Derbs RO, D 158M/T25; Notts RO, DDCH.32/8-11; Riden 1990, 67; Thorpe 1990, 28. Hathersage: Atlas Works

[14] perhaps SK387583

[13] SK230815

Various authors (including Nixon) have claimed that Christopher Schutz started wire mills at Hathersage in 1566. However the wiremills built under his patent were at Tintern, subsequently of the Company of Mineral and Battery Works, who were vigilant to suppress rivals. Accordingly this assertion seems to be without foundation: it is probably the result of a local historian conflating the later existence of wire mills at Hathersage and reached an unjustified conclusion. However, there was a wiredrawer at Hathersage in 1684. The origin of wire-based industry at Hathersage seems to date from the arrival of Henry Cocker in 1750. He built the Atlas Works. They descended to his son, Samuel who took over part of Dale Mill in 1824 and later the whole of it. Various references can be found to members of the Cocker family relating to wire in this period: Robert Cocker is said to have drawn wire from cast steel in the 1770s. Thomas Cocker supplied wire to a needlemaker at Redditch in 1798. He was a sonlaw of Henry Ibbotson (died 1796), who was a yeoman of Hathersage, but possibly related to a Sheffield steel family, which suggests a source for steel. Three of the family (two wiredrawers and a needle manufacturer) were the original trustees of Bamford Methodist Church. A partnership of Cocker & Co was dissolved in 1830. Hathersage supplied wire to John English of Studley near Redditch in the 1840s. Earlier, sieves were supplied to Ecton Copper Mines by James Hodgkinson of Hathersage in 1779 and John Bingham of Abney (near there), presumably using locally made wire. Latterly the mill was closely associated with the needle trade and may have closed in 1902. The site was subsequently used as a Catholic School.

Trading Earl Gilbert bought sow iron from Thomas Johnson in 1611 (TNA, C 78/332/2). When the sale of ‘olers’ [alders] from Duffield [Derbs] was proposed in 1607, one possible use was in the Earl of Shrewsbury’s ironworks at Hopping Mill. Sources TNA, DL 1/295, 20 Jun. 1623 and 6 Jul. 1623; DL 1/297, 10 Feb 1623[4]; DL 4/74/2; DL 12/22; IND 1/17596; Awty 2019, 722 739; HMC Shrewsbury I (Lambeth), Ms.702 f.83; TNA, C 21/C16/23; Derbs RO, D 3772/T2/3/1-3; D 3772/T9/8/1-13; cf. TNA, DL 42/32, 182. Several of these refer to Hopping Mill only as a corn mill rather than as a forge too. Kirkby Furnace

[16] SK47325495

The furnace was built by Humphrey Jennens in 1671. His ironworks passed on his death to his son John Jennens who renewed the lease in 1693 for eleven years. The next lease traced, probably dated 1727, states that it had been in the possession of Ryland Vaughton, (a usual successor of John Jennens), and afterwards of Richard Knight and partners. 195

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I That lease was to John Mander for fifteen years. W.W. Cotton, the Yorkshire ironmaster viewed it in 1742 but, as William Spencer had not heard of it, it had perhaps been idle for some years. In 1753 the furnace was let to John Fell and Joseph Clay (of the Staveley firm), who were not obliged to do more during the duration of the lease (until 1774) than keep up the walls and roof, and it was probably never used again. The name ‘Mather’, against it in the 1788 list of closures, is erroneous, perhaps reflecting Mander’s tenure. Its probable site has been identified near Meadow Farm, by aerial photography.

men may also have had a wire mill at Alfreton. Since there was no other furnace in the area to supply New Mills and Bulwell Forges, it is probable that Denby Furnace or this one operated into the 1620s or even beyond. Size Usually 130 tpa (Smith 1967, 119), but 160 tpa in 1601. Sources Smith 1968, 115-40; TNA, C 2/Jas I/H25/17; Derbs RO, D 158M/T25; Notts RO, DDCH 32/8-15; Riden 1990, 67; Awty 2019, 722; cf. Kerry 1907, 51n; Thorpe 1990, 28.

Size 1717 200 tpa. The size of the contract with Richard Neale (see below) suggests that this is an underestimate, but it may indicate that by then the furnace was not in blast every year.

New Mills Forge, Makeney

A wiremill was built at Makeney in defiance of the Company of Mineral and Battery Works monopoly about 1580 by Sir John Zouche. Faced with proceedings by the monopolists, the mill was defaced and discontinued, but the adjoining forge, which was on the east side of the river Derwent, continued. His son, another John Zouche, mortgaged his ironworks in 1589 to Sir Francis Willoughby, for whom they were run by managers, first Laurence Loggins and then Sylvester Smith. Following Sir Francis’ death in 1594, the mortgage passed to his son, Sir Percival Willoughby, whose possession was opposed by Zouche. In 1598 by a consent order in Chancery, the works were placed in the hands of three commissioners, who however failed to pay the agreed instalments of the debt to Willoughby in full. Zouche then let it for the coming winter to Thomas Johnson and Matthew Walker in 1600; Alsoppe Geslinge and others made a payment in 1605; and William Tully, a London tailor, took over the works in 1606. Sir Percival transferred his security to the Earl of Shrewsbury about 1609, but the Earl also failed to pay and Willoughby was still seeking payment from an executor, presumably about 1617.

Associations As to Jennens, Vaughton and Mander see next chapter; as to Knight see Clipstone. Trading A sale of 2,034 tons of pig iron at 106 tpa to Richard Neale at Clipstone Forge from 1693 was agreed. Otherwise pig iron is likely to have been used in the proprietor’s own forges. Francis Knight mined ironstone at Alfreton in 1723 (TNA, C 11/2730/129). Details of wood supplied to Francis Knight (presumably Richard Knight’s manager) from 1724 to 1727 and Humphrey Mather as agent for John Mander: Notts RO, DD4P 58/77. Accounts SIR St a/c: from 1750 outgoings and repairs only, when the furnace had ceased to be used. Sources Notts RO, DDP 84/15-16; DDP 15/61; DD4P 80/15-17; DD2P 28/20; DDP6 1/1/70; DDP6 1/2/5-11; Spencer l/b, 23 Jan. 1742/3; Riden 1990, 71 etc.; Johnson 1952, 330; Hopkinson 1961, 124; Notts HER. Loscoe Furnace

[18] SK351449

[17] about SK427478 In 1601 John Zouche had sold two of the mills at New Mills, in each case reserving sufficient water for ‘forging of yron and fyning of yron’. The mill that was sold to Exuperius Bradshaughe was resold by him to Timothy Pusey as scythe mills in 1624. The history of the other, sold to Robert Naden, has not been traced, but was as a paper mill and back in the same ownership as the forge by 1670. Zouche appears to have recovered possession of his ironworks and sold them in 1617. Thomas Johnson sold the forge in 1619 to Timothy Pusey. Pusey used the forge himself until 1642, when he sold his property to Henry Smith. Smith in 1672 let the forge and scythe mill, but probably not the adjacent paper mill, to Thomas Pemberton, a Birmingham ironmonger, these having previously been in the tenure of Roland Alsopp (unless that merely refers to a cottage). From Pemberton the works passed to John Jennens or conceivably to his father, Humfrey Jennens (d.1689), and then to Christopher Vaughton, who took a lease in 1707. The next tenant, from 1715, was his brother Riland Vaughton, who bought the copyhold in 1717. Dorothy wife of John Mander became his heir in 1722, the forge probably

This furnace was built by Sir John Zouche about 1582 and was let to Sir Francis Willoughby by his son, another John Zouche, ultimately as security for guaranteeing his debts. After difficulties between Zouche and Sir Percival Willoughby, who had inherited the debt, the Court of Chancery vested the works in commissioners, who were to pay the debt to Willoughby, but had still not done so by 1609. In the preceding years, the works may have been leased to Alsoppe Gesling and others in 1604 and 1605, then to William Tully from 1606, as they paid Willoughby instalments of his debt. There was a founder at Codnor in 1616. Thomas Johnson, with Henry Willoughby, had bought land and coalmines there the previous year, and Johnson was letting these mines in 1630, but the history of the furnace remains obscure. No remains were found before the site was destroyed by opencast mining, but the walls on the north side of Furnace Lane are built of slag. Associations The furnace worked with Harthey and New Mills Forges, the former probably Zouche’s freehold, the latter copyhold of the manor of Duffield. Zouche or his 196

Chapter 10: Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire being carried on by John Mander and Phelicia Weaman, the other Vaughton sister.

Furnace (Staffs) in 1677 (Schafer 1978, 42; Foley, E12/ VI/KBf/16-17; E12/VI/MAf/2). Walter Mather bought American pig iron from Robert Plumsted of London in 1756-58, almost 100 tons in 1758 (Plumsted l/b). Accounts for Wingerworth Furnace from 1772 to 1777 show barely 60 tpa pig iron being sent to the forge. Unless it had some other source of supply, the forge must have been operating very substantially below capacity (SIR W a/c), but perhaps he was using Alderwasley pig iron too. He bought 10 tons of Snedshill pig iron in 1782 (TNA, C 12/211/5). He supplied bar iron to Cramond Mill in Scotland in the late 1790s (Caddell 1973, 19).

Dorothy Mander was succeeded in 1742 by her son Humfrey, who in 1746 granted a tenancy for seven years to Humfrey Mather (d.1756) and his son, Walter, while retaining the clerk’s house to live in. In 1781 the banker who held Mander’s mortgage became bankrupt and Jedediah Strutt, the cotton manufacturer, bought the mortgage and then Mander’s interest, paying him £100 and granting him an annuity and the use of the house. Walter Mather then negotiated to have a 14 year lease of the forge (on the Makeney side of the river) and to take down the slitting mill (on the Duffield side) and built one on the Makeney side, thereby freeing the west bank for Strutt to build a cotton mill. Walter Mather was succeeded in about 1797 as at Staveley, by Lowe & Ward, his sonsin-law. Messrs. Strutts took possession about 1808 and built a textile mill, used in the 1990s as a garden centre.

Sources TNA, E 178/611; Smith 1968, 115-30; Derbs RO, D 158M/T25; D 1404/1, 82 85; D 1404/14, 138 150; D 1404/17, 30; D 1404/24, 151 224; D 1404/26, 69; D 1404/34, 73; D 3772/T8/8/1-34; TNA, E 112/537/28; Donald 1961, 121 160 262; Janson letters, 22 Aug. 1737 & 19 Nov. 1737; Derby Mercury, 6 Oct. 1780, 4; 26 Jan. 1781; Derbs RO, land tax, Duffield; Riden 1990, 67-8 70-1 74 etc.; Johnson 1952, 330; Nixon 1969, 266; Cooper 1991, 91; Naylor 2008, 25 47-8.

It is possible that William Parkin used the mill with Pleasley Forge until 1737, when he ‘dropd his trade in Derbyshire’. Jos. Spencer, who had taken in nails for him at Belper, subsequently did so for the owners of Derby Mill. In 1717 there were a forge, slitting mill and paper mill. By 1746 the works included a slitting mill and a tin (i.e. tinplate) mill. In 1763 there were, as well as these mills, two forges and also a copper house the latter partly occupied by John Mander, Humfrey’s brother, probably as Mather’s partner in that trade; and Humfrey Mander had the option of becoming Mather’s ironworks partner here and also at Wingerworth and Bulwell.

Pleasley Forge

[19] SK518649 and perhaps SK520651

The forges, of which there seem to have been two stood on the river Meden adjacent to Pleasley Park, which remains a wood. They were built by Francis Leeke of Park Hall about 1611. As so often in Derbyshire, the next few decades remain obscure. The works were used by William Clayton and George Sitwell until 1661 and then by George Sitwell alone. Later it was rented by Humfrey, and then John, Jennens with Kirkby Furnace and probably followed Kirkby’s descent until about 1730. It was used by William Parkin until 1737. After this its history again becomes obscure until its conversion to a spinning mill in 1784: like Cuckney Forge, it may well have closed, for unless it was occupied (or supplied) by the Mather family, it would have lacked any source of pig iron. The site is occupied by mill buildings, now used for other commercial purposes.

Size 1591 100-120 tpa (Smith 1967, 121-2); 1658 88 tpa; 1717 120 tpa; 1718 150 tpa; 1736 120 tpa; 1750 250 tpa; 1754 2 forges side by side, with 2 fineries and a chafery (Angerstein’s Diary, 203); 1794 2 fineries and 1 chafery. Nails were made in nearby Belper (Janson letters; Robson 1964). Associations As to Zouche, see Loscoe. The relationship between the wire mills here and at Alfreton is not clear; Timothy Pusey and Silvester Smith occupied Bulwell Forge in 1618, both having been connected with the Countess of Shrewsbury (‘Bess of Hardwick’) in 1593. Thomas Pemberton leased Wingerworth Furnace from 1681. As to later owners, see next chapter.

Size In 1662 Sitwell sent 190 tons sow iron there, enough to make 140 tons bar iron; 1717 100 tpa; 1718 150 tpa; 1736 nil; 1750 150 tpa. There were two fineries about 1660, presumably one in each forge. Associations The forge was built to work with the furnace at North Wingfield, but was usually in the same tenure as Bulwell and New Mills Forges and Kirkby Furnace under John Jennens and his successors: see next chapter.

Trading Henry Smith received 20 tons pig iron in 1666 from Wingfield Furnace (Riden 1985, no. 588). In 1665, Pemberton and John Finch of Dudley, another leading ironmonger, had together bought bar iron from George Sitwell (Riden 1985, nos 392 405 415). Pemberton bought rod iron slit at Bustleholme Mill (S. Staffs) on a substantial scale in 1668 and 1669 (Schafer 1978), implying he was having substantial quantities of nails manufactured, as were certain later members of the family in 1729 (Birmingham Archives, Ms. 258/4). Thomas Pemberton bought castings, perhaps hammers and anvils, from Hales[owen] Furnace in 1668 and 1672 and a ton of pig iron from Mearheath

Trading Pleasley received 12 tons of Staveley pig iron in 1696/7 (Foley St a/c). Jos. Spencer took in nails for Parkin at Belper, while he had the forge (Janson letters). Accounts and Letterbook 1662-6: Riden 1985. Sources APC, 1613-4, 316-7; Janson letters, 22 Aug. and 19 Nov. 1737; Kettle 1988, 35; Riden 1990, 68 70 71 74; 197

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Johnson 1952, 330; Nixon 1969, 273; Smith 1965, 78-9 124; VCH Derbs ii, 359; Plumbley Furnace

Sources Riden 1985, no. A5; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/23; Riden 1990, 71; Raistrick 1938, 69 & 77; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169 & 172; Johnson 1952, 325.

[20] SK410803 Shipley Furnace

The furnace was built before 1640, perhaps only shortly before, and about then occupied by Henry Wigfall and his son-in-law, George Sitwell. In 1649 they agreed to use the furnace alternately two years at a time, Henry Wigfall having the first turn, which is the last to be heard of it: it apparently closed before George Sitwell began his surviving letterbook. The furnace stood on the Mossbeck, close to Neverfear Wheel, but it is not clear whether the furnace was within the manor of Plumbley as a direct predecessor of the wheel or just outside it on the manorial demesne of Eckington. However it may be significant that Plumbley manor belonged to Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury. The furnace probably supplied a forge at Stone (Yorks), which Wigfall and Sitwell were negotiating to sell to John Wright in 1640 and 1642, and perhaps also that at Conisbrough.

Members of the Spurr family of ironworkers are recorded at Shipley Park near Heanor, where there was a furnace by 1625, perhaps still working in 1645. The suggested site is obscured by a canal feeder reservoir at the head of the Nutbrook Canal. Sources Awty 2019, 368 723. South Wingfield Wire Mill

SK380536

John Marriot of the Wire Mill, South Wingfield occurs in 1791. Members of Marriot family were still there in 1841, headed by the 65-year-old Sarah (presumably John’s widow) and her son Samuel (aged 40), but there was also a miller there. The mill was mentioned in a treason trial in 1817, when men had demanded a gun from Samuel, in preparation for a rising. The nature of the mill is unclear: it could be a corn mill with a misleading name.

Sources Riden 1985, nos A1-A2; Riden 1990, 71; cf. Notts RO, DD4P 46/7; TNA, C 2/Jas I/M18/59. Renishaw Slitting Mill

[22] perhaps SK445438

[21] SK432770

Sources Derby Mercury, 29 Dec. 1791; Cobbett’s State Trials, 32, col. 1347; Census, South Wingfield.

The mill stood at the mouth of a tributary (presumably the Fox Brook) of the river Rother below the site of Foxbrooke Furnace, but powered by a goit from the river. The possibility therefore exists that it began life as a forge associated with that furnace, both being on the Sitwells’ Renishaw estate. The slitting mill was built by Thomas Tibbatts of West Bromwich (Staffs) on behalf of George Sitwell in 1656 and seems to have been the first one in the east Midlands or Yorkshire. From the time the Sitwell family obtained the Staveley ironworks, Renishaw Mill was always held with them (q.v.) until at least the 1770s. It was subsequently converted to a grinding wheel.

Staveley Furnace and Forge

[23] SK418751

The works were built at unknown date prior to 1633, when a ‘fineryman’ occurs. Mr Frecheville, its owner, used it himself. It was used by George Sitwell from the 1650s to 1662; by William Clayton 1662 to 1668; and then by Francis Sitwell (d.1671) and his widow, Katherine Sitwell, both in partnership with his brother George Sitwell (a London merchant) until 1685. George then became sole lessee. However a Henry Mansfield (perhaps an undertenant or manager) is mentioned from 1674 to 1678, as is Robert Sitwell. After this the proprietors were absentees: John Wheeler & partners from 1695 to 1698; Hayford & Co (of Sheffield) 3 shares and Spencer & Co (of Wortley Forge etc.) 2 shares from 1698 to 1727, with John Watts as their manager at least in 1715. The shares were equalised in 1720. From 1727 when Spencer & Co’s capital was invested instead in ironworks at Sheffield, the tenant was Dennis Hayford’s son, Millington Hayford, who may have had partners. After his death in 1744, the works passed to John Fell & Co. By 1750 the partners were John Fell, Joseph Clay, John Simpson, John Watts (then William Horton until 1759), and Gamaliel Milner’s executors. Richard Swallow was managing partner from 1762, and the firm became Richard Swallow & Co (comprising just Richard Swallow, Joseph Clay and [J.T.] Younge) from 1765.

Size Tibbatts’ 1656 employment articles provided for him and two workmen to be paid £46 pa or 5s.6d per ton, anticipating that at least 165 tpa would usually be slit. Surviving accounts (from later) mostly show 40-100 tpa slit, but 138 tons in 1695/6. While this was probably only a small mill, its production was probably essentially limited by the amount of iron that its proprietors wanted slit, rather than by its own capabilities. The decline in its use must reflect a reduction in the quantity of nails made in the vicinity, which is no doubt the converse of a growth in the sale of iron to sickle and scythe smiths and implies a local growth in that trade. Associations see Staveley. Trading It slit some iron for hire around 1702, but apparently not later.

In 1783, after protracted negotiations, it was let to Walter Mather, who rebuilt it with a coke furnace. This coke furnace passed on Walter Mather’s death in 1795 to his sons-in-law, E.R. Lowe (d.1800) and William Ward and

Accounts 1694-8 Foley St a/c; 1700-2 Sp Renishaw a/c; (then compare Sp Staveley Forge a/c); 1750-73 SIR St a/c. 198

Chapter 10: Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire (following a widowed daughter’s remarriage in 1805) to W. Ward and G.H. Barrow, the latter (d.1853) being its sole owner from 1815. It remained in the Barrow family until 1862, when the business was incorporated as Staveley Coal & Iron Co Ltd. This and successor companies continued in business until 1965, since which the site has been completely cleared of buildings.

bloomery. Belonging to the Earls of Shrewsbury, it was first called a furnace in 1593, but there were ironworks there in 1574; and a forge at Higham was evidently connected in 1578. Elizabeth (of Hardwick) Countess of Shrewsbury’s receipts in 1593 show about 5 tons of iron being sold a fortnight, suggesting a forge made 120 tpa bar iron. Timothy Pusey, later a significant ironmaster, was at this time a senior member of her household, but the iron was sold by William Angrome. On 15 April 1593 she lent £24 to William Smyth ‘that deals in my ladies’ ironworks to buy oxen,’ the marginal note (only) being altered to ‘Silvester Smith.’ Stretton Furnace (but not a forge) is last mentioned in a survey of Scarsdale in 1661.

Size Charcoal furnace: 1662 stock 399 tons (perhaps that year’s blast); 1695-98 made 250-480 tpa; 1701-06 average about 300 tpa, but it was then apparently not used until 1717; 1717 150 tpa [perhaps representing 300 tpa in alternate years]. Coke furnace: 1785-88 418 tpa (average); 1789-96 776 tpa (average), the improvement being due to the provision of a steam engine (Chapman 1981, 20); 1796 761 tons; 1805 596 tons; 1825 1,820 tpa.

Accounts (some sales only) Chatsworth, Hardwick ms.10. Sources Chatsworth, Hardwick ms.10, ff.12-27 passim; ms.7, 15 Apr. 1593 and passim, ‘servants’ wages’; Notts RO, DDP 59/21; cf. Notts RO, DD4P 46/23; Scarsdale Surveys, 37 52-3; Schubert 1946, 524-5; Schubert 1957, 388; Riden 1990, 67; Hopkinson 1961, 123-4; Derbs HER.

Forge: 1695-8 made 100-180 tpa in 2 fineries and a chafery; 1701-20 usually about 90 tpa; 1717 80 tpa; 1718 1736 & 1750 120 tpa; 1750-53 made about 180 tpa, then until 1765 about 150 tpa, then until 1773 under 120 tpa (accounts); 1781 185 tons (Chatsworth, L/114/38/1); 1790 2 fineries & 1 chafery. The Mineral Statistics list no puddling furnaces, though they list blast furnaces.

Toadhole Furnace

This was another of the Earls of Shrewsbury’s furnaces; Toadhole was the address of Richard Marchant, who leased Staunton Furnace in 1605, and he may therefore have been its manager. Sow iron was taken from here on behalf of the Earl of Pembroke shortly after the death of Earl Gilbert of Shrewsbury. The furnace then passed with Crich Forge to the Earl of Pembroke, the husband of one of the coheirs. It was probably managed in hand until 1639, when it was farmed to Sir William Savile (died 1643). Crich Forge was taken by Sir John Gell, probably by direction of the County Committee in April 1643. At Michaelmas 1645 no furnace was standing, and there is no evidence that it was rebuilt. The name survives as that of a farm.

Associations From 1671 to 1776 the works were always (except 1720-27) associated with Carburton Forge. From 1785 to 1808 the owners also rented New Mills Forge. Trading In 1645 the County Committee sent 190 tons to Crich Forge in lieu of iron taken from there (Notts RO, DDSR 211/128/25 62). In 1662 John Parker of Stone Forge bought 30 tons pig iron and George and Samuel Rowe had about 5 tons (Riden 1985, nos 536 538). Mary Clayton widow cast cannon and shot for the Board of Ordnance, here or at Barlow (TNA, WO 51/8, 79 100); later accounts show almost all pig iron being consumed at Staveley and Carburton Forges.

Size The amount of cordwood provided for Toadhole & Crich in 1642 suggests production of about 290 tpa bar iron , and therefore of about 400 tpa pig iron.

Accounts 1662 etc.: Riden 1985, nos 535-6 538; 1695-8 Foley St a/c; 1698-1727 SIR Y a/c, ‘Derbs arrears’; 17016 Sp Staveley Furnace a/c; 1700-20 Sp Staveley Forge a/c; 1715 Watts diary; 1750-73 SIR St a/c.

Associations The furnace was always held with Crich Forge. Trading It was awarded in about 1620 that the Earl of Pembroke should pay the Countess of Shrewsbury for 42 tons of (sow) iron taken and to restore what was not used (Notts RO, DD4P 46/23). About 1625 ironstone was being mined for the Earl of Pembroke on Cuckney Moor (TNA, C 21/C16/3, defendant, George Fox, 106). In April 1643 the furnace and Crich Forge were plundered by Sir John Gell and the garrison of Derby of 180 tons sow iron and iron worth £1150.

Sources TNA, C 21/C16/23, Richard Billington; Riden 1985, nos 2-10 (passim) 343 354 A11 etc.; Derbs RO, D 1000M/1-2 passim; Chatsworth, Hardwick ms.29a; L/17/29; L/114/38/1; H/91/4 10 53; H/23/29 51; Hopkinson 1952; Hopkinson 1954, 106 & passim; Hopkinson 1961, 134-6 etc.; Riden 1990, 68 71 73 etc.; Chapman 1981, 1-97 etc.; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169 172 & 175; Johnson 1952, 325 & 330; VCH Derbs ii, 359. Stretton Ironworks North Wingfield

[25] SK390570

[24] SK386614 Accounts rough accounts 1639-45: Savile & Nevile a/c. Sources YAS Library (Leeds), MD 335/270/67-122 esp. 86; Notts RO, DDSR 211/128/1/1-20; TNA, C 2/Jas I/

This ironworks may possibly have been on Smithy Moor, which presumably takes its name from the earlier 199

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I A3/31; Riden 1990, 67; Preston 1939, 329 332; Derbs HER. Walton Ironworks

and agreed excise equivalent to the production of a mere 14 tpa in the forge. It was rented from before 1677 until 1680 by Thomas Bretland. He was followed from 1681 until at least 1693 by Thomas Pemberton of Birmingham; from 1703 by John Jennens; and by 1717 by Riland Vaughton also of Birmingham. His successors did not renew their lease and in 1725 a local partnership took it on: William Soresby, James Milnes sen., Richard Calton, and Richard Marples. By 1740 they were succeeded by John Mander & Co of Birmingham, in this case comprising John and Humphrey Mander, Felicia and Thomas Weaman. Their successors were Humphrey Mather (died 1756) and his son, Walter Mather, who certainly had the furnace by 1756 and very probably from 1746. From 1758 until about 1780 the tenants were William Mather and James Hunloke.

[26] possibly SK377708

There were in 1607 eight or nine mills on the river Hipper at Walton, five or six corn mills, two iron mills and a lead mill. Godfrey Foljambe’s widow, who had married Sir William Bowes had a life interest in Walton, while Brampton on the other side of the river had passed to Thomas Foljambe, whose wardship had been granted to Sir James Harrington. The latter encouraged men to break down a wear built across the river near a forge. The actions of these men and illicit hunting in the park gave rise to Star Chamber proceedings, in which the presence of a finery at the forge is mentioned. The presence of two iron mills and of a finery suggests this was a furnace and forge, a fact directly stated in 1584. The site must have been close to the later Griffin Foundry.

In 1781 Joseph Butler and George Matthews of Broseley (Shropshire) took a 21 year lease and built two coke furnaces. These two furnaces were advertised for sale in 1784 as capable of 40-50 tons per week (also the charcoal furnace), perhaps due to Matthews’ bankruptcy. Joseph Butler jun. took over the works in 1785 and continued them until they were blown out in 1816. He was, like many ironmasters, in financial difficulties and eventually had to sell landed property to pay his debts, including his Killamarsh Forge. Another Wingerworth Furnace was built in the 1840s on a different site. The furnace site has been subject to opencast mining, but was previously excavated by Philip Riden (Riden 1973).

Sources TNA, STAC 8/56/61; Riden 1984b, 150; Kiernan 1979, 203. Whaley Furnace

[27] SK52 70

The furnace was built on the site of Whaley New Mill (otherwise Scarcliff Mill) adjoining the Earl of Kingston’s Scarcliff Park. Its early history from its erection in 1617 is identical with that of Cuckney Forge, which likewise belonged to the Earls of Kingston. Its later history is almost as obscure as Cuckney’s. It does not appear to have been let to George Sitwell in 1662, but was being used by Mr Vaughton in 1705 and 1715. It was included in the Staveley partnership by 1750, but was only in blast twice in the 1750s. Even then bellows had to be brought from elsewhere for the purpose, suggesting a lack of recent prior use. According to Farey it was used in 1777, probably again briefly, having not been in use between 1756 and 1773.

Size in 1654 the works, probably a furnace and forge, used 2200 cords, representing the production of 200 tpa pig iron, and of 150 tpa bar iron from it. The forge probably closed about 1680. 1717 200 tpa; 1744-57 usually 210280 tpa, but sometimes considerably more, once 506 tpa; 1772-7 similar or even lower, one blast making only 130 tpa; 1788 1 charcoal and 1 coke furnace; 1794 2 coke furnaces; 1805 2 furnaces, the one in blast making 819 tpa. Associations Thomas Bretland was also tenant of Barlow Furnace at some date before 1693. As to the subsequent tenants until 1780, see the next chapter. Joseph Butler occupied Killamarsh Forge from 1801.

Size 1717 ‘Wanley’ 300 tpa; in the two blasts in the 1750s it made 259 and 174 tpa respectively, almost all of which was sent to Carburton Forge. Associations closely linked to Cuckney Forge.

Trading 13 tons sow iron was sent from here in 1645 by the County Committee to Crich Forge: Notts RO, DDSR 211/128/62. In 1736 Mr Sorsbie sent 85 tons to Attercliffe and Roach Abbey Forges: SIR Y a/c. Payment was made for this to Mr Hayford, one of the partners there, but perhaps only because the transaction had passed through the accounts for Staveley. 17727 virtually all production went to the associated New Mills and Bulwell Forges. Joseph Butler made rails for the Derby Canal Co’s Little Eaton Gangway in 1793 and 1794 (Patel 2018, 329-30) and supplied 720 tons of iron ballast to the Naval dockyards in 1795 (NMM, CHA/N/1, 68).

Accounts SIR St a/c 1750-65. Sources TNA, C 2/Chas I/C6/37; Riden 1990, 68 71; Riden 1987, 25; Sp Carburton a/c, 1706 and 1715. Wingerworth Furnaces

[28] Charcoal: SK379663 Coke: SK382661

In 1604 Henry Hunloke apparently only had ‘certain smithies’, (i.e. bloomeries) that had long existed, when he had a boundary dispute with William Knyveton of Woodthorpe, who had also been digging ironstone and coal. The ironworks was called Sir Henry Hunloke’s in 1645. Samuel Routh was its ‘owner or chief clerk’ in 1658

Accounts production statement 1744-57: Derbs RO, D 2690/SC.1/1/8/1; ledger 1772-7: Sheffield Archives, SIR/30 (cited as SIR W a/c). 200

Chapter 10: Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Sources Riden 1973; 1984, 88-92; 1990, 67-78 passim; TNA, C 2/Jas I/H13/50; Notts RO, DDSR 59/21; Derbs RO, D 2690/SC.1/1/1-10; Derby Mercury, 11 Mar. 1784; Morning Post, 15 Mar. 1784; Johnson 1952, 330; Hopkinson 1961, 132 144; Mott 1969, 8-9.

on crown property in lease to Lord Hunsdon in 1583 and probably near Eckington village.

Wingfield Furnace North Wingfield

Hathersage: Barnfield Mill

Sources Sitwell 1943, 112; Riden 1985, vii-ix; TNA, E 112/9/5; E 134/25-26 Eliz/Mich 3.

[29] SK409633

[31] SK229814

Samuel Cocker set up works at Barnfield Mill on Hood Brook in 1810. Cocker & Sons described their needle manufactory as newly established in 1811, but needle mills are beyond the scope of this work. Another account says Robert Cook, from Studley near Redditch built it, but perhaps he was the leading workman.

The furnace was on the estate of the Leeke family of Park Hall and is first known from a map of 1621, but was probably built, like Pleasley Forge, in about 1610. It was rented by George Sitwell from 1655 until at least 1666, but is not heard of thereafter; it was therefore probably abandoned when Pleasley Forge passed to Humfrey or John Jennens. The fact that men from North Wingfield were drowned in 1736 at New Mills after delivering pig iron there, is not sufficient to indicate that the furnace was revived during the Swedish embargo to supply Pleasley Forge: Wingerworth is the likely source.

Sources see Hathersage: Atlas Works in main gazetteer above. Hathersage: Dale Mill

[32] SK235818

Dale Mill made brass buttons from about 1720. When this manufacture ceased in the 1820s, Henry Cocker took it over and converted it to a needle mill. This lies also outside the scope of this work.

Size The 409 tons pig iron, which George Sitwell had there in 1662, is likely to the result of a recent blast (Riden 1985, 540-2).

Sources as preceding item.

Associations The furnace was probably used with Pleasley Forge throughout the history of the former.

Heanor Furnace Trading In 1666 Raph Smith bought 120 tons pig iron and Henry Smith 20 tons (Riden 1985, 587-8).

spurious

H.R. Schubert thought this was a furnace belonging to the Zouche family, but the reference is almost certainly to Loscoe Furnace.

Letterbook Riden 1985.

Sources Schubert 1957, 377; Smith 1968, 115n.

Sources Riden 1990, 68 80n.32 & 81n.50; Kettle 1988; Riden 1987, 24; Hopkinson 1961, 132.

Killamarsh Forge

[33] SK445810

Other ironworks Codnor Furnace

William Cooper and William Harrison bought Killamarsh corn mill in 1795 and converted it to a forge with a rolling and slitting mill, capable of making, rolling and slitting 300 tons of wrought iron per year in 1800. Joseph Butler (of Wingerworth Furnace) bought it in 1801 and ran for at least a decade and a half. The forge and rolling mills then passed in 1824 to the wire manufacturer Joseph Webster of Penns Hall near Birmingham, who equipped it with cementation and crucible steel furnaces and tilt hammers. Initially steel was sent to their Plants Forge at Sutton Coldfield as ¼ inch tilted billetts, but from 1831 these were hot-rolled into rods at Killamarsh. The steel was then drawn into music wire in his wire mills at Sutton Coldfield. The firm (later Webster Horsfall) retained Killamarsh Mill until the expiry of a 63 year lease in 1887. The Mineral Statistics state that it had 62 puddling furnaces in 1860, but in 1861 ‘iron for wiredrawing; and steel making’ with nothing listed subsequently. The significance of this is not clear. Its freehold had been sold in 1829 to Sir George Sitwell of Renishaw.

[SK4551] probably not built

A furnace was planned by John Zouche and Sir Francis Willoughby, when the latter was financing the former’s ironworks under a mortgage, but Zouche’s behaviour almost certainly discouraged Willoughby from laying out the money required to build it. It was intended to make 5 tpw and to blow 36 weeks. Awty thought a furnace existed in 1591. Sources Smith 1968, 115-19; cf. Notts RO, DD CH.32/811; Riden 1990, 67; Awty 2019, 722. Eckington bloomsmithies

[30] unknown

George Sitwell rented coalpits and bloomsmithies in Eckington in 1606, and these passed to his widow and her second husband Henry Wigfall. In 1583, the manor of Eckington contained three corn mills and an iron smithy on the Water of Roth. These may have continued in operation until Henry and his stepson began to use a blast furnace, probably in the 1630s. The works were on the Mossbeck

Sources Derbs RO, D 1000M/2/85 87; Riden 1984, 90-92; Horsfall 1971, 69 and passim; Leeds Intelligencer, 19 May 1800; London Gazette, no. 15286, 955 (19 Aug. 1800). 201

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Plumley Smithy

[34] perhaps SK410803

made pig iron, castings, and engineering work, but the majority of the sales in the early years seem to have been of castings or melting pigs, rather than forge pig iron. Outram worked as an engineer. His railways were plateways (where the flange was on the rail, not the wheel). Butterley cast rails for him for extensions to the Little Eaton Gangway, the Peak Forest Railway, and several others. William Jessop is best known as a canal engineer. The works included 30 puddling furnaces in 1860, then consistently about 42 in most years until 1882. The company, incorporated as Butterley Co Ltd in 1888, continued the works until 1923.

By 1583, James Lynacre built a corn mill on a brook called Roth in his manor of Plumley near the site of an ancient iron smithy, which had ‘declined’, perhaps some considerable time before. The site is not known, but was perhaps that of the later furnace. Sources TNA, E 112/9/5. Coke furnaces Adelphi Works, Duckmanton near Chesterfield

[35] c.SK428714 Accounts Butterley a/c.

Smiths & Co of Griffin Foundry at Chesterfield built two furnaces here between 1796 and 1805 and made 900 tpa in one of them that year and again had only one of them in blast in 1810. The furnaces were in blast in 1849, but demolished by 1855.

Sources Riden 1990b; Derbs RO, D 503B, passim (including detailed accounts); Fowkes 1971; Griffin 1971, 24-5; Mottram & Coote 1950; Lindsay 1965; Cooper 1991, 113-5; Patel 2018. Calow Ironworks

[38] SK406697

Sources Robinson 1957, 37-40; Bridgwater 1993. Alfreton Ironworks or Riddings Ironworks

Additional productive capacity for the Griffin Works was provided by a furnace at Calow, whose erection was under consideration in 1810 and built by 1813. It probably always belonged to Smiths & Co and closed, like the firm, in 1833. Archaeological remains of it may exist.

[36] SK435528

The ironworks were built by Thomas Saxelbye, Nathaniel Edwards and R.F. Forester about 1803. Thomas Saxelbye & Co had a Derby Foundry from 1802. A fourth partner William Wylde sold his share to Joseph Lomas in 1804. They employed David Mushet, who was making melting pig iron there in late 1805, and made 1,450 tons that year. The firm became Oakes, Edwards and Forester when Saxelbye sold his share to James Oakes in 1809. There was still only a single furnace in 1810. It was advertised in 1817 with two furnaces, a 32-hp blast engine, cupola and 4 air furnaces. In 1823 these made 2,690 tpa. By 1825 these furnaces belonged to Oakes & Co, who retained them until their closure in 1927. Oakes, Edwards & Co bought Butterley pig in in 1813 and 1814.

Sources Robinson 1957, 40. Codnor Park Ironworks

These ironworks were established by the Butterley Company (see above) in 1809. A furnace was built in 1810, and a forge was begun in 1813, but not completed and commissioned until 1818 when the market picked up again after a severe recession. The company continued the works until 1902. Sources Riden 1990b, 62-3 etc.; Farey, Derbs, 404; Cooper 1991, 114.

Sources Mushet’s diary; Butterley a/c, 1802-5 and 18134; London Gazette, no. 15694, 484 (17 Apr. 1804); no. 16261, 768 (27 May 1809); Derby Mercury, 3 Jul. 1817. Butterley Ironworks

[39] SK442512

Dale Abbey Ironworks

[40] SK449387

This was probably the least successful of the Derbyshire ironworks. It was built on the edge of the exposed coalfield by Thomas English, a London ironfounder, under a lease of 1787, and was linked by an iron railway or gangway to the Nutbrook Canal. English became bankrupt in 1791 and Thomas Hankey, his sole creditor, took over the works. It was offered for sale in 1792: it had cost £15,000, and had mining rights in 3,000 acres. However, Hankey joined with Alexander Raby and Charles Druce to work the furnace and it made 443 tons in 1796. In 1798 the furnace advertised making iron rails for gangways. The lease was renegotiated by Raby and Druce in 1801. Raby cast carronades for the Board of Ordnance from 1795, also ballast in 1801, but whether here or at Llanelli (q.v.) is not known. They built a second furnace, but William Woodward, the resident partner, was sacked when found

[37] SK402516

The Butterley Company (Benjamin Outram, William Jessop, John Wright, and Francis Beresford) initially traded as Benjamin Outram & Co. The firm was established to exploit minerals in the Butterley Hall estate, which was bought by Outram and Beresford in 1790, to which were added a limestone quarry at Crich, the minerals of Codnor Park, leased in 1796; and those of Butterley Park (between them) and of Knowts Hall nearby, bought by Wright in 1790 and 1801 respectively. The first furnace was built in 1791, a second before 1805 and a third in 1805/6. The company relied heavily on finance from Wright, who was a banker at Nottingham. Besides its extensive coal and lime trade, the company 202

Chapter 10: Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Morley Park Furnaces

to be using the company’s money for enterprises of his own. The other partners offered the works for sale in 1803 and having failed to find a buyer sold off their stock in 1805. In 1798-1800, the company produced 95 tons of castings for 10 whimsey engines for Viscount Dudley and Ward’s collieries in the Black Country. The furnaces were pulled down shortly afterwards. Raby was a London iron merchant, who also had Llanelli ironworks and Downside Mill at Cobham in Surrey. Druce had copper interests in the Llanelli area. The later Stanton ironworks was nearby, but on a different site.

Morley Park was bought by Francis Hurt in 1767 to provide him with mines to supply his Alderwasley Furnace. A coke furnace was built at Morley Park probably in 1780, replacing the charcoal furnace at Alderwasley, and the works were inherited by his son, Francis Hurt II (d.1801), and then by Francis III. In 1811, shortly after their father’s death John and Charles Mold of Wychnor Mill, near Burton upon Trent, rented the forge at Alderwasley and furnace at Morley Park. The furnace made 728 tpa [i.e.14 tpw] in 1796 and 340 tpa in 1805. The second furnace was built, according to its date plaque, in 1818. These works remained in the Mold family until 1860 and the furnaces continued in use until the bankruptcy of H.C. Disney in 1874. The furnaces (which survive) are built of stone and have external walls with a considerable batter and probably stand to their full height. The tuyere of the older furnace and timp lintel are in situ. The second furnace, at least, had two tuyeres. They are visible from the modern A38 road, but are best approached from the lane east of the main road by way of the drive leading under that road to Morley Park Farm and thence by the track leading south from it.

Sources Chapman 1981, 30-34; Derby LSL, DD 1706-7 & DD 973; General Evening Post, 6 May 1794; Derby Mercury, 27 Dec. 1798; Dudley Archives, DE 6/7/3/2; Stevenson 1970, 19-20 37 & 59-60; 1981; Cooper 1991, 113; Patel 2018, 336n; Cole thesis 227-8. Griffin Foundry, Little Brampton, Chesterfield: furnace: [41] SK375709 forge and boring mill: [42] SK376709 In 1775 John Smith (of a family who had long been cutlers at Sheffield) with several partners acquired land adjoining the mill dam at Brampton and built there a furnace and foundry. In 1777 they rented the adjoining corn mill and converted it to a forge. By about 1790 they had two furnaces and a forge comprising a finery, a chafery, and a balling furnace. In 1796 these made 1,560 tpa. In 1805 there were three furnaces of which one was out of blast, making 1,700 tpa. In 1810 all three were in blast and Smiths & Co also had furnaces at Duckmanton (Adelphi Works). The firm was Smith, Clark, Munton & Co in 1780 (when a share was offered for sale). Before 1819, it had been known as John and Ebenezer Smith, then as Ebenezer Smith & Co. It also has premises in Manchester with air furnaces. The firm operated until 1833, the forge and adjacent boring mill being sold to Joseph Thompson and continuing longer. It cast steam engine cylinders for Francis Thompson of Ashover from about 1785, and subsequently for his son Joseph, as well as structural columns for cotton mills.

Sources Riden 1988; Judge 1993; Cooper 1991, 111-3 etc.; Naylor 2008, 25-30. Renishaw Furnaces

[45] SK448780

The Renishaw ironworks developed out of the Gibraltar Foundry at Sheffield, which was bought from Clay & Co by Thomas Appleby and Edward Scholfield in 1786. The erection of the furnace is probably marked by the enlargement of the firm in 1795. James and Edward Scholfield withdrew in 1801, but kept their foundry at Sheffield. After this, the firm was usually referred to as Appleby & Co until 1893 and then as Renishaw Iron Co. The furnace made 705 tons in 1796 and 975 tons in 1805, a second furnace being built by 1810. The partners in 1816 were John Walker, Thomas Wilde, John Bingham and Francis Appleby, together with George Roddis and Thomas Eliot, who retired then. The date, 1782, given by Renishaw Local History Group, is almost certainly too early. The Renishaw Co Ltd (as it became by 1902) continued in operation until 1967.

Sources Robinson 1957; Derby Mercury, 31 Jul. 1778; 9 Jun. 1780; 6 Oct. 1780; 15 Dec. 1819; 14 Mar. 1821; London Gazette, no. 17493, 1204 (10 Jul. 1819); Nixon 1957, 12ff; Cooper 1991, 94 148 150. Hasland Furnace

[44] SK381492

Sources Renishaw 1991; cf. Sheffield Archives, MD 330107; London Gazette, no. 17135, 882 (11 May 1816).

[43] SK40 67 Staveley Ironworks see charcoal section above

A single furnace was built by John Brocksopp about 1800 and made 723 tons in 1805. A second furnace was built by 1810, but the works were closed following their owner’s death in 1812. Archaeological remains of the works are probable, unless the area has been subject to opencast mining.

Stone Gravel Ironworks or Wharf ironworks, Newbold

[46] c. SK387722

These were built by Barnes & Co probably about the time the Chesterfield Canal opened (1777) and began supplying pig iron to Beecrofts and Butlers of Kirkstall Forge near Leeds in 1778. However the sale of 11 tons of cast iron to Benj Dewsbury & Co of Stone Gravels occurs in 1773. David Barnes only had one of his furnaces in blast in 1783,

Sources Stephens 1980, 120; Jenkins 1991, 43-61 88-90; Jenkins 1992.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I when he sought to rent Staveley Forge. A corn mill with four pairs of stone and an iron forge on the river Rother a mile north of Chesterfield, advertised for sale in 1782, were perhaps here. About 1790 there were two furnaces and a forge with two melting fineries, a chafery and a balling furnace, making this the first works to use the potting and stamping process in the east Midlands. The partnership of 1779 was expired in April 1800. Then William Waller, the successor of Richard Milnes (David Barnes original partner), took over business and let it to Mr Topp, hitherto its manager. In 1796 one furnace at Chesterfield had made 940 tpa and in 1805 700 tpa, when only one of its two furnaces was in blast, again the situation in 1810. It passed to Samuel and William Smith, ironfounders at the Wicker, Sheffield (or to Smith and Armitage). The partnership of George Armitage, Morgan Davis, Samuel Smith and W.A. Smith in Chesterfield Wharf Ironworks was dissolved in 1819, probably marking its closure. References (such as Chapman 1981, 16) to David Barnes’ furnaces as ‘at’ Ashgate are mistaken. Sources Stephens 1980, 111 121; Chesterfield LSL, BAR.12 412; SIR W a/c; Chatsworth, L/119/39/1, 11 Aug. 1783; Derby Mercury, 19 Sep. 1782; London Gazette, no. 15287, 964 (13 Aug. 1800); no. 17523, 1795 (24 Aug. 1819); Farey, Derbs, 396; Nixon 1957, 19. The date 1780 in the 1794 list must be an estimate. Wingerworth Ironworks see charcoal section above

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Part III Northern Midlands

11 The Trent Valley Introduction

later, but it has not been possible to work out the detailed history of these works because the relevant archives (if they survive) are probably at the Henry L. Huntingdon Library in California.1 The other early ironworks was at Staunton Harold where Richard Marchant had a furnace and forge under Sir George Shirley, who had bought that manor from the Duchy of Lancaster shortly before he granted the lease in 1606. Marchant’s partners included Sir John Byron, whose estate included Bulwell Forge, which was therefore probably supplied from Staunton. John Wenham rented the works for three years from 1624, after which there is a great silence.2

The river Trent before reaching Nottingham flows through east Staffordshire and south Derbyshire. According to the modern standard regions, this area straddles the boundary between the east and west Midlands. This book will depart from the usual regional definitions even further, by including Cheshire and even east Denbighshire in the northern Midlands iron region. More precisely this can be expressed as including the entire catchments of the Weaver and Dee, together with the upper Severn and upper Trent catchments. This and succeeding chapters will perambulate around the edges of this region, taking a long time to reach the most important iron manufacturing district, the Black Country. The second volume will open with that region, historically called the South Staffordshire Iron District, though it extended beyond the boundaries of that county.

Birmingham ironmongers in the east Midlands The furnace site at Hartshorne, described as an ‘old furnace place’, when it was let in 1670 to Humfrey Jennens.3 His family had long been Birmingham ironmongers, commonly with relatives resident in London to sell Birminghammade ironware there, such as Abraham Genyns, a London ironmonger, who was evidently trading to Exeter in 1619.4 In 1638 Humfrey’s father John Jennens took over Bromford Forge, just east of the town, and presumably also Aston Furnace, just north of it, mining ironstone at Walsall and Wednesbury.5 Quite how he first came to have ironworks is not clear, but in that period he may have taken over others works previously of Richard Foley II.6 Following John Jennens’ death in 1653, his son acquired a mill called Pulbay in Over Whitacre (Warks) and built a Poolbank Furnace there, which he left with the rest of his second ironworks to his son, another John Jennens in 1689. Hartshorne was probably his next furnace in 1670, built to operate with Barton Fields Forge of 1669.7 They were followed in 1673 by a furnace at Kirkby in Ashfield (Notts). However he had concerned himself in negotiations to buy wood from 1664.8 In 1676 he took over (West) Bromwich, Wednesbury and Little Aston Forges

The history of the iron industry in the area covered by this chapter, the Trent valley between Rugeley and Nottingham, falls roughly into three phases: at first there were a few early ironworks. Then after the Restoration, Birmingham ironmasters owned ironworks, evidently to supply works and manufacturers there. Finally slitting and rolling mills, established from the 1730s, processed imported iron, principally Russian. The early ironworks were principally on small tributaries, but many of the later ones were on substantial rivers, including the Trent itself and also the Dove and Derwent. Ironstone was available from the Ashby coalfield on whose periphery the early ironworks were. It might be expected that Needwood Forest would have been a source of wood, but there is no clear evidence of its having done so. Early ironworks One of the earliest ironworks was a forge at Kings Mills, Castle Donnington, established by Christopher Crofts in 1593. He had another forge at Fyndern Wood in Repton and a furnace about a mile from there, probably the Foremark Furnace whose existence was noted in the early 19th century, but both these were probably shortlived. Donnington Forge belonged to Arthur Middleton of Ticknall, a member of a Sussex family, whose 1611 will gave legacies to his hammermen and finers there and at Melbourne. Donnington Forge and Hartshorne Furnace were then in the course of being let to Walter Coleman, Thomas Chetwynd, and Richard Almond, who had ironworks on Cannock Chase and elsewhere in Staffordshire, but the Earl of Huntingdon changed his mind and refunded their expenditure. Melbourne Forge seems to have continued as such until the Restoration and perhaps

Q.v.; Coleman and Chetwynd: TNA, C 2/Chas I/C65/67; cf. King 1999a. 2 Q.v. 3 TNA, C 78/1030/2. 4 Rowlands 1975, 9-12 169; Harrison & Willis 1879: this book must be used with caution, since its authors were propounding a pedigree, which was rejected in Chancery proceedings, but this does not apply to the documents they transcribed; Abraham Genyns: TNA, C 2/Jas I/E1/82. There was also an Abraham Jennings, who was a merchant of Plymouth: it is not clear if he was the same. 5 Birmingham Archives, Holte 88; the furnace always went with the forge: ibid., Holte passim; mines: Staffs RO, D 260/M/E/425/1. 6 In King (1999a, 67), I postulated a previous partnership between Foley and Jennens, but actual evidence for this theory is lacking. This will be discussed in chapter 23. 7 Hartshorne: TNA, C 78/1032/2; Barton: Pastscape 310509. 8 Poolbank: Leics RO, DE 3541, p.5 (no.13); Harrison and Willis 1879, 141-52 183; Kirkby: Notts RO, DDP 84/16; wood: Riden 1985, nos.230241 363-400 passim. 1

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 11. The Trent valley. 1, Barton Fields Forge; 2, Borrowash Mill; 3, Burton Forge; 4, Clay Mill; 5, Derby Mill; 6, Donnington Forge; 7, Foremark Furnace; 8, Fyndern Wood Forge; 9, Hartshorne Furnace; 10, Kings Bromley Tinmill; 11, Melbourne Forge I; 12, Melbourne Forge II; 13, Melbourne Furnace; 14, Staunton Harold Ironworks; 15, Wilne Rolling Mill; 16, Wychnor Mill; 17, Hartshorne Screw Works; 18, Kegworth Forge; 19, Measham Ironworks; 20, Tatenhill Screw Works; 22, Moira Furnace.

and Bustleholme (slitting) Mill (with Hales Furnace) from Philip Foley.9 Shortly afterwards he built a slitting mill at Weeford, near Hints. Hints Forge had belonged to his father in 1653.10 With his new furnaces he must have had forges: probably Bulwell Forge, near which he bought the manor of Saulterfield in 1676. His son had Pleasley and New Mills Forges in about 1695, but the latter had earlier belonged to Thomas Pemberton.11 Pemberton was another Birmingham ironmonger, and leased New Mills Forge in 1672 and Wingerworth Furnace in 1681. He, with John Finch, the leading Dudley ironmonger, had bought iron from George Sitwell in 1665 and had tried to rent ‘Parker’s Forge’, probably Roche Abbey Forge at Stone, Yorks.12 This business was evidently subsequently sold to Jennens.

was interfering with the landlord’s coal mine.13 The lease of Kirkby was renewed in 1693, and it was intended to rebuild Barlow Furnace, then derelict, but the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle received a better offer from John Wheeler, Philip Foley’s client (later partner), who leased Carburton Forge, and the Duke refused to complete the lease. This led John Neale to complain in 1720 that he had lost 156 tpa pig iron from the time the lease should have been completed, and he apparently obtained compensation.14 John Jennens leased Wingerworth Furnace in 1702, following the expiry of Pemberton’s lease, later handing it over to Christopher and Riland Vaughton, his manager’s sons. This same succession certainly also occurred at Aston and Bromford near Birmingham and at New Mills, and probably to most of the business, though evidence elsewhere is less strong. Mr Vaughton was renting Whaley Furnace in 1715. The will (dated 1722) of Riland Vaughton refers to John Jennens as ‘my master’ and directed that the large debt to him should be paid first of all. He appointed Jennens as his executor, but Jennens renounced executorship, and administration was granted to his sisters.15 Following his death, the business thus passed to John Mander (who

The lease of Hartshorne was renewed for Humfrey Jennens by his manager, Humfrey Vaughton, in 1683, but in 1699 a dispute developed with the landlord, who objected to a sough being made to drain the ironstone mine, because it Schafer 1971, 29. Weeford: Herefs RO, E12/VI/KG/23; Hull UL, DDFa/27/28; Hints: Harrison & Willis 1879, 141-52 (mistranscribed as ‘Hivles’). 11 Bulwell: Johnson 1960, 44; Saulterfield: Notts RO, DD4P 22/91-102; Barton Fields: VCH Derbs ii, 358; Pleasley and New Mills: Johnson 1952, 330 from Foley St. a/c. 12 Ironmonger: Rowlands 1975, 75 168; New Mills: Derbs RO, D 1404/24, 224; Wingerworth: Riden 1990, 71; Sitwell: Riden 1985, nos.392 405 415. 9

10

TNA, C 78/1030/2. Lease: Notts RO, DDP 84/15; DD4P 28/467-73; Wheeler: ibid., DD2P 28/16; Foley, E12/VI/MBc/1-3; Neale: Notts RO, DD 104/3; compensation: SIR Y a/c. 1721 J, 233. 15 TNA, PROB 11/585/296. 13 14

208

Chapter 11: The Trent Valley as William Ambler of Doncaster and Samuel Dawson and Dempster & Co of Bawtry,21 were evidently forwarding iron to buyers in north Derbyshire and south Yorkshire. The consignees of iron sent from Hull for the Midlands were all residents of Gainsborough, about 30 miles inland from the Humber, principally Mrs Wells, Richard Turpin, James Wharton, and Mr Ives.22 They were presumably essentially forwarding agents, but the Maister day book usually says nothing about the goods’ onward transmission except for a name (usually without location) for the purchaser. However, John Ives was also a wholesaler of Coalbrookdale pots.23 Just occasionally it gives more detail: thus in April 1714 ‘700 “hoop L” n[arrow] f[lat bars weighing] 277 cwt. 4lb at 16s.’ were dispatched to ‘Wm. Kettle of Birmingham per John Scawthorn to Mr Fosbrooke’s boats;’ on 10 Oct. 1720 ‘100 bars “GF” orground’ [Forsmark] 44¾ cwt were sold William Henworth for Messrs. Samuel and Thomas Seale of Burton on Trent and by Mr Henworth’s order struck into John Fish’s keel’; and in November 1720 120 bars for George Whateley of Lichfield were consigned to Mr Haines (sic) Gainsborough.24 William Henworth came from the Burton area and, after an apprenticeship probably in Hull, was successively a factor in Narva and Gothenburg, before settling as a merchant in London.25 William Kettle owned the steel furnace in Whitehall Street (now Steelhouse Lane), Birmingham. The iron mentioned as sent him was a first oregrounds mark, as used for steel. In Birmingham, Leonard Fosbrooke appears as a debtor in an inventory of John Pemberton’s ironmongery business in 1729, implying he freighted goods for Pemberton.26

married their sister, Dorothy) and Phelicia Weaman, another Vaughton sister: Dorothy Mander inherited New Mills from her brother. They renewed the leases of Aston and Bromford. With their sons they leased of Wingerworth Furnace in 1740, where the previous (1725) lease had been to a local partnership.16 Clipstone Forge and Kirkby Furnace were let to John Mander, of which Kirkby had certainly earlier been occupied by Riland Vaughton. Weeford Mill had probably similarly passed to this firm, as had Little Aston Forge. In 1746 they sold their works at Aston, Bromford and Little Aston to Edward Knight and Co., the Stour Works Partnership, who did not retain the Little Aston. John ‘Maunder’ also leased Melbourne Furnace in 1746, probably a renewal.17 Mander & Co’s works in the east Midlands then underwent another transfer to their manager, for it was Humfrey Mather. Riland Vaughton left him a £100 legacy as ‘my kinsman and servant’. Mather was paying for wood on the Welbeck estates in 1729 and with his son Walter Mather leased New Mills in 1746 and Wingerworth in 1751.18 Walter Mather was, as mentioned, still tenant of New Mills in 1780. Indeed his successors retained it to 1808. He retained Bulwell until 1783 and Wingerworth until 1781, though Wingerworth may not have been used after 1778. Having failed to secure a lease to rebuild that furnace to use coke, he obtained Staveley, where his widow and others continued iron production for many years.19 Despite changes in the precise list of works included within it and several changes in the name of the proprietor, this business seems to have existed as a continuous entity over a long period. Its presence in the district that is strictly the subject of this chapter was only intermittent, but its prime focus was towards supplying east Midlands iron to the Birmingham area. This is evident from the forges generally lying south of the furnaces, thereby minimising the amount of expensive land transport required.

Hayne and Fosbrooke are both significant names in relation to the Trent navigation: Robert Fosbrooke had carried coal on the river for Sir Percival Willoughby from the ‘rail-end at Trent Bridge’ about 1605.27 Nottingham, about 40 miles above Gainsborough, was the ancient head of navigation, and Nottingham Corporation fiercely opposed efforts to extend the navigation further west.28 Nevertheless it was apparently extended to Wilden Ferry at Shardlow (or possibly even to Kings Mills at Castle Donnington) after the Restoration by the efforts of Leonard Fosbrooke, the lessee of Wilden Ferry, seemingly without legislative aid. By virtue of his control of the landing place at the Ferry, about ten miles above Nottingham, he was able to operate boats and carry goods down and back, probably going as far as Gainsborough,29 It may have been this slight

Iron trade on the river Trent The river Trent has always been navigable in its lower reaches.20 Sea-going vessels could penetrate to Gainsborough, but Hull was the customs port and most overseas trade was handled by merchants there. The Maister day book 1714-25, one of the few detailed private records surviving concerning the trade of the port, includes detail of William Maister’s sales inland, all of which (except local sales) were sent by river. Consignees, such

E.g. Maister, f.361 (16 Nov. 1720), f.166 (18 Jan. 1716/7), and f.378 (7 Dec. 1721). 22 E.g. Maister, f.31 (Jan. 1713/4), f.14 (May 1714), f.356 (Aug. 1720), and f.391 (Jan. 1722/3). 23 King 2011a, 143. 24 Maister, ff.40 358 359. ‘GF’ was the mark of Forsmark: Molander 1987. Note also Beckwith 1967. 25 Jackson 1972, 121-3; Hull City RO, Broadley letters, DFB/41-81 passim. 26 For Kettle: Barraclough 1984(1), 94-96; for Pemberton: Birmingham Archives, MS 258/4. 27 Green 1935, 63-64. 28 Wood 1950, 5 16-21; Owen 1968, 235. 29 Owen 1968, 235-40. Andrew Yarranton proposed the erection of a granary ‘at some town in Leicestershire within four miles of Kings Mills’. As all the other granaries that he proposed stood at the navigable 21

16 New Mills: Derbs RO, D 3772/T8/8/3-7; Aston and Bromford: Birmingham Archives, Holte 19-22 90-93; Whaley: Sp Carburton a/c, 1706 and 1715; Weaman: TNA, PROB 11/585/296; Birmingham parish register; Wingerworth: Riden 1990, 73. 17 Clipstone and Kirkby: Notts RO, DD4P 80/17; Weeford: TNA, C 112/106, no. 180, tenants named included John Mander; Little Aston and Knight: Knight 245, 1746/7; Ince 1991b, 20-22; Melbourne: Leics RO, DG.30/DE.362/s/temp.1, pp. 15-17. 18 Vaughton: see note 16; wood: Notts RO, DD4P 58/77; New Mills: Derbs RO, D 3772/T8/8/8; Wingerworth: Riden 1990, 73. 19 SIR W a/c; Riden 1985, 78; Notts RO, land tax, Papplewick; Derbs RO, D3772/T8/8/8-16 25; land tax, Duffield; Derby Mercury, 6-13 Oct. 1780. 20 For river trade generally see Beckwith 1966; 1967; Wood 1950.

209

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I the river declined.32 The river closed in 1805, its owners being paid an annuity in compensation. The canal was (and is) linked to Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, leading to the river Severn, and thence to the Birmingham Canal Navigation, which led into the heart of the metal manufacturing area.

improvement in communications that opened the east Midlands to Birmingham iron interests: thus, as mentioned, we find John Finch, a leading Dudley ironmonger, and his partner, Thomas Pemberton, dealt with George Sitwell of Renishaw from 1664, and Pemberton rented Wingerworth Furnace from 1681;30 or it may just have been that Sitwell’s iron was cheap due to competition from Swedish imports.

The Lloyd family came originally from Montgomeryshire (see family tree in chapter 13). Sampson Lloyd (1664-1725) moved to Birmingham in 1698 to become an ironmonger, having married Mary Crowley, whose father and brother were very prominent as ironmongers in Stourbridge and London, no doubt giving him a valuable entry to that trade. In 1728 his sons Charles and Sampson leased the Town Mill at Birmingham, and installed a slitting mill there and in 1736 handled over 450 tons of ‘Peterburg’ iron. It is not clear when Sampson Lloyd acquired Burton Forge. It may have been in 1746.33 If so, it coincides with withdrawal of John Mander, another Birmingham man, from the industry. In 1758 Sampson Lloyd and Son leased Melbourne Furnace, previously Mander’s.34 Burton Forge had been built in 1720 by Thomas and Samuel Seal as a plating forge. Despite their bankruptcy in 1732, they continued to live at the forge. Sampson Lloyd initially used the forge only for forging and boring gun barrels, making thimbles etc., but evidently afterwards added fineries in order to make iron as well.35

Statutory authority to extend the navigation to Burton upon Trent, about 16 miles further upstream, was obtained in 1699 by Lord Paget, lord of the manor there and owner of extensive estates in east Staffordshire. He was to put up £600 and the inhabitants of Burton were to raise £600 more. Like many navigation schemes of that period (and later), the cost was severely underestimated. As far as is known, no useful result was achieved for more than a decade, in part because the toll allowed by the Act (3d per ton) was wholly inadequate, as the people of Burton complained in a petition to Parliament in 1705. This impasse was broken by George Hayne in 1711. He leased the navigation from Lord Paget, who advanced another £600, on the basis that Hayne would complete the navigation. Though Hayne could not charge a higher tonnage, he had the means to prevent anyone else acting as a navigation carrier, since no one could build a wharf or warehouse without his consent. He could therefore charge what rate he liked for freight. He made a treaty to co-operate with Fosbrooke in transhipping goods at Wilden Ferry (with Hayne carrying above and Fosbrooke below) and in keeping out rivals. As traffic increased further, detailed terms were added to their agreement, including, in 1714, that two-thirds of Hayne’s traffic might pass between Kings Mills, Donnington (a couple of miles above Wilden Ferry) to Gainsborough in his own boats and the rest in Fosbrooke’s.31

Processing imports The presence of a plating forge brings in the third theme of iron in the middle Trent valley, processing imported iron. The import of Swedish, and from the late 1720s, also Russian iron has been discussed briefly in the preface.36 This iron arrived as bars, for if it was drawn into rods under ¾ inches square or was made into plate iron, it paid a higher rate of import duty as manufactured iron.37 Burton, as a plating forge remote from a manufacturing area, was unusual: the tilts of Sheffield, the Birmingham forges making gun-barrel skelps, and such like were all fairly close to manufacturing areas. Burton continued plating, for example making boiler plate for Newcomen engines,38 but making iron became at least as important.

This monopoly of the Hayne and Fosbrooke families lasted until 1762, though the Nottingham Boat Company was allowed a warehouse at Willington, a halfway point in 1739. During the 1740s and 1750s Henry Hayne, who had succeeded his brother in 1724 took £2500 in freight charges, yielding a profit of £1000 per year from traffic of about 300 vessels, carrying 7000 tons. In other words, he was charging an average of about 7s per ton in freight, of which nearly 3s was profit. In 1762 the lessees failed to agree terms with the Earl of Uxbridge (Paget’s successor) and the navigation was let to a syndicate, including Sampson Lloyd and Son (ironmasters), a Burton brewer, and several cheese-factors, amongst others. There then followed the canal era: the Grand Trunk (or Trent and Mersey) Canal, opened 1770, bypassed the Upper Trent Navigation. Its owners never persuaded the Canal Company to construct locks leading to the river, with the result that traffic on

Processing imports was also the business of a new generation of slitting mills. The first generation of slitting mills, built from the late 1650s to 1670s, in the north Midlands and Yorkshire were, unlike those of the Stour valley in north Worcestershire and south Staffordshire, generally owned by an ironmaster and used almost exclusively to slit the iron he made in his forges. The

Owen 1978, 16-20. Lloyd 1975, 41 84ff 105-6 118 133. 34 Leics RO, DG 30/DE 362/s/temp.1, pp.15-17. 35 Lloyd 1975, 133-5 152-6. 36 For fuller discussions see King thesis, especially 232-48l; 2005, 1618; Evans and Rydén 2007. 37 That ¾ inch was the dividing line is apparent from sundry Hull Port Books. 38 Allen 1969, 188-90. 32 33

heads of rivers, it is likely that the Trent was (or could easily be made) navigable to Kings Mills. He also records having surveyed the Trent in 1665, but that the neighbouring gentlemen had disagreed about its improvement: Yarranton 1677-81, i, 53 116. 30 Finch etc.: Riden 1985, nos. 221 225 405; Wingerworth: Riden 1990, 68 71. 31 Owen 1968, 250-56.

210

Chapter 11: The Trent Valley greatest of the Hull merchants, but a few of them belonged to a second rank of importers. Participants in this trade in the late 18th century include Samuel and William Sketchley of Burton, and Handley and Sketchley, an associated Newark brewing firm, who (like Thomas Evans of Derby Mill, not of course a brewer) appear in the Hull Port Books, but the records of William (and then J.W.) Musgrove and of J.W. Wilson show them to be importers, but they are not named in the Port Books, where their imports must appear in the name of a Hull shipping agent.46

first of the new generation was built at Derby in 1732 by William Murgatroyd, managing partner of the wireworks at Wortley (Yorks). He established a nailery there too, but suffered losses. The mill was amalgamated with Seamer Forge (near Scarborough), in which most of the Wortley partners were also concerned, but his inability to pay for iron, probably purchased before the amalgamation, led to his bankruptcy.39 The mill was sold to Thomas Evans, whose family continued it, presumably successfully into the 19th century. This mill benefited rather from the Derwent Navigation, made under an Act of 1720 up to Derby,40 than the Upper Trent Navigation.

Principal Sources: The tendency to write history by region has to some extent led to a blinkered approach to what was going on in this area. The earlier period was surveyed briefly by Cranstone (1985a); and Riden (1990) touched on it in his masterly survey of the industry in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Similarly Pelham (1949; 1963; etc.) and Johnson (1951; 1952; 1953; 1954; etc.), by focusing on the Birmingham area or on a particular period, have failed to appreciate the full scope of the Jennens business. The work of Owen (1978) on Burton upon Trent is similarly valuable, but inevitably limited in scope, while his work on the coalfield (1984) is not directly concerned with iron. For that reason, this chapter has ranged rather wider than some other chapters.

William Evans and others converted a fulling mill at Borrowash near Derby to a slitting mill in 1761, but sold it to Walter Mather in 1764. Wilne Rolling Mill, further down the river Derwent was more concerned with rolling lead, a well-known product of Derbyshire, but also used at times for slitting and even for making tinplate. Wychnor Mill, eight miles southwest of Burton, was built by a partnership, mostly of Lichfield men, with a long leat from the river Trent, the first part of which was (conveniently) used to carry the Trent and Mersey Canal, where this crosses the river Trent, thus providing the mill with a direct communication with the canal. After the death of John Barker, the original managing partner, the mill passed to Palmer and Mold and continued in use until about 1840.41 Latterly it was making rather than processing iron; for following the introduction of Cort’s puddling process, bar iron was rolled rather than forged, and many slitting mills were applied to the new process. Clay Mill near the mouth of the river Dove became a plating forge in 1756, supplying plates for spades to the works of its proprietors Thomas and Francis Thornewill in Burton. Subsequently they built a slitting and rolling mill and later their mill too began to make iron, like Wychnor, initially using a balling furnace to reprocess scrap.42 The area is devoid of furnaces using coke except Moira Furnace near Ashby de la Zouche, a short-lived failure.43

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Barton Fields Forge

[1] SK22173417

The history of this forge has been the subject of much speculation, due to the dearth of available archival material. Its history has however been discovered by an Ancient Monuments Inspector, whose work is recorded in Pastscape. It was built on Parsons Meadow, which was let to Humphrey Jennens in 1669, the lease being renewed in 1696. The tenant is said to have been Henry Jennens of Barton, a name not otherwise known in the industry. It is likely always to have formed part of the extensive Jennens business. If so, it presumably passed successively to the Vaughton, Mander and perhaps Mather families, like other works such as New Mills Forge. A finer moved from Pleasley to Barton Fields Forge, to which in 1698, suggesting common ownership. It is thought still to have existed in the early 1760s, but it may be significant that it was not listed as a customer of Wingerworth Furnace in 1772-7.

Wychnor and Clay Mill and Burton Forge all made hoops for barrels for the Burton brewing industry,44 but the prime function of these mills was evidently to prepare iron for manufacture into ironware in Birmingham and the Black Country. The owners of Derby Mill and of Clay Mill engaged in some manufacture, but it was hardly a notable feature of this region. The main business of the town of Burton since the Trent Navigation opened, and to some extent before, has been brewing beer, partly for export to the Baltic.45 Some of the Burton brewers also engaged in import trade, no doubt partly as a way of bringing their money home again. As regards iron they did not rival the

Size 1717 100 tpa; 1718 120 tpa; 1736 80 tpa; 1750 120 tpa. It is not in any later list. Associations Its construction is to be linked to that of Hartshorne Furnace at about the same date. If the suggestions above are correct, it was occupied with

TNA, C 11/1575/31-34. 40 Derby Mill: q.v. navigation: Wood 1950, 14-19. 41 Borrowash: Notts RO, DDM 97 119; Wilne: q.v.; Wychnor: Gould 1981. 42 Owen 1978, 114-15 and q.v. 43 Cranstone 1985b. 44 Owen 1978, 43; Gould 1981, 111. 45 Discussed in detail: Owen 1978, 28-67. 39

46

211

Owen 1978, 48 50 62; Hull Port Books.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Hartshorne and Wingerworth Furnaces and New Mills Forge.

and Samuel Seale occurred in 1732, but Thomas Seale of Burton was in correspondence with Nathaniel Maister of Hull about the iron trade in Birmingham in 1744. It is conceivable that sales in 1732 cleared their debts, enabling T. & S. Seale to continue trading. It was however perhaps in 1746 that Sampson Lloyd II bought it from assignees in bankruptcy. What happened in the meantime is not clear. The lease was renewed to Sampson Lloyd & Son in 1762. Like their other works it passed to Sampson, Nehemiah & Charles Lloyd. Following the death in 1801 of Nehemiah Lloyd who managed the family ironworks, their Powick Forge was disposed of, but Burton Forge continued in operation until at least 1808 and was certainly working in 1804, when there was a fatal accident. In 1812 licence was obtained from the landlord to replace the forge with another kind of mill. The Lloyd family immediately sold their lease with the benefit of this licence to John Peel senior, who built another of his cotton mills there, called Forge Mill.

Sources Pastscape, 310509, citing Rev. A. Auden, ‘History of Barton Hall, Barton Blount’ (apparently a manuscript at Barton Hall); Riden 1990, 70; VCH Derbs ii, 358; cf. SIR W a/c. I have located no primary sources on this forge. Borrowash Mill

[2] SK414342

The mill was on the river Derwent below Derby. This slitting mill was built by John Rotton and William Evans sen. & jun., replacing a corn mill and fulling mill in 1761. In 1764 they sold it to Walter Mather, who renewed the lease in 1781 and was using it still as a slitting mill in 1790. It continued to be held by Mr Mather until 1802, when he was succeeded by Francis Agard, who also rented other nearby property and may therefore have used the mill for other purposes. The base of the mill appears to be intact, but now lacks buildings (so far as can be seen from the road). This base is built over two arches that surmount the channel of the river. The tailrace is in water, as is at least one of the arches, at the entrance to which the water runs through a very narrow channel, which probably once contained a water wheel. This is in the grounds of a Regency style house, Riverside Farm, which was probably once occupied by a mill owner or manager.

Size The forge does not appear in the standard lists, probably indicating that it was not making iron in 1736; its omission from the 1750 need not be significant. The scale of purchases of pig iron from Old Park Furnaces suggests production of not less than 200 tpa in the 1790s; if there were other suppliers it might have been considerably higher. A letter refers to 22 tons of blooms being made in May 1774, suggesting an annual output of 250 tons or so (Owen 1978, 112 238). In ‘1794’ there were two fineries and one chafery. A potting and stamping process in use by 1804 (Birmingham Archives, Matthew Boulton 220/139).

Associations Rotton and Evans held Derby slitting mill. Walter Mather had Wingerworth Furnace and New Mills and Makeney Forges. Sources Notts RO, DDM 1193-6; DDM 97/6-20 passim; Derbs RO, land tax, Ockbrook; Riden 1990, 70. Burton Forge

Associations The forge was evidently acquired in order that it could operate in conjunction with Melbourne Furnace, which was probably given up by John Mander in 1747, just after the probable date of Sampson Lloyd’s purchase. In the late 18th century this family owned Powick Forge, and Birmingham Slitting Mill, also for a time Hints and possibly other forges. Lloyd cousins had earlier been interested in Mathrafal and Dolobran Forges and Bersham Furnace. Sampson Lloyd III was from 1763 a partner in the Trent Navigation, a firm known as Isaac Hawkins & Co or as the Burton Boat Company. Members of the Lloyd family remained interested in the navigation until the 1850s. Other relatives were involved in the iron industry in the Black Country in the 19th century, but the family is most notable as the founders of Lloyds Bank. Clinch (‘Powick’) argued that Sampson Lloyd acquired Powick Forge in 1746. The basis of his argument was having detected a change in the pattern of his trading with the Stour Works Partnership (in SW a/c), which he suggested to be due to buying that forge. However there is clear evidence of other occupiers at Powick until the 1770s (q.v.). Nevertheless, the change was real and may indicate when Lloyd bought Burton Forge.

[3] SK261239

This was on river Trent by Burton Bridge. There was a fulling mill driven by a leat from one of the channels of the river. In the 1710s the River Trent had been made navigable from Burton on Trent down to Wilden Ferry between Derby and Nottingham. This affected the availability of water to drive the forge: too much in winter and not enough in summer. This led to its owners in 1762 becoming interested in the navigation itself. Following the opening of the Trent and Mersey Canal, the Trent Navigation ceased to be part of a through route, as there was no lock connecting the canal with the river at Burton. After a long period of unsuccessful competition, the upper river was closed in 1805 under an agreement between the Burton Boat Company and Henshall & Co the leading carriers on the canal. The Lloyd family continued to own the navigation until the mid-19th century, but latterly this probably in practice merely consisted of receiving a compensation annuity. The mill was converted to a forge between 1719 and 1721 by Thomas Seale, a Burton on Trent ironmonger, who is said to have been a great schemer and soon went bankrupt. ‘Soon’ is an exaggeration: the bankruptcy of Thomas

Trading The mill seems originally to have been merely a plating forge; as such it made plates for at least one Newcomen engine (Allen 1969, 190). T. & S. Searle 212

Chapter 11: The Trent Valley bought ¾ ton of castings from Hales Furnace in 1730 (SW a/c) and were using imported iron in 1723 (Owen 1978, 108). Before 1746 it had also been boring guns and making thimbles, and there was rolling machinery for making plate. Then all of these but the last ceased. Sampson Lloyd & Son bought about 120 tpa American pig iron from Robert Plumsted of London in 1756 & 1757 and Plumsted had it shipped to them via Gainsborough (Plumsted l/b). From 1793 to 1808 pig iron was bought from Old Park Furnaces (Salop) reaching 250 tpa just after 1800 (OP a/c). The forge produced rolled boiler plate to Boulton & Watt (Tann 1978, 44). It also provided the blanks for making wood-screws (Dickinson 1942, 81).

of Shorthouse, Wood & Co at Tatenhill and Hartshorne (Dickinson 1942, 81). Sources Staffs RO, D 603/E/1/758; Owen 1978, 109-21 passim; Lloyd 1975, 141n. Derby Mill

The mill was on the river Derwent near the centre of Derby, on the site of Further Holmes Mill, one of the corn mills also called Cow Castle Mills. By the 1780s the estate also included a corn mill (presumably Near Holmes Mill), occupied by Mr Turner in the late 18th century, and a copper mill, the latter being used by the Gnoll Copper Co (of Neath, Glam) in 1789.

Sources Staffs RO, D 603/E/1/172 233 290-2 312 315 322-3 726-7 and 7 & 24 & 184 & 231; land tax, Burton; Flinn 1959a, 24; Hull UL, DAS 26/2, Maister letters, 3 Nov. 1744; Lloyd 1975, 133-5 146-7 152-5 173-6 192-4 210-3 etc.; Owen 1978, 14-20 109-15 etc.; Staffordshire Advertiser, 24 Nov. 1804; Allen 1969, 189-90; Underhill 1976, 253; TNA, C 54/5589 no.5 (this is one of a series of sales by the Commissioners in bankruptcy; the sale of the forge lease, which would not need to be enrolled, has not been found). Clay Mill

[5] SK368362

The slitting mill was built in 1732 and 1733 by William Murgatroyd, the managing partner at Wortley Wiremills. In late 1736 it was added to the Seamer Forge partnership of Matthew Wilson, James Oates, and William Murgatroyd, who were some of the partners in Wortley wiremills in 1734. The mills were managed by Murgatroyd or his son Joseph until William Murgatroyd’s bankruptcy in 1738, after which the executors of Wilson and Oates strove to avoid liability for iron bought by Murgatroyd. Rotton, Storer, and Evans used the mill in 1758; and Mr Evans (1782 to 1796); Thomas Evans esq. (1806 to 1812); and Messrs Evans (1818 to 1819) continued to occupy the mill, acquiring the freehold in 1786. From 1820 the mill was let to Bingham, Hempston & Co, the firm becoming Evans & Bingham by 1829. The site has been obliterated in making a ring road.

[4] SK26052715

Clay Mill is at Stretton near Burton on Trent on the river Dove near its confluence with the river Trent. Its conversion to a forge and slitting mill was proposed but not permitted in 1725. It was let to Thomas Thornewill and became a mill for plating iron in 1755, with a prohibition (for contractual reasons) against converting it to a [finery] forge or other ironwork before 1766. The lease was renewed for 60 years in 1764. The business belonged initially to Thomas and Francis Thornewill; a second Thomas inherited his father’s share in 1786; he then purchased the freehold and built himself Dove Cliff House there. Edward Thornewill inherited the business in 1834 and it remained in the family, though the house was sold, until the 1920s. It was then sold to Clay Mills Iron Works Co Ltd.

Size In the 1730s there was a nail factory; 1790 1 slitting mill. A mill also rolled copper, but that refers to another mill: Land Tax Assessments list a mill of the Gnoll Company (of Neath). Note also Hutton 1791, 211; Cooper 1991, 123. Associations Evans, Rotton, and Evans built Borrowash Mill in 1761, but sold it soon after. Evans also had a bank at Derby, a cotton mill at Boars Head Mill, Darley Abbey, and interests in paper, copper and other metals (Cooper 1991, 36 231-8).

Size In ‘1794’ Mr Thornywell (sic) had a balling furnace and chafery and a slitting mill and rolling mill. Prior to taking the mill, Thomas and Francis Thornewill had been edged tool makers in Burton. Products in 1796 included sheet iron (KB l/b, 23 Apr. 1796). It seems likely that no iron was made before about the 1780s, the mill merely being a plating forge, but the balling furnace of ‘1794’ may indicate recycling scrap. The family retained premises there and in the 19th century had a foundry; from 1849 with J.R. Warham, as Thornewill and Warham they manufactured engines. It did not have puddling furnaces in the 1860s and 1870s.

Trading In the 1730s it was partly supplied with Russian iron imported mainly through Hull, also some sent coastwise from London: varieties mentioned include New Government, Spread Eagle, and Saberia (sic). Rod iron was manufactured into nails at Derby and in 1738 also at Belper. Hoops and plate were rolled; as the plate was sold by the ton it was probably not tinplate. Some of the products were sent down the river Trent and coastwise to London where Joseph Janson sold them along with the products of Wortley wiremills. Hoops were also sold to Thomas Pratt, a wine merchant in Northampton, who supplied an inn in Barnsley (C 11 items below). Thomas Evans bought 50 tons of Government Siberia iron from Walter Oborne in 1763 (Sheffield Archives, OR/3, f.53). In 1800 Samuel Barnett of Kings Bromley offered his

Trading 1796 to 1816 Thomas Thornewill bought regular substantial amounts of pig iron, always over 300 tpa after 1799 and over 800 tpa from 1808 to 1811 (OP a/c). This forge, like Burton, provided blanks for the screw works 213

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Foremark Furnace

rolls to Thomas Evans & Son (KB l/b, 27 Mar. 1800), possibly indicating that they were then producing tinplate.

The very existence of this furnace is only known from a reference to its site in the early 19th century where it is stated to have been northwest of Foremark Park, probably referring to Park Farm rather than the Hall there. It was presumably built by one of the Burdett family, or their lessee. Presumably this was the furnace that Christopher Croft had within a mile of his forge at Fyndern Wood. If so, it operated briefly at the end of the 16th century. The suggested site adjoins a former pool, both now submerged under Foremark Reservoir.

Sources Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60514/39 & passim; TNA, C 11/1575/31-4; C 11/1581/3; C 11/1963/10-11; Derby Mercury 21-28 Jul. 1758; Derbs RO, land tax, All Saints (Derby); Hutton 1791, 211; Simpson 1826, 773; Hopkinson 1961, 136; Riden 1990, 70; Nixon 1969, 52; Cooper 1991, 35 104-5 113; Porter 2004, 142. Donnington Forge

[7] possibly about SK331243

[6] SK417274

Sources Farey, Derbs, 396 & 401; Cranstone 1985a, 27-8; Riden 1993, 89.

The forge stood on the river Trent, immediately adjoining Kings Mills, Castle Donnington; on Millholme, a large island that formed below the weir, but above the older mills. The weir slants across the river so as to direct water towards the mills, which were on the southern bank of the river. Today parts of the weir are largely intact, though the river flows through large breaches in it. There were in the 1990s in situ the iron frames of waterwheels. Those at the end of the lower weir, from which water ran down a tail fleam, must be the original mills. The forge site is presumably represented by a wheel situated in the face of the weir.

Fyndern Wood Forge

[8] perhaps SK313252

Michael Fyndern granted property including Fyndern Wood and the farm that included Fyndern Launde to Matthew Babington in 1581, reserving the right to recover it later. By 1593 there was a new hammer mill there. A passing reference indicates the forge belonged in 1594 to Christopher Croft, who had built a forge at Donnington in 1592, and had a furnace within a mile of this forge, presumably that at Foremark. Michael Fyndern recovered the property about 1598 and granted it to Richard Harpur. The forge was thus probably relatively shortlived. The site of the forge is uncertain, but was probably on the brook that runs through Repton village, perhaps at the head of one of the two pools on either side of Lawn Bridge: Michael Fyndern’s property included Fyndern Launde, whose name is presumably preserved in Lawn Bridge, Repton. The most likely site is just above Lawn Bridge, where a small area below the head of a large pool is also flooded, perhaps for aesthetic reasons.

The forge was built by Christopher Croft who obtained licence for the purpose from the Duchy of Lancaster in 1593. Its erection was fiercely, but unsuccessfully, opposed by the tenants of Castle Donnington. It was apparently occupied by Arthur Middleton of Ticknall at his death in 1610. Shortly after the Earl of Huntingdon offered it, with ironworks at Hartshorne, to Richard Almond, Walter Coleman and Thomas Chetwynd of Cannock and Rugeley, but the Earl changed his mind and apparently intended to use it himself. Its subsequent history remains obscure, partly because any relevant archives (as at Melbourne, q.v.) are probably in California, but there were probable ironworkers there until at least 1632.

Sources TNA, DL 4/36/4; TNA, REQ 2/109/41; Derbs RO, D 2375M/53/14, ‘A note of all the evidence’. Hartshorne Furnace

Size The power available was very considerable and the only limit on production would have been the supply of charcoal and the amount of iron that the fineries could handle: there is no reason why it should not have made 200-250 tpa, if there were the usual two fineries.

[9] SK326213

The furnace stood near the source of a brook flowing north into the Trent and was probably the only early furnace that actually lay within the Ashby coalfield. It may well have been used by Arthur Middleton (died 1610). A few years later the Earl of Huntingdon proposed to let ironworks here and at Donnington to Richard Almond, Walter Coleman and Thomas Chetwynd, but changed his mind and refunded their expenditure, apparently to occupy it himself. It may have remained in use as late as 1660 (cf. Melbourne), but in 1670 was called ‘a furnace place or site of a furnace,’ implying it was a site only. In that year it was let to Humfrey Vaughton on behalf of Humfrey Jennens, who rebuilt it, and was succeeded in 1689 by his son John Jennens. However in 1699 there was a dispute with the landlord over a sough, which John Jennens wished to make, and it is unlikely to have operated beyond the expiry of the lease in 1704. It was closed by 1712. Its later use is improbable, but cannot be

Associations Croft had a forge at Fyndern Wood and a furnace a mile from there. Middleton also had a forge at Melbourne, where the Earl of Huntingdon was also his landlord. Sources APC, xxiv, 379 422 & 427; TNA, DL 42/47, 2023; DL 1/160/F8; DL 4/36/4; DL 5/20, 82; Somerville 1953, 309; TNA, PROB 11/117/358; C 2/Chas I/C65/67; Awty 2019, 728-30; cf. King 1999a.

214

Chapter 11: The Trent Valley ruled out. A screw factory was built on the site by 1792 (see below).

the later furnace; slag, thought by the excavators of the furnace to be from a bloomery, is likely to have come from this forge, which was no doubt demolished to make way for the later furnace. The site is now submerged in a reservoir.

Associations Arthur Middleton certainly had forges at Donnington and Melbourne. Almond, Coleman, and Chetwynd had a large ironworks on Cannock Chase and elsewhere. The Jennens family also had ironworks near Birmingham and in and about north Derbyshire.

Sources TNA, PROB 11/117/358; E 112/537/28; Cranstone 1985a, 29; Usher ts.

Sources TNA, C 2/Chas I/C5/67; C 78/1030/2; PROB 11/117/358; Owen 1984, 77; Cranstone 1985a, 28; Riden 1990, 69; 1993, 89-90; Spavold 1984, 109-111; cf. King 1999a; note also TNA, C 8/583/13; C 8/572/94. Kings Bromley Tinmill

Melbourne Forge II

John Churchill of Hints had a forge in 1747-8, when he was dispute over wood. He thought his clerk Joseph Jackson had bought that at Dale Abbey, but it was delivered to Walter Mather. No such forge appears in any of the usual lists, suggesting this was a short-lived forge of the 1740s. John Churchill’s will refers to ironworks in Staffordshire and Sussex, but does not mention Derbyshire. It is conceivable that the reference should be to the furnace, though (as Churchill was the plaintiff) such a mistake would be surprising.

[10] perhaps SK119172

Little is known of this rolling mill and tinmill, which was in the hands of Mr Barnett in 1794, other than from Samuel Barnett’s letterbook. The land tax for Bromley Regis lists Samuel Barnett as tenant of the mills continuously from 1781 to 1831. However, the surviving letterbook indicates that Samuel Barnett retired from trading when his lease expired at Ladyday 1800. He traded as Samuel Barnett & Co, but Samuel was sole proprietor after the death of his brother William in 1798. The workforce then moved to Edward Barker’s new tinplate works at Rugeley. The tithe award shows John and William Tyler holding a corn mill.

Sources TNA, C 11/1637/6; cf. PROB 11/931/317. Melbourne Furnace

[13] SK379239

The furnace was on the same site as the earlier forge, and may well have been built out of the ruins of it. The new brook on which it stood has been dammed to form Staunton Harold Reservoir, which has submerged the site. Prior to its flooding it was excavated by the late W.H. Bailey, but unfortunately no full report of the excavation has been published. It was probably built at the time of the Swedish embargo, and certainly by 1735, but its early history remains unknown. If suggested date is right, the most likely builders would be John Mander & Co or their predecessors, Christopher and Riland Vaughton, for the furnace and forge were let in 1746 to John ‘Maunder’, just before his firm retired from the iron industry. They were succeeded before 1759 (perhaps about 1747) by Sampson Lloyd and Son. The furnace was closed when Lloyds gave it up in 1772.

While mainly tinplate works, the mill sometimes also made sheet iron, for example for locks and fenders. The iron used was partly locally produced, from Congreve Forge, Canckwood Forge near Rugeley, and occasionally Burton Forge, but some Russian iron was also used including ‘PDS Old Sable’. Dissatisfied with quality, Barnett began placing orders in 1798 with Francis Homfray of the Hyde and John Knight in the Stour valley. Tinplate was sold as far afield as Hull, Boston, Whitby, Edinburgh, and Glasgow; in various places in the East Midlands, including Melton Mowbray and Wellingborough; and to the northwest, including Macclesfield, Warrington, Manchester, Bolton, Rochdale and Oldham. Letterbook 1796-1800: KB l/b (Staffs RO, D 6702/1 – previously called D 872). The surviving volume is marked ‘letter book 6’ on its spine. It continues to 1803, relating to personal affairs only.

Associations Sampson Lloyd & Son held Burton Forge; (from 1768) Hints Forge (Staffs); also Birmingham slitting mill; and Powick Forge (Worcs). The Lloyd interest at Burton may have begun in 1746, in which case the furnace was presumably acquired specifically to supply pig iron to it.

Sources KB l/b; Land tax, Kings Bromley; TNA, PROB 11/1313/198. Melbourne Forge I

[12] SK379239

Sources Leics RO, DG.30/DE.362/s/temp.1, schedule of deeds 1757, pp. 15-17; Bulletin of the Historical Metallurgy Group 1(1-6) (1982 edn), 1 6 & 15; Blick 1984, 44; Flinn 1959a, 24; Lloyd 1975, 145-8 152-3 174 176 & 279-80; Usher ts. It is possible that there are archives relevant to Melbourne Furnace and Forge in the Henry E. Huntingdon Library in California.

[11] SK379239

In 1610 Arthur Middleton gave legacies to his hammermen at Melbourne and Donnington and hammermen are also mentioned in 1657 and 1659. The forge was on the estate of the Earls of Huntingdon and is therefore likely to have shared the history of Donnington Forge, whatever that may have been. In 1658 Godfrey Richardson was clerk to Colonel Muchall here. The site was close to that of 215

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Staunton Harold Ironworks

[14] SK377221

had tinplate works at Mitton and Falling Sands near Kidderminster.

The furnace site, incorrectly described as Calke Furnace, was identified during the excavation of Melbourne Furnace, which is very close by. The head race and a quantity of slag remain together with a possible charging platform, but the furnace site itself is submerged, like that of Melbourne Furnace, under Staunton Harold Reservoir. ‘Certain ironworks’ at Staunton were let in 1606 to Richard Marchant, who took Sir John Byron, William Newton and Robert Steward as partners; William Augrove, who was a partner with some of them at Bringewood persuaded them to admit him as a partner too. Steward had bought out all the other partners except Augrove by 1612, when they partitioned the works, Steward taking this one alone. Sir George Shirley let the furnace to Henry Cutler (a servant of Henry Earl of Huntingdon) and his brother Sir George Hastings for seven years in 1622. They sublet it in 1624 to William Wenham for three years, which is the last known reference to it as working.

Sources Derbs RO, D 664/T17 & T23-24; D 518M/E95; land tax, Draycott; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 8 Feb. 1796; Riden 1990, 70 & 75; Chapman 1967, 97 & 147; KB l/b, 26 Mar. 2 & 23 Apr. 1796. Wychnor Mill

The slitting and rolling mill was built by John Barker, Erasmus Darwin, Robert Bage and Samuel Garbett under a 59 year lease dated 1766. It stood on River Trent a short distance below the place where the Trent and Mersey Canal crossed the river and drew water from the canal, surplus water that flowed into it from the river. The firm traded as Barker & Co until John Barker died in 1783. He quoted to supply Matthew Boulton with Old Sable hoops, made of Russian iron. In ‘1790’ there was a balling furnace and rolling mill operated by Palmer and ‘Mole’. The balling furnace was probably a recent addition. Products in 1796 included sheet iron, the partners probably being Samuel Palmer, Mr Mold, and Edward Barker. It was managed from Lichfield, being called both Samuel Palmer & Co and Mold & Barker. After Palmer retired in 1796 and Catherine Barker in 1800, the works being continued by Mold and his son John. The Mold family continued to use it until 1824, the firm being called Benjamin Mold & Co in 1803; and J. & C. Mold in 1818. In 1824, it ‘enjoyed the whole power of the river Trent’ but also had a double power steam engine, and had 14 workmen’s houses. Shortly after it passed to S. & E. Hawksworth, Thomas Woolley, William Ward, and Benjamin Tyler; who were succeeded in 1833 by Benjamin and William Tyler; and then by John Maybury for five years from 1834. In 1825 the works consisted of Old, New, and Bar Mills and a forge; its products were sheet and bar iron. Benjamin Tyler may have remained until 1848.

Size In 1624 the works were described as a ‘furnace finery and blomary,’ suggesting a furnace and forge; the tenant was to receive 2000 cords of wood in the first year, enough to make about 300 tpa of pig iron in a furnace or 100 tpa bar iron in a furnace and forge. Associations Sir John Byron’s interest suggests that he was supplying his Bulwell Forge from here. Sources TNA, C 2/Jas I/A3/31; Leics RO, 26D53/514; Henry E. Huntingdon Library (California), Hastings MSS, HA5465; Bulletin of the Historical Metallurgy Group 1(16) (1982 edn), 6; Owen 1984, 40; Cranstone 1985a, 29-30; Awty 2019, 729. I owe the Huntingdon Library reference to Dr Richard Cust. Wilne Rolling Mill

[16] SK189157

[15] SK448315

The mill was on the river Derwent not far above its confluence with the Trent. A rolling mill for lead was built at Church Wilne by Nicholas Bretton. In 1734 following his death it was let with the adjacent corn mill to William Lovatt, who gave it in 1748 to John Thacker, who had married his daughter in 1737. From 1781 there was a cotton mill, but there continued to be a rolling mill and tinmill, which was occupied by Samuel Barnett (perhaps with his brother William), who made sheet iron, until 1796 the implements were offered for sale. At that point (the lease having expired at Ladyday), Samuel Barnett ceased making ‘double and lattin sheet iron’ and declined an order for sheet iron. From that date the southern half of it was used as a rolling mill by Joseph Thacker, but probably for rolling lead. In 1790 Mr Barnett had a rolling mill and tinmill. The site is now occupied by industrial buildings. The leat still contained a little water in the 1990s, but not flowing.

Associations J. & C. Mold had Alderwasley Ironworks from 1811. Inventory of fixtures: Gould 1981, 117. Sources Gould 1981; KB l/b, passim; OP a/c, 1803 (bought 50 tons); Staffs RO, D 4363/E/1-2; land tax, Wychnor; London Gazette, 15230, 146 (11 Feb. 1800); Birmingham Gazette, 6 Dec. 1824; Awty 2019, 337-8. Owen (1978, 115) claimed that Thornewills of Clay Mill had this works at one stage, but I have not found any evidence to support this. Other ironworks Hartshorne Screw Works

[17] SK326213

Shorthouse, Wood & Co expanded from Tatenhill Mill (see below) in 1786, by building a second mill at Hartshorne. This was previously a corn mill on the Repton Brook, and once Hartshorne Furnace. In 1800 they (William

Associations Samuel Barnett & Co also had a tinplate works at Kings Bromley. Others of that surname also 216

Chapter 12: North Staffordshire Shorthouse, George Wood, William Smith, and Philip Port, all of Burton upon Trent), described as patent enginecut woodscrew and pattern ring makers, bought the mill and Furnace Yard (a close). J.S. Nettlefold of Birmingham poached workers from here in 1835, having patented an improved kind of screw and established a screw factory in Broad Street, Birmingham. The works closed in 1844, on the bankruptcy of Smith, Port, Wood & Co. It was later a corn mill, a saw mill and a malting.

and 17 Apr. 1824; Owen 1978, 115-6; Dickinson 1942; Spavold 1984, 119. Whitwick

The existence of a forge appears to have been inferred from the sale of 6,090 trees to Humfrey Jennens in 1673 and the presence of cinders. The sale agreement survives, but gives no indication of where the wood was to be used. The existence of the forge therefore remains doubtful, the cinders quite possibly being derived from medieval bloomeries. The charcoal made from the trees is more likely to have been used in Barton Fields Forge.

Sources Derbs RO, D 2877Z/2/1; Fraser 1942, 83-84; Dickinson 1942; Spavold 1984, 119-22; Owen 1978, 1179; Derbs HER; for Nettlefold see Jones 1987, 136-7. Kegworth Forge

[18] probably about SK492268

Sources Nichols, Leics iv, 856 & iii, 130; Cranstone 1985a, 30; Leics RO, DG 9/119/121.

The Kegworth estate of the Rich family included a forge by 1797. Pratt & Co bought pig iron for it from the Butterley Co from 1801 to 1807; land tax assessments show Thomas Pratt as tenant of something from 1791 to 1816, when he was succeeded by Joseph Pagett. The partnership of John Rich the younger and Joseph Pratt of Kegworth was dissolved in 1812. William Pratt of Kegworth ironmaster received a legacy in 1808.

Coke furnace Moira Furnace

[19] SK3312

Joseph Wilkes opened an ironworks, probably a plating forge, in 1783. It was closed by 1820.

The furnace and bridge-house are intact except for the loss of the chimney above the charging platform, and stands immediately next to the (rather unsuccessful) Ashby Canal. The sites of adjacent buildings were excavated by D. Cranstone and have been consolidated. It is open to visitors with a small display inside the bridge-house. The furnace stack is built of brick and has two tuyeres, which were blown by means of a double acting steam engine. The casting house continued in use as a foundry after the furnace closed, supplied from a foundry cupola.

Sources Owen 1984, 133 & 168; Cranstone 1985a, 25 & 28. Tatenhill Screw Works

[22] SK314151

This unsuccessful furnace was erected by the Earl of Moira in 1806 and worked unprofitably for two blasts, in that year and 1811: local ironstone and coal was used, but not enough mines had been opened to supply the furnace adequately and the ironstone was mostly small modules that tended to clog up the furnace and reduce the blast, causing bad metal to be made. In addition, the coal proved to be non-caking, so that the best coal, rather than slack, had to be used to make it. It probably produced about 500 tons of pig iron in each of blasts.

Sources Butterley a/c; Warks RO, CR 611/617/1-3; CR 626/13; Leics RO, land tax, Kegworth; Leicester Journal, 2 Oct. 1812; cf. Notts RO, DD/FM/14/25 (address). Measham Ironworks

probably spurious

[20] SK205219

Job Wyatt of Tatenhill obtained a patent in 1760 for the manufacture of wood screws, and built the screw mill with William Wyatt of Burton, who already owned the mill by 1758. Their efforts proved unsuccessful and the works were in 1765 leased to Shorthouse, Wood & Co (William Shorthouse, George Wood, and two others), who perfected the process in works in Burton and then made 700 gross of screws per week. They are reported to have purchased the mill from William Wyatt’s executors in 1779. It is alleged to have been abandoned in 1786 for want of sufficient water in summer, but other sources indicate occupation by Charles Wyatt, possibly a manager or partner. It was sold to James Fox of Derby who made a variety of metal goods there, but perhaps only briefly; it was uninhabited in 1792 and used again by Messrs. Shorthouse from 1792 to 1824. In that year it was sold to William Kinnersley, who converted it back to a corn mill which he used himself for many years.

Sources Cranstone 1985b; Wilton 1989.

Sources Staffs RO, land tax, Tatenhill; D 4159/2/1, 30 Jun. 1785; D 4159/2/2, 12 Sep. 1792; D 4159/2/3, 20 May 1819 217

12 North Staffordshire Introduction

furnaces there, but not all the locations of these are known. Oakamoor Forge was associated with Oakamoor Furnace, a mile or so away from it. However, in some other cases, the early associations between furnaces and forges are not clear.

North Staffordshire is an area where the iron industry was a fairly early arrival. The iron industry’s existence derives from the presence of ore in the North Staffordshire Coalfield. This also provided fuel for the pottery industry and has given the area its name of the Potteries. The coalfield is part of a major watershed. From it, the Trent and Churnet flow south, with the Trent then turning east and eventually reaching the North Sea. The River Tern flows south west then south to join the river Severn, while various tributaries of the River Weaver flow north to join the Mersey, thus reaching the Irish Sea. With such resources of power available, the industry was fairly widely scattered, so as to minimise the cost of transporting charcoal to the works. Because of their close association with furnaces in North Staffordshire Winnington and Norton Forges, which are in the extreme northeast of Shropshire, are included in this chapter.

The industry passed at a relatively early date into the hands of professional ironmasters, holding works as tenants of landowning gentlemen and nobility. Among them is the relatively rare case of Wealden ironmasters moving into new areas: John Middleton of Horsham, Nicholas Jordan and Henry Goreing agreed to operate Chartley Forge and Furnace in partnership in 1617 and seem also to have held Ellastone Furnace and Oakamoor Forge, although perhaps not the related Ellastone Forge and Oakamoor Furnace. Two years later with further partners including Thomas Nye, they took over many of Richard Parkes’ works from his executor. Thomas Parkes had had a few ironworks around Wednesbury. His son Richard Parkes then proceeded to collect up a larger assemblage of ironworks than had hitherto existed in Britain. These included the early furnace at Moddershall in Stone and Norton (Bridge) Forge in Chebsey (not to be confused with that in Norton in Hales, Mucclestone). However, but most of Parkes’ works were in south Staffordshire, and in 1621 those passed to Thomas Nye alone. On the other hand, Stone, Ellastone, and Chartley Furnaces and their associated forges continued to belong to the other partners until 1627. Goreinge then took them over alone and ran Chartley (at least) for the rest of his life.2

Perhaps the most significant factor in the way the industry developed in the 18th century was the high cost of land carriage. The area was completely devoid of navigable rivers until the 18th century. The river Trent was made navigable to Burton on Trent in the 1710s under an Act of Parliament passed in 1697. The River Weaver was made navigable to Winsford Bridge under an Act dated 1721 and to Nantwich under an Act of 1734, but even the lower part of the navigation was not complete until about 1730. The Trent’s river navigation would not (or hardly) assist iron transport within the region. Its main effect was on areas to the east (described in the preceding chapter), in making it easier to bring imported iron and iron made in the east Midlands to the great iron manufacturing region between Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

As in many places the origins of several furnaces remain obscure. This includes the important furnaces of Mearheath and Madeley, both of which seem to belong to the earlier 17th century. These lay somewhat to the north and east of those described hitherto. In both cases the earliest references are from well into the 17th century. Mearheath is described in 1647 as ‘erected in or upon one smithie place heretofore called Baggeleys smithy’. Having thus apparently directly succeeded a bloomery, it was probably built much earlier than this. Madeley Furnace had had two tenants before 1648. These two furnaces were the only ones to survive beyond the middle of the 17th century. From that time, there were normally no more than two ironmaking concerns in the region stretching from Cannock to the Mersey and even beyond.

The earliest blast furnace was built by the Earl of Shrewsbury at Oakamoor, near his estate at Alton Towers in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Before that, there were perhaps six bloomeries, relying on ironstone from at Tunstall. Lord Audley let mines in two pastures to Edward Unwyn in c.1550 and then in 1555 mines in the whole parish of Tunstall to Robert Luce, a Londoner, whose widow assigned that lease (which was maintaining five iron mills) to Sir Thomas Lodge, the mayor of London in 1562/3. The mills are not named, but must have included Heighley.1 Other early furnaces existed at Ellastone, a few miles further east, and on an estate of the Earl of Essex at Chartley. Forges at Chartley and Ellastone lay near the

Heighley Furnace, which had been built in the earlier part of the century by Lord Gerard, was at the time of the Civil war in the hands of Walter Chetwynd of Rugeley with

1 Staffs Historical Collections 1931, 182-3, printing TNA, C3/116/35; note also TNA, C 78/30/14.

2

219

King 1999a, 64-7; and see chapter 23.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 12. North Staffordshire. 1, Abbey Hulton ironworks; 2, Bearstone Mill; 3, Chartley Forge; 4, Consall Forge; 5, Ellastone Forge and Furnace; 6, Heighley Furnace; 7, Knutton Furnace and Forge; 8, Madeley Furnace; 9, Mearheath Furnace; 10, Moddershall Furnace; 11, Norton Bridge Forge, Chebsey; 12, Norton Forge, in Mucklestone; 13, Oakamoor Forge; 14, Oakamoor Furnace; 15, Teanford Furnace; 16, Trentham Forge; 17, Winnington Forge; 18, Biddulph; 19, Halmer End bloomery; 20, Horton Forge; 21, Leekfrith ironworks; 22, Tunstall; 23, Bucknall Ironworks; 24, Ford Green Forge; 25, Keele Plating Forge; 26, Knutton Plating Forge; 27, Leek Furnace (at Horton); 28, Pethills Forge; 29, Stanley Forge; 30, Winkhill Forge; 31, Apedale Furnace; 32, Goldenhill Furnace; 33, Partridge Nest; 34, Silverdale Furnaces.

forges at Norton and Winnington in Shropshire and Tib Green just beyond the Cheshire border. During the 1650s William Chetwynd replaced Heighley Furnace with that at Madeley (see family tree in chapter 22). Except for the loss of Tib Green which was resumed by its owner later in the century and thereafter had a separate history, this group remained largely intact until the disappearance of charcoal furnaces for the area in the late 18th century (except in 1710s and 1720s). Reversions of terms in Winnington and Bierson [?Bearstone] Forge and Street Furnace apparently belonged at his death in 1685 to Edward Slanes [? Slaney], an ironmonger living at Drayton in Hales, who had presumably occupied them shortly before. He also had stock at each of them and also at ‘Morton Forge’ [?Norton].3 Madeley Furnace and Norton Forge had certainly passed to Thomas Hall (a Cheshire ironmaster) in 1683, and he may have been occupying the works where Slaney retained a reversion. Norton and Winnington subsequently at times formed part of the Cheshire Ironworks.

Foley III,4 the eldest son (by his first marriage) of the dominant iron master in south Staffordshire Richard Foley II (d.1657), of Dudley then Stourbridge. The younger Richard was in the late 1640s an ironmonger in Birmingham,5 but probably moved to Longton (where he bought the manor in 1651), in order to be able to oversee the works himself. This group similarly descended intact for well over a century. Richard Foley III (d.1678) was succeeded at Mearheath and elsewhere by his son Richard IV (d.1680) then by latter’s youngest half-uncle, John Foley (d.1684), then their brother-in-law Henry Glover (d.1689) in fairly rapid succession. John Foley was a Turkey merchant and Richard Foley IV a Guinea merchant. The two were much of an age and knew each other well in London.6 John Foley had bought Oakamoor Forge as part of the settlement of its previous owner’s debt for pig iron. On Glover’s death, the works were transferred to John Wheeler I, the friend, manager, and (soon after) partner of their nephew Philip Foley, Glover’s executor.7 Wheeler expanded the works by taking over first Chartley Forge from a Chetwynd, and then, from the first Cheshire Ironmasters, Lord Paget’s

The other major group was the Moorland Works, brought together in the late 17th century, consisted of Mearheath Furnace and Consall and Oakamoor Forges. The first two of these came in about 1650 into the hands of Richard

4

TNA, PROB 4/12659. This document seems full of inaccuracies, which perhaps arose from an illegible inventory, prepared for the executors, having been inaccurately engrossed. 3

5 6 7

220

VCH Staffs viii, 230 244. TNA, C 6/42/17. Awty 1957, 79; Schafer 1978, xvii-xviii. Foley, E12/VI/MAf/8-14 33-4; MAc/2; MCc/1.

Chapter 12: North Staffordshire

The Foley family tree.

Works on Cannock Chase.8 He also took as partners Obadiah Lane, the local manager, and Philip Foley. This partnership was known as the Staffordshire Partnership and the works collectively as the Staffordshire Works. Staffordshire here means north of Wolverhampton (or perhaps Watling Street), thus excluding the South Staffordshire Iron District. In 1696, Thomas Hall (of the Cheshire Partnership) and Obadiah Lane, the Staffordshire managing partner, agreed a partnership in Hall’s Cheshire ironworks, which from Lane’s point of view was probably a means of securing a pig iron supply to Lord Paget’s Works. This was followed by a full amalgamation between the Cheshire and Staffordshire Partnerships in 1707, shortly before the deaths of John Wheeler and Obadiah Lane, both in 1708.9 In 1710 the Doddington Works in Cheshire were acquired by this partnership. The history of this business will also appear in the next chapter. This chapter will emphasise Staffordshire personnel and aspects and the next one Cheshire ones.

John Foley or Henry Glover had probably sublet these to Hall (or his masters). The Cheshire group then took over Lord Paget’s Works on Cannock Chase, but found them too distant for management to be easy. Philip Foley’s wife was a daughter of Lord Paget, which may have helped in securing the works for Wheeler. Philip was at the time acting more as a patron than a proprietor of ironworks, for example guaranteeing Wheeler’s performance when he ventured into the East Midlands, taking over the Staveley and Carburton Works in 1695-8. The Glover executorship was a difficult one, as Glover had overestimated his wealth, leaving more in legacies than he was in fact worth. The problem lay in a debt due in John Foley’s Turkey trade and it was some time before the estate was wound up. In 1698, Philip Foley and John Wheeler agreed they had been equal partners in all these works, but subject to Lane having a one-eighth share. This led to a complicated private account between them.10 Madeley Furnace, after being operated by members of the Chetwynd family, was one of the earliest acquisitions of the first Cheshire Ironmasters (who will be described in the next chapter). They took it over not long after they obtained Lawton and associated forges. It was not however included in their partnership with the Foley Staffordshire

The earlier relationship between the Staffordshire and Cheshire works is complicated. Richard Foley III apparently had works in Cheshire and some interest in these formed part of Glover’s estate. Unfortunately a long draft letter to Hall about this in 1691, from Glover’s nephew (and executor) Philip Foley, is in undeciphered shorthand.

Foley, E12/VI/MCc/1; MCf/1; MDc/1-2 Staveley and Carburton Foley, E12/VI/MB series; Notts RO, DD2P 28/6; DDP 84/17-21; Glover: Foley, E12/IV/18-19; TNA, C 5/606/4. The Foley collection also includes business and other papers of John Foley and Richard Foley IV. 10

Foley, E12/VI/MAc/4; MCc/1; MAf/15. 9 Foley, E12/VI/MCc/66; MAf/15ff; MDc/1; Johnson 1954; Awty 1957, 79-81; TNA, PROB 11/508/58. 8

221

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Wolseley Bridge occurs several times as a meeting place: taking Richard Ford’s account for the related partnership at Cunsey (in Furness) in 1733;20 taking depositions in Penelope Lane’s legacy claim in 1740;21 and the dissolution in the 1731 partnership in 1742, when Warine Falkner left it. Assistant managers included Samuel Hopkins and Samuel Barnet.22 The other partners probably continued the concern until at least 1751, Edward Kendall dying in 1746, Thomas Cotton in 1749, and Edward Hall in 1750.23

Partnership for operating the Cheshire Works, and had perhaps passed out of their hands by 1694, before the partnership began. By 1712, Madeley (with Bodfari Forge in Flintshire, built by the Cheshire Ironmasters in 1698) was in the hands of George Sparrow,11 probably with his brother-in-law William Burslem, and Thomas Hart (from 1708 the tenant of Tib Green Forge). Madeley and Bodfari probably returned to the Cheshire Ironmasters in 1716, but Norton and Winnington Forges, which were often associated with Madeley, took a different path: from 1714, they (with Kemberton Furnace in Shropshire) belonged to Edward Kendall of Stourbridge, W.W. Cotton, and William Wright, with Robert Lilly of Stourbridge.12 In the 17th century, both Consall and Oakamoor had slitting mills, but after 1694 only Consall continued slitting. The close link between Mearheath, Consall, and Oakamoor was reinforced when the latter was converted to a tinplate works, probably in the late 1730s. This was one of the earliest tinplate works in the country. Until the 19th century, in contrast to south Wales, there were never more than a mere handful of these anywhere in the Midlands.

After this, Edward Kendall’s widow and sons sold their Cradley works near Stourbridge in 1750 to concentrate on this business.24 It is not clear how quickly the executors of Cotton and Hall withdrew, but the lessees of Madeley in 1749 were Edward Hall of Cranage and the executors of Cotton and Kendall.25 Ultimately the works passed to the Kendall family. Both Madeley and Mearheath continued operating until at least 1760. The absence of the former from a partnership agreement in 1771 (when they brought in their managers Samuel and John Hopkins as partners) suggests it had already closed. It appears however that part of the furnace building continued in use as a foundry, perhaps until the late 1780s. Mearheath ‘and its appendges’ were initially omitted from the 1775 deed dissolving the 1771 partnership and were dealt with by means of an endorsement.26 This partnership only lasted until 1775, when the Hopkins withdrew, taking over works at Rugeley and on Cannock Chase.27 It has been said that the furnace closed in 1763. There may have been a temporary closure, but this seems rather too early for its final demise.

After the death of Obadiah Lane in 1708,13 his share passed to his widow Anne, who sold £500 of her share in 1714 to Warine Falkner, Lane’s servant (perhaps domestic clerk) who married one of her daughters;14 later £700 more.15 Thomas Hall succeeded as managing partner. Philip Foley sold his share to William Rea in 1714,16 and other changes in partnership occurred, including Edward Hall succeeding his late brother Thomas as ‘manager and controller’ on his death in 1715. William Rea and Edward Kendall of Stourbridge (who had been Wheeler’s domestic clerk), probably also had a management role in Staffordshire.17 However, with the cessation of surviving accounts in 1710 much less is known. Anne Lane lost money by becoming ‘an adventurer in the South Sea Company and was a considerable loser’. Edward Hall said she had drawn on him by 1722 to such an extent that she had withdrawn her capital, a subject that came up long after in litigation brought by a daughter claiming a legacy. There was no general account of the partnership from 1710 until about 1728.18 Edward Hall, Warine Falkner, Edward Kendall, and Thomas Cotton then formed a new partnership in the works.19 It seems to have been the practice to hold an annual partners meeting to take the accounts of clerks.

No coke furnaces were built in the area until the Parkers built Apedale, probably in 1784.28 It is therefore possible that one or both of Mearheath and Madeley Furnaces was occasionally in use during the 1770s. The pig iron needed by the forges mostly came from elsewhere: by the mid-1760s the Kendall family controlled Doddington, Duddon, Argyll and Dovey Furnaces. These very probably produced almost as much pig iron as the forges needed. In 1783 the Kendall family built a new furnace at Beaufort in South Wales. This venture marks the virtual end of their interest in the Midland iron industry; the remaining forges were sold or closed. They continued to have interests in Dovey and Argyll Furnaces. Duddon passed to its manager William Latham.29 The later 18th century marked a decline in the iron industry in the area. This had begun in the 1740s when a number of

11 A search for ‘George Sparrow’ in TNA Discovery database reveals a large number of Chancery cases. I only discovered these after publishing King 2007b, and have not investigated them for King, 2018a, which is derived from the same body of research. Some of the same litigation, found in solicitors and other archives has been used. This material suggests that George Sparrow’s main activity was as a coalmaster. The Chancery material in TNA is however likely to throw more light on his activities. 12 TNA, C 11/851/70; Shrops RO, 796/193. 13 TNA, PROB 11/500/457. 14 TNA, C 33/378, f.506. 15 Staffs RO, D 662/3/2/1, Obadiah Lane at p.206. 16 Foley, E12/VI/MAc//70; cf. MCf/24. 17 Awty 1957, 95-9; TNA, C 11/2637/33; Wheeler’s clerk: Staffs RO, D 662/3/2/1, defendant, Edward Kendall 15. 18 TNA, C 11/1760/29; cf. C 33/378, f.506; Staffs RO, D 662/3/2/1-3. All these relate to the same case. Also TNA, C 11/1086/7. 19 Staffs RO, D 661/3/2/3, deposition by Colclough; C 11/1086/7.

TNA, C 11/1548/21. Staffs RO, D 662/3/2/1, heading. 22 TNA, C 11/1086/7. John Wheeler stayed at Haywood (not far away) on his way to the Moorlands in 1691: Foley, E12/VI/DDf/8. This was perhaps chosen as being a day’s ride from his home near Stourbridge. 23 Awty 1957, 96. 24 Dudley Archives, DE/T6/6-33. 25 Berks RO, D/Esa/T59. 26 NLW, Maybery 255. 27 NLW Castell Gorfod 61. 28 The claim that Partridge Nest dates from 1769 appears to be due to a misprint or misunderstanding: see the introduction to ‘coke furnaces’ (below). 29 Awty 1957, 115-7. 20 21

222

Chapter 12: North Staffordshire In 1627 the works were among those assigned to Chetwynd following disputes between the partners. Nothing more is known.

the works including Bromley Forge (one of Lord Paget’s) and Chartley Forge seem to have closed, together with Lawton Furnace in Cheshire.30 Most of the rest of the works continued into the 1770s, but action was being taken in the 1780s to reduce the scale of operations, so that by 1794 in Cheshire and this area only Lea and Winnington Forges remained. Oakamoor may have been more involved in rolling brass than iron. Warmingham in Cheshire had become a plating forge. The rest had either closed entirely or become grinding mills for the pottery industry or corn mills. Lea and Winnington belonged to Samuel Hopkins of Lea Forge and John Latham of Woore. Richard Liversage later replaced Latham and this firm operated beyond Liversage’s death. Hopkins went bankrupt in 1814, but the assignees continued the forges until 1817. These were presumably supplied from Silverdale Furnace near Keele, where Hopkins was a founding partner in 1792.

Associations see Lord Paget’s works on Cannock Chase. Sources TNA, C 2/Chas I/C5/67; C 2/Chas I/C20/17; C 21/C45/18; King 1999a, 68; cf. VCH Staffs viii, 251-2 (not mentioned). Bearstone Mill

This appears to have been a forge at least between 1675 and 1699. It was presumably held with Norton and Winnington Forges, but is only known from references in parish registers and as ‘Bierson’ the inventory Edward Slanes or Slaney of Drayton in Hales at his death in 1685. Like Street Furnace, it probably closed before the end of the century.

The major problem of the iron industry in the area was its remoteness from navigable rivers. After its improvement the River Weaver provided a route into the area, but there was no means of access for trade out of it to the south except the very expensive one of land carriage until the opening of the Trent and Mersey Canal. This alone in periods when iron prices were low must have made the product uncompetitive. This is no doubt what led to the closures of the 1740s. It also had a major influence on the whole pattern of trade. It is very noticeable that the flow of trade is very much one way. Almost invariably pig iron was taken southwards to a forge, south again to a slitting mill and even further south for sale in the north of the Black Country. There was east-west movement at times from furnace to forge as between Mearheath and Consall or Madeley and Norton for example; otherwise the flow was all one way. Even in the 1650s when Moddershall Furnace was associated with Sambrook and other Shropshire Forges the flow was merely from east to west, across the main flow not against it. The exception is the period (from 1714) when Kemberton Furnace was associated with Norton and Winnington Forges.31 On the other hand there may have been a sort of watershed: for bar iron, with rod iron made at Cranage, was marketed through a warehouse at Warrington.

Sources Lead 1977a, 5; Awty 2019, 718; TNA, PROB 4/12659; Pastscape 74323. Chartley Forge

The forge was occupied by a Mr Jenkinson from before 1657 until 1660, when he was succeeded by William Chetwynd. Chartley then presumably followed the descent of Lord Paget’s works until 1684, when they passed to Richard Chetwynd and Humphrey Moore. It was 1692, when it was taken over by John Wheeler in 1692, thus becoming part of the works of the Staffordshire Partnership and so passing to the Cheshire Ironmasters. It was still among the partnerships’ works in 1728, but probably closed soon after. The site is described in Pastscape.

Gazetteer

Size There was a furnace in 1620, but this is not afterwards referred to. 1717 150 tpa; 1718 had made 200 tpa; 1736 idle.

Charcoal ironworks [1] perhaps SJ904486

Associations Oakamoor was owned by Thomas Jenkinson from 1647 to 1661. Otherwise it was part of larger groupings. An account for it in 1728 also related to Teanford Furnace and Bromley Forge, which may thus have been managed together.

The furnace and forge were presumably on the head waters of the River Trent at Abbey Mill. They were built by Thomas Chetwynd with Walter Coleman and Richard Almond in 1612. Richard Almond withdrew about 1614. 30 31

[3] SK04272963

The forge is marked in Yates’ Map of Staffordshire of 1775, near the hamlet of Grindley. There is a moat nearby. It is possible this was used as the forge pound. The first definite reference is in 1617 when it was taken by Middleton, Nye, and Goreing. Henry Goreing himself acted as clerk and claimed to charge the firm for his services as such. The partnership was dissolved in 1627 and Goreing then rented the works alone. Goreing (d.1649) may well have rented the forge for the rest of his life and a family tradition recorded that his family got ‘their estate from coal and iron’, but the history of the forge in the subsequent period remains uncertain.

Principal Sources: Johnson 1954; Awty 1957; King 1999a.

Abbey Hulton ironworks

[2] SJ72523899

Bromley in fact perhaps passed to others, rather than have closed: q.v. See note 12.

223

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Trading It used Mearheath pig iron 1692 to 1710, supplemented by some Forest of Dean pig iron at times.

sometimes through a warehouse at Normacott (Williams 1995, 56-7).

Accounts Full annual accounts: (Foley) Staffs a/c 1692 to 1710.

Accounts as Mearheath, but not before 1682. Sources Foley references as cited for Mearheath; Staffs RO, D 239/M/1212 & 1217; D 1287/1/4 (G/415); Chester 2002; Johnson 1952, 325-6; 1954, 32-3 & 49-51; London Gazette, no. 11664, 2 (7 May 1776) – not mentioned.

Sources TNA, C 3/403/93-94; C 22/72/29; C 7/1086/7; Wilts RO, 1883/205, ‘Chartley demesnes’; Johnson 1952, 325 328 & 339; 1954, 32 & 51; King 1999a, 64-67; VCH Staffs ii, 113. The archives of the Chartley estate for the relevant period have not been traced. Consall Forge

Ellastone Forge and Furnace

[4] SJ999492

[5] c.SK122429

‘A house called a bloomsmithy’ existed in 1433, but there is no evidence of continuity between this and later ironworks. A furnace and forge existed at Ellastone between 1599 and 1620 and were included in the partnership of Middleton Nye & Co from some date after 1617, but the furnace was probably not then in use. Henry Goreing himself acted as clerk for some years. After this nothing is known about them. Slag has been found at Dove Farm, the location given.

The site lies in the deep valley of the River Churnet. There is a high weir where the Caldon Canal, which follows the valley, joins the river. The site is approached from Consall village by a well-engineered path which was probably originally the pack horse route serving the forge. The forge is referred to in a rental of Ipstones as a forge and slitting mill in 1644-6. In 1677 Mr Draycott bought pig iron from Mearheath Furnace. He is probably to be identified with Philip Draycott who was the landlord in 1689. From 1682 until its closure in the 1770s, the forge descended with Mearheath Furnace and Oakamoor Forge. There are no obvious remains of the forge, which was probably dismantled when a flint mill was built on the site in about 1778.

Sources TNA, C 3/403/93 & 94; VCH Staffs ii, 108 113; Dodd 1972, 119; Lead 1977a, 3; King 1999a, 66-7; Mutton 1974. Heighley Furnace

[6] SJ773465

Three smithies existed at Heighley in the 1460s, and remained in use into the next century and very probably until replaced by the furnace there. Being on Lord Audley’s estate, it was probably one of the iron mills, which Robert Luce and then Sir Thomas Lodge supplied from Tunstall (q.v.) in 1563. Other bloomery sites have been discovered in the neighbourhood at Foxley and Eardley End. The location of the furnace is described by Richard Parrott in a manuscript ‘History of Audley and Talke on the Hill’ written in 1733:

Thomas Burndred described the making of iron he having been acquainted with old men who worked at Meirheath Furnaces which were blown by two large leather bellows run by a waterwheel and at Consall Forge. Pig iron was carried on mules to Consall Forge through the woods. In winter the mud was nearly up to their bellies. At Consall the iron was wrought with charcoal into bar and carried to Oakamoor and made into tinplate. I remember the old tin mill being taken down. (Shropshire Archives, Caradoc Newspaper Cuttings, vol. 19, 57, marked S.C. 6/9/1933).

The next house stands at Healey (sic) Pool under the Castle, it is land of the lord of the manor of Audley … long tenanted by the Tylers who were founders at the ironworks. There was a furnese (sic) at the house but it was demolished about 60 years since. About 100 years since Quinton Tyler had the estate for lives; he had two sons William and Thomas ....’

The ‘old men’ must have remembered the works between about 1740 and 1775. The person quoted could be the partner in Winkhill Forge for a decade from 1797. Size 1717 150 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 150 tpa; 1750 300 tpa. Compared to actual production 1690 to 1710, the figure of 150 tpa is at the lower end of the range of amounts it produced. One year it made 229 tpa. There was a slitting mill that usually slit most of the iron made, but from 1708 only 10 tpa were cut, probably to meet local demand, the rest of the iron being sent to Rugeley.

Heighley Castle and an ironstone mine at Tunstall were part of the property sold by Lord Audley to Gilbert Gerard in 1579. His son Thomas Lord Gerard owned them in 1611. On the death of the latter in 1618, these with a furnace and forge passed to another Gilbert Gerard; Quentin Tyler was then in occupation. He was the founder in 1599 and died at Furnace House in 1625. Bloomers are mentioned in Madeley parish register in 1571, 1587, and 1617, but some of these almost certainly worked at Madeley or elsewhere, rather than Heighley. The furnace was held by Walter Chetwynd by 1644 (d.1653) and then William Chetwynd by 1657. In 1651 he also had Madeley Furnace (q.v.), which according to his landlord he was allowing

Associations See Mearheath Furnace, with which as part of the Moorland works, it was held from 1680s. Trading Pig iron was so far as is known almost exclusively supplied from Mearheath Furnace. Other sources were occasionally used if Mearheath furnace was out of blast. One outlet for rod iron was the nailmakers of Audley, 224

Chapter 12: North Staffordshire to decay. It is therefore likely that when he again rented Madeley in the late 1650s he promised to use that furnace and accordingly retired Heighley.

it by 1658. ‘William Quinton’ was presumably William Tyler son of Quinton Tyler of Heighley Furnace, who may thus have been Chetwynd’s founder there, rather than the tenant. It was idle from 1667, but William Chetwynd had it again from 1671, and also at the time of Robert Plot’s visit, sometime before 1686. In 1683 it was let for seven or eleven years to Thomas Hall of Cranage, with Dennis Hayford and William Cotton guaranteeing his performance of the terms of the agreement. There is then a gap in its history (and that of Norton and Winnington Forges). By 1712, it and Bodfari Forge were in the hands of George Sparrow (probably with others) when he subjected his interest to his partnership with Stonier Parrott. This may indicate that it was included in his partnership with William Burslem and Thomas Hart, which also included Tib Green Forge.

Size It was probably originally a typical small furnace of its period. Walter Chetwynd may well have enlarged it, as in 1646 he was operating four forges in conjunction with it. Associations Thomas Lord Gerard (d.1618) held Winnington Forge. Before 1624 Lord Gerard had an ironstone mine at Tunstall Fields. Winnington and Norton Forges and a forge at Wrinehill (i.e. Tib Green Forge) were held by Walter Chetwynd in 1646. For the Chetwynd family see chapter 22. Trading The County Committee at Stafford seized iron and blooms at Stafford and Eccleshall in 1644. The reference to blooms is unexpected as blooms were normally drawn out at the forge where they were refined. This may mean that the practice of drawing out, at Canckwood (Cannock), blooms refined elsewhere is a practice that goes back a long time before Cotton and Hayford took Lord Paget’s works in 1684. The operational structure of the Chetwynd family was advanced beyond their time in other respects.

Daniel Cotton and William Vernon took a lease in 1716. This was probably on behalf of the Cheshire Ironmasters, as the tenants from 1717 to 1722 were William Vernon and partners (not partner). Daniel Cotton, one of the Cheshire Ironmasters was tenant in 1735-1737. In 1749, it was certainly held by the Cheshire Ironmasters: Edward Hall and the executors of Edward Kendall and of Thomas Cotton, who took a lease for seven years. The furnace existed in 1766, but was not included in the Cheshire partnership agreement of 1771, although Winnington and Norton Forges were. From 1777 to 1781 John Hopkins (from 1779 with Thomas Bourne) held Madeley Lower Mill and buildings. In 1783 Samuel Hopkins occupied the Lower mill and buildings and George Bourne and Robert Browne part of the furnace. In 1788 it was let to John Beech of Madeley potter for conversion to a flint mill but he never paid any rent. In 1794 Madeley Mill was let to William Hill, Caleb Hill and John Stevenson millers. They took the furnace too the following year. There is a hollow in the field to the north, which might be a mill pound. It is said that the location of the wheel can be detected but I was unable to find any remains that were obviously of the furnace. There are the remains of various buildings in the area, which are probably of a mill that succeeded it.

Sources Speake 1972, 53-4; TNA, Royalist Composition Papers (Transcript in William Salt Library Stafford, Salt MS 339); Parrott 1733; Lead 1977a, 3; Staffs Hist Collns 1944, 35-6; VCH Staffs xi, 47 187-8; cf. Staffs RO, D 260/M/T/4/103; and see Winnington. Knutton Furnace and Forge at Newcastle under Lyme

[7] SJ837465

The origin of the ironworks is not known, but John Smith had it at the time of his death in 1619. He probably held it before 1597 when he was responsible for building a furnace on the Nannau estate in North Wales near Dolgellau. They were run by John Wright in 1619, after which its history is obscure. Smith also built a forge at Trentham in 1612. The forge was subsequently used as a pan forge held by John Holland, perhaps from 1654 (see ‘other ironworks’ below).

Size 1717 400 tpa.

Sources Pape 1919; 1938, 120-1; 1956, 41; Awty 1957, 72; Lead 1972; 1977a, 1 & 5; Brook 1977, 116; VCH Staffs xi, 155-6. Madeley Furnace

Associations There was a close link for many years with Winnington and Norton [in Hales] Forges. Despite both this and Warmingham belonging to the Crewe family in the 18th century, there was no link between them in the 17th century, when Madeley belonged to the Offeley family. The partnership of Sparrow, Hart and others perhaps included Tib Green and Bodfari Forges. John Hopkins may be the ironmaster who left the Cheshire Partnership in 1776 If so, the reference to the works as ‘Madeley Lower Mill’, suggests that the furnace was not functioning. Thomas and George Bourne might belong to a family concerned in the iron industry around 1740. The division of the furnace suggests it was out of blast, but a foundry may have continued. The furnace was therefore probably closed between 1766 and 1771.

[8] SJ766453

This was one of a number of ironworks on Checkley Brook. There was probably a bloomery here as late as 1617. There had been fabrica ad ferrum faciend [smithy to make iron] in Madeley Park in 1290 and a water-powered forge was let with a coal mine at Leycett in 1480. The works were occupied before 1648 by William Yonge and Richard Foley, perhaps successively; then from 1648 by Walter Chetwynd (d.1653). In 1656-7 William Quinton and partners had it, but William Chetwynd certainly held 225

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Trading Plot recorded that cast-iron garden rollers, which were then a novel idea, were being made at the furnace at the time of his visit. It has been suggested that 4 tons of coldshort ‘gray’ pigs delivered from Lawton Furnace in 1709-10 to Godfrey Oaks ‘potter’ were for use by a pot foundry here. Francis Lloyd (a founder) was connected with the works in 1766.

into that business. Obadiah Lane continued to manage the business until his death in 1708, renewing the lease in the name of his son Nathaniel in 1704. The Staffordshire Works were amalgamated with the Cheshire Works in 1707/8, shortly before Obadiah Lane’s death and Thomas Hall (a Cheshire partner) was appointed manager and controller, a role in which he was succeeded by his brother Edward in 1715. Nathaniel Lane was bought out in 1709. Warine Falkner, who had been Obadiah’s servant and then married one of his considerable family, became a partner with some management role. The furnace apparently passed out of the hands of the firm until February 1721, when a union was agreed with the works of Lord Chetwynd, including Mearheath. In 1726 the partners were Edward Hall of Cranage, Richard Knight of Brinswood [Bringewood], Edward Kendall of Stourbridge, Thomas Cotton of Doddlespool, Ann Lane of Rugeley, Cecilia Lane of Longton widow and Warine Falkner of Rugeley. The furnace continued to be held by the Cheshire Ironmasters until its closure, but it is not entirely clear just when this took place. A local historian gives the date 1763, but the works was still listed as one of those of the reconstructed a Cheshire partnership in 1771 and by the endorsement of reference to ‘Mearheath and appendges’ on its partial dissolution in 1775. The furnace was replaced by a flint mill (grinding flint for the pottery industry) about 1795. There are no remains, so far as is known.

Sources TNA, C 6/116/45; Cheshire RO, DCR 27/8, articles of 1683; DCR 59/1/1 & 5-10; DCR 59/2/1 f. 210; DCR 59/2/311, Madeley 21-28; DCR 59/50/4/14 & 16; Staffs RO, D(W) 1788/P40/B6, 26 Jan. 1711[2]; D(W) 1788/P61/B9, articles of 1716; Berks RO, D/Esa/ T59; Edwards 1958, 193 n23; Awty, 1957, 99-100 113 & 116; Lead 1977a, 3 & 7; 1977b, 19ff; Riley 1987, 8; VCH Staffs xi, 186-8. For Sparrow see King 2007b, 44-5; King 25018a. Mearheath Furnace

[9] about SJ922412

The spelling of the name thus is commonly found in contemporary documents. It is to be preferred to that of the present district of ‘Meir Heath’, which is a place some distance from the furnace and partly not even on the former heath. The furnace was built on heathland in the manor of Normicott and Stallington on a ‘smithie place’ [meaning a bloomery site] called Baggeleys Smithy. It was powered from three springs called Whitewall spring, Ludwall spring, and Munkewall spring, which presumably fed a brook, which was a tributary of the River Trent. It has been suggested that this furnace is the Stone Furnace, which was operated by Sir Walter Harcourt and his son Robert (or rather their tenants) and which supplied Norton Bridge Forge in Chebsey, but that reference is more likely to be to Moddershall Furnace, which is nearer the town of Stone.

Size 1717 600 tpa. This is slightly in excess of actual production in 1707 and 1709, but considerably lower than actual production in previous decades, which commonly exceeded 800 tpa and occasionally almost reached 1100 tpa. In 1754 it was making 18 tpw, perhaps 720 tpa, after allowing for annual relining of the furnace.

It was occupied by: John Olcoatt of Talke from 1580 to 1598 perhaps as a bloomery; Thomas Hunt probably by 1629 and until 1649, when he was bankrupt; then Edward Mainwaring. Richard Foley III had it from 1651 until his death in 1680, with Philip Foley as his partner 1675 to 1678. Philip Foley’s share stood in the names of Richard Avenant and William Mansell as his agents, but was in turn included in Philip’s partnership with his brother Paul Foley. Both these partnerships were dissolved before the death of Richard Foley III and the furnace was then used by Richard Foley IV until his death in c.1681; by his half-uncle John Foley, who died in 1684; and then the latter’s brother-in-law Henry Glover, who died in 1689. The managers in this period were Richard Taylor and then from 1686 Obadiah Lane. Philip Foley as Glover’s executor arranged for his long-time associate John Wheeler to take the business over in 1689. Wheeler made Obadiah Lane (as his local manager) a partner in the business. Philip Foley was evidently a sponsor of the business, but initially that was only a private arrangement between him and Wheeler: it was only in 1698 that they openly declared that they were partners and prepared accounts on that basis from Wheeler’s entry

Associations There was a very close link with Consall Forge and Oakamoor Forge (later tinplate works) which were together known as the Moorland Works. Trading Furnace production was probably expanded in the mid-1670s when Philip Foley sought a new source for pig iron for his forges, leading to sales to Brewood and into the Tame Valley. In the 1690s the proprietors took Chartley Forge, which with the continuing requirement of the associated forges of Consall and Oakamoor largely absorbed the production of the furnace. There were a few other customers, some yet to be located (accounts). Various amounts of pig iron were supplied to Edward Knight & Co, sometimes exceeding 100 tpa, by Warine Falkner 1728-30, by Thomas Cotton & Co 1747-9 and Hall & Co 1750-1 (SW a/c). Accounts Full annual accounts 16761710 with gaps: Staffs a/c and Foley G a/c. Sources Foley, E12/VI/MAc/1 & 3; and MCc/1 & series; E12/VI/DCf/27; TNA, C 11/263AA7/33; Staffs RO, D 593/B/1/20; D 593/G/2/1/29; D 593/I/3/20; D 593/L/1 226

Chapter 12: North Staffordshire Norton Bridge Forge, Chebsey

/19/1; Gross 2001, 219-20; NLW, Castell Gorfod 61; Maybery 255; VCH Staffs, viii, 230 & 244; Johnson 1950; 1952, 333; 1954, 32 & 42-5; Lead 1977a; Schafer 1971, 29; passing references in Foley a/c. Moddershall Furnace or Stone Furnace

[11] SJ869303

The forge was at Norton Bridge in the township of Chebsey, about 6 miles northwest of Stafford. It was driven by a leat from Meece Brook leaving the brook about quarter of a mile upstream of the forge. Its site is marked by a timber framed house, which is named as ‘Hammer House’ on a map of 1795 while an adjoining field is called Hammer Croft on a plan of 1726. The latter names the field on the opposite side of the road as Pool Croft. This contains various humps and bumps, including the remains of a probable mill pound. The site lies at Norton Bridge Junction where the Stafford to Stoke on Trent and Stafford to Crewe lines separate. It seems almost amazing that the site should have been survived, when such a major engineering work has been constructed so close to it.

[10] perhaps SJ925386

The furnace has not been precisely located, but probably stood on the brook, which runs down through Moddershall from the former heath there (inclosed about 1810). The location suggested is the uppermost mill on the brook, which adjoined the heath. The heath was also known as Withnall Forest or Chase, suggesting it was formerly more wooded. If so, this would have provided over 1100 acres of woodland to supply charcoal to the furnace. As such, the suggested site would be the classic location for an early furnace. The furnace lay in the manor of Kibblestone and is likely to have been built by or for some lord of that manor, possibly by Thomas Parkes in 1585 (cf. Norton Bridge in Chebsey, below). Stone Furnace was let by Sir Walter Harcourt and his son Robert Harcourt to Jane Metcalfe in 1611. She sold the lease to Richard Parkes (d.1618). His son Thomas Parkes sold it to Middleton Nye & Co in 1619 and they operated it until c.1622.

The forge was probably built for Sir Walter Harcourt. Schubert suggested 1574 as the date, but 1585 is probably more likely. It is suggested that this and Moddershall Furnace are the other (unspecified) property, included in his lease of Deepmore Furnace and Forge to Thomas Parkes. In particulars for sale of the estate in 1609 the vendor proposed to reserve the forge for his own use for 10 years if the wood lasted, which he expected to be about 3 years. He suggested it should then be converted to a walk mill [fulling mill] or paper mill. He let the forge to Jane Metcalfe in 1611, who sold the lease to Richard Parkes (d.1618). His son Thomas Parkes then sold it to Middleton Nye & Co. Unlike many of Richard Parkes’ other works further south, it did not pass to Thomas Nye, but was retained by the other partners (Middleton, Goreinge & Co, who closed it in c.1622. The plan of 1726 (mentioned above) gives no indication of there being a mill of any kind on the site.

In 1662 Robert Slaney held ‘Moddersall’ furnace as tenant of Thomas Foley and there is a note about the staff at ‘Madarsall’ furnace written on an account dated 1683, which is the last time it is heard of. The reference to Thomas Foley suggests that he or (perhaps) his father Richard Foley II had previously occupied it. This would indicate a descent somewhat similar to that of ironworks in the Tame valley in South Staffordshire, except that the forge did not pass to Thomas Nye alone.

Associations It is said to have operated with a furnace at Stone, but probably Moddershall Furnace; rather than the better known Mearheath Furnace, which was also formerly in the large parish of Stone.

Size probably relatively small, perhaps making 300 tpa. Associations In its early days the furnace was closely associated with a forge by Norton Bridge in Chebsey. Robert Slaney held Sambrook and Grindle Forges in 1662 and then or later other ironworks in the Worfe Valley (see Lizard Forges in chapter 20).

Sources TNA, C 2/Jas I/A10/11; C 3/403/93 & 94; VCH Staffs ii, 113; Lead 1977a, 1; Staffs RO, D 615/E(M)3/5; King 1999a, 66; Schubert 1957, 385. Maps: Staffs RO, D 615/M/4/2-3.

Sources TNA, C 3/403/93-94; Foley, E12/VI/KAc/45 (cf. KAc/20); note written on Foley, E12/VI/MAf/3; King 1999a, 66; VCH Staffs ii, 113; Lead 1977a, 1; Schubert 1957, 388. VCH and Lead largely depended on the C 3 source cited, which B.L.C. Johnson (in VCH) probably failed to read in full. Schubert cites William Salt Library (Stafford) SD 8/30 which should be D 8/30, but this is merely a lease of the herbage of a coppice, in which the reservation of wood was later cancelled. It does not support the inference he drew from it. My suggested erection date results from inferences from the sources on Deepmore (q.v.); see also next item.

Norton Forge, Mucklestone

[12] SJ704378

Much of the history of the forge (actually in Shropshire) remains somewhat obscure. The forge was established by William Grosvenor of Bellaport in 1589 and leased to George Leicester, whose brother married the daughter of Sir Thomas Lodge (see Tunstall in Bloomeries, below) So far as evidence is available its history after 1660 is often identical to that of Madeley Furnace and from 1683 was commonly in the hands of successive partnerships of the Cheshire Ironmasters. In 1646 it was held by Walter Chetwynd with Heighley Furnace. Mr Chetwynd paid rent for its watercourse between 1658 and 1670. Goods and pigs worth £295 at ‘Morton Forge’ included in the 227

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I inventory of Edward ‘Slanes’ [Slaney] of Drayton in Hales at his death in 1685 may in fact have been here, rather than at Moreton Corbett. Thomas Hall rented it with Madeley Furnace in 1683. A rental implies that the forge was void in 1716 and 1717 but occupied in 1721. Edward Kendall, William Westby Cotton, William Wright of Doddlespool, and Robert Lilly of Stourbridge formed a partnership to run Norton and Winnington Forges in 1714, employing Thomas Naylor as clerk from 1718 to 1721. Mr Kendall paid rent from 1734-6. It is not clear when it returned to the main Cheshire Partnership, where Kendall was also a partner. It was in existence in 1766 but, unlike Winnington Forge, it does not seem to be included in the 1771 Cheshire Partnership agreement and may well have been closed by that time. Norton Forge is now the name of a farm and a few cottages. The brook flowing past the farm, which is part of the headwaters of the River Tern, is noticeably straight and slightly above the level of the adjoining meadow. There was in the 1990s a small weir which perhaps marks the site of an older one.

the same period. At one time the forge was described as adjoining the manor of Hounds Cheadle and was claimed to be unable to work without the consent of the head of the Leveson family as lord of that manor. The forge was in the hands of Joseph Bristow and Son until the former’s death in 1677, then of Joseph Bristow II until the early 1680s. It was bought by John Foley (d.1685), partly in satisfaction of a debt to Richard Foley III [of Longton]. Then Henry Glover (d.1689) was a tenant for his own life under Dr John Foley of Nantwich (a medical man). From this period the forge descended with Mearheath as part of the Moorland Works within the Staffordshire Works and later the Cheshire and Staffordshire Works until the late 18th century. The works included a slitting mill whose use was discontinued in 1694. In the late 1720s Thomas Tomkins (or rather Rupert Hurst and workmen on his behalf) exploited a patent that granted to Roger Woodhouse in 1723, for refining pig iron with pitcoal, and made 40 tons at Oakamoor. Tomkins was imprisoned in Poultry Compter as a crown debtor (for over £42,000), having been treasurer to the Commissioners for Hawkers and Pedlars and lost the funds in his hands by speculating in the South Sea and other bubbles in 1720. He was petitioning in 1728 and 1729 to be released in the hope that from the profits of his patent he could pay his debts. Little is known of this enterprise, but Tomkins remained in prison until 1733 and the use of his patent at Oakamoor ceased, a fact for which William Wood lampooned him. He was probably a subtenant of the Cheshire ironmasters.

Size 1717 100 tpa; 1736 150 tpa; 1750 150 tpa; 1766 4 tpw used to make 3 tpw bar (Whitworth 1766, table); 1794 not listed. Associations Long associated with Madeley Furnace and the Cheshire Ironworks, but for a period from 1714 with Kemberton Furnace. Trading Edward Slaney owed £90 to Paul Foley, perhaps for 15 tons of Bishopswood pig iron in 1675 (Foley, E12/ VI/DCf/4). Sources TNA, Royalist Composition papers (Transcript in William Salt Library (Stafford), Salt MS 339); Awty 2019, 717; Cheshire RO, DCR 27/8 59/1/1 59/1/5-10 & 59/2/1; TNA, PROB 4/12659 (it is suggested this is an inaccurate engrossment from an illegible draft); C 11/851/70; Awty 1957, 73 113 & 116; Lead 1977a, 5; NLW, Maybery 255; NLW, Castell Gorfod 61; London Gazette, no. 11664, 2 (7 May 1776) – not mentioned; VCH Staffs ii, 112n. Oakamoor Forge

It is not clear why the assignees in bankruptcy of John Amery of Congleton cheese-factor should in 1756 have offered for sale at Oakamoor, 80 dozen of charcoal, 3 waterwheels, forge hammers and anvils, bellows, bar and scrap iron and utensils belonging to a forge. Nor is it clear when the works was converted to a tinplate mill. As Oakamoor tinplate works, it was included in the 1771 partnership agreement and presumably in the dissolution agreement of 1775 as an ‘appendge’ of Mearheath, but is not mentioned in the published notice of that, suggesting it had been given up in c.1776. George Kendall was the manager, but moved to Acklington, Northumberland in 1776 to build a tinplate mill there. It was probably then let to Henry Knifton and George Smith, who renewed their lease in 1782. It passed in 1790 to Thomas Patton and Co, a copper firm, is said thereafter to have been used for rolling copper and brass. However the tinplate works, said to have existed at or near Cheadle in 1815, was presumably Oakamoor. The works finally closed in 1963. The river Churnet runs in two channels one of which is brick lined and would probably have contained the water wheel. Staffordshire County Council turned it into a picnic area, following the closure and demolition of the works.

[13] SK053447

This forge may have been a bloomery forge of considerable antiquity. There were old forges at Eastwall when Hounds Cheadle was granted to Croxden Abbey in c.1290, and there was certainly a forge belonging to the abbey at its dissolution. The freehold was sold by the crown in 1564 and purchased later that year by Symon Herring. He leased the bloomery forge to Nicholas Lycette, who assigned it to Richard Lee, but it was returned to Lycette after it burnt down in 1573. In 1580 and 1583 Mr Wheston paid for it to the Earl of Shrewsbury. A few years later it was the subject of several conflicting claims. Edward Herring made a settlement of the forge in 1630. Agnes Herring sold it to Thomas Jenkinson in 1647 and he sold it after the Restoration to Joseph Bristow. However these were dealings with the freehold and there may have been other occupiers, but a Mr Jenkinson occupied Chartley in

Size In the Willoughbys’ time, it was planned to make 160 tpa bar iron, requiring 240 tpa pig iron, but this target 228

Chapter 12: North Staffordshire was never achieved. The whole production of the furnace went to the forge, which actually made about 60 to 80 tpa bar iron, suggesting furnace production of 100 to 120 tpa pig iron. When the furnace was in blast it usually only seems to have operated for three to four months; thus production was perhaps of the order of 4-6 tpw. If the campaign had been of the length typical in the late 17th century, its production would have reached the planned level. On occasions there was more than one campaign each year, suggesting that the hearth needed to be replaced rather more often than at a later period. The proprietor was usually short of money and so may have failed to provide adequate working capital. There was usually bar iron in the storehouse ready for sale, so perhaps there was little unmet demand for iron.

165/various: microfilms in Staffs RO, Mf. 12-15). Full annual accounts: (Foley) Staffordshire accounts 1688-1710. Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S114, 253 & 282; Smith 1967, 103-14; Chester 2002; Welch 2000; TNA, C 3/403/93; VCH Staffs ii, 112; Foley, E12/IV/AD/344; E12/VI/MAc/2; MCc/1; NLW, Maybery 255; Castell Gorfod 61; Schofield’s Middewich Journal, 5 Oct. 1756; London Gazette, no. 11664, 2 (7 May 1776); Staffs RO, D 239/M/2551; Johnson 1954, 32-33 4951; Awty 1957, 109 & 115; Lead 1977a, 1; Porter 2004, 142 152-4; Sherlock 1976, 103 (probably from deeds of Staffordshire County Council). For Tomkins, see King 2015b (and 2014b); TNA, PC 1/4/106-107; Cal. Treasury Papers 1720-8, 5256 528 cf. 233 274; Cal. Treasury Books & Papers 1729-30, 103 117 218; Daily Journal, 15 Oct. 1730.

The amount of pig iron sent here suggests that there was only a single finery in the early 1680s with another added before 1690 and one or even two more before 1695. 1717 200 tpa; 1718 250 tpa; 1735 2 forges (Shaw, Staffs, i, 1); 1730 capable of 200 tpa, but probably idle, except while Tomkins made 40 tons by his process (Daily Journal); 1736 nil; 1750 omitted, probably because it was only making tinplate. A detailed description of the tinplate works by the Swede Robsahm is printed by Chester. Blackplate was supplied to the Cheadle brass works in 1763 and to Ecton Copper Mine in 1780.

Oakamoor Furnace

[14] SK043437

The furnace lay a short distance south of Oakamoor on a small tributary of the River Churnet. The forge lay at Oakamoor itself. The furnace was built by Sir Francis Willoughby with Laurence Loggin in 1591, helped by a loan of £400 to the latter by the Countess of Shrewsbury; production began in 1593. The works were in 1594 transferred to Percival Willoughby, who continued them until 1608 (see under the forge, above). At this time the furnace is said to have closed and Humphrey Beddall, the manager moved to Newcastle to work for John Smith at Knutton Heath. It may however be that the works changed hands, and the new proprietor brought his own staff. The furnace was held by Middleton, Nye and Co with Ellastone Forge and Furnace, the latter being left idle. Thomas Orrell was appointed clerk by Henry Goreing to the disapproval of the other partners, who said that he was aged ‘18 years at most ... and unexperienced in the business ... to be able to undergo the office of clerk’. After this the furnace is not heard of and the history of the forge is for a time, uncertain. Time Team undertook an excavation in the garden of an adjacent cottage, but the furnace was beyond their site boundary.

Associations The Earl of Shrewsbury had ironworks on several of his estates including at Sheffield, Lizard (Shrops), and Whitchurch (Herefs). Sir Francis Willoughby also had ironworks at Middleton and at Hints south of Lichfield. There is no reason to suppose any trading connection between works at this period. The late 17th century and throughout much of the 18th the forge formed part of the Moorland Works with Mearheath furnace and Consall Forge. This tightly connected group in turn formed part of the Cheshire and Staffordshire works which comprised virtually all the ironworks between Watling Street and Manchester. Trading Joseph Bristow & Son bought 170 tons pig iron in 1676 and 164 tons in 1677. Joseph Bristow bought 26 tons in 1682 and owed £881 to John Foley as executor of Richard Foley IV at the time of the sale of the forge. After this it was receiving a mere 60-70 tpa, but further supplies from Lawton cannot be ruled out in the early years after its purchase. Production and sales figures in the ensuing years suggest that the forge consumed about 200 tpa. In 1692-3 this had risen to a little over 250 tpa. After 1694 rarely received less than 350 tpa. All of this came from Mearheath Furnace apart from small amounts of cast iron necessaries from Grange furnace and in 170910 when Mearheath furnace was out of blast for two years out of three. (Staffs a/c & Foley G a/c; also executorship accounts and other papers for Henry Glover in Foley, E12/F/IV, Glover).

Accounts etc. As under forge. Sources Sheffield Archives, ACM/S114, 253 & 282; Smith 1967, 103-14; King 1999a, 66; Welch 2000; Chester 2002; TNA, C 3/403/93; VCH Staffs ii, 112; Channel 4 TV, ‘Time Team’, series 11, broadcast 15 Feb. 2004; Wessex Archaeology 2004. Teanford Furnace

[15] perhaps SK005407

This appears in Wilkes’ list of 1735, and was probably short-lived. It is referred to (in passing) in litigation between the Cheshire Ironmasters, as a works for which an account had been prepared for them by James Buckley to Midsummer 1728. The precise location is unknown. Sources TNA, C 7/1086/7; Shaw, Staffs i, 1; Lead 1977a, 7; Riden 1993, 84.

Accounts Accounts exist intermittently for the period of the Willoughbys operations (Nottingham UL, Middleton 229

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Trentham Forge

[16] about SJ864419

Size 1717 1718 & 1750 100 tpa; 1736 idle; 1766 3 tpw bar (Whitworth 1766, table); ‘1794’ (under Shropshire) 1 finery 1 chafery.

John Smith the owner of the Knutton ironworks renegotiated the lease a forge on an island in the Trent in 1612, with fineries and a chafery. This probably succeeded a water-powered bloomery let to John Olcoate of Talke in 1597. Nothing further is known of it, but it presumably followed the same descent. The lease contained power for the tenant to terminate the lease, and that is likely to have occurred not long after Smith’s death in 1619.

Associations Before the Civil War the forge was held with Heighley Furnace. After 1660 it was often occupied with Madeley Furnace and Norton Forge (Shropshire) until their closure, though not for 15 or more years from 1714. In 1794 it was held with Lea Forge in Cheshire, the only other survivor of the Cheshire Ironmasters’ works.

Sources Staffs RO, D 593/I/3/14; VCH Staffs xi, 248-9. Winnington Forge

Sources NLW, Crosse of Shaw Hill 994; Mucklestone Psh Reg (Staffs Psh Reg. Soc. 1929), 49 81 & 109: TNA, Royalist Composition Papers (transcript in William Salt Library, Stafford, Salt MS 339); TNA, C 11/851/70; C 11/2588/28; NLW, Maybery 255; NLW, Castell Gorfod 61; Chester Chronicle, 14 Jun. 1793; Chester Courant, 16 Sep. 1817; London Gazette, no. 11664, 2 (7 May 1776); no. 16900, 1071 (21 May 1814); no. 17508, 1524 (24 Aug. 1819); Awty 1957, 73 113 & 116; Lead 1977a, 5.

[17] about SJ732392

The forge was on the headwaters of the River Tern in the Staffordshire part of the parish of Mucklestone. The name is now applied to a house. The forge pool may have been the meadow to the north. A bed of reeds in the next field to the west may represent the tailrace. The exact location of the forge building is not known. It was built before 1599, and was run by its owner, Sir Thomas Gerard (later Lord Gerard) 1599 until his death in 1618. It was working in 1634. By 1646 it was in the hands of Walter Chetwynd; probably followed by William Chetwynd. However Edward Slaney (‘Slanes’) of Drayton in Hales at his death in 1685 had the reversion of a term in it, suggesting that he had previously occupied it. By that date, it and Norton Forge were probably in the hands of Thomas Hall (with Madeley), but it did not pass to his partnership with Obadiah Lane in 1698, suggesting that it passed into other hands by then. From 1714, Edward Kendall, William Westby Cotton, William Wright of Doddlespool, and Robert Lilly of Stourbridge formed a partnership to run Norton and Winnington Forges (probably with Kemberton Furnace), employing Thomas Naylor as clerk from 1718 to 1721. Thomas Sambrooke was a partner of Kendall in 1726. Kendall was also a partner in the Cheshire Ironmasters. It is not clear when the forge came within the ambit of that partnership. It could have been in 1731 when there was a new Cheshire Ironmasters partnership or much later. It was included in the 1771 partnership agreement of Jonathan and Henry Kendall with Thomas and John Hopkins. On the 1776 dissolution of that partnership, Thomas and John Hopkins were to have it for a year after which it would revert to Jonathan and Henry Kendall. Its subsequent descent is probably the same as Lea Forge. The ‘1794’ list names Hopkins and Latham as occupiers, but the partnership of Samuel Hopkins of Lea Forge and John Latham of Woore (who was presumably managing this forge) was dissolved in 1793. Hopkins’ new partner was Richard Liversage. The firm became bankrupt in 1814 after Liversage’s death, but the creditors seem to have employed Hopkins to run both forges for the benefit of the estate. A dividend from the bankruptcy was declared in 1819, Lea Forge having been advertised for sale in 1817. No similar advert has been found for Winnington, which thus probably closed about 1815. There were no buildings there at the time of the tithe award.

Bloomery forges Forges at Heighley, Madeley, Mearheath, Oakamoor and Trentham were succeeded by later ironworks and appear above. Biddulph or Lee Forge

[18] possibly SJ888598

This seems to have been a late surviving bloomery, belonging to the Biddulph family in 1644. By 1657 it was in the hands of John Crompton, who, with John Turner built Lawton Furnace shortly afterwards. On the other hand, the name Crompton also occurs in connection with Lawton Furnace, in which case it is possible that this was a finery forge. It is unlikely to have retained that use for long. Nothing is then known for a century, until Sir Nigel Gresley and his wife had a plating forge at Biddulph in 1755. This was in the hands of Francis Gosling in 1775, but converted to a Flint Mill in 1786. Francis Gosling moved to Pethills. It was converted back to a forge in c.1820. Francis Gosling & Son advertised that they sold iron axle trees in 1823. This was continued by the executors of George Gosling (the son) and then managed by Robert Forrester, the brother-in-law of the heir S.F. Gosling and then his widow until 1907. Sources TNA, E 112/513/71; Lead 1977a, 3 7, citing Keele UL, Sneyd papers S678; Kennedy 1980; Bonson 2003, 85-7; inf. from D. Cranstone. Halmer End bloomery

[19] about SJ7878498

There was a bloomsmithy at Halmer End in the 1540s. Sources VCH Staffs xi, 47.

230

Chapter 12: North Staffordshire Horton Forge

[20] unlocated c. SJ9455

Ford Green Forge

There were forges at Horton as far back as 1239, and a forge was water-powered by 1438. This was subject to a dispute in 1528, but apparently demolished in 1537.

A forge with 32-inch and 16-inch engines, two tilting hammers, two blast and two air furnaces, and the stack for a puddling furnace was advertised for sale in 1802, probably by Thomas Linop. It was advertised again two years later as a steam scrap forge, when it had an additional air furnace and made 5-6 tons of iron per week and was adapted for making blacksmiths anvils. The ‘blast furnaces’ were probably foundry cupolas.

Sources VCH Staffs ii, 109; vii, 73. Leekfrith ironworks

[21] unlocated c. SJ9960

An ironworks and pool, presumably a bloomery, were granted by Stephen Bagot to Sir Ralph Bagnall in 1564. Nothing else is known of this.

Sources Staffordshire Advertiser, 29 May 1802; 14 Apr. 1814.

Sources VCH Staffs vii, 198. Tunstall

Keele Plating Forge Knutton Plating Forge

[25] SJ822638 [26] SJ837465

[22] unlocated c. SJ8651 John Holland converted a corn mill at Keele into a plating forge in 1673. When Robert Plot visited him, he was making frying pans at Keele and finishing them at Knutton Heath. However, John Holland (one of the Hallen family, whose trade was frying pans) first occurs at Newcastle in 1654, becoming a burgess the following year, suggesting that he took over Knutton Forge about then. Dying in 1691, he was succeeded by his widow Elizabeth, and then in 1718 by his son John Holland. A forge at Knutton Hath was let to Richard Bedson and George Watkins in 1698. The forges were in the hands of John and William Holland, panmakers in 1734. William had ‘frying pan steals’ among his modest goods when he died in 1743. Pans were still made at one of the forges in 1754, using sheet iron from Warmingham and Lea Forges, but this is the last reference to the trade near Newcastle. Knutton Heath Forge was presumably the finery forge used by John Smith in the early 17th century, as described above. A later forge at Knutton was built by Francis Stanier who merged Silverdale and Apedale and retired in the 1880s.

Lord Audley leased his iron mines in 1555 to Robert Luce, on whose death the lease passed to Sir Thomas Lodge while Lord Mayor of London. These supplied five iron mills (which locations are not stated). He objected to a mine called Tunstall Fylde being worked by Ursula Unwyn in 1563, but she asserted she had the right to mine in certain closes under a lease of about 1550 to her late husband, Edward Unwyn and the claim was dismissed. Iron mines there were included in the 1578 sale by a later Lord Audley to Gilbert Gerard (whose son became Lord Gerard) and in dealings with the Gerard estate until about 1618, when a watercourse there is specifically mentioned. It is clear that Tunstall had ironstone mines of some importance and these probably supplied bloomeries, but the subject remains obscure. Both mining and smelting occurred in medieval times. Edward Unwyn purchased a ‘workshop’ about 1550 from Sir Laurence Smith. Sources VCH Staffs viii, 102; ii, 108-09; Staffs Historical Collections o.s. 12(1) (1891), 205; 1931, 182-3, printing TNA, C 3/116/35; C 78/30/14; Awty 1957, 72.

Sources Plot 1686, 335; Pape 1956, 42-3; Gerhold 2009, 45 49; Lead 1977a, 5-7; MacInnes 1986, 55 (citing Keele University, Sneyd Mss, S523 & S545); Thompson 1975, 40-43; Leighton 1972; VCH Staffs xi, 155-6; note also Lichfield RO, inventories of John Holland 1691 and Wm Holland 1743.

Other ironworks Bucknall Ironworks

[24] SJ896503

[23] about SJ900405

A steam engine powered forge was built in about 1801 and enlarged in about 1806. William Martin and Joseph Wooliscroft dissolved their partnership in 1802. It is probably the forge with a 30-inch cylinder engine, an iron helve, a tilt hammer for plating and two fires advertised that year. In 1809, it had two iron helves, a puddling furnace, a balling furnace, a charcoal finery, and a refinery. It was advertised for sale following the bankruptcy of William Parker. It was advertised again in 1812 and 1813, when Francis Coxon had it.

Leek Furnace at Horton

[27] unlocated c. SJ9457

William Fallowfield obtained a patent for smelting iron with peat in 1727, but had not begun to implement it due to the controversy over William Wood’s activities. A furnace is however included in Wilkes’ list of 1735. A later source suggests that it was built in 1719, but Fallowfield was in 1731 dispersing the pamphlet promoting his process: Mr William Fallowfield’s proposal for making iron with peat, at ten pounds a ton, in pursuance of a patent granted to him by his late Majesty. There is no evidence of any forge being associated with it and its nature and function remain problematic.

Sources Derby Mercury, 15 Apr. 1802; Staffordshire Advertiser, 6 Feb. 1802; 2 & 9 Dec. 1809; 2 Feb. 1812; 25 Dec. 1813.

231

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Sources pamphlet: BL, shelf mark 816.m.13(15); Shaw, Staffs i, 1; Pitt 1817, 32; Lead 1977a, 7; Riden 1987, 20; King 2015b, 79.

Sources KB l/b, passim; Derby Mercury, 12 Feb. 1807; 12 Sep. 1821; 21 Feb. 1827; Staffordshire Advertiser, 27 Jun. 1807; 30 Nov. 1811; 14 Jan. 1814.

Pethills Forge

Coke furnaces

[28] SK066521

So far as is known this forge, on the river Hamps, was never more than a plating forge. George Critchlow, a whitesmith who owned it, made the weathercock for Leek Church in 1758 and was succeeded by his widow Elizabeth and son, another George, who died in 1782, two years after his father. The next occupant was Francis Gosling, who died in 1793. He was apparently succeeded by another F. Gosling, who occurs in 1796. George Critchlow had supplied spades and some steel to Ecton Copper Mine in 1780. The forge supplied 64 bars of rail iron to Ecton in 1786, and Gosling bought their scrap iron in 1785. G. Gosling was still at Pethills in 1817 and Gosling & Son were edged tool makers at Petitts (sic) Forge in 1818. George Crichlow Gosling, ironfounder died in 1831 owning property at Pethills.

This area was of little importance in the early years of the coke iron industry. Statistics were probably provided for national lists by Shropshire or South Staffordshire who were not familiar with the area. With the result that the information they gave is confused. There were certainly slightly more early coke furnaces than has previously been recognised. Some sources have conflated Apedale with Partridge Nest. The claim that Partridge Nest dates from 1769 appears to be due to a misprint for 1796 or misunderstanding: Lead (1977a, 10) gives his source (in an endnote) as an article by John Cadman, published in 1903/4. This refers to Pitt, Earl Chatham (i.e. William Pitt the elder) proposing a tax on coal and to a list prepared then. The tax proposal alluded to must be one by William Pitt the younger, which resulted in the 1796 list. Cadman (or his source) appears to have reversed two digits and then applied a wrong interpretation to fit the false date. The confusion may have been compounded by Scrivenor’s version of the c.1790 list giving the date 1768, when the better version (in the Boulton and Watt collection, compiled by William Wilkinson) gives the date as 1784: see King 2012 for discussion of these lists.

Sources Staffs RO, D 239/M/2546; VCH Staffs vii, 214; Lead 1977a, 7; Porter 2004, 43 61 76 112-3 115; KB l/b, 9 Aug. 1796; www.bednallarchive.info/BC2/69; Staffs Advertiser, 3 May 1817; 16 May 1818; Manchester Mercury, 15 Aug 1780;. Stanley Forge

[29] perhaps SJ930518 or c.929520 Apedale Furnace

This was probably also a plating forge, first known when John Lees, forgeman, appears in a jurors list of 1784. It was offered for sale in 1817. There were three mills on the brook below Stanley Pool, which were two flint mills and a corn mill by the 1830s. The forge presumably preceded one of these. One was a corn mill in 1816, which suggests that the forge preceded one of the uppermost mills, one drowned by the expansion of Stanley Pool in 1840.

This was probably built in 1784 by Messrs Parker who built Coneygree Furnace near Dudley, though there is some doubt. It supplied five tons of melting pig iron to Whiston Copper Smelter in 1787. In 1796 728½ tons were made and in 1806 1400 tpa. It was advertised to let in 1817 with two furnaces, blown by a 90-hp engine with a brass cylinder, probably the replacement engine installed in 1797. My ancestor Thomas Firmstone leased it, probably in 1817. He made 2531 tons in 1825 and was there in 1839, but left it soon after when its landlord wished to occupy it himself. He moved to Leycett in Madeley where he had a colliery and furnaces from 1838, but retired in c.1855, when a report to the landlord indicated that a large investment was needed. Firmstone (an elderly man whose only son had died) was not prepared to invest so much. Apedale thus belonged to R.E. (or R.C.) Heathcote in the 1840s, and then to J.E. Heathcote until about 1865. From 1866 it belonged to the Apedale Coal & Iron Co, which was probably also called Stanier & Co. They occupied it until it passed to Midland Coal, Coke, and Iron Co Ltd in 1890. This company continued operations until 1929.

Sources Lead 1977a, 7, citing Staffs Historical Collections 1947 and Staffs Advertiser, 4 Nov. 1784; cf. VCH Staffs vii, 231. Winkhill Forge

[31] SJ82384835

[30] SK060515

A forge at Winkhill Bridge was repeatedly advertised in the early 19th century. It existed by 1797, when Walter Bassett bought parings from Kings Bromley Mill. He was probably succeeded during 1797 by Burndred and Berrisford. In 1807, it had 2 waterwheels and a steam engine and was in the possession of Mr Barnard and Benjamin Berisford. Munt (sic) [Hunt?] and Maulton advertised for a forgeman to plate spades and draw iron in 1811. In 1814 the partnership of William Hunt and William Maulton was dissolved, so that the business could be continued by Edward and John Hunt, who a few months later wanted a man to plate and draw iron. By 1821 William and Edward Hunt had added a flax mill, which they advertised for sale (with the forge) then and in 1827.

Sources Hunt 1979, 31; Brook 1977, 116; Thompson 1975, 42-4; Porter 2004, 144; Tann 1979, 104; King, ‘Firmstone family’; and inf. from the author’s late father J.W. King. For Firmstone: Cheshire RO, DCR 50/6/15; 59/28/3.

232

Chapter 12: North Staffordshire Goldenhill Furnace

[32] about SJ8553

Silverdale Furnaces

The Barker family, who had Brewood, Congreve, and Lizard Forges and later Rugeley and Canckwood Forges, had this furnace near Lane End, which was built under a lease of 1800. The furnace made 184 tons in 1805. That year, Mr Barker advertised for sale a lease of the newly erected furnace. In 1810, Thomas Barker retired from his partnership with William Barker and the executors of William Bancks (who has died in 1803). That year, there were two furnaces, which in 1815 made 18-20 tpw. C. Bancks of Golden Hill and W. Bancks of Brierley Hill advertised that the lease was for sale in 1825, with a blast furnace and foundry at work, but the 1825 list says it was out of blast. This is the final mention of it.

A partnership was formed in 1792 led by Walter Sneyd of Keele, his land agent and Samuel Hopkins of Lea Forge. By 1794 they built two furnaces. The addition of a forge was considered in 1799 and a steam engine to power a rolling mill bought the following year, suggesting the provision of puddling furnaces. 1010 tpa was made in 1805. The furnaces were blown out about 1813, and the partnership dissolved in 1816. After this the works were operated directly by the Sneyd family of Keele Hall, managed by Samuel Peake (d.1848). One of the two furnaces was in blast in 1825. Following Peake’s death, a partnership was formed with Francis Stanier in 1848, he becoming sole lessee in 1851 and taking Robert Heath as a partner. They added forges at Silverdale and Knutton in 1854 and 1855. The partnership with Heath was continued after Stanier’s death in 1856 by his widow and son Francis Broade or Stanier, who took over in 1859 until he retired in 1882; he had different surnames at different times. He took over the Apedale mines in 1866. In 1883 he was succeeded by the Butterley Co from Derbyshire, who continued the works until the turn of the 20th century. There were 58 puddling furnaces in the late 1860s, but only 24 in the early 1880s.

Sources VCH Staffs viii, 103; Gloucester Journal, 23 May 1803; Staffordshire Advertiser, 9 Feb. 1805; London Gazette, no. 16338, 160 (30 Jan. 1810); Butler 1954, 242; Birmingham Gazette, 25 Apr. 1825. Partridge Nest or Springwood Furnace

[34] SJ808472

[33] SJ82114991

The histories of this furnace and Apedale have been confused: one stood on land belonging to Sir Nigel Gresley; the other on Sir Thomas Heathcote’s. While offering the separate histories of two furnaces, I am not certain I have removed all confusion. The owner advertised for a master builder to build a blast furnace at Newcastle in 1788. This probably relates to Partridge Nest Furnace, which was probably the unnamed furnace built in 1790, appearing in the ‘1794’ list. Thomas Kinnersley supplied a single ton of pig iron made there to Wolverley Forge in 1794. The furnace is omitted from the lists of 1796, 1805, and 1810. In 1805, the whole stock and tools at the furnace (from a foundry business there) were auctioned. Kinnersley and Heathcote advertised it to let in 1809, probably without success. The 1825 list includes a furnace at Roggin Row, out of blast and belonging to Kinnersley and Heathcote, with the comment ‘can’t work.’ The furnace would seem to have been short lived. This probably explains why its remains are so well preserved. Perhaps the owner’s advertisement in 1788 failed to attract anyone who really knew how to build a furnace, with the result that it was not properly designed. It may be the furnace recorded by Thomas Butler in 1815, which belonged to Mr Layton and was near Talk o’ the Hill. It made poor iron and little of it. The brick-built furnace on a stone base survives as a field monument.

Sources Birch 1967, 99-103; Hardman 1972 (from Keele UL, Sneyd MSS); Brook 1977, 122; Thompson 1975, 424; VCH Staffs xi, 156.

Sources Aris Birmingham Gazette, 21 Apr. 1788; Staffordshire Advertiser, 25 May 1805; 5 Aug. 1809; SW a/c; Hunt 1979, 31; Brook 1977, 116; Thompson 1975, 42-4; Butler 1954, 242; Staffs RO, D 4452/1/14/16/1; Archaeological Journal 120, 289.

233

13 Cheshire Introduction

‘Kings’ Works’ in the Forest of Dean (at the time owned by the Commonwealth) and brought it up the River Severn by trow. It was landed at Uffington, and then presumably taken by land to Lea Forge.2

Cheshire is generally thought of as a very rural county whose traditional principal products, apart from salt, are those of the dairy. It is therefore something of a surprise to find the iron industry in the area. The iron industry was in fact confined to the valleys of the River Weaver and its tributaries in the south east or central south of the county. Compared to many areas its arrival in the third quarter of the 17th century was relatively late. Ironworks in the Mersey valley are dealt with in chapter 40 with South Lancashire.

Many of the other ironworks were built in the succeeding fifteen years. The origins of Street Furnace and Tib Green Forge remain obscure, but Lawton Furnace and Cranage and Warmingham Forges certainly belong to this period. Most of these ironworks were built by individual entrepreneurs, rather than by any great ironmaking family or partnership. In some cases, the capital of the builder was insufficient, and the enterprise ran into difficulties over a number of years.

The rivers on which the ironworks stood were often quite small. One of the most important was the Checkley Brook which carries a very modest flow of water. The south of the area where the iron industry was established is near the edge of the North Staffordshire coalfield which was presumably the main source of ore. This meant that the iron produced was coldshort. In the 18th century, iron reaching the Stour Valley from Cheshire was described as Cheshire Coldshort, which seems to have been a sort of brand name, but Doddington tough pig is also mentioned. However, redmine (haematite) from Furness was shipped to Frodsham and also used in some furnaces.

By 1674, Warmingham passed to Richard Foley III of Longton in North Staffordshire, followed by Lawton and Cranage, a couple of years later. He already owned Mearheath Furnace and Oakamoor Forge and had recently found an increased market for pig iron in South Staffordshire, following difficulties between his nephews Paul and Philip Foley, over the price of pig iron that Paul was selling to Philip from the Forest of Dean. He was probably the person, who began rationalising the business of selling Cheshire iron to Wolverhampton and Birmingham. After his death his Staffordshire works passed in fairly rapid succession to his son Richard IV, his half-brother John and their brother-in-law Henry Glover. It seems to have been Richard the son, who was responsible for letting the Cheshire Works (as they came to be called).

As in North Staffordshire, one major factor influencing the way the industry developed was the expense of transport. In the 18th century, the major market for iron was in Birmingham and the area to the west of it. Even after the River Weaver navigation was completed in 1730, there was a very considerable distance that iron had to be taken by land to market. This developed a strong tendency for the flow of production to be from north to south, so that furnaces were north of forges and so on.1 This is not of course to imply that some iron was not made for local use and for industrial uses in Manchester and South Lancashire. Indeed, there may have been a sort of watershed in the flow of iron within the county, so that some of the products of Cranage Forge travelled north.

About the same time Walter Chetwynd had retired from the majority of his interests in the iron industry in Staffordshire. His operations had earlier been based on two centres, at Cannock and Madeley. At the former, there seems to have been a major difficulty over the supply of charcoal. Cannock Chase was a common; presumably sheep had prevented the regrowth of coppices after they were cut.3 A new partnership took all these groups of works, that is, Lord Paget’s on Cannock Chase, Madeley and Cheshire. Madeley Furnace was in fact taken in the name of their manager, Thomas Hall with Cotton and Hayford acting as guarantors. The charcoal deficiency at Cannock was made up for by bringing in pig iron cast at Lawton. This was refined at [Abbots] Bromley Forge in the Staffordshire Woodlands, where charcoal was still available and then taken to Canckwood Forge in the form of blooms to be drawn out with pitcoal. The partners who made up this first Cheshire Partnership were Dennis

The iron industry was a relatively late arrival in Cheshire. Previously, any available wood was probably used for salt boiling. The rise of the iron industry probably thus reflects a rise in the use of coal, as the fuel used for boiling salt. The earliest ironworks in Cheshire seems to have consisted of Doddington Furnace and Lea Forge, both on Checkley Brook. These were built, it would seem, by Sir Harry Delves of Doddington. The only evidence of this is that he bought some pig iron in the mid-1650s from the

2 1

Johnson 1951; 1954.

3

235

Wade a/c; Uffington Wharfage a/c. Welch 2000.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 13. Cheshire. 1, Acton Forge; 2, Cranage Forge; 3, Doddington Furnace; 4, Lawton Furnace; 5, Lea Forge; 6, Marston Forge; 7, Oulton Furnace; 8, Street Furnace; 9, Street Forge; 10, Tib Green Forge; 11, Vale Royal Furnace; 12, Warmingham Forge; 13, Wheelock Forge.

Hayford, a Cheshire man; and William Cotton, who at the time had a share in ironworks in Denbighshire. William Cotton lived in Yorkshire and his main interests were there. Dennis Hayford lived in Cheshire, but his main interests in the iron industry were also in the Sheffield area. The management of the various works taken in Cheshire and Staffordshire fell exclusively on the shoulders of Thomas Hall. He was not the first of his family to be involved in the iron industry, as his father had moved to Ruabon some years after marrying a sister of William Cotton I almost certainly to manage William Cotton’s works there. Subsequently Thomas Hall’s eldest brother Michael Hall II was clerk of Pontyblew Forge in succession to Robert Swift, who had moved to Mathrafal.

been a significant product. Part of the furnace structure was carried to Vale Royal where Hall was building a new furnace. This furnace was probably the first in the area to be using ores from Furness, which were shipped to Frodsham,6 though there is an enigmatic reference to Furness ore being sent in 1664 to ‘Mr Fletcher and his partners at ‘Holmes Chapel’, which might refer to a Lancashire furnace (which is probably later – see chapter 8) or to a village near Cranage Forge, which was then Fletcher’s. If the latter, perhaps Cranage was initially a bloomery forge. Its site was very probably chosen because of the availability of a substantial supply of charcoal from the royal Forest of Delamere. Also in 1696 William Cotton and Dennis Heyford disposed of their Cheshire Works in order to concentrate their efforts in Yorkshire. The purchasers were the managers of the works, Thomas Hall, Daniel Cotton and perhaps the former’s brother Edward Hall. They formed a partnership with Obadiah Lane, the local managing partner of the Staffordshire Works, on behalf of himself, John Wheeler the general manager and Philip Foley their financier and patron. This was the second Cheshire Partnership. It only related to the Cheshire Works (Lawton Furnace and Cranage and Warmingham Forges). Madeley and its associated forges were not included, perhaps due to leases having expired.

The widespread group of works in the hands of Thomas Hall cannot have been at all easy to manage. It seems very probable that the more of the management was in the hands of the individual clerks at the works than was really desirable. Thus in 1692 John Wheeler took over Lord Paget’s works, to operate with Mearheath Furnace and some forges which had come into his hands a little earlier. The existing trading pattern, which had by then operated for some seven years, was kept in being by a long term contract for 200 tpa of Lawton pig iron to be supplied to Lord Paget’s Works.4 At the same time the Cheshire Partners were able to get an extended lease of Cranage Forge, where Henry Glover’s executors had a reversionary interest as successors of Richard Foley III.5

In 1698 Thomas Hall on behalf of his partners leased a mill at Bodfari (see chapter 39), inland from Mostyn and converted it to a forge, supplying it with pig iron mainly from Vale Royal. The following decade was one of little change. The main change in the period was perhaps the full amalgamation of the Staffordshire and Cheshire Works in 1708 into one larger partnership with a capital of £24,500. The initial reorganisation in 1707 seems to have

In 1696 Thomas Hall bought up Street Furnace which must have been a pain in the side of whoever had Lawton Furnace, because the two were so close together. This was eventually converted to a plating forge, making pans for boiling salt, frying pans, saw irons, and other goods. Boiler plates, for steam engines, seem later to have 4 5

Johnson 1954; Awty 1957; Staffs a/c. Foley E12/VO/MDc/1 (largely in undeciphered shorthand).

6

236

Awty 1957, 76.

Chapter 13: Cheshire

The Hall family tree.

ended with very slight differences in partnership between the two firms, but in 1708 the Lane family reduced their interest, by the partnership buying in Nathaniel Lane’s share, thereby completing the amalgamation. This was formalised in December 1709 with six equal partners, but William Vernon had £1,050 stock out of the shares of the three Cheshire partners. Both Obadiah Lane and John Wheeler died in 1708.7

It is however clear that the period was by no means one of stagnation. In 1716 Vale Royal Furnace was let to the Coalbrookdale Company with effect from 1718. They sold it to Thomas Baylies, who had been Abraham Darby’s manager in satisfaction of his share. He (apparently having little capital) took partners, including the landlord, Charles Cholmondeley. This Vale Royal Company built another furnace at Sutton (now part of St Helens) in Lancashire and a forge at Acton on the River Weaver. A forge was planned at Haydock, but it is not known if it was built. The Company was capitalised on a grand scale, a second £5000 being called in 1720, and Thomas Baylies was threatened with exclusion from the partnership for failing to pay his share. As a result of the Swedish embargo, the works should have been very successful at first, but the firm was one of many that suffered from the glut of iron following the resumption of the Swedish trade. Its end is probably marked by the execution of a deed of arrangement between Charles Cholmondeley and his creditors in 1731. Although Abraham Darby’s patent for making cast iron pots was assigned to his widow on the dissolution of first Coalbrookdale Company in 1717, the deed seems to imply that Thomas Baylies was licensed to use it at Vale Royal. It seems the trade was also carried on at Sutton. Vale Royal Furnace apparently passed back to the Cheshire Partnership in 1726 (when Edward Hall and Charles Cholmondeley agreed to run Oulton and Vale Royal Furnaces in partnership), but Acton Forge probably closed.10

After this, came a period of change. Tib Green Forge was disposed of in 1708 to Thomas Hart, its manager. Though just in Cheshire, this had been one of the Staffordshire Works. He also took over Bodfari Forge with partners, the following year, with the benefit of a contract for a supply of pig iron from Vale Royal. The important coalmaster George Sparrow was one of the partners in a firm that included Madeley Furnace. This letting did not prove a success for the purchasers and Bodfari Forge was bought back by the Cheshire Ironmasters in 1716, after one of the partners had got badly into debt. A wire mill at Holywell was also associated.8 At the same time there was expansion further afield. Cunsey Furnace was built in 1711 by five partners including three of the Cheshire Ironmasters and their lawyer. Edward Kendall who soon bought the share of the fifth partner, Robert Foley of Stourbridge, was later a partner in the Cheshire firm. They also built a forge at Sparkbridge.9 After this period with the end of the series of annual accounts in the Foley Collection, the activities of the Cheshire Ironmasters are far less well documented.

The last charcoal furnace to be built in Cheshire, at Oulton to the south of Delamere Forest, was the work of Edward

Details of the partnership come from Cheshire a/c; TNA, C 11/1760/29; C 11/1086/7; Staffs RO, D 661/3/2/1-3. These provide more detail than Johnson (1954) and Awty (1957) found. See also the preceding chapter. 8 King 2007b, 44-5; King 2018a. 9 See chapter 41. 7

10

237

King 1993; TNA, C 11/1086/7, answer.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

____________________________ Thomas Cotton | | Lizard d.1671 Eliz = William Fownes Gilbert Fownes = Eliz | c.1595-1658 | Kenley d.c.1647 __________________|_____ ___________|_________ Shrops & Yorks | | | | | _________________________| William II John | | | Spencer ptner; Mathrafal Eliz = Michael William I = Eleanor | Hall I Spencer ptner; Denbs. d.1699 in Cheshire | Mathrafal d.1675 | _____________|_________________________________________ | | | | Thomas Hall I = Joanna William II = Anne Westby Daniel 1657-1715 of Haigh Cheshire d.1722 Cheshire c.1647-1703 | | Denbs. Yorks etc | | __________________________________|_________ ____________|____________________________ | | | | | | Frances Anne = Edward Kendall William Westby = Mary Thomas Frances 1684-1728 1685-1763 1684-1746 Cotton of Haigh m.1715 d.1731 1701-49 = William Bache = William | of Stourbridge 1689-1749 | Cheshire; Lancs Vernon | Cradley; Kemberton Kemberton | Bretton | Warmingham | Cheshire; Lancs then Bretton |_________________________________ |__ |______________________________________ | | | | | | Ralph Vernon Jonathan Kendall Henry Kendall George Kendall Thomas Cotton of Haigh 1713-98 1714-91 1718-87 1724-1814 1723-1802 Warmingham Cheshire; Lancs. Cheshire; Lancs. Oakamoor then Bretton Dovey |___________________ Acklington, Northumb | | Edward Jonathan 1750-1807 Beaufort d.1810 Beaufort after Awty 1957, 96 110.

The Cotton and Kendall family tree.

Hall, who had succeeded his brother as chief manager in Cheshire following his death in 1715. He built it in 1719 and it was probably included in the partnership. In effect, this furnace may be seen as making up for the firm’s loss of Vale Royal Furnace shortly before. The furnace is little known but seems to have descended as part of the Cheshire Ironworks for its entire life. Its product is not entirely clear: it certainly used some Staffordshire ore that was brought down the River Weaver, but it may also have used some Furness or Cumbrian ores, to produce tough pig iron or the ‘mixed’ pig such as that Vale Royal had made when in the partnership’s hands. The erection of Oulton Furnace was followed by that of another furnace, at Carr Mill in South Lancashire, of which Edward Hall took a thirty year lease in 1720. This was a works of the Cunsey Company, a separate company but with many of the same partners. It also had a forge at Aintree, formerly a bloomery. About the same time, outside the Cheshire and outside the partnership Edward Hall joined with his cousin Thomas Cotton and Samuel Shore in taking shares in W.W. Cotton’s new Bretton Furnace and Kilnhurst Forge and perhaps other works in Yorkshire. He was almost certainly merely a sleeping partner in this venture.

servant and had married one of his daughters, managed the works in Staffordshire. In 1726 the partners (at least at Mearheath) were Edward Hall; Richard Knight of Bringewood; Edward Kendall of Stourbridge, perhaps in the right of his wife; Thomas Cotton, in succession to Daniel Cotton; Ann Lane, widow and executrix of Obadiah Lane; Warine Falkner, initially the purchaser or donee of £500 stock from her share; and Cecilia Lane, widow of Nathaniel Lane.11 Robert Foley of Prestwood, second son of and executor of Philip Foley; Thomas Winnington of Stanford Court in Worcestershire, who bought part of Wheeler’s share; Lawrence Booth; and Littleton Rea were all partners in 1722.12 William Rea of Monmouth was a partner from about 1710 to 1719: it is not clear whose share he bought. Until he sold out he was been an agent or cashier under Thomas then Edward Hall (the chief directors of the firm). At that time he owed the firm £1151 and Edward Hall in 1727 wanted that to be made good from his share in the Cunsey Company,13 with the result that the firm probably took over William Rea’s share at Cunsey. The partnership cannot have operated on a very integrated basis. It was said that no general account of the partnership business was drawn up for many years: there appears to have been none between 1710 and 1731. There are several references to meetings at Wolseley Bridge and it may be that at times the Halls as managing

The second Cheshire Partnership continued (being renewed in 1722) until 1731, by which time all the original partners except Edward Hall had retired or died. A series of new partners had bought or inherited shares in the partnership. Edward Hall was the manager in Cheshire and Warine Falkner, who had been Obadiah Lane’s

11 12 13

238

Staffs RO, D 593/I/3/20. TNA, C 11/1086/7, answer. TNA, E 112/957/107, answer of Edward Hall.

Chapter 13: Cheshire proceeded to build new furnaces at near the mouths of the Conway and Dovey. Two of the last new charcoal furnaces were built at Argyll and Lorn on estates of the Dukes of Argyll in the 1750s, respectively by Henry Kendall & Co (in effect the Cheshire Ironmasters) and the Newland Company (also from Furness). This is all part of the final expansion of the charcoal iron industry, when whatever remaining untapped sources of wood for charcoal were identified and put to use.

partners were producing summary accounts at an annual partners’ meeting each year, which were signed with a qualification for ‘errors and omissions’.14 In 1731 the number of partners was reduced to the four, who were also partners in the Cunsey Company: Edward Hall, Edward Kendall, Thomas Cotton and Warine Falkner. However Richard Knight’s share (previously Winnington’s) was not bought out until 1735.15 Warine Falkner retired in 1742, and then objected to the lack of accounts supported by vouchers, but the continuing partners said the proceedings were inadequately constituted: if the Court of Chancery were to rectify errors, all those who had been partners since 1709 (or their executors) needed also to be parties.16 Falkner probably took his claim no further, due to this complication.

The effect of the introduction of coke smelted pig iron in Shropshire in the late 1750s seems to have little effect on the iron forges of Cheshire. When John and Thomas Hopkins were brought into the partnership in 1771, the forges mentioned in the agreement were much the same as those held twenty years before. The situation of the furnaces was however very different: their traditional market in Shropshire and the South Staffordshire for Cheshire Coldshort pig iron had disappeared. Inevitably several furnaces were closed or only occasionally in blast. Madeley Furnace had gone, although one of the Hopkins family was still paying a rent there in the early 1780s, but perhaps for a foundry only. Mearheath Furnace was perhaps only intermittently in use. Awty pointed to the ending of shipments of ore on the River Weaver in 1751, followed by large shipments of pig iron:20 but it is not clear what furnace closures took place. Carr Mill was in other hands from 1759. It is therefore probable that this pig iron came from Duddon and later Argyll Furnaces.

The scale of operations was probably reduced in the early 1730s: the decision not to blow Cunsey in 1733 was the cause of subsequent difficulties with Richard Ford (who had managed it previously). Teanford and Oulton Furnaces disappear in this period. Capacity was again reduced in the 1740s. Chartley Forge in Staffordshire is last heard of at this period, but could have passed into other hands. Lawton Furnace was closed by 1744, when it was converted to a Flint Mill.17 Oakamoor Forge, perhaps idle in about 1729 when Thomas Tomkyns was allowed to try his process there, subsequently became a tinplate works. In 1744 the refinery at Canckwood was improved, presumably reflecting an improvement in the charcoal supply there. Duddon Furnace, on the western or Cumberland bank of the River Duddon near its mouth, was built jointly in 1737 by the Cunsey and Backbarrow Companies, but the Backbarrow Company gave up their share in 1741. By then the Cunsey Company had the same partners as the Cheshire Ironmasters. Also outside the area, Thomas Hall II, Edward Hall’s son was a partner in Sowley Furnace in Hampshire (see chapter 4) from 1729 until perhaps 1744. This was probably linked with the use at Sowley of ore from Furness mines. He and Cotton had also been partners in Bretton Furnace and Kilnhurst Forge in Yorkshire (see chapter 8).

The new partnership of 1771 only lasted a few years. When it was dissolved in 1775, the Hopkins took over Canckwood Forge and Rugeley Slitting Mill, the rest of the works passing to the Kendalls. Between 1771 and 1775 the partnership had acquired, probably as a result of the Bridges’ bankruptcy, Dovey Furnace and a share in Argyll Furnace, but Norton Forge in northeast Shropshire (often associated with Madeley) disappeared from the list of partnership works (probably having closed).21 A new generation of coke furnaces were being built in Shropshire in the 1770s and in South Staffordshire from the beginning of the 1780s. It was this, rather than the first introduction of coke smelted pig iron, which marked the beginning of the end of the Cheshire and north Staffordshire Ironworks. Iron made from coke smelted pig iron was of sufficient quality, for most purposes for which charcoal coldshort pig iron had been used. The new furnaces had an economic advantage both in the price of their fuel and in lower transport costs, through sitting on top of ore and coal and usually being located next to a canal. The effect was to deprive Cheshire of its traditional market for bar iron in the Black Country.

By 1750 all the partners were dead. For the most part the next generation were not interested in following their fathers’ trade, but it is possible the old partnership continued for some time. Jonathan and Henry Kendall and their mother disposed of the family’s own ironworks in South Staffordshire in order to concentrate on the Cheshire Ironworks. In 1749, Cunsey Furnace was given up and forges in Furness jointly owned by the Cunsey and Backbarrow Companies were assigned to the latter,18 but Duddon Furnace was retained and the lease of Madeley was renewed in 1749.19 Bodfari Forge passed to William and Edward Bridge, relatives of the Hall family, who 14 15 16 17 18 19

The activities of the Kendalls had continued almost unabated until the early 1780s. Then the new generation

See preceding chapter. Cheshire RO, DTO/A/3/2, 22 Aug. 1735. TNA, C 7/1086/7. Lead 1977a, 7, from Wedgwood Papers. See chapter 41. Berks RO, D/Esa/T59.

Awty 1957, 112. NLW, Maybery 255; Castell Gorfod 61; London Gazette, no. 11664, 2 (7 May 1776); see also preceding chapter.

20 21

239

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I recognised that the future lay with coke and proceeded to build Beaufort Furnace in the mountains south of the Usk valley in Wales (see chapter 32). Consall Forge (in Staffordshire) had already been let go and become a flint mill. Warmingham was given up at the end of a lease in 1784, being taken by James Paddy of Street Forge and probably became a plating forge like Street. Cranage Forge became a corn mill. Doddington Furnace may well have operated into the 1780s, but had been replaced by a corn mill by 1788. In 1794, of their older works, the Kendall family were left only with Argyll and Dovey Furnaces. These furnaces, presumably in areas where there was still abundant wood for charcoal, had easy access by sea to Cumbrian ore and were therefore in a position to produce top quality tough charcoal pig iron.

Gazetteer

Of the forges in Cheshire and north Staffordshire the only ones left by 1794 were Lea Forge (Cheshire) and Winnington Forge in northeast Shropshire (one of the Madeley Works). These were not in the hands of the Kendall family who had withdrawn from the area, but those of Samuel Hopkins and John Latham. William Latham had managed Duddon Furnace from its inception and became its proprietor in about 1772. The name Hopkins is closely associated with Canckwood Forge. It would seem that relatives of these two former Kendall managers bought the rump of their inland works to work up pig iron that Latham produced at Duddon. These forges then were probably producing tough iron, which could not at this time be matched by anything made from coke pig iron. This iron was probably primarily supplied to local markets. Samuel Hopkins was a founding partner in the Silverdale ironworks in 1792. This may well have led to another change in the use of the remaining forges, marking the end of the use of charcoal made pig iron there. The modest business consisting of Lea and Winnington Forges continued, as Hopkins and Liversage until 1817.22

Acton Forge appears as an address (for Thomas Ryder & Co) in 1806 and on Greenwood’s map (1823). The forge was offered for sale in 1815, with 84 years unexpired, suggesting it was rebuilt in 1800. It had two iron helves, 2 rolling mills, 4 blast fires and 3 air furnaces, powered by two cast-iron waterwheels. The vendors probably included William Sherratt of Salford Ironworks (a foundry making steam engines, etc.) and Thomas Ryder. In 1832, following repair, it was in use as a scrap forge, apparently associated with J & T Sherratt of Salford, making boiler and salt-pan plates, shafts, and bar iron, but it was soon after sold to William Swift & Son late of Bolton-le-Moors. By the time of the tithe award it had been replaced by the zinc works of John Budd, later occupied by W.E. Maud & Co. They were followed by a saltpetre manufactory for the Lowwood Gunpowder Co. Ltd.

Charcoal ironworks Acton Forge

[1] probably SJ601758

The forge stood on the banks of the River Weaver. It was built in 1719 by the Vale Royal Company, which failed about 1731. Thomas Baylies bought 2 hammers and an anvil from Thomas Milner (presumably from Dolgûn) via the Coalbrookdale Company in 1720. It is listed as making 100 tpa prior to its closure. 19½ tons of Acton blooms were worked up at Cranage in 1732 and some pigs from there in 1734, after which nothing is known of the use of the site for rest of the century.

Sources Lancs RO, DDKe 9/108/64 [box 50/31]; King 1993, 7-10; CBD a/c for 1720, 130 149; Cranage a/c, pp.7 and 211; Cheshire Courant, 2 Mar. 1813; Chester Chronicle, 21 Nov. 1806; 14 Apr. 1815; 7 Sep. 1832; 4 Jan. 1833.

General Sources: Johnson 1954; Awty 1957; King 1993. The history of the Cheshire Ironmasters partnership in the 1690s and 1700s is apparent from Cheshire a/c (used by Johnson). Some of the preceding ownership can be deduced from passing references in SIR Y a/c (see chapter 9). Events after 1710 appear from Chancery proceedings between the partners or their representatives: Lane v Hall was a claim by Penelope Lane to the share of her mother Ann, who had in fact largely withdrawn her share in 1722: TNA, C 11/1760/29; depositions etc.: Staffs RO, D 661/3/2/1-3; decree (in 1741): TNA, C 33/378, f.506. Falkner v Hall; and TNA, C 11/1086/7. However individual works are only mentioned in these in passing. A share in the partnership capital also occurs in Staffs RO, D 6065/2. The identity of the partners is also indicated by leases of Mearheath in 1726 (Staffs RO, D 593/I/3/20) and Madeley in 1749 (Berks RO, D/Esa/T59). The events of the 1770s appear from NLW, Maybery 255; and Castell Gorfod 61.

Cranage Forge

[2] SJ757677

Cranage is between Middlewich and Congleton. The forge was on the outskirts of Holmes Chapel and driven by the River Dane, a substantial river. It was probably on the site of the watermill sold by Lord Kilmorey to John Leadbitter in 1660. In the 1660s it was run by William Fletcher of Makeney (Derbs) and George Whyte, perhaps the man who ran New Weir Forge (Herefs) later in the century. They assigned their lease to William Keeling, who took his brother Francis as a partner. The latter was sole proprietor from his brother’s bankruptcy until his own death in 1672. William Rowley was subsequently sued for rent. Richard Foley III of Longton probably held the forge by 1677 (d.1678); then Richard Foley IV (d.1680); then the latter’s half uncle, John Foley (d.1684). About then the forge was underlet: Thomas Hall was living at the forge in 1683 and in 1694, probably as clerk to Cotton and Hayford, but later lived nearby at the Hermitage. Cotton and Hayford obtained an extension of their lease (expiring

22 London Gazette, no. 16900, 1071 (21 May 1814); no. 17508, 1524 (24 Aug. 1819).

240

Chapter 13: Cheshire about 1693) from Henry Glover’s executors in 1691. The forge then descended as part of the Cheshire Works until at least 1775. A lease in 1760 was taken in the name of Ralph Vernon, perhaps a local manager (or partner) rather than an independent ironmaster. It was included in partnership deeds in 1771 and 1775. The expiry of this lease in 1779 probably marks its closure. It had been converted to a corn mill by 1788. The site is now occupied by a large animal feed mill (Massey Feeds), presumably representing a corn mill that succeeded the forge. The only remains of the forge is an impressive six foot weir.

11664, 2 (7 May 1776); Edwards 1960, 46ff (as to status in 1680s); Cheshire RO, DCR 44/13 & 27/8 (address of Thomas Hall). Doddington Furnace

[3] SJ71284772

This was on Checkley Brook, a short distance southeast of Lea Forge, with which it was closely associated. It was fed by a long leat, now largely dry, leaving the brook about a mile upstream of the furnace. The leat crosses the road near the furnace some 125 yards southwest of the brook and high enough above it to permit an overshot wheel. Its origins are obscure, but there are clear indications that the Delves family were making iron from about 1657. There are a number of scattered references to this about then, possibly suggesting that the furnace (and Lea Forge) were built about that time. It seems to have been in the hands of the landowners, successively Sir Harry Delves (d.1663) and his son Sir Thomas Delves, who was apparently still using it in 1667. However a share in the furnace was included in, but then deleted from, the probate inventory of John Tyler of Leighton (Shropshire) in the following decade. Richard Pensell had the works or an interest in them at his death in 1679. The partnership was continued by their sons at least until the lease expired in c.1684 and may have been renewed. John Moreton was a partner at his death in 1700. William Boycott and Richard Corfield were partners in 1702 and had been since before the death of Francis Boycott in 1696. The furnace was brought into the Cheshire partnership in 1711 and continued to belong to this partnership until its closure sometime after 1775. It appears on a map of 1777, but was replaced by a mill before 1788. The stack remains as a substantial mound, surrounded by slag.

Size 1717 140 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 200 tpa. The low output in 1736 accords with the surviving ledger for 1732-5, which indicates there were two fineries, but an output of only 270 tons in three years. There was a slitting mill in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries but apparently not in 1760. Associations From the late 1670s, it was continuously one of the works of successive Cheshire Ironmasters. Trading The sale of 20 tons of iron ore from Stainton (in Furness) to Mr Fletcher and his partners at Holmes Chapel in 1664 is something of a mystery: Fletcher does not seem to have owned New Mills Forge at Makeney, and he did not have a furnace in Cheshire: perhaps it began as a bloomery forge, but it is conceivable that Holmes Chapel Furnace in Lancashire (see chapter 8) is meant. Nevertheless, that furnace has no known history before 1700. 1677 2 tons of Mearheath pig were supplied by Richard Foley to ‘Cranage’; the use of a place name rather than a person’s suggests that Richard Foley was connected with the forge (Staffs a/c). In 1680s some pig was being sent from Ruabon to ‘Hayford and partners’ (Edwards 1960). The main source of supply would inevitably have been the associated furnaces at Lawton and Vale Royal; and later Oulton and Doddington; but perhaps at times Carr, Cunsey, and Duddon, though only the first four are named in accounts for 1732-5. These accounts indicate that most of the output was slit at the forge, the rod iron largely being sold through the firm’s Warrington warehouse, which was already operating by 1716. The mill also slit small quantities of bar iron from Lea and Tib Green, and from Aintree, which belonged to a separate partnership, the ‘Lancashire Works’ (Cranage a/c). Much of the rod iron was already sold at Warrington by 1698 (Cheshire a/c). Another outlet for rod iron was the nailmakers of Audley (Williams 1995, 56-7).

Size 1717 500 tpa; 1788 not in list. Associations It was always held with Lea Forge and was for many years one of the works of the Cheshire Ironmasters. Pensell & Tyler used Caynton Forge and Tibberton Mill from 1671 to 1678. John Moreton also owned Caynton and Sambrook Forges in 1700. Trading Richard Pensell and John ‘Tiler’ sold 150 tons of pig iron to Thomas Fox’ Caynton Forge in 1670, probably (but not necessarily) from here (TNA, C 6/413/47). 62 tons of pig were sent to Sheinton in 1701/2 (Boycott a/c). 8 tons was used at Cranage in 1734 (Cranage a/c). Edward Knight & Co (the Stour Works Partnership) purchased ‘Cheshire Coldshort’ pig iron. It is likely that this was a brand name applied to the product not only of this furnace but also Oulton and Lawton, but 6 cwt. of ‘Doddington tough’ occurs in 1749/50. Sales were specified as from Doddington 1750/1 and 1758-62, amounting to 137 tpa in 1759 (SW a/c).

Accounts Full annual accounts Foley E12/F/VI/MDf series 1696 to 1710 with gaps. Warrington Warehouse ledger 1716-25 and forge and warehouse ledger 1732-5: Cheshire RO, DTO/A/3/4-5. A related cash book has been published as Record Soc. of Lancs & Ches 154 (2017).

Sources Uffington wharfage a/c; Cheshire RO, DDB/E/7-10 & DDB/C/6-7; DDB/Q/2, VII (plan of 1815); Awty 1957, 78 92 113 & 116; TNA, C 6/286/5; C 7/323/90; C 7/572/32; E 112/880/Shropshire 9; PROB 11/459/186; cf. PROB 11/360/238; NLW, Maybery 255; NLW, Castell

Sources Cheshire RO, DMD, K/4 & K/15/2; Foley, E12/ IV/19/8; E12/VI/MDc/1; Bonson 2003, 166-73; Johnson 1954, 32-3 & 47-8; Awty 1957, 76 & 84 & 112; NLW, Maybery 255; Castell Gorfod 61; London Gazette, no. 241

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I 80 Foley E12/VI/MAf/4; a ledger dealing with deliveries of some goods, perhaps bar iron rather than pig iron 167782: E12/VI/MAf/32.

Gorfod 61; London Gazette, no. 11664, 2 (7 May 1776); Riden 1993, 81; Riley 1987, 11; Pastscape 74482. Lawton Furnace

[4] perhaps SJ820560 Sources Awty 1757, 74-5 77 85 & 111; Bonson 2003, 1926; Johnson 1954, 32; Edwards 1960, 46; Lead 1977a, 7; Lawton 2013, 159.

This was on a tributary of the River Wheelock, in the Cheshire parish of Church Lawton, but very close to the Staffordshire border. John Turner built it in 1658 on the site of a corn mill, but he quickly got into financial difficulties, eventually resulting in him taking John Crompton as a partner. They continued to hold the works apparently until Crompton’s death in 1676. Richard Foley III of Longton and his successors at Mearheath Furnace had it by 1677 and a successor John Foley or Henry Glover let it (like Cranage) after 1682, probably to Cotton and Hayford. From that time, it belonged to successive Cheshire partnerships until its closure. John Cope was called stocktaker in 1737, but was perhaps clerk. By 1744 it had been converted to a flint mill.

Lea Forge

[5] SJ706585

This is the lowest of a number of ironworks on Checkley Book. The forge itself lay below a dam of a large pool. There is no sign of this today. The date of erection of the forge is not certainly known, but 1657 is probable, as with Doddington Furnace which was in the same ownership as this forge throughout its life. Sir Harry Delves was involved in making iron in the 1650s being succeeded by his son Sir Thomas in 1663. It was run (like Doddington) probably from the 1660s until about 1710 by Thomas and then William Wright. Initially this was on behalf of Sir Thomas Delves, but it was probably let by the 1670s with the furnace to ironmasters who also operated in Shropshire. In the 1670s, a share in the Doddington Furnace and Lea Forge was included in the probate inventory of Richard Tyler of Leighton Shropshire ‘as stated by Richard Pensell’, but this was then deleted. A share in it was similarly part of the estate of Richard Pensell (d.1679). As at Doddington the partnership of Richard Pensell and John Tyler was continued at least until the lease expired in c.1683. John Moreton was a partner at his death in 1700. William Boycott and Richard Corfield were partners in 1702 and had been since before the death of Francis Boycott. Thomas Corfield may have been one a little later.

Size It made 581 tons in 1678 blast and 523 tons in the 1679/80 blast. From 1696 to 1710 production usually exceeded 600 tpa, reaching 900 tpa in 1703-4; 1717 600 tpa. Associations Turner had previously held Lizard Forge. A forge was intended to work with Lawton Furnace, but its erection was delayed and the wood, bought for it, had to be brought 7 or 8 miles to Lawton, a distance that would fit either Warmingham or Cranage, both of which were later in the hands of Richard Foley III of Longton. As Warmingham was not built until 1668, it is likely the forge was Cranage, which was built in 1660 although not by Turner and Crompton. However, Biddulph is also a possibility. The furnace remained one of the Cheshire Ironmasters’ works until its closure, for example supplying pig iron to Cranage in the early 1730s.

From about 1710 until the late 1770s the forge formed part of the Cheshire Ironmasters’ works. Thomas Cope was clerk until 1738, when he moved to Yorkshire because Thomas Cotton could no longer give him work. John Hopkins was living here at the time of the 1771 partnership agreement. It passed to Jonathan and Henry Kendall on the dissolution of this partnership a few years later, Jonathan Kendall jun. being there in 1783. In c.1790, Messrs. Hopkins and Latham had it. It is referred to in estate deeds of 1836 and 1845, but these are almost certainly merely repeating the 1788 description. In 1793 the partnership of Samuel Hopkins and John Latham was dissolved in 1792. They were evidently succeeded by Hopkins and Liversage, whose partnership continued after the death of Richard Liversage until the bankruptcy of Samuel Hopkins in 1814. The creditors apparently employed Hopkins to continue the forge until about 1817, when the forge and a farm of 181 acres were advertised, claiming that the forge was famous for the quality of its iron. A dividend was declared in the bankruptcy in 1819. Subsequent references to Lea Forge seem to be only to a farm, but the forge was not dismantled until the 1890s. A subsidiary building, perhaps the charcoal barn was on the site was occupied in the 1990s as the warehouse of a drinks wholesaler.

Trading When he built the furnace, Turner agreed to sell 100 tons pig iron at 20 tons per month to Mr Newbrook [i.e. Joshua Newborough]. From 1692 Lord Paget’s works were held by John Wheeler and for the ensuing two decades they were almost exclusively supplied with their pig iron from Lawton. Initially this was under a contract for 200 tpa; later through Obadiah Lane, Wheeler’s managing partner, investing in the Cheshire Partnership. This almost certainly continued previous arrangements when Cotton and Hayford had both. During the period 16961710, for which detailed accounts survive pig iron was being supplied not only to associated forges at Cranage and Warmingham but also to a number of independent ironmasters in Shropshire and Staffordshire. This trade was probably continued until the furnace’s closure. In one sense Lawton occupies a very important position in the iron industry, as being concerned in the beginning of the pig iron trade. The furnace was clearly too big for its original forge and probably always intended to send pig iron to the counties to the south. Accounts Full annual accounts: 1696-1710 with gaps; Foley E12/VI/MDf/1-6 and 24-26; production only: 1678242

Chapter 13: Cheshire and then John Bourne until 1806; John and Thomas Bourne then held it until at least 1831. By 1850 the firm was Bourne and Rigby, who made steam boilers and salt pans. T. J. Rigby continued in business until at least 1890. The forge was probably completely demolished when a large reservoir (now empty) was made.

Size 1717 100 tpa; 1718 140 tpa; 1736 80 tpa; 1750 140 tpa; 1766 4 tpw pig iron was used to make 3 tpw bar (Whitworth 1766, table); 1794 1 finery 1 chafery. Associations The forge was like Doddington Furnace part of the Delves family’s estates. As a result the two works were always held together until the closure of Doddington in the late 1770s or early 1780s. The combination of Tyler and Corfield recalls the works of Boycott and partners in Shropshire. Although these works were not included in that partnership, they may well have belonged to an associated one. After 1710 it was one of the Cheshire Ironmasters’ works. In 1794 Hopkins and Latham also held Winnington Forge. Samuel Hopkins of Lea Forge was a partner in building Silverdale Furnace in 1792. Other members of the Latham family successively held Duddon Furnace; and were managing partners in Argyll and Beaufort Furnaces. A Samuel Hopkins (probably a relative) held Canckwood and Rugeley Forges as well as being a partner in Thomas Hill & Co at Blaenavon in South Wales.

Size 1 finery & 1 chafery in 1790. In 1796 the chafery had two heating fires and there was a reverberatory furnace; in the 19th century there was a scrap house, suggesting that old iron was being worked up. This may apply earlier, as Nicholas Ryder advertised in 1768 for a ‘good baller of scrap iron [who] understands balling and heating the balls in an air furnace’ (Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 26 Dec. 1768). Trading In 1783 Nicholas Ryder bought 12½ tons of pig iron from Snedshill Furnace (Snedshill a/c) and in 1794 and 1795 Nelson & Ryder bought 5 tpa Old Park pig iron (OP a/c). Nicholas Ryder supplied boiler plates for a Watt engine in 1783. In 1796, Nelson & Ryder advertised themselves as suppliers of engine plates and complete boilers. Thomas Rider (perhaps the father of the 1790s partner had an ironfoundry at Scotland Bridge, Manchester by 1772, and the name Ryder occurs at Acton Forge in 1809.

Trading Sir Harry Delves bought 50 tons of Forest pig iron in 1656/7 (Wade a/c, cf. Uffington wharfage a/c). Mr Pensell bought 73¾ tons of Elmbridge pig iron from Thomas Foley in 1669 and was paying his son Paul for pig in 1675 and 1677. The freight payment in 1669 suggests it was delivered at Uffington, which would be the nearest port on the River Severn to this forge. However, Pensell probably also rented Caynton Forge at the time, and that may have been its destination (Foley a/c). 67 tons of Willey pigs were sent about 1697 (Boycott a/c). Pig iron was supplied by the associated Lawton and Vale Royal Furnaces in 1710 and 1711 (Foley E12/VI/MDf/11 & 26). Hopkins and Liversage bought up to 175 tpa of Old Park pig iron 1794 to 1804 (OP a/c). They were offered parings from Kings Bromsley Mill in 1800 (KB l/b, 23 Feb and 10 Mar. 1800). Small amounts of bar iron were slit at Cranage in the early 1730s (Cranage a/c), suggesting that the focus was on bar iron to go into Staffordshire.

Sources Musson & Robinson 1969, 424-5; land tax, Marston; Tann 1974, 169; Chester Chronicle, 1 Apr. 1796; 4 May 1798; Chester Courant, 11 Oct. 1796; various directories. Oulton Furnace

The furnace lay just south of Delamere Forest, on the site now occupied by Oulton Mill. This is an 18th-century building with a T-shaped plan standing against the dam of a large pool. The shape of the buildings is reminiscent of furnace buildings, but it is unlikely that the present building is substantially that of the furnace. Part of the building has a ground floor built of sandstone, perhaps some part of the furnace or of the mill that preceded it. An estate map and survey of 1735 indicates that the buildings then consisted of a dwellinghouse of 2 bays of stone timber and thatch (which is perhaps the present one there), a mill and shed of 3 bays of stone and timber with a tiled roof, a ‘furniss’ of brick and two more houses of one bay each.

Sources Awty 1957, 81 92 109 113 & 116; Johnson 1954, 33 40 48 & 54n.9; Bonson 2003, 85-7; Probate inventory of Richard Tyler (I owe this reference to the late Brian Awty); TNA, C 6/413/47; PROB 11/459/186; PROB 11/360/238; C 7/323/90; C 7/572/32; E 112/880/Shrops 9; Cheshire RO, DDB/E/7-9; DDB/C/6-7; DDB/B/E/5 & 34; DDB/E/74; DDB/C/56; plans: DDB/Q/1/1 & DDB/Q/2, VII & VIII; NLW, Maybery 255; NLW, Castell Gorfod 61; Riley 1987, 11; Hereford Journal, 19 Jun. 1783 (address); Chester Chronicle, 14 Jun. 1793; Chester Courant, 16 Sep. 1817; London Gazette, no. 11664, 2 (7 May 1776); no. 16900, 1071 (21 May 1814); no. 17508, 1524 (24 Aug. 1819). Marston Forge

[7] SJ580651

The corn mill was let to Edward Hall in 1719 for 21 years for conversion to a furnace or ironworks, which was included in the Cheshire Partnership. In about 1726, Charles Cholmondeley and Hall agreed that they would be partners both here and at Vale Royal. Although the surveyor in 1735 described the whole holding as ‘Forge’ [held by] Mr Hall, it is evident from his description of the buildings (quoted above) that it was a furnace, not a forge. While there is no direct evidence that the furnace was continued after the expiry of the lease. The name Kendall is placed against it in the Boulton and Watt closures list of 1788. That list is riddled with

[6] SJ666755

The forge was probably built in about 1768 by Nicholas Ryder. By 1795 the partners were Thomas Ryder and George Nelson, being advertised for sale in 1796 and 1798. It was later occupied by Mr Deakin 1801 to 1803; 243

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I anachronisms but may indicate that it still belonged to the Cheshire Ironmasters when the Kendalls were the leading (or only) partners. As Edward Kendall (d.1746) was only a sleeping partner in the pre-1750 Cheshire Partnership, this may be a reference to his sons who operated the Cheshire Ironworks after about 1750, but could be an anachronism. It may well be the closure of this furnace that is indicated by the change of trading patterns in 1751, which Awty (1957, 101) noted from the Weaver Navigation books.

Sources Johnson 1954, 41 & 48-9; Awty 1957, 108; TNA, PROB 4/12659; Bonson 2003, 212-6. Street Forge

Thomas Hall took a lease of Street Furnace shortly before 1696 on behalf of the Cheshire Ironmasters, primarily with a view to preventing it competing for wood with Lawton Furnace, which was said to be only two miles away. The building was taken down and the roof of the casting house was taken to Vale Royal Furnace, which was being built about the same time. Three other bays of building were moved to Warmingham Forge for a ‘colehouse’. In 1700 a plating forge was built. This was at first operated by the Cheshire partnership making pans, including salt pans and frying pans, and also saw irons. This plating forge belonged to: Cheshire Partnership 1700 to 1710 or later; to Robert Butler in 1733; and to John Paddy (perhaps the latter’s sonin-law) 1750. According to land tax, John Paddy remained the occupier until 1788, followed by James Paddy until 1794. However James Paddy was involved in the business by 1779 and Thomas Paddy was in 1790. James Paddy’s 1793 bankruptcy was superseded, though the assignees in his and Martin Paddy’s bankruptcies advertised the forge (with two fires and a balling furnace). They were again bankrupt two years later. From 1795 to 1815 the occupier was John Twiss, the premises being described as a forge in 1807. It had been advertised for sale in 1805 as a freehold forge: there were two hammers for bar iron or salt pan or boiler plates, 2 reverberatory furnaces and two drawing out fires. Twiss was succeeded in 1817 by William Pointon, who converted it to a mill. There were in the 1990s ruins of a considerable 19th-century brick building built against a massive dam. The base of the building, against the dam is built of sandstone and was no doubt the remains either of the furnace or of the forge. The building was in very poor condition, with a large tree growing inside it and other vegetation growing on top of the walls.

Associations One of the Cheshire Ironmasters works. Trading The main source of charcoal was no doubt from Delamere Forest. The furnace was visited by Charles Lloyd of Dolobran to buy pig iron in 1722 (Lloyd 1975, 49). The furnace was perhaps engaged in producing ‘Cheshire Coldshort’ pig iron (like Doddington). Cranage took 3 tons of ‘Olton’ pigs in 1733 (Cranage a/c). Sources Cheshire RO, DEO 189/2, no 54; DEO 1/12 (plan) and 187/1 (book of reference); TNA, C 7/1086/7. Street Furnace

[9] SJ807588

[8] SJ807588

This mill was on a tributary of the River Wheelock a mile or so north of the modern village of Rode Heath. The origins of the furnace are obscure. Sir Philip Egerton’s iron ore purchases suggest that he operated a furnace between 1686 and 1693, which by a process of elimination must have been this one. Sir Philip Egerton also occupied his own Tib Green Forge after Walter Chetwynd’s lease of the forge expired in 1667. The reversion of a term in the furnace belonged to Edward Slanes or Slaney of Drayton in Hales at his death in 1685, suggesting that he had previously occupied it, presumably to supply his forges at Norton, Bearstone and Winnington. As Chetwynd had Madeley Furnace, he is unlikely to have needed another and Street probably therefore dates from the late 1660s or early 1670s. The forge (see next entry) replaced the furnace.

Trading At the beginning of the 18th century, saw-irons were being sold to John Podmore of Broadwaters Forge outside Kidderminster. The pans were marketed in Manchester, Liverpool, Uttoxeter, Bristol, and London (accounts). The plates for early steam engine boilers seem to be associated with the production of saltpan plates (Rowlands 1969, 53-4), which might point to this forge being their source. In 1790 Thomas Paddy was involved in producing steam engines for James Watt: this probably consisted of making boiler plate.

Associations Sir Philip Egerton probably owned and operated Tib Green Forge while he had the furnace. Edward ‘Slanes’ [Slaney] also owned Winington, ‘Morton’ [?Norton], and ‘Bierson’ [?Bearstone] Forges. These names appear in an inventory (TNA, PROB 4/12659), which seems to be an inaccurate engrossment from an illegible original. Members of the Paddy family held Warmingham Forge in the 1780s.

Accounts Various references in Cheshire Accounts 1696 to 1700; full annual accounts: Cheshire a/c 1700 to 1710 with gaps.

Trading In 1686/7 Sir Philip Egerton sold 9 tons of pig iron to Richard Avenant and John Wheeler (Foley, E12/ VI/KH/5 & 7). He also imported 26 tons of ore from Whitehaven in 1689 (Carlisle RO, D/Hud/1/11, coastal out, 17 May 1689). Under a contract dated 13 May 1693 he bought over 600 tons of Cumberland ore from John Gateskill, agent of Richard Patrickson of Calder Abbey (TNA, E 112/582/51).

Sources Bonson 2003, 212-6; Trans. Historical Soc. Lancs & Ches 59, 125; Manchester Central Library, Archives, M159/1/30, 30; (as to 1783 see Warmingham); Ches RO, Land tax, Odd Rode; London Gazette, no. 13593, 1023; no. 13839, 1353; Shrewsbury Chronicle, 7 Jun. 1777;

244

Chapter 13: Cheshire Flintshire. Thomas Hart’s fate is typical of what happened in the iron industry in this period. He had clearly expanded his industrial interests widely from a relatively small capital base, to become a great man in the industry of the area. The collapse in the price of iron hit him heavily and he was left insolvent. Thomas and John Brookshaw may have been related to Henry Brookshaw, who worked for Thomas Tomkyns making iron by his process at Oakamoor (King 2015, 81).

Manchester Mercury, 20 Aug. 1793; Chester Courant, 5 Feb. 1805. Tib Green Forge

[10] SJ743458

This was one of a number of works standing on the Checkley Brook. It just lay in Wrinehill, Cheshire, Checkley Brook here forming the county boundary. B.L.C. Johnson was unable to locate the forge, but it is in fact shown on Fadden’s Map of Staffordshire 1799 (an extract of which appears as the frontispiece in Staffs Hist. Collns 1944) and also on an estate map of 1698. The latter places it slightly further downstream than the former, and being more detailed and contemporary is probably more accurate. The book of reference to a missing plan of 1735 mentions a coal house of two bays of timber and thatch and a forge of four bays of timber and boarded.

Trading Richard Skinner bought 6 tons of Leighton pig in 1681/2 (Boycott a/c); also in 1686/7 7 tons of Forest pig iron delivered at Bewdley (Foley, E12/F/VI/KH/8). In 1692 he sold 20 tons of mill bar iron to (Foley) Ironworks in Partnership, delivered at Bewdley (Foley a/c). Sir Philip Egerton owed money to Paul Foley in 1675 & 1677, up to £390 [probably for 60 tons pig iron] at one time (Foley, E12/VI/DCf/2 & 24-5). In 1700/1 a succeeding Philip Egerton bought 63 tons Lawton pig iron. In the hands of the Cheshire Partnership before 1709, it operated a finery only making blooms for drawing out at Cannock and latterly also at Cranage. Thomas Hart bought up to 40 tpa of Lawton and Vale Royal pig iron (Cheshire a/c), but must also have drawn supplies from elsewhere. 2 tons of bar iron from here were slit at Cranage in 1732 (Cheshire RO, DTO/A/3/5, 9-10).

The origin of the forge is not known but it was already in existence in 1619 when a hammerman’s daughter was christened. By 1646 it was in the occupation of Walter Chetwynd (d.1653). Shortly after this it was let to Richard Slaney, who died almost immediately after, so that it passed to Robert Slaney and Robert Foley of Stourbridge. In 1659 they sold it to William Chetwynd and he and his servants Richard Pensell and Richard Erdeswick were in possession in 1667 when the 1653 lease expired. By 1675 the landlord Sir Philip Egerton (d.1698) was using it himself, followed by Rev Philip Egerton until 1701, both with Richard Skinner as their clerk. From 1702 to 1709 Obadiah Lane was the tenant on behalf (Foley) Staffordshire Partnership. Thomas Hart, who had been an agent of Obadiah Lane in 1702, rented it from 1709, but was bankrupt in 1729 and died 1730 at Newcastle under Lyme. Thomas Cotton (of the Cheshire Ironmasters) sent iron from here for slitting at Cranage in 1732. It was then occupied by John and Thomas Brookshaw in 1732 to 1735 or later, perhaps followed by Compton. It was referred to in 1750, but as it is not in the 1750 list of forges. As it had made no iron in 1736, it is likely that it had been left literally to rot. Today there are some slight remains of leats in the field to the north of the forge, but there is little trace, either, of two pounds shown on maps as near it or of the forge itself. The actual site of the forge may well have been destroyed by a modern road to Checkley Wood Farm.

Accounts Full annual accounts: Staffs a/c 1702-9. Sources TNA, Royalist Composition Papers (Transcript in William Salt Library, Stafford, Salt MS 339); TNA, C 6/186/35; C 54/5438, no 4; Cheshire RO, DEO 207/2, no 32; DEO 1/5; DEO 212/5 (rentals 1656-93: mostly highly illegible; in many of these appears Richard Skinner as tenant of land round the forge, which does not itself appear, it being held by the owner in hand); DEO 187/1, Wrinehill D; Johnson 1952, 328 & 335-6 & 339; Johnson 1954, 49; Awty 1957, 73 & 912; Lead 1977b, 19ff; Riley 1987, 10. Vale Royal Furnace

[11] unlocated c. SJ625695

This was on a tributary of River Weaver on the western edge of Delamare Forest. The site is referred to as being a mile from Vale Royal (SJ639699). It was probably near Petty Pool Farms, which were rented (probably with the furnace site) in 1696 ‘for the service of the furnace’. The casting house roof was brought from Street Furnace, which was being taken down about the same time. The landlord was authorised to take stone from Delamere Forest to repair a mill and alter it to a ‘forge’. It was held by the Cheshire Partnership from 1696 until at least 1714; probably to 1718, the lease expiry. In 1716 it was let to the Coalbrookdale Company with effect from 1718. Before they had possession Thomas Baylies took over his partners’ shares of the works and formed a new partnership with Charles Cholmondeley of Vale Royal, Richard Turner, and William Watts. In 1721, the capital of the Vale Royal Company was doubled to £10,000. New partners took over half Baylies’ share, which he was in

Size 1717 80 tpa; 1718 140 tpa; 1736 none; 1750 omitted. Associations There ought to have been some furnace associated with it in 1619 (unless it was a bloomery forge): this was possibly Heighley. Sir Philip Egerton had his own source of pig iron, probably Street Furnace (q.v.). Richard Skinner of Woolaston Gloucestershire (not necessarily the same man) was in 1642 the assignee of cordwood in the Forest of Dean and was probably operating Coed Ithel Furnace and perhaps also involved with Rodmore Furnace and Forge. From 1710 to 1716 Thomas Hart and partners had Bodfari Forge. With different partners Hart had a wire mill, the Lower Mill in Greenfield, Flintshire. He also had extensive coal mining interests in the Potteries and 245

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I peril of losing altogether for failure to pay up his share of the capital in 1718. Robert Young was clerk in 1721. About 1726, Charles Cholmondeley and Hall (of the Cheshire Ironmasters) agreed that they would be partners both here and at Oulton. The furnace changed hands in 1731, when Charles Cholmondeley had to assign his estate to his creditors. It then reverted to the Cheshire Partnership, as Edward Hall supplied pig iron to Cranage Forge in 1732-5. It perhaps closed in 1739 on the expiry of the 1716 lease.

evidently Bishop & Baddily. He was followed by 1674 by Richard Foley III of Longton (d.1678); Richard Foley IV (d.1680); then the latter’s half-uncle John Foley (d.1684). It was perhaps in 1683 that the forge passed to Cotton and Hayford (like Cranage) and remained with their successors, the Cheshire Ironmasters for many years, still being among their works as late until after 1775. In 1694 it was let to Thomas Hall for 14 years. In 1708 it was said to be held by Mr Vernon and partners; in 1714-6 and 1721 by William Vernon; and in 1735-7 by Ralph Vernon who renewed the lease in 1739 for 11 years or his life; then in 1740 for 21 years. As William and then Ralph Vernon had stock in the Cheshire Partnership (allowed them out of the share of some other partners), it is probable the forge belonged to that partnership throughout. Thus a balance due for bar iron supplied to the slitting mill at Cranage was settled internally by a transfer to Edward Hall. In 1771 Samuel Vernon renewed the lease on behalf of the Cheshire Ironmasters. He is recorded as paying the rent until 1784, but the land tax assessments attribute the stock to Mr Kendall. In 1783 it was let from 1785 to James Paddy of Street Forge, who held it with Martin Paddy until their bankruptcy in 1795. Subsequent tenants were: Charles Whittingham 1798 to 1804 (bankrupt); and Rev Weston Bayley 1804 to 1805. Samuel Percival rebuilt it as a corn mill in 1806.

Size 1717 600 tpa. Associations 1696 to c.1718 and again by 1732 one of the works of the Cheshire Ironmasters. The Vale Royal Company of 1720 also held Sutton Furnace (Lancs.) and Acton Forge (Ches.). Trading In the hands of the Cheshire Partnership the furnace was using a mixture of redmine, cinders from the Forest of Dean, and Staffordshire ironstone, so as to produce a mixed pig iron, intermediate between coldshort and tough. Most of this was supplied to the partnerships own works, but it also had a clientele among the ironmasters of Staffordshire and the Tern Valley in Shropshire. The succeeding company used redmine as at least part of the charge of the furnace. In 1721/2 and in 1725 the Coalbrookdale Company bought 5 tons and 10 tons of pig iron respectively from the Vale Royal Company for their forge (CBD a/c).

Size 1717 100 tpa; 1718 120 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 300 tpa. Accounts show that actual production around 1700 was usually about 100 tpa. Leases up to 1740 refer to two pairs of bellows as landlords’ fixtures. This presumably means that there was only one finery. The increased production in 1750 is presumably the result of the addition of a second finery. However the original agreement for its erection, provided for the landlord to make two fineries. There were two fineries in 1790. In 1793 and 1800, there were stated to be one finery, two chaferies, and a large balling furnace.

Accounts Full annual accounts 1696-1711: Cheshire a/c (including the cost of building it in 1696 and 1697); the profit for 1713 and 1714: Foley, E12/F/VI/MCc/1; 171923: VR a/c. Sources Shropshire RO, 245/3; Cheshire RO, DBC 1621/ Delamere/20A; DBC/2309/2/9; DBC/1063/10, copy deed 31 Jan. 1717[8]; Lancashire RO, DDKe 9/108/63-5 [box 50/30-31 49]; TNA, C 7/1086/7; King 1993; Johnson 1952, 332 335 & 338; Johnson 1954, 32 & 36-40; Mott 1957b; Awty 1957, 79 & passim; Raistrick 1953, 54. Edwards (1960, 45) argued that there was a furnace here before 1696, probably built by Richard Foley of Longton, but his Cheshire furnace was Lawton. The evidence cited here clearly indicates the erection of a furnace in 1696. Warmingham Forge

Associations Richard Foley held Lawton and probably Cranage. Both these were also later in the hands of the Cheshire Ironmasters. The Paddy family used Street Forge as a plating forge for many years. Trading In 1669 102½ tons of pig iron were sent up the River Severn from Broadoak to Bishop and Baddily. The amount of the freight paid suggests it was landed in Shropshire (Schafer 1978, 98). In the early 18th century, it was using pig iron from Lawton and Vale Royal (Cheshire a/c). In 1732, a small amount of bar iron was sent to Cranage for slitting (Cranage a/c). Charles Whittingham bought 10 tons of Old Park pig iron in 1800 (OP a/c). From 1696 to 1705 or thereabouts the forge was also making salt pans and saw irons (Cheshire a/c), but this trade was later concentrated at Street Forge.

[12] SJ705624

The forge was on the River Wheelock about a mile north of the village, where the road crosses the river on an embankment and bridge. Underneath the bridge is a weir with a drop of two to three feet. In former times it is likely that the weir was higher with the embankment acting as the dam for a pool. A bungalow north of the bridge appears to contain some timber framing, and may incorporate some part of the forge buildings. The forge site was granted to John Wishaw to build a forge in 1666, but something went wrong with this. In 1668 John Crewe (the landlord), undertaking to build the forge himself, let it for 21 years to Mr Bishop of Shropshire. His firm was

Accounts Full annual accounts: Cheshire a/c 1696 to 1710 with gaps.

246

Chapter 13: Cheshire Sources Cheshire RO, DCR 27/8, articles of 1666, & 1668 & lease of 1694; DCR 44/13 & 32/6/23 & 32/7/45; DCR 59/1/2 (Mr Foley buying wood, in rental); DCR 59/1/3 f.12 & DCR 59/1/5-10; DCR 59/2/1 DCR 59/2/2-11 Warmingham 7; land tax, Warmingham; NLW, Maybery 255; NLW, Castell Gorfod 61; Johnson 1954, 32 & 489; Awty 1957, 79 & 111 & 114-6; Bonson 2003, 231-4; London Gazette, no. 11664, 2 (7 May 1776); no. 13593, 1023; no. 13839, 1353; no. 15721, 894; Manchester Mercury, 20 Aug. 1793; Chester Courant, 11 Mar. 1800. Wheelock Forge

[13] SJ748591

James Paddey of Street Forge was a partner in the Wheelock salt works of Whitehead & Co, whose partnership was dissolved in 1795. Paddey’s successor at Street Forge was a partner in a subsequent lease of the salt works in 1798, with George Shaw (d.1829) as managing partner. In 1812, a forge was built on the banks of the Trent and Mersey Canal at Wheelock. A third share in this, probably that of William Booth was advertised in 1815 and again in 1816. The firm was later Charles Johnson & Co. The third partner may have been George Shaw. The business was continued by Matthew Johnson (d.1857) and his representatives, who offered it for sale in 1862. It was still a forge (and saltworks) in the early 1880s. Sources Chester Courant, 26 May 1795; Chester Chronicle, 10 & 17 Mar. 1815 and 26 Jan. 1816; Birmingham Gazette, 19 Jan. 1829; Liverpool Mercury, 26 Aug. 1857; Manchester Times, 7 Jun. 1862; cf. Birmingham Archives, 455566.

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14 Wrexham and Flintshire Introduction

earlier. Bersham (with which Esclusham has sometimes been conflated) dates from 1718 and was at times fuelled with coke.

The Denbighshire coalfield occupies the area round Wrexham and Ruabon (both now in Wrexham County Borough) and extends north up the east side of the Dee estuary. The area’s political geography is complicated. Some works were in detached parishes of Flintshire, which were added to Denbighshire in the 19th century. The two counties were combined to make Clwyd in 1974, but recreated (though with slightly different boundaries in 1996, with the southern part of each becoming Wrexham County Borough. The area dealt with in this chapter approximates to the current Wrexham and Flintshire, but is often alluded to, elsewhere in this book, as ‘Denbighshire’, as the most important ironworks were in pre-1974 Denbighshire. The Clwydian range of hills may be taken as an approximate western boundary, so that two works on the river Wheeler are left to be dealt with in chapter 39 on the Welsh Coast.

Perhaps the most notable feature of the industry in Denbighshire is the dearth of forges. It may well be that there were other forges in the formative stages of the industry, an ill-documented period. Pontyblew is the first known forge in Denbighshire. The next was a very small one at Abenbury, which was not built until 1726. The reason for this seems to be that the furnaces supplied forges, not in Denbighshire, but in Montgomeryshire and north Shropshire. The main trade of these was apparently towards markets down the river Severn. The primary reason for this is probably that the local market for iron was limited, there being no large community of ironmongers, nailers and other workers in industries using iron, in the way that there was around Birmingham and Stourbridge. Thus it was no great inconvenience for ironmasters to send pig iron southwards to be converted into bar iron, as it would have to be sent on in that direction anyway to be sold. The arrangement is thus a logical one, and is similar to that in Cheshire and north Staffordshire.

Compared to other areas the iron industry seems to have been relatively late arrival. The area lies where the Shropshire and Cheshire plain meets the Welsh mountains, hence there is no shortage of water power. If there was a shortage of any necessary commodity it was probably of wood. The parts of the area were somewhat landlocked: the river Dee was navigable from Bangor to Chester,1 but goods had to be landed and portaged past Chester weir. It remains unclear how much use was made of the river above Chester for transport of heavy goods, such as cannon from Bersham. At the end of the period, a canal penetrated the south of the area, with spectacular aqueducts over the Ceiriog and Dee valleys, including Pontcysyllte, completed in 1805, but the section of the Ellesmere Canal from there to Chester through the mining area was never built. There have been about five charcoal furnaces in the area. The earliest known, at Ifton, existed from about 1623 to 1664 and spent most of its life in association with forges at Fernhill and Maesbury in Shropshire, and so appears in the following chapter. Ruabon Furnace, built in 1631, operated with Pontyblew Forge, built in 1634. Esclusham and Plas Maddock Furnaces are first referred to in the last quarter of the 17th century, but their origins and early associations remain obscure. Nevertheless, the existence of a fireback at Ellesmere, built into a 19th century stable of The Hollies at Ellesmere, bearing the date 1611 and the initials RT – probably those of the person commissioning it,2 raises the possibility that one of them was much

Roger Hill of the Priory, Dudley built a furnace on land of Gerrard Eyton at Ruabon in 1631. He then took Arthur Kynaston as a partner, getting the benefit of a mining agreement for the land of Owen Baddy, which Kynaston had obtained for Ifton Furnace (described in the next chapter). Baddy sold his land to Thomas Middleton of Chirk Castle, who then prevented further mining, threatening to cut the ropes and bury the miners alive, unless they desisted.3 This was followed by a 1634 partnership between Middleton, Eyton and William Wilson, who together built Pontyblew Forge. Two of them invested five years later in the project to build a slitting mill at Cookley in the Stour valley, which implies an intention to send iron to Stourbridge to make into nails. The same objective can also be seen in accounts in the 1640s for Fernhill and Maesbury Forges, whose products went to a warehouse at Montford Bridge to be taken down the Severn to Bewdley. In another notable feature is the low output of the two furnaces listed as operating in 1717. Even after Bersham was built about 1718, the three between them were reckoned to make a mere 850 tpa. This was less than just one of their larger contemporaries, such as Mearheath and Tintern, sometimes made. There were perhaps two factors

1 Ches RO, QDN 4/1-3. Richard Dean and Pat Jones drew my attention to this source (referring to 1795); Private Act, 2 & 3 Edward VI, c.2; Latham (ed.), 1981, 90; Holt Local Hist. Soc. 1999, 158. 2 D. Cranstone, pers. comm.

This was subject to much litigation, including TNA, C 2/Chas I/ K11/22; C 2/Chas I/K20/45; C 2/Chas I/B90/63; C 2/Chas I.B55/24; C 2/ Chas I/B129/18; C 2/Chas I/109/6; C 2/Chas I/B96/1; C 21/B41/2 & 5; C 21/B17/17. 3

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Map 14. Wrexham and Flintshire. 1, Abenbury Forge; 2, Bersham Furnace; 3, Esclusham Furnace; 4, Gwersyllt; 5, Holywell Forge; 6, Holywell Wiremills; 7, Llwyn Onn Forge; 8, Plas Maddock Furnace; 9, Pontyblew Forge; 10, Ruabon Furnaces; 11, Bodidris Forge; 12, Gardden pothouse; 13, Gwersyllt Lower Wiremill; 14, Gwersyllt Upper Wiremill; 15, Hawarden Foundry; 16, Penley Iron Forge; 17, Plas Kynaston Foundry; 18, Rossett Mill; 19, Ruabon Forge; 20, Ruabon Wiremill; 21, Brymbo Furnace; 22, Ffrwd Furnace; 23, Llwyneinnion Furnace; 24, Ponkey Furnace (now Ponciau); 25, Ruabon Furnaces or Pant Furnaces; 26, Newbridge Furnace (in Ruabon).

company were near Shrewsbury and are discussed more fully in chapter 16.4

at work in this: the expense of carriage to the forges or to the River Severn was not inconsiderable; and it may be the supply of wood for making into charcoal was not very great. In the longer term, the role for furnaces in the Wrexham and Ruabon area seems to have been to supply pig iron to the owners of forges in north Shropshire, such as Charles Jones of Tibberton.

As a Quaker, Lloyd would have been in close contact with the Darbys and Fords at Coalbrookdale. In addition John Kelsall, his clerk, had been trained there before going to Dolgun Furnace. In 1729 following the bankruptcy of Charles Lloyd and the collapse of Wood’s company (see chapter 16), Bersham Furnace was managed by John Hawkins, in partnership with the Coalbrookdale partners Richard Ford, Thomas Goldney, and Abraham Darby II. It had a considerable involvement in the foundry trade. To what extent this left charcoal available for Plas Maddock and Ruabon Furnaces is not certain. For a short period in the middle of the 18th century Plas Maddock pig iron was reaching the Stour Valley. This may point to an upturn in production or it may be the result of some other change in its traditional market. Then the market for pig iron in the area changed considerably in the 1750s with the opening of Horsehay and Lightmoor Furnaces in Shropshire. This seems to have made it harder for Denbighshire pig iron to be sold in Shropshire and to have stimulated the erection of additional forges at Llwyn Onn and Gwersyllt near Wrexham.

Coke began to be used at Bersham in the 1720s for making cast iron ware: Charles Lloyd’s clerk, John Kelsall, recorded the use of coke at Bersham during that decade for ‘potting’, i.e. producing cast iron pots and other goods. The building of this furnace was a joint venture between Lloyd and his fellow Quakers in the Tern Company, led by Thomas Harvey. William Wood, hitherto a ironmonger Wolverhampton (and not a Quaker), had acquired certain shares in that company. He offered Harvey a vast sum for his shares and also the Gardden estate, where he had built a pot house, i.e. a foundry. However the principal function of Wood’s Bersham and Ruabon Furnaces was supplying pig iron to their Shropshire forges, Tern, Sutton and Eaton, together with Mathrafal Forge in Montgomeryshire, built by Charles Lloyd, who was a partner at Bersham. William Wood then converted his whole enterprise into a bubble (an unincorporated public company), but the main objective was to make profits from stock-jobbing (stock exchange speculation). The principal activities of the

4

250

See also King 2011b; on Lloyd see Lloyd 1975, 37-63.

Chapter 14: Wrexham and Flintshire Meanwhile his elder son John became managing partner of the new furnace built in 1757 at Willey in Shropshire. Also in 1757 he established the Bradley ironworks in the Black Country, but it had trouble in getting an adequate supply of raw materials, as described elsewhere. Willey Furnace was set up by a large company but was apparently also in trouble by 1763: a leading partner wanted to withdraw, presumably because of losses. Thus both companies were reconstructed in the 1760s with Isaac’s elder son John as the leading partner. This was evidently a success, and subsequently he built Snedshill, Hollinswood, and New Hadley Furnaces in Shropshire. John’s brother William Wilkinson was recruited to go to France to establish the first coke ironworks there, and spent time abroad from 1775 until 1786. After his return, the brothers became involved in litigation with each other, apparently over whether William was entitled to a share of Snedshill as well as Bersham (where he had been a partner since 1774). Eventually John bought Bersham at a sale of the partnership property, but he closed it and built himself a new ironworks at Brymbo. Meanwhile, William Wilkinson recruited the craftsmen producing cylinders at Bersham and took them to Birmingham, so that Boulton and Watt could employ them in their new Soho Foundry.9

The district did not produce many prominent figures in the iron industry. Plas Maddock Furnace belonged for most of its recorded history to the Lloyd family of Plas Maddock and their descendants: this represents an unusual case of a dynasty of minor landed gentry carrying on ironworks on their own estate for a long period. If the pedigree printed by Ifor Edwards is correct, then the works were passed down the family for six generations of the Lloyd and Rowland family spread over some 150 years. The first Edward Lloyd appears to have both bought and sold cast iron necessaries for forges. The identity of his forge is not known; perhaps it was one of those in North Shropshire. His grandson, Edward Lloyd II probably took Pontyblew Forge in 1710. He was succeeded by his son-in-law John Rowland, who built Pool Quay Forge and for a time owned Sutton Forge. In the meantime their Plas Maddock Furnace was replaced by a new coke furnace at Ruabon in 1790.5 His grandson, Edward Lloyd Rowland, was perhaps the last casualty of the depression in the industry at the end of the Napoleonic War: he became bankrupt in 1823, and was found already to have been insolvent in 1820. After Bersham Furnace was built in 1718, it belonged (as already mentioned) to Charles Lloyd of Dolobran and the owners of Tern Forge, including William Wood. His latter’s experiments with a sort of coke bloomery, were carried out at Frizington in Cumberland in the late 1720s. It seems to be a mere coincidence that Joshua Gee, a later owner of Tern Forge, also had the Frizington mines (though different ones), and was shipping ore to Chester a couple of decades later. In Cumberland it is said he used this in Shropshire furnaces. He did not have a furnace there, but he was a partner at Bersham by 1742.6

John Wilkinson enjoyed a mixed reputation as a gunfounder, at times annoying the Ordnance Board. Detail of his activities is often obscured by his acting as a subcontractor to London merchants. This started in 1759 with a contract for 90 tons of 12-pounders and ½-pounders and 200 tons of shot, perhaps from Willey.10 A 1760 contract made by Coram, Vaughan & Crofts of Bristol for 600 tons was probably executed by Wilkinson.11 In the next war, his frontman was Anthony Bacon, a London merchant, whose opening gambit was to offer experimental guns for a trial, one made with coke, another with charcoal, and a third with a mixture. When these were tendered, Bacon also provided one cast solid and bored, which might be done for £2 per ton extra.12 A report to the Board stated that ‘casting guns solid is infinitely better than the ordinary way because it makes the ordnance more compact and consequently more durable.13 Wilkinson then proceeded to patent his method of making guns.14 The Board ordered that all cannon should be cast solid and bored, but John Jones of Bristol, who had contracted to provide 200 tons complained he was threatened with a prosecution by the patentee (i.e. Wilkinson). The ultimate outcome of this was that the patent was cancelled as ‘inconvenient’.15

Isaac and John Wilkinson In 1753 Bersham passed to Isaac Wilkinson and then to his son John: Isaac Wilkinson’s antecedents are disputed, as the surname is a common one. Butler suggested he was Washington in County Durham.7 His first known position was as potfounder at Little Clifton Furnace near Workington. Its proprietors included the Cooksons of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Edward Kendall of Stourbridge. Isaac moved to Backbarrow in 1735, but left in 1748 to become a partner at Low Wood (also in Furness). He probably bought Wilson House at Lindal in their period, but the furnace there was probably his son’s. From his arrival at Bersham it is likely wholly to have been a coke furnace. However he did not do well there and became insolvent in 1763.8

Vast amounts have been written about Wilkinson: see Palmer 1898; Dickinson 1914; Holdcroft 1948; Chaloner 1951b; Edwards 1972; Barker 1992 and most other articles in Wilkinson Studies; Butler thesis; Soldon 1998; Dawson 2012. It is unfortunate that Dawson did not take full account of Butler’s conclusions, on which see also ODNB, ‘Isaac Wilkinson’; ‘John Wilkinson’. For William Wilkinson see also Braid 1991b. 10 TNA, WO 47/53, 445 461. 11 TNA, WO 47/55, 186 222 264. WO 47/61, 14. 12 TNA, WO 47/82, 4 208 287-8 303. 13 TNA, WO 47/83, 240; Pink 1991, 44. 14 English Patent, no. 1063, Braid 1991c. 15 TNA, WO 47/83, 150 186; WO 47/180 194; Braid 1992c. 9

5 Plas Maddock appears on the Ellesmere Canal map (1795) adjoining a section of the canal that was never built, whether this refers to the furnace or merely the hall is not apparent (Wikipedia, ‘Ellesmere Canal’, map). 6 See King 2011b; for Frizington, King 2014b. 7 Butler thesis; whence ODNB, ‘Isaac Wilkinson’ (written by her supervisor). 8 Chaloner 1960; Cranstone 1991. The statement in Stockdale 1872 that Isaac built Bersham seems to be wrong ; and see chapter 41.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Bacon’s contract with Wilkinson ended in 1776,16 after which Bacon cast guns at his own Cyfarthfa Furnace. The next frontmen seem to have been London iron merchants, Andrews and John Harrison, who shipped guns from Chester (implying they were cast at Bersham) and provided an affidavit from John Wilkinson of their being cast out of solid.17 Harrison & Co supplied guns with the trunnion marks B, B-solid, B solid-bored, W, and W-solid.18 The B and W presumably refer to Bersham and Willey respectively. A further contract was in the name of George Knott & Co (the Newland Company).19 In 1788, Wilkinson stated that these guns (marked K or K-solid) were also made by him. Such supplies occur again at the start of the next war.20 Unfortunately, the records surviving from the French wars of the 1790s and 1800s do not make it easy to discover details of ordnance production during them,21 but the proof book for 1794-7 does not record any guns made by Wilkinson.22

The great opening up of Denbighshire to the iron industry had to wait until the completion of the canal across the Pontcysyllte aqueduct. Even then Denbighshire remained, as it had always been, one of the smaller iron making districts. It is not clear when the few forges closed: an annotation on the 1794 list dated 1797 implies that Llwyn Onn became a paper mill in 1797, but it was advertised as a forge in 1809 and may have remained one. Abenbury was being used by John Wilkinson for the production of boiler plate in the latter part of the 18th century and remained a forge into the 19th century. Pontyblew Forge had puddling furnaces built in 1797. The late 18th century also saw the erection in the area of a slitting mill, at Rossett on the Chester turnpike and of one or more wiremills. In this period the Denbighshire industry had developed a new market, the growing port of Liverpool: this no doubt accounts for the slitting mill being located north of the area of production, away from the older flow of the trade.

It is useful to say something of the subsequent career of Isaac, which would otherwise be scattered over several chapters. He obtained a share in the Dowlais Company in south Wales on its foundation in 1757, by making his patent for an improved blast engine available to that company. Later he and John Guest established Plymouth Furnace, also at Merthyr Tydfil. John Guest was from Broseley (Shrops) where he may have been a master collier. There is no good evidence that he had an ironworks at Broseley. However, John’s New Willey Furnace was close to the boundary of Broseley. Accordingly, Guest’s introduction both to the iron industry and to south Wales was probably due to the Wilkinsons. Guest sold out of the Plymouth Company to in 1767, when he became the manager of the Dowlais Company, the business by which Guest and his descendants made their fortunes.23 At some time, probably after this, the two joined in a company to build Redfield or Boyd River Furnace near Bristol. Isaac Wilkinson, John Guest and the latter’s son, Thomas, formed a new company there in 1777. After the first year John Guest withdrew and was replaced by a Bristol ironmonger. The new partner seems not to have understood the nature of the business got Wilkinson to sign a paper dissolving the partnership. Isaac Wilkinson only had a very small share in this last venture.24 He was evidently a very old man and died not long after.

General Sources Davies 1946; Dodd 1951; Edwards 1960; 1961; 1965; Turley 1978; 1980; Williams 1986.

Despite the early use of coke, purpose-built coke furnaces did not appear until Ruabon was built in 1790 and Brymbo in 1796. Surprisingly, no Denbighshire furnaces appear in the 1788 list, though Bersham was presumably working and some furnace must have been supplying local forges.

At the time of the tithe award the forge belonged to the Fitzhugh Family of Plas Power. The Plas Power estate generally lay south of the river, but Hon Mary Middleton, who owned the estate, bought what was described as a walk mill in Abenbury in 1731. In 18th century rentals, that mill is also usually described it as a walk mill, even when John Wilkinson held it. This is probably a mere anachronism, but it is conceivable that the mill head was shared with a fulling mill or that the early 18th century forge and the later one were on distinct sites. There are remains of a substantial dam perhaps ten feet high apparently with a large opening (perhaps site of wheel) through which the river now flows. A drawing of the remains of the forge made in 1975 appears to show a

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Abenbury Forge, Wrexham

[1] SJ351489

The forge stood on the River Clywedog in the outskirts of Wrexham. It was in that parish but was in the township of Abenbury Fechan, which (unlike the rest of the parish) was formerly in Flintshire. The forge was apparently built (or at least occupied) in 1726 by Edward Davies, who had been Charles Lloyd’s clerk at Bersham, before he branched out at this forge, which he held until 1729. He was bankrupt by 1737. John Travers and Griffith Speed of Wrexham presumably operated this forge from 1731 until at least 1749, but then for 20 years its history is obscure. In 1779 after a period of idleness, it came into the hands of John Wilkinson who held it until 1794 or later. Later were: Thomas Jones and Edward Lloyd Rowland (bankrupt 1823); 1828-9 Barlow & Sons; 1838 Thomas and James Barlow; Edward Hughes (tithe); 1850 and 1860 Edward Edwards; Robert Cotton 1868. It is marked on the six-inch O.S. map in 1879 as if still in use.

TNA, WO 47/87, 404; WO 47/89, 741. TNA, WO 47/85, 141 211; WO 47/87, 333. Brown (R.R.) 1988. TNA, WO 47/95, 125 and passim. TNA, WO 47/112, 682; Brown (R.R.) 1988, 107-8. R. Brown, pers. comm. Cole thesis, 187-91, from TNA, SUPP 5/54. Q.v.; also Jones 1987; England 1959; Owen 1977. Evans 1991.

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Chapter 14: Wrexham and Flintshire ruin. This is annotated that the building was demolished partly by vandals in 1979.

Bersham Company. The works were advertised in 1765 on the dissolution of their partnership, but were evidently bought in by John Wilkinson, with his brother William having a small share. William was away in France for much of the 1780s. On his return, a bitter dispute occurred between the brothers over William’s entitlement. This led to the works being sold and bought in by John, who apparently dismantled them, removing his local operations to Brymbo. However, William poached some of the foundry workers for Boulton & Watt’s new Soho Foundry at Smethwick. The Bersham Works remained in the hands of John Wilkinson and his executors until 1810, followed by Thomas Jones. The furnace was dismantled in 1796 and the bank planted with turnips. Further sales were advertised in 1812 and 1813. John Wilkinson’s clerks included Benjamin and then Joshua Gilpin.

Size appendix to 1717 list (perhaps c.1726) 70 tpa; ‘1718’ 80 tpa; 1736 nil; 1750 (‘Wrexham Forge’) 80 tpa; 1754 60 tpa (production costs with Backbarrow pig iron given). In 1794 there was one finery and one chafery. John Wilkinson took over the forge in order to make boiler plates, enabling him to make the boilers for steam engines as well as cylinders. However, the presence of a finery suggests that the forge was making iron, not just turning it into plates. Associations John Wilkinson held the forge with Bersham Furnace. He also held Willey, Snedshill and Hollinswood Furnaces in Shropshire, and Bradley in south Staffordshire. John Wilkinson’s greatest activity seems to have been in producing cast iron goods, particularly cylinders for steam engines and ordnance. He held a patent (later cancelled) for a boring mill for cannons and engine cylinders.

Size 1717 list appendix (1720?) 300 tpa; Lloyd and the Wood Company would have needed considerably more than that for their forges. The furnace in the hands of Charles Lloyd seems commonly to have started the blast using charcoal and then, presumably when charcoal was running short, continuing with coke for potting. This was certainly done in 1721 and 1726. On the latter occasion Kelsall’s diary describes the fuel as ‘coals’. Under Hawkins the furnace seems to have concentrated increasingly on the foundry trade, but the production of forge pig iron may well have been continued to some extent to supply forges in Shropshire. This was the case when it came into the hands of Joshua Gee and his brother-in-law Benjamin Harvey. Joshua Gee had an iron ore mine at Frizington in west Cumberland. He shipped ore to Chester for the furnace. This would be haematite ‘redmine’, suggesting his main product was tough or mixed pig iron for use in his forges.

Trading Backbarrow supplied pig iron to Edward Davies in 1729 and then 1729-49 to John Travers and Griffith Speed (BB a/c) and in 1754 (Angerstein). Sources Davies 1939, 57n; Turley 1978, 32; Dodd 1951, 139 & 144; Denbs RO, DD/PP/323-334 466 & 826-8; London Gazette, no. 7669, 2 (21 Jan. 1737); Angerstein’s Diary, 327. Bersham Furnace

[2] SJ308492

The site, on River Clywedog where it begins to enter the Cheshire plain, has been excavated and preserved as an open air industrial museum. In addition to the furnace and the corn mill that succeeded it, there is a small furnace or kiln, which I suggest to be the original foundry cupola, though others disagree. Near it is an octagonal building, known as the round house, which was a foundry with a central crane. Protrusions on the side of the building later used as a corn mill are probably the air furnaces of an earlier foundry. The waterwheel of the corn mill is made of extremely thin iron castings. This may be the furnace wheel (made by John Wilkinson) and repurposed.

In the early years of the Wilkinsons’ time it was probably exclusively engaged in foundry work. Later Wilkinson was operating Abenbury Forge to make boiler plate. A component of the foundry trade was the production of cast iron cylinders for Newcomen engines and later Boulton and Watt engines. For this purpose a boring mill was established at Bersham. John Wilkinson cast cannon for the Board of Ordnance (see chapter introduction), though mostly as a subcontractor. Reverberatory (air) furnaces were in use when Marchant de la Houlière visited in 1775. It does not appear in 1788 list. In 1794 there was a rolling mill. The operation of the works is discussed in detail by Turley (1978). The surviving buildings and excavation results are described in Grentner 1992.

Charles Lloyd of Dolobran built Bersham in 1718 in partnership with William Wood & Co. The difficulties of Wood’s Company, which also owned Tern, Eaton, and Sutton Forges and other works may have been a significant factor in causing Charles Lloyd to become bankrupt in 1727. Kelsall as clerk tried unsuccessfully to sell the furnace, and it is likely it lay idle for a time. From 1729 the furnace was in the hands of John Hawkins (d.1739) backed by capital from Thomas Goldney, Richard Ford, and Abraham Darby II of Coalbrookdale. Hawkins bought Lloyd’s share in 1734, but the Coalbrookdale eventually had to write off a debt from the Bersham Co. By 1742 it had passed to Joshua Gee, for whom it was managed by Benjamin Harvey. Gee was already the owner of Tern, Upton and Sutton Forges in Shropshire, resuming Bersham’s former link with them. In 1753 the furnace passed to Isaac Wilkinson and another

Associations Charles Lloyd had forges at Mathrafal and then at Dolobran. Other members of the Harvey Family and then Joshua Gee, who was the brother-in-law of one of them, held forges at Tern, Eaton on Tern, Sutton, Upton, and Pitchford in Shropshire, though not all simultaneously. Accounts None known but there are some details of operations in Kelsall’s diary and Ford l/b (quoted in Edwards 1980). 253

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Sources NLW, Chirk Castle F576-7; Denbs RO, DD/ WY/1753; Butler thesis, passim; Edwards 1961, 67ff; Lloyd 1975, 47-63, passim; Turley 1978; Dodd 1951, 133-40; Gretner 1991; 1992; 1993; Edwards 1972; 1980; King 2011b, 70 76-7; London Evening Post, 8 Jan, 1765; London Gazette, no. 13829, 1160 (7 Nov. 1795); Chester Courant, 24 Nov. 1795; 7 Jan. 1812; Manchester Mercury, 25 May 1813; Palmer 1898; Chaloner 1948; 1951b; 1959; Davies 1949; Evans 1990b, 30-1; Braid 1992b; Riden 1992c, 37; Ridley 1992; Soldon 1998; Dawson 2012. Esclusham Furnace

Barlow 1850; Edwards Webb & Burt 1859. It is listed as a wiremill from 1822 to 1835. Llays Iron Co operated 6-8 puddling furnaces in the 1860s, but they were ‘standing’ in 1870 and 1872. It is marked on the six-inch O.S. map of 1879 as North Wales Coal Iron and Brick Works (inactive). Two further wireworks (see other ironworks, below) had been built in the 1800s. The three works at Gwersyllt are difficult to sort out and it may be that some of the above information has been attributed to the wrong site. Sources Flintshire RO, D/JL/243; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 15 Apr. 1765; 15 Jul. 1765; Glanfred l/b; Edgar Allen News 32 (Aug. 1953), 187; Chester Chronicle, 6 Nov. 1789; 20 May 1803; 3 Apr. 1829; Chester Courant, 6 Sep. 1803; London Gazette, no. 15880, 47 (11 Jan. 1806); no. 16328, 2067 (26 Dec. 1809); Birmingham Gazette, 21 Dec. 1835. Note also: Denbs RO, DD/HB/370 – case papers 1849-52; NCD/823-4.

[3] perhaps SJ304477

The very existence of this furnace is only known due to it being referred to in a settlement of 1708, when it was part of Ellis Meredith’s estate at Esclusham and in the tenure of Hugh Moore. Due to its proximity to Bersham it is sometimes conflated with that furnace, but they had different landlords. As Ellis Meredith and Hugh Moore were successively tenants of Pontyblew Forge from 1688, it is probable that they worked the furnace. Possibly 1688 is the date of its erection. 19 tons of pig iron from ‘Hugh Moore Bersham’ delivered to the Foley Bewdley warehouse in 1697/8 might be from here (Foley a/c). The furnace was not included in the list of 1717, probably because it was derelict by then.

Holywell Forge Holywell Wiremills

The Greenfield Valley descends steeply from Holywell to Greenfield, falling 250 feet in little over a mile. This provided ample water power for industry and was intensively used. Some of the earliest industrial development, in the early 18th century, included of a forge and three wiremills. Iron was replaced by copper before the middle of the century. This industry in turn was in decline by the late 19th century and the buildings were in use for a variety of purposes or were left to decay. Much of the valley has been preserved as an industrial heritage park, and is well worth a visit. However, there is nothing to see of the iron industry, except the ruins of a short-lived 19th century tinplate works. The forge and wiremills were built in the lower part of the valley in Greenfield near the remains of Basingwerk Abbey. The actual sites can only be deduced from the descriptions in deeds, which (though very detailed) are related to landmarks that are unidentifiable. The references given above are for the three lowest mill sites in the valley. The third remained a wireworks in the hands of copper companies and its identification is therefore reasonably certain. The others are likely always to remain doubtful.

Sources King 2011b, 70; NLW Chirk Castle 576-7; Edwards 1961, 66-9 (attributed to ‘Bersham’); Gwersyllt or Gwersyth Forge

[5] SJ195776 [6] SJ19457745 and SJ19357740

[4] SJ318551

This forge formed part of the Llay Hall estate, which has been the subject of large-scale coal mining. The site was in the 1990s occupied by extensive industrial buildings, including one brick building perhaps of the 19th century. A fulling mill was leased in 1761 to Edward Weston, a Birmingham wire merchant, for conversion to an ironworks. A set of wire mills at Gwersyllt and messuages late held by Mary widow of Edward Weston were assigned to trustees and advertised for sale in 1765. Mary Weston of Birmingham wiredrawer became bankrupt three months later. John Hayton of Gwersyllt Wiremills bought iron from Glanfred Forge in 1782. John Hayton jun. & Co of Gwersyllt Wire Mills bought pig iron from Backbarrow in 1798-1801 (BB a/c). It was a forge with one finery and one chafery occupied by Ainsworth and Hayton in 1794. It was rented by Mr Hayton and others under a 99-year lease. In 1803 George Ainsworth of Warrington withdrew, in exchange for an annuity, from his partnership with John Hayton sen. and jun. The elder John Hayton died a few months later aged 76. The works then consisted of a forge, rolling mill, tilt mill and wire mill. James Hammerton (late of Barnsley) retired from his partnership with John Wright Hayton in 1809. The firm remained Hayton & Co until at least 1828, with Hayton’s executors there in 1829. In 1835, Moss & Co were occupiers. That year all three mills were offered to let, the lower with a finery and puddling furnaces; the other two being wire mills. Subsequent occupiers were: William Fox (tithe); probably J. & J.

The forge is referred to in 1728 as being in the tenure of Thomas Hall, presumably the Cheshire Ironmaster, and Jonathan Robinson, a partner in local lead mines. It is likely they were the original tenants, but the date of erection can only be stated as about 1720. Sometime before 1743 they assigned their lease to Thomas Patten, who in that year surrendered it so as to obtain a lease of more land, on which he built brass and copper works. This was the end of the forge. As the forge was out of production in 1736 it may well be that it became a copper battery work before the sale. A wiremill was built adjoining the Lower Mill at Greenfield by Thomas Hart in 1711 and later carried on in partnership 254

Chapter 14: Wrexham and Flintshire by him and Francis Burton & James Ferne. In 1722 they took over the Lower Mills. This probably became another wire mill, known in 1728 as the New Wire Mill. Thomas Hart became bankrupt in 1729 and the landlord forfeited the leases. The mills were relet to Thomas Barker who was at the time the local manager of the London Lead Company, but retired a few years later and became involved in the Warrington and Cheadle Companies in the copper industry. He was already the tenant of a third wiremill in 1728. In view of his interests in non-ferrous metals, the wiremills in his hands are likely to have made copper or brass wire rather than iron wire. Sir James Creed was his partner. In 1754, Angerstein (Diary, 323) records the wiremill owner as ‘John Parcher’ [Barker?]. On Barker’s death, the mills were sold to John Norman and Reuben Chambers. After renewing the lease John Chambers started making steel wire at the old mill (which had been used as a warehouse). Some works then passed to the Parys Company (another copper company). A half share in the wire mill was offered for sale in 1773, perhaps by William Chambers of Greenfield; and the whole mill by Pyers Mostyn esq in 1780. Elizabeth Smalley had had an interest in the mill which she had given to her sons William and John before she made her will in 1790. Hayton & Co (also owner of Gwersyllt) advertised the Greenfield Abbey Works for sale in 1819 but J.W. Hayton and his partner Margaret Palmer Leasinby were bankrupt a few months later. However, Hayton apparently survived this and continued operating Gwersyllt subsequently.

1986 gives very little detail on the iron industry, but has been very useful in assisting in identification of the sites. Llwyn Onn Forge

[7] SJ372484

The forge was built in 1764 on river Clywedog a mile or so east of Wrexham and was occupied in 1787 and 1790 by Edward Rowlands of Ruabon with one finery and 1 chafery. John Jones of Llwyn Onn bought 70 tons of Backbarrow pig iron in 1787. He owed money for this or a later sale in 1791/2 (BB a/c). This need not be contradictory as Edward Rowlands and John Jones were partners from 1790 at Ruabon and they agreed to work 200 tpa pig iron at Pontyblew and here. A note on the 1794 list implies that it was converted to a paper mill in 1797, but it was offered to let in 1809 as an old-established forge. By 1816 James Hammerton (a partner at Gwersyllt until 1809) had a wiremill there. He survived imprisonment for debt that year, to run it until at least 1828. He was also the tenant of Bodfari Forge and a wiremill at Holywell. Later, Thomas Jones & Co had it. Sources Denbs RO, DD/PP/325 & DD/LO/2; Dodd 1951, 145-6; Edwards 1982, 111; Chester Chronicle, 13 Jan. 1809; Chester Courant, 16 Jun. 1816; Pigot’s directory 1828. Plas Maddock Furnace

[8] SJ28844353

Plas Madoc (as it is now called) is at Cefn Mawr, just in Ruabon parish on a small brook flowing down to join the river Dee. The origins of the furnace are unknown. In 1678 an estate including a furnace in Christioneth (Cystionydd) Kendrick came to John and Sarah Edwards from her grandfather Edward Slap. In 1678 Plas Maddock Furnace was held by Edward Lloyd (d.1691); in 1690 he held it with his son Samuel Lloyd (d.1701). During the minority of Edward Lloyd II it was managed by James Betton, who probably became his manager at Pontyblew in 1710. Edward Lloyd died in 1760, and was succeeded by a son-in-law, John Rowlands. It was advertised to let in 1767, which may mark its closure. On the other hand, the appearance of Plas Maddock on the Ellesmere Canal map of 1791 and the need of local forges for pig iron could indicate a longer history, though no Denbighshire furnace is in the 1788 list. The area has been developed as housing with a Plas Madoc housing estate. This is however not actually within Cystionydd Kendrick. Riden quoting Edwards (pers. comm.) stated that part of structure survived near Plas Madoc Hall. I failed to locate it.

Size forge 1717 (list addendum) 100 tpa; 1718 120 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 not listed. Associations Thomas Hall, the Cheshire Ironmaster, is discussed in the preceding chapter. Thomas Hart began as manager of Tib Green Forge early in the 18th century. Around 1710 he took over Tib Green and Bodfari Forges and acquired extensive coal mining interests in Cheshire and North Staffordshire. He and his partners there withdrew from Bodfari Forge in 1716 when one of his partners got into financial difficulty. He was obviously an industrialist of considerable importance in his time. His capital resources were very probably modest, but he did quite well until the difficult period for the iron industry from the late 1720s when his was one of a crop of bankruptcies of the time. Most of the detail of his activities comes from an assignment in connection with his bankruptcy. Trading Iron was supplied to Thomas Hart’s wiremill from Bodfari Forge prior to 1716. Elizabeth Smalley was also interested in an ironworks in Merioneth, presumably Dolgun.

Size 1717 300 tpa. Associations There seems to have been an associated forge in the late 17th century, as Mr Lloyd bought hammers and anvils, but is not known where this was. Edward Lloyd held Pontyblew Forge for many years in the middle of the 18th century. John and Edward Rowlands also held Ruabon Furnace and Pool Quay, Sutton, and Llwyn Onn Forges at various times.

Sources TNA, C 54/5438; Flintshire RO, D/MT/230 & 233; Daily Advertiser, 11 Aug. 1773; Adams’s Weekly Courant (Chester), 1 Aug. 1780; NLW, SA/1796/44; Newcastle Courant, 23 Jan 1819; Chester Courant, 16 Nov. 1819; Davies (K.) thesis; Pennant 1796, 201-13; Dodd 1951, 142-3; Birchall website. Davies & Williams 255

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Trading In 1677-9 and 1683-4 Mr Lloyd of Plas Maddock bought hammers from Ruabon (Edwards 1960, 53). In 1703/4 and 1709/10 Plas Maddock supplied hammers and anvils to Bodfari Forge (Cheshire a/c). Charles Lloyd of Dolobran had pig iron from here in 1722 (Lloyd 1975, 49). In 1745-51 Lloyd of Plas Maddock supplied pig iron to forges in the Stour Valley (SW a/c).

partners and he took over Sutton Forge about 1770. His son Edward Rowlands had Pontyblew and Llwyn Onn Forges in 1790. Trading In 1661 there is reference to the use of ‘Wilson’s pig’ and pig made at the old furnace, i.e. Ifton (accounts). In 1754, it used Bersham pig (Angerstein). Edward Rowland bought 15 tons of Backbarrow pig iron in 1800/1for his forges (BB a/c). He and John Jones agreed to work 200 tpa pig iron at Llwyn Onn and here.

Sources NLW, BRA (1963 colln) 1235; Edwards 1960; Edwards 1961, 85-90; Riden 1993, 17; Coflein (from inf. from I. Edwards); Aris Birmingham Gazette, 9 Nov. 1767. The furnace is not referred to in early 19th century mortgages of the Plas Maddock estate (Denbs RO, DD/ WY/1281 etc.). Deeds for the intervening period have not been traced. Pontyblew Forge

Accounts A day book from February 1660[1] to January 1662/3 (NLW, Chirk Castle F13116). Sources NLW, Chirk Castle F7920 F6244 F11519 F4040 F6941 & E5257-8; NLW, Longueville 1447; Denbs RO, DD/CC/57; Edwards 1960, passim; 1961, 49-54; 1965, 146; 1982, 111; Angerstein’s Diary, 327.

[9] SJ311383

The forge was on River Ceiriog in the township of Halton in Denbighshire, the river being the border with Shropshire. It was built by Sir Thomas Middleton, Gerrard Eyton and William Wilson in 1634 to operate with the existing furnace at Ruabon. This partnership was to be for 21 years. Sir Thomas Middleton knight of Chirk operated the forge in hand, employing William Farmer as clerk, from c.1661 to 1664. From 1664 there was a partnership with William Cotton I, who had Ruabon Furnace. For some reason the original partner on the Middleton side was Timothy Middleton rather than Sir Thomas. However it is possible that 1664 is in fact the date when the surviving copy was made, rather than the date the partnership began, which might perhaps have been in 1660 or before. This partnership continued until 1688 and is described in more detail under Ruabon Furnace. Subsequently the forge was occupied by: Ellis Meredith of Wrexham 1688 to 1697; Hugh Moore 1697 to 1709 (death); Edward Lloyd of Plas Maddock probably 1710 to at least 1754 and probably until he died in 1760; then his son-in-law John Rowlands; then his son Edward Rowland (sic) 1776 to 1794 or later; E.W. Ward 1795 (possibly a manager or subtenant); Francis Johnson late Edward Rowland about 1817; Joseph Johnson (tithe); and William Cookson in 1874-1876. It is not in the 1883 directory so perhaps closed.

Rossett Mill

[18] SJ365570

This was built beside the road to Chester as a slitting and rolling mill in 1774 by John Rowland. It is described as a rolling and slitting mill in 1782 held probably by William Rigby, whose family had the iron foundry at Hawarden. Most subsequent references are to corn mills which stood either side of the main road there. This was allotted to the Boscawen family on an estate partition in 1812. Sources Flints RO, D/BC/2365, abstract of C.B. Trevor Roper; D/PT/859-60. Ruabon Furnaces

[10] SJ290458 SJ304435

There seem to have been at least two different charcoal furnaces in the large parish of Ruabon, probably at different times, but I have not determined which was which. Pant (coke) Furnace was also in Ruabon. The earlier one was on the estate of the Eyton family. One was presumably on Afon Eitho, a tributary of the river Dee at Ruabon, but its precise location is not clear. It was built in 1631 by Roger Hill, then of Dudley Priory. He took Arthur Kynaston of Shrewsbury as partner, but the partnership came to an end when Owen Baddy sold the ground where the ironstone mine was to Sir Thomas Middleton. He threatened to cut the ropes and bury the miners alive, if they did not desist from mining. In 1634 Sir Thomas Middleton, Gerrard Eyton, and William Wilson entered into a twenty one year partnership to operate this furnace and their new Pontyblew Forge, the furnace being on Eyton’s land. It was probably on the hands of William Wilson in the early 1660s.

Size In 1661 it made 87½ tons in 10½ months, perhaps 100 tpa; 1717 100 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 150 tpa; 1750 200 tpa; 1754 150 tpa (production costs using local pig iron given – Angerstein). In 1790 it had two fineries one chafery and one balling furnace. Puddling furnaces were added in 1795, but had gone by 1860. Associations The forge was held with Ruabon 1634 to 1688 (possibly with a break in the late 1650s) and after 1776. It was held with Bersham perhaps from 1688 until 1710 and then with Plas Maddock. Middleton and his partners invested in Cookley Mill from c.1639. Edward Rowlands and Edward Rowlands and Sons respectively occur as ironmasters in 1776 and 1791 (NLW, Chirk Castle, F4040 F1867 F7091-7132 F13757-13818). John Rowlands had Poolquay Forge from 1760 to 1778 with

In 1664 William Cotton I had the furnace, and he formed a partnership with Timothy Middleton of Chirk Castle to operate it and Pontyblew Forge. The agreement continued until about 1690, beyond the deaths of both partners. The Middleton share belonged successively to Timothy Middleton 1664-5, Sir Thomas Middleton (knight) 1665 to 1666 (death), then his widow Mary until 1675 (death), 256

Chapter 14: Wrexham and Flintshire then their son Richard Middleton. The Cotton share passed on the death of William Cotton I in 1675 to his widow Elinor and son William Cotton II. William Farmer was chief clerk for much of this period.

1755. However it is not clear what works (if any) this concerned and a sale of pig iron from Ruabon in 1752/3 was in the name of Benjamin Harvey. John was a son-inlaw of Edward Lloyd of Plas Maddock and was probably his associate, rather than operating independently. With so many forges, they must have had a furnace after Plas Maddock closed, supposedly in 1767.

From 1695 (or earlier) until at least 1710, Thomas Lowbridge II had it, with Richard Knight as his partner until 1696. In 1715 Thomas Harvey (allegedly for himself and several partners including William Wood) purchased the Gardden estate, including the furnace (presumably near Gardden Hall, SJ297456), from the widow and sisters of Gerrard Eyton and built a potwork there. The works thus passed into the hands of William Wood and his Iron Company. The subsequent events are described under Gardden pothouse (below). Daniel Ivie seems to have received the furnace and the pothouse from William Wood. Harvey apparently recovered the estate as an unpaid vendor, but Ivie may have operated the furnace until 1737 when he discharged his men. The Coalbrookdale Company paid £76 for his patterns the following year. After this its history is uncertain. William Higgons was occupying it in 1763, but he is not otherwise known as an ironmaster.

Trading Richard Eyton’s pigs referred to in accounts for Fernhill and Maesbury Forges may perhaps have come from here. In 1677-9 and 1683-4 there were sales of pig iron to various ironmasters including Charles Jones of Tibberton and Mr Bentley and Mr Wheeler [Whittington and Cookley] and hammers and anvils sold to Sir Walter Blount [Cleobury] (Edwards 1960). William Wilson of Ruabon bought cordwood in 1661 (Denbs RO, DD/ WY/5576). Benjamin Harvey sold 6 tons of pig iron to Mathrafal Forge in 1753/3 (Powis a/c). John Rowland (unlocated) owed money for ore from Whitriggs Mine in 1780 and 1782 (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/1/4-5). Accounts are referred to in Edwards 1960.

If Plas Maddock Furnace closed in 1767, it is possible that Edward Rowlands and then Edward Rowlands and Sons operated a furnace in the subsequent period: they had forges and would have needed a furnace. If so, this may have ended in 1783 when a furnace at Knabon (sic) near Wrexham was advertised to let, with land for a finery or corn or paper mill. No Denbighshire charcoal furnace appears in the 1788 list of charcoal furnaces.

Sources TNA, C 2/Chas I/K20/45; C 2/Chas I/K17/18; E 112/1339/21; C 11/1819/32; Davies 1946, 85; Edwards 1960; passim; 1961, 49-54 & 81-3; Turley 1980; NLW, Longueville 1447; Herefs. RO, T74/680; Ford l/b, 31 Aug. 1736; Butler thesis, ch.1, 25-36; King 2011b, 70ff; Leeds Intelligencer, 25 Nov. 1783; Riden 1993, 72-73.

Size 1717 250 tpa: the low figure may represent a difficulty in selling iron or a local shortage of charcoal; the number of forges that the Rowlands family held later in the century would suggest a greater production, perhaps more like the typical 500 tpa. Daniel Foy [Ivie?] only managed to make 3 tpw in 1735, ‘as white as silver so that he can scarce get it out of the hearth’ (Davies 1946, 85).

Bodidris Forge

Other ironworks [11] near SJ204537

The hearth tax lists this forge, presumably on the river Alun, in the parish of Llanarmon-ynIâl, as having 2 smelting forges and one smyth (sic) forge, held by Henry Ashpool. The terminology suggests a bloomery forge. Bôd Idris itself lies on the 1000-foot contour, making it an unlikely site for a water-powered forge.

Associations It is not known where (or whether) Roger Hill had a forge. Perhaps he supplied Arthur Kynaston’s forges in northwest Shropshire. Middleton, Eyton, and Wilson invested in Cookley Mill in 1639. They and their successors operated Ruabon with Pontyblew Forge 163488. The partners were also interested in Mathrafal Forge in 1664-70. Richard Knight operated Moreton Forge in Shropshire and Thomas Lowbridge held Lower Mitton and Mathrafal Forges while they had this furnace. Richard Knight was subsequently a great ironmaster (see chapter 35), but his interest in Bringewood only began when he gave up Ruabon. The Cotton family had ironworks in Yorkshire; and others of the family had works in Cheshire; but these were entirely distinct businesses. William Wood & Co’s 1714 partnership also included Tern Forge and they built Sutton and Eaton Forges.

Source Edwards 1961, 53-4. Gardden pothouse

[12] near SJ297456

In 1715 Thomas Harvey of Tern Hall (now Attingham Hall) in Shropshire bought the Gardden estate from the Eyton family, in order to supply Ruabon Furnace, but the committee of William Wood & Co considered the purchase too expensive and refused to adopt it. William Wood sought to enforce a contract he had made with Harvey for such purchase, expecting Harvey to sign a conveyance without being paid for the purchase! Subsequently he purported to sell the estate with his shares in William Wood & Co to Daniel Ivie, who took possession by force in 1731, until removed by an officer of the peace. Ivie likewise tried to enforce Wood’s contract. It appears that Wood paid for the stock of the pothouse and then tried to set up this receipt as a receipt for the purchase price of the land. Thomas Harvey built a ‘furnace or pothouse’ on his land, presumably an air

Davies (1939, 39) claimed that successive members of the Rowland or Rowlands family of Ruabon were ironmasters: Thomas Rowlands in 1730 and John Rowlands about 257

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I furnace, probably between 1715 and 1718 there and this was managed by William Hawkins in conjunction with Ruabon Furnace. It was evidently still in use in 1731, but its subsequent history is unclear. The Gardden estate was devised by Thomas Harvey to his son Thomas Sergeant Harvey, unlike Sutton and Eaton Forges and his shares in the Tern Works, which went to his widow.

Penley Iron Forge

[16] corn mill: SJ 405399

Sources TNA, E 112/1339/21; King 2011b. There was probably further litigation about this, which I have failed to trace.

Sources Chester Courant, 16 Feb. 1796.

Gwersyllt Lower Wiremill

William Hazledine established the foundry in c.1800 to enable him to provide iron for the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct to carry the Ellesmere Canal high over the river Dee. This was managed by William Stuttle, previous a manager at Hallens’ Ironworks. It was connected to the canal by a railway. His lease expired in 1823, which might suggest it started in 1802. The foundry was then operated by others, William Hughes being the tenant in 1840. At about the same time he rented Cefn Mawr Mill (SJ275424) from William ‘Hazeldine’.

An auction sale of a house and corn mill with 37 acres of land and also an iron forge in Penley in occupation of Mr Savage was advertised in 1796. Nothing else is known of this. Cross Mill (SJ404412) is another possible site.

Plas Kynaston Foundry

[13] SJ325553

This was built shortly before the death after 1808 of Lady Dacre by Thomas Eyton of Bodfari and John Littlewood of Gresford; this firm held it until at least 1835. This was evidently Alen wire mill, whence J.P. Eyton wrote a letter on behalf of his father Thomas Eyton and John Littlewood in 1816. In 1879 it was a corn mill. There are remains of a considerable leat leading to the mill which stands in ruins. Adjoining the site are the remains in situ of a wooden sluice gate.

[17] SJ276427

Sources Denbs RO, DD/WY/171 1960 & 1963-4; (Note also: 168-72 176-82; 5757); Flints RO, D/PT/859-60; cf. D/BC/2365, abstract of C.B. Trevor Roper.

Sources Skempton et al. 2002, 311-2; Dodd 1951, 109 1464; Pattinson 2011, 103-16; 2017, 53-83 passim; Railway and Canals Historical Society, Waterways History Group, NQ29.06.

Gwersyllt Upper Wiremill

Ruabon Forge

[14] SJ311558

In 1815, a beneficial lease was advertised for sale of an iron forge or plating mill. This had three fireplaces, an iron water-wheel of 24 foot diameter and a large tilt or forging hammer and two grindstones, with working tools for a an edged tool manufactory. The vendor may have been John Kenrick of Wynne Hall.

This seems to have been built shortly before 1805 by William Jones of Gwersyllt, Edward Wragge of Llay, and John Jones of Bersham. William Jones had it in 1822. This may be the wire mill of Thomas Jones & Co of the 1820s. James Kendrick bought out his partners shares in 1834. John Thompson let it to Brooker & Hodgetts in 1849, but recovered possession on their bankruptcy in 1851. The works were ‘wireworks (disused)’ in 1879.

Sources Chester Courant, 27 Jun. 1815. Note also that a forge is among much property, dealt with in Denbs RO, DD/WY/853-1271.

Sources Denbs RO, DD/WY/168-9 172 1960 & 1963-4; DD/HB/370; Hayman thesis 240.

Ruabon Wiremill Hawarden Foundry

[19] near SJ3044

[20] near SJ3044

[15] SJ3165 In 1813 the dissolution of the partnership of Senior, Edwards & Co wire manufacturers at Ruabon Wireworks was advertised.

John Rigby set up a foundry at Hawarden in (or by) 1776, when Boulton and Watt were asked to provide an engine. In 1781 John Rigby supplied hammers to Glanfred Forge (but they were no good). The following year he bought iron from there. He died in 1793, but the works remained in the family for many years. They included a boring mill powered by a steam engine, built by Bateman and Sherratt from 1796. William and John Rigby and John Hancock leased coalmines in 1801.

Sources London Gazette, no. 16822, 2462 (7 Dec. 1813). Coke furnaces Brymbo Furnace

[21] SJ294535

This was built by John Wilkinson on his estate there in 1796 (1794 list), when he abandoned Bersham. John Wilkinson had ore shipped from Whitriggs Mine in Furness to Chester in 1795. Production difficulties were at once experienced there. As a result, the workforce became discontented and was enticed away by William Wilkinson to work at Boulton and Watt’s Soho Factory near Birmingham.

Sources Edwards 1965, 176-7; Chester Chronicle, 4 Apr. 1776; NLW, Hawarden probates, 1793; NLW Hawarden 1702 1715 1718, etc.; Glanfred l/b, 17 Nov. 1781 and Jan. 1782; Dodd 1951, 143; Musson & Robinson 1969, 416-7; Rhodes 1969, 224.

258

Chapter 15: Montgomeryshire and the Border Ponkey Furnace (now Ponciau)

In 1805 one of the two furnaces was in blast and made only 462 tpa in 1805. Thomas Jones (Wilkinson) held the works after John Wilkinson’s death and had both furnaces in blast in 1810. John Bradley Wilkinson had one of the two furnaces in blast in 1817 (making 35 tpw), but it was offered to let the following year. John Thompson had the works in 1825, followed by the Brymbo Iron Company (probably a joint stock company). The works later belonged from 1858 to a branch of the Darby family, who also used the name Brymbo Iron Company. The company was incorporated as Brymbo Steel Company Ltd in 1884, after which J.H. Darby developed a basic version of Open Hearth steelmaking here. That company was liquidated in 1936, as was another of the same name in 1948. Its successor Brymbo Steel Works Ltd (incorporated in 1896) was nationalised in 1951 to 1955; then was probably a subsidiary of GKN until re-nationalised in 1967. The works was closed in the 1970s. The furnace stack of ‘Old no.1’ is a listed building and substantially intact within the Brymbo works, but may be a rebuild of c.1820, rather than Wilkinson’s furnace. Some archaeological investigations have been undertaken in advance of redevelopment.

The furnace is reported to have been built by Thomas Jones about 1807. The lease was offered for sale by the sheriff in 1812 and 1813. John Parry and John Jones let it to John Thompson in 1813 for 25 years. His partnership with James Adams of Brymbo Hall and John James Adams of Pen y Gardden in Ruabon was dissolved in 1817. That year the furnace made 36 tpw of pig iron. In 1828, it was let to James Kyrke (son of Richard Kyrke), John Burton (son-in-law), and John Jones and Meredith Parry (sons of the owners) for 21 years. It was last in blast in the 1860. It does not appear in the 1810 list. Sources Cardiff Library, MS 5.142; Edwards 1965, 148 173 179; Chester Chronicle, 24 Jan. 1812; Manchester Mercury, 25 May 1813; London Gazette, no. 17229, 615 (11 Mar. 1817); cf. Birmingham Daily Gazette, 23 August 1869. Note also NLW Chirk Castle, F7029-51. Ruabon Furnaces or Pant Furnaces Newbridge Furnace (in Ruabon)

Sources Dodd 1951, 137-42 etc.; Turley 1978, 33-4; Edwards 1965, 148; Chester Chronicle, 2 Oct. 1818; King 2018b; London Gazette, various; Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/2/35; Coflein 34054-6; D. Cranstone, pers. comm. Ffrwd Furnace

[25] SJ280445 [26] SJ289415

Riden & Owen state that Rowland’s Ruabon Furnace was not identical with Pant, so that it is not clear if this paragraph is conflating two different works. The situation is further complicated by Rowland having built Acrefair (SJ280430) in c.1817 and also Newbridge, both of which were sold in 1825 to British Iron Co (a public company formed in 1824). Newbridge stood on the bank of the river Dee, just upstream of the bridge. A new ironworks was set up by Edward Rowland in partnership with William Jones of Oldswinford and John Evans of Stourbridge in 1790 on land belonging to the Chirk estate. In 1796 a single furnace made 1144 tpa. Edward Rowland bought 400 tons of Furness ore in 1800/1 (BB a/c). In 1805 E. Rowland & Co made 1463 tons in it. In 1817 two furnaces both out of blast are listed. In 1810 Rowland & Son of Ruabon Furnaces (plural) leased a wharf at Chester, implying a second furnace had been built, though the 1810 list only mentions one. By 1817 both were out of blast, E.Ll. Rowland & Co, having built two new furnaces on Rowlands’ own estate at Acrefair, which made 66 tpw pig iron and 35 tpw bar iron. Edward Lloyd Rowlands was bankrupt in 1823, but R.T. & R. Greenhow had Pant Furnace in blast in 1825. Richard and Thomas Greenhow operated Pant until the death of the latter in 1838 and bankruptcy of the former in 1840. It appeared in lists in 1839-43 with 2-3 furnaces, but none in blast.

[22] about SJ304552

Mines with an uncompleted blast furnace at Plas Maen and advertised for sale in 1815 and again in 1821 with two furnace stacks, the works being abandoned by the late proprietors, of whom only the vendor, Samuel Davies of the Ffrwd, survived. In 1824 John Thompson took it over; it was still ‘building’ in 1825. It was ultimately blown in in 1827 and was last used in 1900, belonging to James Sparrow from the 1850s. Sources Dodd 1951, 147 151; Edwards 1965, 179; Chester Chronicle, 24 Feb. 1815; 9 Feb. 1827; Chester Courant, 3 Jul. 1821. Llwyneinnion Furnace

[24] SJ298468

[23] SJ286475

A single furnace was built by Thomas Jones of Gardden Hall in 1811 and was held by Jones, Rigby, and Jones in 1817 and Jones and Rigby in 1825, when it listed as making 2000 tpa melting pig. An advert says 40 tpw, which provided its landlord with £650 per year in mineral royalties. The Welsh Iron Co had the works in 1825. The name Rigby associates it with the Hawarden Foundry. It probably closed in the 1840s. However the Rhos Hall Iron Company apparently had ironworks there subsequently, as well as Tipton Old Furnace (q.v.)

Royalty accounts for coal and ironstone 1811-16: NLW, Chirk Castle, F7091-7132; F13757-13818. Sources Edwards 1965, 148 & 168; 1982, 110-3, citing Flints RO, D/BC/18; London Gazette, no. 17967, 1717 (18 Oct. 1823); 19816, 136 (21 Jan. 1840); 19864, 1403 (12 Jun. 1840); Chester Chronicle, 9 Mar. 1838; Riden & Owen 1985, 49 53. Note also NLW, Chirk Castle, F1867; Railway and Canals Historical Society, Waterways History Group, NQ29.06. For the later history of Acrefair see Edwards 1982.

Sources Dodd 1951, 144; Edwards 1965, 148 & 165; Chester Chronicle, 15 Apr. 1825; North Wales Gazette (Bangor), 5 May 1825; Coflein 34058. Note also NLW Chirk Castle, F7158-71. 259

15 Montgomeryshire and the Border Introduction

expired in 1655 and was not renewed. The furnace was briefly in use a few years later, but to supply Pontyblew Forge rather than its traditional companions. Maesbury Forge has totally disappeared: it is not even clear where it was.

This chapter mainly concerns a group of ironworks in northwest Shropshire and east Montgomeryshire in the upper part of the Severn catchment. Though in Montgomeryshire, Mathafarn on a tributary of the Dovey will be dealt with in chapter 39 (on the Welsh coast). In a sense the area described here is one of those where the presence of the iron industry is perhaps not entirely predictable, since it does not have any source of iron ore. There are plenty of powerful rivers to provide water power, but that applies to many places. The most obvious motive for establishing the industry in the area must have been the availability of a supply of charcoal.

Another operation was established by William Fownes on part of the great Powis Castle estate, which had been sequestrated and sold by the Commonwealth. William Fownes bought the manor of Caereinon and established Mathrafal Forge. It is not known where he obtained pig iron for this forge. It is possible he had a furnace at Mathrafal too, but there is no clear evidence to support this. The forge continued in use into the later phase of the industry when there were just a few forges in the district. These were often not attached to any furnace, but were sometimes held with one or other of the Denbighshire furnaces. Mathrafal Forge changed hands many times in the late 17th and early 18th, at times being associated with Ruabon Furnace.

Apart from a projected very early ironworks somewhere in the great lordship of Caus, a former Marcher Lordship whose castle is on Long Mountain, almost all the ironworks were forges, supplied with pig iron from outside the district. Some of it came overland from Denbighshire, a distance that very probably had an adverse effect on the profitability of the ironworks. Also important was pig iron brought up the river Severn, which was navigable to Pool Quay a few miles north of Welshpool. The weir there, built for a medieval mill, and subsequently powering the forge prevents vessels continuing further upstream.1 Being in a Welsh Marcher Lordship, rather than in England, it was beyond the jurisdiction of the Commissions of Sewers that prevented the obstruction of navigation on the English portion of the Severn. Despite the greater distances, this was probably at least as good in economic terms because of the relative cheapness of freight. An alternative landing place existed at Llandrinio on the river Vyrnwy. At least, a painting of the bridge there shows timber on an adjoining field, waiting to be rafted down the river.2

About the time when he lost Mathrafal Forge (which had been let to others), Charles Lloyd of Dolobran built a forge on his own land, just downstream of Mathrafal and on the opposite bank. Shortly before this, he (with the Tern Company from Shropshire, which included some of his fellow Quakers), had built Bersham Furnace in Denbighshire. This was one of a number of ironworks established as a result of the high profits arising as a result of the Swedish embargo, shortly before the period of the South Sea Bubble. Charles Lloyd became bankrupt at the end of the 1720s, perhaps due to difficulties with William Wood & Co, his partners at Bersham. The son (also Charles) resumed production for a time, but the forge was very probably idle or only very intermittently in use over the ensuing period. Mathrafal and Dolobran were probably too close to each other for comfort and probably competed for wood. Dolobran may have been kept idle at times for the benefit of Mathrafal. In the late 1730s and 1740s, Mathrafal was operated to supply only such iron as local markets could absorb.3 The import of cheap Russian iron made it unprofitable to market iron down the river Severn.4 From the 1750s both forges belonged to a Mathrafal Company, which shared some partners with Madeley Wood Furnace in Shropshire.

The history of the industry may be looked at in two phases. The earliest ironworks of all was Bromleys Forge at the mouth of the river Perry, which seems to have been a short-lived works operated by 1609 by Sir Basil Brooke, presumably in association with his Coalbrookdale Works. Little is known of this forge, but it is unlikely to have operated for long. Another small ironworks (alluded to in the previous chapter) was built in the 1620s, consisting of a furnace at Ifton on the border between Shropshire and Denbighshire and forges at Fernhill and Maesbury. This group passed intact through a number of hands. The furnace was small and so were the forges. The enterprise disintegrated in the 1650s: the lease of Fernhill Forge

The other forge in the area was (contrary to previous reports) was not built until 1757. It stood at Pool Quay at the head of navigation on the river Severn. Here it did Powis a/c. This inference is based on comparing iron prices in Powis a/c with those for Russian iron in Prankard a/c. 3

1 2

Davies 1933. www.peoplescollection.wales/items/20038.

4

261

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 15. Montgomeryshire and the Border. 1, Bromleys Forge; 2, Caus Ironworks; 3, Dolobran Forge; 4, Fernhill Forge; 5, Ifton Furnace; 6, Maesbury Forge; 7, Mathrafal Forge; 8, Park Mathrafal Ironworks; 9, Pool Quay Forge.

The Lloyd family tree.

262

Chapter 15: Montgomeryshire and the Border of the manor of Caus a ‘furness’ and a forge ‘to melt and temper ironstone, also 2 fyneries and a chafery’, paying during a 21-year term a rent of 20 tons of ‘good well brynnyd’ and dressed iron. A year later, they agreed that Monslowe might erect a bloomsmithy, paying a shilling a ‘weyn lode’ for ironstone and a rent of 20 marks. If the ironstone proved good Monslowe agreed to perform his earlier bargain. Nothing else is known of this enterprise. This is not an area well known as a source of ironstone, so that it is unlikely that there was enough to warrant the expense of building a furnace and forge. However, if it had been built, the furnace would have been the second in Britain outside the Weald (after Monslowe’s near Caughley).

not suffer quite as much as its local contemporaries from the disadvantage of needing land carriage. Nevertheless it was for a long period in the 1760s and 1770s owned by the proprietors of Denbighshire furnaces. To them it would have had easy access to its market rather than easy access to pig iron. Later owners seem to have been completely unconnected with any furnace and were probably buying pig iron in Shropshire bringing it up the River Severn and sending the product back by the same route. Dolobran Forge continued in use until about 1790 when it was converted to a flannel factory. Mathrafal Forge became a corn mill about 1810. Pool Quay continued as a forge until the end of a lease in 1821 when the tenants continued in occupation of a farm and another mill but gave up the forge which also became a flannel factory. Its survival beyond the end of the Napoleonic War is probably partly a measure of its advantageous geographic situation and partly the result of the existence of the lease. It is quite likely that it lay idle in its last few years as a result of the slump that followed the Napoleonic Wars.

Sources Longleat House Archives, NMR 3949 and 3993; King 2010b, 54. I owe this reference to J.B. Lawson. Dolobran Forge

The forge was on the river Vyrnwy near Mathrafal on the site of a corn mill. It was built in 1719 by Charles Lloyd of Dolobran, who was then on the point of being deprived of the nearby Mathrafal Forge. John Kelsall was clerk there from 1720 to 1729. Charles Lloyd became bankrupt in 1727. This may perhaps be partly due to their association with the notorious William Wood, whose firm held that other share in Bersham Furnace. However another likely cause is the general depression in the iron trade at this time, following the boom at the time of the Swedish embargo, towards the end of the previous decade. This led to a number of bankruptcies. His son bought the stock from the assignees in bankruptcy and operated it at least until Kelsall left in 1729, after which he gave up the forge. In 1735 Charles Lloyd the younger considered the forge to be worth nothing but the value of its materials, but seems to have been operating the forge himself in 1748. In 1785 it was in the hands of the Mathrafal Company of Ironmasters, though the sale advert said William Barnett. In 1789 it was let to John Mytton, Joseph Jones, and Thomas Owen (perhaps also the proprietors of Mathrafal Forge). Shortly after this it was a flannel factory, with a fulling mill, was built next to then forge. The forge was apparently still standing (but not in use) when the manufactory was offered to let in 1807. The remains of a leat are detectable as and there are some buildings on the site, which is also known as Factory Hollow from the flannel factory there.

General sources: Davies 1939; Lloyd 1968; 1975. The account given here differs somewhat from Davies on the date and identification of certain ironmasters with Mathrafal and Pool Quay Forges. The key source for this revision was Powis Castle rentals in NLW.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Bromleys Forge

[1] SJ439168

This was near the mouth of river Perry adjoining Forton Heath and was driven by a leat from that river. It was built by Sir Basil Brooke of Madeley. Significantly, this was on the estate of Sir Henry Wallop, who had married a Corbett heiress. Wallop was also a crown lessee of the Bringewood Works on the Herefordshire border and Moreton Forge was also on his wife’s estate (see chapters 17 and 25). It may well have been operating in 1609 and was certainly operating in 1623, the last time it is heard of. Brooke almost certainly had ironworks at Coalbrookdale in his own manor of Madeley, and he was a partner in the King’s ironworks in the Forest of Dean during part of that time. The site of the forge is shown on an estate map of 1728. Most buildings are shown on this by a conventional symbol in the form of a picture of a house. The forge is shown as a dotted circle, probably representing a mound of rubble, it having fallen down.

Size c.1720 190 tpa (appendix to 1717 list); ‘1718’ 200 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 no return. It may have been kept idle in the 1740s to enable Mathrafal to meet the supply the smiths of the area.

Sources Pannett 1969; Lawson 1973, from Shrops RO, 6000/18523; 6000/8494; TNA, C 2/Jas I/W28/53 & W2/47; Shrops RO, 552/8/30 & 552/8/305; King 2003a, 28-9. Caus Ironworks

[3] SJ123119

Associations Charles Lloyd and his son were also interested in Bersham. Trading Kelsall’s diary shows pig iron as being obtained from Oulton (Cheshire); Plas Maddock (Ruabon); and Bouldon, Coalbrookdale, and Leighton in Shropshire. In 1730 Charles Lloyd bought about 30 tons Invergarry pig

unknown [SJ30]

Henry Lord Stafford in 1555 granted John Monslowe of Caughley the liberty to set up somewhere on the waste 263

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I iron from Nehemiah Champion of Bristol, the Backbarrow Company’s agent there (Invergarry a/c 4, J 23). Charles Lloyd and the Duke of Powis had bar iron stolen in 1748 (Davies 1939, 44).

Accounts 1639-53 published in summary in Edwards 1958 from originals in NLW, Longueville 1447. Sources NLW, Aston Hall 3091 & 2461; Chirk Castle F410 F803 F5297; TNA, C 2/Chas I/K11/12; C 2/Chas I/ B29/16; C 2/Chas I/K20/45; C 2/Chas I/B55/24; C 2/Chas I/K17/18; Edwards 1958; Day 1962; Rees 1968, 282.

Diary 1720-9: Kelsall’s diary. Sources Lloyd 1968; 1975, 46-63; Davies 1939, 43-45; Flinn 1959a, 22-3; NLW, Dolobran, various including 14 41-3 & 51; London Gazette, 6640, 2 (9 Jan. 1727); Shrewsbury Chronicle, 2 Oct. 1773; General Evening Post, 12 Nov. 1785; Chester Chronicle, 15 May 1807; cf. Dodd 1951, 247. Fernhill Forge

Ifton Furnace [5] unlocated perhaps SJ307376 (perhaps also known as Chirk Furnace) This was on the River Ceiriog, which is the boundary of Denbighshire and Shropshire, in the forest of Glyn Keiriog. It seems to have been on the Shropshire side of the river. It was built on the site of a fulling or tucking mill. It was probably built in 1623, like Fernhill Forge, and descended with Fernhill until at least 1653. It was presumably related to an ironstone mining lease in the lordship of Quadrabat (Denbs), granted to Arthur Kynaston and Walter Coleman of Cannock in 1623 and another on the land of Owen Baddy in 1627. Sir Thomas Middleton knight had it 1661 (or before) to 1663. It was probably closed in 1664 when Timothy Middleton and William Cotton began to work Ruabon Furnace and Pontyblew Forge in partnership. It is not clear precisely where the furnace was. There are two potential mill sites on the river Ceiriog between Chirk Mill and Pontyblew Forge, indicated by the presence of leats on 19th-century maps. SJ296372 is on the Shopshire bank and close to Rhyn Park. Ladies Bridge is in Brynkinalt Park on the Denbighshire bank (SJ307376). This is immediately above Pontyblew, with which there was a dispute about water. A series of leases in 1653-5 on the inclosure of a common called Chirk Rhose or Rhose y Waen in Brynkinalt Township were near the road from the iron furnace to Pennyclawd [not identified], suggesting the furnace was in Brynkinalt or accessible from it. However Brynkinalt belonged (and belongs) to the Trevor family, who do not seem to feature in this story.

[4] SJ318334

This was built in 1623 by Arthur Kynaston who with his son Samuel held it to 1627. Subsequent occupiers were: John Lloyd of London (lord of the manor) 1627 to 1633; William Boycott (probably previously its clerk) and William Fownes 1633 to 1639; Thomas Middleton of Chirk and Thomas Mytton of Halston 1639 to 1641 alone, and with Thomas Kynaston of Ruyton [XI Towns] as their partner 1641 to 1654. The forge was occupied by the cavaliers from 1642 to 1647. They probably operated it, as the partners lost some stock as a result of their occupation. The forge does not seem to have been used after the expiry of the lease in 1654. The only sign of the forge on the ground is a massive bank alongside the lane, which must have contained a very substantial pound in the flat valley bottom of the river Perry very probably providing a fall of six feet. The name ‘Ironmills’ survives as a place name. The pool was drained in 1773 (Day 1962). Associations The forge seems always to have been held with Chirk Furnace at Ifton and with Maesbury Forge. The partners also took a share in Cookley Slitting Mill at Wolverley. The mill is referred to at this period (only) as Wolverley Mill, a name later applied to the slitting mill at Wolverley Lower Mill.

Size Before the civil war each of the forges seems to have made about 100 tpa. It is therefore likely that the furnace made about 300 tpa. Total production (excluding during the war) between 1639 and 1653 was 1515 tons. In addition the furnace produced cast iron goods including 138 pots containing 1330 gallons, cast in 1651, 159 backstones [i.e. firebacks] and some other castings. The whole of this ‘potter’s ware’ realised £69. 10. 0, suggesting that the use of some 10 tons of cast iron in all.

Size and Trading Between 1634 and 1636 Ifton Furnace made 476 tons raw [sow] iron, which made 340 tons of bar iron. This amount was alleged to have been made annually. While this is possible, it is so much higher than later figures that it may actually be the total for the three years together (TNA, C 2/Chas I/K20/45). The forge made 332 tons between December 1639 and January 1642[3?], about 110 tpa. Between 1647 and 1653 it made 298 tons, about 50 tpa. Some of the iron was sold retail locally, and some was sent to a storehouse at Montford Bridge [SJ432153]. This was sent down river to be slit at Hyde Mill (and presumably at Cookley) and sold in that area. During the period of operation between 1639 and 1653, 124 tons of tough pigs and 203 tons of coldshort pigs were purchased. At the end of 1653 Mr Richard Brynley [of Hyde Mill] was owed money for pigs. Some of Mr Richard Eyton’s pigs [Ruabon?] were in stock at Fernhill.

Associations For Colman see chapter 22. From 1623 to 1653 the furnace was held with Fernhill and Maesbury Forges. After this it probably supplied Pontyblew Forge. Trading £30 for which ‘one Boycott’ sued the widow of the clerk of Lizard Forge was probably for pig iron from here. Surviving accounts seem to indicate that no pig iron was being sold but Mr Wilson took some pigs in war time and after the war restored some. ‘The old furnace’ was in blast in 1661 (NLW, Chirk Castle F13116). Pig at ‘Chirke

264

Chapter 15: Montgomeryshire and the Border Furnace’ was to be valued as part of Timothy Middleton’s stock in 1664 (Longueville 1447, articles of 8 July 1664).

clerk. In this period, production was low and losses seem to have been common, the forge appears to have been let to a company who were known by different names at different times: 1753 to 1767 John Wheeler & Co; 1763 to 1794 John Smithyman & Co; 1785 Mathrafal Company of Ironmasters; 1796 to 1798 Mathrafal Forge Co; and 1800 to 1808 Mytton & Co. Some of these name changes may reflect the changes in partners. In 1810 the forge was converted to a corn mill with tanning pits.

Accounts and Sources as Fernhill, but there is little about the furnace. Maesbury Forge

[6] unlocated about SJ3125

It was probably this forge that John Lloyd became possessed of under a deed dated 1632. If so, this may well be the date of the construction of the forge, which is only known from sources that also refer to Fernhill Forge with which it descended until 1653. However, it began to work after the civil war in July 1646 rather than July 1647. The precise location is unknown, but it was certainly in the Township of Maesbury. It must have been somewhere on the river Morda. According to Rees, it was on land of the Free School of Oswestry, whose deeds I have not traced

Size 1717 180 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 200 tpa. In 1745 John Wheeler produced an estimate of profit on the basis of making 100 tpa, showing a net profit of £66.15.0 from £1000 capital, 135 tons of pig iron and 300 cords of wood. The latter figure implies coal was not being used in the chafery. Carriage of pig iron to the forge came to a full 20 shillings per ton, perhaps 30 miles. This may explain the cause of losses in the preceding years. The accounts around this period show production usually considerably less than 100 tpa and almost all being sold locally in Montgomeryshire. In 1752, it was advertised as capable of 200 tpa. In 1794 there were two fineries and a chafery.

Size Before the civil war it seems to have made 218 tons, probably in just over two years, that is about 100 tpa Associations so far as is known the forge was always held with Fernhill Forge and Ifton Furnace

Associations The succession from Wilmot to Lowbridge also occurred at Upper Mitton Forge near the mouth of River Stour. Thomas Lowbridge also held Ruabon Furnace. Charles Lloyd also held Dolobran Forge and a share in Bersham Furnace, but not at the same time as the forge. John Smitheman was one of the lords of Madeley and a leading partner in Madeley Wood Furnaces, but he sold his share before 1787. Mr Mostyn of the Woodhouse was a partner in the 1780s. In late 18th century, the forge seems commonly to have been held with Dolobran Forge.

Trading Accounts and Sources as Fernhill Forge. Mathrafal Forge or Fridd Mathrafal Forge

[7] SJ127115

The forge stood on the south side of the River Vyrnwy at the foot of Fridd Mathrafal, which was formerly a considerable wood. It was driven by a fleam from a weir at SJ112120. The iron industry was introduced by Sir Charles Lloyd of MoelyGarth, a wealthy London merchant (not related to the Lloyds of Dolobran), who bought the manor of Caerinion from the Commonwealth in 1651 and erected an iron mill. The following year, he sold the manor to William Fownes, an ironmaster. At the restoration it was let to William Wilson and Humphrey Wilson, Sarah Wilson, Ellis Jones, and Robert Swift. By 1664 Jeremiah Trafford had replaced Humphrey Wilson. William and Sarah Wilson were imprisoned with other Montgomeryshire Quakers in 1664. The partners then let the forge to William Cotton of Ruabon and Timothy Middleton of Chirk, who were operating Ruabon Furnace and Pontyblew Forge together. The terms of the lease provided for £100 to be paid to Ellis Jones (presumably paying out his share in the works) and for William Wilson to have a share of the profit. In 1672, on the Quakers’ release under the Declaration of Indulgence, the forge was let to Sarah Wilson and Cadwallader Edwards. Later it was let to George Wyrrall (possibly by 1675 until at least 1692); to Mr Willmot in 1697; then Thomas Lowbridge; then Charles Lloyd of Dolobran c.1698 to 1720. Edward Vaughan of Llwydiarth mentioned it in his will in 1719. In 1720 the forge was let to Adrian Duvall (d.1725) and Isaac Hollier; followed by Lucy Duvall widow (d.1733), assisted by her son Joseph Duvall. Then from 1733 to 1753 the Duke of Powis operated it, with John Wheeler as

Trading Wm Wilson of Ruabon bought cordwood for somewhere in 1661 (Denbs RO, DD/WY/5576). Mrs Sarah Wilson late of Mathrafal in 1688 still owed money for pig iron supplied from Ruabon in 1673 (Edwards 1960, 49ff). George Wyrrall owed £8 to Paul Foley in the Bishopswood account, possibly for pig iron (Foley E12/ VI/DCf/4). In 1681/2 he bought 3 tons of Leighton pig iron (Boycott a/c). In 1692/3 he sold a ton of bar iron to the Foley Bewdley warehouse (Foley a/c). The trading activities of Willmot and Lowbridge are described under Upper Mitton Forge. Charles Lloyd (or Floyd) bought pig iron intermittently 1710-17 from the Foley Forest Partnership at Bewdley (Foley a/c). Adrian Duval’s inventory lists Plas Maddock and Flaxley pigs in 1725. In 1730 Lucy Duval bought 40 tons of Invergarry pig iron at Bristol (Invergarry a/c); 1729-33 Madam Duvall bought 20 tons and Joseph Duvall 8 tons of Willey pig. In 1735 the Duke of Powys settled a debt of £100 there (Downton a/c). Her inventory included 15½ tons of colshire iron at ‘New Key’, evidently awaiting shipment down the Severn. In 1733-41 the Duke bought pig iron from (Foley) Forest Partnership averaging nearly 50 tpa (Foley a/c); and in 1735/6 he bought castings from Hales (SW a/c). In 1748 he and Charles Lloyd of Dolobran 265

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I each had iron stolen (Davies 1939, 44). Forge accounts in the 1740s show small regular supply of pig iron coming from Mr Lloyd [Plas Maddock], but when larger amounts were required they came from places like Flaxley (Gloucs), Richard Ford Lancashire [Nibthwaite then Newland], and Thomas Russell Principio and Baltimore [America]. Sales of Hales cast iron necessaries to John Wheeler in 1754 and 1756 are likely to be for use here (SW a/c), as is 10 tons of pig iron sent to Poolquay for John Wheeler & Co in 1767 (HH a/c). In 1767-1781 John Smithyman & Co bought pig iron from Horsehay Furnace most years, usually between 50 and 80 tpa (HH a/c). Pool Quay seems then to have been the regular port used, rather than Llandrinio, the head of navigation on the River Vyrnwy.

under the management of James Barker. The situation at the head of navigation was no doubt also suitable to this use, as enabling coal to be brought up the river to the smelting house. The forge was built about 1757 by Francis Dorsett. He was succeeded about 1760 by Edward Lloyd, John Rowlands and Robert Ingram. Subsequent tenants were: John Rowlands and Son 1777 to 1778; Robert Palmer, John Pugh, and Edward Davies c.1779 to 1799 (Palmer may have dropped out in the mid-1780s and John Pugh died in 1802); Edward Pugh 1800 to 1803; Edward Pugh and Field Evans 1804 to 1821. The forge stood empty for a while and was then converted to a flannel factory and fulling mill. A stone and brick building built across this fleam near a couple of cottages a little south of the hamlet of Pool Quay is probably the forge itself.

Accounts 1742-52 (with gaps) NLW, Powis Castle 1855576; iron sales ledger: Powis Castle 21944. Inventories of Adrian and Lucy Duval: TNA, PROB 3/25/28; PROB 3/33/16; 1753: NLW, Powis Castle 21332. Letters NLW, Powis Castle Correspondence, 1107 1111 1133 1144-5 2845.

Size In 1769 and 1790 there were two fineries and one chafery, suggesting it could produce perhaps 150 to 250 tpa

Sources HMC 7th Rep., 86; House of Lords Journal, 11, 36a; Davies 1939, 40-44; Dodd 1951, 147; Lloyd 1968, 105-9; 1975, 37-62 passim; NLW, Powis Castle 17023 13444-7 11446-8 14107 & 4397; NLW, Powis Castle Rentals, R8 R9 & series RB & RL, s.v. Caereinion Iscoed manor, Llangyniew parish; Shrops RO, 3890/3/2/1/40; London Evening Post, 11 Feb. 1752. Park Mathrafal Ironworks

Associations Francis Dorsett held Upton Forge and later occurs at Woodmans Forge in the Weald. Edward Lloyd held Plas Maddock Furnace. John Rowlands lived at Ruabon and had ironworks in that area including Ruabon Furnace. Trading 1779/80 Robert Palmer bought 10 tons of Horsehay pig iron; 1799-1804 various sales of Horsehay pig iron to Pugh and Davies, Edward Pugh, or Pugh, Evans & Co (HH a/c).

[SJ133101] perhaps spurious

Davies was told that a pool in the river Banwy adjoining Mathrafal Park at SJ133101 had a name that translates as iron mill pool. More recently, a local farmer described it to H. Lloyd as Furnace Pool. There is no evidence of an ironworks on this site other than this oral tradition. At the period when Mathrafal Forge was built, it was unusual for furnaces and forges not to be too close to each other. The possibility of a furnace in the neighbourhood should therefore not be ruled out. The present author’s alleged documentary evidence of a furnace (Hist. Metall. 18, 134) refers to Moddershall Furnace. However, Peter Crew (pers. comm.) stated that he found blast furnace slag here.

Sources NLW, Powis Castle Rentals, series RA RH & RL passim, s.v. Tirymynech Lordship, Pool parish, Gungrogfawr township; NLW, Powis Castle 4362-9 & 3422; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 3 Apr. 1769 and 7 Aug. 1769; TNA, PROB 11/1404/136; Davies 1939, 36-40; Dodd 1951, 257 & 271n. Davies’ history of the forge prior to the 1760s is in fact a misattribution of that of Mathrafal Forge. This explains why the forge does not appear in the lists of 1717-50.

Sources see Mathrafal Forge. Pool Quay Forge

[9] SJ255111

Pool Quay was the head of navigation on the River Severn. It was hence an ideal place for a forge to be built to work pig iron brought up river from Shropshire or even further away once a trade in pig iron had developed. The forge was driven by a large fleam from the river Severn, whose course may be seen crossing the fields towards the forge. Previous to the erection of the forge, there had been a smelting house (for lead) at Pool Quay, some of whose materials were used in the construction of the forge. This was in connection with estate lead mines which had been 266

16 Shropshire West of the Severn Gorge Introduction

was decayed in 1664, Hallen probably having moved to Coalbrookdale to make his frying pans there. Over the years, there were various changes in the membership of Boycott & Co. In 1674 the partnership took over Willey Furnace, south of the Severn Gorge. This provided the firm with a surplus of pig iron that they began to sell to the owners of other forges in the area.

The largest river in this area is the River Severn, which is far too large to have been of use for driving ironworks. However it was navigable, certainly up to Shrewsbury in medieval times. The river was partly obstructed by fishweirs, but in 1575 a Commission of Sewers dealing with the river in Shropshire listed 24 such weirs but directed that 5o feet of navigable water should be left by each and provided for ‘lineways’ (towing paths) along the banks.1 There were no full-width weirs below Pool Quay in Montgomeryshire. A number of furnaces and forges stood on tributaries of the river varying in size from the River Tern at Tern and Upton to small brooks driving furnaces, such as Leighton. The coalfield with its seams of ore lies somewhat beyond the western boundary of the district being described, which thus lay outside the main coalfield. Mines were nevertheless close enough for ironstone for it to be easy to bring it to the furnaces, which accordingly mostly lay in the east of the area.

The next major development was the result of the bankruptcy of Job Walker who had succeeded to his family’s share in the firm. Before Willey was brought into the partnership, Walker probably supplied forges with pig iron from Bouldon Furnace. With the availability of Willey it became natural for it to rely on more local sources. Thus Boycott & Co took it over. Early in the 18th century, two of the managers for a time held a lease of Coalbrookdale. As the furnace was out of commission, the objective is likely to have been to make use of the forges. A little before this, Thomas Dorsett, probably another of the managers, took Wytheford Forge, which his descendants then held for much of the rest of the century. The son of another manager built Pitchford Forge in 1715. Indeed it is not always easy to distinguish the operations of Boycott & Co from those of their managers as it was usual for the managers to trade in their own names. It seems likely that the firm of Boycott & Co was dissolved in the second quarter of the 18th century.3

Kenley Furnace was built in the late 16th century by Richard Holbeck on behalf of Roland Lacon, who also had a furnaces and forges on his estates at Willey and Cleobury Mortimer. When Lacon had to sell certain estates, Richard Newport bought a major part of those sold, including these works. He added a forge at Sheinton and in 1630 took a long lease of a mill at Leighton on the opposite bank of the Severn, where he built a furnace. In 1638 these works were let to Boycott and Fownes. Boycott came from Hinton near Whitchurch and they had previous worked together in Denbighshire. Later, after Fownes, had become concerned in the industry elsewhere, new partners were brought in: Joshua Newborough a Stourbridge ironmonger, who had recently begun to take an interest in making iron; John Tyler the founder at Leighton; and Francis Walker, an important ironmaster in south Shropshire (see chapter 25).

In the meantime, a new force had emerged in the area. The Tern Company was set up in 1710 by a group of Quakers, who built not only a slitting mill but also a forge, a wire mill and a copper rolling mill, all on the same site near Tern Hall (now Attingham Hall). Most of the investors were from the Bristol area, presumably introduced by Abraham Darby and his Quaker contacts, but Thomas Harvey (its manager) and one other were from Stourbridge. This was probably intended as an integrated operation, with various mines, smelting copper at Coalbrookdale, and finishing it at Tern, but the mines proved disappointing and most of the partners withdrew. Harvey’s new partners included William Wood. He had been a Wolverhampton ironmonger until in 1714 he joined the partnership with several others including William Tomkys, and William Jordan. The inclusion of the latter suggests that the original business may have included Grange Furnace near Wolverhampton, but that it was transferred to Jordan about 1720 or perhaps Jordan withdrew to restart Grange, when Wood decided on bigger things. The firm had a share in the Tern Company and in that company’s other works at Coalbrookdale, where they had brass furnaces and a mill for grinding lapis calamaris; possibly also the steel

Earlier, Boycott, Richard Walker and John ‘Tiler’ were partners in Willey Furnace and Hubbals Mill Forge from 1646, when they were assigned to Walker (see chapter 19).2 Francis Walker had already for some years held another forge in the area, at Longnor; this was not brought into the partnership immediately. Longnor was another old ironworks, originally built with a furnace by Richard Holbeck in 1607. On entering the partnership in 1653 Walker built a new forge at Upton. This was on the River Tern which was the largest usable river in the district. Harley Forge let to Cornelius Hallen ‘baterer’ in 1658, but

Shrops RO, 6000/3093; 6000/3100; 6000/3230; 6000/14487; 6001/3190, 11; TNA, E 112/880/Shropshire 9; and accounts and other documents in NLW Cilybebyll. 3

1 2

Maxwell Lyte (ed.) 1888, 425-6. TNA, C 5/572/81.

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Map 16. The Shropshire Plain: Shropshire West of the Severn Gorge. 1, Harley Forge; 2, Kenley Furnace; 3, Leighton Furnace, Shropshire; 4, Longnor Forge; 5, Longnor Lower Forge; 6, Pitchford Forge; 7, Sheinton Forge; 8, Sutton Forge; 9, Tern Forge; 10, Uffington Mill; 11, Upton Forge.

the project collapsing and most of Wood’s sons becoming bankrupt. This is a long story, which I have told elsewhere, and must be left for a later chapter.5

furnaces formerly of Sir Basil Brooke. The business was expanded, probably during the Swedish embargo, Wood & Co building Sutton Forge; a forge at Eaton-upon-Tern; and (with Charles Lloyd of Dolobran), Bersham Furnace in Denbighshire. Redditch Forge probably also belonged to the firm. Harvey also bought the Gardden estate at Ruabon, probably including Ruabon Furnace, from the widow and sisters of Gerard Eaton and built a potwork (i.e. foundry) there, perhaps using pig iron from Bersham.

In the course of the litigation over the Gardden estate, Wood was ordered to bring £4000 into court to prevent a certain injunction being dissolved, but he could not. He therefore agreed instead that Harvey should have the management of Tern, Sutton, and the associated works at Coalbrookdale for himself and all others entitled pending the completion of an arbitration, which was to be (but was not) completed by June 1731. This left Harvey in possession of the works, but evidently with substantial liabilities. Thomas Harvey died shortly after, leaving his works to his son Benjamin, with his widow Ann having a life interest in Sutton. Benjamin disposed of his Stourbridge Forge in 1734, which was converted to a fulling mill. He had to borrow money from his brother-in-law, Joshua Gee, the son of another Joshua Gee, a prominent London Quaker merchant trading with America. Benjamin and his mother transferred the works to the younger Joshua. Initially the business was ostensibly carried on in Harvey’s name, because Gee was concerned about being embroiled in the controversy with Wood, though the works were Gee’s and he was a secret partner. In 1736 Gee was sufficiently confident that he understood the business and took it over, granting Benjamin (who then moved to Shrewsbury) a pension of £60 per year. Gee took over Upton Forge in 1735 and in 1742 employed Benjamin to manage Bersham Furnace. Gee took over Pitchford Forge in 1744, and ran all these ironworks until

In 1719 Wood sought to obtain control of the company and early in 1720 Harvey, probably reluctantly, sold out to Wood and to the trustees of his new company, partly in exchange for shares in that Company. The company was one of the many ‘bubbles’ floated on the stock market in that extraordinary year of speculation, its capital supposedly being £100,000. Harvey later asserted he had not conveyed the Gardden estate, because he had not been paid for it. Harvey continued as manager, though with certain of Wood’s associates as colleagues.4 At Bellingham (Northumb) one of Wood’s sons developed a new ironmaking process, which Wood transferred to Frizington near Whitehaven, but the process did not produce good iron, and the financiers withdrew their support, leading to

4 King 2011b. The history of this business was traced by Janet Butler (thesis, 25-41) from Chancery proceedings including TNA, C 11/1819/32; C 12/1161/3; C 12/1272/8; C 12/1794/8; and C 12/1793/10; and published work, including Cox 1990 and Treadwell 1974. This account depends largely on her work, but has been augmented by TNA, C 11/766/8 and E 112/1339/21. Butler apparently looked for (but failed to find) the latter. The precise history of Grange Furnace (q.v.) is less clear than implied here.

5

268

King 2014b; and see chapter 42.

Chapter 16: Shropshire West of the Severn Gorge Associations The forge was held with Kenley Furnace in its earlier years. In 1638 Leighton Furnace and Sheinton Forge were included in the same lease; as William Fownes lived at Kenley it is probable that Boycott and Fownes used that furnace. On the other hand with another furnace at Leighton they may well have found that furnace redundant. In 1653 Francis Walker obtained Upton Forge (probably building it) and he became one of the partners in Boycott & Co. This almost certainly made Harley redundant. Harley thus briefly became a plating forge.

the 1750s, when he had to move to Cumberland to resolve difficulties over a iron ore mining business there, arising from the bankruptcy of Daniel Stephenson. The owner of Tern Hall allowed him to surrender the lease of Tern Forge in 1755, and soon after almost every trace of the existence of the works was obliterated.6 The history of this area after this is largely one of decline. Most of the forges, so far as their histories are known, operated independently of any furnace. Leighton Furnace operated until the beginning of the coke era, which began with the opening of a number of brand new furnaces in the mid and late 1750s (see chapter 18). How much longer it lasted is not known; probably not very long. At this time the forges were probably operating mainly with pig iron imported from outside the immediate area: some from Cheshire and Denbighshire; some brought up the Severn. Quite a number of forges were converted to other uses. For example, William Hazledine converted Longnor to a paper mill in c.1800.7 There was a new generation of forges below the Severn Gorge and the day of the traditional finery forge had gone, though some in the Tern valley continued at least until the 1820s.8

Sources VCH Shrops viii, 8, 96; Wanklyn 1969, 97; Barnard MSS. at Raby Castle, wooden box 12, bundle 8; for Hallen family see Gerhold 2009. Kenley Furnace

The furnace was built on a tributary of Harley Brook shortly before 1591 by Roger Lacon of Kinlet and occupied in 1591 and 1606 by Richard Holbeck, by John Shaw in the 1620s, and probably by William Boycott and William Fownes from 1638. It is probable that it was closed not long after this. Its history is thus identical to that of Harley Forge. There is slag in nearby fields.

General sources: There is no good general source for the charcoal iron industry in Shropshire. The Tern Company is described in King 2011a; and Wood’s later activities in King 2014b. Some works are described in various volumes of VCH Shropshire and Chaplin 1961; 1963; 1969; and 1970 cover some works, as does Trinder 1973. I am grateful to Dr Baugh, then of the VCH Shropshire, for allowing me to see their notes on Barnard MSS. Brian Awty pointed out the significance of John Tyler.

Associations It was apparently always held with Harley Forge (q.v.) and it probably only made enough to keep it supplied. Sources VCH Shrops viii, 96 citing Raby Castle, Barnard MSS., wooden box 12, bundle 14; Trinder 1996, 14. Leighton Furnace, Shropshire

Gazetteer

[3] SJ611055

The furnace, which must not be confused with another Leighton Furnace in Lancashire, was built on the site of a corn mill by Sir Richard Newport in 1630. He let it to William Boycott and William Fownes in 1638. The furnace continued to be held by Boycott & Co until at least 1719. Thomas Dorsett was concerned in the furnace and probably a partner in 1733, but was probably not at his death in 1747. The furnace was later in the hands of Thomas Goldney and of Richard Ford (died 1745), both partners at Coalbrookdale, and apparently belonged to that Company in 1754, perhaps managed by one of the Ford family. Some of Ford’s sons were bankrupt in 1757 and 1759.

Charcoal ironworks Harley Forge

[2] SO574988

[1] SJ58100015

This was on Harley Brook above the village and was one of a number of ironworks on various estates of the Lacon family of Kinlet. The forge is not recorded until 1607 but may well have been built at the same time as Kenley Furnace, which Richard Holbeck held in 1591 and 1606. John Shaw rented the forge in 1624. It was let to William Boycott and William Fownes in 1638 and in 1658 to Cornelius Hallen of Stourbridge ‘baterer’. In 1664, before the end of his lease it was let for conversion to a fulling mill. The Hallen family trade was making frying pans, so that it probably plated iron, not copper as implied by VCH, though ‘battery’ normally does refer to copper or brass.

In the 1640s John Tyler was probably founder at the furnace and later a partner. Thomas Newton (a partner) was managing it in 1681. Samuel Browne and James Colley were clerks in 1691. William Vickers or Viggers and James Colley were clerks 1725-9. James Colley died in 1739, leaving an estate consisting just of the furniture in the room where he lodged. They were managers not ironmasters. The furnace was situated in the village of Leighton, the tuyere arch was built into the corn mill that replaced it in 1762 and this has in turn been rebuilt as the Kynaston Arms (closed 2008). Excavation adjoining the furnace arch produced little.

Size In 1638 it probably had a single finery.

6 As note 4. Stourbridge Forge: q.v. (Stourbridge Town Mills). Gee’s interest in Pitchford Forge appears from Birmingham Archives, 278121 and 278103; NLW, Pitchford Hall rentals. 7 Pattinson 2011, 64; 2017, 24. 8 Hayman 2008, 89-90.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I ford. Between this and the brook is a house called the Paper Mill, which shows several phases of construction including 2 bays of building which are half timbered and a third bay has some stone in its structure. This part of the building has two large brick chimneys. There is also a brick cross wing at the western end. It seems very likely that this building, though no doubt ostensibly the paper mill, which succeeded the forge in about 1801, in fact incorporates a substantial part of the forge building. The lower site has some earthworks, which are difficult to interpret. It is not known which of the two sites had the furnace. In neither case is the fall sufficient for the overshot or high breastshot wheel that is typical of furnaces. This may well provide a reason why Longnor continued as a forge, not as a furnace.

Size 1680 to 1692 making 400 to 540 tpa. With Coalbrookdale and Willey Furnaces operating nearby this was probably as much as the wood available would allow to be made. More wood may have been available when Coalbrookdale began using coke in the 1690s (and then blew up in or before 1704). It is listed as making 400 tpa in 1717. Its output may have been further improved by the addition of a pumping engine to return water over the dam, as noted by visitors in 1753 and 1754. The furnace’s role may have disappeared with the erection of Horsehay and Lightmoor Furnaces in the late 1750s. Nevertheless, despite this supposed closure, a Leighton Furnace is listed under Hereford in the 1796 list, making 780 tons. This could therefore be the third Shropshire charcoal furnace that appears in the 1788 list, making 600 tpa, but Cornbrook (see chapter 25) is also a candidate for that.

A furnace and forge were built in 1605 by Richard Holbeck (referred to in the deed as ‘Howback otherwise Knowalls’), who was granted a lease for 21 years ‘if the trees and woods (other than such as are mentioned to be reserved) will or may so long suffice for the furnace and forge’. In 1624, this and Moat Farm, Stapleton were given up to Roger Blakeway. In 1635 it was occupied by Roger Blakeway and Francis Walker, who were followed by the latter alone, then probably by William Walker, by his executors and then by Job Walker until he became bankrupt in 1695. The forge had been sublet by Mr Llewellin to Mr Woolfe (of Coalbrookdale) from 1673 to 1678 or 1681. Alexander Fraysell was Walker’s clerk from 1678 to 1695. The lower site seems only to be referred to in the 17th century, but little is known of it. Its history is presumably the same as the upper forge in the same period.

Associations Sheinton Forge belonged to the same estate and was usually held with the furnace. Two of Richard Ford’s sons were partners in the Caynton Company from 1748 to 1759. Trading Mr Newton (Leighton) sold a hammer to Ruabon (Edwards 1960, 54). In 1692/3 & 1694/5 Samuel Brown of Leighton sold 64 and 21 tons to Foley partnership’s Bewdley warehouse respectively (Foley a/c). They were perhaps managers. In 1703/4 Mr Boycott sold 1½ tons, being 6 hammers to Cheshire Partnership’s Bodfari Forge (Cheshire a/c). Wood was bought in the Acton Burnell area in 1700-2 (TNA, C 7/616/21). In 1711-4 91 tons of ‘Layton’ pigs were used at Upleadon (TNA, C 101/1419). In 1721/3 Mr Colley sold ¾ ton of hursts, boyts, &c to Moreton Forge (Moreton a/c). In Oct. 1724 & 1725 bills of exchange in favour of the Layton (sic) Co were drawn in favour of James Colly and Mr Viggers. The furnace provided Coalbrookdale Pig Yard with 23 tons more in 1738, probably for use in the forge (CBD a/c). In 1750/1 ‘Ford & Co’ supplied pig iron to Mathrafal Forge (Powis a/c). Leighton pig iron was again in use at Coalbrookdale in 1754 (Angerstein’s Diary, 329).

Longnor Forge was held by Boycott & Co from 1695 to 1722 or later. By 1699 Richard Atkis (d.1710) managed the forge, then perhaps Richard Corfield (d.1713), followed by Thomas Atkis until 1739. The latter history of Boycott & Co remains obscure; accordingly it is not clear when (if at all) Thomas Atkis became his own master, as all references to the forge business are in the name of the clerk. John Webster and John Turton took a lease of the forge in 1739, rebuilding it in 1742. Turton probably retired about 1744 (cf. Perry Barr). John Webster (d.1757) and was followed from before 1755 to 1783 by Joseph Webster. From 1783 to 1791 William Jones occupied it, followed by John Jones until 1800 (bankrupt). It was converted to a paper mill by William Hazledine of Shrewsbury in 1801.

Accounts intermittently accounts 1679-82, 1691/2 and 1700-02: Boycott a/c. Sources Shrops RO, 6000/3093; 6000/3100 (also copy in NLW, Cilybebyll); 6000/3230; 6000/14487; 6001/3190, 11; TNA, E 112/880/Shropshire 9; C 7/616/21; Trinder 1973, 29 40 207; Trinder 1996, 13-15. Raby Castle (Durham) wooden box 12 bundle 8; Channel Four TV, ‘Time Team’, season 9, episode 5 (2002): two reports from this are at Shrops HER. Longnor Forge Longnor Lower Forge

Size 1700-02 133 tpa; 1715 150 tpa; 1718 140 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 140 tpa; 1766 8 tpw used to make 6 tpw bar (Whitworth 1766, table); 1790 2 fineries. William Jones’ ‘patent balling furnace’ is more likely to have been at Hampton Loade than here (cf. Hayman thesis, 83 from Botfield papers).

[4] SJ48620140 [5] SJ487020

Associations For Walker see chapter 25. Joseph Webster was a wiredrawer with wire mills at Perry Barr and Sutton Coldfield. This suggests that the forge was making osmond iron for wiremaking, but it may have made bar iron as well. Webster 1880 thought that John Webster of Shrewsbury, Joseph’s predecessor was unrelated: in view of the partnership with Turton this seems improbable.

The Longnor ironworks were on the Cound Brook in the northern part of the parish of Longnor, extending over the parish boundary into Condover parish, whose register records iron workers periodically from 1610. At the upper site there are remains, on the north side of the road, of a large leat crossing the road about 50 yards east of the 270

Chapter 16: Shropshire West of the Severn Gorge Joseph Webster leased Hints Forge about 1782, which is probably why he no longer needed this one. William Jones was also interested in a forge at Hampton Loade.

was tried here, implying it has a reverberatory furnace, perhaps for the potting and stamping process. In ‘1794’ Lawrence & Hazledine had 1 chafery & 1 melting finery.

Trading The carriage of pig iron damaged a bridge at Shipton in Corvedale in 1680. This would probably be iron being brought from Bouldon to Longnor (Rowley 1966). Pig iron was bought from Flaxley about 1690 (NLW, Cilybebyll 416). Some bar iron was sold to the landlord for £11-8-0 about 1699 (VCH from a document now mislaid). In 1701 Willey, Leighton, Bouldon, Charlcot and Forest pig were all used. In 1724 William Corfield of Pitchford Forge and Atkins of Longnol (sic) went to Stourbridge with Kelsall presumably to sell bar iron to ironmongers there (Davies 1939, 54, citing Kelsall’s diary). Richard Atkis bought 10 tons of pig iron from the Foley partnership in 1703/4 and Mr Atkis 5 tons and 2 Sussex Hammers in 1716/7 (Foley a/c). Thomas Atkis bought 119 tons of Vale Royal pig iron in five years 1719-23 (VR a/c); 80 tons Willey pig in about 1729 (Willey a/c); various amounts up to 25 tpa from Foley partnership 1730-6 (Foley a/c); small amounts, probably being hammers, plates etc. from Hales Furnace 1731-7 (SW a/c); and 5 tons from Charlcot in 1737. Webster bought 50 tons of this in 1750 (BW a/c). Webster bought some cordwood at Minsterley in 1747 (Longleat House Archives, 14E, clxvii, p. 264). The Foleys delivered their pig iron at Bewdley. Charlcot pig was delivered at Bridgnorth.

Associations William Corfield arrived at Pitchford at about the time when he and Thomas Corfield ceased to be tenants of the Coalbrookdale Works under a lease they had probably inherited from their father, Richard Corfield. The latter had for many years been a manager for Boycott & Co, at Willey Furnace and Sheinton Forge. He died at Longnor and may therefore have ended managing that forge. It is possible that Thomas Corfield succeeded him at Sheinton. If so, certain of the trading references below would relate to that forge. Jeremiah Caswell held Hyde (slitting) Mill. Joshua Gee also had Tern and Sutton Forges. Sutton passed to Caswell and Gibbons with Pitchford. Various members of the Gibbons family had long been ironmongers. They probably only acquired Cradley Forge and Slitting Mill and the Level (coke) Furnaces at Brierley Hill shortly before they gave up Pitchford. Trading In 1715 William Corfield bought 5 tons Elmbridge pig iron (Foley a/c). In 1725 William Corfield of Pitchford accompanied Kelsall and Mr Atkins of Longnol (sic) to Stourbridge (Davies 1939, 54). From 1719-23 William Corfield was a buyer of Vale Royal pig iron, buying 173 tons in five years, usually delivered at Uffington (VR a/c). Between 1729 and 1736 W. Corfield bought Hales cast iron necessaries (SW a/c). In 1729-33 Thomas Corfield bought 146 tons of Willey pig, the largest single customer there (Downton a/c). In 1735 Thomas Corfield had 4 tons and in 1736-8 William Corfield 5 or 10 tpa from Charlcot (BW a/c). Jeremiah Caswell was a regular purchaser of cast iron necessaries from Hales and occasionally from Aston Furnace 1737-63, but it is not possible to distinguish which purchases were for Pitchford. Jeremiah Caswell & Co (1755) and Caswell & Gibbons (1756-61 & 1767) usually 30-40 tpa of Horsehay pig. This was delivered in 1767 at C[o]und Lane End or to Pitchford, no doubt to the wharf and landing place mentioned in the leases, probably near the Cound Inn (now Riverside Inn). In 1770 William Gibbons had 6 tons apparently delivered to Pool Quay, probably a bookkeeping mistake (HH a/c). 1790-1 Hazledine & Lawrence bought 5 tpa Old Park pig iron (OP a/c).

Accounts Boycott a/c 1700-02. Sources VCH Shrops viii, 112 cf. 49 188; Awty 2019, 728; Webster 1880, 44 60; Horsfall 1971, 40 46-7; NLW, Cilybebyll 416 & 508-9; Shrops RO, 567/box 28, lease of 1605; 567/31 (rentals &c, including papers regarding a nuisance claim on behalf of the forge); 6000/3230; 6000/14487; TNA, E 112/880/Shropshire 9; London Gazette, no. 15226, 101 (28 Jan. 1800). Pitchford Forge

[9] SJ53350560

The forge was driven by Cound Brook and succeeded an ancient corn mill originally belonging to the adjoining manor of Eaton Mascott. The mill was converted to a forge by William Corfield and held by him perhaps in partnership with Thomas Corfield from 1715 to at least 1738. It was advertised to let in 1744 and taken over by Joshua Gee of Tern Forge. He sold it to Jeremiah Caswell and John Gibbons in 1755. After the death of Jeremiah Caswell in 1769, the firm became Thomas, William and Benjamin Gibbons. They are said to have converted it to a wire mill in 1769, though the lease of that date says nothing of that. When that lease expired in 1790, it was let for 42 years to William Hazledine. He was still its tenant in 1807, but had perhaps converted to another use in about 1800, when he took over Upton Forge, though it was still called a forge in 1811.

Sources NLW, Pitchford Hall, 893 952 995 1925-6 2101 2103; Birmingham Archives, 278121 278103; Staffs RO, D 605/1/12/20 & 31 (cited by Smith 1971); VCH Shrops viii, 118; Pattison 2011, 64; 2017, 24; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 30 Apr. 1744; 1 Sep. 1766; Smith 1971, 46. Some sources (including VCH) name Richard Jordan as tenant from 1744, relying on an uncompleted draft lease, but this is contrary to what the rentals (cited here) show. Sheinton Forge

[7] SJ608040

The forge was on the Harley Brook in the village of Sheinton. It is likely to have been built about 1630 by Sir Richard Newport to operate with Leighton Furnace. It passed to Boycott and Fownes in 1638 and descended as part of the works of Boycott & Co until at least 1719.

Size 1717 150 tpa; 1718 150 tpa; 1736 70 tpa; 1744 150 tpa; 1750 200 tpa 1766 4 tpw used to make 3 tpw bar (Whitworth 1766, table). In 1786 Cort’s puddling process 271

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I It was probably held with Leighton until at least 1729 and probably until its closure in about 1740. However probable ironworkers last occur in 1722 and 1724. The site was void by about 1840. The only remains of the forge are a weir above the bridge and traces of a pound below it.

wire (Gross 2001, 222) or 5 tpw or 250 tpa (Angerstein’s Diary, 328). The increase in size suggests the second finery was added after 1736. 1766 4 tpw used to make 3 tpw bar (Whitworth 1766, table), in two fineries in 1769 (St James Chronicle).

Size 1681-91 varying between 81 & 125 tpa; but 1701/2 only 52 tons (accounts); 1717 200 tpa; 1718 60 tpa; 1736 50 tpa; 1750 & 1766 not listed.

Associations and Trading for owners up to Gee see Tern Forge; for Caswell & Gibbons see Pitchford Forge. Mr Rowland held Ruabon Furnace and several forges in the Welsh border.

Associations Continuously held with Leighton Furnace. Sources King 2011b, 70 76 &c; Butler thesis, ch.1, 28-33 37-39 from (inter alia) TNA, C 11/1819/32; C 12/1161/3; C 12/1272/8; C 12/1794/8; and C 12/1793/10; TNA, PROB 11/650/163; PROB 3/31/86; Mott 1957b, 91n; FMH, Norris VIII, 54; Ashton 1924, 191n; Birmingham archives, 278121; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 1 Sep. 1766 & 1 & 8 Oct. 1770; St James Chronicle, 25 Feb. 1769; Pattison 2011, 125; Rees 1968, 324-7 (confused).

Trading In the 1680s Richard Corfield the manager mainly obtained pig iron from the associated furnaces at Leighton and Willey. In 1691/2 he bought 5 tons ‘Forest pig’ (Boycott a/c); in 1697/8 10 tons Elmbridge pig; in 1699/1700 10 tons ‘tuf’ pig; and in 1708/9 2 tons, both delivered at Bewdley (Foley a/c); and in 1701/2 62 tons ‘Derrington’ [Doddington] pigs (accounts). In 1692-8 he supplied blooms to Wolverley Lower Mill, also in 1700/1 (Foley a/c). Richard Corfield died in 1713 at Longnor and it is possible that Thomas Corfield succeeded his father in management of this forge. If so, his purchase of 10 tons Bishopswood pig in 1714/5 (listed under Coalbrookdale) and various later purchases (listed under Pitchford) were in fact for this forge.

Tern Forge

Some foundations of the works have been found in the riverbed of the river Tern within Attingham Park just above a bridge. Lighters were brought up the river, via a pound lock to a wharf just below the forge, whence there was a wagon road to Upton Forge. This had existed for 50 years before 1737. The remains of the lock survive as part of a weir at SJ553092.

Accounts 1637 (for 6 months) at Raby Castle; 1679-81 1691/2 & 1701/2: Boycott a/c. Sources Raby Castle (Durham), wooden box 12 bundle 8; Shrops RO, 6000/3093; 6000/3100; 6000/3230; 6000/14487; Awty 2019, 216 266. Sutton Forge

[9] SJ552099

The works was built in 1710 on the site of four corn mills. Its landlord approached Thomas Dorsett with the suggestion that he should build a slitting mill on the site. He introduced the landlord, Thomas Harwood, to Abraham Darby and Thomas Harvey, a Stourbridge ironmonger. Harvey, with a group of investors, mostly from Bristol and probably all fellow Quakers, took a lease for 50 years, wanting to build a rolling mill for brass. They thus ‘erected a mill for rowling brass plates and iron hoops and slitting bar iron into rods for the making of nails’ for £1,500. This was followed by ‘a wire mill, a forge, and a furnace for converting iron into steel’, costing another £2,500. William Wood bought into the company probably in 1715 and took control of it in the 1720s. His son Richard Wood, then a manager at Tern, absconded in 1727 leaving unpaid debts. T. Lilly is also mentioned as a manager in this period. The works were assigned back to Thomas Harvey in 1729, pending arbitration. Harvey left them to his son Benjamin. In 1733 Thomas Harvey’s widow and son sold the works to Joshua Gee, but Benjamin continued trading in his own name, with Gee (his brother-in-law) as a secret partner, until 1736 when Gee took over. Joshua Gee operated the works until about 1755, when he surrendered the lease. He needed to move to Frizington Hall in Cumberland to attend to his iron mining interests there and was unable to find a purchaser. In 1754, Angerstein named Mr Harvey as owner, perhaps indicating that he resumed management after Isaac Wilkinson took over Bersham.

[8] perhaps SJ497108

Its site was on the Rea Brook, just south of Shrewsbury. Of all the 18th century forges in Shropshire, this is one of the most obscure, perhaps because the ironmasters owned the freehold, so that it fails to appear in landlords’ records. It was probably built in about 1714 (though not in the 1717 list) by Thomas Harvey, William Wood and the Tern Company and thus belonged to William Wood’s company from 1720 to 1729, when it was conveyed to Harvey. He devised it to his wife and then to his son in 1731, but subject to any rights granted by William Wood before 1730. Anne and Benjamin Harvey sold it to Joshua Gee in 1733, but continued trading there with Gee as a secret partner until 1736. Gee retained it until 1755 when he let it to Jeremiah Caswell and John Gibbons. Caswell & Gibbons still had it with Pitchford in 1766. After the expiry of their lease in 1769, Mr Rowland of Ruabon advertised for cordwood for it in 1770. The dispatch of 12 loads of charcoal from here to Upton Forge in 1786 probably marks its closure. By 1788 it had become a corn mill. Size 1717 not listed; 1718 100 tpa; 1736 50 tpa; 1750 260 tpa. In 1754 there is a detailed description of working practices; there were two fineries, one making 2 to 2½ tpw merchant iron and the other osmond iron for drawing into 272

Chapter 16: Shropshire West of the Severn Gorge The landlord, who owned Tern Hall (now Attingham Park), found that the noise of the forge made his home almost uninhabitable, and Thomas Harwood lived in Shrewsbury and his successor Thomas Hill usually in London, part of the hall being occupied by the forge managers. In 1713, the mill-owners converted the mill house into eight apartments for workmen whom they brought in. They then found themselves indicted for setting up seven cottages, though the employees came with settlement certificates and could be sent home to their own parishes if necessary. In 1737 Hill tried to stop the forge by changing the roads but was unsuccessful. In 1756, shortly after the lease was surrendered, the works were advertised to let as a bolting mill, late ironworks, but were soon demolished and utterly obliterated.

Trading Thomas Harvey bought 116 tons of Vale Royal pig iron in 1722 (and less in the years before and after), variously delivered at Woore, Bewdley and even Chepstow (VR a/c). Wood was bought in 1726 by Richard Wood on behalf of William Wood & Co but by Thomas Harvey & Co in 1729-31 (Shrops RO, 112/11/15/21 30 & 70). Thomas Harvey bought 3 cwt of castings in 1727, perhaps of forge necessaries (SW a/c). Joshua Gee lost a cargo of £400 worth of pig iron when a trow was ‘cast away betwixt Bristol and Gloucester’ (Denton & Lewis 1977, 58). He told the Commons that he ‘used Virginia and Maryland pigs at his works near Shrewsbury’ (House of Commons Journal 23, 111); Mr Gee bought Charlcot pig iron in 1739 (5 tons) and 1743 (30 tons), but not necessarily for this forge (BW a/c). He supplied pig iron to the Pig Yard at Coalbrookdale in 1736 and 1737 (CBD a/c). Bersham is likely to have supplied pig iron in Wood’s time in the 1720s; it presumably did so when Gee had his mine at Frizington; and Bersham pig was in use when Charles Wood visited in 1754 (Gross 2001, 222), despite Bersham having passed to Isaac Wilkinson by then. Many of these could relate to other associated forges, rather than Tern itself.

Size The original entrepreneurs spent £4,000 erecting not only a slitting mill but a rolling mill for making brass plates, a forge, a wire mill and a steel furnace. Harvey commented to his landlord that this was the first such integrated works. The brass side of the early business was associated with smelting houses and a mill for grinding lapis calamaris at Coalbrookdale, and perhaps with the steel works there. Those smelting houses were probably built by Abraham Darby, while he was still a partner in the Bristol Brass Co, but they still existed in 1730. It is not clear how long the steel business continued: Benjamin Harvey of Stourbridge (and sometimes Thomas and Benjamin) bought oregrounds iron from Graffin Prankard up to 1733, but whether this was for a furnace at Tern or in Stourbridge is not clear (Prankard a/c). There had been difficulties over the renewal of a lease at Coalbrookdale in 1721, which may mark the end of the works there (TNA, C 11/766/8). The brass business was probably abandoned before 1730. 1717 300 tpa; 1718 250 tpa; 1736 150 tpa; 1750 150 tpa; 1754 120 tpa (Angerstein).

Sources King 2011b; Cox 1990, 131; Chaplin 1969, 2-3; Chaplin 1970, 83-6; Butler thesis, ch.1, 25-33 37-41 (from Chancery proceedings including TNA, C 11/1819/32; C 12/1161/3; C 12/1272/8; C 12/1794/8; and C 12/1793 /10); Trinder 1973, 17 23 & 30; 1996, 17; Shropshire Newsletter 14 (Feb. 1961); FMH, Norris VIII, 54; TNA, PROB 11/ 650/163; PROB 3/31/86; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 6-20 Oct. 1756; Denton & Lewis 1977; Shrops RO, 112/ 11/15/34 65-70; 112/5/5/5; 112/7/57; 112/12/ 25/172 175-6; 112/12/20/18 28 32 39 96 179-188 passim; 112/12/22/203; and 112/passim; Woolley 1992, 167-8; Lloyd 1975, 52; Angerstein’s Diary, 328; Coulton 1989, passim. Uffington Mill

Associations Thomas Harvey and Abraham Darby I married sisters. Harvey also had a forge at Eaton-on-Tern from 1722 and at his death in 1731. He had Ruabon Furnace and built the Gardden potwork, both in Denbighshire. He also had Redditch Forge (now Worcs). His son and successor had a steel business at Stourbridge, which he probably closed when he moved to Tern after his father’s death. Bersham Furnace was built in partnership between Charles Lloyd of Dolobran and William Wood & Co, but the furnaces had a separate history after 1729. However, Joshua Gee had Bersham by 1742, and it was presumably the destination for the ore that he had mined in Frizington demesne (Cumberland) from 1748. Joshua Gee’s father (also Joshua) was a founding partner in the Principio Company in Maryland, but his shares passed on his death to Samuel and Osgood Gee of London, rather than to the younger Joshua. Sutton Forge was probably built by 1718 by the owners of Tern and remained in common ownership until Joshua Gee gave up Tern. He also had Upton Forge from 1735 until 1750 and Pitchford Forge between 1744 and 1755.

[10] SJ527138

This was the last mill on the brook which flows into the River Severn at Uffington. Little is known of it, but like Upton and Moreton Forges, it was held by Wheeler & Co from Mr Corbett of Sundorne in 1788 and by Richard Watson at the time of his bankruptcy in 1794. In 1794 there was a windmill near it to supply the works in dry weather, presumably by pumping water back over the dam: common steam engines were sometimes used for this, the use of a windmill for this may be unique. The windmill also contained a corn mill. The slitting mill had 3 tyre shops and 3 warehouses. Sources Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 28 Apr. 1794; General Evening Post¸ 6 May 1794; Trinder 1996, 15-16. Upton Forge

[11] SJ559113

The forge was built by Francis Walker in 1654, probably on the site of a corn mill. It probably immediately became part of the works of Boycott & Co continuing as such until at least 1702 (possibly after 1710). The 1723 occupier was ‘JK’, probably its landlord John Kynaston; in 1735 it 273

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I was let to Joshua Gee, who used it until 1750. It was then let to Francis Dorsett. He took William Hallen and Ralph Vernon as partners, but retired in 1758. Vernon retired in 1772, and John Wheeler (a relative of Hallen by marriage) was a partner by 1777. They were followed by Richard Watson (as at Moreton Forge) from 1790 to 1794 (his bankruptcy). Having failed to sell the forge, the assignees transferred the stock to William Maybury, probably one of the forgemen. As William Maybury late of Shifnal ironmonger, he assigned his effects to William Hazledine in 1800. Hazledine operated the forge in partnership with John Dodson of Cound (a land agent for the Attingham estate) until 1819, and then alone until his death in 1840, a month after that of John Maybury, the clerk at Upton Forge. The forge died with them. Most of the buildings were demolished soon after. There is little of the forge left apart from a farm and a dried up leat on the north side of the River Tern.

in 1691/2 139 tons in 1700/1, in 1701/2 208 tons and in that year smaller amounts from Ruabon, Bouldon, and Willey (Boycott a/c). For Joshua Gee see Tern. Francis Dorsett bought cast iron necessaries from Hales Furnace separately from his mother 1751-6 (SW a/c) and 10 tons of pig iron from Horsehay in 1756 (HH a/c). John Wheeler bought 29 tons from Snedshill (Snedshill a/c). 5 tons of pig iron were supplied from Old Park Furnaces in 1790 to Hazledine and [?Webst]er Shrewsbury (OP a/c), probably for a foundry in Mardol, a Shrewsbury street. Hazledine had foundries at Plas Kynaston in Denbighshire and Coleham in Shrewsbury and was a noted engineering ironfounder. The chains for the Menai and Conwy Suspension Bridges (made of flat plates, each an entire bar of iron with a hole drilled in it) were made at Upton. Hazledine was paid nearly £62,400 on these two contracts in the 1820s.

The forge had a way to Tern Mill, so that goods could be landed there. Thomas Rowley was paid in 1701/2 for ‘water carriage of pigs and iron up and down the river Tearn’ and also on the Severn to Bewdley (accounts). In 1653 Boycott & Co also took a lease of Tern Mill, which was not an ironworks at the time. This was probably connected with the provision of a wharf at Tern with a road to Upton Forge. It has been claimed that Tern was also navigable from Tern Mill to Upton Forge, but is improbable as there was no lock by the mill, so that goods would have had to be transhipped at Tern Mill. This access probably ended in 1757 when Tern Forge was closed and Humphrey Repton landscaped Attingham Park, in the process defacing the lock at the mouth of the river Tern (using it as a weir). Vernon and Hallen had a warehouse on Watling Street in 1763. After 1757, goods were probably landed at Atcham, until 1797 when the Shrewsbury Canal opened passing about 500 yards north of the forge. In 1800, the Upton Forge Company had been authorised to cut the towpath near the forge at Upton Wharf.

Sources Raby Castle (Durham), wooden box 12, bundle 8; Shrops RO, 6000/3100; 6000/3230; 6000/18286; 6000/18289; 1396/2; 112/15; TNA, E 112/880 /Shropshire 9; TNA, c 12/336/20; C 12/1794/8; Coulton 1989, 101; Pattison 2011, 117-138; 2017, 9 30 39 94-8 104; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 28 Apr. 1794; General Evening Post¸ 6 May 1794; Chaplin 1969; Hayman thesis, 106. Statements (Shorter 1950, 147 151; Lloyd 1950, 162) that it was converted to a paper mill after 1800 may be based on Hazledine’s address, but Pattison (2011, 131 n.403) suggested that this was a mistaken reference to Longnor Forge.

Accounts 1700-02: Boycott a/c.

Other ironworks Church Preen

Never built

In 1727 John Dickins of Church Preen asserted that there was ironstone in his land and that it would be enormously profitable to set up two furnaces there. He proposed that this should be floated as a joint stock enterprise. The plan was for an unrealistically optimistic ironworks, and as far as is known nothing came of it.

Size 1700-02 170 tpa; 1717 200 tpa; 1718 240 tpa; 1736 200 tpa; 1750 260 tpa; 1754 140 tpa for ‘Mr Blunt’ (Angerstein’s Diary, 328); 1766 8 tpw pig used to make 6 tpw bar (Whitworth 1766, table); 1790 3 fineries 1 chafery (list); 1794 3 fineries 2 balling furnaces and 2 puddling furnaces, the latter built in 1792, capable of 50 tpw (advert).

Source Sparrow 1898, 105-7 123-9. Coleham Foundry

SJ495121

The foundry was built by William Hazledine, who bought the land for it by stages in 1790-3 and operated it for the rest of his life. After his death in 1840, it was occupied by William Stuttle the younger, probably previously the foreman, until 1878 when it was taken over by William Lowcock. Hazledine subsequently built the Plas Kynaston Foundry near Ruabon. Between them, these foundries produced castings for a number of significant bridges and other engineering works.

Associations Duncott corn mill which lies above the forge was usually included in leases of the forge, no doubt to provide control over the water supply. The career of Joshua Gee is described above under Tern Forge. Francis Dorsett later had Woodcock Hammer in the Weald until 1776 and considered taking over Barnby Furnace in Yorkshire in 1778. Others of the family long had Wytheford Forge. Wheeler & Co and then Richard Watson also held Moreton Forge and probably also Uffington Mill.

Sources Pattinson 2011; 2017. Trading It received 148 tons pig iron in 1679/80 from Leighton Furnace, in 1680/1 100 tons, in 1681/2 300 tons, 274

17 North Shropshire Introduction

For the most part, north Shropshire was a land of unattached forges. Apart from this, the only grouping of ironworks is what was latterly known as the Caynton Company. In the second half of the eighteenth century this consisted of Caynton and Sambrook Forges and Tibberton slitting mill. Caynton and Tibberton had the same landlord and were always used together, but Sambrook did not, so that their association was merely the result of a single ironmaster having acquired them all. This endured for much of the 18th century. Towards the end of the century Upton and Moreton Forges, with the newer forges at Eardington, seem to have been held by associated firms.

The north of Shropshire is a plain. In former times there were considerable areas of mosses and moorland, but this hardly affects the present subject. The plain is drained by several rivers of which the most notable are the Tern and its tributaries the Roden, Meese, and Strine. The first two of these rivers flow southwards, while the Meese and Strine flow westwards to join them. There were a couple of furnaces in the northern part of the Shropshire coalfield, at Lilleshall and Wombridge. With Lilleshall went a forge at Lubstree Park. It is presumed that Wytheford Forge was associated with Wombridge, since both belonged to the Charlton Family of Apeley Castle. It is possible Sir Henry Wallop of Farley in Hampshire, whose wife was the Corbett heiress, was involved: his name occurs connected to Bringewood and Bromleys and Moreton Forges (see also in chapters 16 and 25). Nevertheless, the early history of most of these works remains obscure, either because the landlords were operating them themselves or just because records have not survived. It is very likely that the career of Lilleshall Furnace ended early in the second quarter of the 17th century. Wombridge lasted until 1672, but latterly it was in the hands of Thomas Foley I(W) and then his son Philip who were using the furnace to supply pig iron to the Lower Stour and the Smestow Valleys.1 However it was revived by Shadrach and Thomas Fox in the 1690s, perhaps to gratify the landlord, who (as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance) was able to award ordnance contracts to Shadrach.2

In 1662 Sambrook Forge and Grindle Forge (in the Worfe valley) were in the hands of Robert Slaney, who also used a furnace at Moddershall in Stone in mid Staffordshire, and also Tib Green Forge in Cheshire.3 At his death in 1673 John Browne of Sowbach (in Stanton upon Hine Heath) had Moreton, Wytheford and Harcourt Forges (the latter not being known from other sources), and he and his son appear as substantial buyers of Forest pig iron.4 Caynton Forge and Tibberton Slitting Mill (previously a forge) were both used by Thomas Fox of Muxton perhaps from 1652 (or before) until 1670. He then assigned them to Richard Pensell and John Tiler, who were to account to Fox for half the profit after a debt that Fox owed was paid, but the business made a loss.5 They were then leased to Charles Jones. This was probably a second lease since Charles Jones’ pig iron purchases begin some years before, presumably when he succeeded Richard Pensell. In 1687 Jones in dispute with his landlords over certain rent due in 1683. He had paid it to John Moreton as the landlord’s agent by means of a bill of exchange on London, but the London agent claimed not to have received it.6 About that time Sambrook belonged to John Moreton, who probably also took over Caynton and Tibberton during the 1690s and was succeeded in 1701 by his son Joseph, and at that time also owned Doddington Furnace and Lea Forge in Cheshire (or a share in them).7 Richard Pensell, Charles Jones’ predecessor was also connected with the Doddington Works.8 The Doddington Works passed to the Cheshire Ironmasters in 1711. The following year Moreton was bankrupt. Edward Kendall is named as tenant of Sambrook in 1722, possibly linking it to his partnership in Kemberton Furnace and Norton and Winnington Forges (see chapters 12 and 20), while Caynton may have passed

Thus it would seem that from the second half of the 17th century, there was no furnace in northern Shropshire to supply the forges of the Tern valley, and that they must have used pig iron from elsewhere. In most cases there is little or no evidence of when the forges were built. It must however be the case that the forges were either built by someone with a furnace somewhere in the region around or at a time when there was no difficulty in finding furnaces that made surplus pig iron beyond what their associated forges could turn into bar iron, and whose owners were willing to sell it on a regular basis. Some pig iron from the Forest of Dean was probably available by the 1620s (see chapter 28), but it seems very likely that large scale marketing of pig iron did not begin until perhaps the 1650s. It would therefore seem that several forges began in that period.

1 2

Foley E12/VI/KAc/45. TNA, C 6/34/21; C 6/194/43. TNA, PROB 4/12496; Foley a/c. 5 TNA, C 6/413/47. 6 TNA, C 7/240/98; C 6/294/124; C 6/327/22. 7 TNA, PROB 11/459/186; London Gazette, no. 5075, 2 (6 Dec. 1712). Joseph Moreton’s pig iron purchases continue until c.1713. 8 TNA, C 7/352/32. 3 4

VCH Shrops xi, 291-3; Shrops RO, 625/15, rentals. TNA, E 134/4&5 Anne/Hil/19; C 6/526/15.

275

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 17. The Shropshire Plain: North Shropshire. 1, Caynton Forge; 2, Eaton upon Tern Forge; 3, Harcourt Forge; 4, Lilleshall Furnace; 5, Lilleshall Forge; 6, Moreton Corbett Forge; 7, Sambrook Forge; 14, Soulton Forge; 8, Tibberton Forge, later Slitting Mill; 9, Wombridge Furnace; 10, Wytheford Forge; 11, Dawley smithy; 12, Lawley Smithy.

Vale Royal, Doddington, and later Oulton Furnaces in Cheshire. Certainly supplying Shropshire forges was a major part of the business of the Vale Royal Company in the early 1720s.12 The products of their rivals, the Cheshire Ironmasters, made at the other furnaces, seem to have been sold under the brand name ‘Cheshire Coldshort’. They must have specialised in selling pig iron to forges in North Shropshire, as well as their own forges in north Staffordshire. Throughout this period a certain amount of pig iron reached Shropshire from the Forest of Dean, but this met only a modest part of Shropshire’s demand for pig iron.

to Roger Holmes of Standford, who bought pig and scull iron from Coalbrookdale in 1720 and 1722, though direct evidence of his tenure is lacking.9 They were in the hands of his son William Holmes before his 1748 bankruptcy. Then, all these works were in the hands of a firm known as the Caynton Company, whose partners were Richard and Abraham Ford of Coalbrookdale and the manager William Hallen. Another firm including the Ford family held Leighton furnace, which may therefore be presumed to have supplied pig iron to the Caynton Company. This was brought to an end by the bankruptcy of Richard Ford on 1759.10 After this and for much of the rest of the century William Hallen, previously the managing partner of the Caynton Company continued the works. He was an original partner in Lightmoor Furnace, and later ran works at Upton and Eardington in association with John Wheeler. At Sambrook, at least, Richard Hallen continued the production well into the 19th century and Caynton and Wytheford Forges probably also worked until the late 1820s.11

Following the depression of the 1730s Lawton Furnace closed and may well have been followed by Oulton (whose history is little known). The impact of coke-made pig iron from the 1750s on the forges is not entirely certain: the forges of the Tern Valley were drawing very little pig iron from Horsehay, the one works for which accounts survive. However, Ketley in the north of the coalfield would have been nearer. The main orientation of Horsehay’s trade was to the River Severn and forges up and down the river. The impact on the furnaces that had traditionally supplied the forges is fairly clear. They could not compete and therefore either closed or had to find new markets. William Hallen was a partner in Lightmoor Furnace until 1779 and this no doubt supplied the forges of his Caynton Company at that period, though forge and mill castings came from Coalbrookdale in the late 1750s.

In the late 17th century the main sources of pig iron for the forges are likely to have been Boycott & Co’s Leighton and Willey Furnaces and those in Denbighshire. In the early 18th century, these were joined by Lawton, 9 TNA, PROB 11/689/396. Roger Holmes’ will refers to his forges (plural) and slitting mill, without naming them. Otherwise he is only known as a buyer of pig and scull iron (CBD a/c). 10 Raistrick 1953, 67-8 143; London Gazette, no. 8777, 2 (3 Sep. 1748); no. 9899, 4 (26 May 1759). 11 Q.v

12

276

VR a/c.

Chapter 17: North Shropshire Size Thomas Fox’ pig purchases in 1669 suggest an output of at least 120 tpa. The forge made a loss in the 1670s on account of the ‘importation of foreign iron’. 1717 160 tpa; 1718 250 tpa; 1736 180 tpa; 1750 250 tpa. In 1766 it consumed 8-9 tpw pig iron to make 6 tpw bar, suggesting an output of 300 tpa (Whitworth 1766, table); ‘1794’ 2 fineries and a chafery.

As often the end of many ironworks is not clear. Sambrook was still a forge at the time of the Tithe Award. Most of the other forges that survived into the 19th century probably closed in the recession that followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Drainage of the moors had reduced the level of the River Severn so that it was no longer the great highway it had once been. The new mode of transport was the canal. Some forges were well placed to make use of canals; most were not. In addition the traditional finery process was obsolescent, having been superseded by potting and stamping and then by puddling. The use of coal for these processes made it desirable to locate the forges in coalfields, rather than in rural areas where they did not compete with furnaces for wood for charcoal. Along with puddling came the rolling of blooms and the forge train (rolling mill) replaced the forge hammer, except for shingling. Water power too was a thing of the past. The new steam-powered forges were larger, with their rolling mills driven by steam engines and the old forges with traditional fineries could not compete. Tibberton slitting mill became a paper mill. Moreton, Caynton and eventually Sambrook Forges were all replaced by corn mills. Wytheford was still a forge in 1828, but is not heard of after that.

Associations It was probably always held with Tibberton (which had the same landlord in the 1680s and throughout the 18th century). Sambrook was in the same hands from the 1690s until 1807, except during a period in the 1720s. Philip Yonge was owner of Tibberton and Caynton at his death in 1677. His name recalls that of the man who ran Coalbrookdale with Richard Foley during the interregnum and was tenant of Madeley Furnace (Staffs), with or before a Richard Foley before 1648. In 1697, a rent of 40 shillings was being paid by William Yonge of Caynton for flooding part of Broad Meadow in Sambrook, but he was probably the landlord there. Richard Ford was a partner in the Coalbrookdale, Leighton and Willey Companies. William Hallen was a partner in Lightmoor (coke) Furnace and in Upton and Moreton Forges. Being an ironmaster was a new activity for the Hallen Family. For the previous century they had specialised in operating plating forges for frying pans, including Coalbrookdale Lower Forge.

General Sources Trinder 1996. As with the preceding chapter, published sources are few: Trinder 1973 covers some works. Pattison 2011 and 2017 provide a useful account of Moreton and Upton Forges; Chaplin 1963; 1969; and 1970 are also useful.

Trading Most of the following are listed merely from the name and probably include pig iron bought for Sambrook and perhaps Tibberton: Thomas Fox bought wood from Thomas Foley in 1652 (Foley, E12/VI/KAc/18 & 35B) and is referred to as an ironmaster in 1666-7 (VCH Shrops xi, 163). He traded with Philip Foley in 1669, paying William Mansell (as manager of Wombridge Furnace) for Forest of Dean pig iron. He bought 150 tons of pig iron from Pensell and Tiler in 1669 (TNA, C 6/413/17). For Richard Pensell, see Lea Forge in Cheshire. Charles Jones bought 11 tons pig and castings from Ruabon in 1677-9 and 46½ tons in 1683-4 (Edwards 1960, 54); 2 tons from Leighton in 1679/80 and 6½ tons in 1681/2 (Boycott a/c); 5 cwt plate from Tintern in 1672/3 (Tintern F a/c); and 89 tons of pig iron from Mearheath in 1685 (Staffs a/c). John Moreton bought: in 1685 20 tons pig iron from Mearheath for Sambrook Forge (Foley G a/c); in 1696-1701 60 to 100 tpa mostly from Lawton (Cheshire a/c); and 21 tons from Willey in the same period (Boycott a/c). Joseph Moreton bought: in 1706-11 various amounts of pig iron from Vale Royal and Lawton, 289 tpa in 1709/10 (Cheshire a/c). Since Daniel Cotton and Edward Hall (of the Cheshire Partnership) were his assignees in bankruptcy, it is likely he owed them money for pig iron (London Gazette).

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Caynton Forge [1] SJ694229 now Caynton New Mill, also spelt Keinton The forge was on the River Meese in Howle, a remote part of the parish of Chetwynd. It and the later corn mill stood on a short leat that cuts off a corner in the river, which is still impounded behind a weir. Like many Shropshire forges, its origins are obscure, but John Turner of Keinton, buried at Chetwind in 1660 might be linked with Lawton Furnace in Cheshire. It was probably occupied: by Thomas Fox from 1652 (or earlier) until 1670, then by Richard Pensell and John Tiler until c.1680, then by Charles Jones until at least 1687. He was succeeded by John Moreton by 1696 (d.1701); then his son Joseph until 1712 (bankrupt); probably by Roger Holmes by 1719 (d.1738); and by his son William Holmes until his 1747 bankruptcy. After this, Richard Ford II, Abraham Ford and William Hallen traded as the Caynton Company from 1748 to 1759, when the Ford brothers both became bankrupt. The forge then became the property of William Hallen until 1793, being followed as at Sambrook by Richard Hallen, its occupant in 1798 and until 1807. Poundage (for flooding land with a pound) was then paid by Samuel Brayne until 1813. The forge is shown as such on maps up to 1827. It was replaced by New Caynton Mill in 1829.

Roger Holmes bought Vale Royal pig iron (delivered at Woore) in 1719-23 (VR a/c); forge castings from Hales Furnace in 1728 and 1730 (SW a/c); and skulls (an ironfounding waste) from Coalbrookdale in 1720 and 1722 and (uniquely) 10 tons of their pigs in 1732 (King 2011a, 147n from CBD a/c). Holmes and Edward Kendall bought cordwood together from Bloor Park in Eccleshall in 1723 (Herefs RO, B47/S11), while Kendall was a 277

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I partner at Sambrook. At his bankruptcy in 1748, William Holmes owed money to Hugh Jones & Co of Machen and Tredegar, perhaps for pig iron from Caerphilly. Richard Ford presumably supplied the forge mainly from Leighton. The Caynton Company bought 58 tons pig iron from Horsehay in 1755/6 and 6 tons in 1761; small sales to William Hallen are recorded in the same years, but this need not be a contradiction as he was the company’s managing partner (HH a/c). The Caynton Company also bought castings from Coalbrookdale in the late 1750s, including rolls, hammers and hursts (TNA, C 12/812/39). William Hallen bought pig iron: 4 tons from Horsehay in 1767 (HH a/c); and 20 tons from Duddon in 1773 (Duddon a/c). As he was a partner in Lightmoor Furnace until 1778, presumably it was the main source of pig iron for Caynton and its associated forges. Richard Ford in 1756-9 and Mr Hallen in 1759-75 were buying cordwood from the Leveson-Gower family’s Lilleshall estates, averaging about 300 cords per year (Staffs RO, D 593/F/3/5/12-26). It is interesting to note that the price per cord was twelve to thirteen shillings in the 1750s but had fallen to ten shillings in 1772 and eight shillings in 1775, presumably due to a reduction in demand due to the abundant supply of coke smelted pig iron and consequent closure of charcoalburning furnaces.

standard lists of forges. There was a mill at the time of the Tithe Award. A leat associated with the mill has carried water until modern times and was still damp in the late 1990s. The precise location of the forge is not totally certain within a few hundred yards. The grid reference given is that of a ruined building that may be of industrial origins, in a wood that has been used as a dumping place for a large quantity of concrete, perhaps from a Second World War Airfield. Sources Shropshire RO, 6000/14620ff; VR a/c for 1722; TNA, PROB 11/650/163; CBD a/c for 1722, 231-2; King 2011b, 76; Pastscape 72450. Harcourt Forge

[3] presumably SJ558247

Harcourt Forge, like Moreton and Wytheford, is listed in the inventory of John Browne (d.1673) and like both of them had two fineries. That is about all that is definitely known of it. If it was at Harcourt Mill, it was probably relatively short-lived, as Harcourt Mills are referred to as such in in 1644, 1657 and 1692. Inventory of John Browne (1673) TNA, PROB 4/1249. Sources cf. Shrops RO, 322/7/4 & 6; 322/3/3/2.

Sources TNA, C 7/240/98; C 6/413/47; C 7/572/32; C 7/323/90; PROB 11/459/786; PROB 11/689/391 (note: ‘forges’); Staffs RO, D 5320, 122; Johnson 1954, 40 42 & 54n.4; Awty 2019, 540; Raistrick 1953, 143; Trinder 1973, 29; Robertson 1988, 89; London Gazette, 5075, 2 (6 Dec. 1712); 8777, 2 (3 Sep. 1748); 9878, 4 (13 Mar. 1759); Edgmond Psh Reg. (Shrops Psh Reg. Soc., Lichfield xiii); TNA, IR 23/71, 70; Robinson 1988, 89; Shropshire Hearth Tax (Shrops Arch. Soc., 1949), 95; Trinder 1996, 16 20 244; poundage of water: Staffs RO, D 615/D293/2; D 615/E(F)/1 2 (series); D 615/E/14/1. As to Holmes Family see Shrops RO, 4949/9/1/passim. For the Hallen family generally see Gerhold 2009. Eaton upon Tern Forge

Keinton Forge see Caynton Lilleshall Furnace Lilleshall Forge

[4] SJ727149 or SJ723149 [5] probably about SJ693153

The works stood on the Leveson (later Leveson-Gower) family’s Lilleshall estate on north flowing brooks that drain down on to the Weald Moors. The first of the sites suggested for the furnace is by a substantial pool below which a fall of 12 feet would be perfectly possible. A field adjoining is named Founder’s yard on an estate map of about 1728. There is some furnace cinder on the dam. Alternatively it may have been at SJ723149 by another nearby pool, where there is thought previously to have had a bloom forge. There was a forge, possibly only a bloomery forge on the Humber Brook at Lubstree Pool in 1580. This certainly had a finery by 1595. The works were presumably operated by a clerk on behalf of Sir Walter Leveson before 1591, when they were granted to his brothers-in-law Richard and Vincent Corbett for 10 years (by way of mortgage) to indemnify them against debts which they had guaranteed. The works were probably worked by managers on behalf of the successive members of the Leveson Family until the death of Sir Richard Leveson in 1605. In 1607 the works were perhaps being used by Robert Barnefield and Jeffrey Millington, but wood from Sheriff Hales Wood was being taken by Richard Parkes. The later descent of the works remains obscure and probably closed before 1650. Thomas Fox of Muxton was operating in the area, as he bought cordwood from Thomas Foley in 1652, but this may have been for Caynton Forge (q.v). There is accordingly no reason to suppose he had any ironworks at Lilleshall.

[2] SJ649231

This forge, on the River Tern in the parish of Stoke-uponTern, does not appear in any of the standard lists and may have been built soon after 1718, the time of the Swedish embargo. Its history remains obscure. A ton of iron (pig or cast) was delivered to Thomas Harvey from Vale Royal, he mortgaged it in 1722 to guarantee a bond by him and his son Thomas Serjeant Harvey, and it is mentioned in Thomas Harvey’s will in 1731. The rest of Harvey’s works were sold to Joshua Gee in 1733 and the sale could have included Eaton. It was a finery forge as Thomas Harvey bought 2½ tons of ‘iron castings for a finery’ in August 1722 as well as two forge anvils and 4 hammers, possibly indicating it was built then. At the time his address was given as Evesham. Though the forge is referred to as a place of residence in Great Bolas parish registers from 1750 to 1788, this does not necessarily mean more than that a group of houses near the forge still existed; not that the forge was in use. It does not appear in any of the 278

Chapter 17: North Shropshire Davies, and Coley’s shares in 1785. In 1790 John Wheeler and William Hallen, between them entitled to the whole forge, sold it to Richard Watson. His assignees in 1794 offered for sale a lease (running to 1799), following his bankruptcy. This bankruptcy probably marks its closure. Subsequently a mill was built. There are various old buildings at Morton Mill, which is now a farm. A stone structure between two waterwheels is presumably the 17th century forge, shown on a map of c.1735, with a 16 acre pound. The forge building was enlarged and ‘rebuilt 176?’, according to a datestone. A further bay of building was probably added after 1795, when the forge was converted to a corn mill, with a much smaller pound than the early forge. There are sluice gates attached to the bridge, whose arches are of unequal width, probably to direct water to the wheels. The mill was in turn converted to a house in c.2003.

Sources VCH Shrops xi, 163; Staffs RO, D 593/C/8/2/7-8; D 593/E/6/6; Trinder 1996, 245. Moreton Corbett Forge or Sowbatch Forge

[6] SJ57462270

The forge was at Morton Mill on the River Roden on part of Charlton Grange in Shawbury parish, and allegedly existed in 1601. In 1607 Sir Henry Wallop and his wife Elizabeth (née Corbett) conveyed Charlton Grange to Vincent Corbett, except ‘Southbadg or Edgeboldenham Mill’, in settlement of a dispute over an inheritance. This seems to have become Moreton Forge. As Wallop was lessee of the Bringewood ironworks at the time, the erection of the forge in his time is credible. Bromley’s Forge was also on the estate. Certainly, a forge house was rented by Hugh ap Jenn’ in about 1627 and a Forge Meadow is named in 1649. However the early history of the forge remains obscure. It belonged to John Browne at his death in 1673, along with Harcourt and Wytheford, after which his son William Browne presumably followed him for a few years. Then, the forge appears until 1701 to have been in the hands of the Corbett family of Moreton Corbett (later of Acton Reynald), certainly by 1682 those of Elizabeth Lady Corbett (d.1702), the widow of Sir Vincent (d.1680). The forge was probably a 17th century acquisition of the family and therefore not subject to the entail by which the family manors passed to Corbett cousins. Instead it passed to Lady Corbet’s daughter Beatrice Kynaston and her husband and then to their son Corbet Kynaston. He died heavily in debt in 1739, with the result that an Act of Parliament had to be obtained in 1749 so that his estates could be sold. Most of the property in Moreton Corbet and Shawbury was bought for £6,600 by the Moreton Corbet branch of the family in 1750.

Size 1717 140 tpa; 1718 150 tpa; 1737 80 tpa; 1750 not listed: evidently out of production. 1766 8 tpw used to make 6 tpw bar (Whitworth 1766, table). In 1788 and 1794 it had one chafery and two fineries. Associations There is rarely any clear evidence of the forge being associated with any furnace, but the name Wallop links it to Bringewood. Richard Knight’s acquisition of Ruabon Furnace with Thomas Lowbridge II is no doubt to be linked to his interest in this forge. It is not clear what furnace is referred to in Lady Corbett’s will. The Corbett family had earlier owned the manor of Lawley, where ironstone would have been available but there is no evidence of any furnace there. Hallen, like Davies and Perry, was a partner in Lightmoor Furnace. Richard and Vincent Corbett had a lease of Sir Walter Leveson’s ironworks at Lilleshall and elsewhere in 1591, but this was in fact in the nature of a mortgage and therefore probably irrelevant to the issue of the existence or otherwise of this forge at the time.

When Richard Knight lived at the forge, he must have been Lady Corbett’s clerk rather than a tenant. It may therefore be that the share he acquired in Ruabon Furnace in the early 1690s was actually hers: certainly her will refers to the ‘stock implements and materials of forges and furnaces’. Knight was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Robert Payne of Shawbury, who bought pig iron himself in 1702, and may therefore have become its tenant rather than clerk. In 1723 it passed to Mr Wood and Mr Hewitt. William Hewitt died in c.1730 and the forge was thereafter run by his widow Jane Hewitt, perhaps assisted by Thomas Hewitt, presumably their son, but it is not clear when they gave it up. ‘Mr Wood’ probably refers to William Wood, presumably the notorious one.

Trading 1682/3 Lady Corbett relict of Sir Vincent Corbett bought 20 tons Tintern pig iron (Tintern F a/c). In 1686/7 she bought 48 tons of Bishopswood pig and 10 tons Linton pig (Foley E12/VI/DDf/3 & 5). In 1692/3 she bought 20 tons Bishopswood pig iron (Foley a/c). In 1700/1 she bought ‘necessaries’ from Leighton Furnace, but the following year Mr Payne was the buyer (Boycott a/c). 1705-17 Robert Payne bought pig iron from various Forest furnaces, occasionally as much as 100 tpa (Foley a/c). In 1706/7 Richard Payne had 2 tons Lawton pig delivered at Tern Hill (Cheshire a/c) and Robert Payne bought 119 tons of Vale Royal pig iron in the period 1719-23, mostly delivered at Woore, but some at Uffington (VR a/c). In 1722/3 pig iron was bought from Edward Hall [Cheshire], Madam Bovey [Flaxley], Mr W. Rea [Forest Works], Richard Baldwin [Willey], R. Knight, Charlcot and Mr Young [unidentified]. Forge plates from Mr Hall, hammers from Mr Acton [Hales], hursts boyts etc. from Mr Colley [Leighton] and Sussex hammers from W. Rea were all in use (accounts). In 1728/9 William Hewitt bought 10 tons Redbrook pig iron (Foley a/c). In 1729 Thomas Hewitt

By 1757 the forge was derelict and the pool had been turned into a meadow. In that year the forge was let to John Wilkinson and Edward Blakeway, two of the partners in the New Willey Company. In 1759 Joseph Stedman with Arthur Davies and George Perry, who were partners in Lightmoor Furnace, took over this lease with Isaac Coley and Richard Smith and rebuilt the forge. A share in each works was offered for sale in 1772. William Hallen bought Smith’s share in 1775. John Wheeler bought Stedman, 279

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I owed £377 at Willey Furnace, perhaps for somewhat over 60 tons pig iron (Downton a/c); Hewitt bought some castings from Hales in 1737 (SW a/c).

(Whitworth 1766, table), suggesting an output of 110 tpa As the forge was held with Caynton it may be that their operations were not distinguished from each other. 1794 a balling furnace and chafery.

Inventory of John Browne (1673) TNA, PROB 4/12496. Accounts 1722/3 Moreton a/c.

Associations and Trading Robert Slaney apparently had Moddershall Furnace in 1662. Other details are given under Caynton, which was usually in the same hands, though not in the 1720s, when Edward Kendall and partners is likely to be the firm, which operated Kemberton Furnace and Norton and Winnington Forges.

Sources Frost 2003; Page 1979, 8 & 11; Shrops RO, 1396/3 & 1496/424-5; 6000/14287; 6000/18283-6; 322/2/354 and 294; 322/6/3; 322/6/6-9; 322/4/8; 322/3/47-48; Pattison 2011, 15-27; 2017, 8; Chaplin 1969, 5-6; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 28 Apr. 1794; General Evening Post¸ 6 May 1794; TNA, IR 23/71, 60v (not obviously mentioned); Trinder 1996, 15-16; West Midlands Archaeology 46 (2003), 934. Pattison says the Russell family ran the forge, but they were probably only leading workmen. Sambrook Forge

Sources Foley E12/VI/KAc/45; TNA, PROB 11/459/186; PROB 11/689/391 (as ‘forges’); TNA, IR 23/71, 70v; Shrops RO, 6001/1883, 648; London Gazette, 6 Dec. 1712; Staffs RO, D 615/D293/2; D 615/D315, Shropshire settlement; D 615/E(A)/1; D 615/E/14/1; D 615/E(L)/51, copy bill; D 615/E(F)/1-2; D 615/E(F)/4/1, 1818; D 952/5/1/7; TNA, C 12/812/39; Herefs RO, D96/60 & 65 (address); Wheat 1955; Robinson 1988, 66; and see Caynton.

[7] SJ714249

The forge was driven by water from a large pool at the junction of several small brooks, which are tributaries of the River Meese. It lay in the parish of Chetwynd but immediately adjoining small former detached portions of Cheswardine and close to part of Edgmond parish. It was occupied by Robert Slaney in 1662 when he settled a dispute with Thomas Foley I(W) by selling (amongst other things) 10 tons of bar iron to be drawn out at Sambrook Forge. In 1685 John Moreton of Sambrook (d.1701) is recorded as a purchaser of pig iron. It was offered for sale following the bankruptcy of Joseph Moreton in 1712. In 1722, it was in the tenure of Edward Kendall of Stourbridge and his partners. From a few years after that until 1807, the forge seems to have been held with Caynton Forge (q.v), belonging to William Hallen in by the late 1770s. Richard Hallen of Sambrook ironmaster married in 1795, having succeeded as tenant the preceding year. He gave up Caynton about 1807, and was still at Sambrook in 1819, also occupying a large farm. By 1822 it was in the hands of Mr Jones. There was still a forge at the time of the tithe award. In 1853 this was replaced by a corn mill, which is still standing. Though this is now used as a house, there is still water flowing under one end of the building where the wheel was.

Soulton Forge, Wem

[13] c.SJ549291

The existence of this forge is known only from the occurrence of people from known ironworking families there between 1610 and 1623. References to the manor refer only to a corn mill, three grist mills in 1715. In the 16th century the manor was the subject of a series of leases: one for 40 years, granted in 1540, took effect in 1556. Another was for 60 years from 1551. The freehold then belonged to Edward Twynsoe, but passed to William Hill who settled it in c.1574, giving his wife a life interest. The widow Katherine remarried George Barker and died in 1623. The period when the forge worked was during the latter part of her life interest. It would thus appear that the forge operated under a lease granted by them, but which died with her. However, who the ironmaster was remains unknown. Sir Henry Wallop (whose wife was of the Corbett heiress) or a client of his is a candidate. The O.S. 6-inch map shows an abandoned mill leat beside the river Roden at the site indicated, but the mill had disappeared before the tithe award in 1841.

M. Wheat stated that Sambrook and Leinton (?Keinton, i.e. Caynton) Forges belonged to Francis Sambrook (d.Jan. 1696/7). This probably refers to his ownership, not occupation and to a rent for poundage of water for Caynton. Sambrook retained the forge when settling the manor of Sambrook on one of his daughters and her husband: the retained property passed to his daughter Frances and her husband Obadiah Adams, whose son Obadiah married Janette Anson (the sister of Admiral Anson). Their son George inherited the Anson estate and the admiral’s fortune. He took the surname Anson and his grandson became Earl of Lichfield. Following his father’s death, he sold off the Adams patrimony in Shropshire.

Sources Awty 2019, 726-7; for the manor see TNA, C 1/1507; C 3/212/64; C 8/21/63; C 2/Jas I/W2/56; note also Shropshire RO, 163/88; www.soultonhall.co.uk (with LIDAR image of site). Sowbatch Forge see Moreton Tibberton Forge, later Slitting Mill

[8] SJ680204

The mill was on River Meese probably opposite the village of Tibberton. There was a large pool upstream of the present bridge with the mill a short distance downstream. Most of Tibberton belonged to the Leveson-Gower family but their archives are surprisingly uninformative on the subject of the mill. Although the mill did not belong to them at the time of the tithe award, the mill pool did,

Size 1717 90 tpa; 1718 120 tpa; 1736 nil; 1750 not listed. In 1766 it consumed 3 tpw pig iron, making 2 tpw iron 280

Chapter 17: North Shropshire which ought to have resulted in their receiving a rent. On the other hand the mill may have been on the other side of the river in Child’s Ercall; certainly, a Mr Yonge was the landlord at various periods.

The furnace was rebuilt in 1696 by Shadrach Fox using money lent by Isaac Hawkins. The landlord John Charlton of Apeley Castle was then Surveyor-General of Ordnance. It was managed by his brother Thomas Fox, who had been ‘employed casting grenado shells and bulletts ... at Lambeth’, before becoming warden of the Fleet prison late in 1694. George Benbow on behalf of Isaac Hawkins supplied ‘Thomas Fox and Shadrach Fox with great quantities of coales and ironstone’ on credit for nine or ten months. When accounts were settled in September 1703, Fox was found to be indebted to Hawkins for £251 partly from the furnace business and partly from other loans. The business almost certainly came to an end with Thomas Fox’s death. It certainly did not survive the explosion of Coalbrookdale Furnace. Shadrach Fox then worked as a founder in London, before being recruited in 1706 to go to Russia, where he soon died (see chapter 3 s.v. foundries). By 1728 the mill and furnace were being let with Wombridge Farm and it is probable that only a corn mill was in use.

A late 18th century lease refers to a slitting mill or rod mill and an old forge, in terms that suggest the forge was not in use, but may have preceded the mill. Charles Jones of Tibberton is referred to as buying pig iron, but this may have been for Caynton Forge, which he also rented from the same landlord. Both were in the hands of Thomas Fox of Muxton in the late 1660s. This common tenure probably continued through a succession of tenants (listed under Caynton) until at least 1794, when it was still a slitting mill. In 1760 it was called a forge, but must have been the destination of the rolls (and slitting rolls) bought by the Caynton Company from the Coalbrookdale Company in the preceding years. It closed in 1804 and became a paper mill, which survived until 1912. William Young esq paid £1.1.0 for poundage of water for ‘Tibberton Forge’ in 1740, but may have been its landlord, rather than its occupier.

Size in 1669 and 1671 it made 250 to 300 tpa.

Size not known but as a forge was perhaps comparable in size with Caynton which made 160 tpa in 1714. 1766 8 tpw (Whitworth 1766, table).

Trading In 1669 its production was partly being sent to forges in the Smestow valley and partly by road to Wroxeter and then down the River Severn to Bewdley or Clothouse (for Wilden) for forges in the Stour Valley. It is however unlikely that Wombridge was designed to feed the Smestow valley forges as their natural supplier was Grange Furnace. Wytheford forge which also lay on the Apeley Castle estate is a far more natural companion, but there is no evidence of their being run together. As to Shadrach and Thomas Fox see Coalbrookdale.

Associations see Caynton. Trading The arrangements in 1671 made by Thomas Fox with Richard Pensell anticipated that the mill would ‘cut for hire’, and Richard Pensell was allow 35 shillings per ton for cutting bar iron that he brought in (TNA, C 6/413/17).

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1669 to 1672. Sources see Caynton; also TNA, C 7/240/98; C 6/413/17; C 7/572/32; C 7/323/90; TNA, C 12/812/39; PROB 11/459/186 (not mentioned); PROB 11/689/391 (as ‘slitting mill’); Robinson 1988, 92; Trinder 1996, 16; Shrops RO, 327/5/4/1/228; Paper: Lloyd 1938, 179-81; Shorter 1950, 147 151; Lloyd 1950, 162.

Sources TNA, SP 18/321/no 42 (f.80ff); E 134/4&5 Anne/ Hil/19; E 112/833/957; E 112/829/344; C 6/526/15; Shrops RO, 625/15, rentals; 676/2-11; VCH Shrops xi, 291-93; cf. Staffs RO, D593/E/6/6; King 2002a, 40. Wytheford Forge

Wombridge Furnace

[10] SJ569188

[9] SJ692116 The origins of this forge are not known, but are perhaps to be linked to those of Wombridge Furnace, which similarly belonged to the Charlton Family of Apeley Castle. This might take that back to 1608, when Richard Parkes’ purchase of wood at Sheriff Hales suggests he had ironworks in the area. The forge certainly existed in 1641 when Henry Shelton, an ‘ironman’ there was married at High Ercall. It was probably used by John Browne (d.1673) as tenant from before 1652 until at least 1672, probably followed by William Browne. In 1687/8 Mr Woodhouse was managing the forge as clerk for Francis Charlton who worked the forge himself from 1682 or earlier) until 1689 (or later). Thomas Dorsett probably occupied the forge by 1701 to 1747 (death). He was initially only a clerk for Joseph Read, Lawrence Wellington, and William Leeke, but became a partner in 1708 as Lawrence Wellington’s executor, though he was not himself a beneficiary under

There was an iron mill at Wombridge at the dissolution of the Priory there, presumably close to the later furnace and corn mill. It is not known whether there was continuity between this smithy and the furnace, nor is it known when or by whom the furnace was built, but it is possible that it was operated about 1608 by Richard Parkes, who preceded Richard Foley II in many places, as Parkes was buying wood in the area. However it is not mentioned in the partnership litigation between his immediate successors, Middleton Nye & Co. It was probably in the hands of Richard Foley II in 1636 as ‘Reking’ [i.e. Wrekin] furnace and of Thomas Foley I(W) who was buying cordwood in the area in 1654. He handed it over in 1669 with the rest of his Midland works to his son Philip Foley, but Philip closed it in 1672.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I his will. He was succeeded by his executors until 1755 and then another Thomas Dorsett (probably a nephew) from 1756 to after 1790. In 1795, 1798, and 1822 Edward Bailey was in occupation, which may suggest it survived into the 19th century. It was still marked on a map as a forge in 1828. The forge was powered by the river Roden, a tributary of the river Tern, whose present course may well represent the former mill leat. There is a second arch under the road about 100 yards west of the present bridge leading to a pond on the south side of the road, which might possibly be the former forge pound.

that time it used perhaps 13 tons of Willey pig, 10 tons Dale pig from Mr Wellington, 10 tons Forest pig bought from Mr Knight and 31 tons from somewhere else, perhaps Mr Wheeler’s Forest pigs. Sources Shrops RO, 625/8, assignment of 1685; 625/15, rentals; 676/2-23; 6000/18283; 6000/18287; 3882/1/2; 6001/1883; 3882/1/2; TNA, E 112/881/94, answer of Read; TNA, PROB 11/756/247; IR 23/71, 60; Chaplin 1969, 4-5; Trinder 1973, 16 50 52 & 207; Trinder 1996, 16; High Ercall Psh Reg. (Shrops Psh Reg. Soc., Lichfield xx), 125.

Size The accounts for 1687/8 suggest production of about 100 tpa; 1717 140 tpa; 1718 and 1736 150 tpa; 1750 250 tpa; ‘1794’ 2 fineries and one chafery. The second finery may possibly have been added during the 18th century. 1766 8 tpw used to make 6 tpw bar (Whitworth 1766, table);

Other ironworks Dawley Smithy

[11] SJ6705

There was a bloomsmithy at the Ridges in Little Dawley which existed about 1580 and still in 1631, an exceptionally late date for a bloomery to have worked in this part of England.

Associations Thomas Dorsett seems to have been a manager for Boycott & Co in the early 18th century and was a lessee of Coalbrookdale 1708 to 1714. The forge there may have been the destination of some of the pig iron he bought. From about 1660 this forge was independent of any furnace, after its possible 17th century link with Wombridge Furnace was broken.

Source VCH Shrops xi, 121, citing Staffs RO, D 593/B/ 2/5/4/2, rental of c.1580 and St. Johns College (Oxford), Craven est. survey of 1631. Lawley Smithy

Trading Mr Browne paid for wharfage of pig at Uffington in 1652-9 (Uffington Wharfage a/c). In 1672 John Browne paid £620 to Henry Glover for Paul Foley [perhaps for 100 tons Forest pig iron] (Foley G a/c). In 1677 William Browne paid £325 [perhaps 50 tons Forest pig iron (Foley, E12/VI/ DCf/24-5). Francis Charlton bought 20 tons Tintern pig in 1682/3 (Tintern F a/c) and 40 tons Bishopswood pig in 1686/7 (Foley, E12/VI/DDf/3). VCH Shrops xi, 169 wrongly states he and his son were operating coal and iron works in the manor of Lilleshall: their source (Staffs RO, D593/C/16/3/6) actually refers to them operating coal and lime works there. Thomas Dorsett bought 11 tons Leighton pig iron in 1701/2 (Boycott a/c) and small amounts of Forest pig iron (never more than 10 tpa) 1705-17. He was a creditor to the Forest Partnership in 1725 and bought 14 tons pig in 1741/2. He also bought 4 Sussex hammers in 1716/7 (Foley a/c); wood at Losford and Fitz in 1710 (TNA, C 6/404/51); and Vale Royal pig iron in regularly 1719-23, buying 198 tons in 1723 (VR a/c). He bought 10 tons of Willey pig in 1729/33 (Downton a/c) and Hales castings 1729/30 & 1743-5 and as Mr Dorsett in 1747. In 1749 the purchaser was Francis Dorsett, not yet lessee of Upton forge; and in 1751-5 Mrs Dorsett and Thomas Dorsett 1757-65 (SW a/c). Mrs Dorsett also bought 60 tons Charlcot pig in 1752, of which some was delivered at Bridgnorth (Bringewood a/c). In 1766 Francis Dorset owed £70 for pigs from Plymouth Furnace [probably 14 tons] (Gross 2001, 151). Mr Dorset bought 20 tons of Snedshill pig in 1788 (Snedshill a/c). Bailey bought 2½ tons Old Park pig iron in 1795 (OP a/c).

[12] SJ 6609

A field near Lawley village bore the name ‘Smithy Pool’, which suggests there was a bloomery forge at some stage, but it is not known when. Source VCH Shrops xi, 279. Shackerford Mill, Hinstock

[SJ677284]

A pool called Worwithy or Furnace Pool on Worwithy Heath in Hinstock is mentioned in a lease of Shackerford (now Shakeford) Mill on the Coal Brook on the northern boundary of the parish. The mill was a fulling mill in 1727, when let by John Chetwynd of Mayre, Staffordshire to Oliver Roberts, a dyer. Elsewhere, ‘furnace’ in place names indicates the past presence of a blast furnace, but this seems an improbable location, because it is so far from any source of ore. The surviving lease seems to be a stray in the collection, of which it is part, and I have not discovered any earlier history for the mill. Sources Shrops RO, 327/5/1/489.

Inventory of John Browne (1673): TNA, PROB 4/12496. Accounts 1687/8 for six months: Shrops RO, 625/15. In 282

18 Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield Introduction

the river remain largely unknown. However, it is clear that John Brooke was also mining his coal in Madeley, because in 1579 Arnold Bean of Worcester, a trowman, owed him the substantial sum of £22, possibly representing a royalty on 440 tons of coal or the sale price of 88-110 tons.4 The need to get the coal down from ‘insets’ (adit mines) high on the side of the gorge, down to river-going trows and other barges seems to have led to the invention of the edge-rail railway.5 Brooke’s problems north of the river and Clifford’s south of it would have been similar, making it likely that Brooke also had railways.

This chapter covers that part of the Shropshire coalfield lying north of the river Severn. The area south of the river, mainly in Broseley, will be described in the next chapter. Coalbrookdale is historically by far the most significant site and was in the 16th and 17th centuries the only active ironworks. Then quite suddenly in the late 1750s, it was joined by a number of new coke furnaces. Because of the significance of Coalbrookdale, this chapter is structured slightly differently from most others. A large part of it will focus on the Coalbrookdale Works. Then it will turn to the expansion of coke-ironmaking within the area, including a description of the new technology. In the charcoal era, the coalfield also contained a few other ironworks, including 17th century furnaces at Lilleshall and Wombridge. These were on the northern edge of the coalfield and operated with forges in the rural hinterland to the north. They are included in the preceding chapter.

Coalbrookdale Sir Basil Brooke John Brooke’s son Sir Basil went further by entering the iron trade. The best evidence of this again comes from elsewhere. Sir Basil was at two periods a partner in the Kings Ironworks in the Forest of Dean from 1615 to 1617 (nominally to 1621) with Richard Chaldecott; and with others from 1627 to 1634 (nominally to 1636). This was a troubled enterprise, because of continual interference from the state based on alleged abuses by the farmers, such as that timber (as opposed to cordwood) was being used to make charcoal as fuel. The first termination date given is that of an order to stop production (or rather, cutting wood); the second when they formally gave up possession.6 Sir Basil also had Bromleys Forge at mouth of the river Perry in west Shropshire by 1623. With his partners in the Forest, he owned Shelsley Forge in north Worcestershire when they assigned their works to the Crown in 1631. With the same partners he was also farming the Company of Mineral and Battery Works’ wireworks at Tintern from 1627 until the Civil War.7

Iron was produced at Coalbrookdale before the dissolution of Wenlock Priory in 1539. However, the main focus for iron on the priory estates was south of the Severn Gorge and belongs in the next chapter, where the context of that smithy will be considered. The Dale itself (as it was known in the 18th century) is the largest side valley of the gorge, and long contained a number of ironworks. All of these belonged to the successive lords of the manor of Madeley. In the early 17th century, they were exploited by Sir Basil Brooke himself, as the owner of the manor, but after his estates were sequestrated during the Civil War,1 they were normally in the hands of tenants.2 The exploitation of the coalfield on a significant scale began in the time of Elizabeth. The activities of James Clifford as lord of Broseley, south of the river, are better recorded. He had a bitter dispute with Richard Wilcox (the lessee of Broseley Hall) over access to the river Severn down railways in the 1600s. Other railways existed shortly before Clifford’s railway is documented, but all of these have a definite construction date. Clifford’s does not; Robert Prescott, who operated it, described it as existing ‘long before’ probably 1605. It is however known that Clifford was ordered by a Commission of Sewers (charged with protecting navigation rights on the river Severn) to stop dumping colliery waste in the river in 1575, which implies that he was already operating a colliery.3 Unfortunately, the archives of the Madeley estate from this period do not survive, so that events on the other side of 1 2 3

Sir Basil is also notable for his engagement in steel production. Though there may have been German precursors for the process, the production of blister steel was patented by William Ellyott and Mathias Meysey in 1614.8 They seem to have assigned the patent to Sir Basil Brooke. This patent contained a clause prohibiting the import of steel, but Brooke was unable to satisfy the market, partly in regard to quality and partly to quantity.9

Worcs RO, Consistory probates, 1579/82; cited not quite correctly in Dyer 1973, 56 and Wanklyn 1982, 3. 5 King 2010c. 6 See chapter 28 or Schubert 1953; Hart 1971, 8-50. 7 See chapters 15 and 29 for these works. 8 Cal SPD, 1611-8, 228 390. The subject matter of this paragraph is also described in Barraclough 1985(1), 51-4; King 2003a, 28-9. 9 Cal SPD, 1619-23, 18 57; APC, 1616-7, 394-5; 1616-7, 135 279 291 396 462; 1619-21, 2-3; TNA, E 112/101/1226. 4

VCH Shrops xi, 35; Wanklyn 1969. King 2010b. King 2010c, 72-4 81-3; Maxwell Lyte 1888.

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Map 18. The Shropshire Coalfield: Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield. 1, Coalbrookdale Upper or Old Furnace; 2, Coalbrookdale Upper Forge; 3, Snapper Furnace; 4, Coalbrookdale Great Forge; 5, Coalbrookdale Middle Forge; 6, Coalbrookdale Lower Forge; 7, Coalbrookdale Steelhouse; 8, Dawley Castle Furnace; 9, Donnington Wood Furnaces; 10, Hollinswood Furnace; 11, Horsehay Ironworks; 12, Ketley Furnaces; 13, Lightmoor Furnaces; 14, New Hadley Ironworks; 15, Madeley Wood or Bedlam Furnaces; 16, Old Park Ironworks; 17, Queenswood Furnace; 18, Snedshill Furnaces; 19, Wrockwardine Wood Furnaces.

have been made at Coalbrookdale for the rest of the 17th century, but documentary evidence of this is scanty. Sir Basil Brooke was described in Fuller’s Worthies under Gloucestershire as the great steelmaker of that county, but there is no evidence of his having had steel works there.13 It is possible that his steel was known as Gloucestershire steel, because it was made of iron from Gloucestershire using iron from the Forest.

In consequence, the patent was recalled, under a clause for it to be revoked if found inconvenient; and Brooke ‘laid the patent at His Majesty’s feet and yielded the same up to the Attorney General’ in November 1619 and was thereupon released from his obligations under the patent.10 In 1623, Brooke was described as having steelworks in Shropshire; precisely where was not stated, but later references indicated that his works were at Coalbrookdale,11 where excavations have revealed the foundations of two cementation furnaces.12 Steel may well

King 2003a, 98-9. The only known steelworks in or near Gloucestershire was that successively of the Earls of Shrewsbury and Kent at Linton (actually Herefs), but that was for a finery process, like that used at Robertsbridge. 13

10 11 12

APC, 1619-21, 77. TNA, C 2/Jas. I/W2/47; King 2003, 29; Wanklyn 1973, 3-6. Belford and Ross 2007.

284

Chapter 18: Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield in 1687, suggesting that he retired then. The next occupier was Lawrence Wellington (previously a clerk to Boycott & Co). He probably operated the Coalbrookdale Forges for the rest of his life, but the furnace only for a few years.20

Unfortunately nothing is known of Brooke’s ironmaking at Coalbrookdale. It is very likely that he converted the smithy in the Dale to a finery forge, but direct evidence is lacking. He is likely to have brought pig iron up the river Severn to be fined in that forge as well as in Bromley’s Forge. This (or bar iron forged in the Forest) must have been the feedstock for his steelworks. However, this is all mere inference. Certainly the Forest was known as a source of pig iron when Sir John Weld wrote a memorandum for his heirs in 1631;14 and a certain Thomas Tildesley, a gentleman employed by Sir Basil, bought five tons of iron from Richard Foley in 1631 for £27.5s, a price that indicates it to have been pig iron, implying that Brooke was operating a forge somewhere.15 All that can be said is that by the late 17th century, there were four forges, which are inferred to derive from Sir Basil’s time. His career has been the subject of the doctoral thesis of Paul Belford, which I have not yet seen.16

The whole works were let to Shadrach Fox in 1695, but he immediately sublet the Great and Plate Forges to Lawrence Wellington. That November, Fox contracted to sell 210 tons of shot to the Board of Ordnance for delivery at Bristol.21 His brother Thomas was the founder to the Company for making Iron with Pitcoal (incorporated in 1693, to exploit a 1692 patent). Shadrach had bought coal in London in 1690 which he expected the company to pay for.22 He rebuilt Wombridge Furnace in 1696 and used it to make ‘bulletts and shot’. This was probably done out of respect for John Charlton, its landlord, who (as Surveyor-General of the Ordnance) would have placed the contracts.23 Shadrach also cast pots in sand, recruiting a London brassfounder called Roger Downes for the purpose. Downes was subsequently employed by Zachary Downing of Halesowen from c.1700, after Fox ‘broke and went’ [off?]. This included working at Gwendraeth Furnace in Carmarthenshire for Downing’s partner Peter Chetle, of whom more below.24 In 1701, Thomas was in charge of Wombridge Furnace and contracted for a supply of coal from the manor of Malinslee (in Dawley) to supply it, pointing to coke iron being made there. In proceedings in 1704, Shadrach specifically stated that at his furnace in Madeley [i.e. Coalbrookdale] he ‘did use his art for smelting ironstone with pitcoal and making iron shot, grenadoes, bombshells, and other cast iron ware’ for William III.25 At some point, Coalbrookdale Furnace blew up, leading the mortgagee in 1703 to transfer his mortgage of the lease for less than the sum owing on it.26

Late 17th century As a Catholic, Sir Basil’s estates were sequestrated and he died before the sequestration was lifted, but he passed his interest in Tintern to Thomas Foley before he died. His son Thomas Brooke then forfeited the estates for treason against the Commonwealth. The estate was sold, but was bought back on behalf of Thomas Brooke. During sequestration, the iron and steel works were occupied by Richard Foley and then Edward Cludd,17 whose tenancy was assigned in 1651 to Francis Wolfe. Brooke’s heirs briefly operated the works themselves after they recovered their estates, but the ironworks were soon leased out. The works were probably managed by Francis Wolfe, who hid Charles II during his escape after the battle of Worcester in 1651. There is a brief (and not particularly informative) account of Wolfe’s management of iron, lime, and coal works from 1654 to 1657.18

Shadrach Fox then moved to London, where in November 1704 he agreed with Richard Tolson and James Puckle to instruct them in making grenado shells and shells for hand mortars. In April 1707, Thomas Styles, a Russia merchant, engaged Fox to go to Archangel and thence to Moscow.27 He took with him ‘new fashioned mortars, square musketons and grenadoes to burn ships’, but he died not long after arriving in Russia, probably early in 1708.28 Coalbrookdale Furnace seems to have remained derelict until Abraham Darby arrived in 1708. Fox’s lease passed to Richard Corfield and Thomas Dorsett (also former Boycott managers). They renewed the lease in 1714, but sold it to Abraham Darby in 1716.29 They perhaps did not

In 1657, the ironworks were let to Silvanus Boycott for 13 years, being then in the possession of Thomas Mackworth. Boycott took James Lacon of West Coppice as a partner. He was to pay an additional £5 rent if he diverted the water from a mill and an extra £20 if he built a furnace.19 This seems to fit with older descriptions of the surviving Old Blast Furnace and with a late 19th century photo, which shows the furnace lintels with the date 1658, rather than 1638, now painted on it. The correct reading had ceased to be apparent by the early 1950s, due to the ravages of rust. By the late 1660s, another Francis Wolfe (who had succeeded on his father’s death in 1665) was operating in his own name. Wolfe asked to be released from a contract to buy cordwood at Caus on Long Mountain in west Shropshire

King 2010b; Raistrick 1953, 102-4 (but he later corrected this to 1638): 1989 edn, front flyleaf. The date 1658 is also given in Birch 1956, 200. 21 TNA, WO 47/18, 23 35 75 77. Note also WO 51/47 and 52-4; Brown 1993, 30. 22 TNA, C 7/312/5. 23 TNA, C 6/526/15 24 TNA, C 11/1726/18. The date is expressed as being ‘about ten years since’ in January 1710. 25 TNA C 7/351/41. 26 King 2002a, 40-1. 27 TNA, C 6/357/34. 28 See chapter 3; death: TNA, SP/5, no.167, f.162v. 29 FMH, Norris MS VIII, 47; Raistrick 1953, 50. 20

King thesis 100; reinterpreting Wanklyn 1969, 98. TNA, C 2/Chas I/T3/15. 16 From the content of a seminar paper given at Birmingham University, I do not believe that it is significantly revisionary. 17 Wanklyn 1969, 96. 18 Staffs RO, D 64/5/E(S)/1a. 19 Herefs RO, E12/VI/KBc/65. Note also Mitt 1957b (which is now very dated). 14 15

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occupy the forge themselves: John Wellington bought pig iron from 1705 to 1708. He was probably succeeded by Thomas Stanley, who remained tenant of the Middle Forge until 1720. The origins of the reverberatory furnace Abraham Darby was the great-grandnephew of Dud Dudley,30 who had smelted iron with coke successively on Pensnett Chase, at Himley, and at Hasco (or Hascod) Bridge on the western fringe of the Black Country in the 1620s. This ended in 1631, when his putative father Lord Dudley re-entered Hascod, forfeiting Dud’s lease. Dud was also behind an extraordinary furnace at Dudley in the early 1670s, ‘blown by the strength of men and horses’. This made iron with charcoal ‘made from wood and pitcoal together’, but this only operated for a few years. Sir Clement Clerke was a partner in this. Thomas Addison (the charter Deputy Governor of the Company for Making Iron with Pitcoal) obtained a patent in 1692 for making iron with pitcoal. This was one of a series of companies chartered to exploit Sir Clement Clerke’s successful applications of the reverberatory furnace.31 In 1694, the year after the company was chartered, he and Richard Patrickson built a furnace at Cleator in Cumberland to make iron with pitcoal, but this was apparently not successful. Cleator Furnace used charcoal in its final years before closing in 1702. Litigation about this gives no indication that it belonged to the Company.32

Sir Clement and Talbot Clerke also applied the reverberatory furnace to ironfounding, which seems to have been the basis of the Company for Making Iron with Pitcoal (mentioned above). Its Vauxhall foundry was ‘the first of these, and built by direction of Sir Clement Clerke’.35 In this context, reverberatory furnaces are known as air furnaces, whereas later ‘foundry cupolas’ were (and are) a small variety of blast furnace (and occasionally called such).36 The terminology is confusing: cupola is a diminutive of cupa (Latin for a barrel), so that a cupola is a small barrel. The name as applied to reverberatory furnaces seems to refer to a barrel vault roofing the furnace, the notional barrel being on its side, whereas the later foundry cupola, usually attributed to John Wilkinson or his brother William in the 1780s, may derive from a portable furnace made with staves, which could be taken apart (like a barrel) to be moved.37 Another such portable furnace was illustrated by Réaumur in 1722.38 An air furnace existed at Coalbrookdale evidently before the works were abandoned and must date from Shadrach Fox’ time.39

During the Commonwealth, Dud Dudley was living at Bristol as “Dr Hunt”, a fugitive from justice under sentence of death for treason. He persuaded a kinsman and the husband of a medical patient to join him in smelting metal with pitcoal, using an ‘old belhouse for the bloomery’. This was in 1651 and in Clifton (by Bristol). They smelted lead, probably a reverberatory furnace. A few years later, others built a similar furnace at Stockley Slade on the opposite side of the river Avon. This was where Sir Clement Clerke and his son Talbot (with partners) successfully smelted lead in the early 1680s, in what were known as cupiloes or cupolas. Clerke’s venture ran into difficulties with its financiers, but the works were ultimately returned to him and his son Talbot and formed the initial basis for the Company for Smelting down Lead with Pitcoal, chartered in 1692, of which Thomas Addison and Talbot Clerke were charter members. This company in later (Quaker) ownership was commonly called the London Lead Company.33

Abraham Darby was born at Wrens Nest near Dudley. His mother was descended from another of Lord Dudley’s putative children. Lord Dudley had provided well for the children born by his mistress Elizabeth Tomlinson. That daughter may have been given a beneficial lease of Dudley Old Park (which was actually in Sedgley parish) or part of it, a lease which was renewed by Abraham’s grandfather John Darby for 21 years in 1649.40 Abraham was apprenticed to a maltmill maker in Birmingham and then moved in 1699 to Bristol, where he was called a blacksmith. He took an apprentice John Thomas, probably in 1700. The recollections of his daughter Hannah Rose are a major source for these events, though her chronology is imperfect. Shortly after his arrival, he became one of four Quaker partners in a new brass works at Baptist Mills, on the river Frome at Bristol. Dutch workers were recruited for this. Four further partners were admitted in 1706, when the company leased Avon Mill at Keynsham. The business of these mills was making brass battery ware: making brass by the cementation process, from copper and

Abraham Darby I

While the lead works were out of their hands, the Clerkes experimented successfully with smelting copper in a reverberatory furnace. The initial experiments were at Vauxhall, but its implementation took place beside the

King 2002a, 37-8. King 2002a, 39-41 45. 36 E.g. Bramshott Foundry: Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 24 Jun. 1811 and Pedlar’s Acre, Lambeth: Morning Chronicle, 26 May 1817. 37 King 2015a, 142-3. 38 Réaumur 1722, plates 12-14. 39 King 2002a, 45. 40 Higgs 2005; Dudley Archives, DE4/7/4/70. 34 35

Higgs 2005. King 2002a, 34-5; 2002b; see also chapter 24. 32 King 2002a, 39-40; Tyson 1999, 4-10; TNA, C 6/319/80. In King 2002a, I (inadvisedly) suggested that the furnace was the Company’s. 33 King 1999b; 2002a, 35-9. 30 31

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Chapter 18: Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield

The Darby family tree. Managers of the Coalbrookdale Company are in bold.

calamine (zinc oxide); and then beating the brass sheets into hollowware with water-powered tilt hammers.41

to a poor water-supply for the bellows and the need to turn off the blast for prolonged periods while ladling iron into mould, both resulting in less than optimal performance.46

Separately, Darby set up a foundry at in Cheese Lane, where he experimented with casting iron pots.42 Potfounding had long been undertaken on a small scale at a number of blast furnaces, but they were cast in loam, which meant that a new mould had to be made from scratch for every pot. Darby (or rather John and James Flowery, the London brassfounders whom he employed) introduced ‘green sand’ moulding,43 where damp sand was packed around a pattern (usually of wood), which could then be removed. This provided two savings: the moulds were easier to make; and the pots could be made thinner than by the old process, meaning that less metal was needed. In April 1707 he obtained a patent for this,44 having in January entered into employment articles for three years, with a secrecy clause. To get a good casting from charcoal pig iron (normally, white cast iron), the mould has to be heated, something that cannot be done with a green sand mould. This is not necessary with coke iron (usually grey cast iron). Williams has therefore recently argued that the patented process implies the use of grey coke pig iron with its significant silicon content,45 but was not clear where that could have come from. He has further argued that the furnace may have operated at much the same temperature as its charcoal contemporaries, but that the sulphur content of the pig iron produced would have been significant, making it unsuitable for use in forges, as sulphur would render bar iron redshort. This did not matter for potfounding. He further suggested that the low output of the Coalbrookdale Furnaces may have been due

The originality of Darby’s patent was challenged when he tried to enforce it. Charles Axford, a rival Bristol founder, claimed that it was not original, because Darby’s methods had long been used for casting brass pots and had been used by several persons, particularly Roger Downes at an ironworks of Peter Chetle in Carmarthenshire [i.e. Gwendraeth]. He might also have pointed to Downes having worked for Fox at Coalbrookdale. There was separate litigation between Roger Downes and Zachary Downing, over ownership of certain ‘tools’ [patterns], which Downes clandestinely removed in May 1708 from Downing’s warehouse at Cradley, when Darby took Downes into his service. In hiring Downes, Darby bought up the one person able to undermine the originality of the patent.47 Peter Chetle’s father (and partner) Thomas had obtained a patent in 1695 for smelting iron with pitcoal.48 Shortly before Thomas, Peter, and Downing built Gwendraeth Furnace (see chapter 38). This could have been the source of the coke pig iron, which Williams argued that Darby must have used. However Darby’s only known source is Blakeney and other Forest furnaces of the Foley Forest Partnership.49 William Rea (its managing partner) and John Legas of Blakeney (his potfounder) were also defendants to Darby’s patent action, but denied using sand only, without some mixture of loam: Legas evidently only used the older method.50

Williams 2019a; 2019b. TNA, C 7/89/4. 48 Birmingham Archives, 571053; Schubert 1959. This patent is duly enrolled (TNA, C 66/3381/15), but is omitted from the numbered series, by which these are usually cited, as compiled in the mid-19th century. 49 Foley a/c. 50 TNA, C 7/89/4. 46

Day 1973, 33-40; Raistrick 1953, 19-20; Hannah Rose, ‘Some account of the Darbys’, FMH, MS, box W1/12. 42 Raistrick 1953, 19-22; Day 1973, 38. 43 TNA, C 7/89/4, answer of Charles Axford. 44 English Patent no. 380. 45 Williams 2015. 41

47

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I give a very good picture of the Coalbrookdale Company’s business.56 They cover two blast furnaces and three air furnaces. The Old and New Blast Furnaces were in use most of the time, as was the Upper Air Furnace. Pots, kettles and other goods were cast both direct from the blast furnaces and from the air furnaces. The New Air Furnace tended (after the early years) only to be used when a blast furnace was out of blast, probably in order to keep the moulders working. However the Lower Air Furnace was hardly used at all after 1723. The blast furnace production costs have been examined in detail by Mott, Hyde, and me. While there may be some uncertainty about the interpretation of the units of capacity used, there can be no doubt that the fuel consumption, and thus the fuel cost was very high, though it improved somewhat over the 20 years. However, their coke pig iron was a premium product, enjoying a higher price than Virginia or other English pig iron. Bristol ironfounders (according to the merchant Graffin Prankard) ‘esteemed it best and thinnest for castings, especially pots and kettles … and without some mixt with pigs they scarce presume to make any castings’.57 The pots and other goods were sold over large swathes of England and Wales. Quite how much of the country was penetrated is difficult to determine, because William Jukes & Co of London and William Ives of Gainsborough operated as wholesalers of castware. Bristol sales were managed by Thomas Goldney, but there were also other buyers there, both for pig iron and cast iron goods.58 Partners also attended fairs at Wrexham, Chester, Nottingham and elsewhere to obtain orders.59 Other products included steam engine cylinders, produced from 1722;60 waggon wheels for railways from 1729;61 and railings;62 but these (though important) were not significant in terms of the quantity of castings made.

Darby therefore in 1708 moved to Coalbrookdale, where there was a derelict furnace and an abandoned (but perhaps usable) air furnace, taking over the works where Roger Downes (by then Darby’s employee) had worked for Fox. Here he set to in earnest, repairing the furnace, so as to smelt iron with coke and use it to cast iron pots in green sand. He seems to have spent the early years trying out different raw materials. Darby’s pots were certainly cheaper than those cast in loam.51 In his enthusiasm for coke smelting, he wrote to his fellow Quaker, William ‘Rolleson’ [Rawlinson] of the Backbarrow Company encouraging them to take up coke. As mentioned, he took over the lease of the Coalbrookdale Works in 1716 and soon after built a second furnace at a cost of £1500. He contracted in 1717 to take over Vale Royal Furnace in Cheshire and leased a site for a furnace at Dolgun near Dolgellau.52 However, Darby died on 25 of 5mo [July] 1717. His widow disposed of the projected furnaces. Vale Royal went to a relative, Thomas Baylies. Dolgun was sold to a fellow Quaker, Samuel Milner of Bewdley. Darby had established a successful business, but his financial affairs were not in order. He had partners at Coalbrookdale, James Peters and Graffin Prankard bought three shares in 1710 and Richard Champion another six the next year, but Darby repurchased most of these in 1713, with the aid of a loan from Thomas Goldney,53 a Bristol Quaker merchant, who thenceforth played a major role in financing the company. At his death, Darby owned 15 of the 16 shares, the other one belonging to John Chamberlain of Stow in the Wold (presumably Peters’ successor), but Darby’s shares were mortgaged to Thomas Goldney. Mary converted the mortgage into a sale of six shares, two of which Goldney gave to his son. Mary Darby did not survive her husband for long; she died in 1718, leaving a family of orphaned children, her eldest son Abraham II being no more than seven years old. Baylies took out letters of administration as a creditor, and held several shares, presumably in that capacity. These were purchased by the orphans’ uncle Joshua Sergeant, who had apparently taken them in charge of the children, and he settled these shares in trust for them. Two other shares passed to Richard Ford, who married Abraham’s daughter Mary. Goldney had another two in part satisfaction of a mortgage. The outcome of all this was a stable new Coalbrookdale Company, with Thomas Goldney senior as the largest partner, with his son Thomas junior, Richard Ford, and the children’s trustee as the other partners. The trust’s shares subsequently passed to Abraham Darby II and his brother Edmund.54

Inevitably, Coalbrookdale’s success led to others imitating the process. The first rival was Sutton Furnace, near St Helens in Lancashire. Thomas Baylies, having acquired Darby’s Vale Royal prospect, seems to have regarded himself as entitled to use Darby’s patent, but Vale Royal had no easy access to coal, as the river Weaver had not yet been made navigable. This led the Vale Royal Company to build Sutton Furnace, but the result was financially disastrous for Charles Cholmondeley of Vale Royal.63 A furnace at Little Clifton in west Cumberland, built by a combination of Stourbridge and Newcastle upon Tyne interests in 1723, as soon as Darby’s patent expired, was considerably more successful and was underselling Coalbrookdale in the Liverpool market in 1733.64 The rise

Most of the content of this paragraph is dealt with in more detail in Mott 1958; Hyde 1973b; 1974; and thesis; King thesis; and 2011a. The underlying files for my thesis are deposited with Archaeological Data Service with it. 57 Somerset RO, DD/DN/424, 17 June 1730. 58 King 2011a, 143-4. 59 Raistrick 1953, 7-57 passim; 81. 60 Rasitrick 1953, 126-40; Rolt & Allen 1997, 105-6. 61 Lewis 1970, 195 239. 62 Raistrick 1953, 57. 63 King 1993, 7-12. 64 Shropshire Archives 6001/3190, 18 Aug. 1733 (but misinterpreted in King 1993). 56

The stock and cash books (though no ledger) survive almost complete for the succeeding 20¼ years.55 These Cox 1990; Mott 1957c. Raistrick 1953, 39-44. 53 Raistrick 1953, 6 40; Stembridge 1998, 17-18; FMH, Norris VIII, 32 41. 54 Stembridge 1998, 101-4; Raistrick 1953, 47-51; TNA, C 11/766/8. 55 Shrops RO, 6001/329-31 and IGMT, Coalbrookdale MS 1 [= CBD a/c]. 51 52

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Chapter 18: Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield

The Industrial Revolution

of Coalbrookdale marks the beginning of a period when the blast furnace industry divided into two branches; one concerned with foundries and cast iron; and the other with forges and bar iron. This divergence can be traced to some extent for the remainder of the 18th century and perhaps beyond, though (as will appear) there were also furnaces supplying both branches.65

New furnaces The price of iron rose in the years after the War of Austrian Succession. When Charles Wood visited the Dale in 1754, the forge was making 1½ tpw with ‘pit coal’ pigs. This must have been the amount from each finery, as when the Swede R.R. Angerstein visited a few months later, he was told the forge made 130-150 tpa, using charcoal pigs from Leighton and Willey.72 The circumstances in which coke pig iron began to come into widespread use in finery forges remain unclear. It was recounted in an undated letter, written 26 years later by Abiah, widow of Abraham Darby II. She told how Abraham had sent some pigs to be tried and a good account was given of their working. Mr [Edward] Knight had urged Abraham to get a patent, but he ‘declined to deprive the public of such an acquisition’.73 However Thomas Goldney and Abraham Darby II (who had been managing partner of the Dale Company since Richard Ford’s death in 1745) built the first Horsehay Furnace in 1754 and began blowing it in May 1755. They followed this with Ketley Furnaces, leased in 1756, and blown in that December, with Richard Reynolds as an additional partner. These were all linked by railways. In 1766, they began to substitute cast iron for wooden rails, another innovation.74 By 1785, the company had 25 miles of iron railways.75

The Middle Forge came back into the company’s hands in March 1720. Attempts were made to make bar iron from coke pig iron, but these were abandoned. Briefly in 1722, the company made charcoal pigs in the Old Blast Furnace, partly to supply the forge. Then it bought in charcoal pigs for it from nearby furnaces. However, from about 1729 a substantial proportion of the charge was coke pigs, together with sculls, a steely waste from ironfounding. However the output from the forge was very low, a mere 35-40 tpa in the 1720s, and only 21 tpa in 1731-8, when it made a loss of nearly £3 on every ton of bar iron. The partners were probably aware of its poor performance and keeping it going for other reasons, such as disposing of scull iron.66 However, the company also had a boring mill close to the forge, which may have competed for water. The Coalbrookdale partners did not stand still. In 1733, Ford and Goldney (without any Darby) leased Willey Furnace, south of the gorge, because they expected orders for steam engine cylinders, as Thomas Savery’s patent (under which Thomas Newcomen operated) had expired. They and Abraham Darby II also took an interest in Bersham Furnace in Denbighshire for a few years, when John Hawkins its manager was in financial difficulties.67 The output of each of the Coalbrookdale Furnaces had been much lower than was typical of charcoal furnaces of the period. Output was particularly low in 1732, when only 241 tons of pig iron was made. The first step to rectify the deficiencies of the works took place in 1735 when they installed a horse pump to return water from the bottom of the works to the top, so that it could again be used to drive the furnace bellows.68 By increasing the power available, the bellows could run faster, enabling the furnaces to work at a higher temperature, one sufficient to eliminate sulphur from the pig iron, making it suitable for making bar iron.69 This was replaced by a Newcomen engine near the New Blast Furnace, completed in 1743, in turn replaced by a new Watt engine in 1781-2, which they called the Resolution engine.70 The Company also took over Leighton Furnace before 1754.71

From this period, pig iron from coke furnaces regularly formed a significant part of the feedstock of many finery forges, indeed most, in the area. This is demonstrated by the accounts for Horsehay (some of which survive).76 The accounts of Edward Knight & Co’s forges in the Stour valley show both Horsehay and Ketley as major suppliers. Lightmoor Furnace, another new one, not far from Coalbrookdale, established in 1758, also figures prominently in Knight’s accounts. The other two new ironworks in the coalfield, New Willey (south of the gorge) and Madeley Wood Furnaces hardly appear as suppliers to the Stour Works at all. Madeley Wood was established by John Smitheman, one of the lords of Madeley, with partners.77 These would seem to have been mostly concerned with the foundry trade, but ‘Smithyman’ was a partner in the Mathrafal Company.78 The economics of using coke pig iron in forges have been examined by Hyde and by me from the Coalbrookdale accounts on the 1720s and 1730s.79 The problem was also addressed by Rehder from 19th century American data; by Ince from the Stour Works accounts; and recently by Williams mainly from French and German sources.80 Hyde’s case

King 2015a. King 2011a, 144-50. The figures in this may be defective. I assumed all pig iron received from the Pig Yard was coke pig iron. In fact, in 17318 it received about 83 tons pig iron from Thomas Goldney, Joshua Gee [both perhaps American], and from Leighton. I was misled by a slight change in stock accounting practice. 67 Raistrick 1953, 59-62. 68 Trinder 2000, 28; Belford 2007, especially 136. 69 Williams 2019a; 2019b. 70 Trinder 2000, 28; Belford 2007, especially 136. The engine was the subject of sketches by Philip James De Loutherbourg (now in the Tate Gallery). 71 Angerstein’s Diary, 330. 65 66

72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

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Gross 2001, 223; Angerstein’s Diary, 335. King 2001a, 138 153; Raistrick 1953, 138; Trinder 1973, 30. Trinder 1973, 34-6 403; 2000, 32-5. Lewis 1970, 264. HH a/c. SW a/c; Trinder 2000, 32-5. See chapter 15. Hyde thesis, 41-4; 1977, 38-40; King 2011a, 144-50. Rehder 1987; Ince 1991a; Williams 2019a; 2019b.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I For a short period in the 1780s and 1790s, this was the state-of-the-art ironmaking method, so that in 1788 it was estimated 15,600 tons was made in (the new) melting fineries and 16,400 tons in charcoal fineries.88 Richard Reynolds built a potting and stamping forge (with melting furnaces) at Ketley in 1780. Henry Cort the inventor of puddling had relatives at Kingswinford, and probably gained some familiarity with the stampering process, from which he developed puddling at Funtley in Hampshire. He toured the Midlands in 1784 trying to licence his process.89 Richard Reynolds also arranged for Peter Onions to demonstrate his patent process at Ketley early in 1784. Peter Onions was of Dowlais at Merthyr Tydfil, and probably originally from Broseley but apparently worked at Pentyrch Forge near Cardiff, which belonged to some of the Dowlais partners. Reynolds considered that there was no innovation and declined to pay a royalty. Cort’s process did not work for grey coke pig iron, only for white pig iron. The key breakthrough was made by Samuel Homfray, a member of a Stourbridge family who had set up the Penydarren Works at Merthyr Tydfil. He applied the first step of the potting and stamping process to provide a feedstock for puddling of white metal, known as finers’ metal or refined iron.90 According to the obituary of Joseph Firmstone, he suggested this to Homfray. Firmstone was a connection (possibly step-son) of John Guest the managing partner of Dowlais.91

involved comparing Coalbrookdale Forge in the 1720s with Colnbridge Forge, but was flawed, as he assumed Colnbridge used charcoal in the chafery when it in fact used mineral fuel. I compared data on Coalbrookdale Forge in the 1720s, when it used charcoal pigs, with itself in the 1730s when mostly using coke pigs, concluding it was an inefficient little forge.81 The widow of Abraham Darby II claimed he had made some breakthrough in the 1750s, probably in c.1755 while Horsehay Furnace was being built.82 Williams has recently argued that this was the result of the higher furnace temperature that eliminated sulphur.83 That change probably dates from the 1730s when Abraham Darby II was an assistant manager and coke pig iron became a substantial part of the feedstock of the forge.84 The delay in exploiting the breakthrough may be linked to poor market conditions. New forge processes The area remained much more notable as an producer of pig iron than for forges, but a forge continued to operate at Coalbrookdale. A patent for a new forge process was awarded in 1766 to two forgemen, Thomas and George Cranage of Coalbrookdale. Experiments had been carried out at Thomas Tilly’s air furnace and showed sufficient success for an air furnace to be built at the Upper Forge, followed by a second by 1768. The Coalbrookdale Company paid the Cranage brothers £30 for the patent, though this may have done little more than compensate them for loss of earnings while experimenting. The company seem also to have used the process in their other forge at Bridgnorth. The process seems to have merely consisted of heating the iron twice in an air furnace. At the second heat, slag ran out. The bloom was then shingled, though for longer than in the finery process and reheated among fluid cinder, before being drawn out into a bar. The results were not satisfactory, because the quality of the resultant iron was too inconsistent.85

Cort’s downfall was the death of his partner Samuel Jellicoe’s uncle, Adam, a naval paymaster, on whose death loans made by Adam (using public funds in his hands) were suddenly called in, leading to Cort’s estate being extended for debt and to his bankruptcy. He was probably partly a victim of the witch-hunt against Henry Dundas over alleged corruption in Naval affairs. Cort’s patent thus devolved upon the Navy Board (as his creditor), but the Board resolved to take no step to exploit the patent. Ultimately the government compensated his widow and then daughters with a modest annuity (£100 per year). In arguments in 1812 over Henry Cort’s puddling process, Samuel Homfray suggested that puddling was the same as a process known as ‘buzzing’ used at Eardington,92 but ‘buzzing’ was recorded in the 1950s as a synonym for bustling or bushelling.93 That ought to refer to a process for working up bushel iron (scrap), a process that Charles Wood’s brother John had used at Wednesbury from c.1740.94

The (more successful) potting and stamping (or stampering) process was developed by Charles Wood at Low Mill near Egremont in Cumberland and his brother John Wood of Wednesbury. They patented it in 1761 and 1763. In 1765 Charles then took this process to Cyfarthfa at Merthyr Tydfil, where his brother-in-law William Browning was a partner.86 An improvement was patented by Wright & Jesson of West Bromwich in 1773 and implemented at Wrens Nest on Linley Brook (see next chapter). When others began an infringing their patent John Wilkinson organised a licensing regime, probably in the late 1770s.87

Later history of the Coalbrookdale Company Abraham Darby II had succeeded to management of the Coalbrookdale Company on the death of Richard Ford in

As note 79. King 2011a, 153. 83 Williams 2019a. 84 King 2011a, 144-50. 85 Hayman 2004, 114-6. 86 The subject matter of the remainder of this section has been examined in detail by Young & Hart (2018; 2019) in the context of Cyfarthfa. Their excellent work appeared too late for me to make as full use of it as I might have wished. 87 Birmingham Archives, MS 3147/3/5/28, Boulton to Watt, 28 July 1781. 81 82

Mushet 1840, 44. Alexander 2002. 90 King 2011a, 110-11 Young & Hart 2018. 91 Staffs Advertiser, 30 Jan. 1830; Firmstone’s widowed mother married a John Guest, but it is not clear if this was the Dowlais ironmaster, though Firmstone was certainly at Merthyr Tydfil until 1790. 92 Hayman 2004, 117; King 2012, 110-1. 93 Gale 1971, 34. 94 Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W2/1/101, 4 Nov. 1740; 102, 8 Jan 1740[1]. 88 89

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Chapter 18: Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield manager (and the company’s first historian), continuing as such until he retired in 1897. In his period, the business was incorporated in 1881 as the Coalbrookdale Company Ltd. This entered into an amalgamation in 1922 to form Light Castings Ltd, which in turn joined a larger group Allied Ironfounders Ltd in 1929.105 In 1973, this was taken over by Glynwed Ltd,106 which continued to operate an ironfoundry in Coalbrookdale. This latterly produced AGA and Rayburn stoves. Glynwed demerged this division in 2000 as AGA Foodservice plc.107 Shortly after, the company gave up a foundry, which was in 2002 converted by Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust into Enginuity, another of its museums.108

1745, but members of both the Ford and Goldney families remained partners. Two of Ford’s sons were bankrupt in 1758 and 1759. This led to a dispute in 1760 with William Hallen, the Ford brothers’ partner in the Caynton Company over how debts owed by the latter and the share of Richard and Abraham Ford in Coalbrookdale should be dealt with.95 As stated, the new furnaces at Horsehay and Ketley were ventures by partners in the company, rather than by the company itself. When the Coalbrookdale lease was renewed in 1774, Abraham Darby III bought out the Goldney family.96 How far or even whether the Horsehay, Ketley and Coalbrookdale Companies were amalgamated is unclear, but from this point these businesses were all controlled by close relatives. Joseph Rathbone (a son-inlaw of Abraham II) seems to have been managing partner at Coalbrookdale by 1782, being the first named partner when the lease was renewed in 1781.97 The Dale Company took over Madeley Wood in 1776,98 and Reynolds and Rathbone set up the Donnington Wood Company in in 1783, where they blew in the furnace in 1785.99

The importance of the Old Blast Furnace was recognised in the 1950s. There had been a proposal to clear the site for redevelopment, but this was postponed, and the owners were ultimately persuaded not to do so. They arranged for Arthur Raistrick to produce his book giving a history of the Darby family and the works. The existence of a compilation of documents, made by W.G. Norris, the late 19th-century manager assisted Raistrick.109 Initially the owners provided a small museum to go with the furnace. This was gradually transformed to form a nucleus for Ironbridge Gorge Museums. The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust now operates a number of museums in the area. The Old Furnace stands at the end of a quadrangle formed by its dam, a railway viaduct, the Long Warehouse (now housing the Museum Library and Archives) and the Great Warehouse (containing the Museum of Iron).110

A series of deaths of partners in the 1790s, led to a period known internally as ‘pettycoat government’ when all the partners were women. Abraham III died in 1789; Joseph Rathbone in 1790; Samuel Darby lived until 1796, but may not have been an active partner.100 Richard Dearman, a connection of the Reynolds family was appointed manager.101 A series of transactions simplified the structure of the various companies, ultimately leading to Coalbrookdale and Ketley parting company in 1797, with Coalbrookdale retaining Horsehay and Madeley Wood.102 Edmund Darby, son of Samuel and grandson of Abraham II managed the works from 1803 to 1810; followed by Barnard Dickinson, a son-in-law of Abraham III from 1810 to 1827. Francis Darby was a manager from 1810 until his death in 1850, joined after Dickinson’s death by Abraham Darby IV and Alfred Darby (sons of Edmund) until their retirements in 1849 and 1851 respectively.103 In 1843, Abraham IV and some other partners had bought the Ebbw Vale Works in Monmouthshire. Richard and William Henry Darby (sons of Abraham III’s youngest son Richard) left to take over the Brymbo Works in Denbighshire in 1858.104

Coalbrookdale is an exceptionally important site, and deserves its World Heritage designation. The gorge and the area around it have been the venue for the development of number of important innovations, including railways, blister steel making, coke smelting, potfounding, and new forge technology. It is almost surprising how far it and the Ironbridge Gorge seem to lie at the heart of technological development. However the claim that the Museum’s publicity used to make of it being the most industrialised place cannot be sustained. How much credence could be given to that depends on how ‘industrialised’ is defined. If the use of coke in iron smelting were the sole factor in defining that, it would be the earliest place to be industrialised, but that it is not the normal meaning of the word. A more usual definition would relate to the number of people employed in industrial occupations, and there other areas would come far ahead of the Coalbrookdale area, where manufacture (as opposed to production) was not a major activity.

In the subsequent period, Charles Crookes became manager, under the supervision of Henry Whitmore (a son-in-law of Francis Darby), Henry Dickinson (a sonin-law of Edmund) and Francis Tothill (a descendant of Abraham III) as trustees for the company. The situation was formalised by the Darby Estate Act 1854. On Crookes’ death in 1866, William Gregory Norris became

Principal general sources: Raistrick 1953; 1967, 56-8; 1980; Mott 1957a, 71-80; 1957b; 1957c; 1958; 1959a; 1959b; 1966; Trinder 1973; 2000; also 1968; 1974; 1979; 1988; Wanklyn 1982; Cox 1990; Thomas 1999; Belford

TNA, C 12/812/39. Thomas 1999, 70. 97 Thomas 1999, 80.1; Birmingham City Archives, MS 3147/3/ 381/12. 98 Raistrick 1953, 98; Thomas 1999, 74. 99 Raistrick 1953, 98-9 Thomas 1999, 89. 100 Thomas 1999, 96. 101 Raistrick 1953, 210-1. 102 Raistrick 1953, 212-9. 103 Raistrick 1953, 266. 104 Thomas 1999, 143-4. 95 96

Raistrick 1953, 266-8. Thomas 1999, 198. 107 Daily Telegraph website, article dated 23 Nov 2000. 108 www.shropshiretourism.co.uk. 109 FMH, Norris MSS. 110 Raistrick 1953 (1989 edn); Darby 2010. 105 106

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I for the rest of his life. His widow Mary was in charge for barely a year before she died. At this point, the works passed into the hands of a partnership, the Coalbrookdale Company, with Thomas Goldney as the largest partner, and Richard Ford (d.1745) as manager. Abraham Darby II had been brought up to manage the works and then became the manager until his death in 1763. He was succeeded by his son-in-law Richard Reynolds (d.1768) and then his son Abraham Darby III (who built the Iron Bridge). He bought out the Goldney share in the works. By 1781, the whole of the business belonged to members of the Darby family, with William Reynolds (Richard’s son) and Joseph Rathbone (brother-in-law of Abraham III), who appears to have been managing partner. Following the deaths of Abraham III in 1789 and of Rathbone in 1790, the business remained in the ownership of descendants of the Darby family until a family company Coalbrookdale Company Ltd was incorporated 1881. That company continued to exist until 1973, but successively became a subsidiary of Light Castings Ltd in 1922; of Allied Ironfounders Ltd in 1929; and of Glynwed Ltd in 1970. Shortly afterwards the Old Furnace and surrounding land was transferred to Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.

2007; King 2010b; 2011a; Stembridge 1986; 1988; Powell 1986; Hayman, Horton & White 1999, 11-57; Hayman & Horton 1999; Hayman thesis. Note also Belford 2018, 12952. The amount written in particular about Coalbrookdale is so great that it is impracticable to provide a comprehensive list of every allusion to the Coalbrookdale Works. The 250th anniversary generated a number of short articles on the subject including Flinn 1959c; Harris (J.R.) 1958; and Schubert 1959. Most other works are ultimately derived from those listed.

Gazetteer Coalbrookdale furnaces Coalbrookdale Old Furnace or Upper Furnace

[1]SJ667048

The furnace stands at the junction of the valleys of the Lyde Brook and the Coal Brook, where a deep pool still holds water. The furnace stack is largely intact, now covered with a modern building, as part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum. There is the mark of a water wheel on the side of the stack, suggesting that the blowing arrangements were not quite the usual ones. A cast iron beam over the tapping arch had the date 1658 (not 1638, as now painted) and initials BB and EB which remain enigmatic. There is a further beam dated 1775. This presumably indicates that the present structure is essentially neither what Boycott and Lacon built in 1658, nor what Abraham Darby I restored in 1709, but rather the furnace as Abraham Darby III rebuilt it in 1775. Of course, as with most standing furnaces, the remains are essentially those of its final blast, which was in about 1820. The stack remained surrounded by the buildings of a working foundry until the 1950s. Coalbrookdale Upper Forge later New Blast Furnace

Size 1717 200 tpa. This low figure is confirmed by accounts, since each furnace only made 200-250 tpa in the 1720s. This was improved by the provision of horse pumps to refill the pools in 1735 and a Newcomen engine about 1743, the former raising production to about 350 tpa per furnace (Raistrick 1953, 107-109; King 2011a). This engine was replaced in 1781-2 by a new one called Resolution, taking water from below the upper forge (Belford 2008, 136). In 1805 2 furnaces made 2,962 tons. There were several air furnaces, named in the 1720s and 1730s as Upper, Lower, and New. If the Upper and Lower ones adjoined blast furnaces, the Upper one was presumably that built by Shadrach Fox. The Upper Air Furnace was in regular use throughout that period but the New Air Furnace was used only when a blast furnace was silent, while the Lower one went out of use in 1722.

[2] SJ668046

A forge seems to have existed before the erection of a second blast furnace by Abraham Darby I in the mid1710s. This was the first purpose-built coke blast furnace to enjoy long-term success. Its precise date is not certain, but may be c.1716, after Darby had bought the Coalbrookdale lease. The pool was filled in in 1903. There are no remains of the furnace above ground.

Trading Shadrach Fox cast shot in the 1690s for the Board of Ordnance using pitcoal as his fuel. In 1695 before making a contract with him, the Board asked him to ‘accommodate the matter between the patentees for running iron with pitcoal and himself.’ Before this he may have been a subcontractor (or even participant in) to the Company for Running Iron with Pitcoal (TNA, WO 47/18, 23 35 75-77; WO 51/47-54, passim; cf. C 7/312/5). The dispute may refer to coal bought in 1690, before the company was chartered, probably for its Vauxhall Foundry (TNA, C 7/312/5).

Both Furnaces The descent of the works has been fully described in the chapter introduction. Silvanus Boycott and James Lacon were probably succeeded in the late 1660s by Francis Wolfe, previously their manager. He retired in 1686. Lawrence Wellington may have operated the furnace, but was succeeded by 1693 by Shadrach Fox, who used coke to make shot and other munitions. The furnace blew up before 1703.

Under the Darby Family and their associates both the Old Furnace and the New Blast Furnace (of c.1716) were primarily engaged in potfounding, also making foundry pig iron (for sale) using coke. The Old Blast Furnace is celebrated as being the first place where this was done. It was certainly the first place where this became a long term commercial success, but there are other candidates for

It was restored by Abraham Darby in 1709, and he operated it, making coke iron for casting pots under his 1707 patent 292

Chapter 18: Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield the first successful smelting, as I have shown elsewhere in this work. As Cox (1990) showed Darby’s success was founded on his ability to make his pots thinner and hence cheaper than his rivals. This was a result of the high silicon content of his pig iron, something which also reduced its suitability (from the commercial point of view) for fining in forges, though perhaps the problem was sulphur (see Williams 2019a). The steady potfounding trade provided an outlet for the furnaces’ product and perhaps allowed experiments to be carried out, without too much risk of the result being totally useless.

trade and my discovery that there was also a mill grinding lapis calamaris (TNA, C 11/766/8). Coalbrookdale Great Forge later Upper Forge

This was presumably a rather larger forge than the others and perhaps later in erection than the Middle Forge since it does not bear that name. There is little to be seen on the ground today. As ‘Middle Forge’, it was taken over by the Coalbrookdale Company in 1720 from Thomas Stanley and run by it as a sideline to the Company’s main business as ironfounders and producers of foundry pig iron. The forge seems to have been the subject of separate accounts whose contents were only very occasionally posted to the (surviving) main Stock Books.

A quantity of pig iron was sold each year from the furnaces. Much of this was to merchants, who may well have sold it for remelting. The Dale Company never seems to have engaged in the production of forge pig iron, except marginally for its own forge. It was only after the opening of Horsehay and other new furnaces in 1755 and the years succeeding that coke-smelted pig iron came to be used to any marked extent in forges. In 1740 the Company began casting small cannon (bored at a mill near the Upper – old Middle – Forge) to arm merchant ships during the War of Jenkins Ear. This was the only time the Coalbrookdale Company (as Quakers) made armaments.

Coalbrookdale Middle Forge

[5] SJ667041

As with most of the others works, there is little to be seen today. Passing references can be found to certain kinds of mill at Coalbrookdale (not concerned with iron making), which may possibly be attributed to this site. An early interest of Abraham Darby at Coalbrookdale concerned brass. This was associated with a mining venture at Clive and with Tern Mill. Darby was a partner in the mine, but probably not at Tern. In 1721, Harvey complained about Thomas Baylies refusing to renew the lease of ‘a house for melting brass and also a mill for grinding lapis calamaris and other things’, though an agreement for this had been made with Baylies and Darby. The result was that he had lost £553.13.0 worth of erections, mills, utensils and so on, because Baylies had let the mill to someone else. Gerhold suggests that the Hallen family (of the Lower Forge) had a second forge at some periods. In 1734 it was converted to a boring mill, which was used to bore cylinders for steam engines.

Associations Francis Woolfe took an underlease of Longnor Forge in 1673, but seems to have been persuaded to surrender it about 1678. Accounts A brief account 1654-7: Staffs RO, D64/5/ E(S)/1a, no 2 [The names in this indicate that the later endorsement ‘Staffordshire’ is wrong]. CBD a/c: An account for 1709; substantially complete stock and cash books 1718-38 (but without the ledger), with cash book continuing until 1748. Snapper Furnace

[4] SJ669043

SJ667048

This furnace-like structure stands in the corner of the yard containing the Old Blast Furnace. It is said to have been built in 1796 but never used. Snapper furnaces may have fulfilled a similar function to foundry cupolas.

All Forges Size 1717 80 tpa; 1718 & 1736 50 tpa; 1750 150 tpa. In 1720 the ‘Middle Forge’ had one finery and one chafery. Actual output as shown in the accounts was much lower, averaging less than 35-40 tpa in the 1720s and a mere 21 tpa in the 1730s. During the early 1720s pig iron was being bought in small quantities from most of the furnaces in Shropshire, but from 1728, coke pig iron and scrap were mostly used, but 83 tons of charcoal pig iron were used in 1731-8. During most of this period, I estimated that the forge made a loss of over £3 per ton of iron made (CBD a/c; King thesis, 129-35; 2011a, 149-50), but my calculation needs to be revisited, as I failed to take account of what the Pig Yard received from others (see footnote 66).

Specific sources (for all furnaces) Herefs RO, E12/VI/ KBc/65 31; King 1993, 2 7-8; VCH Shrops xi, 48-50; Shrops [Archaeol] Newsletter 5 (Nov 1958); Wanklyn 1973; Wiltshire RO, 473/156; TNA, C 12/812/39; Trinder 1968; Belford 2007; and see General Sources. Coalbrookdale forges With four forges at Coalbrookdale, of which the highest was replaced by the New Blast Furnace, there are difficulties of nomenclature and of identifying which was which. The best account of the sites is Belford 2007. VCH Shropshire (xi, 49-50) inappropriately sought to reinterpret the conclusions of Mott (1957b), who in fact used the nomenclature found in the accounts. The matter is further complicated by Gerhold’s claim (2009, 44) that there was a second forge associated with the fryingpan

In September 1754, Charles Wood reported a forge at Coalbrookdale with two fineries, making 1½ tpw [i.e. 75 tpa] from pit coal pigs (Gross 2001, 223). If this was per finery, it would match the listed figure for 1750. Angerstein who also visited in 1754 (perhaps after 293

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Wood) recorded the use charcoal pig from Willey and Leighton to make 130-150 tpa. The total cost was about £18 per ton, but with iron selling at £21-22 per ton, there was a good profit though £1.10s-£1.15s of this could be attributed to the pig iron used (Angerstein diary, 335). Steam engines were added in 1785 and 1787 to blow the forge and operate hammers (Trinder 1973, 406). This was presumably the venue for Thomas and George Cranage’s forge process, patented in 1766 and conducted in Tilley’s Air Furnace, perhaps an existing air furnace for foundry work, rather than something new. A slitting mill was provided in 1776, but converted to a forge in c.1783. A report of 1782 refers to an output of 530 tpa from 3 fineries, using ‘Lancashire’ and ‘Welsh’ pigs together (Chatsworth House, Derbs, L114/38). No forge plant is listed in the 1790/4 list, but that listed for Ketley may have included plant here. There was a hammer engine at the old forge, but it was taken down and in 1803 converted to a tenement.

apparently not in 1806, when sold on the bankruptcy of William Hallen of Bridgnorth, a linen & woollen yarn manufacturer. Sources VCH Shrops xi, 48; Awty 2019, 430 602; Gerhold 2009, 44 53; Shrops RO, 6320/1-6; CBD a/c (passing mentions). Coalbrookdale Steelhouse

The Brooke family’s works included a steelhouse, evidently a converting furnace, by the 1640s, when steel works are mentioned in Royalist Composition papers. It was still a steelhouse in 1714, but had been converted to a malt house by 1735. Sir Basil Brooke apparently acquired the steel patent of William Ellyott and Mathias Meysey, but was compelled to surrender it in 1619, because he could not provide steel of the quantity and quality required to justify an import prohibition. This provides a context for two steel furnaces found on excavation at the Upper Forge. Steel was being shipped downstream through Gloucester in 1619 and in the 1660s, presumably from here. Fuller’s Worthies later described Sir Basil (under Gloucestershire) as the ‘great steelmaker of this county’, but probably he made his steel at Coalbrookdale. His product may have been called Gloucestershire steel, because it was made from Gloucestershire (i.e. Forest) iron, brought up to Coalbrookdale. Excavations revealed the foundations of two circular steel furnaces, built of irregular sandstone blocks, with brick ashpits. In their final form, both furnaces were 18 feet in diameter, but the southern one was originally 15 feet across. The later history of the works is not clear, but they may have descended with the ironworks. It is likely to have been the source of the steel, whose manufacture was one of the objectives of the Tern Company (see Tern Mill). The original Tern Company probably smelted its copper at Coalbrookdale but complained after the death of Abraham Darby of being unable to renew their lease of ‘a house for melting brass and also a mill for grinding lapis calamaris and other things’. Though steel is not named, steelmaking was one of the objectives of Tern Mill, and this also may have been done at Coalbrookdale until then. The steel house was converted to a malthouse in 1726 and later to cottages. Steel production is not mentioned in the surviving accounts.

Trading 1669 Mr Woolfe sold 5 tons of blooms to Wolverley Plate Works (Schafer 1978, 107). In 1675 he took over from Philip Foley a contract for cordwood from Caus and Wallop renewing it in 1680, but was released from it in 1687 (VCH Shrops viii, 297 & 318). In 1691/2 ‘Dale Forges’ received 151 tpa from Leighton Furnace (Boycott a/c). Laurence Wellington owed Paul Foley £125, presumably for Forest pig iron in 1685 (Foley E12/VI/ DDf/2). He sold 10 tons of pig iron to Wytheford Forge in 1687 (Shrops RO, 625/15). He bought modest amounts of Elmbridge and Blakeney pig iron intermittently from 16921704 and also sold to the Foley Ironworks in Partnership modest amounts of blooms and ordinary mill bar iron. John Wellington bought 5-6 tpa pig at Bewdley from the Foley Forest Partnership; 1714/5 Thomas Corfield bought 10 tons of Bishopswood pig iron, perhaps for use here (Foley a/c). Thomas Goldney and Joshua Gee supplied pig iron in the 1730s, probably American imports, but Leighton pigs were also used. Specific Sources King 2008, 69; TNA, C 11/766/8; Gerhold 2009, 44; Hayman thesis, 70. See also general sources. Other Coalbrookdale ironworks Coalbrookdale Lower Forge or Plate Forge

[7] SJ66930422

[6] SJ666037

Sources Belford & Ross 2007; Wanklyn 1973 (from TNA, Royalist Composition Papers, Brooke of Madeley); Fuller’s Worthies; Gloucestershire Port Books Database; Wiltshire RO, 473/156, 1 Jul. 1723 (recital of 1714 lease); 1735 lease; Schubert 1957, 323-5; Barraclough 1984(1), 50-4; King 2003; 2010b, 54-5; 2011b, 68-9; TNA, C 11/766/8.

Again there is little remaining of this forge, which was already a plating forge in 1696. It may have been Caldbroke Smithy, which was leased for 63 years by Wenlock Priory to Hugh Morrall in 1536, just before the priory’s dissolution. Awty suggests that he was of French extraction. In 1718-38, William Hallen occurs in the Coalbrookdale accounts as a customer for bar iron. In 1711 Cornelius Hallen son of William Hallen bought the freehold of half an acre of land at Lincoln Hill, upon which he or a successor built cottages and pan shops. These were still in the occupation of George William Hallen in 1793, when they were mortgaged, but

Other coke ironworks The list data for 1815 is from Butler 1854, 247-51; for August 1816: Hereford Journal, 28 Aug. 1816; for October 1817: Elsas 1960, 3. 294

Chapter 18: Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield Dawley Castle Furnace

[8] SJ688061

next Coalbrookdale Company. In 1796 the furnaces made 1,458 tons and 3,834 tons in 1805. Some of this increase may have been the result of the no.1 furnace being rebuilt with two tuyeres in 1799. All three furnaces were in blast in 1810, but only one in 1815 and two in 1817. They remained in the hands of the Coalbrookdale Company, a furnace last being used in 1858.

This was built by the Coalbrookdale Company in 1810 and was in use in 1815. In the following decade there were two furnaces making over 4,000 tpa. The Coalbrookdale Company last used it in 1883. Sources Trinder 1973, 243; VCH Shrops xi, 121; Trinder 2000, 115. Donnington Wood Furnaces

A water-powered forge was added about 1782 and a steam engine was bought for a second one in 1784. Two of the six melting fineries, appearing in the 1790/4 list for Ketley, may have been here. There were still only two melting fineries in 1799, but a third finery was built in 1800 and further ones added until there were eight in 1807. Until 1797 all iron was made using pots, but from that November most of the iron was piled (according to Richard Jesson’s 1783 patent), which had just expired. Puddling began about then, a man being sent to Ketley to be taught. The third finery of 1800 and all subsequent ones were probably a puddling furnaces and from that time a proportion of the feedstock was refined iron (also called finers’ metal); from 1802 all of it. Rolling was introduced in 1802 and in 1807 all the iron made was rolled. (Melting) fineries remained in use until 1805, after which all bar iron was made by puddling. The lower forge had four puddling furnaces and the upper one a balling furnace for making boiler plate slabs, which were broken and piled after puddling, so as to produce best iron. At one point it made the largest boiler plate in the world. Some charcoal iron was also made at Horsehay, but only until 1806. In 1806, a large new rolling mill was provided. The earlier rolling mill was worked by a converted atmospheric engine.

[9] SJ704125

William Reynolds and Joseph Rathbone built the first furnace in 1783 (and blew it in during 1785), with a forge with four melting fineries. These were blown by a Watt steam engine. Bishton & Onions bought them in 1796; that year 2 furnaces made 3,323 tons. A third furnace was added the following year and two of these made 3,400 tpa in 1805. In 1802 Lord Granville Leveson-Gower bought into the Company. Bishton bought out Onions in 1805 and Thomas Rigby of Billingsley in 1806, with their shares at Snedhill and at Lilleshall. In 1807 the works were amalgamated with the Lilleshall Company. Wrockwardine Wood and Snedshill Furnaces belonged to the same firms. Between them they supplied 3,152 tons to John Knight & Co in 1808 (SW a/c). All three furnaces were in blast in 1817. The Lilleshall Company operated furnaces here until they closed during in the 1850s, but statistical sources often combined all the company’s works. Sources Trinder 1973, 67 69-73 &c; 2000, 42 80-1 121; Hayman thesis, 67; Birmingham Archives, Boulton & Watt catalogue of old engines; note also Gale 1979.

The increase in fining capacity was accompanied from 1804 by a decrease in sales of pig iron to third parties, and these soon after ceased altogether, all pig iron being fined in the company’s own forges. The company continued the works until at least the late 1850s. Major alterations were made to the works, which had hitherto been on two levels, a legacy of its water-powered origins. In 1860 the Company had 43 puddling furnaces, divided between works at Horsehay, Dawley Castle, Lightmoor and Lawley, but only 37 in subsequent years, none at all being listed after 1863. When the Company decided to close the Horsehay Works in 1884, Henry Simpson the works manager there took the works over as a foundry. His Horsehay Company was incorporated in 1900, subsequently passing to AdamsonButterley Ltd, who traded as AB Crane. The foundry closed in 1971 and the whole works in 1986.

Hadley see New Hadley Hollinswood Furnace

[10] about SJ698097

John Wilkinson built this in 1787 as an additional furnace on his Snedshill mineral property. It closed in 1794, when the lease expired. Sources Trinder 1971, 61-2; and see Snedshill. Horsehay Ironworks

[11] SJ673071

The Horsehay works were among the first furnaces built to produce coke pig iron for use in forges. There was a steam engine to pump water back into its large pool, which was a large one. The accounts give much detail of its building costs. The first furnace was blown in by Abraham Darby II and Thomas Goldney II of the Coalbrookdale Company in 1755, followed by the second in 1757. The first furnace made 801 tons in its first year, at the beginning of a blast lasting 3 years. The addition of the second increased this to 1,571 tons in 1757/8 and by the early 1770s output had risen to over 2,000 tpa. Their greatest customers were forges in the Stour Valley, including Wilden and those of Edward Knight & Co. On the reorganisation of the Coalbrookdale Company in 1796 the works passed to the

Accounts Various journals and waste books: HH a/c. Sources Clark 1989; Trinder 1973, 34-6 66-9 &c; Hayman thesis, especially 66 77-80 97-100 112-3; Mott 1959a; Mott 1959b; VCH Shrops xi, 121; HH a/c; SW a/c. Ketley Furnaces

[12] SJ670108

These were another enterprise of the Coalbrookdale partners, Darby and Goldney, with the addition of Richard 295

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Lightmoor Furnaces

Reynolds. The first furnace was in operation in December 1756, but it is less well documented than Horsehay, as no accounts survive. This and Horsehay seem to have been managed together, as the Stour Works accounts list purchases from them together. There were still only two furnaces in 1776. Watt blowing engines were provided in 1778 and 1780, which may be when the two further furnaces were built. The first two forges began operation in 1785, using steam power. Cort demonstrated his process, as did Peter Onions, but Reynolds declined to pay a royalty for any process, apparently due to owning Cranages’ patent. In ‘1794’ there were four furnaces two fineries, six melting fineries and slitting and rolling mills. It is likely this list of fineries and mills covers plant at all the Coalbrookdale Company’s works: there was a slitting mill at Coalbrookdale that does not otherwise appear in the list; and likewise the forges at Bridgnorth, Coalbrookdale, and Horsehay have no forge plant is listed.

[13] SJ682053

Lightmoor was one of the earliest furnaces to follow the lead of the Coalbrookdale partners in beginning to make forge pig iron with coke. The Lightmoor colliery was let in 1753. In 1758 a company was formed mainly by local coalmasters. The managing partners seem to have been George Perry and William Hallen, both sometimes described as of Coalbrookdale. The firm was at first sometimes called George Perry & Co, but usually just Lightmoor Company. Perry was also a partner in Carr Furnace in Lancashire, which he converted to coke in 1759, and Hallen in the forges of Caynton Company. Like most of the early Shropshire coke furnaces it was originally blown by a water wheel with an atmospheric engine to pump the water back over the dam. The original company was dissolved when the lease expired in 1779. The two furnaces were held by the Gibbons family in 1784, but passed by 1787 to Francis and John Homfray (later called Homfray and Addenbrooke). This was shortly before the Gibbons brothers took over the Cradley works near Stourbridge.

On the reorganisation of the Coalbrookdale Company in 1796, William Reynolds & Co (William and Joseph Reynolds) took it over. That year three furnaces made 5,069 tons, a total which was only exceeded by Old Park and Cyfarthfa ironworks. In the following years about a quarter of the production was supplied to the Stour Valley forges of John Knight & Co. It had 2 snapper furnaces by 1804. In 1805, 7,510 tons were made, probably in all four furnaces, though only two were in blast at the date of the 1806 list. In 1810 there were four furnaces all in blast, but only two in 1815 and none out of 5 (probably including Queenswood) by August 1816. The firm experimented with puddling in the early 1790s and was certainly puddling by 1796. William Reynolds devised a process for making steel by adding 40lb manganese to 270lb refined iron in the puddling furnace. In 1811 and 1813, William Reynolds supplied ‘Ketley’ pig to the Navy Board. In 1817, with the iron industry in a severe depression, Joseph Reynolds despaired of recovery and advertised the sale of a large amount of machinery and stock. The works were thus ‘totally dismantled’ that year. In 1818, the Shropshire Canal engineer Henry Williams, William Hombersley the Ketley underground bailiff, and Richard Mountford of Wrockwardine Wood Glassworks re-opened the furnaces, but the forge had been permanently discontinued, its site being buried in an embankment of the Holyhead Road. The works subsequently mainly produced pig iron. However the Ketley Iron Co had 23 puddling furnaces in 1860 and still had 18 in 1876, when the final furnace was blown out.

In 1790 there were still two furnaces. Forges were added not long after this. In 1796, 3 furnaces made 3,499 tons; in 1805 this had risen to 5,601 tons. All three furnaces were in blast in 1810, 1815, and 1817, but only 1 in August 1816. They bought a Watt blowing engine in 1800. Francis Homfray’s share was offered for sale in 1810, which is perhaps why by 1815 the firm had become Addenbrooke, Pidcock & Co; they were still there in 1825. The Pidcocks were a Stourbridge glassmaking family, but ran Lydney works from 1790 to 1813, with George Homfray as a partner by 1804. Lightmoor had a forge in the 1790s and 1800s, but the iron was finished elsewhere. Slabs were sent to Horsehay in 1796-1807, and others were rolled into bar iron in mills at Hyde and Stourton in Kinver. A partnership was dissolved in 1814 between three of the Pidcock family, George Barker, Mary Homfray, and James Mason, probably being continued by the Pidcocks and Barker. However members of the Addenbrooke family remained partners, probably at least until the lease expired in 1831. In 1820, the firm offered for sale an atmospheric engine with a 39-inch cylinder, capable of shingling 120 tpw of blooms, the firm then being called Barker & Co, but Mr Pidcock and Mr Addenbrooke of Stourbridge could provide details. This perhaps marks the closure of the forge. The works were advertised in 1838 with three furnaces and they were leased by the Coalbrookdale Company in 1839. They were not finally blown out until 1883. It may have had puddling furnaces in 1860-3, but a single list entry under Dawley Castle covers several works (see Horsehay).

Sources Raistrick 1953, passim especially 84-7 214-8; Trinder 1973, 36 66-9 &c; 2000, 31-2 42 78-80; Hayman thesis, passim especially 92 95 97 102 159-60; King 2012, 111-2; VCH Shrops xi, 271; SW a/c; Elsas 1960, 4; Birmingham Archives, Boulton & Watt catalogue of old engines, 269; TNA, ADM 106/2749 (digest for 19 Mar. 1811 23 Mar. 17 Apr. and 17 Jul. 1813); Bristol Mercury, 12 Apr. 1817.

Sources Trinder 1973, 40 44 70-1 &c; 2000, 33-5 42 80 114-5; Hayman thesis, 95-6; VCH Shrops xi, 121; Smith 1971, 46 (citing Staff RO, D 695/1/12/20 & 31); Shrops RO, 1681/183/8-20; John Rylands Library, Manchester, BOT 4/1/1-2; SW a/c; Glanfred l/b, 6 Jul. 1785; Morning Chronicle, 3 Apr. 1810; London Gazette, 6917, 1445 (16 Jul. 1814); Worcester Journal, 18 Apr. 1816; Birmingham 296

Chapter 18: Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield Furnace on Clee Hill and converted Cleobury Dale to a forge a few years earlier. On his death in 1801 the works passed to his sons Thomas, William, and Beriah Botfield. A long continuous run of accounts survives from the erection of the works far into the 19th century. I have not studied them as well as they deserve (though Hayman has done so). Forges were added soon after the first furnaces came into production, with four fineries and two engines, one for a stamping forge and the other a drawing forge. The first puddling furnace was built in 1794 and the foundry was regularly making doors, frames, bottoms, etc, but this did not supplant the older stamping process, a new (melting) finery being made in 1800. In 1796 three furnaces made 5,952 tons. A rolling mill began work in 1797, but was replaced in 1800 when a new rolling engine was installed. In 1806 there were four furnaces, of which three were in blast; 8,539 tons had been made the previous year. In both 1796 and 1805, their production was only exceeded by Cyfarthfa in South Wales. Both in 1815 and 1817 only three of the four furnaces were in blast. Until 1825, a significant part of the output was pig iron sold to third parties. The forge tried making charcoal iron in 1826, but this was shelved until George Allender was recruited as a finer from Aston Junction Forge in 1827. In 1833 983 tons of charcoal iron was made at 5 charcoal fires (making 197 tpa per fire). Beriah Botfield III did not renew the lease in 1856. The landlord formed a new £100,000 Old Park Iron Co Ltd to operate the works. This company had 16 puddling furnaces in 1861, rising to 30 in 1863, but they stopped work during 1869, though the company had furnaces in use until 1873. It was followed by another company until 1877.

Chronicle, 3 Feb. 1820; Derbyshire Courier, 29 Sep. 1838; Thomas 1999, 131. New Hadley Ironworks

[14] SJ682115

John Wilkinson bought the Hadley estate in 1790 and built ironworks there in 1800. In 1805 the two furnaces made 3,612 tons of pig iron. After his death they passed to Fereday & Co, who occupied them in 1810. In 1813 Wilkinson’s executors agreed to buy all the iron made here for seven years and may themselves have taken over the furnaces, which made 2,080 tpa (i.e. 40 tpw) in 1823, but nothing in 1825, when they were ‘not likely to work again’. Sources Trinder 1971, 62 244; 2000, 42 121; Riden & Owen 1995, 41. Madeley Wood Furnaces or Bedlam Furnaces

[15] SJ678033

The Madeley Wood Company was an even more diverse group than the Lightmoor Company. The original 12 partners in 1757 included John Smitheman, one of the landlords; Edmund Ford, from one of the Coalbrookdale families; and William Ferriday, a master collier and aspiring ironmaster; and three other master colliers. The remains of the furnaces have been consolidated stand beside the modern road from Ironbridge to Coalport. The works was designed as a double furnace. Only very rarely did the furnace supply pig iron to forges in the Stour Valley. Hence it would appear its main business was the production of melting pigs and castings. However, the Mathrafal Company included ‘Smithyman’, and may have used pig iron from here as well as from Horsehay. In 1776 Abraham Darby III bought the works for the Coalbrookdale Company. In 1796 it passed with Ketley to Reynolds & Co. Shortly before William Reynolds’ death in 1803, his nephew William Anstice came in as a partner. The furnaces made 1,856 tons in 1796 and 2,951 tons in 1805. Its foundry closed in 1802/3 and it mostly made melting pigs. In 1810 the Company are recorded to have had four furnaces, and three in 1815. In each case only two were in blast, but none at all in August 1816 and in 1817. Ultimately there were five furnaces. The Company closed its Madeley Wood works in 1841, shortly after starting new furnaces at Blists Hill, whose remains are preserved as part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum. Paul Vigor has claimed that the preserved remains beside the river Severn below Madeley Wood are of the later furnaces and that the remains of the first two are incorporated into a cottage to the west, but his theory remains controversial.

Accounts mostly journals with some ledgers 1790-1832: OP a/c. Accounts continue for various other Botfield works until 1870s. Sources Hayman thesis, passim especially 74-6 103-4 110 113 167-70 173 182; Trinder 1973, 73; 2000, 42 82-3 121; Clarke 2019; OP a/c; SW a/c. Queenswood Furnace

A large single furnace was built at Queenswood about 1802 by William Reynolds & Co to provide pig iron for their forges at Ketley. In 1805 it made 2,605 tons; Boulton & Watt found that the pig iron answered very well. It closed soon after 1815. The works were described as ‘totally dismantled ... owing to a quarrel among the partners’. This is also recorded of Ketley, but unlike Ketley it was not subsequently revived. Sources Trinder 1973, 70 & 208; 2000, 79; Butler 1954, 249; VCH Shrops xi, 293; Elsas 1960, 4.

Sources Trinder 1973, 39-40 66 91-2 233 &c; 1996, 125; 2000, 33 42 78-80 115; Smith 1979; 1981; Butler 1954, 248-9; Vigor 2014.

Snedshill Furnaces Old Park Ironworks

[17] SJ696108

[18] SJ701105

[16] SJ694094 These furnaces resulted from a mining lease of 1773 granted to William Ferriday and Arthur Davies, who were joined by John Wilkinson as their partner. In 1777

Thomas Botfield was mainly a coalmaster until he built furnaces at Old Park in 1790. He had built Cornbrook 297

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I this Snedshill Coal Company offered John Wilkinson the option of erecting furnaces, and the latter’s brother William became his partner as at Bersham. The furnace was in blast in 1780 and a second one added probably in about then. The furnaces were blown by a Watt engine. The lease expired in 1793, and the landlord refused to renew it. John Wilkinson’s failure to account to his brother for this furnace led to Chancery proceedings between them, and John set out an account of trading carried on there in his answer. From this it appears that the greatest part of the pig iron made was sent to the Wilkinsons’ furnaces at Bersham and Bradley. The remainder included a good deal sent to foundries: some as far away as London; plates supplied to copper works; rails; and other castings. A relatively small proportion was sold to forges. The furnaces were subsequently used by Bishton and Onions. They bought out Benjamin Rowley of Priors Lee in 1795. They made 3,367½ tpa in 1796 in 2 furnaces and 3,950 in 1805, having two of the three furnaces in blast that year and 1810. Bishton bought out Onions in 1805 and Thomas Rigby of Billingsley in 1806, both here and at Lilleshall. In 1799, when a quarterly account survives, the main product was forge iron. All three furnaces were in blast in 1815, but the forge was closed not long after 1816 and only one furnace was in use in 1817. By this time the firm had become the Lilleshall Company.

Sources Trinder 1973, 72-3 &c; 2000, 42 80-2 121; VCH Shrops xi, 329. Afterword This chapter was finished before I found that Belford 2018 had been published. He identifies two pre-Dissolution bloomsmithies as preceding the middle and lower forges. He refers to hearth plates with the date 1602 at the Lower Forge and suggests the Middle Forge existed by 1615, as the siting of the steel furnaces respects the presence of a pool. The Great Forge and the old Upper Forge probably also date from that period. However, it remains unclear which forge may have been the second one used by the Hallen family or which site had a mill for grinding lapis calamaris for brass production. A list of further engines made at Coalbrookdale, extracted from account books that no longer survive, was compiled by W.G. Norris and is at Institution of Mechanical Engineers, IMS 113. A further document has been found describing the forge process in use at Coalbrookdale in c.1782 (Williams & de Haan 2019).

Hayman suggested that there was a forge from 1779, but also said that the works only made pig iron and simple castings before Wilkinson’s lease expired in 1793. It is more likely that a forge was built soon after Bishton and Onions took over the works. They sent blooms to Horsehay soon after, also to Cookley in 1804 and Old Park in 1806. The forge is thought to have closed in c.1818. There is thus no continuity with the new forge built at Snedshill in the 1830s. Furnaces were in operation until about the 1840s, though Hayman said the Lilleshall Company demolished them in 1830. Snedshill Bar Iron Company (W. Horton, W. Blount and J. Hombersley) built a new forge in 1837. It had 32 puddling furnaces in use in 1861, rising to 40 from 1871-5, but dropping to 16 in 1885. Accounts TNA, C 12/211/5, answer. Sources TNA, C 12/211/5; IGMT, Janet Butler notes, nos. 3-4; Trinder 61-2 71-3 83 239-40 &c; 1996, 124; 2000, 42 74 81-2; Hayman thesis, 65 109 164-5; VCH Shrops xi, 293; London Gazette, no. 13820, 1047 (6 Oct. 1795); no. 16012, 367 (21 Mar. 1807); SW a/c; Birmingham Archives, Boulton & Watt catalogue of old engines. Wrockwardine Wood Furnaces

[19] SJ702115

Two furnaces were built by John Bishton in 1801 for the partnership that later became the Lilleshall Company. In 1805 between these and the three at the firm’s works at Donnington Wood a total of 7,400 tpa were made. Both furnaces were in use in 1815, but only one in 1817 and again in 1825.

298

19 Broseley and below the Gorge Introduction

Morrell links this to Caldbroke Smithy in Coalbrookdale, leased to Hugh Morrell ,just before the dissolution of Wenlock Priory. He was steward of Little Wenlock, having arrived in Shropshire in 1525, and was a member of an ironworking family from the Bray region in northern France.3 This raises the possibility that Caldbroke Smithy was a finery forge. The issue is obscure and likely to remain so. However the other Shirlett smithies were probably the expected bloomery forges.

There were a small number of ironworks in the southern part of the East Shropshire Coalfield. One of the main attractions for the early industry was an extensive area of woodland, being the remnant of the medieval Forest of Shirlett. This woodland occupies a hilltop, which (even today) is surprisingly inaccessible. As the main feature of the area is this hill, the area is not particularly well endowed with substantial brooks for water power, the most important being the Mor Brook, south of Shirlett, and Linley Brook, which runs east from it. This chapter deals with these and a small number of other ironworks powered by brooks running into the river Severn between the Severn Gorge and the Worcestershire boundary, including one just beyond it.

Prior to 1615 the furnace at Willey operated with a forge there, probably at the Smithies. John Weld later substituted Hubbals Mill for this forge. Willey, like Kenley Furnace and Harley Forge further west, seems to have been built by the Lacons of Kinlet who also owned the furnaces at Cleobury Mortimer. Detail of their activity in surviving documentary sources is disappointingly sparse. The Lacons as recusants were heavily fined. For this and other reasons had to sell a considerable part of their estates over the years after 1613. Two of the purchasers, John Weld and Richard Newport were important as ironmasters in the ensuing years. Newport bought Kenley Furnace and Harley Forge with certain manors, which, because of their later associations, these have been included in chapter 16.

Iron was made in the area before the Reformation, there being a cluster of ‘smithies’ (water-powered bloomery forges) around Shirlett Forest. Most of the records of this come from the post-dissolution records of the estates of Wenlock Priory, but exactly which ‘smithy’ was occupied by which tenant remains unclear. It owned an ‘Ierne Smythee’ in Shirlett and another smithy also in Shirlett, let respectively to Reynold Ridley and Alexander Ward, while ironstone mines in Burton were let to William Gatacre and ironstone from Shirlett was sold separately to William Onneley and Robert Sandburne, as well as to Ward.1 Later a lease was granted to Stephen Hadnall, a courtier who bought part of the Priory estate. In 1625 a later Mr Ridley had a mill adjoining Colemore Green and had bought wood in Astley parish, suggesting he had an ironworks there, perhaps a bloomery forge. Another ironworks was probably held by Mr Hadnall who had bought Mr Locker’s wood. Stephen Hadnall was at one stage a tenant of Cleobury ironworks. There was also an iron mill at Marsh, which was discontinued in 1619. Also in 1625 there was a furnace at the Hurst, in Aldenham, belonging to Walter Acton and field names suggest the site of a forge on the Mor Brook adjacent to Aldenham Park. These must be the two iron mills that William Acton had lately built in ‘Morveld’ [Morville], for whose retention he obtained a licence in 1561.2

John Weld bought Willey in 1615. He rebuilt the furnace and probably operated the ironworks himself for many years.4 However by 1646 it and Hubbals Mill were in the hands of Richard Walker, William Boycott and John Tiler and under the management of Boycott’s nephew, Richard Littlehales, whose brother John (d.1647) managed Hubbals Mill. They probably had another forge managed by George Langley.5 Hubbals Mill was acquired by Thomas Foley from his cousin Richard Brinley of Hyde Mill in Kinver in 1655.6 Initially it probably used pig iron cast at a furnace Foley had built beside the River Severn at Hampton Loade, which operated in 1641-1662. The primary function of this furnace was almost certainly to supply pig iron to his forges such as Whittington and Wilden in the Stour Valley. In 1669 Hubbals Mill was not trading profitably. In 1672 it made less than 7 tons of iron rather than the usual 50 tons. This probably marks its closure.7 As Hampton Loade Furnace had closed a few years before, Willey Furnace was the only ironworks left in the area. Philip Foley had this for a few years while he was trying to cut himself free of dependence on his brother’s

Even earlier is the ‘smithy’ of John Monslowe at Caughley Wood, which had a ‘founder’ John Morrell, who died in 1556. John Monslowe also proposed a furnace and forge in the lordship of Caus in 1555 (see chapter 15). The name

3 4 1 TNA, SC 6/Hen VIII/3021-7; SC 6/Ed VI/392-7, all s.v. Marsh, mills; Awty 2019, 603-4. 2 Cal. Patent Rolls 1560-3, 96.

5 6 7

299

Awty 2019, 349-51. Wanklyn 1969. TNA, C 5/572/81. Foley, E12/VI/KAc/69; cf. 66-82 and 114-8. Schafer 1978; Foley a/c.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 19. The Shropshire Coalfield: Broseley and below the Gorge. 1, Aldenham Furnace, at the Hurst; 2, Morville Forge; 3, Caughley Wood Smithy; 4, Hampton Loade Furnace; 5, Hubbals Mill; 6, Willey Furnace; 7, Colemore Green; 8, Inett Smithy, Caughley; 9, Muckley Smithy; 10, Shirlett smithies furnace; 11, Shirlett smithies mill; 12, Shirlett smithies; 13, Bridgnorth Forge; 14, Eardington Upper Forge; 15, Eardington Lower Forge; 16, Hampton Loade Forge; 17, Upper Arley; 18, Willey Forge; 19, Wrens Nest Forges upper; 20, Wrens Nest Forges middle; 21, Wrens Nest Forges lower; 22, Barnetts Leasow, Broseley; 23, Benthall Furnaces; 24, Billingsley Furnaces; 25, Calcutts Furnaces; 26, Broseley Furnace; 27, Coneybury; 28, Willey New Ironworks.

Forest pig iron, though no accounts survive for it. When a settlement between them removed this difficulty, he proceeded to dispose of Willey and of the many contracts for cordwood he had collected up all over Shropshire to supply the furnace.8

into a coke furnace,9 one of the earlier ones, hoping to profit from demand for engine castings after the expiry of the Fire Engine patent. With the invention of the Newcomen engine there was an increased need for cylinders, which could not be adequately met from the two furnaces at Coalbrookdale. However, the furnace was making charcoal pig iron when Angerstein visited Coalbrookdale Forge in 1754.10 In 1757 a new coke furnace was built by a company including John Wilkinson. This may mark the end of the old furnace, or it may have remained in use until

Willey was taken over by Boycott & Co (on whom see chapter 16) in 1674 and passed to Richard Baldwin & Co shortly after 1700. In 1733 the furnace was secured by Richard Ford of Coalbrookdale on behalf of himself and his partner Thomas Goldney of Bristol. They converted it

9 8

Schafer 1971.

10

300

Ford l/b, no.8, Feb 1732/3. Angerstein Diary, 335.

Chapter 19: Broseley and below the Gorge

Gazetteer

the 1770s. The company seems to have struggled for some years and been reconstructed as the New Willey Company, in which John Wilkinson played a greater role and he probably finally bought out the other partners. He believed in making everything he could of cast iron, including boats and eventually his own coffin. However, he operated a forge at Willey in 1780-9, before concentrating forge operations at Bradley in Bilston.11 Wilkinson made cannon at Willey in the 1760s and 1770s.12

Charcoal ironworks Aldenham Furnace at the Hurst, Morville

The furnace was powered by a small brook near the edge of the Shirlett Woods, being built into the lower face of a dam. This is presumably one of the two iron mills, lately built in ‘Morveld’, which William Acton of Aldenham was authorised to retain in 1561. He had bought the Shirlett Woods from the Crown in 1548. It was probably the ‘furnace which Mr [Walter] Acton now useth’ referred to in 1625. Nothing else is known of it, not even its proper name. The field name, Forge Leasow (SO662951), suggests the existence of a forge nearby. The most probable location is near SO663948, where the parish boundary does not quite follow the Mor Brook, something commonly indicative of a former mill site. This forge was presumably the destination of two tons of pig iron from Willey sold to Sir Edward Acton in 1646, and the minute quantity of that sale suggests that the furnace was also being used. If the two iron mills were really a furnace and forge, they preceded those on Cannock Chase, at Shifnal and at Cleobury as the first in the Midlands, hitherto regarded as the first in the Midlands, though Caughley Wood Smithy was yet earlier.

Willey Furnace was followed by several more in the Broseley area. One of these, Barnetts Leasow, supplied three large new forges at Wrens Nest, at the mouth of Linley Brook. Both were close to the banks of the River Severn and Wright and Jesson used the forges to exploit their new potting and stamping process for refining pig iron. This was one of the first of a new generation of forges that were built in this period. Others of these forges belong to the period of the early coke furnaces, but used initially in most cases was the old finery process. In some cases this was replaced by the new potting and stamping process. The first of these forges was built by Bridgnorth in 1760 by the Coalbrookdale Company. This was followed about 1777 by Eardington Upper Forge and in 1782 by Eardington Lower Forge. A small forge existed at Hampton Loade in 1790. This was greatly enlarged in 1796. It went back in 1829 to a process using charcoal, making high-class charcoal iron including osmond iron; this continued until 1866. The process seems to have been somewhat similar to the old one. However the output was higher, suggesting the process in use was something like the Swedish Lancashire process.13 Eardington Lower Forge remained in use until 1889.

Sources Cal. Patent Rolls 1560-3, 96; Salopian & West Midland Monthly Illustrated Journal, 8(44), (Oct. 1878), 11-14 (copy in Shrewsbury LSL); Chaplin 1963; 1970, 86; Mutton 1966c, 43; Wanklyn 1969, 96; Wanklyn 1982, 3. The documentary source for most of these is an inclosure award (partly transcribed in the 1878 publication) and map (published in Chaplin 1970), probably both from Shrops RO, 1224. Willey sale: TNA, C 5/572/81.

In the late 18th century, the River Severn was still the main means of carriage of goods towards the major markets of the Black Country and, via Bristol and coastal shipping, London. Thus it was in the natural movement of trade from the coke furnaces of the East Shropshire Coalfield towards the point of sale to have forges in this area. Pig and bar iron went down the river Severn to Stourport and then up the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (opened c.1770) and other canals, into the Black Country for manufacture. The new forges in the area of the Industrial Revolution mostly fit this pattern, being opened after the canal came into use.

Caughley Wood Smithy

12 13

[3] SO698999

John Monslowe purchased the manor of Caughley from the Crown in 1541. He presumably then built another ironworks on his land in Caughley Wood. The burial took place in 1556 of John Morrell of Caughley Wood, ‘a Frenchman born, head man or chief workman of John Munslowe’s smithie, called the “Founder” thereof’. Despite the use of the term ‘smithy’ the presence of a founder implies a blast furnace, which must have been the first outside the Weald. A 1563 letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury from Shifnal refers to ‘Monslow’ being arrested (presumably for debt) within the Franchise of Wenlock. In 1579 or 1580 a house and a plot of ground were let to Richard Kidson, a smith, and in 1591 John Dawes (who had bought Caughley in 1586) let the ‘bloomsmithies in Caughley Wood’ were to Richard Ould (then or later of Rowton in Broseley) and Mr Slaney. They were evidently still using it in 1597 when they employed men to make a pit with a sough so as to mine ironstone and coal, but less than ten years later Caughley Wood was enclosed and the smithy presumably closed.

General Sources Trinder 1973; 1996; 2000; VCH Shrops x; Mutton 1973b; Hayman thesis; 1815 statistics are from Butler 1954, 247. I have not had access to the Forester Collection (Shrops RO, E 1224), except via Prof. M.D.G. Wanklyn’s notes and citations in VCH.

11

[1] SO671959 forge: [2] c. SO663948

King 2012, 110. See chapter 14. Hayman 2008.

301

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Sometime in the 1610s or 1620s Margaret Juckes, John Dawes’ widow allowed John Weld to mine ironstone in her manor.

96 & 99; Schafer 1971, 30 (perhaps making unwarranted assumptions); Trinder 1996, 16. Willey Furnace

Sources TNA, C 33/722/25; VCH Shrops x, 238 cf. 236; Trans. Shrops. Arch. Soc. vi, 110; Lambeth Palace Library, MS 695, f.69; Shrops RO, 1224, box 75, Chancery proceedings; cf. Shirlet below. Hampton Loade Furnace

This furnace stood at the Upper Smithies, beside the Linley Brook and below Shirlett Wood. Several large pools in Willey Park provided its water supply and one of these was described as the new pool in 1735. The furnace may have existed at the time when the Lacon family owned Willey. If so it may well go back into the 16th century. It was rebuilt (or alternatively built) in 1618 by John Weld of Willey and operated by his managers for many years. From 1646 to 1648 it belonged to a partnership between Richard Walker, William Boycott and John Tiler, being assigned to Walker on the dissolution of that partnership and was managed by Richard Littlehales. Philip Foley rented it from 1671 to 1674, followed by Boycott and partners from 1674 to c.1699. Mr Vaughan and Mr Knight are mentioned to be partners in c.1702. From 1703 to 1732 the tenants were Richard Baldwin & Co, whose partners included William Leeke prior to 1711 and at the time of Richard Baldwin’s death were Richard Knight, George Crump of Cleobury Forge and Thomas Green of Cleobury. In 1711 Richard Knight renewed the lease from 1714 to 1728, apparently as if sole proprietor. From 1733 to 1757 Ford and Goldney used it as a coke furnace making castings and foundry pig iron, then from 1757 or 1759 John Wilkinson with partners were tenants. This Willey Company, perhaps subsequently reconstructed as the New Willey Company, built a new large coke blast furnace further upstream (see below). Nevertheless the old furnace is suggested to have continued in use until 1774. There are some remains of the furnace, including a wheelpit.

[4] c. SO747863

The furnace was probably on the site of the much later Hampton Loade Forge and driven by a small brook that runs into River Severn there. This was probably built in 1641 by Thomas Foley I(W) and held by him until its closure in or soon after 1662. It probably existed only for the duration of a 21-year lease. Any remains of the furnace must have been obliterated by the later forge (see under Later Forges, below). Associations see chapter 24. Sources Foley E12/VI/KAc/64 84 92 161-2 (cf. 33 and 52); Shrops RO, 2922/3/34-35; Poyner 2000. Hubbals Mill

[6] SO67169802

[5] SO691915

This forge was on the Mor Brook in the parish of Morville. It was let as a finery, chafery, and hammermill to John Slaney in 1599 and was probably not new then. In 1631 it was being used by John Weld of Willey. In 1646 it was being managed by John Littlehales (d.1647) on behalf of Richard Walker, William Boycott and John Tyler and passed in 1648 to Richard Walker alone. It was sold by Richard Brynley of Hyde Mill in Kinver to Thomas Foley I(W) in 1652, and he was succeeded (as usual) by Philip Foley from 1669 to 1672, when it seems to have been closed.

Size Sales in 1646/7 suggest an output of about 310 tons. 1695-96 773 tons (apparently a single blast); 1717 450 tpa; 1729 to 1733 (probably again a single blast) 410 tons. Despite apparently being a coke furnace from 1733 (Ford l/b, no.8, Feb 1732[3]), charcoal pig iron from Willey was in use at Coalbrookdale Forge in 1754 (Angerstein Diary, 335).

Size In 1646/7 it probably received 95 tons of pig iron from Willey (TNA, C 5/572/81), suggesting an output of 75 tpa. In 1669 it made 24½ tons of bar iron and 9 tons of osmond iron, the latter sent to Tintern. In the following two years it made about 50 tpa, but did not make a profit. In 1672 a small amount of iron was made, probably to use up the remaining charcoal, prior to its closure. The forge was probably not used to its capacity under Philip Foley.

Associations There may have been a 16th-century forge, using another of the smithies. If so, it was replaced by a New Mill in 1618 (see Shirlett Smithies, among bloomeries below). It was probably subsequently associated with Hubbals mill. For Boycott & partners, see chapter 16; for Foley, chapter 24; for Knight, chapter 25.

Associations John Slaney owned the manor of Marsh until 1619 and presumably supplied from a furnace there. John Weld had Willey Furnace, as did Walker & Co. It is noteworthy that the closure of the forge coincides with Philip Foley taking Willey, for which he had to buy charcoal at great distances, suggesting he was trying to reserve local charcoal for the furnace.

Trading Its customers in 1646/7 included Robert Slaney; Hubbals Mill; another forge belonging to its owners, managed by George Langley; and Sir Edward Acton, [Aldenham]. In 1703 R. Knight sold 10 tons to Wilden (Foley a/c). In 1711-5 20 tons of Willey best pigs were used at Upleadon (TNA, C 101/1419). In 1721-5, 3-5 tpa were sold by Richard Baldwin & Co for use at the Coalbrookdale Forge (CBD a/c); 1722 Richard Baldwin sold 52 tons to Moreton Forge (Moreton a/c). Purchases appear in SW a/c, but these appear to be of the pig iron

Accounts Foley a/c 1669-72. Sources Foley E12/VI/KAc/69 (cf. 66-82 and 114-18); E12/VI/KBc/33 & 34; Trinder 1973, 15; Wanklyn 1969, 302

Chapter 19: Broseley and below the Gorge whose sale is in Downton a/c, even though they only appear in SW a/c a little after the Knight family ceased to be connected with the furnace. They were probably in stock at a Bewdley warehouse in the meantime.

Sources VCH Shrops x, 238 cf. 236. The Marsh Ironmill

unknown

This early ironworks, whose exact location is unknown, was sold as part of the manor of Marsh by John Slaney to John Weld of Willey in 1619. The manor of Marsh was originally focused on the Priory’s Marsh Grange, which included Atterley, Walton and Barrow, but later included its Bradley Grange with Wyke, Bradley, Posenhall and other places. As John Slaney seems to have held Hubbals Mill at a time when it may have been a finery forge, it seems natural to infer that the ironmill was, at least latterly, a furnace rather than a bloomery. It was probably rather small and does not seem to have been used in John Weld’s time, presumably because he found Willey, which he rebuilt, by far the better furnace. The manor of Marsh was an extensive one comprising the whole of Wenlock Priory’s property north of Morville to the river Severn, so that the precise location of the mill remains uncertain.

Accounts 1646/7: TNA, C 5/572/81, schedule: it is probable further pages have become detached and lost; 1695-1702 full account: Boycott a/c, in which customers are identifiable as including most Shropshire forges, also Brewood, Heath, and Mitton Forges; 1729-33 full accounts (but somewhat rough in form) Downton a/c. Customers include a number of Shropshire forges and Mathrafal, as well as Edward Knight in the Stour Valley. Its business is referred to passim in Ford l/b. Cast iron goods were sold at Bristol under Ford & Goldney (Goldney a/c). Sources VCH Shrops x, 456; Trinder 1973, 11 16-7 24 3839 60 etc.; Raistrick 1953; Wanklyn 1969, 89 & 96; Pee & Hawes c.1977; Ridley 1992; Terry 1989, 24-8; TNA, C 5/572/81; C 7/616/21; Schafer 1971, 25; Foley E12/ VI/KBc/27-39; Page 1979, 8; Shrops RO, 6000/14696 (printed abstract of will of Richard Baldwin of Atterley d.1727); TNA, C 109/77 (1), deed of 1711 & Forester 96; Pastscape 112982.

Sources Wanklyn 1969, 91 citing Shrops RO, 1224/3/98. Muckley Smithy

[9] c.SO642957

Bloomeries Colemore Green

This name occurs in Much Wenlock Parish Register as to the burial of Francis Crump in 1571. This was presumably near Muckley in Acton Round Parish, but there was no later mill there.

[7] about SO706976

In 1625 Mr Ridley was granted the two Mill Hills adjoining his pool at Colemore Green. He is also stated to have bought wood from Mr Billingsley, the lord of Astley. This suggests an ironworks, probably a bloomery forge. The latter (if real) may be the forges for which ironstone was bought by William Onneley or Robert Sadburne in 1539 and probably subsequent years. The other of them must also have had a smithy. William Gatacre, who leased ironstone mines in the manor of Burton in 1537, was authorised to take as much ironstone as could be bloomed in one smithy. These smithies were apparently not on the estates of Wenlock Abbey and may have been in Morville, perhaps including a predecessor of the ironworks at Aldenham. Onneley, Sadburne and Alexander Ward (see Shirlett below) continued buying ironstone, taking an average of 220 dozen p.a. between them.

Sources Awty 2019, 605 Shirlett smithies

The Smithies is the name of a locality on the fringes of Shirlett Forest. VCH’s map divides this into the Upper Smithies, where there were the furnace site (discussed as such above) and New Mill at Lower Smithies, near Linley Bridge. At the point suggested, the parish boundary departs from the brook, which often indicates a mill site. It is impossible to determine which of these was which. John Myston and Thomas Venymer paid a rent of £13 to the Priory, which received another £5.13s for quarrying stone, probably ironstone. In 1539 Reynald Ridley had a tenancy of a smithy place with liberty to mine and sufficient lop and crop in Willey and Caughley. A 21-year lease was granted to Reynold and Thomas Rydeley in 1541 and this property was granted with the rest of the manor of Marsh to Stephen Hadnall in 1554. In 1539 another smithy, evidently already existing was let to Alexander Ward at a lower rent, but without a free supply of ironstone. The association of the former with Willey suggests it was in that parish. The site at New Mill may, before that mill was built in 1618, have been a finery forge in connection with Willey Furnace.

Sources Salopian & West Midland Monthly Illustrated Journal, 8(44) (Oct. 1878), 11-14 (copy at Shropshire Archives); TNA, SC 6/Hen VIII/3021, mm.6 and 10; TNA, SC 6/Hen VIII/3022-27 and SC 6/Ed VI/392-7, Marsh, mills; E 326/8011. Inett Smithy, Caughley

Furnace site: [10] SO671981 NewMill: [11] SO67429763 Lower Smithies: [12] c. SO680979

[8] SJ692003

John Forest had a forge in Willey in 1503/4 for which he paid 26s 8d rent. Thomas Munslow had an ironworks at Caughley in c.1523, before leasing Inett (a farm) in 1524. This works was leased in 1541 to Reynold and Thomas Ridley for 21 years. In 1568, it was an iron mill called ‘iron smithy place’, suggesting disuse. 303

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Sources VCH Shrops x, 228 445; TNA, SC 6/Hen VIII/3021-27 and SC 6/Ed VI/392-96, s.v. Marsh, mills; Cal. Patent Rolls, Ph. & Mary ii, 21-22; iv, 378-9; Awty 2019, 603-5; Rees 1968, 37 280.

Associations John and William Wheeler were partners in Moreton Forge. George Stokes & Co also had Billingsley Furnace from 1803, earlier also Deepfield Furnace at Coseley and Kinver slitting mill.

Later forges

Size 1790 (‘1794’) 3 fineries 2 chaferies 2 melting fineries and 1 balling furnace.

Bridgnorth Forge

[13] SO724944 Trading Pemberton & Stokes bought 150 tons in a quarter from Snedshill Furnace in 1799 and 100 tons per quarter refined iron in 1803/4 (Trinder 1973, 83 & 85). From 1793 to 1804 they were regular customers of Old Park Furnace, taking 1175 tpa in 1798; Bradley & Co had pig iron thence from 1813 to 1825 (OP a/c).

This forge, at Bridgnorth Corporation’s Pendleston Mill near the mouth of the River Worfe, replaced a corn mill that had operated since the 13th century. It was converted to a forge by the Coalbrookdale Company in 1760 and on the reconstruction of the company in 1793 was transferred to William Reynolds & Co. The forge ceased operation when (or before) the lease expired in 1801, and reverted purely to being a corn mill. The site is still occupied by industrial buildings, but those of a later period than the forge.

Sources Mutton 1968; Hayman thesis 108 167; Shrops RO, 5586/2/19/1; Trinder 1973, 74 83 85 & 244; 1996, 17; 2000, 121; Shrops RO, 1396/3; Mutton 1973b, 96 & 124; NLW, Pitchford Hall, 2188 2212-24 passim; London Gazette, no. 16047, 945 (14 Jul. 1807).

Size It became a forge before Thomas and George Cranage developed their process for making bar iron in a reverberatory or air furnace. Hence it must originally have had fineries. Their experiment was carried out in Thomas Tilley’s air furnace at Coalbrookdale and was reported in a letter from Richard Reynolds (Raistrick 1965, 87-8) and a patent was taken out in 1766 in the terms he suggested. The forge appears in the 1790 list but the plant there is not indicated: possibly some of the plant listed for Ketley was here.

Hampton Loade Forge

The forge stood beside the River Severn near Hampton Loade Ferry, and was powered by a tributary and probably stood on the same site as the earlier furnace. A small forge with a single finery was held by William Jones by 1790. This may have been the ‘patent balling furnace’, which he had (more probably here than at Longnor) in 1796. John Thompson leased land in Alveley in 1796. The lease term of 47 years is an unusual one and may therefore represent the residue of some earlier term. If the term was 63 years, it would have been built in 1780. Thompson’s lease was probably followed by enlargement of the works, including a steam engine to recycle water, or rather pump river water into the pound. In 1801 he leased land on the Quatt side of the brook with a farm and the ferry and including a forge. This term was renewable from time to time during the landlord’s life, but this 1801 lease may itself be a renewal of an earlier lease. The forge was included in John Thompson’s partnership with John Hodgetts of Gothersley Mill and John and George Scale of Aberdare Furnaces from 1799. Elizabeth Hodgetts withdrew after her husband’s premature death. The firm of Thompsons and Scales was dissolved in 1802, also a successor with six partners in 1803 and again in 1805. Andrew Thompson withdrew on the latter occasion to operate alone the ‘Hampton’s Load Iron Warehouse’ in Wharf Street, Birmingham, until he made an assignment for his creditors in 1807. In 1806 the firm was called the Hampton Loade Iron Company, the partners (from 1803 including William Jones, Robert Thompson and John Hazledine), and it was managed by Thomas Vernon. Robert Hazledine (a Bridgnorth tanner) and William Jones and William Bate (Bridgnorth bankers), who were all partners, became insolvent by 1816, but the firm continued until the works were sold in 1819 to John Bradley & Co (James Foster and John Bradley’s trustees). The works were enlarged again in 1819, but became a tinplate works from 1822 to 1826. This proved unsuccessful and in 1826 the works

Sources Shrops RO, 4001/E/3/G5, f.15; 4001/E/3/G6, f.12; 4001/E/2/251; Raistrick 1953, 85-7 212 215-6 225; Hayman 2004; Schofield 1963, 430; Trinder 1973, 66; 2000, 78; Skeel 1920, 248; Broadbridge 1980, 135-39; Salopian Monthly Journal 4 (1877), 98; Hayman thesis, 66. Bridgnorth Foundry see under Hampton Load Forge Eardington Upper Forge Eardington Lower Forge

[16] SO748864

[14] SO725897 [15] SO733895

The two forges were linked by a canal tunnel with a winch at the upper end. This also provided the water to drive the Lower Forge. The Upper Forge was built in 1777 by John and William Wheeler; the lower one was probably added by them about 1782. William Hallen bought a share in 1788. Pemberton & Stokes (or George Stokes & Co) held it 1790 to 1805. They sold it to Samuel Twamley in 1805, but received it back on his bankruptcy in 1807 in satisfaction of a mortgage. George Stokes bought out his partners in 1811, but became bankrupt in 1813. John Bradley & Co of Stourbridge bought it in 1814 and may have rented it from 1811. They and successive owners of that business (James Foster, then W.O. Foster, then W.H. Foster) operated it until to 1889. A chimney remains at the Lower Forge and foundations 21.5m x 12m can be traced at the Upper Forge.

304

Chapter 19: Broseley and below the Gorge were converted to a charcoal forge, making common and osmond charcoal iron. The works remained in the hands of successive owners of John Bradley & Co (James Foster, then W.O. Foster, then W.H. Foster). The works closed in 1866, but were not surrendered to the landlord until 1878. They were dismantled in 1890. Little is to be seen of it today except a dam.

Sources Cambrian, 8 Sep. 1804; 7 Nov. 1807; Worcs. RO, b705:71 BA 10802/1 (manor rolls), passim; Mutton 1966c, 43. Willey Forge

John Wilkinson had a forge from 1780, using the potting and stamping process and powered by a steam engine to recycling water. He closed this in 1789, dismissing his workmen, so that he could concentrate bar iron production at Bradley (Staffs).

Size 1790 1 finery; 1796 enlarged. In 1806, the upper work had a tilt forge, puddling rolls and 2 puddling furnaces, while the lower work had shingling and bar rolls and boiler plate rolls. In 1819, 3 puddling furnaces; then 5 but all scrapped in 1822; 1829-44 output averaged 168 tpa.

Sources King 2012, 110; and as New Willey coke furnace.

Associations In John Thompson’s time the works were held with Gothersley Mill, and Aberdare Furnace. John Bradley & Co are best known as proprietors of ironworks at Stourbridge, but had an extensive business in Shropshire and Staffordshire. John Raistrick and at least some of the other partners had a foundry in Bridgnorth (c.SO720932).

Wrens Nest Forges (now called Apley Forge): Upper Forge [19] SO70139808 Middle Forge [20] SO703982 Lower Forge [21] SO70629836 George Matthews in 1765 leased Doveys Mill on the Linley Brook, a small tributary of the Severn, and built a forge and slitting mill. In addition he had a boring mill (presumably for cannon) in 1775 at Needhams Mill. In 1775 John Wright and Joseph and Richard Jesson built leased additional land and built further forges, to exploit their patented improvement of the potting and stamping process of refining iron. Boulton & Watt built a pumping engine to refill the pools in 1779. This engine was converted to driving the forges in 1791. In 1790 (‘1794’) the works consisted of a melting finery, 2 balling furnaces, and 2 rolling mills. They advertised for iron rollers able to make merchant bars and ships bolts. The works was advertised for sale in 1806 as 3 forges worked by water, each with a fall of 20-30 feet and overshot wheels with iron helves and hammers, a shingling forge worked by steam and a steam mill, capable of 100 tons of bars per week. By 1808 there were 5 forges spread along 700 yards of the brook. The firm was alternatively known as Joseph Jesson & Co from 1796 and usually so from 1802. Joseph Jesson retired in 1809, Richard Jesson, Richard Wright, Thomas Jesson, and Samuel Dawes continued the business. The partnership was dissolved in 1814 following the deaths of the other two, the business being continued by Thomas Jesson and Samuel Dawes, but probably closed not long after. Possibly, they passed (with Barnetts Leasow) to Phillips and Parsons and closed on their bankruptcy. The site was bought as part of the Apley estate by the Foster family, the proprietors of John Bradley & Co., during the 19th century, but had long been closed by then.

Trading William Jones bought Old Park pig iron for it 1790-2; then John Thompson 1799 to 1803; purchases then continued until the end of 1805 in the name Hampton Loade Iron Co.; then lesser amounts were sold to Thompson, Shuttleworth, and Hazledine until 1811 (OP a/c). Accounts (from 1828) Shrops RO, 5586/10/1/1-19. Sources Shrops RO, 5586/5/4/8; Mutton 1968; 1973b, passim; Hayman thesis, 84 107 166 171-3; 2008; Poyner 2000; Trinder 1973, 75 & 244; 2000, 121; London Gazette, no. 15476, 446 (1 May 1802); no. 15574, 429 (9 Apr. 1803); no. 15784, 282 (26 Feb. 1805); no. 16005, 268 (28 Feb. 1807). Alveley Historical Society website: extract from diary of J.U. Raistrick for 1806 from London UL, MS 242 I.(4). For Bridgnorth Foundry see Tonkin 1949; Fraser TS; Schofield 1962. Upper Arley

[18] near New Willey Furnace

[17] SO765804 or SO766806

A forge was built on the brook above the village of Upper Arley, which is just beyond the Shropshire boundary. An advertisement appeared in 1804, for a middle-aged man capable of undertaking the manufactory of tinplates. The works were advertised for sale in 1807 comprising a forge, 2 fineries, balling and other furnaces, and a rolling mill. Precisely where this was is not clear. It may be related to a series of purchases in 1800 and 1801, made by Thomas Coombe, a merchant of Cork Street, Burlington Gardens, Middlesex. In 1805, he was described as of Arley and an ironmaster, when acquiring a two-thirds share of other property from Benjamin Dugard, possibly indicating a partnership between them. Coombe was dead in 1807, after which his son Thomas Coombe of Ipswich bought Dugard’s share. However Coombe was also involved in other purchases where he was a mortgagee for Viscount Valentia, the lord of the manor, so that the interpretation of events is difficult.

Associations The firm also held Bromwich Forge (West Bromwich) and Barnetts Leasow Furnace (built 1797). Parsons was the father-in-law of Joseph Firmstone and a partner in Highfields Ironworks (see chapter 23). Trading The forges took pig iron from Old Park 1790 to 1802 and occasionally thereafter, once 910 tpa (OP a/c). Pig iron came from Snedshill in 1791 and 1793 (Snedshill a/c). Horsehay Furnace supplied pig iron from 1801 to 1806, once 840 tpa (HH a/c). Customers in 1797 included 305

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I Samuel Barnet & Co’s Kings Bromley Mill, but they complained of white clay wrought into the iron (KB l/b, 2 Dec. 1797).

was dissolved in 1801, after which the firm was usually referred to as F.B. Harries & Co, from the landowner’s younger son. The partnership was dissolved in 1810. By 1815 the furnaces were out of blast and probably remained so, the ironworks not even being listed in 1816 and 1817. However Price and Hill worked a foundry and the boring mill until the 1840s.

Sources Trinder 1973, 65 82 406 etc.; 1996, 127; 2000, 77; Terry 1989, 31-9; Hayman thesis, 81 108; Mutton 1973b, 131 (‘Apley’); Shrops RO, 3614/1/243 248 2512; 5586/13/80 (map); VCH Shrops x, 351-2; Gloucester Journal, 13 Aug. 1798; Morning Post, 1 Jan. 1806; London Gazette, no 16873, 641 (22 Mar. 1814).

Sources Trinder 1973, 64-5 242-3 &c; 2000, 75; SW a/c; Hayman thesis, 68 73; VCH Shrops x, 253; London Gazette, no. 15418, 1268.

Coke ironworks Billingsley Furnaces The list data 1815 is from Butler’s diary (Butler 1954, 251); for August 1816: Hereford Journal, 28 Aug. 1816; for 1817: Elsas 1960, 3. Barnetts Leasow, Broseley

These lay some miles to the south of the main portion of the coalfield. Coalmines at Billingsley were opened by Dr Henry Macnab and George Johnson in 1797, but mining was unprofitable and the lease was sold by a mortgagee to George Stokes in 1803. The two furnaces were erected around this time. The executors of Samuel Pemberton withdrew from their partnership with George and Thomas Stokes in 1806, both here and at Coseley. The works operated only until 1812 when its proprietors George Stokes and John Read became bankrupt. In 1805 Mr Stokes had both furnaces in blast. The works suffered distraint for rent in 1815. Stokes’ local property and the materials of two blast furnaces and an air furnace (including a 56inch cylinder engine) were auctioned in 1818. In 1817 the works were described as ‘totally dismantled’ having ‘never paid its way’.

[22] SJ679032

This was built in 1797 by Wright & Jesson (Joseph Wright and Richard Jesson). From 1802 the firm became Joseph Jesson & Co. In 1806 and also in 1810 they had one of their two furnaces in blast and made 574 tons in 1805. The main function of the works was to supply the firm’s nearby Wrens Nest Forges. The furnace was advertised for sale, as making 80-100 tons per week with the renowned mark ‘BLF’. Joseph Jesson of Wrens Nest retired in 1809, the business being continued by Richard Jesson, Richard Wright, Thomas Jesson and Samuel Dawes, the first three of whom renewed the lease in 1808. Their partnership was dissolved in 1814, with the business to be continued (as at Wrens Nest) by Thomas Jesson and Samuel Dawes. By 1815 the furnaces were taken over by Charles Phillips and William Parsons (evidently as underlessees). They in 1815 and also in 1817 only had one of the furnaces in blast, but none in August 1816. They became bankrupt in 1820. Jesson & Dawes surrendered their lease in 1821 to enable a new one to be granted to James Foster, who then ran the ironworks. These probably closed not long after 1830. W.H. Smith built a foundry and engineering works on the site in the 1870s, which was taken over by Marshall Osborne & Co Ltd about 1957, but closed in 1982 when they moved elsewhere.

Sources Mutton 1971; Nair 1988, 162-4; Nair & Poyner 1993, 91-94; Elsas 1960, 4; Trinder 1996, 83-4; Chester Courant, 7 Feb. 1815; London Gazette, no. 16381, 927 (23 Jun. 1810); no 17348, 648; no. 17389, 1480 (11 Apr. and 18 Aug. 1818). Broseley Furnace

[25] SJ676015

Thomas Guest, the second son of John Guest of Dowlais, who was a native of Broseley, built this furnace in 1806-7, but it is not in the 1810 list. It later passed to John Onions and was later known only as a foundry. It was not in blast in 1817. Suggestions that John Guest owned a small ironworks at Broseley, before he went to Merthyr Tydfil, seem unfounded. They derive from Wilkins, History of Merthyr Tydfil (1867), who noted an old furnace at Broseley called Guests and assumed John Guest had operated it before going to Merthyr. However, Guest could have learnt the business from John Wilkinson at Willey, as the latter’s father Isaac was the other founding partner in Plymouth Furnace.

Sources Trinder 1973, 65 243 &c; 2000, 42 77 125; Mutton thesis; VCH Shrops x, 276; Morning Post, 1 Jan. 1806; London Gazette, no. 16238, 363 (18 Mar. 1809); no. 16873, 641 (22 Mar. 1814); Shrops RO, 7/68. Benthall Furnaces

[24] SO713839

[23] SJ672030

These two furnaces were built by Banckes & Onions before 1779. A boring machine was installed in 1781 at SJ670027. John Rennie recorded a forge hammer in 1784, the only record of a forge. F.B. Harries, the landlord, appears to have been a partner, but it is not clear whether this was from the beginning or merely from 1797. In 1796 1,294 tons were made and 1,334 in 1805, figures that may relate to the use of a single furnace. The partnership between William Banckes, John Onions, and Francis Blithe Harries

Sources VCH Shrops x, 276; Trinder 1973, 64 & 242; cf. Wilkins 1867, 141; 1903, 38. Calcutts Furnaces (or Jackfield)

[26] SJ686030

In 1767, Sir Onesiphorus Paul leased his Calcutts estate to George Matthews, who built a furnace. In 1779 and 1780 306

Chapter 20: The Worfe Valley the firm was described as Matthews and Homfray, who were gunfounders, using the trunnion mark Z solid, but this partnership was dissolved in 1782. John Wilkinson alluded to some (bad) dark ore supplied from Whitriggs Mine to George Matthews, presumably used here. The works were advertised in 1784 with two furnaces capable of 40 tpw, various air furnaces, 2 forges, three steam engines, and 12 ‘stew ovens for coal tar’, the latter of Lord Dundonald’s invention. By 1786 the works had passed to Baillie, Pocock, & Co who in that year sold them to Alexander Brodie. At that time there were 2 furnaces, 2 forges, and a corn mill, as well as coke ovens. Matthews was bankrupt by 1787. In 1788, it was listed as out of blast. Alexander Brodie discontinued the forges and concentrated on foundry work. He had patented stoves for use on ships in 1767 and 1780 and one for iron tyres in 1787. The first furnace was provided with a steam engine to pump water back to an upper reservoir. In 1796 (as Jackfield) the two furnaces made 1,820 tons. Brodie cast cannon (marked ABC [Alexander Brodie Calcutts]) in the mid-1790s, but quickly gave up after poor results at proof. Brodie put up (or converted) engines to pirate Boulton & Watt engines in 1796-8. He was also a partner in a foundry at Knot Mill in Manchester. A third furnace was added before 1803, a fourth in that year and a fifth soon after; also a snapper furnce by 1804. 2,269 tons were made in 1805, but only one furnace was in blast the following year. In 1810 three of the five furnaces were again out of blast. Alexander Brodie died in 1811, upon which the works were offered for sale. The works probably lay derelict until about 1817 when they were taken over by William Hazledine, who soon had two furnaces in blast, making 1,821 tons in 1823. The final furnace was blown out in 1828 and the foundry demolished in 1836. The works were again advertised in 1830, when there were two furnaces capable of 50 tpw each and 20 coke ovens with a boiler for tar.

1,076½ tons in 1796 and 1,481 tons in 1805. In 1810, it was in blast, but not in 1815 (when it was described ‘as almost in ruins’) or in 1817, though it apparently was in August 1816. In 1825, the owner was John Onions. Sources VCH Shrops x, 276; Trinder 1973, 65 242 &c; SW a/c. Willey New Ironworks

John Wilkinson was apparently a relatively junior partner in, but manager of, the company that built this furnace in 1757. Repeated advertisements appeared for sale of Edward Blakeway’s share from 1760 to 1766. In 1763 John Wilkinson gave up management and the original company was wound up, the whole works being offered for sale in 1765, as a complete foundry and including a warehouse at Swinney Wharf, which was the works’ access (by railway) to the Severn. John Wilkinson bought the works (probably alone in 1766 and was evidently the dominant (perhaps sole) partner. He had ore from the Whitriggs Mine in Furness shipped to Chepstow in 1787. As ore for Bersham (or Brymbo) and Bradley went respectively to Chester and Runcorn, this Chepstow shipment was probably for Willey. It made 1,554½ tpa in 1796, but was out of blast in 1805. It had closed the preceding year. A plaque has been erected on the site. The works included John Wilkinson’s original boring mill for which he had a patent (later cancelled). The furnace mainly concentrated on the production of cast iron goods, rather than forge pig iron. John Wilkinson made cannon during the Seven Years’ and American Revolutionary Wars, using trunnion marks that included B solid and W solid in the 1770s, the latter presumably from Willey. The cannon business is discussed under in chapter 14 with Bersham. The forge, which was probably nearby has a separate entry above.

Sources VCH Shrops x, 276; Trinder 1973, 64-5 243 &c; 2000, 42 74-5 125; Shrops RO, 3614/2/248; SW a/c; Tann 1979, 104; Brown 1989, 327-8; Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/2/15; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 23 Jan. 1786; London Gazette, no. 12320, 2 (6 Aug. 1782); no. 12826, 54 (30 Jan. 1786); Morning Post, 31 Dec 1785; Chester Chronicle, 31 May 1811; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 6 Dec. 1830; Pattison 2011, 72; Broseley Local History Society Newsletter, Feb. 2017, 5-6; Ruth Brown, pers. comm.; www.gracesguide.co.uk, s.v. Alexander Brodie English patents, 880 1271 and 1599. Coneybury or Broseley Bottom Coal Furnace

[28] SJ673006

Sources Trinder 1973, 38-9 61 &c; 2000, 32-3 42-54 73; VCH Shrops x, 456; TNA, C 109/77(1), Forester 96; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 7 Jan. 1769; 11 Feb. 1765; 4 Aug. 1766 to 15 Sep. 1766; 27 Oct. 1766 &c; Lloyd’s Evening Post, 1 Mar. 1765; Pee & Hawes c.1977; Braid 1991a; 1992a; King 2011a, 110; Hayman thesis, 73; SW a/c; Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/2/15-16.

[27] SJ682013

This was probably built about 1785 and was soon after held by William Banckes (d.1803) and John Onions (d.1819). The partners fell out in 1810 over a faulty weighing machine for ironstone sent to their Brierley Ironworks and Onions bought out Christopher Banckes. John Onions II married a daughter of John Guest. The furnace was still working in 1830 and there was still a furnace on the site in 1844, but it probably closed during the 1830s. It made 307

20 The Worfe Valley Introduction

the industry was in difficulties, due to Russian imports and may have closed, being part of a wave of closures in this period. Lizard Forges continued in use for the rest of the century, but as two independent forges, among many in the West Midlands. Ironmaking ceased in the 1800s.

The river Worfe rises just north of Watling Street and runs down a few miles to the east of the East Shropshire Coalfield. It is quite a small river and extremely sinuous. It joins the River Severn at Pendeford Mill just north of Bridgnorth, which was used by the Dale Company of Coalbrookdale in the late 18th century (see preceding chapter). Ironmaking began with the erection of a bloomery forge at Lizard in 1562 and then the conversion of this to a finery forge and the erection of a furnace at Shifnal two years later. This was to exploit the Earl of Shrewsbury’s woods on Lizard Hill. This furnace was one of the earliest in the Midlands.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Grindle Forge

[1] SJ753034

The forge was on Wesley Brook a tributary of river Worfe close to the modern road. This may well have been one of the ironworks which Sir Walter Leveson (d.1602) granted to his brothers-in-law to indemnify them for guarantees in 1590 (see Lilleshall). A lease dated 1600 was held by his son Sir Richard Leveson at the time of his death in 1605 and was assigned by his executor to Walter Storey in 1609. Its descent is then obscure until 1647 when it was apparently in the hands of a partnership. In 1647 John Careswell let his share to Ferrare Fowke and Priscilla Briggs for 9 years and in 1668 Eliezer Careswell, Francis Hinde, and Richard Lynall let the forge pool, a cottage and the place where charcoal and sows of iron were laid to Richard Lynall. Further dealings between Eliezer Careswell and Hugh Tomkys were followed by the sale of the latter’s property to Robert Slaney in 1672. In 1662 Robert Slaney had an interest in the forge and was certainly operating it in 1684, the last reference to it as operating. A conveyance of 1727 certainly indicates that it had closed and refers to a slitting mill, close to the forge. Under the road where it crosses the valley at Grindle are four narrow arches, some of which were no doubt mill leats. Downstream of two of these, there is the stagnant remains of a channel. Two forges are shown on a 17th-centiry map, probably prepared during some unidentified litigation.

Further ironworks were established by Sir Walter Leveson a little further north, on brooks draining into the River Tern, to exploit his woods at Lilleshall and Sheriff Hales (see chapter 17). These were expanded southwards a forge being built at Grindle in the parish of Ryton not later than 1600 and probably a decade and more earlier. With this was eventually associated a furnace at Kemberton and a slitting mill at Ryton. The two furnaces are very close together. It is very unlikely that any one would have undertaken the expense of building at Kemberton if Shifnal was lying idle and available at the time. Equally it is unlikely that Lizard Forges would have been left without a source of pig iron at the period when Shifnal Furnace is thought to have closed. It therefore seems probable that Kemberton Furnace was built to replace Shifnal. During the second half of the 17th century, all the works came into the hands of Robert Slaney. Kemberton Furnace was on his land. The date of closure of Grindle Forge is not certain but lies between 1684 and 1714. For about two decades from 1714, Kemberton Furnace and the slitting mill at Ryton were in the hands of relatives of the Cheshire Ironmasters, who were also the tenants of Norton and Winnington Forges in Mucklestone, also perhaps Sambrook. They included Edward Kendall who had been John Wheeler’s clerk, and his brother-in-law W.W. Cotton who was the son of a Yorkshire ironmaster and nephew of Daniel Cotton. Hitherto, Kemberton Furnace had probably merely made such pig iron as the Lizard Forges could draw out. Their forges were (unusually) situated so that pig iron would have had to be carried away thus from the river Severn and from the iron manufacturing area in south Staffordshire. This and the state of the iron trade when the 1714 lease expired may have discouraged the renewal of the lease. On the other hand, the conversion of Coalbrookdale to coke smelting would have left more wood available for Kemberton to use. Their lease of Kemberton expired when

Associations Sir Walter and then Sir Richard Leveson had a furnace and forge at Lilleshall. Robert Slaney had substantial interests in the iron industry, which are described below under Lizard Forges. Trading Robert Slaney settled a dispute with Thomas Foley over a cordwood contract in 1662 by agreeing to supply him with 10 tons of bar iron made at Grindle Forge (Foley, E12/VI/KAc/20 & 45). Sources Staffs RO, D 593/I/1/20b; Shrops RO, 6000/6334; 796/180-3 & 185; 5586/2/10/1, p.11-12; Shropshire Newsletter 37 (1969), 32; Robinson 1983, 49; Pastscape 73814; Silvester & Athanson 2018, 48-52.

309

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I

Map 20. The Shropshire Coalfield: The Worfe valley. 1, Grindle Forge; 2, Kemberton Furnace; 3, Lizard Forges; 4, Lizard Forges; 5, Ryton Slitting Mill; 6, Shifnal Furnace.

Kemberton Furnace

[2] SJ744044

Kendall and partners still held the furnace in 1730, the last definite point in its history. Subsequently, by 1737, Walter Stubbs was not only interested in Lizard Forge but also iron mines at Wombridge, and could have had the furnace. As at Lizard Forges, he is likely to have been succeeded by William Barker. The date of closure is uncertain. Lizard Forge was using coke pig iron in 1782. There is slag and charcoal at the ruins of a paper mill that replaced the furnace before 1791, but no visible remnant of the furnace itself except a possible wheel house.

This was also on Wesley Brook. Like several other ironworks in the Worfe valley, the history of the furnace is mostly obscure. Robert Slaney was active as an ironmaster throughout the second half of the sixteenth century and was almost certainly operating the furnace. The descent of the furnace is very likely to be similar to that of the nearby Grindle Forge, whose history is likewise not well known. It is possible that wood which Richard Parkes bought in 1607 was to be used here, but Wombridge is a more likely destination. Like Lizard Forge this furnace was probably used by Robert Slaney throughout the late 17th century. His son, another Robert Slaney let the furnace in 1714 for 21 years to William Westby Cotton, Edward Kendall and William Wright, the former initially being manager, but being succeeded by Jonathan Barrow by 1726-7. Edward

Size 1717 250 tpa. This would be about sufficient to supply the associated forges at Lizard. The cordwood agreement of 1654 would probably have provided most of the charcoal needed for the furnace. This would have been supplemented by wood from elsewhere. If anything this suggests a slightly higher production of pig iron than 310

Chapter 20: The Worfe Valley in the list of 1717. The option of using coke is referred to in the 1714 lease, but there is nothing to indicate that the furnace ever did use coke.

family by the marriage of Mary Stafford-Howard, sister of the 4th Earl of Stafford, to Sir George Jerningham. Direct management must have ceased sometime in the first half of the 17th century. In the 1650s Rowland Revell had a lease of the works, which he sold to John Turner but then bought back jointly with Thomas Fletcher. Thomas Cotton (d.1671) was probably clerk. The forges were later in the hands of Robert Slaney between 1714 and 1720 (or after) and probably long before this. Benjamin Garbett of Tong and Henry Scott of Evelyth, ironmasters who were bankrupt in 1727 and 1728, were presumably involved in the forges. Subsequent owners were: Walter Stubbs 1727 to 1751 or later (d.1755); William Barker 1755 to 1761 or later, then John Barker and Squire Durant in 1769. The lease was advertised for sale by William Barker in 1770, but Thomas Barker had it by 1778 and until Michaelmas 1799. John Bishton of the Lilleshall Company was using it in 1806. Both forges had been lately taken down in 18134. If Squire Durant was lord of Tong then the reference to him probably merely refers to the ownership of the part of the works on that side of the brook.

Associations The furnace was probably usually held with Lizard Forges (q.v.), but apparently not from 1714 until perhaps 1735 (1728 /37). Edward Kendall was one of the Cheshire Ironmasters. However he and the same partners with Robert Lilly of Stourbridge had Norton and Winnington Forges and in 1722 Sambrook Forge. As to Slaney and Stubbs, see Lizard forges. Trading In 1654 Thomas Foley agreed to sell 7000 cords at 1000 cords per year to Robert Slaney, then living at Shifnal (Foley E12/VI/KAc 20 & 45). In 1726-7 Kemberton Co (per Jonathan Barrow) sold pig iron to Coalbrookdale Middle Forge (Coalbrookdale a/c). Sources Mutton 1973a, 27; Robinson 1983, 46; Shrops RO, 796/192-6; 1952/44; Trinder 1996, 14; cf. Grindle and Lizard Forges. Lizard Forges: Upper Forge Lower Forge (or Tong Forge)

[3] SJ786087 [4] SJ784083

Size In 1564 there were two fineries. In 1583 the forges are called Lizard Hammers implying there were at least two of them. In 1583 they made 82 tons, but in 1587 only 61 tons. In 1629 500 cords of wood per year were provided implying production of about 65 tpa, assuming none of this was used in a furnace. 1717 80 tpa; 1718 & 1736 140 tpa; 1750 200 tpa; 1794 one finery and one chafery. Evidence was given about 1782 that the production was 2 tpw in summer and 3 or 3½ tpw in winter [perhaps 140 tpa], as the forges had to stop a day twice a week in summer for want of water. At that time both forges were using coke pig iron. In doing so, production was said to be five or six hundredweight less per week due to a greater amount of dross in the iron. The forge was alleged not to be in good repair at the time. Staffs RO, D 641/3/E/5/32 (dated 1759, in an endorsement) is a computation of the cost of erecting and operating a forge. This seems to have concerned a proposal to erect third forge, making 200 tpa. This does not seem to have come to anything, but contains some details of Mr Barker’s costs: cordwood was priced at 20 shillings per cord and yields of 3 cords wood and 28 cwt. pig iron per ton bar iron anticipated.

The two forges (also spelt Lydiot or Lidgwood) lay close together on Burlington Brook, one of the major tributaries of river Worfe, on the boundary of Shifnal and Tong parishes, belonging to the lords of the manor of Shifnal. The dams of both forges remain largely intact, save that there is a large breach at the lower site through which the brook flows. A platform at the east end of the lower dam may possibly represent the site of the lower forge. At the upper forge the brook flows through the dam in a long culvert, which is presumably not an original feature. At the eastern end of the dam there are five narrow arches, probably representing the water supply to three wheels and an overflow channel, the sill latter being about three feet above the floor of the former. The channel from the three arches leads to a brick structure, which must be the wheel pit of high breast-shot wheels. The brook runs only a few yards from the bottom of this and it is probable much of the ruin of the forge has been eroded away by the brook. Nevertheless, archaeological deposits may exist. One of the forges was presumably the smithy (i.e. bloomery forge) erected for the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1562. In 1564 Shifnal Furnace was built for him by Thomas Monslow and the forge became a finery forge. The forge was managed by Richard Latham in the 1580s, probably in 1607 and until his death about 1616; then by William Booth (d.1624) and William Catton [Cotton?]. It continued to be in the hands of the Earls of Shrewsbury and their successors well into the 17th century. The forge like the manor was held by George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury (d.1590) and his son Gilbert Talbot, the 7th Earl (d.1616), and Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (d.1646), who married Alathea, one of the Shrewsbury heiresses. The manor passed to their second son Sir William Howard, Lord Stafford, and his descendants, eventually passing to the Jerningham

Associations Robert Slaney had a furnace at Moddershall near Stone in 1662 and Grindle and Sambrook Forges. Before 1715 he had Kemberton Furnace and Ryton slitting mill. Other members of the Barker family held Brewood and Congreve Forges. Thomas Cotton of Weston under Lizard (d.1671) was an ancestor of the Cotton and Hall families of the Cheshire ironmasters. Walter Stubbs and William Barker were partners in Rugeley Rolling Mill from 1735. Trading In 1624 Thomas Booth’s widow was sued for £30 for sow iron by ‘one Boycott’, presumably William, who was later a partner in Ifton Furnace (Awty 1957, 74); this was subsequently paid by William Catton or another servant of the Earl of Arundel. Robert Slaney bought 311

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume I 20 tons of pig iron from Willey Furnace in 1646 (TNA, C 5/572/81) and was by 1653 buying large quantities of wood from Thomas Foley, who had bought it from Sir Richard Leveson at Lilleshall and from various others (Foley, E12/VI/KAc/45 94-6; TNA, C 21/S33/4). This led to a dispute which was settled in 1662 by the sale of iron from Sambrook and Grindle, but these references probably refer to those ironworks rather than to Lizard. Slaney bought 50 tons of Mearheath pig iron in 1676 (Staffs a/c); and 155 tons of pig iron from Lawton in 16967 (Cheshire a/c). On the lease of Kemberton Furnace and Ryton slitting mill in 1714, he required the tenants to slit iron from Lizard Forge at Ryton. Walter Stubbs bought 20 tons of Elmbridge pig iron in 1727 (delivered at Bewdley); and some Charlcot pig iron in 1735, 1737 and 1742-4, usually taking delivery at Bridgnorth. William Barker of ‘Lidgwood’ Forge bought up to 100 tpa of Horsehay pig iron in 1755-61 (HH a/c). Thomas Barker bought modest amounts of Old Park pig iron in 1790 and 1791 (OP a/c).

iron for the forges was being bought from one Boycott and the furnace may have closed. There is a large mill pond, now somewhat dry, and some slag. Otherwise there are no remains, except the ruins of the corn mill that replaced it. Size The furnace was probably merely sufficient for the two forges at Lizard, then making a mere 60-80 tpa between them, suggesting the furnace only made some 90-120 tpa. The ore then came from Sir Vincent Corbett’s Dawley delph. Associations and Accounts: as Lizard. Sources Schubert 1946; Mutton 1973a, 26.

Accounts 1583-4: Sheffield Archives, ACM/S114, 356 358 & 368; 1587-8: S117, 322 324 & 326 (printed Watts 2000). Sources Schubert 1946, 521-2; HMC Shrewsbury & Talbot I, MS702, f.101; TNA, E 134/5 Chas I/Mich. 30; cf. PROB 11/815/71; Staffs RO, D 641/3/E/5/30/1; D 641/3/E/4/7 & 8; D 641/3/E/3/5-11; D 593/E/7/9; Shrops. RO, QS 281, 118 174 240 254 & 264; Awty 1957, 96; London Gazette, no. 6649, 2 (10 Feb. 1727) and no. 6696, 2 (30 Jul. 1728); Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 19 & 26 Mar. 1770; Robinson 1983, 27-8; Hayman thesis, 106-7. Ryton Slitting Mill

[5] SJ762033

When in 1654 Robert Slaney bought this mill on river Worfe, a short distance below the junction of Wesley Brook, there were a corn mill and a paper mill under one roof. This mill was burnt down and in 1692 replaced by a slitting mill, the paper mill being rebuilt on the old site. In 1714 the slitting mill was let with Kemberton Furnace to William Westby Cotton, Edward Kendall and William Wright, who were required to slit iron from Lizard Forge. This is the last reference to it, but it could have remained in use for a further period. In 1692 Robert Slaney granted a rentcharge to the rector in lieu land flooded by the pool. The 1698 glebe terrier identifies this at Adamsford Bridge Meadow. Associations see Kemberton Furnace and Lizard Forges. Sources Shrops RO, 796/179 & 185 & 190-4; Robinson 1983, 77; Watts 2002, 72. Shifnal Furnace

[6] SJ724067

This furnace was also on Wesley Brook, about a mile north of Kemberton Furnace. It was built in 1564, for the Earl of Shrewsbury, to operate with Lizard Forges and it continued in operation at least until 1604. By 1624 pig 312

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‘The proposed gazetteer will provide a ready source of reference for a period of significant industrialisation and be of value to any researcher in that field.’ Dr Peter Claughton, University of Exeter ‘[T]he book contributes a great deal to what is known about the early modern iron industry locally, regionally and nationally. I would rate the contribution as very great, and of assistance to anyone in the future investigating the industry at any of those three levels, either empirically or more theoretically.’ Mr Philip Riden, University of Nottingham `This is a very significant piece of original work. ... [The author] has seen beyond the regional borders that limit some previous work.´ Dr Tim Young, GeoArch

Peter King obtained a doctorate from Wolverhampton University in 2003 on the Iron Trade. He has spent the last 30 years researching the history of the iron industry and published over 40 articles on this and related subjects. He is an honorary research fellow at the University of Birmingham.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490-1815 Volume II

Peter King BAR BRITISH SERIES 652 (II)

2020 297mm HIGH

A new process of making iron, using a blast furnace and a forge, both powered by water, was introduced into the Weald in the 1490s, and spread to other parts of England and Wales from the 1550s. This book provides a history of every ironworks of the charcoal blast furnace period, except the Weald. It also covers early coke ironworks (built before 1815) and water-powered bloomeries (of the previous technology). After introductory material on the industry generally, each chapter deals with the ironworks of one district, including also other water-powered mills processing iron, steel furnaces, early ironworks powered by steam engines, and a few other works. Blade mills (and cutlers wheels), which provided the initial cutting edge for tools and needle mills are not included in those areas where they are ubiquitous. The period covered is an era in the technology of an important industry in Great Britain.

BAR  B652 (II)  2020  KING  A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490-1815  VOLUME II

BAR BRIT ISH SE RIE S 652 ( II )

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490-1815 Volume II

Peter King BAR BRITISH SERIES 652 (II)

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Published in 2020 by BAR Publishing, Oxford BAR British Series 652 (II) A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815, Volume II ISBN 978 1 4073 5463 7 (Volume I) paperback ISBN 978 1 4073 5469 9 (Volume II) paperback ISBN 978 1 4073 1512 6 (Set of both volumes) paperback ISBN 978 1 4073 5401 9 (Set of both volumes) e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407315126 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library © Peter Wickham King 2020 Cover Image Belly helve hammer, Wortley Top Forge © Chris Allen. The Author’s moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. Links to third party websites are provided by BAR Publishing in good faith and for information only. BAR Publishing disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work.

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Contents VOLUME I Key Maps......................................................................................................................................................................... xiii List of Maps.......................................................................................................................................................................xv List of Tables......................................................................................................................................................................xv List of Family Trees..........................................................................................................................................................xv Note on Weights and Measures...................................................................................................................................... xvi Abbreviations................................................................................................................................................................ xviii Abstract..............................................................................................................................................................................xx 1. Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction......................................................................................................................................................................1 Sources and methodology................................................................................................................................................1 Technology.......................................................................................................................................................................2 Bloomery processes.....................................................................................................................................................3 Furnaces......................................................................................................................................................................3 Forges and foundries...................................................................................................................................................4 Subsequent processing................................................................................................................................................6 Orthography.....................................................................................................................................................................7 Economics and trade........................................................................................................................................................8 Scope and organisation....................................................................................................................................................9 Structure of gazetteer entries..........................................................................................................................................10 Historiographic issues....................................................................................................................................................11 Part I. Southeast 2. Weald..............................................................................................................................................................................15 Introduction....................................................................................................................................................................15 Origins of ironmaking processes...............................................................................................................................15 New process in the Weald.........................................................................................................................................17 The start of English gunfounding..............................................................................................................................18 Growth and maturity.................................................................................................................................................19 Later Gunfounding....................................................................................................................................................20 The industry after 1713.............................................................................................................................................22 The final decline........................................................................................................................................................23 Gazetteer arrangement...............................................................................................................................................24 Gazetter of the East Weald.............................................................................................................................................24 Ashbourne Catchment...............................................................................................................................................24 Asten Catchment.......................................................................................................................................................28 Brede and Tillingham Catchments............................................................................................................................29 Cuckmere Catchment................................................................................................................................................31 Great Stour Catchment..............................................................................................................................................33 Medway: Eden Catchment........................................................................................................................................33 Medway: Kent Water and Cansiron Catchment........................................................................................................35 Medway: Medway Upper Catchment.......................................................................................................................37 Medway: Teise Catchment........................................................................................................................................43 Rother Catchment......................................................................................................................................................48 Gazetteer of the West Weald..........................................................................................................................................58 Adur Catchment........................................................................................................................................................58 Arun Catchment........................................................................................................................................................60 Mole Catchment........................................................................................................................................................66 iii

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815 Ouse Catchment........................................................................................................................................................69 Wey Catchment.........................................................................................................................................................75 Other ironworks in the whole Weald..............................................................................................................................79 Water-powered bloomery forges...............................................................................................................................79 Other ironworks.........................................................................................................................................................80 3. The Thames Valley........................................................................................................................................................81 Introduction....................................................................................................................................................................81 Slitting mills..............................................................................................................................................................81 Ironware for London and export...............................................................................................................................84 Foundries...................................................................................................................................................................86 Iron production in the Thames valley........................................................................................................................88 Gazetteer........................................................................................................................................................................89 Iron processing works...............................................................................................................................................89 Other ironworks.........................................................................................................................................................94 4. Hampshire...................................................................................................................................................................101 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................101 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................103 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................103 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................105 Part II. Northeast 5. Northeast England......................................................................................................................................................109 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................109 Charcoal iron production.........................................................................................................................................109 Crowley & Co.........................................................................................................................................................111 The Cookson firms..................................................................................................................................................113 Other manufacturers................................................................................................................................................114 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................................................115 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................116 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................116 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................123 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................127 6. North Yorkshire Moors...............................................................................................................................................129 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................129 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................129 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................129 Bloomsmithies.........................................................................................................................................................131 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................131 7. Northern West Riding.................................................................................................................................................133 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................133 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................133 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................133 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................135 8. The Pennine Dales of West Yorkshire.......................................................................................................................137 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................137 Spencer firms...........................................................................................................................................................139 Other ironmasters....................................................................................................................................................142 Gazetteer of Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................143 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................153 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................154 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................155

iv

Contents 9. Sheffield District..........................................................................................................................................................159 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................159 The Duke of Norfolk’s Works.................................................................................................................................161 Other Sheffield ironworks.......................................................................................................................................164 Steel.........................................................................................................................................................................165 The cutlery trades....................................................................................................................................................166 Other trades.............................................................................................................................................................167 Merchants................................................................................................................................................................168 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................169 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................169 Bloomery forges......................................................................................................................................................176 Tilts and other forges...............................................................................................................................................176 Steel furnaces near Sheffield...................................................................................................................................179 Steel furnaces in the town of Sheffield....................................................................................................................182 Two early foundry cupolas......................................................................................................................................184 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................185 10. Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire............................................................................................................................187 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................187 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................191 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................191 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................201 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................202 Part III. Northern Midlands 11. The Trent Valley........................................................................................................................................................207 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................207 Early ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................207 Birmingham ironmongers in the east Midlands......................................................................................................207 Iron trade on the river Trent....................................................................................................................................209 Processing imports..................................................................................................................................................210 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................211 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................211 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................216 Coke furnace...........................................................................................................................................................217 12. North Staffordshire...................................................................................................................................................219 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................219 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................223 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................223 Bloomery forges......................................................................................................................................................230 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................231 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................232 13. Cheshire.....................................................................................................................................................................235 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................235 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................240 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................240 14. Wrexham and Flintshire...........................................................................................................................................249 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................249 Isaac and John Wilkinson........................................................................................................................................251 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................252 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................252 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................257 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................258

v

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815 15. Montgomeryshire and the Border...........................................................................................................................261 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................261 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................263 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................263 16. Shropshire West of the Severn Gorge.....................................................................................................................267 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................267 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................269 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................269 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................274 17. North Shropshire.......................................................................................................................................................275 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................275 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................277 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................277 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................282 18. Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire Coalfield.........................................................................................................283 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................283 Coalbrookdale..............................................................................................................................................................283 Sir Basil Brooke......................................................................................................................................................283 Late 17th century.....................................................................................................................................................285 The origins of the reverberatory furnace.................................................................................................................286 Abraham Darby I.....................................................................................................................................................286 The Industrial Revolution............................................................................................................................................289 New furnaces...........................................................................................................................................................289 New forge processes................................................................................................................................................290 Later history of the Coalbrookdale Company.........................................................................................................290 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................292 Coalbrookdale furnaces...........................................................................................................................................292 Coalbrookdale forges..............................................................................................................................................293 Other Coalbrookdale ironworks..............................................................................................................................294 Other coke ironworks...................................................................................................................................................294 19. Broseley and below the Gorge.................................................................................................................................299 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................299 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................301 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................301 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................303 Later forges..............................................................................................................................................................304 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................306 20. The Worfe Valley.......................................................................................................................................................309 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................309 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................309 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................309

VOLUME II List of Maps....................................................................................................................................................................... xi List of Family Trees.......................................................................................................................................................... xi Part IV: Southern Midlands 21. Penk Valley................................................................................................................................................................315 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................315 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................316

vi

Contents 22. Cannock Chase..........................................................................................................................................................319 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................319 Lord Paget’s Works.................................................................................................................................................319 Eighteenth century...................................................................................................................................................322 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................322 Cannock Chase ironworks.......................................................................................................................................322 Charcoal ironworks not within the Chase...............................................................................................................323 Bloomery forges......................................................................................................................................................325 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................325 23. The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country..............................................................................................327 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................327 Early iron production..............................................................................................................................................327 Jennens family and their successors........................................................................................................................329 Other ironmasters....................................................................................................................................................331 New technology.......................................................................................................................................................331 Manufactures...........................................................................................................................................................332 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................333 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................333 Bloomery forges......................................................................................................................................................343 Gun trade.................................................................................................................................................................344 Steel works in Birmingham.....................................................................................................................................346 Other steel works.....................................................................................................................................................347 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................347 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................352 24. The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country....................................................................................................361 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................361 The role of the Stour valley.....................................................................................................................................361 Dud Dudley.............................................................................................................................................................364 The Foleys...............................................................................................................................................................365 Price regulation by ironmasters’ meetings..............................................................................................................368 The Knight family...................................................................................................................................................369 Other 18th-century ironmasters...............................................................................................................................370 The Homfray family................................................................................................................................................371 The pig iron supply.................................................................................................................................................372 Plating forges in manufactures................................................................................................................................373 Gazetteer: Upper Stour Valley.....................................................................................................................................373 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................374 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................379 Smestow Brook and its tributaries...............................................................................................................................383 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................384 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................388 Lower Stour: Kinver and Wolverley............................................................................................................................389 Lower Stour: Kidderminster and Hartlebury...............................................................................................................397 Bell and Wannerton Brooks.........................................................................................................................................402 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................402 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................403 The whole catchment...................................................................................................................................................405 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................405 Gun trade.................................................................................................................................................................407 Steam-powered forges.............................................................................................................................................408 Steel furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................409 Some iron foundries................................................................................................................................................409 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................410 25. The Clee Hills............................................................................................................................................................415 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................415 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................417

vii

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................417 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................425 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................425 26. The South Midlands..................................................................................................................................................427 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................427 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................429 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................429 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................435 Part V. Southwest and Wales 27. Around the Severn Estuary......................................................................................................................................439 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................439 Post-Restoration Period...........................................................................................................................................439 Rowland Pytt...........................................................................................................................................................440 David Tanner...........................................................................................................................................................441 19th century.............................................................................................................................................................442 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................442 Lydney Furnace and Forges....................................................................................................................................442 Other charcoal ironworks........................................................................................................................................444 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................449 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................449 28. The Forest of Dean....................................................................................................................................................451 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................451 The first period of the King’s Works.......................................................................................................................451 An assessment of the first period.............................................................................................................................453 Markets....................................................................................................................................................................454 The Commonwealth and beyond.............................................................................................................................454 Cordwood from the Forest......................................................................................................................................455 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................455 Medieval Forge........................................................................................................................................................455 The King’s Ironworks in the Forest.........................................................................................................................455 Later Ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................457 29. Tintern and the Lower Wye Valley..........................................................................................................................459 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................459 Tintern Ironworks and Wireworks...............................................................................................................................460 Tintern Wireworks...................................................................................................................................................460 Tintern Ironworks....................................................................................................................................................463 Whitebrook Wireworks...........................................................................................................................................464 Wyeswood Ironworks...................................................................................................................................................465 30. The Middle Wye Valley.............................................................................................................................................467 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................467 The Foleys...............................................................................................................................................................467 Other ironmasters....................................................................................................................................................470 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................471 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................471 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................480 31. Upper Wye and Upper Usk Valleys.........................................................................................................................481 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................481 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................482 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................482 32. North Monmouthshire..............................................................................................................................................487 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................487

viii

Contents Richard Hanbury.....................................................................................................................................................487 John Hanbury..........................................................................................................................................................490 David Tanner...........................................................................................................................................................491 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................491 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................492 The Pontypool Works..............................................................................................................................................492 Other charcoal ironworks........................................................................................................................................494 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................496 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................497 33. Northern Glamorgan................................................................................................................................................503 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................503 The charcoal period......................................................................................................................................................505 The Cynon Valley....................................................................................................................................................505 Rhondda Valley.......................................................................................................................................................506 The Upper Taff Valley near Merthyr Tydfil.............................................................................................................506 The Industrial Revolution............................................................................................................................................507 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................507 Coke ironworks in Cynon valley.............................................................................................................................507 Merthyr Tydfil.........................................................................................................................................................508 34. The Cardiff and Newport Area................................................................................................................................513 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................513 Harford, Partridge & Co..........................................................................................................................................514 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................515 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................516 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................516 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................526 35. The Bristol Area........................................................................................................................................................529 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................529 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................531 Slitting and rolling mills..........................................................................................................................................531 Early Bristol foundries............................................................................................................................................531 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................532 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................533 36. The Southwestern Penninsula..................................................................................................................................535 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................535 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................535 Edged tool works at Mells and elsewhere...............................................................................................................537 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................537 37. Western Glamorgan..................................................................................................................................................539 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................539 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................541 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................541 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................547 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................548 38. Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.....................................................................................................................551 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................551 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................553 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................553 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................................................559 39. The Coasts of West and North Wales......................................................................................................................561 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................561 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................562 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................568 ix

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry, 1490–1815 Part VI. Northwest England 40. South Lancashire......................................................................................................................................................571 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................571 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................573 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................573 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................577 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................579 41. Furness and North Lancashire................................................................................................................................581 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................581 Redmine..................................................................................................................................................................581 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................582 The indirect process................................................................................................................................................583 Finery forges............................................................................................................................................................586 Later events.............................................................................................................................................................587 Spade forges............................................................................................................................................................587 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................588 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................588 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................599 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................601 42. West Cumberland and Beyond................................................................................................................................603 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................603 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................606 Charcoal ironworks.................................................................................................................................................606 Bloomeries..............................................................................................................................................................611 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................612 Coke ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................614 Part VII. Scotland 43. The Scottish Highlands.............................................................................................................................................617 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................617 The Early industry........................................................................................................................................................617 Loch Maree.............................................................................................................................................................617 Other early ironworks..............................................................................................................................................617 The Later Industry........................................................................................................................................................618 Gazetteer of Charcoal Ironworks............................................................................................................................619 44. The Scottish Lowlands..............................................................................................................................................623 Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................623 Gazetteer......................................................................................................................................................................624 The charcoal period.................................................................................................................................................624 Other ironworks.......................................................................................................................................................627 Coke furnaces..........................................................................................................................................................628 45. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................631 Some past errors...........................................................................................................................................................631 Future work..................................................................................................................................................................632 Bibliography....................................................................................................................................................................633 Appendix: Patents of Invention.....................................................................................................................................675 Index.................................................................................................................................................................................679

x

List of Maps Map 21. The Penk Valley and Cannock Chase: The Penk valley.....................................................................................316 Map 22. The Penk Valley and Cannock Chase: Cannock Chase......................................................................................320 Map 23. The Tame valley and northeast Black Country...................................................................................................328 Map 24.1. The Stour valley and southwest Black Country: Furnaces, Forges and Slitting mills....................................362 Map 24.2. The Stour valley and southwest Black Country: Other ironworks..................................................................367 Map 24.3. The Stour valley and southwest Black Country: Steel furnaces......................................................................406 Map 25. The Clee Hills.....................................................................................................................................................416 Map 26. The south Midlands............................................................................................................................................428 Map 27. Around the Severn estuary..................................................................................................................................440 Map 28. The Forest of Dean.............................................................................................................................................452 Map 29. Tintern and the lower Wye valley.......................................................................................................................460 Map 30. The middle Wye valley.......................................................................................................................................468 Map 31. The upper Wye and upper Usk valleys...............................................................................................................482 Map 32. North Monmounthshire......................................................................................................................................488 Map 33. North Glamorgan................................................................................................................................................504 Map 34. Cardiff and Newport area...................................................................................................................................514 Map 35. The Bristol area..................................................................................................................................................530 Map 36. The Southwest Penninsula..................................................................................................................................536 Map 37. Western Glamorgan............................................................................................................................................540 Map 38. Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire..................................................................................................................552 Map 39. The coasts of west and north Wales....................................................................................................................562 Map 40. South Lancashire................................................................................................................................................572 Map 41. Furness and north Lancashire.............................................................................................................................582 Map 42. West Cumberland and beyond............................................................................................................................604 Map 43. Scottish Highlands..............................................................................................................................................618 Map 44. Scottish Lowlands...............................................................................................................................................624

List of Family Trees The Chetwynd and Coleman family tree..........................................................................................................................321 The Homfray family tree..................................................................................................................................................371 The Knight family tree......................................................................................................................................................417

xi

Part IV Southern Midlands

21 Penk Valley Introduction

probably drawing pig iron from a number of suppliers. In this respect, the forges were in a similar situation to those of north Shropshire. In Philip Foley’s time, the Brewood forges were supplied with pig iron, brought along Watling Street from his Wombridge Furnace in Shropshire, until that closed. Later he bought pig iron from the north, where his uncle Richard Foley III of Longton had a furnace at Mearheath.

The River Penk is a modest one rising northwest of Wolverhampton and flowing north to join the River Sow a short distance before it in turn joins the River Trent. The river runs a few miles west of the western edge of the Black Country coalfield. Coven Furnace drew ironstone from mines in the Cheslyn Hay and Great Wyrley area a few miles to the east. Economically, this area is on the fringes of the Black Country. In the 17th century, the involvement of the Foleys links the Penk to the Black Country, but in the 18th, there were merely some rather ordinary rural forges.

This established a pattern that continued for much of the 18th century. Coven Furnace was probably closed in the late 17th century and a new forge was built at Congreve. The forges in the Penk valley were never again part of a major conglomerate: for the most part, their owners operated the forges locally and no more. It is unlikely that the forges were ever exceptionally profitable in the early 18th century, except during the time of the Swedish embargo. Transport was inevitably all by land until the opening in the early 1770s of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, which runs down the Penk valley. The distance that the iron had to be hauled by land were considerable and this alone is likely to have made the product somewhat uncompetitive compared to the Stour valley, with its easy access to pig iron supplies up the River Severn.

An ironworks was built at Deepmore beside the Saredon brook in 1585 by Thomas Parkes of Wednesbury. He sold it in 1598 to Walter Coleman, who had built a furnace on his own land at Cannock a few years before (see next chapter). The latter probably provides the context for the forge which existed at Brewood Park in 1603. Since a forge is referred to in 1485, it is possible this succeeded a bloomery forge. Deepmore appears to have closed at the expiry of the lease in 1606. About 1620 a second Brewood Forge was built by Thomas Chetwynd and Walter Coleman a short distance downstream. By that time they had an extensive business including Lord Paget’s Works on Cannock Chase. On the dissolution of that partnership in 1627, Brewood Forges passed to John Coleman, whose clerk was Thomas Bamford. John Coleman failed to provide his clerk with any working capital and Thomas Bamford therefore took over the works. Bamford built Coven Furnace, probably in this period, because of difficulties in using John Coleman’s furnace at Cannock, which he was supposed to be renting. In the 1640s the Brewood and Coven ironworks came into the hands of Thomas Foley I(W), who was succeeded by his son Philip.

From the 1740s, the proprietors of the works were successive members of the Barker family. Initially their activities were limited to the forges of the valley. Later they began to spread their activities. Lizard Forges on the head waters of the River Worfe were in the hands of members of the family from 1755 or before until 1800, as was Rugeley Rolling Mill from 1735. How far these were a single enterprise is not clear. Except for their relative proximity to the coke furnaces of the East Shropshire coalfield the situation of these forges was not very different to those of the Penk Valley. About 1805 Mr Barker (with others) built a furnace at Goldenhill in the Potteries. Brewood Lower Forge was pulled down before 1757 (perhaps in 1747). The other forge in the area, Congreve Forge, closed in the 1810s. They may have been victims of the economic recession that followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars, when the demands of the country for iron collapsed.

During the 1670s, Philip Foley withdrew from ironmaking. There seems not to have been enough charcoal available, so that either one of the forges at Brewood or Coven Furnace had to lie idle. In 1678 Philip Foley let the forges to his manager William Mansell. A few years later he sold him his remaining interests in the area consisting of Coven Furnace, which had then lain idle for some years and a copyhold interest in part of one of the forges. William Mansell may thus have brought Coven Furnace into blast once or twice in the 1680s, almost certainly the last time it was used. With the dearth of charcoal the practice developed of bringing pig iron into the area from a considerable distance away. Thus the works in this area had ceased to be an integrated group,

Within the catchment apart from the works described there was an early furnace at Teddesley Hay. There were also works on the head waters and tributaries of the Saredon Brook. All these operated in association with Lord Paget’s Works or with works in the Tame valley and are described in the two following chapters. General sources: Schafer 1971; King 1999a. 315

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 21. The Penk Valley and Cannock Chase: The Penk valley. 1, Brewood Upper Forge; 2, Brewood Lower Forge; 3, Congreve Forge; 4, Coven Furnace; 5, Deepmore Furnace and Forge.

Gazetteer

Stephen’s death in 1729 a Henry Onions occurs as a buyer of pig iron, his last known purchase being in 1735. By 1744 the Upper Forge had passed to Thomas Barker. He was followed by another Thomas Barker and then in 1808 by Frederick Barker until 1814. In 1815 the forge stock was assessed to land tax at nothing, implying the forge’s closure. The forge stood near the present Forge Cottage which is on the dam of a pond, now partly silted up, at the end of a long leat running through Brewood Park from River Penk. This cottage was called Forge Mill in 1873 and may well be on the site of the forge.

Brewood Upper Forge [1] SJ899076 (or Brewood Park Forge or Coven Forge) There was a hammer mill here in 1485, presumably a bloomery forge. There were hammermen in 1603, probably at a finery forge. The forge was leased to Thomas Chetwynd of Rugeley and Walter Coleman of Cannock, who also built the lower forge. After the expiry of this lease, the forge stood idle for a while. In 1625 the landlord refused to let it to any of the Coleman family, but was willing to let it to Thomas Bamford, John Coleman’s clerk. Bamford intended nevertheless to work it on behalf of Coleman, but then decided to keep it for himself when Coleman failed to finance him. The forge passed to Thomas Foley I(W) by 1643. He had probably succeeded Bamford in c.1640, and he was succeeded in 1668 by his son Philip Foley, who had it until 1677. In that year he handed the forge over to William Mansell (d.1689), previously the manager. He was followed by his son-inlaw George Rock until c.1706; then by Thomas Rock (his son) until at least 1715. The Lower Forge, at least was let to Stephen Onions, but Mr Rock bought some Redbrook pig iron in 1723/4, while Stephen Onions’ purchases began about 1709. This suggests that Thomas Rock and Stephen Onions had a forge each or that they were partners. When Stephen Onions made his will in 1727 he was living at Brewood and had a share in several forges, which he bequeathed to his son, Thomas Onions. However after

Size The Upper Forge made about 120 tpa on average in 1667-72; the lower one, when working in 1671-2 made 90 tpa. The two forges together made: 1717 100 tpa; 1718 300 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 300 tpa; 1794 1 finery and 1 chafery. The wide variation in the figures is probably caused by the intermittent working of the lower forge. Its earlier intermittent working was probably due to the district providing insufficient charcoal for Coven Furnace and both forges. Associations for the Foley family see chapter 24. It is likely that both Brewood Forges were always held together and that Congreve was held with them from the mid-18th century. A Stephen Onions went to America about 1720 to help establish the Principio Works, but had to be replaced when he began to pursue his own interests (May 1945, 8 14 & 20). Members of the Barker family held Lizard Forge in the late 18th century. Thomas Barker was a founding 316

Chapter 21: Penk Valley The descent of this forge is substantially identical to that of the Upper Forge. It was built from new by Coleman and Chetwynd about 1620, and was assigned to John Coleman when this partnership was dissolved. He employed Thomas Bamford as clerk, but failed to provide any working capital. Thomas Bamford borrowed money for this forge one year. The next he rented the works. The year after that Walter and John Coleman excluded him from the forge, but in 1628 he leased the works for 13 years. The forge was probably out of use from 1650 to 1656 and certainly was from 1667 to 1670, but operated again from 1671. Philip Foley bought the copyhold of the western part of the forge from Henry Bradshaw of Codsall in 1672. In 1677 leased the forge to William Mansell, previously his manager here, selling him his copyhold interest two years later. This copyhold interest was settled on his younger son, John Mansell, but afterwards passed to John’s sister, Marrabella, who married Thomas Rock and then in 1706 Robert Gilbert. She with her husband and also Thomas Janns, who owned the other part of the forge let it to Stephen Onyons (sic) for 31 years in 1716. The forge, which was referred to as New Forge in 1696, is said to have been disused in 1753. In 1757 Marrabella’s grandson another George Rock sold his part of the copyhold to Robert Barbor of Somerford esq., the forge being described as ‘now pulled down.’ The most probable closure date is about 1747, when Stephen Onions’ lease expired. As with Tern Forge, its closeness to a gentleman’s seat (in this case Somerford Hall, to which it caused noise nuisance) must have been a factor in its closure. Robert Barbor had probably bought Thomas Janns part of the forge before 1740 and it may have been his refusal to renew the lease that caused its closure.

partner in Goldenhill Furnace near Stoke on Trent in 1800 (see chapter 12). Edward Barker, who was managing partner of Canckwood and Rugeley Forges from 1796, was a cousin. Thomas Barker sold Rugeley Slitting Mill to Edward in 1802 (see next chapter). Trading Cannon bullets were perhaps made here for the County Committee at Stafford during the civil war (Horovitz 1988, 110-1). William Mansell and George and Thomas Rock appear in most series of Foley accounts from time to time: Foley a/c, Staffs a/c, and Cheshire a/c. However, these sales are however not enough to fully to account for all its production. It is possible some pig iron was brought in from Kemberton or Rushall or from more distant sources; or that Coven Furnace remained in use. The final purchase by a member of the family was 8 tons of Redbrook pig bought in 1723/4. Stephen Onions’ purchases were much larger, a total of 142 tons from Lawton and Vale Royal in 1709 and 6 tons from the latter in 1720 and 1721 (Cheshire a/c; VR a/c). Henry Onions bought 120 tons of Forest pig iron in 1734/5 and 6 tons from Charlcot in 1735 and from several other sources in the preceding years, including 68 tons from Willey in 1729-33 (Foley a/c; BW a/c; SW a/c; Willey a/c). The low production figures in the early 18th century may imply that the high cost of transport was severely reduced profitability. Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1667-72; the profit or loss 1650 to 1673 and other data are listed in Schafer 1990. Sources King 1999a, 68-71; TNA, C 2/Chas I/C5/67; C 2/Chas I/C20/17; C 21/C45/18; C 2/Chas I/B96/36; C 78/480/19; PROB  11/630/421; VCH Staffs ii, 117; iv, 4, 20-1; Lichfield RO, B/A/21/123783; Johnson 1950, 40; 1952, 358; 1954, 40 & 44; Schafer 1971, 29; Foley E12/ VI/KBc/3 39-43 48 56-62 passim; Horovitz 1988, 110-1 213-4 & 251-3; Land Tax, Brewood. Trinder (1973, 82) suggested that Samuel George had the forge in the early 19th century, but this is clearly wrong: the statement probably derives from some error for Bringewood (where George was a partner from 1798). Brewood Lower Forge

Size, Trading and Sources etc. see Brewood Upper Forge. Congreve Forge

[3] about SJ905133

This forge was also on the river Penk. It is first mentioned in 1709 as ‘lately converted to a forge and formerly one or more corn mills now in the possession of Thomas Rock’. Johnson (1954, 40) suggested that Stephen Onyons might have held it, but this is only likely if he and Rock were partners. Nevertheless it is conceivable this was one of the forges in which Stephen Onions had a share when he made his will in 1727. In 1727 it was let to William Whiston fyner; then Mr Barker by 1747 to 1756; then Thomas Barker and Thomas Barker II 1757 to 1807; and Frederick Barker 1808 to c.1813 (bankrupt). In 1817 B Cliff was renting a rolling mill. In 1819 G & B Thorneycroft enquired about renting it and the matter seems to have come to nothing. The forge probably closed in this period. There is little sign of it today.

[2] perhaps SJ899081

A lease of Brewood Upper Forge included ‘a fleam formerly running to the Lower Forge’, implying it was not far from the Upper Forge and Thomas Bamford described it as not a quarter mile distant from the Upper Forge. Other sources described it as adjoining Brewood Field and as in Shergreave Field. It abutted a watercourse running from Apsley Mill to Somerford Mill, implying that it was downstream of the junction of the Saredon Brook and river Penk, probably receiving water from each. The river Penk runs in two channels past Somerford Hall, the island bearing the unusual name of Engine Meadow. It is likely that the forge was in this area, most probably at the weir close to Somerford Hall. It was close enough to the Hall to cause a nuisance to its occupants. The site was leased from two separate copyholders of Brewood.

Size 1717, 1718, and 1750 120 tpa, but not making any iron in 1736; in 1790 there was a finery and a chafery. Associations Under Rock and then the Barkers, Congreve and Brewood Forges were held together. Thomas Barker was a partner at Goldenhill Furnace in north Staffordshire from its erection in 1800 until he retired in 1810. 317

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II of miles there was probably a strain on the ability of the area to grow enough wood to keep all the works going. This probably led to the demise of this furnace. From 1663 ore was being brought from Great Wyrley. The cost of transport from there would not have helped its profitability.

Trading Thomas Barker Congreve bought Old Park pig iron in 1794-9 and intermittently until 1807 (OP a/c). He supplied bar iron to Kings Bromley Mill in the late 1790s, though there were frequent objections to its quality (KB l/b). A large quantity of charcoal was offered for sale in 1812.

Accounts Full annual accounts Foley a/c 1667-72; the profit or loss 1650 to 1673 is listed Foley, E12/F/VI/ KBf/47 (printed Schafer 1990, 31). Inventory Foley, E12/ VI/KAc/98.

Sources VCH Staffs iv, 20-1; Staffs RO, D 1057/E/1/8; E/1/16/1; F/1/5; I/1/5 (rentals); J/11 (letters); D 1921/4; Staffordshire Advertiser, 4 Apr. 1812 and 20 June 1812; London Gazette, no. 16725, 869 (1 May 1813); cf. TNA, PROB 11/630/421. Coven Furnace

Sources VCH Staffs iv, 20-1; Schafer 1971, 29-30; King 1999a, 70; Lichfield RO, B/A/21/123783; Foley E12/VI/ KBc/39-44 48 56 59-62; E12/VI/KAc/49; E12/VI/KG/2; E12/VI/C/1; Staffs RO, D(W) 1921/2, deed of 1667; cf. TNA, C  2/Chas I/B96/36. Paul Robinson (pers. comm.) made helpful suggests as to the precise location of the furnace.

[4] perhaps SJ907077

In 1647 this was said to be a quarter mile from Brewood Park Forge. In 1683 it was said to adjoin Coven Green. There is a modern road here called Cinder Hill. This is also the name of a meadow at SJ906077. The furnace was driven by a leat from the Saredon Brook, starting near the site of Aspley Mill. It was probably built in 1630s by Thomas Bamford, who occupied it and Brewood Forges. He also rented John Coleman’s furnace at Cannock, but may have been unable to use it because of Coleman’s attitude to him. The furnace certainly existed by 1642. In 1683 it was said to have been conveyed by Peter Gifford of Chillington (who owned that estate) to Thomas Bamford of Brewood and by him to Edward Whitmore and by him [1656] to Thomas Foley and [1669] by him to Philip Foley. Thomas Foley probably operated the furnace from before 1650. In 1683 Philip Foley sold it to William Mansell who (having been manager of Brewood Forges) became the tenant of the forges in 1677 and purchased Philip Foley’s interest in them in 1679. The sale to Mansell is the last that is heard of the furnace, which had certainly disappeared by 1717. There is after this no obvious source for pig iron for two forges at Brewood and later another at Congreve until Grange Furnace was reopened in the late 1710s. It therefore cannot be ruled out that the furnace was again in blast.

Deepmore Furnace and Forge

[5] SJ927082

A furnace and forge were built by Thomas Parkes on land of Walter Harcourt of Ellenhall in 1585. The ironworks was sold by him and his son Richard Parkes to Walter Colman of Cannock in 1598, reserving other (unnamed) premises comprised in the lease, possibly Stone Furnace (Moddershall) and Chebsey Forge (Norton Bridge). The lease expired in 1605, and the ironworks probably with it. There is not very much remaining even of the corn mill that existed here in the 19th century, let alone the 16th century furnace and forge. The tithe map shows a leat leaving the Saredon brook just below Saredon Mill and running alongside the canal, and then (after crossing Laderford Brook) across the fields to the mill. The leat remains in places beside the canal in places, but beyond Laderford Brook it merely shows as a pale line across the ploughed field. This leat was created for the ironworks. Associations Parkes and Coleman were both important ironmasters, who are discussed more fully in the chapters 22 and 23 respectively.

Size 1669 it made 464 tons of pig iron.

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/1/14/60; TNA, C  21/ C45/18, Richard Whistons; King 1999a, 64 68.

Associations It was always occupied with Brewood Forges. Trading Thomas Bamford rented mines at Cheslyn Hay and Great Wyrley, in which Thomas Foley succeeded him (TNA, C 3/425/19). The furnace was out of blast in 1651, 1663-6, 1668, 1671 and 1673. Philip Foley had no furnace in the Tame Valley, so that he was sending some of Coven’s output to Little Aston in 1668-9. Ironstone was supplied by John Bate of Gornal, who was unusually paid according to the amount of pig iron cast from it (accounts). Philip Foley’s sale of works in the Tame valley to Humfrey Jennens in 1676 provided for Jennens to remove all the stock of Coven including the bellows boards (Foley, E12/ VI/KG/2). However there was stock at the furnace in 1677 and 1679 and the sale to Mansell may have been so that he could use it. With two forges at Brewood within a couple 318

22 Cannock Chase Introduction

control or the Crown not providing sufficient capital to run the works efficiently.1

Lord Paget’s Works

In 1589 the works were leased to Fulke Greville. An interesting document addressed to him describes how the works should be operated and how losses can be avoided.2 His lease ran until 1610, being confirmed by the then Lord Paget when his estates were his restored in 1597. At that time Greville agreed only to operate one furnace. In proceedings against Greville for dilapidations at the end of his lease, it was reported that the works were worth nothing as the Chase had little wood. Evidently there was not enough wood for two furnaces, let alone the three that had once operated in the area. The lower furnace and forge were never used as such again. The reasons for this have been examined by Welch, who showed that the trees were cropped in a manner inconsistent with their long-term survival.

This small group of ironworks have a single history and are therefore best described together. They mostly lie on or near Cannock Chase, formerly known as Cannock Wood or Canckwood, and were driven by a number of relatively small brooks flowing off the Chase. Cannock Chase is itself at the northern end of the South Staffordshire Coalfield, but is north of the Bentley Fault, the geological northern boundary of the Black Country. Ore therefore came from local sources. Most of the works, particularly later, were near Rugeley, rather than Cannock. Cannock Chase was formerly presumably heavily wooded. The relatively high level of activity in the late 16th century reflects this. Bloomeries had operated on the Chase for a number of years before the first blast furnace was erected. In building it, Lord Paget was making a significant innovation. This used to be considered one of the first ironworks using the indirect process outside the Weald, but it seems this is not so. Fortunately accounts were preserved by his descendants and therefore a considerable amount is known about the works.

In a separate development, Walter Coleman of Cannock built a furnace on his estate there in about 1598. He apparently had a forge at Wolseley which Thomas Chetwynd described as being a very small affair where he had made a few blooms. Richard Whistons worked for him for a week in 1603 at a forge at ‘Deepemore’, before going to Bromley Forge. The latter was held by Coleman with Richard Almond for a year and a half, when Thomas Chetwynd joined the partnership. After four years Richard Almond took the forge alone for five years at a dearer rate; then Chetwynd and Coleman held it. When Thomas Chetwynd joined the partnership, Walter Coleman and Richard Almond held Beaudesert Furnace (on Cannock Chase) and Bromley Forge on a three year lease of which one year had gone. Most of the stock belonged to Lord Paget. Chetwynd found the other two partners had £40 stock each and therefore added £40 of his own. Later he paid for Lord Paget’s stock with money he borrowed. At some stage the partnership took steps towards taking the Earl of Huntingdon’s ironworks at Hartshorne and ‘Dunnington’ [Donnington] on the border of Leicestershire and Derbyshire and began repairing them, but the Earl decided to manage the works in hand and repaid their expenditure. The opportunity was taken in about 1608 to buy a quantity of wood at Abbey Hulton in the Potteries and build a furnace and forge there. Richard Almond disliked this and withdrew from the partnership, probably about 1615. Thomas Chetwynd told a customer that he had also bought Walter Coleman’s share there, but this was later disputed by his son John Coleman.

The first furnace and forge were built in 1561 by William Lord Paget (died 1563) and Henry his son and successor. The works were leased in 1564, but were again in hand from 1568 until 1583, when their owner was attainted. In this period there were three furnaces, two on the Chase and a third in Teddesley Hay a few miles to the west; with two forges on the Chase and a third on another Paget estate at Abbots Bromley. The latter, despite its location, is dealt with it here, because of its association with the works on and around the Chase. After Lord Paget was attainted, the works were conducted on behalf of the Crown from 1583 to 1589; and again accounts survive. In the 1570s the two forges on the Chase were making 220 to 250 tpa and that at Abbots Bromley about 110 to 120 tpa. This suggests each of the furnaces made 160-170 tpa. No account of pig iron seems to have been kept. Only one finer is mentioned for each forge and it is therefore probable that there was only one finery in each forge. In 1603 there were two at Bromley and in 1610 there were two fineries at each of the Cannock Forges. In 1584 the whole works produced a mere 184 tons. This low figure is probably due to the disruption caused by the change of

1 2

319

Morton 1963; 1966; Welch 2000. Jones & Harrison 1978.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 22. The Penk Valley and Cannock Chase: Cannock Chase. 1, Beaudesert Furnace; 2, Canckwood Forge; 3, Cannock Furnace; 4, Cannock Old or Lower Furnace; 5, Rugeley Slitting mill; 6, Bromley Forge, Abbots Bromley; 7, Cannock Furnace in Cannock; 8, Rugeley Forge; 9, Rugeley Rolling Mill; 10, Teddesley Hay Furnace; 11, Wolseley Furnace and Forge; 12, Hagley Bloomsmithy; 13, Risom Bridge Bloomsmithy; 14, Stow Mill, Lichfield.

Walter Coleman’s second marriage was to a daughter of William Comberford, who let a derelict forge at Wednesbury to him about 1605. Brewood Park Forge was also leased and a second forge built further downstream adjoining Brewood Field. Canckwood Forge came into their hands after the lease to Sir Fulke Greville expired in 1610. In 1619 the two partners with their sons took a lease of Halesowen Furnace and Forge from Sir Thomas Lyttelton and his mother. Thomas Chetwynd thought the price too high and offered £100 to be released from the bargain, but was refused. Presumably to go with this, Walter Coleman took over Whittington Forge, which he passed over to his son who in turn passed it to his guarantor Thomas Doughty. Thomas Chetwynd alleged in 1629 in relation to Hales that ‘if the price of iron had not since that time [been] raised he had been a great loser’.5

At this period Walter Coleman also had some interest in the iron industry in Cumberland and Ireland: He ‘received sums [of money] and went into Cumberland and Ireland and became a great dealer in ironworks and there as a partner with some in those countries had received great losses’. It is possible that this consisted of mining ore in Cumberland and smelting (or at least forging) it in Ulster. This could be the context of Flimby Furnace, of which nothing is known. However, ‘Walter Coleman’ (perhaps of London) occurs in documents related to Richard Boyle’s ironworks in Counties Waterford and Cork in 1612.3 In 1609 Colman sent Richard Goodman, a wood collier, from Cumberland to Abbey Hulton. He also spent long periods away, leaving the Staffordshire business to Chetwynd. Chetwynd alleged that this was to avoid Colman being fined for recusancy and suggested that he had had sole management for many years before a dispute between them in 1625. The evidence in that case makes it clear that Coleman had some involvement at least until about 1620.4

The most important development of all was however the introduction of the slitting mill to the Midlands. John Coleman claimed his father invented this, but this is clearly an exaggeration: he visited Dartford (Kent) where there was a slitting mill on several occasions, accompanied by Thomas Chetwynd once and on two occasions by millwrights. John Wilkes and his son built the slitting mill in Canckwood, according to a model drawn by Coleman when he took John Wilkes senior there. This must have

3 Paul Rondolez, pers. comm., citing inter alia National Archives of Ireland, Lismore papers. 4 King 1999a, 68-70.

5

320

King 1999a, 68-70. The quotation is from TNA, C 2/Chas I/C88/59.

Chapter 22: Cannock Chase

The Chetwynd and Coleman family tree.

settled over two years later by Thomas Chetwynd releasing his share of Brewood Forges and paying £400 in instalments, for which £250 cash was soon substituted. A later claim for an account of the profits of the Hales works was thrown out, because Hales had been dealt with under the earlier settlement.

been in about 1611, as Edward Hill was clerk there for three years and Richard Watson had been clerk for twelve years when he gave evidence in 1626, the mill having been built before his arrival.6 It was certainly let as a slitting mill in c.1622.7 The usual story of the origin of the slitting mill is a folktale about ‘Fiddler Foley’. In the way of folktales, it exists in several versions, one making him a flautist, and taking him to Sweden or Russia or Germany, where he clandestinely observed a slitting mill. On his return, he built one of his own at Hyde Mill in Kinver, which made his fortune.8 Similar tales are told about the Cockshutt family making wire at Wortley in Yorkshire and the use of spelter (zinc) in making brass at Bristol.9 The date of Hyde Mill is known: it was built by Richard Foley in 1627,10 but the earliest version of the story (from the 1750s) names the visitor to Germany as ‘one Brindley’, presumably Richard Foley’s brother-in-law George Brynley, an ancestor of John Brindley of the Hyde in Kinver, who was bankrupt in 1730.11 This is potentially more credible, as Foley was already an ironmaster by 1627, for example leasing Himley Furnace in 1625.12 Nevertheless, the mill at Rugeley must predate Hyde by at least 15 years.

John Coleman employed Thomas Bamford as clerk at Brewood. Somehow he expected him to produce a profit from the works without being provided with any money to stock the works. Bamford managed this by borrowing money himself. The first year he paid £85 on account of the profits. The next year he held Cannock Furnace and the forges at £140. The following year, Walter and John Coleman took the lower forge themselves. Then in 1628 John Coleman had to get his father-in-law Sir Thomas Wolseley to help him pay his debts. Wolseley arranged for the works to be let to Thomas Bamford at a premium of £500. In 1633 John Coleman resorted once again to Chancery litigation, seeking an account from Bamford. Several years later he lost and he then tried again in another court. Bamford then had to seek the aid of Chancery to restrain this vexatious litigation. Thomas Chetwynd and then his son Walter and grandson William operated Lord Paget’s works for many years. The son extended his activities to North Staffordshire, operating Heighley Furnace and several forges in that area.13 John Colman was a leading witness at the Star Chamber prosecution of Richard Foley in 1636, when the latter was very heavily fined.14 Relations between these two rival ironmasters, who between them had in their hands a very major share of the iron industry in the West Midlands was probably not always antagonistic: in the litigation concerning the Halesowen ironworks, Thomas Chetwynd referred to a recent rise in the price of iron. This suggests concerted action by the ironmasters. It might even represent the beginning of the price fixing mechanism which is known to have existed from the early

In 1623 Walter Coleman transferred his share to his son John Coleman, subject to him making certain payments. The two earlier partners had difficulty over coming to an account: this was probably as much due to Thomas Chetwynd being too busy to do so as to anything else, although Chetwynd tried to make out that Coleman had abandoned his share. John Coleman and his father brought Chancery proceedings in 1625, which were eventually

6

King 1999a. 71-2. VCH Staffs ii, 111. 8 King 1999a, 62, from Playfair 1809, 332-3; whence Coleridge, 1888 edn, 332-3; Smiles 1858, 212-4. Griffiths 1873, 138-43 has an expanded version involving Russia. 9 Andrews 1956, 66-7; Ellacombe 1881, 229. 10 VCH Staffs xx, 146. 11 Shaw, Staffordshire ii(1), 265 from Richard Wilkes’ manuscript history (transcript by T. Fernihough, William Salt Library, Stafford, Salt MS 467-8); bankruptcy: London Gazette, no. 6959, 2 (6 February 1730). 12 Dudley Archives, DE/4/7/6/16. 7

13 14

321

King 1999a, 68-71. TNA, SP 16/ 321, no.42.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II to become the managing partner there. He sold the forge in 1806. Edward Barker probably held the forge and slitting mill on the Chase until 1817 when it was closed. His interest in the forge in Rugeley continued until about 1830. He was succeeded in two tinplate works by Cheshire, Manners & Co.20

18th century, then organised through ironmasters meetings at Stourbridge. The slitting mill was let to Nicholas Stowe as from 1649 but Walter Chetwynd again seems to have held the whole works in the 1670s. From 1684 the works were held by William Cotton and Dennis Hayford. They also took over Lawton Furnace and various forges in Cheshire about the same time. From them Lord Paget’s works passed by sale in 1692 to John Wheeler I.15 The trading pattern of the works in his time is almost certainly a continuation of that established in the previous decade. Two hundred tons of pig iron came from Lawton, being delivered at Sandonon-Trent. From there it was taken to Bromley Forge where it was fined. The iron in the form of blooms was taken to Canckwood Forge (the old Upper Forge) and drawn out there. Much of the production of this forge was then slit at the nearby Rugeley slitting mill, on the site of the Lower Forge.16 It seems evident that this mode of operation was adopted because of the lack of wood for charcoal on the Chase, presumably a consequence of Elizabethan overexploitation.17

There is no evidence that any of the Cheshire Ironmasters ever operated a furnace at Cannock, although the ‘furnace or furnace place’, as mentioned, continued to be included in leases until one granted in 1732. It is likely that, having no finery, the Canckwood Forge was consuming little charcoal. Thus there was an opportunity for the regeneration of woodland. It is probable that in 1745, at the time of a new lease of the forge and slitting mill and of improvements to the ‘refinery’ of the forge, Bromley Forge either closed or was let to other ironmasters. General Sources Morton 1963; 1966; Jones & Harrison 1978; Harrison 1979; King 1999a, 59-60 68-71; Welch 2000; Causer & Andrews 2013; Thornton 2013; TNA, E 112/41/96; C  2/Chas I/C5/67; C  2/Chas I/C20/17; C  2/ Chas I/118/11 & C  21/C45/18; Staffs RO, D 603/E/3/52 213 216 298-9 305 & 310-5; D 603/E/5/2; D 603/E/1/8267; Foley E12/VI/MAc/4; NLW, Maybery 254; Castell Gorfod 61; London Gazette, 11664, 2 (21 Sep. 1773); Hackwood 1903; Johnson 1952, 334-5 & 339; 1954, 5253; Awty 1957, 73 & 99 & 109; VCH Staffs ii, 110-2; iv, 63. (There is other published material but it adds little if anything to the above).

Eighteenth century In the 18th century, the leases continue to include a furnace, but it is clear that this was not in use. Instead the focus moves from the Chase to Rugeley, where further mills were converted to ironworking. Lord Paget’s Works as part of the Staffordshire Works of John Wheeler (and others) amalgamated with the Cheshire works of Edward Hall and Daniel Cotton in 1707, all of the Staffordshire Partners having previously been partners in the Cheshire Works. Thus Lord Paget’s Works became the southernmost of the works of the Cheshire Ironmasters, whose partners by the 1740s were members of the Hall, Cotton and Kendall families. The Kendalls remained partners until the 1770s (see chapters 12 and 13).

Gazetteer Cannock Chase ironworks Beaudesert Furnace

[1] SK05061403

Blast furnace slag has been found in a brook running out of Beaudesert Park, and this indicates the site of the furnace. Its location is also identified in 18th century deeds (Welch 1995; 2000, 66).

When the partnership of Jonathan and Henry Kendall with John and Thomas Hopkins was dissolved in 1775, Canckwood Forge and Rugeley Slitting Mill passed to the Hopkins.18 Thomas Hopkins had been a clerk of Edward Kendall at Cradley since the 1720s. He took over another mill at Rugeley in 1760 and converted it to a forge.19 Thomas Hopkins died in 1793 and was succeeded by his son Samuel. In 1796, Samuel took partners, Leonard Pickering, Edward Barker of Lichfield and Samuel Palmer. This firm was managed by Edward Barker from Lichfield. Samuel also succeeded to his father’s partnership with his brother-in-law Thomas Hill (a Stourbridge glassmaker and banker) and Benjamin Pratt. Together they had established the Blaenavon Ironworks in Monmouthshire. Samuel moved to Blaenavon in 1805

Canckwood Forge [2] SK02651660 Cannock Forge or Cannock Wood Upper Forge This stood on the Rising Brook. Its site was indicated by traces of slag coating bricks. This forge operated fairly continuously from the 16th century until about 1817. There has been confusion over the site of this forge as it has not always been appreciated how extensive Cannock Wood was. As a result it has on occasions wrongly been stated to be at Cannock (Morton 1963). Size 1717 & 1718 100 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 180 tpa. In 1794 there were two fineries and 1 chafery.

15

See chapters 13 and 9. Staffs a/c; Johnson 1954. 17 Cf. Welch 2000. 18 NLW Maybery 254; Castell Gorfod 61; London Gazette, 11664, 2 (21 Sep. 1773) 19 Thornton 2013, 18-22. 16

20

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Thornton 2013.

Chapter 22: Cannock Chase Charcoal ironworks not within the Chase

Trading For most of its history Lord Paget’s Works were either self-sufficient or part of a large grouping of works. As mentioned above from 1692-1710 the forge usually received 200 tpa pig iron from Lawton Furnace. After 1790 pig iron was supplied to the forge by Old Park Furnace in Shropshire: Samuel Hopkins 1796-7, 396 tons in the latter year; Samuel Hopkins & Co 1798-9; Edward Barker 1798-1804 (including 80½ tons delivered at Gailey Wharf, presumably for onward carriage by land); trustees of Edward Barker 1817-8 (OP a/c). Edward Barker supplied iron to the nearby Kings Bromley Mill in the late 1790s (KB l/b).

Bromley Forge, Abbots Bromley

[6] SK08232260

Bromley Forge, as it was always called, was on leat from River Blithe. It usually descended as part of Lord Paget’s ironworks until about 1740, but from about 1609 to 1614 was held by Richard Almond alone. In 1723 John Vernon of Abbots Bromley ironmaster took an interest in Rushall Furnace. He was a partner in the 1722 Cheshire Ironmasters partnership. Bromley Forge was (with Chartley Forge and Teanford Furnace) included in an account of the firm dated 1728, implying that it was then one of their works. In 1742 John Thompson and Henry Bourne of Abbots Bromley became partners in (West) Bromwich Forge. The other partners were John Churchill of Hints Forge and James Bourne of Rushall Furnace. This may mean it had become part of a new (or recent) ironmaking business including those works. If so, the forge may have operated somewhat after c.1745, the date when has hitherto been thought to have closed. G.R. Morton reported finding charcoal mixed with slag globules from the raking out of furnace fires near the farm buildings of Forge Farm. The site is described in Pastscape.

Accounts Various accounts 1571-81: Staffs RO, D(W) 1734/3/3/156-233 passim, in two series, one for Cannock & the other for Abbots Bromley. Accounts for the operation of the works by the Crown 1583-9: microfilm at Staffs RO, from originals in TNA). Full annual accounts: (Foley) Staffs a/c 1692-1710. Cannock Furnace [3] perhaps SK00941783 in Cannock Chase (formerly Cannock New or Upper Furnace) This also stood on the Rising Brook, where there was a slag heap containing stone removed in the course of relining the furnace. There were several pools above it. (Morton 1963). The area has been the subject of open cast mining.

Size 1716 1718 & 1736 200 tpa; 1750 blank.

[4] SK01941403

Associations Part of Lord Paget’s Works until 1740s, then perhaps belonging to John Churchill & Co with Rushall Furnace and Hints and Bromwich Forges.

This lay downstream of the Upper Furnace and was probably only used in the 16th century.

Trading From 1692 to 1710 it was exclusively operating as only finery sending blooms to Canckwood Forge for drawing out.

Cannock Old or Lower Furnace in Cannock Chase

Rugeley Slitting mill (formerly Canckwood Lower Forge)

[5] SK034174

Accounts see Canckwood Forge. Sources as Lord Paget’s Works; TNA, E 112/41/76; C 7/1086/7; Pastscape 304963; VCH Staffs xvii, 32-3 (address).

The mill was on the Rising Brook, southwest of the town of Rugeley on the same brook as several of the other Cannock Chase ironworks. It became a slitting mill in c.1611. It continued as such until the 19th century. It is latterly described as a rolling mill. This was a common way for slitting mills to develop in the early 19th century. Today there is a hamlet known as Slitting Mill but little else remains.

Cannock Furnace, Cannock [7]

perhaps SJ987098

This furnace was built on the estate of Walter Coleman about 1598. It may have replaced a bloomery, since a ‘mylne in Cancke’ seems to have been associated with ‘divers yerne pitt stone or moynes of yerne’ in land called Woddyhey at Cannock sold to George Marten of Walsall in the 1550s. It was let to Lord Paget perhaps in 1609 for 10 years and he assigned it to Thomas Chetwynd, who continued to rent it until about 1625. After this it was used to supply Brewood Forges. In 1626 and from 1628 to 1641 it was rented by Thomas Bamford, but John Coleman probably made it difficult for him to use, so that he built Coven Furnace. As John Coleman was busy persecuting him through a succession of courts, it is inconceivable that the lease was renewed; and it presumably closed. Some authors have (probably incorrectly) placed Lord Paget’s Cannock Furnace at Hednesford. it is possible this is derived from some indication of the site of this furnace.

Trading Up to 1692 the mill slit iron only for associated forges, but its output increased to 470 tpa in 1694 with the closure of Oakamoor Mill and again in 1708 to over 600 tpa with the virtual closure of that at Consall (Staffs a/c). It is not in the 1794 list unless conflated with Rugeley Rolling Mill (below). Accounts as Canckwood Forge.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sources TNA, C  1/1326/38-45; C  2/Chas I/C5/67; C  2/ Chas I/C20/17; C 2/Chas I/118/11; C 21/C45/18; C 2/Chas I/B96/36; C 78/480/19. Rugeley Forge

partnership with Samuel Barnett and Thomas Fernyhough ended in 1812. Edward Barker sold the mill in 1829 to John Cheshire, George Manners, John James and James Moxon. It was still occupied by Manners and Cheshire in 1846. They mortgaged the premises in 1860 and had to compound with their creditors in 1865. John Manners became bankrupt in 1869. The business was then taken over by Christopher Kelly and James, John, and Lewis Brit, who incorporated Rugeley Sheet Iron and Tinplate Co Ltd in 1870, liquidated in 1872. Thomas Warden apparently occupied the works for one year. In 1873, the premises were sold to James Highway (a Manchester paperhanger) and others. The works were let as a flock or shoddy mill in 1883. George Highway and James Holme sold the mill in 1890 to Stephen Stokes, whose firm Stokes & Co had a leather mill downstream.

[8] SK047182

Walter Chetwynd of Grendon granted to William Hearn (a mercer) and William Emery (a dyer) a 99 year lease in 1749 of the site of a paper mill at Rugeley with liberty for the tenants to build a paper mill, a fulling or cloth mill or any other buildings. This was sold twice in 1760, the eventual purchaser being Thomas Hopkins. It was included in the partnership between the members of the Kendall and Hopkins families in 1771 and passed to John and Thomas Hopkins on its dissolution in 1775. Thomas Hopkins (d.1791) and then his son Samuel family were partners in Thomas Hill & Co in building the Blaenavon Ironworks in Monmouthshire 1789. This forge probably had a similar final history to Cannock Wood Forge and Rugeley Slitting Mill (see above). In 1790 there was one finery and one chafery. Pig iron purchased from Old Park Furnace by the trustees of Edward Barker in 1817 and 1818 was probably worked up here, rather than at Canckwood Forge which seems to have closed shortly before this. In 1799 Edward Barker leased land where he set up a tinning shop next to the forge. He also established a chemical works nearby making pyroligenous acid (wood acid, impure acetic acid), verdigris, sugar of lead (both acetic salts) and other things, but his acid yard (on either side of Queen Street) subsequently devolved separately. The subsequent history of this forge (as a tinplate works) was probably the same as the rolling mill (below), but the descent of the mill is less well documented. It was certainly let to Manners and Cheshire in 1830 and was involved in the post-liquidation sale of the company in 1873 and the 1890 sale.

Associations William Barker succeeded Walter Stubbs as tenant of Lizard Forge in 1755. Other members of the Barker family operated Brewood and Congreve Forges from the 1740s. Sources Thornton 2013, 14-17; Staffs RO, D 1317/2/5/1 passim; London Gazette, 16588, 625 (31 Mar. 1812); BW a/c, 1741, f.7. Teddesley Hay Furnace

The furnace site was located by the late G.R. Morton from the field name Cynder Hill at Bangley Farm near Newtown on a small tributary of River Penk. A small excavation carried out by him and others located the hearth and the base of the furnace. The furnace was built in the 1570s, as part of Lord Paget’s Works. However, it probably did not come into the hands of the crown with those works in 1583 and its history remains obscure. It is possible that Sir Edward Littleton of Pillaton (its owner) was using it in 1638, when he bought 300 cords of wood at Wheaton Aston, but its use may have been discontinuous.

Sources Thornton 2013, 18-22; Staffs RO, D 603/E/3/298 305 & 313; D 240/3/3/313; D 1317/2/5/28 and 58; D 615/E/13/3; NLW, Maybery 255; Castell Gorfod 61; VCH Staffs iv, 161. Rugeley Rolling Mill

[10] SJ94611440

Sources Weate 1995; and as Lord Paget’s Works.

[9] SK043180

Wolseley Furnace and Forge

A mill (not part of the Paget estate) had successively been a fulling mill and then an oil mill was leased by George Newell and Ralph Weston to Samuel Fisher of Rugeley in 1713 for 80 years. Fisher seems to have converted it to a rolling mill, making plate iron. The freehold was sold to William Leacroft in 1728. In 1735, Samuel Fisher’s widow Ann sold the mill to Walter Stubbs, William Barker and Robert Fisher. The latter borrowed against his share, and it apparently subsequently passed to Stubbs, whose executors in 1768 sold his two-thirds to Thomas Barker of Congreve Forge. The mill was in 1753 described as in the occupation of Joseph Barker. The first tin for Mitton Tinmill on the lower Stour was obtained from Rugeley in 1741, which suggests that the mill was a tinplate works by then. In 1798, it was rented by Mr Barker from Leacrofts heirs and appears thus in the 1794 list. In 1802, Thomas Barker sold the mill to his cousin Edward Barker. Edward’s

[11] SK023196

This ironworks is virtually only known from one passing reference and as an archaeological site. It is mentioned in passing in the litigation between Coleman and Chetwynd in a context suggesting it was operating about 1603 and closed soon after. It was no doubt supplied with charcoal from Wolseley Park, which contains about a square mile and (if all coppice) would provide wood for about 1,150 tons of iron each cutting, perhaps 80-85 tons per year. Sources Welch 1995; 2001; King 1999a, 68.

324

Chapter 22: Cannock Chase Bloomery forges Hagley Bloomsmithy

[12] perhaps SK041180

An iron mill with a ‘blome harthe and a burn hearth’ is recorded in the manor of Hagley in the 1560s. This probably preceded the fulling and paper mills that were replaced by Rugeley Rolling Mill. Sources VCH Staffs ii, 109; Thornton 2013, 8. Risom Bridge Bloomsmithy

[13] c.SK043179

An iron mine and forge are mentioned in 1298. John Paynter paid 2d rent for waste called ‘le forgeplace’ in 1533. The Bloomsmiths at Risom Bridge and their houses (presumably Rising Bridge) were granted to William Fletcher for 10 years in 1542. Sources VCH Staffs ii, 109; v, 162; Thornton 2013, 8. Other ironworks Stow Mill, Lichfield

[14] SK122104

Stow Mill was leased by Lichfield Corporation to Mr Torte of Birmingham. By 1745, one waterwheel operated a tossing hammer and a tilting hammer and two other wheels were available for other uses. The forge was advertised in 1752. In 1753 the Corporation agreed it might be rebuilt as a corn mill. Mr Deakin and Mr Grundy then advertised the materials of millwork belonging to a plating forge. Sources VCH Staffs xiv, 114; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 3 Sep. 1753.

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23 The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country Introduction

that the iron produced was coldshort. This was quite good enough for making nails; even preferred because it was more ductile.1 Nail making was also attracted to the area by the erection of slitting mills (see preceding chapter). These cut flat bars into rod iron, of a crosssection suitable for making into nails. However, many varieties of ironmongery were also made in the area.

The River Tame has two main branches, which join south of Walsall. The river then flows east just north of Birmingham, and later turns north past Tamworth to join the river Trent. The river drains the northern part of the Black Country plateau. Most of the ironworks were on the river or its upper tributaries. Little Aston, Weeford, and Hints Works are on the Black or Bourne Brook, which joins the river by Tamworth. Because of its associations, it is convenient to consider Cheslyn Hay Furnace with these works. This stood on the Saredon Brook, which rises by Cannock and flows west to join the River Penk near Brewood. This takes the scope of this chapter beyond the strict definition of the Black Country. The smog resulting from all this industry led to the area being known as the Black Country. Although the name was not coined until the early 19th century, it is a convenient description for the whole area west of Birmingham. Today this is defined as the metropolitan boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, and Wolverhampton (now a city). In geological terms, the Black Country Coalfield is bounded by the Eastern and Western Boundary Faults and on the north by the Bentley Fault. Its southern edge is where the productive Coal Measures outcrop. The alternative name is the South Staffordshire Coalfield, though that name is not a wholly accurate one, since the coalfield extended into Worcestershire.

The history of the iron industry and iron manufactures in the area is complicated and there is no satisfactory general account of it. The work of Pelham only began to feel for it.2 Johnson’s work was largely focused on a period in the late 17th century, as is Schafer’s.3 This does not apply to Johnson’s contribution to Victoria County History, but this is now somewhat dated, due to the discovery of new sources.4 Gale’s researches concentrated on the technology, with an emphasis on the 19th century.5 Rowlands mainly addressed manufactures.6 Dilworth collected much in the history of water-powered works,7 but limited to Staffordshire. I have previously considered some early aspects of it,8 but that is merely to scratch the surface. The closest attempt at a comprehensive account is a non-academic book by Shill, which I have cited only sparingly, partly because much of this chapter was written before the book appeared. Shill’s dearth of citations also makes it difficult to verify his detail.9 Early iron production The origins of an iron industry using the blast furnace in the area are not always entirely clear, but it seems that after about 1580 or 1590 all existing bloomeries were replaced by furnaces or forges. Unlike many other areas the promotion of the industry does not seem, so much to be the work of local gentry exploiting their estates, as of professional ironmasters. There are notable exceptions to this. Francis and then Percival Willoughby operated Middleton Furnace and Hints Forge in the northeast of this area. William Whorwood of Sandwell was involved in the iron industry, as a partner of Thomas Parkes until they spectacularly fell out.10 Lord Dudley and his brother held ironworks on his estate around Dudley, mostly outside this area, though including a Bromford Forge, probably that at Erdington.

This was a landlocked coalfield: river transport for coal was in practice not available. This contrasts with the easy access to the river Severn enjoyed by the East Shropshire Coalfield, whose main market for coal was towns up and down the river. Country sale of Black Country coal certainly occurred, but must have been within a relatively limited area, as some areas to the east would be supplied from the Warwickshire Coalfield and those to the north from Cannock Chase. The limited scope for distant sales meant that coal was cheap locally, which facilitated its use locally in industry, particularly iron manufacturing. In effect, the manufacturing use of coal in smiths’ hearths added value to the coal. In this its situation is similar to Sheffield’s. Seams in the Coal Measures of the coalfield contained ironstone nodules, which provided basis for iron production, without which the manufacturing industry would probably not have taken root. The South Staffordshire Iron District was slightly more extensive than the coalfield, including works in north Worcestershire and on Birmingham and its environs in Warwickshire. The coalfield ironstone tended to be phosphoric, meaning

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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Britannicus 1752. Pelham 1949; 1950; 1950b; 1953. Johnson 1950; 1951; 1952; 1960; Schafer 1971; 1978; 1990. VCH Staffs ii, 108-20. Gale 1966. Rowlands 1975; 1977; 1989. Dilworth 1976. King 1999a; 2006. Shill 2008. King 1999a; 2006.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Most of the industry fairly quickly passed into the hands of professional ironmasters, in fact just two men successively: Thomas Parkes (d.1602) and then his son Richard (d.1617). The very extensive group of ironworks that they put together passed largely intact into the hands of a partnership of Sussex ironmasters, Middleton, Goreinge, Nye & Co in 1618. Thomas Nye took over their works south of Watling Street in 1622. One Mr Ffolie, presumably Richard Foley the Dudley ironmonger, was

his partner in Aston Furnace and ‘Branford’ [Bromford] Forge in 1628. This could have applied to all Nye’s works. In King 1999a, I postulated that Humfrey Jennens the Birmingham ironmonger might have succeeded Nye as Foley’s partner, and that Foley and Jennens partitioned the works by 1638.11 However, according to litigation over

11

328

King 1999a, 65-8.

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country Map 23. The Tame valley and northeast Black Country. 1, Aston Furnace; 2, Birmingham Town Mill; 3, Bromford Forge, Erdington; 4, Bromwich Forge, West Bromwich; 5, Bustleholme Slitting Mill; 6, Cheslyn Hay Furnace; 7, Dudley (Coneygree) Furnace; 8, Ettingshall; 9, Hints Forge; 10, Little Aston Forge; 11, Middleton Furnace; 12, Nechells Park Mill; 13, Penns Mill; 14, Perry Furnace; 15, Perry Forge; 16, Perry Wire Mills (Lower); 17, Perry Wire Mills (Upper); 18, Plants Forge; 19, Poole Bank Furnace; 20, Rushall Furnace; 21, Stanton’s Mill; 22, Wednesbury Field Forge; 23, Wednesbury Forge; 24, Weeford Slitting mill; 25, Aldridge Smithy; 26, Friar Park Bloomsmithy; 27, Goscote Bloomery, Rushall; 28, Hammermill in Handsworth; 29, James Bridge Bloomsmithy; 30, Merevale Smithy; 31, Perry Bloomsmithy; 32, Perry Barr: Hammermill Meadow; 33, Tipton: Bloomsmithy; 34, Walsall Bloomsmithy; 35, Coleshill: Forge Mills; 36, Duddeston Mill; 37, Harborne Mill; 38, Hazelwell Mill, Kings Norton; 39, Hemlingford Mills, Kingsbury; 40, Maney Forge and Boring Mill; 41, Minworth Mill; 42, Saltley Forge; 43, Birmingham: Adelphi steelworks; 44, Birmingham: Coleshill Street; 45, Birmingham: Holt Street, Aston; 46, Birmingham: Snow Hill; 47, Birmingham: Whittall Lane; 48, The Brades Steel Works; 49, Aston Junction Forge; 50, Bilston Mill; 51, Brierley Ironworks, Coseley; 52, Bromford Mill, Oldbury; 53, Calves Heath; 54, Friar Park Rolling Mill; 55, Golds Hill Ironworks; 56, Golds Green Ironworks; 57, Lifford Mill; 58, Pig Mill Forge; 59, Sarehole Mill; 60, Soho Manufactory; 61, Sparrow’s Forge; 62, Steel’s Mill, Aston; 63, Thimble Mill, Aston; 64, Thimble Mill, Warley; 65, Toll End Forge, Tipton; 66, Great Bridge, Tipton; 67, Sheepwash Mill, Tipton; 68, Wedges Mill, near Cannock; 69, Witton Rolling Mill; 70, Bilston or Ettingshall Furnaces; 71, Bilston Brook Furnaces; 72, Bradley Ironworks; 73, Hallfields Furnace, Bradley; 74, Caponfields Furnaces; 75, Coltham Furnaces, Essington; 76, Coseley Furnace; 77, Deepfields Furnace, Coseley; 78, Dudley Port or Coneygre Furnace; 79, Gospel Oak Furnace, Tipton; 80, Highfields Ironworks; 81, Horseley Ironworks; 82, Lea Brook; 83, Millfield or Birds Wharf Furnaces; 84, Moorcroft Furnaces; 85, Oldbury Furnace; 87, Priestfield Furnaces; 88, Roughhills Furnaces; 89, Tipton Old Furnaces; 90, Tipton New Furnaces; 91, Tollend Furnaces, Tipton; 92, Eagle Furnaces, Great Bridge; 93, Wednesbury Furnace; 94, Wednesbury Oak Furnaces; 95, Wednesbury Oak Works.

the supply of bar iron to Bustleholme Mill in 1633, Foley agreed to supply 6 tpw for four years from Bromwich, ‘Bramford’ [Bromford] and ‘Cookes’ Forge [possibly Wednesbury] and from Aston Furnace, without needing Jennens’s agreement. Foley reserved the right to complete a contract to supply ‘Mr Jennings’ [Jennens] with tough iron, after which he would only use ‘blend metal’, This seems to indicate that Foley was operating alone (contrary to my postulate). The Bustleholme bargain went wrong, because the mill owners failed to pay for the iron punctually at 2 pm each Saturday (as agreed), so that Foley often had to take payment in rod iron, allowing 40s per ton for slitting. However, it became mixed up in a dispute between Foley and Roger Fowke (one of the Bustleholme partners) over the valuation of Kingsford (in Wolverley), which Fowke needed to sell to Foley to clear his debts. Richard Foley at this time had 16 or 17 ironworks.12 He had acquired all the competing ironworks in the area, so that he was the only possible purchaser for wood sold by the cord. This presumably enabled Richard to prevent escalation in the price of charcoal due to its scarcity, but led to his prosecution in Star Chamber in 1636 for engrossing, a charge apparently instigated by Colman a less successful rival.13 As it seems my previous postulate of a partnership with Jennens seems incorrect, it is likely Foley gave up certain works in the aftermath of his Star Chamber prosecution, before passing the rest on to his son Thomas, his eldest son by his second wife, who attained his majority in 1637.

closure of smaller ones. He resolved a crisis of charcoal supply by the closure of furnaces within this area and concentrating pig iron production around the fringes of the area. Thomas Foley was reputed to have an income of £5,000 per year at the end of his life, almost all of which was the accumulated profits of thirty years operation of ironworks in this area and elsewhere.14 Certainly he bought landed property worth over £140,000.15 Jennens family and their successors The Jennens family were originally ironmongers, rising to be among the greatest of the Birmingham ironmongers in the 17th century, with a house in Birmingham High Street, leased in 1705 to Christopher Vaughton.16 William Genens ‘ferear’ occurs in 1565. He or another member of the family was buying bar iron from Sir Francis Willoughby in 1592. There is no indication of them being ironmasters at this period. Pelham suggested that a member of the family held Aston Furnace in 1615, but the evidence (a parish register entry) only establishes that the furnace existed.17 As ‘Birminghams Aston Furnace’ was among the works sold by Thomas Parkes to Middleton, Nye & Co in 1619, the 1615 owner is thus likely to have been Richard Parkes, his father.18 In 1638 John Jennens took a lease of Bromford Forge. He probably took Aston Furnace at the same time, both having probably earlier been held by Thomas Nye and Richard Foley. He held these until his death in 1653, Dictionary of National Biography (1889 edn) xix, citing Richard Baxter, Reliquiæ. 15 Foley, E12/VI/C/1. 16 Birmingham Archives, 234401. 17 Pelham 1950, 147-9. The very existence of the furnace in 1615 was only known from an entry relating to William Cooper of Aston Furnace in Aston Parish Register. Its attribution to Jennens was mere speculation. 18 King 1999, 66. The existence of this firm was unknown until I managed to read TNA, C 3/403/93-4 (with the aid of UV light) and then I realised that was a counterclaim, enabling me to locate further Chancery proceedings, while preparing that article. Johnson cited TNA, C 3/403/93-4 in VCH Staffs ii, but he probably failed to make out much more than the lists of ironworks in it: it is exceedingly stained and thus illegible. 14

Richard Foley’s other works descended to his son Thomas Foley I(W) and then in 1668 to his grandson Philip. The Foley family will be discussed more fully in chapters 24 and 30. Thomas Foley was responsible for some rationalisation involving concentration on larger units and

12 TNA, C 8/41/19; C 2/Chas I/F15/12; for Kingsford: C 2/Chas I/F5/58; cf. C 2/Chas I/F18/59. 13 TNA, SP 16/321/42 (f.80). For Colman, see the two preceding chapters.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II When Humfrey Jennens died in 1690, he left his landed estates including Nether Whitacre to his eldest son Charles (whose son was Handel’s librettist), but Poole Bank Furnace and his other ironmaking interests to another son, John Jennens. In the West Midlands John Jennens merely continued his father’s works. How far this also applies in the East Midlands is less clear: in addition to the works mentioned above he held Barlow Furnace by 1693. He may well have had other forges in the area too.

when he also had Hints Forge. In 1642 John Jennens was involved in litigation concerning the estate of Philip Stubbes, who had sold ironware for him in London.19 Humfrey Jennens succeeded to his father’s business and built Erdington Hall outside Birmingham in 1662. In 1654, he had leased a mill, which became Poole Bank Furnace at Over Whitacre,20 about ten miles east of Birmingham in an area hitherto devoid of ironmaking. Further afield he built in south Derbyshire: Barton Fields Forge in 1669; Hartshorne Furnace (a rebuild) in 1670; and Kirkby Furnace in Nottinghamshire in 1671.21 His purchase in 1681 of the manor of Nether Whitacre was perhaps to secure wood for Poole Bank. He also built Weeford slitting mill in 1677, near his Hints Forge. His father had rented this forge from the Lawley Family of Canwell Hall. He also operated Pleasley Forge (Derbs).22 In 1676 he took over Bromwich, Wednesbury, and Little Aston Forges and Bustleholme Slitting Mill from Philip Foley. Pig iron was provided for these from Coven and Mearheath Furnaces, by means of a contract with Phillip Foley. This arrangement only continued a few years: Coven probably closed a few years later, but modest amounts of pig iron probably continued to be sent from Mearheath even after Philip Foley resigned his partnership there. Hales Furnace (in the Stour valley) was to provide up to 300 tons of pig iron per year, under the 1676 sale, and a boundary between them for buying wood to be settled by the parties’ clerks.23 In 1679 the obligation to buy pig iron was reduced to 350 tons long-weight from Mearheath and 50 tons shortweight from Coven.24 In 1682, there was a new agreement for Jennens to buy 150 tons per year of Hales pig iron and a detailed boundary for buying wood was agreed. This agreement was renewed for 11 years in 1694, when John Downing and his son Zachary leased Hales Furnace, but for only 100 tons per year. This ended in acrimony: the price of iron had risen during the Nine Years’ War, as it was harder (and more expensive) to import foreign iron. The price of charcoal rose with it, but Downing’s contract with Jennens had a fixed price, so that Zachary Downing’s profit margin was squeezed.25 Jennens also bought modest amounts of pig iron from the Foley warehouses on the Severn in 1697-1703 and over 300 tons of Hales pig in 1703-5, when Hales was back in Foley hands,26 but his main source of pig iron must have been new furnaces built in the east Midlands. Just as the Foleys brought pig iron into the Stour valley from elsewhere, so the Jennens and their successors seem to have brought it into the Tame valley from Hartshorne and Poole Bank, and perhaps further afield.27

He was not the only Birmingham ironmonger to be looking to the East Midlands for iron. John Finch of Dudley agreed to buy a hundred and twenty tons of bar iron from George Sitwell in 1663. Thomas Pemberton took Wingerworth Furnace and probably New Mills Forge in north Derbyshire in 1681, but in 1702 these too passed to John Jennens. Meanwhile in 1692 John Wheeler sought on behalf of Philip Foley to recover Bromwich and perhaps other forges, but gave up on finding that Bromwich could not be operated without a watercourse, of which Jennens held the lease. The matter seems to have been compromised by Philip subletting works to Jennens, who agreed not to oppose John Wheeler’s successful attempts to take over Lord Paget’s works on Cannock Chase. John Wheeler’s intervention in the East Midlands (at Staveley and Carburton) in 1695-8 with Philip Foley’s support could be another episode in the rivalry between Jennens and him (with Foley). John Jennens seems to have withdrawn from the iron industry abruptly in 1708. Wherever there is direct evidence, the change seems to be in that year. Even where there is not, works which had been his are invariably found in other hands within a few years of this date. This marks the end of any coherent structure to the iron industry in the area. The works were dispersed among a number of ironmasters. As far as the Jennens family is concerned 1708 marks the end of involvement in the industry. Landed estates (including the Gopsall estate in Leicestershire), which had passed John Jennens’ elder brother, eventually descended through an heiress to Lord Curzon of Penn and so to Earl Howe.28 The most important successors were Riland Vaughton & Co, probably the sons of Jennens’ manager Humfrey Vaughton, who not only took over Aston Furnace and Bromford Forge but also Wingerworth Furnace (Derbs). Aston Furnace’s water supply was supplemented at some point by ‘one of Newcomen and Cawley’s engines’.29 The naming of Newcomen’s assistant John Calley (d.1725) suggests that the engine was built during his life. This in turn may explain why Poole Bank Furnace was replaced by a mill in 1720. Both Humfrey’s sons Christopher and Riland Vaughton died childless, so that the works passed in 1722 to their sisters Dorothy Mander and Phelicia Weaman, who traded as John Mander & Co (from the

19

TNA, C 2/Chas I/J20/19. Leics RO, DE 3541(2), 5 14. 21 See chapter 11 for more detail of these. 22 Johnson 1952, 330. There is no general account of the family’s iron business, but see also chapters 10 and 11. 23 Schafer 1971, 29; Foley E12/KG/2-5. 24 Foley E12/VI/KG/6. 25 TNA, E 112/880/41. 26 Foley a/c. 27 See also chapter 11. 20

Leics RO, DE 3541(2): an abstract of deeds that are probably now in Bucks RO. 29 Dent 1880, 339; I owe this reference to John Kanefsky. 28

330

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country husband of one). John Mander & Co gave up their west Midlands works in 1747 to the Knight Stour Works Partnership, here known as Knight & Spooner. They quickly passed Little Aston Forge on to John Wood.30 The association of Aston and Bromford continued until the closure of the furnace, with Park Slitting Mill at Nechells (now part of Birmingham) being added when Knight & Spooner bought the mill about the same time.

Sampson Lloyd I (see family tree in chapter 15) settled in Birmingham in 1698 and became one of its leading ironmongers, using iron imported through several ports. In 1728, his son Charles took over Birmingham Town Mill, which thenceforth continued both slitting and corn mills. This remained in the family until 1804. Sampson Lloyd II (another son) took over Burton Forge by 1746, adding Melbourne Furnace subsequently, with this went a share in the Burton Boat Company, which operated the Upper Trent Navigation from 1762. Sampson Lloyd & Sons added Powick Forge near Worcester in 1771. The iron business was continued by Sampson [III], Nehemiah, and Charles Lloyd, with Hints Forge being added by 1772 (perhaps from 1768) until 1781. Sampson II established the first Birmingham bank in 1764, followed by a London one in 1770, in each case with partners. After Nehemiah’s death in 1801, the iron business was gradually disposed of: Powick soon after; Birmingham Town Mill and the ironmonger’s trade in 1804; and Burton Forge in 1812. From that time, their main business interest was in Lloyds Bank, but descendants of Sampson III moved back into coal and iron as Lloyds Foster & Co to exploit inherited mines at Wednesbury.39

Other ironmasters The notorious William Wood, hitherto a Wolverhampton ironmonger, was among the partners who erected a new Rushall Furnace in 1717. The coalmaster George Sparrow, who took an underlease in 1723,31 told Sir James Lowther of Whitehaven that they had made pig iron with pitcoal, and from those pigs made bar iron with pitcoal, but this ended in squabbles.32 Wood was also interested in Tern Mill in Shropshire and subsequently in many other ironworks, but Rushall does not seem to have been included in that affair.33 His son John Wood fell out with his father by demanding payment to relinquish a share in his brother’s patent, which William sought to exploit at Frizington in Cumberland.34 In about 1740 John had converted a mill to Wednesbury Field Forge, in which he made iron from scrap.35 John and his brother Charles (who had been deeply involved in the Frizington affair) patented the first potting and stamping process in 1762 and 1763. It is however not clear how far John in fact used this (rather than a scrap process) at his Wednesbury Field and Little Aston Forges.

New technology John Wilkinson built Bradley Furnace (fuelled with coke) in 1757, but abandoned it on 1760, because his landlord Thomas Hoo was failing to provide coal and ironstone, as contracted, leading to the furnace running out of stock. In 1766 Wilkinson bought land for a second furnace at Hallfields in Bradley. This was evidently more successful and was probably followed by the reopening of the first furnace, after Wilkinson settled his dispute with Hoo at some point after 1770. The opening of these furnaces, making pig iron with coke seems to have had a very marked effect on the nearest furnaces, Grange and Rushall. John Churchill, the owner of Rushall Furnace, died bankrupt in 1768. Members of Jordan family, who probably still owned Grange Furnace, were in financial difficulty about the same time. The fate of Cradley Furnace is uncertain, but it may well merely have been blown occasionally to meet the requirements of its associated forges. Aston and Hales Furnaces lasted some years longer due to the Knight Family having built up considerable capital from profitable trading in the middle of the century, but they both latterly operated only intermittently. Accordingly Aston was not closed until the early 1780s.

The subsequent history of Rushall Furnace is not clear, but Richard Baddeley of Birmingham, one of the original partners, was still concerned at his death in 1742. John Churchill of Hints Forge, John Thompson of Abbots Bromley, James Bourne of Rushall Furnace and Henry Bourne of Abbots Bromley leased Bromwich Forge in 1742.36 This probably also represents an ironmasters’ partnership, probably including Bromley Forge in Abbots Bromley, but its existence can only be deduced from passing references. John Churchill was buying wood at Drayton Bassett, probably for Hints Forge by 1739, and had children christened at Rushall in 1731 and Hints from 1733.37 He had a Melbourne Forge in 1748. He renewed the lease at Bromwich in 1762 and John Churchill & Co was still operating Rushall in the 1760s, when Thomas Hoo supplied them with ironstone from Bradley.38 Ultimately John Churchill died a bankrupt, due to his involvement in gunfounding in Sussex (see chapter 2).

The closure of Aston took place in a period when a new generation of coke-burning furnaces opened. These produced large quantities of cheap pig iron. There was no way that the older smaller charcoal furnaces, with their higher fuel costs, could hope to survive. The advent however had little initial effect on finery forges. All remained in use into the coke era, but there were no new finery forges. The exception is Wednesbury Old Forge,

30

SW a/c for 1747. Birmingham Archives, Galton 84; note also King 2018a. 32 Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W2/1/99, 5 Dec. 1738. 33 On which see King 2011b. 34 See King 2014b or chapter 42. 35 Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W2/1/101, 4 Nov. 1740; D/Lons/W2/1/102, 8 Jan 1740[1]. Howitt (1889, 23) seems to be wrong in saying that he inherited for forge from William Wood. 36 VCH Staffs xvii, 32-3. 37 Longleat House Archives, 14E, clxvii, p.90 and passim; J. Martin, pers. comm. 38 TNA, E 112/1969/15; E 112/1969/15. 31

39

Lloyd 1975; and see the various ironworks; also Prankard a/c; Staffs RO, Land Tax, Hints.

331

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II new ironworks that were built after 1815, save in a few cases where there is scope for confusion.

which became a plating forge by 1704. Further works called forges arose during the 18th century, but most were plating forges, for example for making gun barrels or tilting steel or producing wire.

In 1850, the Black Country’s puddling furnaces had an estimated capacity of 9,500 tpw. There were 1,494 puddling furnaces there, rising to a zenith of over 2,000 in 1865, about a third of the British total. These were clearly using pig iron brought in from elsewhere, as well as that made locally. The area was hit hard by the decline in the demand in the mid-1870s for wrought iron for rails and shipbuilding. The production of mild steel, which replaced wrought iron for many purposes, was not significant in the area.47 Many works closed in the 1870s, though some survived until the 1930s or even later. Many of the mines were worked out and keeping water out of those that remained was becoming increasingly difficult, leading to a cessation of coalmining in the coalfield proper in the 1900s. A few works have remained in use for processes connected with the iron, but largely downstream activities. Nevertheless, the Black Country continues to be known for ‘metal bashing’, but this is now more about motor components and such like.

Bromwich Forge was from c.1768 in the hands of John Wright and Richard Jesson,40 who in 1773 patented an improved version of John and Charles Wood’s potting and stamping process. This refined pig iron without the use of the large quantities of charcoal that were required by the older process merely to provide heat.41 This helped the iron industry to break out of the straight jacket of dependence on charcoal, and thus was an important factor in leading to the industrial revolution. When others began to infringe their patent, John Wilkinson negotiated a royalty scheme for this, shortly before 1781.42 However, Wilkinson (at Bradley) was the only other person to use it in this immediate area before 1785.43 However, by c.1790, three more ironworks had melting fineries (for the new process) associated with new coke furnaces: Deepfields at Coseley, the Hallens’ Wednesbury Furnace, and perhaps Tipton (Dudley Port); as well as Swindon and Cradley in the Stour valley.44

Manufactures

The puddling process seems to have been introduced to the area by my ancestor Joseph Firmstone, a close connection of the Guests of Dowlais at Merthyr Tydfil, who returned to the Midlands in the early 1790s, to be a consultant to William Johnson (Wilkinson’s manager at Bradley). He then worked at Capponfields. He bought land at Highfields, nearby but in Sedgley Parish in 1796, where he built his own ironworks, probably in 1799.45 How quickly puddling was adopted by others is not clear, but Leabrook Ironworks had puddling furnaces by 1803.46

The Black Country was (indeed is) a major manufacturing area: guns in Birmingham and Wednesbury; locks, latterly concentrated at Willenhall, but earlier more widespread; swords at Birmingham; saddlers’ ironmongery at Walsall; nails in most places; and so on.48 Japanning was introduced to Wolverhampton in the late 1770s.49 Sword cutlers were a Birmingham speciality. They needed blade mills, which are beyond the scope of this book, but compiling details of such mills and who owned them might well throw light on that trade. There was also a wide range of plating forges, also steel furnaces and wire mills, so that the list of ‘other ironworks’ in the gazetteer (below) is a long one. It includes some mills that may have been more concerned with rolling other metals for the toy trade and polishing metal, rather than working iron.

With the introduction of steam power as a result of the invention by James Watt of a more effective engine, the industry ceased to depend on rivers for power and new refining plant was built on sites adjoining the coke furnaces, of which there were a considerable number. Many of the new ironworks were built close to canals. As a result in the depression that followed the end of the Napoleonic War, some of the remaining forges were converted to other uses, such as corn mills. 23 separate ironworks appear in the gazetteer below, with some 37 furnaces built before 1815. In the subsequent period, there was a great growth in iron production, including many forges with puddling furnaces and rolling mills. The scale of the expansion was very great, too great for any simple synthesis to be provided here. I have sought to be strict in saying little of

The gun trade has been singled out for slightly fuller treatment here, because it used mills that were sometimes called ‘forges’. These need to be identified as such, to show they were not finery forges. They were also called boring mills from another of their functions, which was in the production of barrels for pistols, carbines and muskets. The iron was forged into a long thin strip called a skelp. A gun barrel forger then formed this into a barrel, spirally for better guns, but straight for the cheapest Africa guns. The barrel then needed to be bored and ground off on the outside, again using a mill, commonly in the same premises as the forge. Other aspects of manufacture were minutely divided into different trades, each making or undertaking some process on gun components. This is a typical case of the division of labour in Birmingham

40 The precise date is not known: 1768 would fit with John Churchill retaining it until his death. 41 English Patent, no. 1054 42 Birmingham Archives, MS 3147/3/5/28 (formerly B&W, Box 36), M. Boulton to J. Watt, 28 July 1781; King 2012, 110-1. 43 King 2012, 110. 44 King 2012, 128-9 and q.v. 45 Obituary, Staffordshire Advertiser, 30 Jan. 1830; Shill 2008, 47-50. 46 Shill 2008, 48.

47 48 49

332

King 2018b; Shill 2008; Gale 1966. Rowlands 1975; cf. Allen 1929. Shaw 2010.

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country

Gazetteer

trades.50 This was largely a Birmingham trade. The sole significant exception is John Willetts of Wednesbury Forge who was making in 1754 his skelps in a rolling mill.51 Only some six firms were ordnance contractors for gun barrels and locks during the Severn Years’ and American Wars. In earlier wars, the Board of Ordnance had contracted with the London Gunmakers Company.52 It is debateable how great the early impact was of the much cited 1692-3 Birmingham gunmakers company, supported by Sir Richard Newdigate of Arbury.53 However it is probable that Birmingham was providing components for guns in the 1690s and 1700s.54 Joseph Farmer of Birmingham provided carbines in 1708 and locks in 1718 and apparently had a boring mill at Minworth from 1711.55 James Farmer and Edward Jordan were Ordnance Board contractors in the 1730s and during the War of Austrian Succession, but there were other contractors, who cannot be identified with the town, such as Charles Pickfatt of Holborn.56 However in the run up to the Seven Years’ War, all the barrel and lock suppliers (apart from Willetts) were from Birmingham: Oughton, Jordan, Hadley, Galton, and Farmer,57 joined by Richard Edge, Whateley & Son and Harris and Barker, who replaced Hadley later in the war.58 Thomas Hadley and then his son remained active in the trade until at least 1776.59 He was bankrupt in 1781.60 In these two wars Birmingham provided components to the Board, which then employed contractors in London to rough-stock them and set them up. On the other hand, in the French Revolutionary War and beyond there were more makers, who commonly provided guns complete.61

Charcoal ironworks Aston Furnace or Birminghams Aston Furnace

[1] SP069889

The furnace was on Hockley Brook, a tributary of River Tame, in Aston juxta Birmingham. The first reference is from the parish register for 1615, but it may well be considerably older. A Bromford Forge dates back at least to 1601, but it has no other furnace that is obviously associated with it, so that this furnace may well be of the same age. The furnace belonged to Thomas Parkes until 1619; then Middleton Nye & Co 1619 to 1622; then Thomas Nye 1622 until his death in 1631 (with Richard Foley as partner by 1628); then Richard Foley; John Jennens by 1641 (probably from 1638) until his death in 1653; Humfrey Jennens (d.1690) from 1653; John Jennens 1690 to c.1708; Christopher and Riland Vaughton by 1711 to 1722; John Mander and William (then Phelicia) Weaman 1722 to 1747; and Knight Stour Works partnership 1747 to 1786, when it closed. It was among the last charcoal furnaces in Britain to produce coldshort iron from coal measures ironstone; certainly the last in the Black Country. By then almost all other charcoal furnaces were producing tough pig iron from Cumbrian or Forest of Dean ores. The furnace was subsequently converted to a paper mill and continued to be used for industrial purposes. In the late 20th century the area was again redeveloped and there are no obvious remains on the site.

General Sources: Pelham 1950; Johnson 1950; 1951; 1952; Gale 1966; Schafer 1971; 1978; Rowlands 1975; King 1999a; 2008; VCH Staffs ii, 108-22; Wise & Johnson 1950; Shill 2008. My synthesis of the 19th century differs significantly from Shill’s at times. Unfortunately Shill’s book lacks detailed references, so that it is difficult to tell whose account is better. 1815 statistics are from Butler 1954, 242-51. Where there were several works in close proximity in the 19th century, as at Tipton and Goldshill, it is often difficult to determine which works is referred to. The synthesis presented here may thus not be quite correct in such cases. For later history see Timmins 1865; Allen 1929; Kinvig et al. 1950.

Size 1717 400 tpa. In 1747 to 1770 it usually made over 700 tpa when in blast; often over 900 tons; once over 1000 tpa. This is a substantial increase in productivity, and may reflect the provision of ‘one of Newcomen and Cawley’s engines’ (reported by Dent). The provision of a furnace is not mentioned in the surviving accounts, and the naming of Cawley [John Calley, d.1725] points to it being an early one. The actual date may be indicated by Pool Bank Furnace being leased out in 1720, probably to be put to another use. Vaughton & Co do not seem to have altered the number of forges they had, and would still have needed as much pig iron as previously. Angerstein described and drew the furnace in 1754: it was built of brick with flying buttresses at the corners and made 17 tpw (Angerstein’s Diary, 33-4). From 1765 the furnace was only blown one year in two or two years out of three. There was probably a long blast in 1778 and 1779 which was only marginally profitable. The profit of the final blast in 1783 did not cover the losses of two previous years of idleness.

50

Hopkins 1998, 6-10. Angerstein’s Dairy, 49-50; Belford 2010. 52 TNA, WO 47/27-32. 53 Court 1938, 142-5; Bailey 1988, 30-3. 54 Satia 2018, 31-8. 55 TNA, WO 47/32, 60; Satia 2018, 34 and see Minworth. 56 Bailey 1988, 80 92ff; TNA, WO 51/157, 148 151; Satia 2018, 42-3 49-51 etc. 57 TNA, WO 47/47, 38. 58 TNA, WO 47/54, 8. 59 Satia 2018, 112-3 116-8. 60 London Gazette, no. 12315, 4 (20 Jul. 1782). 61 On the gun trade generally see Bailey 1988; Williams 2009; 2010; Smith 1967; Behagg 1998; Williams 2009; 2010; Satia 2018. Satia 2018 suggests that my account may be over-simplified. I found her book rather too late to make full use of, but she has not identified all Galton’s mills. Note also Goodman 1865; Young 1935; Dunham 1955. 51

Associations From 1619 or earlier on it was always held with Bromford Forge, being in common ownership with it from 1656. From then until 1747, the furnace belonged to a large business, managed from Birmingham, stretching north into the east Midlands. From 1747 it was the Birmingham branch of the Stour Works Partnership. 333

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Trading It primarily supplied Bromford and other associated forges, particularly Wolverley Old and Cookley Forges in 1755-63, but also Richard Croft [of Cradley] in 1754-5.

Sources Lloyd 1975, 101-124 176 & 214-5; Flinn 1959a, 24; VCH Warks vii, 263; Birmingham Archives, Gooch 253; Birmingham Archives, Rate books; M. Boulton 220/139.

Accounts Full annual accounts: SW a/c 1747 to 1786.

Bromford Forge, Erdington

Sources King 1999a, 64-8; TNA, C 3/403/93 & 94; C 2/ Chas I/G49/51; C 2/Chas I/M76/52; C 2/Chas I/M57/66; C 2/Chas I/I3/27; C 2/Chas I/G49/51; C 2/Chas I/P80/51; C 8/41/19; SP 16/321/no.42 (f.80) [‘Birming-ham Aston Warr’] (1636); Birmingham Archives, 206571; Holte 18-23 27-28 and 34-39; Ince 1991b, 20-22 8992; Angerstein’s Diary, 32-3; VCH Warks vii, 259; Dent 1880, 339.

This was on River Tame east of Birmingham, on the boundary between Castle Bromwich and Erdington on the site of a medieval corn mill. The site is still in use for industrial purposes. The landlord in 1638 was Essex Devereux, a descendant of Robert Devereux Earl of Essex. As Essex had ironworks on other estates, it is possible that he was responsible for its erection sometime in the late 16th century. This must not be confused with Bromford Forge in Oldbury (see Other ironworks, below).

Birmingham Town Mill

[2] SP07638635

The mill, the ancient manorial mill of Birmingham, stood in Mill Lane just off Digbeth and was driven by a leat from the river Rea. Mill Lane may well represent the dam. It was a slitting mill occupied by James Farmer in 1720, and by Joseph Farmer, a Birmingham ironmonger and gunmaker in 1728. It was then let on long lease to Charles Lloyd (d.1741); followed by his widow Sarah; then by 1760 by Sampson Lloyd II (d.1779). The firm became Sampson Lloyd and Son in 1766; and from about 1771 Sampson, Nehemiah, and Charles Lloyd. The family sold their iron merchant’s business in 1804 to Gibson & Co, who as Shore and Gibson (ironmasters) held it in 1808, but the name Tomlinson appears in the town rate books from 1804. The mill was probably demolished on the expiry of a 99-year lease in 1827, and nothing remains of it.

[3] SP115898

Edward Sutton Lord Dudley and his brother John Sutton [or Dudley] had Bromford Forge in 1601. The presence of Roger ‘Mowberi’ [Maybury] in 1599 implies that it was a little older. It was certainly among the works sold by Thomas Parkes in 1619. He presumably owned it in succession to his father Richard and possibly his grandfather Thomas. After that it was successively owned by Middleton Nye & Co 1619 to 1622; Thomas Nye 1622 to at least 1628 (d.1631), with Richard Foley as his partner by 1628. Foley owned it in 1633 and 1636; John Jennens (d.1653) from 1638; Humfrey Jennens (d.1690) from1653; John Jennens 1690 to c.1708; Christopher and Riland Vaughton 1711 or before to 1722 (death of survivor); John Mander and William, then Phelicia, Weaman (their brothers-in-law and sister) 1722 to 1747; Knight Stour Works partnership 1747 to 1812 (local partner: Abraham Spooner – d.178, then Isaac Spooner); then Isaac Spooner from 1812. In 1816 machinery was introduced to press nails. In 1826-9 it was held by John Bailey & Co, paper makers, whose partnership was dissolved in 1829. In 1833 and 1845 Abel Rollason was tenant, but his partnership with James Rollason as rollers of metal was dissolved in 1835. Rollason was sharing the mill with wiredrawers in 1850, but then entered that trade. In 1956 Rollason Wire Co occupied it.

Size Apparently over 450 tpa (see trading). In 1754 it slit 17 tpw Swedish iron, 600 tpa in all (Angerstein’s Diary, 180). It is possible that the addition of a slitting mill to the corn mill was in Joseph Farmer’s time, but he is more likely to have used it for boring guns. However there continued to be a corn mill as well as a slitting mill for much of the time the Lloyds had it, if not all. Associations The Lloyds at various times owned Melbourne Furnace, and Burton, Hints, and Powick Forges (see chapter introduction).

Size 1633 perhaps 2 tpw [110 tpa]; 1717 200 tpa; 1718 250 tpa; 1736 200 tpa; 1750 300 tpa. Actual production after 1750 almost always exceeded 300 tpa and sometimes 400 tpa. 1790 2 fineries 1 chafery.

Trading Modest amounts of iron were sent from the Stour Valley forges for slitting from 1732 to 1749; 89 tpa sent in 1731 was never subsequently exceeded (SW a/c). From 1728 to 1739 Sampson Lloyd bought large quantities of imported iron from Graffin Prankard of Bristol. This amounted in 1736 to 203 tons and in 1737 to 274 tons, all Russian, which was probably mostly slit, but in earlier years there was usually some Stockholm iron (Prankard a/c). He wrote in 1736, ‘I have met with upwards of 450 tons of ‘Peterburgh’ [iron] this season, but I bought it at several ports ... [and] I am yet short of it.’ His suppliers included Richard Sykes, the leading Hull iron merchant (Lloyd 1975, 117-18).

Associations Always held with Aston furnace probably from before 1619. Trading From 1747 to 1783 pig iron was mainly obtained from Aston furnace, which was always in the same hands from as far back as 1619. Much of its production was slit at associated Nechells Park slitting mill from 1747. Accounts Full annual accounts: SW a/c 1747-1812.

334

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country Sources King 1999a, 64-8; Awty 2019, 725; Dudley Archives, DE/2/31; TNA, C  3/403/93-94; C  2/Chas I/ M76/52; C  2/Chas I/M57/66; C  2/Chas I/I3/27; C  2/ Chas I/G49/51; C 2/Chas I/P80/51; C 2/Chas I/F15/12; C 8/41/19; SP16/Chas I/321/no.42 (f.80) (1636) ‘Bromage, Warr’; Birmingham Archives, 348158; 41352; Holte 8897; Angerstein’s Diary, 36; Ince 1991b; VCH Staffs, ii, 115; VCH Warks vii, 256; cf. Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, 7 August 1826; 6 April 1835; 6 April 1835. Bromwich Forge, West Bromwich

Size There were two fineries in 1597 and also in 1669; 1633 perhaps 2 tpw [110 tpa]; 1669-74 average 170 tpa; 1717 80 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 180 tpa; 1750 300 tpa; 1790 1 chafery 1 melting finery and 1 balling furnace. Wright and Jesson developed a stampering (or potting and stamping) process, which they patented in 1773 for making wrought iron using pitcoal rather than charcoal, involving heating the iron in a reverberatory furnace in clay pots. The process was described by Marchant de la Houlière in 1775 (Chaloner 1948). This was widely adopted. Richard Jesson patented in 1783 a second process, where piles (ceramic tiles) were used instead of pots. By 1785 the forge had become a rolling and slitting mill and was a slitting mill in Bache’s hands shortly before its closure. However, wrought iron was evidently still being made in 1815.

[4] SP028927

The Old Forge (as it was locally known) was on the river Tame adjoining Sandwell Park and is within the area of the Sandwell Valley Project. A leat was taken off the river some distance above at Jone Mill and filled a large shallow pound, whose remains are apparent. It was built in 1585 by Thomas Parkes who held it until his death in 1602. He was followed by: Richard Parkes (d.1618); Thomas Parkes 1619; Middleton Nye & Co 1619 to 1622; Thomas Nye 1622 on (d.1631); Richard Foley 1625 until at least 1636 (c. 1640); Thomas Foley I(W) c.1640 to 1668; Philip Foley 1668 to 1676; Humfrey Jennens 1676 to 1690 (death); John Jennens 1690 to 1708(?); Zachary Downing 1708 to 1710 (bankrupt); Richard Geast of Handsworth 1711 to 1720 or later; and Thomas Powell of Dudley in 1725. A 12-year lease was assigned to Edward Kendall, who surrendered the forge in 1742. John Churchill of Hints Forge, John Thompson of Abbots Bromley, James Bourne of Rushall Furnace and Henry Bourne of Abbots Bromley leased it in 1742. John Churchill renewed the lease alone in 1762, but was bankrupt in 1768. From about then until the 1810s John Wright and Richard Jesson and their descendants used it. The forge was not explicitly mentioned among their works in 1809 (when Joseph Jesson retired), but perhaps Joseph Jesson was not a partner here. However, forges and mills in West Bromwich are mentioned in the continued partnership as Richard Jesson & Co, though not in 1814 when the partnership of Richard Jesson and Richard Wright (both deceased), Thomas Jesson and Samuel Dawes was dissolved. By then they had moved to Bromford Mill at Oldbury. In 1818, the partnership between Joseph Halford and Charles Bache was dissolved. Bache renewed his lease for six years in 1823. His partnership with Owen Johnson and John White at Great Bridge and here was dissolved in 1824. Charles Bache (iron bedstead maker) of West Bromwich was bankrupt in 1826. It probably closed at one of these points. By 1836, it was converted to a corn mill.

Associations Richard Geast was probably related to Nicholas Geast who acted as a guarantor for Zachary Downing at Cradley prior to Downing’s bankruptcy. Churchill & Co probably held Rushall Furnace and Hints and Abbots Bromley Forges, perhaps also other forges. Wright & Jesson had Wrens Nest Forges in Shropshire from 1775 and built Barnetts Leasow Furnace in 1797, but seem to have disposed of these in c.1814, to concentrate their ironmaking interests at Bromford Mill in Oldbury. This no doubt reflects their move to puddling. Trading From 1668 to 1705 some of the pig iron used came from Hales. Later it would have come from Cradley and Rushall. 1711 to 1716 Nicholas Geast bought up to 70 tpa pig iron from Bewdley warehouse (Foley a/c). Wright & Jesson bought pig iron from Old Park Furnace in Shropshire 1790-1802, once as much as 320 tpa. In 1811 Jesson, Wright, and Jesson bought 50 tons and in 1815 Jesson, Wright & Co bought the same amount (OP a/c). Their main source of supply was no doubt their own Barnetts Leasow Furnace beside the River Severn. However about 1803 they bought Horsehay pig iron for West Bromwich Forge (HH a/c). Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1667 to 1672. Sources Dilworth 1976, 40-52 (a very full account); King 1999a, 64-8; VCH Staffs xvii, 32-3; Staffs Historical Collections 1932, 299; TNA, C 3/403/93-94; C 2/Chas I/ M76/52; C 2/Chas I/M57/66; C 2/Chas I/I3/27; C 2/Chas I/P80/51; C 2/Chas I/P36/62; C 2/Chas I/F13/44; C 2/Chas I/F15/12; C 8/41/19; Foley E12/VI/KG series; English Patents, nos. 1054 1396; London Gazette, no. 16865, 521 (8 Mar. 1814 – not mentioned); no. 17387, 1442 (11 Aug. 1818); no. 17999, 222 (7 Feb. 1824); 18236, 832 (8 Apr. 1826); Johnson 1950, 40; Schafer 1971, 29; Shill 2008, 33 38; Prince 1924, 128.

There was a furnace by 1619. Although not referred to in 1597 it presumably existed, being alleged to be forty years old in 1629. Richard Foley undertook to put it in repair in 1625, but never seems to have paid more than a nominal rent for it. It is unlikely to have been used for long. It is said to have stood in a meadow south west of the pool. It probably used water from a brook flowing out of Sandwell Park and there seem to have been difficulties over its water supply.

Bustleholme Slitting Mill

[5] SP024948

There were a corn mill with blade mill driven by the river Tame, until the latter was converted to a slitting mill about 1630, when let to Sir Edward Peyto and Roger Fowke. The Peyto share was held by Thomas Foley 335

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II by 1649; then Philip Foley took over from his father in 1668. The Fowke share was held by Gerrard Fowke in 1649 and by his widow in 1669. Philip Foley had it alone 1669 to 1676; followed by: Humfrey Jennens (d.1690) from 1676; John Jennens 1690 to c.1708; John Lowe 1709 to 1732; then Jesson Lowe (d.1758); then his brother Alexander Lowe in 1765. Moses Harper, who was later occupant of Wolverley Lower Mill, was at the mill perhaps as Jesson Lowe’s clerk, followed by William Fallowfield. Charles Leonard had it by c.1770 until 1804 (bankrupt). It was advertised to let in 1813, and occupied by William Chapman a farmer and bayonet maker in 1818; then from 1819 by Thomas and William Morris ironmasters of Bradley, probably as a rolling mill and then G.B. Thorneycroft. About 1830 the landlord converted it back to a corn mill. There are no obvious remains.

John Leveson obtained licence to use ‘cole’ [charcoal] made from timber in Cheslyn Hay to make iron in 1563, but nothing else is known of this period. A furnace certainly existed in 1619, when it was sold by Thomas Parkes to Middleton Nye & Co. When Thomas Nye took over ironworks further south, he continued the mines here but not the furnace. The furnace was in the hands of Richard Foley in 1627 and 1636. The mill with a decayed furnace was sold in 1641 by the widow and son of Thomas Bamford. Ironstone mines at Cheslyn Hay and Great Wyrley were operated to supply ironstone to Coven Furnace for Thomas Bamford; then for Thomas Foley I(W); and then for Philip Foley. This represents the continuation of the mine, probably to supply Coven Furnace, after the closure of Cheslyn Hay Furnace. Richard Foley was mining ironstone from 1627. Walter Colman was for a time his partner in a coal mine, then operated alone. He claimed a contribution to the cost of his sough, alleging that Foley’s ironstone was being unwatered by it.

Size Only part of the mill was a slitting mill for much of its life. In 1630 Richard Foley promised to supply 6 tpw (i.e. about 300 tpa) for slitting; in 1667-72 it slit about 525 tpa. These figures may be compared with figures of the same order for Wolverley Lower Forge, which similarly (until the 1730s) had other activities besides slitting. A corn mill continued until after 1709. In 1732 this had become an oil mill, still existing in 1758. In 1745 a forge is referred to. It was probably being used as a blade mill in 1818, but the 1813 capacity, of 1500-2000 tons per year surely indicates that all the power was used for slitting.

Associations In the Parkes’ ironworks, this furnace is most likely to have worked with Hints Forge. Thomas Bamford and then Thomas Foley held Brewood forges. Sources Cal. Patent Rolls 1560-3, 478; Schubert 1957, 391; King 1999a, 64-8; TNA, C 3/403/93-94; C 2/Chas I/ M76/52; C 2/Chas I/M57/66; C 2/Chas I/I3/27; C 2/Chas I/I31/46; C 2/Chas I/G49/51; C 2/Chas I/P80/51; & 94; SP 16/Chas I/321 no 42 (f. 80); Staffs RO, D 1336/1; TNA, C 2/Chas I/C39/45; C 2/Chas I/F6/59; C 3/425/19; VCH Staffs ii, 115.

Associations Roger Fowke was also concerned in Wilden Mill in the 1630s. Charles Leonard was for a time also a partner at Weeford Mill and Little Aston Forge.

Dudley (Coneygree) Furnace

The exact site is unknown save that it was in Lord Dudley’s Conigree (sic) Park. There is no evidence that it was on the site of the later Coneygre Furnace at Tipton. It is described as being in a thirty acre close called the Paddock and abutting lands in Tipton. As the Park extended from Coneygree Road and Park Lane, Tipton to the summit of Castle Hill, there are a lot of places it could have been. The most likely sites are at the northern end of the Park where Castle Mill or Shirts Mill stood. Near this was a much smaller parcel later called the Paddock. This site would have been disturbed in building the Dudley Canal. Alternatively it could have been near the Parker Brothers’ later Tipton Green Furnace at about SO953920. Any previous furnace on this site would have been destroyed in building their furnace. A furnace and forge in Dudley were held under Lord Dudley by Humphrey Lowe in 1611. The furnace was leased by Lord Dudley to William Ward of London in 1631, but this was probably an element of Ward’s actions when he paid Lord Dudley’s debts and took over the Dudley estates, after his son married Lord Dudley’s heiress, his granddaughter, rather than an operating lease. The furnace is referred to in 1642 but not thereafter. Richard Foley was mining in the area and could have rented the furnace. This is not identical to the furnace that John Finch had at Dudley, which was near Blowers Green (see next chapter).

Trading It was probably slitting for all local forges. Jesson Lowe occasionally bought cast goods from Hales 1727 to 1759 (SW a/c). Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1667-72. Sources Dilworth 1976, 58-67 (a very full account); Price 1969; King 1999a, 73; VCH Staffs xvii, 32; TNA, C 2/Chas I/F15/12; C 78/626/7 bis; C 8/41/19; PROB 11/839/377; Foley E12/VI/KG series; Birmingham Gazette, 16 Aug. 1813; Staffs RO, D 845/4-5. Cheslyn Hay Furnace or Whitnall Furnace

[7] near SO948917

[6] SJ968089

An ironworks at Whitnall is mentioned in the text of the report of Richard Foley’s prosecution in 1636. Whitnall Mill was later let to a member of the Wedge Family and thereafter known as Wedge’s Mill (see other ironworks below). This became William Gilpin’s edged tool works and has thus been located from the tithe award. The site is on the Saredon brook a tributary of the River Penk, very near the boundary of Cheslyn Hay. Cheslyn Hay Furnace and Whitnall Furnace are therefore presumably identical. There are no remains. 336

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country Sources Schubert 1957, 374; TNA, STAC 8/202/3; Dudley Archives, DE/7/4/40 & 47. Ettingshall

Bromwich Forge in 1742, perhaps already holding Rushall Furnace and possibly (Abbots) Bromley Forge; and certainly later Melbourne Forge. He was also a gunfounder at Robertsbridge in the Weald, from 1754 and this ultimately proved to be his downfall for at the end of the Seven Years he had contracted for wood at a price dependent on the wartime price of ordnance, rather than the reduced peacetime one (TNA, WO 47/81, 236). Weeford slitting mill about a mile upstream was probably in the same hands until the mid-18th century. Joseph Webster was a wiredrawer with mills at Perry Barr and Sutton Coldfield. He had previously rented Longnor Forge in Shropshire.

[8] unknown [near SO9396]

There seems to have been an early furnace at Ettingshall, but its very existence is only known from the burial of its founder James Tyler in 1604. Ettingshall was in Sedgley parish and the park was part of the Dudley estates, so that this was probably one of Lord Dudley’s ironworks. There is also reference to a ‘finor’ in the parish in 1610. On the other hand, references in it to hammermen in 1578-85 may refer to journeymen nailers or smiths. Sources VCH Staffs ii, 113 from Sedgley Psh Reg. (Staffs Psh Reg. Soc.); Awty 2019, 723. Hints Forge

Trading In 1654 Humphrey Jennens bought 2,500 cords in Drayton lordship with condition that no ironworks should be built at Fazeley or elsewhere in Drayton, apparently for delivery within a year (HMC Bath (Longleat) iv, 245). John Churchill started buying cordwood in and around Drayton Bassett by 1739 (Longleat House Archives, 14E, clxvii, p.90 and passim). Sampson Lloyd and Son 1767-74 and then S., N., and C. Lloyd 1776-8 had pig iron sent by wagon from Horsehay to Norton Canes. On one occasion this amounted to 423 tons in 18 months, but possibly some of this was for Burton Forge (HH a/c).

[9] SK167023

The forge stood on the Black or Bourne Brook west of Tamworth. It was built 1592 by Sir Francis Willoughby (d.1597) to operate with his furnace at Middleton (Warks), about 4 miles away. In 1595 he transferred it to his son Percival Willoughby, who in 1598 sublet it to Edward Leighe of Rushall for 5 years. In 1606 it was described as in the tenure of Sir Percival Willoughby, but must have passed to the Parkes family, as it was among the works that passed in 1619 from Thomas Parkes to Middleton Nye & Co; then to Thomas Nye 1622 to 1628 or later (d.1631). His usual successor was Richard Foley, but the next thing known is that John Jennens was occupying it at his death in 1654. It probably then followed the same descent as Aston Furnace and Bromford Forge for many years, but its precise history remains obscure. John Churchill was buying wood in the area by 1739 and living at Hints by the early 1730s. He had a lease (perhaps by renewal) of the forge and several farms from 1753, until his bankruptcy and death in 1768. The leased farms were sold to William Wyatt, but apparently not the forge, which Sampson Lloyd & Son certainly occupied by 1772 and until 1781. They were followed by Joseph Webster II 1782 to 1788; Phoebe Webster 1788 to 1805; and Joseph Webster III 1805 to 1812. From 1812 the premises were occupied by Charles Proctor, probably a local farmer. The forge was not in use by the time of the tithe award, but there were still some cottages which have since disappeared. The site is described in Pastscape.

Accounts 1591 to 1595 Nottingham UL, Middleton (microfilm Staffs RO, Mf. 12-15). Production costs in 1770s (compared to Powick): Clinch, ‘Powick’, 40 from Lloyd Mss, C99/11. Sources Nottingham UL, Middleton 5/165/various; Mi 5/169/72; Mi 6/178/17-19; Smith 1967, 90-103; Staffs RO, D 1344/1 f.30v-32v & 61r ff; TNA, C 3/403/93 & 94; C 2/Chas I/M76/52; C 2/Chas I/M57/66; C 2/Chas I/ I3/27; C 2/Chas I/G49/51; C 2/Chas I/P80/51; Harrison & Willis 1879, 141-52 ‘Hivles’ (printing TNA, PROB 11/237/23); Hull UL, DDFa 27/2 23-25; Knight 142, 1746/7, p.6; VCH Staffs ii, 112; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 25 Apr. 1768; 1 Jan. 1769 (address); Land tax, Hints; Birmingham Chronicle, 17 Oct. 1822; Tamworth Herald, 29 Dec. 1928; Pastscape 306735; cf. Webster 1880, 75; Horsfall 1971, 47 57 & 68; Hints parish registers (Staffs Psh Reg. Soc.). Other references to John Churchill of Hints include: Dilworth, 1976, 21-2 and 91 (where the date 1788 for his death is a misprint); Warks RO, CR 976/11 (cordwood in 1752); Cleere & Crossley 1995, 208 210 352-53; TNA, WO 47/81, 236); Hodgkinson thesis, 23-27; Hodgkinson 1996b; Derby Mercury, 28 Aug. 1767.

Size From 1590 to 1594 it was making about 77 tpa on average, using a single finery. The wood bought in 1654 would be enough to refine 300 tons of bar iron, but it was not necessarily all used here. In May 1774 the forge made 27 tons of blooms [325 tpa] (Owen 1978, 238); 1717 200 tpa; 1718 250 tpa; 1736 160 tpa; 1750 250 tpa; 1790 2 fineries. A recollection was recorded in 1928 of iron ore (sic) being carried from Fazeley Wharf about 100 years before.

Holford Mill see Perry Forge Little Aston Forge [10] SK09150180 or Aston or Asson Forge in Shenstone parish The forge stood on the headwaters of the Bourne or Black Brook which joins the River Tame at Tamworth, about a mile north of Little Aston. There is little remnant of the

Associations Until 1608 the forge was operated with Middleton Furnace and then probably with Cheslyn Hay Furnace. John Churchill with partners leased (West) 337

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II forge except a weir. Besides a pool at the forge there were two pools above the forge one at Little Aston Mill (see the next paragraph) and Bourne Pool at c.SP067994. The forge was probably built shortly after Thomas Fowke bought the manor of Little Aston in 1574, probably initially as a bloomery forge. In 1600 it was ruinous when let to Thomas Parkes (d.1602), who was empowered to rebuild it with one or two fineries. He was followed by his son Richard Parkes (d.1618) and grandson Thomas; then by: Middleton Nye & Co 1619 to 1622; and Thomas Nye from 1622 (d.1631); perhaps with Richard Foley from c.1625 (compare Bromwich); then Thomas Foley I(W) had it by 1653 to 1669; Philip Foley 1669 to 1676; then Humfrey Jennens (d.1690); and John Jennens 1690 to 1692 on (probably to c.1708: cf. Bromwich and Wednesbury). Its descent is then obscure, but was probably the same as Aston Furnace and Bromford Forge (Riland Vaughton & Co, then John Mander & Co) until 1746, when the latter sold it with them to Edward Knight & Co. They immediately resold it to John Wood. John Wood then had it in 1746 to 1772 or later (he died in 1779) and was followed by Samuel Beach by 1781. Beach was bankrupt, but his debts were settled in 1788 and this and Weeford Mill were run by Beach, Leonard, & Warwick until 1801. Charles Plimley (or & Co) had it 1803 to 1824; then it was void. A Mr Allday had a wire mill in Little Aston in 1827 and objected to a farmer diverting water to irrigate his meadow. Green and Price are said to have held it about 1790; it is possible they were Samuel Beach’s partners a few years earlier (compare Weeford).

to have been supplied from Aston Furnace or Rushall or from Jennens’ east Midland furnaces. Beach, Warwick & Leonard bought parings from Kings Bromley Mill in the late 1790s (KB l/b).

A standing but ruinous mill building at SK009089 is reported as being a forge with chafery (West Midlands Archaeology 22 (1979), 79), but this was Little Aston Mill: early maps mark the forge further downstream. It is most unlikely this was ever a forge and must be treated as a case of misinterpretation. A more credible history of this mill is given by Hiscock (1986, 71-2). The statement that a furnace was added in the 17th century is evidently due to a failure to appreciate the scale of the Foley business (ibid., quoting Dent & Hill, Historic Staffordshire, (1895), which is not a satisfactory source, but was also quoted by Hackwood (1899, 31).

Accounts 1591 to 1595: Nottingham UL, Middleton mss. (microfilm in Staffs RO, Mf. 12-15).

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1667-72. Sources Gould & Morton 1967 (but Mrs Fowke was not a partner here); King 1999a, 64-8; Birmingham Archives, 276732 276756 276758 276727 & 276723; Johnson 1950, 40; Foley E12/VI/KAc/8 9 11 & 15; E12/VI/KBc/2; E12/ VI/KG/2; Knight 142, 1746/7, p.6; VCH Staffs ii, 112; Hiscock 1986, 67-70; Hull UL, DDFa 27/2 23-27; Land tax, Shenstone; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 3 Dec. 1788; 13 Aug. 1827; Pastscape 304525. Middleton Furnace

[11] possibly c.SP177981

The furnace was probably on Langley Brook in Middleton. It is said to have been quarter or half a mile from Middleton New Park; this suggests a site close to Middleton village perhaps below Pool Meadow (SP174980). A hammer mill was built in about 1570, being replaced by a furnace that was operated in connection with Hints forge from about 1592 until 1608 or later, for Sir Francis Willoughby (d.1597), then Sir Percival Willoughby. In 1598 the works were let to Edward Leighe of Rushall for 5 years. It is likely that he replaced the furnace with one at Rushall. In 1596 wood from Middleton Park was sold to William Whorwood and Thomas Parkes, again suggesting disuse.

Size The accounts show the furnace to have been blown in for the second time in 1592. Details of the production are scanty, but substantially the whole of the production was sent to Hints. Ore came from the Delves near Walsall. Assuming a yield of 30 cwt. sow iron per ton of bar iron, the furnace would have made about 115 tpa. This is considerably less than the original plan of making 120 tpa bar iron which would have needed 180 tpa pig iron. Sources Nottingham UL, Mi 5/165/various; Mi 6/178/1719; Smith 1968, 90-103; Schubert 1957, 382; VCH Staffs ii, 112; Pelham 1950, 142; King 1999a, 64n.

Size 1667-72 average 110 tpa; 1717 & 1718 100 tpa; 1736 50 tpa; 1750 100 tpa; 1790 1 finery 1 chafery.

Park Mill or Nechells Park Mill

Associations From 1600 to 1708 it was in the same hands as Bromwich. In 1620 it was probably associated with Rushall Furnace. It was occupied with Aston Furnace and Bromford Forge by Humfrey Jennens and his successors, probably continuously from 1676 to 1746. John Wood also had Wednesbury Field Forge. After his time, Weeford slitting mill again was in the same hands. Charles Plimley was a steel maker in Birmingham.

[12] SP096896

The mill stood on River Rea just above its junction with the River Tame in the parish of Aston juxta Birmingham and was built in 1747 on the site of a blade mill by the Knight Stour Works Partnership and was occupied with Bromford Forge (q.v.) until at least 1812. It was offered for sale as a rolling mill in 1829. Charles Emery, thimble maker and metal roller, was using the rolling mill about then and it was used by Bordesley Steel Company in 1833. The site has been redeveloped for other industrial purposes and there are unlikely to be any surface remains.

Trading In 1668 to 1671 it used pig iron from Grange and Coven. The assignment to Humfrey Jennens obliged him to buy some Mearheath and Coven pig iron. After he was released from this obligation the forge is likely 338

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country Size slitting 300 to 500 tpa.

shows a backwater which presumably represents a leat. This was a blade mill in the late 17th century. It may have been Hofford Mill, which Boulton and Fothergill (of Soho Factory) used as a rolling mill between 1761 and 1781. After this it reverted being to a blade mill, occupied by John Dalloway, probably an edged tool maker; and later Woolley & Co, grinders. There is still a factory known as Holford Mill. The mill takes its name from a ford perhaps on the site of Perry Bridge. The name, Holford, strictly applies not only to the mill but to a former farm. Hence it is not easy to interpret the documentary evidence. The first reasonably clear reference to this mill relates to a blade mill newly built on the site of a furnace that had been previously used by Thomas Foley. The same document reserves the right to let the water level down, so to allow Perry Bridge to be repaired, implying that the mill lay a short distance below the bridge, as Holford Mill did. If this statement as to its previous use is correct, then it would imply this to be the site of Perry Furnace, but it would be unusual to find a furnace on such a large river or on so level a site. It is suggested that this ‘furnace’ is a misdescription of a forge. A further complication concerns the addresses of some ironworkers as Witton, leading Awty to postulate a forge there. However, the history of neither of the mills on the Hawthorn Brook on the east side of that manor (as deduced by VCH) fits with there being a forge there. The best candidate is thus Holford Mill just beyond Witton’s western boundary.

Associations A works of the Knight Stour Partnership for many years. Trading It mainly slit iron for associated forges, but also slit steel for Joseph Webster and in the 1780s John Hurd. Accounts Full annual accounts: SW a/c 1747-1812. Sources Birmingham Archives, Holte 967 and 114-119; Jewel Baillie 38-41 and 1245; Ince 1991b, 20-22; VCH Warks vii, 265; Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, 2 Nov. 1829. Penns Mill

[13] SP132932

The first known reference to his mill is in 1618 when there were corn, blade and fulling mills occupied by John Penn. These passed through various hands and were still corn and fulling mills in 1744. It was apparently let to Joseph Webster during the minority of Joseph Scott, who granted a 99 year lease on attaining his majority in 1773. Joseph Webster had taken a lease of Penns House on his marriage in 1760. Upon leasing the mill, he converted it to a wire mill and made 25 tpa wire in 1777. On his death in 1780 it passed to his son Joseph II (who died prematurely in 1788); then successively to Phoebe Webster his widow 1788 to 1801; Joseph Webster III and John William Crompton 1801 to 1819; Joseph Webster III to 1842; then with his son B.D. Webster. The latter took James Horsfall as partner in 1855. They closed Penns Mill in 1859, concentrating their business at Hay Mills, where Webster Horsfall Ltd remains in business. Joseph Webster II bought the freehold of the adjacent mansion in 1784. Customers included John English of Feckenham needlemaker; probably also other needle makers in the Redditch area. Penns Hall is now used as a hotel.

The iron mill referred in 1549 is likely to have been a bloomsmithy. This iron mill or hammer mill at Holford is referred to in 1591 and 1615. There were hammermen living in Witton from 1580. In 1596 Thomas and Richard Parkes and others broke into William Whorwood’s furnace at Perry Barr and William Whorwood and others broke into Thomas Parkes’ furnace and a forge at Handsworth [perhaps Perry Forge] and a house at Perry Barr, some of the accused living at Witton. Perry Forge appears to have been a dispute between the two of them as partners. Raffe Wyllies of Handsworth ironfounder had died in 1604. Thomas Parkes died in 1601 and his son Richard Parkes in 1618. The grandson Thomas Parkes sold Perry Forge and Furnace six months later to Middleton Nye & Co, Thomas Nye bought out his partners in 1622. Richard Foley II had an ironworks at Perry in 1636 and his son Thomas had ‘late’ had ‘a furnace’ in 1650. Ironworkers occur in Witton until 1635.

Associations see Perry wire mills. Sources Webster 1880, 46-52 87 and passim; Horsfall 1971, 34-104 passim; Nokes 1969, 32. [14] probably SP06959225 Perry Furnace Perry Forge (Holford Mill) [15] SP079916 The Holbrook is a tributary of River Tame. Along it were several mills, of which there are only very slight remains, much of the bottom of the valley now being occupied by the motorway M6 and the rest used as a public park, Perry Park. The four mills (going upstream were successively, the Lower Wiremill, a blade mill (used by sword cutlers in the 18th century) at SP06989247, the Upper Wiremill (previously Lower Paper Mill) and Upper Paper Mill. The field name ‘Furnice Meadow’ near the last seems to identify it as Perry Furnace.

Associations This was among the many works that descended from the Parkes family to Thomas Nye and then to the Foleys. Sources Staffs Hist. Collns 1932, 114 & 297ff; King 1999a, 64-8; 2006, 74-7; Awty 2019, 549 724-5 777-8 (as ‘Witton’); TNA, C 3/403/93-94; C 2/Chas I/M76/52; C 2/Chas I/M57/66; C 2/Chas I/I3/27; C 2/Chas I/G49/51; C 2/Chas I/P80/51; SP16/Chas. I/321/no 42, f. 80 ‘Perry Staff’ (1636); Horsfall 1971, 28-29 & 67; Dilworth 1976, 20-27; Birmingham Archives, 252214; Dudley Archives,

Perry Forge was probably at Holford Mill on the river Tame, a few hundred yards below Perry Bridge. The map 339

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II DE/1/14/59; Trans. Midlands Record Soc. iii (1899), 13; Hofford: Birmingham Archives, MS 3782/1/1-4: e.g. MS 3782/1/1, f.31; G. Demidowicz, pers. comm., from a forthcoming book on the Soho Factory. Perry Wire Mills (on Holbrook): Lower Wire Mill Upper Wire Mill

renewed in 1747, and then in 1774 for 42 years. Webster and Crompton gave it up in 1812. They were followed by Joseph Priest. William Bedson took a lease in 1834, and occupied the mill at the time of the tithe award. He was a wiredrawer.

[16] SP06979222 [17] SP067931

Size and Associations The operations of Turton and Webster were on a considerable scale. They had another wire mill at Halfcot in Kinver until 1759. Longnor Forge in Shropshire belonged to the business from 1739 to 1784. Webster replaced it with Hints Forge, which was occupied by the family from 1782 to 1812. A further mill was added at Penns in Sutton Coldfield by about 1750, this being followed by Plants Forge in Minworth in 1761. Wire output from Penns varied between 21 and 35 tons around the 1780s. This is said to have exceeded the output of the two mills at Perry Barr. The firm had the forge and rolling mill at Killamarsh (Derbs) from 1824 to 1887. The business is still in existence, being carried on by Webster Horsfall Limited at Hay Mills in east Birmingham.

As indicated under Perry Furnace, there were four mills on the Holbrook below the junction of the Barr and Oscott Brooks. In the late 17th and the 18th centuries there were two blade mills, two paper mills, and two wiremills, though not simultaneously. These have also been confused with a corn mill in the demesne of Perry Hall. Precisely which mill was which was evidently not clear to the editors of VCH Warwickshire, and subsequent authors have followed their attributions of documents to mills. The solution offered here results from detailed research, using at least two groups of documents that were not available to VCH, and accordingly differs significantly from theirs (for details see King 2006a).

Trading The Websters bought osmond iron from Lydbrook Forges (Foley a/c). They were also customers of Nechells Park slitting mill in 1748-99, mostly for slitting steel (SW a/c). John Webster owed £147.10s to Hugh Jones & Co of Tredegar and Machen in 1748 (NLW, Tredegar MS 75).

Perry Lower Wiremill was a blade mill in the early 18th century, which had been rebuilt in 1669 upon its sale by John Parkes of Willingsworth, a descendant of the Parkes ironmasters. Sampson Lloyd sold this to John Webster of Candley in Stoneleigh in 1722, the deed being witnessed by John Webster of Birmingham, who probably shortly afterwards converted it to a wire mill. The freehold was sold in 1726 to John Turton of the Brades (in Rowley Regis) who sold it to John Webster of Birmingham in 1744. In the intervening period Turton and Webster had probably run the mill in partnership. They were buying osmond iron from the Foleys’ Bewdley store by 1725/7 and occasionally direct from Lydbrook Forge where it was made. These sales were commonly around 40 tons per year until 1733/4, after which they were lower. This was presumably because the partners had another source of supply, probably their forge at Longnor in Shropshire. However this was perhaps not their first wireworks, as it is possible their Halfcot Mill in Kinver was earlier. After the 1744 sale, the mill passed down the Webster family. John Webster died in 1757 and was followed by his son, Joseph Webster I (d.1780), then his son Joseph Webster II (d.1788 prematurely); Phoebe Webster the latter’s widow until 1801; and Joseph Webster III with John William Crompton 1801 to 1819. It was advertised to let in 1826 and 1831, on the latter occasion lately used as a wiremill by Joseph Priest. The dam was enlarged about 1785. It was probably converted to a paper mill soon after 1831. Joseph Webster III sold the mill to Mr Gough of Perry Hall in 1838.

Sources: Lower Wiremill King 2006a, 68-9; Birmingham Archives, Gough 64/1-22; VCH Warks vii, 257; Webster 1880, 30; Horsfall 1971, 28-30; Dilworth 1976, 22-27; Birmingham Gazette, 11 Dec. 1826; 25 Jul. 1831. Upper Wiremill King 2006a, 72; Birmingham Archives, Gough 64/16; VCH Warks vii, 257; Webster 1880, 30; Horsfall 1971, 28-30. Plants Forge or Plantsbrook Mill

[18] about SP135921

This forge stood on an ancient mill site, which was let in 1727 to John Sale, a Birmingham ironmonger. He assigned this lease to Elizabeth Powell and Edward Sale in 1733. John Sale built a house and blade mill on Plantsbrook Farm. Nothing more is known of it until it was let to Joseph Webster I in 1761. It was thus the wiremill and tilting forge, which he occupied in 1767, held under a long lease that had begun in 1727. On his death in 1780 it passed to his son Joseph Webster II. It thus followed the same descent as Penns Mill after his premature death in 1788: Phoebe Webster (his widow) 1788 to 1801; then Joseph Webster III and John William Crompton 1801 to 1819; Joseph Webster III to 1842; then with his son B.D. Webster. In 1855 James Horsfall, who had a couple of years earlier patented improvements to wire production joined B.D. Webster as a partner. This brought Hay Mills into the firm. In 1859 they closed the Websters’ existing works at Penns Mill and Plants Forge, thus concentrating the business at Hay Mills, where Webster Horsfall are still in business.

Perry Upper Wiremill, the third mill up the brook, was previously a paper mill and belonged to Humfrey Wyrley of Hampstead Hall. This ownership suggests it was the 16th-century bloomery forge owned by a member of that family or perhaps the furnace or forge discussed above. It was probably converted from a paper mill, when let to John Webster in 1734, made it into a wiremill. The lease was 340

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country Horsfall’s suggestion that Joseph Webster had a crucible steel furnace at Plants Forge by 1766 may be too early, but he was making steel wire. His source appears to be Webster 1880, which gives this date for the first making of pianos in London. Webster specifically dates the production of music wire to 1827, when a Mr Bird, who managed Killamarsh Forge (Derbs.) for Joseph Webster III, heard of the advantages of using manganese in making crucible steel. This led to music wire, made by Webster, driving German imports from the market. Rolls were provided at the mill in 1815 and Hints Forge, which had previously supplied the wire mill with iron given up. Nevertheless the presence of crucibles in the area implies crucible steel was made here as well as at Killamarsh.

Whorwood in 1596. The furnace presumably later passed to Richard Parkes. In 1619 it was sold by Thomas Parkes to Middleton Nye & Co. Thomas Nye bought out his partners in 1622. No furnace is referred to for nearly a century after this. Plot (1686) mentions that there was a source of very good ore near the furnace at Rushall, but does not say it was working. If it was working, it must have belonged to the Jennens family. A new furnace was built in or shortly after 1717 by Richard Baddeley and Joseph Farmer, both Birmingham ironmongers; William Palmer, a Lichfield timber merchant; Thomas Farmer of Bromsgrove; Charles Osborne; and William Wood, then a Wolverhampton ironmonger, later notorious for his Irish halfpenny and pitcoal iron projects. By 1723 Wood and Osborne’s shares had been bought by John Vernon of Abbots Bromley and the furnace was sublet to George Sparrow. Richard Baddeley died in 1742, leaving the furnace to his daughters. From 1742 the partners were James Bourne, and John Churchill, probably initially with other partners. John Churchill died bankrupt in 1768. His bankruptcy was due to overpriced contracts for wood in the Weald where he was a gunfounder at Robertsbridge (see Hints; and chapter 2).

Sources Staffs RO, D 1287/6/6/20; St James’s Chronicle, 4 Nov. 1766; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 28 Sep. 1767; Webster 1880, 43-4 50-1 74 87; Horsfall 1971, 35-104 passim; Warks RO, Land tax, Curdworth. Poole Bank Furnace or Pulbach Furnace

[19] SP24829123

A water mill called Pulbay and two meadows was purchased by Humphrey Jennens in 1654, and it is probable the furnace was built shortly after this. He left this to John Jennens in 1690, from whom it presumably passed with many of his other ironworks to members of the Vaughton family, and it was in operation in 1717. In 1720 a lease was granted to Esther Wright and others and it is probable it was then converted to some other kind of mill. It was a 19-century corn mill. There are thought to be some remains under a garage forecourt at Furnace End, Over Whitacre.

Size not in 1717 list. George Sparrow told Sir James Lowther in 1738 that about 20 years before he and his partners [probably here] had ‘made pig iron from ironstone with pitcoal and from the pigs they made bar iron with pitcoal, which they slit into rods and made nails of that. The iron was pretty good ... but not the best of English iron’. They made about 100 tons of it, with ‘the same furnaces as ... with wood charcoal’, but in lesser quantities, which ‘with a multitude of disputes about other things and meeting with nothing but trouble instead of encouragement’ led them to give up. They used a flux which was chiefly rock salt (Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W2/1/99, 5 Dec. 1738).

Size 1717 300 tpa. Associations It was always one of works of the Jennens family and their successors.

Associations John Vernon was presumably related to William and Ralph Vernon who managed some of the Cheshire Works. He may have managed Bromley Forge. Churchill and Bourne were involved in a partnership holding Bromwich, Melbourne, and Hints Forges, perhaps also Bromley.

Trading The furnace is distant from any forge, which no doubt meant a lower price for charcoal. Pelham suggested that ore was brought from the Walsall area. Its closure could be related to an increased output of Aston Furnace, after a Newcomen engine was provided for it. Sources Leics RO, DE  3541(2), 5 14; Schubert 1957, 384; Harrison & Willis 1879, 153-83; Pelham 1949, 145n; Booth 1978, 52-3. Rushall Furnace

Trading ‘Kendall’ sold 10 tons of Rushall pig iron to Whittington Forge in 1727 and 1728, but this might however represent the resale of metal he had bought for Cradley Forge. Rushall’s main trade must have been supplying the Tame Valley forges: Hints, Little Aston, Wednesbury, and Bromwich. Coalbrookdale sent very small amounts of foundry pig iron to Birmingham (CBD a/c). This presumably implies that a foundry was operating there, but (if so) such a foundry must have had another source of supply, perhaps Rushall. Thomas Hoo of Bradley supplied ironstone to John Churchill & Co in 1765 and 1766 (also in 1759) when John Wilkinson declined to take it for Bradley Furnace, which he had previously abandoned (TNA, E 112/1969/15, answer; E 134/8 Geo 3/East 8, m.13).

[20] SK021001

The furnace was on the headwaters of the northern branch of the River Tame, just outside Walsall, adjoining the manorial corn mill which continued to use what water the furnace did not require. Edward Leighe (lord of Rushall) leased Middleton Furnace and Hints Forge in 1598. The cost of carrying ironstone to Middleton must have been considerable and it is therefore likely that he replaced it with one on his own estate at Rushall, something also suggested by the sale of wood at Middleton to Parkes and 341

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sources King 1999a, 64-8; TNA, C 3/403/93-94; C 2/Chas I/M76/52; C 2/Chas I/M57/66; C 2/Chas I/I3/27; C 2/Chas I/P80/51; VCH Staffs ii, 113; Staffs RO, D 948/1/1/8; D 260/M/T/1/78 & 97; Birmingham Archives, Galton 84; Hill & Dent 1897, 61; Dilworth 1976, 91-2; Plot 1686, 159; cf. Hints. Stanton’s Mill

Size 1754 4 tpw, that is about 200 tpa; however John Wood had made 6 tpw in 1740 from scrap. Angerstein in 1754 observed iron filings being washed and squeezed into balls, which were then placed in a red hot furnace, but did not name the owner on his first visit; on a later one he referred to Mr Wood having a forge where old bushel iron was melted and drawn and another for plating for saws and carriage springs. Marchant de la Houlière described the scrap process (Chaloner 1948, 223). This was one of the places where Henry Cort demonstrated his process in 1784 (SML, Weale 371/1, 99). 1794 2 chaferies and 2 balling furnaces.

[21] SP081915

This was a slitting mill, held by John Machin between 1725 and 1732 and then by Thomas and Joseph Stanton in 1734 and 1736, but very little is known of it. Isaac Stanton took his son John as a partner in his ironmongers’ business on the latter’s marriage in 1681, but a surviving inventory of a slitting mill may well have belonged with a later partnership deed. The mill probably did not survive the retrenchment that took place in the iron industry in the 1730s. The mill had disappeared by 1759, which seems surprising in a period when water-power was still heavily used. The name Machyn occurs as an early ironmaster in the Weald.

Associations John Wood also held Little Aston Forge from 1747. William Wood had considerable interests in the iron industry in Shropshire until and was a partner in Rushall Furnace from 1717 to before 1723, but that was long before he son had this forge. Trading 1739 to 1771 John Wood intermittently bought cast goods from Hales and Aston (SW a/c). Descriptions by travellers, such as Angerstein and Jars always refer to the use of scrap, rather than pig iron. John Wood undertook gunmaking contracts in 1756-9, but probably subcontracted the work (Satia 2018, 104).

Trading John Machin bought cast iron goods from Hales Furnace 1725-32 (SW a/c). John Machine (sic) and other members of that family bought iron from Graffin Prankard in 1728-1734, the highest amount being 42 tons of Gothenburg iron supplied in 1728 (Prankard a/c).

Sources Gross 2001, 220; Dilworth 1976, 101-110; Belford 2010, 2; Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W2/1/101, 4 Nov. 1740; D/Lons/W2/1/102, 10 Jan. 1740[1]; King 2012, 113; 2014b, 180; Angerstein’s Diary, 47 348. For Wood family see King 2014b; English Patents, nos. 759 794. Hackwood (1899, 1) says John Wood inherited the forge from his father William. This came from Howitt (1889, 23) who probably drew a wrong inference. Satia (2018, 73) wrongly makes William Wood (who was long dead), rather than his brother Charles, a joint patentee with John.

Inventory Warks RO, CR 169/96, cf. 95-107. Sources VCH Warks vii, 256; Pelham 1963, 71-2; as to Machyn see Awty 2019, 231-2 393-5 etc. Wednesbury Field Forge or Wednesbury Bridge Forge

[22] SO989942

Wednesbury Forge or Old Forge or Wedgbury Forge (and furnace)

This was on the southern branch of River Tame just south of Wednesbury, on the site of a medieval corn mill, which was still grinding corn in 1710. It does not appear in the 1750 list, though perhaps it should have. John Wood was a son of the notorious William Wood, but offended his father by insisting on being paid £1,000 for a share in the patent of his brother Francis. John thus played no further part in the attempts (ultimately futile) to implement the patent process at Frizington near Whitehaven. He was cut out of his father’s will, which was no loss as his father died heavily in debt. John was a colliery manager in 1738, but was making iron at Wednesbury in November 1740 with ‘pig iron, scrap or bushel iron, and skull iron’ and had good success. The forge was visited in 1754 by his brother Charles and the Swede Angerstein. John and Charles developed the first potting and stamping process patented in 1762 and 1763, though this may have been more the work of Charles at Low Mill near Egremont in Cumberland. He probably had the forge from 1740, and continued it until his death in 1779. Mrs Ann Wood owned and occupied it in 1794. It was offered for sale in 1816 and converted to a corn mill in 1818.

[23] SP002962

This forge stood at the junction of the southern branch of River Tame and the Willenhall Brook. The origin of the forge is not certain but certainly goes back at least to the end of the 16th century. It may be the cottage and bloomsmithy that William Comberford let to Thomas Parkes ‘nayler’ in c.1572 with a coal mine and the right to dig a sough. It was involved in the disputes between Thomas Parkes and William Whorwood in 1597. It was ‘decayed’ in 1606 when Walter Coleman of Cannock had it with Thomas Chetwynd as his partner. It is not clear whether it passed to the Foleys in the time of Richard Foley or only in that of his son, but is not mentioned in Walter Chetwynd’s composition papers in 1646. It could have been Cookes Forge, the third one from which Richard Foley agreed to supply 6 tpw iron to Bustleholme Mill in 1633. Thomas Foley I(W) had it by 1656 to 1668; then his son Philip Foley 1667 to 1676; then Humfrey Jennens (d.1690); and John Jennens until at least 1698. After John Jennens gave it up, John Willetts converted it to a plating forge which he was using by 1704, probably 342

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country Weeford Slitting mill

making saws. He was succeeded in 1722 by John Willetts II, who continued the forge until his own death in 1753. His son, Benjamin Willetts, followed him making and boring gun-barrels from 1755 until 1786, when the forge passed to Benjamin Willetts II and his widow (or to Short, Willets & Co). The firm became Holden and Willetts in 1794. From 1817 Edward Ellwell was making edged tools. It continued to be operated by various members of the family until 1902 when transferred to a private company Edward Ellwell Ltd. This was taken over in 1970 by Spear and Jackson, who continued its use until 2005. The site was then cleared and excavated in 2005-8 (see Belford 2010), prior to redevelopment.

[24] SK134037

This mill was built by Humfrey Jennens on the Black or Bourne Brook a short distance upstream from his Hints Forge, probably in 1677. He was succeeded by his son John in 1690. A list of tenants of the manor probably in the 1730s includes Mr Mander, suggesting that it passed, like other works of the Jennens family (such as Bromford Forge) to Riland Vaughton & Co, then John Mander & Co They sold their west Midlands ironworks in 1747, but it is not clear who took it over. It was in the hands of Samuel Beach in 1772 and 1775. Though let to Thomas Green in 1781, Samuel Beach was the occupier when he became bankrupt in 1787. His debts were settled in 1788, and it was announced that the works here and at Little Aston were to be carried on by Beach, Leonard & Warwick. Beach & Co had a rolling mill in 1794 and kept the mill until 1803, and they were followed by Charles Plimley, still the occupant in 1826. In the following years, Benjamin Shaw, Thomas Blood and then Mary Blood held the same tenement, but how long it remained a slitting mill is uncertain.

Size In the 1590s, there was a furnace as well as a forge. 1606 there was only one finery. Excavation indicated that a second wheelpit was added in about 1618. In 1667-72 output averaged 110 tpa. Ironmaking apparently ceased by 1704. The forge was used for plating by 1708; it made saws. Willetts built a windmill to power boring and grinding mills, something unique in the iron industry, but locals called it Mr Willetts’ Folly. Angerstein described the forge in 1754, as being two miles east of Wednesbury – an overestimate. It had a melting furnace and hammer, a rolling mill, a gun factory, and saw-blade factory. Filings and scraps from gunmaking were heated in crucibles in a reverberatory furnace, after which the lump of iron was removed from the pot and drawn out. This balling process is presumably what John Wood had introduced at Wednesbury Field Forge. It is not clear when gunmaking began, but John Willets contracted to make pistol and other locks in 1745 (TNA, WO 51/158, 43), and he offered to provide locks and barrels in late 1755, in the run-up to the Seven Years War (WO 47/46, 481), a business that Benjamin Willets continued until the end of the American War (WO 47/46-99, passim, s.v. Small Gun Office) and may have resumed in the following one. Benjamin also produced boiler plate for Boulton & Watt (Birmingham Archives, MS 3782/1/1, 186).

Associations One of the works of Jennens and their successors until the mid-18th century, like Hints Forge. Charles Plimley was a steel maker in Birmingham and also had Little Aston Forge. Trading Castings were sent here in 1677 (Foley E12/VI/ KG/23) and 1692 (Foley a/c); Beach, Warwick & Leonard bought iron imported via Hull (Jackson 1972, 20). Sources TNA, C 112/106 no.180; Hull UL, DDFa 27/2829; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 17 Feb. 1771 (address); 3 Dec. 1781; 14 May 1787; 21 Jan. 1788; London Gazette, 12165, 3 (30 Jan. 1779); Land Tax, Weeford. Witton Forge see Perry Forge (Holford Mill) Bloomery forges

Associations Successively an ironworks of the Parkes, Chetwynd, Foley and Jennens families.

There was also a bloomery that preceded the plating forge at Bromford Mill, Oldbury (below).

Trading In 1668-9 it mainly used pig iron from Hales. In 1692 John Jennens bought 32 tons from Hales for here (Foley a/c). John Willetts made and bored gun-barrels from 1739, as did his son Benjamin in subsequent wars (Satia 2018, 63 117-9). 1728-71 various members of Willetts family were regular purchasers of castings from Hales and Aston Furnaces (SW a/c). In 1728-43 John Willetts bought some iron of various kinds (up to 21 tpa) from Graffin Prankard of Bristol (Prankard a/c). Short, Willetts & Co bought iron imported via Hull in 1791 (Jackson 1972, 20).

Aldridge Smithy

[25] SP073999

Simon Montford (attainted 1494) had a ‘smethy or iron mill’ at Bourne Pool, Aldridge in the last quarter of the 15th century. Adam Persehouse or Parkes in his will (proved at Worcester in 1577) bequeathed his share in Aldriche smethies to sons Richard and John. The rest had probably belonged to his brother John and nephew Thomas (named as debtors). The smithy was excavated to obtain slag for analysis. Bloomery slag has also been found in the area at Rushall (SK022013) and Nun’s well (SK042118).

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1667-72. Sources Belford 2010; King 1999a, 64; 2006, 77-8; Dilworth 1976, 111-117; TNA, C 3/207/19; C 6/94/119; Foley E12/F/VI/KG series; Angerstein’s Diary, 48-51; Schafer 1971, 29; Johnson 1950, 40; Ede 1962, 113; VCH Staffs ii, 113; Belford & Mitchell 2006; 2009.

Sources Gould 1969; Morton & Wingrove 1970; Trans Midland Record Soc. ii (1896-7), 18; ‘The Herald’ Yearbook (Dudley 1906), 282; Court 1938, 42.

343

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Friar Park Bloomsmithy

[26] about SP009960

Sources King 2006a, 77; TNA, C 1/1170/101; STAC 5/ P4/13; Schubert 1957, 149; Cal. Patent Rolls, Edward VI, v, 333.

This was a bloomsmithy in the mid-16th century, rented by William Askue. Richard Worthington occupied it in 1566, and was paying £12 rent for it in 1590, but it was ruinous and only worth 12d two years later.

Perry Barr: Hammermill Meadow

The evidence for this hammermill is the fieldname Hammermill Meadow. It is possible that this was a bloomsmithy belonging to the two lords of Perry Barr in 1550. However it may be close enough to Bromwich Forge for the name to allude to it. This ironworks is thus dubious.

Sources TNA, E 178/2099; LR 1/135, 171 182; Dilworth 1976, 69. Goscote Bloomery, Rushall

[27] SP02190128

This may be the unnamed bloomsmithy mentioned in the bounds of the manor of Walsall in 1576. It is known principally from discoveries of slag, analysed by Morton & Wingrove and more recently by Dungworth.

Sources King 2006a, 77. Tipton: Bloomsmithy

[28] SP039889 (?)

An ironmill called a hammermill existed in 1553 on property called Boyshall, when its ownership was in dispute. This has been built by William Cokes (who settled the property in 1495) and descended in the family. In 1553, it was claimed by Ellen, the widow of Thomas Cokes who had married Henry Grove. The site of the works is not clear, but may have been at the later Pig Mill Forge (see below), the reference given here.

Sources Dilworth 1976, 136-9; Parkes 1915, 27; Dudley Archives DE4/10/1, Great rentals, Tipton; accn 9226, Tipton Great rentals. Walsall Bloomsmithy

[29] SO98959755

In 1543 land, to build a bloomsmithy on, was leased for 20 years to Thomas and Robert Wheeler and Richard and William Heley, all nailers from Dudley. Source Staffs RO, D 1810, f.49. Merevale Smithy

Sources Dilworth 1976, 85-86; Willmore 1887, 242; Lawley 1893, 244; BL, Nero C xii, f.133-133b; Walsall Archives, 277/233.

[30] SP294978

An iron mill or smythye near the monastery was included in the grants of that monastery to Walter Lord Ferrers of Chartley (later Viscount Hereford) in 1540 and 1553. There is an earthwork platform 60m square and 5m high, with some slag including tap slag.

Gun trade To the following must be added Wednesbury Forge, which appears above, as having been a charcoal forge. In addition, there were mills for the gun barrel trade at Weybridge and elsewhere in the Belbroughton area and at Hayseech (on river Stour), all associated with the Galton family and described in the next chapter; also before 1746 at Burton Forge (see chapter 11).

Source Cal. Patent Rolls, Ed. VI, iii, 433; Pastscape 1475711. Perry Bloomsmithy

[34] SP007963

A bloomsmithy existed on the boundary between Walsall and Bescot, but was in decay by 1617 when a ‘building called an iron mill or smithy’ was listed among the property of John Wollaston. A mill on the site was the subject of charters in 1306 and 1318, but this is more likely to have been a corn mill than an iron mill. The remains of an ironworks were found in the 19th century. It may be presumed to have operated in the 15th and early 16th centuries, but its dates remain unknown.

Sources King 2006a, 27; TNA, C 43/4/27; cf. C43/4/9. James Bridge Bloomsmithy

[33] SO950930

This bloomsmithy is only known as a place name, though there were bloomers in Tipton in 1279, 1331, and at other dates. The estate map of Thomas Dudley shows a blade mill, but this was replaced by the chemical works of James Keir and Alexander Blair, shortly before 1783. They also rented a pool near Old Park. This made alkali, soap and red and white lead and is thus outside the scope of this book.

Sources Dilworth 1976, 93-4; Morton & Wingrove 1970; 1972; Dungworth 2010. Hammermill in Handsworth

[32] SP033925

[31] either SP06979222 or SP06989247

Coleshill: Forge Mills

Henry Grove worked as a ‘brennier’ in the brannesmithe’ of William Wyreley from 1543, but later allowed the mill to burn down. It was left unpartitioned when the manor of Perry Barr was divided in 1550.

[35] SP199909

This forge stood on the former course of the River Tame about 3½ miles from Pool Banke Furnace. Little is known of its history. In 1797 it was a corn and boring mill, the function of the latter being to bore guns for the 344

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country (and bayonet) making in the 19th century and converted to a rubber factory shortly before 1900.

Birmingham gun trade. The ‘forge’ of the name suggests that it was also making gun skelps. Boring may have been a brief use during the war. A corn mill and paper mill operated in the 19th-century, and until the 1930s. Thomas Milner of Coleshill was appointed in 1676 to appraise stock on Philip Foley’s sale of his Tame valley ironworks to Humfrey Jennens, but his address is probably a mere coincidence.

Sources Birmingham Archives, 252412 392745 392731 392734; Bailey & Nie 1978, 43; VCH Warks vii, 261-2; Booth 1978, 64. Hemlingford Mills, Kingsbury or Kingsbury Mill

Sources Birmingham Archives, Norton 1823-9; Booth 1978, 83; cf. Foley E12/VI/KG/2.

A boring mill and a grinding mill were offered for sale with a corn mill in Kingsbury in 1781. It was a corn mill in the 19th century.

Curdworth Boring Mill see Minworth (below) Duddeston Mill

[36] SP091878

Sources Aris Birmingham Gazette, 21 May 1781; Booth 1978, 83-4.

This mill was held by Joseph Farmer at his death in 1741. He was succeeded by James Farmer who in 1744 obtained a long lease in terms that only suggest its being a corn mill. It is possible that the objective of this was merely to control the water supply to Saltley Forge. James Farmer became bankrupt in 1755, but succeeded with the help of his friends in continuing in business. In 1756 some silver was rolled in the mill. However Joseph Farmer was in the gun trade and was from 1751 a partner with Samuel and John Galton and Samuel and Randle Bradburne in Galtons Forge, Belbroughton in the iron and steel trade. The mill thus passed to the Galton family, but later reverted to a corn mill.

Maney Forge and Boring Mill

Sources Birmingham Archives, j437-8; MS/13/2/12 & 23 (wills); Aris Birmingham Gazette, 13 Aug. 1752; 9 Jan. 1767; 7 Aug. 1769; 26 Sep. 1769; Bailey & Nie 1978, 46-7 101; TNA, WO 47/47, 38 and passim; Warks RO, Land tax, Sutton Coldfield; Sutton Coldfield inclosure and corn rents award; VCH Warks iv, 237.

[37] SP038831

This mill was bought by Edward Jordan, a gunsmith, in 1749. He died 1758 and was followed by his son Thomas Jordan, who died 1762 leaving 3 daughters. Its tenure by a gunmaker suggests that it was used for boring gun barrels or such like, but only until c.1819. It was then a wire mill, but again a corn mill from the 1830s.

Minworth Mill

[41] SP165915

The manor of Curdworth (which included Minworth) passes to co-heiresses on the death of Edward Darcy in 1670. They partitioned the estates, but not the manors. The share of Katherine Lady Phillips, one of them, included much of Minworth. She let a mill to Joseph Farmer in 1711, so that he could use it as a boring mill. In 1732 the tenants of boring mill were Thomas Lane, Thomas Oughton, and Thomas Wheatley (sic). The boring mill adjoined a corn mill in Curdworth, being occupied in 1766 by Healey & Co under a lease from 1762, though Healey was not being one of the six or so firms that regularly contracted to supply the Ordnance Board in this period. John Whateley was the tenant in 1772, when Sir Richard Phillips sold the mill to Sir Henry Bridgeman. In 1789 he renewed the lease, covering both the boring and corn mills. He had been given his father’s half of the firm of Whateley & Son on his marriage in 1766. In his will, drawn up in 1792, John Whateley bequeathed unspecified leasehold property in Minworth to his eldest son Henry Piddock Whateley

Sources Birmingham Archives, 392438-40 392731 392734; VCH Warks vii, 265; Booth 1978, 65. Hazelwell Mill, Kings Norton

[40] SP124956

Joseph Oughton (d.1773) was boring gun barrels by 1752, and was supplying the Board of Ordnance with barrels from 1756. He bought cast iron goods from Hales and Aston Furnaces from 1748 to 1775. He settled this mill in 1763 on his son’s marriage. The mill passed successively to his son Joseph II (d.1793) and grandson John, and belonged to John Oughton in 1851. The Birmingham gunmaking firm became John Oughton & Co in 1807, Jn. & C. Oughton in 1818 and just John Oughton about 1826. John Oughton also leased Windley Pool in Sutton Park, presumably for additional water storage for his mill.

Sources VCH Warks vii, 264; Birmingham Archives, Galton, various; MS 28/332; Smith 1967, 134 &c; Pelham 1963, 75; Hill & Dent 1897, 87; Satia 2018, 74 and passim. Harborne Mill

[39] SP216956

[38] SP056809

Though usually described as a corn mill, Hazelwell Mill was occupied by Thomas Hadley in 1733 and by Edward Jordan from 1743 until his death in 1758 at the age of 66. He was followed by his son Thomas (d.1762), as at Harborne Mill. Both Hadley and the Jordans were in the gun trade, sometimes as partner of James Farmer. Edward and then Thomas Jordan supplied gun barrels to the Ordnance Office during the Seven Years’ War, it is probable this too was a boring mill, despite being called a corn mill in 1776 and 1787. It was used for gun and sword

345

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II and the goodwill of guntrade to him and John Whateley. H.P. Whateley retained the mill until the lease expired in 1811, after which the landlord let both mills to Digby Jenkins, a miller, spending over £300 on repairs, including £210 paid to Francis Hearnshaw for millwright’s work. Jenkins obtained a rent reduction in 1820 ‘in consequence of the total failure of the gun trade’. However, gun boring is still mentioned when the mill was advertised to let in 1833, when further major repairs being undertaken. From this point it was a corn mill, but in 1876 a flour mill and steel rolling mill. In 1881, Lord Bradford sold the part of his Castle Bromwich estate north of the railway to the Birmingham, Tame, and Rea Drainage Board, including the mill. The 1886 O.S. map shows buildings there, but apparently no longer a mill.

a customer subsequently until 1793/4, often having over 20 tons slit. It belonged to George Attwood & Sons in 1818. They also had iron and steel works at Corngreaves and certain forges. Sources G. Hunter, Multum in parvo: Directory of Birmingham (1788), 35; Moss 1990, 17-18; Birmingham Archives, MS 3782/1/1, f.98; SW a/c ‘Park Mill’. Coleshill Street

Mr Carless had a steel furnace at the junction of Stafford Street and Coleshill Street in 1731. This probably refers to Joseph Carless who had Bromford Mill. Sources Barraclough 1985(1), 95.

Sources NLW, Picton Castle 221; Staffs RO, D 1287/6/6/35/18-21; D 1287/6/6/35/1; D 1287/6/6/27/19; D 1287/3/14/G370-G381; D1287/1/29-33/G97-G160; D 1287 /M/693; D1287/WM/8; D1287/WM/5; Birmingham Archives, MS 3602/276 329 TNA, WO 47/47, 38 and passim; St James’s Chronicle, 4 Nov. 1766; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 28 Sep. 1767; 18 Feb. 1833; Bailey & Nie 1978, 36-7; Booth 1978, 83; cf. VCH Warks vii, 607; NLW, Tredegar 87/977. Saltley Forge

Holt Street, Aston

[45] near SP078877

Charles Plimley & Co (James Woolley, Francis Deakin and Charles Plimley), steel manufacturers leased land in Mill Street, Aston in 1805. Charles Plimley and Thomas Jones patented an improvement to the steam engine in 1818. Charles Plimley’s partnership with Mary Plimley as refiners and steel makers was dissolved in 1821. Their premises were in Holt Street, Aston. The description implies steel furnaces. Charles Plimley & Co had Little Aston Forge in 1803-24 and Weeford Mill in probably 1803-26.

[42] SP093882

Saltley Mill was probably converted to a blade mill in 1689. In 1716 it was let to Joseph Farmer, but in 1720 he sold it to Thomas Hurd, who then obtained a lease for lives in his own name, the lease calling it a forge. In the following years he rebuilt it as a forge at a cost of over £350, but sublet it to Charles and Sampson Lloyd in 1726. In 1728 they assigned it to Joseph Farmer in exchange for Birmingham Town Mills. James Farmer (his son) bought the freehold in 1747, but became bankrupt in 1755. Probably as part of the efforts of his friends to rescue him from this, the forge was sold to Samuel Galton, who also bought Thomas Hurd’s head lease in 1760. The forge passed down the Galton family to his grandson, Samuel Tertius Galton. Both the Farmers and Galtons were leading participants in the Birmingham gun trade. It is therefore likely that the forge was a plating forge making skelps for gunbarrels, probably combined with a boring mill. After 1815, it was in other hands, sometimes as a wire mill and sometimes as a corn mill.

Sources Birmingham Archives, MS 28/828; Repertory of Arts, Manufactures, and Agriculture, 2nd Ser. xxxvii (1820), 271-3; Wrightson’s new triennial directory of Birmingham (1818). Snow Hill

[46] about SP069873

Matthew Boulton (the toy maker, later of Soho Manufactory and steam engine pioneer) is thought to have had a steel furnace at Snow Hill. If this is the one visited by Angerstein, it existed in the time of his father Matthew Boulton senior. Certainly, the Boulton & Watt archive contains a copy of a Swedish stampelbok, which shows a great interest in the marks (brands) of Swedish iron, of a kind only likely from a steel converter. Unfortunately, the records of Boulton’s Birmingham warehouse (which was managed separately from the Soho Factory) do not survive.

Sources Birmingham Archives, MS 28/323-342; VCH Warks vii, 264-5.

Sources Barraclough 1985(1), 95-6 220-1; Angerstein’s Diary, 37-8; Jones 2008, 130-1; cf. Birmingham Archives, B&W box 25/6.

Steel works in Birmingham Adelphi steelworks

[44] c.SP074882

Whittall Lane (now Steelhouse Lane)

[43] near SP063868

George Attwood established the Adelphi Steel Works (including a crucible furnace) at 11 Broad Street by 1777. Adelphi Co had 10 tons of steel slot at Park Mill in 1779/80 and 1780/1, but not in other years. However Ruston and Hurd has 6 tons slit the preceding year and John Hurd was

[47] near SP071873

The best known steelmakers in Birmingham in the 18th century were successive members of the Kettle family. The north side of Whittall Lane was sold by Thomas Weaman to John Pershore, who then sold it off as building land. 346

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country Aston Junction Forge

One of these plots 40 yards deep and 6 yards wide was bought by William Kettle (an ironmonger) in 1714 and is presumably where he built his steel furnace. This passed to his son John Kettle (d.1733) and then to his descendant John (d.1803). William Kettle bought GF oregrounds iron [Forsmark] from William Maister of Hull in 1720 (Maister ff. 358-9). John Kettle regularly bought first oregrounds iron in the 1730s from Graffin Prankard of Bristol, who imported it from Stockholm (Prankard a/c). The two furnaces were still in use in 1754 and perhaps for many years after, It is not clear precisely where on the street they were. Sources Birmingham Archives, 252577; Barraclough 1985(1), 94-5; Dent 1880, 66-7.

In 1813 Paul & Co file manufacturers of Great Charles Street, Birmingham announced that they had completed works for manufacturing and tilting all kinds of steel, at their steel works at Aston Junction Forge. This must have been something separate from the Aston Junction Forge, where the partnership of Thomas and Samuel Sims, Benjamin and Thomas Adams, Henry Nock and John Tildesley was dissolved in 1812 on the retirement of Nock; again in 1816 when Thomas Adams retired; and in 1824 when Samuel Sims retired. Thomas Sims died in 1831 and Benjamin Adams in 1840. They offered for sale a 40-hp engine made by Boulton and Watt in 1833. They were customers of Old Park for pig iron; John Muntz was a partner with Joseph and Thomas Sims in the 1840s. The works was ultimately sold by the assignees under a deed of arrangement in 1865.

372557;

Other steel works The Brades Steel Works

[49] SP007880

[48] SO981898

Sources Aris Birmingham Gazette, 16 Aug. 1813; 5 Oct. 1831; 17 Jun. 1833; 20 Apr. 1840; 11 Feb. 1850; London Gazette, no. 16883, 2554 (19 Dec. 1812); no. 17170, 1732 (7 Sep. 1816); no. 18060, 1481 (7 Sep. 1824); no. 23082, 1817 (13 March 1866); Examiner 24 Sep. 1842; Hayman thesis, 107 240.

In 1783, William Hunt bought the Brades estate in Rowley Regis from William Turton, a bankrupt ironmonger (related to John Webster’s partner in wiremills). How soon he began industrial development is not clear, but it was perhaps not until 1792, when Wastel Cliffe, John Hodgson, William Hunt, and John Thompson of Brades Ironworks acquired a Watt steam engine. The site is beside the Birmingham Canal is not provided with waterpower, so that iron cannot have been made there previously. However, the earlier erection of a steel furnace is possible. The works must have had puddling furnaces in the first years of the 19th century, as pig iron was bought from Horsehay and Old Park Furnaces by Hunt and Cliff in 1801 and 1803 (HH a/c & OP a/c), then by William Hunt, and in 1811 by William Hunt and Sons (OP a/c), whence the WHS brand. Nevertheless, it is for steel and edged tools that the works was best known. There were 8 puddling furnaces in 1860, rising to 12 from 1866. By 1875, there were five blister steel furnaces and a steel-casting house with 12 pots. Cast steel was made at the works from 1793. The works continued in use well into the 20th century, making tools. The company was amalgamated into Brades Nash Industries in 1951. This was acquired by Spear and Jackson in 1960. Spear and Jackson UK continue to use the WHS Tyzack brand for pointing trowels.

Bilston Mill

[50] perhaps SO941958

At their bankruptcy in 1816, Thomas, John and Benjamin Gibbons had buildings in Wolverhampton and Sedgley called Bilston Mill or Bilston Forge, which was copyhold of the manor of Stow Heath. This was built on Finneywell Piece in 1802 by Thomas Pearson and John Gibbons. At some intermediate period, Samuel Smith recorded two blast furnaces (see coke furnaces below), 8 puddling furnaces and 2 rolling mills. After Pearson became a clergyman, John Gibbons bought his share in 1814 and was then licensed to let it to Thomas Bacon of Farnborough, Surrey. When Thomas Butler visited the mill in 1815, it was using a three-high rolling mill, this being the earliest known reference to such. In 1817, the mill had a forge with 2 iron helves worked by a 26-inch cylinder and 14 puddling furnaces capable of 120 tpw; and a rolling mill with at least 5 pairs of rolls, making 150 tpw hoops and bars or 200 tpw bars and rods. Like Bilston Furnace, this passed to W.H & J.S. Sparrow. They built Stow Heath Furnaces and linked the mill to them by a tramway. They had 26 puddling furnaces in 1852, but only a dozen in the 1860s, and 20 in the early 1870s.

Sources Chapman 2004; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 25 Mar. 1793; Birmingham Archives, MS 3147/5/538 and 706d; catalogue of old engines, 109 no 538; Lee 91531 &c; Barraclough 1984(1), 114-5; Spear-and-Jackson website.

Sources Staffs RO, D(W) 0/2/23, 248; D(W) 0/2/27, 31; Birmingham Archives, MS 1513/3; London Gazette, no. 17175, 1826 (21 Sep. 1816); no. 17209, 94-5 (14 Jan. 1817); London Courier, 8 Jan. 1817; Butler 1954, 243; Gale 1966, 53; Shill 2008, 51 68 94.

Other ironworks 1852 data is from Hunt 1852; later data from the Mineral Statistics.

Brierley Ironworks, Coseley

spurious

W.K.V. Gale (1966, 25) listed a Brierley ironworks in 1790, which he thought was at Brierley, a township of in 347

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II point may well have been a canal wharf where Watling Street crosses the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. In 1768 before the canal opened the delivery point had been Norton Canes or Streetley, also without forges (HH a/c).

Sedgley parish to the northeast of Coseley. His source was Hackwood (1902, 71), printing an extract from the 1790 list, probably derived from Scrivenor (1841). Scrivenor included the Brierley Furnace of Bancks & Co, which was near Brierley Hill (see next chapter). Sherriff’s map (1812) confirms that three Brierley or Brierley Hill ironworks were all at Brierley Hill, as were the Level Works. This does not seem to leave any room for an ironworks at Brierley near Coseley. However, the Wednesbury Oak Ironworks (built after 1812) was in that Brierley.

Curdworth Wiremill see Plants Forge above Friar Park Rolling Mill

After the closure of the bloomsmithy, its site was used for a blade mill and corn mill, and was a tan house in c.1776, and afterwards converted to a rolling mill by Charles Leonard of Bustleholme Mill. It later became a forge belonging to Mr Ellwell, but was derelict by 1836.

Sources Dudley Archives, Sherriff’s map (1812). Bromford Mill, Oldbury

[52] SO995902 and SO995904

Source Hackwood 1899, 32; Dilworth 1976, 70-1.

This was a blade mill in the early 17th century. As there was a Smythie Leasow nearby, it is possible there was once a bloomery forge here. In 1693 the mill was purchased by Joseph Carles, a Birmingham whitesmith, who rebuilt it as an ‘iron forge or flatting mill’, evidently meaning a plating forge. Joseph Careless had a steel furnace at Birmingham. It is therefore likely that this was his steel forge. Edward Gibbons held it in 1763, but a Mr Carles occupied it as a grinding (?blade) mill in 1774. At that time, a proposal was made to improve it. It was apparently a wire mill in 1780. Before the end of the century the mill was in the hands of Wright and Jesson as an ironworks. Following the deaths of Richard Jesson and Richard Wright, their partnership here and at Wrens Nest and Barnetts Leasow in Shropshire was dissolved in March 1814, the business being continued by the surviving partners Thomas Jesson and Samuel Dawes, but Jesson was replaced by John Dawes that August. The business remained in the Dawes family until sold by Elizabeth Dawes in 1887. It was bought by Bromford Iron and Steel Co (Benjamin Scarf & Ezra Hadley), but closed temporarily in 1900. It was reopened in 1902 by Bromford Iron Co Ltd; and remained in the Scarf family until Fred Scarf retired in the late 1930s; it was sold in 1943 to Joe Ashmore. In 1959 Charles Cooper bought the business and formed Bromford Iron & Steel Co Ltd. This was still operating in 2017, making hot rolled flats, sections and custom profiles, as a subsidiary of Original Steel Services Ltd (OSSL).

Golds Hill Ironworks Golds Green Ironworks

[55] SO980936 [56] SO98259315

The tithe award (for West Bromwich) shows at least two separate ironworks one called Golds Green and another Golds Hill. However the two names almost seem to be interchangeable. One refers to blast furnaces, which John Bagnall probably built in 1820 on land leased for 50 years from the Birmingham Coal Company, whose freehold was sold to his sons in 1842 (with Toll End). The other was an engine-powered forge and slitting mill built in 1801. To confuse matters further there was also a Golds Hill Corn Mill in 1834. It has not been possible to resolve these fully. In 1801, Richard Hawkes leased for 50 years about a third of an acre to build a forge and a slitting mill, powered by a steam engine. He sold this in 1810 to John Read, who then sold a sixth share of his business for £6,000 to Joshua Corrie, who failed to pay the instalments of the price due to Hawkes. In 1814 and 1815, it was advertised for sale in the bankruptcy of John Read as a forge and rolling mill, previously in the possession of (or purchased of) Thomas and Booth Hodgetts and (on another occasion) as purchased of Richard Hawks. It had a double-power steam engine and a ‘puddling air furnace’ and was capable of making 100 or 120 tons per week. In 1816, Richard Hawks (as an unpaid vendor) let the works with a steam engine and puddling and air furnaces to John Bagnall & Son, who paid off 5 years’ arrears of ground rent and then asked the Court of Chancery to oversee the application of their rent. Read’s assignees auctioned the property again in 1818. The buyers were John Bagnall & Son, but due to the conflicting claims, the sale was not completed until 1824. John Bagnall made his five sons partners in his collieries and ironworks and left his share to them on his death in 1830, but the firm continued to be called John Bagnall & Sons, being incorporated in 1873. That company not dissolved until 1991, though it had long ceased to trade. According to litigation in 1845 when the works were damaged by colliery subsidence (allegedly caused by William Whitehouse and his brothers mining the Brooch Coal at Golds Hill Colliery), William, Thomas

Sources Dilworth 1976, 49 & 174-6; Gale 1980; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 27 Jun. 1763; London Gazette, no. 16865, 521 (8 Mar. 1814); no. 16929, 1741 (27 August 1814); http://bisteel.co.uk/en/home/ cf. Barraclough 1984(1), 95. Calves Heath

[54] about SP009960

probably spurious

Trinder (1973, 81 148) thought a forge existed here because this was where S., N. & C. Lloyd had pig from Horsehay delivered at Calves Heath from 1774-9. There was no such forge in 1794 and it is likely that this was merely a delivery point on the way to another forge, such as Hints or Burton. Calves Heath probably refers to Calf Heath, near Gailey, south of Penkridge, and the delivery 348

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country Lifford Mill

and James Bagnall occupied Golds Hill Forge under a 50-year lease that began in 1801. In 1852 there were 15 puddling furnaces.

Boulton & Watt provided a sun-and-planet 10-hp rotary engine for a rolling mill for Thomas Dobbs of Lifford Mill in 1785. This was to add power to an existing mill, but a change in his business meant that the engine was not a success and it was sold in 1794 to a Mr Holloway of Leeds. Dobbs’ daughter married John Southern, Boulton & Watt’s draughtsman in 1793. Dobbs seems to have leased Lifford Mill in the late 1760s. The mill acquired that name through its owner James Hewitt taking the title Lord Lifford, after he was appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Dobbs converted the mill to rolling metal for the Birmingham toy trade, and was supplying Matthew Boulton by 1773. Between 1777 and 1780, he was in partnership with John Whateley the gunmaker in the button trade. A waterwheel was described as 13 feet high and 6 feet wide and its power as 15hp in 1828, when the rolling mill was offered to let. An excavation in c.1990 exposed part of the tail race.

Sources Sandwell Archives, BS-FHL 11/2/3/43-49; Birmingham Gazette, 11 Apr. 1814; London Gazette, no. 16989, 403 (4 Mar. 1815); no. 16900, 1071 (21 May 1815); no. 17030, 1255 (27 Jun. 1815); Dudley Archives, D/Har/10/2; Dilworth 1976, 130-2. A partnership between Thomas Tickell and Barker Barber Chifney of Goldshill was dissolved in 1818; they could have been tenants under Read’s assignees (London Gazette, 17368, 1057: 9 Jun. 1818). Thomas Tickell of West Bromwich became bankrupt in 1822, as did his partner Thomas Pretty. A partnership between Henry Fryer Devey and Jonathan Saunders of Goldshill ironworks (and previously with the bankrupts, J.A. Tickell and Thomas Tickell) was dissolved in 1822. This was originally a waterpowered slitting mill and converted by ‘Sanders’ into a forge. This or another Goldshill Ironworks was referred to in the bankruptcy of William Aston, leased in 1824 from Thomas Hill (perhaps of the Stourbridge Old Bank, cf. Lea Brook). This slitting mill was originally water-powered. Mr Saunders converted it to a forge, which passed to Aston and then to J. Bagnall & Sons before 1836. This is probably the Goldshill site, which adjoins the Tipton boundary, which follows a brook.

Sources Demidowicz & Price 2009, 98-100; Dickinson & Jenkins 1927, 164 286; VCH Warks vii, 261; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 2 Jul. 1827; and 6 June 1828; Litherland 1990; Booth 1978, 64. Note also Birmingham Archives, B&W Portfolio 6; www.visionofbritain.org.uk/ description 746430. Pig Mill Forge

Sources Dilworth 1976, 130-2 and Hackwood 1899, 32 (both from Joseph Reeves, The History & Topography of West Bromwich and its Vicinity, 1836, 113); Birmingham Gazette, 31 Jul. 1826; London Gazette, 17662, 2423 (24 Dec. 1820); no. 17808, 624 (13 Apr. 1822); no. 17815, 778 (7 May 1822); 17821, 902 (28 May 1822). Great Bridge, Tipton

[57] SP056797

[58] SP039889

This was owned by Abraham Spooner in the late 18th century and was in the tenure of Samuel Harvey, who in 1788 became bankrupt, after which it was assigned to John Hurd. It may have been a slitting mill belonging to Wright and Jesson in the early 19th century. It was not included in the Stour Works partnership and it is unlikely that it ever made iron. It was on one occasion called a tilting forge, suggesting it was plating metal, rather than making it, but it probably had an inadequate water supply.

[66] SO978923

In 1778 a rolling and slitting mill with two forges built within the previous twenty years (but not necessarily on this site) were advertised for sale. One forge made scrap iron; the other was a plating forge. James Fisher of Tipton, who purchased this site in 1798 (including a forge mill and steam engine), bought Old Park pig iron in 1797-8. In 1816 he became bankrupt; and shortly afterwards it became a corn mill.

Sources VCH Warks vii, 258-9; Pelham 1963, 73; London Gazette no. 13017, 402 (16 August 1788). Sarehole Mill

[59] SP009818

Sarehole Mill survived into modern times as a corn mill and has been restored as such. However it seems to have had other uses in the mid-18th century, though the details remain somewhat obscure. In 1755 Matthew Boulton senior, father of the founder of the Soho Factory and a toymaker like his famous son, appears to have converted Sarehole Mill to a slitting mill. His son probably gave this up in 1761 when he bought the lease of the Soho works. Afterwards it was called a grinding mill, and in 1773 a newly built corn mill. It is preserved as such as an industrial museum.

It was probably not the Great Bridge ironworks with a steam engine, puddling furnaces and fineries, advertised in 1824: its partners were Charles Bache, Owen Johnson and John White, and it was in West Bromwich. Sources Aris Birmingham Gazette, 30 Nov. 1778; 6 Dec. 1824; Dilworth 1976, 147-8; OP a/c; Dudley Archives, Sherriff’s map (1812); Holdens Directory; London Gazette, no. 17999, 222 (7 Feb. 1824).

Sources VCH Warks vii, 267; Pelham 1963, 79-83.

349

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sheepwash Mill, Tipton

[67] SO973922

Sparrow’s Forge

A blade mill was built, probably by the Nock family, on their farm at Horseley Heath before 1684. This was converted to a walk mill by 1737. It was advertised to let in 1757 (still as a walk mill). On the sale of a third share of the freehold to Lady Dudley in 1770, it was said to have been reconverted to a blade mill. However an advertisement prior to this sale refers to it as rolling mills for copper and silver held by William Holden under a lease expiring at Michaelmas. In 1775, Lady Dudley joined with her co-owners in letting it to Thomas Hadley, a Birmingham jeweller, who had perhaps reconverted it to a blade mill. He occupied the mill until Ladyday 1797, when he was succeeded by Thomas Smith. In 1825 and 1830 it was held by Benjamin Hunt who was in 1830 much in arrears with his rent, the mill being ruinous. Under Hunt it was described as a wire mill and as slitting nail rods also as manufacturing bar and round iron, suggesting that it was again (or still) a rolling mill. Hunt & Co had six puddling furnaces in 1852.

Park Lane, Wednesbury was called formerly Sparrow’s Forge Lane. Tomkys & Sparrow were the dominant coalmasters in the area in the mid-18th century. John Sparrow, probably a son of Burslem Sparrow the coalmaster advertised materials of a horse forge in 1767. This belonged to James Sparrow in 1797, and about 1812-3 was operated by Elwell & Edwards as edged tool makers. When Edward Elwell moved the business to Wednesbury Forge in 1817, this site was sold to John Crowther and let to John Russell, who was followed by his son Addison Russell in 1850. Sampson Lloyd took it over in 1854, followed by J.F. Lloyd in 1859, then Wilson Lloyd. It was a foundry in 1846. This is an unusual site as it has no obvious source of water power. It is possible with was initially powered by water pumped to drain Broad Waters, pools formed by the crownings of earlier coal mines. Hackwood refers to a forge pool and waterwheel. Horse-mill powered forges were unusual, but there was one at Wednesbury, built in c.1760 in Camphill Lane (c.SO986948). It was later powered by a steam engine, whose boiler exploded in 1824, killing its owner Richard Adams, his uncle Charles Adams and three workmen.

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/1/8/1-15; DE/4/10/1/1116; accn 9226, (both s.v. Tipton, Horseley Heath); Aris Birmingham Gazette, 14 Feb. 1757; 25 Jan. 1768; 23 & 30 Nov. 1778; 7 Feb. 1780. Parkes (1915, 192) places Daniel Moore at Sheepwash Lane, rather than at Toll End. Soho Manufactory

[61] SO991967

Sources Dilworth 1976, 97-8; Hackwood 1899, 31-2; Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, 13 & 20 Dec. 1824; cf. King 2007b.

[60] SP051890

Steel’s Mill, Aston Thimble Mill, Aston

The mill below Pig Mill was the famous Soho Manufactory. The site was leased in 1757 to Edward Ruston and Joseph Eaves, who built a metal rolling mill. They sold it in 1761 to Matthew Boulton, who rebuilt it as the Soho Factory. The factory was mainly used in connection with the toy trade of Boulton and Fothergill, making and polishing buttons, buckles, and other toys. The account books indicate their toy trade was mostly in brass (not iron or steel) goods, but the surviving books do not cover the operations of their Birmingham warehouse, with which a steel furnace was linked (see above). It provided the offices, where Matthew Boulton and James Watt in 1775 began their business as engineers, producing steam engines under Watt’s patent. However, until about 1795 only small parts of their steam engines were made at Soho. The cylinders, boiler plates, and other large parts were made by others on contract. After that the firm took on the complete manufacture of engines, but this was done at the Soho Foundry about a mile away adjoining the canal.

[62] SP086893 [63] SP086892

Both mills, on the Hockley Brook, were blade mills in the early 18th century. In 1749 they were let to Samuel Birch who had recently converted the upper one (Thimble Mill) to a rolling mill, presumably for making thimbles. The lower mill is first called Steel’s Mill in 1758. Samuel Birch was probably succeeded, as in a house in Old Square Birmingham, by Charles Birch, and then by Birch and Hunt, who were described in 1770 as buttonmakers, who slit and sold rolled iron and steel. Later it was in the hands of William Hunt, Harry Hunt, and Thomas Jones, described as co-partners and executors of Samuel Birch. By 1800 Thimble Mill was used by John Rose thimble maker. William Hunt went on to develop the Brades Steel Works. Birch and then Hunt had Halesowen Forge. It is possible the name should be Steel Mill (not Steel’s). Sources VCH Warks vii, 259-60; Birmingham Archives, 276491; Holte 117a; Pelham 1963, 75-6; Hill & Dent 1897, 49-50 & 62-3.

Sources VCH Warks vii, 258-9; Dickinson 1937; Ashton 1924, ch.3; Pelham 1963, 83ff. A great deal has been written on this works and its products, as a result of the existence of the Boulton and Watt archives (in Birmingham Archives), but it largely lies beyond the scope of this work. G. Demidowicz is writing a book on the Soho Works.

Thimble Mill, Warley

[64] SP016870

There was another Thimble Mill at Oldbury, near Bearwood, commemorated in the name, Thimblemill Road, but actually in the Halesowen township of Warley Salop. It was called Thimble Mill by 1775, but nothing more is known. It is conceivable that it was ‘Holdbury Forge’ [i.e. Oldbury Forge] mentioned in the 1720 probate inventory 350

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country the works considerably adding a rolling mill driven by a steam engine, possibly about 1832, when the company mortgaged the premises for £4,000. J.S. Grainger (presumably a manager) advertised that he was selling the cutters for a slitting mill in 1828 and would sell Lorn pig iron and bar, rod, hoop and other iron at a warehouse in Birmingham. In 1835 the company let the works (including 14 puddling furnaces and 10 rolling mills) to John, William, Thomas, and James Bagnall. William, Thomas, and James Bagnall bought the freehold in 1842. By 1846 there were 46 puddling and mill furnaces and 4 steam engines, employing 250 men and under contract to supply goods worth £12,000, but the works were stopped, when mining subsidence caused the dam to empty, depriving the steam engines of their boiler water. The works may have been still have been using water-power until then. This was blamed on William Whitehouse and his brothers as owners of Goldhill colliery. The resultant dispute was settled by the Bagnalls buying the colliery, but it was evidently not fatal to the works. However, its subsequent history has not been worked out. Dilworth states that it was earlier Taylor’s Foundry, but that probably refers to another nearby works, but Shaw describes that as making heavy goods for engines, whimseys, and mill-work, rather than as a furnace.

of John Podmore (a sawmaker near Kidderminster). In 1833, William Shilton patented a machine for cutting files and sold machines to W.W. Blyth, who made files and rasps at this mill, but the steel was not good enough and the business was discontinued. In 1845, William Somerton converted it to a corn mill. The mill site has probably been taken for road-widening, but the pool remains in water in a recreation ground. Sources VCH Staffs xvii, 109; Sandwell Archives, ‘Jeffcott Newspaper Cuttings’, 192; M1/1/8 (picture); Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, 27 Jan. 1834; Worcs RO, Consistory probates, John Podmore 1720. Toll End Forge, Tipton Or Wednesbury New Forge

[65] SO976934

The history of this mill has been confused by Dilworth assuming that it was Tib Green Forge, which was actually on the boundary between Cheshire and Staffordshire. Nevertheless, though not an ironworks until 1761, the mill did belong to the several members of the Foley family: Richard Foley owned Toll End Mills in 1654. His son Thomas I(W) let it as two corn mills and a windmill to Eleanor Hawksford. He then settled it on his son Philip on his marriage. Philip Foley sold an estate including the mill in 1708. These mills were upstream of Wednesbury Forge, so that the Foleys’ interest was probably connected with the water supply to the forge. Richard Tole and his wife had sold it to Thomas and Richard Parkes (the ironmasters) in 1597, and their descendant John Parkes still had property at ‘Tole End’ until 1669. It is therefore likely that Richard Foley acquired this property with his ironworks. Philip Foley sold it to Joan Nightingale of Rodbaston and from her it passed to the Egington family, being the subject of a settlement in 1742, and it was sold to Edward Best, probably in 1752.

Sources Dilworth 1976, 129-30 & 140 (from Foley E12/ P5; Foley E12/S, small properties); SW a/c; Birmingham Archives, Meath-Baker 103-4 cf. 98-99; Colmore 407698701 (address); Shaw, Staffs ii, 136; Parkes 1915, 191-2; TNA, PROB 11/1393/131; Dudley Archives, D/Har/16/2; Sandwell Archives, BS-FHL 11/2/3/91-106; Sun, 10 Sep. 1799; London Gazette, no. 17654, 2204 (25 Nov. 1820); no. 17786, 182 (29 Jan. 1822); Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 19 Jun. 1826; 29 Dec. 1828. Wedges Mill, near Cannock

The mills were in the hands of Thomas Dudley otherwise Sutton in 1708, when a watercourse from Great Bridge was leased to him. The same watercourse was subsequently rented by Francis Ward, a Wednesbury file grinder and cutter and from 1761 by Price Thomas. He had a 40-year lease from 1761 and converted the mill to a ‘forge for making iron’. The mill was at some stage occupied by Joseph Hadley, probably before Francis Ward. Price Thomas also had a steel furnace in Rowley Regis and bought cast iron goods mainly from Aston Furnace from 1756 (though not necessarily for here). He became bankrupt in 1771. The forge subsequently passed to William Finch (who still had it in ‘1794’), then to Daniel Moore who added a steam engine to the slitting mill by c.1800. In 1803 he left this slitting mill (and his share in Heath Forge) to his son-on-law Jeremiah Willets who was there until at least 1813. Edward Woolley and Thomas Biggetts replaced him by 1818. The following year the freehold of the slitting and rolling mill was bought by Edward Woolley and Thomas Pretty, but they both became bankrupt in 1820. The mill was then bought by William Aston on behalf of the Birmingham Coal Company. The Company extended

[68] SJ968089

This is the same site as Cheslyn Hay Furnace. An edged tool works was established by William Gilpin in 1790. He bought iron from Old Park. The partnership of William Gilpin & Son was dissolved in 1819, the business probably being continued by George Gilpin, who was involved in 1812 and still in occupatiom in c.1843. In the 1850s to 1880s, William Gilpin & Co had puddling furnaces, 10 in 1852 and the early 1860s and late 1870s and 12 in the early 1880s. Bernard Gilpin of Wedges Mill obtained a patent in 1854, which he sought to have extended in 1868. Sources VCH Staffs v, [49? & n.395]; Staffordshire Advertiser, 20 June 1812 (address); London Gazette, no. 17542, 2203 (7 December 1819); no. 23343, 224 (17 Jan. 1868); Hayman thesis, 123; Hunt 1852, 345. Willenhall Forge

Unidentified about SO9698

An ironworks, consisting of a rolling mill and forge at Willenhall in full work was offered for sale in 1816. It made 10-15 tpw from scrap iron and was beside a turnpike on copyhold land in the manor of Stowheath. This does 351

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II not appear in the 1790/4 list, not is there any subsequent reference to an ironworks at Willenhall until the 1850s. The only subsequent ironworks in Willenhall was the Monmer (or Monmore) Lane Ironworks (SO966995), which was on the bank of the Bentley Canal (opened 1843), suggesting it was built after that. That appears in a list of 1857, when it belonged to Deakin and Dodd, but not explicitly in one of 1852. John Chapman retired in 1856 from his partnership with William Deakin and Richard Dodd. Deakin patented a method of making gun barrels in 1866. However, whether there was continuity between the 1816 forge and the later one is doubtful.

All these names appear to refer to a single firm, probably latterly Beckley, Best & Gibbons who used Roughhills ironstone 1804-7. This firm (John Gibbons, Benjamin Bickley and Edward Best) was dissolved in 1813. Sarah Bickley (a widow) sold her share to William Smith Bickley and John Latty Bickley in 1811. Benjamin Gibbons gave his share to his nephew John Gibbons in 1813, evidently the occasion for the dissolution just mentioned. Benjamin Bickley bought the shares of John Gibbons and W.S. Bickley in 1814, but John Gibbons had licence later that year to let his share to George James Gibbons of Shut End. Thomas, John and Benjamin Gibbons, bankers, were bankrupt in 1816 and the following year there was a proposal to lease their share of Bilston Furnaces. The partnership of John Gibbons and Thomas Stokes was dissolved in 1815, with the latter continuing the trade. Some of these transactions refer to a copyhold interest (rather than occupation). It is possible that there were also operating leases below it, or that there were several distinct businesses operating here. Three of the Gibbons family were also partners in Bilston Mill. Both works seem to have been purchased in 1817 by W.H. & J.S. Sparrow, who sold them to George Jones in about 1840.

Sources Shill 2008, 201 210 cf. 94-5 (not named); Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 16 Feb. 1816; London Gazette, no. 21896, 2278 (27 Jun. 1856); Staffordshire Advertiser, 3 Oct. 1857; 1 Sep. 1866; for Bentley Canal: Hadfield 1969, 99 318. Witton Rolling Mill

[69] about SP094908

At his bankruptcy in 1790 John Westwood caster and roller of metals had a rolling mill for iron, steel, silver, and other metals in Witton, with three pairs of rolls with frames completely set up. He had it under a lease with 65 years to come, which might point to it being rebuilt in 1756. This was in 1800 in the hands of James Mills a metal roller and called Goode’s Mill. Goode was tenant of a previous mill in the 1730s. This may have been Ashford’s Mill in 1759. In 1831 it was advertised as Witton Lower Rolling Mill occupied by Samuel Walker junior. In 1833 it was still a rolling mill, but called Witton Forge in 1834. It was the lowest mill on the Hawthorn Brook. The pool became a Birmingham Waterworks reservoir.

Sources Smith (W.A.) thesis, 33-35 etc.; RH a/c; Butler 1954, 244; Shill 2008, 51 96; Staffs RO, D(W) 0/2/20, 165; D(W) 0/2/26, 151 164; D(W) 0/2/23-4; TNA, PROB 11/1331/130; London Gazette, no. 16782, 1947 (28 Sep. 1813); no. 17051, 1672 (15 Aug. 1815); no. 17175, 1826 (21 Sep. 1816); no. 17271, 1653 (26 Jul. 1817); London Courier and Evening Gazette, 8 Jan. 1817. Bilston Brook Furnaces

These must be the two unnamed furnaces, which belonged in 1810 to Price & Co, but named in 1815, as having made 40 tpw, but in 1815 only 30 tpw. They still belonged to Thomas Price in 1825 and remained in use until the late 1870s.

Sources VCH Warks vii, 258; London Gazette, 13153, 753 (28 Nov. 1789); Aris Birmingham Gazette, 4 Jan. 1790. Coke furnaces

Sources Dudley Archives, Sherriff’s map (1812); Butler 1854, 244.

1815: references are generally to Butler 1954, 250-1. Bilston or Ettingshall Furnaces or Bilston Old Furnaces

[71] SO959964

[70] SO937959

Bradley Ironworks Hallfields Furnace, Bradley

Mrs Jane Robins and others leased for 40 years land including Granhams Piece in Bilston in 1778 to the executors of John Bickley. In 1787, they sold Granhams Piece (reserving the mining royalties under the lease) to William Bickley of Bilston, Benjamin Gibbons of Kingswinford and Benjamin Bickley of Bristol. William Bickley died in 1799, leaving half his share to his son John and the other half in trust for three granddaughters (with the surname Furse). Various lists illustrate its history: two furnaces were built by William ‘Beckley’ & Co in 1788. In 1794 B Gibbons held two furnaces. In 1796 2 Bilston Furnaces made 1,429 tpa. In 1806 Beckley and Gibbons had three furnaces, of which two were in blast, making 3,550 tpa. In 1810 Bickley had two of the three in blast; in 1815 Gibbons & Co had 3 furnaces in blast, making 40 tpw.

[72] SO960952 [73] SO95499520

The identity of the various works at Bradley has been somewhat confused. Smith (1966) assumed that the Hallfields Furnace, which he investigated, was John Wilkinson’s original one. A construction date of c.1767 has been much quoted for the whole works since then, though older published sources, such as Hackwood (1902, 28), consistently have dates of 1757 or 1758. There is clear evidence from the 1784 lease and litigation over many years preceding its completion that the date was 1757 and that the Lower Works (leased from Thomas Hoo of Great Barr) was the first. Smith apparently had access to title needs (not now available) at the time of a rescue excavation. His date is thus probably also correct, but the furnace he excavated was not the first. 352

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country John Wilkinson thus built a coke furnace in 1757 in partnership with Edward Blakeway. This was built on part of Tup Street Farm, another part of which was let to John Florry, Illedge Maddox, and John Hickin, who intended to build glasshouses. This adjoined the Birmingham to Wolverhampton turnpike (now Oxford Street) and Tup Street (now Bradley Lane). The furnace (under the management of William Thomas) was blown in in June 1758, but blown out on 22 October 1760, though the hearth was good for another year, and it made 372.8 tons in 10 months. This happened, because the landlord had failed to provide a sufficiently regular supply of coal and ironstone (ultimately the latter). The problem was that the actual mining was in the hands of butties (or charter masters), who were paid a proportion of the sale proceeds of what they mined. In the summer, the butties could get more for coal from country sales than the fixed price paid from the furnace. They also had little incentive to reserve for the furnace coal from those certain seams that were most suitable. Furthermore, Hoo did not keep the substantial stock of ironstone on the surface, so that it could weather before use, as he had contracted to do. This may have been due to mining difficulties that were not his fault, as the ironstone lay under the coal and drainage (despite a steam engine) was imperfect. This led in 1765 to litigation in the Court of Exchequer in response to a claim by the landlord for rent. At court hearings in 1768 and 1770, the judge recommended the parties to find a compromise, which they did. Wilkinson offered to take a 99-year lease of the land in his possession and accept £1500 damages. Blakeway had by then transferred his share to his sister Mary, Wilkinson’s wife. There then followed Chancery litigation over how much land should be included in the new lease. John Wilkinson had bought Florry & Co’s lease in 1769. The mining operations (using many pits at a time) had probably obscured boundaries and Hoo perhaps did not realise the scope of the lease that he had agreed, as including Florry’s land. This led to further litigation, which was eventually settled in 1784 by the grant of a 99-year lease running from 1770. By 1784, the leased premises already had two furnaces and a separate ironfoundry, in or adjoining the glasshouse, including a furnace (the third one) evidently built after 1770.

boring and one blowing); and several more subsequently. Wilkinson’s cousin William Johnson managed the works at this period. Joseph Firmstone, who acted as a consultant to Johnson in the early 1790s, introduced puddling to the Midlands, probably specifically here. John Wilkinson had ore shipped in 1787 and 1795 from Whitriggs Mine in Furness to Runcorn, to be sent by canal to Bradley. In 1796 there were three furnaces making 1,920 tpa. In 1805 two of these were in blast making 3,566 tpa. Following the death in 1808 of John Wilkinson, his executors occupied the works until about 1810. The furnaces are listed as held in 1810 by Fereday. By 1815, Fereday, Bickley & Smith had 3 furnaces in blast. J.T. Fereday had three furnaces in 1825, while the 1823-30 list places two furnaces at Bradley and one at ‘Lower Works’. S. Fereday apparently had a separate ironworks also at Bradley from 1806, using ironstone from Roughhills (RH a/c). It is possible that he had one furnace in 1815 and that Bickley & Smith had the other two furnaces, but the situation is unclear. In 1823, there were two furnaces at the lower works and one at the upper, making 4,195 and 1,920 tons respectively. Thomas Jones (perhaps one of Wilkinson’s heirs) was bankrupt in 1815. However Hallfields Furnaces appear separately in 1825 making 2,454 tons and owned by Robert Cooper. The Bradley Works remained in use into the 1840s, and Hallfields was last blown in 1862. There were five separate works which had ‘Bradley’ in their name, with puddling furnaces in the 1860s and 1870s, but it is not known whether any were the direct successors of Wilkinson’s works. Sources TNA, E 112/1969/15; E 134/8 Geo 3/East 8; C 12/1637/19; Foley, E12/S, box 378 (Great Barr), lease of 20 Oct. 1784 (with plan); SW  a/c; Gale 1943, 17; Gale 1966, 25; Morton & Smith 1966; Smith 1966a; 1966b; Butler thesis, ch.3, 77-80; Dickinson & Jenkins 1927, 157 161-2 245-8; Tann 1979, 103; Dawson 2012, passim; London Gazette, no. 1742, 1080 (4 Jun. 1815); Staffordshire Advertiser, 30 Jan. 1830; Hackwood 1902, 28-30; Shaw, Staffs ii, 172a; Barrow in Furness RO, DDHJ 4/3/2/15 & 35. Caponfields Furnaces

[74] SO949955

John Bickley of Bilston granted a 99 year lease of the colliery here in 1772 to a company of 12 or 14 men. In 1782 Bernard and Richard Wilkes sold their interest in the original company to John Read jun. the son of another member, for a royalty on coal got. The colliery was idle from 1797 to 1808, but two furnaces, apparently built after 1796, are listed as held by Smith, Read & Co in 1805, making 4,600 tpa. They had both in blast in 1810. RH a/c refer to the furnace company as Thomas Smith & Co or as Read Smith & Sons. John Fereday & Co took over the colliery in 1807, but in 1815 Smiths & Co had two furnaces in blast, making 40 tpw each, sometimes 60 tpw. John Read was bankrupt in 1811, having contracted to sell his share to Thomas Smith, but Smith apparently failed to complete the contract. Dudley Annuity Society for

The Hallfields Furnace (the upper works) was clearly the second Bradley Furnace, built on freehold land that Wilkinson bought in 1766. This furnace played a major role in supplying local forges with pig iron, particularly Knight and Spooner’s Bromford Forge from 1769 until 1786. The cessation of these sales is probably related to investment in forge plant at Bradley. The old line of the Birmingham Canal passed between the two works, so that it had excellent communications. When Wilkinson wished to add a forge in 1781, he asked Boulton & Watt to design an engine for this. A rotary steam engine was working at his forge from March 1783. By 1794, he had 6 melting fineries and 6 balling furnaces; also a rolling mill and a slitting mill, built in 1787. He built himself a further engine in 1787; 5 more in 1789 (including two rolling mills, one 353

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Deepfields Furnace, Coseley or Coseley Furnace

Widows and Orphans foreclosed a mortgage of his share in 1818. The works stood entirely idle for several years. Thomas Smith of Capponfield was bankrupt in 1822. W. Aston (a committee member of the Birmingham Coal Company, but in his own capacity) was using the works in 1825 and perhaps from 1822, but he became bankrupt in 1826. John Bagnall & Sons had it by 1839, staying until 1881. T & I Bradley (and from 1906 T & I Bradley & Sons Ltd) then operated the works almost until 1933 and Bradley and Foster Ltd until 1937, with a furnace in blast until at least 1910.

The occupiers are variously given as Benj Penn & Co (1790 only, and owner 1794), George Stokes & Co and Pemberton Stokes and Co Samuel Pemberton, George Stokes and Benjamin Stokes leased additional mines from Lord Dudley in 1794. The furnace was built about 1789 and had 4 fineries in ‘1794’. Joseph Firmstone had a management role at some stage and improved the output of the furnace. This was presumably in the mid1790s, before he built Highfields Forge in 1799. In 1796 it made 2,526 tpa. In 1805 Mr Stokes made 3,660 tpa in two furnaces. As at Eardington Forge, and Billingsley Furnace, the firm became G. & T. Stokes in 1810, when Pemberton’s executors retired; Benjamin Stokes had retired at Coseley in 1806. Later in 1810, Thomas Stokes retired from Stokes, Smith & Co; and finally the firm of George Stokes and David Smith was dissolved. George Stokes was bankrupt in 1812 (cf. Kinver Mill). The partnership between John Jeffereys, William Stevens, David Smith and the Assignees of George Stokes was dissolved in 1818. In 1815 there were two furnaces held by Jefferies & Co, but in the 1820s and beyond the owners were Pemberton & Co. In 1828 Coseley Ironworks were advertised as two forges with rolling mills, making large plates, capable of 200 tpw and two furnaces. Application was to be made to Edwin Pemberton or Joseph Corrie in Birmingham or William Steven at the works. Members of the Pemberton family continued to be concerned, but the occupier was also at time the rather anonymous Deepfields Iron Co. The last of the furnaces was blown out in 1877. A forge with 12 puddling furnaces was in operation in 1852, and again in 1870-5, latterly with 22 furnaces.

Sources Wolverhampton Archives, DX23/3, 118ff; Staffs, RO, D 802/4/2/14; Dudley Archives, Map 1496C; London Gazette, no. 16548, 2345 (3 Dec. 1811); no. 16572, 262 (4 Feb. 1812); no. 16716, 666 (30 Mar. 1813); 17870, 1883 (16 Nov. 1822). The deeds of the colliery were at British Steel Records Centre (Irthlingborough), 1653c1 box 6-8. For Birmingham Coal Co, see Birmingham Archives, MS 3939/1; cf. Dudley Archives, D/Har/10/2 (see Toll End Forge). Coltham Furnaces, Essington

[75] SJ927005

Mr Penn built the furnaces were in 1808 beside the Wyrley and Essington Canal in Willenhall. It was offered for sale by the assignees of John Tristram (a bankrupt) in 1825 and 1826, with a lease with 10 years remaining. Tristram had absconded in 1825, allegedly to America. The works were advertised to let in 1840, then for sale, Richard Mainwaring being bankrupt. The lessee offered them to let again in 1844, as needing repair. They probably closed in 1840. Sources Shill 2008, 185; Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, 14 Feb. 1825; 7 Sep. 1840; 30 Nov. 1840; Bath Chronicle, 29 Sept. 1825; London Gazette, no. 18232, 695 (25 Mar. 1826); Perry’s Bankrupt Gazette, 19 Sep. 1840; Wolverhampton Chronicle, 24 Jul. 1844. Coseley Furnace perhaps Coseley New Furnace

[77] SO942948

In 1817 the Deepfield Colliery Company occupied ‘land to erect a furnace on’ leased to them by Lord Dudley from 1811. They were still there in 1820, but in 1825 and 1830 the works were part of Lord Dudley’s Mine Concern. This probably refers to a different site.

[76] SO942950

Sources SW a/c; RH a/c; Dudley Archives, Map C1177; DE/4/10/1/15-16; accn 9226, 1817 and 1820 (s.v. Sedgley, Ettingshall); DE/6/4/7/8; London Gazette, no. 15887, 167 (4 February 1806); no. 16381, 927 (23 Jun. 1810); no. 16411, 1588 (6 Oct. 1810); no 17370, 1097 (16 Jun. 1818); Birmingham Gazette, 24 Nov. 1828; Staffordshire Advertiser, 30 Jan. 1830.

Richard Hawkes leased land in Coseley called Brecknell from Lord Dudley and Ward in 1811 to build two furnaces. In 1813 he assigned it to trustees for his creditors. In 1815 the trustees concluded the works were not profitable and resolved to sell them. The following year Lord Dudley bought the works partly in settlement of outstanding arrears of royalties. These may possibly be the furnaces near Caponfields listed in 1815 as held by Jos. Hateley Hawkes, one of which was in blast in August that year. They are probably the two furnaces occupied by George Jones by 1825 and until the 1840s when they passed to Joseph and Thomas Turley. The family retained the works until the mid-1880s.

Dudley Port or Coneygre Furnace

[78] SO960912

This was built by Messrs Parkes (Zachariah, another Zechariah, Joseph and Zephaniah) in 1794 on the western edge of Lord Ward’s Coneygree Park. Ironworks existed on this site until recent times. In 1796 it made 869 tpa and in 1805 1,196 tpa. The works included a forge and slitting mill by 1798. Zachariah Parkes also built another furnace in 1800 near the southern entrance to the Dudley Canal Tunnel at Parkhead (see next chapter). Messrs Parkes were still in possession in 1825. A forge with two steam

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/4/7/12/35; DE/6/4/7/14-17; DE/6/1/1-3.

354

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country engines employing 14 (presumably puddling) furnaces, making 120 tpw was advertised in 1827. The lease had 60 years to run and it was late occupied by J. Parkes & Co. The premises were taken over by George Parker & Co of Tipton Furnaces, but were acquired by the Earl of Dudley’s trustees by 1839. They built another furnace. The furnaces were dismantled in 1896, but the Earl of Dudley continued a foundry until 1925, when W.L. Graham its manager and others formed The Coneygre Foundry Ltd. By then a subsidiary of Birmid Industries Ltd, this company reduced its staff to 250 in 1967, but was still an operational subsidiary of Birmid Qualcast in 1969 and 1982. That company was acquired by Blue Circle in 1988, which then sold off the foundries. The Coneygre Foundry Ltd was liquidated in 2012 as a dormant (but solvent) subsidiary of LaFarge.

border of Coseley and Bilston. In 1799 he entered into a partnership with Thomas Ellis and Thomas Perry to build a forge there. This partnership was dissolved in 1804, the trade being continued by William Parsons & Co. A new ironworks partnership was formed in 1806 between Joseph Firmstone, his son Joseph Parsons Firmstone, his fatherin-law William Parsons, and Thomas Perry; this continued until 1809 when they negotiated a lease to Samuel Fereday and William Turton. However, they refused to proceed unless J.P. Firmstone remained a partner and he refused unless the old firm guaranteed him against loss. Fereday, Turton, and Firmstone traded at a loss for several years. This and other losses led to the bankruptcies of William Parsons (about 1816); of J.P. Firmstone and his brother William (1821 but superseded); of J.P. Firmstone and William Turton (1822). Some of the Firmstone brothers had been put in possession of some of their assets in c.1818 and had traded out of insolvency. Highfield Ironworks was offered for sale in 1824, with two blast furnaces, almost new, William Firmstone still being involved, but perhaps they went unsold. J.P. Firmstone’s creditors met in 1828 to consider the sale of his moiety. William Firmstone and his brother George became successful ironmasters at Leys Ironworks near Brierley Hill (established 1828). A map of 1826 mentions two blast furnaces, belonging to the trustees of J.W. Firmstone (sic), but void. These furnaces appear in lists in the 1820s, but as out of blast. My ancestor, Thomas Firmstone was for a time associated with the Highfields Works, but left when his brothers would not show him the books. He then operated ironworks at Apedale and later at Madeley in north Staffordshire.

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/6/4/9/1; DE/4/10/1, s.v. Tipton; accn 9226, s.v. Tipton; cf. DE/6/4/2/3; Raybould 1973, 141; Gale 1954; Shaw, Staffs ii, 136; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 29 Oct. 1827; Cambrian, 1 Dec 1827; Birmingham Daily Post, 19 Aug. 1967; 3 Jul. 1969; www.gracesguide.co.uk from The Engineer, 4 Mar. 1982. Gospel Oak Furnace, Tipton

[79] SO963949

This was built by Mr Hawkes on land of ‘Bank and Demregin’ (Dumaresq?) in 1794. In 1796 it made 1,613 tpa and 25 tpw in c.1800. The partnership between William Bancks, John Read and John Dumaresq was dissolved in 1801. The works included a forge by 1798. Thomas Smith, Samuel Ferreday and others leased mines here in 1802 to John Read, who was also a partner in Caponfields Furnace. He was buying several thousand tons of ironstone each year from Roughhills Colliery. The ironworks is omitted from the 1806 list, presumably in error. John Read had three furnaces there in 1810. Following his 1811 bankruptcy, his assignees still had them in 1815 with two furnaces in blast and were rolling ‘frying handles, bevelled on each side very neatly’. The assignees were considering releasing the associated mines to the encumbrancers in 1816. The ironworks was bought in 1817 by Joshua Walker & Co of Rotherham and transferred to Samuel Walker in 1821 at the beginning of the breaking up of that company. Joshua Walker & Co bought Old Park pig iron in 181922, suggesting they had a forge. They were later held by Walker Brothers and are last heard of in 1839, when the two furnaces were out of blast.

Sources Staffs RO, D 695/1/9/19 27 &c.; King, ‘Firmstone family’; London Gazette, no. 15779, 202 (9 Feb, 1805); no. 16420 (30 Oct. 1810); no. 17612, 1324 (4 Jul. 1820); no. 17825, 985 (11 Jun. 1822); no. 17832, 1130 (6 Jul. 1822); no. 18505, 1723 (16 Sep. 1828); Birmingham Gazette, 29 Nov. 1824; Staffordshire Advertiser, 30 Jan. 1830. Horseley Ironworks

Dixon, Amphlett & Bedford, who owned the Horseley estate in Tipton and collieries leased land for the erection of ironworks to Richard Harrison, John Oliver, Richard Kiteley (all of Stoney Stratford) and Joseph Smith of Coseley, who bought a Boulton & Watt engine in 1809. By 1813 they had two furnaces, a puddling furnace, a finery, 3 cuploas, 2 engines and 6 pits. In 1813 Aaron Manby joined Smith in building an engineering works and the firm became known as Manby and Smith. Manby was bankrupt in 1815 and Smith in 1816, but Manby apparently survived this, being an ironworks partner (and presumably solvent) in 1818. The ironworks business was known by various names, including York, Harrison, & Co and Oliver & Co. In 1844 the works were sold to Bramah & Co of Woodside Ironworks (near Dudley), who sold them on the following year. From the 1850s the owners were Colbourn & Sons, who from 1864 also had works at Park Lane, Tipton and operated a furnace at one of them in 1880. The notable engineering works remained in use until 1992.

Sources RH a/c; London Gazette, no. 15418, 1268 (23 May 1801); no. 16520, 1765 (7 Sep. 1811); no. 16548, 2345 (3 Dec. 1811); no. 17154, 1393 (16 Jul. 1816); John 1951, 26-8; Gale 1943, 20; Shaw, Staffs ii, 136; Parkes 1915, 191. Highfields Ironworks

[81] SO968930

[80] SO950954

My ancestor Joseph Firmstone bought some fields in 1796, with a loan from his father-in-law William Parsons, on the 355

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sources Allen 2000; Birmingham Archives, MS 3147/5/680; London Gazette, no. 17095, 2607 (30 Dec. 1815); no. 17149, 1260 (2 Jun. 1816); Leeds Intelligencer, 27 Apr. 1818. The deeds of Dixon Amphlett & Bedford are in Birmingham Archives, LEE. Lea Brook

The Chillington Iron Co had ironworks at Leabrook by the 1850. Sources Dilworth 1976, 131-2; Hackwood 1891; Dudley Archives, Sherriff’s map (1812); London Gazette, no. 16225, 154 (31 Jan. 1809); no. 16322, 796 (30 May 1809); no. 16412, 1606 as ‘Sea Brook’ (9 Oct. 1810); no. 17881, 2116 (24 Dec. 1822); Sandwell Archives, BS-FHL/11/2/3/107-25; Shill 2008, 94-5 147 210; Wolverhampton Chronicle and Staffordshire Adveriser, 4 Mar. 1846; 23 Jul. 1853.

[82] see text below

There were three different ironworks in close proximity to each other along Lea Brook Road. A furnace (SO978944) was built by Michael Toney in 1803, probably a lessee of Mrs Foley (or rather her trustees) and Mrs Whitby, as co-heiresses of Thomas Hoo. William Barker and Robert Deakin withdrew from the partnership here in 1808, followed by Toney in 1809, leaving Thomas Bolton to continue the works alone. He had Isabella Purdew as a partner until 1810. Read & Co presumably then bought it. They had a single furnace in blast in 1810; also in 1815 when it belonged to Bagnall, Norton & Co. The partnership of Bailey Caddick and Thomas Gritton at Lea Brook Ironworks was dissolved in 1825; this included a furnace, listed in 1825 as in blast and owned by Bailey Caddick & Co. In 1850, W. Bailey had puddling works at ‘Old Leabrook’, capable of 100 tpw, but unemployed. The property was Messrs Solley’s ironworks in 1853, but no furnace appears in lists after 1839. James Solly had 22 puddling furnaces in 1852 and Solly Brothers 48 in 1859, and 54 in 1866, after which the works passed to others and are not separately listed in the Mineral Statistics. They were offered for sale with 10 puddling furnaces in 1873.

Millfield or Birds Wharf Furnaces

[83] SO938964

In 1805 there were two furnaces making 5,065 tpa, which had been built near Bilston in the previous decade by Fereday & Turton and partly supplied with ironstone from Roughhills colliery. In 1816 it belonged to Feredays, Turton and Walker. In 1815, both furnaces were in blast, but their partnership was dissolved at the end of that year. Bar iron was also made there. Mrs Walker was the owner in 1825 and William Riley by 1839. Later owners included members of the Gibbons and Sparrow families. The last blast furnace was blown out in the late 1880s. Sources Holden’s Directory 1816; RH a/c; London Gazette, no. 17095, 2601 (30 Dec. 1815). Moorcroft Furnaces

[84] about SO970952

These were built in 1800 by John Addenbrooke. Alterations were made to engine in 1808. In 1806 one of the two furnaces was out of blast, 1,955 tons having been made the previous year. John Read must have had some interest in the works prior to his bankruptcy, as in 1814 his assignees needed to resolve the claims of J.A. Addenbrooke concerning them. In 1815 one of the two furnaces was again out of blast. They remained in the hands of the Addenbrooke family until their closure about 1840, though with a change in partnership in 1823.

Another ironworks in Lea Brook Field, next to Toney’s property (SO978943), derives a sale of 8½ acres land by Foley and Whitby to John Gibbons in 1805. In 1818, he sold nearly 1¼ acres to Edward Wooley and Thomas Pretty ironmasters, who probably built a forge. They sold the property in 1820 to Thomas Tickell. He was bankrupt in 1822, as was his firm in which H.F. Devey and Jonathan Saunders (also of Goldshill) were partners. This led to Hill, Bate and Robins (the Stourbridge Old Bank) taking over that land with engines, whimseys and other machinery in satisfaction of £2950 of a £6000 mortgage debt. Bate and Robins kept it until 1836, probably letting it in the meantime to Charles Palmer and then to Thomas Horton and Joseph Turley. The 1836 purchaser was William Batson, who took J.H. Bissell as a partner, but mortgaged the property to Bate & Robins (the Stourbridge Old Bank) in 1840, before going bankrupt in 1841. Bate & Robins paid £350 for the equity of redemption in 1842, and retained it until 1853, during which time it seems to have been managed by John Hartland. John Bagnall & Sons bought it in 1853.

Sources Birmingham Archives, MS 3247/5/282; catalogue of old engines, 107 no 382; London Gazette, no. 17993, 92 (17 Jan. 1824). Oldbury Furnace

[85] SO989897

This was built in the decade preceding 1805 by Messrs. Parker of Tipton Furnaces, who added a second furnace before 1810. In 1815 George Parker & Co had one of the two furnaces in blast. Izons & Whitehouse of Oldbury bought ironstone 1803-8 (RH a/c), but perhaps the ironstone was used in their New Level Furnaces, near Brierley Hill, rather than at Oldbury. By 1839 the works were run by John Dawes & Sons (on whom see Bromford), replaced by 1852 by William Bennet, who had furnaces regularly to be in use at Oldbury until 1866.

In 1822, William Davies and Thomas Matthews (partners of Joseph Warr at Lea Brook) were insolvent debtors; it is not clear which was their works. An ironworks under construction designed to make weekly 200 tons of rails and 50 tons of sheet iron was advertised in 1846. This apparently became the Chillington Works at Leabook (SO977943) on the opposite side of the canal to the others.

Sources Hunt 1979; Dudley Archives, Sherriff’s map (1812). 356

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country Poolhayes, Willenhall

probably never built

Tipton Furnaces or Tipton Old Furnaces

The partnership as coalmasters and ironmasters at Poolhayes (SJ 967002) and Ashmore Farms, was dissolved in 1810 between Henry, William and Benjamin Penn and John Thomas Smith (who retired). A blast engine for a large furnace and refinery was advertised for sale in 1812. The following year the Penns’ partnership with Samuel Hanbury was declared dissolved as a result of his bankruptcy. The owners’ trade might imply that an ironworks was proposed, but the sale of the engine suggests that this idea was abandoned. No ironworks has been found in any list. Despite the owners being called ironmasters, this was perhaps only a colliery, or possibly their ironworks was Coltham, which is nearby.

Two furnaces were built by Messrs. Parker (Richard, John, Abraham, and Benjamin) in 1783 with a slitting mill built in 1790. The furnaces stood in the northern corner of Lord Ward’s Coneygree Park, and must not be confused with the Coneygree Works of Z. Parkes. Like Coneygree Furnace, this adjoined the old line of the Birmingham Canal Navigation, and mining rights in the park were divided between the owners of the two furnaces. A forge engine was apparently erected here in 1784, suggesting that this ironworks included the forge at Dudley Port with 4 melting fineries that existed in 1790, though it was owned by ‘Hawkes’. The furnaces made 2,203 tpa in 1796 and were producing 25-30 tpw in 1798. By 1798, there were three forge hammers and a slitting and rolling mill, sometimes making boiler plate. In 1805 these two furnaces and one at Oldbury made 4,500 tpa for Messrs. Parker. The rent was increased in 1806 (suggesting a new lease) and Messrs Parker remained in possession until at least 1820. In 1815 only one furnace was in use and again in 1825, and the works remained in use until the 1870s, being occupied by E. Cresswell & Sons by 1839. They had 22 puddling furnaces in 1852, rising to 32 in the 1860s. Cresswells failed in 1859, though the works remained in their name afterwards. The works were operated by The Rhos Hall Iron Company Ltd, whose winding up was ordered in Chancery in 1865. Cresswell had conveyed the Rhos Hall Estate to trustees for their creditors. An auction of the company’s Rhos Hall or Llanerchrugog and Llwyneinnion estates (with iron and brickworks) was advertised in 1869. However The Rhos Hall Iron Company Ltd was still operating 23 puddling furnaces in 1883 and 11 in 1885. This was probably a new company with the same name formed in 1865.

Sources London Gazette, no. 16361, 567 (14 Apr. 1810); no. 16564, 134 (18 Jan. 1812); no.16856, 342 (12 Feb. 1814); Staffordshire Advertiser, 29 Aug. 1812. Priestfield Furnaces

[87] SO937969

Priestfield was built to use ironstone from mines in the glebe of Bilston Chapel, following an Act of Parliament authorising the curate to lease them in 1806. The firm was Fereday, Smith & Ward in 1812. In 1815 Fereday & Co had three furnaces of which one was out of blast. They passed to the Ward family by the 1820s and they continued using them until 1866. Sources Dudley Archives, Sherriff’s map (1812); Staffs RO, D 4617/1, 258-9; production 1812-45: ibid, 38; Shill 2008, 48. Roughhills Furnaces

[89] SO953919

[88] SO967928

These were built by William Johnson (who died before 1803) and Samuel Fereday of Ettingshall Park. In 1805 there were two furnaces making 2,193 tpa. The full name of the colliery firm was Fereday, Mander, and Rylands; the last two being Johnson’s devisees. After 1804 the furnace operation may have been a separate company. In 1815 Fereday & Co held the works but neither furnace was in blast. The partnership of Samuel Fereday and John Mander was dissolved that year. W. Aston had them in use again by 1825, but they closed not long after. The three furnaces (capable of 130-150 tpw) and associated mines were advertised in 1824. A sale was probably agreed from the Trustees of Messrs Firmstone to William Aston, perhaps not completed when Aston became bankrupt.

Sources Hunt 1979, 31; Dudley Archives, DE/6/4/9/2; DE/4/10/1, Tipton; accn 9226, Tipton; Raybould 1973, 138 etc.; Dickinson & Jenkins 1927, 249; Shaw, Staffs ii, 136; London Daily News, 19 May 1859; Birmingham Journal, 28 Jul. 1866; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 24 Nov. 1866; 1 Feb. 1868; Birmingham Daily Gazette, 23 Aug. 1869. Note also TNA, BT 31/348/1262; BT 31/1086/2038C; BT 41/594/3260. [90] SO958927 Tipton New Furnaces or Tipton Green or Tipton Three Furnaces Tipton New Furnaces, of which there were three, belonged to Fereday and Turton and were supplied from Roughhills Colliery from 1808. The partnership of Samuel Fereday (who was bankrupt in 1817), William Turton and John Turton Fereday was dissolved in late 1814. The two latter dissolved a subsequent partnership in 1820. At the same time, a partnership ended between Turton and J.T. Fereday in Tipton Forge and Highfields Mill. This was presumably when Edward Dixon, George Dalton, James Bourne and Herbert Dudley Bourne joined the firm. William Turton

Sources TNA, C  108/111; RH a/c; Wolverhampton Archives, CMB/WOL/D 20 147 248 251 259 & 291; London Gazette, no. 17086, 2404 (2 Dec. 1815); Birmingham Gazette, 16 Feb. 1824; 19 Jun. 1826.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Monway Field bought in 1784 by Samuel and John Hallen of Hardwick Forge in south Shropshire. Associated mining property was bought by Samuel Hallen with Thomas Worsey about the same time, but Hallen bought Worsey’s share in 1787. In 1794 there were also a chafery, 2 melting fineries and 2 balling furnaces built in 1786. Samuel Hallen bought a little pig iron in 1790. Samuel and John Hallen were bankrupt in 1794; their brother-in-law, John Abbott, was their guarantor from 1789 for borrowings on mortgage from Finch and Dixon (the Dudley Old Bank). After the bankruptcy, it would seem that the works were run for the benefit of the creditors for some years. In June 1796 ‘the assignees of Samuel and John Hallen’ bought some pig iron. Thus William Stuttle (who later worked for William Hazledine at Upton Forge) was manager until about 1802. In 1796 the forge had a slitting and rolling mill and was ‘on the most approved principles’, presumably with puddling furnaces. On 1800, there was also a foundry and boring mill.

left in 1822 and was bankrupt soon after. Dixon & Co (or the Tipton Co) occupied the furnaces in the 1820s. They may have been out of use in the 1840s until B. Gibbons jun. took them over in 1849, being joined by Roberts. Wm Roberts (Tipton) Ltd took over in 1900 and they remained in use until about 1936. Accounts Brief balance sheets with partners’ shares in the furnace and colliery 1822-1833: Dudley Archives, DSCAM/3/4/14. Sources RH a/c; London Gazette, no. 17088, 2432 (5 Dec. 1815); no. 17612, 1324 (4 Jul. 1820); no. 17804, 540 (30 Mar. 1822); no. 17825, 985 (11 Jun. 1822); Hackwood 1891, ch. liii. Tollend Furnaces, Tipton Eagle Furnaces, Great Bridge

[91] SO976935 [92] c.SO976929

There were perhaps two separate ironworks at Toll End, whose histories are not readily separated, Eagle Furnaces and Toll End Furnaces. The account here may thus not be quite right. R. Hawkes had two furnaces at Toll End in 1805 of which one was in blast, its output not being recorded. This was described as lately built and making 20 tpw in c.1800. He used Rough Hills ironstone 1804-8 (RH a/c). No owner is named in 1810, and it may not be listed in 1815. William Aston had the two Eagle Furnaces in 1825, but his partner William Baldwin had died and Aston went bankrupt in 1826. They may have acquired these in 1822 when both tendered their resignations from the Birmingham Coal Company Committee. The Eagle Ironworks, including two furnaces, were advertised in 1826 on Aston’s bankruptcy. These were later operated until the 1840s by Eagle Furnace Co.

The ironworks were offered for auction in 1796 and 1800, when Dudley Old Bank sold the works to John Wheeler of Upton Forge in Shropshire), but he became bankrupt in 1804 without completing the sale. The executors of Dixon (the surviving bank partner) sold the forge machinery to Edward Wright of Wednesbury in 1817, but the sale of the land was not completed until 1823. In the meantime, Dixon & Co had brought Chancery proceedings for the 1800 sale to be completed, in which Wheeler’s creditors gave the assignee discretion to act as he saw fit. A plan made in 1817 shows a building straddling property boundaries, but including an engine and puddling furnaces. The furnace probably stood on land which Sampson Lloyd sold John Wheeler in 1800 and which a relative sold to Wright in 1819. The Hallens must have had a lease from Lloyd, which may be the leasehold Moxley colliery, advertised in 1796. In 1805, a single furnace was listed as in the hands of Attwoods, but out of blast. In 1810 they had two furnaces, both listed as in blast. They do not appear in Butler’s 1815 list. Attwoods must have been tenants under the bank or Wheeler’s assignees. Wright was a coalmaster and it is not clear whether the ironworks were used again. ‘Ironworks (disused)’ is shown as a ruin on an Ordnance Survey map of the 1880s. Riden & Owen conflated this furnace with Wednesbury Oak, but this is contrary to the evidence of Sherriff’s map.

In 1815 Birmingham Coal Co held furnaces at Toll End and one of the two furnaces was out of blast. Their minutes record that they planned a furnace in 1810 and built another in 1813, replacing one of these with two new ones in 1818. In 1825 Baldwin, Aston & Co had three furnaces, making 6500 tpa. This may be an error for the Company, where Baldwin and Aston were Committee members. The Company acquired a forge and mill in 1822, contiguous to their works. Though out of blast in the 1840s, the Toll End Co had a furnace in blast up to 1857. It will be noted that this history is quite different from the water-powered forge at Toll End.

Sources Dudley Archives, Sherriff’s map (1812); DHAR 139/2; cf. 138/1; Sandwell Archives, BS-FHL 11/2/3/187210; Dickinson & Jenkins 1927, 249; Sun, 3 Jun. 1796; London Gazette, no. 13151, 737 (21 Nov. 1789); no. 13892, 469 (14 May 1796); 15044, 705 (24 Jul. 1798); 15673, 191 (7 Feb. 1804); 16262, 796 (30 May 1809); Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 20 Jan. 1800; OP a/c; TNA, C  54/7703 no 1; Ede 1962, 130; Gerhold 2009, 52; Pattinson 2011, 118-9; 2017, 53.

Sources Shaw, Staffs ii, 136; Hackwood 1891, ch. xlvi xlviii; cf. Shill 2008, 41 59-60 187; London Gazette, no.18096, 30 (4 January 1825); no. 18260, 1522 (20 June 1826); Birmingham Archives, MS 3939/1. Wednesbury Furnace or Wedgebury or Hallens’ Furnace

[93] SO97909505

Monway Field was one of the open fields of Wednesbury, with the result that land ownership was extremely fragmented. An ironworks was built in 1785, on land in 358

Chapter 23: The Tame Valley and the Northeast Black Country Wednesbury Oak Furnaces Wednesbury Oak Works

[94] SO962943 [95] SO960942

Jones, Whitehouse & Co had two furnaces, of which one was in blast in 1815. These were built after 1812 and were actually in Brierley, one of the townships of Sedgley. Benjamin Whitehouse and J.L. Bickley retired from their partnership with William West Jones and Benjamin Gibbons jun in 1816. Philip Williams joined W.W. Jones in the business, but their partnership was dissolved in 1818. A related mining lease dated 1814 was surrendered by Benjamin Gibbons sen and Benjamin Gibbons jun in 1819, so that the landlords of an estate of 118 acres could grant a renewed lease to Philip Williams & Sons, who had acquired the furnace lease. At the same time, the landlords granted a 50-year lease of land in the angle between the Birmingham Canal and a private canal arm to the furnaces, for the construction of an iron forge and mills. This was to enable Philip Williams & Sons to consume inferior ‘black coal’. The firm continued to be called Philip Williams & Sons until the works closed in about 1921. In 1850, the firm was able to make 400 tpw bar iron, but was only making 300 tpw. They had 56 puddling furnaces in 1859 and added 40 more two years later, but reduced the number below 60 again in 1880. Sources Staffs RO, D 1707/11/2-3; London Gazette, no. 17097, 32 (6 Jan. 1816); no. 17252, 1195-6 (20 May 1817); no. 17430, 2233 (12 Oct. 1818); Hackwood 1891, ch. xlvii. Note also Staffs RO, D 1707, passim.

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24 The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Introduction

project. This was probably because the transport costs for Shropshire coal were lower. This is not the place for a full account of this, but in the 1670s, Yarranton invested some of his own money in the river, realising his remaining investments in iron production. When that money was exhausted he persuaded Alderman John Forth and Sir Clement Clerke, who were then buying ironworks, to invest in completing the navigation, but they did not advance the intended money. Ultimately, in 1680, the project was abandoned.3 Mixed up in this was Yarranton’s tinplate project, in which he and Ambrose Crowley of Stourbridge visited Saxony to find out how tinplate was made. At one stage, it was suggested that a long cut at Halfcot (in Kinver), being made for the navigation, should be used to power a tinplate mill, but in the end it powered a corn mill, subsequently converted to a wire mill, probably in the 1720s. Wolverley Lower Mill was built as a tin mill in 1670 to resolve another navigation problem, but the renewal of a patent stopped the tinplate project and that mill was used as a forge and slitting mill.4

The River Stour rises south of Halesowen and runs north then west until it is joined by its most major tributary the Smestow Brook (formerly called river Trysull) just north of Stourton. It then flows south to join the River Severn at Stourport. The river carries a substantial volume of water, too much (except in the upper reaches) for mill pools to be appropriate, but not too much for it to be difficult to construct weirs. As a result substantially all the ironworks on the river must have had undershot or breast-shot wheels. Most of the ironworks stood on the river itself or on the Smestow Brook, but there were numerous blade mills on the upper reaches of the Stour and on tributaries, including on the Bell and Wannerton Brooks, which both join the Stour near Kidderminster.1 The role of the Stour valley The river drains the south and west of the Black Country plateau, which is a coalfield with seams of ironstone and fireclay in it. Mines near Stourbridge were the source of ‘Stourbridge Clay’, also called ‘glasshouse pot clay’, a vital resource for glass production, an industry for which Stourbridge was an important centre from the 1610s due to the presence of accessible coal and fireclay.2 There were charcoal furnaces at Cradley and Hales [Halesowen] on the river where it is within the coalfield. Other furnaces stood on the head waters and tributaries of Smestow Brook within or a little beyond the edge of the coalfield. Many of the forges lay further downstream, often outside the coalfield. However it was not just the availability of ample water power that led to the importance of the Stour valley: there must be many comparable rivers in England. The lower Stour valley occupied a strategic position between the river port of Bewdley and the iron manufacturing area of the Black Country, where iron could be processed on its way to being manufactured.

Nearly a century later, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (opened in the early 1770s) was built down the Smestow and Stour valley, giving the works in the valley easy access to the canal. This was followed in the 1780s by the Stourbridge, Dudley, and Birmingham Canals, which reached into the heart of the manufacturing area. These gave much of the Black Country (for the first time) easy access to water transport, leading to the erection of new coke-fired engine-powered integrated ironworks during the industrial revolution often beside a canal. Two forges had special transport relationships with the river Stour. When Lower Mitton Mill was converted to a forge, its owner improved the river Stour up to the forge, so that pig iron could be landed at the forge door.5 The river Stour was also navigated immediately above Wilden Forge, with a lock leading from the canal down into the river at Platts [recte Pratts] Wharf.6 As it lay at the southwest corner of the manufacturing area, the market town of Stourbridge provided a focus for trade, with several important ironmongers living there. As described below, in the 18th century and to some extent before, it was the venue for Quarterday meetings when accounts were settled and orders taken. Ironmasters’ meetings developed a price-regulating system that endured

The coalfield was landlocked, limiting the ability of coalmasters to sell coal to distant markets. This meant coal was cheap locally and encouraged its use in manufactures. The river Stour was not naturally navigable. Andrew Yarranton attempted to improve it in the 1660s and 1670s, with a view to selling coal brought down footrayles (railways) from Amblecote and from Brettell (in Kingswinford) at Worcester and other towns along the rivers Severn and Avon. However the considerable costs involved meant that this did not prove to be a profitable

1 2

Skempton et al 2002, 808-13; King 2014c. Brown (P.J.) 1988; King 1988; and q.v. 5 Staffs RO, D(W) 1788/P59/B3, 23 Mar 1684[5]. 6 Langford (1974, 171-3) attributes the name to Isaac Pratt, a chairman of the Stourbridge Canal and involved in selling coal in the Stourport area, but Benjamin Pratt, probably a partner in Thomas Hill & Co who ran Wilden from 1776, is also a stronger candidate. 3 4

Blade mills are beyond the scope of this book, but see King 2007a. Guttery 1956, 1-22; Ellis 2002, 53-6.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 24.1. The Stour valley and southwest Black Country: Furnaces, Forges and Slitting mills. 1, Cradley Furnace; 2, Cradley Upper Forge; 3, Cradley (old) Forge; 5, Dudley Furnace; 6, Hales Furnace, Halesowen; 7, Hales Forge; 9, Lye Forge; 10, Royal Forge, Stourbridge; 30, Grange Furnace; 31, Greens Forge; 32, Hascod Furnace; 33, Heath Forge; 34, Himley Furnace; 35, Hollow Mill; 36, Pensnett Furnace; 37, Poncklye Furnace; 38, Swindon Forge; 44, Broadwaters Lower Forge; 46, Broadwaters Upper Forge; 47, Compton Furnace; 48, Cookley Forge; 52, Whittington Forge; 54, Wolverley Lower Forge; 55, Wolverley Old Forge; 57, Lower Mitton Forge; 58, Upper Mitton Forge; 60, Titton Forge; 61, Wilden Forge; 62, Drayton Forge; 63, Galtons Forge; 79, Brierley Hill Ironworks; 80, Nine Locks Ironworks; 81, Brockmoor Ironworks; 82, Bromley or Brockmoor Ironworks; 83, Stourbridge Ironworks; 84, not used; 93, Blowers Green Furnace; 94, Brierley Hill Furnace; 95, Brierley Ironworks; 96, Old Buffery Furnace; 97, New Buffery Furnaces; 98, Dibdale Bank Furnace; 99, Gornalwood Furnace; 100, Graveyard Furnaces; 101, Level Ironworks: Old Level; 102, Level Ironworks: New Level; 103, Netherton (Old), Dudley Wood; 104, Withymoor Furnaces; 105, Parkhead Furnace, Dudley; 106, Windmill End Furnaces; 107, Netherton Furnaces. Missing numbers are for works on maps 24.2 and 24.3.

until the late 19th century. Dudley, Birmingham, Walsall and Wolverhampton were also significant urban foci, but the manufacture was not primarily an urban phenomenon. Nailers, scythesmiths, locksmiths, hingemakers, and those in other smithing trades were scattered all over the coalfield and to some extent the area around it. In the 19th century, some of these were concentrated in particular places, but Rowlands showed that earlier they were more scattered, though lorimers making spurs, bits and other horse harness were already concentrated in Walsall.7 In the early 17th century, ironware from the South Staffordshire Iron District

(which included adjacent parts of Worcestershire and Halesowen, then in Shropshire) were marketed in London and eastern England. The penetration of the London market by Midland ironmongers has been discussed in chapter 3. Henry Finch of Dudley was trading into the counties of the Eastern Association during the Civil War.8 In 1728, a Dudley cousin John Finch divided his trade on his son’s marriage. The son (also John) took over the trade in Colchester, Dedham, and Witham in Essex; Ipswich, Woodbridge, Framlingham, Nayland, Debbenham, and

Rowlands 1975, 95; Dudley Archives, DTWC 1/11-12; for this family see Finch 1993; Bushell 1934. 8

7

Rowlands 1975, 22-5.

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Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Hadleigh in Suffolk; and the City of Norwich; together with the wherry trade in London and Southwark. He covenanted not to interfere in his father’s trade to Bury St Edmunds or in other towns where he carried on trade.9 When another ironmonger relative William Finch of Cambridge died in 1762, he was a partner with ‘Abram’ Spooner in a warehouse in Birmingham.10 Ironware was also marketed down the Severn: Thomas Foley regularly had ironmongers’ debts collected at the Bristol fairs in the 1660s and 1670s.11 This may be related to a large partnership that in 1660 took over the trade of John Russell of Stourbridge to Gloucester and all the southwestern counties, one of the partners being in Bristol and another in Exeter.12 This merely gives a flavour of how goods were marketed, as detail of this is beyond the scope of this book.

in the 1730s went to the owners of such slitting mills.14 In the 1740s ‘Muller’s iron’ (from Olonitz) appears in the accounts of Edward Knight & Co, this being one of the Russian makes imported earlier by Prankard.15 In 1729, before Prankard handled Russian iron, he sold ‘Gothenburg iron’ to slitting mill owners.16 This was made in Värmland or elsewhere incentral Sweden and brought across Lake Vänern and down the river Göta for export from Gothenburg.17 These slitting mills fed a buoyant nail trade, one of the most important manufactures in the area. This was largely confined to the coalfield (where coal was cheap), but was also significant in and around Bromsgrove. This was literally a manufacture, i.e. made by hand. Ironmongers bought iron, slit into rod iron, from ironmasters at slitting mills; or bar iron that they then had slit. They put this out to nailers, who were expected to produce a certain quantity of nails from each bundle of rod iron, the quantity varying according to the size of the nail. The ironmongers then paid for the nails and organised their distribution and sale. Being a manual trade, nailmaking is beyond the scope of this book.18 The ironmongers seem generally to have been principals, not mere factors. A potential exception to this concerns the relationship between the Dartmouth ironmonger Thomas Newcomen (later famous for the steam engine) and his local factor for nails in the 1690s.19

The river port of Bewdley played a major role in bringing in raw materials. This applied both to pig iron being brought up (or, less often, down) the river Severn. This was landed at Bewdley for forges in Kinver and Wolverley or at Clothhouse (at Redstone Ferry, for Wilden), or for ‘Stourmouth’ (at Stourport, for Mitton Forges). This trade in pig iron will be discussed further below as part of the Foley business and again in chapter 27. This was the role of a cluster of forges built along the Stour, mainly in north Worcestershire, but beginning with Whittington Forge in Kinver (just in Staffordshire) in c.1617. With the opening of the canal, role of Bewdley as a river port disappeared, replaced by the new town of Stourport, with basins where goods could be transhipped from river-going trows into narrow boats for the canal.

The foregoing concerns a period starting sometime in the 17th century. Looking back to c.1620, Dud Dudley wrote of ‘wood and charcoal growing then scant’.20 How to interpret his remark has been controversial. Mushet apparently thought he meant the woods were exhausted,21 but coppice wood is a renewable resource, if the woods are managed right.22 What he may have meant is that further expansion of output was not feasible. Certainly, my estimates of iron production reach a plateau in that period,23 which may represent the maximum sustainable output from woods available to the iron industry. The iron industry in the area was not new: there is evidence of a significant number of bloomery forges, but (as elsewhere) they are ill-documented. Some six sites have been identified within the catchment, somewhat fewer than in the Tame valley. The indirect process of iron making reached the area towards the end of the 16th century. The industry was initially almost exclusively in the hands of two local landowning families, the Lords Dudley and the Lyttletons. The works of the latter consisted of a furnace at Hales and a forge there, but by the 1620s their works were

To be made into nails, bar iron needed to be cut into rods in a slitting mill. Though the first of these in the Midlands was on Cannock Chase (see chapter 22), the greatest concentration was on the lower Stour, beginning with Hyde Mill in Kinver in 1627. Others followed, but gradually there was a rationalisation, so that the forges were downstream and the slitting mills upstream, nearer Stourbridge. In 1754, Stourton and Hyde Mills slit 1,000 tpa, and (after its conversion from a forge) Whittington Mill slit 1,000-1,500 tpa in the 1770s and 1780s. At that time, there were five slitting mills in Kinver and another five elsewhere in the catchment. Some were no doubt less powerful, but between them they are not likely to have slit less than 6-7,000 tpa. This not only involved iron made in the Stour valley, but that brought from elsewhere. An early example of this concerns iron made in the 1630s and 1640s at Fernhill and Maesbury in northwest Shropshire being sent to a warehouse at Montford Bridge and brought downstream for slitting at Hyde and Cookley Mills.13 From the 1730s, Russian iron imported through Bristol made a significant contribution to what was slit. Much of the Russian iron imported by Graffin Prankard of Bristol

9 10 11 12 13

Prankard a/c; Evans et al. 2002, 656-8. SW a/c;. Prankard l/b, 9 Feb. 1731[2]. 16 Pranlard a/c. 17 Cf. Hildebrnad 1992. 18 Rowlands 1975; Henn 1926; Davies (E.I.) thesis; Moseley 1971; Willetts 1986; Kings & Cooper 1989; Downing 2001. 19 TNA, C 7/360/17, discussed at length in Greener 2017. 20 Dudley 1665, 4. 21 Mushet 1840, 35; Nef 1932, 167-70 193-6. 22 Flinn 1958; Hammersley 1973, 593-4. 23 King 2005, 5-8. 14 15

Dudley Archives, DTWC 1/12. TNA, PROB 11/874/271; Finch 1993, 55-6. Foley, E12/VI/DAf/3-15. TNA, C 6/161/51; Foley, E12/VI/DAf/3. Edwards 1958.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II William Ward then bought up Lord Dudley’s debts. Even before that Lord Dudley seems to have decided that Dud Dudley was an incompetent manager and had sacked him. When he (not Dud) let Himley Furnace to Richard Foley on 1625, Dud Dudley apparently asked for another chance and was allowed to build (perhaps rebuild) another old furnace, Hascod, using capital provided by some friends in whose name the lease was taken. This too was unsuccessful, leading to a supposed riot. Dud referred to riotous persons who cut the bellows at Hascod. What he failed to say was that his father was present and he caused the dam to be cut. This was not a riot, because Lord Dudley (who was present) was lawfully re-entering the furnace and forfeiting Dud’s lease: Dud had failed to account to his father for minerals that he sold to Foley.25 Dud Dudley resorted to litigation, but chose to pursue a claim to own the manor of Himley, rather than the ironworks. Later in life he had opportunities elsewhere to smelt with pitcoal (see ‘Origins of the reverberatory furnace’, in chapter 18). An attempt to smelt iron at Dudley in the early 1670s came to nothing, but his efforts with lead near Bristol in the 1650s may have led ultimately to success by others near Bristol after his death.26 However, it was perhaps not coincidental that Abraham Darby, who is widely (though not quite correctly) credited with introducing the smelting iron with pitcoal, was Dud’s great-grandnephew.27 Dud’s difficulties may have been similar to those of Darby, discussed in relation to coke smelting at Coalbrookdale in chapter 18.

let to professional ironmasters, who are described in two preceding chapters. Dud Dudley Lord Dudley owned several manors in the southwest of the coalfield, with his ironworks run by managers. The last manager was Dud Dudley. Thomas Green of Greens Lodge at Chasepool was an earlier one, his name being preserved in Greens Forge. Lord Dudley had had extensive ironworks for over twenty years, having been in partnership with his brother, John Dudley, about the turn of the century. Not less than four furnaces may be identified on the estate: at Coneygree Park at Dudley, Hascod (by Gornalwood), Himley, and on Pensnett Chase; a further ironworks may have existed at Ettingshall in the north of Sedgley parish. The forges had to be where there was a substantial water supply. These therefore, except Cradley, had to be beyond the edge of the estate, at Bromford and Greens Forge. It is possible that the various furnaces on the Dudley estate did not blow every year, only when there were mature coppices in the area. Dud Dudley was one of Lord Dudley’s considerable family of bastards, by his mistress Elizabeth Tomlinson. These children were well provided for by their father. In 1619 Dud Dudley was recalled by his father from Brasenose College, Oxford, to manage his ironworks. The story of what happened in the ensuing decade or so is incomplete. Dud Dudley’s side of the story is well-known, because he wrote it down over 40 years after, but inevitably he only told his side of it. Further detail of events comes from Chancery proceedings, which make it clear that he glossed over inconvenient facts, as ‘too long to relate’. When charcoal had become ‘scant’, Dud Dudley experimented with the use of a mineral fuel instead of charcoal, and a patent was obtained by his father for this. Dud Dudley said he made good marketable iron by it. It is probable that made iron, but it is questionable whether it was ‘good and marketable’: the attitude to it of the ‘charcoal ironmasters’ speaks for itself. They allegedly harmed his business in ‘not only deteyning his stock but also disparaging his iron’.24 No doubt they said that it was bad iron and they would not pay for it. He, immediately after, refers to Himley Furnace being let to ‘the charcoal ironmasters’. This refers to a lease by Lord Dudley (not Dud) to Richard Foley in 1625.

Much ink has been spilled in arguing over what Dud wrote about the events. Some have believed his claims; others, particularly metallurgists, have doubted them.28 The trouble may be that Dud’s coke pig iron was grey, not white, pig iron, the normal product of charcoal furnaces. This made it harder to use as forge feedstock, though better for foundry work.29 However, Dud was clearly accident prone: there was a flood that destroyed his Cradley works; then his father twice stopped his operations. When he wrote his book in the last years of his life, Dud also stated that since 1618 Greens, Swin, Heath, and Cradley Forges had ‘barred’ all or most of their iron with pitcoal, without his getting any benefit from his invention.30 However Schubert showed evidence existed of the use of mineral fuel in the chafery before that time.31 He can hardly have been referring to fineries as accounts for these forges in 1668 and 1669 clearly show them consuming charcoal.32 No doubt the use of pitcoal in those forges rankled with

Things did not go well between Dud Dudley and his father, after the death of his mother, who was Lord Dudley’s mistress for about thirty years. After her death, Lord Dudley apparently began think of the succession to his estate, looking to his one legitimate granddaughter, rather than to his brood of natural children. Having provided well for his illegitimate children, his estate was in severe debt. He therefore married off his granddaughter in 1628 to a rich goldsmith’s son Humble Ward, and the goldsmith

24

King 2002b; TNA, C 22/50/11, especially defendant 22. King 2002a. 27 For relationship see Higgs 2005. For discussion of this see also King 2010b; Williams 2015; as well as works in footnote 2. 28 Smiles 1863; Rollason 1921; Mott 1934; Bedford-Smith 1949?; Schubert 1950a; Gale 1966, 16-19; Morton & Wanklyn 1967; King 1996a; Evans (D.E.A.) 1996; Higgs 2005. Much commentary has been provided on Dud Dudley’s 1665 book, but much of the argument is from supposition, rather than evidence. 29 On this issue see Williams 2015. 30 Dudley 1665, 35. 31 Schubert 1952b. 32 Schafer 1978. 25 26

Dudley 1665, 12.

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Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country partnership could have applied to the rest of Nye’s works (see previous chapter). In 1629 his relations with Dud Dudley seem to have been cordial. Dud Dudley let Hascod Furnace to Foley and there was talk of a partnership in a mine. Then one day, Lord Dudley discharged the men employed by Dud Dudley at the mine, and caused Foley’s horses to be stopped from carrying ironstone away, until Foley paid Lord Dudley for it, despite having already paid Dud Dudley. Dud Dudley then sued Foley. Dud was involved in fruitless litigation over this and other matters for years.41

him, particularly as he owned a lease for life of Greens Lodge, next to Greens Forge. However, by then he probably lived at Worcester and practised medicine there. The Foleys The other important figure locally in the iron industry in this period was Richard Foley II. He originally came from Dudley, the son of a nailer, but later settled in Stourbridge, where he had a brick house, next to his Talbot Inn. Little is known of his life before 1625. He is said to have started as a nailer, but this was perhaps a nail ironmonger rather than a maker of nails. The inventory of the estate of his father, Richard I, in 1601 is a strange one with £38.11.0 of household goods, but £33.16.6 in debts he owed.33 The debts could represent sums he had guaranteed for his son Richard II. A Richard ‘Folly’ was among the people renting rooms at Leadenhall Market in London to store ironware in 1638.34 His eldest son Richard Foley III, then living in Birmingham was in dispute with William and George Winchurst over the price charged in 1647 for slitting ‘Swedish or other outlandish iron’ at Cookley Mill.35 Shortly after this Richard III moved to Longton in north Staffordshire to take over Mearheath Furnace and other ironworks,36 and his younger half-brother Robert Foley of Stourbridge took over the ironmongery business, together with their father’s Netherton estate at Dudley and brick house in Stourbridge. The Talbot Inn went ultimately to Richard’s son Samuel.

The introduction of the slitting mill was the most important single event in the early development of the iron industry in the Midlands. One of the earliest was (as mentioned), the one built in 1627 by Richard Foley at the Hyde in Kinver, some five miles from Stourbridge.42 Slitting mills provided a cheap means of making bar iron into rod iron for the production of nails. The availability of coal to the northeast of Stourbridge provided a cheap fuel for nailers and led to the large scale production of a nails. The ironmongers of Stourbridge had a demand for iron to make nails and other iron goods that was beyond the ability of the local iron industry to produce. This led to the importation of bar iron from other areas.43 Over the course of a few years, Richard Foley thus came to own the majority of the ironworks of the area. He certainly did well, but he did not earn enough to buy a large estate for himself. He made enough to be able to give most of his sons a good start in life. He had a major setback in 1636, when he was prosecuted in Star Chamber and fined very heavily. The accusation was that he was engrossing timber to make charcoal. There was probably an element of truth in this, in that he was monopolising wood, but engrossing is a market place trading offence where a person buys up the whole supply of a commodity to resell. However the crown was stretching the definition of the offence, as Foley’s objective would not have been resale, but to use it up himself. The prosecution nevertheless looks like a put up job, as one of the principal prosecution witnesses was Walter Coleman, whose brother John had failed to operate Brewood Forges successfully, partly because he failed to provide his clerk with working capital.44 It may be seen as the vindictive action from a disappointed man.

A story is told of how ‘Fiddler Foley’ travelled to Sweden (or Russia) and came back, having found out how to build a mill to convert bars of iron into rods, so that nailers no longer had to cut bar iron with a cold chisel. Richard Foley certainly did have one of the earliest slitting mills in England, but this was not the first in the Midlands or even his first enterprise. The story (if it refers to him) is not credible, as he was already an ironmaster when he made Hyde Mill into a slitting mill in 1627. However, the earliest version of the story makes the traveller a Brindley, which is possible as George Brynley (Foley’s brother-onlaw) seems to have been the first manager of Hyde Mill. This issue is also discussed in Chapter 22.37 Richard Foley’s first known venture into ironmaking started in 1625, when he took a lease of Himley Furnace.38 He may also have taken over others of Lord Dudley’s works, such as Cradley Forge, when Dud Dudley ceased to manage it.39 One ‘Ffolie’ (which must be him) was a partner of Thomas Nye in Aston Furnace and Bromford Forge by c.1628, under a lease, possibly from 1624.40 The

Until the late 1610s, there was little or no iron production in the lower Stour Valley. However, from the 1620s further forges began to be built along the length of the river, but particularly on its lower reaches. Whittington Forge (1617) was the earliest of these.45 Slitting mills at Wilden and Cookley followed in 1633 and 1639 respectively, breaking the local monopoly on slitting iron held by the

33

Worcs RO, Consistory Wills, 1600 no. 117. Dale 1931, i, 177-8 (see table 3.1). 35 TNA, C 6/42/17. 36 See chapter 12. 37 King 1999a, 62-4. 38 Dudley Archives, DE/4/7/6/16. 39 Dudley 1665, 14-16. The earliest surviving lease is dated 1638, relating to a pool and corn mills, probably the site of Cradley Furnace: Dudley Archives, DE/4/7/4/49. 40 King 1999a, 67. 34

TNA, C 2/Chas I/D24/70; King 2002b. VCH Staffs xx, 146. 43 Gale 1966, 14-15; Rowlands 1975, 8 54-8. 44 King 1999a, 70; TNA, SP 16/321/42; Peacock 2011, 20-2; 2017a; and see chapter 21. 45 TNA, C 2/Chas I/T9/46; C 2/Chas I/T8/6; C 2/Chas I/T1/30; C 2/Chas I/T5/14 (all from the same case). 41 42

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Hyde. Both later became forges.46 Hyde Mill passed in 1647 into the hands of Richard Brynley, previously its manager.47 Further forges appeared soon after, Wolverley Old Forge in c.1651,48 Stourton Forge (later a slitting mill) in 1669,49 Lower Mitton Forge (in Stourside, Hartlebury parish) in c.1685 and Upper Mitton Forge (in Lower Mitton, Kidderminster parish) shortly before 1701.50 Of these, Stourton Forge and Cookley (as a forge) were built by John Finch of Dudley, a relative of the ironmonger family there.

from elsewhere, particularly tough pig iron from the Forest of Dean. By 1619, Forest of Dean pig iron was being sold at Bewdley to forge clerks from Shropshire, Staffordshire and even Derbyshire.54 In the 1640s and 1650s, new furnaces were built near the banks of the River Severn at Hampton Loade and Astley. Andrew Yarranton at Astley Furnace used cinders found near Worcester, probably augmented by ore brought up the river from the Forest. These were ideally placed to supply the forges of the lower Stour valley.55 There was however a cost disadvantage as compared to the Forest: charcoal may have been cheaper and more plentiful in the Forest; and it cost more in freight to bring ore up river from there than to smelt the ore downstream and bring up pig iron, since the gangue and compounded oxygen did not have to be moved.56

About 1640 Richard Foley had begun to hand over his works to his son Thomas, the eldest son of his second marriage. I am referring to him as Thomas Foley I(W), to distinguish him from descendants who were his namesakes, both in the Great Witley and Stoke Edith branches of the family. In the case of Whittington this was in 1637, when Thomas was 21; and at Cradley by 1641.51 His work was really to expand and consolidate. In fact the little change was needed in this area. Most of the surplus furnaces had already been closed before his time, but Thomas was responsible for the closure of Hampton Loade and Cradley Furnaces both in about 1662.52 At the same period he expanded his activities by taking over furnaces mainly in Gloucestershire: first there was the iron and wire works at Tintern (Mons) in c.1647; then Elmbridge Furnace near Newent in the late 1650s; then Longhope, Bishopswood and other furnaces.53

Yarranton and Ambrose Crowley of Stourbridge, whom Yarranton disparagingly called an ‘able fire-man that well understood the whole nature of iron’,57 had gone to Saxony in the summer of 1667, sponsored by various local ironmasters and the Stour navigation proprietors, to discover how tinplate was made. On their return they undertook experiments, rolling plates at Wilden slitting mill and finishing them and tinning them at Kings Meadow Forge (later Royal Forge), a new one built by Newborough and let to John Finch. Steel furnaces were associated with that forge, ‘a pretty little fordge’ as Yarranton called it and ‘steel mills’ according to Lord Windsor. The tinplate venture at Wolverley proved abortive, as William Chamberlain secured the renewal of a patent for tinplate granted to him and Dud Dudley just after the Restoration. It was claimed that the patentees did not know how to make tinplate. Their patent (being a renewal) should have been void as not (or no longer) an original invention, but it frustrated tinplate venture. It is possible the difficulty had its roots in bad blood between Dud Dudley (a Royalist colonel) and Yarranton (a Roundhead captain), going back to when Yarranton had arrested Dud and the rest of a Royalist party, who were intending to seize Dawley Castle in 1648, leading to Dud being condemned to death for treason. The patent issue may be what led Philip Foley and his brothers into politics as Whigs in the late 1670s.58

Thomas Foley did not always have a complete monopoly, though usually it was not far from that. Andrew Yarranton and some fellow Parliamentary officers used their pay to set up a furnace at Astley, a little below and opposite the confluence of the Stour with the Severn. Thomas Foley and his partner in Shelsley Forge Sir Walter Blount let it to Yarranton, so that he would not build his own forge. William Winchurst converted Cookley Mill to a slitting mill in 1639, with some finance from Denbighshire ironmasters, He (with George Winchurst and Joshua Newborough, another Stourbridge ironmonger, who had a share in the works Boycott & Co in Shropshire), converted the manorial corn mill at Wolverley to a forge, Wolverley Old Forge in c.1651. Thomas Foley’s general manager Henry Glover obtained a half share in this in 1662, perhaps on behalf of his master. This share passed with the rest of Thomas’ works to his son Philip. Philip and Newborough (his partner at Wolverley) then built a new mill, Wolverley Lower Mill in c.1670 to be a tinplate works.

Ambrose Crowley was then a Quaker blacksmith. He may have had some involvement in Finch’s ironmasters’ business or at least in Dudley Furnace. Later he was an ironmonger and then an ironmaster. He apparently took over Newborough’s Royal Forge and had some interest in Gig Mill Forge, another plating forge at Stourbridge. He also invested (with John Hanbury of Pontypool) in ironworks at Ynyscedwyn at the head of the Swansea

Initially some of these forges in the lower Stour valley were perhaps refining Black Country pig iron; but later (and perhaps from the start) pig iron began to be brought in 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53

54 Chatsworth House (Derbs), Cork MS 10/9; printed in Lismore Papers 2nd ser. ii, pp. 162-5. 55 Q.v. 56 See chapter 28. 57 Yarranton 1677-81, ii, 150; Brown (P.J.) 1988, 42-3. This is dated by them hearing news of the burning of ships at Chatham on 12 and 13 June and touring Holland after the Peace of Breda on 31 July. 58 Brown (P.J.) 1988; King 1988; for Dud Dudley see also King 2002b; ‘pretty’: Staffs RO, D(W) 1788/P59/B3, 8 & 26 Dec. 1666.

TNA, C 8/192/54; E 112/258/144. Cooksley 1980; 1981. This date is implied by Foley E12/VI/KE/1. Foley E12/KE/28-33; VCH Staffs xx, 145. Wilmot & King 2012, 130-4. TNA, C 2/Chas I/F49/46; Dudley Archives, DE/6/4/1/1. Q.v. See chapters 26, 29, and 30.

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Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country

Map 24.2. The Stour valley and southwest Black Country: Other ironworks. 4, Cradley Slitting Mill; 8, Halfcot Wire Mills; 11, Wollaston Slitting Mill; 12, Bagleys Mill; 13, Clatterbatch Forge; 14, Corngreaves Forge; 16, Belle Vale Forge; 17, Drews Forge; 18, Gig Mill Forge; 19, Halesowen Mill; 20, Halesowen Forge; 21, Furnace Forge, Halesowen; 22, Hayseech Forge; 23, Lodge Forge; 24, Lutley Mill; 25, Shiltons Mill; 26, Stambermill Forge; 27, Stourbridge Town Mills; 28, Withymore Forge; 29, Gothersley Mill; 39, Fitting Forge; 40, Gornal Forge; 41, Hinksford Forge; 42, Hunts Mill; 43, Wall Heath Forge; 45, Broadwaters Slitting Mill; 49, Hyde Mill; 50, Kinver Mill; 51, Stourton Slitting Mill; 53, Whittington Mill; 56, Falling Sands Rolling Mill; 59, Mitton Tin Mill; 64, Belbroughton Forge; 65, Blakedown Forges; 66, Churchill Forge; 67, Hartle Forge; 68, Hillpool Forge, Chaddesley Corbett; 69, Newtown Forge; 70, Springbrook Forges, Blakedown; 71, Stakenbridge Forge; 72, Wannerton Forge; 73, Weybridge Forge; 74, Amblecote bloomsmithy; 75, Funsloe Smithy; 76, Meyre’s bloomsmithy, Cradley; 77, New Park Smithy; 78, Wall’s bloomsmithy, Cradley; 90, Brettle Lane Ironfoundry; 91, Leys Ironfoundry; 92, Stourbridge Potwork. Missing numbers are for works on maps 24.1 and 24.3.

as a loan).60 Soon trading conditions for Philip were difficult. This was partly the result of the pricing policy of his brother, Paul, who had succeeded his father as the near monopoly supplier of Forest pig iron, but probably partly due to competition from Swedish iron. Some of the latter was of a quality that English ironmasters could not match, and the next grade was as good as the best English tough (‘tuff’) iron. There followed an unsettled period, which is described in more detail in chapter 30. Philip Foley gradually disposed of works. Some to Clerke and Forth in 1674 (see below); three forges in the Tame

Valley, an interest that passed on his death in 1720 to a younger son Benjamin. No doubt some pig iron from there came up the Severn. By that stage his eldest son another Ambrose (Sir Ambrose from 1707) had long established himself as the leading ironmonger in London, with ‘factories’ near Newcastle (see Chapter 5). The older Ambrose also provided waterworks at Exeter, Barnstable and Hereford; perhaps in other places.59 In 1669 Thomas Foley sold all his ironworks in the Midlands to his youngest son Philip for £60,000 (left

60 59

Schafer 1971, especially 21-3; King 2010a; accounts: Schafer 1978; 1990; Foley E12/VI/KBf/15-19; yields: E12/VI/KBf/46-50.

Flinn 1962, 15; Eisel 2000, 60-1.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II 1660s, was clearly a success. Accordingly in 1692, Paul and Philip Foley with Richard Wheeler (John’s brother) joined the partnership, forming the great Foley Ironworks in Partnership of 1692. John Wheeler was their ‘cashholder’, effectively managing partner.63

Valley to Humphrey Jennens in 1676 (see chapter 23); Coven Furnace and Brewood Forges to his manager William Mansell in 1678 (see chapter 21). Finally, in 1678 he transferred the rest to two other managers, Richard Avenant and John Wheeler: Wilden and Shelsley Forges (alone); Whittington Forge (with Andrew Bentley); and Hales Furnace (with John Downing, its clerk). From this time, Philip was financing his former managers, principally John Wheeler and Richard Avenant, in running his works on their own account.61

The Ironworks in Partnership of 1692 was one of the largest groups of ironworks (in number) that existed at any time until the late 19th century or later. It comprised the majority of the ironworks in the Stour Valley and the Forest of Dean.64 It was perhaps too large to be really manageable. Thus in 1698, Richard Wheeler, one of the partners, took over many of the Stour forges with Grange Furnace, the only furnace the firm still had in the area.65 This too was not a success: five years later Richard was bankrupt.66 The ensuing sale by the assignees in bankruptcy dispersed the works into a number of hands. In 1705 the remaining works in the Stour valley of the Ironworks in Partnership, consisting of Whittington and Wilden Forges and Hales Furnace (which had returned to the partnership shortly before) were handed over to John Wheeler, the managing partner of the works, who died in 1708. The main partnership was thereafter known as the Forest Partnership and did not operate in the Stour Valley, apart from selling its pig iron from a warehouse at Bewdley.67 The history of the continuing Foley business appears in chapter 30.

Soon after Thomas Foley’s sale to Philip, a rival had arisen: John Finch built forges at Stourton in 1669 and Cookley in 1670. These are related to a new furnace designed by Dud Dudley, high on the hill at Dudley, ‘for making iron or melting ironstone with charcoal made of wood and pitcoal together to be blown or set on work by the strength of men and horses without the help of water’.62 As mentioned, Andrew Yarranton had been an ironmaster at Astley and elsewhere during the interregnum and had visited Saxony in the 1660s to discover how tinplate was made. Before and after that he was engaged on making the river Stour navigable, which ultimately proved to be an abortive endeavour. In 1672, William Child, a landowner with woods in the Wyre Forest, was trying to get Finch and Philip Foley to bid each other up over the price of wood. Andrew Yarranton also wanted to sell to Finch ‘Sudley’ Furnace at Winchcombe, to help finance the navigation. Yarranton and Ambrose Crowley (his colleague in visiting Saxony) arranged a meeting at Philip Foley’s house at Prestwood where they entered into a series of agreements to prevent damaging competition, presumably enabling Yarranton to sell his furnace. This series of linked agreements enabled Finch to operate certain forges, but imposed severely restrictive terms on him, if he used his furnace at Dudley with charcoal; acquired additional works nearby; or bought wood other than in specified areas. Finch sold out to Forth and Clarke, who also in 1674 bought (on lease) a number of Foley’s works: Grange Furnace and Heath, Swin [Swindon], Greens, and Cradley Forges. Clarke and Forth had obtained a contract for charcoal from the Forest of Dean, but had to build Linton Furnace to exploit it. A couple of years later, having failed to pay Philip Foley the second instalment of the premium for the sale, they sold the works to Cornish, Langworth, and Sargeant. They did no better, and gave notice to quit from their lease at the end of the first seven of years of a 21-year lease. Wheeler and Avenant apparently took over all their works, those previously both of John Finch and Philip Foley. When Philip’s brother Paul was imprisoned in 1685 they negotiated a lease of his ironworks (mostly furnaces) in the Forest of Dean. This re-amalgamation of the works, re-creating Thomas Foley’s network of the

Price regulation by ironmasters’ meetings The dispersion of Philip Foley’s works over the latter part of the 17th century led to a situation where there were no longer a single dominant ironmaster. Philip Foley’s agreement with John Finch, over who could buy what cordwood has been mentioned. Fixing a boundary between Jennens’ works and Hales Furnace was mentioned in the last chapter. However this was an unstable situation: the agreements were for fixed terms which inevitably expired. One between Zachary Downing of Hales Furnace and John Jennens ended in litigation in 1704.68 What happened afterwards is not known but Zachary Downing was bankrupt in 1710. His father John was clerk of Hales Furnace before 1669 and was a partner of Wheeler and Avenant in the 1680s. John and Zachary took over Cradley Forge and Hales Furnace in 1693, converting a blade mill at Cradley to a slitting mill. After his father’s death, Zachary gave up Hales Furnace in 1704 and built (or rebuilt) a furnace at Cradley. He rented Ipsley Forge (near Redditch) from 1698 to 1700, but gave it up as the landlord failed to assign wood for it.69 The system of bilateral agreements setting boundaries for cordwood purchase was replaced by 63

Schafer 1971, 29-31. King 2002b, 48-50. Schafer interprets the agreements as anticipatory actual sales, but the prices are so low that I believe the object was to discourage them. 64 Johnson 1950; 1951; 1952; 1953; Foley E12/VI/DEc/1; accounts: E12/VI/DEf series. 65 Foley E12/VI/DEc/2-9; E12/VI/KL1-2. 66 Herefs RO, T74/73. 67 Foley E12/VI/DEc/13. 68 TNA, E112/880/41. 69 TNA, C 10/360/24; C 22/241/23.

61 Schafer 1971. I have failed to locate some of the correspondence described. 62 TNA, E 112/538/94; King 2002b, 47-8.

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Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country £19 per ton and ordinary mill bar at £14.10s. per ton.78 The custom seems to have been that the most important masters were entitled to speak first. Thus, Robert Morgan in 1761 expected his plenipotentiary at Bristol to have the first or second vote, as no one except Mr [Rowland] Pytt had more forges. This price fixing mechanism was certainly a corporatist cartel, but it was not a monopoly, as they had no control over the amount of imported iron entering the market or its price. As half the iron manufactured in England was imported rising to three-quarters to the late 1760s,79 the ironmasters’ meetings were more reacting to events, than commanding them.

a multi-lateral one of market regulation by ironmasters’ meetings, held quarterly at Stourbridge, but precisely when the new system began is not clear. Downing also had a share with Thomas and Peter Chetle in Gwendraeth Furnace in Carmarthenshire. Thomas Chetle had a patent for smelting iron with coke and Roger Downes, who had cast pots for Shadrach Fox at Coalbrookdale, cast pots in sand at Gwendraeth and then Cradley for the Chetles and Downing, until Abraham Darby recruited him.70 A system whereby accounts were settled and future sales agreed seems to go back well into the 17th century. This was done on Ironmasters’ Quarter Days held at Stourbridge a week or two after the standard quarter days, presumably to give time to write up accounts after the end of the quarter.71 This developed into a system whereby the ironmasters agreed the price at which they would sell iron. This in turn dictated the price which they could afford to pay for wood. The consequence of this system of price fixing was that the large vertically integrated regional partnerships that had been a feature of the Midlands iron industry for much of the 17th century became unnecessary and disappeared. Thus ironmasters mostly had a mere handful of works. Hendrik Kahlmeter, a Swedish visitor, recorded the ironmasters met at Stourbridge on the first Friday after Twelfth Night and monthly thereafter.72 John Kelsall as clerk of Dolobran Forge (Monts) attended such meetings in the 1720s and dined with the ironmasters.73 In 1729, Graffin Prankard of Bristol was alarmed by the ironmasters having reduced the price of iron and reduced his order for iron from Stockholm, but Swedish prices also fell and he continued imports.74 Agitation for the regulation of the American iron industry in 1736 and 1737 may have been begun at a Stourbridge ironmasters’ meeting.75

The system of meetings continued far into the 19th century. The Bristol meetings may have relocated to south Wales. The Shropshire ironmasters met at Shifnal, probably to agree a common position for the Stourbridge meeting. Sometimes there were meetings at Gloucester to resolve differences between the Welsh and Stourbridge meetings.80 The meetings probably also defined grades of iron: no.1 and no.2 foundry pig iron occur in the 1800s, with no.3 melting by 1822.81 These associations and others coalesced to form the British Iron Trade Association in 1875, which lasted until World War I.82 The Knight family The Mr Knight referred to by Robert Morgan must be Edward Knight (d.1780). In 1785, it would be his son John Knight, whose Stour Works Partnership was the largest in the area, but was more a case of horizontal integration than of vertical. Edward was the son of Richard Knight (d.1745), whose business at Bringewood and elsewhere will be described in chapter 25. His initial involvement in the Stour Valley may be seen as an outlier of his business at Bringewood near the boundary of Shropshire and Herefordshire. Richard Knight probably bought Cookley Forge at Richard Wheeler’s bankruptcy sale.83 A couple of years later he was given the opportunity to run Wilden for the tag end of the lease to work up Forest pig iron.84 Then in 1709, Wilden and Shelsley Forges reverted to Thomas Foley III of Witley (of the senior branch, from 1712 Lords Foley).

A similar system operated at Bristol where the ironmasters met on the eve of the two fairs there. The earliest evidence of such price fixing comes from Bristol in February 1718 when the steward of Lord Mansell, owner of Aberavon Forge (West Glamorgan) reported on a meeting before the fair, where the rate was not then fixed (as usual).76 In the 1760s, Robert Morgan of Carmarthen appointed a ‘plenip’[otentiary], instructed to oppose a decrease in price. He was alarmed because ‘the great Mr Knight has fallen iron by 30 shillings and they say it will fall more’.77 When Richard Crawshay and Joseph Stanley, both London ‘merchants and manufacturers of iron’ gave evidence to the Board of Trade in 1785 about the Irish Proposals, they answered a question about the price of iron, ‘Best English iron made by Mr Knight and many others was by the last quarterly meeting of ironmasters at Stourbridge fixed at

Richard Knight also held Wolverley Forge for a few years up to 1717 (see family tree in next chapter). In 1725 he handed over Cookley Forge to his son Edward Knight, the slitting mill having disappeared earlier, and this was amalgamated with Whittington Forge (which the Wheeler family had given up) and Hales Furnace. At the time of the embargo on Swedish trade, Sir Thomas Lyttelton, who

TNA, C 10/360/24. The Foley collection contains a series of lists of ‘Birmingham debts’ (due from ironmongers) and Bristol ironmongers debts in the 1670s: Foley E12/VI/KBf/62-71; E12/VI/DAf/3-15. 72 Hildenbrand 1958, 28. 73 Lloyd 1975, 49; Davies 1939, 51-2 (both from Kelsall’s diary). 74 Prankard l/b, 10 Mar. 1729; cf. 30 Sep. 1728. 75 King 1996b, 30-1. 76 John 1943, 99; 1950, 12. 77 Morgan l/b, 22 Jan. 1761 2 and 22 Jul. 1761 2 Nov. 1761 etc. 70

TNA, BT 6/112 f.227 cf. BT 6/106, 2 Mar. 1785. King 2005, 18-24. 80 Ashton 1924, 163-83; Birch 1967, 104-18; Evans 1997; Smith 1978. 81 Hayman thesis, 132-3 (citing Shropshire Archives, 6001/335, which relates to 1802-5). 82 Riden & Owen 1995, xxv-xxviii. 83 Inferred from pig iron sales in Foley a/c. Cookley and Wolverley are named as separate destinations from 1715. 84 Recited in Foley, E12/VI/DEc/13.

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78 79

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II then her two younger sons. They had Whittington Forge until 1725,87 adding Lye and Cradley Forges and Cradley Furnace in about 1713,88 but he probably lost Hales Furnace in c.1718.89 Cradley and Lye passed to Edward Kendall in 1725. He got his training as an ironmaster, as a clerk to John Wheeler. After Wheeler’s death, he probably worked for his widow. From 1714 he was a partner with W.W. Cotton and others in Kemberton Furnace and some forges near the boundary of Shropshire and Staffordshire.90 He also became a partner in the Cheshire ironmasters, perhaps by marrying a daughter of Thomas Cotton. From 1725 he took over the Cradley Ironworks and Lye Forge from John Wheeler’s sons. Edward’s widow and son Jonathan gave up Cradley in 1751, after which Jonathan and his brother Henry concentrated on their interests in Cheshire and Furness with Dovey and Argyll furnaces.91 The next generation of the family built the Beaufort works in South Wales in 1778.92

owned Hales Furnace, enquired about buying ironstone at Darlaston. The mine was however let to George Sparrow who no doubt agreed to supply Lyttelton and his partners.85 From the composition of the firm in 1725 when Edward Knight (Richard’s son) became managing partner, it would appear Lyttelton had three shares, Richard Knight perhaps two (given to Edward), and Clement Acton deceased (probably the clerk at Hales) and Joseph Cox (perhaps a Kidderminster lawyer) one each. Richard Knight re-joined the firm in 1728, buying the share of Acton’s executors. The early 1730s were a period when there was little profit beyond the interest paid on capital, leading the non-Knight partners to withdraw. This was the foundation of the Stour Works Partnership. By 1737 the partners were the brothers Edward and Ralph Knight and their brother-in-law Abraham Spooner. This partnership, as Edward Knight & Co and then as John Knight & Co continued to operate these works throughout the rest of the century. The Stour works were augmented by Wolverley Old Forge in 1728, Lower Mitton Forge in 1732, and Upper Mitton Forge in 1740. Richard Knight had handed his Bringewood and Charlcot works to his sons Edward and Ralph in 1733. Ralph managed these with the addition of the new Mitton Tin Mill in 1740. He was followed by Edward’s son James until Edward’s death in 1780 ended their tenure in them. In 1747, Edward Knight & Co took over Aston Furnace and Bromford Forge, which Abraham Spooner then his son Isaac managed. The firm was reconstructed in 1812 and then continued operating for most of that century, the business being mainly centred on Cookley Forge. John Knight bought Exmoor in 1818 and improved it. He sold his local mansion of Lea Castle in 1823, moving to Simonsbath, becoming a sleeping partner in the ironworks, which were thus run by other partners, mainly from the Hancocks family. Whittington Mill was given up in 1811; and the Mitton Forges soon after. Wolverley Old Forge became a rolling mill and Wolverley Lower Mill (acquired in 1793) became a wiremill, but this was given up in the late 1850s. The 19th-century Knight business was one of the many players in a greatly expanded Black Country iron industry. This contrasts with the dominant position of Edward and then John Knight in ironmasters’ meetings in the 18th. Their operations ended with the closure of Cookley Forge in 1896, when its business was transferred to the Cookley Works at Brockmoor.86

The subsequent history of works at the head of the Smestow Brook is obscure in this period. Heath Forge belonged until at least in 1720 to a family called Powell, but Grange Furnace was closed on the bankruptcy of Richard Wheeler on 1703. It reverted to the Foley Forest Partnership, but they did not use it and Philip Foley sold the freehold in 1714, with the condition that it should not be used, unless the buyer was paid more. However in 1720, Sir John ‘Rottesley’ and partners were buying wood for it.93 Wrottesley was a substantial local landowner, in the area west of Wolverhampton, whose archives do not survive. The next that can certainly be said is that William Jordan had a share in a firm run by his son Richard at his death in 1748. William Jordan had been one of the partners in the 1714 Tern Company, but not in the succeeding 1720 company.94 He could have left that company to restart Grange, as one of Wrottesley’s partners. Three of the family signed the ironmasters’ petition in 1736.95 In 1749 Richard Jordan and Francis Homfray II built Melingriffith Forge near Cardiff. After Homfray withdrew in 1760, Richard handed this over to his sons, William and Thomas in 1764, but they were bankrupt in 1768, owing £1000.96 William may have emigrated to Canada, as he advertised for a founder to go there.97 However Richard operated Grange Furnace until 1781.

Other 18th-century ironmasters By 1740 Edward Knight & Co had all the forges on the lower Stour, except Lord Foley’s Wilden Forge. Further upstream, closer to the coalfield there were other ironmasters. The last of the Foley forges in the Stour valley were taken over by John Wheeler in 1705. After his death in 1708, this business was run by his widow and

Foley E12/VI/DEc/13; pig iron sales and 1711/2 sale of Grange Furnace pig iron scales in Foley a/c. 88 Dudley Archives, DE/1/6/6-33; DE/4/7/11/83-4; Z145/2/1-3; Staffs RO, D 605/2/1-3; King 1997. 89 Lyttelton was a partner in 1725 (SW a/c); he was in negotiation to lease ironstone mines at Darlaston in 1718: King 2007b, 45; Staffs RO, D(W) 1788/P61/B4; cf. Ches RO, DCR 19/6, 22 Apr. 1719. 90 See chapter 12. 91 See chapters 12, 13 and 41. 92 See chapter 32. 93 Shrops RO, 2028/1/1/1. 94 King 2011b, 69 72. 95 King 2008, 50-1; King 1996b, 31. 96 Glamorgan RO, D/D Mat 256; Chappell 1940, 30; Rees 1968, 302. 97 Aris Birmingham Gazette, 13 Feb. 1769. 87

85 Staffs RO, D(W) 1788/P61/B4, draft articles, 5 Geo; Ches RO, DCR 19/6, 22 Apr. 1719; King 2007b, 45. 86 For the Knight family generally see Ince 1991b; Page 1979; also the next chapter; accounts: SW a/c, analysed in Ince 1991a. Note also Downes 1950; Lewis thesis.

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Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Francis Homfray I = Mary Jeston 1674-1736 | ____________________________________________________|___________________________ | | | | John = Mary Francis II = Catherine dau. of Jeston I = Mary Cotton Thomas 1724-60 Addenbrooke 1725-98 | Jeremiah Caswell of Gig Mill 1728-97 Steel, Broadwaters Gothersley | Hyde Mill Bristol ironmonger | Swindon | John Addenbrooke Stourton |____________________________________________________________________________ (later Addenbrooke) | ________ | | | | 1759-1837 | | | | | | | Broadwaters Jeston II = Sarah Mary = Francis III Jeremiah Samuel = Jane dau. of Thomas Lightmoor d.1816 | d.1809 1759-1833 d.1822 Sir Charles d.1825 | Broadwaters | Hyde Mill Penydarren Penydarren Morgan of Penydarren Three sons _________|__________ Lightmoor then others then Tredegar Tredegar later Hyde | | Works House George David Partner of Pidcock Broadwaters Brothers at Lydney Genealogy after Burke’s Landed Gentry

The Homfray family tree.

The Homfray family

younger sons obtained a 99-year lease of property there. With their brother Thomas and members of the Forman family of London, they established the Penydarren Works at Merthyr Tydfil the fourth ironworks there, the first of several Homfray enterprises in South Wales.103 Francis Homfray II moved from Wollaston Hall to Stourton by 1781, perhaps on the marriage on 1780 of his nephew John Addenbrooke Homfray, who subsequently lived there. He renewed the lease of Stourton Slitting Mill in 1783. About the same time his son Francis III, who was running Gothersley Mill, was in partnership with his aunt Eleanor White (née Caswell) who owned Hyde Mill. In 1778, with John Addenbrooke Homfray (later Addenbrooke), he took over Lightmoor Furnace in Shropshire. The lease of Swindon Forge and Gothersley Mill was renewed in 1788 to Francis II and his sons Francis III and Jeston II (both of whom married into the Pidcock family). Francis also had a slitting mill at Broadwaters, where John had two other forges, at least one for his steel business. A Mr Homfray converted Hollow Mill (the mill below Swindon Forge) to Swin Lower Forge for the potting and stamping process, but was succeeded there by William Finch (of Heath Forge) by 1788. After the death of Francis Homfray II in 1798 and Francis III in 1809, several of the works, including Hyde and Swindon, were probably run by the latter’s younger brother Thomas.104 He had evidently returned from Merthyr Tydfil, but he was bankrupt in 1819.105 Stourton and the works at Broadwaters passed to another brother Jeston II and were continued by his executors (including David) for more than a decade after his death in 1816.106 Jeston’s son George was for a time in the 1800s a partner at Lydney with his Pidcock cousins.107 The Addenbrooke family (descendants of John) continued to have ironworks at Moorcroft and Lightmoor until the 1830s and at Rough

Francis Homfray may have come to Stourbridge in the 1690s to manage the local business of Sir Ambrose Crowley (d.1713), son of Ambrose Crowley of Stourbridge, and Sir Ambrose’s son John (d.1728). Sir Ambrose had become the leading London ironmonger of his day with manufacturing facilities near Newcastle (see Chapter 5). He and his successors also had warehouses to take in iron goods (mainly nails) in Stourbridge, Wolverhampton, and Walsall. The latter closed by 1732, but the family still had 2,000 nailers in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in 1762. Francis Homfray left the Crowleys in 1702 evidently to set up on his own,98 later taking over their Gig Mill Forge in 1732 and Royal Forge in c.1733. In 1734, Philip Foley’s grandson William (not an ironmaster) in 1733 leased to him Swindon Forge and the blade mill at Gothersley, which he converted to a slitting mill.99 In his will in 1737, Francis Homfray I (see family tree) sought to divide his works among his sons. Swindon Forge and Gothersley Mill to the eldest, Francis II; Royal Forge and a steel business to Thomas (but in the end John had it); and Gig Mill Forge to Jeston.100 When John died in 1760, leaving his son John Addenbrooke Homfray (later Addenbrooke) under age, he left a share in his business to his brother Francis, if he would manage it until John was of age.101 This seems to be why Francis II left Melingriffith. Francis II seems to have dabbled in gunfounding during the American Wars of Independence in partnership with George Matthews of Calcutts Furnace in Shropshire.102 When Anthony Bacon (as an MP) was excluded from government contracts (under Clarke’s Act of 1782), he leased the cannon founding business (and the forge and boring mill) at Cyfarthfa in Merthyr Tydfil to Francis Homfray. In 1784 Samuel and Jeremiah two of Francis’

Ince 1993, 76-7. VCH Staffs xx, 146 214. 105 Morning Advertiser, 11 Aug. 1819. 106 VCH Staffs xx, 145-6; TNA, PROB 11/1583/109. 107 Hart 1971, 92 179-80; Gloucester Journal, 23 Dec. 1799; cf. Ellis 2002, 152 155-6 397-401; TNA, PROB 11/1583/109. 103

Flinn 1962, especially 55 142-3 234. 99 Q.v. 100 TNA, PROB 11/683/499. 101 TNA, PROB 11/855/273. 102 Q.v. 98

104

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Hay in Wednesbury until the 1880s.108 Jeremiah Homfray was involved in a succession of ironworks in South Wales, while his brother Samuel was bought out of Penydarren by his former partners and moved to the Tredegar Works in Monmouthshire. While still at Penydarren in c.1791, he was responsible for introducing finers’ metal (or refined iron) as the feedstock for puddling, which removed the last technological obstacle to the great success of that process. The next generation of the Homfrays did not continue as ironmasters.109

Partnership. Initially, with Hales Furnace and two forges, they were reasonably self-sufficient. In 1727 Wolverley Old Forge was added and in 1733 Lower Mitton Forge. Some of the extra pig iron was provided from Charlcot which was operated by Edward and Ralph Knight’s Bringewood partnership. The rest came from anyone anywhere in the west of Britain who would supply it. Almost every furnace in made its contribution at some time. Thus the Stour Works partnership’s purchase records,111 which usually give both the name of the furnace and of the vendor, provide an unrivalled source on furnaces in the middle and late 18th century.

The pig iron supply

The flow of trade altered in the 1750s when coke pig iron from Shropshire began to be used in Stour forges of Edward Knight & Co, almost as soon as Horsehay furnace opened. Indeed Knight conducted the trial of coke pig iron.112 However, most charcoal furnaces managed to continue in operation into the 1770s or even the 1780s. In these decades they rarely did much more than break even.113 The earliest coke furnaces in this area were the two Level Furnaces at Brierley Hill built in c.1786. As indicated in the previous chapter, the opening of the Bradley Ironworks a short distance beyond the watershed was probably the effective cause of the closure of Grange Furnace on the head waters of the Smestow Brook and probably also resulted in a considerable curtailment of production at Cradley Furnace.

The development of forges on the lower Stour is related to the growth in trade in pig iron on the river Severn. The origins of this are related to James I’s decision to augment this revenue by authorising ironworks to be set up in the Forest of Dean. This will be explored more fully in chapter 28. After the Civil War, Thomas Foley I(W) became an important practitioner of this trade, taking over furnaces near the Forest to supply his forges in the Stour Valley (also Shelsley). This started with Tintern in c.1648, followed by Elmbridge, Hope (Longhope) and Bishopswood (see chapter 30 for detail). When the surviving accounts of Philip Foley’s works start in the late 1660s Thomas’ sales to the ironmasters were modest, but this trade was expanded under his son Paul and then their Ironworks in Partnership. During the remainder of the century, the scale of the trade increased greatly. In the 1690s most of the Foley forges were mostly using Forest pig iron. In addition their storehouse at Bewdley, and sales direct from the furnaces, disseminated Forest pigs over a wide area.

During the 18th century, there was a further development as mills were converted to slitting mills. Stourton Forge had become a slitting mill before the beginning of the century, but was probably merely replacing Cookley which had ceased to be one. Gothersley Mill on the Smestow Brook was converted from a blade mill to a slitting mill in the 1730s. About the same time Wolverley Lower Mill ceased to produce bar iron and became exclusively a slitting mill. A slitting mill was added to Kinver Mill (a corn mill) by 1769. Whittington Forge ceased to make iron and was rebuilt as the largest slitting mill in the area in the mid1770s slitting about 1400 tpa, compared to 1000 tpa each at Stourton and Hyde Mills.

The supply of pig iron did not just come from the Forest. Joshua Newborough, who was a partner in Wolverley forges, was also one in Boycott & Co who operated Leighton Furnace in Shropshire and no doubt obtained pig iron for Wolverley thence. At the time of the difficulties with his brother Paul, Philip Foley took Willey Furnace and entered into contracts to buy wood all over Shropshire, as soon as the brothers had reached a compromise he disposed of the furnace to Boycott & Co. Thomas Lowbridge and Richard Knight took Ruabon Furnace in 1694. Richard Knight passed his share over to his partner in 1696, perhaps to help finance his purchase of Bringewood. Neither of the forges at Mitton were connected to either of the Foley partnerships, but Thomas Lowbridge and James Wilmot, who turned them into forges, could be linked to Charcot Furnace, east of Brown Clee and Mathrafal Forge in Montgomeryshire.110 George Draper (Wilmot’s successor at Upper Mitton) apparently had a furnace at Overbury (by Bredon Hill) and Upleadon Forge, northwest of Gloucester.

A further major change came in the late 18th century, as new methods of producing bar iron came into use. Cradley and Lye Forges probably began to make iron by Wright & Jesson’s potting and stamping method in 1775. A member of the Homfray family seems to have built Swin Lower Forge (at Hollow Mill on the Smestow Brook) in the mid-1770s. Both were probably infringing Wright & Jesson’s patent, but John Wilkinson organised a licensing arrangement.114 The introduction of Cort’s puddling process was relatively slow, but Stourton Mill seems to have been used to roll puddled blooms made by others of the Homfray family at Penydarren in south Wales; perhaps also their Hyde

The clearest case of the import of pig iron to the Stour Valley comes from the operations of the Stour Works

111

SW a/c; the suppliers are listed by Ince (1991b, 117-20). King 2011a, 137-8 152-3; SW a/c. 113 SW a/c; cf. Ince 1991b, 25-9. 114 King 2012, 110. 112

Riden & Owen 1995, 43 76 83-4. 109 Ince 1993, passim and q.v. 110 Wilmot & King 2012, 131-2 108

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Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Nash Belbroughton works finally closed in c.1970. Earlier there had been many more manufacturers. The trade probably originated in 1468, when a blade mill was built in Chaddesley Park, or even earlier at Halesowen. In the 16th to 18th centuries there were many blade mills on the upper reaches of the river Stour and its various tributaries, but these were to grind an edge on to scythes and other edged tools, not to fabricate them. Such blade mills lie beyond the scope of this book.117 However in the late 18th century, water-power began to be applied to fabricating the tools, in works which were called forges. Such forges are included in this book, to elucidate their status as a variety of plating forge, and to show that they were not finery forges.

Mill.115 Knight & Co only introduced potting and stamping at Upper Mitton in 1796/7, followed by Lower Mitton Forge the following year. Both introduced puddling in 1799/1800.116 In the 19th century with the gradual abandonment of water power for iron making, some of the ironworks were converted to other purposes. This process did not happen overnight, as they were still reasonably well situated in terms of transport, with the Staffordshire and Worcestershire and the Stourbridge Canals running up the Stour valley past them. The 1870s saw a severe contraction of the local industry as mines began to be worked out. Inevitably it was ironworks which traded by canal rather than those with access to railways that suffered most.

Another major theme is spades and shovels. Gig Mill was in lease to Ambrose Crowley of Stourbridge (d.1721) and was left by Francis Homfray to his son Jeston in 1737. It is first called a plating forge for spades, shovels and tools on Jeston Homfray’s bankruptcy in 1764, but may long have been so used. Other forges seem to have joined this trade from the late 18th century, so that there was a cluster of spade making in the 19th century, continuing into the 20th. Nevertheless, it is frequently difficult to do more than identify who the occupier was, not his precise trade.

Tinplate was never a major industry in the Stour Valley, at least not to the extent it was in south Wales; there were however a number of tinplate works, mostly in old ironworks in the area round Kidderminster in the 19th century. This was usually as a further process in a works that was making wrought iron; thus there were tinplate works at Cookley, Broadwaters, and Falling Sands. One of the most prominent tinplate companies was E., P. & W. Baldwin, who in the second half of the 19th century had Wilden and Swindon Forges. Subsequently they acquired works elsewhere, eventually amalgamating with Richard Thomas Ltd after the Second World War. This company was nationalised and the remaining ironworks at Wilden and Swindon were closed as in the course of the subsequent rationalisation of British Steel’s activities in the 1970s. Cradley Forge also continued to work into the 20th century. The site of Cookley Forge is still used for metal manufacture. Most of the other sites were abandoned before the end of the 19th century.

General Sources Johnson 1950; 1951; 1952; Gale 1966; Schafer 1971; 1978; Rowlands 1975; King 1999a; 2008; Wise & Johnson 1950; VCH Staffs ii; Shill 2008. My synthesis of the 19th century differs significantly from Shill’s at times. Unfortunately his book lacks detailed references, so that it is difficult to tell whose account is better. 1815 statistics are from Butler 1954, 24251. 1852 data are from Hunt 1852. Lists also appear in Wolverhampton Chronicle and Staffordshire Advertiser, 15 July 1846; and Staffordshire Advertiser, 3 Oct. 1857. For later history see Timmins 1865; Allen 1929; Kinvig et al. 1950.

Plating forges in manufactures

Gazetteer: Upper Stour Valley

The Stour valley contained a host of plating forges of various kinds. However it is not always clear precisely what the products of some were. Hayseech and Lodge Forges on the Upper Stour and certain mills near Belbroughton were involved in the Birmingham gun trade, which is dealt with in the preceding chapter. Royal and Clatterbatch Forges at Stourbridge and Corngreaves Forge at Cradley Heath were used at times in the steel trade. The Podmore Family made saws at Broadwaters near Kidderminster and elsewhere. Successive members of the Hallen family used Corngreaves, Clatterbatch and Drews Forges to make frying pans, though not all simultaneously.

This gazetteer is split into several sections, largely according to catchments. The Stour itself (with minor tributaries is divided into three sections, the boundaries being at Prestwood, where Philip Foley lived and the Smestow brook joined the Stour; and Kidderminster where the Wannerton and Bell (or Belbroughton) Brooks flow into the river. Those two brooks (together) and the Smestow each have their own sections. Because they were few and confined to the Upper Stour and Smestow, bloomeries are dealt with afterwards in an unsegregated section. They are followed by works that did not need water power (such as foundries, steel furnaces, and steampowered forges); and by coke ironworks. Since several of these were at Brierley Hill, close to the watershed between the Upper Stour and tributaries of the Smestow Brook, it is artificial to split these.

Scythe manufacture was a significant activity. From the late 18th century (perhaps even earlier) until 1873, the Waldron family of Field House in Clent were probably the leading manufacturers, until they sold out to Isaac Nash, who was already a manufacturer on his own account. His descendants continued this business. The 115 116

King 2012, 114; VCH Staffs, xx, 145. Ince 1991b, 44.

For these see King 2007a, which includes a gazetteer of blade mills. On this trade, note also Roper 1969. 117

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Charcoal ironworks Cradley Furnace Cradley Upper Forge Cradley (old) Forge

1830; latterly with Samuel Evers, then Samuel Evers alone and S. Evers & Sons until 1890 (including Charles EversSwindell); then Guest & Co by 1893 to December 1906, when the works closed. The site was cleared in 1911, in the course of which the firebrick foundations of an air furnace were found. The furnace, which had been demolished in the 1830s, was at that time described as having been built entirely of stone and to have been square inside and outside. The site lay derelict until about 1960 when storm water tanks were built on the site of the furnace and upper forge. It is nevertheless possible foundations may be preserved under it for eventual archaeological excavation.

[1] probably SO93538563 [2] SO93558563 [3] SO93528552

Cradley Forge was on the river Stour, but in Cradley Heath (in Rowley Regis parish) on its north bank. The Cradley Works comprised about three water-powered works: Cradley slitting mill was further downstream and is dealt with separately below. The old forge was on the Stour and a forge throughout. The other site was at the head of Cradley Great Pool, formed by damming Mousesweet Brook a short distance above its confluence with the river Stour. The site had a corn mill leased to Dud Dudley’s elder brother Robert in 1637. Richard or Thomas Foley then probably built a furnace next to it, but in 1662 his son Thomas was allowed to remove the bellows, implying closure. Zachary Downing must have had an active furnace after 1703, when he gave up Hales Furnace suggesting he rebuilt the furnace about then. This is likely to have worked regularly until the mid-1780s, when the tenants built the Level Ironworks at Brierley Hill. Throughout this period, there may well have been a corn mill, which could operate when the furnace was out of blast. When the furnace was finally abandoned (or perhaps before) an upper forge was built on this head.

Size Furnace: 1717 200 tpa. At least 500 tpa is likely in about 1740 (see Trading). Dud Dudley alleged he made iron with pitcoal here, but was hampered by flood and then by opposition from charcoal ironmasters. In 1662 Thomas Foley I(W) paid Lord Ward to be allowed to remove the furnace bellows. Roger Downes (Shadrach Fox’s pot founder) cast pots in sand here after returning from Gwendraeth Furnace in Carmarthenshire (where Zachary Downing was a partner), until Abraham Darby employed him in 1708 (TNA, C 11/1726/18). The furnace was probably brought into blast by Zachary Downing not long after he ceased in 1703 to occupy Hales Furnace. The amount of pig iron bought from Horsehay for the forge suggests the furnace closed between 1761 and 1767. On the other hand the increased purchases could be due to the closure, both in the late 1760s of Grange and Rushall Furnaces, with the furnace being used at least occasionally until the 1780s. The Level Furnaces (coke) at Brierley Hill, built shortly after 1784, were a replacement for this furnace.

The finery forge was built by Lord Dudley before 1610. However this was not earlier than the death of his father in about 1578, since his estate then had only smithies. It is possible this is the ironworks ‘in Halesowen’ held by Humfrey Lowe in 1611 (TNA, STAC 8/202/5). The forge was part of the Pensnett Works managed by Dud Dudley from 1619 to c.1623. Richard Foley had it by 1633 and in 1636, but may have held it from 1623. It was let to his son Thomas Foley I(W) in 1641. Philip Foley had it 1669 to 1676; then Sir Clement Clerke and John Forth 1675 to 1676; Henry Cornish, John Langworth and Thomas Sergeant 1676 to 1681; John Wheeler and Richard Avenant 1682 to 1692; Foley Ironworks in Partnership 1692 to 1694. John and Zachary Downing 1694 to 1710 (dead & bankrupt respectively), with Nicholas Geast (perhaps a partner); executors of John Wheeler I c.1713 to 1720; Richard and Edward Wheeler 1720 to 1724 (Richard Wheeler was bankrupt in 1725); Edward Kendall, with William Rea as partner, 1725 to 1727; then alone 1727 to 1746; followed by his widow Anna and son Jonathan Kendall 1746 to 1750.

Forge: 1669-72 usually about 90 tpa, mostly merchant iron. In 1692/3 Alexander Hussey was using it (for the Foley partlnership) partly as a plating forge. (with Lye) 1717 120 tpa; 1718 1736 & 1750 160 tpa. There were (without Lye) two fineries in 1751; and in 1754 2 fineries making 4-5 tpw [225 tpa] and a reverberatory furnace and hearth making 2-3 tpw [125 tpa] from scrap iron, using the same process as at Wednesbury (Angerstein’s Diary, 179-80). In 1794 there were 2 fineries, a chafery, a melting finery, a balling furnace, and a slitting mill. There was a corn mill let to Robert Richards in 1692 (Foley a/c, 1692/3, f.46). Zachary Downing perhaps converted it into a second finery about 1694. The stock book for 1805-12 indicates that both the stamping and puddling processes were in use. There were 11 puddling furnaces in 1852; 17 in 1857; and 28-30 in the 1860s and early 1870s, with a peak of 37 in 1875-6. Associations Cradley Furnace, Forge and Slitting Mill were always held together. From its erection in 1696 until 1807 Lye Forge was also held with it. Zachary Downing and his father rented Hales Furnace in 1693-1703; and Zachary had Ipsley Forge in 1698-1700. He was a partner of Thomas and Peter Chetle in Gwendraeth Furnace in Carmarthenshire from 1696. Edward Kendall worked as a clerk to John Wheeler (d.1708). From 1714 he was a partner with W.W. Cotton and others in Kemberton Furnace and several forges. He had a share in the Cheshire

In 1750 the whole of the Cradley works was surrendered to Lord Ward and Dudley, who also bought some adjacent land from the Kendalls. He let the works 1752 to Richard Croft, who was followed by his widow Mary Croft 1756 to 1773; and their sons Richard and William Croft 1773 to 1788; Thomas, William, and Benjamin Gibbons 1788 to 1808; then probably Benjamin alone until 1814 (bankrupt); then his nephews Thomas, John, and Benjamin junior until 1816 when they were bankrupt; James Talbot 1817; Forrest & Co c.1820 to c.1822; Elijah Williams c.1824 to after 374

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Ironmasters, perhaps through his wife, a daughter of William Cotton; and he had Bromwich Forge before 1742. Samuel Hopkins was Kendall’s ironworks clerk and John Hopkins a household servant. Both were partners of Edward’s sons in the Cheshire Ironworks in 1771-5, before taking over Rugeley and nearby works on the dissolution of that partnership. The Croft family also held Powick Forge and later Clatterbatch Forge. The family may have built the Level Furnaces, shortly before they were sold with Cradley and Lye to the Gibbons family. Members of the Gibbons family later had extensive ironworks at Bilston, at Shut End in Kingswinford, and elsewhere in the early 19th century.

also concerned Meares Farm (to the north of the river). However, no mill is mentioned in earlier leases of that farm, when it was leased to Humphrey Meare in 1588 and then to Henry Addenbrooke in 1595, but Addenbrooke’s bloomery occurs in 1578 (see ‘bloomeries’ below). The blade mill itself seems to have stood of land of the Holmer family (and later of Thomas Biggs) in Cradley. The first indication that there was a blade mill comes from 1635, when ‘Meyres Coppice’ was let to Edward Webbe of Kingswinford, a ‘sithgrinder’. After 1695, it passed with Cradley Forge until 1750, when Jonathan Kendall and his mother declined to renew their lease at Cradley. In accordance with a lease clause, the lease was assigned to Lord Ward, and Francis Knight of Wolverley and Jeremiah Caswell of Kinver were appointed to value it. Thereafter it continued to be let with the forge. By 1880 it was a blacking mill. The site now derelict; there are no remains.

Trading Fuel: The works were entitled to cordwood from the Dudley Estates under agreements of 1693 and 1713 (Dudley Archives, DE/6/4/7/6-7) and it is likely there were similar agreements to go with other leases.

Size The mill slit 700 tpa in 1754, but could slit 20-25 tpw (Angerstein’s Diary, 180).

Furnace: 1728 to 1749 sales to Wolverley and Whittington forges (averaging 290 tpa 1740 to 1744). As Edward Kendall would have needed another 210-220 tpa for his own Cradley and Lye Forges, not to mention (while he had it) another 240 tpa for Bromwich Forge, making a total of at least 500 tpa, and perhaps even 700 tpa.

Associations Always held with Cradley Forge. Sources As Cradley Forge; Dudley Archives, DE/4/7/8/21; DE/4/7/8/70-1; Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 4000/162, deeds of 1779 & 1826; Tucker 1985, 19 (but it cannot be Daniel Winwood’s blade mill and boring mill of 1771); King 2007a, 143; Bradley & Blunt 2008, 68-79.

Forge: 1755-80 pig iron was purchased from Horsehay: up to 30 tpa before 1761, but averaging 100 tpa from 1767 (HH a/c). Croft bought 10 tons of Snedshill pig iron in 1787 (Snedshill a/c). Pig iron was supplied to ‘Benj. Gibbons Level’ from Old Park Furnace 1799-1811, 600 tpa in 1810 (OP a/c). Some of this may well have been worked up here.

Dudley Furnace at Queens Cross

This furnace was probably unique in not being blown by water power. It is described as ‘for making or melting down ironstone with charcoal made of wood and pitcoal together to be blown and set on work by the strength of men and horses’. It stood high up the hill on the southeast side of Dudley where there is a street called Furnace Place. The land between this street, Blowers Green, and Queens Cross was a field called Furnace Piece. The land may have belonged to John Tandy, who was subsequently Lord Ward’s coal mining partner.

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1669-72 and 1692-4. A brief account 1725-7: TNA, E 112/957/107; triennial balance sheets 1791-1805: Gibbons a/c; Stock book 1805-12: Dudley Archives, Z121. Inventories are in Zachary Downing’s bankruptcy assignment (TNA, C 54/5428, no.9) and annexed to assignment of 1725 (Dudley MSS). Sources Dudley Archives, DE/6/4/1/1-2; DE/4/7/4/49; DE/4/7/11/43 79 83-4 87 90-1; DE/1/6/6-33; Worcs RO, 705:658 BA 5467/146, 29 Sep. 1775 to T. Biggs; Johnson 1950, 37 & 1952, 324; Schafer 1971, 29; Foley E12/VI/ KBf/47; KD/passim; (also KG/2); NLW, Hawarden deeds 913; London Gazette, no. 6445, 2 (22 Jan. 1725); TNA C54/5428, no 9; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 31 May 1756; Collins 1992; Land tax, Cradley; Evers-Swindell 1909; Tucker 1985, 20; Crompton 1991, 17; Bradley & Blunt 2008, 33-67; Raybould 2014; Gwilliam 1984 i, 112ff (confused). Cradley Slitting Mill

[5] c.SO93958985

The furnace was built by Dud Dudley in c.1672 and was held by a partnership including John Finch and Sir Clement Clerke. It seems likely that Dud Dudley wrote his Metallum Martis (1665) in the hope of finding sponsors for a project. Sir Clement Clerke and Edward Nightingale of Tipton may have been involved from the start, but whether Finch was an original or subsequent partner is uncertain; and Ambrose Crowley of Stourbridge could have been involved. This was therefore the Dudley Furnace occupied by John Finch in 1673. The rationalisation of charcoal supplies agreed between him and Philip Foley (with Wheeler and Avenant) in that year required him to sell all pig iron he made ‘with charcoal’ at Dudley Furnace to Wheeler and Avenant at an extremely low price. The plain object of this was to prevent him from using the furnace at all; or at least with charcoal. The furnace is however mentioned in agreements with his successors Foorth and Clerke and Cornish Langworth &

[4] SO931852

This mill stood on the river Stour a few hundred yards below Cradley Forge. It was converted from a blade mill to a slitting mill in 1695 by John and Zachary Downing to whom Lord Dudley granted a long lease. This lease 375

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sergeant; Wheeler and Avenant seem to have taken over all their works, not merely those that were previously Foley’s, but it is unlikely that made any use of it.

Co. Sir Thomas Lyttelton (a partner until 1736) discussed leasing an ironstone mine at Darlaston in 1718, pointing to his having a furnace; presumably this one, as it was part of his estate. The first surviving account for the Stour Works appears to imply some continuity with the previous proprietors. Clement Acton, one of the partners who had been Wheeler’s ‘servant’, continued to manage it until his death. In the accounts of the Knight family’s Bringewood Works this partnership was called ‘Sir Thomas Lyttelton and partners’, although Edward Knight was very obviously the managing partner. The furnace was out of blast for the whole or most of the year in 1746, and every second or third year thereafter. Only 120 tons were made in 1769 and 248 tons in 1772, otherwise it was not used after 1767. Even in the 1730s it had commonly made a loss. From the late 1750s the profits made in the years when the furnace was in blast were outweighed by the losses from the years when it was not. Obviously it was not capable of being competitive in the new environment when there was forgeable coke-made pig iron. ‘Old castings’ (probably part of the structure) were removed in 1774, indicating that it was permanently closed. The head of water was later used for a forge, Furnace Forge, which is described among ‘Other ironworks’ below. This was probably connected with a steel converting furnace.

Sources Foley E12/VI/KH/21; E12/VI/KD/18; TNA, E 112/538/94; Schafer 1971, King 2002a, 34-5; 2002b, 47-9; cf. Foley E12/VI/NC series; King 2007b, 41-2. To identify Furnace Piece: VCH Worcs, iii, 104; Dudley Archives, DE/16/3/2 (map); and private deeds. Note: the earliest map of Dudley (DE/16/3/2) is described as c.1787, which may well be when the present map was produced, but the names shown on it must refer to a period about 50 years earlier, suggesting that it was copied from an earlier (perhaps disintegrating) map. Hales Furnace, Halesowen

[6] about SO967846

This furnace is remembered by the street name, Furnace Hill, a road on the south west of the River Stour. The furnace however stood on the opposite side of the river, being powered by the river itself. It was commonly let with several mills upstream of it, until the lease was renewed in about 1733 (see under Hales Forge below). Control of these mills was presumably necessary to the furnace to control the water supply, as these were the headwaters of the River Stour.

Size In 1620 the furnace and forge were allowed 1,000 loads of charcoal per year, suggesting the production of 165 tpa bar iron or 150 tpa bar iron and perhaps 30 tpa hammers anvils and other cast iron goods. 1667-72 average 545 tpa, once 655 tpa; 1717 500 tpa; actual production, from 1725 until its end, was generally in excess of 600 tpa, when working.

There was only a bloomery when Sir John Lyttelton died in prison following his attainder for complicity in the Earl of Essex’s plot in 1602. A furnace probably existed in 1607 when Merriel and Thomas Lyttelton (his widow and son) were engaged in litigation regarding the rights of copyholders at Halesowen to mine. In 1610 they had an ironstone mine near Dudley. On the other hand in 1611 Humphrey Lowe had a furnace and forge in Dudley and a furnace in Halesowen, though it is possible the latter was somewhere else, such as at Cradley. In 1620 the furnace and forge were let for 10 years to Thomas Chetwynd and his son John and to Walter Coleman and his sons Walter and John. In subsequent litigation the Chetwynds alleged the Colemans had not provided money to stock the works, which were anyway barely profitable, as it had been a hard bargain. This litigation was settled and a later attempt to due to reopen it was dismissed.

Associations Walter and then John Coleman held Whittington Forge, but were not active as partners here, as Thomas Chetwynd made them pay for the pig iron they wanted. Whittington Forge continued usually to be in the same hands as the furnace for much of the rest of the furnace’s life, but generally as part of a larger enterprise. Trading The furnace normally only supplied related forges with pig iron. However, Humfrey Jennens took it over to supply the Tame Valley forges that he bought in 1676. When the furnace passed back to Wheeler & Avenant (with Downing), they contracted in 1682 to supply Jennens with 120 tpa pig iron. Zachary and John Downing renewed this agreement in 1692 for 100 tpa. Both the 1682 and 1692 agreements provided a boundary to be observed in buying wood (TNA, E 112/880/41). Sales to Jennens continued after the furnace passed back to Ironworks in Partnership in 1703-5 (Foley a/c). As part of the Stour Works it mainly supplied Whittington, also at times Cookley, probably because they were their nearest forges (SW a/c).

Richard Foley had the furnace by 1636, presumably having taken it over in 1630. He was followed by Thomas Foley I(W) who held it until 1667, but gave his son Philip the profits for 1666. Subsequent occupiers were: Philip Foley 1667 to 1676; Humphrey Jennens 1676 to 1681; John Wheeler, Richard Avenant and John Downing 1681 to 1692; Foley Ironworks in Partnership 1692/3; John and Zachary Downing 1693 to 1703; and Foley Ironworks in Partnership 1703 to 1705. In 1705 William Rea suggested that Richard Knight should take it on, but it seems that John Wheeler (d.1708) ran it himself, followed by his executors until at least 1710; and probably until c.1718.

In most accounts there are small sales of iron to a very large number of customers who included ironmasters from as far away as Monmouth and Pool Quay. This seems to represent a trade, not in pig iron (as such), but in cast iron; anvils and various other cast iron ‘necessaries’ used about the forge, such as plates to go round the finery. The

This seems to have been the first ironworks of what became the Stour Works Partnership of Edward Knight & 376

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country amounts involved are relatively trivial, never more than 10 tpa and sometimes only a few hundred weight. Aston and Grange Furnaces seem to have participated in this trade. This trade goes back to 1631 when 2 tons of hammers and anvils were sent to Carey Forge on the River Wye in Herefordshire (Taylor 1986, 460-1).

at one point forming an artificial shelf in the steep hillside above the river Stour. Andrew Yarranton was the engineer and later invested in the river, but the navigation it did not pay its way and was abandoned in about 1680. The mill was built to use surplus water flowing down the trench, and remained in use until the 20th century giving rise to the name Trench Covert (a wood). Samuel Whyle, an associate of the Navigation Proprietors, built a corn mill in 1663. Its use as a tinplate works was considered at the time of the tinplate experiment, conducted by Andrew Yarranton and Ambrose Crowley under the patronage of the Navigation Proprietors and local ironmasters, including Sir Walter Blount, Thomas Foley, Henry Glover, and Joshua Newborough, but apparently a corn mill was originally built. As the Trench Brook left the Stour at Bells Mill, it was necessary for the proprietor of Halfcot Mill also to control Bells Mill. Bells Mill at times remained a corn mill, and was at least latterly sublet, but was described as a wire mill in 1759.

Accounts Full annual accounts Foley a/c 1667-72, 1692/3 and 1703-5; SW a/c 1725-74. Sources Birmingham Archives, Hagley Hall MSS, 351727 and 357397; TNA, STAC  8/202/3; C  2/Chas I/C88/59; C 78/400/21; SP 16/321/42 (f.80); Foley E12/VI/KBc/5 & 7; E12/VI/KC/63; E12/VI/KG/2; E12/VI/KH/31; E12/VI/ DEc/1 11-13; Knight 7158; TNA, E 112/880/41; PROB 11/508/58; Staffs RO, D 1788/ P61/B9, deed of 1718; Johnson 1950, 37; Johnson 1952, 324 & 335; Ince 1991b, 25-9 87-8 &c; Cooksley 1980, 127; Schafer 1971, 29 & 35; Booth 1985, 39; Gwilliam 1984, i, 142-4; Crompton 1991, 17; contrast Staffs RO, D 605/2/2. Hales Forge

In 1716 Thomas White was granted a new lease with permission to build adjoining the mill. It was converted to a wire mill probably by the late 1720s. This belonged by 1733 to John Turton and John Webster, the former probably retiring in 1744, as at their Perry Barr wire mills and forges. After the death in 1757 of John Webster, the mills passed to a partnership, to John Ryland (a wiredrawer), with John Kettle (a steel merchant) and Joseph Smith (a merchant). John Ryland was the sole proprietor by 1781, when he renewed his lease, and likewise on its renewal in 1801. He was succeeded, probably in 1814 – as at his Drayton Forge, by J.W. Phipson who retained the mills until 1829, when the machinery was offered for sale. The mills had been dismantled by 1830. There were in fact two mills at the end of the Trench Brook. The eastern site was replaced by a cascade, as a landscape feature of the Foleys’ Prestwood Park. The western site is now occupied by a concrete and brick turbine house for electricity generation, now derelict. There is a small amount of 18th century brickwork near the intake for this, but most of the surviving brickwork is 19th century or later. The Trench Brook continued to carry water until about the 1970s, but was then obstructed when the base of the Stourbridge Canal burst near Bells Mill filling the start of the trench with sandstone and sand. The Trench Brook thus in places survives as a dry channel, about six feet wide. In places it is cut down into the sandstone; elsewhere it has been filled in. An archaeological report (criticised in King 2004) mistook it for a track. The bridge under A449 has been replaced by a pipe.

[7] perhaps SO971839

Except in litigation between Coleman and Chetwynd before 1630, direct evidence of a forge at Halesowen comes only from the inventory incorporated into the assignment bankruptcy for Zachary Downing. This includes items at ‘Hales Forge now turned into corn mills’ including an ‘old hammer beam too short for any work’, also things in the ‘old finery’. Leases of Hales Furnace (for example in 1669) also included two water corn mills called Hales Mills adjoining a dam with a ‘mault’ mill a little below it and two water corn mills and a blade mill ‘nigh the dam of a pool called Cornbowe Pool’. One of these is clearly the forge referred to. The shortness of the hammer beam, and the forge’s abandonment before 1669 indicate that it was not a satisfactory forge. Being on the upper reaches of the River Stour the water power available was probably only adequate for a relatively modest sized forge. It seems clear that this was a small forge that operated with Hales Furnace in its early years of operation prior to its passing to Richard Foley. It is most improbable that it remained in use beyond the 1640s. There were ironworks in the area in the industrial revolution, perhaps on the same site (see Other ironworks, below). The most likely site was that used from the late 18th century for a slitting mill. Sources TNA, C  2/Chas I/C88/59; C  78/400/21; C  54/ 5428 no.9; Foley E12/VI/KG/2 5 & 7; and cf. Hales Furnace. Halfcot Wire Mills or Prestwood Wire Mill

Associations Turton and Webster had wire mills from 1722 at Perry Barr and elsewhere, and also Longnor and later Hints Forges. John Ryland and then J.W. Phipson had Drayton Forge, latterly also a wire mill. They were apparently Birmingham pin manufacturers. The Ryland works there may be those described by Adam Smith as an example of the advantages of the division of labour in The Wealth of Nations. It thus seems ironic that this classic description of manufacture by hand should be final stages of something that involved power.

[8] SO866859 and 868851

The mill stood on the Trench Brook. The Trench Brook was built as a ‘navigable cut or trench’ for the Stour Navigation, during the attempt in the 1660s by Lord Windsor and others to make the river Stour navigable. The leat began at Bells Mill (previously also known as Willetts Mill and as Wedge’s Mill – SO882859). It is carefully engineered, 377

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Trading From 1725 Turton and Webster and then from 1730 John Webster alone were buying osmond iron from the Foleys’ Bewdley warehouse and occasionally direct from Lydbrook Forge where it was made. This often amounted to about 40 tpa until 1733 when they took over Longnor Forge. After that the amount was rather lower (Foley a/c).

TNA C 54/5428 no 9; Staffs RO, D 605/2/1-3; Land tax, Oldswinford; EV a/c 1805-9, f.169 & 1809-13, f.294; Dudley Archives, Court’s map of Oldswinford [1782]; Sheriff’s map (1812); Fowler’s Map of Kingswinford (1840); Mutton 1973b, 93 & 96; Tucker 1985, 19; Crompton 1991, 17. Royal Forge, Stourbridge (originally King’s Meadow Forge)

Sources VCH Staffs xx, 144 & 147; Staffs RO, D 5320, 115; Foley E12/S/29, leases of 1732 and 1759; E12/S/67, leases of 1781 and 1801; E12/S/119-20 & 125 (surveys); King 1988; 2004; Webster 1880, 44n; Staffs RO, D(W) 1921/4; Cooksley 1984, 14; Gwilliam 1984, i, 72 92; cf. Drayton Forge. Lye Forge

[10] SO89628482

This forge (at times also called Stourbridge Forge) was on the river Stour, west of the Town Bridge at the bottom of Stourbridge. It has sometimes been suggested that Royal Forge was the mill above the bridge (Town Mills), but this seems to be wrong. It stood on part of King’s Meadow, which in 1587 was part of the lordship of Kingswinford, rather than of Amblecote manor.

[9] SO922849

Lye Forge was on the river Stour, just upstream of Dudley Road, Lye, its existence being commemorated in an industrial estate developed nearby by Folkes Group, who have placed a steam powered drop forge by the entrance. The site was occupied by Addenbrooke’s Mill, a corn mill, by the early 17th century. John Addenbrooke and his wife let this double corn mill to Zachary Downing in 1697. From this time until the early 19th century the forge was always held with Cradley Forge. Zachary Downing became bankrupt in 1710 and the mill was probably, like the Cradley Works, bought by William Rea of Monmouth on behalf of the executors of John Wheeler I. In 1721 John Wheeler II, by then its freeholder, let the forge to his brother Richard (bankrupt 1725), and his brother Edward became his partner the following year, as at Cradley. The forge passed with Cradley to Edward Kendall, and then to the Croft family until about 1788. It was then held by Thomas, William & Benjamin Gibbons until 1807, when they let it to Foster & Co, apparently including John Bradley. They could be the John Forrester & Sons, who issued trade tokens from there in 1812, but there was a firm called Thomas Wood & Sons of Lye Forge who supplied tools to Ebbw Vale Ironworks from 1805 to 1813. One of these firms may have used Bagleys Mill, the next mill downstream. From about 1815 until after 1840 Lye Forge was let to James Wilkinson. In 1853 Constantine and William Folkes took a lease. William left the firm in 1859 and Constantine died in 1872, being succeeded by his son John. The site has remained in the Folkes family, being transferred to a family company, John Folkes HEFO Ltd, which became Folkes Group plc in 1985, but was taken private again in 2002. Members of the family remain directors of that company, but there is no longer a forge.

Joshua Newborough built it in 1666. Andrew Yarranton called it ‘a pretty little forge’, and Lord Windsor referred to it as a steel mill. It was used in Yarranton and Crowley’s tinplate experiment in 1667 and 1668, payment having to be made for changing the hammer to and from one suitable for tinplate. It was occupied by John Finch until 1673. In the subsequent rationalisation process in 1673, it was perhaps transferred to Joshua Newborough and by him in 1680 to his sons-in-law. It was thus in the hands of Joshua Bradley, Thomas Hammond, and John Hunt in 1680 to 1688; and Ambrose Crowley II in 1688 to 1721. It could have been used in 1710-13 by his son James, who apparently converted Spanish iron to steel then. In 1722 a nearby meadow was sold to Thomas Hartley, but the forge was probably sold to Benjamin Harvey, who was in turn succeeded probably in about 1733 by Francis Homfray (d.1737). His will directed that it should go to his son Thomas, but Thomas was apprenticed to an ironmonger, probably in Bristol and took his legacy in cash, and the forge then devolved upon another son, John Homfray (d.1760). John’s will provided for his brother Francis to run his business as a partner until his son (another John) came of age. In 1778 his trustees sold some houses apparently above the bridge together with a steel furnace to Samuel Bate (a leather dresser) who built a skin house there. However, the forge was let to Thomas Hill, who was thus tenant to John Addenbrooke Homfray (later J.A. Addenbrooke) from 1782 (or before) to 1790. He was followed by George Briscoe until 1799, after which John Addenbrooke used it himself until after 1832. His heir sold it to James Foster in 1847. From that time, it was part of John Bradley & Co’s. Stourbridge Ironworks (see below, under whole catchment), later Stourbridge Rolling Mills. There was no trace of the mill today, even before the redevelopment of the rolling mills for housing.

Size, Associations, etc. see Cradley. In 1710 and 1724 there was a finery and a chafery. In 1794 there was a chafery, a melting finery, and a balling furnace.

Size The forge does not appear in the usual lists of forges of 1717 to 1750, and hence was probably not making iron. In ‘1794’ there were a chafery and a balling furnace, suggesting recycling scrap. The forge was the venue for some of the experiments carried out by Andrew Yarranton and Ambrose Crowley following their trip to Saxony to

Sources King 1997; 2001, 127-8; Johnson 1950, 43; Johnson 1952, 327; Schafer 1971; Perry 1987; 2001, 1278 etc.; 2017, 12-15; Stourbridge Library, Bache’s map of Oldswinford 1699; and see Cradley (assignments of 1724 & 1752); London Gazette, no. 6445, 2 (22 Jan. 1725); 378

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Wollaston Slitting Mill

find out how tinplate was made, but the works, where the process was intended to be carried on subsequently, was Wolverley Lower Mill. John Finch and subsequent occupants probably used it as a plating forge, latterly in connection with the steel trade. By 1737 there were two steel furnaces (see steel in The whole catchment, below), one near the forge and the other above the bridge in Mill Lane. The steel furnace near the forge was still standing when the tithe map for Amblecote was prepared, though by then separated from the forge by the Stourbridge Canal. This steel trade evidently lasted beyond the death of John Homfray, who was at the time of his marriage in 1758 a steel converter (Dudley Archives, DE/3/5/1/24, 249ff). This had previously been one of the Crowleys’ businesses and evidently also Benjamin Harvey’s.

[11] SO895854

This medieval corn mill became a slitting mill sometime before ‘1794’, when it was held by Mr Hill (presumably Thomas Hill). The Hill family were glassmakers, but Thomas Hill took over Lord Foley’s forge at Wilden in 1776 and he started the Stourbridge Old Bank. He was a founding partner in the Blaenavon ironworks in 1789. James Dovey of Wollaston Mill advertised for a boy to learn glass-cutting in 1772, suggesting that was then a function of the mill. Dovey moved to Stourbridge Canal Wharf in 1790 and erected a steam engine there to cut glass, a lease transferred in 1813 to John Bradley & Co for their Stourbridge ironworks. Wollaston Mill was still a slitting mill in 1809, when the freehold was probably bought by Thomas Hill from Lord Foley. It is probably where Mr Hill made horse nail rod iron in 1815. It was ‘in hand’ when Thomas Hill and others of the family sold their extensive local estates to the trustees of the Earl of Dudley in 1826. The Dudley trustees let it to Samuel Hodgson, a local spade and shovel manufacturer in 1836, and Samuel Hodgson & Co were still there in 1865, though the lease had been renewed in 1857 by Edgar Smith and William England spade manufacturers. James Foster (owner of John Bradley & Co of the Stourbridge ironworks) bought the freehold in 1848, but probably never occupied it. W.O. Foster let it Charles Evers-Swindell (of Cradley Forge) in 1869. Alexander Norris was listed as a spade manufacturer there in the 1871 census. It was sold to James and Thomas Norris in 1883, and the business became Alexander Norris & Sons. The sons (James and Thomas) sold it to Isaac Nash junior of Belbroughton in 1887. He took his son-inlaw F.J. Boulton as a partner in 1901. After Nash’s death in 1908, the business was incorporated as Isaac Nash and Sons Ltd. They and successor firms (including Brades and Nash Tyzack Ltd) continued to make edged tools until 1959. It continued to be used for industrial purposes until c.2014, after which the site was redeveloped for housing.

Associations Newborough and then Bradley (with Joshua Newborough’s other sons-in-law) were partners in Boycott & Co (chapter 16) in Shropshire and in Wolverley Old Forge and Lower Mill, but were probably primarily ironmongers. Ambrose Crowley was also primarily an ironmonger, but with some interests in ironmaking, both on a very substantial scale. The Homfrays had Swin Forge and Gothersley Mill. John Homfray built a steel furnace and forges at Broadwaters. Addenbrooke & Homfray also had Lightmoor Furnace in Shropshire from 1778. George Briscoe had Clatterbatch Forge while at Royal Forge, but subsequently moved on to Swindon Lower and Heath Forges. John Addenbrooke owned the Moorcroft Ironworks near Bilston and two of the forges at Broadwaters near Kidderminster. Trading Benjamin Harvey bought oregrounds iron from Graffin Prankard from 1729 to 1732 and Francis and then Mary Homfray were consistent buyers of first oregrounds iron from Prankard from 1730 to 1742, but as with their purchases of Russian iron (see Gothersley Mill) the amounts fluctuated implying they also had other suppliers, the largest annual purchase was of 53 tons in 1733, while 11 tons, probably of a second oregrounds iron were purchased in 1728 (Prankard a/c). George Briscoe bought some Old Park pig iron in 1790-3 (OP a/c).

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/1/2/1; DE/4/7/9/1; D6/1/ D9/1-15; Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 4000/53, 7 Dec. 1900 and 1908 case; 4000/ 255; 4000/256, 26 Aug. 1887; 4000/282, 1883; Skidmore 2002; Worcester Journal, 12 Jun. 1809; HOW 2004, 85-7; Gwilliam 1984 i, 92; Tucker 1985, 14; Perry 2001, 131; Butler 1815, 246; cf. Ellis 2002, 245 (citing Aris Birmingham Gazette, 22 Jun. 1772 and TNA, RAIL 874/1, 5 Jul. 1790). There is a sales catalogue of c.1900 in Stourbridge Library’s local collection. Butler (1815) misidentified Mr Hill as of Plymouth Ironworks, rather than of Blaenavon, where the partners had local links.

Accounts for the tinplate experiment only Foley E12/F/ VI/KT passim. Sources VCH Staffs xx, 60; Staffs RO, D(W) 1788/P59/ B3, 8 & 26 Dec. 1666; SBT, ER3/158-212 passim; Worcs RO, 899:31 BA 3762/5, copy deed of 1706 & undertaking of 1722; also Palfrey 1947; TNA, PROB 11/683/499; PROB 11/855/273; Dudley archives, D/Pit/7/4; D6/1/ D3/1-16; Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 4000/282; Flinn 1962, 11-12 112-3; Schafer 1978; King 1988, 114 &c; Staffs RO, land tax, Amblecote; Tucker 1985, 14-16 & fig 15; Mutton 1973b, 114-5; Gwilliam 1984 i, 96; Tucker 1985, 14-16; Perry 2001, 129; cf. Dudley Archives, DE4/7/8/2. In King 1988 I expressed views concerning its early history of the forge, which I no longer fully support.

Other ironworks Bagleys Mill

[12] SO914847

The bloomsmithy in Amblecote in the mid-16th century was perhaps at Bagleys Mill. This mill was a blade mill in the 17th century then a fulling mill then a corn mill, worked in 1720 by Robert Richards, in whose family it remained until 1785. It was then let to Dudley Bagley as a blade mill. 379

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Associations Finch had a furnace at Dudley and also held Royal Forge, Stourbridge briefly. The Hallen family trade was frying pan production, usually involving pairs of forges, one producing iron plates and the other forming them into pans. The counterpart of this one was initially Drews Forge, but later Corngreaves.

It is possible that it was a second ‘Lye Forge’ in the early 19th century when there appear to be conflicts between sources as to the occupation of Lye Forge (q.v.). A firm called Thomas Wood & Sons of Lye Forge, who supplied tools to Ebbw Vale Ironworks from 1805 to 1813, may in fact have operated here. They (as spade and shovel makers) were made bankrupt in 1816, on the petition of John Addenbrooke. On the other hand Wood Brothers, perhaps of Cradley, reappear at Newtown Forge later. Perhaps Lye Forge was merely an address used for premises nearby.

Sources Schafer 1971, 30; Flinn 1962, 11 & 185; Worcs RO, 899:31 BA 3762/5; land tax, Stourbridge; Dudley Archives, map 615A; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 14-28 May 1764; 9 Nov. 1768; 26 Dec. 1768; 23 Jan. 1769; TNA, C 11/222/17; Hallen 1885, 46-7; Scott 1832; cf. Staffs RO, land tax, Amblecote; Tucker 1985, 16-17; Gerhold 2009, 48; Gwilliam 1984 i, 96.

Sources VCH Staffs xx, 55; for Wood: EV a/c; Manchester Mercury, 19 Mar. 1816; Tucker 1985, 18-19; King 2007a, 141-2. Clatterbatch Forge

[13] SO911844

Corngreaves Forge Corngreaves Steel Furnaces Belle Vale Forge

The exact location of this forge is not quite certain. It was on the River Stour in the vicinity of the railway viaduct. It may have been at the location above, where the town boundary deviates from the river adjoining Clatterbatch Rough. Alternatively it was a short distance downstream at SO909844. It is said to have been held by John Finch until 1673, after which the terms of an arrangement with Philip Foley would have prevented his using it to make iron (if it ever did so). In 1687 the freehold was sold by Joshua Newborough to Ambrose Crowley, who was already occupying it. The Crowley family were ironmongers and made steel. Accordingly it is likely this was at that period a steel forge. Ambrose Crowley died in 1721. The forge was apparently the subject of an agreement in 1728 between Mr Hallen and Mr Harvey, which suggests it was occupied by the former from then. John Hallen (d.1761) acquired it in 1738 from the widow of William Hallen and settled it on his second son David, a frying-pan maker. It was offered for sale in 1764 with a forge at Broadwaters. As the latter belonged to George Hallen, it is possible that he rented it from a cousin. It was again advertised for sale in 1769 and to let in 1778. It was described in 1764 as a plating forge with a Yorkshire tilt for drawing small steel and in 1769 as a newly erected plating forge with tilt hammer for drawing steel. In 1782 it still belonged to David Hallen, who died unmarried in 1789, but had been let. Members of the family remained its landlords until at least 1830. The Hallen family’s speciality was frying pans. By 1782 it was occupied by Richard Croft, then from 1786 by William Croft, his brother and partner in Lye and Cradley Forges. About 1789 it was let to George Briscoe, who occupied it with Royal Forge, and he had a melting finery and a balling furnace there in ‘1794’. In 1804 it passed to Owen & Hodgson, who were spade manufacturers. Around 1817 it was briefly held by Perks. After that, George Wood had it until 1831. In 1835 George Foster of Clatterbatch Forge spade and edged tool manufacturer became bankrupt. It was probably the Clatterback (sic) Mill occupied by Thomas Starkie in 1851. If so, the forge was probably replaced by a corn mill following the bankruptcy of George Foster. There was still a works on the site in 1880. The floodgates were removed in 1930 and the building demolished only in 1944.

[14] SO952848 [15] nearby [16] SO953847

Belle Vale Forge stood near where Lutley Gutter ran into River Stour. The actual site of Belle Vale Forge was the yard adjoining the works of G. Clancey Ltd, which may be regarded as its successor. The water supply to the pound was probably augmented by a fleam from River Stour. Corngreaves Forge was on the north bank of the river in Rowley Regis, and was apparently used with a steel furnace. Colletts Mill (a blade mill) in Rowley Regis belonged in the late 1690s to Zachary Downing, having previously been occupied by John Collett and then Thomas Walker. Downing rebuilt it and let it in May 1697 to John Bagley, an Oldswinford scythesmith. Bagley then agreed to buy the mill in 1698, but he died, leading to litigation. Downing presumably sold it, before his 1710 bankruptcy. It was settled by John Hallen of Birmingham on his second son David in 1719, he having been a fryingpan maker there for at least six years. It was converted to a forge soon after the Hallen purchase. He then built a second forge, which he occupied himself, the older forge being occupied by 1744 by William Machin, who used it for drawing steel and plating iron, and he had it for 24 years. After that David (with this father’s approval, apparently between 1757 and 1761) let at least that forge to Mr Machin and Price Thomas for 31 years. David succeeded his father in 1761. Though his title was disputed by his elder brother (an attorney), David apparently established his claim, but had let both mills by 1780. Price Thomas of Corngreaves owned a cottage and two steel furnaces in Rowley Regis in 1771, when he made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors. Little is known earlier of these steel furnaces, but William Barnsley was called a steelmaker in Rowley Regis in 1707, when he rented some land near Cradley Forge. The steel furnaces were bought by George Attwood of Hawne steelmaker. He dissolved his partnership at Corngreaves with John Wood in 1772, and then continued business with his sons Matthias and James, subsequently buying Lodge Forge and building the Adelphi Steel Works in Broad Street, Birmingham. 380

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country George Attwood & Co built Netherton Furnace in 1800. Corngreaves Forge and Steel Furnace certainly existed in 1821. The Corngreaves Works were sold in 1825 to the British Iron Company, but not paid for until long after, when they had lost extensive litigation with Mathias and James Attwood in the House of Lords. The works did not include blast furnaces until the 1840s. Further furnaces were built after the company was reconstructed as New British Iron Company. It had 30 puddling furnaces in 1852; 17-18 in 1859-66; 16 in 1876-82; and 12-13 in 1883-4. In that period, they had six blast furnaces, but never more than 5 in blast. The Company was incorporated in 1883, but wound up in 1892. The receivers apparently sold it to Corngreaves Furnace Co in 1894 and Robert Fellows had it from 1900. The works continued to be listed in the Mineral Statistics until 1912, but without any furnaces in use.

Joseph Coley of Drews Forge was bankrupt in 1783. It was presumably occupied by George Coley (d.1803). In 1819 it was occupied by Pardoe comprising a plating forge, with a fall of 12 feet over the head. The tools and furniture of Christopher Owen (a bankrupt) were sold in 1827. The stock of spades and files was offered for sale on 1841 when W. Vaughan retired. It continued to be referred to as Drews Forge until the 20th century, but was demolished to improve Drews Road (now called Belle Vale).

Belle Vale Forge was part of a freehold property called Jack Orme Tenement. It may have been a bloomsmithy in the mid-17th century, but Lodge Forge is a more probable site. It was used (and sometimes owned) by scythesmiths as a blade mill. It may be the blade mill bought by John Hill of a Clent scythesmith in 1689, whereupon he moved to Cradley. John Hill had six hearths for making scythes, but it is not clear what happened to the property for several decades after his death in 1704, followed by that of his widow Ann in 1706. By the early 19th century it was probably in the hands of the Attwood family, being owned and occupied by George Attwood of Hawne House as part of an estate there, presumably having been excluded from the sale to the British Iron Company. In 1850, like Corngreaves Forge, it was occupied by Charles Millward spade-plater. However, it was included in the New British Iron Company’s 1893 sale.

Gig Mill Forge

Sources Worcs RO, 008.7 BA 3585/805, no 1688; Wills, Cornelius Hallen 1682; TNA, PROB  11/686/69; Hallen 1885, 31 46; Gerhold 2009, 44; Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 231 & 233; 705:382 BA 4600/2 3 & 14 etc.; Newcastle Courant, 31 May 1783; Oxford Journal, 19 Feb. 1803; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 19 Mar. 1827; 8 Mar. 1841; Gwilliam 1984 i, 137; Booth 1985, 37.

A gig mill was concerned in the raising the nap on cloth. The name is preserved as that of a public house, which has been built on the site of the mill; and also in that of a nearby school. Nothing remains of the mill except that the large pool in Mary Stevens Park that was probably made as a pound for it. Gig mills were prohibited from the 1550s, though some were in fact permitted to operate by means of collusive prosecutions in the Exchequer. The period at which this mill was a gig mill is not clear, but a gig mill is mentioned in the will of Richard Hickman, a Stourbridge clothier, in 1654. Most references to it subsequently concern a forge, probably always a plating forge. The only possible exception is a 1736 lease relating to Studley Gate Pool (the pool within the present Mary Stevens Park – SO896834) and those upstream of it to Hickman Scott, a clothier. The forge is mentioned in the inventory of Ambrose Crowley (d.1721) and was presumably subsequently used by one of his sons. It was part of property bought in 1732 by Francis Homfray I, who left it to his son Jeston in 1737. It was then sold following the bankruptcy of Jeston Homfray in 1764 as a plating forge making spades, shovels, and tools and utensils of the patten ring trade. It was again sold when Benjamin Pratt retired in 1782. John Blakemore and Richard Price advertised for workmen in 1789 and dissolved their partnership in 1793. They may have been succeeded by Mr Hornblower, who was in turn succeeded about 1805 by Joseph and Thomas Parkes, who were still making spades there in 1830. By 1827, there was a steam engine there. In 1830 it was let to Christopher Owen & Co for 21 years. The freehold was then offered for sale in 1835 subject to this lease. Mr Parkes was using it in 1860.

Sources Aris Birmingham Gazette, 9 Nov. 1767; 17 Dec. 1772; Birmingham Archives, 441398-9; Warks RO, CR 1291/253; Hallen 1885, 46; TNA, C 10/505/70; C 10/360/24; C 11/1534/21; C 12/1322/19; C 54/5428, no.9 (not mentioned); Gerhold 2009, 44; Dudley Archives, map of Rowley Regis (1839) and book of reference (1821); Staffs RO, Land tax, Rowley Regis Lower; Reports of Cases Heard … in the House of Lords vi, 234-531; Hodgkins 1981; Booth 1985, 36 38; Ellwell 1988; Moss 1990, 17 137; Bradley & Blunt 2008, 9-17; Bradley 2015. Note also TNA, J 13/289; Birmingham Daily Post, 28 Apr. 1894. Drews Forge

[18] SO891838

[17] SO951841

This was driven by a brook variously known as Lutley Gutter and Drews Brook. It lay on the Hasbury side of the brook near the bottom of Drews Holloway. This takes its name from a miller, Robert Drew (d.1661). It was held, presumably as a plating forge, by Cornelius Hallen panmaker (d.1682), and conceivably by William Hallen, also a fryingpan maker (d.1737). In 1761 it was described as ‘a water corn mill converted to a blade mill and now a boring mill’, presumably for musket barrels.

Sources TNA, PROB 3/20/150; PROB 11/683/499; Dudley Archives, DOH/IV/3/III/8; Aris Birmingham Gazette 9-23 Apr. 1764; 2 Mar. 1789; 7 Jul. 1782; 2 Dec. 1782 & 30 Sep. 1793; Worcester Journal, 10 May 1827; Worcs RO, Land tax, Stourbridge; 705:260 BA 4000/130, 30 Jun 1764; 705:550 BA 4600/870, sale particulars; Birmingham Archives 377554; Palfrey 1927, 26; Gwilliam 1984 i, 107; Herbert 1979, 16; Tucker 1985, 14; Perry 2001, 121. 381

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Halesowen Mill Halesowen Forge

[19] SO972839 [20] SO96958410

used it as an iron forge for the manufactory of heavy iron tools, but by 1856 the tenant was John Sidaway. In 1873 Joseph Sidaway (spade and shovel manufacturer) bought the freehold from Lord Lyttelton and was working it in partnership with Edward Davies in 1878. It was still a spade and shovel works in 1919, but soon after became a button works.

There were in 1794 on the estate of Lord Westcote (head of the Lyttelton family) a slitting mill occupied by Mr Attwood and a forge with a chafery and a balling furnace occupied by Mr Ward. One of these is probably the 17th-century Hales Forge (see above). Birch and Hunt are described in the Birmingham Directory of 1770 as buttonmakers [who] slit and sell rolled iron and steel. The latter trade seems to have been carried on at Halesowen, where Charles Birch was tenant of a mill. The partnership probably began before the death of Henry Hunt in 1763. In 1782, following the death in 1781 of Charles Birch, William Hunt bought the Brades estate in Rowley Regis and a steel works was begun there probably in about 1792. It is probable that upon moving to the Brades the works at Halesowen were sold. William Ward had a forge and slitting mill, both held under a lease, which he renewed in 1789. He was probably still there in 1808, but not long after, he was succeeded by T.W. and Michael Grazebrook and Benjamin Whitehouse of ‘Netherton Furnace’ [presumably Blowers Green]. The existence of a forge and slitting mill is mentioned in the lease of 1772 for the conversion of Halesowen Furnace to a forge, which might suggest 1768 as the date of erection, since 21-year leases were the norm on the Lyttelton estate at this period. The occupation of the two mills in the early 19th century is not clear, but by 1845 Aaron Rose was using the mill to make gun barrels. This might possibly be the wiremill occupied by Bedford and Kempster that was advertised to be auctioned in 1800. A corn mill and a blade mill (presumably upstream of it) were included in leases of Hales Furnace until 1733, when they disappear from the accounts of the Stour Works Partnership, implying they were let separately. The forge (the lower site) still had a water-powered tilt hammer in 1977.

Sources Aris Birmingham Gazette, 26 Apr. 1779; 27 Jun. 1825; Worcester Journal, 21 Jul. 1814 TNA, IR  23/71, 182; Worcs RO, 705:658 BA5467/119, lease of 1772 and agreements with George Attwood; 5467/149, mortgage of 1844; 5467/83, mortgage of 1856; 5467/76(vii); 705:260 BA 4000/870, Lord Lyttelton’s tenants, Hill; Lloyd’s List, 12 Jun. 1884; Gwilliam 1984 i, 142A-144; Booth 1985, 39. Lodge Forge or Troyal Forge

Troyal Forge on the River Stour near Cradley Heath was apparently built for Thomas Hadley as a forge for gun skelps and boring mill about 1767. Previously there had been a blade mill, probably occupied by Benjamin Bird. That mill may have been new in 1633, when the court rolls mention ‘a close called Washford in which a blade mill was built’. When Thomas Hadley went bankrupt in 1781, a forge and grinding and boring mill was offered for sale. It was probably bought by George Attwood (of Corngreaves), who owned it by 1788, but the firm was by then trading as George Attwood & Sons. It appears in the ‘1794’ list as Hadleys Forge, Mr Attwood having a chafery and balling furnace, suggesting iron production from scrap. George died in 1807 and Matthias Attwood succeeded to the forge and let it to Samuel Coley about 1814. He still held it in 1830, a partnership with G. Townsend having ended in 1820. In 1832 it was called Lodge Steel and Iron Works. In 1854 when Matthias Attwood’s executor sold it, the occupier was Noah Hingley. The purchasers were the partners in a Birmingham Bank (Spooner Marshall & Attwood), formed by George Attwood and Isaac Spooner in 1791. This failed in 1865, George Marshall, the surviving partner becoming bankrupt. However Land Tax assessments still recorded George Attwood as owner until 1868. It was occupied by Benjamin Woodhall in 1844 and by Henry Hipkiss by 1861. He bought the freehold in about 1869.

Sources TNA, IR  23/71, 181v; Worcs RO, 705:658 BA 5467/155, lease book; 5467/120, lease of 1789; 5467/119, lease of 1772; 5467/98(v); 5467/99, 1880 & 1892; 705:260 BA 4000/870, Lord Lyttelton’s tenants, Hill; SW a/c, Hales Furnace, 1725-33; Hill & Dent 1897, 49-50; Booth 1985, 40; Gwilliam 1984 i, 140A 141A; Moss 1977. Furnace Forge, Halesowen

[23] SO944854

[21] about SO967846

Halesowen Furnace was in use as a blast furnace up to 1772. Upon its closure it was let to William Colerick of Rowley Regis (a steel maker) to convert to a plating forge. He evidently built steel converting furnaces and a forge with two tilt hammers, as these were offered for sale in 1779. The buyer was probably a Mr Salt, who sold it to George Attwood. George Attwood used it as a slitting and rolling mill and renewed the lease in 1798 for 16 years. This lease probably passed to Matthias Attwood by 1808. It was advertised to let as a slitting and rolling mill with a steel furnace in 1814; as a forge and rolling mill in 1825, following the bankruptcy of Joseph Burr; and again in 1827, when it had been lately used by John Burr. By the 1840s it was occupied by William Wood, who

Sources Bradley & Blunt 2008, 24-32; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 9 Nov. 1767 8 Oct. 1781; Morning Chronicle, 4 Apr. 1820; Worcs RO, Land tax, Cradley; 705:1010 BA 9306/177, iii; Dudley Archives, Map of Rowley Regis (1839) and book of reference (1821); Gwilliam 1984 i, 122; Tucker 1985, 20; King 2007a, 143. Shiltons Mill

[25] SO953845

The next mill down Lutley Gutter below Drews Forge was Shiltons Mill. This was leased by the lord of the manor to Thomas Brettell in 1769. He and his son bought the freehold in 1775 and leased it for 84 years to Daniel 382

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Winwood (a chape maker) in 1777. This might suggest that it was converted for some metal trade. Winwood became bankrupt and the mill was bought by Richard Eaton in 1787. Richard Eaton referred to it and Lutley Mill as corn mills in his will, dated 1791. The mill was used by his son William from 1798 and then passed to his younger brother Richard Augustus Eaton on his majority. It was also called a corn mill in 1819, when held by Richard Eaton under a lease with 40 years unexpired. It had become a forge by the time of the tithe award. A building occupying its site may well be the former forge. It was in the 1990s apparently occupied with an adjoining transport yard.

1813, the business being continued separately by William Foster alone as a spade, shovel, and anvil manufacturer. Subsequently, it was used until 1846 by William Foster and his brother-in-law William Orme (a partner from 1825), who were described as spade makers in 1830. It then reverted to John Bradley & Co., who held it into the 20th century. The site has been redeveloped as Stourbridge Trading Estate and no remains are known. The name Stourbridge Forge has also (confusingly) been applied to Kings Meadow or Royal Forge. Sources Worcs RO, b705:68 BA 309/4, 1721; Mutton 1973b, 75 78 &c; Land tax, Stourbridge, 1830; Dudley Archives, D 6/1/D3/15; London Gazette, no. 17141, 1051 (1 June 1816); Butler 1954, 246; Tucker 1985, 16; Perry 2001, 129; King 2014a, 11; VCH Staffs xx, 55 60 & 61 (confusing Royal and Town Mills, due to the river being the county boundary); cf. Prankard a/c.

Sources Bradley & Blunt 2008, 3-8; Worcs RO, 705:382 BA 4906/2 13-14; 705:260 BA 4000/231; Barnsley 1969; King 2007a; and as Drews Forge. Stambermill Forge

[26] SO915844

Withymore Forge

This plating forge was built to replace a blade mill before 1796, being advertised to let that year, as a capital plating forge with a 22 foot head and fall. The blade mill was occupied by Mr Witton in 1699 and by Francis Witton in 1759. In 1814 having been held by Francis Hill, it was let to Joseph Fellows. In 1825 it was let to Littlewood King & Co., who sold it in 1835 to Joseph and William King. A 19th-century Anglican church, St. Mark Stambermill (now demolished), was built by the A458 Stourbridge Road and adjacent to the forge and later had a district assigned to it. This led to the ecclesiastical parish being known as Stambermill, and to the name then being applied to this district of Stourbridge. Some accounts link the name Stambermill with Bagley’s Mill on the river Stour, but that is incorrect.

[28] SO950877

James Griffin (d.1818) established this plating forge for making scythes in 1780. He was followed by his son James and grandson James Avery Griffin (d.1853). C. EversSwindell (of Cradley Forge) bought it in 1856 and worked it with a partner James Russell, who had been apprenticed there in 1845. Griffin bought iron from Old Park in the 1820s, perhaps to make wire. The works were still intact in the late 1980s, but have since been demolished. Sources Perkins 1905, 51-2; Gale 1981; Crompton 1991, 14; Land tax, Dudley; Hayman thesis, 240; Tucker 1985, 20; King 2007a, 144.

Smestow Brook and its tributaries

Sources Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 23 May 1796; Worcs RO, b899:31 BA 3762/7c, 420; 705:260 BA 4000/5; Staffs RO, D 648/1/16 & D 648/3/1-2; Worcester Journal, 3 July 1823; Tucker 1985, 18; Perry 2001, 128-9 (mislocated).

The Smestow Brook (formerly called river Tresel [Trysull]) is the largest tributary of river Stour, rising near Wolverhampton and running southwards to join river Stour near Stourton. The forges in this valley were a little beyond the edge of the coalfield, but existed to process pig iron from furnaces on Lord Dudley’s estates within it. The exception to this is Grange Furnace. These furnaces were perhaps blown in turn, according to where there was wood available. However, the forges may well have been kept going fairly continuously, especially as Lord Dudley had to pay rent for the forges, unlike his furnaces. Richard Foley was not using Himley Furnace in 1636, so that it is likely that Heath and Greens Forges were by then operating with Grange Furnace, in which they were joined subsequently by Swin Forge. This situation subsisted in general terms, until well into the 18th century, but Greens and Swin Forges stopped making iron in the 1680s. Four potential furnace sites are given here for the four documented Himley, Hascod, Pensnett and Poncklye Furnaces, but whether the locations and histories are here correctly paired up may be open to question. Awty (2019, 725-6 etc.) identifies Swindon as the ‘Nether Hamber’, assuming that Green Forge was in Kingswinford (contrary to VCH Staffs xx, 214), where he also identified ironworkers, but Greens

[27] SO900847 Stourbridge Town Mills (or Stourbridge Forge or Amblecote Town Mill) Amblecote Town Mills, to southeast of the Stourbridge Bridge were let as corn mills to Benjamin Harvey in 1721. He converted it to ‘a forge battering mill or slitting mill’, but agreed in 1733 to procure a lease of it to a Stourbridge clothier, who converted it to a fulling mill. Benjamin Harvey of Stourbridge was a buyer of oregrounds iron between 1729 and 1732 and may therefore have used the forge for tilting steel. His disposal of it was probably related to his move to take it over Tern Mill after his father’s death. A mill, probably this one again rather than Royal Forge, was being used as a forge by Thomas Hill in 1784. It may have been used as a plating forge by Henry Foster (d.1793); his stepson John Bradley certainly did so from about 1795. John Bradley & Co (John Bradley, and James and William Foster) dissolved their partnership here in 383

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Forge was on the boundary between these parishes and the Kingswinford references could refer to Cradley Forge, which was only just outside that parish, adjacent to a heath where workers’ houses could have been built. Awty (2019, 559-60) may have been led astray by assuming the Jordan family of Kinver were related to ironworkers whom he traces, whereas they had actually lived locally since the 13th century.

and Hinksford and Gothersley bundle; E12/S/119-20 & 125 (surveys); Hodgson 1971; Cooksley 1986, 13-14; Davies 1991; Dunphy 2012, 147-8. [30] SO84389649 Grange Furnace (also known as Trescott Grange Furnace)

Size and Trading It slit iron for Stour Works Partnership intermittently and generally in small amounts 1733 to 1748 and in 1772-6. The maximum was in 1745, when 245 tpa of bar iron were sent there for slitting (SW a/c). Francis and then Mary Homfray bought up to 75 tpa Russian iron from Graffin Prankard in 1730s (Prankard a/c). In addition it probably slit most of the output of Swindon Forge (perhaps 90 tpa) and probably much of that of Heath Forge (say, 130 tpa), suggesting an output of perhaps 300350 tpa; 1794 ‘Gaddersley’ a slitting mill. It had about 12 puddling furnaces in the 1860s.

Trescott Grange (in Lower Penn) was once a monastic grange belonging to Combe Abbey in Warwickshire. The furnace stood on the headwaters of Smestow Brook, and was powered by a long leat, which left the brook on the boundary of the Grange estate at SO862968. The origin of the furnace is unknown, but the purchase by Richard Parkes (commonly a predecessor of Richard Foley) of wood at Perton in 1609 suggests that he occupied the furnace. Trescott Grange seems to have belonged to the Wollaston Family. As William Wollaston bought a mill in Orton and Wombourne in 1585, probably what became Heath Forge, it is possible that both date back to c.1585. After it came into the hands of the Foley family, it followed the usual descent: Richard Foley at least between 1636 and 1639; Thomas Foley I(W) perhaps 1639 to 1669; Philip Foley 1669 to 1675; Sir Clement Clerke and John Forth 1675 to 1676; Henry Cornish, John Langworth, and Thomas Serjeant 1676 to 1681; John Wheeler, Richard Avenant, and John Downing 1682 to 1692; Foley Ironworks in partnership 1692 to 1697 (with Ralph Powell as clerk from 1695/6). It then passed with various other works to Richard Wheeler in 1698. Following his bankruptcy in 1703, it reverted to Foley Ironworks in Partnership, but they kept it idle until at least 1711, and probably 1715. Philip Foley sold the freehold in 1708 for conversion to a corn mill and with a condition that the price should double if it was used as an ironworks. As Sir John [W]rottesley and partners bought wood for ‘Trescott Furnace’ in 1720, the extra sum was presumably paid. Sales of pig iron to the Knights’ Stour forges suggest it was run by Richard Jordan by 1747 until at least 1754, but the will of William made in 1748 gave a legacy out of stock he reserved for his own use in the furnace, suggesting he was a partner with Richard (his son). William Jordon could have been a managing partner since it reopened: he had been a partner in the 1714 Tern Company, but apparently left it before 1720. An advertisement to let in 1772 probably marks its closure. At that time the adjoining mill was used to stamp cinders so as to extract iron. The farmer at Furnace Grange farm told me in 1981 that he had, in the course of extending a cottage, found the ‘crucible’ (i.e. hearth) and casting floor. This suggests that the cottage may have been built out of part of the furnace buildings, perhaps the blowing house. The oral report apparently refers to an excavation by Angus Dunphy.

Associations The Homfray family had Swin Forge and various other works in the area. John Thompson and his partners had a large forge at Hampton Loade (built 1796) and a furnace at Aberdare in South Wales.

Size It was only intermittently in blast in late 17th century, probably for want of sufficient charcoal. It made 886 tpa in 1693/4; 1717 450 tpa, this figure is probably an average of years in and out of blast.

Sources VCH Staffs xx, 146-7; Cooksley 1980; 1986; Foley E12/VI/KY/2; E12/S/30; E12/S/113, deed of 1690

Associations Part of the Foley coldshort group until 1703. William Jordan was a partner with William Wood, Thomas

Charcoal ironworks Gothersley Mill

[29] SO863869

The mill was on the Smestow brook, whose present main course was originally the mill leat. There were in the early 1980s some remains on the site including a weir, a brick arch and a waste heap. In 1691 Philip Foley leased a blade mill, late in the occupation of James Raybould, to William Webb. It is not clear when the mill was built or by whom, but it was probably not old. The lease was sold in about 1733 to Francis Homfray who converted it to a slitting mill. This remained in the Homfray family (following the same descent as Swindon Forge) until 1798 when it was then let to John Hodgetts, a cousin of the landlady Mrs E.M.F. Foley. The widow ran it in partnership with John Thompson and John Scale. After John Hodgetts’ premature death in 1802, his widow ran it, subletting to John Bradley in 1812. Elizabeth Hodgetts renewed her lease for 14 years in 1821, perhaps to keep the house and let her prospective son-in-law Henry Hodgson have the mill. Henry Hodgson also obtained Swindon Forge in 1825, being replaced in both in c.1831 by George & Edward Thorneycroft. They were replaced here by John Hunt and William Brown, who agreed to use it as a rolling mill only. J.H. Hodgetts-Foley (and then his son) let it: to Joseph Maybury in 1843; to William Hatton jun., E.B. Dimmock and J. Thompson in 1858 (but for 21 years from 1849); to T.B. Bunn & William Hatton in 1870; and in 1877 to William Finnemore and Richard Titley for 21 years. The mill closed in c.1890.

384

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Associations part of the Foleys’ Smestow coldshort iron group until c.1687.

Harvey and others in the Tern Company from 1714, but not in the 1720 company there. It could be that he left to become Wrottesley’s partner here. It is not clear whether this Jordan family were related to the people of that name active at New Weir and Tintern in the Wye Valley. Jordan and Francis Homfray had Melin Griffith Works near Cardiff from 1749. The works passed on in 1765 to Jordan’s sons Thomas and Walter, who became bankrupt in 1767. In 1768 Walter Jordan advertised for keeper for a charcoal furnace in Canada.

Size 1669-72 made about 120 tpa. Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1669-72. E12/S/71 has details of bonds in 1650 to indemnify Wombourme parish against workmen who became poor. Sources VCH Staffs xx, 213-4; Schafer 1971; Foley E12/S/71, various deeds etc.; E12/S/119, 1789 sales; E12/VI/KY/3; KAc/41; KAC/58; and KBf/47; Dudley 1665, 35; Cooksley 1986, 16; Dunphy 2012, 144-5; cf. Dudley Archives, DE/3/51/24, 237-8 & 365 (meadows); DE/4/7/14/3 (Greens Lodge, 1600).

Trading In 1609, Richard Parkes was involved in a dispute about wood that he was cutting at Perton (Staffs RO, D 593/E/6/6). Around 1670, it was mainly supplying Smestow Valley forges, and in 1690s Stour Valley forges. In 16971701 Richard Wheeler supplied the Foley partnership with up to 109 tpa (Foley a/c). 4 tons of Grange pig iron, used at Whittington in 1741, may have been part of the stock of Upper Mitton Forge when it was bought from George Draper. 1747 to 1753 Richard Jordan provided up to 224 tpa to Whittington Forge (SW a/c). In 1754 Jordan, using only Grange pig iron, made 190 tons of bar iron at Heath Forge (Gross 2001, 220-1). This would require about 250 tons of pig iron.

Hascod Furnace

The site is on a tributary of Smestow Brook and probably adjoined Askew Bridge (SO902911) on the Himley to Dudley road, though Coppice Mill (SO903905) on the Holbeache Brook has also been suggested. In the 19th century there was a large pool, apparently stretching under Askew Bridge. Accordingly SO903905 may be the more likely site. There are no apparent remains on either site. There has been some confusion over this furnace: Schubert gave the early part of its history under Gornalwood and the latter part under Hascod. His sources for Gornalwood Furnace are a lease of ‘New Park’ and assignments of parts of it, but the furnace mentioned in these was excepted from (not – as Schubert believed – included in) the lease and the assignment of the part of the park in the parish of Sedgley, which would fit Poncklye or Pensnett. The old furnace that appears on the tithe map for Sedgley at SO918904, at Gornalwood is an early 19th century coke furnace (see Whole Catchment below).

Accounts Full annual accounts Foley a/c 1669 to 1672 and 1692 to 1697. Sources King 2008; Foley E12/VI/KBf/47; KH/33; and KL/20; Shrops RO, 2028/1/1/1; TNA, SP 16/ 321, no 42 (f. 80ff); PROB 11/242/153 (address); PROB 11/801/344; Johnson 1950, 36 & 40; 1952, 324 & 338; Schafer 1971, 31 35; Cooksley 1986, 22; Dunphy 2012, 38-42; Birmingham Gazette, 26 Oct. 1772 & 11 Nov. 1772. For Tern cf. King 2011b, 69 72. Greens Forge, at Greensforge

[32] near SO902911

[31] SO861887

Dud Dudley claimed to have built Hascod furnace. His father had leased it to John Smallman in 1626, who had assigned it to Francis Heaton (Dud’s brother-on-law) in 1631 whom Dud claimed to be his trustee. The lessees probably provided finance for Dud Dudley. It seems unlikely that good money would have been spent on building a new furnace if there was an old one standing idle nearby, which Dud Dudley rebuilt. Lord Dudley formally entered, thus lawfully forfeiting the lease in 1631. He caused the dam to be cut, but he perhaps did not approve the cutting of the bellows, the basis of Dud’s subsequent allegation of ‘riotous persons’ evicting him. The furnace’s career and Dud Dudley’s as an ironmaster thus ended dramatically. In 1648 the furnace was let with liberty to convert to any furnace or mill, and probably became some kind of mill.

This forge, on the Smestow Brook in Swindon (formerly part of Wombourne parish), was built about 1602 on the site of a ruinous corn mill. It appears to have been in the hands of Lord Dudley’s brother, John Dudley of Sedgley, in 1603. The eponymous Green was probably Thomas Green of Wombourne, whose name also survived in Greens Lodge, an adjacent farm that was at one time in lease to Dud Dudley. He built Compton Furnace with Jeffery Mason in 1606. The forge may have been worked by Dud Dudley in the early 1620s, but probably passed to Richard Foley in (or by) 1630. He was succeeded in 1637 by Thomas Foley I(W) who had it until 1669; then Philip Foley 1669 to 1675; Sir Clement Clerke and John Forth 1675 to 1676; Henry Cornish, John Langworth and Thomas Sergeant 1676 to 1681; John Wheeler and Richard Avenant from 1681. It was subsequently converted to a blade mill, probably in c.1687. This blade mill may still have been working in 1841. After this, it was a corn mill until about 1925. However there are also references to it as a corn mill in the 18th century. The conversion of the mill to a residence was approved in about 2003.

Size Dud Dudley claimed to have cast 7 tpw (perhaps 280 tpa) with pitcoal. He described this as a large furnace, perhaps providing a norm for those of the period. However its output was probably not much greater than that of its charcoal contemporaries.

385

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Trading Hascod Furnace operated as a pitcoal furnace, rather than a charcoal one, but apparently unsuccessfully attempted to supply the wrought iron trade, an issue discussed in the chapter introduction and in chapter 18.

place, on one side of a cul-de-sac, with smaller houses all round it. Size 1669-72 110 tpa; 1717 100 tpa; 1718 160 tpa; 1736 160 tpa; 1750 200 tpa. 1754 ‘Mr Jordan makes 3¾-4’ tpw (i.e. 190 tpa) iron drawn out with coal using Grange pig only. A single work’ (Gross 2001, 220). In 1790 it had two balling furnaces and a chafery. The most likely date for the conversion of the fineries to balling furnaces is about 1781, but evidence is lacking. The machinery in 1826 included a waterwheel 18 foot diameter and 6 foot 8 inches wide, puddling furnaces, an iron helve and various grooved rolls.

Sources King 2002b, 45-6; Morton and Wanklyn 1967; Dudley 1665, 12; TNA, C 2/Chas I/W84/53; Industrial Archaeology 12(3) (1977), 258; Schubert 1957, 375 3767; Dudley Archives, DE/4/7/19 21 & 28; Cooksley 1986, 19. Heath Forge

[33] SO858923

The forge was in Orton in Wombourne, on the Wom Brook just above its junction with Smestow Brook, but Hill Pool, its millpond was fed by a leat which left the Smestow Brook near Trysull (SO853944) and by leats from Tene Brook and Wombrook. It lay upstream of the Dudley to Bridgnorth Road near Heath House, a large mansion which no doubt housed its proprietor.

Associations One of the Foley ironworks c.1630s to 1670s; and closely associated with Grange furnace at most dates until the latter’s closure. William Finch, Moore and Vernon, and George Briscoe all also held Hollow Mill. Finch & Co also held Tipton Mill in 1790, as did Daniel Moore. George Briscoe had earlier held Royal Forge at Stourbridge.

The origins of the forge seem to be closely linked to those of Grange Furnace. The mill was bought by William Wollaston from the lord of the manor in 1584 and he sold it in 1601 to Hugh (later Sir Hugh) Wrottesley in 1601. It is alleged to have been used by Dud Dudley, but this may be a misunderstanding. If he did use the forge, it must have been in the early 1620s. The first clear references to it are after its acquisition by Richard Foley. It may be the Wombourne ironworks, which Richard Foley had in 1636 when prosecuted, but Greens Forge would also fit that description. It was thus occupied by Thomas Foley I(W) from c.1640 to 1669 and Philip Foley from 1669 probably until 1675. The forge was included in the sale to Foorth and Clerke in 1675 and in theirs to Cornish, Langworth and Sergeant, but may not have passed to Richard Avenant and John Wheeler, their successors elsewhere, perhaps due to the expiry of a lease.

Trading Most of the following do not mention locations: Richard Powell bought 6 tons of Leighton pig in 1681/2 and a John Powell was an old debtor for pig in the previous account (Boycott a/c); Ralph Powell (Heath) bought 26 tons Grange pig in 1692; William Powell 10 tons Mearheath pig 1708 (Staffs a/c); 118 tons Lawton pig 1709; and Mrs Jane Powell 103 tons Lawton pig 1710 (Cheshire a/c); Thomas Powell who bought 15 tons of Backbarrow pig iron in 1731/2 could have been here (BB a/c); Richard Jordan took up to 86 tpa Horsehay pig in 1760-71 delivered by a variety of different routes (HH a/c); Finch bought 10 tons of Snedshill pig in 1782 (Snedshill a/c); Moore & Vernon bought modest amounts of Old Park pig iron in 1796-9 (OP a/c). Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1669-72. A document in Foley E12/S/71 has details of bonds in 1650 to indemnify the parish against workmen who became poor.

Ralph Powell was in occupation in the 1690s and until at least 1711, followed by Thomas Powell who was there in 1720. After that its history is obscure but is likely to be similar to that of Grange furnace (q.v.). Its later occupiers were: Richard Jordan between 1754 and 1781; William Finch (a son-in-law of Joseph Priestley) 1782 until c.1793; Daniel Moore of Tipton and William Vernon (of the forge) 1793 to 1806; George Briscoe by 1808 to 1814; Thomas Homfray 1815 to 1819. The partnership of R. Southall sen., F. Homfray, R. Southall and R. Shinton was dissolved in 1820 (as at Swindon). Then the firm was Richard Southall & Co 1821 to 1823, when Richard Southall of Birmingham coal-dealer left, leaving another Richard Southall as sole owner until 1826. Before 1816 the Southalls had been Birmingham gunmakers. The stock and machinery of the forge were sold in 1826 by order of the assignees of Gibbins, Smith & Goode. It then appears to have been void, until converted back to a corn mill in 1827. That mill closed about 1930 and was demolished in the late 1970s. There is no sign of the forge, but Heath House has been preserved and now looks a little out of

Sources VCH Staffs xx, 212-213 (brief and not entirely accurate); Dunphy 2012, 57-64; Foley E12/VI/KAc/2; E12/VI/KBf/47; E12/VI/KD/various; TNA, C 11/1420/33; PROB 11/1393/131; Dudley 1665, 34; Smiles on Dud Dudley, 263; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 1 Jun. 1767; 11 Nov. 1782; 12 Dec. 1793; 26 Oct. 1798; 6 Mar. 1826; London Gazette, no. 15917, 590 (10 May 1806); no. 18030, 854 (25 May 1824); cf. no. 17374, 1179 (30 Jun. 1818); Morning Chronicle, 9 Feb. 1820; land tax, Wombourne; Staffs RO, D 2/2, Wombourne 716; Johnson 1950, 44; 1952, 335; 1954, 40 & 44; Schafer 1971, 32; Cooksley 1986, 20. Himley Furnace

[34] perhaps SO881911

This was presumably held by Lord Dudley before 1625 being managed by his son, Dud Dudley from 1619. It was let to Richard Foley in 1625, but perhaps resumed by Lord Dudley in 1631 and is last referred to 1638, but very probably not used after 1631. Dud Dudley claimed to have 386

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country made iron with pitcoal here. The 1625 lease describes the furnace as near the church, hall, and park, which would fit with it being at Himley Mill (the location given), a place where furnace slag is present. However, Morton & Wanklyn placed it at the top of Himley Park, the location suggested here for Poncklye Furnace.

Richard Hammett in 1595. This exception is also mentioned in an assignment to Thomas Hickman of the part in Sedgley in 1606. It (rather than Cradley Furnace) was probably part of the Pensnett ironworks, which Dud Dudley operated on behalf of his father Edward Lord Dudley until about 1622, in conjunction with Cradley Forge. It would have been operated by clerks under Lord Dudley before 1619. The furnace pool was leased to John and Nicholas Guest in 1648 with liberty to build a mill. The precise location of the furnace is not clear: it may have preceded Hunts Mill on the western edge of the park (the location given), in which case Hunts Mill (q.v.) was the one planned in 1648; or it have been further upstream. Schubert was wrong in calling it Gornalwood Furnace (q.v. and see Hascod), which dated from the industrial revolution. Dudley New Park was severely mine-damaged by the mid-18th century.

Associations perhaps operated with Greens Forge. Sources Dudley Archives, DE/4/7/6/16; Schubert, 1957, 377; Smiles on Dud Dudley, 258; King 2002b, 45; Dudley 1665, 63, Dunphy 2012, 104-5; cf. Morton & Wanklyn in 1967. Hollow Mill [35] SO86888987 or Swindon Lower Forge or Swin Forge

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/4/7/19 21 & 28; Schubert 1957, 375 (interpreting the furnace as included in Hammett’s lease); J. Hemingway, pers. comm.; cf. King 1999a, 61; 2002b, 44.

This mill is on Smestow Brook. Its leat leaves the brook a short distance below Swindon Forge and passes through a deep cutting, which is probably the source of its name. The mill had a variety of uses in the 17th and 18th centuries including grinding dyestuff for one of the Crowley family. It was probably the blade mill near Chasepool Common, referred to in 1657. When a lease of the watercourse was granted in 1678 the mill was a blade mill occupied by Edward Webb of Kingswinford, still there in 1710. It may be the corn mill that John Crowley took over from Ambrose Crowley II in 1711, but was used in 1720 for grinding logwood, fustic and redwood (as dyestuffs). After that, it was again a mill for grinding scythes again subsequently, being occupied by Richard Wooley (a scythegrinder) in 1751. It was then probably converted to a forge by Francis Homfray in 1779. He was succeeded before 1788 by William Finch, who offered it for sale with Heath Forge in 1793, but the land tax assessment names James Perry as occupier: perhaps he managed it. Moore and Vernon advertised it for sale again in 1798. George Briscoe held it until 1812, being followed by Mrs Briscoe and from 1815 by Richard Griffiths. It passed to James Beddard in 1819 and was probably then converted back to a corn mill.

Poncklye Furnace

In his litigation with his father Dud Dudley referred to ownership of (amongst other things) ‘Blackwell Colepits’ in Gornal Wood and Poncklye Furnace in the parish of Himley. Dud leased this to Roger Hill in 1627 for 7½ years and he assigned the lease to Richard Foley. He had an oral agreement with Dud for him to get 1000 blooms of ironstone from Dud’s mines, but Lord Dudley stopped Foley’s horses carrying ironstone until he paid Lord Dudley for it (again, having already paid Dud). On hearing that Lord Dudley was claiming the property, Foley ‘durst not bring any stock of coals to the furnace’, which was thus ‘unwrought’. When I wrote about Dud Dudley (in King 2002b), I conflated this furnace with Hascod, but they are separately named in the proceedings and seem also to be distinct from Himley Furnace, which was near Himley Church. There are a series of pools, which were probably utilised in the landscaping of Himley Park. Being near the top of the park it is near Baggeridge Wood whence it no doubt drew its supply of charcoal. This may point to Poncklye being the site discovered by Morton and Wanklyn, who found slag at the top of Himley Park. The name is only known from a single source, where it could be a corruption or mistranscription of Fundleys (see bloomeries, below).

Size and Trading In 1790 there were 2 melting fineries and Finch bought 10 tons Old Park pig iron (OP a/c); ‘J. Briscoe’ bought 17 tons of Roughhills pig iron in 1803: this might refer to this forge (RH a/c). There is a brick building near the mouth of the leat, which may be connected with some industrial activity.

Sources TNA, C 2/Chas I/W84/53; cf. C 22/50/11; Morton & Wanklyn 1967; King 2002b, 44-5 (misattributed).

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/4/23/2; DE/1/9/13-14; DE/1/1/90 (address); Aris Birmingham Gazette 18 Mar. 1776; 12 Aug. 1793; 29 Oct. 1798; Staffs RO, land tax, Wombourne; Flinn 1962, 213; Cooksley 1986, 16; Dunphy 2012, 96-7; VCH Staffs xx, 213 214; Foley, E12/S/71, deed of 1710 (abuttal). Pensnett Furnace

[37] perhaps c. SO891919

Swindon Forge (also called Swin Forge)

[38] SO851906

This was built on the Smestow Brook, sometime in the early 17th century, on the site of some kind of water mill. It was built between 1615 and 1633. Dud Dudley wrote that it ‘barred’ most of its iron with pitcoal since 1618, implying that it was that old. Edward Lyddyatt may have had it from before 1636 to 1644; Thomas Foley I(W) 1644

[36] perhaps SO914899

A furnace in Dudley New Park was apparently excepted from his lease of two parts of Dudley New Park to his servant 387

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II (SW a/c); 10 tons from Elmbridge in 1736/7 (Foley a/c); and from 1755 up to 50 tpa from Horsehay (HH a/c). In 1791-2 Francis Homfray & 1792-4 Francis & Jesson Homfray up to 168 tpa; after this purchases continue but are labelled ‘Broadwaters’ (OP a/c); but this could merely a reflection of the residence of the partner in charge. Many of these sales only name the buyer, not the destination and could be for other works. The proximity to Grange makes it likely that it was a major source in the 18th century.

to 1669; Philip Foley 1669 to 1676; Sir Clement Clerke and John Forth 1675 to 1676; Henry Cornish, John Langworth and Thomas Serjeant 1676 to 1681; John Wheeler and Richard Avenant from 1681. Like Greens Forge, it was probably closed as a finery forge in 1687, being let to John Podmore, who was a saw-maker and would therefore have used it as a plating forge. In 1704 Cornelius and William Hallen, who were frying pan makers, entered into a 21-year lease running from 1708 and are likely already to have acquired Podmore’s lease. In 1734, it was let to Francis Homfray (d.1739); and was occupied by various members of that family until the 1820s: Mary Homfray (his widow); then Francis II who renewed the lease in 1788 with his son Francis III (of Gothersley) and Jeston II of Broadwaters. The sons bought the freehold in 1790. However it was apparently let or sublet to Finch in about 1790 and ‘1794’; on the other hand, the land tax assessments indicate that Francis Homfray occupied it until 1786, followed by John Homfray until 1788 and then Francis Homfray until 1796. It was auctioned after the death of Francis Homfray III (d.1809); a rate book of 1816 says ‘late Thomas Homfray’. However another source names William Simms & Co as occupiers from 1788 to 1818; the evidence is thus conflicting: perhaps William Simms was the manager or a partner. Subsequently it was occupied: Homfray and Shinton 1819; Southall & Co 1821 to 1824; Henry Hodgson & Co 1825 to 1830; G. & E. Thorneycroft 1831 to 1834; Richards Shaw & Brown 1852 to 1855; Keep & Watkin in 1857; J. Watkins 1859 to 1861; William Watkins & Co 1861 to 1866; E. P. & W. Baldwin 1866 to 1945; Richard Thomas & Baldwin Ltd and successors (including British Steel Corporation) 1945 to 1976. Its final use was for tern-coating steel (with a mixture of lead and tin) for petrol tanks for cars. There was still a forge hammer in the 1970s, but not being used. The works was demolished in 1976 and redeveloped as an estate of houses.

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1669-72. E12/S/71 has details of bonds in 1650 to indemnify the parish against workmen who became poor. Sources VCH Staffs xx, 213-4; Dudley 1665, 35; Foley E12/S/71; E12/VI/KAc/1 & 3 & 101; KBf/47; KH/30; KY/4-5; E12/II/4/2; Dudley Archives, DE/1/9/7; Staffs RO, D2/2, Swindon 70; Morning Chronicle, 3 Apr. 1810; 9 Feb. 1820; land tax, Wombourne; Industrial Archaeology 12(3) (1977), 263; Cooksley 1986, 19-20; Dunphy 2012, 93-5; S. Tollerton, pers. comm. Swin Lower Forge see Hollow Mill Other ironworks Fitting Forge Gornal Forge

[39] SO910902 [40] SO907904

One of these (at least) was probably built about 1788. The other may be Mr Lowe’s Forge, which is shown on a canal plan of 1785 immediately below Hunt’s Mill. A cottage and two closes were let to William Pitt in 1788 and he paid rent for it until about 1806. After that James Wilkes was tenant until 1825, being followed by his widow by 1830 and another James by 1840. Little else is known of them.

Size 1669-72 made 110 tpa; 1680 there was 1 finery and 1 chafery; 1717 omitted (as it was a plating forge); ‘1718’ 100 tpa; 1735 100 tpa; 1750 140 tpa (as ‘Swinnerton’). The landlord bought an adjoining meadow in 1768 to enlarge the forge pound. In 1790 there were 1 finery, 1 chafery, and 1 balling furnace. By 1841 the works had apparently not been expanded, but the workmen included an iron roller, implying there was a rolling mill, presumably installed when G & E Thorneycroft took over in 1831. There were 13 puddling furnaces in 1857. The works was modernised and greatly enlarged in c.1860 (perhaps actually 1855).

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/4/10/1/11-16, great rentals, Sedgley; accn 9226, Sedgley; Stourbridge Canal plan (1785); Fowler’s map of Kingswinford (1822); Map of Kingswinford (1840) and Sedgley parish map (1826); Dunphy 2012, 109-10. Hinksford Forge

[41] SO897898

Hinksford was an ancient ford across the Smestow Brook at a point where it divided Chasepool Hay from Ashwood Hay. These were two of the hays (hunting enclosures) of Kinver Forest, and were became commons in the early modern period. Since there were no other local names, Hinksford has come to be applied to an area, and to several mills and farms in it, not only this forge, but also Hollow Forge and a corn mill on the boundary between Himley and Swindon. This mill, the last on the Holbeche Brook, was a blade mill, then occupied by Gryffyth Evans ‘sythegrinder’, let for 99 years in 1637, but was called Patchetts Mill later that century, presumably from its occupier. In c.1687, Greens Forge was converted to

Associations If it was operated by Dud Dudley (which he did not state) it would have been one of an extensive group of works belonging to his father Lord Dudley. In 1644 to 1687 it was one of the Foley’s Smestow group of ironworks, which used pig iron cast at Grange Furnace and also from Wombridge. The Homfray family had various other ironworks in the area, including Gothersley Mill. Trading Francis Homfray bought cast iron necessaries from Hales in 1727-36 and his son Francis II in 1753-67 388

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country a blade mill and Francis Patchett moved there, this mill being let to Joseph Dancer. In 1789 Thomas Raybould occupied an ‘iron mill’. By 1806 it was a forge for plating and steeling scythes occupied by Thomas Price jun. He ‘mended’ the forge in 1809, putting in a new fire and a new helve for the ‘little hammer’. In 1822, it was occupied (like Wall Heath Forge, the next mill above) by Joseph Robinson. It was let in 1834 to C.F. Hewitt; in 1846 to Isaac Newton; and in 1875 to John and George Hall, hammered iron manufacturers, who as ‘hammer and iron use manufacturers’ were bankrupt in 1880.

in 1858 and immediately sold the works to Isaac Nash of Newtown, Belbroughton. However, like Hinksford Forge, John and George Hall were using it at their bankruptcy in 1880. On Isaac’s death in 1887, his son and partner Isaac Nash junior took William Rushgrove Nash as a partner. In 1909 following the death of Isaac Nash II, it was sold to Isaac Nash Belbroughton Ltd, who immediately sold it to George Meacham. Sources Dudley Archives, Fowler’s map of Kingswinford (1822); and Map of Kingswinford (1840); Dudley Archives D/Har/43/10; D/Har/16/7; private deeds; London Gazette, no. 20836, 1059 (14 Mar. 1848); no. 24856, 3568 (18 Jun. 1880); Dunphy 2012, 113-4; Diary of Thomas Price (owned by descendant).

Sources Dudley Archives, Fowler’s map of Kingswinford (1822); and Map of Kingswinford (1840); Dudley Archives, DE3/5/1/25, 416 442-3; Foley E12/S/71, various deeds; E12/S/4/2, no. 5; E12/S/113, Hinksford and Gothersley bundle; E12/S/119-20 (surveys); London Gazette, no. 24856, 3568 (18 Jun. 1880); Diary of Thomas Price (owned by descendant). Hunts Mill

Lower Stour: Kinver and Wolverley Broadwaters Lower Forge (formerly Upton mill)

[42] SO914899

This mill, the lowest on the Broadwaters or Wannerton Brook, stood on the old boundary between Kidderminster and Wolverley, but in the latter manor and parish. It was Upton Mill, a fulling mill by 1254 and remained one until it was sold to John Homfray in 1754. John Homfray used it until his death (in 1760). As at Royal Forge, he was succeeded by his young son John Addenbrooke Homfray (later Addenbrooke) in partnership with John’s elder brother Francis Homfray II. J.A. Addenbrooke was still recorded as owner in the Rates Books until 1858 (perhaps anachronistically), and as occupier until at least 1832. His sons Edward, John, and Henry Addenbrooke probably used the forge themselves by 1828 and until the late 1830s, retaining ownership until 1863. Thomas Banks and Thomas Morgan owned it from 1863 to 1869, but Banks, Morgan and Banks had been tenants of the Addenbrooke family since c.1839 and had 5 puddling furnaces in 1857. The firm became Thomson, Hattons & Morgan in 1864; and Stephen Thompson, William Hatton and William Hancocks jun. bought the copyhold in 1869. They (and later Hatton, Sons & Co and then Hattons Ltd) had a tinplate works from 1869 to 1891. The works were dismantled in 1893 and sold by a mortgagee in 1899. The site has in modern times been known as the Old Flock Mill. The pool remains together with a tall chimney.

A corn mill late in the holding of Thomas Caddick was let to Richard Hunt otherwise Johnson in 1675. This may be the site of New Park Smithy (q.v.) and Pensnett Furnace (q.v.). It was called Mr Hunt’s Mill in 1785, but was occupied by Zachary Parkes by 1779. It was a forge when leased to Zachariah Parkes in 1801. The lease refers to repairs and improvements then being carried out. It evidently operated in association with Coneygre and Parkhead Furnaces. Another of the Parkes brothers lived at New Coppice Mill, also at Gornal. Zachary Parkes retained the forge until about 1820, but it then passed by 1825 to James Davies. He was succeeded by Daniel Davis by 1830; and in 1840 Emanuel Fereday probably had it. Sources Dudley Archives, DE/4/7/8/88-9; DE/4/10/1/1516, Sedgley, Gornal; Stourbridge canal plan (1785); Fowler’s map of Kingswinford (1822); Map of Kingswinford (1840) and Sedgley parish map (1826); cf. Dunphy 2012, 109-10. Wall Heath Forge

[44] SO834778

[43] SO87359005

By 1822 Joseph Robinson had a forge and a farm. His wife was the daughter of Thomas Raybould, a scythemsith who lived at the Thorns (now Thorns Road), the area north of the river near Lye Forge. He was called a miller in 1782, but in the subsequent period the mill is likely to have been used in connection with the scythe or edged tool industry. In 1809, Thomas Price put in a new helve for the ‘little hammer’ at the ‘upper forge’ (the lower being Hinksford). Two years later, he provided the plating forge with a new helve and made a new ‘fire’. It was sold to C.F. Hewitt in 1834. He let it in 1844 to James Boydell of the Oak Farm Company, agreeing to sell him a house in 1846, but he and his partner at Oak Farm ironworks were bankrupt in 1848. In 1856, Hewitt’s executors let it to Job Legge, it then being described as a spade, shovel and edged tool manufactory. Legge bought the freehold

Size John Homfray was described as a steel converter in 1758 (Dudley Archives, DE/3/5/1/28, 249-52). there were two steel furnaces at ‘Braidwaters’ in 1755 (Barraclough 1984(1), 96), which suggests that this was at that period a forge for tilting steel. In 1790 there was 1 chafery and 1 balling furnace, suggesting recycling scrap. In 1825 this (or possibly another Broadwaters mill) was a finer’s forge with two cast iron waterwheels, three fineries, stamping and shingling hammers and a rolling mill. Banks & Morgan had 8 puddling furnaces in 1852, but only 5 in the early 1860s; and their successors had 6 in 1876-8, after which it was a rolling mill. By 1859 it was making sheet iron and tinplate. 389

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II some remains of a mill building are now in use as a shelter in the park around the pool. This is probably partly a 19th century structure. Its western end has a bricked up circular opening that evidently held the shaft of a waterwheel. To the west of the building are two wheel pits, each about ten feet wide and spanned by brick arches. The building itself has probably been heavily altered to make it suitable for its present use.

Associations Francis Homfray II probably gave up his partnership with Richard Jordan at Melingriffith near Cardiff to take up the partnership offered by his brother John’s will with his infant nephew in 1760. Together they took over Lightmoor Furnace in 1779, being replaced by Pidcock relatives in 1810. They also operated Hyde Mill together in 1790-1809. J.A. Addenbrooke also had Broadwaters Upper Forge by 1790 and Bromley Forge at Brockmoor near Brierley Hill by 1822. Francis Homfray had an extensive business of his own (see chapter introduction). Banks & Morgan at various times had the Middle Forge, Wolverley Lower Mill and Falling Sands Mill.

Size As a slitting mill, probably a few hundred tons per year. 1790 1 chafery 1 balling furnace, perhaps to recycle scrap. Associations George Hallen had a share in Upton Forge near Shrewsbury. It should be noted that the 1794 list distinguished the tenure of this forge as Messrs. Homfray and Co, while the Upper and Lower Forges are described as held by John Homfray.

Trading Francis Homfray bought 10 tons of Horsehay pig iron for Broadwaters Forge in 1770. 1780/1 10 tons of Horsehay pig iron was sold to John Homfray (HH a/c). John Addenbrooke bought 60 tons Snedshill forge pig iron in 1799 in a quarter (Trinder 1973, 83). Neither was necessarily for here.

Trading The slitting mill slit very small amounts for Stour Works Partnership 1772-6 (SW  a/c). Francis & Jesson (sic) Homfray bought Old Park pig iron in 1794-9, then Jeston Homfray in 1799-1817 and then widow Homfray & Son in 1817 only. Some was bought every year, but from 1800 to 1811 they rarely bought much less than 500 tpa, a quantity probably too great for the plant recorded in 1790, suggesting that the works were enlarged or that Broadwaters Forge was merely their address and that some of the iron was for their Swindon, Hyde and Stourton Works.

Sources Rental of Worcester Cathedral Priory (Camden Soc. 1869); Worcs RO; Wolverley Manor Rolls; Birmingham Archives, 183837 88226-7 328781; TNA, PROB 11/855/273; Worcs RO, land tax, Wolverley; WRO, BA 10470/170-182, passim; BA 10470, Kidderminster Borough Rate Books, usually under ‘North Remote’; King 2014a, 8; Ince 1993, 74; Gwilliam & Tucker 1983, 28-9; Gwilliam 1984 ii, 137-45. None of the last three have the story quite right. Broadwaters Slitting Mill (later Broadwaters Middle Forge)

[45] SO841780

Sources Worcs RO, Wolverley inclosure map; Wolverley tithe award; 989.9:625 BA 7752; BA 10470/170183, Kidderminster Rate Books, usually under North Remote; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 4 Mar. 1765; TNA, C 12/1322/24; PROB 11/1583/109; Gerhold 2009, 49; cf. Shrops RO, 1396/2; Ince 1993, 74; Gwilliam & Tucker 1983, 28-9; Gwilliam 1984 ii, 137-45. None of these last three published accounts is entirely accurate.

This mill was also on Wannerton or Broadwaters Brook, which was the old boundary between Wolverley and Kidderminster. The pool was retained behind a dam running partly down the length of the valley, so that the pool is entirely in Kidderminster parish. The original use of the mill and its date of construction are unknown, but it was a fulling mill prior to 1763. George Hallen obtained a long lease in 1763 from the estate of Simon Degge and rebuilt the mill as a plating forge. It was advertised, as a complete forge and mill, for sale or to let in 1765, but Hallen re-mortgaged it. He used it as a slitting mill at least between 1772 and 1776, but Francis Homfray (d.1796) may have had it in 1776. However George Hallen was still living at Kidderminster in 1788, probably on a farm he had acquired with the mill. In 1790 Messrs Homfray & Co occupied it as tenants of Lord Foley. Jeston Homfray II owned it at his death in 1816, when in his will he authorised his widow and his son David to continue his trade, both here and at Stourton Mill. It was in 1839 owned by executors of Jeston Homfray and in 1850 by Henry Homfray. John Addenbrooke occupied it (like the lower forge) in 1832 and his sons in 1839. William Goodwin then had it for two years, after which Morgan, Banks, and Morgan took it over until about 1848, when a corn mill was built. The extreme western end of the pool has been filled in to provide a site for a modern church. There are

Broadwaters Upper Forge (or Podmores Forge)

[46] SO844780

This is the third mill site up Wannerton or Broadwaters Brook and straddles the old boundary of Wolverley and Kidderminster. A substantial pool remains, retained by a dam right across the valley perhaps some eight feet wide. Two buildings remain at the southern end the larger of which used to be roofless and probably 19th century in date. This (rather than the Lower Forge) was probably where Edward Blount made a pool in 1570. If so, this may be where blades were made for the Royalists during the Civil War. The mill is first known as a forge (and saw making works) belonging to John Podmore by 1706 (d.1720); to John Podmore II 1720 to 1730; to Mrs Sarah Podmore 1730 to 1754; and to John Podmore III 1755 to 1762 or later. A sale of a mill at Broadwaters was advertised in 1764, but was more probably of the Middle Mill, as Clatterbatch Forge was also included. John Homfray (later called John Addenbrooke Addenbrooke) had it in 1790 and 1823. The 390

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Broadwaters Forges with two cast iron water wheels, one operating a forge and the other blowing three fineries were offered for sale in 1825. By 1832, it had become a corn mill occupied by Richard Brewster. He moved to Heathy Mill in 1845, and the mill probably became a paper mill associated with that at Hurcott, the next mill upstream.

L942.441 KIDD, sale particulars of Park Hall Mansion, 1833). The histories of the various works are not easy to distinguish from one another, and it is possible that the synthesis here is not quite correct. The Podmores’ various forges were probably plating forges for making saws. Lord Foley (whose records do not survive) was the landlord of the Upper and Middle Works in ‘1794’. He also owned Wannerton and Springbrook Forges, as well as two blade mills at Blakedown and some other mills. The occupation (as forges) by different members of the Homfray family adds to the complication.

Size 1790 1 chafery 1 balling furnace, perhaps to recycle scrap. Associations John Podmore I (d.1720) also had a plating forge on the same brook at Wannerton (see below) and another called Holdbury Forge (conceivably Thimble Mill in Warley – see previous chapter). He also had a walk mill and blade mill at Park Gate, which is unidentified, but possibly what became Hurcott Mill (SO858780). Stephen Podmore, another son of John Podmore I, ran Wolverley Lower Mill from 1731-6, being followed by another John Podmore (d.1745) and then Mrs Podmore. For John Homfray see under Broadwaters Lower Forge.

Compton Furnace

[47] SO814835

The furnace stood beside a small brook near the boundary of Compton (or Whorwood) Park which was its initial source of charcoal. The park contained a chain of pools which were presumably needed to ensure it had an adequate water supply. There are no remains of the furnace except perhaps a small amount of stonework in the bank of the brook. From medieval times the site had been occupied by a corn mill, which was replaced by the furnace in 1606. This was built by Thomas Green and Geoffrey Mason of Wombourne. Their lease was for a mere three years, which was presumably the time that wood was expected to last. In 1639 Richard Foley was tenant of Compton Mill. He gave some neighbouring land to his youngest son John in 1643. As John Foley was not then involved in the iron industry this suggests that Richard Foley had used the furnace or had bought it to prevent its being used.

Trading 13½ tons of Lawton pig iron were sold in 2 years (1709 & 1710) to John Podmore some of it being delivered at Bewdley. He also bought saw irons from Street Forge (Cheshire a/c). John and Sarah Podmore both bought bar iron in 1728-39 from Graffin Prankard, mostly Stockholm iron but once Russian (Prankard a/c). Successive owners bought up to 11 tpa cast iron necessaries from Hales 1730 to 1762 (SW a/c). Sarah Podmore owed money to Hugh Jones & Co of Machen and Tredegar in 1748 (NLW, Tredegar MS 75).

Size not known but perhaps 200-300 tpa typical of this period.

Inventory Probate of John Podmore 1720: Worcs RO, consistory wills, John Podmore 1720.

Associations Thomas Green is perhaps the person who gave his name to Greens Forge, but Greens Forge then belonged to Lord Dudley. This suggests that Thomas Green and Geoffrey Mason were his managers.

Sources Johnson 1950, 44; 1954, 42; BA 10470/170, 13179-80; BA 10470/171-93, Kidderminster Rate Books, usually under ‘North Remote’; Aris Birmingham Gazette 14 May 1764; Worcester Journal, 3 Feb. 1825; Ince 1993, 74; Gwilliam & Tucker 1983, 28-9; Gwilliam 1984 ii, 13745. None of the last three is wholly accurate.

Sources Foley E12/VI/KY/1; Foley E12/S, manor rolls of Compton Hallows, 1643 & 1653; Blick et al. 1991, 50; VCH Staffs xx, 144; Worcestershire Archaeological Newsletter 17 (1975-6), 10.

Comment on all Broadwaters ironworks The Wannerton Brook is a modest one. The water supply was improved by Thomas Foley I(W) in 1662. He made a leat (the Hurcott Course) from Barnett Bridge (SO888766) on the Belne Brook across the ridge to Hurcott Mill. This was also partly for the purposes of an irrigation scheme around Dunclent. This enhanced the irrigation, perhaps originally made by Edmond Brode (the then owner of Dunclent) in the early 17th century. Brode was from 1580 the lessee of Dearnford Mill (perhaps SO 873766), subsequently closed to benefit the irrigation. His Dunclent Course is still flowing, the Hurcott Course, which crossed the ridge to feed Hurcott Mill (upstream of Broadwaters) no longer. Detailed provisions were made as to the sale as to sharing the water when the estate was sold in 1918 (SBT, DR5/1509; cf. 1511 1531 1535-6 and 3146; Worcs RO, 899:35 BA 494; my collection, sale particulars of Broome and Hurcott estates 1918; Kidderminster LSL,

Cookley Forge

[48] SO841807

The slitting mill was built on the river Stour near the site of an ancient fish weir, and slightly below a corn mill, built in the early 17th century. That corn mill was later replaced by a forge. The slitting mill was erected in about 1639 by William Winchurst on behalf of a partnership consisting of himself and Sir Thomas Middleton of Chirk, Thomas Kynaston, and Thomas Mitton (each with a one-twentieth share) and William Wilson (whose share, like Winchurst’s is unknown). The mill was (confusingly) referred to at this period as ‘Wolverley’, in which parish it is. The proprietors (except Winchurst) came from northwest Shropshire and Denbighshire and perhaps helped build it to break the effective monopoly of Hyde Mill on slitting iron. William Winchurst, who was a Stourbridge ironmonger, was 391

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II the managing partner until at least 1671, but day to day management was initially the responsibility of Richard Fisher, the slitter there.

6½ tons of cast iron goods, perhaps hammers etc. from Hales Furnace in 1670, either for Stourton or here (Foley a/c); 1686/7 Wheeler & Avenant supplied 388 tons of Elmbridge or Forest pig from Bewdley storehouse to ‘Bentley & ptner’, who also held Whittington Forge (Foley E12/VI/KH/8). In 1699 to 1701 Richard Wheeler was buying for pig for Wolverley and Cookley; as was Richard Knight (unlocated at first) from 1703/4 to 1717, much of it delivered at Bewdley (Foley a/c). In the mid-18th century it was making coldshort iron from pig iron from Hales, Aston, Cheshire, ‘Cardiff’ [Pentyrch], and elsewhere. After they opened, Horsehay and Lightmoor were major sources. In the late 18th century it concentrated on making merchant iron. From 1805 to 1810 it specialised in drawing iron refined at Mitton and rolled at Wolverley Forge and elsewhere. After 1811 John Knight & Co concentrated their activities here gradually closing their other mills.

The forge (like Stourton) may have been built by John Finch in about 1670. He seems to have taken over ‘Cookley New Forge’ and rod mill. Land near the forge was bought from a local farmer by Henry Cornish and Thomas Serjeant in 1678, (presumably because the forge had flooded it). They and Henry Ashurst sold it in 1682 to John Wheeler and Richard Avenant with Andrew Bentley. Andrew Bentley sold his farm at Little Wolverley in 1682 and then lived at the forge until his death in early 1687. In 1692 Wheeler and Avenant brought their interests including this forge into the Foley Ironworks in Partnership, which had the forge until 1697. They were followed by: Richard Wheeler 1698 to 1703 (bankrupt); Richard Knight II (probably alone) 1703 to 1725; then as part of Knight Stour Works partnership 1725 to 1810, led by Edward Knight (d.1780), then his son John Knight (d.1795) and John Knight. The next firm of John Knight & Co (in which William Hancocks was a partner) then had it from 1811 to 1886. It used the same name throughout, despite John’s death in 1850. In 1886, the Cookley works was moved to Brockmoor, where there was access to the railway. The Cookley Works at Brockmoor were sold to Baldwins Ltd in 1902 and continued in use as until about the 1980s. The mill at Cookley lay derelict until 1904, when it passed to Chaddesley Manufacturing Co Ltd. They were succeeded by Steel Stampings Ltd; by Parkfield Pressings and Fabrications; and from c.1991 by Titan Steel Wheels Ltd. The works thus remain in use.

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1692-7; SW a/c 1725 to 1810. Less detailed accounts for John Knight & Co continue 1811-50. Sources TNA, C  8/192/54; C  6/42/17; Edwards 1958 & 1960, 31 (but misinterpreting the extent of ownership by Thomas Middleton and others); Cave & Wilson 1924, 166; Foley E12/KH/21 44; Worcs RO, 705:32 BA 89/1 & 4; Kidderminster Library calendar, nos. 7384-88 (originals destroyed); Wolverley manor rolls; Ince 1991, 33-46 51-4 96-8 &c; Johnson 1950, 37 & 1952, 332 & 339; Schafer 1971, 30; Page 1979, 10; Gwilliam 1984 i, 46-58; cf. Knight 1371. Worcestershire Recorder (99, Spring 2019, 12) notes that further Knight family archives, some relating to Cookley ironworks have recently been deposited with South West Heritage Trust. I have not investigated these.

Size As a forge in the 1690s it was making 110 to 190 tpa and £40 had been spent on rebuilding prior to 1691. 1717 200 tpa; 1718 & 1736 250 tpa, the actual average for the previous seven years being 260 tpa; 1750 300 tpa. 1754 making 10 tpw (about 500 tpa), if there was water. The actual average production from 1740-65 was 320 tpa (Ince 1991, 96-8). The increase in output may be due to working ‘doublehand’, i.e. with a night shift. It had 25 puddling furnaces in 1852, but 12 in 1857 and 12-15 in 1859-1866, after which it was omitted from the Mineral Statistics. From 1639 until about 1671, there was only a slitting mill; the forge was probably added in Finch’s time. The slitting or rod mill operated until at least 1698, but had disappeared by 1725; it was perhaps replaced by Stourton in 1697. In 1754 the forge was a double work. A lease of 1765 refers to Over and Lower Forges, but the Over Forge had been demolished by 1833. The second forge was probably on the site of the slitting mill. In 1790 there were two fineries and 1 chafery. From 1789 there was also a foundry. This was probably needed because of the closure of Hales and other furnaces in the 1770s.

Hyde Mill, Kinver

[49] SO850844

The mill was built in 1627 beside River Stour, replacing a fulling mill that had existed at least since 1590. Richard Foley, who built the slitting mill (probably only the second in the Midlands), probably rented it until 1647. It was probably managed by George Brynley, his brother-in-law. His son Richard Brindley purchased the freehold in 1647. He was succeeded by his widow Hester (d.1694); then their sons, including Thomas (d.1728). This ended with the bankruptcy of John Brindley (Thomas’ son) in 1730. It was subsequently used: George Draper I & executors 1734 to 1736; Jeremiah Caswell 1737 to 1769 (death); his daughter Eleanor Caswell (later Eleanor White) 1769 to 1782; Eleanor White and Francis Homfray II 1782 to 1789; Francis Homfray III and John Addenbrooke Homfray (later J.A. Addenbrooke) 1789 to 1809; Thomas Homfray 1809 to 1819 (bankrupt). The works were bought by Hill, Bate and Robins, the Stourbridge Old Bank, whose partners included the Hill family of Blaenavon, but it is not clear who occupied it. From 1838 to 1877 Thomas Bolton and J.F. Lea had a substantial iron and steel works here; followed by H.O. Firmstone 1877 to 1882, when it closed. There was a separate spade and shovel works (later called the Old Mill) occupied by Joseph and Thomas Parkes

Associations Members of the Winchurst family were interested in Wolverley Forge until 1661. Andrew Bentley was also a partner of Wheeler and Avenant at Whittington. Trading Mr William Winchurst sent sow and ends from Cookely (sic) to Whittington in 1669; John Finch bought 392

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country (who had Gig Mill Forge until the 1820s) from the 1820s to the 1860s and by Isaac Nash from c.1886 until c.1912 with full control over the floodgates and sluices. VCH has a picture of the works dated about 1870. Cooksley (1980) gives various plans. The site is now covered by woodland and is said to contain some traces of the works.

Turner, who became a lunatic in 1838. Shortly afterwards it was acquired by T.M. Woodyatt, who used it to make screws. His executors sold it in the 1860s to Nettlefold and Chamberlain of Smethwick, who took that business away. It later became a spade and shovel works, and (after the First World War) a saw mill, electrically powered from 1929. The buildings were demolished in 1980 and the site redeveloped for sheltered housing.

Size and Trading In the 1640s, Hyde slit iron for the owners of Maesbury and Fernhill Forges (Edwards 1957, 190-1 194-200); 1650 George Brindley agreed to slit 8 tpw for Thomas Foley (i.e. 416 tpa). 1669-72 it slit 440 tpa for Philip Foley (Foley a/c), and up to 775 tpa for Stour Works partnership in 18th century (SW a/c). Considerable further quantities were presumably slit for other customers throughout. 1754 slitting 1000 tpa (Gross 2001, 221). 1790 a slitting mill. Soon after 1790 it began also rolling blooms; a steam hammer was added in 1797. The blooms may have come from Lightmoor in Shropshire, where there were probably puddling furnaces but no rolling mill (cf. Hayman thesis, 96). The slitters and bar iron rolls were offered for sale in 1814, and a waterwheel and other machinery (60 tons in all) in 1825, suggesting significant alterations at both dates. Bolton and Lea evidently had a fully modern iron and steel works during their tenure. It had 12 puddling furnaces in 1852, but usually 7-9 in the 1860s and 1870s There were also various other industrial processes carried on by other tenants after 1820.

Trading George Stokes slit up to about 150 tpa for Stour Works Partnership 1769 to 1775 (SW a/c). Sources VCH, Staffs xx, 147; Cooksley 1980; Gwilliam 1984 i, 72-6; Foley E12/S/25, 1783; Worcester Journal, 16 Sep. 1813; London Gazette, no. 17265, 1495 (1 Jul. 1817). Stourton Slitting Mill (once Forge)

John Finch built this forge in 1669, on the site of an ancient triple corn mill driven by river Stour. His lease was assigned to Wheeler and Avenant in 1673 under an exchange: their master Philip Foley (who by then owned Stourton Castle), did not like having a rival as his tenant. However, from 1674, it was probably in the hands of Finch’s successors Foorth and Clerke; and then Cornish, Langworth, and Sergeant. In 1681 it was passed to John Wheeler, Richard Avenant, and John Downing and so into Foley Ironworks in partnership in 1692 to 1697. Richard Wheeler took it over in 1697 and seems to have moved a slitting mill from Cookley to Stourton the following year. On his bankruptcy in 1703, Philip Foley (as landowner) took possession, and, being unable to get his partner John Wheeler or any other ironmaster to take it on, let it to John Cook who had probably succeeded his father, Thomas Cooke (d.1699), as the slitter there. John Cook and then John Cook II had it from 1703 to 1763; after which Capel Cook held it briefly (probably as executor). Richard Marston followed from 1763 until at least 1776. Francis Homfray II (d.1798) was living at Stourton by 1781 and renewed the lease in 1783. Sales of Old Park pig iron, labelled as Swin and Broadwaters, were to Francis until 1792; then to Francis and Jeston until 1795; then to Jeston Homfray II (d.1816) of Broadwaters, who renewed the Stourton lease alone in 1803. Stourton Mill is likely to have followed the same descent. After Jeston’s death, his widow and son David ran it for his executors ran it until 1828. The mill was demolished in about 1830 to enhance the situation of Stourton Castle. A plan on a lease of the castle dated 1835 shows the mill leat as a backwater. There are no visible remains of it except a high brick weir in River Stour, a circular pond probably on the site of a leat and a void covered by a large inspection cover, which may be the site of the wheel pit. The bridge arch carrying the tail race under the road survives. A plan of c.1735 has a thumbnail sketch of the mill.

Associations for Foley and Homfray see chapter introduction. Richard Brindley had Hubbals Mill until 1652. Jeremiah Caswell also was a partner in Pitchford forge in 1755-69. Sources VCH Staffs xx, 146; Cooksley 1980, 56-74; 1981 (mainly from Staffs RO, D(W) 55(35)/70); Foley E12/ VI/KAc/59-60; E12/S29, 1 Feb. 2 Chas; London Gazette, 6959, 2 (6 Feb. 1730); Aris Birmingham Gazette, 28 Aug. 1769; 6 Dec. 1824; Gloucester Journal, 19 Dec. 1814; Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 4000/54, 25 Mar. 1903; Gwilliam 1984 i, 78-82; King 2007a, 143; 2014a, 9. Awty (2019, 713) incorrectly dates it to 1614. Kinver Mill

[51] SO860849

[50] SO84858327

An ancient triple corn mill was converted to a slitting mill by George Stokes between 1755 and 1769. George Stokes was described as a miller when he bought an adjacent cottage in 1750. It probably became a slitting mill in the 1760s (possibly in 1768), though there was still also a corn mill in 1783, suggesting that corn milling and slitting were combined in a single mill as at Bustleholme and Birmingham. George Stokes and Co also used Eardington Forges from 1790-1813 (but not 1805-7). Additionally they held 2 blast furnaces and other works at Deepfield at Coseley near Dudley (built c.1789) and two blast furnaces at Billingsley southwest of Bridgnorth (bought 1803), until George Stokes’ bankruptcy in 1813. The mill then seems to have had a similar history to Whittington Mill: the partnership of Jacob Turner and Thomas Bolton was dissolved in 1817. By 1830 it was owned by Henry

Size As a forge it made 100-160 tpa in 1690s. The mill was converted to a slitting mill in about 1697, and slit 160 to 215 tpa for the Foley Ironworks in Partnership in 1697-1705 (Foley a/c); 1754 1000 tpa (Gross 2001, 22). 393

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Henry Cort demonstrated his rolling method at Stourton in 1783 (King 2012, 117). It was converted to a rolling mill in 1792 (Ince 1993, 74). In ‘1794’ it was a slitting mill and rolling mill. It was rolling blooms, presumably from the Homfrays’ works in Shropshire and south Wales from 1789, the slitting machine being moved to Gothersley.

(like Cookley). They replaced the forge with a slitting mill in the early 1770s, built on a new site a few hundred yards downstream from the forge. On the dissolution of the partnership, it was sold to Jacob Turner (initially with Thomas Bolton and Thomas Shinton as partners). The partnership of Turner, Bolton & Co was dissolved in 1817. Jacob was succeeded following his death in 1820 by Henry Turner, who became a lunatic in 1838. Subsequently it was occupied by James Williams & Co 1840 to 1879; and Whittington Patent Horse Nail Company Ltd 1883 to 1893.

Associations Thomas Cooke (d.1699) was the roller at Wolverley Lower Mill from its foundation. Richard Wheeler seems to have moved him to Stourton when he converted it to a slitting mill. One son Thomas Cooke went to Pontypool and probably introduced the rolling of blackplate there for Capel Hanbury or his son John (its owners). Capel Cook was presumably a descendant. When the Knight family’s Bringewood Partnership were building Mitton Tin Mill, they paid the expenses of the second John Cook in visiting cousins at Pontypool to find out how tinplate was made.

The works was derelict from the late 19th century until late 1980s, when the last standing building was converted into a dwelling and the rest of the site landscaped as its garden. There is a long brick vaulted tunnel that used to carry the river under the buildings, presumably to an undershot wheel. The end of the tunnel that should have continued beyond the wheel has collapsed. Cooksley (1980) reproduces various plans of the works. The house on the site is now called the Nail Mill from the final use of the works in the late 19th century.

Trading The cast iron bought by Finch in 1670 could have been for Stourton, rather than Cookley (q.v.). Slitting up to 350 tpa for Stour Works partnership until 1776. In 1703 Ambrose Crowley complained of Richard Wheeler was substituting ordinary iron for the best iron supplied for him to slit, and claimed to have lost £1.17s.6d on eighty tons slit for him in four months (Lloyd 1975, 86-7). Francis Homfray II made adverse comments on puddled iron from Cyfarthfa sent him in 1789 (SML, Weale MS, 371/3, 255; King 2012, 117).

Size 1669-74, 1690s (average) (Foley a/c) and 1717 about 200 tpa; 1718 & 1736 250 tpa; 1750 300 tpa, about the actual average for several decades (Ince 1991, 99-100); 1754 a double work and refinery and chafery making 7 to 8 tpw, if water, always 300 tpa (Gross 2001, 221). There were two fineries (Ince 1991, 34) and actual output was about 300 tpa. As a slitting mill it slit 1000 to 1500 tpa (SW a/c). The mill was converted to a slitting mill between 1771 and 1775, but was not fully in production until 1778. It slit iron almost exclusively for the Stour Works Partnership. From 1802 to 1810 it was also rolling bar and hoops. A wire mill was added in 1818. In 1857 there were 7 puddling furnaces, but in the 1860s to 1880s there were often over 20 puddling furnaces working.

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1692-7. Sources Foley E12/F/VI/KBc/12; E12/F/VI/KH/21; E12/F/VI/KD/18 & 58; Foley E12/S/29, leases of 1752 1756 and 1782; E12/S/119-20 (surveys); VCH Staffs xx, 145-6; King 2012, 114; Cooksley 1980, 90-96; Johnson 1952, 324 & 339; Schafer 1971, 29 & 35; Gwilliam 1984 i, 83-4. Whittington Forge Whittington Slitting Mill

Associations George Taylor’s source of pig iron is not clear: it is not improbable he obtained it from the Forest of Dean, making this one of the earliest forges not to have a firm link to a blast furnace. Nevertheless the possibility that there was (briefly) a furnace at Whittington, as suggested by a 19th-century field name, cannot be ruled out. Any remains of one would probably have been destroyed in the course of making the canal. Walter Coleman sen. was a partner of Thomas Chetwynd at Cannock and elsewhere. They and their sons were partners at Hales Furnace and Forge from 1620 to 1625, but the Coleman family did not contribute to stocking it and were excluded from its profits. Between 1628 and 1705 it was continuously in the main Foley grouping, and afterwards in the hands of a partner in this firm. In the 1680s the partners were precisely the same as at Cookley. It was always held with Hales Furnace until the latter closed, after c.1630 except intermittently between 1676 and 1725. From the 1720s until 1810, it was one of the Knights’ Stour Works. Turner, Bolton & Co also had Kinver Mill and Henry Turner that and (from 1826) Wilden Mill.

[52] SO853827 [53] SO853824

The site lies between river Stour and the canal, just north of Windsor Lane. It was converted from fulling and corn mills to a forge by George Taylor in about 1617, but he only ran it for a few years. Then it passed in quick succession between c.1623 and 1628 through the hands of: Walter Coleman [jun.]; then his brother John Coleman; and then Thomas Doughtye. Richard Foley acquired it in 1628 and transferred it to his son Thomas Foley I(W) in 1637 when he was 21. Thomas retained it until 1669 when it passed with the rest of his works to his youngest son Philip Foley in 1669. Philip operated it until at least 1674. It then passed to his former managers John Wheeler and Richard Avenant (with Andrew Bentley, who died in 1687). They were certainly in occupation by 1683 and perhaps from 1678 (cf. Wilden etc.). Subsequently it was occupied by Foley Ironworks in Partnership 1692 to 1705; John Wheeler (d.1708) and his executors from 1705 until at least 1717 (1721?); Richard & Edward Wheeler c.1721 to 1725. From that year until about 1811, it belonged to the Stour Works Partnership

Trading A bond debt to Sir Basil Brooke (one of the farmers of the Forest works) is mentioned in the 1620s, 394

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country perhaps for pig iron from there. John Coleman bought pig iron from Hales, but failed to pay for it and was therefore outlawed (TNA, C  2/Chas I/C88/59). In 1641 Thomas Foley was buying pig iron from Sir John Winter of Lydney and also providing it from his own Hampton Load Furnace (TNA, C 2/Chas I/F49/46). In 1669 it was mainly making tough merchant iron from Forest and Elmbridge pig. On its retention by Ironworks in Partnership after 1698, it continued in this trade (Foley a/c). After 1705 it was probably mainly making colshear iron for the slitting into nail rods with Hales pig iron. This continued until the closure of Hales in the 1760s, with additional pig iron from Cradley in the 1740s; from Grange 1740 to 1753; and from Aston in the late 1750s and 1760s. Horsehay and Lightmoor became major sources after their opening in the mid-1750s (SW a/c). John Wheeler’s executors bought the pig scales from Grange Furnace for this forge in 1710 and bought pig iron for it in 1707/8 and 1716/7 (Foley a/c). Turner, Bolton & Co 1814-7; Jacob Turner 1818-20; then his executors until 1823; and Henry Turner 1823-4 all bought up to 300 tpa Old Park pig iron (OP a/c).

In 1678 Philip Foley arranged its letting to John and Richard Wheeler. At the same time he sold his share in the copyhold to John Soley. The works were operated by: John and Richard Wheeler 1678 to 1692; Foley Ironworks in Partnership 1692 to 1697; Richard Wheeler 1698 to 1703 (bankrupt). The lease of 1678 expired in 1699. From this date the two half shares in the forge seem to have been occupied separately, apparently by each of the co-owners (or their tenants) occupying the whole works during certain months. John Soley probably occupied his share at least between 1702 and 1717. The other share was probably held by tenants, either the occupants of the Old Forge or John Soley (d.1720) then his son John. The ownership of the copyhold was fragmented into shares (half and three separate sixths), but it is not necessary to elucidate their respective descents here. Various members of the Knight family had all shares from 1785, but they were not fully reunited until the 19th century. In the 1720s the whole works was apparently occupied by Talbot Jewkes, who was running it prior to his death in about 1730. He was followed by: Stephen Podmore 1731 to 1736; John Podmore 1737 to 1748; Moses Harper 1748 until at least 1785, perhaps 1793 (d.1794); and John Knight & Co (Stour Works) 1793 to 1810; John Knight & Co (new partnership) had it from 1811 to c.1857; then Thomas Banks and Thomas Morgan until 1863; and Ransom & Morgan until at least 1866 (as a ‘forge’). By 1879, it was void. There are some remains of the mill buildings comprising a row of cottages (known as the Wyre Mill), and ruins of other buildings some of which may be part of the original works. The site of this wheel could in the 1990s be seen in the bed of the leat, which then carried one branch of the river. A breach was cut in the side of the leat in the 2000s to divert the water back into the old channel of the river, and a berm was made around the buildings as part of a flood alleviation scheme. Unfortunately, no archaeological investigation of the leat and wheelpit was undertaken then.

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1669-72 and 1692 to 1705; SW a/c 1725 to 1810. Sources TNA, C  2/Chas I/F49/46; VCH Staffs xx, 145; Cooksley 1980, 75-85; Foley E12/S, Kinver manor rolls for 1619 to 1630; Foley E12/S/94; Staffs RO, D 605/2/2; TNA, PROB 11/508/58; PROB 11/1583/109; Ince 1991, 33-46 99-100 &c; Lewis 1951; Johnson 1952, 324; Schafer 1971, 31 & 35; Gwilliam 1984 i, 66-9; London Gazette, no. 17265, 1495 (1 Jul. 1817); King 2014a, 9. Statements that Richard Knight held this forge from 1705 are wrong. The first account in the SW a/c includes an account the forge for 14 months, implying its acquisition in late January 1725/6. It refers to Richard Knight having paid £586 for the lease, which had 15½ years to run, for which sum he was allowed a rent. This suggests that someone, probably the Wheeler executors renewed the lease in c.1719. Wolverley Lower Forge

[54] SO829788

Size Forge There was no finery; 1692-7 made 80 to 120 tpa from blooms refined elsewhere (Foley a/c); 1717 listed with Old Forge; 1718 80 tpa; 1735 nil; 1750 not listed. The very substantial rise in the amount of iron slit for the Stour Works Partnership around 1734 may well mark the end of the forge. Pan making is likely to have ceased in 1708 when Peter Hussey, following his father’s death, moved to South Shropshire to build Hardwick Forge in Stottesden (see next chapter).

This mill was built on a new site in 1669-70 beside the River Stour. It is fed by a large leat 500 yards long operating a breast- or under-shot water wheel about 14 feet wide with a fall of some 4-6 feet. This straight leat leading to the forge was made as a navigation cut with a lock (whose precise location is not clear). It is conceivable there was a second waterwheel on the opposite side of the mill buildings to power the other rolls. The mill should not to be confused with an earlier Wolverley slitting mill, which became Cookley Forge: Cookley was a township of the parish of Wolverley.

Mill Tinplate was certainly made in 1670 when Baker, Harrison, and Sir Walter Blount paid £50 each for some (Foley a/c; Foley, E12/VI/KT series). As a slitting mill, Thomas Cooke the slitter was guaranteed a minimum of 350 tpa in 1678 (Birmingham Archives, Z10). He moved to Stourton, probably in 1697. In 1692-7 it slit 280 to 600 tpa; 1793 750 tpa; 1798-1800 rolled 1,200 tpa hoops, but then only 400 tpa. After 1811, it became a wiremill, making 5,000 to 11,500 bundles of wire per year. This continued until at least 1857.

The mill was built by Joshua Newborough and Philip Foley, who operated Wolverley Old Forge together. It seems originally to have been intended as a tinplate works, but this use was prevented by patent difficulties. The three shops in the forge were then used as a forge for drawing out blooms into bar iron, a pan forge, and a slitting mill. 395

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Associations It was held with Wolverley Old Forge at times 1669 to 1727. John Soley also had Upleadon Forge from 1706. It became part of Stour Works Partnership and its successor John Knight & Co from 1793 until 1857. Morgan & Banks also had Broadwaters Lower Mill (q.v.) and other works. Detailed provisions were made to secure the continuation of existing trading pattern between the Old Forge and the Lower Mill on their separation in 1731.

Philip Foley in 1669. In 1670 its proprietors decided to add a tinplate works three quarters of a mile downstream (see Wolverley Lower Mill). In 1673 as part of Philip’s rationalising activities, it was sublet to John Finch. Philip sublet his interest to Wheeler and Avenant in 1676, but in 1678 the partnership with Joshua Newborough was dissolved, Newborough and his sons-in-law (Hammond, Hunt, and Bradley) taking over this forge. The latter traded as Joshua Bradley & Co for some years, but the forge was included in the Foley Ironworks in Partnership in 1692 to 1698, passing in 1698 to Richard Wheeler (bankrupt 1703). 1703 to 1727 Samuel Jewkes and his son Talbot Jewkes controlled the forge, but not always operating it personally: Samuel Jewkes used it by 1704 and until at least 1711; Richard Knight II by 1714 and until 1717. From 1717 Talbot Jewkes agreed a partnership for four years with William Rea of Monmouth (a Foley partner), but Talbot Jewkes never accounted for his partner’s share. This ultimately led to a forced sale of the Jewkes family estates in 1747, Edward Knight being the purchaser. Until 1727, George Draper had the forge alone or in partnership with Talbot Jewkes. From 1727 to 1810 it belonged to Knight Stour Works partnership; and from 1811 to 1869 the succeeding John Knight & Co; from 1869 Matthew Heath. The forge probably closed in the late 19th century, but it not clear quite when. There are buildings on the site now occupied as a house.

Trading In 1692 no blooms were bought and it may well be that both the forges were making pans. In subsequent years blooms were bought in from Richard Corfield (Sheinton) and Laurence Wellington (Coalbrookdale) and were supplied from other Foley Partnership forges in the Stour valley (Foley a/c). ‘Richard Wheeler slit and drew at Wolverley in [Soley’s] months £26  15s’ (Foley a/c for 1702/3, John Soley’s a/c). John Soley bought an average of 70 tpa pig iron, part of which was Elmbridge pigs sent direct to a forge and part was bought from the Bewdley storehouse in 1703-17 (Foley a/c). In 1727-1734 300- 400 tpa were slit for Cookley and Wolverley Forges; in 1734-1761 500-900  tpa; and in 1761-1776 600-250 tpa, both for Stour Works Partnership. Further unknown amounts were no doubt slit for others. After the mill came into the hands of the Stour Works partnership in 1793 it continued slitting iron mostly for others. From 1814 the mill was drawing wire, the origin of its current name of Wyre Mill (SW a/c).

Size It had 2 fineries in 1661 and made an average of 185 tpa in 1661-5; 170 tpa 1669-72; and 160 to 235 tpa in 1692-7 (accounts). 1717 the Wolverley Forges (together) 300 tpa. Talbot Jewkes made 954 tons (238 tpa) in the four years of his partnership with William Rea (C 33 cited below) from 1717. 1718 & 1736 250 tpa; 1750 500 tpa: an overestimate, but perhaps intended to include the Lower Forge, which was no longer a forge. The actual production was about 300 tpa in 1740s-1770s (Ince 1991, 93-5); 1754 6½ tpw i.e. 338 tpa – a double work making 3½ tpw from Cardiff and Tubal pig for mill iron and 3 tpw from Bush River for best tough iron (Gross 2001, 221), but this must be only a snapshot of feedstock in use when Charles Wood visited as little pig of these American makes was bought (cf. SW a/c). 1790 2 fineries 1 chafery. In 1800/1, it began puddling iron, but the following year was converted to heating and rolling blooms from elsewhere from Mitton, Dudley Wood and Snedshill.

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1670-2 & 16927; SW a/c 1793-1810. Accounts for the reconstituted John Knight & Co continue from 1812 until 1850, but are less informative. Sources Herefs RO, T74/73 423 471 & 535; Foley E12/ VI/KE/29 38-40 & 51-55; cf. KE/passim; KH/24; Knight 7142; Worcs RO, Kidderminster Library Calendar, no. 7477 (original deed destroyed); BA 10470/226-8 (Rate Books); Birmingham Archives, Z10; TNA C 11/1753/7; Johnson 1950, 37 & 43; 1952, 324; Schafer 1971, 30; 1978, 37-8; Brown (P.J.) 1988; King 1988; Ince 1991, 9 15 23 36 & 59; Gwilliam 1984 i, 38-42A. Wolverley Old Forge

[55] SO83457955

The forge was converted from a double corn mill driven by River Stour in c.1651. This mill was the manorial mill for Wolverley and had existed since before 1086. It belonged to Worcester Cathedral as lords of the manor, being occupied under 21-year leases that were renewed every seven years. The forge was built by Joshua Newborough and George Winchurst, both Stourbridge ironmongers, who subsequently brought Robert Winchurst into the partnership. In 1661 the Winchurst family withdrew letting their share, so that Henry Glover and Joshua Newborough became equal partners. Whether Henry Glover held this interest in his own right or on behalf of his brother-in-law Thomas Foley I(W) is not clear. His share passed like the latter’s other iron interests, to

Associations It was long part of the Foley and Knight businesses. Between 1669 and 1727 it was commonly in the same hands as Wolverley Lower Mill. Trading In 1661-5, it used both colshire and ‘tuff’ pigs, all carried from Bewdley, but no origins are stated. In 1669 mainly making merchant iron from Forest pigs (accounts). In 1686 Jos Bradley & partner (unlocated) bought 20 tons of Bishopswood pig (Foley E12/VI/DDf/3). Samuel Jewkes bought 66 tons from various Foley sources in 1704/5 and lesser amounts until 1710. In 1715-1717 Richard Knight was buying up to 43 tpa (also unlocated sales before 1715). From 1717 Talbot Jewkes obtained pig iron from the Foley 396

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Sources Worcs RO, Kidderminster Library Calendar, no. 3020 (original deed destroyed); 899:310 BA 10470/42, no. 5214; BA 10470/201-210 and 215-8 (rate books); I. Taylor, Map of the County of Worcester (1772 – not shown); Worcester Canal Map: BA 2636/152 47990/9; TNA, PROB 11/1586/242; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 13 Sep. 1852; Worcestershire Chronicle, 23 Aug. 1854; Gwilliam & Tucker 1983, 16.

partnership by giving William Rea a share (TNA, C 33/388, 278-80). In 1727 Talbot Jewkes bought a hammer (Foley a/c). Under the Stour Works Partnership it was regularly supplied in the 1730s from Charlcot, Flaxley, and Bristol Co (American pig iron). In the late 1740s and early 1750s, Cheshire Coldshort, ‘Cardiff’ [i.e. Pentyrch] and Kidwelly were significant sources. In 1755-65 Aston, Horsehay, and Lightmoor Furnaces became the largest suppliers. This suggests that the main product latterly was coldshort iron for nail making and similar purposes, as is also implied by the quantity of iron sent for slitting.

Lower Mitton Forge

The forge lay on the west bank of River Stour near the bridge that carries the main road from Worcester over the river. It was formerly in Stourside in Hartlebury parish and copyhold held of the manor of Hartlebury, but is now part of Stourport. It was built on the site of four decayed corn mills and six decayed fulling mills. These belonged to Robert Willmot, but had been washed away by flood in 1670, as a result of pools breaking, probably on the Wannerton Brook somewhere upstream of Hurcott, where another walk mill was washed away. Andrew Yarranton considered building a forge here with his son-in-law, Tom Cole, but nothing came of this. In his will dated 1683, Robert Willmot directed his property to be sold and divided between his children, but difficulties arose due to a conflict between the executors as to who the buyer should be. His brother James thought he had bought a mill and began rebuilding it and also making a way ‘to draw boats up the river Stower to other mills’, but he was opposed by Thomas Lowbridge, who also claimed he had bought it. This conflict seems to have been resolved when Willmott’s eldest son married Lowbridge’s daughter and Lowbridge and Willmott each built a forge, possibly in partnership. James’ new fulling and grist mills were set up on his own freehold land south of the road, water being brought to them across the road.

Accounts Full annual accounts: 1661-5: E12/VI/KE/22-7; 1670s & 1692-7 Foley a/c; 1727-1810 SW a/c; accounts for the reconstituted John Knight & Co continue from 1812 until 1850, but are less informative. Sources Foley E12/VI/KE/1 & passim; KH/21; Cave & Wilson 1924, 162; TNA, C 33/388, 278-80; Knight 7142; Johnson 1950, 37; 1952, 324 337; Herefs RO, T74/83; Lewis 1951; Schafer 1971, 22 30 &c; Ince 1991, 33-50 65 93-5 &c; King 1988; Gwilliam 1984 i, 42A-44. Considerable information exists concerning the owners of copyhold and leasehold interests in both Wolverley Forges, but this is not relevant, because the actual occupiers were usually their undertenants. This is not cited here as it does not show who operated the mill. Long-winded Chancery proceedings, Rea v Jewkes, have not been examined; only the final order.

Lower Stour: Kidderminster and Hartlebury Falling Sands Rolling Mill

[57] SO817715

[56] SO821746

This is perhaps least well recorded of the Stour ironworks. In ‘1794’, it was a rolling mill and slitting mill occupied by Mr Barnett. In 1804, it was leased by Hon. Andrew Foley (as trustee of Lord Foley’s will) to John Barnet as a ‘new rolling mill, two tenements and land’. If this were the renewal of a 21-year lease, it would have been built in 1783. It certainly existed by 1786 when William Barnett was the tenant of Falling Sands Slitting Mill. There is a passing reference to it in an account for Cradley ironworks in 1808. This was presumably one of the same Barnett family as at Mitton Tin Mill. John Barnett of Kidderminster ironmaster (d.1816) presumably ran the mill. His widow Lydia took out letters of administration. The tithe award calls it a rolling mill, owned by Lydia Barnett and occupied by Samuel Barnett. The freehold could have been acquired in Lord Foley’s 1809 sale. In April 1847, he had a new waterwheel 15 foot wide and of 14 foot diameter installed by Turton Bros of Kidderminster. It was advertised for sale in 1852, following the death of Samuel Barnett, with a breastwheel of 24-hp working two pairs of rolls and bar and sheet shears, and a further undershot wheel of 12 hp operating a hammer. It was then taken over by Banks & Morgan (also of Broadwaters, q.v.). They were succeeded by Thompson, Hatton & Co; and then by A & E Crowder in 1885; and by Knight & Crowder in 1891. The works were dismantled by 1893, and the site is today marked by a vast wheelpit in the bed of the river.

The forge was thus probably built in 1686, when James Willmott bought a hammer. On his death in about 1695, he was probably succeeded by Robert and James Willmott. It passed (before 1700) to Thomas Lowbridge (d.1722), then to the latter’s daughter and son-in-law, Mary and John Wheeler, who is referred to as ‘John Wheeler of Mitton’ and then to Edward Kendall, probably as Mary Wheeler’s tenant. In 1732, the forge was sold to Richard Knight, who let it to the Stour Works Partnership. Their accounts show payments to both Mrs Wheeler and Edward Kendall for equipment. It remained part of this Knight family business (like Cookley) until 1810, being offered to let in 1809. S. Twambley, who bought the engine and castings in 1810, very probably occupied the forge, but its status is not clear. It may have been a worsted factory, tenement and land occupied by James Innet in 1820, and used in 1823 for spinning worsted and woollen yarns. A carpet factory was built immediately to the west in 1828, and another two on the opposite side of the road to the latter in 1851. Both of these were occupied by the Anglo-American Tin Stamping Co Limited from 1887. The site was then occupied by a carpet factory. L. Ince has suggested that one finery was very close to Upper Mitton Forge, but I am not convinced. 397

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Upper Mitton Forge or Jennyhole Forge

Size Forge 1717 350 tpa with the upper forge; 1718 & 1736 650 tpa with the upper forge; 1750 400 tpa. Actual production rose soon after 1750 to 450 tpa, then 500 tpa (SW a/c). In 1790, there were 3 fineries and a chafery. The forge was converted to use potting and stamping in 1797/8. Puddling was introduced in 1799/1800, but potting and stamping also continued (Ince 1991b, 43-4).

[58] SO822716

This forge was also on the River Stour in the outskirts of Stourport and was built in the late 17th or early 18th century close to the boundary of the townships between Upper Mitton (in Hartlebury) and Lower Mitton (in Kidderminster parish), but (despite its name) was in Lower Mitton township in Kidderminster. It was freehold in the hands of the Willmotts, George Draper and the head of the Knight family. Ince (1992b, 55) has a plan showing another forge building just downstream of this site and places an upper finery near the tin mill, but I am not convinced that this is correct.

Slitting Mill After 1670 the works is described as two ‘opificia ferrea sive fabrilia anglice one forge and one rod mill or slitting mill’. The slitting mill was removed before 1732. It is possible that the machinery was moved to Wolverley Lower Mill where the slitting mill seems to have been enlarged about the same time. If it slit iron for both Mitton Forges and Mathrafal, it might have slit 500 tpa, but more probably less after about 1710.

The forge replaced fulling mills called Middle Mills, which had been let by William Seagar to Robert Willmott in 1679. Following his death, Thomas Lowbridge thought he had bought them from Robert’s widow Jane in 1685, but his brother Thomas Willmott, the other executor, thought a better price could be obtained and sold them to Thomas Bradley of Stourbridge. Subsequent events are not clear, but in 1701 Pinson Willmott bought pig iron from the Foley Partnership, much of it delivered at Clothouse. His purchases continued until 1710. George Draper was also buying pig iron from 1707, but that could be for Upleadon. Draper had a lease before 1714, when he obtained a further 7-year lease, subsequently buying the property. George Draper was followed in 1734 by his executors, who sold the forge in 1740 to Richard Knight. He let it to Stour Works Partnership. It was thus one of the Knight family works (like Cookley) until about 1810, being offered to let with the lower forge in 1809. After that they converted it to a corn mill. The site is disused and was so in 1832. There are no visible remains, except that there is an island in the river. Suggestions have been made that the site was slightly downstream from the corn mill. This is most improbable since that site had no facilities for waterpower.

Associations Thomas Lowbridge held Ruabon furnace 1692-1710. A Mr Willmott and then Thomas Lowbridge had Mathrafal Forge in the 1690s. They also jointly bought ironstone in Earnstrey Park east of Brown Clee, implying they had a furnace in the area, presumably Charlcot (Watts 1998, 47; Shrops RO, 5735/2/2/2). Members of the Wheeler family of Winterfold in Chaddesley Corbett seem to have been descended from the Wheelers who were landlords of this forge. Later members of this family were ironmasters in Shropshire in the late 18th century (see Upton Forge) and at Wednesbury Furnace in the early 19th. It is not clear whether they were related to John and Richard Wheeler, the Foley partners. The 1810 purchaser could be Samuel Twamley, who briefly had Eardington Forges until his bankruptcy in 1807. Trading James Willmott bought 1 hammer in 1686; and made small purchases and sales of tough pig iron in 16924 (Foley a/c). In 1690/1 he also purchased 40 tons from Tintern (Tintern B a/c). In 1700-17 Thomas Lowbridge was intermittently buying up to 75 tpa pig from Forest of Dean, but in 1716-7 up to 140 tpa (Foley a/c); also 1699/1700 10 tons from Tintern (Tintern B a/c). Pig iron from the Knight family’s Charlcot Furnace was freighted to ‘Stourmouth’ (BW a/c). At the beginning of the coke era both Mitton forges used a significant amount of charcoal iron, while the other forges of the Stour Works partnership tended to make more use of coke pig iron (SW a/c).

Size 1701-3 at least 180 tpa (based on Trading); 1706 3 fineries 2 chaferies in two forges but the head was also used for a corn mill and fulling mill (Willmott & King); (with Lower Mitton 1717 & 1736) 1717 350 tpa; 1736 650 tpa; (alone) 1750 450 tpa; the actual average 1745-65 was 480 tpa (Ince 1991, 104-5). In 1790 there were three fineries and one chafery. From 1755 until the mid-1790s, both Mitton Forges concentrated on producing iron from charcoal pigs, whereas the other forges of the Stour Works partnership tended to make more use of coke pig iron. The forge was converted to use potting and stamping in 1796/7 and then to puddling in 1799/1800 (Ince 1991b, 43-4).

Accounts SW a/c full annual accounts 1732-1810. Sources Wilmott & King 2012, 130-3; King 2014a, 4; TNA, C 9/100/51; C 9/416/46; Herefs RO, T74/73; Worcs RO, b009:1 BA 2636/50, 43996 f.131; Hartlebury Manor Rolls: BA 2636/21, 43772, f.3; BA 2636/21, 43774, f.29 & 34; BA 2636/22, 43775, p.27; BA 2636/23, 43777, f.226; BA 2636/23, 43779, f.168; BA 2636/53, 44035, f.113; Ince 1991, 33-46 101-3 &c &c; Staffs RO, D(W)  1788/ P61/B7(b), 17 Apr. 1670; P61/B5, 21 Oct. 1673; P59/B3, 23 Mar. 1684; Worcs RO, 705:775 BA 6385/2-3; Hereford Journal, 6 Sep. 1809; Lewis 1951; Gwilliam 1984 i, 2A-7 10.

Associations George Draper also had Upleadon Forge and for a time a furnace at Overbury. He was the largest creditor in the bankruptcy of John Brindley of Hyde Mill, suggesting he was sending iron to him for slitting or selling it to him. This led to his buying Hyde Mill. For Richard Knight see next chapter.

398

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Trading 1701-10 Pinson Willmott bought pig iron from the Foley Forest Works: 235 tons and 226 tons in the first two years, but not over 21 tpa after that, some of it being delivered at Clothouse and had iron slit at Wilden in 1703. George Draper bought up to 70 tpa in 1707-10, 171417, and 1727-8 (Foley a/c). A codicil to Draper’s will, dated 1731, refers to his having made losses. Its pig iron consumption as part of the Stour Works Partnership was similar to that of the lower forge.

L. Ince’s plan (1991b, 55) places a finery belonging to Upper Mitton Forge here, but I am unconvinced. This was one of the earliest tinplate works in the country to have operated for any substantial period. Only John Hanbury’s works at Pontypool are significantly earlier. Works at Ynispenllwch, Woollard, Rugeley, and Oakamoor were all built about the same time. Details of the process were obtained for the Knights from Pontypool by John Cook II of Stourton Slitting Mill visiting Pontypool. The mill operated in conjunction with that at Bringewood works: blackplate was made at Bringewood; and was carried by road to Mitton, where cold rolling, pickling, annealing, and tinning took place. This separation of hot and cold rolling is rather unusual.

Accounts SW a/c full annual accounts 1740-1810. Sources Wilmott & King 2012, 133-4; King 2014a, 4-5; TNA C  9/100/51; C  9/416/46; PROB 11/666/60; Herefs RO, T74/80; Knight 7202; Ince 1991 34-46 55 59 etc.; Hereford Journal, 6 Sep. 1809; Lewis 1951; Gwilliam 1984 i, 9-11. Mitton Tin Mill now Wire Mill Farm

Associations 1741-80 held with Bringewood and Charlcot. William Barnett of Lower Mitton, Hartlebury (sic), who sold the blade mill at Walford Mill at Neen Savage (Shrops.) before 1794 (Gloucs RO, D 637/II/9 /T1), was presumably connected with this mill. It has not been determined how he was related to the members of the Barnett family here were related to the owners of Wilne Mill until 1798 and Kings Bromley Mill until 1800; of Falling Sands Mill in 1783-1852; and of a forge at Brockmoor (in Brierley Hill) in 1802-9.

[59] SO822721

This was on the eastern side of River Stour between Stourport and Wilden in the Stourside division of Hartlebury parish. It and the adjacent farm were held under long leases from the Bishops of Worcester as lords of the manor. There was a fulling mill on the site by 1647. This was sold to George Draper while he owned Upper Mitton Forge, but there is no indication of any use connected with the iron industry before its purchase by Richard Knight in 1740. Richard Knight’s sons Edward and Ralph in 1741 converted the fulling mill to a tin mill, which was included in their Bringewood partnership. The family used it in conjunction with Bringewood until their interest in it ended with the death of Edward Knight in 1780.

Trading and Size Production once the works was in full production amounted to 1400 to 2000 boxes per year. About a third of this was sold in London, some being stored at Hollow End on ‘the road to London’ (perhaps at Stourbridge), when it was sent by road. About a quarter was sold at Bewdley and rather more than this was divided between Birmingham, Bristol, Wolverhampton and Worcester. Angerstein recorded the output as 40-50 boxes (of 225 sheets) per week (Angerstein’s Diary, 182).

After the accounts end in 1778, its descent is poorly documented and has been worked out from Land Tax Assessments. In 1820 Samuel Waldron was the tenant of Tin Mill Farm. This hereditament was described as ‘H[ouse] late wire mill’ in 1837, when it was occupied by Charles Cattell, who was running a corn mill by 1835. This identifies it with premises occupied by Mrs Barnett by 1788 and until at least 1803; by John Heming and others in 1807; and then by Samuel Waldron until 1825; after which Charles Cattell became its tenant. As several rolling mills belonged to members of the Barnett family, it is likely to have remained a tinplate or rolling mill in Mrs Barnett’s time. Accordingly the wire mill, which gave the farm its present name, may only have existed for some 20 years up to 1825. John Champion, late of Mitton wire manufacturer, who was bankrupt in 1805, was presumably concerned in it. This may be where some wire was made in 1813, apparently as part of the operations of Upper Mitton Forge. The partnership of Jacob Turner and Thomas Bolton, trading as the Stourport Wire Co, was dissolved in 1817. These were presumably subtenants. The site is now vacant and there are no obvious remains except traces of a leat.

Accounts Full annual accounts 1741-78: BW a/c. The 1778-80 account does not survive. Sources Herefs RO, T74/80; Worcs RO, b009:1 BA 2636/50, 43996, p.215; BA 2636/50, 43997, f.42; BA 636/50, 43999, p.103; BA 2636/50, 44004, p.6, ‘William Tagg...’; BA 2636/50, 44006, no.2; BA 2636/53, 44035, f.122; 497.46 BA 9552/1(i), f.17; BA 9552/1(ii), Stowerside; BA 9552/1(iii), no.360; land tax Hartlebury; Ince 1991 9-13 79-80 &c. Gwilliam 1984 i, 10 12-14; London Gazette, no. 15771, 71 (12 Jan.1805); no. 17265, 1495 (J Jul. 1817); cf. Wilmott & King 2012, 127-30; King 2014a, 5. Mitton Mills generally The identity of the various works at Mitton has not been easy to determine, but was facilitated by my identification that a book of reference in the main episcopal archive belonged with a map that reached Worcestershire Record Office later from the same source. These seem to have been prepared at the time of the inclosure of Hartlebury Heath. This can in turn be related to other episcopal estate management records. A freehold forge, which George Draper bought 399

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Size 1717 50 tpa; 1718 60 tpa; 1736 none (presumably having become a plating forge); 1750 not mentioned. In 1790 Wilden and Titton comprised four fineries and one chafery. It is likely that one of the fineries was at Titton.

from Thomas Willmott and others ‘in Lower Mitton in the parish of Kidderminster’, must be Upper Mitton Forge. This is confirmed by the Stour Works accounts where stock carried forward for ‘Mitton Forge’ became that of Lower Mitton Forge when Upper Mitton Forge first appeared in the accounts. Despite the conversion of the site at Wire Mill Farm to a tinmill in 1740, leases from the successive Bishops of Worcester as lords of Hartlebury continued to describe it as a fulling mill into the 19th century. John Soley, who lived at Lickhill (now a suburb of Stourport), was also a regular purchaser of pig iron some of which was delivered at Bewdley or Clothouse. It has been suggested that he was operating a forge at Mitton, but the purchases are more likely to relate to his half share of Wolverley Lower Forge. Nevertheless it was George Draper (of Upper Mitton Forge) who succeeded John Soley at Upleadon Forge. The earlier history of the various Mitton Mills is discussed in Wilmot & King 2012 and King 2014a.

Sources Aris Birmingham Gazette, 7 Oct 1754 & 31 Mar 1766; Worcs RO, b009:1 BA 2636/56, 43996, p.218; 43997, f. 44; and book of reference; Worcs RO, s009:1 BA 7105 (plan); Worcs RO, 497.46 BA 9552/1(i), 10; and /1(ii), 1755, Titton; Land tax, Hartlebury; Dudley Archives, D/OH/IV/3/III/4; Perry 2017, 15. Wilden Forge

This forge, between Stourport and Kidderminster, was in the parish of Hartlebury and powered by the river Stour. Its owners were either long lessees under the Bishops of Worcester as lords of that manor or their subtenants. In 1647 the works were described as built on the site of two corn mills, but were also referred to at that period as walk mills (that is, fulling mills). From that time until the 19th century such long leases always formed part of the property of the senior (Witley) branch of the Foley family, passing with their Kidderminster estates to the Earls of Dudley in c.1837, but were sometimes occupied by others.

Sources The plan and book of reference referred to are Worcs RO, s009:1 BA 7105 and b009:1 BA 2636/50, 44002; numbers pencilled in the latter refer to a notitia b009:1 BA 2636/50, 44006; there are earlier notitiae (covering several manors): b009:1 BA2636/36, 43802 and 43803. All these use the same hereditament numbers. Titton Forge

[61] SO824726

The mill was converted to a slitting mill in about 1633 by Roger Fowlke and Thomas Doutye. Subsequently Doutye sold his share to Gerrard Fowlke, who resold it for £240 to his brother Walter. He in turn sold it for £200 to Richard Foley in 1638. Roger Fowlke and Richard Foley surrendered their lease and a new one was granted in the names of their sons, John Fowlke and Edward Foley, and John Fowlke then agreed to sell his share to Richard Foley for £150 of which £70 was paid at once, the rest being due upon delivery of possession. The assignment was dated 18 May 1642, but after that things went wrong, no doubt due to the outbreak of the Civil War. Urban Eyre as landlord re-entered, when the rent was only slightly overdue. According to Richard’s son Thomas Foley I(W), this was at the request of the Fowlkes and so as to defraud him, the mill being intended by his father to be part of his portion. Eyre then re-let it to Fowlke, but Richard Foley could do nothing about this on account of the war. Roger Fowlke probably had little benefit from this, as he was alleged to have suffered the mill ‘to go into much decay and ruin.’ He said he could make no profit from the mills and Urban Eyre took them back again. In May 1646 Urban Eyre granted a lease of the mills this time in the name of John Foley (another of Richard’s sons) and a large sum was spent on repairing and improving the mills. Roger Fowke then brought an ejectment action in the Court of Common Pleas to recover the premises and Thomas Foley applied to the Court of Exchequer for relief against those proceedings. This matter was evidently settled, as the Exchequer proceedings went no further. Thomas Foley bought ‘Wilden’ (presumably the episcopal lease for lives) from ‘Mr Eyre and son’ for £1600.

[60] SO827703

This forge was the last mill on a small brook in Hartlebury parish a short distance from Wilden. The brook is not a tributary of the river Stour, but can be conveniently included here. Two corn mills called Pool Mills were leased to Thomas Lowbridge in 1692 and may have been converted to a forge soon after, but this was evidently excluded from the sale of Lower Mitton Forge by his daughter Mary Wheeler to Edward Knight. In 1744 it was still owned by her. In 1754 and 1766 it was described as a plating forge when offered for sale. A Mr Tibbits occupied it in 1755, but Francis Homfray had it from 1759, perhaps jointly with John Homfray, in which case it may have been plating steel. Later James and Benjamin Pratt advertised ‘new approved tires for all sorts of carriages’, at least one of them being then manager of Wilden Forge. By 1780 it had reverted to making iron. In that year 5 plates were sent here from Horsehay for Thomas Hill & Co. These were perhaps finery bottom plates. If so, it then had a finery supplying blooms to Wilden. In 1800 Thomas Hill was holding it under a 21 year lease from 1788. In 1807, it was run by John Barnett. First edition 1-inch O.S. map (surveyed c.1810) shows ‘Titton mill’, but the estate map and book of reference of 1821 names James Knowles as a lessee of Titton Forge. Detail of the history is at times obscured by the lessee (holding the mill under the Bishop of Worcester) being a middleman, not the actual occupier. There was a derelict 19th century corn mill on the site in the 1990s.

400

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Thus began the Foleys’ ownership of the Wilden works and farm. £874 was spent in building and repairing the forge mill and houses in 1647 (and perhaps subsequent years), and from 1655 an average of 325 tpa iron was made annually. The use of the forge was transferred by Thomas Foley I(W) to his youngest son Philip, with the rest of his Stour works in 1669. Philip arranged for his elder brother Thomas Foley II of Great Witley to let the forge to John Wheeler & Richard Avenant in 1678. It thus passed in 1692 to the Foley Ironworks in Partnership. When the partnership withdrew from the Stour valley in 1705, Richard Knight may have used the forge until the lease expired in 1709. After that, the forge was occupied by Thomas Foley III of Great Witley, created Lord Foley in 1712 (d.1733); by Thomas Foley IV second Lord Foley (d.1766); then by his heir, his distant cousin Thomas Foley III of Stoke Edith (or V of Great Witley), created Lord Foley in 1776.

at Platts Wharf (SO836737). The name is presumably a corruption of Pratt an 18th-century manager, though Langford (1972, 171-2) suggested that it was from Isaac Pratt, who was involved in building canals in the area. Since no road leads to the wharf, goods must originally have been carried across the narrow strip of land between the canal and river and then taken by boat about a mile down the river Stour to the Works. The lock, built there communicating between the canal and the river, is probably a later development. The works remained an ironworks (latterly a tinplate works) until very recent times and 19th century buildings still occupy the site, now used as an industrial estate. Size Forge: 1647-1651 made about 200 tpa; 1652-77 averaged 325 tpa bar iron (Schafer 1990, 23). In 1690s averaged 300 tpa bar iron (Foley a/c); 1717 300 tpa; 1718 & 1736 400 tpa; 1750 450 tpa. An inventory of 1680 refers to four sets of bellows in use, so that there were probably three fineries; there were also three spare sets of bellows. The slitting mill may have gone out of use in the 1690s. There were three fineries and a chafery in 1754. It has made 471¾ tons in 1753 (Angerstein’s Diary, 181-2). In 1790 Wilden and Titton comprised four fineries (of which one was probably at Titton) and a chafery; no slitting mill is mentioned. Henry Turner may have had a wire mill in the 1820s (Hayman thesis, 240, from OP a/c). In 1852 there were 8 puddling furnaces; and 1860s to 1880s 5-9. In 1854 Wilden Iron Co had 2 forges and a rolling mill with 8 puddling furnaces. The works were subsequently used to make tinplate.

Foley managers of the forge included Thomas Lowbridge I by 1648 and probably until his death in 1680; William Rea in the 1690s; Samuel Caswell from 1704, perhaps until 1736 when Lord Foley acquired a nearby copyhold cottage previously owned by members of that family; and James Pratt from before 1750 to 1774 or later. George Rock, who gave evidence to the Commons as Lord Foley’s agent in 1737, was presumably another manager. From Michaelmas 1776, Lord Foley let Wilden to Thomas Hill & Co. The partners in that firm in 1789 (when they leased mines at Blaenavon near Pontypool and built ironworks there) were Benjamin Pratt of Great ‘Whitley’ [Witley], Thomas Hopkins of Canckwood Forge and Thomas Hill of Stourbridge. Thomas Hill & Co remained tenants until 1825, but by 1820 the works were in a distinct partnership from Blaenavon consisting of Thomas Hill and Thomas Barnet and it is possible the Blaenavon and Wilden partnerships were not the same earlier. In 1826 Henry Turner became tenant and was still in occupation in 1837, but became insane the following year. W.T. Lewty was in business there in 1840; then Lewty and Partridge had the works, until E., P. & W. Baldwin took them over probably from 1849. In 1870 Alfred Baldwin became sole proprietor of that firm, which was incorporated as E., P. & W. Baldwin Ltd in 1898. The company acquired many other firms, eventually amalgamating to become part of Richard Thomas and Baldwin after the Second World War. This in turn became part of the British Steel Corporation. This nationalised monopoly closed the works in the early 1980s. The works remain in use as an industrial estate.

Slitting mill: 1669-72 on average 300 tpa, and once 361 tpa, including 114 tons for other people and 200-250 tpa in1692-1705; but once 350 tons. The 1678 lease describes the works as two forges and a slitting mill. Associations Roger Fowlke, who built the mill is probably the person (spelt differently) who built Bustleholme Mill. His partner Doutye had sold Whittington Forge to Richard Foley before converting this mill. Except before 1650 and 1692-1709 the forge was always in the same hands as Shelsley until 1776, so that it is not always easy to distinguish between purchases of pig iron for the two forges. The Lords Foley must have had other sources of pig, but there is no evidence what they were: there is nothing to suggest either had any furnace. The overlap between Thomas Foley V or III(S) inheriting Wilden and giving up Bishopswood was only brief. The small forge at Titton was held with Wilden in the late 18th century. Thomas Hill lived had at Stourbridge and had the Stourbridge Old Bank; Fimbrell and Coalbournhill Glassworks; Wollaston slitting mill; and mining interests. Stourbridge was thus an address, not a destination (cf. Ellis 2002, 151-3 1969; Cochrane 2007). Henry Turner also owned Whittington and Kinver Mills.

Pig iron was normally landed at Clothouse (SO814706) prior to the opening of the canal. Lord Foley apparently had a warehouse there, which was distinct from the ‘Staking House’ used by the Worcester clothiers. Pig for Shelsley Forge, if not landed at Redstone on the opposite bank, was taken across the river by boat and stored in the caves if Redstone Hermitage there. After the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal opened, as the forge lies some distance across the Stour valley from it, goods were landed

Trading In 1667 blackplate was rolled here in the course of the tinplate experiment conducted by Andrew Yarranton and others (King 1988). In 1669 it was making both 401

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II of the scythe. This was done in blade mills, which are beyond the scope of this book, but are discussed in King 2007a. Some of the forges may be traced back (as such) to the mid-18th century, when power was apparently applied to scythe fabrication, but one of the blade mills back to the mid-15th. The identification of mills with documentary references is not always easy and it is possible that a few references are misattributed. The re-attribution of the 1746 lease to James Farmer was suggested by Julian Hunt.

merchant (that is tough) iron and ordinary (or colshear). The former was made from pig iron from Newent and the Forest of Dean, the latter from pig iron from Hales and from Wombridge. Between 1692 and 1709 the largest sources were Elmbridge Furnace (by Newent) and Blakeney. In this period, it and Shelsley received an average of over 400 tpa from these and other Forest furnaces. Such supplies continued into until 1751, but later on a much reduced scale (Foley a/c). The Lords Foley also bought: 54 tons in two years from Charlcot in 1744-5 (BW a/c); small amounts of pig iron or cast iron sundries from Hales furnace intermittently 1728-65 (SW a/c); and goods from the Cunsey Co (Cunsey a/c). In 1732 45 tons of Backbarrow pig iron came from Nehemiah Champion, the Backbarrow Company’s Bristol agent (BB a/c, 1731/2 f. 72); and 110 tpa, then 300 tpa, of Horsehay pig in 17557. Thomas Foley V bought 400 tpa of it in 1767-74 and over 600 tpa in 1774-6. These purchases end abruptly, with similar purchases by Thomas Hill & Co beginning two months later. These amounts quoted for the Foleys include pig iron worked at Shelsley (HH a/c). Samuel Caswell bought 3 tons of Willey pig in 1728, presumably as manager of this forge (Downton a/c). Sales to Thomas Hill ‘Stourbridge’ from Old Park furnace are recorded 1796-9, up to 180 tpa (OP a/c), but probably for this forge.

Charcoal ironworks Drayton Forge

[62] SO90657605

A corn mill at Drayton was advertised for sale in 1762, as a little below Weybridge Forge and convenient for conversion to rolling and grinding mills. This was purchased by Thomas Highway, who at the same time took leases of land for watercourses. He granted a 99-year lease to Stephen Hervey in 1772, but it is not clear whether the forge was built in 1762 or 1772. A mill in Drayton was occupied by Penn & Grove in 1779, and was a forge in the occupation of John Penn and John Homfray in 1786. However in 1780 it was producing gun barrels both for Samuel Galton and Whateley. By 1792 it was in the hands of John Ryland, the pin manufacturer, and he was succeeded in about 1814 by J.W. Phipson, who occupied it beyond 1831. In ‘1790’ it was an ironworks with a finery and chafery, but land tax assessments call it a mill until 1792, then ‘forge or ironworks’ until about 1827, and a wireworks by 1830. When J.W. Phipson became bankrupt in December 1834, the mill was advertised as a corn mill, but was soon after converted to spinning yarn for the Kidderminster carpet trade. Phipson has a rolling mill and his stock included both iron and steel wire, rods, and bars, also pig iron, suggesting a forge and wire mill. The forge was leased to Isaac Nash for his scythe business in 1860, and then to his sons in 1890 for 21 years. It continued to be used by the Nash firm until about 1960. Some machinery remained until 1979. The building still stands, being used for a variety of light industrial purposes.

Accounts Foley a/c: full annual accounts 1669-72 and 1692-1705; also Foley E12/VI/KH/18 (1686) and E12/ VI/KH/5 (list of pig received at Wilden 1685); production 1647-1677: Schafer 1990, 23. Inventory (1849) Worcs RO, 705:775 BA 6385/5. Sources TNA, E 112/258/144; Worcs RO, b009:1 BA 2636/56, 43996, p.287; 43997, f.52; BA 2636/22, 42779, f. 204; Foley E12/C/1; E12/VI/KH/11 (1678) & 18 (1680); E12/VI/DEc, passim; Johnson 1950; 1952, 324 339-340; 1953, 141; Brown 1988; King 1988; 2014, 5-6; Schafer 1971, 22 31 &c; Bentley’s History and Gazetteer of Worcestershire (1840); Brooke 1944, 130; Worcs RO, 497.46 BA9552/1(i), f.8; BA9552/1(iii), no.144; 705:775 BA 6385/2 & 4; Middlemas & Barnes 1969; Hyde (H.M.) 1973, 3; Langford 1974, 171-3; Gwilliam 1984 i, 16-26; Cochrane 2007, 14. For the Staking House see Willmot and King 2012; for the earlier use of the mill for fulling see also King 2014a. Johnson (1952, 330) is wrong in stating Thomas Foley III of Witley occupied the forge from 1705 (rather than c.1708); Brooke’s reference (1944, 130) to tinplate here in 1740 is probably a mistake for the nearby Mitton Tinmill.

Sources Warks RO, CR 1998/M/13; CR 1998/A/74; SBT, DR5, Chaddesley Corbett manor rolls for 1762-86, passim; Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 4000/134; BA 4000/221, abstract of deed of 29 Sept. 1786; 4000/29 lease of 1890 and counsel’s opinion; 4000/255, agreement of 29 Nov, 1890; Land tax, Chaddesley Corbett (Drayton); Williams 1980, 132; Aris Birmingham Gazette 30 Aug. 1762; 13 Jul. 1835; London Gazette no. 19254, 616 (31 March 1835); Gwilliam 1984 ii, 42-3; Cope 1989?, 4-5; Jones 1993, 22; Pagett 1993, 22; Booth & Jones 2007, 13; King 2007a, 135; 2014a, 17.

Bell and Wannerton Brooks There were a series of mills along the Belbroughton Brook. Several of these were described in the tithe awards as forges or plating forges, which means that they are included here. That at SO772919 in the village of Belbroughton was described as a scythe works and had a steam engine in addition to the power available from an overshot wheel. Scythe making had taken place in that area since the 15th century. A late part of the process was sharpening the blade

Galtons Forge

[63] SO913774

This forge has been partly rebuilt in recent times as an engineering works but has a cast iron water wheel in situ in a rather derelict part of the building at the back. This was overshot and is about 12 feet in diameter. In 1751 Savage’s 402

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Mill (a blade mill) was let to James Farmer, Samuel and John Galton, and Samuel and Randle Bradburne who converted it to a forge. They certainly intended to refine pig iron, and they may therefore be the Belbroughton Company who bought Horsehay pig iron in 1757-60, the amount reaching 70 tpa in 1759 (HH a/c). Later however, as it does not appear in the 1790 list, the forge was probably mainly used making skelps with which to form gun barrels. Samuel Galton and James Farmer were partners in the Birmingham gun trade until Farmer became bankrupt, due to losses sustained in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. By 1787 the firm was known as Samuel Galton & Son, but there was another partner until 1796. Samuel Galton senior and junior bought a very long lease in 1788. Following his father’s death in 1799, the younger Samuel Galton continued to use the forge himself until about 1814, when he let it to William Waldron. This lease was renewed in 1835 to Thomas and William Waldron, the Belbroughton scythe makers, whose descendants used it to grind scythes. It later passed, probably in the 1870s to Isaac Nash and was used by his firm until its closure in about 1942.

and anvil were then taken to Churchill Forge for storage. A planishing hammer and frame of 1897 are displayed in a park in Belbroughton. Sources Birmingham City Archives, Galton 87B; Aris Birmingham Gazette 10 Jun. 1754; 16 Sep. 1754; 5 Dec. 1757; 26 Feb. 1770; Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 4000/29, 24 Jun. 1874; 4000/134, 29 Sep. 1774; 4000/295(ii), 9 Jun 1773; 4000/793, 1867 valuation; 4000/53, various; f900.9:3 BA5706/3; King 2007a, 132-3; Cope 1989?; Simmons 1980, 38-9; Gwilliam 1984 ii, 18-21; Jones 1993, 22; Pagett 1993, 18-19; Land tax, Belbroughton (Belbroughton). Blakedown Forges

Blake Down was a common in Hagley parish, inclosed in the early 19th century. The area was transferred to Churchill Parish (thenceforth Churchill and Blakedown) at the end of the 19th century, but the ironworks were in Kidderminster parish on the estate of Lord Foley, whose archives do not survive. The lower site seems to have been a blade mill by the early 17th century. In 1786, Joseph Hancox had a blade mill and forge, probably at the lower site. This passed to Thomas Wood by 1803. He was replaced by William Venables in 1807. It was void from 1816; then occupied by Thomas Waldron in 1820, but Joseph Venables was a lessee for lives of a blade mill in 1833. This scythe mill was advertised in 1832 and let to Wood & Brothers, who had it until 1860. From 1887, it was the Earl of Dudley’s estate saw mill, remaining a saw mill until 1950. An iron waterwheel, made by G. Turton of Kidderminster in 1861, was removed in 1951. The saw mill made gates, ladders, wheelbarrows, and such like. The garden had masses of slag and some plumbago crucibles in 1969, when the premises were a riding establishment.

Sources Booth & Jones 2007; King 2007a, 131; Worcs RO, 705:658 BA 5467/62: cf. Birmingham Archives, Galton 87B 88 & 539-53; Galton l/b, passim; Land tax, Belbroughton (Brians Bell); Williams 2010, 124; Gwilliam 1984 ii, 9-12; Cope 1989?, 3; Jones 1993, 21; Knight, nos. 182-3, ‘Cookley Foundry’; for Farmer & Galton see Smith 1967; Satia 2018; for Nash cf. Belbroughton Forge. Weybridge Forge see under Gun Trade below Other ironworks Belbroughton Forge

[65] SO875783 and SO875783

[64] SO919772

This forge, formerly a corn mill, was let to Joseph Holt in 1750. He was a shovelmaker who became bankrupt in 1754. The forge was offered for sale and probably bought by his father-in-law, who offered it for sale in 1757. However, it is possible that this (rather than Middle Mills) was the forge let to James Farmer, the Birmingham gunmaker in 1746. By 1764 the forge was in the hands of Thomas Thornley, who was still there when Thomas Waldron bought the freehold in 1774. He presumably took possession not long after and was still in business at his death in 1799. He was followed in the family scythe-manufacturing business by his nephew William, and the business was in the hands of Thomas and William Waldron by 1835. In 1868 when T.A. Waldron mortgaged it, there were two plating forges and a scythe mill. He let the works in 1873 to Isaac Nash, then sold them to him in 1874. He was succeeded by his sons Isaac and W.R. Nash. On the death of Isaac Nash II, W.R. Nash incorporated Nash Belbroughton Ltd, whose proprietor in 1945 was C.F.N. Boulton (presumably the son of F.J. Boulton and grandson of Isaac Nash II). It remained in use until about 1970, and has since used as industrial units. Redevelopment was considered in 2012, but appears not to have proceeded. The tilt hammer, tup

Sources Worcs RO, BA 4766/1-5, Kidderminster Foreign rate books; BA 10470/200-10; BA 10470/214-8, Hurcott division; Brown (A.F.) 1989; Gwilliam 1981, 26; Swabey 1976, 43-4; King 2007a, 140; Kidderminster LSL, L942.441 KIDD, sale particulars of Park Hall Mansion, 1833. Churchill Forge

[66] SO881794

This was one of two forges in Churchill, the other being Stakenbridge Forge. One of them was a blade mill in 1713, when let to Benjamin Whitaker (scythegrinder). In 1774, one at least of them was occupied by James Willetts. In 1787, both belonged to Messrs. Willetts. In 1805 this forge was probably the one in the hands of John and William Willetts and passed to John Willetts alone on the death of William in 1814. In 1808 it (and probably also Stakenbridge) was described as held by James Willetts’ executors under an old 99-year lease. It was called a mill and ironworks in 1826. By 1864, its occupants were the executors of Rebecca Willetts, and it was called Churchill Bone Mill, but it passed to the executors of Henry 403

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Bache having reverted to a forge by 1875. It was, like Stakenbridge Forge, in the hands of T.P. & W. Bache in 1890 and continued to pass down the Bache family and to work until the death of Claud Bache in 1970. Since then his daughters have kept it in working order, through a charitable trust formed for its preservation.

decade earlier. It was held by William Foster and William Orme when this lease expired in 1825, although they are not named in land tax schedules: compare Stourbridge Ironworks and Town Mills, below. In 1825 it was let to Joseph Meredith, a scythesmith. It is referred to as a plating forge in 1825, as a blade mill in 1826, and as a scythe forge in 1835: these need not be inconsistent, but the history is confusing.

Sources Worcs RO, 705:658 BA 5467/82, mortgages of 1856 1864 and 1890; 4600/34, 1713; 705:460/870, Lord Lyttelton’s tenants 1808; Land tax, Churchill; TNA, PROB 11/1560/65; Gwilliam 1984 ii, 101-12; King 2007a, 140; Pagett 1993, 30; Swabey 1976, 44-6; Carter 1987. Hartle Forge (or Middle Mill)

Sources SBT, DR5, Chaddesley Corbett manor rolls, passim; Worcs RO, 760:260 BA 4000/299, poor rate 1801 and undated terrier; 899:310 BA 10477 nos 4814 4833 4847 4868 & 4887; Mutton 1973b, 75; Land tax, Chaddesley Corbett (Hillpool); Gwilliam 1984 ii, 459; Pagett 1993, 22. Claims, that this mill was used by William Brinton from 1783 as a spinning mill, conflict with clear contemporary evidence, cited above. Both Hillpool mills passed to one of the Brinton family only in the 1830s. Perhaps Brinton went into business in 1783 in the carpet trade, but probably not with a mill. 1783 is anyway slightly too early for a mill spinning of worsted yarn (cf. Chapman 1965).

[67] SO927773

This had been a blade mill, but was replaced by a newly erected forge before 1768. This was occupied by Thomas Cole in 1751, then by William Cole, then by James Wall. It may have been occupied by Messrs Blakeway in 1796, and was stated to have once been the estate of Griffin (which must have been considerably before 1751). It was subsequently used by Thomas Waldron (d.1799) and purchased by his son William. After the death of his widow, ownership passed to one son Edward, but it was used by two others (Thomas and William). They were succeeded by T.A. Waldron, who was eventually given notice to quit in 1871. Its subsequent tenure is not clear, but it was worked by three generations of the Moore family until Edwin Moore retired in 1953. The buildings (which have completely disappeared) were described in detail by Simmonds (quoted by Gwilliam) and Jones.

Newtown Forge

This, of all the Belbroughton Mills is the least well documented. It was part of the Bell Hall estate and hence in Brians Bell manor, but it is not clear when it became a forge. All that can be said is that it was rented by George, Thomas, William and Henry Wood in 1836 and by George, Thomas and William in 1840. Simmonds stated that Isaac Nash took it over in about 1835 to finish edged tools for Wood of Cradley. Perhaps Nash started his working life as their employee, but (if so) not as proprietor: he only entered business on his own account from about 1842. It closed in 1926. Some machinery remained in the 1980s, but the forge has since been converted to a house. The silted up pool now belongs to the National Trust, which had to reduce the water level for safety reasons during 2003. From this a leat (now used as a footpath) led along the east side of the valley and presumably under a road to the forge.

Sources Worcs RO, 705:658 BA 5467/49, various; Land Tax, Belbroughton (Brians Bell); Belbroughton Inclosure Award, manorial incidents extinguished; Simmonds 1980, 36-7; Gwilliam 1984 ii,13-14; Jones 1993; Pagett 1993, 16; King 2007a, 135 (but misattributing James Farmer’s tenancy). Hillpool Forge

[69] SO946776

[68] SO896761

There were two mills at Hillpool in Chaddesley Corbett. One mill (SO898760) stands a few hundred yards upstream from the road and was a blade mill in the 16th and 17th centuries, then a fulling mill belonging to the Oldnall family, and was inherited by Thomas Oldnall from his brother John in 1720. It passed to Thomas’ widow Elizabeth in 1730 and to their son John in 1760. On his death in 1781, his sister Elizabeth Tibbatts let it to Richard Lowe. It was occupied in 1787 by Townsend and Lowe.

Sources Worcs RO, Belbroughton tithe; r899:395 BA 4123/7; Simmonds 1980, 35; Briggs & Tucker 1980, 30; Gwilliam 1984 ii, 6-7; Jones 1993, 21; Pagett 1993, 12; King 2007a, 139. [70] SO879781 Springbrook Forges, Blakedown SO876783 There were two forges at Blakedown, of which one was in Kidderminster parish and the other in Hagley parish. The latter was by a chain of pools on the Spring Brook, a tributary of the Wannerton Brook, the Ladies Pool and Wheatmill Pool being the upper two. They were owned by Ann Christopher from 1806 and by John Christopher by 1821. Some land nearby was bought by William Christopher of Wolverley forgeman in 1796 and the forge was probably built about then. Ann inherited the property

The pool at Hillpool Forge gave its name to the hamlet and must therefore go back a long way. The forge stood just downstream of the road. This was owned by successive heads of the Great Witley branch of the Foley family throughout the 18th century, being described as a blade mill and formerly purchased of one Poulter. It was let as a plating forge to John Bradley and his mother Mary Foster in 1804. It seems to have been in their hands a few years before that, but was occupied by John Townsend about a 404

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country

This was held by John Podmore sawmaker (d.1720) with Broadwaters (Upper) Forge and probably shared its history. The failure of Lord Foley’s archive to survive means that its subsequent history is obscure. It was occupied by Joseph Hancox of Kinver in 1786. John Willets was there at his marriage in 1819, but George Wood & Brothers of Lye had it in c.1822. Samuel Barnett replaced them in 1830, but he moved to take over the family’s Falling Sands Mill by 1840. Thereafter it was treated as part of the adjacent farm. The forge building was used as a pumping house in 1970, but with a hearth still in situ. A turbine was installed for electricity generation in the early 20th century. Sources Worcs RO, consistory wills, John Podmore, 1720; BA 4766/1-5; BA 10470/200; Worcester Journal, 4 Feb. 1819; Kidderminster (Hurcott) tithe award; Gwilliam 1981, 26; 1984 ii, 127; Pagett 1992, 36; Kidderminster LSL, L942.441 KIDD, sale particulars of Park Hall Mansion, 1833.

The whole catchment Bloomeries

Sources Land tax, Hagley; London Gazette, 15567, 267; 16169, 1804; 18417, 231; Birmingham Gazette, 21 Jan. 1828; Worcester Journal, 8 May 1828; cf. Worcs RO, 705:59 BA 5085/2, Hagley; Worcs RO, BA 4766/3-5; 10470/200-210 and 214-6; Hagley tithe award; Gwilliam 1981, 26; 1984 ii, 124-6; Swabey 1976, 42-4; Pagett 1993, 33; King 2007a, 141. Stakenbridge Forge

[72] SO868782

Wannerton Forge

from him, but, despite becoming bankrupt in 1803 (as an iron-manufacturer and plater), remained in occupation until 1812. John Christopher ran the forge from 1814 to 1816. His widow Ann’s eldest son William succeeded to it on her death in 1821, but became bankrupt in 1827. The plating forge was offered for sale over several months in 1828, being held under a lease for the lives of persons aged 47 and 36. It passed by 1830 to Thomas Roberts, but he was replaced by William Goodwin by 1835. Ann Christopher and her children sold their land (not the forge site), to another William Christopher in 1823, and it was released to the mortgagee in 1839, but that property did not include any mill or forge. Henry New of Springbrook Forge was bankrupt in in 1837. William Goodwin ran the forge until 1843, after which arrears of rates were paid and the forge was occupied by Thomas Bartleet from 1848 to 1857. A second forge powered by Wheatmill Pool was apparently only built in 1856. John Bradley then had the forge until at least 1866. By 1878, he had been succeeded by Samuel Bradley. It was called a grinding mill in 1894. Axles were made during the Boer War. Samuel Bradley was still there in c.1911. They made axles at the time of the Boer War. The Blakedown Stamping Company occupied it in 1918. It probably closed soon after, but an 18-foot overshot water wheel was in situ in 1991.

There was also a bloomery preceding Hales Furnace and there may have been others in the area. For example in 1554, John Monslowe obtained 3000 loads of ‘colyng wood’ ready dressed for £60 from Ashwood and Chasepool Hays (TNA, REQ 2/24/44): this would have made a lot of iron. The two hays were (like Funsloe Smithy) part of the Dudley estates of the attainted Duke of Northumberland. Monslowe occurs elsewhere in contexts suggesting blast furnaces (see Caughley Smithy in chapter 19 and Caus Ironworks in chapter 15). If the loads were cords, this would make 1200 loads of charcoal, enough for perhaps 80 tons of bar iron.

[71] SO888796

This (with Churchill Forge) is the second forge that Messrs. Willetts were using in 1787. It was probably this one that James Phillips occupied in 1805, since it passed by 1813 to William Bache (d.1830), who had married Penelope Willetts in 1787, and still tenant in 1830. This tenure is not mentioned in a rental of 1808, which mentions an old 99-year lease (probably including Churchill Forge) held by James Willetts’ executors: Phillips may have been a subtenant. In 1864 it belonged to Henry Bache, in 1875 to his executors, and in 1890 to T.P. & W. Bache, Churchill Forge also having been taken over by them before 1875. It passed down the Bache family until closed about 1917. The pool remains in water, but the mill has been replaced by a house, for which an ornamental pool has been made below the road.

Funsloe Smithy later Fundleys Mill

Sources Land tax, Churchill; Worcs RO, 705:658 BA 5467/82, mortgages of 1864 1875 and 1890; 705:460/870, Lord Lyttelton’s tenants 1808; Gwilliam 1984 ii, 99-100; Swabey 1976; Pagett 1993, 30 (citing J. Popple, History of Churchill Forge; P. Carter, Papers on Churchill Forge). The account given here of Churchill and Stakenbridge Forges differs slightly from some published sources, which are probably based on Bache family traditions.

A water mill in Sedgley and Himley was among property settled on William Funderley in 1401. John Foundsley, a descendant, granted it to John (Sutton) Lord Dudley in 1451. In 1553 ‘Foundesley smytheye’ was in lease to Thomas Bradley and Richard Jevyn at £4 p.a. after the attainder of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. In 1585 Lord Dudley let Funsloe Smithy and New Smithy to at Himley to John Marshe and Roger Turner of Sedgley

Amblecote bloomsmithy

[74] SO914847

Ironstone was mined at Amblecote in 1540 and probably from the late 14th century. This was most likely at a mill, used subsequently as a blade mill and a fulling mill, and becoming the forge called Bagleys Mill (q.v.). Sources VCH Staffs xx, 60 cf. 55.

405

[75] perhaps about SO891919

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 24.3. The Stour valley and southwest Black Country: Steel furnaces. 15, Corngreaves Steel Furnaces; 44, Broadwaters Lower Forge; 85-86, Stourbridge Steel Furnaces; 87, Tiled House steelworks; 88, Wolverhampton steel furnace; 89, Wordsley steel furnace.

and Richard Jones alias Martin of Rowley for a year and six weeks. These were to be blown with 728 dozen of coals and with ironstone from Sedgley. The deed also has passing reference to New Park Smithies, presumably in Dudley New Park. In 1640 a corn mill was let called Fundleys Mill, described as in a wood called ‘Bagridge’. This suggests that the mill (and the smithy) were on the brook flowing out of Baggeridge Wood into Himley Park, which may mean the smithy preceded a furnace, presumably Poncklye, perhaps a corruption on Fundleys. An associated farm was sold in 1642 to Thomas Parkes, owner of Sedgley manor, but came back to the Ward family (who owned the Dudley estates) through the marriage of the Parkes heiress.

(see Cradley Mill, above). Meyre’s name was perpetuated in Mere’s Farm and the present Mear’s Coppice (a street). The bloomery is also recalled by an adjacent field being called Smithy Croft in the 18th century.

Sources TNA SC 6/Ph & M/265, Pensnett Chase; Dudley Archives, DE/110 191-2; DE/4/7/6/5; cf. DE/1/7/1-8.

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/4/7/6/5.

Meyre’s bloomsmithy, Cradley

Sources Bradley & Blunt 2008, 69; and see Cradley Mill. New Park Smithy

[77] perhaps SO914899

This smithy is mentioned in passing in the lease of Funsloe Smithy in 1585. It presumably stood in Dudley New Park, which extended into Kingswinford and Gornal Wood (in Sedgley). The most likely site is Hunts Mill but possibly Gornal Forge (q.v.).

New Smithy see under Funsloe Smithy above

[76] SO931852

Wall’s bloomsmithy, Cradley

Presentations in Cradley manor court indicate that Humphrey Meyre had a bloomery in 1578. Pounding water obstructed a ford (Dernford), used by the residents of Cradley to access Pensnett Chase (where they had common rights). He was required to provide a bridge, whose successor carries Mogul Lane over the Stour. The mill subsequently became a blade mill and then a slitting mill

[78] SO944854

Presentations made in Cradley manor court imply William Wall had a bloomsmithy, whose diversion of the river Stour was a nuisance to neighbours. Bradley & Blunt attribute this to Belle Vale Forge, but that was on a tributary, Lutley Gutter, not the Stour. The later Lodge Forge (q.v.) is thus more likely. 406

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Sources Bradley & Blunt 2008, 10-11 19.

Co. The firm continued to operate beyond Attwood’s death (in 1878) until 1891, when his executors were bought out. Price and a new partner renewed the lease in 1892. The next lease (in 1914) was to the Birmingham Gunbarrel Company Ltd, who bought the freehold in 1919. There are some remains of the weir and the early 19th century buildings mentioned, but little other indication that it was formerly a mill.

Gun trade Hayseech Forge

[22] SO960849

The Gun Barrel Industrial Centre, Hayseech stands on the north side of the River Stour and has been the subject of a scheme of preservation. It is now mainly occupied as industrial workshops. One of the buildings bears a plaque dated 1801, presumably the date of that building. A corn mill called Hedgers Mill was rebuilt as a forge in c.1696, by a lessee under John Grove of Rowley Hall. Zachary Downing in 1703 obtained a 300-year lease of the right to fix his dam to land on the other side of the river Stour in Hawne in Halesowen parish and he occupied the forge in 1705 when John Grove settled his estate on his three sisters, one of whom died without issue. It is not clear what became of the forge after Zachary Downing’s bankruptcy in 1710. In 1755, John Eld, the son of another sister, re-united the freehold, by buying bought the share of the two cousins who had inherited the other half, but the occupier was not named. The tenants were probably the Birmingham gunmaking firm of Farmer & Galton, who discussed subletting it in 1750. In 1793 Viscount Dudley granted to John Eld the right to culvert an overflow watercourse across the waste to Eld’s mill or forge in the occupation of Samuel Galton. He and earlier members of the family thus had it at least from 1750 until 1794, perhaps at the expiry of a 99-year lease.

Sources Sandwell Archives, BS 1; TNA, C 54/5428, no.9; Galton l/b, 31 Aug. 1751; Dudley Archives, DE/3/6/7/7; Staffs RO, Land tax, Rowley Regis Lower; Staffordshire Advertiser, 17 Mar. 1807; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 5 May 1834; Gwilliam 1984 i, 131-2; Booth 1985, 38; Booth & Jones 2007, 12. For the history of Dudley Bluecoat School see Birmingham Daily Gazette, 15 September 1869. Lutley Mill

[24] SO950840

The mill was copyhold of the manor of Wolverhampton Deanery (which included Lutley). This was occupied by successive members of the Eaton family from 1786 (with Shiltons Mill). Most references to it are to a corn mill. It is however said to have been used in the gun trade in the early 19th century. It might be the boring mill and small tenement in the parish of Halesowen, partly in Shropshire and partly in Worcestershire, advertised to let in 1760. The derelict building on the site in recent times is of four storeys and was probably built as a corn mill. Sources Barnsley 1969; Booth 1985, 37-8; Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 4000/54; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 1 Sep. 1760; Gwilliam 1984 i, 139-139A.

In 1795, John Eld granted a new 99-year lease to Thomas Gill of the buildings used as a forge, a boring mill and a grinding mill. Gill was to spend £500 on new buildings. Following his death it was sold to James Maddock Gill of Hayseech Mill grinder and gunbarrel maker, but in 1805 he could not pay his debts. John Bishop, his mortgagee, paid enough for the creditors to have 15s in the pound in exchange for the interest of Gill’s assignees. Bishop sold this to Joseph Heath of Tamworth in 1808. In 1807 it was advertised as a skelping, plating and balling forge, with and air furnace, a grinding mill, with two waterwheels and a steam engine. Land tax assessments name the occupiers as Heath & Mills in 1807; and Joseph Heath until 1816; then James Attwood until about 1819. In 1820, the Eld family sold the freehold to the trustees of Dudley Bluecoat School, and from about the same time, William Waldron (presumably the Belbroughton scythe manufacturer) is named as occupier, but he was replaced by Edge & Beesley from 1824 to 1829. They must be underlessees under Heath, who granted a new lease in 1828 to Benjamin Beasley, Joseph Beasley, and William Farmer. The last was a spectacle glass grinder; and the works included a steam engine (11-hp in 1835). They remained lessees until 1843, just after Heath’s sale of the leasehold to John Burr (an engineer), who may have occupied it himself for a time. In 1875, Alfred Burr (also an engineer) sold the works, including engines boilers and rolling mills to Benjamin Attwood, Benjamin Higgs, and Moses Price, gun barrel manufacturers trading as Benjamin Attwood &

Weybridge Forge [73] SO911764 SO911765 This was the next mill upstream from Drayton Mill at the junction of a small side brook, in whose valley was a pound. There is another pound on the main brook, whose dam was repaired in the 2000s, with a fleam to the forges. The mill was a fulling mill then a blade mill (for grinding scythes). By 1745 part of it was pulled down and replaced by ‘Gun Mill’, a forge for plating gun barrels skelps, the rest being used for boring the barrels. This may have belonged to the owners of Galtons Forge as the Galton letterbook mentions a lower forge, but that could refer to Belbroughton Forge. John Ryland improved the watercourse in 1784. This is probably the origin of the pool on the main brook. In ‘1794’ he held the forge with two fineries only, presumably drawing out his blooms in his forge at Drayton. He was succeeded in about 1815 by John Barker, who held it until 1832 or later. In 1821 it was a ‘gun mill’. At the time of the tithe map there were two plating forges, one occupied by Waldrons and the other by John Kendall. Sometime in the 1850s or 1860 it was used by Henry Waldron for five years. It was sold in 1865 to Isaac Nash, the scythe manufacturer, and closed in 1928. The buildings are now ruins. The storage of a large 407

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II quantity of rusty cylindrical iron tanks (for which the site was used in the 1990s) has now ceased.

died in 1827, the year in which William Bancks (probably on behalf of the partners’ executors) advertised it with a 24-inch double-power engine, blowing two refineries and capable of blowing two more; and a 50-inch mill engine. Both were capable of handling 100 tons per week. The site adjoins Haywood’s Bridge over the Fens Branch of the Stourbridge Canal. This was bought by John Bradley & Co, probably in the early 1830s. They had 40 puddling furnaces in 1870.

Sources Warks RO, CR 1998/M/13; Worcs RO, 705:658 BA 5467/140; 705:260 BA 4000/30, case dated 1878; Land tax, Belbroughton; Galton l/b; Gwilliam 1984 ii, 22 42-4; Pagett 1993, 20-1; Cope 1989?, 4; Jones 1993, 22; Booth & Jones 2007, 13; King 2007a, 139. Steam-powered forges Brierley Hill Ironworks Nine Locks Ironworks

Sources Dudley Archives D 6/1/Dr/12; Shill 2008, 48; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, Dec. 1803; 29 May 1809; 26 Nov. 1827; The Monthly Magazine or British Register, 39 (1815), 450; Staffs RO, Q/SB 1815 M/359-361; D 695/1/39/42; D 648/5/23; D 648/5/22; TNA, PROB 11/1734/346; London Gazette, no. 19375, 709 (19 April 1836); Dudley Archives, Fowler’s map of Kingswinford (1822); and Map of Kingswinford (1840); English patent 3813.

[79] SO920868 [80] SO920867

Hornblower and Smith ‘Cradeley’ bought 222 tons of refined iron from the Roughhills Works in 1804 (RH a/c). They received charcoal from Horsehay at ‘Brockmoor’ in 1806, (implying they had a charcoal forge). The works were described as those of Smith & Co in 1812. Both Brierley Hill Ironworks and the adjacent Nine Locks Ironworks were owned by William Hornblower in 1822 but void. The works probably did not originally include a furnace, rather a forge and rolling mill, and perhaps a foundry. The works were offered for sale in Chancery proceedings, following the bankruptcy of William Hornblower, as Brierley Hill Iron and Steel Works with puddling furnaces, fineries, and three steam engines, capable of 200-300 tons of iron per week. It belonged to the British Iron Company in 1840. They had 20 puddling furnaces in 1852 and another 30 at Corngreaves. The surname Hornblower also occurs at Gig Mill Forge. It is not known if William was related to the noted family of steam engine builders, one of whom was sued in the 1790s for pirating Boulton and Watt’s patent steam engines.

Bromley or Brockmoor Ironworks

Bromley Ironworks stood on the other side of the same canal. It belonged to John Addenbrooke in 1822, in 1840 to W.S. & J. Wheeley, who owned Brettle Lane Furnaces (built in 1820s), and to John Wheeley & Co until 1871. The name Brockmoor Ironworks also occurs for it, and would strictly be correct, as it was on the Brettell side of Wordsley Brook and thus not in Bromley. It had 14 puddling furnaces in 1852, but only 6 under John Raybould in the 1870s. Sources Dudley Archives, Fowler’s map of Kingswinford (1822); and Map of Kingswinford (1840); 1846 list. Stourbridge Ironworks of John Bradley & Co

Sources Dudley Archives, Sherriff’s map (1812), Fowler’s map of Kingswinford (1822); and Map of Kingswinford (1840); Map C1479; Shill 2008, 47-8 (citing Aris Birmingham Gazette, April 1802); Hayman thesis, 115; Birmingham Gazette, 34 Aug. 1824; for Hornblower family see Dickinson & Jenkins 1927, 303-8. Brockmoor Ironworks

[82] SO910879

[83] SO898847

This important ironworks was worked from the first with puddling furnaces and presumably steam power. It was built in 1800 by John Bradley & Co and it was owned by successive proprietors of the firm until 1919. The business was initially that of Henry Foster (d.1791) and continued by his widow Mary with her son John Bradley. In 1800, T.J. Collier became John Bradley’s partner as a trustee for his Foster nephews and nieces, many of whom left the partnership in 1811. The business was divided in 1813, with William Foster taking over the spade business at Stourbridge Forge (Town Mills) alone. John Bradley died in 1816 and Henry Foster then retired, leaving John Bradley’s executors and James Foster as the only partners. The firm took over Eardington Forges in 1813 and later had Hampton Loade Forges, as well as furnaces in Shropshire and the Black Country. The adjacent Royal Forge was added to the works in 1847. The owners of John Bradley & Co were successively James Foster (d.1853), and his nephew W.O. Foster (d.1899), and W.H. Foster (d.1924). They had 30 puddling furnaces in 1852, but no more than 12 in the 1860s and early 1870s. They were one of the late 19th-century makers of the high-grade ‘marked bar iron’. The business was sold in 1919. The purchasers, who

[81] SO910878

In 1802, Thomas and Samuel Barnett, of Kinver rollers and slitters of iron, with Edward and Francis Hobson nail ironmongers, bought land at Brockmoor, where they built a steam engine and a slitting and rolling mill. Edward Hobson sold his share to Francis in 1805, and he sold both shares to the Barnetts the following year. When it was advertised for sale in 1809, following the bankruptcy of the Barnetts, it had a 42-inch cylinder steam engine, a finery for preparing plate iron, 4 puddling furnaces, 2 balling furnaces, and 2 buildings for rolling and slitting iron, all on a four acre site with a wall. The buyers were Emus, Sanders & Heywood. George Heywood, the acting partner excused himself from jury service in 1815, because he had to attend a creditors meeting in London. The previous year he was granted a patent for rolling gun barrels. He 408

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Sources see Royal Forge (above); SBT, ER3/185; Amblecote tithe award; Flinn 1962, 12-13 26-9; Palfrey 1947.

were not from the founding Bradley and Foster family formed a company John Bradley & Co (Stourbridge). This company eventually became a subsidiary of N. Hingley & Sons (Netherton) Ltd. The works remained in use as John Bradley Rolling Mills until the 2000s, after which the site was developed for housing.

Tiled House steelworks

Robert Plot in 1686 described how John ‘Heydon’ made steel from ‘bullet iron’ at ‘Tile House’ [Tiled House] at Bromley in Kingswinford. This is one of the earliest descriptions of the cementation process for making blister steel. The precise location of the works is unknown. The site must have been copyhold land in the manor of Kingswinford, but the manor rolls give no hint of its existence. However, John Haden ‘steelmaker’ leased some land in Wheatcroft and Begnes fields in 1669 and rented a house and nailshop at Ashwood in 1688. The bullet iron was almost certainly a brand known as ‘double bullet’, the product of Österby ironworks in Sweden.

The works included the engine works of Foster & Raistrick, in which John Urpeth Raistrick was a partner. The foundry has been restored as part of the new Lion Medical Centre, which takes its name from the Stourbridge Lion, an early locomotive, built here. Raistrick also built the Agnoria, which ran on the Kingswinford Railway, taking coal down to Ashwood Basin on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Sources Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 4000/282; Mutton 1973b; Perry 2001, 129-31; Morning Chronicle, 21 Mar. 1811; London Gazette, no. 17141, 1051 (1 June 1816); VCH Staffs xx, 60-1. Note also Dudley Archives, WRI/2/3.

Sources Plot 1686, 373-5; Barraclough 1984(1), 569; cf. Foley, E12/S, Kingswinford; cf. Dudley Archives, DE4/7/8/68.

Steel furnaces Stourbridge Steel Furnace [85] about SO901843 (in Market Street, formerly Rye Market)

Wolverhampton steel furnace

[88] near SO921981

There is a Steelhouse Lane at Wolverhampton, which was presumably (like that at Birmingham) the location of a steel converting furnace. This possibly belonged to John Jarvis, who in 1740 bought a little oregrounds iron from a Bristol merchant or to Rebecca Corson who bought some in 1737, though neither quantity would be sufficient to keep a furnace going (Prankard a/c).

In 1770 four houses, a steel furnace and two warehouses and three shops used in the fryingpan trade were offered for sale. These houses and a warehouse had been offered for sale in 1752 by George Hallen panmaker, who had owned the property since at least 1736. The lack of mention of a furnace in 1752 suggests that it was built later, but it certainly existed by 1764. The works were described ‘as opposite the new church’ [i.e. St Thomas]; this places the furnace. Clatterbatch Forge was also offered at the same sale. The property was held on a long lease, whose term ran from 1690. It may have belonged earlier to William Tristram and then William Tristram jun, who were Stourbridge steelmakers and had small quantities of their steel slit at Wolverley Lower Forge from 1692 (Foley a/c). The former is described as a steelmaker as early as 1662. Thomas Tristram bought oregrounds iron from Graffin Prankard of Bristol in 1728 and 1729 only (Prankard a/c).

Wordsley steel furnace

[89] SO893865

On about 1810, glassmaking was discontinued at Wordsley Flint Glassworks, which became a steel house making ‘Bilston steel’, using iron imported from Sweden. This was managed by John Holt (d.1822). An 1822 map shows ‘steel house and pot rooms’, which suggests that crucible steel was made. The partnership of Bradley, Ensells and Holt was dissolved in 1827, after which Holt’s son-in-law G.W. Wainwright bought the premises and they reverted to glassmaking.

Sources Palfrey 1927, 25-6; Birmingham Archives, 288241; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 16-23 Mar. 1752; TNA, C 12/1322/24; cf. Chambers 1988, 88 (occupation); Worcs RO 705:260 BA 6123/6, deed of 3 Jun. 1662; Cochrane 2007, 3. Stourbridge Steel Furnaces (at bottom of town)

[87] near SO907887

Source Ellis 2002, 320-1. Some iron foundries Brettle Lane Ironfoundry

[86] SO896849 c.SO901848

[90] SO906864

Grafton’s Brierley Glasshouse in Brettle Lane was a new one in about the 1790s, run by Coltman and Grafton, from whom a partner retired in 1811. In 1820, certain property was leased to Abel Josiah Smith and Isaac Shepherd who converted it to an iron foundry and rolling mill (powered by an engine), part being sublet to W. Bailey. When Smith and Shepherd of Brierley ironmasters became bankrupt in 1822, Bailey presumably bought the headlease, as the parish maps shows it as belonging to Bailey & Co in 1822

There were probably at least two more steel furnaces in or very close to the bottom of the town of Stourbridge. At least one was built by Ambrose Crowley II in 1682 and his steel trade was transferred to his son James Crowley in 1713. These furnaces were always closely connected with Royal Forge (see above) and followed its descent until the 19th century. 409

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II and to Bailey & Pegg in 1840. Bailey, Pegg & Co (who also had an office at Iron Wharf, Bankside in Southwark) operated foundry, whose products included carronades for merchantmen. It was probably associated with a London sales house, which itself may have been associated with the Beaufort and Nantyglo Ironworks in south Wales.

thick coal. The exceptions were the furnaces at Gornal (Gornalwood, Graveyard, and Dibdale), which seem not to have survived beyond the 1820s. In contrast ironworks long operated in Kingswinford parish (just south of there), which had the transport links of the Stourbridge Extension Canal and railways. Identification of furnaces in Dudley parish (which includes Netherton) and Rowley Regis has presented a particular challenge, as there are no tithe awards for these parishes. It is therefore possible that some of the identifications are erroneous. This particularly applies to the various ‘Netherton’ Furnaces, whose nomenclature is confusing. The 1815 references are from Butler 1954, 250-1. Occasional 1846 references are to a list in Wolverhampton Chronicle, 15 Jul. 1846, which may have escaped Riden & Owen (1995).

Sources Robins 1995; Cockeram 2005; Dudley Archives, Fowler’s Map of Kingswinford (1822); and Map of Kingswinford (1840); Ellis 2002, 431; Birmingham Archives, 462083-7; London Gazette, no. 17845, 1378 (20 Aug. 1822). Leys Ironfoundry

[91] SO90558730

In 1822 this was owned and occupied by Daniel Horton and in 1840 by John Hunt and William Brown. It is not known when it was built, but it is distinct from W. & G. Firmstone’s Leys Furnaces (SO827879), which were built in 1828.

Blowers Green Furnace at Netherton

Michael Grazebrook, a local glassmaker, took a fifty-year lease of mines on the Netherton Hall estate in 1800. Shortly afterwards he built a blast furnace, which made 2,436 tpa in 1805. The blast engine, installed 1817, has been re-erected at Dartmouth Circus on Aston Expressway in Birmingham. By 1815 Grazebrook & Co had two furnaces at Withmy [?Withymoor], but this is a mistaken reference to these ironworks. The works made over 5,000 tpa in the 1820s, but closed in the 1830s. They were replaced by Netherton New Furnaces. Following Michael’s death in 1826, the firm became Michael and William Grazebrook. M. & W. Grazebrook Ltd was incorporated in 1914 and had furnaces at Netherton until c.1947, concentrating on cold blast pig and heavy fabrications. It was eventually became a subsidiary of N. Hingley & Sons (Netherton) Ltd. A ‘Grazebrook’ stamp for pig iron, seen by M. DaviesShiel at Backbarrow, presumably came from here.

Sources Dudley Archives, Fowler’s map of Kingswinford (1822); and Map of Kingswinford (1840). Stourbridge Potwork

[93] SO935889

[92] SO900844

In December 1717 John Cooke of Stourton Mill and John Roe (as trustees for Edward Kendall) joined with William Stripling and probably Robert Lilly to make a barn of three bays, 2 cowhouses and a stable in New Street, Stourbridge into an air furnace and potwork for casting pots, furnaces, and other cast iron goods. Edward Kendall bought out his partners in 1723 and 1724 and may have continued the works himself for some years. Sales of pig iron from Coalbrookdale to Stripling in 1718 and to Kendall until 1726 are likely to have been for this foundry. Kendall was also in 1721 a partner in establishing Little Clifton Furnace in Cumberland, another early coke furnace. Lilly was his partner in Norton and Winnington Forges. It is not known if he was connected with T. Lilly, an agent for William Wood at Tern Mill and elsewhere. In 1743 Kendall gave the works to trustees, who spent £216.5.4d building a Presbyterian parsonage manse there. Its site was redeveloped in the 1980s.

Sources Dudley Archives, Map C597; Rostron 1979; Humphries 1979; M. Davies-Shiel, pers. comm. Note also Dudley Archives, p/1000. Brierley Hill Furnace

[94] SO914868

Another Brierley Hill Ironworks (distinct from Hornblower & Smith’s forge), consisting of one furnace, lay just west of Brierley Hill Church. Seagar & Co supplied 20 tons of pig iron to Bromford forge in 1800 (SW a/c); Seagar & Piggott had an iron foundry at Brierley Hill, whose stock was offered for sale. By 1805 it passed to Izons & Co who made 817 tons there and still owned it in 1810 and 1815, being in blast in both years. In 1822 adjacent land was still occupied by William Izon, but the furnace was ‘void’ and probably remained so. By that date, Izon & Whitehurst were renting a blast furnace at the Old Level (q.v.) and had probably abandoned this one. Mr Seagar was described in 1813 as ‘a person unfortunate having had a furnace of this own’. He was still described as an ironmaster in 1804, when his daughter married.

Sources Worcs RO, 898.4 BA 8441/6(iii); Dudley Archives, DOH/IV/3/III/12; cf. CBD a/c. Coke furnaces Almost all of the furnaces built before the 1794 list were on Lord Ward’s estate, using mines reserved to him under the Pensnett Chase Inclosure Act. The leases granted the right to mine ironstone and the hearthen coal, a seam a short distance below the thirty foot (or thick coal) seam. It therefore could not be mined until the thick coal had been worked. This is also related to the opening of the Stourbridge and Dudley Canals in about 1782. The line of the Dudley Canal was probably laid out to so as to be just below the outcrop of the 410

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Sources Dudley Archives, Sherriff’s map (1812); Fowler’s Map of Kingswinford 1822; Elsas 1960, 22; Aris Birmingham Gazette 11 Jun. 1798; Gloucester Journal, 2 Jul. 1804. Brierley Ironworks

leaving Richard Salisbury, Thomas Hawkes, and Robert Keate after the retirements of Francis Home and Paul Tate respectively. Salisbury & Co had a furnace in blast in 1825. It operated until the 1840s when it was in the hands of Joseph Haden.

[95] SO907866

Sources London Gazette, 17342, 526 (21 Mar. 1818).

Gale (1966, 25) suggested this was at Brierley near Coseley in Sedgley parish, but the ‘1794’ list are describes them as being two miles from Stourbridge, which rules out them being near Coseley. In 1794 Banks and Onions had a forge with two balling furnaces, three melting fineries and two chaferies built in 1788 and two furnaces in built 1790. In 1796 they made 1,046.5 tons of pig iron. The mines of ironstone and hearthen coal at Brockmoor Colliery were let in 1801 to William Bancks (who died in 1803). In 1804 the furnaces belonged to Mr Onions but were out of blast. In 1806, the partnership between the late William Bancks, John Onions and Thomas Bancks was dissolved. 1806-8 Onions & Co bought ironstone from Roughhills Colliery. In 1810 and 1815 John Onions & Co had two furnaces, both in blast. In 1822 John Bradley & Co leased the works from John Onions and bought them in 1824, immediately reselling the furnaces to the British Iron Co, but they retained a smaller works in Brettell Lane, which was abandoned in the 1830s, after the establishment of the Shut End Ironworks. The works (with three blast furnaces and three rolling mills, one very powerful) were advertised for sale in 1829, but perhaps not sold. The furnaces apparently closed. However John Bradley & Co had puddling furnaces at Brierley in 1852.

Dibdale Bank Furnace

Dixon & Co had one furnace that made 300 tpa in 1805. Dixon & Co still had it in 1810, but by 1815 Ferreday was using it. In that year Thomas Jones and Joseph Fereday (described as coal merchants) bought nearby coal and ironstone mines. In 1826 Edward Dixon’s tenant was Edward Crockett. Crockett & Co had bought 65 tons of ironstone from Roughhills Colliery in 1808 (RH a/c). There was a bankruptcy petition against John Crockitt senior and Edward Crockitt ironmasters in 1819. The last list in which it appears is 1830 when 1634 tons were made. Edward Crockitt of The Graveyard was bankrupt in 1833. It is not heard of again. Sources Dudley Archives, DE/T/6/7; DSCAM/4/2/47/3; DSCAM/5/2/2/1-3; Leeds Intelligencer, 5 Jul. 1819; Fowler’s Map of Sedgley (1826); London Gazette, no. 19073, 1491 (6 Aug. 1833). Gornalwood Furnace

[97] SO948889

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/6/4/7/9-11; Fowler’s Map of Sedgley (1826).

Ferreday, Wainwright & Jones had two furnaces called New Buffery, which existed in 1812 and were later occupied by James Wainwright & Co. When the ironworks (3 furnaces) and the associated colliery were advertised for sale in 1826, the extent of the unworked mines was emphasised, but it does not seem to have changed hands. The furnaces were operated by Blackwell, Jones & Co in the 1840s and one furnace was revived by John Jones & Co in the 1870s.

Graveyard Furnaces

[100] SO91759085

William Penn and his wife obtained licence to mine coal and ironstone in her land at Nether Gornal in 1798, which probably represents the date of erection of these works. Hawke & Co had two furnaces in 1806, one being out of blast. 1,274 tons had been made the previous year. One furnace had made 213 tons in 1796. Richard Hawke narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 1813. Hazell & Co had one furnace in use and the other out of blast in 1815. In 1826 it was out of repair and Benjamin Penn its owner was not using it, but shortly before Dudley Bagley had made 2,300 tpa there. Dudley Bagley’s mines had been placed in the hands of trustees and under the management of Francis Hill also in 1813, but in 1821 it was found that he had leased Graveyard Furnace and was using the trust’s minerals there. In February 1826 Rufford and

Sources Dudley Archives, Sherriff’s map (1812); Dudley parish map (1825); Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, 18 Sep. 1826. Old Buffery Furnace

[99] SO909914

Lord Dudley and Ward was the landlord, and the site was leased to Richard Hawkes in 1794, with R.W. Hawkes, S.W. Hodgetts and Benjamin Penn leasing nearby mines the following year. William Banks built the furnace in 1797, and he made 432 tons of pig iron there in 1805. Banks & Co had two furnaces in 1810. They still had the ironworks in 1815 but it was idle. John Bradley & Co made 45 tpw or 2,300 tpa there about 1824; it apparently then closed. It was derelict in 1826.

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/6/4/5/4; RH a/c; Fowler’s Map of Kingswinford (1822); Mutton 1973b, 109; Gloucester Journal, 23 May 1803; London Gazette; no.15942, 985 (2 Aug. 1805); Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 7 Sep. 1829. New Buffery Furnaces

[98] SO919911

[96] SO943881

In 1815 Salisbury, Hawkes, & Co had a new furnace called Old Buffery, which was not well managed. It does not appear on Sherriff’s map (1812). The partnership of Richard Salisbury & Co was dissolved in 1818 and 1819, 411

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Biggs (a Stourbridge bank) refused further advances and then put the matter in Chancery in 1830. Thomas Jones of Graveyard was bankrupt in 1821. Dudley Bagley of Dibdale House was bankrupt in 1831.

16 puddling furnaces in 1859, but only 6 after 1866. It had furnaces until 1956 and only closed in 1982. The site of New Level is now the Waterfront office development and that of the Old Level is occupied by part of the Merry Hill shopping centre.

Sources Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 4000/374, brief, c.1830; Dudley Archives, DE/3/7/1/52, 171-4; cf. DE/3/7/1/53, 97-9 & 338-41; DE/4/6/7/10; DSCAM 5/2/2; accn 8631/131; London Gazette, no. 18398, 1986 (21 Sep. 1827); no. 18798, 805 (26 Apr. 1831); cf. Dibdale (above). Level Ironworks: Old Level New Level

Sources Smith (W.A.) thesis, 33-37; Dudley Archives, DE/6/4/5/2-3 & 5; accn 9226; Raybould 1973, 138; 2014; Smith 1971, 46 50-1 &c; SW a/c, 1789-90; Staffs RO, D 1046; London Gazette, no. 17147, 1196 (22 Jun. 1816); no. 17277, 1777 (16 Aug 1816); no 17180. 1939 (8 Oct. 1816); cf. Gale 1966, 75.

[101] SO923871 [102] SO924876

Netherton (Old), Dudley Wood and Withymoor Furnaces

Two coke furnaces at the Level, Brierley Hill were held in 1794 by Thomas, William and Benjamin Gibbons, who also had Cradley and Lye Forges and other ironworks, and (separately) Ettingshall or Bilston Furnace. One was probably built in 1786, and a chafery, 2 melting fineries, and 2 balling furnaces were added in 1787, followed by the second furnace about 1790. The erection of the furnaces was probably the work of William and Richard Croft, under a lease of 1784, before their disposal of their ironworks at Cradley. In 1796 these made 1,391 tpa. In 1822 Old Level Furnace was occupied by Izon & Whitehurst. William Izon was still there in 1846. The Old Level passed in the 1850s to Hall, Holcroft, and Pearson and the 1870s to James Holcroft who sometimes had furnaces in blast until 1885, with 20 puddling furnaces in 1871.

[103] SO936891 and [104] SO951876

These were built by George Attwood and Co (James, Matthias and Aaron Attwood) under a lease of 1800. In 1810 Attwood & Co had two furnaces (only one in blast) at Netherton, and they built three furnaces at Dudley Wood in the next two years. They were presumably associated with George Attwood’s Belle Vale and Lodge Forges and slitting mill at Halesowen. Four furnaces at Dudley Wood or Bumble Hole made 240 tpw, when they were visited by Butler in 1815. James Attwood sold the works in 1825 to the British Iron Co (with his Corngreaves estate and ‘late Banks’s furnaces’ [Brierley]). Dudley Wood or Netherton then had four furnaces and two refineries. The sale contract was followed by lengthy Exchequer litigation, ultimately decided in Attwood’s favour by the House of Lords in 1839. Netherton Old and Dudley Wood Furnaces were in the hands of Noah Hingley & Sons in the 1850s and 1870s. They had up to 40 puddling furnaces at Netherton on the 1860s. J.H. Pearson was operating Netherton Old Furnaces until at least 1913, and these belonged to Baldwin’s Ltd in the 1920s.

New Level Furnaces were built under a lease of 1800. In 1806 there were three furnaces of which two were in blast and made 3,351 tpa in 1805. The partnership of T. W. & B. Gibbons seems to have been dissolved in c.1807 following the death of William, the works passing to Benjamin. He made over all his works to his nephews, Thomas, John, and Benjamin in 1814. Benjamin junior bought out his brothers, bringing in Thomas Stokes as a partner. In 1815 they belonged to Gibbons & Stokes, who had 4 furnaces in blast and rolling and slitting mills fully employed, but Benjamin Gibbons jun. and Thomas Stokes were bankrupt in 1816. There was a proposal to let the works to Viscount Ward and Dudley (their landlord), but the Lord Chancellor ordered their sale, but there was no sale. Thus Benjamin Gibbons sen. recovered the premises, but it is not clear how soon the works was restarted. The lease was renewed by some of the family in 1821, and the forge there and New Level Furnaces were occupied in 1822 by Benjamin Gibbons jun., probably in partnership with John Gibbons and Rev. Thomas Pearson. Some of the Gibbons family later developed the Corbyns Hall Furnaces at Kingswinford, whose design represented a major technical advance, but Benjamin Gibbons operated the New Level until 1847. He only had a forge in 1846, 3 furnaces (all out of blast) having passed to Lord Ward by then. Lord Ward and successive Earls of Dudley operated the New Level works from 1847. Dudley estate rentals imply Lord Dudley’s Mine Concern had ‘furnaces at the Level’ in 1820 and 1825. The works became part of the Earl of Dudley’s Round Oak Steel Works, which included

Sources Dudley Archives, DE/6/4/2/4; Sherriff’s map (1812); Raybould 1973, 141-2; SW a/c for 1803-7; Ellwell 1988; Reports of Cases Heard … in the House of Lords vi, 234-531. Netherton see also Blowers Green and Windmill End Parkhead Furnace (Dudley)

[105] SO932891

This furnace was built in 1800 by Zachariah Parkes, who built Coneygre Furnace at Dudley Port. In 1805 it made 1,404 tons. There was only one furnace in 1815, still belonging to Z. Parkes & Co in 1825. The works subsequently passed to Evers & Martin by 1839 and then to Phillips & McEwan, who operated furnaces until 1880. The Evers concerned may be the occupier of Cradley Forge. This was one of a number built in the estates of the Viscounts Dudley and Ward, later Earls of Dudley during the industrial revolution. Sources Dudley Archives, DE/6/4/2/3; Raybould 1973, 141.

412

Chapter 24: The Stour Valley and Southwest Black Country Windmill End Furnaces Netherton Furnaces

[106] SO95358815 [107] SO949879

By 1810 Bancks & Co had two furnaces at Windmill End (in Rowley Regis), and they built another close by at Netherton Wood in 1813. The partnership of Christopher Bancks, Latham Blacker and William Benbow was dissolved in 1811; and that of William and Christopher Banckes with Blacker and T. Maddison in 1814; Blacker withdrew in 1816, leaving William and Christopher Banckes, but their partnership was dissolved in 1817, probably on a sale of the works. The purchasers were presumably Mark Bolton Hughes, Joseph Horton, and Henry Downing (who withdrew in 1820). However they were replaced before 1825 by John Jones and Joseph Fereday, who were bankrupt in 1829. Netherton New Furnaces were built by Richard Bancks in c.1816, with the aid of a loan from Viscount Dudley and Ward. A detailed description dated 1817 of Netherton New Blast Furnaces is given by Gale. Stock at Windmill End Collieries and Blast Furnaces was the subject of a distraint sale in 1828. Sir Horace St Paul, baronet (father, then son) occupied the works on two occasions (probably as landowner), in the 1840s and the late 1870s. The first baronet married the heiress of the unsettled estates of her father John Viscount Ward. The works were thus probably on land bought by the viscount. The last furnace was blown out in 1884. Sources Gale 1966, 40-45; Dudley Archives, DE/4/7/1367 139; London Gazette, no. 16474, 680 (9 Apr. 1811); no. 17160, 752 (23 Apr. 1816); no. 17278, 1793 (19 Aug. 1817); no. 17637, 1829 (26 Sep. 1820); no. 18546, 212 (3 Feb. 1829); Staffordshire Advertiser, 19 Aug. 1814; Birmingham Gazette, 15 Dec. 1828.

413

25 The Clee Hills Introduction

Bringewood and Mocktree Forests were granted to his nominees Gelly Merrick and Henry Lyndley,1 but passed (back) to the Crown on his attainder. This property was then apparently granted to trustees for the Prince of Wales.2 Sir Henry Wallop, a Hampshire man, who married the heiress of the Corbetts of Moreton Corbett was a lessee under the crown and then the Princes of Wales until 1638. This seems to be a landed investment, rather than ironworks operation, but Sir Basil Brooke built Bromleys Forge on his land in 1608.3 Wallop and his wife retained ‘Southbadg’ (i.e. Sowbach) Mill, later known as Moreton Forge on settling an inheritance dispute in 1607. His involvement in so many places seems more than coincidence but the Wallop family’s papers have also not survived.

This chapter bears the title of the Clee Hills, not because all the ironworks were on or even very near Brown Clee and Titterstone Clee, but because this is where the ore mostly came from. In the case of the furnaces at Cleobury, it is likely that ore was mined in the Wyre Forest Coalfield. Furthermore it is possible that ore for Bringewood was originally mined on Bringewood Chase. If this was so, the ore would have come from the same kind of geological formation as the ores of the Forest of Dean and Furness, which would explain the high reputation of its iron. The largest river in the area is the River Teme which drains a large part of southern Shropshire. In fact relatively few of the ironworks stood on this river. The other important source of power was the Rea Brook which runs along the western foot of the Clee Hills and through Cleobury Mortimer. Contrary to reports that circulated in the 2000s, most of the Teme was never navigable. The exception is its final couple of miles, below Powick Forge which belongs to the next chapter. The Rea Brook also carries quite a substantial volume of water and there would be no difficulty in finding sufficient power for more mills than stood on its banks.

By 1638 (and perhaps from 1623) the lessee of ‘Bringewood’ was Francis Walker. His family dominated the industry in South and Central Shropshire in the 17th century, but the extent of their operations is not entirely clear. They are latterly described as of Wootton, but they were only lessees for lives there under Lord Craven. Francis Walker is said to have operated the Bringewood Works in 1623, but the basis of this is unclear.4 He was a partner, then owner of Longnor Forge from 1635.5 Francis Walker was a tenant of Bringewood in 1638 but Richard Walker was a partner of Boycott and others at Willey Furnace and Hubbals Mill in 1646/7.6 He cast ordnance for the royalists during the Civil War at Bouldon Furnace.7 In 1660, a Mr Walker had Astley Furnace.8 He renewed his lease of Bringewood in 1663.9 By 1671 William Walker had a quarter share in the works of Boycott & Co, Leighton Furnace and Upton, Sheinton, and Longnor Forges, to which Willey Furnace was added in 1674. His share passed to his daughter Jane Hart and then to her executors William Herbert of Cilybebyll in Glamorgan and William James of Downton, but this share then passed to his son

The disappearance of several groups of family papers has limited the reconstruction of the history of the iron industry in this area. The archive of Lord Foley’s Witley estate may have been destroyed when Witley Court was burnt down or on an earlier sale. The archive of the Blount family of Sodington and Mawley, who operated ironworks in the 17th century and again in the late 18th, has disappeared or at least I have not traced it. This also applies to the Winnington family of Stanford, one of whom was for a short period a sleeping partner in the Cheshire Ironmasters. Such archives might have thrown light to elucidate the histories of Down and Tilsop Furnaces and Cleobury Forge, whose histories are more obscure than is typical for their period.

1

TNA, LR1/136, ff.244v-248v. Other dates have been suggested: Bull (1869, 54) claimed that William Earl of Craven leased Bringewood Forge to Francis Walker in 1584, but this cannot be correct as the first Craven peerage was only created in 1626 and the earldom in 1662. Possibly his source was not dated 26 Elizabeth, but 26 Charles II (i.e. 1673), which would fit the title of Earl. Rees (1968, 278) related it to the lease Dorval Wood [Deerfold Forest] was to John Durning and Maurice Kissin in 1591 (TNA, LR1/136, f.28) but it was merely the lease of a wood of 814 acres, and nothing indicates that ironworks were intended. 2 I have failed to locate the archives of the Princes’ Council. I suspect that the Council’s order book is among those of the Duchy of Cornwall, to which I have not had access. 3 Lawson 1973. 4 I have not been identified the sources used by Bull (1869). 5 VCH Shrops viii, 112; Shrops RO, 567/31. 6 TNA, C 5/572/81. 7 Royalist Ordnance Papers, 35. 8 Yarranton 1677-81 i, 193. 9 Herefs RO, T74/403.

The indirect process reached the Clee district almost as early as anywhere as anywhere outside Sussex. Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester had ironworks on his estates at Cleobury Mortimer from 1563 and had two furnaces and two forges in 1584. Other early furnaces are known or suspected at Abdon and at Cassett Wood (or Catherton Heath), but virtually nothing is known of their history. One particularly significant works was Bringewood which was probably built by Robert Earl of Essex in the 1590s, after the manors of Wigmore and Burrington with

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 25. The Clee Hills. 1, Abdon Furnace, Lower Norncott; 2, Boraston Hammermill; 3, Bouldon Furnace; 4, Bringewood Furnace and Forge; 5, Bringewood rolling mill; 6, Bringewood tinmill; 7, Cassett Wood; 8, Charlcot Furnace; 9, Cleobury Forge; 10, Cleobury Furnace; 11, Cleobury Park Furnace; 12, Cleobury Upper Forge; 13, Down Furnace; 14, Hardwick Forge; 15, Prescott Forge; 16, Shelsley Forge; 17, Tilsop Furnace; 18, Cinder Mill, Stottesdon; 19, Holdgate Mill; 20, Leintwardine Forge; 21, Neen Savage bloomsmithy; 22, Furnace Farm, Stanford-on-Teme; 23, Wrickton Mill; 24, Cornbrook Furnace; 25, Knowbury or Clee Hill Furnace.

Job Walker.10 The best known activity of the Walker family is the operation of the Bringewood Works, but there are strong indications of an involvement at Cleobury Mortimer in the first half of the century and at Bouldon later. Papers in connection with Job Walker’s 1695 bankruptcy show he not only had Bringewood, but also Bouldon.11 Both it and Cleobury Forge had longstanding links with the Blount family of Sodington (in Mamble, Worcs) who at other periods operated these works themselves. Further north outside the district described here, as mentioned, Longnor Forge was in their hands for a long period and successive members of the family were partners in Boycott & Co for something like half a century. All of this ended when Job Walker became bankrupt in about 1695.12

1694 he was a partner in Ruabon Furnace,15 but gave up his share in that and other works to buy Bringewood on Job Walker’s bankruptcy. He had a share in the (Foley) Forest Works from 1707 to 1717 with a salary for inspecting the works, replacing Richard Avenant (who had died).16 He probably took over Cookley Forge after the 1703 bankruptcy of Richard Wheeler, certainly by 1706, adding Wolverley Old Forge for a few years in the 1710s.17 Cookley was the first ironworks of what became the Stour Works Partnership, operated from 1725 by his son and then his grandson, as Edward Knight & Co and then John Knight & Co, as described in the previous chapter. In 1727, he was a partner of Richard Baldwyn and others in his timber trade and leases in ‘Doddington’ [Earl’s Ditton], probably including Willey and Bouldon Furnaces and Cleobury Forge.18 By 1725, he seems to have been a senior figure in the iron industry and was appealed to when William Rea failed to provide accounts for the Forest Partnership, leading to his becoming embroiled in the subsequent litigation and acting as umpire in a related arbitration.19 Passing references suggest he was also involved in ironworks at Kirkby, Clipstone and Carburton

From this time the dominant man was Richard Knight,13 very much a self-made man. He bought the Bringewood works in 1695 and later added Charlcot Furnace on the east side of Brown Clee. The main function of Charlcot Furnace was to supply pig iron to his own works in the Stour Valley and at Bringewood. He was born in 1659 at Madeley, where his father presumably had some role in the Coalbrookdale Works. He worked at Moreton Forge, perhaps as a manager,14 rather than an ironmaster. In

15

Herefs RO, T74/680. Worcs RO, r899:228 BA 1970; TNA, E 112/1127/4-5; E 134/4 Geo 2/ Hil 13; E 134/5 Geo 2/Hil 8 & 11. 17 Worcs RO, Kidderminster library catalogue, no 7384 (original destroyed); Foley a/c. 18 TNA, PROB 11/617/316 (copy: Shrops RO, 6000/14696); cf. Willey a/c. 19 King 2010a, 395; TNA E 134/5 Geo 2/Hil 11, Warine Falkner; Foley E12/VI/DGd/17. For detail of this see chapter 30. 16

Shrops RO, 6000/3100 and 3230 cf. 3093. NLW, Powis Castle 17883; Cilybebyll 416. 12 Q.v. and see chapter 16. 13 The best biographies are Page 1979 and Ince 1991b. 14 Page 1979, 9. He supplied Forest pig to Wytheford Forge in 1687: Shrops RO, 624/15. 10 11

416

Chapter 25: The Clee Hills

The Knight family tree.

in the East Midlands in c.1720-7,20 and in the Cheshire Ironmasters until 1735.21 None of these interests passed to his sons: either the leases expired or he was bought out. Bouldon Furnace and Cleobury Forge probably passed to George Crump (another of Baldwyn’s partners) and then to its landlords, the Blounts of Mawley and Soddington. Richard Knight transferred Bringewood and Charlcot to his sons Edward and Ralph and then gave these to them for life in his will. They were managed by Ralph (d.1753), then Edward’s son James until 1780 when Edward’s interest died with him. Bad relations with the cousins, who had inherited Downton Castle, may have caused the Bringewood business to end in disarray and acrimony.

belonged to J.G. Lewis, who emigrated to New Zealand in 1854.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Abdon Furnace, Lower Norncott

This little known furnace seems to have operated in the late 17th century. It appears on an estate map of 1694. It may have been built about 1654, when Sir Humphrey Briggs had the liberty of mining ironstone in the Stoke St Milbrough part of Brown Clee Hill. There are said to be slight remains of masonry. It may possibly be connected with the disparking of Earnstrey Park, whenever that may have taken place. In 1692 a later Sir Humphrey Briggs authorised James Willmott and Thomas Lowbridge to mine ironstone but did not let a furnace to them, probably implying Abdon Furnace no longer existed. The name Furnace Lane occurs that year. The Briggs family of Haughton were lords of the manor of Abdon and owners of Earnstrey Park in the 17th and 18th centuries. The 1692 grant may thus have been to supply a new Charlcot Furnace. There is slag at the site. The foundations and a weir and pool have been identified. These may be in Lower Norncott in The Heath chapelry of Stoke St Milborough parish.

Charcoal pig iron continued to be produced in this area almost later than anywhere else in the Midlands. Both Bouldon and Bringewood were still in blast in ‘1794.’ Coke smelted pig iron had however arrived a few years before this; in 1783 Thomas Botfield built a furnace high on the southern slopes of Titterstone Clee, variously known as Cornbrook and Clay Hill [i.e. Clee Hill] Furnace, but it may initially also have used charcoal.22 Its location is still known by the name, Old Furnace, which now applies to a small district. With this was associated a forge known as the Cleobury Dale Ironworks, at Mawley by Cleobury Mortimer. Prescott Forge seems to have closed about 1794. At Bringewood, at least the forge probably lasted until the lease expired in 1814. Most other works probably closed about this time, but Cleobury Forge was still in use in 1828. Both these latterly belonged to Samuel George, who built a second coke furnace, at Knowbury. This later

20 21 22

[1] SO56738671

Sources Rowley 1967, 170; 1972, 219; Mutton 1966c, 43; Trinder 1976, 14; Shrops RO, 5735/2/2/2; Riden 1993, 55; VCH Shrops x, 398 (citing Shrops RO, 5403/7/4/1); Pastscape 111206; Tucker 1991, 68; Watts 2001, T. Rowley gave his source as documents then in Shrops RO, but I have failed to identify his 1654 source.

See chapter 10. See chapter 13. Inf. from L. Ince, from pig iron prices in SW a/c.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Boraston Hammermill

[2] SO608689

George Crump who had been another of the partners in Richard Baldwin & Co; his exact status is again uncertain. This apparent conflict of evidence would disappear if there was at times a partnership between the managers and the Blounts. Richard Amies was clerk for a long period in the early 18th century. The furnace was still in blast, blown by water and using charcoal in 1794, being in the hands of its owner, Sir Walter Blount. It was advertised to let 1795, and closed by 1798, one of the last charcoal furnaces in the Midlands, perhaps because it was ‘noted and always esteemed for making the best tough pig iron in the kingdom’, as the advert claimed. A paper mill was built shortly after its closure and this building is now in use as a house. Rowley noted a tree-covered slag heap.

The grid reference given is a meadow shown on the Boraston Tithe map as Hammermill Meadow, containing possible trace of an abandoned loop of the River Teme. One source for the history of the forge says that it lay in the manor of Tenbury, and became severed from the rest of the manor by the river. Another source refers to it being rented from various copyholders of the manor of Boraston. No doubt, as was common, property on each side of the river had to be rented. The forge was referred to in litigation of about 1740 concerning a rent for the parcel of the manor of Tenbury, beyond the Teme and was then in the possession of the owner of a farm in Boraston. It was alleged that the forge had been built by an ancestor of the tenant of the parcel in question, and the pleadings traced the rent back to 1597 from rentals that were then in the possession of the plaintiff. The forge had in fact been built by Ralph Tomlins, who was the lord of a manor in the parish of Burford, where he built a furnace, probably Tilsop. He let his furnace and probably also the forge to Thomas Lake and John Cooke and then in 1603 let both to Richard Lewis. Lewis renewed both leases in 1606, after which its history is obscure. The forge had certainly been abandoned by 1717; it may have only operated for a relatively short period. Colliers and a hammerman are mentioned in Burford parish register around 1600. The Cheshire ironmaster family of Hall came originally from Greet and/or Burford, a couple of miles away at most, Michael Hall II’s grandfather Richard dying there in 1663.

Size 1717 400 tpa. There is little reason why it should not have produced rather more than this at times, but the figure is probably the amount of pig iron needed by an associated forge. 1788 600 tpa. Associations probably usually held with Cleobury Forge but held with Bringewood for some years up to 1695. In 1741 Richard Knight and George Crump jointly disposed of Prescott and Hardwick Forges; the significance of this is not clear. Trading 1642-6 ordnance was cast for the Royalists (Royalist Ordnance Papers, 35). In 1683 Mr Soley, perhaps a relative of the Walkers, sold 10 tons of pig iron to Ruabon (Edwards, 1960, 54): There were occasional ‘loans’ of Charlcot pig iron to Bouldon and by Bouldon to Bringewood (Bringewood a/c, for 1743 & 1751). 4 tons of pig iron was sold by the Bouldon Company to Coalbrookdale Company in 1721/2 (CBD a/c). Apart from the ‘loans’ there is no sign of pig iron being supplied to either of the Knight partnerships. This is very probably because any pig iron not needed by associated forges was easily sold to the owners of forges in the Shropshire plain where there was in the mid-18th century a need to import considerable amounts of pig iron. It is said to have supplied pig iron to Mathrafal and Pool Quay Forges (Shrops RO, 5304/7/7/4).

Sources Shrops RO, 3137/39; Awty 1957, 56; Goodman 1980, 42; thesis, 98; Awty 1981, 59. Bouldon Furnace

[3] SO547850

The furnace was on a small brook at the foot of the western side of Brown Clee. It was built by the Baldwyn family in the early 17th century. Francis Walker cast 44 pieces of ordnance here during the civil war for the royalists and it sent armaments to the defence of Ludlow Castle and may still have been its clerk in 1661. However it is said to have been sold to Sir Walter Blount in 1647, though it was probably usually run by tenants in the 17th century, including Mr Soley in 1683 and then Job Walker who became bankrupt in 1695. It is commonly stated that Bouldon was held by the Knight family. The origin of this statement seems to be that Richard Knight was a partner in Richard Baldwin & Co at Willey and Cleobury. It is quite possible that Richard Knight acquired the furnace with the rest of Job Walker’s works, but there does not seem to be any proof. The lessees were William Hall in 1696 until 1702 or later and Thomas Read from 1718, both of whom were closely associated with Cleobury, though more probably as managers or partners than owners. Edward Blount of Teddington (later Sir Edward Blount of Mawley) is said to have had it (as lessee) by 1714 and until 1721 or later. In 1743 the furnace was managed by

Inventory 1694: NLW, Powis Castle 17883. Sources VCH Shrops x, 149-50; Rowley 1966; 1967, 170-1; 1972, 219-20; Trinder 1973, 17 29 74; 1996, 11-14 93 234; NLW, Cilybebyll 416; TNA, PROB 11/617/316 (copy: Shrops RO, 6000/14696); Tucker 1991, 58. The archive of the Blount family has not been found; as a result, the history of this furnace is more obscure than it ought to be. [4] c.SO45457498 Bringewood Furnace and Forge [5] about SO45587522 rolling mill tinmill [6] about SO462754 Bringewood, Darvel, and Mocktree were chases of the Mortimer family of Wigmore Castle, the Earls of March. They were inherited by Edward IV though his material 418

Chapter 25: The Clee Hills hundred yards downstream there is a wall built across the river, with the water pouring through a couple of narrow gaps. This is evidently the remains of a weir and probably the site of a rolling mill making black plate. The name Tinmill Coppice a little further downstream again suggests the location of another part of the works. A feature on O.S. maps labelled ‘canal’ was actually a mill leat. Several ironmasters were buried in Burrington churchyard with cast iron grave slabs.

grandmother, but alienated by Elizabeth I. An ironworks, comprising a furnace and probably a forge, was built by Robert Earl of Essex, probably in the early 1590s. On his attainder the premises reverted to the Crown and were let to Sir Henry Wallop from 1603, until 1638 when he quitclaimed his interest to Sir William Whitmore of Apley and various others mainly of that family. The following year Robert Earl of Lindsey and others including two of the Whitmore family disposed of timber in Darvel and Bringewood Chases. However this all seems to refer to a leasehold interest in the property held as an investment, rather than to the operation of ironworks.

Size Furnace 1717 450 tpa; 1788 600 tpa; Forge 1717 340 tpa; 1718 350 tpa; 1736 300 tpa; and 1750 450 tpa.

As early as 1605 the works were sublet to ironmasters, first to Richard Marchant, Robert Steward, William Angrom, and William Walton, who also had ironworks in Derbyshire. Wood was supplied in the subsequent period to Lewis and Henry Morgan and to Robert Steward. The works are said to have been let (presumably by Wallop) to Edward Vaughan in 1619, and to Francis Walker in 1623, but were managed by Walter Lacy as agent for Sir Henry Wallop in 1634. Francis Walker rented them by 1638, and it remained in the family for over half a century. In 1663, an agreement for a lease is said to have been made with Edward Harley but the lease was left with one of the Walker family. It was operated probably until 1684 by William Walker and his executors, interested family members including William Herbert of Wootton and Cilybebyll in Glamorgan and William and Francis Walker and William James of Downton. Job Walker of Wootton succeeded them in 1684 but was bankrupt in 1695. The works were then acquired by Richard Knight and were used by him and his descendants for many years: by Richard Knight himself 1695 to 1733; by Edward and Ralph Knight (Ralph Knight & Co) 1733 to 1753; by Edward Knight alone 1753 to 1766 then with his sons John and James Knight (as James Knight & Co) 1766 to 1772. The final members of the family to use the works were John and James who probably abandoned the works on their father’s death in 1780, leaving them in bad repair. However James Knight was still described as occupier in 1782. They were eventually leased to William Downing of Pembridge and Richard Giles of Hope in 1783 for 31 years, after they had put the works into repair. In 1790 they were held by Downing and Cooley, then 1791 to 1792 Downing and Longmore. From 1793 Benjamin Giles was the occupier, joined by Samuel George in 1798. He continued alone, followed by 1811 by James George (d.1816). The works probably closed in 1814, at the end of the lease. The hereditament was taken over by John Price and then in 1825 by Margaret Price, but she only held a ‘farm’ in 1827.

In 1603 the works were taking 2000 cords of wood yearly from the adjoining chases (representing 130-160 tpa bar iron). An increase of 500 cords was recommended at that time, and consumption rose to 3000 cords in 1637 (at least 200-240 tpa, depending what wood came from other sources). An annex to 1717 list (probably after 1720) says, ‘but Mr Ray [William Rea]... says.... Bringewood (sic) furnace not 200 tons and Bringewood (sic) forge 320 tons will stand for want of wood’. This may reflect short term over-exploitation of the woods during the embargo on Sweden. John Bedford described the iron made as ‘coldshort yet inclining to tough’; stating, ‘Mr Knight calls it the mint.’ (NLW, Bedford). From 1734 to 1756 the furnace was generally blown about alternate years. Thereafter, it was in blast most years making less each blast but more in total until 1778. It was still in use in 1794, being described as blown by water. James Knight patented a blowing engine for furnaces in 1762. Such an engine was no doubt in use at the furnace. Actual production in the forge in the 1740s averaged 360 tpa and in the 1750s 400 tpa and in the 1770s sometimes exceeded 500 tpa. Actual production in the furnace was usually over 700 tons per blast up to 1756 and 430 to 550 tpa thereafter (accounts). It could probably have been kept in blast longer or more often, if there had been more wood to make charcoal from. In 1783 there was said to one finer’s forge and one hammerman’s forge, presumably meaning there were two hammers (Herefs RO, T74/424 and 405). In 1794 the furnace was still in use being blown with a water wheel, and the forge had three fineries and a chafery, but no rolling mill is mentioned. Associations All the Bringewood works were always held together. Marchant and his partners also had ironworks in Staunton Harold (Derbyshire). Moreton and Bromleys Forges, on Sir Henry Wallop’s wife’s estate, may well date from the period when he was interested in the Bringewood works. Job Walker also held Bouldon Furnace and Longnor Forge and like earlier members of the family was a partner in Boycott & Co. From 1733 Charlcot Furnace and Mitton Tinmill (built 1740) were comprised in the same partnership as Bringewood, while the Stour Works were the subject of a separate partnership, in which Abraham Spooner (a brother-in-law) was the additional partner. William Downing also had Strangworth Forge at Pembridge. Samuel George built Knowbury Furnace, which operated long after Bringewood closed.

A rolling mill was built in 1740 making black plate much of which was taken by road to Mitton Tinmill to be tinned. The tinmill at Bringewood is likely to have been added in the course of the repairs of the early 1780s. All the works were on the River Teme on the northern edge of Bringewood Chase, a few miles west of Ludlow. The forge weir and bridge have been replaced by 19th century ones, but there is water flowing in a small side channel. A few 419

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Trading Wood for charcoal came from the adjoining forests or chases of Bringewood, Mocktree, and Darvel, which were crown property, inherited from the Earls of March. Wood deliveries 1611-18 from Darvel are recorded (TNA, E 101/674/39). Bringewood iron was being bought by William Glasbrooke at Bewdley for John Jennens of Birmingham in 1631 (TNA, C  2/Chas I/J5/12). In 1649 Richard Walker agreed to sell 40 tons of bar iron to Robert Foley of Stourbridge (TNA, C  5/394/43; C  8/315/48). Richard Knight’s acquisition of the works is marked by his purchase of 114 tons of Forest pig iron paid for by the sale of 205 tons of bar iron (Foley a/c). In 1733-78 there were no sales from the furnace (except occasional small amounts to the associated Stour Works partnership), since all of it and much of the pig iron cast at Charlcot Furnace were required by the forge. Pig iron from Charlcot was sometimes stored at Roundthorn (SO554788), presumably a halfway point between the works (BW a/c). Edward Knight lent money to Ludlow Second Turnpike Trust, which went near the forge (Albert 1983, 53). Samuel George was buying Horsehay pig iron 1803 to 1806 (HH a/c). Successive proprietors bought pig iron from Old Park Furnace intermittently from 1791 to 1812 (OP a/c). It is probable that Bringewood Furnace was last used shortly after 1800, the forge subsequently being supplied from his Knowbury Furnace, the purchases from Old Park being to cover periods when Knowbury was out of blast.

a founder, lived at Heathills until his death in 1643. No associated forge is known. Sources Poyner 2005, 76-7; King & Poyner 2004a; Goodman thesis, 90-6; Herefs RO, wills, William Edwards 1643. Charlcot Furnace now Charlcotte

The furnace was on a small brook east of Brown Clee. H.R. Schubert’s date of 1670 is almost certainly too early. It is possible it was built in c.1691, when Thomas Lowbridge and James Willmott (of Mitton Forges) had an ironstone-mining lease in Earnstrey Park. They were given the option of having ironstone measured according to the measure in use at Sir Walter Blount’s Furnace [presumably Bouldon] or that at Bringewood, perhaps significantly omitting to mention Charlcot. Lowbridge and Richard Knight were for a time partners at Ruabon, until Knight bought Bringewood and gave up his share at Ruabon. Possibly, he may have acquired Charlcot as part of the same transaction. It certainly existed by 1700 when its pig iron reached Longnor Forge, but the vendor is not named. The freehold was purchased by Richard Knight in 1712, perhaps when a 21-year lease would have been due for renewal. He probably used it himself until 1733, when he gave it to his sons Edward and Ralph. After Ralph’s death, Edward Knight at first had it alone, but later (as at Bringewood) with his sons John and James Knight until Edward Knight’s life interest under his father’s will ended with his death in 1780. It was thus for most of its life in the same hands as Bringewood. It probably closed in 1780. Structural iron was removed in 1785. The furnace stack is well preserved, but the surrounding buildings have disappeared. It was excavated by N. Mutton in the 1960s when wooden supporting bars were inserted to support the structure, where there is a hole in the side of the stack.

Accounts Full annual accounts1773-78: BW a/c (Knight 242 to 268); Inventory 1694: NLW, Powis Castle 17883. Sources TNA, E 178/3874; C 2/Jas I/A3/31; E 134/10 Chas I/Mich 18; HMC Salisbury, xx, 283; Bull 1869; Herefs RO, F76/II/350-3; T74/184-5 403 424 598 685 &c; land tax, Burrington; NLW, Cilybebyll various incl. 416; Lewis 1951; Page 1979, 10 & 12-14; Awty 2019, passim (‘Burrington’); King 1988, 109; Aris Birmingham Gazette 7 Apr. 1792; Cambrian, 18 May 1816; van Laun 1979b; 1989; Robinson 1925; Bayliss 1987; Trinder 1973, 17 74 82 & 186; 1996, 94-96; Tucker 1991, 20-3; Rees 1968, 278-9. I am dubious of certain statements by Bull and Rees (see footnote 1). Cassett Wood or Catherton Furnace

[8] SO63888608

Size 1717 400 tpa. The average amount made in a full year in blast varied usually between 400 and 600 tpa, but was at the bottom end of this range or below it in the 1760s and 1770s. It was in blast every year from 1735 to 1744, two years in three for the rest of the 1740s, then alternate years to 1773. It was last blown in 1777.

[7] SO637777

Charcoal blast furnace slag can be found near where Goodman found documentary references to Furnace House (also called Heathills) and Furnace Meadow. The site lies in the bottom of a deep valley and is likely to have been built by (or for) an owner of the manor of Catherton. There are the foundations of a building (possibly a charcoal barn) in the wood, and a shelf in the hillside may represent the course of the leat; but the surface remains of the furnace are slight. Goodman identified this site with ‘blowshops’ reported by Leland and suggested that this was a furnace that predated any other outside Sussex. While that possibility cannot be ruled out, it is more probable that the ‘blowshop’ was a powered bloomery and that furnace was built in the late 16th or early 17th century. However, the only evidence for its date is that William Edwards,

Trading The pig iron, produced here after 1733, was almost all sent to the associated forge at Bringewood and the related works in the Stour valley. Pig iron for Bringewood was sometimes stored at Roundthorn (SO554788), presumably a halfway point between the works. In the 1730s Cookley and Wolverley Forges were the main customers and after that the two forges at Mitton for which pig iron was usually carried to Bridgnorth, then freighted down the river Severn. To what extent this reflects a specialisation of product and to what extent mere convenience of delivery is not clear (BW a/c; SW a/c). However 61 tons were supplied to Longnor Forge in two years 1700-02 (Boycott a/c) and there were occasional small sales subsequently. 420

Chapter 25: The Clee Hills Accounts Full annual accounts: BW a/c 1733 to 1778.

managers. George & Lewis then had the forge in 1822 & 1823, and George James Lewis from 1824 until c.1828. Lewis probably then moved his forge to Knowbury. The site is now marked mainly by a high weir, but there are some remains, which were surveyed by RCHME.

Sources Herefs RO, T74/379 & 352; Lewis 1951; Mutton 1965; 1966; 1966b; Ince 1991b; cf. Shrops RO, 5735/2/2/2; Watts 1998, 44-50; Rowley 1967, 178. Schubert 1957, 370 (citing VCH Shrops, i, 472) says the Childs of Kinlet owned the furnace from 1670. The basis of this incorrect statement is not clear: it possibly refers to ownership of land at Charlcot Farm, over which Philip Foley had a mortgage in 1674, rather than to the occupation of any furnace. Cleobury Forge formerly Cleobury Lower Forge

Size In 1586 there were two furnaces and probably two forges; 12,000 cords of wood are mentioned to have been granted with the two furnaces in 1576; if this was an annual allowance it represents 800 tpa, a very large operation at this period. The areas of woodland available do not render this figure at all improbable. Forge: 1717 180 tpa; 1736 200 tpa; 1750 250 tpa; 1794 3 fineries and 2 chaferies.

[9] SO686757

Associations It was initially held with Cleobury Furnaces; then with Tilsop Furnace and in 18th century with Bouldon Furnace. The Blounts were partners in Shelsley Forge from the 1630s to 1677, except during Andrew Yarranton’s tenure there, Sir George Blount being among the sponsors of the tinplate experiment in the 1660s (Brown 1988). George & Lewis owned Knowbury Furnace.

Robert Earl of Leicester built the ironworks on the river Rea, a little below Cleobury, soon after 1563. This was on an estate which included the park of Cleobury in Cleobury Mortimer and Neen Savage and the manor of Earnwood, comprising between them a considerable part of the Wyre Forest. A forge at Rowley was let to Stephen Hadnall in 1571, who also at one stage owned ironworks near Bridgnorth. The whole works were let in 1576 to John Weston, whose widow surrendered them in 1585. They were then relet to Edward Broughton and Edward Blount, the latter still being in occupation in 1596. The estate was sold in 1608 to the Lacons of Kinlet, from whom it descended to the Childe family, but it is often not apparent for whom the ironworks were operated. Continual references (see trading) to the Blount family who owned Mawley in Cleobury Mortimer may imply that they were proprietors of the ironworks over a long period either alone or with partners. In particular it may be noted that Mr Blount bought wood for Cleobury Forge about 1629, and that Sir Walter Blount invested in Shelsley Forge before 1631, followed by taking over Bouldon Furnace in 1647. Numerous entries in the parish registers for residents of the Forge mainly refer to workmen: There are however a few names of people, who also appear as buyers of wood and who were therefore probably managers of the works (see trading below). On occasions members of the Walker family of Bringewood are described as ‘of Cleobury’. It is therefore possible that they had an interest in the forge, as they did in Bouldon Furnace and c.1660 in Astley Furnace. On the other hand, William Hall appears to have operated as if he was the proprietor of the ironworks.

Trading Walter and Francis Blount bought cordwood for Cleobury Forge in about 1629 from Altons Wood, the part of Wyre Forest in Rock parish (TNA, E 178/286 & E 134/6 Chas I/Mich 20). Sir Walter Blount bought hammers and anvils from Ruabon 1677-9 (Edwards 1960, 54), but this could be connected with Shelsley Forge, rather than Cleobury. William Hall of Cleobury shared cordwood from Bayton with Foley Ironworks in Partnership between 1698 and 1704 (Foley a/c). A large tract of wood (called Kingswood) in the northern part of the Wyre Forest, in a detachment of Stottesdon parish was divided in the 19th century between the current Blount and the Earl of Dudley, who had bought Lord Foley’s Kidderminster and Great Witley estates. This is likely to derive from one of the Blounts and a head of the Foley family having bought the wood jointly to supply their respective ironworks and later partitioned (Kingswood tithe award). Rowland Read bought cordwood from Stokesay (not necessarily for this forge) in 1665 and 1669. The deed for the former refers to the possibility of Thomas Foley considering it too expensive. The significance of this is not apparent, as this is long before the evidence of price control by a Stourbridge ironmasters quarterly meeting (on which see chapter 24). Other purchasers included Sebastian Legas for William Hall of Bayton in 1697; Thomas Read in 1718 (Staffs RO, D 1788/P59/B2). The Read Family lived at Mawley in Cleobury Mortimer (Cleobury Parish Registers). Castings from Hales furnace were bought by George Crump in 1736-1743 but by Sir Edward Blount in 1748-1755 (SW  a/c). George Crump was also a debtor at Willey in 1729 (Downton a/c). He was described as of Cleobury when an executor of George Draper (see Mitton) and in a deed relating to Prescott and Hardwick forges (q.v.). Pig iron was supplied from Horsehay to Sir Walter Blount in 1768, to Sir Walter Blount 1796-1804 and to Sir Edward Blount 18046 (HH a/c) and from Old Park to Sir Walter 1790-1, 1795, 1806 and 1809-11, though post-1803 sales ought to have

John Baldwin of the Forge gent, buried in 1676, may only have been a clerk, but William Hall, who is named in connection with the forge from 1698 to 1718, was almost certainly its tenant. Subsequently Richard Baldwin (died 1727) ran it in partnership with Richard Knight, Thomas Green of Wenlock, and George Crump, the latter apparently being in charge of the works from Baldwin’s death until at least 1743. After his time it was certainly in the hands of successive heads of the Blount family: Sir Edward Blount until 1755 or later (d.1758); Sir Walter Blount in 1765 (d.1785); his son Sir Walter Blount until his death in 1803; and then Sir Edward Blount until 1821. James Blount, who advertised for a bloom maker in 1782, and Mr Jackson, who died in 1804, were presumably 421

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II been to his executors or his son; Sir Edward and the later proprietors bought pig iron thence every year from 1813 to 1825; the last recorded sale was to George James Lewis at ‘Knebury’ [Knowbury]; the 200 tpa, bought in 1811 and 1813, were probably a very considerable proportion of the pig iron used (OP a/c). Bouldon Furnace closed in the mid to late 1790s and the forge was presumably thereafter supplied from Cornbrook Furnace and perhaps later also Knowbury. In the late 18th century the forge made piston rods for Boulton & Watt (Tann 1978, 44).

tinplate experiment, it is conceivable that this, like Wolverley Lower Forge, was intended as a tinplate works. This in turn suggests continuity with its subsequent use by John Florry. Unfortunately nothing is certainly known of its history for over 150 years in the 17th and 18th centuries. John Florry had a rolling mill producing tinplate probably from 1769 (when he left his Bradley glassworks) until 1787. This passed to Thomas Botfield, who employed J. Barker (a forgeman) in 1787. In 1790 he had a forge with two fineries and one chafery. Botfield & Co also held Cornbrook Furnace on Clee Hill, probably built in 1783 and later Prescott Forge. Thomas Botfield jun. bought pig iron in 1790-1801 from Old Park Furnace of his father (d.1801) and purchases continued after this when both were held by Thomas, William, and Beriah Botfield until 1807. The early purchases are very intermittent and may well represent the periods when Clee Hill Furnace (Cornbrook) was out of blast. An enquiry to Old Park for charcoal iron in 1803 was referred to Cleobury Dale.

Sources TNA, C  2/Eliz./W8/53; E  178/1900; Cleobury Mortimer Psh Reg. (Shrops Psh Reg. Soc.); Shrops RO, QS 281, 184 & 261; 1045/445; Hereford Journal, 19 Jun 1783; Gloucester Journal, 26 Mar 1804; Trinder 1973, 82; Goodman 1980; thesis; Schubert 1957, 371 (from Dudley Papers at Longleat); Baldwin 1994; Auchmuty 1911, 11 etc.; Hayman thesis, 107; RCHME report (Copy at Shrops HER, ESA3435); inf. from M. Baldwin. Trinder’s date (1973, 82) for the George family having the forge is too early. Cleobury Furnace Cleobury Park Furnace

[10] SO71957555 [11] SO71137642

The introduction to Cleobury Mortimer Parish Register (Shropshire Parish Register Society) states that the forge was built by Sir Walter Blount. This may refer to the plate mill, but the works was in fact on the estate of the Childe family of Kinlet until the freehold passed to the Blount family as part of an exchange in 1810. It was leased to C.S. Chauncy in 1805 and he assigned it to Blount in 1807. At this point, Sir Walter Blount’s pig iron purchases increase considerably. The site is today marked only by a weir in the River Rea below Mawley Hall. It was investigated by RCHME.

Furnace Mill in the Cleobury Mortimer part of Wyre Forest is probably the site of a 16th and 17th-century blast furnace, but there are no apparent remains of it, though there is said to be slag in the brook. The second furnace site, further upstream, was only identified in the 1990s and may well have been little disturbed since the furnace closed. The site is marked by a dam over fifteen feet high. At its northern end this has been breached, presumably adjacent to a wheelpit. This leads to a wet patch, evidently a tail race, alongside which is a heap of typical blast furnace slag some 25 yards long and 5 yards wide. Adjacent to the dam and tailrace is a mound sloping away from the dam, which seems likely to contain the remains of the furnace stack. The site was described more fully in Young 2011a. Documents refer to two furnaces in the 1590s and there was still a founder in the 1630s. The final furnace is presumed to have closed in that or the following decade, probably being replaced by Tilsop and/or Bouldon furnaces. The furnaces share the history of Cleobury Forge (see above).

Trading John Florry rolled steel for and supplied tinplate to Boulton & Fothergill of Birmingham (Birmingham Archives, MS 3782/1/9, 602; 3782/1/1, 86; also letters). Amounts of pig iron, fluctuating between almost nothing and 160 tpa were supplied to the forge from Old Park Furnace (OP a/c). The amounts will not reflect the size of the forge as the main source of pig iron was almost certainly the associated furnace on Clee Hill. Sources Shrops RO, 1045/451; 1045/470; Baldwin 1994, 45; Birmingham Archives, 259854 ‘autobiography of Miss Florry, 1744-1812’; TNA, PROB 11/1165/211; Hayman thesis, 74 115; RCHME report (copy at Shrops HER, ESA3434). I owe to David Poyner the reference to John Florry; and that to Plate Mill Hems to Mark Baldwin. Hayman’s date of 1783 for Botfield’s arrival is probably applies only for Cornbrook Furnace, not the forge.

Sources Young 2011a; 2011c; and as Cleobury (Lower) Forge. [12] SO686757 Cleobury Upper Forge or Cleobury Dale Ironworks or Mawley Forge

Down Furnace

This was probably the site of the second Cleobury Forge, which operated in the late 16th century, sharing the history of the other forge. In the 18th century, there was a field called Plate Mill Hems, suggesting the presence of a rolling mill making iron plates. This was in 1598 Hemm [Hammer] Myll Leasow. By changing the rolls, such a mill could also be used as a slitting mill. The presence of one at Cleobury is suggested by there being nailers there. Since Sir George Blount was one of the sponsors of Andrew Yarranton’s

[13] SO637748

The sole contemporary documentary source for this furnace is a lease of a farm in Milson dated 1690 to Sebastian Legas, who was then employed at the furnace. It is not clear who his master was. Legas was living in Diddlebury parish. This was perhaps at Bouldon Furnace. If so, he would have been working for Job Walker. The Earl of Craven’s mines in Earl Ditton (the manor that the furnace lay in) 422

Chapter 25: The Clee Hills were leased to Richard Walker in 1664 and to Job Walker in 1690. This points to the furnace belonging to the Walker family, though it is not mentioned in the fragmentary papers relating to Job Walker’s 1695 bankruptcy. If it was still his, it would probably have passed to Richard Knight, but he evidently preferred Charlcot. Nevertheless, this whole edifice rests on flimsy foundations. The location of the furnace is indicated by the field names (recorded in the tithe award) Furnace Field (part of Lower Downe Farm) and Furnace Leasow (part of Withybrook Farm). These lie opposite each other across Hopton Brook. It is marked on the ground by a large quantity of slag. The site is on the west side of Hopton Brook, with a leat (now dry) leading to it. The slag heap seems to have been bulldozed to fill the tail race to make land cultivable. Stone visible, above where the leat must have run, could be the foundations of the furnace stack.

flannel factory nearby, which has given rise to the name ‘Factory Farm.’

Sources Shrops RO, 1037/21/135; King & Poyner 2004b; Poyner 2005, 66-7. For Walker’s bankruptcy, see NLW Powis Castle 17883; Cilybbyll 416.

Prescott Mill was sold to Peter Hussey, a panmaker from Wolverley, in 1708 for conversion to a plating forge. Like Hardwick it was sold to John Baker of Hartlebury and then to George Crump and Richard Knight. They sold the forge to Cornelius and Samuel Hallen the sons of Cornelius Hallen of Coalbrookdale, with Hardwick Forge. In 1759 it was acquired by a partnership comprising Samuel Hallen, William Downing and Robert Palmer. In 1784 the partners were Henry Palmer, Thomas Lloyd, Samuel Hallen and William Downing. In 1790 Samuel and John Hallen who had succeeded their father and William Downing bought Robert Palmer’s share of the stock from his mortgagee in exchange for their own shares of the freehold. In ‘1794’ it was said to be held by Botfield and Co but ‘stands’. The misfortune over Palmer’s mortgage cannot have helped, but the Hallens’ downfall may be related to the furnace and forge at Wednesbury they built in 1784. The brothers went bankrupt in 1794.

Hardwick Forge Rotheram Forge

[14] SO663821

Size 1717 120 tpa; 1718 100 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 100 tpa (sic); 1794 ‘stands’.

The forge was on the River Rea in Stottesdon parish, and was built by Peter Hussey at some date after 1711 and probably exclusively used as a plating or pan forge. Later deeds state that it was subsequently bought by John Baker of Hartlebury and then by Richard Knight and George Crump. They sold it to Cornelius and Samuel Hallen, sons of Cornelius Hallen of Coalbrookdale, in 1741 with the condition that it should not be used for making bar iron. Samuel Hallen lived there at the time of his death in c.1786, as did his sons Samuel and John in 1790. They became bankrupt in 1794, which probably marks the end of the forge. Its history is likely to be identical to that of Prescott Forge. It does not appear in the forge lists of 171750, and was thus probably always a plating forge, not a finery forge. It was making boiler plate, salt pan plates, plates for glasshouses and malt mills, and steeled shovel and spade plates. The name Rotherham Forge occurs in Botfield family documents at Hopton Court. It is not clear whether it was this forge or another.

Associations There is likely always to have been a close association with Hardwick Forge. As the latter does not appear in the usual lists it is likely that the latter was a pan forge using iron made here. The deed of 1741 prohibited the manufacture of bar iron in either forge. Accordingly it is probable that both were used as plating forges in the ensuing period, one of the Hallen family’s frying pan works.

Sources Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 4000/221; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 27 Jan 1757; and see Prescott Forge.

[15] SO66208035

Trading Samuel Hallen bought 30 tons Horsehay pig iron in the early 1760s (HH a/c), and 30-55 tpa from Snedshill in certain years between 1783 and 1790 (Snedshill a/c). No record of any sale of pig iron has been found to Peter Hussey. It is therefore likely that the forge was supplied from Bouldon furnace.

This was also on the River Rea in Stottesdon parish. The only remains of the forge is a rectangular hollow in a meadow which is almost certainly the forge pound. An excavation made by a local farmer revealed the foundations of a building, presumably the forge itself, near the outlet from this pound. At the time of the tithe map this pound was already dry and surrounded by trees. After the closure of the forge there seems to have been a

Sources Shrops RO, 1396/1 and 1496/426-427; Knight 7157; Worcs RO, 705:260 BA 4000/221; Dudley Archives, DHAR 139/2. All of these (except Knight 7157) are from the disorganised archives of a firm of Stourbridge solicitors. The deed in BA 4000/221 is omitted from the Worcs RO inventory: this deposit might thus contain other unlisted deeds. I have not investigated Chancery proceedings relating to Palmer’s mortgage.

It is not clear how Edward Knight and George Crump came to own the forge. The association of the names Knight and Crump recalls Richard Baldwin & Co who held Willey furnace and Cleobury Forge and perhaps also Bouldon Furnace. This might suggest that members of the Knight family remained partners of George Crump in Bouldon and Cleobury until about 1741, but Willey had passed to Ford and Goldney in 1733. On the other hand, they may have bought it jointly to prevent it competing with them for charcoal.

Lower Norncott Furnace see Abdon Prescott Forge

423

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Shelsley Forge

[16] SO732623

In the early 1700s, the forge took in the region of 350 tpa pig iron from the Foley Forest Partnership, suggesting production of about 270 tpa bar iron if, as is probable, Avenant was not receiving pig iron from other sources. In 1779 the forge included a plating forge and air furnace.

Between Newmill Bridge and the forge, remains may be seen in the field of the forge pound and a leat over six foot broad running to the forge, which would have lain on an island between the leat and the Teme. There is some water in the leat, part of which was in the 1990s in use as a duck pond. The lower end of the leat appears to be a backwater of the river. There is a substantial house on the site dating from the 17th or early 18th century. This was no doubt where Richard Avenant lived, rather than being the forge itself, since it is not against the leat.

Associations Except before c.1648, 1692 to 1709, and after 1776 Wilden and Shelsley forges were always in the same hands. Lord Foley is not known to have had any furnace. The furnace near Stanford (if real) might have been associated (see other ironworks). Trading In 1669 (and probably until Tilsop’s closure) some pig was supplied to the forge from Tilsop. After 1692 it seems to have drawn most of its pig iron from Elmbridge and furnaces in the Forest of Dean. Sales to Lord Foley generally cannot be distinguished from those for Wilden (q.v.) except in 1747 and 1750 when the purchases are labelled Cope and Arden, the former referring to Shelsley (Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60515/122, 21 Apr. 1749). From 1749 to 1766 there were sales of cast iron goods from Hales (SW a/c) specified as for Shelsley. All pig iron (except from Tilsop) was landed at Clothouse and taken across the river at Redstone Ferry. All bar iron (except what was sold retail at the forge) then had to be brought back by the same route. This no doubt eventually rendered the forge uncompetitive and led to its closure. Redstone Hermitage was also used as a storehouse.

The origins of the forge are obscure, but it certainly existed in 1631, when Sir Basil Brooke and his partners in the Tintern wireworks and the King’s Ironworks in the Forest of Dean had a share in its stock in partnership with Sir Walter Blount. Thomas Foley I(W) seems to have acquired all the ironmaking interests of Sir Basil and his partner George Mynne with the wireworks in 1648, though he quickly disposed of Mynne’s interests in southwest Wales (see chapter 34). He certainly had an interest in the forge in 1653. About then he and Sir George Blount wished to discourage Andrew Yarranton and his partners in Astley Furnace from building a forge and let them have this one, increasing the rent from £50 to £100. The partnership was resumed when Sir George bought Yarranton out of Astley Furnace. Thomas Foley’s share (by then with Lady Blount) was included in the sale of his Staffordshire and Worcestershire ironworks to his son Philip in 1669. In 1678 Philip Foley arranged for his eldest brother (not himself an ironmaster, except at Tintern), to lease Shelsley and Wilden Forges for 31 years to his managers, Richard Avenant and John Wheeler. Shelsley was excluded from the Ironworks in Partnership in 1692 and was run by Richard Avenant alone from 1692 to 1707, and followed by Caleb Avenant and his executors until 1709. After this, for nearly 70 years from 1709 to 1776, the forge (with Wilden) was run successively by Thomas Foley III of Great Witley (d.1733), created Lord Foley in 1712; Thomas Foley IV of Great Witley (d.1766), second Lord Foley; and their distant cousin Thomas Foley III of Stoke Edith and V of Witley, who inherited their Great Witley and Kidderminster estates in 1766, and was created Lord Foley on 1776. The forge had been offered to let in 1751 (but was probably not let). Shortly before the death in 1777 of Thomas Foley III and V, he let his ironworks, Wilden going to Thomas Hill & Co, a partnership including Benjamin Pratt, probably the estate steward. It is possible that they occupied the works briefly (with Wilden), but in 1778 the forge was let to John Johnson and John Dunlop, who were bankrupt on 1779. The lease was offered for sale, but the forge is not heard of again. It was probably converted to a corn mill. Richard Avenant was in charge of the forge by 1659 and continuously until his death. Cope was its clerk in 1747.

Accounts Full annual accounts: 1669 to 1672 Foley a/c; 1686/7 Foley E12/VI/KH/8. As Richard Avenant had this forge outside Ironworks in Partnership accounts, only sales to Avenant appear in Foley a/c. Sources TNA, E 214/513; E 214/459; VCH Worcs iv, 336; Foley E12/VI/KH/1-18; E12/IV/30, Philip Foley’s case against Thomas Foley; Johnson 1950, 42; Schafer 1971, 35ff; Goodman thesis; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 30 May 1779; London Gazette, 12215, 5 (11 Aug. 1781). Tilsop Furnace

[17] SO61557253

The furnace was in Burford parish on the Corn Brook, a small brook running off the southern flank of Titterstone Clee, downstream of the later Cornbrook Furnace. It was presumably the furnace, which Richard Tomlins built in Burford, probably in the 1590s when he had a ‘great store of wood which at that time and in that country would yield any great profit by reason of the great store of wood thereabouts’. The furnace was probably occupied by Tomlins himself for a short time then let to Thomas Lake and John Cooke and then in 1603 to Richard Lewis of Milsom, who (after Tomlins sold his estate) took a new lease from John Robinson, who bought Tomlins’ manor and lands. For the next half century virtually nothing is known. The precise location of this furnace was not specified, but it was probably Tilsop Furnace, which was mentioned occasionally in the late 17th century. That furnace may have replaced Cleobury Furnace in the 1630s as the main supplier of Cleobury Forge. It was on the estate of the Hill

Size 1717 1718 and 1736 300 tpa; 1750 350 tpa; 1669-72 made 190 tpa on average, mostly tough, but with a few tpa of osmond iron for Tintern. In 1680 there were 3 fineries. 424

Chapter 25: The Clee Hills Neen Savage bloomsmithy

[20] [SO6778]

family of Court of Hill who may at times have operated it. Occupiers include John Hall in 1662; Edward Hussey by 1677 to perhaps 1698; and perhaps Andrew Hill in 1702. It probably closed in about 1705. There are no known remains other than slag. The site seems not to have been disturbed, so that excavation might reveal substantial remains.

A bloomsmithy, possibly at Stepple, is mentioned in Neen Savage parish register in the 1580s.

Size 1662 230 to 250 tpa (based on sale of ironstone).

Furnace Farm, Stanford-on-Teme

Associations The furnace that existed in the 1590s supplied Boraston Hammermill. Members of the Hall family were connected with Cleobury Forge until about 1718, but the furnace does not appear in the 1717 list and must therefore have closed before that.

Sources Goodman 1980; (an extract from his thesis); TNA, REQ 2/393/12 REQ  2/398/94; Foley E12/VI/ KBc/30; Pastscape 112840; King 2006, 75.

There is no evidence of any ironworks on this site except its name. In the 19th century the farm, with most of the parish of Stanford belonged to the Winnington Family of Stanford Court (whose archives do not survive). The farm was called Furnace Farm in the Tithe Award and the brook forming the south western boundary of the parish was ‘Furnace Brook’ on an estate map of 1803 (Worcs RO, BA 706). If this was a blast furnace it is most likely to have operated at an early date such as the turn of the 17th century, perhaps in association with the Hammer Mill at Boraston or with Shelsley Forge. It might have belonged to the Cornwall family, who were substantial landowners locally, and some confirmation of their involvement in the iron industry might possibly be drawn from the choice of Thomas Cornwall apparently as an appraiser of the stock of Cleobury ironworks probably about 1586 (TNA, C 2/ Eliz/W8/53).

Other ironworks

Wrickton Mill

Source Goodman thesis, 99.

Trading 50 tons of pig iron was sold to Shelsley in 1669 and 74 tons of in 1671. In each case the iron was charged to the account of Lady Blount who was a partner there (Foley a/c). Sales to Shelsley probably continued throughout the life of the furnace on a small scale. Otherwise its main customers must have been Cleobury and Boraston Forges.

Cinder Mill, Stottesdon

[18] SO714827

Sources Young & Poyner 2012. spurious

Rowley (1967, 174) suggested that there was a mill at Holdgate that operated with Bouldon furnace. However no satisfactory evidence of its existence has been adduced and, like Wrickton (below), it must be regarded as spurious. VCH Shrops (x, 135-47) does not even record a mill in the parish after 1600. Leintwardine Forge

spurious

The idea that Wrickton Mill (SO642858) was a forge has become relatively widespread, but the sole evidence for this is its proximity to Charlcot Furnace, it being the next mill downstream. Had Charlcot been built in the early 16th century, rather than (probably) in the 1690s, the suggestion might have plausible, but the best practice by that time was to build forges at some distance from the furnaces which supplied them, so that they were not both drawing charcoal from the same area, thus minimising transport costs. Certainly no forge at Wrickton was receiving pig iron from Charlcot after 1733, as there is a full run of surviving accounts from that date, not does any forge appear in the generally reliable lists of 1717, 1718, 1736 and 1750. Until some very specific evidence that the mill was indeed a forge can be produced, the forge must be considered spurious.

A bloomsamithy was built for John Mowbray Duke of Norfolk in 1455, when John Grove a carpenter was paid to make a new pond with floodgates, but the lack of any reference to iron or ironstone in accounts for 1479-80 suggests that it was shortlived. The site was used by millers in the 17th century, though still known as the Smithie in 1603.

Holdgate Mill

[21] SO717638

Sources Rowley 1967, 174; 1972, 219; cf. Trinder 1996, 235; BW a/c. Coke furnaces

spurious

Cornbrook Furnace or Studley Furnace, Clee Hill

VCH Shrops i, 460 suggests there was a forge here on the basis that Thomas Corfield lived there when he and his brother sold a lease of the Coalbrookdale works in 1715. Thomas Corfield was Job Walker’s clerk at Bringewood in 1695, and had a lease of a farm in the area under Lord Craven, and could have continued working at Bringewood until 1715. It is therefore unnecessary to assume the existence of another forge.

[24] SO604753

This was built by Thomas Botfield & Co in 1783. The site is high on the side of Clee Hill adjoining the Corn Brook. The furnace was blown by a water wheel from this brook though the 1794 list states that it was blown by engine. The furnace supplied pig iron to Cookley and other Stour Works forges from 1786-99; 624 tons was sold to the 425

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Stour Works Partnership in 1788 (SW  a/c). In 1805 it made 292 tpa. Beriah Botfield advertised to let it in 1808, as blown by a 42-foot high waterwheel. This probably marks its closure. There are no obvious remains of the furnace stack, but at the end of a terraced track there is a level charging platform on which a house has been built. A protrusion in the side of this may mark the site of the stack. The furnace probably operated in association with the family’s Cleobury Dale Ironworks. L. Ince suggests (pers. comm.) that the furnace used charcoal in its early years, as indicated by the high price of its products in the Stour Works accounts. Sources Trinder 1996, 95-6; Leeds Intelligencer, 11 Apr. 1808. Knowbury or Clee Hill Furnace

[25] SO580752

A second Clee Hill furnace was built, evidently to replace Bringewood Furnace, by James George & Co sometime before 1805. It made 303 tons that year, and was in blast in 1810. Though Bringewood Forge apparently closed in 1814 and James George died in 1816, George & Lewis took over Cleobury Forge in 1822. Though out of blast at the time of the 1825 list, it probably continued in intermittent use until some little time before James George Lewis emigrated to New Zealand in 1854. It was advertised for sale in 1845 and 1851 with a forge capable of making 40 tpw iron and a later advertisement (in 1853) mentioned a rolling mill driven by a steam engine, and that the whole enterprise, including collieries, had a total of 13 steam engines. Sources Trinder 1996, 95-6; Cambrian, 18 May 1816.

426

26 The South Midlands Introduction

of forges, and not atypical. Accounts for the forge survive and show the manager buying a parcel of pigs from time to time and then making these into bar iron over a few months before buying another parcel. All purchases were from the same suppliers, the (Foley) Forest Works.5 The forge was built by the Archer family of Umberslade (in Tanworth in Arden). Yarranton heard a rumour about Mr Archer investing in the Stour, while he was improving the Worcestershire Stour, but it proved to refer to the Warwickshire river.6 The forge was probably later rented by the Mason family, who had a share in the navigation. They also leased or managed the other shares of the river.7 Stratford was no doubt the destination of bar iron that they bought from Graffin Prankard of Bristol.8 Tortworth Forge in Gloucestershire, which was rebuilt in 1713, belongs to much the same trend, but appears in the next chapter. Blackden Forge is little known, but closed in 1727 after a life of less than ten years when imports brought the price down, causing the closure of a number of the less profitable forges. The relative remoteness of such forges as Clifford both from the furnaces supplying them and from the largest markets must have increased their costs compared to better placed forges. Clifford was however well placed to market its iron to rural blacksmiths in south Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, and beyond. Being close to the navigable river Avon, bringing in pig iron would be easy. It may well be that the real problem in this case was not the cost of transport, so much as the open nature of the countryside, which is relatively little wooded. It is quite probable that charcoal was regularly being brought ten or even fifteen miles to the forge.

This chapter covers a miscellany of smaller ironworks, scattered over a wide area that drains into the River Severn or its tributaries between the Black Country and the Forest of Dean. There is no coherent pattern to industry in the area. Most of the area consists of the plains of the Severn and Avon valleys. It is unlikely that there was any difficulty in finding locations where there was adequate water power. The decisive factor is therefore likely to have been the availability of wood from which to make charcoal. The Avon valley was fuel-poor, until William Sandys made the river Avon navigable up to Stratford from 1635.1 The area is largely devoid of orefields and there were therefore very few furnaces. Elmbridge Furnace near Newent and Linton Furnace both lay near a small outcrop of the coal measures and seem to have drawn ore from it.2 By the mid-18th century, there are indications that this source of ore was worked out and the furnace was increasingly relying on ore brought from the Forest, with an adverse effect on its profitability. The closure of Linton in the late 17th century may perhaps be linked to a similar cause, but the proximate cause was that it was less efficient and made losses while Elmbridge was profitable.3 The furnaces which seem to have existed at Sudeley near Winchcombe, Overbury, and Astley remain oddities in that they appear to be remote from any source of ore. Yarranton had some interest in a furnace at ‘Sudley’, apparently Sudeley Castle, but nothing is known of how it operated, merely its bare existence. Very few of the forges can be traced back to a particularly early date. During the period when pig iron was not a regularly traded commodity, such forges would have been incapable of operating for want of a source of raw material. Thus there is no reason to expect that many of them would have been built before about the 1620s. Unfortunately there are relatively few cases where there is any definite evidence of the date of their erection.

With this may be contrasted Powick Forge which lay just outside Worcester, a short distance up the River Teme from its junction with the Severn. By 1737, there was a towing path alongside the river, so that trows could come up the Teme to a wharf by the forge and bridge.9 Whether using Forest pig iron or that imported from distant parts up the River Severn, this forge would have been in the same advantageous position as the forges of the lower Stour Valley, with a navigation almost to the forge door and located directly between its suppliers and its market. Even when using coke made pig iron from Shropshire in the second half of the 18th century the cost of freight for the double journey from Bewdley was equivalent to under ten miles of land transport. This probably encouraged the

All the forges of the Avon valley must have depended on using pig iron brought up the river probably ruling out erection before the river was navigable. Sandys had a forge at Harvington.4 The navigation was restored by Andrew Yarranton from the 1664. Clifford Forge, built in South Warwickshire in about 1673 was one of this generation

5

Archer a/c. Staffs RO, D(W) 1788/P59/B3, 12 Jan 1679[80]. 7 SBT, DR 444, passim. 8 Prankard a/c. 9 London Gazette no.7594, 2 (15 Mar. 1736); Worcs RO, 725:27 BA 385/77.

1

6

‘An account of Mr William Sandys making the River of Avon Navigable’ in Habington, Worcs ii, 469; Hadfield and Norris 1968, 15-70. 2 Bick 1987; 1992. 3 Foley, E12/VI/DDc/15. 4 TNA, E 178/6041; McDonnell & Watson 1989.

427

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 26. The south Midlands. 1, Astley Furnace; 2, Blackden Forge; 3, Clifford Forge; 4, Elmbridge Furnace; 5, Elmbridge steelworks; 6, Harvington Iron Mill; 7, Ipsley Forge; 8, Linton Furnace; 9, Linton Steelworks; 10, Overbury Furnace; 11, Powick Forge; 12, Redditch Forges; 13, Sudeley Furnace; 14, Upleadon Forge; 15, Astley Forge; 16, Worcester Waterworks Blademill; 17, Hallow Blademill.

the river Salwarpe near Bromsgrove.11 Rollins’ claims that the needle industry went back to the dissolution of Bordesley Abbey seem to be without foundation.12 The best view is that the industry was introduced from Long Crendon (Bucks), but that village only had horse-powered needle mills until the 19th century.13 The application of water-power to needle scouring was thus an important development, and perhaps first applied to needles near Redditch, though something similar was used in wire mills at Tintern earlier.14 Unfortunately, there is, as yet. no comprehensive survey of needle mills in the Redditch area.

Lloyds or their predecessors to enlarge the forge, by adding a third finery. However, it was probably not modernised after 1790, when many forges went over to new processes. It was therefore converted to other purposes when the Lloyds left the iron industry. This forge was the last one to operate in district dealt with in this chapter. Within this area, there was a cluster of pin manufacture at Gloucester and one of needle manufacture at Redditch. The Redditch needle industry used iron wire. The Gloucester pin industry may also have done so, but the best documented works made brass pins. The needle trade used mills for scouring,10 but (as with blade mills) this was a process undertaken after manufacture, not as a precursor for it. Since the needle mills are not called ‘forges’, they cannot be mistaken for finery forges and have accordingly largely been excluded from the scope of this book. Research into both trades has focused on the abundant records of English & Co of Redditch and their associated pin firm at Gloucester. The needle trade was focused on Redditch, but it is apparently that the needle mills were somewhat more widely distributed with some at Feckenham and on

11

Booth 1978; Morrall 1954; Webb 1960. Rollins 1966; 1981; 1984, 32; Gaffney 1987. The whole edifice lacks any foundation, except wishful thinking. Rollins tried to link this to the archaeological discovery of a metalworking mill at Bordesley, but that did not make needles. Gaffney traced the story back to Guise, who claimed in 1936 that the monks of Tintern made pins and nails and suggested they might have made needles too and their fellow Cistercians at Bordesley might have done so too. In support of this a report on wiremaking in 1567 has been cited, but that would refer to a recently-built works of the Company of Mineral and Battery Works at Tintern (or Abbey Tintern), not to the activities of the monks of the abbey, dissolved a quarter of a century before. Guise may have been misled by Company’s works being described as at ‘Abbey Tintern’ 13 Jones 1978. 14 Donald 1971. 12

10 Rollins 1966; 1984; Jones 1978; 1984; Land 1990, 34-50; Morrall 1954; Webb 1960.

428

Chapter 26; The South Midlands Principal sources: Bick 1987 deals with the Newent coalfield; otherwise there is nothing general. The account here is largely built up from scattered references to works and the names of buyers of iron. The keys to identification of Warwickshire forges are that the Mason family lived in Stratford, suggesting a link to Clifford Forge (q.v.) and that a bankruptcy advert for Thomas Morris gives his address as Blagden.15 This is confirmed by litigation.16 Other names appearing the Archer estate accounts probably refer to cordwood being sold to forges further north: Vaughton and Mander to Bromford and Kendall (with William Hopkins as clerk) to Cradley.17

Associations Thomas Foley and Sir Walter Blount let Shelsley Forge to Yarranton & Co, so that they would not build a forge (Foley E12/IV/30, ‘complaint of Philip Foley against Thomas Foley’). Yarranton seems also to have been concerned in a furnace at ‘Sudley’ (Staffs RO, D(W) 1788/P61/B3, 21 Oct. 1673). The word is hard to read, but the place was probably Sudeley in Gloucestershire, though Parker Oxspring (1979, i, 172-3) interpreted the word as Shrawley, the next parish to Astley. The oftrepeated assertion that Yarranton held Astley Forge (other ironworks, below) is without foundation. Indeed there is no reason to believe that it was a forge in his time.

Gazetteer

Trading Yarranton and his partners bought wood at Bayton (TNA, E 134/18 Chas 2/Mich 5; E 134/18-19 Chas 2/Hil 23); from Shrawley Wood (TNA, C 6/41/116); and Yarranton had some interest in New Park, the part of Wyre Forest in Rock parish (Foley E12/VI/KC/33-47). The attempts of Yarranton and his partners to use wood in Bewdley led to conflict, as the wood had already been sold to Richard Foley (TNA, SP 24/15, 21 44 141 148 & 209 and SP 24/16, 61; etc.). An inventory of Wolverley Old Forge in 1661 refers to wood bought of the former partners [there] for the use of Thomas Foley, which was taken to Astley Furnace (Foley, E12/VI/KE/24, f.1).

Charcoal ironworks Astley Furnace

[1] SO79396652

The furnace was probably built by Andrew Yarranton about 1652, following his finding a large quantity of cinders near Worcester, perhaps at the time of the battle of Worcester. Godfrey Ellis was a partner of Andrew Yarranton in buying the manor of Bewdley from the Commonwealth and they were making charcoal there in 1653. There were probably other partners in the furnace including Major Eastop & Lieutenant Millward, both of whom joined Yarranton in leasing the right to dig cinders in Little Pitchcroft, Worcester (now the racecourse) for eight years from 1653. Thomas Foley I(W) sent some charcoal to the furnace in 1662, but an anonymous contemporary pamphlet, perhaps by Andrew Yarranton, in connection with the Stour Navigation scheme referring to the shortage of fuel in Worcestershire, instance ‘Mr Walker’s furnishing Astley Furnace with 500 loads of charcoal yearly for six years out of Hammonds Wood in Shropshire and now Mr Parsons furnisheth [it] out of Wem-Brockhouse’. The former was perhaps at Hall of Hammonds in Kinlet; the latter unidentified. A note on the history of Shelsley Forge, written by Philip Foley in 1680 records that Sir George Blount bought Yarranton out of Astley Furnace. He presumably passed this interest on to Walker, who may have rented Cleobury Forge from Blount. The furnace is not mentioned in Philip Foley’s accounts in 1669.

Sources Foley E12/IV/30, complaint of Philip Foley against Thomas Foley; E12/VI/KE/24, f.1; Staffs RO, D(W) 1788/P61/B3, printed pamphlet and 21 Oct. 1673; Cantill & Wight 1929; Hallett & Morton 1968; Brown 1982; 1992, 199; Lewis et al. 1969, 222-4; Parker Oxspring 1979 i, 172-3; Yarranton 1677-81, i, 193; Burley 1961, 27; Worcs. Arch. Soc. Newsletter, no. 20 (1977), 13-16; no. 27, (1981/2); King et al., ‘Shrawley Wood’. No deeds of the Glasshampton estate before 1722 have been located. A deed of 1722 (Worcs RO, BA 4600/38) mentions a Furnace Meadow, but not the furnace. Blackden Forge (or Blagden, now Blackdown)

It appears in the list of 1736 as idle but having made 160 tpa and on Beighton’s Map of Warwickshire of 1725. It does not appear in earlier or later lists. The forge was apparently started by Mr Downing (presumably Zachary Downing), but he died before he had completed more than a shell. Thomas Morris (previously his servant) completed it, and then sought a partner to run it with him. George Draper came forward for this, agreeing to manage it alternate years. Draper’s clerk John Aston managed it from April 1718 to August 1719, when their partnership was terminated. Thomas Morris of Blagden ironmaster was bankrupt in 1727, causing its closure.

The furnace was rediscovered when the dam of Sharpley Pool burst in 1924 and was described shortly afterwards. The furnace was driven by a small tributary of the Dick Brook that forms part of the Glasshampton estate in Astley parish, southwest of Stourport. Much of it was destroyed in antiquity or when dam of the pool burst in 1924. Subsequently the furnace was excavated by Comley in 1971, and the remains were drawn and described by Brown a decade later.

15 16 17

[2] SP311691

Size 1717 omitted; 1718 160 tpa; 1736 nil; 1750 omitted. Trading and Associations: Pig iron may have been landed at Bidford-on-Avon; see Redditch below.

London Gazette, no. 6598, 7 (11 Jul. 1727). TNA, C 11/1191/16. SBT, DR 37, vol.12.

Accounts for 16 months in 1718-9: TNA, C 11/1191/16. 429

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sources TNA, C 11/1191/16; London Gazette, no. 6598, 7 (11 Jul. 1727); Beighton, Map of Warwickshire (1725); Booth 1978, 5 38. Clifford Forge

Accounts Cash books and ledgers 1674 to 1695 Shakespeare Birthplace Trust RO, DR 37/vol. 36a. Sources Johnson 1952, 332; 1953, 138; VCH Warks iii, 269; SBT RO, DR37/2647; DR37/vols. 3-6a 12-13; ER1/43; Booth 1978, 80. There appears to be an error as to the date of the accounts cited by VCH.

[3] SP197527

The forge was on the Warwickshire Stour near Stratford, and in Old Stratford parish, rather than Clifford Chambers. It was built on the site of a corn mill in 1673 by the Archer family of Umberslade. It was run by clerks for Thomas Archer and then (from about 1685) Andrew Archer until at least 1695. The clerks were: Mr Tomlins 1674 to 1685; John Griffis 1685 to 1688; Stephen Spencer 1688 to 1689; and George Spencer 1689 until 1695 or later. John Wheeler ‘of Stratford’, who occurs as a buyer of pig iron in the Foley accounts from 1698 to 1704 presumably occupied the forge. Andrew Archer is said to have held it from 1708 to 1714. Pig iron and other sales records suggest that Nathaniel Mason (d.1734) and then his son Bartlett Mason (d.1748) operated the forge, but where an address is given it is almost always Stratford, where they lived (not Clifford). These sales records provide a history up to 1739 when the firm of Mason, Hatton, and Davies is named after that nothing is known. In 1751, the stock (or perhaps fixtures) of the forge was sold, following which it was probably converted back to a corn mill. The lack of recorded output in 1750 may indicate a slightly earlier closure.

Elmbridge Furnace or Newent Furnace

[4] SO7192643

Ellbridge Mill, a corn mill, on the Ell Brook on the outskirts of Newent but in Oxenhall parish, was sold to Edward Clarke in 1634. Four years later the mill (or at least part) was ‘late converted into a new furnace or ironwork’. Contemporary references in the iron trade always have the name it as Elmbridge, rather than the older Ellbridge. This was run by Francis Finch from c.1638 to 1658. Thomas Foley I(W) took security from him in 1655 for guaranteeing his working capital. Then for six years from 1658 Foley was to receive the whole of the profit. This was followed by Foley buying the manor from Finch. In 1669 he gave a half of the stock to Paul Foley. It then formed part of Paul Foley’s ironworks until he let them to Wheeler and Avenant in 1685. They were amalgamated in 1692 into the Foley Ironworks in Partnership. It continued as one of the Forest Works until its probable closure in 1751, following the same descent as Bishopswood (see chapter 30).

Size 1717 100 tpa; 1718 & 1736 120 tpa; 1750 ‘no output given’.

The claim that Lord Foley and Mr Knight were its purchasers seems to be derived from a comment as to who was buying pig iron in the preceding years, rather than actual evidence as to its later history. Trading in the early 1740s was in the name of Thomas Pendrill, who was the general manager of Thomas Foley II of Stoke. He disappeared (perhaps died), leaving no recent accounts. Someone tried to make sense of the situation financially, but without success. The final accounts are poorly prepared, perhaps because the management of the works had devolved on, for example, the furnace clerk. The last account (in 1751) shows little stock left, implying closure. In contrast, the 1751 Bishopswood account shows that works still stocked and there is evidence of its continued use. Thomas Foley V of Stoke (Lord Foley) left his Newent estate in 1777 to his youngest son Andrew, from whom it descended into the Onslow family. When the estate was broken up in the late 19th century, the owner moved to Furnace House (now Oakdale House). The blowing house and charcoal barn are substantially intact. A blocked hole in the side of the former suggests there was a water wheel 21 feet in diameter. These buildings have recently been converted to residential purposes.

Associations The Mason family managed the Upper Avon Navigation (up to Stratford) from about 1708 and had a coalyard in Southern Lane, Stratford in this period (SBT RO, DR 444, various). Trading The accounts books (up to 1695) indicate that pig iron was then exclusively obtained from the Foley ironworks; 20 tons of pig iron were purchased twice a year from 1677 to 1695 (accounts). Andrew Archer at the end of this period bought pig mainly from Elmbridge, but in 1696 90 tons, much of it from Forest of Dean furnaces. John Wheeler of Stratford bought about 600 tons pig in five years (Foley a/c). This suggests that the forge was enlarged in about 1695. It was probably the forge operated by Nathaniel Mason from 1716 (or before) until his death in 1734, followed by his son Bartlett Mason (d.1748) from 1735 to 1739. Nath Mason bought 60 tons of Elmbridge pig in 1716, and usually bought 50 to 100 tpa from 1725 to 1735. Bartlett Mason continued these purchases at much the same level 1735 to 1739 (Foley a/c). Mr Mason bought cordwood from the Archer estate between 1719 and 1731 (SBT, DR 44, vol. 12). Nathaniel Mason bought Hales Furnace castings, apparently until 1739, the last year the purchaser being Mason, Hatton, and Davies (SW a/c). This firm was described as of Stratford when they bought 13 tons of bar iron from Graffin Prankard of Bristol in 1737/8 in three parcels (Prankard a/c).

Size In 1668 Thomas Foley was managing 1,275 acres of woods by arrangement with their owners (VCH Gloucs xii, 275). In the mid-1690s average annual production was 675 tpa; 1717 not stated (Hulme), but 500 tpa (Rees). The furnace used locally mined brown haematite from Aston Ingham for much of its life. Its product was nevertheless 430

Chapter 26; The South Midlands classified as coldshort rather than as ‘tuff’, but seems to have been better regarded than much other coldshort pig iron.

was a forge, perhaps built shortly before to exploit local woods for fining iron. The Vale of Evesham had been short of fuel, until the river was made navigable and Shropshire coal could be brought up it. It is thus unlikely that the iron mill existed before 1635. No later reference to it has been discovered but this explains the discovery of a bed of cinders near Harvington lock.

Associations Francis Finch had Carey Forge until 1654, when he sold it with 100 tons of pig iron. He was a partner in the ‘King’s Ironworks’ after the Restoration. For the Foley family, see chapter 30 (also 24). Trading A considerable proportion of the production was shipped up River Severn from Ashload (that is Ashleworth load – ferry) for sale at Bewdley and Clothouse (near Stourport), for forging in the Stour Valley and elsewhere. In 1669 this amounted to 241 tons.

Sources TNA, E 178/6041; Watson 1994; McDonnell & Watson 1989. Ipsley Forge

This was on the river Arrow on the southern edge of the parish of Ipsley (now part of Redditch, and formerly in Warwickshire). Its location has been identified only from three field names ‘Forge Ground’ and ‘Forge meadow’ in the Ipsley Tithe Award. From before 1668 to 1682 Sir John Huband (or Hubaud) worked it as part of his Ipsley estate. Its ownership for about ten years after that is unknown, but some pig iron sold to Huband was assigned to William Soley, thus possibly its tenant from c.1682. Sir John Huband granted a lease to John Fortescue 1691, but he died in 1693, before the term began. His widow assigned the lease to Nathaniel Mugg, who had for forge for five years, despite falling out with Sir John in 1695. In that year Sir John granted a 21-year lease from 1698 to Zachary Downing, but he fell out with Sir John over initial repairs and Sir John’s failure to set out cordwood in advance. Sir John’s agent Thomas Wright distrained for rent in 1700, whereupon Sir John apparently let Ipsley Forge to Wright. This relationship also ended in litigation, as Sir John and the receivers managing the estate after his death in 1710, again failed to allocate the agreed 300 cords of wood per year. Mr Ruston (presumably John Ruston, who ran Lydney ironworks) may have held it from 1722 to 1724. It closed before 1736; perhaps Ruston could not find a buyer in 1731, when he gave up Lydney. Ruston was in prison for debt in 1737. By 1740 there was a Forge Farm but no forge there. There are the remains of a long leat leading to the site leaving the river near Ipsley Church. An excavation by Redditch High School in 1969 found a sandstone hearth with a lowered roof. The repeated litigation between the Huband family and successive tenants must have discouraged all concerned. It is possible that the area never had enough wood to sustain both Redditch and Ipsley Forges and Sir John Huband built it because he was dissatisfied with the price offered him for his wood, probably by an occupier of Redditch Forge.

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1686/7, 1692 to 1717, 1724 to 1742, and 1744 to 1751. 1658 account apportioning output and costs: Foley E12/VI/DAf/1-2. This also mentions a steel-work (see next entry). Sources VCH Gloucs xii, 274-5 (calling it Ellbridge); Foley, E12/G/13; E12/VI/DAc/15; /DCc/1; /DDc/1&3; / DEc/1-12; /DGc/1-5; E12/II/18A/2; TNA, C 9/23/43; C 8/54/136; Stiles 1971; Bick 1980; Bick 1982; 1987, 6 5868 (with analysis of information in Foley a/c); 1992. Elmbridge steelworks

near furnace

A Foley family settlement dated 1688 makes an enigmatic allusion to the presence of ‘a steelwork or mill’ adjoining Elmbridge Furnace. This is apparently repeating the wording of Paul Foley’s 1667 marriage settlement. In 1669 Philip Foley’s Bewdley warehouse received 8 firkins of steel from Ashload [Ashleworth], the usual river port for Elmbridge, suggesting steel was made in the Newent area. Nothing about steel was mentioned in negotiations for the Forest Works to be let to Wheeler and Avenant in 1685, or in their 1686/7 account for the furnace, or in the Foley accounts after 1692. It is thus probable that the steelworks closed in the 1670s. Steel is also mentioned earlier: Francis Finch claimed that he had been plundered of iron and steel to the value £7000, evidently during the Civil War. It is perhaps noteworthy that steel bought by Paul’s father Thomas for Tintern wireworks was Flemish steel, brought from London (Foley E12/VI/Af/10-14). Sources Foley, E12/II/18A/1-3; Gloucs RO, D 2184; Schafer 1978, 94 98; TNA, C 9/23/43; cf. Foley, E12/VI/ DDc/1-3; /DDf/4; and furnace (above). Harvington Iron Mill

[7] SP06556550

[6] SP065478

Size 1717 100 tpa; 1718 120 tpa; 1736 nil.

An inquisition was taken in 1642 as to the possessions of William Sandys as a crown debtor. This lists his Worcestershire property, which included several mills along the river Avon, which he had evidently acquired in connection with his improvement of the river Avon in 1635 and succeeding years. At Harvington, he owned two mills and a meadow called Cookcroft with a septem, which is translated earlier in the document as a ‘lock or sluce’. One of the mills was a ‘water iron mill’. It is likely that this

Associations John Ruston held Lydney Furnace and Forge 1723 to 1731. Trading Sir John Huband had 2½ tons of cast goods from Hales Furnace in 1668 (Foley a/c) and appears as a debtor or payer in accounts for 1675-7 for Paul Foley’s pig iron (Foley, E12/VI/DCf/2, 24 & 25); he bought 40 tons of pig iron from Tintern in 1682; a sale of 20 tons to William 431

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Soley the same year is stated to be by assignment of Sir John Huband (sic) (Tintern F a/c). Nathaniel Mugg bought 205 tons of Elmbridge and Bishopswood pig iron in 16925; also hammers delivered at Hales or Bewdley (Foley a/c); Thomas Wright bought pig iron every year from 1702 to 1717 mainly from Elmbridge and Blakeney Furnaces, but occasionally other Forest furnaces, often 120-130 tpa, but sometimes rather more or less (Foley a/c). Mr ‘Ruston of Ipsley Forge’ bought cordwood from the Archers of Umberslade in 1723 (SBT, DR37/12).

Furnace or Lynton Furnace’ in a water damage lease of 1683. Size and Trading It made 563 tons in 1686/7, most of which was sent up the Severn for Shelsley Forge and for forges supplied from Bewdley, also some to Strangworth. Much earlier cast iron goods were sent to Carey Forge while it was being built. It was suggested that the profit of Carey would be increased if the bargain with Sir John Kirle for pig iron were ended. This implies another possible source of pig iron, which might be Linton, but could also be Bishopswood or Whitchurch Furnace.

Sources TNA, C 10/360/24; C 22/241/33; C 11/2673/29; C 11/2675/17; Cheshire RO, DCR 36/2-3 & 8-9; London Gazette, 7632, 8 (30 Aug. 1737); Beighton, Map of Warwickshire (c. 1725); inf. from R.A. Churchley, from Worcs RO, Marriage licence allegation for Thomas Wright, 1703; Pastcape 328655, citing J.G. Rollins, ‘Redditch New Town Report I’ (1969). Linton Furnace

Associations for Forth, Clerke and Cornish, see chapter 24. Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley E12/VI/DDf/5 1686/7; Foley a/c 1692-7 (idle). Sources Foley E12/VI/DCc/2; E12/VI/DDc/3 11-12 15; E12/II, Herefs. misc., Linton; Jenkins 1937, 180; Hart 1953, 103; Schafer 1971, 35; Bick 1987, 68-70; Taylor 1986, 451 & 459.

[8] SO660240

Linton manor belonged to the Earls of Shrewsbury; hence it is possible a furnace goes back to the early 17th century. A furnace and ironmill at Linton are mentioned in the will of Sir James Scudamore (d.1618). Around 1630 it was probably managed for Sir John (later Viscount) Scudamore, perhaps by John Slack. After this its history is obscure, and it may well have closed.

Linton Steelworks

[9] near SO676267

The existence of the steelworks is mainly remembered today as the name of a hamlet adjoining Linton Wood. It belonged successively to the Earls of Shrewsbury and of Kent in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Little is known of it, but it appears to have existed before the invention of the cementation process. It must therefore either have been a bloomery using local ore or (more likely) fining pig iron.

The next references come from the papers of Paul Foley, to whom it was sold by Robert Chelsham on behalf of Henry Cornish in 1682. Like the works they bought from Philip Foley and John Finch in the Stour Valley in South Staffordshire, these would have been sold to Cornish Longworth & Seargeant. They quit their Stourworks in 1681, evidently leading to the 1962 sale. The papers refer to it having been built by ‘Sir CC’ [presumably Sir Clement Clerke]. This links it with the ill-judged purchase of wood by Alderman John Forth and Sir Clement Clerke, from the crown in Lea Bayley (part of the Forest of Dean). They found that the crown had, a few days before, sold its ironworks in the Forest to Paul Foley for demolition, forcing him to build one. As such, the furnace would have followed the same descent as forges in the Smestow valley in south Staffordshire, which they bought from Philip Foley. Paul Foley let the furnace in 1685, with Elmbridge Furnace and his Forest of Dean furnaces, to John Wheeler and Richard Avenant. Accordingly the furnace, though included in the accounts of their Ironworks in Partnership from 1692 to 1697, was not used and is never heard of again. An assessment of the two by Wheeler found that what gained by Elmbridge they lost by Linton, evidently sealing Linton’s fate.

Linton woods were included in the lease to Sir John Kirle of Whitchurch Forge in 1630, and he may well have been using the steelworks, although they are not mentioned. 8 firkins of steel received, at Philip Foley’s Bewdley warehouse in 1669 from Ashload are more likely to have come from Elmbridge. Sir Basil Brooke is described as ‘the great steelmaker of Gloucestershire’, but it is probable that he only made iron in Gloucestershire, while he was one of the farmers of the King’s ironworks in the Forest of Dean and of Tintern wireworks, and that he made his steel at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire (q.v.). He is thus unlikely to have used Linton Steelworks, which seem to have used an earlier (and obsolescent) technology and is anyway in Herefordshire. Sources HMC Shrewsbury I (Lambeth), MS 705, f.67; MS 707, f.66; MS 708, f.174 & 209; Barraclough 1984(1), 28 & 53n; TNA, C 2/Chas I/K2/58; TNA, SP16/202/33; TNA, PC2/41, 207-9 & 288-90; Duncumb, Herefs, 2(1), 383-4; Schafer 1978, 59 cf. 94-98 & 98.

The location is not entirely certain, but it was probably at Burton Court, where there is an enigmatic building of uncertain origin which may incorporate some remains of the furnace buildings. There are no other remains apart from a dry leat and some field names. The location seems to be confirmed by the reference to it as ‘Burton

Overbury Furnace

[10] unlocated near SO9537

In 1740, Benjamin Taylor described having worked for Mr [George] Draper [of Upper Mitton and Upleadon Forges] for over seven years from the building of his 432

Chapter 26; The South Midlands for a civic hydroelectric plant built by Worcester City Council. When this was discontinued the building was used as a laundry. That building has been converted to dwellings.

furnace at ‘Overbury in Worcestershire’, prior to him selling all his works to Mr [Richard] Knight. The sale of Upper Mitton Forge and another mill there took place in 1740. The furnace’s absence from the 1717 list and the lack of explicit mention in George Draper’s will dated 1729 seems to confirm that it was built in the early 1730s, and operated only for a few years. Apart from this single passing reference (in a letter) nothing has been discovered of it. This says the furnace used Cumberland mine and Forest cinders.

Associations John Wheeler of Powick is presumably the man who was clerk of Redditch until 1694, then at Stratford (i.e. Clifford Forge). Thomas Maybury had Brecon Furnace and Pipton Forge until 1756 when he gave them to his son John. After leaving Powick, the younger Thomas Maybury emigrated to Mount Holly, New Jersey and managed ironworks there. The Croft family rented Cradley from 1752. The Lloyds also held Birmingham slitting mill and Melbourne Furnace and Burton and Hints Forges (see chapter 23). Clinch’s suggestion that the forge came into the hands of Sampson Lloyd in 1746 must be wrong: his argument was based on a change in the pattern of Sampson Lloyd’s trading with the Stour Works Partnership. This was probably indeed due to the purchase of a forge, but at Burton on Trent, not Powick.

Source Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60516, 17 & 28 Jun 1740; cf. 60505/1, 31 May and 11 Jun 1740; 60534/H, 21 Jun. 1740; 60534/K, 8 Mar. 1745; 60513, 10 Jun. 1740 (all relating to Taylor’s possible employment by William Spencer); cf. TNA, PROB 11/666/60; Herefs RO, T74/80. Powick Forge

[11] SO835525

The forge stood at mouth of Laughern Brook but was mainly driven by a leat from river Teme. The leat was originally dug in 1475 at the behest of the Prior of Malvern. The leat drove, not only the forge, but also a slitting and rolling mill held with it; also a corn mill in separate ownership. In 1801 Thomas Elwell paid the owner of the adjoining corn mill £200 for restricting himself to not using more than one wheel when the water in the river fell below the weir. The site is not far from the River Severn and goods were brought up the Teme to a wharf at the forge. There was a private towing path for this along the north bank of the Teme. That river was certainly navigable to the forge by 1737, and probably since the forge was built.

Size 1717 not listed; ‘1718’ 180 tpa; 1736 70 tpa; 1750 150 tpa; 1736 2 fineries and a chafery; and a corn mill with 5 pairs of stones (London Gazette); 1790 3 fineries 1 chafery 1 slitting mill. The 1788 list gives an output for Worcestershire of 130 tpa per finery, implying this forge made 390 tpa, which is comparable with other large Worcestershire forges, such as those at Mitton. This is a very substantial increase over earlier period and may be the result of the addition of the third finery, perhaps after the Crofts took it over in c.1767 or after the Sampson Lloyd & Son acquired it four years later. The slitting mill may have been added at the same time. It is not known if William Ellwell was related to Edward Ellwell, who had Wednesbury Old Forge from 1817.

No 18th century deeds have been traced, so that the early history remains obscure. The forge and slitting mill were probably built between 1717 and 1725. It was presumably first operated by John Wheeler of Powick at least between 1725 and 1729. In this period (but perhaps before it was a forge), the premises were occupied by Henry Marston and Samuel Moseley, neither of whom are known to be ironmasters. The forge was in the hands of Thomas Maybery perhaps from 1737 (when it was advertised for sale) until his death in 1758. He was bequeathed his lease of the forge and mills to his widow Mary (died 1761). She was followed by their son Thomas, who was bankrupt in 1766. After him, came Richard Croft; then Mary Croft (his widow); then Mary Croft and Sons 1767 to 1771. It was bought in 1771 by Sampson Lloyd & Co (or & Sons), and so passed to Sampson, Nehemiah and Charles Lloyd (with Nehemiah as managing partner), who worked it until 1801. Its subsequent owners were William Ellwell and Thomas Walker 1802 to 1804; then Thomas Hull at least between 1807 and 1812; then Frederick Helm (landlord himself) by 1815; then Richard Winnall. It was still called a forge in the land tax returns for 1819, but may have closed earlier. Part of the forge was replaced by a grinding mill occupied by a pottery manufacturer in about 1820. It may have continued to include some kind of forge until the late 19th century. It was then demolished to make way

Trading It received in 1725-9 (and possibly in 1723) up to 65 tpa of pig iron all from Forest, and 1735-51 mostly Elmbridge pig (Foley a/c); and 1741-64 ‘castings’ from Hales occasionally (SW a/c). In 1760, Robert Morgan of Carmarthen complained of John Maybery attempting to steal his finer and hammerman. (Morgan l/b, 16 Jun. 1760). 1755-1801 sales from Horsehay to successive owners, reached 263 tons in 1772/3 and 325 tons in 1774/5 (HH a/c). It perhaps refined pig made at Brecon, while owned by Maybery family. In 1777 the forge must have been fully engaged, as iron was being slit at Stourton. Accounts Computation of the cost of making a ton of rod iron here with Ketley pig iron dated 1777: Clinch from FMH, Lloyd Mss., C99/11. Sources NLW, Maybery 1215 (address); London Gazette, 7594, 2 (15 Mar. 1736[7]); 11210, 3 (31 Dec. 1771); TNA, PROB 11/841/222; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 7 Apr. 1766; Trinder 1973 (but with wrong dates); King 2006b; Flinn 1959a; Lloyd 1975 (but without dates before 1777); Cook 1998; Worcs RO, land tax, Wick Episcopi; Clinch, ‘Powick’; homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ~mabry/ ameriron.html 433

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Redditch Forges [12] SP045685 and SP04156790 (now Forge mill, Redditch)

Forge debts (bad debts) appears in Phillip Foley’s accounts (Schafer 1978, 19 33 99). John Wheeler of Redditch bought pig iron in 1705-9 (Foley a/c). Sales of cordwood: see Foley, E12/VI/KAc/22-3 26 & 32; also SBT, DR35/12 (1722). Thomas Morris bought pig iron from Flaxley in parcels of 20 tons in 1709-12 (TNA, C 11/737/46). He bought pig iron from various Forest ironworks between 1711 and 1717, 120 tons in 1715/6 (Foley a/c); and 165 tons from Lawton Furnace in 1706/7, of which half was sent to Bewdley (Cheshire a/c).

The forge is the final mill on the Red Ditch, a small tributary of River Arrow and has a rectangular pound, but the main power supply was from a very long leat from the river Arrow. The present mill building (a needle mill) is used as a museum for the needle making industry. The site of the second forge has probably been destroyed by a road. Rollins claimed it was a forge mill in 1537, and restored with a finery and chafery when Lord Windsor bought Bordesley Abbey in 1542, but his theories were based on no substantial evidence (see note 12). If right, it would (improbably) precede any other finery forge in the Midlands. It was probably held by Thomas Foley in 1650s. Lord Windsor (the landlord) probably operated it himself in the early 1660s until 1675 or later; possibly followed by William Soley from 1682 (as at Ipsley); and John (not Joseph) Wheeler of Redditch between 1705 and 1708. From 1709, Thomas Morris was forgemaster and used Flaxley pig iron landed at Bidford-on-Avon. It was leased to Thomas Harvey of Evesham, a Shropshire ironmaster, in 1721 and worked at his death in 1731, when he left substantial debts. His executors worked up the stock and then surrendered the lease. The Earl of Plymouth’s executor alleged it was severely decayed and needed £500 to rebuild it. Harvey’s Shropshire ironworks were continued by his son-in-law Joshua Gee, but there is no later reference to this forge. It probably closed at this point. The mill was subsequently converted to a needle mill, though not quite as early as 1729 (suggested by Rollins). Whether Harvey bought the forge on his own account or received it when William Wood returned Harvey’s other ironworks to him is not clear.

Sources Rollins 1966; 1981; 1984, 32; King 2011b, 77; Gaffney 1988. Rollins account of the history of the works is seriously erroneous (see note 12). It depends more on speculation than relevant historical sources. His papers (in Worcs RO, 899:794 BA 9159), contain much useful material on the needle industry, but little on the forge. The Earl of Plymouth’s archive (also in Worcs RO) is as barren. Sudeley Furnace (near Winchcombe)

[13] unlocated near SP0228

Like Overbury, this is only known from passing references and its precise location thus remains not wholly certain. Andrew Yarranton was trying to sell in October and November 1673 his share in ‘Sudley’ to John Finch of Dudley and Colonel Archer, presumably Thomas Archer of Umberslade, who built Clifford Forge about that time. Yarranton would have preferred to sell it to Philip Foley. If the identification is correct it explains why he met Finch at Winchcombe and why Finch allowed himself to be left with two forges (but no furnace) under his agreement with Philip Foley that October. Yarranton’s connection with it may have begun in about 1652, when he ‘entered upon ironworks and pli’d them several years’, but he also had Astley Furnace. Sir Clement Clerke, who took over Finch’s forges in the Stour valley, had a furnace at Winchcombe, which was blown in in 1674. The location was probably too far from any source of mine to have been successful, though no doubt wood along the Cotswold scarp was relatively plentiful and cheap. Even if it was included in the sale of Clerke’s ironworks to Cornish & Co in 1676, it is likely to have been abandoned not long after; and certainly by 1681. The only references to it are in Andrew Yarranton’s correspondence with Sir Samuel Baldwin and in the diary of George Skippe, all of whom were connected with the scheme to make the Worcestershire Stour navigable.

Size 1716 120 tpa for 2 forges; 1718 120 tpa; 1736 idle. Accounts c.1660s, Foley E12/VI/KAc/109. Inventory of Thomas Harvey (exhibited 1733) refers to Upper and Lower Forges and lists a modest amount of stock, suggesting the forge was still active at his death (TNA, PROB 3/31/86). Associations Lord Windsor (later Earl of Plymouth) was a proprietor of the Stour and Salwarpe navigation. He owned the Lower Avon Navigation and had a share in the Upper Avon. He was among the promoters of Yarranton’s tinplate experiment, but does not seem to have had any other interest in the iron industry. William Soley was a tenant of land near Bordesley Park under Lord Windsor in 1659 (TNA, C  7/125/57). Others of the Soley family occupied Upleadon Forge and a share in Wolverley Lower Forge. Thomas Morris later also had the short-lived Blackden Forge. For Harvey see Tern Mill in chapter 16.

Sources King 2002b, 48-50; Staffs RO, D(W) 1788 /P61/ B5, 21 Oct. 1673 and 12 Nov. 1673; Skippe’s diary, 6 Sept. 1674; Johnson (T.W.M.) 1952, 59; cf. Yarranton 1677-81 i, 193. Upleadon Forge

[14] SO76982699

Much of the history of this forge, on the river Leadon a few miles west of Newent, remains obscure. The mills at Upleadon were still corn mills in 1669, but Humfrey Soley had a forge in 1698. He died in 1706 in debt. His executor John Soley carried on the forge until 1715 to

Trading John Woodder agreed on behalf of Lord Windsor to sell 10 tons bar to be made of Forest pigs at Red Ditch (sic) Forge to Philip Foley. There is an undated account for the forge (Foley E12/VI/KAc/109) and £3.2.10 of Redditch 434

Chapter 26; The South Midlands Gazette, 5332 (24 May 1715); 8750, 7 (31 May 1748); Gloucs RO, D 2957/320/5; D 936/E194; Gloucester Journal, 23 Sep. 1776; 29 Sep. 1783; a draft for VCH Gloucs, formerly in Internet; cf. Davies 1966, 32.

pay these, but sublet it in 1708-11 to Mr Pelham. A sale was ordered in Chancery in 1715 for the payment of Humphrey’s debts. George Draper (d.1734) had the forge from 1715, after which it belonged to his estate. He is said to have sold all his works to Richard Knight, apparently in 1740 (see Overbury). If Knight bought this, he probably resold it quickly. The next known occupier was Thomas Warburton of Upleadon ironmaster, who was a prisoner in the Kings Bench in 1748. However Rowland Pytt I had it by 1746 and in 1751 had a long lease. ‘Mr Pitt’ apparently renewed the lease for forty years from 1775. It was closed by 1790, perhaps in about 1783, when it was advertised to let, applications to be made to Mr Jones, ironmaster, Stourbridge. The site is now occupied by a three-storey brick house (formerly a corn mill) with an overshot iron wheel about nine feet in diameter on its wall. This is a listed building.

Other ironworks Astley Forge

[15] SO806668

A scythe mill (presumably a blade mill) was advertised for sale with Wood End Farm in 1761, subject to a lease for fourteen years. The tenant is not stated, but in 1761 it was in the hands of Francis Hill, and lately of Richard Pinches. However, in the 1750s, it had been a paper mill. It was converted to grinding materials of the Worcester Porcelain Works in about 1763, a use which probably continued until about 1806. Then Wood End Farm and the mill were sold to Richard Shinton and R.C. Lowe, who converted it to a forge. The partnership of Richard Shinton, R.C. Lowe and William Salkeld as ironmasters at Astley was dissolved in 1811 and a 17-year lease was offered for sale. By 1817, there were merely two cottages at the forge site. Excavations of the site by Mr Comley in late 1960s and a local group in 2010s have revealed the remains of what was probably a reheating furnace.

Size 1717 & 1718 100 tpa; 1735 idle; 1750 140 tpa; 1790 not listed. The amount of pig iron used in 1711-15 would imply a lesser output. Associations Their proximity would suggest that its early history might be linked with the nearby Elmbridge furnace, which probably was its largest source of pig iron throughout its existence, but there is no evidence of any such link, at least not after Thomas Foley I(W) took over Elmbridge in c.1658. It was often held with other forges and it is thus often not possible to say exactly what pig iron was forged here. Humfrey Soley’s purchases of iron from the Foleys do not seem enough for its reputed capacity, though George Draper’s early purchases approach this. John Soley owned a share in Wolverley Lower Mill (q.v.), but probably had no other forge. George Draper had Upper Mitton Forge and (briefly) Blackden Forge; also Overbury Furnace (q.v.). The scope of Rowland Pytt’s activities is considered in the next chapter.

The proximity of the forge to Astley Furnace has led to the belief that this was Andrew Yarranton’s forge, but no evidence has been found to support this surmise. On the contrary, Baldwin and Foley let Shelsley Forge (q.v.) to him, so that he would not build a forge. It is also claimed that Yarranton was responsible for the lock, whose remains survive on the brook below the forge. Some go on to assert that the leat above the forge was also navigable, providing navigation almost to the furnace door, but that would need a lock near the forge. Yarranton’s statement that he made two rivers navigable and another nearly so, has been taken to refer to the Worcestershire Stour, the Salwarpe and the Dick Brook. However, it much more probably refers to the Stour (where Yarranton was engineer); the Warwickshire Avon (where he was a partner in the Upper Avon and restored the Lower Avon for Lord Windsor); and the Salwarpe (which was found ‘not to answer’). Furthermore, it is now clear that Yarranton used pound locks to pass mills. Flashlocks (‘turnpikes’) with a single gate were used to deal with shallows away from a mill. A historical edifice has thus been created, resting on a slender foundation of supposition. An alternative period for the construction of the flashlock would be after 1763 when the mill ground pottery materials for use at Worcester. Freight of these on the river Severn would have been convenient, but it would have been necessary to flood the mill tail, in order to bring a vessel up to the mill, which would stop the mill.

Trading Humfrey Soley bought 40 tons of pig iron in 1698 and 133 tons in three years 1703 to 1706 and had 6 tons of iron slit at Wilden in 1699; John Soley had various amounts of pig iron in 1699 to 1717, of which one sale in 1710 is marked as for Upleadon, but some others were probably for Wolverley Lower Forge (Foley a/c). Accounts for 1711-15 show the use of 252 tons of Newent pig, 9 tons of ‘colshire’ pigs, 91 tons of ‘Layton’ pigs and 20 tons of Willey best pigs. Iron was sold at Gloucester, Stratford, Ledbury, and particularly Bewdley (accounts). George Draper had about 110 tpa for 2½ years in 1715-17. His purchases continued 1723-39 including much iron from Elmbridge but it is generally not possible to distinguish between purchases for this forge and that at Mitton (Foley a/c). Flaxley is likely as a further source of pig iron. Accounts 1706-14: TNA, C 101/1419, as part of an account of Humphrey Soley’s estate. Inventory Wanklyn 1998, 314-5.

Sources Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 5 Jan. 1761; Worcester Journal, 18 Jul. 1811; Gwilliam, ‘Astley’: from deeds in Worcs RO, 705:550 BA 4600/30-31; Francesca Llewellyn, pers. comm. For the navigation: Palmer & Berrill 1958;

Sources TNA, PROB 11/666/60; C  7/666/19; C 11/1922/24; House of Lords RO, LP  245/15; London 435

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Lewis et al. 1969, 222-4; King 2006b; cf. ‘Andrew Yarranton’ in Skempton et al. 2002. Worcester Waterworks Blade Mill

[16] SO846548

The late-18th century Worcester Waterworks pumped water from the river Severn at a point very close to the present bridge. This replaced a previous waterworks underneath the old bridge. The waterworks was established by John Hadley under a lease of 1689. In 1767 this was offered for sale with a house, a corn mill and a blade mill. The lease was surrendered in 1778. The waterworks (and presumably the associated mills) was removed in the course of construction of the present bridge. Sources Hughes, ‘Worcester’s Water Supply’, citing (inter alia) Worcester Journal, 9 Jul. 1767. Hallow Blademill

[17] Possibly SO825580

Hallow Pool was a fishpool on Hallow Common, which was leased for lives to members of the Sandys family. At some date after 1764, Martin Sandys assigned the lease to John Soule, a Worcester ironmonger. He had been in business in the 1730s, when he was a customer of Graffin Prankard of Bristol. His son, another Worcester ironmonger renewed the lease (adding further lives to it) in 1764. Though no mill was mentioned until the next renewal in 1770, it is likely that a blade mill was built soon after John Soule acquired the property. By 1796 (when a John Soule was managing Flaxley Furnace) the lease had passed to Thomas Brook, a bankrupt scrivener, and by 1806 the property was described as a cottage formerly used as a blade mill. Sources Worcs RO, 705:380 BA 11395/10(i); cf. Prankard a/c. I have not undertaken the research necessary to locate this mill.

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Part V Southwest and Wales

27 Around the Severn Estuary Introduction

there, as Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury had one in 1609.4 The furnace at Flaxley was first mentioned in relation to the Forest Eyre of 1634. All these works, except Gunsmill (which was ruinous) and Lydney, were in the hands of Paul Foley in the 1670s when he was trying to monopolise the market in Forest of Dean pig iron. In the 1680s Longhope was closed and Flaxley returned to its owner.5 Someone rebuilt Gunsmill Furnace in 1682-3, but it is not certain who did this.6 The absence of forges associated with most of these furnaces suggests that they were built primarily to supply distant markets with pig iron, particularly those reached by river trade on the River Severn. However the origins of this trade will be left until the next chapter. The Foley Partnership built another furnace for this same purpose in 1692 at Blakeney, well inside the bounds of the forest, but apparently on private land.

As the river Severn was one of the greatest routes for transport in Britain, it is not unnatural to deal with the ironworks on either side of its estuary together. The Kings Ironworks in the Forest of Dean proper before the 1670s will be discussed in the next chapter, but later works (though within the Forest) appear in this one. This chapter is concerned with ironworks on tributaries draining into the Severn estuary. The most important works were integrated ironworks at Flaxley and Lydney northwest of the estuary. There were also some works south of the estuary, but the few in the vicinity of Bristol will be discussed in Chapter 35. Most of the works in this chapter were dependent on ore from the Forest. However ‘cinders’ were also a significant part of the charge. This was slag from medieval and earlier bloomery smelting, still containing considerable iron.1 This and private woodlands near it were their main sources of charcoal. The forges south of the river probably obtained charcoal from woods growing in such places as the Cotswold scarp.2

Post-Restoration Period Fuller details of the Foley business in the Forest of Dean region will be left until chapter 30. It began in the late 1640s when Thomas Foley acquired the Tintern wire and iron works, following this up with Elmbridge (near Newent), Longhope, and then Bishopswood in the 1650s and 1660s. He passed these to his second son Paul by stages around 1670, and Paul dominated ironmaking in the area in the 1670s and early 1680s. In 1685 Paul Foley let his Forest Works to Richard Avenant and John Wheeler, who had earlier been his brother Philip’s managers in the Midlands. They seem to have been financed by a guarantee from Philip. Seven years later their Forest Ironworks became the subject of a partnership between the two brothers and the former managers, which they called Ironworks in Partnership.7 This, at various times, also operated ironworks in locations as far afield as the Stour Valley, Pembrokeshire, and Sussex. This partnership was in fact too unwieldy to manage. Most of the Stour Valley Forges were disposed of in 1698 and the residue in 1705. After this, the firm seems to have been known as the Forest Partnership. At this time Gunsmill came into their hands, although it was only rarely in blast. The source of wood for these works was the Forest of Dean itself. After the Kings Ironworks there had been demolished, government policy was to sell such cordwood, as was available in the Forest, to ironmasters operating outside it. This led to a controlled exploitation of the Forest, a subject explored in the next chapter. This contrasts with what went on before

The earliest and also the longest lasting ironworks was at Lydney. A furnace and forge were built by Sir Edward Winter before 1597, followed by a second forge probably with a second furnace a few years later.3 Another furnace was built at Rodmore on the Clanna Brooke in 1629. This probably operated with a number of small forges that existed in the area. Although their precise histories are not always known, it is unlikely that such small forges would have been built after this period. These works were later in the hands of Sir John Winter. After he lost them during the Civil War, they were held by Captain John Brayne of Littledean until the 1660s when the furnace closed. The forges continued in use until the end of the 18th century. Latterly they mostly seem to have been held with Lydney. Before that they were commonly in the hands of independent ironmasters. The Foley Forest Partnership and their associates had some of the forges in the early 18th century. However, a detailed account of that firm is left to appear in chapter 30. Further north the association of furnaces and forges is rather less clear. Sir John Winter built Gunsmill Furnace before the Civil War. John Nourse had a furnace at Longhope shortly before the restoration, the second one

1

Bock 1990. Most of this introduction follows the account in Hart 1971. Specific references are often only given where there is newly discovered evidence or very specific details. 3 Francis Watkins of Lydney founder gave evidence in 1597: TNA, E 134/39 Eliz/Hil 23.

VCH Gloucs xii, 240-1. Hart 1971, 8-60. 6 The date comes from lintels built into the furnace. 7 For details of this firm see chapters 24 and 30; Schafer 1971; Johnson 1953; Hart 1971.

2

4 5

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 27. Around the Severn estuary. 1, Lydney Furnace; 2, Lower or Pill Forge; 3, Middle Forge; 4, New Mills and Furnace; 5, Upper Forge; 6, Ayleford and Bradley Wireworks; 7, Barnedge Forge; 8, Blakeney Furnace; 9, Clanna Forge; 10, Flaxley Furnace; 11, Flaxley Forges; 12, Froombridge Mill; 13, Framilode Mill; 14, Gunsmill Furnace; 15, Longhope Furnace(s); 16, Hope Furnace; 17, Nimpsfield Forge; 18, Rodmore Furnace and Forge; 19, Rowley Forge; 20, Tortworth Forge; 21, Cambridge Mill; 22, Coaley Mill; 23, Minchinhampton Iron Mill; 24, Cinderford Furnace; 25, Parkend Ironworks; 26, Whitecliffe Furnace.

out in the forge and vice versa.10 Successive members of the Winter or Wintour family had operated these works themselves, but in 1718 the estate was surrendered into the hands of the mortgagees. In 1723 they let the works to John Ruston, probably the son of one of the Foleys’ managers. He had to surrender the works in 1733, probably as a result of losses. Benjamin Bathurst, the landlord then operated the works himself.11 He let one of the forges to a partnership, who hoped to exploit Thomas Tomkyns’ finery process, but (in the difficult market conditions of the period) this proved unprofitable and was abandoned shortly after the lease was completed.12 Bathurst’s personal management therefore continued for some years.

the Civil War (also described in the next chapter), which was only limited in theory, perhaps not in practice. Other ironmasters were operating during the same period. Flaxley Furnace and three small forges belonged to the Boevey, later CrawleyBoevey family of Flaxley Abbey. In the 18th century these were usually operated by the head of the family, through a clerk.8 In the late 17th century Paul Foley held the works for a time. The forges had been held by tenants even earlier. With the growth of a free market in pig iron in the late 17th and early 18th century additional forges were built on the opposite bank of the Severn estuary in Gloucestershire. There was a forge at Nimpsfield (about which little is known) and another at Tortworth where there had been one sometime in the early 17th century.9 This is part of a development more fully discussed in the preceding chapter on the South Midlands.

Rowland Pytt After this all the Lydney Works were let in 1740 to Rowland Pytt (with Robert Raikes). He had been described as ‘of Lydney Ironmaster’ for some years before this, and it is therefore probable that he had in fact been managing the works on behalf of Bathurst or even of his predecessor Ruston, as he supplied pig iron to Lydbrook Forges in the period 1725/7.13 Rowland Pytt built up a large group of ironworks over the following years. In 1742 he took

In the 18th century the greatest ironworks in the area was the Lydney Works. This consisted of rather fewer works than it had in the previous century. It is interesting to note that just before 1700 the works was still being operated on the basis of all the pig made in the furnace being drawn 8 Q.v. I have failed to substantiate claims that other ironmasters were tenants and suspect the references others have found to derive from the resale of pig iron. For example, Richard Knight sold 20 tons of pig iron to the Foley Bewdley warehouse in 1695 (Foley a/c), but this may be part of transactions when he was buying Bringewood. 9 Q.v.

10 11 12 13

440

Gloucs RO, D 421/E9. Hart 1971, 82-5. King 2015b, 83. Foley a/c.

Around the Severn Estuary over Lord Gage’s works at Redbrook and Lydbrook from the Foleys. In the same general period, he also took over Upleadon Forge in 1745 and Tortworth Forge presumably in c.1748. In 1748 he or his son leased Aberavon Forge and Melin Court Furnace. Rowland Pytt was from 1744 a partner in Thomas Lewis & Co in the tinplate works at Ynispenllwch in the Swansea Valley. This was the foundation of a long running business in West Glamorgan. He also had the wireworks at Tintern from 1747, initially with a partner. Latterly Rowland Pytt lived at Gloucester, where, by 1756, he rented a coal yard and quay.14 His executrix was his daughter Hannah who had married William Coles. William Coles seems to have succeeded his father-in-law to his interests in Wales, while his son Rowland Pytt II succeeded him in Gloucestershire. Together they took over Melin Court Furnace and Aberavon Forge. Rowland II was described as of Newland, suggesting that he was then living near his Redbrook Works, but he did not renew the lease of Redbrook Furnace and Lydbrook Forges when it expired in 1762. He did not survive his father by many years, dying in 1766. The interest in Coles & Pytt in the Neath Valley was retained by his executors John Platt and Francis Homfray until 1769. When they withdrew, that firm was amalgamated with Coles Lewis & Co of Ynysygerwyn. The executors renewed the lease of Lydney, but surrendered it in 1775, alleging that the rent and price of charcoal were too high.

c.1790.17 David Tanner’s address was always Monmouth, but he does not seem to have operated the forge there, which was run by a predecessor of Reynolds, Getley & Co. He succeeded Edward Jordan (a relative of the White family of New Weir Forge) at Tintern Ironworks from 1768 and the executors of Rowland Pytt II at Tintern Wireworks in 1776.18 David Tanner made large amounts of cast iron ballast for the Navy Board, contracting to provide 1,450 tons in 1777 and 1778 and delivering nearly 1,560 tons by 1780 and 430 tons more in 1781.19 He also operated as a gunfounder during the American War of Independence. He had a contract for 100 tons of ordnance in 1779,20 using the trunnion mark ‘X Tanner’. He had difficulties with this business. It is not clear whether the foundry work was done at Lydney or Tintern. In 1781 a gun broke during proof, the fracture being full of dirt, resulting in an order that all be condemned, though some may have been received after a severe proof.21 In 1783 he was detected as having repaired guns with iron screws to conceal defects.22 This practice was dangerous to the men serving the guns, if the screw flew off during firing. Richard Crawshay, his successor at Cyfarthfa, on behalf of Tanner, made further attempts after the war to have these guns received, but in vain.23 Ultimately Crawshay bought 59 second-hand land-service gun carriages from the Board of Ordnance.24 The rejected guns were shipped to Constantinople in 1788 where the Turkish government bought them.25 The connection with Richard Crawshay is first mentioned in 1786. He was a partner in the London house of Anthony Bacon, of Cyfarthfa ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil, and leased those works after Bacon’s death in 1786. Under Clerk’s Act, Bacon was excluded (as an MP) from government contracts and he leased his forge and cannon foundry there to Jeremiah and Samuel Homfray, sons of Francis Homfray of Stourbridge. They were obliged to buy their pig iron only from Bacon, but in 1784 decided to build their own Penydarren Works. They then sold their lease to David Tanner. Tanner employed James Cockshutt, a brother of John Cockshutt of Wortley Forges, and James remained there as Crawshay’s managing partner at Cyfarthfa.26

David Tanner After this there were two major forces in the charcoal iron industry of the Forest of Dean and southeast Wales: David Tanner and a Bristol firm (or group of firms) known successively as Reynolds Getley & Co and Harford Partridge & Co. Reynolds Getley & Co, who will be described in Chapter 34, held the Lydney Works briefly in 1775 but the eventual new lessee was David Tanner.15 He held Lydney and a number of other forges in the area. He also held at various times, not quite all simultaneously, Llancillo Forge, Tintern Furnace and Forges, Redbrook Furnace, Lydbrook Forges, Caerleon Forge, the whole Pontypool Works, and Llanelly Furnace and Forge as well as a furnace using coke at Blaendare, but overextended himself and became bankrupt in 1798. Locally, he (or rather his brother William) had the nearby small forges Barnedge, Rowley and Clanna Forges. His grandfather Benjamin and a partner had built Brecon Furnace and Pipton Forge in 1720. His father William had sold these in 1750. Nevertheless, Mrs Tanner bought 1¼ tons of cast iron from Hales Furnace in 1759 (perhaps hammers or anvils).16 David himself bought 12 tons of Horsehay pigs in 1767. Both suggest they had a forge. The most likely candidate is Llancillo which was advertised as in the tenure of David Tanner in 1769; and was also his in

Tanner in 1775 had added Caerleon Forge to his works. He lost it to John Hanbury of Pontypool in 1783, but regained it with the whole Hanbury works at Pontypool and Llanelly in 1786, following the death of John Hanbury, but gave up the Lydney works in 1789. He also had Redbrooke Furnace and Lydbrook Forge from 1793. However he overextended himself, and in 1796 he advertised Tintern for sale, with Aris Birmingham Gazette, 1 Jan 1769 and 1794 list. These dates, which differ from some published sources come from Badminton Estate rental: NLW, Badminton III, BMA 4/10-17. 19 TNA, ADM 106/3612-3 & 3618-20 passim. 20 TNA, WO 47/93, 478; these events are described in Brown 2001b. 21 TNA, WO 47/97, 659, 712, 833, 889, 974. 22 TNA, WO 47/102, 121. 23 TNA, WO 47/103-110, passim s.v. founders. 24 TNA, WO 47/110, 699, 701, 759, 766. 25 Evans 1990, No. 3, 122-3, 129. 26 Addis 1957, 8-9; Hayes in Evans 1990, x-xii, Ince, 1993, 60. 17 18

Gloucs RO, D 3117/349-65. Note also Evans (J.A.H.) 1993, which contains much detail (inter alia) on his ordnance contracting and bankruptcy. 16 SW a/c. 14 15

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Lydney Furnace

an offer of his other works, but they evidently did not sell,27 but he surrendered his lease of Tintern on 1 March 1798, handing over this stock towards what he owed his landlord the Duke of Beaufort.28 He became bankrupt that December.29 According to John Evans, he then entered the service of the East India Company as a spy, visiting Baghdad and Basra.30 Robert Thompson succeeded him at Abbey Tintern, Lydbrook and Redbrook, while Blaendare and the Pontypool works were acquired by Capel Leigh (the Hanbury heir). Tanner’s failure marks a beginning of the decline of the iron industry in Gloucestershire and the Wye Valley.

[1] SO628027

A furnace must have been built before 1597, as a founder there gave evidence in proceedings between the Company of Mineral and Battery Works and Richard Hanbury (see Pontypool). It was fairly continuously used until at least 1802. Unlike the other works it lay on a small tributary rather than on the Cannop Brook itself. Lower or Pill Forge

[2] SO631021

This lay on a leat from the Cannop Brook, south of the town, presumably at the head of the tidal mouth of the brook. It was built about 1604. In 1699 this seems to have been the only forge working. It was converted to a tinplate works between 1775 and 1781 which remained in use until 1957.

19th century As in Wales, the forges did not for the most part close as soon as the new technologies of the industrial revolution began to make them obsolescent. Almost all the larger forges were converted to tinplate works, Lydney among them. The very small forges that existed around the southern fringe of the Forest of Dean were however much too small to be viable for this purpose and these were all closed or converted to other uses. All operations at Lydney were eventually collected together on a single site. This continued in operation until recent times.

Middle Forge

[3] SO632037

This was built (as ‘Upper Forge’) in 1607 on the Cannop Brook about half a mile north of the centre of Lydney. It may have been derelict in the late 17th century, as it is described as the New Forge in 1723. It subsequently became a rolling mill for making blackplate and was dismantled in 1891.

Some transport improvements were made. The most significant was the Severn and Wye Railway, which crossed the Forest from Lydney to Lydbrook, with an extension to Bishopswood. This was connected with the Severn by a short canal, which the tenant of the forge was entitled to use free.31 The ores of the Forest of Dean were perhaps not very suitable for smelting with coke, though there were eventually a few coke furnaces. This, combined with the very high quality of the charcoal iron, meant that the introduction of coke into blast furnaces (save on an experimental basis) was relatively late and on a modest scale, compared to other areas. The quality of the tough charcoal pig iron also resulted in both Flaxley and Lydney Furnaces continuing in operation beyond 1800, but they were closed by 1810 and 1818 respectively.

Old Furnace and New Mills

[4] SO629044

At some stage a furnace stood at this site, as a result of which the pool was in 1723 called Old Furnace Pool. The date of this furnace is obscure; there was only one furnace in 1634 and there is no good reason one should have been built here thereafter. It is thus likely that the furnace was built not later than the first years of the early 17th century, to operate with the Upper (later Middle Forge). New Mills were built in 1823-4 as puddling furnaces and a rolling mill. The works was dismantled in 1891. Upper Forge

[5] SO625049

This was built by 1640 as a slitting mill, one of the earliest outside Kent and Staffordshire. It seems to have been derelict in 1723, but there was slitting machinery there in 1733, which John Ruston was authorised to remove. It was thereafter converted to a forge and remained in use until dismantled in 1890.

General sources Hart 1971; Johnson 1953.

Gazetteer Lydney Furnace and Forges

Whole Lydney works

This series of ironworks always belonged to successive owners of Lydney Park and were generally held together. Except for the furnace, all the works lay on the lower reaches of the Newerne or Cannop Brook. As a large integrated group of works, they are given their own section, before the usual gazetteer of (other) charcoal works.

The first ironworks (apart from bloomeries) were built by 1597 by Sir Edward Winter of Lydney (d.1619). He was succeeded by Sir John Winter. The works were plundered and partly destroyed in the Civil War, but afterwards repaired by Major-General Massey and then let to Captain John Gifford. Winter recovered his lands in the early 1650s. From 1653 at least part of the works were run by John Wade, but do not appear in the accounts that he rendered to the Commonwealth. After the Restoration they were run by Sir John Winter (d.c.1686). He was succeeded

Daily Advertiser, 26 Mar. 1796. NLW, Badminton III, BMA 4/37, f.101; 4/38, f.189. 29 London Gazette, no. 15087, 1188 (8 Dec. 1798); Gloucester Journal, 17 Dec.1798; and many other newspapers. 30 J.A.H. Evans, pers. comm, citing Evans (J.A.H.) 1993, 162ff. 31 Paar 1973a, 21. 27 28

442

Around the Severn Estuary a rolling mill. The furnace was out of blast in 1796 and is not listed in 1806. It is mentioned in 1810, but was ‘not being worked’. It was not included in the 1814 lease. By 1810 there were 3 fineries at the Upper Forge and the Middle and New Mills Works each had balling and other furnaces, but these were not then in use. In 1841 New Mills had 3 puddling fires, but none are listed in the Mineral Statistics in the 1860s and 1870s. In 1866, the works made 1000 boxes of tinplate per week, of which some was made of charcoal iron until 1886.

by William Winter and then Sir Charles Winter (d.1698) and finally Frances Lady Winter. Except between the Civil War and the Restoration the works were run by the Winter family in hand. In 1718 the Lydney estate passed into the hands of its mortgagees. This ended one of the longest periods during which a landed estate operated its own ironworks. The works were let to John Ruston of Worcester, who had been one of the Foley Partnership’s managers. He surrendered this lease in 1731, being permitted to operate part of the works temporarily. Benjamin Bathurst (the owner) had the whole works in 1731 to 1733. Retaining the furnace, he let the Lower and Middle Forges in 1733 to Sir John Eyles, William Bowles, William Giles, Phillip Roberts and William Goostrey of London. They were sponsors of Thomas Tomkyns’ process, but this provided unprofitable, so that in 1735 Benjamin Bathurst resumed the forges, retaining them until 1740. In 1740 the whole of the works were let to Rowland Pytt and Mr Raikes. Pytt may have already been managing the works on behalf of Bathurst from 1731. Rowland Pytt died in 1757 and his son in 1766. The latter’s executors, Francis Homfray of Wollaston and John Platt of Monmouth, continued the works until 1775. The works were left in need of substantial repair.

Associations The Winter Family at various times held the King’s Ironworks in the Forest and other neighbouring forges such as Rodmore and Barnedge. Sir John Winter was granted the whole Forest of Dean at fee farm in 1640, but this grant was cancelled by the House of Commons in 1642. He claimed £15,000 for his losses, but ultimately surrendered his claim and Parliament re-afforested the Forest in 1667 (see next chapter). Several successors held Barnedge, Clanna and Rowley until about 1800. John Ruston also held Ipsley Forge in Warwickshire. Rowland Pytt had tinplate and ironworks in Glamorgan and by 1746 Upleadon Forge. The Pidcocks were one of the Stourbridge glass families, two of whose daughters married Jeston Homfray (d.1816) and his half-brother Francis III (d.1809). George was Jeston’s son. For this family see chapter 24.

The Bristol iron merchants Reynolds, Getley and Co briefly ran one of the forges, before the works were let to David Tanner. In 1775 to 1789 David and William Tanner were tenants; then in 1789-90 Harford, Daniels and Co (the same Bristol merchants – previously its mortgagees). From 1790 John Pidcock (d.1791) and his sons Thomas, John and Robert (d.1799) had the works. A cousin George Homfray joined the firm (replacing Robert) sometime between 1799 and 1804, but apparently ceased to be a partner after 1810 though before the works were sold in 1813 to their landlord. Later tenants were: 1814 to 1847 John James of Redbrook Tinplate works; 1847 to 1871 members of the Allaway family of Lydbrook tinplate works; Richard Thomas & Sons of Lydbrook and successor companies 1875 to 1957.

Trading From 1697 to 1699 no pig iron seems to have been being sold (accounts). In 1714 a long term contract was made for the sale of 80 tpa bar iron to merchants at Bristol (Hart). 1725-31 John Ruston bought Hales hammers and cast necessaries, and was selling pig iron to the Stour Works (SW  a/c) and to Coalbrookdale (CBD a/c). He bought and sold 10 tons of pig iron in 1732/3 (Foley a/c). Benjamin Bathurst bought 10 tons of Gunsmill pig iron in 1731 (Foley a/c), cast necessaries from Hales Furnace in 1736 & 1738 (SW a/c) and Forest cordwood in 1737 and 1738 (TNA, LR4/4/20 & 25). Rowland Pytt I & II used Hales cast necessaries in 174258 (SW a/c) and Forest cordwood in 1739-62 (TNA, LR 4/4-9 passim). David Tanner sold pig iron to the Stour Works 1777 to 1793, 543 tons of it in 1784 (SW a/c). He also produced ballast and ordnance in 1779-83 (details given under Tintern). The Pidcocks and then Pidcock & Homfray bought pig iron from Old Park Furnace in Shropshire, usually over 200 tpa, once 400 tpa (OP a/c). Pidcocks & Co bought Ebbw Vale finers metal from 1809 to 1811 (EV a/c).

Size The forges in 1644-6 made 300 tons ‘raw iron out of pig iron’ in 2 or 3 years. In 1697-9 the forge used pig iron at the rate of about 200 tpa, implying forge output of about 150 tpa. When the stock of pig iron was about to be used up, the furnace was blown and 616 tons was cast in about 5 months, none of which was sold. This intermittent use of the furnace probably accounts for its low size (as listed in 1717) of 250 tpa for the furnace and 150 tpa for two forges, but the forges made 260 tpa in c.1718. In 1731 each of the two forges probably only had a single finery, but there was an air furnace at the Middle Forge by 1733. 1736 160 tpa. In 1750 the third forge is recorded and the production had risen to 350 tpa, suggesting that the furnace made 450 tpa, assuming the works were approximately self-sufficient for pig iron. 1788 furnace 650 tpa. In ‘1794’ there were a furnace, 2 fineries, 2 chaferies, a balling furnace, a slitting mill and

Accounts 1697 to 1699: Gloucs RO, D 421/E9. Sources Gloucs RO, D  421, various; Brooke 1944, 74 & 203; Hart 1971, 44-45 & 82-93 & 177-191 also plates 3-5; VCH Gloucs v, 72-3; King 2015b, 83; House of Lords RO, LP 245/15; Cambrian, 19 Jan. 1811; Paar 1973a, 21 42.

443

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Other charcoal ironworks

Thomas Morgan in 1801, but they may have been void from 1803 to 1805, after which Barnedge was converted to a paper mill. There are no remains, except sites of pools.

Ayleford and Bradley Wireworks [6] SO666088 SO665095 and perhaps SO666091

Size 1717 80 tpa; 1718 100 tpa; 1736 80 tpa (with Clanna).

A series of works were built on the Soudley Brook just outside the Forest. The uppermost of these, at Bradley, was probably on the site of the 17th-century Bradley Forge, which was held with the Kings Ironworks, and this stood beside the main brook at the foot of a dam. The lowest site, at Ayleford, was fed by a leat from the brook. Where the leat left the brook, there was a pond and another mill, but it is not clear whether this was part of the wireworks or something separate.

Associations For the Foley family see chapter 30. The Winter family held Lydney, as did later occupiers, perhaps implying a long association, but Rowland Pytt probably did not hold it in 1750. It is likely that Clanna and Rowley Forges were at times regarded as adjuncts of this forge. Trading 1693-1700 John Young was buying pig iron from Blakeney and Bishopswood (Foley a/c) and Tintern (Tintern B a/c), averaging about 65 tpa, he was also buying braises from the Foleys. The Foleys supplied it mainly from Blakeney, which was their nearest furnace.

William Purnell & Co took a lease of the mill at Ayleford and converted it to a tilting mill in 1765. At the same time, Purnell took land at Bradley and built a forge and other buildings there. There was probably a wireworks at each site. In 1783 the works were leased to Simon Dobbs of Moreton Valence and Thomas Taylor. In 1790 (‘1794’) Dobbs & Taylor had 2 fineries and a wiremill. Following the death of his son Michael (who operated the works), Simon Dobbs sold a half share to Thomas Browning, who then carried on the works for the benefit of himself and Michael’s children, but Simon Dobbs then sold the other share to his son-in-law Samuel Heaven and John Fryer. Browning & Co remained until 1818, when the partnership of Thomas Browning, Samuel Heaven and John Fryer was dissolved. About 1810 the Bradley premises were being used as a foundry by Samuel Hewlett, who rented Ayleford mill for a few years until 1824, when it apparently closed. A mortgage of 1830 refers to The Lower Mill, the Rolling Mill, the Wireworks and the Tilting Mill, but in terms suggesting they were not in use. Dobbs and Taylor bought cordwood in the Forest until at least 1799 (TNA, LR  4/18/166). There are at Ayleford Farm considerable remains of an embanked pound.

Accounts Foley a/c 1700-1708: full annual accounts 17048, but statements only 1700-4. Sources Hart 1971, 71; VCH Gloucs v, 11; Raistrick & Allen 1939, 169 & 172; Foley E12/VI/DEc/13, schedule; Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60495/19-20 & SpSt  60494B; Gloucs RO, D 637/II/9/E2; Land tax, Alvington; House of Lords RO, LP 245/15 (not mentioned). Blakeney Furnace (at Nibley)

The furnace stood upstream of Nibley village, and was built by James Barrow shortly before 1656, replacing a corn mill. It was derelict in 1685 and 1691. It was rebuilt by the Foley Ironworks in partnership in 1692 and was normally in blast until 1716. There is no evidence of its subsequent use. Although it continued to be listed among the partnership’s works, it was not in blast after 1725. Most later references refer to it as ruinous. With the reduction of sales of cordwood from the Forest under George I, the furnace lost its fuel supply, and such charcoal as was available could conveniently used in other furnaces. The site remained derelict for many years, but was used for a wire mill in the mid-19th century.

Sources Land tax, Newnham; VCH Gloucs x, 37; Hart 1971, 201-3; London Gazette, no. 17322, 110 (13 Jan. 1818); TNA, PROB 11/1482/52; Pastscape 111573. Barnedge Forge

[8] c.SO657071

[7] perhaps SO584017

Size 1717 600 tpa. The list appears to show there also being a forge of 80 tpa, but there is no evidence that there was one. This is probably a typographic mistake: the 1717 list (as printed) has the three forges at Flaxley listed opposite ‘Newent’.

This was on a tributary of Cone Brook and in ‘Alvington Wood next to Barnage Grove’, thus south of Forest of Dean proper. The site was occupied by a fulling mill in 1548, but its subsequent history is obscure. The forge was ‘decayed’ in c.1695, but was soon after let to John Young a carpenter, who assigned it to Foley Ironworks in Partnership. They held it from 1700 to 1708; followed by Lady Winter. From 1723 (but probably not as late as 1739) Matthew Wilson, William and Edward Spencer and others held it with iron and wire works in Yorkshire. Its history is then obscure until 1775 when it was let on long lease with Rowley and Clanna Forges to William Tanner. He sold the lease in 1789 to Harford, Daniels & Co, who sold it (like Lydney) to John, Robert, and John Pidcock of Stourbridge in 1790. About 1801 Pidcocks underlet the forges to

Associations for the Foley family see chapter 30. Trading mainly supplying forges in the Stour Valley notably Wilden. Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1692-1717 & 1725 on. Sources VCH Gloucs v, 36; Foley E12/VI/DEc/1-15; DGc/1; Schafer 1971, 31-34; Hart 1971, 73-74; Standing & Coates 1979, 17. 444

Around the Severn Estuary Clanna Forge

[9] SO589021

Boevey sold up to 250 tpa to Stour Works partnership 1731 to 1739; Thomas Crawley-Boevey sold them 165 tons in 1746 and smaller amounts in 1752 to 1754. There were further sales in 1785 and 1786. He bought wood in 1753 and cinders in 1742 and 1753 from Maynard Colchester (Gloucs RO, D 36/E12, 129 & 184) and from Mr Probyn in 1761 (ibid, D 23, calendar). Cordwood sales from the Forest to T.C. Boevey continued until at least 1797 (TNA, LR 4, passim). An iron block with the date 1812 is likely to have been made in the furnace.

This small forge on the Cone Brook, south of the Forest of Dean, remains obscure. It appears in the list of 1736 jointly with Barnedge and Rowley forges. It was let with then in 1775, and descended with them until their closure about 1805. It was probably regarded as a mere adjunct of Barnedge, whose history is described above. There are no remains probably due to the enlargement of the dam for Clanna Weir Paper Mill. Sources VCH Gloucs v, 11; Hart 1971, 71; land tax, Alvington. Flaxley Furnace

Accounts An account exists for 1686 but is solely concerned with Wheeler and Avenant winding up business done there the previous year (Foley E12/F/VI/DFf/2).

[10] SO693153

Sources Foley E12/VI/DCc/1&9; E12/VI/DDc/2; NLW, Cilybebyll 416; Herefs RO, E169/183 (address); Gloucester Journal, 5 Dec. 1796; Hart 1971, 43 & 80-82; Johnson 1953, 137; Cave 1974, 18-19; Ellis 1982; 1991; Beacham 2019, 58-60; Pastscape 111734-5, citing G.H. Curzon in Trans. Bristol & Gloucs Arch. Soc. 99 (1981), 173; and I. Standing in Glevensis 20 (1986), 20.

This was probably driven by a leat from Flaxley Brook. An excavation took place at the furnace site in the 1990s. A wheel pit was found, but this does not seem to be that of the wheel operating the bellows for the furnace. Its precise site remains to be exactly located. Its early history is obscure; no furnace is listed as existing in 1634, only two forges. It was occupied by Paul Foley by 1674 until 1685; John Wheeler and Richard Avenant (briefly); William Boevey (d.1692, the landlord) from 1685; Katherine ‘Boovey’ relict of Thomas Boovey was selling pig iron by 1709 and ‘Mrs Catherine Boevey’ was buying cordwood from 1695; she died in 1727. ‘Mr Boevey’, who sold pig between 1731 and 1746, was probably Thomas Crawley-Boevey (d.1742) and then his son Thomas Crawley-Boevey II, who was correctly named as a seller in 1752 to 1754 (d.1769). Thomas CrawleyBoevey III sold pig in 1785 and 1786. By 1796 when he advertised for a founder, the ironworks were run by John Soule, who was at Flaxley by 1781. The statement that furnace was closed in 1802 probably merely refers to it being out of blast, as it appears in the 1805 and 1810 lists. It was closed by 1818, when it was demolished and its pools drained.

Flaxley Forges SO68001605, SO684159 SO684157, SO687154 and/or SO694152 There were at least two and probably three forges on Flaxley Brook. There are buildings on some of the sites, including a row of cottages at SO68001605, which may be occupying a forge building. The upper three sites were part of the Flaxley estate, while the lowest probably was not. At the highest site the wheel chamber is clear and much of the hearth remains. All were usually held with the furnace, but two forges were held by John Typper in 1634 and by Thomas Clerk on 1656 to 1657. Size 1717 (‘Newent’ [a printer’s error]) three forges made 120 tpa; 1718 100 tpa; 1736 80 tpa; 1750 150 tpa; 1790 2 fineries & a chafery. In 1754 there were three forges, the uppermost having a finery making 2 tpw. The next forge was similar. The lowest drew out bars from the other two, making about 5 tpw (Angerstein’s Diary, 169).

Size 1716 700 tpa; 1788 650 tpa; 1805 379 tons; in blast 1810.

Trading Thomas Clerk of Flaxley bought 170 tons of pig iron and some braises from Major Wade (‘King’s Ironworks’) in 1656 and 1657 (Wade a/c).

Associations for the Foley family see chapter 30. There were also three small forges at Flaxley see below. Trading Richard Knight sold 20 tons of pig iron to the Foley Bewdley warehouse in 1695 (Foley a/c) and again in 1710 (Johnson 1953, 137), but this could have been a resale. However, cordwood sales from the Forest were to William Bovee in 1690 and Mrs Catherine Bovey from about 1694 to 1725 (TNA, LR4/1-3 passim). The suggested tenure of Richard Knight is problematic: it is conceivable that he regularly ‘bought the blast’, that is, contracted to buy a large proportion of the products. He deposed that William Bovey or Mr Dornell his clerk said they had sold pig iron to Job Walker’s agent at Longnor in c. 1690 (NLW Cilybebyll 416). Pig iron sold to Thomas Morris of Redditch was delivered at Broad Oak (TNA, C 11/737/46).

Accounts and Sources see Flaxley Furnace, above. Froombridge Mill (now Fromebridge) Framilode Mill

[12] SO770073 [13] SO752102

Both mills were in the River Frome, some distance southwest of Gloucester. They were not very far from the Forest of Dean, but on the opposite bank of the river Severn. This position meant they were close to the woods of the Cotswold scarp for charcoal, and also had easy access to iron from the Forest, which could be brought across the Severn, and a short distance up it. 445

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Froombridge Mill was purchased by William Purnell for use by himself and his partners Joseph Fraithorne, Thomas Purnell, and John Purnell in 1760. Thomas Purnell’s departure was probably the reason for a new partnership deed in 1765, by which time they also had Ayleford Mill in Newnham. Framilode Mill, which may already have been a tinplate works, was operated previously operated by Henry Hathaway, was bought by John Purnell and let to the partnership in 1777 and 1778.

welding and shingling iron. Mott (1985, 34-5) suggested that Purnell’s 1766 patent was a precursor to rolling bars under Henry Cort’s, but those granted in the late 1670s to Thomas Harvey of Crayford and to his successors there Pawlin & Loggins were also forerunners. In ‘1794’, Froombridge comprised a rolling mill and wiremill; Framilode a slitting mill and tinmill. There must also have been plant for making bar iron but none is listed. In 1821, Froombridge was being used for making brass, and copper and brass wire, and had a 24-hp steam engine, while Framilode was making tinplate. In 1824 Framilode had two water-powered rolling mills for blackplate; a steam mill, powered by a 24-hp Boulton & Watt engine (supplied in c.1804), for rolling mills for bars and blackplate; a cold rolling mill; turning mill; and bloom furnaces. It could make 23,000 boxes of tinplate annually.

There was a new partnership agreement with 32 shares in 1778, between William Purnell, his son (another John, whose capital was lent by his grandfather John) and Joseph Fraithorne. The capital employed had risen from £6,000 in 1765 to £20,800 and there was also property in Eastington and Moreton Valence. Shortly afterwards, John Lewis (a Ross on Wye mercer) bought one of Fraithorne’s shares and subsequently injected £1,300 more, being allocated two more shares (so that there were now 34 in all). In January 1783, the company’s bills ‘came to be returned’, that is unpaid; William Purnell called a meeting of creditors and advanced £10,000 of his own money to keep up the Company’s credit. John Purnell (his son) died insolvent in December 1786.

Associations Purnell & Co had Ayleford Mill in 1765-83 and Monmouth Forge in 1807-21. Trading In 1807 and 1808 William Purnell & Co bought 30 and 90 tons of Old Park pig iron (OP a/c). Sources Gloucs RO, D2957/137/105 109 118-9 & 121; D 2193; D 3398/3/5/3; VCH Gloucs x, 150; Day 1973, 129; Mills 1998; 1999; Gloucs RO, RR135.1; TNA, RAIL  829/2, 6 (inf. from Hugh Conway-Jones); English Patents 854 (dated 1766) and 1608 (dated 1787); Cambrian 10 Feb. 1821; Birmingham Archives, MS 3147/5/343; London Gazette, no. 18147, 1079 (15 Apr. 1825); cf. Tann 1967, 138-42.

William Purnell bought out Dr William Lewis (John Lewis’s son) in 1788; John Purnell’s daughters released any claim to their father’s shares to their grandfather William in 1791. About the same time, Joseph Fraithorne retired from the firm. William Purnell was thus sole proprietor until 1800, when William Veel took a quarter share of the £24,000 capital of William Purnell & Co employed at Froombridge and Framilode; pencil annotation on this deed suggests there was a later stage when Purnell and Veel were equal partners in Purnell Veel & Co. William Purnell died in 1805, and was succeeded by his grandson, R.B. Cooper (or Purnell), who continued the business until 1824 when Framilode Mill was advertised to let. The partnership, here and at Monmouth Forge, of R.B. Cooper and Peter Veel (and with the late William Veel) was dissolved in 1825.

Gunsmill Furnace

[14] SO674169

This was on a tributary of Flaxley Brook a little over a mile west of Flaxley. The furnace buildings are nearly complete, but they have not been in good repair in recent years. The pool stood in front of the house, the dam being represented by a large wall on the south side of the furnace site. The casting shed does not survive, but the presence of two large beam sockets in the side of the furnace suggests it was a leanto structure. The stack is intact, but the hearth has been removed so that it could be used to house a staircase (now removed). It is built of sandstone. The casting and blowing arches have in situ cast iron beams, which bear the date 1682 (in one case 1683). The stack and bridge are surmounted by a halftimbered single storey structure, probably the original bridge house, but extended to cover the furnace top when it became a drying shed for the later paper mill. The blowing house is at present roofless and has had part of its wall rebuilt with modern materials. The adjoining wheel pit still has some water flowing through it. There are the remains of a small waterwheel, 5-6 feet in diameter, mainly made of iron, presumably belonging to the paper mill. The position of the axle of the furnace wheel suggests a wheel diameter was about 20 feet. It was converted to a paper mill in about 1743. All in all, this is one of the best-preserved groups of furnace buildings in southern England. It now belongs to Dean Heritage Trust, which hopes to conserve it.

A financial setback in 1808 may have led to the closure of Froombridge Mill, but both works were advertised to let in 1821. Framilode was then let to Porter & Clarke, but probably ceased operation in 1834, when the opening of the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal deprived it of water power. In that year, the Canal Company began payment of a compensation annuity, which was paid until 1964. The fate of Froombridge is less clear: it may have become a textile mill by 1839, but at some point it reverted to being a corn mill. This was reopened as a restaurant in 1999. Size In 1765 it was making bar iron and iron and steel wire. By 1778 they had added copper and brass wire, blackplate and tinplate to their products. John Purnell attended a meeting in London in 1780 to fix prices for tinplate (Brook 1944, 234). Patents were granted in 1766 and 1787 respectively for improvements made by John Purnell respectively in making iron and steel wire and for 446

Around the Severn Estuary A mill was built here by John Cone in 1435 and was a corn mill in 1540, but a fulling mill occupied by William Gunn (a clothier) in 1596, whence the name. This was rebuilt as a furnace between 1625 and 1628. It and belonged to Sir John Wynter of Lydney in 1635. Captain John Brayne seized it in 1644, but Winter recovered it in 1653. It was derelict in 1680, but evidently rebuilt in 1682-3 (according to the dates on cast iron lintels), perhaps by Hall and Scudamore, when they owned Monmouth Forge. In 1701 a house, 2 grist mills, and a fulling mill called Gunsmill were sold by John Brayne’s granddaughters to Thomas Foley I of Stoke under a defective title. In the previous decade, some outgoings appear in Tintern (B) a/c as if it was in the tenure of the Duke of Beaufort. This included rent paid to William Brayne.

to Serjeant Probyn. The Kent estates in the area came to them from the Earls of Shrewsbury, who had ironworks on a number of their estates. This may indicate that the two periods of operation relate to different furnaces. A furnace (on one of the Earl of Shrewsbury’s estates) is mentioned in a letter of 1609 from the steward of Goodrich Castle, but its early history otherwise remains obscure. This was perhaps the site near the church, but VCH suggests otherwise. Longhope woods were included in a lease to Sir John Kirle in 1630 and had previously been in his hands, but the furnace itself is not mentioned. In 1656 Hope Furnace existed: it was let by Thomas Nourse, who then had it in blast, to Thomas Foley I(W). Foley transferred a half share to his son Paul in 1669 and the rest in 1670. Paul Foley renewed the lease in 1682. However that year men had to tread the bellows wheel. When he transferred his other Forest of Dean ironworks to John Wheeler and Richard Avenant in 1685, Paul promised not to use Longhope. A provisional agreement was made in 1696 for renewing the lease, but this was probably not ratified. The furnace does not seem to have been used again. In 1717 Furnace Mill was a corn mill.

The furnace was in the hands of the Foley Ironworks in Partnership by 1703, but it does not seem to have been used by them until 1705. It was in blast in that year, in 1710-11, sometime about 1722 and in 1732, its last use. Presumably the rare use reflects a shortage of available charcoal, perhaps due to competition with Flaxley. It was a paper mill by 1741. Size the furnace could make 700-800 tons in a blast but is listed in 1717 as having a capacity of only 200 tpa, probably representing 600 tons being made but only every third year. It was last in blast in c.1732

Description by Thomas Baskerville in 1673: it was seven or eight yards high (HMC, 13th Rep, App. II Portland, 293-4).

Associations For the Foley family see chapter 30.

Associations for the Foley family see chapter 30.

Trading There is no very clear pattern except that there was a lack of trade with any local forges. All iron is likely to have been carried to Broad Oak on River Severn near Newnham and shipped to distant places.

Trading It probably mostly sent to Broad Oak near Newnham for transport to ironworks in the Midlands. Sources VCH Gloucs xii, 240-1; HMC Shrewsbury I (Lambeth), MS 702, f.169; Hart 1971, 43; TNA, C 2/Chas. I/K2/58; TNA, SP 16/202/33; TNA, PC 4/1, 208-9 & 28890; Foley E12/VI/DBc/5; E12/VI/DCc/1 3-5 & 8; E12/VI/ DEc/30; Schafer 1971, 33; Cave 1974, 13 & 16; Gloucs RO, D 1297, Longhope 9 13 & 18; D 23/T19; Beacham 2019, 51-5. The identity of the landlords shows that D 23/ T19 refers a furnace at Parish Mill, not as stated at Cave 1974, 16.

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1705-1717 and from 1725. There are some incomplete accounts for a preceding period 1723 to 1725 which include a reference to iron from here, suggesting a blast in 1721 or 1722. Sources Hart 1971, 43 & 70-71; VCH Gloucs v, 97; Gloucs RO, D2957/1/1; Tintern B a/c for 1690/1; Foley E12/VI/ DEc/11 (date from E12/VI/DEc/12); Foley E12/VI/DGc/1; Marsh 1964; Cave 1974, 17-18, with photographs; Harris 1974; Cave 1981; Standing 2014; Beacham 2019, 58. Longhope Furnace(s) or Hope Furnace

Nimpsfield Forge

possibly SO831007

A forge making 30 tpa is recorded in the list of 1736 at Nimpsfield. Nothing is known of this forge, which does not appear in the earlier or later lists and must have been quite short-lived in perhaps c.1718. The suggested location in Collier’s Wood, Nympsfield (surely a significant name) lies at the lower end of a chain of pools.

[15] SO692184 and [16] SO685099

The furnace almost certainly lay at Furnace Mill (SO692184). This has been made into cottages and there are no apparent remains of the furnace. A watercourse for the furnace affected the water supply to Parish Mill (SO680085). However, there was also a Furnace Meadow in 1717 on the opposite side of the Longhope Brook to Longhope Church. Slag is reported to have been found at Church Farm. This raises the possibility of a second furnace site (SO685099) at Longhope. This formed part of Court Farm which was sold in 1724 by the Duke of Kent

Rodmore Furnace and Forge

[18] SO582027

These were on the Cone Brook south of bounds of the Forest of Dean. They were built by John Powell of Preston in Herefordshire in 1629, and operated in 1634 by Sir John Winter. It was seized in 1644 by Robert Kirle and run by him from 1646 in partnership with Captain John Brayne. 447

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II The latter held it in partnership with John Gonning from 1647 to 1650 and still held it in 1661; it was probably closed within 20 years after this.

Sources Hart 1971, 71-2; Gloucs RO, land tax, Alvington; London Gazette, no. 15689, 416 (3 Apr. 1804). Tortworth Forge

A forge at Rodmore was built by Kirle and Brayne in 1648, no doubt descending with the furnace, being in the hands of Mr Brayne until at least 1677. Subsequently it was held by Thomas Morgan by 1690 to 1705; then his widow to 1709 or later; and John Hanbury by 1719 to 1746, when it probably closed. At some time Henry Thomas was associated with it. It was a paper mill between 1774 and 1842 and a corn mill by 1863, converted to a house in 1991.

The locations given are taken from an estate map and terrier dated 1760. Some of the ink on the map is rather faint, but it appears to indicate the presence of two forges. There were a furnace and forge probably built shortly after 1600 by Thomas Hackett, the manager at Tintern. He sold the works to Sir William Throckmorton, who operated the works for a year, losing £1000 in the process. He then sold them to ‘two citizens of Bristol’, but the works were probably closed not long after 1612. Ironworkers occur in the nearby parish of North Nibley from 1597. John Berkeley of Beverstone was the forge master who set up ironworks at Falling Creek, near Jamestown in Virginia in 1621, the party being led by Captain Blewitt (d.1618), a member of an ironworking family, but the party was massacred by Indians in 1622. Awty found entries for ironworkers in several nearby parishes, so that it is possible there was another ironworks (not yet identified) nearby. The landlord reserved the right to use this in 1662, but there is no indication that he did.

Size Furnace: In 1649 it made 15 tpw, i.e. perhaps 450 tpa. Forge: 1717 20 tpa; 1736 60 tpa. The scale of purchases of pig iron suggests about 50 tpa in the 1690s. Trading in 1690-5 Thomas Morgan of Rodmore up to 17 tpa (Tintern B a/c). In 1677 Mr Brayne was a debtor for £40 (Foley E12/VI/DCf/25). In 1693-1705 Thomas Morgan of Radner or Radmore had up to 69 tpa, but usually much less; then in 1706-9 widow Morgan smaller amounts (Foley a/c). Sow iron was shipped from Conepill or Woollaston to Carmarthen in 1671 and 1683 (Chepstow Port Books).

A new forge was built probably on the same site in 1714 by Matthew Ducie Moreton, encouraged by John White and John Hanbury. Colonel Moreton operated it himself for a time, but its history is obscure. Rowland Pytt took a lease in 1745 for 21 years from the following year, the intervening period being required for repairing it. It probably closed at the end of this lease; John Bedford (probably in the early 1770s) referred to Mr Pytt having ‘a large forge in Gloucestershire by the River Severn’, presumably this one; it had ‘gone down [that is closed] because it always used redshort and even Mr Pytt found it would not do and it now stands’ (NLW, Bedford). There are no obvious remains.

Sources Hart 1971, 44 71 & 380; VCH Gloucs v, 266. Rowley Forge

[20] ST702946 and ST705943

[19] SO594011

This small forge was like Barnedge and Clanna on Cone Brook and at some dates associated with them. It was built in 1646 by Robert Kyrle and John Brayne on the site of Atkins or Burnt Mill. Its history is then obscure until it was in the hands of the Foley Partnership or their associates from 1702 to 1704. They sold it to Walter Stratford who had it until at least 1706; its history is then again obscure for many years until it is included in the 1775 lease of Barnedge Forge (q.v.), with which it descended for the rest of the century. In 1804 the stock was sold, after execution was levied for debt. At about the same time, the partnership of James Hodge and Benjamin Williams was dissolved. It was converted to a paper mill about 1809.

Size 1717 no return; 1718 100 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 150 tpa; 1788 ‘down’. The appearance in 1717 list of the name but without a production figure may indicate a slightly earlier date than 1717 for that list. Associations For the Pytt family see chapter introduction.

Size In 1703 it made 33 tons; 1717 40 tpa; for later figures see Barnedge. The 1703 production figure may be for more than a year; the amount of pig iron supplied suggests an even lower output.

Trading Foley a/c for 1713-6 show up to 61 tpa sold from Blakeney. It is likely (in view of their evident friendship) that John Hanbury’s furnaces at Pontypool and Llanelly and John White’s brother’s at Tintern were the main sources of pig iron.

Associations for the Foley family see chapter 30. It seems to have been held with Barnedge in 1736.

Sources Chatwin 1982, 2-6; 1997, 19-21; Awty 2019, 495 697-8 citing John Smyth of Nibley, Lives of the Berkeleys; Gloucs RO, D 340a/T142; D 340a/C21; D 340a/137, 1745 lease; D 340a/P3 & P5; House of Lords RO, LP 245/15; Johnson 1953, 140 & note.

Trading 1702-6 106 tons in 4 years almost all from Blakeney pigs (Foley a/c). Accounts Foley a/c 1703/4.

448

Chapter 28: The Forest of Dean Parkend Ironworks

Other ironworks Cambridge Mill Coaley Mill

[21] SO749036 [22] SO761024

A furnace was built in 1799, and was blown by a steam engine, but in 1820 the use of water is mentioned. It was built by Mr Perkins, but most early references to it (including in 1805, when it made 450 tons) give the owner’s name as Protheroe, no doubt John Protheroe. It was run by a Mr Perkins, but may have closed in 1807. Following Protheroe’s death, it was offered for sale with various mines, but not sold. His nephew Edward Protheroe let it in 1824 to the Forest of Dean Iron Company (William Montague, Benjamin Whitehouse and Moses Teague), but by 1826 Moses Teague was managing it for Montague and John James of Lydney. After Montague’s death, James became sole lessee. Edwin Crawshay bought it in 1875 but closed the final furnace in 1877. The works were demolished in 1890, but the engine house was put to another use.

Coaley Mill was sold to Nathaniel Underwood in 1774 and was perhaps converted to an iron mill (edged tool works) soon after, certainly by 1791. However an article in 1904 claimed the business was established in 1744. He was succeeded by his son Nathaniel, whose partnership of Nathaniel and R.D. Underwood as ironmasters and edged tool manufacturers was dissolved in 1817. Nathaniel had bought out some interest of R.D. Underwood in 1814, but despite this and the dissolution, they were still there in 1821. R.D. Underwood bought the mill in 1823, after his brother’s death. It passed to Joseph Longmore in 1828, but he probably let it, the 1838 occupier being Henry Savage. In 1855, it was occupied by Robert Underwood, but sold to another Nathaniel Underwood. George M. Cooper & Co, edge tool manufacturers, ran the works in 1867. They were succeeded by Leonard Thomas by 1874. In 1924 A & F Parkes of Lower Dartmouth Street, Birmingham bought his business and continued to use his name until the works closed in 1944. The products were latterly spades, hoes and other such tools.

Sources Hart 1971, 127-9; VCH Gloucs v, 342; Oxford Journal, 13 May 1820; Cambrian, 20 May 1820; Wikipedia, ‘Parkend Ironworks’. Whitecliffe Furnace

[23] ST862994 (?)

This evidently closed before (perhaps long before) 1635, but otherwise nothing is known. A mill at Cherston in Minchinhamton was used in 1306 for sharpening axes and scythes. Significantly, this was on the estates of the Norman Caen Abbey: there was a blade mill at Évreux, also in Normandy from 1204. Source VCH Gloucs xi, 198; Holt 1988, 151.

Sources Hart 1971, 129-31; VCH Gloucs v, 128-9; Anstis 1990; Standing 1980; 1981; 1986.

Coke ironworks Cinderford Furnace

[26] SO56751005

The stack of this furnace stands intact, some 50 foot in height from the bridge to the casting floor, on the outskirts of Coleford. It is a listed building owned by the Dean Heritage Trust. Building was begun in 1798 by Samuel Botham of Uttoxeter, in partnership with the Bishton brothers of Shifnal, but it was damaged by floods before it was finished. The existing building dates from 1804 when Moses Teague and Thomas Halford took it over. The noted metallurgist David Mushet was a partner from 1809, but severed his connection with it the following year. Thomas Halford became bankrupt in 1816, a date which probably marks the closure of the works. The stack was the subject of major repairs in 2013, following its transfer to the Trust.

Sources London Gazette, 17226, 534 (4 Mar. 1817); Wilson 1996. Minchinhampton Iron Mill

[25] SO617079

[24] SO651134

According to a plate found on the furnace, this was built in 1795. It made 20 tons the following year. It was probably this furnace that made 800 tons in 1805, but it may have closed the following year. The works were re-established by Cinderford Iron Company in 1827 (Moses Teague, William Montague and others), but closed from 1832 to 1835 when Teague with Montague, William Allaway and John Pearce of Lydbrook and William Crawshay of Cyfarthfa formed a new company was, but by the late 1840s, it was an equal partnership between William Allaway and William Crawshay. His son Henry Crawshay (d.1879) bought out the other partners in 1864 with his father’s help. His family operated the works until 1894. Sources Hart 1971, 121-7; Newman 1982; Anstis 1990; VCH Gloucs v, 342; Wikipedia, ‘Cinderford Ironworks’. 449

28 The Forest of Dean Introduction

it was really rather too large to be readily manageable. Evidently those responsible for establishing the industry were able to obtain a sufficient head of water, as shortage of water does not seem to have hindered them unduly.

The Forest of Dean was one of the most important sources of iron in Britain. The Forest extended to some 24,000 acres at the beginning of the 17th century, including 18,000 acres of wood and 4,000 acres of waste.1 This did not include Bishopswood, which did not belong to the king and extended to 2,000 acres. At the time there was probably a considerable amount of timber in it as it had not been heavily used for a long time. There had been a previous period of large-scale ironmaking in medieval times and probably also in the Roman period, so that bloomery slag is a normal soil constituent there.2 The Roman small town of Ariconium was heavily concerned in iron smelting.3 Iron ore may have been sent up the Severn, leading to large quantities of bloomery slag also being ubiquitous Roman layers in Worcester.4 The Forest was also important in the medieval period, leading to this being an area of the country (as with lead in Derbyshire and tin in Cornwall), where there were customary mining laws.5 The crown tried to regulate these, at times permitting three or more forgiae arrantes (wandering forges) in the Forest. However, there was also a Great Forge of the King, which appears in accounts between 1246 and 1255, as belonging to St Briavels Castle. Itinerant (manually blown) forges continued to operate. There were periodic complaints that the forges damaged timber trees, but the industry seems to have operated on a sustainable basis. Thus when blast furnaces were introduced, the Forest was thus in good condition.6

The Stuart kings were perpetually short of money and the Forest therefore offered a useful source of revenue. In adopting this course, James I was doing no more than those gentlemen, who owned substantial tracts of woodland, had been doing for several decades. Because he was king, James I had a use for timber which his subjects did not have: he needed there to be timber for shipbuilding for the navy. With 16,000 acres of woodland in the Forest and other forests and woodlands elsewhere, there should have been little difficulty in preserving timber and providing cordwood for the iron industry. However that is not what happened. Before the ironworks were set up, the king directed a commission to inquire what wood was available. Evidence was given that each acre contained 80 cords and therefore there was enough wood for 30,000 cords per year for ten years and 20,000 cords for the eleventh year. This was very probably something of an overestimate. The result was that every few years the ironworks were ordered to stop and a commission was set up to inquire into abuses. The report of abuses was invariably found to be correct. The ultimate cause of the problem was greed coupled with lack of supervision by the officers of the forest. The first period of the King’s Works

There was abundant ore of a variety (limonite, Fe2O3 .xH2O) made tough iron, the best that was made in Britain. This occurred in beds of limestone into which iron had percolated from the surface in past geological ages. The ores were rich and plentiful and outcropped in a band around the edge of the forest. In Medieval times much of the mining had been carried out in opencast pits, known locally as scowles. Later there were deeper mines, such as that at Clearwell, which is open as a tourist attraction. If there was one commodity that was in relatively short supply, it was water power. The Forest is drained by a number of modest brooks. It does not contain any substantial river, though the river Wye flows nearby. Although there were at times a couple of forges on the Wye (see chapter 30),

1

Hart 1966; 1995, xviii. I. Standing, pers. comm. 3 Hart 1971, 2. 4 Dalwood & Edwards 2004 and e.g. www.explorethepast.co.uk/​ 2017/11/archive-unearthed/. 5 Hart 1953. 6 Hart 1971, 2-7; for discussion of Great Forge see Craddock 1997. 2

451

In 1611 Giles Bridges and others (agents of the Earl of Shrewsbury) and Sir John Winter obtained a royal contract to buy 22,000 cords of wood per year; but this was cancelled less than a year later. Up until this point some iron ore had been exported from the Forest, for example to ironworks in Ireland, but this trade was stopped, reserving Forest mine for the King’s works. Instead ironworks were erected for William Earl of Pembroke, who as Constable of the Castle of St. Braviels was one of the principal officers of the Forest. He was allowed to buy 12,000 cords of wood per year. His clerk was Thomas Hackett who was for many years farmer of the Wireworks at Tintern under the Company of Mineral and Battery Works (of which Pembroke was Governor, a titular role). Hackett was later himself a farmer of the King’s Works. The disputes arose partly as a result of conflicts with the customary rights of the Free Miners and partly over allegations of the illegal cutting of trees. Accordingly the King suspended the works in 1613. In 1615 the Crown re-let the works by means of two 15-year leases, each being allowed 6,000 cords of wood per year.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 28. The Forest of Dean. 1, not plotted; 2, Bradley Forge; 3, Cannop Furnace; 4, Lydbrook Furnace; 5, Lydbrook Forge; 6, Parkend Furnace; 7, Parkend Forge; 8, Soudley Furnace; 9, Soudley Forge; 10, Whitecroft Forge.

Cannop Furnace and Lydbrook Furnace and Forge were let to Richard Tomlins (or Tomkinson) and George Moore, the Earl of Shrewsbury’s steward at Goodrich Castle. Moore presumably supervised the Earl’s Whitchurch Furnace and Forge. Their clerk was Richard Tyler, then a young man but later sufficiently prominent to be a member of the 1625 commission of inquiry. Sir Basil Brooke and Richard Caldecott had the furnaces and forges at Soudley and Parkend. Their clerk was Richard Hankinson. The works were suspended in 1617 for illicit felling. In 1619, Thomas Hackett may have had some supervisory role on behalf of both Brooke and Moore in 1619, as the Earl Cork sent a man to consult him about pig iron sales.7

This court dealt with some 800 offences under the Forest Law. It imposed a fine of £50,039.16.8 (later reduced to £12,000) on the farmers of the King’s ironworks for the misappropriation of 178,200 cords. Sir John Wintour was fined £20,230 (later reduced to £4,000) for 60,700 cords. That fine seems to be computed at six shillings and eight pence per cord, the price at which the king was selling the cordwood to the farmers. The reduction may therefore reflect an excessive element in the charges, such as charging a second time for what had already been paid for, rather than being an (improbable) act of pure clemency. Down the centuries, General Eyres had been much feared. The one applying the rigour of Forest Law during Charles I’s fourteen years of personal rule can hardly have been expected not to look extortionate.

In 1621 the works were let for seven years to Richard Challoner and Philip Harris, under the supervision of overseers to prevent excess wood being taken. They weathered accusations of misappropriating trees and held the lease to its expiry. Cannop Furnace and Soudley Furnace and perhaps Soudley Forge were latterly out of use, but the additional forge, Lydbrook Middle (later Upper) Forge continued in use. The Earl of Pembroke was the successful applicant for the new lease together with the right to buy 10,000 cords of wood per year. He immediately sublet the works to Sir Basil Brooke, George Mynne and Thomas Hackett. They added two additional forges at Whitecroft and Soudley on private land adjoining the Forest. The king was again being urged to suppress the works by 1633, but it was probably his shortage of money as much as allegations of waste that led to the Forest Eyre of 1634. 7

After the Eyre, Brooke and Wintour renewed their patent, Wintour having acquired Mynne’s share, but the king instead looked for new lessees. These were Sir Sackville Crowe (earlier a Wealden ironmaster and holder of the patent monopoly for exporting cannon),8 Sir Baynham Throckmorton (a local gentleman), and John Taylor and John Gonning junior (Bristol merchants) who obtained a 21 year lease in 1636. The rent was equivalent to 12,000 cords per year at eleven shillings each. In 1640 the king sold the Forest to Sir John Winter for £106,000 payable by instalments with a perpetual fee farm rent of £1,950, but subject to the lease of the ironworks for the first six years with 13,500 cords per year allowed to the tenants. Winter only enjoyed the grant for a year and a half due to

Lismore Papers Ser. 2, ii, 164.

8

452

Cleere & Crossley 1995, 172-4.

Chapter 28: The Forest of Dean local opposition eventually leading to its cancellation by the House of Commons in 1642.

took 2¼ or 2½ long cords or 3 to 3½ short cords to make a load of charcoal. This is a clear indication that something was going wrong, but the commissioners failed to draw the necessary implication and pursue this matter further.

In the course of the Civil War, much of the production was of ordnance. In the end Parliament was victorious and Royalists, such as Winter, were sequestrated. In 1644 Parkend, Cannop and Whitecroft were partly destroyed. The rest of the King’s Works were held by Captain John Gifford by assignment from Major-General Edward Massey. Despite petitions for their restitution from John Taylor and his partners, Gifford retained the works, until in 1650 Parliament ordered that the lease should end and that the works should be demolished. How thorough this demolition was is uncertain.

Frequently sound timber of considerable length was felled and corded even though it had been marked to be left. How this assisted the farmers is not too clear. It is possible that the original estimate of the amount of wood in the Forest was in fact based on clear felling. Accordingly an area of woodland was being allotted each year. Being unable to persuade the royal officers to allow them more, they cut what they ought to have left in order to get their full quota. Furthermore, no great care was taken to prevent trees dying. This was useful to the farmers because they could buy windfalls from the forest officers over and above their quota. They were also quite capable of buying extra wood from outside the forest. It is probable that, with better knowledge of how much pig iron could be obtained from a furnace that was kept going to its utmost capacity, fewer works would have been built, but having got all the works, there must have been a temptation to use them. This led to wood being taken over the quota and the utter devastation of the Forest.

An assessment of the first period There was little wrong in principle with the idea of building the King’s Works. The problem lay in implementation and supervision. The Forest was still administered, just as it had been, for much of the medieval period. The senior officers were hereditary Woodwards, each responsible for a division of the Forest. The Woodwards were largely local gentry, who probably regarded their office largely as a sinecure. Their wages came from the sale of windfalls and loppings and they can hardly have been expected to have been very active in making sure that trees were not caused to fall down.

Unusually for this period there is some evidence of how much the furnaces were producing in the 1620s from evidence given to a commission of enquiry in January 1626. Challoner and Harris just seem to have been using Cannop and Lydbrook Furnaces and forges at Parkend and Lydbrook within the forest. They probably also held Lydbrook Middle (later Upper Forge). The first two blasts in each furnace had been twenty or so weeks long. Those at Cannop had made about 250 tons each. Both furnaces produced about 13 tons per week each.

There were officers appointed to supervise the measurement of the wood for the ironworks. They seem to have regarded their job purely to attend when requested and count a large number of cords that had been set out ready for them. They do not seem to have carried out any kind of spot checks, to make sure that wood was not being surreptitiously coaled without being corded. In addition a number of stratagems were used to make the cords bigger. Some of the sticks were cut a little too long and these were laid at the bottom of the pile then slightly shorter ones and so on until at the top the width was right. Additionally it was possible to make the pile slightly higher at the back than at the front. The officer measuring the cord measured it at the top of the front and did not notice the excessive height and width elsewhere. He also employed one of the farmers’ men to keep a tally of the number of cords that he had measured: it was alleged that this man would miss out two or three in a score. In addition the fraudulent size of a cord resulted in a similar increase in the quantity of wood taken. By one means and other fraud may well have increased the quantity of wood received by the farmers by half. Most of the evidence of these malpractices comes from a commission of enquiry in 1637.

It is likely that the increased length of the blast represents a change in furnace practice. Blowing one furnace for a long time rather than blowing both furnaces for a shorter time almost certainly had a saving in terms of efficiency. Thus the works were producing 500 to 650 tons of pig iron per year, which would make 400 to 500 tons of bar iron per year. Parkend Forge with three fineries made 140 tons per year; two other forges with two fineries each perhaps made 90-100 tons per year. This may imply that another forge, presumably Soudley was also in use. However, some pig iron was also being sent to other areas (see below). In the next phase under Sir Basil Brooke and partners, two new large forges were built. These would probably have been of slightly greater capacity than the earlier ones, perhaps increasing total production to about 750 tons per year. They had by the time of the General Eyre held the Works for five years. The number of cords, 178,200, for which they were fined is hardly credible. The amount to which the fine was eventually reduced represents 48,000 cords, suggesting that they were using almost double their allotted quota of 10,000 cords per year. This suggests production more of the order of 900 to 1,000 tons per year.

This does not mean there was no malpractice earlier. It just was that the commissioners did not succeed in obtaining evidence of what was going on. In 1626 evidence was given that two short cords (where the sticks are two foot two inches long) made one long cord (where they are four foot four inches long). This is just as it should be. The witness however also said that the men reckoned that it 453

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Markets

a considerable amount of shot for the navy and only selling enough pig iron to cover his expenses. Later the major part of his production was pig iron for sale to ironmasters. His last blast at the furnace lasted about 16 months and made 1,254 tons of pig iron, about 17 tpw. He left his post in 1660 shortly after the Restoration and was replaced by William Carpenter, whose job seems mainly to have consisted of winding up the operation. A small amount of bar iron was made in his time, but that is all.

The development of the King’s works was accompanied by the erection of forges elsewhere. Sir Basil Brooke is likely to have built a forge at Coalbrookdale, in his own manor of Madeley, replacing ‘Caldebroke Smithy’. He certainly had another forge, Bromleys Forge at the mouth of the river Perry in west Shropshire, perhaps from 1608.9 Before the King’s works were built, mine and cinders were exported to Ireland, for example to the work of Sir Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork. This export was stopped when the ironworks were built in the Forest. In 1619, Boyle sent an agent to Bristol. He was instructed then to visit Lady Hopton and her son, Sir Robert Hopton of Witham in south Somerset, to try to sell them 50 or 100 tons of pig iron from Boyle’s Cappoquin Furnace. Dependent on his success, the agent was to travel through the Forest, consulting with Thomas Hackett as agent to Brooke and Moore, the farmers there; and then to go on to Bewdley to talk to the clerks of ironworks in Shropshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire, who came there to buy pig iron. The role of Hackett was perhaps not quite correctly described, but these instructions indicate that pig iron was being shipped up the Severn during Brooke’s first period as a farmer. The King’s Works were stopped at the time in question, which Boyle perhaps saw as a marketing opportunity.10

With the Restoration, Winter’s grant of the Forest was revived, but on being refunded his expenditure, he resold the Forest back to the Crown. Rather than operating the works itself the Crown let Parkend and Lydbrook (or King’s Howbrook) Furnace and Whitecroft Forge to Robert Clayton and Francis Finch, who were nominated by Winter. Once again there was difficulty with commoners. Following an enquiry Parliament passed the Dean Forest Reforestation Act 1667 allotting part of it to the commoners and providing for other parts to be inclosed to allow the woods to regenerate. By then Clayton was sole lessee of the works. It is probable that he continued to receive wood from the forest throughout his lease. When the time came for the lease to be renewed, it was decided that it would be better merely to sell the cordwood to ironmasters rather than have it used to make iron within the Forest. It was considered that the Forest could provide 8,000 cords of wood per year. Paul Foley put in a bid for this, but was outbid by John Hanway and Alderman John Forth. Paul Foley did however buy the materials of the ironworks on the basis that he would demolish them.

The practice of sending pig iron up the Severn is also indicated in a memorandum that John Weld of Willey wrote in 1631 when such for the benefit of his posterity, in which he refers to the possibility of getting pig iron from ‘the Forest’, surely meaning Dean, not Shirlett.11 George Taylor’s Whittington Forge (where there was a debt to Brooke) and Shelsley Forge (which belonged to Brooke and his colleagues at the end of his second period as farmer in 1631) are also probable recipients of Forest pig iron,12 as presumably were forges on Brooke’s own estate at Coalbrookdale and Bromleys Forge,13 along with the farmers’ own forge at Whitecroft, on private land adjoining the Forest.14 There is more about the later history of this trade in Chapter 24.

Thus ended sixty years of over-exploitation of the Forest. The original policy of setting up the ironworks need not in itself have been wrong. The error was failing to supervise the farmers of the works adequately and greed, both on their part and that of the Crown in trying to get more wood out of the Forest than it could grow. The arrangements may be compared to those made by many country gentlemen in respect of their own estates in using the available wood, often initially on an unsustainable basis. The only things that are exceptional are the scale of the operation and the time before abuses were adequately remedied. The scale was made possible by the availability of an almost unequalled area of woodland, in proximity to a source of high quality ore. The time it took for an adequate solution to be found to the abuses to which the woods were subjected is perhaps typical of the inefficiency way in which the Crown Estates were run until relatively modern times. The problem was no doubt exacerbated by ultimate control being exercised by the Exchequer, seated in Westminster. It had its own court which was able to order a halt to operations and only investigate afterwards.

The Commonwealth and beyond In 1653 Major John Wade was appointed to administer the Forest. He was a salaried employee of the Commonwealth and is generally reckoned to have done his job efficiently and honestly. The Forest was probably better managed in his time than for many years before or after. He rebuilt Parkend Furnace and was later authorised to the rebuild Whitecroft Forge. At first, he was producing Lawson, 1973; q.v. Chatsworth, Cork MSS X, 9 (= Lismore Papers, 2nd Ser. ii, 162-7). I owe this important reference to Paul Rondolez. 11 Wanklyn 1969; King thesis, 100. 12 Whittington: TNA, C 2/Chas I/T5/14; Shelsley: TNA, E 214/513; E 214/459. 13 Q.v. Coalbrookdale’s history is obscure at this period, but Brooke had an agent Thomas Tildesley who bought pig iron from Richard Foley: TNA, C 2/Chas I/T3/15. 14 Hart 1971, 39. 9

10

General Sources Schubert 1953; Hart 1953; 1971; 1995; Hammersley 1957.

454

Chapter 28: The Forest of Dean Cordwood from the Forest

George Wyrrall in 1780 recorded the application of stamps to break up cinders, evidently blast furnace slag. Washing then separated the lighter glassy slag from granulated iron. The iron was sent to forges, whereas the lightly slag was shipped to Bristol and used to make glass there. There were two sets of stamps at Redbrook, no doubt originally set up to stamp ore for the copper works there, but Reynolds, Partridge & Co were granted liberty to use them, under their 1762 lease, until they were otherwise needed. Slag was also stamped at Tintern by 1781. Isaac and Peter Kear built a stamp mill at Parkend within the Forest in 1810. This was in 1841 in the hands of John More who had married Isaac’s widow (with others). The licence was renewed in 1844 and 1863, but the mill disappeared before 1878.17 The iron industry returned to the Forest proper in the Industrial Revolution. There were three coke furnaces in or close to it, operating from the 1790s, but these appear in the preceding chapter.

The sale to Paul Foley of the materials of the ironworks may have been the end of them, but it did not end of the use of wood from the forest for iron making. In 1674 it was agreed that John Hanway and Alderman John Forth should have 8,000 cords per year. Forth and his partner Sir Clement Clarke, finding to their surprise that the King’s Works were not available, built Linton Furnace (see Chapter 26). After this expired Paul Foley was granted a similar contract. In 1692 his partners John Wheeler and Richard Avenant were sold 60,000 cords, of which a considerable part was still undelivered in 1703. In 1705 Paul’s son Thomas Foley I(S) had an agreement for 8,000 cords at six shillings to six shillings and sixpence per cord with two thirds of the surplus over 12,000 cords cut in any year. This was renewed in 1711. On the basis of these agreements the Foley Ironworks in Partnership built a furnace at Blakeney, apparently on private land in the Forest and subsequently took over Gunsmill Furnace on its eastern border. Wood from the Forest may also have been used in Redbrook Furnace and the Lydbrook Forges near the western and northern edges of the Forest respectively (as to this business, see chapter 30).

Gazetteer Medieval Forge King’s Great Forge

In the negotiations preceding the 1705 contract, it was contemplated that 4,000 cords would be sold to other local ironworks, particularly to Mrs Boevey of Flaxley, who certainly received some wood in 1703, also to Lady Wintour (of Lydney) and Mr White (at New Weir).15 The failure of the Foley Forest Partnership to make any use of Blakeney Furnace after c.1723 probably reflects a failure to continue to secure more wood from the Forest. Evidence of what use was made of the cordwood from the Forest in this period is rather thin. It seems that regular sales, with the prime object of raising revenue, ceased. Nevertheless, sales were authorised periodically to fund repairs and for other purposes related to the Forest, usually resulting in a surplus beyond the expense in question. Successive Surveyors-General of Forests accounted for them to the Exchequer, though usually not until they left office. The buyers of cordwood named in these accounts were invariably ironmasters.16 Following the Act of 1667, the prime object of the Forest was to provide the navy with a good supply of timber for warship construction. To this end it was laid down that a certain number of trees per acre should be left as standards, that is, as trees to grow into timber. This number was somewhat larger than was usual in other woodlands where timber production was less of an end than the production of a good income for its owner. This no doubt limited the amount of cordwood that could be taken from underwood and coppices, but did not prevent the Forest remaining an extremely important source of wood for the iron industry until the end of the charcoal era.

Unknown

Accounts for the Forest of Dean refer to this forge in 1246/7 and 1255. Subsequent accounts name it, but do not record its output. Its location is not known, but if it was greater than the older itinerant forges, it is likely to have been water-powered. Sources Hart 1971, 4-5; Craddock 1997. The King’s Ironworks in the Forest A few of the works in this gazetteer were just beyond the legal bounds of the Forest and had a later life as forges or other works in the 18th century or later. This gazetteer is limited to the King’s Ironworks. Any later history is dealt with in other chapters. Bradley Forge

[2] SO665095

Its site was near Bradley House. There are no remains, unless it is represented by a row of cottages near the brook. In 1634, it was described as not fixed to the freehold of the Forest, meaning it must have been on the west side of the brook. It was built 1628-9 by Basil Brooke and George Mynne and worked by John Typper of Flaxley in 1642; and by Kirle and Braine in 1645. It became derelict from 1646. There was again a forge with a wire works on the site in the late 18th century and a foundry in the 19th century, as discussed in the preceding chapter. Size A double forge with two hammers three fineries and one chafery.

15 Calendar of Treasury Papers: vol. 96, nos. 60 & 89; and 97, nos. 32 & 52; cf Hart 1995. 16 TNA, LR 4, passim.

17

455

Hart 1971, 157-60.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Cannop Furnace

[3] SO609116

About 14 years ago I saw the ruins of one of these furnaces situated below York Lodge, and surrounded by a huge heap of the slag or scoria that is produced in the making of pig iron. .... it had all the appearance ... of having remained in the same state for nearly two centuries. There existed no trace of any sort of machinery. ... [probably] the entire produce of the furnace in slags remained undisturbed. The quantity I computed at 8,000 to 10,000 tons.

This was on the Cannop Brook and Howler’s Slade Brook near their junction, near Cannop Bridge. There are no surface remains. It was built in 1612 as part of the King’s Ironworks and descended with them. It was leased via John Browne the gunfounder to William and Thomas Dunning in 1642, but destroyed in 1644 in the course of the Civil War. Size Between 1621 and 1625 it made about 250 tpa in each of two campaigns of about 20 weeks each. Lydbrook Furnace or Kings Howbrook Furnace

Hart suggested the forge lay south of the village, but its whereabouts is unknown. There are no remains of either works. It was built in 1613 as part of the King’s Ironworks and followed the same descent as the rest of these works. Destroyed in the Civil War in 1644, it was rebuilt by Major John Wade in 1654 and was in use in the 1660s, but demolished in 1674. In 1810, the Office of Woods granted Isaac and Peter Kear licence to build a stamping mill to use the cinders (Hart 1971, 158-9).

[4] SO609152

The Great How Brook is a tributary of the Lydbrook within the Forest of Dean. There are some remains of pools and dams, which also served a 19th century corn mill on the site, but no surface remains. The furnace was one of the King’s ironworks in the Forest. It was built in 1612-13 by the Earl of Pembroke. It was rebuilt in 1632, let to Throckmorton, Crowe, Taylor, and Gonning, handed by Sir John Winter in 1642 to John Browne gunfounder and sublet to William and Thomas Gonning. Captain John Braine seized it in 1644 and sublet it to Thomas Pury and Grifantius Phillips 1644 to 1650. It was partly destroyed in 1650; Winter’s nominees, Clayton and Finch, rebuilt it in the 1660s, but it was finally sold to Paul Foley for destruction in 1674.

Size Furnace: In 3¾ years from 1657 to 1660 made about 2,700 tons pig iron, about 720 tpa. It is quite likely that the rebuilt furnace was rather larger than what it replaced, which is likely to have produced less, more like 250 tpa Unless the furnace was run in a very discontinuous manner the total production would have been about twice Mushet’s estimate. Forge In 1625 it was making 140 tpa, also 1657-60. A double forge two hammers (described as the forging hammer and the shingling hammer), three fineries and one chafery.

Size Between 1621 and 1625 the furnace had had four blasts, for 20, 26, 36, and 49 weeks; a fifth blast had lasted 36 weeks by January 1626 and was making 13 tpw pig iron, according to the evidence of William Browne the founder there at the time. If this figure was sustained throughout the fourth and fifth blasts, the output would have been 635 and at least 500 tpa respectively, respectable figures for 18th century furnaces. Hart (1971) quotes a detailed survey of the furnace in 1635. Lydbrook Forge or King’s Howbrook

Trading After its rebuilding by Wade in 1653, it initially mainly cast shot for the navy. Thereafter it was making pig iron for sale to ironmasters, who though named in the accounts, cannot always be identified with ironworks. Soudley

[5] SO608152 “Lydbrook FORGE A”

These were on the Soudley Brook, just within the bounds of the Forest of Dean. The furnace site is now occupied by Cinderford sewage works. There is a large quantity of slag. The forge was a little west of the mouth of Sutton Brook. It was rebuilt in about 1634 after a period of decay. After the closure of the King’s works, the site may have been unused, until it was used for a foundry from about 1825 to 1867, then as a flour mill, then as a leatherboard mill until 1908. It was a sawmill from 1922 until 1952. Hart published a photograph of about 1905 showing a three storey building, probably of brick with iron-framed windows. This is now the Dean Heritage Centre. However the identity of the mill with the King’s forge is disputed.

This was on the Lydbrook in the Forest, a short distance below its junction with Great How Brook. There was subsequently a 19th century corn mill on the site. Its history is identical to the furnace save that it was probably not rebuilt after being demolished in 1650. Size A single forge with two fineries. A detailed survey of 1635 is quoted by Hart (1971). Parkend

Furnace: [8] SO65271070 Forge: [9] SO664106 (?)

Furnace: [6] SO614083 Forge: [7] about SO6108

These were built in 1612-3 as part of the King’s ironworks, and followed the same descent as the rest of the King’s Ironworks. The works were probably run 1642 to 1645 by one Skinner using cordwood assigned by John Browne the gunfounder and then by Braine and Kirle or

This stood on the Cannop Brook in the heart of the Forest of Dean. The hearth and boshes were found complete by David Mushet about 1812 who later wrote:

456

Chapter 28: The Forest of Dean Pury and Phillips. They were probably destroyed by the Commonwealth in 1650. Size The furnace was probably relatively small, like Cannop producing 250 or 300 tpa when in blast. The forge was a single one with two fineries. Whitecroft Forge

[10] SO619062

This stood on private land, just outside the Forest of Dean on the Cannop Brook. It was built by Brooke and Mynne, the farmers of the King’s Ironworks, in about 1628 and thereafter held with the King’s Works. It was destroyed in the course of the Civil War in 1644 and rebuilt by Major John Wade in 1654. In 1662 it was in good repair though not in use, but was mentioned in an agreement of 1664. It continued to be held with the King’s Ironworks until it was demolished with the rest of them in 1674. There is a 19th century corn mill on the presumed site. King’s Works Generally Associations Thomas Hackett was often (with partners) farmer of Tintern wireworks and of Machen Forge. He was probably a protégé of the Earl of Pembroke. George Moore was steward to the Earl of Shrewsbury at Goodrich and as such managed Whitchurch Furnace and Forge. In the second period when Sir Basil Brooke was a partner, the farmers built Shelsley Forge in Worcestershire. Brooke’s ironworks at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire and his other activities are discussed as part of the history of the Coalbrookdale Works (in chapter 18). The Winter family owned Lydney Park and had a number of ironworks in that area; these are discussed in the preceding chapter on the Severn Estuary. After he gave up his interests in the King’s Works, George Mynne developed ironworks in Southwest Wales, with a forge near Whitland Abbey and a furnace and forge at Blackpool (see chapter 38), though retaining his share in Tintern Wireworks. Accounts Full accounts of sales etc. 1653-61 Wade a/c; 1663/4 summary: Gloucs RO, D 421/E6. There are various letters from or referring to Wade in Calendar of State Papers, Interregnum. Sources TNA, Exchequer Special Commissions: E 178/3837; E 178/5304; and E178/6080 (some of these contain the results of more than one commission and run to many membranes); Gloucs RO, D 421/E6; Ipswich RO, HA49/Iii/1-3; Hart 1971, 10-42; Schubert 1953; Standing & Coates 1979, 17-18. Later Ironworks Blakeney furnace was on private land in the Forest. Gunsmill Furnace and the 18th century Bradley Forge adjoined it. However this chapter is intentionally limited in its scope to the King’s Ironworks in the Forest, so that these works appear in the preceding chapter.

457

29 Tintern and the Lower Wye Valley Introduction

of the Lydbrook Forges, whose pig iron was from Forest of Dean furnaces, made from local limonite ores.4

The River Wye is tidal as far as Brockweir. This chapter is largely concerned with just one works, the large and complex iron and wire works at Tintern. This is well documented and is the subject of a number of publications.1 It operated from the late 16th century until 1901. With this have been joined two other furnaces, at Coed Ithel near Brockweir and in Woolpitch Wood, Trellech, whose histories remain obscure. Neither of them has known forges and they were therefore probably associated in some way with Tintern, though the extensive records concerning Tintern give no hint of that. The works are all to the west of the river Wye in Monmouthshire in an area that remains well wooded to this day. The area is somewhat to the south west of the Forest of Dean, but there is clear evidence that that is where much of the ore came from. There is also mention of mining in Porthcasseg manor, where in 1706 George Kirkland made an agreement with the Duke to mine ore in ground called Windcliffe in St Arvans.2

Osmond iron was a medieval import into England, ultimately from Sweden, certainly arriving by 1397,5 but the iron used in wiremaking was English (or Welsh) made. The osmond hearth was slightly different in shape from an ordinary finery, being narrower and deeper. The pig was introduced through the back wall of the finery in the usual way, but the drops of iron as it melted were caught on a staff, held in the fire and turned, so that the iron spread out over the surface until a ball of about 25lb was formed. This was then forged, using a lighter hammer than usual, mounted as a tilt (tail helve).6 These lighter hammers could achieve a faster stroke rate than the usual belly helve hammers, enabling the iron to be drawn down to rods. Narrow flat (1 inch by ½ inch) and ¾ inch square bars were the smallest practicable from an ordinary forge hammer, as shown the description, frequently found in Customs Port Books (such as those of Hull) of bar iron as exceeding ¾ inch square.7 Forging may have been undertaken in more than one stage. In the 1590s, Richard Hanbury made osmond iron at Pontypool and other works and this was then delivered to the wireworks, where an early process was ‘strayning at small hambers’. A complaint was that one of the hammermen strained his rods ‘hallow’ [hollow] and such rods were sold ‘unto neylors and others’. The witness blamed the workmanship, not the ‘stuff’. This process was done at the wireworks,8 by a workman sitting on a swinging seat, so that the hammer fell on a different part of the rod at each stoke. Perhaps surprisingly, there is no sign of a slitting mill at Tintern, though one was used, before straining, at Pontypool in the 18th century.9 At Wortley (Yorks), the slitting mill is closely associated with the wireworks there by the 1720s.10

An important feature of the area was a focus on wire. It was the seat of the wire business of the Company of Mineral and Battery Works, begun by William Humfrey, the Assay Master of the Royal Mint, with the help of Christopher Schütz an expert from Saxony. They were granted a monopoly of making iron wire, and brought in German workmen to operate the works. Originally it was intended to draw brass wire, but this was quickly replaced by iron wire made from ‘osmond iron’. Osmond iron was normally an import from Sweden, but seems to have been part of technology brought from Germany. They had this business chartered in 1568 as a joint stock company, the Company of Mineral and Battery Works, who took it over on their formation. Wire was produced from a variety of iron called osmond iron (also osborn iron) made by a slightly different process from the Walloon process (described in the Preface). Modern metallurgical investigation of historic music wire has indicated that phosphoric iron (that is coldshort iron) was preferred, probably as more ductile.3 However, this cannot have been exclusively the practice, as there is evidence of osmond iron being obtained from Machen Forges, whose pig iron then came from Taff Furnace, made from haematite from the south Glamorgan; and from one

After straining, the rod was rounded and annealed. The next process then involved drawing the rod through successively small holes in a drawplate, reducing its cross-section at each pass. The London Company (guild) associated with the wire trade were called the Girdlers, because their harness for drawing wire was a girdle, facilitating the use of their leg muscles. Another working method involved using a windlass to turn a drum. Artificial power from a waterwheel was used either by means of a 4 5 6

1

See Sources below – especially Donald 1961; Rees 1968; Paar & Tucker 1975; 1977; Tucker & Wakelin 1981; Pickin 1982; 1982b; 1983. 2 NLW, Badminton III, BMP 1/1, 224. 3 Goodway 1987; Goodway & Fisher 1988.

7 8 9 10

459

See Trading below and see these forges in chapters 30 & 34. Gras 1918, 437. Schubert 1957, 300-2. TNA, E 190, passim. TNA, E134/39 Eliz/Hil23, defendant, William Spryntt 12 & 13. Tucker & Wakelin 1981, 98. See chapter 8.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 29. Tintern and the lower Wye valley. 1, Lower Wireworks; 2, Middle Works; 3, Tilting Mill or Middle Forge; 4, Upper Wireworks; 5, Lower Forge; 6, Upper Forge; 7, Tintern Furnace; 8, Whitebrook Upper wireworks; 9, Whitebrook Lower wireworks; 10, Coed Ithel Furnace; 11, Trellech Furnace, Woolpitch Wood.

Tintern Ironworks and Wireworks

crank or an eccentrically-mounted drum (which had the same effect). The workman again sat on a swinging seat and wore a girdle, connecting the man behind him to the crank and in front to the tongs. As the waterwheel turned, the man (a ripper) grabbed the wire with his tongs as the crank pulled him away from the drawplate.

or Abbey Tintern Works

The Tintern or Abbey Tintern Works existed in the valley of the Angidy brook which flows into the River Wye at Tintern, a few miles north of Chepstow. They were on the estates of the Earls (from 1642 Marquesses) of Worcester, and from 1682 Dukes of Beaufort, being part of their manors of Porthcasseg and Trelleck Grange. However the brook forms the boundary of a manor of the Earls of Pembroke. The Angidy brook is not a large one but descends rapidly from about 350 feet above sea level to the tidal river Wye, in the course of a very few miles. This rapid descent and the proximity to a navigable river made the valley an ideal one for the iron industry. There were ironworks and wireworks; sometimes these operated together; sometimes separately.

In the course of production, there were other processes. After drawing through two or three holes, a ‘nealer’ needed to anneal the wire, to remove stresses built up in it during drawing. After that it was scoured, using blast furnace slag, in barrels turned by a waterwheel. It was removed wet from this and stood until a coat formed, then dipped in lime, and dried before a fire. The purpose is not clear of the ‘watering’, which followed nealing. It apparently involved letting the wire lie in water until a thin scum formed on the surface, It may have been to enable the surface to rust, this layer acting as a lubricant.11

Tintern Wireworks Lower Wireworks

11

[1] SO527001

This lay a short distance upstream fed by a leat starting near the Middle Wireworks. In 1821 this site included

Paar & Tucker 1977.

460

Chapter 29: Tintern and the Lower Wye Valley not only a wire mill but also a rolling mill and the Lower Block Mill, perhaps also a gig mill. The leat subsequently drove a turbine for operating a saw mill in the 1930s. The site then became Forestry Commission workshops. Middle Works

Monkswood, and perhaps elsewhere. In 1589, Hanbury complained of John Challenor and Thomas Fenner having ironworks at Pontymoel within 12 miles of Monkswood, where wood was supposed to be reserved for the wireworks, leading to the suppression of Pontymoel, by means of an injunction. In 1591 Challenor and Fenner offered a higher rent and became the farmers, while Hanbury contracted to provide 80 tpa osmond iron at £11.13.4 per ton. Over the following years, there were a series of disputes over the supplying of the works with osmond iron. In 1593, it was agreed that Hanbury could buy wood and make iron as he wished, but would supply the works with 160 tons of osmond iron at £12 per ton. When the contract needed to be renewed the Company wanted 120 to 140 tpa, but negotiations broke down, as Hanbury and his son-inlaw Edmond Wheler wanted 20 marks (£13.6.8) per ton. This led to the wireworks running out of stock, leading to litigation in 1597, during which Hanbury and Wheler were imprisoned for contempt of court and had their works in Monmouthshire sequestrated, followed by a forcible entry into Wheler’s works at Rhydygwern (i.e. Machen) Forge, which was on the Glamorgan side of the river Rhymney. It is not clear how the dispute was resolved, save that Hanbury and Wheler submitted to the court (and Privy Council). More detail of this is given in chapter 32. At John Challenor’s death in 1607, he and his wireworks partners had that forge by assignment of Edmond Wheler, together with two parcels of forest in the lordship of ‘Seningham’ [Senghenydd]. It is suggested that Wheeler handed this over to enable Challenor and his colleagues to make their own osmond iron, in exchange for being released from restrictions on their trade in Monmouthshire. These matters are dealt with in more detail in the chapter 32 (on North Monmouthshire). Challenor’s initial partner was Thomas Fenner, but later George and John Catchmay. In 1607, according to Challenor’s will the firm consisted of John Challenor, his son William, George Catchmay, and Edmund Thomas. John’s share passed on his death to his sons William and Richard. George Catchmay left his stock to his younger children (who perhaps withdrew it).

[2] SO523002

Little remains of these works, which in 1821 comprised Middle Tongs Mill, a tilting mill, the Chapel Wireworks (previously an oil mill and the Middle Forge). All of them were supplied from a single pond and leat, which reaches the site some 12 metres above the brook. In 1821 the forge had one finery blown by cylinders. Tilting Mill or Middle Forge

[3] SO51560022

This was just below the furnace and had a blowing machine with two cylinders of 36-inches diameter operating a finery. Upper Wireworks

[4] SO50880038

This site was called the New or Upper Tongs mill in 1821. It lay immediately above the furnace pond drawing its main water supply from the Angidy Fawr perhaps supplemented from the Angidy Fach where this was crossed by a stone structure. The wheel pit and the ruin of a building 12 metres by 7 metres survive together with the remains of a small annealing furnace. Paar and Tucker suggested that the building was of three storeys. All wireworks The Tintern Wire Works were set up by William Humfrey, the Assay Master of the Royal Mint with the help of Christopher Schütz, an expert from Saxony under Letters Patent in 1565, giving them certain monopolies including in wiremaking by means of engines. The business was incorporated in 1568 as a chartered joint stock company, the Company of Mineral and Battery Works, to whom the monopolies passed. The Company soon found corporate management was ineffective and leased the works to successive groups of its members as farmers. The whole works was in lease to the Company until 1631. Afterwards, the farmers leased works direct from the landlord, but they also paid a rent to the Company for the right to exploit the Company’s monopoly.

Thomas Hackett (who had been clerk since before 1590) was a farmer from 1613 to 1626. In 1627, Thomas Webb apparently surrendered a lease (perhaps a headlease), so that a new one could be granted to George Mynne, Robert Moore, Thomas Hackett, but Sir Basil Brooke soon replaced Moore as a farmer. Hackett disappears from records in c.1632 (perhaps having died), but Brooke and Mynne had the works until the Civil War (when both farmers suffered sequestration). Mynne was perhaps particularly unfortunate: his goods were plundered by the Royalists at the capture of Bristol. When he sought redress from the king, he was captured and carried prisoner to Oxford, but for making an address to the king, Parliament declared him a delinquent and sequestrated his estate.

The Wireworks were held usually with the Upper Forge. This was perhaps a tilt to produce the iron rods, to be drawn down to wire. It probably did not include a finery, as the raw material was osmond iron made elsewhere. Occupiers were: William Humfrey 1566; Company to 1570; Andrew Palmer, John Wheeler, Richard Hanbury, Sir Richard Martin, Ald. Antony Gamage, Francis Eaton, and John Eccleston 1570 to 1577; Hanbury and Martin 1577 to 1580 and 1589 to 1591; Martin alone 1580 to 1589.

In 1646 (after the war) Thomas Foley I(W) acquired the works and continued them until his death in 1676, with John Gunninge as partner until the 1650s and with his

Initially, there was probably only a wireworks at Tintern. Osmond iron was obtained from ironworks at Pontypool, 461

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II eldest son, Thomas Foley II(W) from 1672. Thomas Foley II(W) then continued them alone 1676 until 1688 with Henry Glover as general manager. Osmond iron in the 17th century came from a variety of sources. In 1669 some was made at Hubbals Mill near Bridgnorth and at Shelsley Forge on Thomas Foley’s Worcestershire estate. Some years later Richard Hart was making it at Machen. Similarly after Thomas Foley had given up Tintern, osmond iron was being made at Lydbrook for Whitebrook ironworks. In the latter half of the 17th century with Thomas Foley I(W) and II(W) concerned in both the ironworks and wireworks, osmond iron began to be made in the forges at Tintern.

Brown’ held only the wireworks); then Henry Hughes 1850 until shortly before 1866, initially holding only the Abbey Works. Murrell and Stothert took a lease in 1866; and Josiah Richards, John Rowland Griffiths, and David Williams in 1878. They traded as Abbey Tintern Wire and Tinplate Co or J.R. Griffiths & Co, but J.R. Griffiths was sole tenant from 1887 until he died in 1894. His widow Grace followed him as tenant, but the Duke forfeited the lease in 1897. However, Brookes claimed Abbey Tintern Tinplate Co traded until 1901, with the works being dismantled the next year. Size and Production In 1574, 30 cwt of iron was consumed per week, about 75 tpa (Donald 1961, 108). This was slightly lower than in 1587 when the surviving account for one quarter shows 24.4 tons of osmond iron used (TNA, E 101/632/39). In 1597, the works were able to use 160 tpa osmond iron, producing 12 cwt. wire per ton iron (TNA, E 134/39 Eliz/Hil 23). In both these cases some of the waste was sold for nail rods. In 1699, 62 tons of osmond iron costing £18 per ton made 42½ tons of wire sold at £40 per ton (Paar & Tucker 1977, 21). In 1798, the wireworks had three tilts and each with 10 pairs of tongs, blocks and scouring barrels, making 7,000 bundles of wire per year. In 1821 there were 12 tongs but 23 blocks (ibid, 19).

All of the people named thus far were at least nominally farmers under the Company of Mineral and Battery Works, but the company’s patent rights were latterly of limited value in the latter years due to competition from foreign imports. Foley in 1677 obtained a lease direct from the Marquis of Worcester, which was followed by the company’s rent for their privilege being reduced to a token £5 in 1683. The Company’s charter prohibited the import of wire, but by the 1680s, the farmers found it impossible to prevent the importation of foreign wire. This made the patent monopoly was of little value to the farmer. Even the nominal £5 pa probably ceased to be paid, when Foley’s lease ended in 1688 and the Duke of Beaufort took the works in hand. The company then became moribund, but its charter and that of its contemporary the Society of Mines Royal were used for various purposes in the 18th century.

Associations The ironworks at Machen, Pontypool, and Blaenau Gwent were included in the 1570 lease of the wireworks. Richard Hanbury probably held Pontypool, Abercarn, Monkswood, and Machen at various times but not all with the same partners as in the wireworks. John Challenor & Co. probably also held Bishopswood Furnaces and two Lydbrook Forges and Redgwerne (i.e. Machen) Forge; and Challenor himself with other partners held ironworks at Pontymoel, Bedwellty, and Aberpergwm. Thomas Hackett, Sir Basil Brooke and George Mynne were all at various times lessees of the King’s Ironworks in the Forest of Dean. Thomas Hackett was also farmer of Machen Forge, where Edmond Thomas was a partner and a landowner. Sir Basil Brooke had iron and steel interests at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire (discussed in chapter 18). George Mynne, after giving up his interests in the King’s Works moved west to build Blackpool Furnace and Forge (Pembs) and Whitland Forge (Carms). John Gunning was interested in Rodmore and with Thomas Foley in Coed Ithel Furnace. The iron interests of the Foley family were multitudinous and are discussed in several other chapters, particularly 24 and 30. Thomas Foley I(W) and II(W) held interests in Tintern Ironworks at the same time as they held the wire works. Rowland Pytt had extensive interests in the iron industry including Redbrook and Lydbrook and also Melin Court and other works in West Glamorgan (see Chapters 27 and 37). David Tanner held Lydney at the same time as Tintern, being succeeded there as at Tintern by Robert Thompson. David Tanner also had numerous ironmaking interests, including Caerleon Forge and the Pontypool Works, as well as building Blaendare Furnace (see Chapter 27).

In 1688 the works thus reverted to the landlord, now the Duke, who ran the works in hand until 1704, when he let the works to Thomas Dix for 21 years. Francis Price leased them in 1731 on the same terms as Dix. After his death in 1739, his executor asked the Duke to take the works back, rent arrears being satisfied from the stock. The works were then in hand until let to Rowland Pytt and Thomas Farmer from Christmas 1744. By 1747, the rentals name only Pytt as tenant. Pytt, his son Rowland II, and the latter’s executors remained the tenants of the wire works until 1776 (a little later than often reported). David Tanner then took over the wireworks, thus reuniting them with the ironworks. Tanner rented both the iron and wire works until 1 March 1798, when he surrendered the works to the Duke. He owed £9221 to the Duke, of which all but £910 was satisfied by the Duke taking over the stock. The works were then in hand (void) for just over a year and then let to Robert Thompson in 1799 with machinery worth £1580, on which he was charged interest. He renewed the lease in 1813, but left in 1820. William Crawshay was then briefly tenant before the works were let to William Matthews in 1821. However, Thomas Briggs of Abbey Tintern, ironmaster and wire manufacturer became bankrupt in 1827, leading to the sale of the works the following year. Copley Brown and William Sharp Brown rented the works from 1828 to c.1848 (when ‘J. 462

Chapter 29: Tintern and the Lower Wye Valley Tintern Ironworks Lower Forge

Thomas Foley II(W) was brought into the partnership and succeeded his father on his death in 1676. The works were, at this period like all those of Thomas Foley I(W) and his sons, under the general management of Henry Glover. It appears that all the capital was provided by the Foleys. Captain Herbert (probably a relative of the Earl of Pembroke) was a partner purely because Thomas Foley found it convenient to be able to use his name in buying wood. This would seem to have been to enable him to trade, despite any political or personal difficulties in political polarisation of the period.

[5] SO530002

The Lower or Abbey Forge stood close to the banks of the River Wye between the main road and the river. It was driven by water from a pound whose dam is the road. From the late 18th century there was also a corn mill using the same pond. The forge was probably part of the original ironworks. The forge building remains as does the pond in part. The wharfs from the Wye have disappeared and the dock formed by the mouth of the Angidy Brook has now nothing special. Upper Forge

From 1689 the Duke of Beaufort held the whole works, taking John Hanbury of Pontypool as partner in the ironworks only in 1699. After this George White junior and then his brother Richard White held the ironworks from 1706 to c.1754. Members of the White family at various times held New Weir and Monmouth Forges contemporaneously with Tintern. Richard White was succeeded by his nephew Edward Jordan who held the ironworks from 1752 until 1768. His relationship to the Jordans of Grange Furnace and Heath Forge in South Staffordshire, is not clear. However, it is perhaps significant that members of the Jordan family left Melin Griffith, near Cardiff, having lost a lot of money, shortly before Edward Jordan ceased to hold Tintern. The ironworks were then let to David Tanner, who in 1776 also took over the wireworks. From then until the closure of the works at the turn of the 20th century all the works were again generally held together by: David Tanner, then Robert Thompson (as above) except that in 1848 J. Brown held the wireworks, H[enry] Hughes the Abbey Works and William Crawshay the Middle works.

[6] SO507003

This lay very close to the Upper Wireworks, being driven from a pond lying immediately upstream of it. Exceptionally these two works seems to be in parallel, rather than in series, as regards the water supply. The Forge is also known as Pont-y-saeson, misspelled as Pontsaison or even Bont Seyson. There are few remains. There were two wheels in 1763. An inventory of 1821 refers to two blowing machines for the fineries with 30 inch cylinders and to three finery chimney stacks. This formed part of the wireworks at an early period, probably being used for drawing out osmond iron into rods and for extending rods prior to drawing. It was let with the wireworks in the 18th century, while the iron and wire works were separate. Tintern Furnace

[7] SO51340029

This was driven by a leat from the furnace pond just below the Upper Wireworks. For the last 45 metres to the furnace the water was presumably carried in a wooden trough supported on pillars some of whose foundations were found in the course of excavation. There are substantial remains of the furnace, which has an internal diameter of 3 metres and of a charcoal barn. In 1821, there was also an office for the furnace stocktaker but no hearth. There was a blowing machine with two cylinders (which had been installed by 1788); and a second ‘coalhouse’ on the opposite side of the road is also recorded. The greater part of the site was excavated by John Pickin and others and has been consolidated and left open. Further archaeological investigations have taken place since then which suggested that the water supply arrangements were at some point altered. All ironworks

Size Furnace The furnace was a large one, rated in 1717 at 500 tpa. This is an underestimate of its abilities, as it made over 1,000 tons in a year in 1675-6 and is never recorded as having made less than 700 tpa between 1672 and 1700; 1788 700 tpa; 1805 987 tons. In 1798, there was also a foundry. David Mushet in the early 19th century recorded that it made 1500 tpa, with the improved blowing apparatus of the period. The furnace bellows were replaced by cylinders between 1782 and 1788. The furnace was in blast as late as 1826, and seems always to have been a charcoal furnace. Production of charcoal pig iron is referred to in 1827. A stamping mill was being used by 1781 to break up cinders. The cinders were then washed. Granulated iron was used to feed forges and lighter material being sent to Bristol for glass making. In 1798, there were two sets of stampers.

The early history of the ironworks is obscure. Richard Hanbury had ironworks there in 1608 when he died. This is the most likely candidate for the ironworks of the Countess of Worcester for which accounts survive in the early 1630s. It seems not improbable that Thomas Hackett held the ironworks for part of the intervening period, but there is no evidence of this. After the Civil War they were held by William Herbert, and he continued to hold them with Thomas Foley I(W) as his partner until the 1670s.

Forges In the periods for which there are accounts in the late 17th century, the production of the two forges probably varied between 200 tpa and rather less than this. In the Duke of Beaufort’s time at first 60-70 tons of this, and later rather less, was osmond iron for wire making. Lists give the production as: 1717 200 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 150 tpa; 1750 300 tpa; 1794 4 fineries 2 chaferies, presumably divided equally between the two forges. In 1798, one of the forges was an Osborn forge with two fineries; and the 463

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II other a merchant iron forge with one finery; each had a chafery.

a ledger (Af/9) that covers the intervening years, and also a cash book (E12/IV/19/1). The latter is among business records of Henry Glover, who supervised the management of the works on behalf of his nephew [Tintern F a/c]. Full annual accounts of the Duke of Beaufort’s operation of the ironworks 1690-1700: NLW, Badminton II 8575-6 & 8578-81 & 9940 & 10475 (these are a complete series, the last two items covering gaps in the main series) and wireworks 1688/9 and 1698-1700: ibid. 8572-4. The accounting period is not always a year [Tintern B a/c]. Letters from Richard White: ibid. 14485-98. Inventory of wireworks 1739[40]: ibid, 13039 (cf. ibid, 14205).

Trading The Dukes of Beaufort had extensive woodlands in various Monmouthshire manors. Chepstow Park and Wentwood (both in Chepstow manor) regularly feature as sources of wood for both the iron and wire works in the 18th century (rentals). Under the Foleys, the furnace had a wide clientele covering much of the Midlands, but pig iron was also shipped coastwise to Newport for Tredegar Forge. Under the Duke of Beaufort, without the availability of the Foley warehouse at Bewdley, the clientele had a greater emphasis on Gloucestershire and South Wales. Thomas Dix or Dicks bought pig iron 1701-17; in 1722 Thomas ‘Dixson’ bought 32 tons of Redbrook pig iron; Francis Price bought some pig iron in 1731-3 (Foley a/c). David Tanner and then Robert Thompson supplied pig iron to the Stour Works partnership from 1772 to 1801. In 1788, the year in which the use of blowing cylinders is first recorded, the furnace supplied over 500 tons of pig iron to their forges (SW a/c). Tanner also produced nearly 2,000 tons of ballast in 1779-81 (some perhaps at Lydney) and perhaps 200 tons of ordnance in 1779-83, probably here, with the trunnion mark X Tanner (Brown 2001b; TNA, WO 47/93-102 passim; Tucker and Wakelin 1981, 95 from Torrington Diary). He owed money for ore from Whitriggs Mine in 1780 and 1782 (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/1/4-5). David Tanner’s debts in 1798 included £5,500 for goods supplied, owing to Knott, Ainslie & Co of Newland in Furness, perhaps representing 750 tons of pig iron (NLW Maybury 274), though not necessarily for here. In 1828 Charles Brown & Son of ‘Abby Works’ bought 5 tons of Old Park pig iron (OP a/c).

Sources TNA, E 178/1518 (almost illegible in parts); Llewellyn 1863b; Donald 1961, 24-141; Rees 1968, 263, 596-652 and passim; Bradney, Mons ii(2), 260-1; Paar & Tucker 1975; 1977; Tucker & Wakelin 1981; Johnson 1953, 130 133 & 137; Pickin 1982; 1982b; 1983; NLW, John Lloyd 44; TNA, PROB 11/109/206; PROB 11/130/123; E 112/235/82 & 86; Gloucester Journal, 26 Mar. 1798; London Gazette, no. 18490, 1447 (25 Jul. 1828); Cambrian, 1 Dec. 1828; NLW, Badminton II, 14237 10154 11566 9581 9087 9040 (the last three with detailed plans); Badminton III, BMA 2-4, passim; BMP 1/1, 220 225 233. This list is not exhaustive. Rees’s study of the Company of Mineral and Battery Works is thorough and this portion of his work is more reliable than certain other parts of his work. Whitebrook Wireworks Upper wireworks Lower wireworks

[8] SO531064 [9] SO536065

The White Brook is the first major tributary of the River Wye north of Tintern and the Angidy brook. It was therefore a natural place for the wireworks at Tintern to expand to. There is a wide leat running across the hillside at about 450 feet above sea level from the White Brook to the upper works. The lower works (at about 300 feet above sea level) had a leat from its tributary the Manor Brook, probably augmented by water from the upper works. The works were built by the Company of Mineral and Battery works about 1607. When the lease of Tintern was about to expire there was a proposal to enlarge the works. This probably represents the date of origin of the second works. Throughout this period the works were held by successive farmers of the Company’s works at Tintern (see above) Thomas Foley II(W) continued to hold the works after the Duke of Beaufort took direct control of Tintern. Obadiah Lane may have rented the works from 1702 until his death in 1708. Whitebrook remained in the hands of Thomas Foley III(W) until about 1714, after which he may have been succeeded by Thomas Dix the tenant of the Tintern Wireworks. After this, their history is uncertain, but is likely to have been similar to that of the works at Tintern. ‘About 1720’ has been suggested as a closure date, but this remains uncertain. There were subsequently several paper mills at Whitebrook, but the earliest known reference to one is dated 1761. The sites have the remains or platforms for several buildings. There are the remains of a stone

Reports of pipes for the Paris Waterworks being at Tintern, probably relate to storage pending the grant of an export licence (in wartime). 419 tons of ‘cylinders, pumps barrels, and other utensils for fire engines’ exported from Chepstow were the only legal exports, made from outports to France in 1780 (TNA, CUST 3/80, f.167). They were made by John Wilkinson, presumably at least partly at Willey; if made at Bersham, they would probably have been stored at Chester. However, unless Wilkinson subcontracted part of this vast order, the belief that Paris water pipes were made at Tintern is unwarranted, as is the innuendo that they were guns and Wilkinson was unpatriotically (even treasonably) supplying cannon to both belligerents. Accounts etc. Wire Minutes of Company: BL Loan 16/1-2; 1587: TNA, E 112/27/165 and E 101/632-3 636 (several items); 1672 and 1686-7: Foley E12/VI/Af/10-17. Iron The accounts of John Gwyn for the Countess of Worcester in 1630 were known in 1913 (Bradney, Mons ii(2), 260). A similar account of William Parkes for the retail sale of iron from an unnamed furnace and forge for Anne Worcester shows sales of £5,888 in just over 4 years in 1629-33, perhaps about 100 tpa (Gwent RO, D 43/4216). Both Full annual accounts of operation by Foleys: 16726 and 1682-5 Foley E12/VI/Af/1-7 10-17, together with related papers (Af/18-44 Ac/1-18); there is also with these 464

Chapter 29: Tintern and the Lower Wye Valley slipway where boats were presumably loaded at Bannut Tree Ham (SO539068).

plaintiffs to allot 1800 acres to the tenants for wood, thus freeing the rest for the ironworks.

Size In 1677 the works had 62 ‘seats’, i.e. working places.

The names of these ironworks are not stated. Even the precise extent of the woods that made up the chase of Wyeswood is not easy to determine. The best indicator is the award made under an Inclosure Act of 1810, inclosing a tract of heath stretching down the west side of the River Wye from Little Tintern to Penallt. Much of the area is wooded today, but this may be the result of more recent reafforestation. Certain tracts of woodland on the steep side of the Wye Valley were excluded from the inclosure and have presumably always been wooded. To the southwest of the area inclosed and south of Parkhouse was another area excluded from the award; this is presumably Old Park, which was found in the 1581 arbitration to be an ancient park and hence not liable to the common rights claimed by the tenants.

Associations, Trading and Accounts See Tintern; Thomas Foley III(W) held Wilden and Shelsley Forges contemporaneously with these works in 1708-c.1714, but there is no reason to suppose any trading link between them. Obadiah Lane managed Foley’s wire trade from 1694 (Foley E12/VI/Ac/5) and may have done so since Glover first employed him in 1686 (E12/VI/Af/5; cf. E12/IV/19/6). Lydbrook Forges were in his hands from c.1702 and he probably supplied osmond iron from there. This continued after that forge passed to the Foley Forest Partnership in 1708 after Lane’s death, but the Lydbrooke customer from 1715/6 was Thomas Dix (Foley a/c). Sources Foley E12/VI/Ac/18; Af/35; and Af and Ac series passim; Rees 1968, 628-31 644-46; Schubert 1957, 294-5 299; Tucker 1972; 1973; 1978.

Within one of these woods, Coed Ithel, is a furnace mentioned in a lease of 1626 as the lord’s furnace. On the other side of the chase on a brook draining westwards to the river Usk, there is a furnace in Woolpitch Wood for which no explicit documentary reference has been found. By the time of the tithe award, it had passed out of the hands of the lord of the manor; but it is likely that its origin is similar to that of Coed Ithel. The forges mentioned in the 16th century litigation remain completely unknown.

Wyeswood Ironworks The town of Trellech was a major centre of ironmaking in the medieval period, but probably declined in the 15th century. This was an extensive town with 378 burgages in 1288, though many were unoccupied even in the early 14th century.12 Parts of this have been the subject of archaeological investigations.13 The laws of the Free Miners in the Forest of Dean contained remedies for ‘smith holders’ against absconding ‘smith holders at Caerleon, Newport, Berkeley, Monmouth and Trellech,14 representing at least a memory of Trellech’s former significance.

The Earls of Pembroke seem to have kept the chase and its woods in hand until 1623, when a series of leases began to be granted of parcels of wood or waste. The woods were usually managed as coppices, while the waste was inclosed and converted to tillage. The leases give detailed abuttals but are often not easily identified. In the case of Coed Ithel, the rights of the Earl’s grantees of the furnace and cottages there were excluded, implying that these were subject to a current lease. The tenant of the furnace is not known, but may well have been one of the Catchmaye family who were lessees of several woods, with the right to cut underwood but not timber. Members of this family were certainly interested in this furnace later.

In 1578 various local gentry brought proceedings against the Earl of Pembroke on behalf of themselves and the rest of his tenants of Trelleck, Caerleon, and Usk, i.e. all the Earl’s lordships in southeast Monmouthshire. It was alleged that the Earl had built furnaces and forges, which in three or four years had consumed 20,000 trees of two or three hundred years growth. He had enclosed 1,800 acres and was intending to enclose the rest and would deprive the tenants of their rights to pannage and wood for repairing their houses and cooking. The Earl replied that these common rights were enjoyed by charter from previous lords not by custom and that he had not renewed them and he had every right to maintain ironworks.

The proceedings of 1581 also dealt with woods of Glascoed and Gwehelog near Usk. It is possible that there are ironworks to be found there. However, it is possible that the ironworks, which were consuming wood there, were those at Monkswood.

The issue was one of public importance and came before the Privy Council in December 1581. The parties were persuaded to submit the matter to arbitration by the Lord Chancellor, a Secretary of State, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Before Christmas, their award had been made a decree in Chancery and then was confirmed as letters patent. This appointed the Earl’s steward and one of the 12 13 14

General Sources The decree of Wyeswood: NLW, Badminton 8925 = Gwent RO, D 43/6354; Trelleck etc. Inclosure Award: Gwent RO, Inc Aw 0002; lease registers: NLW, Bute 6559-62. [10] SO52790257 Coed Ithel Furnace or Cordithell, Brickweir, or Brockweir The furnace stands on a steep wooded hillside above the river Wye. It has been excavated (Tylecote 1966), but the remains are slight, just part of the stack with a circular

Soulsby 1983, 256-8. www.lostcityoftrellech.org. Hart 1953, 18-21 34-43 etc.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II bosh. The furnace was probably built by (or for) the Earl of Pembroke about 1577 and probably included in a lease of 1626 by a later Earl to Sir Richard Catchmaye, who still had it in 1634, when he supplied pig iron (from ‘Bigsweir’) to Richard Tyler for New Weir Forge. In 1649 the furnace had lately been held by Mr Catchmaye, Mr Skinner and Mr Jones and was let to John Gunning (or Gonyng), a Bristol merchant. In 1657 the bellows and tools were sold to the latter and perhaps by him to Thomas Foley. This evidently marks the end of the furnace. No associated forge is known, which is rather unusual at this period. Sources NLW, Bute 6559 no 59; 6561 no 15; Herefs RO, O68/II/52; Foley, E12/VI/Ac/1; Tylecote 1966; Paar 1973b; Hart 1971, 43-44. The history given by Tylecote for the furnace is largely a misattribution of that of Tintern Furnace. In particular, the furnace in the survey of Pontgasseg manor cannot be this one, as this furnace was not within a manor of the ancestors of the Duke of Beaufort. Trellech Furnace in Woolpitch Wood

[11] SO49030486

There are the remains of a furnace in Woolpitch wood. Nothing seems to be known of its origin or history. It is likely to have been one of those used by the Earl of Pembroke from about 1577 to 1581 and probably afterwards. Paar’s suggestion of reference to it in 1649 is merely a guess and might well refer to something else. Sources Paar 1973b, 36 38-39; Rees 1969, 58. Glamorgan RO, Philip Riden papers contain a detailed archaeological survey of the site.

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30 The Middle Wye Valley Introduction

in Whitchurch on his Goodrich estate, where ironworks were built perhaps by 1564, probably at New Weir, below the Doward woods. Bishopswood was built by the Earl of Essex in the 1590s, and operated with a forge at Lydbrook. This was followed by the Hall family of High Meadow with a furnace at Redbrook and a forge at Lydbrook in the early years of the 17th century. Each of these works was close to the boundary of the Forest of Dean and ore was easily available from there.

The river Wye drains most of Herefordshire and parts of southeast Wales and Gloucestershire. It is a considerable river, one of the largest to have been used to drive a furnace or forge. A number of its numerous tributaries have also been used to provide power for ironworks. The greatest concentration of ironworks is in the lower part of the valley where it runs a short distance west of the Forest of Dean. This chapter focuses on the part of the valley nearest to the Forest, leaving its upper reaches for the next chapter and the area near its tidal lower reaches for the previous one, but some of the history of the Upper Wye is covered here.

The family, whose activities are most widespread and enduring, was the Hall family of High Meadow. William Hall built a furnace at Redbrook in 1604. He was succeeded by his son Benedict Hall and grandson Henry Benedict Hall, who successively operated the furnace and also a second furnace there and a forge at Lydbrook. A second forge was later added at Lydbrook. In the early years, they also had forges at Monmouth and Pontrilas, the latter being some considerable distance from the furnaces. In 1671-84 the works were let to Paul Foley, but after this were operated until 1702 by William Probyn as clerk to another Benedict Hall.

As one of the few sources of the haematite ores, strictly limonite, Fe2O3.xH2O that made tough (often spelled ‘tuf’) iron, the Forest held a place of its own in the iron industry. The river Wye is tidal to Brockweir, a few miles above Tintern. Above that, it was made navigable after the Restoration by Sir William Sandys as far as Hay-on-Wye. When his heir gave the river up in c.1675, it reverted to the county of Hereford, which promoted an Act in 1695 to remove all weirs on the Wye.1 This removed obstructions, but locks and weirs might actually have aided navigation by increasing the depth of the water. A horse towing path was provided in 1809, replacing man-haulage, but the navigation was not satisfactory.2 Notices of meetings of the navigation proprietors continued to be published until 1855.3 A network of horse-drawn railways, the Severn and Wye Railway was created across the Forest, linking Lydney and Lydbrook by land. This was authorised in 1809 and fully open in 1813, with a canal at Lydney, linking it to the Severn estuary.4 Separate transport access to Hereford was provided in the early 19th century. A series of horse-drawn railways from the Welsh coalfield was gradually extended, a railway to Hereford Bridge being authorised in 1829.5 A canal from near Gloucester reached Ledbury in 1798 but Hereford only in 1845.6 The river Lugg (which is relevant to the next chapter) was made navigable at the same time as the Wye, but navigation was probably never easy and may not have operated for long, though the locks were retained.7

Various members of the Scudamore family had interests in the iron industry in the 17th century. Sir James Scudamore owned Linton Furnace at his death in 1618 and was succeeded by his son, Sir John (later Viscount) Scudamore. He, with John Kirle who at the time had the Whitchurch works, built Carey Forge in 1628. When the latter wished to retire in 1634, he was replaced by William Scudamore. Carey Forge certainly existed in 1654, but how much longer is uncertain. In 1677 George and Milborne Scudamore bought and operated Monmouth Forge, having a few years before taken over a furnace in Whitchurch (at Cut Mill on the Garren). Monmouth Forge goes back to 1603, but some of its 17th century history remains obscure. George Kemble operated the Whitchurch Ironworks from 1633 when Sir John Kirle gave it up, but in 1635 the works were in the hands of Richard Tyler & Co. By the time of the Civil War another member of the family, Richard Kemble, was clerk of St. Weonards Furnace and Llancillo Forge. In the middle of the century, Robert Kyrle may have been significant as an ironmaster.

The area was one of the earliest outside the Weald where the indirect process of making iron was introduced. The earliest ironworks were those of the Earl of Shrewsbury

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The Foleys The dominatant influence in the area, growing from the 1650s was the Foley family. Thomas Foley I(W) became farmer of the Tintern and Whitebrook works in the c.1648.8 Over the years following, he gradually increased

Cohen 1955; Paar 1974; Stockinger 1996. Local Act 49 Geo. III, c.78 (printed Stockinger 1996, 196-263). Stockinger 1996, 291. Paar, 1973. Baxter 1966, 197 202-3. Hadfield 1969, 116. Brian 1997.

8

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There is slight ambiguity about the precise date.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 30. The middle Wye valley. 1, Bill Mill near Ross on Wye; 2, Bishopswood Furnace; 3, Bishopswood Forge; 4, Carey Forge; 5, Lydbrook Upper Forge; 6, Lydbrook Upper Forge; 7, Lydbrook Middle Forge; 8, Lydbrook New or Lower Forge; 9, Monmouth Forge; 10, New Weir Forge; 11, Redbrook Furnaces upper; 12, Redbrook Furnaces lower; 13, Lower Tinplate Works; 14, Bigwell Forge; 15, Redbrook: Upper Tinplate Works; 16, Whitchurch Furnace (at Cut Mill); 17, Holme Lacy ironworks; 18, Mitcheldean Furnace Co; 19, Ross-on-Wye; 20, Whitchurch Old Forge.

his involvement in the region, taking over whatever ironworks became available. His own involvement in the Forest was however relatively modest. It was not on the scale of his activity in the Midlands. He had three sons and set them all up in life as gentlemen and ironmasters, giving the eldest Thomas [Thomas II(W)] his Great Witley estate in Worcestershire; Paul the second son estates around Newent in Gloucestershire and enabling him to buy the Stoke Edith estate (Herefs); and Philip the youngest Prestwood near Stourbridge.9 By 1670 (when he took his second son Paul as a partner) he had Bishopswood Furnace, and Elmbridge and Longhope Furnaces,10 mostly acquired in the 1660s. He also had the iron and wire works at Tintern, which were destined for his eldest son Thomas Foley II(W), a partner there from 1672.11

this supply of this forges in the Stour Valley. The story of this dispute and its aftermath has been told by Schafer,16 but the outcome was that Philip became a partner in all Paul’s works in 1674-8.17 Philip retired from ironmaking in 1678, in favour of Richard Avenant and John Wheeler, two of his former managers of works in the Midlands.18 All three Foley brothers were Whig MPs during the Exclusion Crisis. With James II’s accession in 1685, Paul was in political trouble. He was imprisoned to prevent him from acting in support of Monmouth’s rebellion.19 Several works went out of lease at about this time, and Paul let the rump of his Forest Works (Bishopswood, Linton, and Elmbridge Furnaces) to Avenant and Wheeler in 1685, with the benefit of his contract for cordwood from the Forest.20 They operated the Midlands and Forest groups together. This was so successful that in 1692 both Foley brothers re-entered the industry, but they left the actual management of the works in the hands of John Wheeler.21 The fifth partner was John Wheeler’s brother, Richard, who in 1698 took over most of the works in the Stour Valley,22 but was bankrupt in 1703.23 In 1705, John Wheeler took over the last of the works in the Stour Valley, and William Rea (who had moved to live at Monmouth and later married one of John’s daughters) became principal assistant manager, succeeding as chief manager on Wheeler’s death in 1708.24

His son Paul embarked on a programme of expansion, mainly by acquisition. He added Redbrook Furnace and Lydbrook Forges in 1671.12 He took a share in St. Weonards Furnace and its associated forges to the west of the Forest in 1672;13 and leased Flaxley Furnace and Forges on the east side of the Forest, apparently about then.14 As Lydney Furnace was (apparently) only producing iron for the use of its own forges,15 he had a virtual monopoly on the supply of tough pig iron and proceeded to exploit his advantageous position by raising the price, much to the annoyance of his younger brother Phillip who relied on 9 Peacock 2011; cf. TNA, PROB 11/357/5; Herefs RO, E12/II/1-2; E12/ II/18A. 10 Foley E12/VI/DBc/5. 11 Foley E12/VI/Af/2 & 10. 12 Foley E12/VI/DBc/2. The content of the following two paragraphs is dealt with in Schafer 1971. 13 Foley E12/VI/BDc/3. 14 Foley E12/VI/DBf 2 & 17-18; E12/VI/DCc/9. 15 This was certainly so in the 1690s: Gloucs RO, D421/E9.

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

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Schafer 1971. Foley E12/VI/DCc/1 and DCf series. See chapter 24. ODNB, ‘Paul Foley’. Foley E12/VI/DDc/1 3 & 14. Foley E12/VI/DEc/1. Foley E12/VI/DEc/2-9. Herefs RO, T74/73. For management arrangements see King 2010a.

Chapter 30: The Middle Wye Valley The extent of the Ironworks in Partnership’s works was enlarged. The firm built Blakeney Furnace in 1692 and was marketing Redbrook pig iron from 1697, though it and Lydbrook Forges, were only leased in 1702.25 At this point the partnership was only operating furnaces. Monmouth Forge and Slebech (or Blackpool) Forge in Pembrokeshire belonged to a separate partnership between John Wheeler, William Rea and Obadiah Lane, the manager of the Staffordshire Works, who also had Lydbrook Forges until 1708.26 This forge partnership was amalgamated in 1705 into the main one, which was henceforth called the Forest Partnership. At the same time Wheeler (as mentioned) took over the last of the works in the Stour valley.27 They began using Gunsmill Furnace in 1705, which had been bought by Thomas Foley in 1701 and St Weonards Furnace (when leased in 1706), but Monmouth Forge was out of their hands from 1708 to 1723.28

Thomas Foley I(S) to join his as partner in it. The contract was made in a period when Britain had imposed an embargo on Swedish trade, because the Swedish minister was caught plotting with the Jacobites against George I. In fact, the plot was merely a stratagem to persuade certain continental powers to provide financial support to Sweden in its war with Russia. The effect of the embargo was to cut off English iron imports from Sweden, which were by then supplying about 50% of the iron for English manufacture, though without achieving the intended objective of depriving Sweden of the grain imports.32 The inevitable result was an increase in the price of iron. Lady Scudamore’s timber was sold for shipbuilding and such like, but Rea’s object was probably that the tops and waste should be available to make charcoal. The business made a substantial loss, and Foley as a partner ultimately had to settle the partnership debts. Thomas Foley was one of the Auditors of the Imprests and had (at least in theory) to attend to Exchequer business daily. The position was largely a lucrative sinecure, with the work being done by his clerks. However this meant that proceedings were conducted in the Court of Exchequer, rather than the (more usual) Court of Chancery. The litigation also involved ironmasters elsewhere, because Rea was a partner in the Cunsey Company in Furness and with Edward Kendall at Cradley in the Black Country. Richard Knight also became involved because he guaranteed that Rea would make good his default for several years in producing accounts for the Forest Ironworks under an agreement to settle the first proceedings.33 The outcome was that the Deputy Remembrancer reported in 1732 that Rea owned Foley £8,026, but they compromised that Rea should have the remaining timber, barges, boats and other material and pay £2,000 to Foley by instalments. Foley would collect all debts receivable and settle all debts due.34

From this period the major activity of the partnership was in supplying pig iron to forges all over the Midlands and to a lesser extent South Wales. The longstanding relationship between St. Weonards Furnace and its associated forges was broken and the forges went their separate ways. Similarly there were changes in the partnership. Paul Foley’s political party were in the ascendency after the Glorious Revolution and Paul rose to become Speaker of the Commons in 1695. He was a leader of the Country’s Whigs, a role in which he was succeeded by his nephew, Robert Harley, later Earl of Oxford and Lord Treasurer under Queen Anne. Paul Foley died in 1699 and was succeeded by his son Thomas Foley I of Stoke Edith, who will be referred to as Thomas Foley I(S) to distinguish him from his grandfather Thomas Foley I of Great Witley [I(W)]. The partnership was renewed in 1713 and 1723.29 John Wheeler (d.1708) was succeeded by his son John Wheeler II, who seems merely to have been a passive shareholder. Wheeler, Avenant and Lane all died in the years 1707 to 1709. Richard Knight of Bringewood was on 1707 brought in to inspect the works, a role previously undertaken by Avenant. However, he gave this up in 1717, at about the time when Philip Foley, the last of the older generation, died.30

By that stage, Thomas Foley I(S) and his son Thomas Foley II(S), who joined the firm in 1723, had bought out all the other partners. Warine Falkner, who was appointed in 1725 to replace William Rea as general manager, decided to return to Staffordshire. He was Obadiah Lane’s son-in-law and a partner in the Staffordshire Works. He was also sued for his pains he left.35 Rea had purchased various properties around Monmouth, where he lived, including the freehold of Monmouth Forge. He mortgaged this property, but ultimately, in 1742, surrendered the property to the Duke of Monmouth as lender, probably having failed to keep down the interest.36

Rea was clearly a significant figure in the iron industry of the period, managing the Forest Works from 1705 to 1725, when the partners met at Wolverhampton and sacked him. He seems to be the compiler of the much cited 1717 list of ironworks,31 but his fate is not well-known. In late 1717 or early 1718, he contracted to buy a great quantity of timber in Hom Park from Viscountess Scudamore for £10,000. As this was beyond his resources, he asked Paul’s son

By the end of their litigation with William Rea, Thomas Foley I(S) and II(S) were the only partners in their Forest Ironworks. They were managed profitably in the 1730s,

Hart 1971, 74 96. Foley E12/VI/DEc/11-12. 27 Foley E12/VI/DEc/13. 28 This and the preceding paragraph also rely on the accounts of the business (Foley E12/VI/DEf and DFf series [Foley a/c]); deeds of Monmouth Forge in NLW Badminton; Johnson 1953; Hart 1971; King 2010a. 29 Foley E12/VI/DEc/11; E12/VI/DGc/1. 30 Worcs RO, r899:228 BA 1970; TNA, E 112/1127/5. 31 King 1996b, 28-9. 25 26

King 1996b, 30; Chance 1909, 210-2; Ashton 1924, 110-2. The pleadings for this and related proceedings are TNA, E 112/957/946 107 & 110-1; E 112/1127/4-5. See also Hammersley 1979 (who considered only depositions) and King 2010a and Foley E12/VI/DGd series. 34 TNA, E 126/25, 1732, Mich. 2. 35 TNA, E 112/1127/4. 36 NLW, Badminton II, 8526-8567, passim. 32 33

469

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II but after the loss of Thomas Pendrill as manager in the early 1740s they went into decline. A policy seems to have been adopted of not renewing leases as they expired. After Monmouth Forge was given up in 1737 and the Redbrook and Lydbrook Works were laid down in 1742, the only remaining works belonged to the Foleys as freehold or long leasehold: Elmbridge Furnace (near Newent), Bishopswood Furnace, and two forges: the lowest one at Lydbrook and a new forge at Bishopswood. Thomas Foley II(S) let what remained to his son Thomas Foley III(S) in 1742.37 The surviving accounts come to an end in 1751 on the death of Thomas Foley II(S),38 but his son probably continued Bishopswood Furnace and the forges, as he continued buying cordwood from the Forest and cinders nearby.39 Rentals of his landlord at Bishopswood show Thomas Foley III(S) as tenant until c.1768,40 shortly after he inherited the Great Witley estate from his distant cousin Thomas Foley IV(W), second Lord Foley. Hart’s claim that Bishopswood Furnace was closed in this period seems to be incorrect.41

furnace and one of the forges. George White II died about 1753, leaving a daughter Elizabeth Osborne. She sublet New Weir to John Partridge. The main area of activity of Rowland Pytt of Gloucester was outside the Wye valley (see Chapter 27), but he succeeded the Foleys at Redbrook Furnace and Lydbrook Upper and Middle (formerly Lower) Forges in 1742. Lydbrook New or Lower Forge, which was held under a different lease, remained in the hands of Thomas Foley III(S). In 1762 after the death of Rowland Pytt II, Viscount Gage (whose father had married the heiress of the Hall’s High Meadow estate) let his Lydbrook Forges and Redbrook Furnace to John Partridge and others. Monmouth Forge had passed in 1737 from the Foleys to the Duke of Beaufort, who was foreclosing a mortgage from William Rea. The Duke bought pig iron until 1740, after which Reynolds and Daniel did so: they leased the forge from the Duke.43 Their proposal in the 1740s to build a furnace at Mitcheldean came to nothing. The addition of Redbrook and Lydbrook in 1768 made them a major player in the area. They were a Bristol firm of iron merchants with some production interests, described more fully in Chapter 34. They successively became Reynolds, Getley & Co, then Harford, Partridge & Co. Lydbrook and Redbrook had passed to David Tanner in 1793, but (as mentioned) they retained Monmouth Forge until a lease expired in c.1808. By 1788 the firm, as Harford, Partridge & Co, had furnaces forges and tinplate works spreading as far away as Glamorgan. Until they took over Ebbw Vale in 1796, they were probably exclusively making charcoal iron. In 1809 the firm was partitioned among its partners; but by then they no longer operated in the Wye valley.44

Other ironmasters Apart from Carey Forge, the only ironworks to be driven by the River Wye itself was at New Weir. This was allegedly built about 1684 by George White I, but it is more probable that he did no more than renovate the works. They had a long history as the forge, going back to being the Earl of Shrewsbury’s Whitchurch Works in the late 16th century. It is conceivable that the works had to be rebuilt after being destroyed by flood; they had certainly been repaired in 1646. George White and George White II operated this forge until the middle of the following century.42 In 1705, George Scudamore granted him a 21year lease of Monmouth Forge free of rent. At the time, the forge was in lease to the Foley Forest Partnership, so that it was not until 1709 that George White was able to install Richard White (presumably a son) as manager there. A couple of years earlier Richard White took a lease of Tintern Furnace and Forges (but not the wireworks). This, for the first time, provided the family with a furnace. Previously their New Weir Forge had obtained virtually all the pig iron it needed from furnaces of the Foley Forest Partnership. The result was a marked reduction in the level of George White’s pig iron purchases from them.

Thomas Foley III(S) was followed from c.1768 at Bishopswood Furnace and Forge and Lydbrook Lower Forge by William Mynd of Ross-on-Wye and then his son John. They were in turn followed by John Watkins of Tidnor Forge (who went bankrupt in 1785). In 1786, Bishopswood was advertised to let and was probably let to William Partridge.45 It and New Weir Forge were his in c.1790, apparently as separate business from Harford, Partridge & Co.46 Partridge apparently bought the freehold of Bishopswood in about 1796, but probably retired in about 1812. Arthur Walter and James Stokes then traded

In 1723 following the deaths of George White I and John White, the latter’s widow and George Scudamore sold Monmouth Forge to William Rea who immediately let it to the Foley Partnership, of which he was then general manager. New Weir and Tintern both remained in the White family for many years. Richard White died in 1752 but had probably handed Tintern over to his nephew Edward Jordan, who was there until 1768, using the 37 38 39 40 41 42

Foley a/c; these do not indicate the destination, but the Badminton Monmouthshire rentals show ‘Mr Daniel’ renting the forge from Michaelmas 1740 (NLW, Badminton III, BMA 3/1-2). Johnson (1953, 143) noted the sales, but gave no destination. Hart (1971, 92), without citing any other source, placed Thomas Daniel & Co at Lydney, Tintern and Monmouth, but Lydney was Rowland Pytt’s and Tintern was Richard White’s. The situation is however complicated by Monmouth being the residence of the ironmasters William Rea, John Platt, and David Tanner. 44 For the dissolution, see Cambrian, 16 Dec. 1809; cf. Chappell 1940, 51-2; EV a/c. 45 Longleat Archives, rentals, Herefs; and other documents (q.v.). As mentioned above, the supposed closure in 1751 (Hart 1971, 94) is an error, an artefact of what archives have survived. The surviving Foley accounts end at Michaelmas 1751. At Elmbridge the stock was largely exhausted (implying closure), but not at Bishopswood: Foley E12/VI/ DGf/25-6 34-5. References to Thomas Foley buying cordwood and other raw materials continue: see above. 46 1790/4 list. 43

Foley E12/VI/DGc/8. Foley a/c. TNA, LR 4/9/27; Herefs RO, F8/III/111 152 173 199 266. Longleat House Archives, Stewards accounts, Ross; Rentals, Herefs. Hart 1971, 84. Q.v.

470

Chapter 30: The Middle Wye Valley

Gazetteer

as the Bishopswood and Lydbrook Company until they were bankrupt in 1816,47 which probably marks the end of the Bishopswood Works. Repeated attempts to let New Weir were apparently of no avail.48 When the lease expired the dam was blown up, thus terminating the Earl of Kent’s obligation to pay the lockkeeper there.

Charcoal ironworks Bill Mill near Ross on Wye

[1] SO62492161

Bill Mill is in Weston-under-Penyard near its boundary with Hope Mansell. The latter had forges (perhaps manual) in 1228. A mill certainly existed by 1362. In the 15th and 16th centuries the property belonged to Richard Walwyn of Hellens in Much Marcle, but to pay off debts, his descendant Ely Walwyn sold it to Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury in 1594. In 1603 there was a quarrel at Ross between Sir Herbert Croft’s men and the Earl of Shrewsbury’s workmen at an ironworks at ‘Bilmilene’ in which a child was alleged (falsely) to have been killed. Nothing else is known. This must have been associated with the Earl’s Whitchurch ironworks. The site was presumably at Bill Mill. The furnace is likely to have been built after the Earl’s 1594 purchase. The main source of wood (for charcoal) was probably Penyard Park, which (like Goodrich) descended from the Earls of Shrewsbury to the Earls of Kent. The mill was subsequently a paper mill from c. 1638 to 1821, and then a corn mill. This was converted to houses in about 2005.

A number of the larger forges were converted to tinplate works in the late 18th or early 19th century or had rolling mills added; thus there were tinplate works at Lydney, Lydbrook, Monmouth, and Redbrook. This was probably a major part of the business of David Tanner and of Harford, Partridge & Co in the area. Monmouth and Redbrook belonged from the 1820s to the Whitehouse family of Coseley in the Black Country, Monmouth being extensively repaired in 1823.49 Monmouth does not appear in lists of works with puddling furnaces in the 1860s,50 which may suggest that it continued producing charcoal iron for the tinplate industry. Thomas Allaway (later Pearce and Allaway) operated at Lydbrook Tinplate Works from 1808 to 1871. When they retired, the celebrated Richard Thomas took over. He came to dominate the tinplate industry. His successors continued making tinplate until the nationalisation of the iron and steel industry in the middle of the 20th century. Redbrook Tinplate Co Ltd operated Redbrook tinplate works from 1883 to 1961. Latterly it specialised in thin tinplates, which modern strip mills could not produce.51 It was the last of the old pack mills.

Source HMC Shrewsbury I (Lambeth), MS 708, 190 & 223; Hughes & Hurley 1999, 33. Hurley 2001, 5-9; www. tvas.co.uk/reports/pdf/BMR05-101bs.pdf

Coke ironmaking was a relatively late arrival in the Forest of Dean area. This was probably partly due to the excellence of the tough Forest charcoal pig iron, and partly to technical difficulties. It was only just before the end of the 18th century that Cinderford and Parkend Furnaces were built. Lydney furnace began to use coke in 1803. In due course these replaced the last of the charcoal blast furnaces, but this process was not completed until the 1820s. Most of these were on the other side of the Forest and described in Chapter 27. In the charcoal era the Forest of Dean and adjoining area had been extremely important. In the coke era the mines were beginning to be worked out and there were at times technical difficulties in producing a satisfactory product. In the coke era the Forest was thus a mere backwater of the iron industry.

Bishopswood Furnace

[2] SO599182

Bishopswood remains a large tract of woodland on the southern side of the parish of Walford. It is part of the manor of Ross, which had belonged to the Bishops of Hereford, but was exchanged to Queen Elizabeth and then sold by her to the Earl of Essex. In the 1610s, over 700 acres of ‘wood or wood ground’ were leased to tenants. This seems to be related to an inclosure by Chancery Decree under which the lords of the manor were allotted half the 2,000 acre wood. The sites of the two ironworks in Bishopswood are not precisely known but the name Furnace Wood above the Dry Brook might suggest a site such as SO593186, but deposited plans for an extension to the Severn and Wye Railway and for a turnpike (now B4228) point to a site adjoining the county boundary, which follows Lodgegrove Brook. Excavation in 1964 at SO599183 revealed charcoal and blast furnace slag with roasted ore and bloomery cinders, suggesting the proximity of a furnace, 150 yards from the Wye. This is now the site of a modern bungalow, whose garden contains large amounts of slag. A corn mill mentioned in documents from the Foley period may have been the site of the other furnace and have become the site of the forge (see below).

Principal Sources Hart 1971 is by far the fullest account of the iron industry in the Forest, but its scope is limited to Gloucestershire. The Foleys’ business is covered by Johnson 1953 (also his other articles); Hammersley 1978; King 2010a. For Foley family generally see Peacock 2011. For a fuller account of the activities of the family in the Midlands appears in chapter 24.

One furnace was probably built by 1588 and a second soon after; there were two furnaces by 1602. J. Challoner and partners in the 1590s had the works as tenants of Robert Devereux Earl of Essex. These were probably ‘certain

47 Cambrian 17 Oct 1817; Hereford Journal, 18 Sept 1822 and London Gazette (as cited under Bishopswood q.v.). 48 Hereford Journal, 22 May 1811; Chester Chronicle, 14 Apr 1815. 49 Cambrian, 30 Aug 1823. 50 Mineral Statistics. 51 Grey-Davies 1969; and q.v.

471

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II ironworkes and forges and ... certain furnaces and woods in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire’, leased by Lady Frances Devereux Countess of Essex in 1599 (probably) to John Challoner and others. When John Challoner made his will in 1606 leaving his share to his sons William and Richard, his partners were George Catchmaye, Edmund Thomas, and William Challoner. In 1617 both furnaces were ruinous and one was rebuilt by James Hawkins, still the occupier in 1627. This Lower Furnace was let to William Baildon in 1628. The other furnace had probably converted to a mill before 1614. The Dean Swannimote Court ordered its demolition in the 1630s, but this was probably not done, perhaps because it was not in the Forest. John Hannis was the furnace master (perhaps meaning clerk) in 1639, but this tenancy had passed to John Vaughan by 1646. Robert Kyrle leased the furnace for seven years in 1648, when ‘one Henry Rudg’ is mentioned as a former occupier. The furnace may then have been void for some years.

and its principals were also partners in Harford, Partridge & Co, one of the two main makers of charcoal iron in Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, but that was probably a separate enterprise. After that, Arthur Walter and James Stokes traded as the Bishopswood and Lydbrook Company until they became bankrupt in 1816. An agreement was then made returning the works to William Partridge, who advertised the works for sale or to let in 1817. By 1821 John Partridge had become the landowner, but the works were probably not in use, as he had let a warehouse to the Lydney Trading Society (who had a sloop called the Lydney Trader). Size 1717 600 tpa. In the preceding 20 years, its production was commonly more of the order of 750 to 800 tpa. In the period after 1725, production was generally rather lower. In 1786, it was advertised as capable of 1,000 tons, but the lists give production as: 1788 650 tpa; 1796 947 tons; 1806 653 tons. There was still a furnace in 1817 when William Partridge advertised the works for sale or to let in 1817, along with three forges and a tinplate works, here and at Lydbrook. Goods distrained on the company’s failure included 60 tons of finers’ metal, implying the forge had been modernised. The ironworks was linked to the Severn and Wye Railway by a branch from Lydbrook, authorised in 1810, and opened about 1814.

Thomas Foley I(W) took a lease in 1668, and in 1669 gave a half share of it to his second son Paul, and transferred the lease to him the following year. The furnace then spent a considerable period in the hands of the Foley Family and their associates: Paul Foley until 1685; Richard Avenant and John Wheeler 1685 to 1692; Foley Ironworks in Partnership (later Forest Partnership) 1692 to 1751, of which Thomas Foley I(S) and II(S) were the only partners from 1728, and Thomas Foley III(S) was the proprietor from 1742. The surviving accounts in 1751 cease, a little after the death of Thomas Foley II(S). The accounts also include rentals for his Forest estates, and may have been removed after the death of Thomas Foley III(S), by his youngest son Andrew, who inherited his Newent and Forest estates. Hart suggested that the furnace was abandoned, but that is unlikely (see footnote 45). Thomas Foley III(S) leased an additional farm at Bishopswood in 1752; and he continued buying cordwood in the Forest until 1764. He remained tenant until 1768, somewhat after he inherited the Great Witley estate in Worcestershire (and with it Shelsley and Wilden Forges) on the death of his cousin Thomas Foley IV(W) in 1766. He retained some freehold land near Bishopswood, which his trustees seem to have sold to Lord Weymouth, shortly before 1786. He was the landlord of Bishopswood.

Associations At various periods the furnace was held with forges at Lydbrook, but there was no continuous ownership link with them, except that with Lydbrook Lower Forge. Trading In the hands of the Foleys, the furnace was heavily engaged in trade up the River Severn to supply the Stour Valley with pig iron. This iron may have been carried overland to Newnham or Broad Oak (about a mile to the upstream from there). Other regular customers in the 1690s and 1700s were Strangworth, Lydbrook, New Weir and Monmouth Forges. The furnace was out of blast from 1728-34 (accounts). Thomas Foley bought cordwood from the crown as late as 1758, (TNA, LR  4/7/45 and LR  4/8/41 & 44). Miss Clark and her sisters sold cordwood and cinders from Aston Ingham and Walford to Thomas Foley in 1760. These sales covered the period between 1754 and 1764 for the furnace, but other accounts do not name the ironworks owner (Herefs RO, F8/III/111 152/5 173); 2¼ tons of cast iron supplied from Hales Furnace to ‘Thomas Foley esq’ in 1763 (before Lord Foley’s death) were presumably for an associated forge (SW a/c). In 1773-4 John Mynd sold 19 tons of pig iron to the Stour Works partnership; and in 1788-1810 William Partridge sold various amounts to them intermittently, once 209 tpa (SW a/c).

The next tenant was William Mynd of Ross-on-Wye. His will, dated 1769, gave his son John Mynd £1000 of the stock of Bishopswood Furnace, Forge and Works, and he directed John should have a salary. John was described as an ironmaster of Ross in 1772 and selling pig iron shortly after that. His brother William Mynd was named as the tenant of the furnace and associated farms from 1776 until Ladyday 1782. Next came John Watkins, who also had Tidnor Forge in Herefordshire, but became was bankrupt in 1785. William Partridge probably leased the furnace and associated farms in 1786 at a total rent of £425, and bought the freehold in about 1796. The partnership of William Partridge and John Tomlinson was dissolved in 1812. The Partridge firm was an important one locally,

Accounts Full annual accounts: 1686/7 Foley E12/VI/ DDf/3; Foley a/c 1692-1717, 1725-1742 and 1745-1751. Sources Longleat House Archives, Herefs/Ross: 3/41; / Ross 2.1; /Ross 60; NMR 1650; Stewards accounts, Ross; rentals, Herefs; TNA, PROB  11/109/206; Foley E12/VI/ 472

Chapter 30: The Middle Wye Valley DAc/9 12 E12/VI/DBc/5; E12/VI/DCc/1; E12/VI/DDc/3 11; Schafer 1971, 35; Land tax, Walford; Hart 1971, 45 93-5; VCH Gloucs v, 240; Johnson 1953, 141; Jenkins, 1937, 180; Schubert 1957, 368 385-6 (as ‘Ross’); Hereford Journal, 2 Feb, 1786; 18 Sep. 1822; London Gazette, no. 16446, 1895 (15 Sept. 1812); 17180, 1939 (8 Oct. 1816); no. 17200, 2371 (14 Dec. 1816); Cambrian, 17 Oct. 1817; Coates & Tucker 1983, 23 & 62; Hughes & Hurley 1999, 32-4; Stanford 1964; cf. Herefs RO, AW28/9/2 (address); Paar 1973a, 57-9. The furnace site is shown on deposited plans for a turnpike (now B4234) and for an extension to the Severn and Wye Railway, as in the angle between the road and Lodge Grove Brook (Herefs RO, Q/RWt/10; Q/ RW/T14). Bishopswood Forge

view of the reputed capacity later, but is clearly recorded in accounts. Associations Sir John Scudamore’s father had had an iron mill and furnace at Linton at the time of his death in 1618. Sir John Kirle ran Whitchurch while a partner here. Trading The accounts (see Taylor 1986 for details) record various cast iron goods being obtained from Benedict Hall’s furnace at Redbrook; from John Slack, probably at Linton; from Nathaniel Barnes who managed Whitchurch for Sir John Kirle (the main source of sow iron); from Mr Hankinson (unidentified, but about 12 miles from Carey). Hammers and anvils from Hales were often obtained from Mr Glasbrooke (of Bewdley).

[3] SO594186

Source Taylor 1986; BL, Add. Ms. 11052, ff.6-7 60-78; Jenkins 1937, 181; Mynors 1952, passim; and Taylor 1997; TNA, C 8/54/136; Coates & Tucker 1983, 62; cf. Cohen 1955, 92; Stockinger 1996, 124; Hurley 2008, 1234.

This was described as the New Forge in 1747 and was then probably recently erected to replace two of the Lydbrook Forges after Thomas Foley II(S) gave them up in 1742. It was always held with Bishopswood Furnace, as long as that existed. It was probably a relatively small operation: pig iron supplied in its early years would have made 50-70 tpa at most; it had one finery in 1790, but had been derelict in 1786. It was part of property owned by Thomas Foley III(S) (Lord Foley from 1776) and sold to Lord Weymouth by his trustees. He let with the furnace and farms to William Partridge in 1786. It was operated by James Pearce in the early 1820s for a few years after the furnace closed, and is said to have continued to operate until 1840. Ebbw Vale finers metal and some pig iron was supplied to ‘Bishopswood and Lydbrook Co’ from 1813 to 1816 (EV a/c), until Arthur Walter and James Stokes, the company’s owners were bankrupt. There was subsequently a corn mill on the site.

Lydbrook Forges The Lyd Brook flows north out of the Forest to join the River Wye after flowing through the village of Lydbrook. At various times there have been a furnace and five forges, although not quite all at once. The nomenclature of the forge tends to be obscured by the closure of the upper forge and addition of a new lower forge. Accordingly they have for the purpose of the present discussion been labelled with the letters A to E, as in the table below; the dates in it are intended to be approximate. Lydbrook or King’s Howbrook Furnace was part of the King’s Ironworks and is described in the preceding chapter. With so many forges with the same name, it is difficult to avoid confusion. VCH Gloucestershire appears to have taken a different view on the topography from Hart (1971), who is followed here.

Sources see furnace. Carey Forge

[4] SO573308

The forge stood on the River Wye. In times of drought it has been observed that the Carey Islands were joined by a stone wall and that there had been a weir directing water behind the islands. It was built in 1628 by Sir John (later Viscount) Scudamore in partnership with William Scudamore. They agreed to build a forge and to use 21 acres of Sir John’s wood each year, being of at least 15 years growth. This was to continue for 21 years or as long as the wood lasted. The lease of part of the site was renewed in 1637 for 12 years. Francis Finch sold the forge in 1654 to John Blurton with 100 tons of pig iron from his ‘Ellbridge’ [Elmbridge] Furnace (which was built about 1637). Carey Mill apparently continued as a mill, until it was demolished in the course of improving the navigation of the river Wye shortly after 1697.

Forge

1600-1660

1660-1710

after1710

A

Kings Howbrook

B

Upper

C D

Middle

Upper

Upper

Lower

Lower

Middle

E

Lydbrook Upper Forge

New or Lower

[5] SO602156 “FORGE B”

This forge was at confluence of Lydbrook and Little How Brook on Hangerbury Common, hence outside the Forest proper. It was built in the 1590s by Thomas Bainham and later (about 1600) held by Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, who used it with Richard Challoner (perhaps as tenant rather than partner). Thomas Hackett, George Moore and Richard Tyler are reported to have occupied it successively

Size The forge was described as being able to make 150 tpa, following the construction of a second finery in 1631. It seems to have made 86 tons in the first six to eight months of its existence, which hardly seems credible in 473

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II in the ensuing period, and in 1633/4 it was occupied by John Kyrle. This descent is very similar to that of the furnaces at Bishopswood and this was presumably one of the forges referred to in the 1606 will of John Challoner. It is not heard of after 1668, but there was later a corn mill on the site.

1925. The site has been redeveloped and nothing of the works remains. Size a single forge with 2 fineries; 1717 160 tpa (2 forges); 1736 had made 260 tpa, but was only making 160 tpa (2 forges); 1750 350 tpa (3 forges). Since the Lower Forge (“Forge E”) was very small the 1750 figure represents only a slight increase over the reputed possible capacity of 1736. Hart quotes various inventories etc. A wireworks (SO598161) and another ironworks (SO600160) were added nearby in 1818 following the purchase of the freehold from the Crown. This was after the Commissioners for Woods bought the High Meadow estate. The tinplate works was capable of 100-150 boxes per week about 1818.

Associations probably always held with Lower Forge (“Forge D”) and Redbrook furnace, all of which belonged to the Hall family of High Meadow and later to the Gage family. Sources Hart 1971, 34; VCH Gloucs v, 340-1; Coates & Tucker 1983, 22 & 62; TNA, PROB 11/109/206. Lydbrook Upper Forge (originally Middle)

[6] SO59751620 “FORGE C”

Associations Challoner had Bishopswood furnace in 1590; but after 1657 the works usually held with Redbrook furnace and the forge below (“Forge D”), which successively belonged (as part of the High Meadow estate) to the Hall and Gage families until 1818, when the High Meadow estate was sold to the Commissioners for Woods on behalf of the Crown, in effect enlarging the Forest of Dean.

This was on the Lydbrook in Lower Lydbrook village. The forge was held by Richard Challoner and Phillip Harris in 1590. It is probable that this is one of the forges used by Robert Earl of Essex (attainted 1602), or more probably by his tenants, with Bishopswood Furnace. George Moore and Richard Tomlins had it in 1619. George Vaughan who bought it in 1623 was fined in respect of it in 1634. Robert Kirle and John Brayne operated it in partnership from about 1645 to c.1651, when their partnership broke up in acrimony. Benedict Hall of High Meadow (d.1668) bought the forge in 1657 and probably operated it himself. As he owned the next forge below as well as Redbrook Furnace, the three works were thereafter normally in the same hands. His son Henry Benedict Hall let it with Redbrook to Paul Foley in 1671 for seven years, perhaps continued until 1684 as at Redbrook. Henry Benedict Hall (d.1691) and then his son Benedict Hall then worked it themselves until about 1701.

Trading While held by Foley partnership, it was mainly supplied from Redbrook and Bishopswood Furnaces. This situation is likely to have applied both before and after this. From 1708 to 1717 a major part of the work of forge was making osmond iron for wire drawing at Whitebrook and later at Tintern. This also may have been part of its trade at other times (accounts). James Davies & Co appear in Ebbw Vale accounts as purchasers of finers’ metal from 1813 to 1817 (EV a/c). Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c: 1708 to 1742. Sources Hart 1971, 34 74-80 & 172-7; VCH Gloucs v, 3401; TNA, PROB 11/109/206; C 6/15/12; C 6/133/35; Foley E12/VI/DGc; /DBc/2; /DCc/1; E12/VI//DEc/13; Schafer 1971, 28; Johnson 1953, 142-3; Coates & Tucker 1983, 20-22 & 58-61; Morris 2004; Paar 1973a, 61; London Gazette, nos. 16646, 1895 (15 Sep. 1812); 17180, 1939 (8 Oct. 1816); 17200, 2371 (14 Dec. 1816); Cambrian, 14 Feb. 1818.

Subsequent occupiers were: John Wheeler, William Rea and Obadiah Lane 1701 to 1705; Obadiah Lane 1705 to 1708; Foley Forest Partnership 1708 to 1742; Rowland Pytt sen. 1742 to 1756; then Rowland Pytt jun. to 1763; Richard Reynolds and John Partridge sen. & jun. (later Harford, Partridge & Co) 1763 to 1793; David Tanner (with sublessees) 1793 to 1798 (bankrupt); and James Davies and partners 1800 to c.1817. Robert Thompson joined the firm in 1805 and both he and Davies are named from that date.

Lydbrook Middle Forge originally Lower Forge

In 1818, two forges at Lydbrook, Redbrook Furnace and a rolling mill (for tinplate) there were advertised together. At this point, the works probably passed to Thomas Allaway, who probably then added a tinplate works, though some authors place this slightly earlier. The firm was Pearce and Allaway 1820 to 1849; and Allaways, Partridge and Co in 1850. In 1871 it was let to Richard Thomas. The works closed temporarily when the company became insolvent in 1883, but it was solvent again a few months later and a new company Richard Thomas & Co Ltd was formed. The works closed temporarily in 1899 and again during the First World War. They were last open from 1919 to

[7] SO95611652 “FORGE D”

This forge was on Lydbrook in Lower Lydbrook village. Hart describes the New Forge (“Forge E”) as unidentified, but this is perhaps his missing one. It was probably built about 1610 and was in the hands of Thomas Smart by 1619 and to 1627, for part of the time as a battering work (that is a plating forge) making plate and sheet iron. Richard Tyler (who had New Weir from 1635) followed him from 1627 to 1634 or later. After this (and certainly from 1657), its history is identical to that of the forge above (“Forge C”). The most likely site is that of the 19th century Lower Tinplate works. Alternately the forge may have 474

Chapter 30: The Middle Wye Valley been suppressed in c.1637, in which case this is probably identical to the New Forge (“Forge E”). This was a single forge with 2 fineries. Its history is otherwise identical that of the Upper Forge.

Sources see “Forge C”; the 1709 agreement referred to is Worcs RO, r899:228 BA 1970; Foley E12/VI/DGc/1; Morris 2004; Paar 1973a, 58; London Gazette, nos. 16646, 1895 (15 Sep. 1812); 17180, 1939 (8 Oct. 1816); 17200, 2371 (14 Dec. 1816); Cambrian, 17 Oct. 1817.

Sources and other matters see Upper Forge (“Forge C”) above. Lydbrook New or Lower Forge

Monmouth Forge

[8] SO59541681 “FORGE E”

[9] SO503137

The forge or forges stood on river Monnow outside Monmouth at the end of Forge Road, Osbaston. Some authors have called it Osbaston Forge, but in the trade it was always Monmouth Forge. In 1603 the forge was built on the site of walk mills by Thomas Matthew of Radyr, Glamorgan and Robert Chauntrell. At about Christmas 1604 Thomas Matthew assigned his share to Edmund Matthew. In April 1605 Chauntrell ran out of money and sold his share to Henry Oliver, the son-in-law and nominee of Moore Waters, the landlord. Litigation followed but this must have been settled. From 1607, the forge was managed for Matthew and Waters by their relatives Charles Waters and Thomas Matthew, who borrowed money in their own names. This placed Charles in difficulty after Thomas absconded in about 1612. The original lease would have run until 1619, but the history of the forge at this period is not known.

This forge was in Lower Lydbrook village a short distance from the bank of River Wye. In the 18th century it was part of the estate of the Vaughan family rather than of the Hall and then Gage families who successively owned the two forges above (“Forges C and D”). That the forge belonging to the Vaughan family is the lowest one is shown by a Foley partnership agreement of 1723. It may be ‘Lidbrooke anvil work and corn mill forge mill and shop for wrought anvils’ listed in the Foley 1713 partnership agreement. If so, John Hall held it from 1693, and he was followed, as at the other forges (probably from 1702) by Wheeler, Avenant and Lane until 1705, then the Forest Partnership. It was said in 1723, to be newly erected. Thomas Foley III(S) continued the forge after 1742, after the other Lydbrook forges were given up. It appears in the Foley accounts until 1751 and probably (like Bishopswood) remained in his hands until perhaps 1768. By 1769 it was [re]built by ‘a company at Bristol’ [perhaps Reynolds Getley & Co]. If so, its history differs from that of Bishopswood in this period. Reynolds, Getley & Co became Harford Partridge & Co by 1788. They renewed the lease in 1788. The premises then had recently been bought by Vaughan from Lord Foley, which may refer to the surrender of a long lease. John Partridge bought the freehold in 1808 and from 1809 John and William Partridge operated the forge. The partnership between William Partridge and John Tomlinson was dissolved in 1812. After that, Arthur Walter and James Stokes traded as the Bishopswood and Lydbrook Company until they were bankrupt in 1816. After that, all three forges were held together (see “Forge C”). There was a corn mill here (or nearby) in the 19th century. There are some remains of the pond. The nearby Forge Hammer Inn commemorates its former use.

By 1628, the forge was in the hands of Benedict Hall; followed in 1635 by Sir John Winter; and in 1647 by Walter Williams. Robert Kirle formed a partnership with John Brayne in 1645 in Redbrooke Furnace and Monmouth Forge (also Rodmore), but the partnership broke down in acrimony in about 1651. Anne widow of Benedict Hall claimed her husband (d.1668) had been in partnership with George Scudamore, this forge still being managed by William Hall. George Scudamore and his brother Milborne Scudamore (d.1691) had it from 1677 (or sooner) until 1702. George White was their manager before he moved to New Weir Forge in 1685. It then passed to the Foley group: initially John Wheeler, Obadiah Lane and William Rea operated it in partnership in 1702-1705, then it was included in their Forest Partnership in 17051709. However, George White of New Weir had obtained a rent-free lease of it (by paying a premium) in 1705 and had possession in 1709 to 1715, followed by John White (perhaps his son) until 1723. The (Foley) Forest Partnership had it again from 1723 to 1737, William Rea having bought the freehold in 1723.

Size Initially a finery only; the amount of pig iron sent to it suggests a capacity of some 50 to 60 tpa in the 1740s. There was probably never more than one finery.

The final Foley account shows the Duke of Beaufort (who was mortgagee in possession of William Rea’s property) acquiring the remaining stock. He bought pig iron until 1740, after which Daniel and Reynolds (also known as Thomas Daniel & Co) were buying pig iron, having become tenants of the forge at Michaelmas 1740. Wood sales were in the name Roberts & Reynolds from 1758, Reynolds being named as tenant from 1763 and Harford & Co from 1780. Harford Partridge & Co remained tenants of the forge until a lease expired in c.1807. William Purnell & Co (also called Purnell, Veale & Co) seem to have rented the works until about 1821. Benjamin Whitehouse then

Associations It was held with the other Lydbrook forges (“Forges C and D”) until 1742. It is likely that it was in the same hands as Bishopswood throughout, except perhaps for 15-20 years before 1786. Trading and Accounts (before 1742) see “Forge C”. Full annual accounts 1742-51 (with gaps): Foley a/c. Bishopswood & Lydbrook Co received 255 tons of finers’ metal and 10 tons of pig iron from Ebbw Vale Ironworks in 1813/4, but much smaller amounts in the two following years (EV a/c). 475

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II repaired the ironworks, reopening them with a feast for his men in August 1823. He or perhaps Whitehouse & Sons ran the business until his death in 1829, followed by the sons Henry Bickerton Whitehouse and Alfred Whitehouse until 1849 or later. From 1863 or before until 1868, the partners were Alfred Whitehouse and William Cullen. Then came David Griffiths of Redbrook Tinplate Works and his son Horatio, trading as Griffiths & Son 1868 to 1871; and H.T. Griffiths & Co 1871 to 1886. The works were then closed and sold for scrap. The works was bought by Monmouth Corporation for a hydroelectric scheme in 1896; this closed in 1953. A new generating station was opened in 2009.

was a partner in Halesowen Forge with the Grazebrooks who had Blowers Green Furnaces at Dudley. From 1824 he was a partner at Parkend in the Forest of Dean Iron Company. William Rea continued to live at Monmouth until after 1737; he described himself as an ironmaster in giving evidence to Parliament that year, but there is no evidence that he traded as such between 1725 and 1737. John Platt ‘of Monmouth ironmaster’ (died 1775), an executor of Rowland Pytt II was perhaps the manager or managing partner. His will implies that he was trading as an ironmaster, but it provides no details. William Rees (1968, 309) referred to the forge passing from William Tanner to his son David in 1770, but was probably mistaken. The Tanner family lived at Monmouth, but their local business there seems to have been only that of timber merchants. The Badminton estate rentals rule out their occupation of it.

There are a number of buildings on the site, including a terrace of six cottages, another detached cottage and a large slate roofed house. Upstream of these in the 1990s was a large weir about 10 foot high with the beginnings of a leat that ran towards the buildings, but which had been dammed in recent years. There were in the 1990s faint traces of the leat beyond this. This led towards a very dilapidated building, partly built of stone and partly of brick, which may well have been connected with the forge itself.

Trading George Scudamore was buying pig iron from Bishopswood in 1686 and from there and to a lesser extent Redbrook 1695-1701 (Foley a/c) and from Tintern (Tintern B a/c). These suggest he was buying about 140 to 150 tpa, but some pig iron must have been bought elsewhere. As the amounts bought fluctuate considerably, the rest would probably mainly be from Redbrook. In the hands of the Foley partnership the forge was mainly supplied from Redbrook Furnace with some also from Bishopswood and St. Weonards. This is natural since these are the nearest furnaces. The Foley partnership also had a storehouse here, which was associated with St. Weonards Furnace and its forges. Thomas Daniel & Co bought both Elmbridge and Bishopswood pig iron from 1740 (Foley a/c) and Dean cordwood in 1746 and 1749, something Partridge, Reynolds & Co also bought in 1761 (TNA, LR 4/7/7 & 9 and LR 4/8/46). ‘Monmouth Forge Co’, evidently a branch of Harford Partridge & Co used some Ebbw Vale pig iron 1805-7; but Purnell & Co were the buyers 1809-11 (EV a/c) and they bought Old Park pig iron in 1807 and 1808 (OP a/c).

Size Robert Chauntrell has a patent for the use of mineral fuel. 1717 180 tpa; 1718 240 tpa; 1737 200 tpa; 1750 400 tpa. Production figures in Foley accounts tend to confirm these figures, but in George Scudamore’s time the production may only have been 100 tpa. In 1754, there were three fineries making 8½-9 tpw of anconies, possibly 450 tpa (Angerstein’s Diary, 164). In 1812 charcoal iron was still being made. The works underwent a major repair taking nearly 18 months ending in August 1823. In 1849, there were three waterwheels: one for a blowing machine, one for a shingling hammer, and one operating a stamping hammer ‘with the newly purchased flywheel and rolls’; together with 3 lumping fires, 4 hollow fires and a ball furnace. The forge does not appear in the Mineral Statistics as having puddling furnaces. It may still have been using a charcoal forge process, or have become just a tinplate works.

Accounts Foley a/c: partial accounts 1702-5, and reference in sketchy furnace accounts 1723-5. Full annual accounts: 1705-9 and 1725-37.

Associations The Matthew family of Radyr had Pentyrch Furnace until its suppression in 1617. George Scudamore also held Whitchurch Furnace by 1670. As to the White family see New Weir. Daniel & Reynolds agreed to build a furnace in Abenhall (Gloucs) in 1747, but did not do so (see Micheldean Furnace Co). The descent of the works in the late 18th century is very similar to that of Redbrook Furnace and it is therefore likely that they were held together throughout the period to 1793. William Partridge had Bishopswood Furnace and Forge from 1785 (with two small forges), probably separately from Harford Partridge & Co. Purnell, Veale & Co held Framilode and Froombridge Mills. Members of the Whitehouse family also held Redbrook Tinplate Works, probably from 1825. They came from Coseley in the Black Country, but do not appear to have had ironworks there until the 1840s, only in Coseley New Colliery. However Benjamin Whitehouse

Sources TNA, C  33/110/286 & 391; STAC  8/218/16; C  2/Jas. I/C22/69; C 3/296/40; C 6/15/12; C 6/133/35; C 8/328/93; Jenkins 1937, 181; Hart 1971, 88 94; NLW, Badminton II, 8387-8404 8440 8526-67 9505-8 1012436 & 11297-8; Badminton III, BMA rentals; Foley E12/ VI/DEc/11-14; E12/VI/DGc/1; TNA, PROB 11/405 /244; PROB 11/1011/285; PROB 11/1759/87; Coates & Tucker 1978, 40-45 & 47-8; Cambrian, 16 Dec. 1809; 30 Aug. 1823; London Gazette, no. 18147, 1079 (18 Jun. 1825); Johnson 1952, 328; 1953, 139; Harris 1967; Schubert 1957, 383; Kissack 1975, 289; Brooke 1944, 154. As to Whitehouse: Shill 2008, 41 44.

476

Chapter 30: The Middle Wye Valley New Weir Forge [10] SO55891556 earlier called Whitchurch Furnace and Forge

George White, who had previously been George Scudamore’s clerk at Monmouth Forge, leased New Weir Forge in 1684. At first he had Anthony Grubb as his partner; Richard Fletcher, the tenant of the fishery, was also a partner the first year, but Fletcher was bought out in 1687. The fishery became very valuable after the passing of the 1695 Navigation Act, because all other fish weirs had been demolished. George White I died in 1720. George White II ran it until 1753, when his daughter sublet it to John Partridge. John Partridge senior & junior leased Lord Gage’s fishery in 1762 (i.e. that on the east bank). By 1787 William Partridge had it and continued to occupy them until 1813. White & Co had it in 1815; thereafter it was void. It was advertised for sale from 1811 to 1815 as having for many years been in the occupation of William Partridge. In 1820 it was described as decayed, and the weir having been blown up. In 1824, the site of the forge and a tract of land (mostly woodland) totalling nearly 250 acres were sold to the Commissioners for Woods on behalf of the Crown. This was a further addition to the Crown woods adjoining the Forest of Dean, a purchase made under the 1817 Act that enabled the Commissioners to buy the High Meadow Woods. Foundations of the works could be detected in the 1990s on the west bank of the river, with signs of a leat (now dry) to the west of that. Parts of the site were excavated in 2008. Slag samples taken from the four trenches included finery and smithing slags, and also blast furnace slag.

The forge, like the Carey Forge, was powered by the River Wye itself. The site lies in the lordship of Goodrich (which included Whitchurch parish), The lordship belonged successively to the Earls of Shrewsbury and of Kent. The site is at the foot of Lord’s Wood and Great Doward, the largest tract of wood in the lordship, and thus its fuel source. The Earl of Kent paid £111 in 1674 to build a lock in the weir to enable the Wye to be navigable. This lock existed both under William Sandys’ scheme and the Wye and Lugg Act of 1695. It was located at the upper end of the weir on the east bank of the river, with a capstan to haul vessels up to the lock. Under the Act, the Earl had to pay a lockkeeper, an obligation he in turn passed on to his tenants of the forge and the fishery. These were commonly let together in the 18th century. The ironworks stood on the western bank at the lower of the weir. A furnace is first referred to in 1575, but as the employee, responsible for the selection of the site of Lizard Forge in Shropshire, was sent in 1564 from Goodrich, it is likely that the ironworks existed by then, particularly as ironworking families occur from 1567. Wigfall was clerk in 1575. It was destroyed by rioters in 1589 but soon rebuilt; John Bamford was clerk between 1589 and 1595; and George Moore in 1595. He remained steward on the estate well into the next century. The 1634 perambulation of the Forest of Dean, whose bounds follow the county boundary here, descended the Wye to ‘a certain old weir now utterly ruinated, which was built to drive the furnace of the Lord Gray of Ruthin’. Lord Grey of Ruthin was the courtesy title used by the eldest sons of the Earls of Kent. The use of that title (rather than Earl of Kent) suggests the furnace was last used before the son-in-law of Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury succeeded his father as Earl of Kent in 1623, but after he inherited the Goodrich estate, probably on the death of Edward Earl of Shrewsbury in 1617, rather than that of Earl Gilbert the previous year. Recent archaeological work has produced probable blast furnace slag, confirming the presence of a furnace as well as a forge. Nevertheless, this would not be a satisfactory place for a furnace, because it would be difficult to site one high enough to be above any potential flood level.

Size There were two fineries in 1633. 1692-1708 average at least 250 tpa (see trading); 1717 220 tpa; 1718 300 tpa; 1736 200 tpa; 1750 350 tpa; 1790 2 fineries 1 chafery & slitting mill; 1811 2 hammers 3 fineries and a chafery and a rolling mill. Slitting and grist mills at the forge were described as newly built in 1724. Associations George Moore with a partner held one of the Lydbrook Forges in 1619 and had the king’s Lydbrook and Cannop Furnaces until about then. Sir John Kirle had a Lydbrook Forge and Bishopswood Furnace and also a share in Carey Forge. George Kemble seems to have held St. Weonards Furnace and probably also held or, at least, managed some of the forges later associated with it. George Scudamore and his brother held Monmouth Forge from 1677. From 1710 to 1723 George and John White (presumably a son) had Monmouth Forge. John White of Monmouth was a tenant of the Sowley ironworks in Hampshire in 1722 (Bartlet 1974, 12-15). In 1706 George White jun. took over Tintern Furnace and Lower Forge. From 1718 the name of Richard White is associated with Tintern being followed on his death by his nephew Richard Jordan. John Partridge also had Bishopswood Furnace.

The forge (only) was let to Sir John Kyrle in 1631, but he was soon in dispute with the Earl of Kent, whose officers were preventing him cutting wood in Penyard Park, alleging he was cutting timber trees. It is said that Kyrle had it by 1628, with Nathaniel Barnes as clerk. George Kemble is said to have rebuilt the forge in 1633 when he took a seven year lease, but Richard Tyler and partners are recorded as buying pig iron from ‘Bigsweir Furnace’ (probably Coed Ithel) in 1635. Tyler was also the bailiff of Goodrich and occurs as a tenant at Lydbrook Forges. The weir was repaired in 1647. John Walter had a forge in Whitchurch in 1661 at his death, when an inventory was taken by (amongst others) Richard Tiler. It is possible that the forge was derelict for a time in this period.

Trading [Richard] Tyler & partners bought pig iron from Sir Richard Catchmay’s Bigsweir Furnace (probably Coed Ithel) in 1635 (Herefs RO, O68/III/52). In 1686 George White and partner bought 60 tons of Bishopswood pig iron (Foley E12/VI/DDf/3). Pig iron supplied by the Foley Ironworks in Partnership 1692-1708 averaged 340 tpa, suggesting production of 250 tpa or more. After 1708 there 477

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II is a very dramatic reduction in the amount of pig iron thus supplied, obviously reflecting an association with Tintern furnace (Foley a/c). Stock in 1753 included Tintern and Carmarthen pigs (inventory). From 1809 to 1813 William Partridge & Co bought Ebbw Vale finers metal, about 50 tpa most years (EV a/c).

The son (H.B. Whitehouse) then occupied it alone from the death of his father in 1829 until his own death in 1842. The firm then became Sarah Whitehouse & Sons until their bankruptcy in 1848, after which it was closed for some years. It was reopened by 1858, managed by David Griffiths. From 1876 or earlier until 1883 it operated as Redbrook Tin Plate Co; and 1883 to 1961 Redbrook Tin Plate Co Ltd (Coventry, Robinson, and Horton families). Latterly the company specialised in making very thin tinplate, in which modern strip mills could not make. It was the last pack mill to close. The site has been cleared of buildings.

Accounts of John Bamford 1589-95: Bodleian MS, Selden supra 113 f. 9; 1590-1 mine and cinders: NLW John Lloyd, 38-9; Inventories John Walter 1661: TNA, PROB 4/15071; 1753: NLW, John Lloyd, 49-57. Plan showing forge and weir: in Monmouth Museum: published in Journal of Railway and Canal Historical Society 35 (6) (2006), 440.

Size In 1798 there were two fineries, two balling furnaces, and two rolling mills with other plant necessary for a tinplate works. In 1802 3 bar iron furnaces [puddling furnaces?] were associated with the rolling mills. One mill was probably built in 1793 and the other in 1796. In 1823, it was a rolling mill, turning mill, and forge with the apparatus to make 500 boxes of tinplate per week. In the 1950s, the works used up to 8,000 tons of mild steel each year.

Sources Herefs RO, O68, passim; land tax, Whitchurch; Awty 2019, 225 (‘Goodrich’); NLW, John Lloyd 38-59; Jenkins 1937, 180-1; Baker 1943; Rees 1968, 270-2 & 276-8; Paar 1974; Coates & Tucker 1983, 54-7 (with plan and picture); King 2006b; Harris 1967; Bradney, Mons, ii(2), 260-1; Hereford Journal, 22 May 1811; Chester Chronicle, 14 Apr. 1815. Excavation: Dorling 2011; Young 2011b. Redbrook: Lower Tinplate Works Bigwell Forge

Associations Townsend might be Chauncey Townsend, who developed the Middle and Upper Bank Copper Works at Swansea (Hughes 2008, 25).

[13] SO537098 [14] SO542095

Trading John James of Lower Redbrook bought finers’ metal from Ebbw Vale from 1809-11; John Jones continued purchases from 1813 until 1820 or later (EV a/c). He and Richard Blakemore of Melin Griffith obtained in 1819 a patent for what they called armorphous metal plates (Scots Magazine, 1 Oct. 1818). Whitehouse & Co also had Monmouth Forge, but the business there survived the bankruptcy.

Two brooks flow into the river Wye at Redbrook village. The most important ironworks were at Upper Redbrook, but one of the copper works and then forges and tinplate works were at Lower Redbrook. The Coster family had copper works at Upper Redbrook, whereas Lower Redbrook belonged to Company of Copper Miners in England (or English Copper Company). These works were rather less favourably placed in commercial terms than those at Swansea. They closed during the 18th century. The Lower Works were on the Valley Brook, the tinplate works being established at its mouth on the site of the Lower Copper Works. The copper works were largely unconnected with the iron industry, but ironworks later replaced them.

Sources Hart 1971, 96 104 167 and 191-198; VCH Gloucs v, 219; Brooke 1944, 99 & 209; Gloucs RO, D 639/1013 and passim; Grey-Davies 1969; Horton 1982; 1985; Morris 2003; 2008; 2011; London Gazette, no. 16238, 363 (18 Mar. 1809); Cambrian, 13 Sep. 1823; TNA, PROB 11/1759/87; cf. Day 1975. Upper Redbrook Works: Redbrook Furnaces

Bigwell Forge was built about 1771 by Townsend and Wood, who apparently made tinplate by 1774. The rest of the Lower works had belonged to the Copper Miners since their formation about 1690. The English Copper Company sold them in 1790 to William and David Tanner, who established the tinplate works in partnership with William Cowley (previously clerk at Froombridge) and Henry Hathaway (perhaps head workman there). On David Tanner’s bankruptcy in 1798, it was let for 21 years to William Cowley of Stourbridge, who took John James as partner in 1803 to replace Hathaway who had moved to Kidwelly. Cowley retired in 1809, but John James made tinplate until 1819. He took over the Lydney Works in 1814. The works were advertised for sale in 1823 by a mortgagee together with the assignee in bankruptcy of David Tanner. In 1825 the works were repaired and improved at a cost of £8,600 and let to Benjamin Whitehouse and his son Henry.

Upper: [11] SO546108 Lower: [12] SO548107

Both furnaces were on the Red Brook a short distance south west of Monmouth, at Upper Redbrook in the parish of Newland. The upper furnace was built about 1604 by William Hall (d.1615) and the lower furnace at some time between 1608 and 1634. The Hall family probably initially operated the works themselves: Benedict Hall 1634 or earlier to 1644; then Robert Kirle and Captain John Brayne 1644 to 1649; then Benedict Hall again (d.1668) and his son Henry (Benedict) Hall 1649 to 1671; Paul Foley 1671 to 1684; Henry Hall again from 1684 to 1691 (death); Benedict Hall 1691 to 1702. The marketing of surplus pig iron was taken over by the (Foley) Ironworks in Partnership from 1697, before they leased the works in 1702. They rented them continuously 478

Chapter 30: The Middle Wye Valley Sources Hart 1971, 45-7 96-104 159-60; VCH Gloucs v, 218-9; cf. 277; Schafer 1971, 28; Johnson 1953, 1367; Morris 2003; Foley E12/VI/DBc/2; DCc/1; DEc/114; DGc/1; House of Lords RO, LP  245/15; Gloucester Journal, 4 Mar. 1799; Cambrian, 14 Feb. 1818.

from that year until 1742. The subsequent tenants (as at Lydbrook) were: Rowland Pytt 1742 to 1756; Rowland Pytt II (d.1761) and executors 1756 to 1763; Richard Reynolds and John Partridge sen. & jun. 1763 to 1793 (latterly as Harford, Partridge & Co); and David Tanner 1793 to 1798 (bankrupt). David Tanner perhaps did not blow a furnace, probably being more interested in it as a site for a tinplate works, also perhaps so as to have the benefit of woods for his other ironworks. James then Henry Davies had it with partners 1799 to 1828, Robert Thompson being brought in as a partner in 1805. The furnace was perhaps last blown in 1816 having used charcoal to the end. It was among the last charcoal blast furnaces in southern Britain, and was still standing in 1818. There are traces of a leat leading to the upper furnace ending near the foundations of a building, containing a considerable quantity of charcoal. Any trace of the lower furnace has been removed by later industry.

Redbrook Ironfoundry There was probably a separate ironfoundry with an air furnace in the period when Tanner had the furnace, as there is reference to him melting some pigs. A forge seems to have been added in the same period. After the closure of the furnace, the foundry was continued, being sold by Henry Davies in 1828 to Thomas Burgham, an ironfounder, who probably operated it until his death. The foundry seems to have been closed in 1874. Sources Hart 1971, 167 & 191-198.

Size The upper furnace was closed by 1646. The lower made: 1717 600 tpa; 1788 700 tons; 1796 not listed; but it was advertised in 1799 and 1818; 1805 804 tons; in blast 1810. Liberty to use the stampers belonging to the Upper Copper Works was included in the 1762 lease.

Redbrook Forge and Upper Tinplate Works

[15] SO537102

The Upper Copper Works, at the mouth of the Upper Red Brook, were converted to two forges and a grinding mill by 1774, and Joseph Jackson made spades and edged tools there. In 1793 there were a finery, a chafery, a rolling mill and a balling furnace, but by 1798/9 the workmen included puddlers and rollers. David and William Tanner added a tinplate works by c.1793. Prior to his bankruptcy in 1798, he had improperly sold the machinery. This was replaced by James Davies when Robert Thompson was brought into his partnership. Henry Davies occupied the works in 1818, and bought the freehold in 1823, but it was probably closed soon after. In 1818, it was capable of making 200 boxes of tinplate per week.

Associations Generally held with the two of the Lydbrook forges. As to Harford Partridge & Co see chapter 34. Trading Henry Benedict Hall used the river to carry iron up to his forges at Lydbrook and down the Wye to Bristol using a lock built by William Sandys at New Weir (Herefs RO, O68/III/22). During the tenure of the Halls, pig iron sent through Gloucester was generally shipped in their names or at least in vessels belonging to Redbrook, but the absence of Henry Hall as a shipper before March 1684 implies that Paul Foley remained tenant until then. On the other hand, during the Foleys’ tenure shipment in Bewdley boats was more prominent, but pig iron was not usually shipped in the names either of the Foleys or their general managers (Gloucester Port Books Database; King thesis, 103). In the hands of the Foley Partnership after 1698 sales tended to be to forges in the area and into south Wales rather than to the Midlands. Major customers included Blackpool (Pembrokeshire), Monmouth, New Weir, Usk (i.e. Clytha), and Lydbrook Forges. Substantial amounts went to Wilden in the early part of Thomas Foley III(W)’s time there (Foley a/c). John Partridge jun. was selling some pig iron to the Knight Stour Works partnership, mainly for their Mitton Forges 1786-91; this amounted to 184 tons in 1787 (SW a/c). It also supplied pig iron to Melingriffith Forge in 1779-81, over 300 tpa (Evans 2001, 419). Iron ore from Crossgates mine in Furness, sent to ‘Monmouth Forge’ in 1786-90 (Kendall 1892, 18), is likely to have been used at Redbrook, presumably indicating the local business was managed from Monmouth. John Partridge & Co owed money for ore from Whitriggs Mine in 1782, but had overpaid in 1780 (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/1/4-5).

Sources Hart 1971, 191-198; Morris 2003; 2008, 25-6; 2009; Cambrian, 14 Feb. 1818. Whitchurch Furnace at Cut Mill

[16] SO55091845

There was certainly a furnace at Cut Mill on the Garren Brook in the late 17th century. A considerable weir still exists by a three storey corn mill with an overshot waterwheel in situ, though some remains may have been destroyed by a modern trunk road. This mill was inspected by the Woolhope Club’s Archaeological Research Section in 1997 prior to its conversion to a house (Lowe 1998). There was an earlier Whitchurch Furnace and Forge, belonging to the Earls of Shrewsbury. They were lords of the manor of Goodrich, which covers the parishes of Goodrich and Whitchurch. The traditional interpretation (e.g. Schubert 1957) has been to place the furnace here, but recent work suggests that there was a furnace at New Weir (see above). Alternatively, it is conceivable that the earls had furnaces at both sites, perhaps successively. A large river such as the Wye is prone to have spates, so that a furnace powered by it would be dangerous. If water enters the hearth of a furnace, while it is in blast, it

Accounts Full annual accounts: Foley a/c 1698 to 1717 (but sales only before 1702) and 1725 to 1737, after which it was out of blast, also for 9 months 1723/4. 479

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II is likely to explode. For this reason, furnaces (with their relatively modest need for power) tend to be on modest brooks, whose spates can be diverted away through an overflow weir, rather than on main rivers. The appearance of ‘cinder’ in two field names suggests bloomery smelting took place much earlier in the manor of Goodrich, which also included Whitchurch parish.

demolished in 1697 to improve the Wye navigation. On the other hand, it is possible that Carey was being called Ham, because it was part of Scudamore’s Holme Lacy estate. Perhaps the citizens complaint relating to reviving Carey Forge, after a time of idleness during the Civil War. Sources Taylor 1986, 464; BL, Add. ms. 11052, esp. ff. 71 86 107 116; Herefs RO, QS/O 1680, 115; cf. Cohen 1955, 92; Stockinger 1996, 124.

According to litigation (apparently in 1693), Cut Mill was part of property leased by the Earl of Kent to Rudhall Gwillym in 1634. His son Richard, the 1693 defendant, claimed that the earlier furnace had replaced a mill. It is possible this was built as late as 1628, when Carey Forge was to have 200 tons from the furnace ‘now intended to be built’ at Whitchurch. By 1634 Rudhall Gwillym had apparently built a mill, replacing a furnace. However, that mill had (about 30 years before 1693) been replaced by another furnace. Gwillym acknowledged the obligation to re-erect a corn mill (if required). Other evidence indicates that Thomas Nourse in fact rebuilt the furnace in about 1658 on the old foundations. He was presumably as Gwillym’s undertenant. He used cinders from his own adjacent land, leaving a large hole. Nourse still had the furnace in about 1664, but when George Scudamore, the next tenant, renewed the ‘trewes’ [troughs] in about 1670, his workmen had to build them 1½ feet higher, because of the hole. The furnace was idle in 1695, and is not heard of again. It is likely that Cut Mill was rebuilt about then.

Mitcheldean Furnace Co

In order to get low prices for wood and cinders for an intended furnace, Thomas Daniel and Richard Reynolds in 1747 entered into a partnership with Maynard Colchester to build and operate a furnace at Barton Hill near Mitcheldean. The furnace was never built and the agreement was cancelled in 1751. That no iron was made is demonstrated by the Colchester woods not having been cut until 1753. Thomas Daniel & Co had Monmouth Forge from 1742. Sources Gloucs RO, D36/E16; cf. D36/E12, 30 129 130 184. Ross-on-Wye spurious Schubert (1957, 385-6) lists ‘ironworkes at Rosse’ as existing in 1597 and for a few years before and after. However, the ironworks in question were at Bishopswood in Walford parish, which was part of the manor of Rosson-Wye.

Associations Thomas Nourse had Hope (or Longhope) Furnace in the 1650s and a continuing interest there as landlord.

Whitchurch Old Forge

Sources HMC 15th Rep, App. II (Hodgkin), 33; HMC Shrewsbury I (Lambeth) MS 695, f.69; MS 702 f.29; MS 708, f.190 & 223; TNA, C  2/Chas I/K2/58; TNA, E 134/24 & 25 Chas II/Hil 15; Herefs RO, O 68 passim, especially O  68/II/10; Jenkins 1937, 179-181; Coates & Tucker 1983, 11-12 & 57-8; Rees 1968, 270-2 and 276-8; Schubert 1946, 523-4; Hart 1971, 8-12; Baker 1943, 103ff; Mynors 1953; Taylor 1986, 451 etc.; Lowe 1998; 2005; Leat & Lowe 2005.

[20] SO558185

Old Forge is something of a mystery. There had been a forge in 1513 and iron was being made in 1543, this was probably in connection with a bloomery forge. Old Forge is now merely a place name, as it has been since the 18th century, when lands at Old Forge were included in the lease of New Weir Forge. A survey of Goodrich manor in 1663 refers (in abuttals) to the way from Huntsham to the forge, which might indicate that it was operating, whereas a list of encroachments dated 1703 refers to one as near ‘Olde Forge’ and ‘Newmill Hill’. Another (undated) survey mentions land called Old Forge Meadow whereon an Old Forge stood. A survey of the river Wye in about April 1697 records an Old Weir, two miles above New Weir of which little sign remained. The river was running in two channels, but reducing it to one would improve the navigation. It is thus likely that this (if a finery forge) would be a forge of the one of the Earls of Shrewsbury, additional to the one they had at New Weir.

Whitchurch see also New Weir Other ironworks Holme Lacy ironworks

Not built [SO6718]

spurious

In 1649 the citizens of Hereford petitioned Parliament about a forge which Viscount Scudamore was erecting at Ham [i.e. Holme Lacy, SO 5536]. The Viscount asked that if he was required to demolish it he might be compensated. It is not clear where this was. A paper in reply refers to Carey Forge, which was however built about 20 years before. The citizens seems to have been concerned about ironworks because they were making fuel more expensive, and it may be that they had merely heard a rumour that he was building another. If a second forge was being built it was presumably at Hancocks Mill, another mill

Sources Stockinger 1996, 123-4; Herefs RO, O68/I/8 21 & no. 4441; Coates & Tucker 1983, 57-8; Leat & Lowe 2005; cf. Whitchurch Furnace and New Weir (above).

480

31 Upper Wye and Upper Usk Valleys Introduction

managed Whittington Forge for Philip Foley in 1669.3 He attested his grandfather’s will in 1657,4 and was still associated with Philip in 1676.5 Another Thomas Jukes (probably his son) operated Strangworth Forge by 1686, adding Peterchurch in 1713, but was bankruptcy in 1728.6

This chapter deals with a diffuse group of ironworks spread across Herefordshire and adjacent parts of Wales, including some discussed in the preceding chapter. Most of these lie some distance from any obvious source of ore. The area thus shares some characteristics with the South Midlands, except that river transport was less good. The river Wye was made navigable to Hay-on-Wye shortly after the Restoration. The river Usk was only navigable at its mouth near Caerleon. Brecon lay at the head of the Abergavenny and Brecknock Canal, but that is too late to be relevant to the works described in this chapter. This was authorised in 1793 but not fully open until 1812. A tramroad (with iron rails) led from the head of canal to Hay-on-Wye and Eardisley (open 1816/8), extended in 1820 to Kington. Another was built from Abergavenny to Llanfihangel (1814), extended to Grosmont (1818) and Hereford Bridge (1829).1 These served to supply the country with coal and iron, enabling an iron manufacturing business to operate at Kington with a watermill from 1820.2

Except in so far as they were supplying local markets, all the forges were probably at a severe economic disadvantage compared to their competitors nearer Bristol and Birmingham because of the heavy transport costs they must have had to absorb. It was probably something of that kind, perhaps combined with unprofitable trading as an ironmonger, which led to the bankruptcy of Thomas Jukes. Clytha Forge, built by John Taylor of Bristol, is even more obscure, known only from a newspaper advert (when it was derelict, and sales of pig iron.7 This also went out of use in the 1730s, in the period when cheap Russian imports made remote forges unable to sell their output except locally. This may be compared to other ironworks in relatively remote rural areas in Montgomeryshire, which were also idle (or under-used) in this period.8 Brecon Furnace and Pipton Forge were a small integrated group, part of a crop of new ironworks built in the wake of the embargo on Swedish trade in 1717-8, but seem to have survived the downturn. Pipton may have closed when the lease expired in 1770 and a forge was built at Brecon to replace the furnace, pig iron coming from the new coke furnace at Hirwaun.9

The water-power sources were generally relatively small rivers and brooks. The distribution of ironworks is probably almost random, particularly further from the Forest of Dean. There were considerably more forges than furnaces, as ore was not readily available. It was perhaps a matter of a landowner or entrepreneur deciding that there was a good site for a forge or that there was an attractively large area of coppice from which to make charcoal. The works of this area are best regarded as being an outer fringe of the Forest of Dean and south Wales ironmaking districts.

The upturn in the industry in the middle of the 18th century probably led to the reopening of the two closed forges, though it is not quite certain whether Clytha and Trostrey Forges were on the same site. As the availability of cokesmelted pig iron allowed the iron trade to expand, a new forge opened, built at Tidnor, a few miles west of Hereford in the late 1760s. While this is the result of an expansion of the trade, there is no obvious evidence of the use of cokesmelted pig iron; perhaps not unsurprising, since there was no easily available source.

Southwest Herefordshire had a substantial grouping of works comprising St. Weonards Furnace with Pontrilas, Peterchurch, and Llancillo Forges. This formed in the 1620s, but broke up in about 1690. After that, the works largely operated independently, the forges relying for pig iron from St Weonards and from furnaces of the Forest of Dean. However, Llancillo probably also received some pig iron from Llanelly Furnace.

Strangworth, Llancillo, and Tidnor near Hereford continued in operation until about 1810. This was however activity on a comparatively small scale. As in so many areas, once charcoal was no longer so necessary in the finery, dispersed rural forges were unable compete with the

The chapter includes several isolated works. Strangworth Forge (apparently built by 1671), in Pembridge in northwest Herefordshire, has no apparent relationship with any furnace. Thomas Jukes of Whittington had

3

Schafer 1978, 68-70. Foley E12/II/1/3-4. 5 Foley E12/VI/KG/5. 6 Foley E12/VI/DDf/3 5; TNA, C 54/5417, no.4; London Gazette, 6720, 3 (22 Oct. 1728). 7 London Evening Post, 23 May 1738; Foley a/c (from 1700). 8 See chapter 15. 9 Lloyd 1906, 1-11. 4

1 Rattenbury 1980, 1-17; Baxter 1966, 193-212. There is also a Deposited Plan dated 1802 for a tramroad from the Wye opposite Lydbrook to Hereford Bridge (Herefs RO, Q/RW/T13a-b), but probably nothing came of this. 2 Young 1938, 194-8.

481

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 31. The upper Wye and upper Usk valleys. 1, Brecon Furnace (later Forge); 2, Clytha Forge or Usk Forge; 3, Llancillo Forge; 4, Peterchurch Forge; 5, Pipton Forge; 6, Pontrilas Forge; 7, St Weonards Furnace; 8, Strangworth Forge; 9, Tidnor Forge; 10, Trostrey Forge.

rendered this one redundant. This may be when the forge was built. In 1778 the works passed to the next generation, Walter and Jeffrey Wilkins, who also founded the Brecon Old Bank. In 1794 it was held by Wilkins and Jefferies (sic). The forge closed in c.1800; certainly by 1803, when the obligation for Hirwaun Furnace to supply pig iron to W & J Wilkins was replaced by a rent. David Tanner (the son of William Tanner) is said to have sought to revive the family interest in the works prior to his bankruptcy in 1799, but this is probably a misunderstanding, due to it being called Tanner’s Forge from the family’s earlier interest in the works. In the woods on that side of the River Honddu there are clear remains of a leat which took a small stream of water from the river some distance upstream, collecting water from a brook it crossed on the way. This leads to an alcove in the hillside which probably represents part of the ironworks buildings. In the river adjoining this is a weir. It is very likely that this provided additional power when the works had become a forge. The furnace stack stood in 1906.

new steam powered forges in integrated ironworks, using the new refining processes of the industrial revolution. Nevertheless, Strangworth Forge may have operated as late as 1822. Principal Sources: van Laun 1979 deals with St Weonards Furnace and the three associated forges.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Brecon Furnace (later Forge)

[1] SO050297

A furnace was set up on the site of a tucking mill on River Honddu at Cwm y Velin, but probably converted to a forge in the late 18th century. Furnace Farm stands on the east bank of the river. It is however probable that the ironworks were entirely on the west bank. Benjamin Tanner of Brecon and Richard Wellington of Hay built it in 1720. They and the former’s son William sold it in 1750 to Thomas Daniels and Richard Reynolds, Bristol merchants, who sold it to Thomas Maybery in 1753. In 1755, he passed it to his son John Maybery who operated it with his brother-in-law John Wilkins (a partner from 1760). In 1757 Maybery and Wilkins built Hirwaun Furnace, which would have

Size and Associations Size not known: it is likely that it made little more than the 200 tpa required by Pipton Forge, but may have produced more while Daniels and Reynolds also had Monmouth Forge and then Thomas Maybury Powick Forge. Even as a forge it was probably 482

Chapter 31: Upper Wye and Upper Usk Valley very small; there was only a single finery (without a chafery) in operation in 1794.

Monmouthshire. The forge was built before 1637, when it was let by Thomas Cavendish of Madley and his wife to John Scudamore for three years. Richard Kemble is said to have been clerk about 1645. In 1656 it was held by Edward Barker, but until the 1670s its detailed history is obscure. Paul Foley rebuilt it in 1672 and operated it until 1683 in partnership with William Hall, a member of the High Meadow family. In 1674 to 1678 Paul Foley’s share was further subject to his partnership with his brother Philip. Henry and William Hall had it from 1683; then Nathaniel Morgan by 1697 until at least 1717, perhaps 1723; Foley Forest Partnership 1723 (or before) to 1730. Richard Smith, a Hereford ironmonger took the forge over in 1730 and operated it until at least 1742. He was perhaps followed by Mrs Tanner from before 1759 and then certainly David Tanner by 1769 (when it was advertised to let) until at least 1794. From 1783 to 1804 William Morse had Forge Farm and was followed by Mrs Elizabeth Morse until 1811. This tenement included the forge, which Morse offered to let in 1799, just after Tanner’s bankruptcy. It probably remained in use until about 1807, and was said to be ‘late destroyed’ in 1812. The site is now in agricultural land. Van Laun had traced some remains of leats and pounds. Coates and Tucker identified buildings that may have been part of the forge.

Accounts Ledger for the sale of bar iron covering the period 1771-8 with a few subsequent entries: NLW, Maybery 4030. Wood accounts 1753-4: Lloyd 1906, 7-10. Trading Maybery and Wilkins no doubt supplied the forge from Hirwaun, which was continued by contract by Walter Wilkins, after they sold it in 1775 and again in 1780 (Lloyd 1906, 16). This continued until 1803. The ledger indicates that almost all customers were in towns in the area around the forge. Sources NLW, Maybery 1210-1 & 1215; Lloyd 1906, 1-11; Minchinton 1960, 9-10; Rees 1968, 308-9; Jepson 1997. Clytha Forge or Usk Forge

[2] perhaps SO355074

The precise location of Clytha Forge is not clear. It is described as being on the river Usk in the lordship of Bergavenny [i.e. Abergavenny] with two acres adjoining the wear in Clytha and with a wearhead on land in ‘Lanevir Gilgedin’ [Llanfair Kilgeddin]. The forge was built when John Taylor of Bristol obtained a 99-year lease in 1696. Taylor bought pig iron until about 1732. In 1738 it was advertised as having a ‘decayed stank or weare’. In 1744 a house called New Weir and a corn mill called Trostrey Mill were leased for lives. The description of Clytha Forge would fit with it being identical to later Trostrey Forge (described below), particularly as this seems to have been the only mill on the river Usk below Abergavenny. An index in one of the Foley accounts refers to John Taylor of Usk Forge, which was presumably its contemporary name, but the 1717-36 lists name it as Clyda.

Size In the mid-17th century there were two fineries; actual production around 1678 approached 150 tpa. The scale of Nathaniel Morgan’s purchases from 1705 also suggests this size. 1717 130 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 200 tpa; in 1794 there were three fineries. Associations In the 1670s St. Weonards Furnace and Peterchurch, Llancillo, and Pontrilas Forges formed a group in common ownership. In 1631 a member of the Scudamore family, the landlords, had a forge at Carey and may therefore also have had this one. Richard Kemble is said also to have been clerk of St. Weonards furnace, while another member of the family held Whitchurch Furnace and an associated forge. Nathaniel Morgan probably held St. Weonards Furnace before 1705. On David Tanner see chapter 27; also 32.

Size 1717 200 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 omitted. Trading The obvious sources of pig iron are Llanelly Furnace and the furnaces in the Wye valley. John Taylor bought from the latter fluctuating amounts varying between nothing and 90 tpa from 1700 to 1705, then consistently 160 tpa until 1717. He also bought 30 tons in two years 1730-2 (Foley a/c). He bought 65 tons of Invergarry pig iron in 1730 and 1731 (Invergarry a/c) and 15 tons of Backbarrow pig in 1731/2 (BB a/c). According to John Bedford, he only used tough pig iron and told Squire Jones of Clytha that he lost £16,000 by the forge (NLW, Bedford 1765/b, 19r).

Trading Until 1730 it was mainly supplied with pig iron from St. Weonards Furnace, but occasionally from Llanelly, Redbrook or elsewhere (Foley a/c). Later it used Llanelly pigs (NLW Bedford). Mrs Tanner bought 25 cwt of cast iron (perhaps hammers and anvils) from Hales Furnace in 1759 (SW a/c) and D. Tanner had 10 tons of Horsehay pigs in 1767 (HH a/c). This was probably for here, since they are not known to have had any other ironworks. ‘Llansillow’ tin iron was used at Pontnewydd Mill in 1809 (NLW, Maybery 279).

Sources Johnson 1953, 109 (from Foley a/c); London Evening Post, 23 May 1738; cf. Gwent RO, D 43/2361 3213-8; and see Trostrey (below). [3] SO37682522

Inventory of plant Herefs RO, AL40/10120; Accounts 1677/8: Foley E12/VI/DCf/26; 1723/4: E12/VI/DGf/ 36/34-36; 1725 to 1730: E12/VI/DGf series.

This was driven by a leat from river Monnow which here forms the boundary between Herefordshire and

Sources van Laun 1979a; NLW, Aston Hall 1870; Foley E12/VI/DCc/1 and 6; E12/VI/DGc/1; Herefs RO,

Llancillo Forge

483

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II AL40/10122 & 10137; M/26/7/29; Land Tax; Johnson 1953, 130-1; Schafer 1971, 22 & 26-8; Coates & Tucker 1978, 44 46-7; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 1 Jan. 1769; 22 Jan. 1770; Hereford Journal, 10 Apr. 1799. Peterchurch Forge

stonework remains; another stone building nearby may perhaps have been a storehouse. Size ‘1718’ 100 tpa; 1736 50 tpa; 1750 150 tpa; 1788 [closed] down.

[4] SO342389

Trading Benjamin Tanner bought 20 tons of Bishopswood pig in 1738 (Foley a/c), presumably for here.

The Forge was on the river Dore in the remote Golden Valley. Its date of erection is unclear, but it was (like Llancillo) used by William Hall (of the High Meadow family) by 1672 to 1683 in partnership with Paul Foley and between 1674 and 1678 it was also subject to Paul’s partnership with his brother Philip Foley. It was then occupied: 1683 to 1711 by William Hall; 1711 to 1713 perhaps by John Hall; in 1713 by Foley Forest Partnership; and by Thomas Jukes in 1713 to 1724 or later. His bankruptcy in 1728 probably marked the end of this forge. The forge building (described in the Royal Commission for Historical Monuments report) was in use as a cottage and cow shed, but has since been burnt down. Remains of leats and pounds are described by van Laun.

Sources NLW, Maybery 1215; Minchinton 1960, 9; Dawson 1918, 278-9 & 308; Lloyd 1906, 1-11; Rees 1968, 308-9. Pontrilas Forge

This stood at the junction of the rivers Monnow and Dore. It already existed when let to Benedict Hall in 1623. It was probably continuously occupied by members of this family until after 1664. Paul Foley and William Hall ran it between 1672 and 1683, with Paul Foley’s share being subject to his partnership with Philip Foley in 1674-8. William and Henry Hall had it from 1683. It probably closed in about 1700, perhaps even earlier. Van Laun described some remains of leats and pounds.

Size 53 tons was made in 1677; 1717 50 tpa; 1718 60 tpa 1736 idle.

Size It made 88 tons in 1677/8. There were two fineries in 1626. A 17th century plan shows a finery ditch and a hammer ditch, leading to water wheels.

Associations In the 1670s St Weonards Furnace and Peterchurch, Llancillo, and Pontrilas Forges formed a group in common ownership. Thomas Jukes also held Strangworth Forge.

Associations In the 1670s St. Weonards Furnace and Peterchurch, Llancillo, and Pontrilas Forges formed a group in common ownership.

Trading While associated with St Weonards Furnace it was normally supplied from there. At the end of the 17th century it was probably partly supplied from the Halls’ Redbrook furnace. In 1703 to 1710 Bishopswood and Redbrook provided about equal amounts. Then it mainly had pig from St. Weonards, amounts varying from 25 to 50 tpa, once 92 tons in a year (Foley a/c), suggesting it had another source, perhaps Llanelly.

Trading and Accounts The charge of making iron here in 1626: see Taylor 1986, appendix. 1677/8: Foley E12/VI/ DCf/26: this shows pig iron supplied from St Weonards Furnace. Sources Van Laun 1979a; Foley E12/VI/DCc/1 & 6; Gloucs RO, D 1677/GG684; Johnson 1953, 130-1; Schafer 1971, 22 & 26-8; Coates & Tucker 1978, 41 45-6.

Accounts Foley a/c 1677/8 (Foley, E12/VI/DCf/26); 1713: Foley a/c.

St Weonards Furnace

Sources Van Laun 1979a; Foley E12/VI//DCc/1 & 3; Johnson 1953, 130-1; Schafer 1971, 22 & 26-8; Coates & Tucker 1978, 44. Pipton Forge or Three Cocks Forge, Aberllynfi

[6] SO399264

[7] SO492234

The furnace is on the Garren Brook, south of the village of St. Weonards. There was subsequently a paper mill on the site, whose buildings incorporate a plaque saying that William Rea (who was one of the Foley partners) rebuilt the furnace in 1720. According to oral tradition written down in the 19th century, at the time of the civil war it was in use with Richard Kemble as clerk, a gang of horses bringing charcoal being mistaken for cavalry. As Richard Kemble was also clerk at Llancillo, it is likely the furnace was built by 1637. In 1674 Paul Foley and William Hall were partners, Philip Foley sharing Paul Foley’s share until 1678, as at the associated forges. In 1683 (compare Llancillo) Paul Foley probably sold his share to William Hall who continued the works for some time. Nathaniel Morgan occupied it from before 1698 until 1705, followed by the (Foley) Forest Partnership, who renewed their lease

[5] SO166376

Despite the name Pipton, the forge in fact lay in the parish of Aberllynfi. The forge was powered by water from a leat form Afon Llynfi, though in fact built on a small tributary of it. It was built in 1722 soon after the associated furnace at Brecon (q.v.) with which it was always held, at least until the expiry of the original lease in 1770. It is not referred to as in use after this and therefore is likely to have closed on the expiration of the lease. The building stood at the time of the tithe award and apparently also in 1905 (6-inch O.S. Brecon, 23NW). Of the forge itself only a small fragment of 484

Chapter 31: Upper Wye and Upper Usk Valley in 1726, but ceased blowing the furnace in 1733. The furnace was little used in the 1720s, but was probably in blast in 1729. Most of the stock was sold by 1732, and the remaining pig iron, perhaps incorporated into the structure was removed in 1737. The furnace is not heard of again. It is likely its closure was due to its uncharacteristically small size. However, the possibility of later use cannot be ruled out.

a daughter of John Morgan of Strangworth Mills was married. This has its turn been converted into a house. The freehold belonged at one stage to the Harleys of Brampton Castle, Earls of Oxford. When that title died out the estates were partitioned among coheirs, one of whom married back into the Harley family, but Strangworth must have passed to another coheir. No title deeds have been traced, only a transcript of 1743 transfer of mortgage. Accordingly its history has (unusually) entirely been deduced from trading and other passing references.

Size 1717 300 tpa. This accords well with production records in the preceding period. Production after 1720 was even lower.

Size 171& 150 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 not listed. John Bedford wrote (perhaps in the 1780s) that every proprietor had lost by it through the use of redshort pigs (NLW, Bedford). William Downing advertised for a bloom maker for merchant iron in 1787.

Associations At the time of the Civil War it was used with Llancillo; in the 1670s also with Peterchurch and Pontrilas Forges.

Associations William Downing was also a partner in Prescott Forge in Shropshire and took over Bringewood with a different partner in 1782.

Trading It was almost exclusively involved in supplying its associated forges. While part of the Foley Forest Ironworks Partnership, it mainly supplied Peterchurch, Llancillo, and Strangworth.

Trading Thomas Jukes was a very regular customer of the Foley Partnership, buying an average of nearly 100 tpa from them mostly from their Bishopswood and St Weonards Furnaces for over 25 years to 1717. Amounts varied considerably but not uncommonly slightly exceeded 150 tpa. He sold some of his bar iron back to the Foley partnership through their Bewdley warehouse (Foley a/c). Mr Cordwell bought wood in Titley in 1760 (Herefs RO, A95/21/14). William Downing’s pig iron sources are not known, but they did not include Bringewood, before he leased it.

Accounts Full annual accounts: 1677/8: Foley E12/VI/ DCf/26; Foley a/c 1705 to 1733. Sources Foley E12/VI/DCc/1; /DEc/13 46; /DGc/1; Johnson 1953,130-1; Schafer 1972, 22 & 26; Van Laun 1979, 55 & passim. Schafer’s statement (1972, 22) that Thomas Foley gave half to his son Paul in the late 1660s seems to be erroneous: it should refer to other works only. Strangworth Forge

[8] SO34365916

The forge stood on River Arrow in northwest Herefordshire between Kington and Pembridge, at a hamlet now known as The Forge. This is very remote from any other ironworks, except Bringewood a few miles to the north, but there are no known links with Bringewood until the 1780s. The forge was in operation in 1671. By 1686, it was in the hands of Thomas Jukes of Whittington (in Kinver). He (or more probably his father) had managed Whittington Forge for Philip Foley in 1669. He quite possibly built the forge soon after. He took over Peterchurch Forge in 1713. Richard White may have been a partner at some stage. Thomas Sparry of Strangworth Forge gentleman, referred to in 1714, may have been the clerk. He was presumably related to John Sparry of Hagley (Worcs), a partner in Coedmore Forge, Cardiganshire. Thomas Jukes became bankrupt 1728, after which it may have remained idle, or have been used for some other purpose. However, it was still ‘fully equipped’ in 1737.

Sources Lewis 2005; Pye 1970; NLW, MS 12642F, f.21ff; Herefs RO, QREL7/13 (land tax); Aris Birmingham Gazette, 28 Sept. 1767; 21 Dec. 1767; Hereford Journal, 22 Mar. 1787; 5 Aug. 1829; 1 December 1832; London Gazette, no. 15199, 1126 (29 Oct. 1799); Tucker 1986, 34; cf. also Herefs. RO, A77/100; Morgan l/b, 7 Mar. 1761. Note also plans in Harley MSS at Brampton Bryan, bundles 36 & 54 (card index at Herefs RO). Tidnor Forge

[9] SO554397

This forge was on the River Lugg in the parish of Lugwardine, not far from its junction with the River Wye, the Lugg remaining navigable, at least to this point, while it was a forge. The leat has largely disappeared although it carried water within the last half century. Two water corn mills and ground called Tidnor Mills were probably converted to a forge in the mid-1760s by John Watkins. The copyhold was owned by Robert Penne 1758 to 1769; John Watkins sen. 1769 to 1774; John Watkins jun. 1774 to 1785 (bankrupt); after this, James Hereford the mortgagee, acquired such interests in it as he could. The forge was occupied by John Watkins before he bought the copyhold. In 1786 the forge had been let to William Hall of Worcester, but this did not work out and he soon surrendered the forge. Mr Rawlins had it from 1786 to 1790. James Hereford then had it in hand (having failed to

In 1761, Joseph Cordwell was using it. In 1767, a partnership between John Hodgetts and William Kendrick was dissolved and a ‘newly erected forge in the parish of Pembridge’ was advertised to let. William Downing, who was active in the iron industry from 1760, had this forge by 1782 (when he took over Bringewood) and until 1822, despite becoming bankrupt in 1799. The forge was converted back to a corn mill (Forge Mill) by 1829 when 485

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Size 1794 2 fineries 1 chafery.

sell or let it in 1790) until 1803 when he sold it to William Parry. Thomas Jackson ran it under him until 1807, when his furniture and working tools were sold following his death. The vendor in 1809 and 1812 was Mr Stone. In 1812 Moses Edwards bought it, and he probably converted it back to a mill. Tidnor Mill is a three storey building now occupied as a house, as is an adjoining building.

Associations John Bedford moved to Rogerstone in 1766 and built works there and later to Cefn Cribwr. The activities of Reynolds, Getley & Co and of Harford, Partridge & Co are discussed in the chapter 34. Trading The natural sources of pig iron for this forge would be Llanelly Furnace and the furnaces of the Wye valley. John Lewis bought cordwood on behalf of the Trostrey Co in 1790, to be taken before the beginning of 1792 (NLW, Penpont Supp 2009). In 1800/1 Harvey, Wasson & Co bought 49 tons of Backbarrow pig iron (BB a/c). In 1808 it was supplying tin iron to the Pontnewydd Works (NLW, Maybery 278-9).

Size In 1785 it had three fineries working ‘double-handed in the merchant way’. In 1790 there were two fineries and a chafery; in 1812, it had ‘a drawing out hammer, a shingling hammer, an iron helve, 2 fineries, a chafery, rollers, cutters, shears, hoop-making equipment, plant for merchant bars, etc. with a merchant furnace complete’. There was water carriage to the forge door. This shows that the lowest part of the river Lugg was still navigable.

Accounts NLW, Bedford Papers include a fragmentary account for 1766.

Associations John Watkins had Bishopswood Furnace in 1782-5. It is not known whether Thomas Watkins who had Plymouth Furnace (or a share in it) in the 1770s was connected.

Sources Gwent RO, D 43/2361; Riden 1992, 10-15; Bradney, Mons ii(1), 121; cf. iii(1), 90; Hereford Journal, 18 Dec. 1800; 17 Feb. 1808; Lloyd 1906, 203-4; Flower 1880, 142-3; and see Clytha (above).

Trading Abbey [Tintern] pigs were among goods distrained upon in 1785; 1799-1802 James Hereford bought 30-55 tpa Horsehay pig iron (HH a/c). Sources Herefs RO, S20/I/1, court of 1733 (in back of book) & 36 57 235-6 & 333; S20/I/3, 25ff; P82/LC 9089; London Gazette, 13168, 45 (19 Jan. 1790); Hereford Journal, 22 Sep 1785; 11 May 1786; 5 May 1790; 17 Jun. 1807; 16 Aug. 1809; 12 Aug. 1812; Cambrian, 18 Jan. 1805; 16 May 1807; Jenkins 1937, 182; Cohen 1955, 94. Trostrey Forge

[10] SO355074

Trostrey Forge stood on the river Usk a few miles north of the town of Usk, adjoining Trostrey Lodge in the Clytha division of the parish of Llanarth Fawr, so that it might be the same site as Clytha Forge (above). In 1744 there was a corn mill at Trostrey, but deeds (cited under Clytha) might indicate otherwise. About 1761 a forge was built by John Bedford from Birmingham, whose precise status there is unclear. In 1765 or 1766 a long lease was made to Richard Reynolds and James Getley and it was held in 1772 by Reynolds, Getley & Co, who subsequently became Harford, Partridge & Co, though that name is not recorded here. Instead between 1790 and 1800, there was a Trostrey Company consisting in 1790 of Joseph Harford, James Harvey, and John James Wasson, all of Bristol. Harvey, Wasson & Co held it in 1794, Harvey & Co in 1809, and (after J. Harvey died in about 1808) ‘Trostry Co’ until 1813, following which it was offered for sale. It was void in 1814 and the forge land was let off separately. A corn mill, called Forge Mill, was later built on the site. There was a weir diagonally across the river, directing water to the forge, which lay close to the southern end of the weir. Today the line of the weir is represented by a series of small islands in the river. The site is occupied by a three storey roofless building, which was presumably the corn mill that succeeded the forge, not the forge itself. 486

32 North Monmouthshire Introduction

coppiced woodland has been cleared and replaced by coniferous plantations. It was almost certainly the presence of woods that led to the arrival of the iron industry, but its distribution was as much determined by the presence of ironstone in the coal measures.

Most of the recent county of Gwent is the former county of Monmouthshire. Llanelly was formerly in Breconshire but because of its close association with Pontypool is included in this chapter. Various coke ironworks in the southern part of the Duke of Beaufort’s lordships of Crickhowell and Tretower were similarly transferred from Breconshire to Gwent. On the other hand a number of ironworks in and around the Wye Valley, although formerly in Monmouthshire and subsequently in Gwent, are being dealt with as outlying parts of the Forest of Dean orefield, to which they belong. A number of works in the immediate vicinity of Newport are dealt with in chapter 34. This chapter is therefore primarily concerned with the area between the Usk and the boundary of Glamorgan.

The first ironworks in the area, at Monkswood, said to date from 1564, is apparently earlier than the wireworks at Tintern, which was initially the main stimulus for the iron industry in Monmouthshire. Both of these were on the estates of the Earl of Worcester, an ancestor of the Dukes of Beaufort. The patent establishing the Company of Mineral and Battery Works reserved woodlands within twelve miles of their furnace at Monkswood for them. This was to enable them to produce the osmond iron that was necessary in order to make iron wire. The wireworks were built in 1566 and passed to the Company of Mineral and Battery Works on their formation in 1568. In 1570, after the wireworks had operated for several years without profit to the company, they were let to Andrew Palmer and John Wheeler on behalf of themselves and a group of city merchants including Sir Richard Martin and Richard Hanbury. The latter two subsequently became the sole farmers of the works.

The terrain of this area consisting of the low mountains dividing deep valleys, typical of South Wales. The series of powerful rivers that drain these hills would have provided ample power for the iron industry. If anything they were perhaps too powerful; a number of works were built on smaller tributaries. Afon Llwyd through Pontypool although the main river of its valley is the only one to have been used by a substantial number of works, but this may be due to other factors rather than any difference in power. All the rivers in question converge with each other or with the River Usk near Newport. Newport was therefore their most important doorway to the outside world.

Richard Hanbury When the wireworks were found to be profitable, Richard Hanbury and other partners built additional ironworks, in the process making themselves unpopular with the local population, who wanted the woods to be available for firewood. Richard Hanbury found that his life was threatened and accordingly let the works to his managers for three years, while he obtained the assistance of the law. This culminated in an inclosure decree for the disputed woods segregating sufficient to provide for the needs of commoners, so that the rest could be available for making iron. Later, Hanbury having bought out all his partners, the Company of Mineral and Battery Works asked him for an increase in rent. He refused and sold the wireworks back to the Company for a sum slightly in excess of the rent he owed them. He retained the associated ironworks, agreeing to supply the company with 80 tons of osmond iron per year for a period. The Company immediately let the wireworks to a rival ironmaster, John Challenor.3

Ore came from the South Wales Coalfield which outcrops around the north of Monmouthshire, in the area under discussion. The ore for Pontypool ironworks was at one time mined from an outcrop about two and a half miles to the north, by scouring other material away with water released from further up the mountain.1 This process resembles hushing, which was used (where appropriate) to work outcropping veins of lead ore. Limestone for flux commonly came from formations still north. In the industrial revolution, iron railways were made to bring limestone down to coke furnaces and then pig or bar iron down to Newport or to the heads of the canals, which were made in the Usk and Llwyd valleys. All this was under the authority of canal Acts passed in the early 1790s.2 The countryside seems formerly to have been well wooded. Despite (or perhaps because of) the iron industry, parts of it were still wooded at the time of the tithe award. In modern times, what was presumably formerly the

1 2

Much of the mountainous area formed part of manors of the Earls of Pembroke. The mechanism, by which the industry was introduced on their estates, was the grant of a lease for three lives to a group of entrepreneurs. Only one of these

Tucker & Wakelin 1981, 96. van Laun 2001; Rattenbury 1972.

3

487

Donald 1961; Rees 1968.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 32. North Monmounthshire. 1, Cwmffrwdoer Furnace; 2, Pontymoel Lower Mill; 3, Pontymoel Upper Mill; 4, Pontypool Osborn Forge; 5, Pontypool Town Forge; 6, Trosnant Furnace; 7, Wansuchen Furnace; 9, Abercarn: early ironworks; 10, Bedwellty Ironworks; 11, Blaynegwent Ironworks; 12, Llanelly Furnace; 13, Llanelly Forge; 14, Monkswood ironworks; 15, Pontymoel: the early ironworks; 16, Clydach Furnace and Forge I; 17, Glangrwney Forge; 18, Beaufort Furnace; 19, Blaenavon Furnace; 20, Blaendare Furnace; 21, Clydach Furnaces; 22, Ebbw Vale Ironworks; 23, Nantyglo Ironworks; 24, Rhymney or Union Furnaces upper; 25, Rhymney or Union Furnaces lower; 26, Sirhowy Furnace; 27, Tredegar Ironworks; 28, Varteg Furnace.

Hanbury and John Challenor. There was competition for wood and complaints that wood that ought to have been available for making osmond iron was being used by Challenor to make merchant iron. Proceedings in 1589 resulted in the suppression of the Pontymoel works, at least temporarily.7

leases has been traced. This granted a tract of woody land on the southern side of the Trosnant valley southwest of Pontypool in 1576 to Edmond Roberts, Richard Hanbury and Edmond Brode, with a smaller area southeast of the town. The lease granted them rights that made them all but absolute owners of the land for the term of the lease. The rent was 64 oxen (or £64) and 21s. This, probably with more woodland on the northern side of Trosnant, acquired from the lord of Wentsland and Bringwin, enabled them to build Pontypool Furnace and Forge.4

The trouble brewed up again in 1597 when negotiations broke down on the renewal of a contract between Richard Hanbury and the Company. It seems that the Company was willing to release Richard Hanbury from a previous contract restricting production at Pontypool to 80 tons of osmond and 50 tons of merchant iron each year on the basis that Hanbury would supply more osmond iron. Various accounts of the amount differ, but it seems that the farmers wanted 120 to 140 tons or more if needed. Hanbury initially said that he could not supply it more, because all the available woods had been bought up by rival ironmasters. He was obviously also influenced by the price offered (£12), which (while higher than before) was still below the market price for merchant iron. In November 1595 Richard Hanbury realised he had made as much iron as he could under the old agreement and ordered his works to stop until the new year, to avoid forfeiture of his performance bond. There were also complaints as to the quality of the osmond iron supplied, which were probably unjustified. The problem was perhaps a failure of quality control by the management of the wireworks.

Another similar tract of land in Glyn Carne and Glyn Gwithion west of modern Abercarn provided wood for a Abercarn Furnace and Forge (see chapter 34). Edmond Roberts had a cannon foundry at Abercarn, presumably a furnace, and must therefore be credited with building the ironworks,5 which apparently passed to Richard Hanbury in 1581. A third similar tract is even more obscure; it stretched for some miles up the west side of the Ebbw Fawr Valley from Crumlin. The tithe award records a house called Gwaun y furnace (‘furnace marsh’) within this. It is not known when this furnace operated, except that it was not in use in 1597. Possibly it was Blaynegwent Furnace (mentioned c.1570).6 The proximity of an ironworks at Pontymoel (now a suburb of Pontypool) to the ironworks at Pontypool and Monkswood resulted in friction between Richard 4 5 6

Gwent RO, D 8A/JCH 1560. TNA, E 112/29/25. Q.v.

This was the subject of litigation, brought by the Attorney-General: TNA, E 112/29/24; E 178/1518; cf. E 112/29/21. 7

488

Chapter 32: North Monmouthshire a tradition of an earlier furnace and forge on the other side of the gorge. The basis and therefore reliability of these traditions cannot be determined. They could be utter anachronisms invented to find early precursors for Clydach and Llanelly Furnaces.12

There was a further dispute in 1597 when the contract needed to be renewed, when Hanbury and his son-in-law Edmond Wheler wanted £13.6.8d per ton. The matter became one of public policy: partly because there were poor workmen, who were failing to receive the materials they needed, because of the disruption; and partly because the public revenue was involved, as a share in the Company had passed by attainder to the Crown. A settlement was therefore imposed by the Privy Council. Hanbury and Wheler refused to conform to this. They were imprisoned in the Fleet but remained unrepentant, until a writ of sequestration was issued against them in July 1598. After that they rapidly complied with the Privy Council’s order, which included provision for the arbitration of disputes. The outcome is not definitely known, but may have resulted in the Rhydygwern works in the Taff valley being assigned to Challenor & Co, so that they could provide their own osmond iron.8

Richard Hanbury’s ironworks were not always wholly his own. In 1577 the partners who let the Trevethin [Pontypool] Ironworks also included Edmond Brode and William Nurthe, yet only a year before Edmond Roberts rather than William Nurthe had been partner there. In 1597 he was not operating the ironworks himself. They were at the time in the hands of his son-in-law Edmond Wheler, but this may have been a device to enable iron to continue to be produced, without the forfeiture of Richard Hanbury’s performance bond to the Company of Mineral and Battery Works. It may also be noted that in 1589 both Maughan [Machen] Forge and Pontypool Ironworks were held by Richard Hanbury and Humfrey Mitchell. Taff Furnace and Machen Forge had both been run by Edmond Roberts prior to his death in 1581, and at least Machen was held by Edmond Wheler in 1598. It is very probable that this all represents the activities of a single firm, but it is not possible to provide it with a continuous history.

In the course of evidence in these proceedings, it was mentioned that Richard Hanbury had three ironworks, at Monkswood, Trevethin [i.e. Pontypool] and Abercarn. His ownership of a fourth ‘Glenebo’ [Glyn Ebbw] was not confirmed by witnesses, suggesting it had closed. John Challenor, Thomas Moore and others (not named) had ironworks at Pontymoel and Bedwellty. Cornelius Avenant, who was a senior London member of the Company mentioned ironworks at Machen, Trevethin and Blaynegwent having been let to Wheeler and Palmer with the wireworks in 1570. The last had evidently closed before 1597. Except at Monkswood where there was a second forge, each of the ironworks seems to have consisted of a furnace and forge. This seems to have been typical everywhere at the time.9

When Richard Hanbury died in 1608 leaving two daughters; he made his grandson Hanbury Wheeler his main heir. He left £5000 stock invested in ironworks ‘at Tintern and elsewhere’ part in trust for his grandchildren and part in trust for his ‘poor relatives’. Nothing further is known of the trust (not a charity), but the capital must have been distributed during the next couple of decades, as the ironworks are next heard of in the hands of his Hanbury relatives.13 He had slightly outlived his rival John Challoner, who died in 1607.

At his death in 1607, John Challenor was apparently farming the wireworks, with his son William, Edmund Thomas, and George Catchmay. His predecessor at Pontymoel had been Thomas Fennor, perhaps his fatherin-law. In 1607 the ironworks there and at Bedwellty were held with William Catchmay and he and Thomas More had an ironworks at Aberpergwm in the Vale of Neath.10 Little else is known of the ironworks at Bedwellty or Blaenau Gwent. Not even the exact location of the latter is known, but the former, at Pontgwaith yr Hairn in the Sirhowy Valley, was recorded in an oral tradition, written down in the 19th century.11

Richard Hanbury’s nephew, John Hanbury (d.1659), married the daughter of a Gloucester merchant and is best recorded as a trader in iron along the river Severn. In 1635 he was assignee in bankruptcy of William Glazebrook, a Bewdley iron merchant, and was for his pains sued by creditors (who had failed to prove in the bankruptcy),14 and he sold iron in 1642 to Job Turton of Birmingham.15 The next unequivocal reference to Pontypool concerns the letting in 1655 to Capel Hanbury (d.1704) of a forge, probably that later called Pontpool Town Forge. Two years later his father, John Hanbury, transferred £3000 stock to trustees in trust for Capel and his mother, subject to certain payments being made to his brothers. Capel Hanbury’s elder brother, Richard Hanbury died in 1660 childless, so that Capel succeeded to the family estates. In 1629 John Hanbury, the executor of Richard Hanbury, had renewed the lease, granted by the Earl of Pembroke in 1576, for the lives of his own sons, perhaps with added land. This and other such leases continued to be renewed until 1718,

It is possible that there were other ironworks in the area in the late 16th and early 17th centuries (though not in 1597), built to burn up other tracts of otherwise useless woodland. According to tradition the furnace at Llanelly on the Breconshire side of the Clydach Gorge was built in 1605, with a forge added there in 1615. There is also 8 See chapter 36. Direct evidence of the date of the assignment by Wheler is lacking, but Challenor had it at his death in 1607. 9 TNA, E 112/29/32; E 134/39 Eliz/Hil 23; A.P.C. 28, 592-5 619 637; Donald 1961. 10 TNA, PROB 11/109/206. 11 King 1994.

12 13 14 15

489

Schubert 1957, 371. Locke 1916, 137-8. Locke 1916, 122-3; TNA, C 8/66/87; C 78/414/13. TNA, C 9/407/113.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II when John Hanbury purchased the freehold of a major part of the demised premises, comprising the land south of Glyn Trosnant, the woods by Abercarn, and the tract of land stretching up the west bank of the River Ebbw Fawr from Crumlin.16

Cooke (d.1736 aged 66), the roller at the Pontypool mill, mentioned seems to have been the son of Thomas Cooke (d.1699) the slitter (and roller) at Wolverley and then Stourton, and presumably brought the idea of rolling blackplate to Pontypool.24

John Hanbury

John Hanbury was a MP and presumably in touch with scientific developments. He was a member of the committee appointed in 1731 to observe Charles Wood’s trial at Chelsea of his father’s (ineffective) process for making iron in air furnaces.25 He expanded his activities, taking Ynyscedwyn Furnace and Forest Forge in the Swansea valley with Ambrose Crowley of Stourbridge and Melin Court Furnace near Neath in 1708.26 At some stage, wire began to be made at Pontymoel, but this was not necessarily in John Hanbury’s time. This resulted in one of the forges at Pontypool becoming known as the Osborn Forge, the name being a variant of osmond, the kind of iron used for making wire. Local legend attributes the introduction of tinplate to Edward Allgood, an assistant of Hanbury. He is recorded to have introduced the method of polishing wire established at Wooburn, which was probably Wooburn, Bucks, where there was a wire mill, not Woburn Abbey, Beds (as reported).27 The process used the leys from fermenting rye. The liquor from fermentation would certainly be a source of vinegar to cleanse iron of rust.

Capel Hanbury sent his son, John (d.1734), usually known as Major Hanbury, to University and then to train for the bar, a common course for gentlemen’s sons. John Hanbury decided that he could do better as an ironmaster, and was therefore allowed to take over the family’s works. These consisted of a furnace near Pontypool and another at Llanelly, just beyond the Breconshire boundary, with a forge at Llanelly and two at Pontypool; there was also a slitting mill.17 Capel probably retired to a house at Hoarstones near Kidderminster, leaving John to run the works.18 Following his father’s death in 1704 John Hanbury made a reassessment of the works and their profitability. Llanelly Furnace had suffered ‘for want of being covered from wet and lying two years or more without fire’. He decided it would be profitable to put it to use, but making rather less than it was capable of. He concluded that there was only a little profit from converting bar iron to rod. Broad plate was being made at the upper mill but in summer there was not enough water and in winter the mill was fully in use slitting. He therefore took a lease of a mill at Pontymoel and moved the rolling machine there. The production of Pontypool Plate was a very profitable operation, producing something over £5 per ton clear profit.

Allgood’s tombstone claims that he invented ‘Pontypool Plate and ye art of tinning iron sheets.28 Whether the breakthrough in tinning was achieved by Allgood’s visit to Wooburn or his master reading Réaumur, it is clear that Pontypool was the technological source for the subsequent tinplate industry. The Knight Bringewood Partnership paid John Cook of Stourton to visit his cousins at Pontypool, to discover how tinplate was made, enabling Edward and Ralph Knight to set up a tinmill at Mitton in 1740.29 Tinplate works at Woollard (Somerset), Rugeley and Oakamoor (Staffs.), Wortley (Yorks.) and Ynyspenllwch (Glam.) all date from that period.30 Japanning consisted of varnishing tinplate, and this was sometimes highly decorated. It was introduced by 1734, when it is mentioned in a letter. It is possible that this began as a means of protecting blackplate from rust, but the date 1734 is after the introduction of tinplate. One branch of the Allgood family moved to Usk in 1763, leading to rivalry between Allgood, Davies & Edwards of Pontypool and Thomas, Edward, and Thomas jun. Allgood of Usk.31 John Hanbury’s time was one of innovation at Pontypool. After he died in 1734 the Pontypool and Llanelly works seem to have continued in an unremarkable manner. They passed successively to

Pontypool Plate had been being rolled at least as far back as 1697, when Edward Lhuyd described it,19 but the 1704 memoranda make no mention of tin, implying that this was blackplate.20 The first regular appearance of tinplate in cargoes passing upstream through Gloucester comes in 1725,21 shortly after the publication in French of Réaumur’s Principes de l’art de faire fer-blanc, and before its publication in English. This marks the effective beginning of the British tinplate industry. There had been earlier attempts at establishing one, so as to replace the need to import ‘white plates’ from Saxony. The Earl of Southampton set up (or sponsored) a mill at Wickham in Hampshire in 1623.22 In the 1660s, Andrew Yarranton and Ambrose Crowley (of Stourbridge) visited Saxony and some of their sponsors tried to establish works at Wolverley in north Worcestershire in the early 1670s, but this was frustrated by the renewal of a patent.23 However Thomas Locke 1916, 114-52 passim; TNA, C 8/66/87; C 9/407/113. Gibbs 1951b; Gwent RO, Misc MS 448 (printed Schubert 1957, 42230). 18 This was the family home by 1640: NLW, Tredegar Park 75/1. 19 Minchinton 1957, 10, from Phil Trans xxvii (1712), 468. 20 Gwent RO, Misc MS 448 (printed Schubert 1957, 422-30). 21 Gloucester Port Books database. 22 Q.v. 23 Brown (P.J.) 1988; King 1988. 16

24

17

25

King 1988, 109. King 2014b, 174. 26 Gwent RO, Misc MS 448; Flinn 1962, 13-14 23 & 29 (who mislocated Forest). 27 Coxe 1801, 233-8; John 1953, 34. 28 John 1953, 34. 29 King 1988, 109. 30 Q.v. 31 Bradney, Mons i(1), 434-6; John 1953; Gibbs 1953; Nichols 1981.

490

Chapter 32: North Monmouthshire his sons John (d.1736) and Capel (d.1765) and then to his grandson John. John took over Caerleon Forge from David Tanner, shortly before his premature death in 1784.32

Blaenavon Furnace was built in 1789 by Thomas Hill and Co. on a mineral tract granted by Lord Abergavenny in the lordship of Abergavenny. The partners were Thomas Hill, a glass maker with mining interests in the Stourbridge area who founded the Stourbridge Old Bank; Thomas Hopkins, who ran Canckwood Forge on Cannock Chase in Staffordshire; and Benjamin Pratt who was probably the son of James Pratt, who had for many years been clerk to the senior branch of the Foleys at Wilden Forge between Kidderminster and Stourport. The firm was probably formed in 1776 to lease Lord Foley’s Wilden Forge and also held its smaller neighbour, Titton Forge. Thomas Hill also had a slitting mill at Wollaston near Stourbridge. The firm had three furnaces at Blaenavon by 1794 and in 1805 it was among the largest ironworks in the country.38 Nantyglo was on another part of the same vast mineral tract, granted to Thomas Hill and others.

David Tanner After this the whole of the works were let on 1786 to David Tanner.33 David Tanner’s activities have been described at greater length in Chapter 27. His grandfather had founded Brecon Furnace in 1720. He and his mother had probably rented Llancillo Forge in the 1760s. In the 1770s he also had the Lydney and Tintern Works and had dabbled with coke ironmaking in the mid-1780s, by leasing Cyfarthfa Forge for a time. However he over-extended himself and gave up Lydney to his mortgagees in 1789. Having Tintern and the Pontypool works was evidently enough, but then in 1793 he leased the Redbrook and Lydbrook works. At Blaendare near Pontypool, he built himself a coke furnace in c.1790.34 Realising that he was again trying to do too much he advertised Tintern for sale in 1796, also offering his other works, but no sale apparently resulted.35 He surrendered Tintern to his landlord, the Duke of Beaufort, its stick satisfying most of his debt to the Duke on 1 March 1798,36 before he became bankrupt in that December.37 After his bankruptcy, Capel Leigh, the Hanbury heir, took over the Pontypool Works, which were largely his own, and he probably bought Blaendare in 1805. He operated them with his partner Watkin George, and perhaps others. They traded as the Pontypool Iron and Tinplate Company until 1851. The works were then let to Dimmock, Thompson, and Firmstone (Pontypool Iron Co). A few years later they sold their lease to the Ebbw Vale Company. Tinplate continued to be made at Pontypool until recent times.

Thus the new ironmasters, who built these coke furnaces (and more in the 1790s and 1800s), were almost exclusively from outside the area. This was history repeating itself: two centuries earlier it was Richard Hanbury, a Worcestershire man who had made his fortune in London, Edmond Roberts from Sussex, and other Englishmen had brought the iron industry to the Welsh hills in the second half of the 16th century. The Ebbw Vale Ironworks were built in 1790 by members of the Homfray Family who had for a few years been making iron at Penydarren in Merthyr Tydfil, but they too were outsiders, from a family of Stourbridge ironmongers. They sold it in 1796 to Harford, Partridge & Co, a Bristol-based firm, but Samuel Homfray became a partner in building the Tredegar Works in 1800. Exactly when the charcoal furnaces of the Hanbury family finally closed is not at all clear. It seems to be implied that Pontypool Furnace was still in use or at least might be brought back into use in 1805; Llanelly Furnace was described as closed in 1788 but seems to have been in use again in 1794, if only briefly. The fate of Pontypool (or Trosnant) Furnace is not clear. There is no obvious break in the number of furnaces in use by Leigh and his partner Watkin George, so that the three furnaces recorded as theirs in the 1820s and 1840s may have consisted of two at Blaendare and one at Trosnant, probably all fuelled with coke. If so, Trosnant was converted to coke. Some of the charcoal furnaces in South Wales and the Forest of Dean seem to have continued in use longer than most of those elsewhere as there continued to be a demand for charcoal iron for making the better grades of tinplate.

Coke ironworks The building of coke furnaces in the north of Monmouthshire came somewhat later than in the adjoining area of Glamorgan. It began in 1780 when a new generation of the Kendall family built Beaufort Furnace, on the Duke of Beaufort’s Crickhowell estate in Breconshire. They had long been ironmasters in Staffordshire and Cheshire, with interests in Cumbria and more recently in West Wales and Scotland, Clydach Furnace (in Llanelly) was in the same royalty. Sirhowy Furnace is approximately contemporary, built by Mr Atkinson, possibly the former partner in Maryport Furnace in Cumberland, with partners. This was in Abercarn lordship, but used limestone from the commons of Llangunider in Tretower lordship. Rhymney, Sirhowy and Tredegar Furnaces were similar, all (except Rhymney Upper Furnace) being in various Monmouthshire manors, but using limestone from Tretower Lordship to smelt ore from nearby mines.

General sources A good deal of the detail of early ironworks derives from litigation, some of which was used by Locke 1916; Donald 1961; Bradney, Mons. For the industrial revolution period: Lloyd 1906; Ince 1993. Rattenbury 1980 (and his other works) and van Laun 2001 deal with transport issues. Note also Caswell et. al. 2002; van Laun 2008.

Locke 1916, 147 162-7 &c. NLW, Badminton II, 14690; 1794 list. 34 Q.v. 35 Daily Advertiser, 22 Dec. 1796. 36 NLW, Badminton III, BMA 4/37, f.101; 4/38, f.189. 37 London Gazette, no. 15087, 1188 (8 Dec. 1798); Gloucester Journal, 17 Dec. 1798; and many other newspapers. 32 33

38

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Q.v. The full list of the partners at Wilden is not certain.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Gazetteer

used as a wire mill during the 18th century. Later it was the upper tinplate works. In 1754, the mill had two tinplate mills and one blackplate mill. Angerstein described the wireworks separately without making it clear where it was. The site was in use as a coal merchants’ yard in the early 1990s. There were several stone buildings adjoining it, which were probably formerly associated with the works.

The Pontypool Works This is a considerable group of ironworks most of which were held together for most of their history and were usually owned and operated by members of the Hanbury Family of Pontypool Park. In view of the long period of operation, records of the works are disappointingly thin. Pontypool is in the ancient parish of Trevethin, but some of the works were in the adjoining parish of Panteg. Cwmffrwdoer Furnace

Sources Gwent RO, D8/1/JCH 1046; and as Pontypool. Pontypool Osborn Forge (at Pont Newydd)

[1] near SO259013

This was the uppermost of the four Pontypool forges and mills. In 1754, it has 3 fineries. The name ‘Osborn’ is a variant of osmond, the variety of iron used for wiremaking. The site on Afon Llwyd has been completely cleared of all industrial buildings. The works here were dismantled in 1947.

There is a tradition, which cannot be traced further back than 1876, that the first Pontypool Furnace was in Cwmffrwdoer; the location given is that of the farm, as the site is unknown. This is presumably a memory of Waunsuchan Furnace (see below). This would, a like Town Forge, have been on land of the lord of the manor of Wentsland and Bryngwyn, whose wood it would have consumed. Pontymoel Lower Mill

Pontypool Town Forge

[5] about SO280012

The site on Afon Llwyd has largely been destroyed in the course of making a new road. There were in the 1990s some remains of a weir in the river. This was rented from the lords of the manor and was presumably the original Pontypool Forge. In 1754, it housed three chaferies and a slitting mill, but the slit rods were not satisfactory for wiremaking and rods for wiremaking were made hammered down with a tilt hammer.

[2] SO293001

This stood by the Afon Llwyd to the southwest of the Upper Mill. It was the site of John Hanbury’s original plate works which began rolling plate by 1697, probably originally only blackplate. It descended as part of the Pontypool works until the 20th century. The site was vacant in the 1990s.

Trosnant Furnace

Size About 1704 66 tpa bar iron was used to make 60 tpa Pontypool or broad plate. This was almost certainly blackplate rather than tinplate. This amount of production is probably more a measure of the demand for blackplate than the capacity of the mill. The rolling machine certainly existed in 1697 and probably at least a decade earlier. John Hanbury’s memoranda refer to moving it from the Upper Mill to the Lower Mill. This was presumably an addition to the manuscript in c.1708, as the Upper Mill was not an ironworks until then. In 1754, Angerstein described this ‘lower tinplate mill’.

[6] SO268003

Woods called ‘Glinne Trossenante’ with liberty to build forges and furnaces formed part of the original lease to Richard Hanbury in 1576. However, it is not known when the furnace was built. It stood on the north side of the brook, with a large pound across the valley above it. In 1973 a half section of the furnace was standing together with the remains of associated buildings. I was unable to locate them in the 1990s: it may have been removed for road improvement, though Riden (1993, 30) suggests it was buried by tipping. The furnace continued in use until at least 1831 but was probably by then using coke. It is first mentioned in the 1690s, when one of the Hanburys bought the copyhold, but this does not prevent it being considerably older.

Accounts Charge of making broadplate in about 1704: Gwent RO, Misc Ms 448 (printed Schubert 1957, 427-8). Sources Gwent RO, D8/1/JCH 1205, 1639 etc.; and as Pontypool. Pontymoel Upper Mill

[4] SO276016

Wansuchen Furnace

[3] SO289004

[7] perhaps about SO240042

This name is given by Donald (1961, 125 from TNA, E 112/29/24). It should probably be interpreted as Waun Sychan, presumably the mountain south of Cwm Sychan. The site has not been traced: it might be almost anywhere along the valley. It may well be identical to Cwmffrwdoer (above).

This mill was built on the site of a corn mill in 1708. Like all the ironworks in the Pontypool area (except furnaces) it was driven from Avon Lwyd. The site must be close to (or the same as) the furnace of the early ironworks at Pontymoel (see other charcoal ironworks below). The mill was built by John Hanbury in 1708 and descended as part of the Pontypool ironworks until modern times. It was

492

Chapter 32: North Monmouthshire The whole Pontypool Works

the two furnaces between them could produce 1800 tpa, particularly in view of the limitations of Llanelly. There must therefore be a possibility that one of the other furnaces on the Hanbury family estate was in use at this period or that substantial amounts of pig iron were bought in. 1788 700 tpa; 1791 600 tpa; 1794 and 1801 a charcoal furnace; 1796 not listed; 1805 in blast but no return made. The furnace is likely to have been brought back into use following the bankruptcy of David Tanner. Leigh & George had three furnaces in 1825, probably the Trosnant Furnace and two Blaendare Furnaces. Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron & Coal Co Ltd had four furnaces operating into the 1880s, the last being blown out in 1889.

A furnace at Wansuchen and forge at Pontypool were built in 1576 by Edmund Brode, Richard Hanbury and Edmond Roberts. These passed to Hanbury alone by 1590. Previously much of the manor had been overgrown with woods. Wood cost a few pence per cord, presumably merely the cost of cutting it, and coal was not worth mining. Bartolomew Pettingale became clerk about 1583 and apparently still held this post in 1615, after the death of Richard Hanbury in 1608. After his death little is known of the works until the latter part of the century, but they were almost certainly continued by members of the Hanbury family, even though they lived at Hoarstone near Kidderminster or at Gloucester. Pontypool Park House was only built in 1694, being enlarged on John Hanbury’s marriage in 1701, which was perhaps when he took charge of the ironworks.

Size Forge: Between 1576 and 1590 the forge was alleged to have made about 180 tpa. In 1590 Richard Hanbury undertook not to make more than 80 tpa osmond iron and 50 tpa merchant iron. In 1597 his customers wanted him to increase osmond iron production to 120-140 tpa, the cause of a particularly bitter dispute, ultimately about prices. 1704 300 tpa; 1717 350 tpa; 1735 600 tpa (probably including Llanelly); 1750 700 tpa; 1790 1 old furnace, 4 fineries and 2 chaferies 1 wiremill 1 slitting mill 1 rolling mill and 1 tinmill. Angerstein’s 1754 descriptions of the various works are given above. The two rolling mills made 1500 boxes (of 225 sheets) of tinplate per year and could have made 2000. There were commonly 20 puddling furnaces operating in the 1860s and 1870s, though fewer after 1885.

John Hanbury (d.1659) left his ironworks at Pontypool to his youngest son Capel Hanbury (d.1704). He was succeeded in the ironworks by his son John (d.1734), his grandson Capel (d.1765), and his great grandson John (who died prematurely in 1784). The works were let in 1786 to David Tanner, who occupied them in 1794, but became bankrupt in 1799. In 1802 Town Forge was let to Capel Hanbury Leigh. Shortly after Tanner’s bankruptcy, he had resumed possession of the ironworks in partnership with Watkin George. They traded as in the Pontypool Iron and Tinplate Company until 1851. In 1828 this firm was described as Leigh and George, but in 1830 as Leigh, George, and Smith, when the partnership (including Ann George and Anne Smith) was dissolved. John Thomas may have been a partner in 1805.

Associations As to the activities of Richard Hanbury see introduction. David Tanner is discussed briefly there and more fully in chapter 27. The Llanelly works were usually in the same hands as Pontypool. The two works at Pontymoel (whose earlier history is dealt with below) became part of the Pontypool Works from the early 18th century. Major John Hanbury was a partner in Tintern from 1699 probably until 1708. He was also a partner in Melin Court and Ynyscedwyn Furnaces in West Glamorgan in the subsequent period. Caerleon Forge was held with the works from 1783 to 1799.

In 1851 the works were then let to E.B. Dimmock, John Thompson of Bilston (Staffs) and Joseph Firmstone (trading as Pontypool Iron Co). From 1855 to 1869 Ebbw Vale Co held them. In 1877 the tinplate works were let to Jesiah Richard, the upper works at Pontymoel being closed in 1881. The iron and steel works were let in 1879 to Ebbw Vale Iron and Steel Co Ltd. The Town and Osborne Forges were let in 1903 to Pontypool Works Ltd, who had already held the tinplate works since 1900. They amalgamated with Partridge Jones and John Paton Ltd in 1920. The tinplate works eventually passed to Baldwins Ltd, and so to Richard Thomas and Baldwin Ltd.

Trading In 1695/6 Capel Hanbury bought 15 tons of Tintern pig. His payment in 1699/1700 may imply the purchase of 100 tpa (Tintern B a/c). Major Hanbury bought castings at Bewdley in 1701/2, 20 tons of Redbrook pig in 1703/4 (though possibly for Tintern rather than Pontypool) and 4 Sussex hammers in 1716/7. He was supplying castings to Llancillo Forge in 172730 (Foley a/c). In 1715-17 and 1730/1 he was supplying pig iron to Merchant Morgan’s Tredegar Forge, but this was mainly from Llanelly Furnace and was delivered at Avodyrynis [Hafodyrynys] (Morgan a/c). From 1738 to 1757 Capel Hanbury sold pig iron to Edward Knight & Co, mainly to their forges at Mitton; from 1741 to 1751 this was never less than 300 tpa (SW a/c). In 1779 James Cockshutt of Pontypool became a partner in an iron ore mine at Dalton in Furness (NLW, John Lloyd 109). This may indicate that he was Hanbury’s manager at Pontypool before he worked for David Tanner. David

Size Furnace: up to 1590 220 tpa (Donald 1961, 125); 1704 & 1717 400 tpa; this corresponds to the then forge production of 300 tpa. The associated furnace at Llanelly produced 300 tpa in 1704 and 400 tpa in 1717. It could probably not increase its production much beyond that, as there was no water to turn the wheel to blow the bellows in the summer. In the 1740s the two furnaces were supplying the forges at Pontypool and Llanelly with enough to make 900 tpa bar, which would mean production of something like 1200 tpa. In addition, John Knight & Co in north Worcestershire was buying 400-500 tpa most years and 690 tpa in 1746. It hardly seems possible that 493

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II but it was perhaps better to carry charcoal to Pontypool Furnace, rather than follow the older practice of using a number of smaller furnaces alternately.

Tanner’s debts included £5,500 for goods supplied owing to Knott, Ainslie & Co of Newland, perhaps representing 750 tons of pig iron or a larger amount of ore (NLW, Maybury 274), but not necessarily all for here.

Size The forge made about 150 tpa (Donald 1961, 125), the furnace made 100 tons sow iron. Whether this is annually or an amount not used in the forge is unclear; at least 200 tpa would be needed by the forge. An associated mine made 150 tons yearly and was subject to a rent of 27 tons of iron (TNA, REQ 2/259/6). A hammer was supplied from Whitchurch in 1590 (NLW, John Lloyd 38).

Production costs 1704: Gwent RO, Misc. Ms 448 (printed Schubert 1957, 423-30). Accounts Full annual accounts for Leigh and George in the 19th century are preserved at Pontypool Park estate office (not studied). General Sources Bradney, Mons ii(1), 432-4; Brooke 1944, 94ff; Donald 1961, 97-133 passim; Locke 1916, passim; Angerstein’s Diary, 159-64; Coxe 1801, 3; Brooke 1944, 94 & 209; Gwent RO, D 394, Pontypool; D 8/3 passim; D 8A various; Cambrian, 14 Dec. 1805; NLW Badminton II, 14690; London Gazette, no. 18699, 1346 (20 Jun. 1830).

Associations see Pontypool. Sources TNA, E  112/29/24-25; E  134/39 Eliz/Hil 23, Francis Watkins; REQ 2/259/6; REQ 2/262/3; Donald 1961, 54 97 100 118 125 130 & 132; Gwent RO, D8A/ JCH 1237 & 1561; (cf. JCH 1560 & TNA, E 134/22 Eliz/ Tr 4); Bradney, Mons iii(2), 205.

Other charcoal ironworks Abercarn: early ironworks

[9] ST23749594

Bedwellty Ironworks

There have been two distinct ironworks at Abercarn, this late 16th-century one and an 18th-century (and later) one in the main Ebbw valley, which because of its associations fits more conveniently into chapter 34. The base of a blast furnace lies beside the brook in Nant Gwyddon at the foot of Craig Furnace a couple of miles east of modern Abercarn. One document describes the furnace as at Glaslee. This adjoins woodlands leased to successive members of the Hanbury family of Pontypool from the Earl of Pembroke and then Viscount Windsor until the freehold was acquired in 1718. It is therefore almost certainly the furnace which Richard Hanbury is reported to have used in the 16th century. The only difficulty in this identification is that the furnace is not strictly at Abercarn, as Cwm Carn is the next valley to the south of Nant Gwyddon. This is not an insuperable difficulty as Abercarn was the name of an extensive manor which included the whole of Nant Gwyddon. Early references refer to a furnace as at Glenbothe and the forge at Abercarn. The name Abercarn strictly applies to the place where it joins the main valley, suggesting that the forge was at ST218932, but it could merely be somewhere in the very extensive manor of Abercarn.

[10] SO166043

The location survives as Pont-gwaith-yr-haearn [that is Ironworks Bridge], a farm in the Sirhowy Valley. In front of the farm buildings is a mound which may well contain the remains of the furnace. There are traces of the foundations of a number of buildings, but it is difficult to make out what these are. The quantities of slag about do not suggest that the works were in used for a very long period. The 19th-century bard Eiddil Gwent described the furnace as being ten foot three inches across and fourteen to sixteen foot high; near it were a small forge, a foundry, a limekiln and charcoal pits; it made 120 tpa. His source for the latter figure is unclear. The forge is likely to have been on the River Sirhowy, but its location is not known. The ironworks was in the hands of John Challenor, Thomas Moore of Bristol ironmonger and ‘others’ in 1597, but held by John Challenor and his son William at John’s death in 1607, when it passed to his sons William and Richard. It had previously been held by Richard Hanbury. It is not known how much longer it contained in use. An oral tradition was recorded by Eiddil Gwent, who in 1831 visited a woman aged eighty five, whose father had worked at Pontgwaithyrhaearn as a lad, about 1738. She described the owners as ‘Welshmen from France’. This may be a reference to the descendants of workmen in the Wealden Ironworks, who had originally come from France. The presence of Bretons (as Eiddil Gwent thought them to be) or an ironworks operating in the early 18th century (as Oliver Jones thought) are unlikely. The men returning home over the hills to Merthyr Tydfil at the weekends (as the old woman reported) is hardly compatible with operating a furnace, which requires continual attention when in blast. If however the old woman was reporting what her father heard from its owners about its name while working on the farm, rather than what he saw or did there, then the story becomes credible as a genuine oral tradition handed down from the early 17th century. Farm workers going home at the weekend is quite credible.

The earliest reference is the furnace concerns the casting there of 35 iron guns by Edmond Roberts about 1571. He died a pauper in 1581, shortly after the guns had been seized and sold abroad. The furnace was taken by Richard Hanbury probably with partners in 1581, so as to exploit some of the woodlands of the Earl of Pembroke’s manor of Abercarn. Hanbury could have been Roberts’ partner, as at Pontypool. They were probably granted a lease of a tract of land including mines and the right to do almost whatever they wanted with it. Francis Watkins of Lydney had been Richard Hanbury’s founder there at some time prior to 1597. After this its history is obscure. The Hanbury family continued to lease (then own) the woodlands. For example Capel Hanbury renewed the lease in 1682. It is very probable that the woods were used to fuel ironworks, 494

Chapter 32: North Monmouthshire Sources TNA, E  134/39 Eliz/Hil 39; TNA, PROB 11/109/206; Donald 1961, 97 122 & 133; King 1994; Olding 1994; Jones (O.) 1969, 237, citing Eiddil Gwent, Hanes Tredegar [Welsh History of Tredegar] (1868). Blaynegwent Ironworks

establishment after a long period of dereliction. Certainly in 1670 Capel Hanbury bought some closes on one of which an ironworks (probably the forge) had been built. From this period the ironworks seem almost continuously to have been used by successive members of the Hanbury family (see Pontypool). However it may have been used by John Jones by 1745 until 1750, after which John Griffiths (presumably of the Abercarn Company) was buying iron ore in Llanelly and Llangattock until 1757. John Hanbury was using it himself by 1769 and this probably continued until his widow let it in 1786, with the family’s works at Pontypool, to David Tanner. The forge was subsequently let to the partners in Clydach ironworks who greatly enlarged it. It presumably shared the subsequent history of Clydach Furnaces (see coke furnaces below), continuing in use until the 1860s Llanelly Charcoal Iron Co used the forge separately from 1869 to 1871 with four puddling furnaces.

[11] possibly SO209004

According to the evidence of Cornelius Avenant the proprietors of the wireworks at Tintern obtained a lease of an ironworks, presumably a furnace and forge, at Blaynegwent [i.e. Upper Gwent] in 1571. It may ‘Glenebo’ or ‘Glenbothe’ [Glyn Ebbw i.e. Ebbw Vale] Furnace, which Richard Hanbury was accused of using in 1597, but most witnesses in the case named only Monkswood, Pontypool and Abercarn, suggesting it had closed by then. This may possibly be linked to a smallholding in Mynyddislwyn, on the west bank of the river Ebbw, whose name is recorded in the title award as Gwaun y Furnace. This then belonged at the time of the tithe award to Capel Hanbury Leigh, on whom the Hanbury estate had devolved. His land in the area seems to be a tract of some 500 acres about half of which was still woodland up the side of the valley of the river Ebbw Fawr above Crumlin.

Size Furnace In 1704 John Hanbury computed the cost of producing 300 tpa at the furnace. This was expected to take some four to five months. Accordingly, there is no reason to suppose that the furnace was any smaller than those elsewhere rated at 500-600 tpa, but the water supply may not have supported summer operation. 1717 400 tpa; 1788 ‘down’, but listed in 1790 as in use. References to a coke furnace at Llanelly in lists from 1796 refer to the town (now spelt Llanelli) in Carmarthenshire, not this place.

Source TNA, E 134/39 Eliz/Hil 23; E 112/29/32. Llanelly Furnace Llanelly Forge

[12] SO233138 [13] SO235139

The furnace stands against a bank behind a row of houses on the north side of the Clydach Gorge. It is reached by a track from the western end of these houses, leading to the charging platform. Power for the bellows was provided from the next brook up the valley from it. This is dry in summer, which would have limited production to perhaps 30 weeks per year rather than the 40 or more weeks that was more usual in the 18th century. The stack stands but has fallen in. The blowing and casting sheds had been demolished before the tithe award. At the back of the charging platform are the foundations of building latterly used as cottages, but which was probably formerly the charcoal house and mine house. Immediately behind this on the hillside are the remains of a calcining kiln. The forge was a short distance down the valley and driven by a leat from the Clydach itself. Apart from a small group of cottages, nothing remains of it.

Forge In 1704 John Hanbury computed the cost of producing 110 tpa; 1717 120 tpa; 1718 & 1736 omitted (probably included with Pontypool); 1750 200 tpa; 1790 2 melting fineries; 1813 2 fineries, 3 puddling and balling furnaces, 3 hollow fires, and 2 hammer wheels; 1834 making 34 tpw charcoal blooms. A tinplate works is said to have been added in the 1800s. Plant existing in the 1860s is included in that listed under Clydach (below). Associations the works was invariably held with Pontypool for most of its history (q.v.). Trading Only half of the 300 tpa pig iron projected to be made in the furnace in 1704 would have been needed for the forge. The remainder was very probably sold to Usk and other forges. In 1715-7 100 tons of Llanelly pig was carried in two years from ‘Avodyrynis’ (now Hafod-yrynys, ST236989) to Tredegar Forge, also 3 tons in 1730 (Morgan a/c). In 1728-30 John Hanbury supplied a ton a year, mostly of hammers to Llancillo Forge (Foley a/c). In 1746-7 1749 and 1752 Capel Hanbury supplied pig iron to Cookley, Wolverley, and other Stour valley forges. Sales in subsequent years may be hidden in those from Pontypool (SW a/c). John Jones and then John Griffiths bought iron ore and cordwood for Llanelly in the 1740s and 1750s respectively. The final sale (of cordwood) was to Edwards & Roberts (NLW, Badminton III, BA1/7-10). This may suggest John Jones was a partner or manager. He may be the Bristol ironmaster who was a founding partner in Dowlais ironworks and later a Bristol ironfounder. John

Traditionally the furnace was built in about 1605 by one of the Hanbury family, presumably Richard Hanbury, shortly before the alleged furnace at Clydach was closed. This story was apparently given personally by a local resident to Schubert. A new forge is said to have been built in 1615. The origin of this information and hence is reliability is not known. Some confusion between these works and the later Clydach (coke) ironworks cannot be ruled out. In 1663 a lease was granted of the right to build a weir and divert water to the ironworks of Capel Hanbury. This probably represents the building of one or other of the works, probably the forge, but might relate to its re495

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Hanbury bought cordwood apparently in Tretower in 1769-72 (NLW Badminton III, BBA 2/18-26, casual).

Martyn and Humfrey Mitchell. It was then held by the former with Richard Hanbury, and afterwards by Thomas Fennor and John Challenor, who subsequently bought out his partner. Early in 1590 the works were stopped by an injunction on the grounds that they were too near the Pontypool ironworks and preventing its proprietors getting wood to supply the Tintern wireworks with osmond iron, the works being within the area where wood was reserved for this purpose. The injunction was later lifted, upon the wireworks being let to Challenor and Fenner. The Pontymoel Works were continued by John Challenor and his son William and after John’s death in 1607 by his sons William and Richard. In 1620 William left his land at Pontmoyle (bought by his father from Mr Fenner) and also the land he had bought from Thomas Tate to his son Francis. It is not clear when these works closed, but there was a period when there were none, up to the turn of the 18th century. Later the Pontymoel works were an adjunct of the Pontypool Works and are discussed in that section above.

Accounts Computations of yield and cost about 1704: Gwent RO, Misc MS 448, f. 28-43 (printed Schubert 1957, 427-8). Sources Gwent RO, D 8A/1272; NLW Maybery 245; Schubert 1957, 371 ‘Clydach’; Lloyd 1906, 198-9; Rees 1969, 58-9. Monkswood ironworks

[14] near SO338024

The precise location of this furnace and forge remains unknown. Monkswood was an extraparochial district to the northwest of the town of Usk, bounded on its southern side by Berthin Brook. Until the beginning of the 20th century it belonged to the Dukes of Beaufort. The only indication of the location of the ironworks is slight deviations of the parish boundary from following the brook. The first edition 6- inch map labelled a building on the site of the bungalow at the above reference as ‘coalhouse’. The ironworks was built in about 1565 presumably for William Humfrey and Christopher Shutz, who founded the Company of Mineral and Battery Works. In 1570 they were included with the wireworks at Tintern in the lease by the Company of Mineral and Battery Works to John Wheeler and Andrew Palmer, and so passed to Richard Hanbury. Hanbury let them in 1577 to William Ellowe with a stock of £500 for three years. He still held them in 1597. They may have been among the ironworks which he held at his death and which his successors continued to hold thereafter, but after 1597 nothing is known for certain. Its inclusion in a list of closed furnaces in 1788 is perhaps due to a memory of their existence. The 18th-century Badminton estate rentals betray no hint of it.

Size The forge used 200 tpa sow iron to make 150 tpa iron. Until 1588 it made osmond iron for the wireworks at Tintern. After this Fennor and Challenor used it to make merchant [bar] iron; it was this activity that caused the use of the works to be restrained. Sources Bradney, Mons ii(1), 432-4; TNA, E  178/1518; TNA, PROB  11/109/206; PROB  11/136/510; Martin 1961, 98 122 124 125 & 133; Gwent RO, D8/1/JHC 1663; Chrimes 2003, 25; cf. Skempton et al. 2002, 724-6. Other ironworks Clydach Furnace and Forge I

According to local tradition there was a furnace and forge on the south side of the River Clydach near the former Clydach Station [SO231127]. The furnace is said to have been built in 1590 and operated until about 1607; allegedly it stood on the south side of the River Clydach and was twelve foot high. This places the site in Monmouthshire. As it is not mentioned in depositions in 1597, there must be considerable doubt as to the tradition of its existence. Nevertheless the details given seem too precise to have been invented, unless it is the result of confusion between Llanelly and the later Clydach ironworks. Unfortunately the earliest source available seems to be an early 19thcentury history of Breconshire.

Size Not known. A second forge was apparently built in 1575. An early function of the works was evidently to supply Tintern with osmond iron for wire making. Sources TNA, E 134/39 Eliz/Hil 23; E 134/22 Eliz/Tr 4; Donald 1961, 93 97-9 112-3 116 124-5 & 132; Schubert 1957, 382; cf. NLW, Badminton III, BBM 3-4 series (silent, except wood sales). Pontymoel: the early ironworks

possibly spurious

[15] SO289314

An early ironworks consisting of a furnace and a forge existed at Pontymoel. This is distinct from the contemporary works at Pontypool. The site of the furnace is indicated by the field name Cae yr furnace, which occurs as an abuttal to the upper mill in the 18th-century building lease. The furnace may perhaps have been driven by a leat from Nant Trosnant. The site of the forge is not known; it is likely to have been at one of the later mill sites.

Sources Jones, Brecknock ii(1), 480; Schubert 1957, 371; Minchinton 1960, 7-8. Glangrwney Forge once Llangroyney [Llangrwney]

[17] SO239161

The forge stood at the northern end of the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal’s Clydach Tramroad, which was the first thing that the Canal Company built, to link the forge (from 1794) to the Clydach and Beaufort Works. The forge

The ironworks was built by a Mr Trowe, probably John Trew, who made the Exeter Canal and was perhaps the son of a Wealden founder. In 1581 it was let to Sir Richard 496

Chapter 32: North Monmouthshire was built by Walter Watkins in 1785 and at first consisted of one melting finery one chafery and one balling furnace. The employment of two hammermen suggests it was a double forge or worked doublehand. Watkins contracted to take 270 tons of ‘melted iron’ from Beaufort ironworks at 22 shillings below the Stourbridge price (reflecting the cost of carriage) suitable for making ordinary mill iron by ‘balling and shingling from an air furnace’, but this was ended following an arbitration in 1790. Watkins also agreed to take 800 tpa pig iron from Jeremiah Homfray in 1787, presumably from Penydarren. This suggests a rather larger operation than is suggested by the plant appearing in the list. Walter Watkins is said to have had little money until he married an heiress. Her money enabled him to establish the ironworks, whose profits made him a rich man. Walter Watkins and the Sirhowy Company entered into a partnership for 31 years in 1793 and Sirhowy thus became its main source of pig iron. Beaufort Furnace, to which it was also linked by a tramroad, has been suggested as an early source of pig iron for the forge, but this is not well evidenced. The 1793 partnership agreement also anticipated its being linked to the tramroad then being built. It took relatively modest amounts of finers’ metal from the Ebbw Vale Ironworks at times. The partnership expired in 1825. Richard Branthwaite, a partner at Sirhowy from 1797 was living at ‘Llangroiney’ by 1799 and presumably managing the forge.

in 1816. W.H.  Bevan, who was the stepson of Edward Kendall (d.1807) and trained by Latham, then became managing partner, until the works were sold to Joseph and Crawshay Bailey (owners of Nantyglo) in 1833. The Bailey family operated the works until 1870, when they were taken over by Nant-y-glo & Blaina Iron Works Ltd, who closed the works in 1873. The furnace was built straddling the old county boundary just east of the river Ebbw Fawr. It was blown using a common engine, designed by John Smeaton, to return water from below the waterwheel. The works had a railway from down the Ebbw Fawr Valley to the Canal head at Crumlin in 1796 and was subsequently connected to several others. A railway from Cwm Gelli Coal Pits to Glangrwyne was the first thing built by the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal Company. The furnace lease allowed the Kendalls to mine 2,230 dozen of mine, but a royalty of 2s per ton was due on the excess. This was first exceeded in 1788, when it and Hirwaun each made 800 tpa. The amount mined (and presumably the furnace output) gradually increased during the 1790s. Two melting fineries were added in 1787. In 1796 it made 1,660 tons. A second furnace was added in c.1798 and was evidently in blast in 1800, when royalty was paid for 12,267 dozen of mine, more than double the 5,550 dozen paid for in 1799. In 1805 the two furnaces made 4,696 tons. In 1812 they were making 90 tpw. Clydach Furnace was also built on the 1779 concession. The Kendalls were initially partners in Clydach, but from 1797 only headlessees. The lease was renegotiated again in 1801, so that the Clydach ironmasters paid a royalty of 9d per ton of coal from their Gelly Velin Mine to the Kendalls, out of which they allowed 4d to the Duke. There was a similar royalty from Wilkins & Co, the Brecon Boat Company for coal from Llwyn y Pwll. When coal prices locally increased, they agreed a further royalty of ½d per ton for being released from a price restraint in their lease.

Sources NLW, Maybery 257 703 & 1902; NLW, John Lloyd 110; Lloyd 1906, 200-3 148 (address); EV a/c; Jones, Brecknock iii, 154; Minchinton 1961, 12; van Laun 1977; 2001, 79 84-5; Rattenbury 1980, 59 78; Cambrian, 19 October 1825. Coke ironworks In the following some details of transport links are taken from the Monmouthshire Canal Act and deposited plan (NLW, Tredegar Park 141/71-4): discussed Baber 1973. However, not all the tramroads planned were ever built. Those that were are described in detail in Rattenbury 1980 (and his other works) and van Laun 2003. Several of the furnaces were built before the Canal, but it was probably only an easy connection to a canal that rendered them really profitable. 1812 production is from Atkinson and Baber 1987, which has been used considerably. Beaufort Furnace

Royalties NLW, Badminton III, BBA 2/62 onwards, ‘Crickhowell, casual’. Sources Lord 1972; NLW, Maybery 256; John Lloyd 110; Gwent RO, D 397/1664-83; Lloyd 1906, 178-192; Ince 1993, 129-30; Rattenbury 1980, 48-59; 1989; van Laun 2001, 121-35; Minchinton 1960, 13ff; Stewart 2017, 215-6.

[18] about SO165114

Blaenavon Furnace

The works were established by the Kendall family, who had previously had extensive interests in iron making in Cheshire, Staffordshire, and elsewhere. These are discussed fully in the introduction to the chapters 13 and 24. The Duke of Beaufort leased the right to mine in the wastes of Llanelly and Llangattock in Crickhowell lordship, Breconshire to Jonathan Kendall, his brother Henry, and his sons Jonathan and Edward in 1779. After the deaths of Henry in 1788 and Jonathan in 1790, Joseph Latham became a partner in 1797, and was managing partner from the death of Edward in 1807 until he retired

[19] SO252094

The Marquess of Abergavenny let the minerals in an enormous tract of mountainous land in the lordship of Abergavenny to Thomas Hill & Co in 1789. The firm had taken over the large forge at Wilden on the River Stour between Kidderminster and Stourport from Lord Foley in 1778. Hill was from one of the Stourbridge glass families and was a partner in Stourbridge Old Bank. The other partners were Samuel Hopkins who worked Canckwood Forge and Rugeley Slitting Mill in East Staffordshire and Benjamin Pratt (d.1794) of Great Witley, Worcestershire, the home of Lord Foley who was the landlord of Wilden. 497

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Clydach Furnaces

James Pratt had earlier managed Wilden and it is very likely that Benjamin Pratt was Lord Foley’s steward. Nantyglo Furnace was also built on another part of the same concession, but passed into other hands. The furnace was proposed to be connected by a railway to the canalhead at Pontypool under the Monmouthshire Canal Act of 1792. Later it used a tramway to the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal. There were three furnaces in 1794. 4,318 tons were made in 1796, making it the fourth largest ironworks in Britain. In 1806 three of the four furnaces were in blast, having made 7,846 tons in 1805. In 1810 there were five furnaces. Two years later one of these was out of blast and 280 tpw were being made. After Hopkins’ death, Hill in 1815 brought in a partner called Wheeley, perhaps also from the family who in the 1820s built Brettell Lane Furnaces near Stourbridge area. In 1836, the works were sold to a joint stock company, Blaenavon Iron Co (including Robert Kennard), which was incorporated in 1864 as Blaenavon Co Ltd. This was replaced by Blaenavon Iron & Steel Co Ltd in 1872, liquidated in 1878 when a bank collapsed. However Blaenavon Co Ltd (a new company registered in 1880) continued the works until 1933. At its peak in 1872-5, the company had 10 furnaces and 117 puddling furnaces.

The furnaces were built in 1793 by a partnership of the Kendalls and their subsequent undertenants. Because of objections to this arrangement from the Duke of Beaufort it was replaced by an underlease by the Kendalls of part of the minerals they held in Llanelly to Edward Frere and Thomas Cooke in 1797. This enabled them to build the furnace on the south side of the Clydach gorge. In 1803, the firm had become Frere, Cooke, and Powells, the new partners being Walter and John Powell. In 1800, on building a second furnace, Frere and Cooke agreed to pay a royalty of 9d per ton on coal to Kendalls, out of which 4d per ton was paid to the Duke. In 1796 1,625 tpa were made. By 1800 there were two furnaces and two forges, probably including Llanelly Forge (see above). In 1806 one of the furnaces was out of blast, 2,802 tons having been made the previous year. In 1812 these two were making 130 tpw. It was offered for sale in 1813, including a rolling mill, but evidently not sold. Thomas Cooke retired from the partnership in 1814. A third furnace was added by 1825. The company went bankrupt in 1861. The next company to operate the works was New Clydach Sheet and Bar Iron Co Ltd (led by John Jayne), but it did not use the furnaces and was liquidated in 1869. The Mineral Statistics indicate that 20-30 puddling furnaces were operating in the mid1860s, probably including the old Llanelly Forge. These were last used in 1873. The furnace site has been excavated and consolidated and is open to the public.

Sources Gwent RO, D 7/15; NLW, Maybery 254; Lloyd 1906, 160-164; Knight (J.K.) 1977; 1992; Lowe & Lawler 1980; Ince 1993, 121-3; Steel 1979; Wilson 1955, 34; Rattenbury 1980, 33-45. For the Hill family see Ellis 2002, 151-3 196-9; Cochrane 2007; for mining, cf. Parry 1964. Blaendare Furnace

[21] SO229131

Royalties NLW, Badminton III, BBA 2/67 onwards, ‘Crickhowell, casual’.

[20] ST274994

Sources Lloyd 1906, 192-7; Rees 1968, 269-270; Rattenbury 1980, 82; Wilson 1988; 1990; Ince 1993, 133-5; NLW, Maybery MSS 282 776 3216-7; Badminton II, 4341-60 6137-8 6290-1; Morning Post, 1 Oct. 1813; London Gazette, no. 17055, 1748 (26 Aug. 1815).

This was built on freehold land bought by David Tanner in about 1790. He was at the same time tenant of the Pontypool Works and of numerous other works in southeast Wales and Gloucestershire. He tried in 1798 to sell the two furnaces and associated coalworks, with an iron railway to a wharf that the head of the Monmouthshire Canal. His bankruptcy in 1799 was followed by a sale of his estates in Chancery, including 2 furnaces. Henry Ainslie (of the Newland Company from Furness, a mortgagee) was initially the successful purchaser, but John Barnaby who had a subsequent mortgage successfully contested the sale and redeemed their mortgage in 1801. In 1804 the Blaendare estate was sold and the purchaser immediately resold the furnace to Capel Hanbury Leigh, who with his partner Watkin George had resumed the Pontypool Works. The furnace then descended with the Pontypool Works, passing (like them) to the Pontypool Iron Company in 1854 and two successive Ebbw Vale companies. In 1796 it made 1,500 tpa; in 1805 it was idle; in 1810 there were two furnaces both in blast, but later records combine them with Pontpool (q.v.).

Ebbw Vale Ironworks

[22] SO1708

The land for the works was originally leased in 1790 by Jeremiah Homfray, Walter Watkins and Charles Cracroft. There was a contract to supply 800 tpa pig iron to Llangrwney Forge. The furnace was linked by a railway to the canalhead at Crumlin. In 1796 it was sold to Harford, Partridge & Co, who took a sublease from the owners of Sirhowy Furnace of further mines in 1799. In 1806 Harford & Co had two furnaces of which one was in blast and had made 3,664 tons in 1805. From 1809 after a partnership reorganisation, the firm became Harfords, Crocker & Co. In 1810 one furnace was out of blast, but two years later three furnaces made 135 tpw. The third furnace was then new, a limestone royalty for it only being paid from 1813. The high toll on the Monmouthshire Canal led the company to make a tunnel a mile long to connect the works to the Sirhowy Railroad.

Sources NLW, Maybery 274; Barrow in Furness RO, z64; Gwent RO, D 8/3/1-2; Rattenbury 1972; Ince 1993, 113; Star, 19 May 1798; Hereford Journal, 23 Apr. 1800; Evans (J.A.H.) 1993, 57-60 138-42.

A long run of the complete ledgers of the works from 1805 survives (EV a/c). These indicate that the works were mostly 498

Chapter 32: North Monmouthshire making forge pig iron. A few hundred tons of castings were made, mainly for sale. A quarter to a third of the production was disposed of as pig iron, partly to forges and partly to foundries, but the majority was made into finers’ metal and sold. The largest customer at first was the Tredegar Works, i.e. Machen and Tredegar Forges. In 1807-9 Samuel Homfray & Co of Tredegar [Furnace] bought over 4,000 tons. From 1810 to 1815 John Brown of Tydee Works was the largest customer. The annual profit was commonly about £4,000 per year, but money was lost from 1815 to 1817. The company got into trouble in 1842, and the works were sold to members of the Darby family (of Coalbrookdale) with others in 1844. The business was incorporated as Ebbw Vale Iron Works Company Ltd in 1864, replaced by Ebbw Vale Steel Iron & Coal Co Ltd in 1871. There were often about 65 puddling furnaces between 1860 and 1885. Figures, as high as 165 and 180 in the late 1860s, include those at the company’s other works. It was taken over in 1936 by Richard Thomas & Co Ltd, this becoming Richard Thomas and Baldwins Ltd, after World War II. That was nationalised, becoming part of British Steel Corporation, which closed Ebbw Vale in the 1970s.

melting iron to the Navy Board from 1813. Wayne withdrew from the partnership in 1814, when the firm was called William Williams & Co. The two furnaces were out of blast both in 1805 and 1810. In 1812 three furnaces made 165 tpw. The works were continued by successive members of the Bailey family. A company, Nant-y-glo and Blaina Iron Works Co Ltd, was incorporated in 1871 and operated until about 1876. There were seven furnaces in the 1820s with 72 puddling furnaces in the early 1860s and 67 at the end. Sources NLW, Maybery 254; Gwent RO D591/30/59-60 & 64-5; Lloyd 1906, 165-177; Rabbitt 1974; Bradney, Mons ii(2), 179; Ince 1993, 129-30; Rattenbury 1980, 4758; 1986, 379; 1989; TNA, ADM 106/2749 (digest), s.v. iron; London Gazette, no. 16926, 1741 (27 Aug. 1814); cf. NLW, Badminton III, BBA 2/62 onwards, ‘Llanelly’. Rhymney Furnaces or Union Furnaces

The furnace company was founded in 1800 by David Evans, Thomas Williams, John Ambrose, and Richard Cunningham. It acquired a second hand engine from Barnetts Leasow Furnaces in Shropshire. The firm presumably did not trade profitably, as in 1803 Richard Crawshay, his sonin-law Benjamin Hall, and Watkin George joined the firm, replacing some of the original partners, injecting additional capital, and improving the works. Richard Cunningham was expelled in 1804, and Watkin George withdrew in 1805 to become a partner at Pontypool. Union Furnaces made 2,322 tons in 1805. The Duke of Beaufort then granted a new lease of the Upper Works (in Breconshire) to Crawshay and Hall in 1807. A second furnace was built on Hall’s estate in Monmouthshire perhaps by 1804, and paying a royalty for limestone from 1808. On Richard Crawshay’s death in 1810 the works became the sole property of Benjamin Hall. In the following two years a third furnace was built. In 1812 the two furnaces in blast were making 90 tpw. Hall died in 1817, and the family may have continued the works until 1825, when they were bought by Forman & Co, who operated them with Tredegar and Bute (a new works of 1825). The Rhymney Iron Co had 80 puddling furnaces in the early 1870s. The company operated until 1905.

Accounts Complete ledgers from 1805: EV a/c. Sources NLW, Mayberry 1902; Lloyd 1906, 150-7; Bradney, Mons ii(2), 179; EV a/c; Jones (O.) 1969, 29; Grey-Jones 1970; Baber 1973, 13; Ince 1993, 105-10; Cambrian, 16 December 1809; NLW, Badminton III, BBA 2/62 onwards, ‘Llangunider’ (limestone); Rattenbury 1989. Nantyglo Ironworks

Upper: [24] SO108091 Lower: [25] SO114073

[23] SO191108 and SO192105

A partnership to be known as Hill, Harford and Co was formed between Thomas Hill & Co of Blaenavon and Harford, Partridge & Co. The latter were the great charcoal iron firm based in Bristol, but operating mainly in Glamorgan and Gloucestershire, who are discussed in detail in the chapter 34. The objective of the partnership was to build additional furnaces to produce iron from some 12,000 acres of mountainous land where Thomas Hill & Co had mining rights under the Marquis of Abergavenny. The partnership agreement was dated 1792. This was the same date as the Monmouthshire Canal Act, which provided for a railway to be built from the canal head at Crumlin to Nantyglo at the head of the Ebbw Fach valley; the two developments were clearly interdependent. Conflict arose in 1795 when Thomas Hill refused to advance further capital: the works were presumably making a loss, because the canal and railroad were not open. This led to the works lying idle from 1796 to 1802, when the partnership was dissolved. However they still paid a limestone royalty for two furnaces to the Duke of Beaufort in 1800. Thomas Hill then formed a new company with John Griffiths of Blaenavon and Joseph Harrison, who managed the works. They agreed to supply 1,560 tons of iron to Penydarren, but a dispute arose in 1805, and the works again became idle. In 1811 Thomas Hill & Co sublet the works to Joseph Bailey and Matthew Wayne. ‘Bayley & Co’ supplied

Accounts Furnace record books 1801-3: Cardiff Lib MSS 4.560-1. Royalties NLW, Badminton III, BBA 2/77 onwards, ‘Tretower, casual’. Sources Lloyd 1906, 130-5; Edwards 1974, 17-20; Cambrian 10 Jul. 1824; Ince 1993, 137-9; Rattenbury 1980, 99-104; van Laun 2001, 138-42; NLW Badminton II, 6282; Badminton III, ‘Langunider’. Note also NLW, John Lloyd 89-106; Maybery 3861 3768. Sirhowy Furnace

[26] SO143101

This was built by Thomas Atkinson of Skipton, in partnership with William Barrow, John Sealy, and Bolton Hudson, London Grocers and Teamen. Thomas Atkinson 499

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II had recently been in South Carolina, but it is not clear whether he is the person who was a partner in the furnace at Maryport in Cumberland. They took a lease from C.H. Burgh, the lord of the manor of Abercarn, of land on the west side of the River Sirhowy in 1778. The Duke of Beaufort also leased to them a watercourse and the right to take limestone. In 1787 further leases were taken by Atkinson and Barrow of property on the other side of the river. In 1794 William Barrow and the Reverend Matthew Monkhouse admitted Richard Fothergill to the partnership. The deed refers to contracts with the proprietors of Llangroyney Forge and with Walter Wilkins (presumably for Brecon Forge). After this the company was sometimes called Fothergill & Co. In 1796 1,930 tpa were made. That year ‘Fothergill, Monkhouse, & Branthwaite’ were making 37 tpw and had a finery. Richard Branthwaite became a partner by 1797, perhaps replacing Hudson (who was like Sealy bankrupt in 1789). In 1805 two furnaces made 3,700 tpa. In 1812 they made 80 tpw. From 1807, the Duke of Beaufort required the Sirhowy Company to pay 25 guineas for limestone from his estate. When the lease expired in 1818, John Hanscomb was also a partner. Harford & Co of Ebbw Vale obtained the works, which subsequently followed the same descent as the Ebbw Vale Works.

also began); at Christmas 1807; and in 1812 (apparently the fourth one). The Tredegar partners joined with the Sirhowy partners in building the Sirhowy Tramroad (as described under Sirhowy). By 1805 the works were taking about 1,100 tpa of Ebbw Vale finers metal (EV a/c). Allowing for their own pig iron production, this suggests the production of perhaps about 3,000 tpa bar iron. Matthew Monkhouse retired from the partnership in their associated Newport Bank in 1819; and Richard Fothergill from all businesses. This left William, Thomas, and Rowland Forman as partners in the ironworks, Argoed colliery, Caerleon Forge, and the bank. Several authors including Lloyd (1906) and Ince (1993) attribute references to Tredegar Forge to this ironworks. This is a mistake: they do not relate to it, but to the forge at Bassaleg near Newport. The use of the name ‘Tredegar Works’ both for these works and also for Machen and Tredegar Forges (collectively) has inevitably led to confusion. References to Tredegar Works in EV a/c also refer to those forges (discussed in chapter 34), not to these furnaces. Royalties NLW, Badminton III, BBA 2/75 onwards, ‘Tretower, casual’, but these will only cover part of the consumption, as the Morgan estate also provided mine and coal.

The furnace was to be connected by a branch railway over the mountains to the railway down the Ebbw Fawr Valley to the canalhead at Crumlin. The company disliked the high tolls on the Monmouthshire Canal and began to build its own tramroad down the Sirhowy valley in 1799. By a compromise it was agreed that the Sirhowy Tramroad Company (comprising the partners in Sirhowy and Tredegar Ironworks) should build the northern fifteen miles and the Canal Company the southern ten miles, but Sir Charles Morgan built one mile through his Tredegar Park. This was authorised by statute in 1802.

Sources Lloyd 1906, 139-144; Ince 1993, 80-1 & 135-7; Jones (O.) 1969, 37; London Gazette, 17483, 981 (5 June 1819); 18346, 703 (23 Mar. 1827). Varteg Furnace

This was built in 1803 by a company, the Varteg Hill Iron Company on land sublet by the Blaenavon Company. James Blissett of Clifton, Gloucs withdrew almost immediately. In 1805 it was called Knight & Co and made 900 tpa; it was in blast in 1810, but not in 1812. John Knight, the Wolverley ironmaster, probably withdrew in 1810, but had previously received some pig iron and refined metal from Varteg. The Stour Works accounts refer merely to Varteg Company. The identity of the other partners remains uncertain. Daniel Rose announced in 1810 that he had sold his shares to Thomas Dudley of Shut End (another partner). The works were offered to be sold or let in 1811, consisting of a blast furnace, making 40-50 tpw and a rolling mill capable of 80-100 tpw and which had rolled 50 tpw. William Hancocks of Wolverley, a partner in John Knight & Co from about then, was probably one of the vendors. Benjamin Whitehouse retired from his partnership with William Fawcett, James Hunt, Henry Hunt, Archibald Kendrick and Joseph Priestley in 1822. The company was still called Kenrick & Co until 1843, when the engines and machinery of the ironworks were sold. There were 3 furnaces and a forge with three sets of rolls, capable of making 250 tpw of merchant bar iron. The partnership, consisting of Mark Phillips, William Fawcett, William Needham and G.S. Kendrick was then dissolved. The ironworks was amalgamated by 1847

Sources NLW, Maybery 232-6 etc; Lloyd 1906, 145-50; Jones (O.) 1969, 29ff; Ince 1993, 105-9; Pickin 1982b; Baber 1973; Rattenbury 1989; Evans 1990b, 32; London Gazette, no. 13843, 1409 (10 Dec. 1795); no. 17434, 2331 (26 Dec. 1818); cf. NLW, Badminton III, BBA 2/42 onwards, ‘Llangunider’; London Gazette, 13070, 89 (17 Feb. 1789). Tredegar Ironworks

[28] S02706

[27] SO145091

In 1800 Sir Charles Morgan of Tredegar Park let mines in the hills of his manor of Machen (which was mainly between the rivers Rhymney and Sirhowy) to Samuel Homfray, Richard Fothergill and the Reverend Matthew Monkhouse, William Thompson, and William Forman. Homfray married Morgan’s daughter and Forman was Homfray’s partner at Penydarren. A third furnace was built in 1803 and a fourth in 1806. In 1810 all four furnaces were in blast and in 1812 three of these were making 150 tpw. However Homfray & Co paid limestone royalties to the Duke of Beaufort for new furnaces, coming into blast successively at Ladyday 1803 (when a royalty for mine 500

Chapter 32: North Monmouthshire with Golynos Works (built in 1837) and Pentwyn (built by Hunt Brothers in 1825). These works were in several ownerships in the 1850s and 1860s, Varteg being closed in 1864. The forge (built in 1804) was at SO26940651. 27 puddling furnaces were in operation at Varteg and Golynos until about 1866. Sources Ince 1991, 59; 1993, 124-5; Staffs RO, D 756/1; London Gazette, no. 15553, 119 (25 Jan. 1803); 17828, 1041 (22 Jun. 1822); Cambrian, 22 Dec. 1810; 27 Apr. 1822; Gloucester Journal, 8 Jul. 1811; Coflein 270064; www.gracesguide.co.uk.

501

33 Northern Glamorgan Introduction

Ardington, Sussex sought to enforce certain oral contracts and prevent Darrell exploiting it alone.2 Subsequently, the partners were Anthony Morley, Richard Waters, and John Watkins. They had ironworks in the parish of Llanwonno consisting of a furnace and two forges. Anthony Morley also on his own account had another ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil parish. Anthony Morley became bankrupt about 1586. The concept of bankruptcy was in its infancy at that time, and this was certainly not a well conducted bankruptcy. The bankrupt’s stock was sold to Thomas Mynyfee, but he got little benefit (if any) from it; the other partners refused to admit him to the firm; the owners of woods forced him to pay his predecessor’s debts or refused to honour bargains. The bankrupt’s son claimed the right to one of the forges; and there was a dispute over entitlement to an annuity for the support of the bankrupt’s widow and infant children. All in all it was a financial mess. A number of years after the bankruptcy and after the death of Mynyfee, this was the subject of litigation between the second husbands of Mynyfee’s and Morley’s widows. The matter seems to have died down, some kind of a solution presumably having been reached.3

This chapter relates to the portion of the South Wales Coalfield that runs across the north of Glamorgan. This is one of the areas where the classic Welsh valley communities have developed due to the enclosing effects of the mountain ranges that divide deep valleys. The valleys concerned are those of the upper Taff around Merthyr Tydfil, the Cynon around Aberdare, and the Rhondda. The iron industry here operated in two distinct periods. The early one came to an end by the middle of the 17th century. Then there was no iron industry at all for over a century, until the construction of the first coke ironworks on the mid-18th. It is to be presumed that the hills were formerly well wooded; and that was what attracted the iron industry to the area. However most of the present forestry is modern coniferous plantations. Ironstone was readily available from the Welsh Coalfield. Apart from its remoteness, the area had everything needed for iron production. The penetration of the iron industry to this area was marginally later than in the immediate hinterland of Cardiff. There seem to have been two furnaces in the neighbourhood of Merthyr Tydfil, probably two on tributaries of the Cynon and one in the Rhondda Fach. Little is known of most of these. If it were not for a paper written by William Llewellin in 1863 when the removal of cinders for resmelting was still within living memory, we would know even less: the very existence of certain of the forges is only known what he wrote.1

What happened to the ironworks in the Cynon valley after this period remains an open question: they may not have continued after the lease expired in c.1594. In the 1620s it is evident that Thomas Erbury had ironworks near Merthyr Tydfil, but in the 1630s he was living at Cardiff. It is possible that this ironworks remained in use until the Civil War, but the evidence is not clear. After that, iron production ceased for over a century with the closure of this works. While documentary evidence is very scanty, archaeological evidence has been more abundant. There are or have been standing remains several furnaces. Llewellin recognised several forge sites from the presence of cinders or accounts of their previous removal for re-smelting by Anthony Hill of Plymouth Furnace. This would have happened after his patent for making cinder pig iron of 1814 (using finery slag),4 and thus within living memory. Llewellin also mentioned various dated cast iron firebacks, including one at a farm at Pontygwaith, where Thomas Erbury probably had his forge. This was dated 1629, showing Adam and Eve, and is almost the last evidence of the iron industry in the area until the mid-18th century. Erbury’s last known purchase of cordwood was in 1635.5 Ironmaking thus ended just before the Civil War. Charles Wilkins claimed therer was a partnership between the landowner Edward Lewis

The significance of their being more than one furnace in a valley is not clear. In the Cynon valley is possible that the distances were such that it was more economic to build a second furnace than to carry charcoal a long way. The roads are unlikely to have been good and it may be that it was impracticable to use carts for carriage of charcoal. In this case, the furnaces may have been repaired and used alternately for a few years each as charcoal was available at each site. Alternatively, they may result from separate grants by different landowners. The earliest ironmasters were almost inevitably from the Weald where further expansion of iron production was not hardly feasible. The works at Aberdare derived from a lease by the Earl of Pembroke of the Forest of ‘Lynconnon’ [Glyn Cynon] to William Darrell of Litlington, but the opportunity has been identified by Jurdayne Russell and Richard Bennett in c.1573, which was followed by litigation in which Russell and George Cocheman of 1

Awty 2019, 608-9; TNA, C 3/216/15. Llewellin 1863a, 92-106; Rees 1968, 252-9. 4 On which see: Patent, no. 3825; Birch 1967, 191; Cambrian, 13 Dec. 1827. 5 NLW, Tredegar Park 70/352. 2 3

Llewellin 1863a.

503

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 33. North Glamorgan. 1, Cwmaman Furnace; 2, Cwm Cynon Forge; 4, Llwydcoed Ironworks; 5, not used; 6, Pontygwaith; 7, Cwm Gwernlas Forge; 8, Pontygwaith Forge near Abercynon; 9, Blaencanaid Furnace; 10, Pontyrhyn Furnace; 11, Newbridge Works; 12, Pentrebach Forge; 13, Treforest Ironworks; 14, Aberdare Furnace; 15, Abernant Furnace; 16, Carn Furnace; 17, Hirwaun Furnace; 18, Cyfarthfa Furnaces; 19, Cyfarthfa Forge; 20, Ynysfach Ironworks; 21, Dowlais Ironworks; 22, Penydarren Ironworks; 23, Plymouth Furnace.

matters worse. Thus the remoteness of the works is likely to have adversely affected their competitiveness. This in turn may have encouraged the ironmasters (or owners) to look for alternative sources of income, for example from rents from letting the land as pasture. Where sheep graze, woodlands cannot regenerate.

and a London merchant called Cook, but his source has not been discovered. No substantial evidence has been found that the war caused the industry’s end. There is no reason in principle why the woods could not have been managed as coppices and cropped regularly at intervals of 16-18 years. If there was a conflict with the established rights of commoners, there does not seem to be any reason why that could not have been managed. Under the Statute for Preserving Woods 1544, commonable woods were to be inclosed after cutting to protect the spring, and prevent grazing animals from browsing the coppice stools. Most of the manors concerned belonged to the Earls of Pembroke. The Hanbury family (partly in other Pembroke manors) succeeded in keeping ironworks at Pontypool continuously in production using charcoal until early in 19th century, but there the woods were leased to ironmasters, and they had an incentive to preserve the woods. On the other hand, there was a similar hiatus between the early works at Bedwellty and the coke furnaces at the heads of the valleys.

The reintroduction of the iron industry had to wait until a satisfactory method had been found of producing forgeable pig iron without charcoal. Between 1755 and 1767 four new coke furnaces were built in the area. Hirwaun was on the Breconshire side of the old county boundary, though most of the ore and coal used came from mines to the south of it. The other three were Dowlais, Cyfarthfa, and Penydarren, all at Merthyr Tydfil. Each of these was built on the basis of a long lease at a low fixed rent. No royalty, on minerals consumed, was reserved. The area remained a remote. While production costs were low, transport costs for getting the pig (or bar) iron produced down to the coast, for shipment to somewhere where there was a market for it were high. The road down the Taff valley was turnpiked in 1771.6 In 1764, a few years after Dowlais opened three of its partners (Webb,

The cause of the decline of the industry must therefore be sought in other factors. With a small local population, the local market for iron would have been very limited. Land carriage was vastly more expensive than freight by sea or river, and the poor state of the roads will have made

6

504

Rattenbury & Lewis 2004, 9-10.

Chapter 33: Northern Glamorgan Lewis and Price) agreed to produce pig iron and sell it at £2.5s to £2.15s per ton to the wider Dowlais Company.7 Transport to the coast would have raised the cost to four pounds or more, but this would have left a profit, though not an enormous one. In 1790 the Glamorgan canal was built and should have greatly reduced the cost, but the proprietors of Cyfarthfa milked the potential profits from their neighbours by control over tolls on the upper reaches of the canal, above Abercynon. As a short term solution Dowlais sold their whole production to the Crawshays of Cyfarthfa in 1795, at £5.5s per ton.8 The longer term solution was the construction by the three smaller works of the Merthyr (or Penydarren) Tram Road down to Abercynon, beyond which the canal tolls were more reasonable, open by 1803.9

leases granted at Merthyr, at the beginning of the industrial revolution, had fixed rents and no royalty at all. Initially, the transport costs may have made the ventures speculative and questions over the marketability of coke pig iron may have led landowners to believe there was no profit to be made; how wrong they were.

In 1781 John Guest as manager of Dowlais was selling 700 tons per year produced at the works to the wider Company at £2.10s per ton.10 Fifteen years later the company were selling 2000 tons per year to the Crawshays at more than double this price, in spite of the latter’s strong position. While these two figures are not strictly comparable, this transport revolution had completely changed the economics of the iron industry.11

The identification of documentary references with particular sites in this area is particularly difficult. The standard account is that of Llewellin (1863a), repeated in detail by Rees, but Awty (2019, 608-9) identified further litigation (TNA, C 3/216/15), which included a reference to an ‘old forge’ outside the Forest of Glyn Cynon, perhaps near Mountain Ash (ST0499). The interpretation of this would depend on determining the bounds of that Forest.

The forge at Cyfarthfa was one of the earliest places to adopt Charles Wood’s potting and stamping process: Wood oversaw the building of the Cyfarthfa Works.12 Young and Hart consider that the improvements to that process, introduced by Wright & Jesson were adopted there too. Cyfarthfa was also among the earliest to introduce Cort’s puddling process. However the difficulty, in applying it to grey coke forge pig iron from local furnaces, as opposed to white charcoal pigs (used by Cort at Funtley), nearly led to Richard Crawshay abandoning it. The breakthrough was achieved by Samuel Homfray (then of Penydarren, subsequently of Tredegar), who added a preliminary refining process in a ‘running out hearth’, producing finers’ metal or refined iron.13 Joseph Firmstone (a connection, perhaps stepson, of John Guest) claimed to have suggested this.14 This provided suitable feedstock for puddling. Nevertheless Evans argued that a motive for ironmasters to adopt puddling was to counter workplace practices that had built up among the forgemen, thus enabling ironmasters to manage their works better.15 Most of the ironmasters made considerable fortunes. A mineral landlord (such as the Duke of Beaufort in Breconshire), who reserved a royalty, probably did not do so badly. However the long

Cwmaman Furnace

General sources Llewellyn 1863a defines the charcoal period. This is also covered in Rees 1968. The industrial revolution is discussed by Lloyd 1906; Atkinson & Baber 1987; and Evans 1993b.

The charcoal period The Cynon Valley

[1] perhaps about ST0099

The remains of a furnace stood at Cwmaman on a tributary of Afon Cynon. It stood to a height of about twenty feet in 1863 and is illustrated by Llewellin. This (or another furnace in the valley) must be the one that supplied pig iron the two forges in the Cynon valley. They probably needed 310 tpa pig iron. Sources Llewellin 1863a, 86. Cwm Cynon Forge

[2] perhaps about SO0002

Llewellin reported finding a quantity of forge cinder on Cwm Cynon Farm. There were also the remains of a watercourse. The forge pond was in use as a horse pond. If the forge at Llwydcoed belonged to Robert Marten, then this must be the one assigned to John Morley. He was to receive 160 tons of sow iron in a year, which implies the production of up to 120 tons of bar iron. Sources Llewellin 1863a, 88; NLW, Bute 2343-45; Rees 1968, 252-9. Penbwch, Llantrisant

Owen 1977, 12. 8 Lloyd 1906, 36. 9 Rattenbury & Lewis 2004, 30-44. 10 Owen 1977, 15. 11 Much has been written on the iron industry at Merthyr: Elsas 1960; Owen 1977; Jones 1987; Evans 1990; 1993b; England 1959; Ince 1993, 47-72; Lloyd 1906, 20-101; Wilkins 1867; 1903. 12 Gross 2001. 13 King 2012, 115; Young & Hart 2018; 2019. 14 Staffordshire Advertiser, 30 Jan. 1830. Firmstone’s widowed mother Penelope married a John Guest at Broseley, but it is not clear whether this was the ironmaster or a son. 15 Evans 1993b, 94-100; 1994.

spurious

7

Penbwch is in a small valley extending upwards from the mansion of Castellau into hills north of Llantrisant. A lease of the farm was included in an alleged sale with one third of furnace and forge in the parish Llanwonno. These were held by Anthony Morley, Richard Waters, and John Watkins, presumably prior to 1586. Robert Martin & Elizabeth, the widow of Thomas Menyfee, alleged that Menyfee had agreed to buy Anthony Morley’s share, from Constance widow of William Relfe (who had married 505

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II The Upper Taff Valley near Merthyr Tydfil

James Hobson), but they denied it. Anthony Morley had had freehold lands at Llanwonno. Llewellin stated that there was a forge here, but Penbwch is usually referred to merely as a ‘farm’.

Cwm Gwernlas Forge

Llewellin reported the presence of a forge, presumed to be associated with Pontyryn Furnace. Wilkins called it a furnace. Cwm Gwernlas is a tributary joining the Taff near old Plymouth Furnace.

Sources Llewellin 1863a, 99ff; Rees 1968, 252-9. Llwydcoed Ironworks

[4] about SN99 04

Sources Llewellin 1863a, 89-91; Wilkins 1867, 77; Rees 1968, 252-9.

This was in the Aberdare or Cynon valley. The actual site is not known. W. Rees suggested it was at Cae Luce and before 1663 & that it possibly belonged to Martin, i.e. Robert Martin of Aberdare who is mentioned by Llewellin. He reported tradition of an early furnace or forge, which he thought had been covered by the cinders of later works. He suggested that the works was a forge and had used pig iron from the furnace in Cwmaman. Presumably of similar size to the other forge, that is 120 tpa.

Pontygwaith Forge near Abercynon

probably spurious [SN9508]

Older Welsh local historians suggest a furnace, allegedly built by one of Maybery family in 1666, but this probably derives from a garbled version of the establishment of Hirwaun a century later.

Sources Wilkins 1867, 72; as Pontyrhyn etc. Blaencanaid Furnace Pontyrhyn Furnace

Sources Riden 1993, 28.

[9] SO035042 [10] perhaps SO065028

Llewellin reported the presence of an old furnace opposite Plymouth Furnace. It was being undermined by the river in his time and (if real) has since disappeared. W. Rees described it as at Abercanaid. There is a surviving structure at Blaencanaid, probably a blast furnace, and perhaps this is what Llewellin meant. The furnace was possibly built before 1553, as Mr Hill of Plymouth had a fireback with the royal arms, EK, and 1555. It belonged to Anthony Morley (bankrupt 1586, died 1587) then was sold to Thomas Menyfee, who died not long after.

Rhondda Valley Pontygwaith in Rhondda Fach

[8] c.ST090952

Llewellin reported that a forge stood on this site. Cinder was removed and resmelted 40 years before he wrote, i.e. in the 1820s. According to him this forge stood 2 miles below the [Pontyrhyn] Furnace, a short distance above the viaduct of the Aberdare branch of the Midland Railway. Its history was presumably identical to that of Pontyryn Furnace. Wilkins reported that the workmen who removed the cinders found a ‘plate on which a hammer stood’ with the (improbable) date 1478, but it was broken up for scrap before its significance was appreciated.

Sources Llewellin 1863a, 85; NLW, Bute 2343-45; Rees 1968, 252-9. Pontbrenllwyd

[7] about SO0405

[6] presumably near ST009945

Llewellin reported the existence of a furnace, when even in his time had become a shapeless ruin. D.M. Rees suggested it was at Pontygwaith [Works Bridge]. The area has been built over since Llewellin’s time. Nothing seems to be known of its history. It is probable the furnace was powered by the brook joining the Rhondda Fach at this point and that a forge stood on the main river. The works may have been working in 1620 when the production of charcoal at Penrhys Isaf is recorded. The ironworks was within the area leased to Thomas Smith of London and Sir William Winter of Lydney in 1551. Analogy with Llantrisant (see next chapter) suggests the ironworks may have been erected after that lease was surrendered in exchange for another one in 1596. Indeed the withdrawal of John Ramsden and Ferdinando Clutterbuck from the partnership in the old lease at its surrender might have been in order that they could take a lease of mines in another of the manors covered by the old lease, such as Glynrhondda.

There certainly was a furnace and forge on lands of Sir Edward Lewis at Merthyr in 1625 and these were in the possession Thomas Erbury. Thomas Erbury was still buying cordwood in 1635. Wilkins claimed it was used by a London merchant called Cook in partnership with Lewis in 1640, but his source is not known. However there is no clear any evidence of ironmaking after this until new coke furnaces were built in the area from late 1750s. Associations held with a forge at Pontygwaith. Sources NLW, Bute 6181; NLW, Tredegar Park 70/352; Llewellin 1863a, 88-89; Rees 1968, 252-9 264; Rees 1969, 54; Wilkins 1867, 73-8; 1903, 20.

Sources Llewellyn 1863a, 92; Rees 1969, 52; 1975, 30; Pritchard 1966, 235; Riden & King, ‘Llantrisant’, 11-12 16.

506

Chapter 33: Northern Glamorgan

The Industrial Revolution

forge at Hampton Loade in Shropshire and a slitting mill at Gothersley near Stourbridge. After her husband drowned in 1802, Elizabeth Hodgetts retained Gothersley, but sold her share here to William Thompson. Samuel Homfray and William Forman were also partners. In 1805 the two furnaces made 3,586 tpa. A third furnace was built before 1810; and 105 tpw were being made in 1812. Thomas Fothergill joined the firm by 1823. A disagreement in 1846 led to the works being sold to Rowland Fothergill, and operating as Fothergill, Brown & Co; and later as Fothergill, Hankey and Bateman. In the 1860s, they bought up the Plymouth and then the Penydarren Works, but the company collapsed in 1875 with the collapse of the market in wrought iron rails. Aberdare and Plymouth Co Ltd was then incorporated by the creditors, but was probably mainly concerned in liquidating the business. At its peak in the early 1860s, there were 80 puddling furnaces at Aberdare and Abernant together.

[1812 refers to Atkinson & Baber 1987; this work has been extensively used for this section]. Other ironworks Newbridge Works

[11] perhaps ST077901

Following the bankruptcy of the Tappendens, a forge at Newbridge was offered for sale with Abernant ironworks in 1815, capable of rolling 100 tons of finished iron per week. This was taken over by Brown, Lenox & Co (Samuel Brown and Samuel Lenox) as the Newbridge Chain Cable and Anchor Works, founded in 1818 when they expanded from their original works at Millwall, near London. Jones refers to what they took over as a ‘nail factory’, perhaps meaning a slitting mill. The company bought the freehold of their works in 1908. If this was at the expiry of a 99 year lease, the Tappendens presumably leased the site in 1809. The works had water-power, which was taken off the Taff far upstream at the mouth of Nant Clydach, and carried across the Taff by the Berw aqueduct, but this complicated arrangement could be a later improvement.

Sources Lloyd 1906, 113-6; Davies 1978, 151-2; Ince 1993, 35-9; Cooksley 1980, 100ff; Parry 1967; Rees 1968, 73; Hodgson 1971; van Laun 2001, 188-98. Abernant Furnace

Sources Cambrian, 23 Sep. 1815; Jones 1980, 34. Note also Glamorgan RO, DBL. Pentrebach Forge

This was built in 1801 by Jeremiah Homfray and James Birch financed by the Tappenden family who were bankers at Feversham in Kent. In 1804 Birch advertised his skill as an engineer, seeking orders for the firm for steam engines whether on Trevithick’s principle, Boulton and Watt’s, or other. The Tappendens bought out Homfray’s and Birch’s shares in 1806, following a disagreement. That year one of the two furnaces was in blast, 4,376 tpa having been made the previous year. In 1810 there were three furnaces. The Tappendens became bankrupt in 1814, creditors meetings continuing well into the following year. In 1815, there were three furnaces, two blast engines, and fineries. The Aberdare Company bought the works in 1819, and their subsequent histories are the same.

[12] about SO061041

Richard Hill of Plymouth ironworks, his son Richard, J.N. Miers (of the Aberdulais works in the Neath valley) and Amos Struttle established a forge in 1803, three-quarters of a mile south of the Plymouth Works. This operated as Plymouth Forge Co and aimed to make 100 tpw. Struttle and Miers provided the £20,000 capital and Richard Hill junior was to manage it at £400 per year. It was to consume the output of three furnaces delivered as run-out metal at price calculated from the London price of bar iron

Sources Lloyd 1906, 116-26; Ince 1993, 36-9; London Gazette, no. 16969, 2541 and various later issues; Gloucester Journal, 12 Jun. 1815; Cambrian, 23 Sep. 1815; Parry 1967; Davies 1978, 152-4; Tann 1996; van Laun 2001, 188-98.

Sources NLW Maybury 104; Wilkins 1903, 149-51; Lloyd 1906, 80-3; Rattenbury & Lewis 2004, 33. Treforest Ironworks

spurious

The suggestion that there was an ironworks at Treforest in the 18th century is the result of a misunderstanding of the location of Forest Forge, which was actually in Llansamlet near Swansea, not Treforest. No ironworks existed at Treforest until the mid-19th century, so far as is known.

Carn Furnace

[16] SO005054

George Bowser built a furnace with a steam engine in about 1773 at Carney Frwuder in Aberdare on the estate of Samuel Hughes. This was a failure and Bowser was soon imprisoned for debt, but there was an advert that the debts would be paid in 1792. James Watt junior in 1800 recorded:

Sources (claiming there was a works) Flinn 1962, 14; Ince 1993, 41. Coke ironworks in Cynon valley Aberdare Furnace

[15] SO008035

There was an old furnace upon the premises near where the present upper coal levels are, which was erected by Capn Hughes, the former proprietor of the ground. It was blown by a common engine the cylinder of which is still there and seems about 40 inches. The regulator

[14] SN992044

This was built in about 1798 by John Thompson, John Hodgetts, and John and George Scales. The company had a 507

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II is cut out of the rock and was lined with wood with a wooden piston. The furnace also seems to be cut out of the rock and being damp was abandoned after a short trial, having made little on no iron ... Mr Guest of Dowlais says he was consulted by Capn Hughes, who carried on the work jointly with a Mr Bower as to the propriety of continuing it, and he and his partners advised him to stop proceedings ...

George Overton the tramroad engineer, whose first tramroads were at Merthyr Tydfil. When it was offered for sale on the firm’s bankruptcy in 1813, there were two furnaces and two fineries blown by a Boulton and Watt engine; a forge with 10 puddling and 5 balling furnaces; a Trevithick’s steam engine working two pairs of puddling and one pair of finishing rollers (rolling 80-100 tpw); and four calcining kilns. It lay idle until 1818 when William Crawshay of Cyfarthfa bought it and carried out extensive rebuilding. The Crawshay family abandoned the works in 1859, but Mineral Statistics record 18 puddling furnaces owned by the Marquis of Bute between 1862 and 1866 and two furnaces operated by Hinde and Cosham in that period. In 1796 the furnace had made 1,050 tpa, but in 1805 only 450 tpa; a second furnace was added by 1810. In 1812 they were both apparently out of blast but 70 tpw had been made. The two fineries and forge made 80-100 tpw.

Hughes offered his Llwydd Coed estate for sale in 1780, but it was only bought by Samuel Glover in 1787, when one of the tracts included was Carn y Brwdyr. Glover was then the tenant of Hirwaun under Anthony Bacon’s executors and perhaps did little to exploit the estate until 1799 when Aberdare ironworks was established. This seems to be the otherwise unidentified furnace at ‘Cefn near Merthyr’, in the 1788 list of closed coke furnaces. The furnace seems to have been near the later Dyllas Colliery, in an area that has since been subject to open cast mining.

Letterbook 1786-7: Plymouth l/b.

Sources London Chronicle, 7 October 1775; London Gazette, no. 11481, 3 (6 Aug. 1774); 13485, 945 (15 Dec. 1792); St James Chronicle, 17 June 1780; Watt’s tour of Wales; Riden 1992c, 38-9; cf. Lloyd 1906, 113-6; inf. from Geoffrey Evans, citing T.D. Llewellyn, Gardd Aberdar [History of the Parish of Aberdare], 1853 (trans. D.L. Davies), Old Aberdare ii (Cynon Valley History Society, 1982), 46; and a 1914 plan in his possession.

Sources NLW Maybery 1216-7 & 3963; Lloyd 1906, 11-20; Ince 1993, 33-5; Brooke 1944-9, 7-8; Minchinton 1960, 10-1 & 13ff; London Gazette, no. 16668, 1765 (14 Nov. 1812); Leeds Intelligencer, 28 Dec. 1812; North Wales Gazette, 17 Dec. 1812; Parry 1967; Rees 1968, 3089 & n; Rees 1969, 75; Skempton at al. 2002, 496; van Laun 2001, 188-98.

Hirwaun Furnace

Merthyr Tydfil

[17] about SN958058

Cyfarthfa Furnaces Cyfarthfa Forge Ynysfach Ironworks

The furnace stood on the upper reaches of Afon Cynon, on the north side of the river in Penderyn, Breconshire. It is said to have been a charcoal furnace, but there is no clear evidence of this. There is no provision for the sale of charcoal in the original lease. The furnace has its origin in a mining lease dated 1758 in favour of John Maybery of Brecon, his father Thomas Maybery (d.1758) of Powick Forge outside Worcester and John Wilkins. They held the furnace together until 1775, John Maybery having two of the three shares by 1761 after death of his mother. In 1775 the furnace was sublet to John Wasse of Stafford and William King, a Bristol glassmaker, with a provision that they should supply 300 tpa pig iron to be delivered half way between [?to] Brecon and Machen. It reverted to John Maybery in 1777, and then the following year passed to his nephews Walter and Jeffrey Wilkins. From 1783 it was run by Anthony Bacon of Cyfarthfa at Merthyr Tydfil, who agreed to supply 800 tpa to Joshua Glover’s forge at Abercarn. It was let to Glover, following Anthony Bacon’s death in 1786. In ‘1794’ it was held by Mr Glover, and it made 1660 tons in 1796. Glover had a railway on Hirwaun Common, which the Aberdare Canal Company then extended and used to obtain limestone at Penderyn, long before the Company built its canal.

[18] SO038069 [19] SO042068 [20] SO046061

This was built in 1767 on land to the west of Merthyr Tydfil leased in 1765 by Anthony Bacon and William Brownrigg from Lord Talbot of Hensol. The furnace itself appears to have been built by Isaac Wilkinson. A cannon boring mill was added in c.1774. Richard Crawshay probably replaced Brownrigg as a partner in 1774. Following the death of Anthony Bacon in 1786, his estate was administered in Chancery. The works were let to Richard Crawshay, William Stevens, and James Cockshutt. Crawshay dissolved this partnership in 1791. Watkin George was his partner from 1792. Robert Thompson was a bookkeeper here from the 1780s until 1792, then a manager at Dowlais until 1799, when he leased the Tintern Works. Crawshay died in 1810 and was succeeded at Cyfarthfa by his son William, son-in-law Benjamin Hall, and his nephew Joseph Bailey. The latter soon withdrew and William bought out Hall in 1817, giving him sole ownership. The works then descended in the Crawshay family for the rest of their life. Crawshay was also the senior partner in the London iron merchant house of Crawshay, Davenport & Co, which operated at George Yard. Richard Davenport left the firm in 1789. Subsequent references to the house are to Crawshay Son & Thompson. William Thompson

Bacon’s sons Anthony and Thomas resumed the furnace in 1799. In 1803 the Bacons let it to Jeremiah Homfray and partners; after Jeremiah’s early withdrawal the firm became Bowzer, Overton, and Oliver, which included 508

Chapter 33: Northern Glamorgan remained a partner until Crawshay dissolved the partnership in 1797. Richard Crawshay lived in London until 1792, when he moved to Merthyr Tydfil to manage Cyfarthfa. From 1774 Anthony Bacon was using his furnace to produce cannon for the Ordnance Board; Richard Crawshay appears to have become a partner in this business by 1777. In ‘1794’ there were two furnaces, three melting fineries, three balling furnaces, together with a slitting mill built in 1790, and (uniquely) 8 ‘Corts’ [i.e. puddling furnaces]. The blast furnaces were 60 feet high in 1791. The ‘Corts’ seem to have been near the furnaces at the upper works, with the melting and balling furnaces at the lower works, the forge described below. A new ‘stupendous water-wheel’ 50 feet in diameter to blow 4 furnaces and several refineries was remarked upon in 1797. In 1796 three furnaces made 7,204 tpa and in 1805 four furnaces made 10,460 tpa, making this the largest ironworks of the time. In 1810, two of the six furnaces were out of blast. In 1812, they were making 340 tpw. Bailey, Ward, & Crawshay, who contracted to supply cast iron ballast to the Navy Board in 1804 and 1805 (NMM, CHA/N/1, 123 127) may have been the current partnership in the Crawshay’s London House. The works was closed in the 1874 in difficult market conditions and labour troubles. A new generation of the Crawshay family reopened the works in 1879-81. Then in 1884, they rebuilt the works with modern furnaces and steelworks, which worked until 1919. These stood in front of the bank of furnaces, which accordingly all survive (with one exception) standing to their original height. The coke yard behind the furnaces was excavated in advance of redevelopment.

The third portion of the works, Ynysfach has another surviving bank of furnaces. This is conventionally dated 1801, but construction of the first two furnaces began a couple of years earlier, though they were not brought into blast until somewhat later. They were always in the same ownership as the main Cyfarthfa works. The front of the furnaces has been truncated, so that they no longer stand to their original height there. In front of the furnaces there stood a building containing refineries (making finers’ metal for the puddling process). This was excavated prior to the redevelopment of the site as a college. Letterbooks 1786-7: Plymouth l/b; 1792-7: Evans 1990. Accounts in Glamorgan RO and NLW. Some of these are discussed in Jones 1985. These were studied by Young and Hart for their recent articles. I have not examined them in as detail. Sources Namier 1930; Addis 1957; Evans 1961; Evans 1990; 1993b; Ince 1993, 60-64; Chaloner 1960, 47-8; Mott 1983, 51-6 & 72-4; Lloyd 1906, 48-71; Hereford Journal, 18 Oct. 1797; Wilkins 1867, 145-53; Young & Hart 2018; 2019. For Cockshutt see also NLW John Lloyd 109. For Crawshay’s partnership with Bacon: TNA, WO 47/87, 484; WO 47/89, 734. Dowlais Ironworks

[21] about SO065075

Thomas Lewis obtained a lease of mines of coal and ironstone in lands to the west of Merthyr Tydfil. As a result a furnace was built. A company was established with a capital of £3,500 in 1759. There were three Welsh partners including Thomas Lewis, a partner in the Pentyrch Works. Three came from Bristol including John Jones in whose name it traded. Isaac Wilkinson, in addition to taking a share, received as fee for use of an engine patent. In 1764 Nathaniel Webb, Thomas Price and William Lewis, three of the partners took over the management of the works agreeing to sell what they produced to the Company at a very low fixed price of £2.5s to £2.15s per ton. This arrangement continued after John Guest became manager in 1767. Guns, for which John Jones of Bristol (a Dowlais partner) contracted during the American War of Independence may have been made here, rather than at his Bristol Foundry. In 1782 Guest bought a share of the company. At this time the works, still a single furnace, made 700 tpa of pig iron. By 1800, as a result of further sales of shares in the Dowlais Company, it membership was reduced to just William Taitt (8 shares), William Lewis (6), and John Guest (2).

The forge was built in 1766 (before the furnace) by Charles Wood on behalf of Anthony Bacon & Co, to exploit the potting and stamping process that Wood had developed at Low Mill near Egremont. The forge and cannon foundry were leased in 1783 to Jeremiah and Samuel Homfray, the lease providing that they should buy all their pig iron from Cyfarthfa or Plymouth and not build a furnace. The following year they sold the lease to David Tanner, thus enabling the Homfrays to build Penydarren. Tanner employed James Cockshutt as his assistant. Cockshutt was a member of the family who ran Wortley ironworks in Yorkshire, and was living at Pontypool in 1779. Tanner later sublet it to Crawshay, Stevens, and Cockshutt, who probably traded as James Cockshutt & Co and also took most of the output of Plymouth Furnace. In 1789 the forge tried to Cort’s puddling process (initially with poor success) and a rolling mill was built for this purpose. With preliminary refining they had in better success. The forge made 4,000 tpa bar iron in 1794 (Evans 1990, no 473). Archaeological evidence points to the running out furnaces having stood in front of the blast furnaces. The forge site has been cleared and was in 2016 occupied by a builders’ merchant. Underneath this yard, there is likely to be important archaeology, since this was a place that successively used Wood’s process, then probably Wright & Jesson’s, and finally the puddling process.

In the mid-1780s, Peter Onions’ process (a predecessor of puddling) was introduced, but this seems to have been at Pentyrch, owned by Lewis, rather than at Dowlais, though Onions’ original patent is in the Dowlais archive and Onions’ address when he enrolled his specification was Merthyr. A second furnace was probably built about 1790 when the Glamorgan Canal opened (but probably was not in blast until 1792) and a third one in 1796 (but not in blast at the date of the 1796 list). In 1796 the works made 509

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II 2,800 tpa and in 1805 6,800 tpa in three furnaces and there were still three in 1810. In 1812 five furnaces were making 200 tpw. Dowlais held five shares in Merthyr Tram Road. In 1796, the partners contracted to supply 2,000 tpa pig iron to Cyfarthfa for five years. When the contract expired, they built puddling furnaces, with a rolling mill powered by 36½-inch Boulton and Watt engine installed in 1803 and a second engine in 1808. Further furnaces were added, so that in 1823 there were 10 furnaces, which made 22,287 tons of pig iron.

Subsequently William Forman and William Thompson traded as the Penydarren Iron Company. The firm operated until William Forman abandoned the works in 1859. After a short period in other hands, the works (like Plymouth) passed to the Aberdare Iron Company, which operated puddling furnaces there until its collapse in 1875. Sources Lloyd 1906, 86-91; Jones 1987, 26; Evans 1993b; Ince 1993, 57-60; Glamorgan RO, D/D Pe 2; Taylor 1966; NLW, MS 15593E; London Gazette, no. 13968, 16 (3 Jan. 1797); Rattenbury & Lewis 2004.

J.J. Guest bought out the other partners in 1850 and 1851, but died soon after so that his widow Lady Charlotte Guest became sole proprietor of the works. In 1869, 17 furnaces were each making 180 tpw pig iron and there were 150 puddling furnaces. In this period, the Dowlais Works began using haematite ore from Somerset and Spain. It had been one of the works to which Bessemer licensed his initial (unsuccessful) process, but by 1869 six 5-ton Bessemer converters were in use and an Open Hearth furnace for the Siemens-Martin process followed in 1871. Pig iron production was moved to Cardiff (nearer the coast) from 1891, but the works remained in production until 1930. By then, a series of amalgamations had created Guest Keen and Nettlefolds. GKN plc continues to operate, but is no longer making iron.

Plymouth Furnace

The furnace was built by Isaac Wilkinson and John Guest in 1763. John Guest came from Broseley, near New Willey Furnace (managed by Isaac’s son John Wilkinson), so that it is probable that Isaac Wilkinson introduced John Guest to Wales. As at Dowlais, there was a company, initially with 20 £200 shares. The other partners included Edward Blakeway, Francis Evans, and Sarah Guest, but further calls of £205 per share had to be made. Thomas Guest (brother of John) was the agent. In 1766, much of the output was supplied to the forge at Cyfarthfa. That July, Charles Wood bought John Guest’s two shares and Isaac Wilkinson’s three shares for Anthony Bacon & Co. What became of the rest is unknown. The leading partners John White & Co (7 shares) and William Parritt (4 shares) presumably sold their shares to Thomas Watkins of Merthyr Tydfil. His 1775 bankruptcy was superseded in 1776, but he was bankrupt again in 1779. That year, Plymouth Furnace was offered for sale as capable of making 700-800 tpa, as late the property of Thomas Watkins, a bankrupt. Another advert mentions Watkins and Wild. The buyer was presumably Anthony Bacon, who owned it at his death in 1786. Following his death it was let to Richard Hill its manager from 1784. His family continued to run it until 1862. In 1803 a separate Plymouth Forge Company was established and built a forge at Pentrebach (q.v.), just south of Plymouth. On the death of the elder Richard Hill in 1806, his sons became the leading partners. The family sold the works in 1863 to Fothergill, Hankey and Bateman (the Aberdare Iron Company). They used the works until their collapse in 1875. Latterly they had 70 puddling furnaces at their works (including at Dyffryn, built in 1839).

Letters etc. in Glamorgan RO, Dowlais Mss, some printed in Elsas 1960. Sources Elsas 1960; England 1959; Davies 1968; Daunton 1972; Owen 1977; Havill 1983; Jones 1987; Evans 1993b; Ince 1993, 47-53; Lloyd 1906, 21-47; note also TNA, C 12/1657/27; C 108/135 etc.; Wilkins 1867, 139-43 1759; 1903, 38-45. Jones’ guns: TNA, WO 47/83-88, passim; WO 47/98, 715. Penydarren Ironworks

[23] about SO055050

[22] about SO054068

In 1784 Jeremiah and Samuel Homfray began collected up mining rights and then transferred them to a company formed by them and their brother Thomas, together with Richard Forman of London, who provided all the finance. Jeremiah withdrew in 1797 to establish other ironworks. Puddling apparently began in 1788, though this does not appear in the 1790 list. The breakthrough, making puddling an effective process for grey (coke) pig iron was achieved by Samuel Homfray in 1791. In 1796 4,100 tpa were produced in two furnaces and in 1805 three furnaces made 7,803 tpa. In 1810 there were 4 furnaces. However in 1812 it was said that three furnaces made 150 tpw. The works are widely associated with a trial of Richard Trevithick’s locomotive on the Merthyr Tram Road, which in fact served all three works west of the river Taff. The engine broke so many rails that the experiment was not repeated and the engine was thereafter used as a stationery steam engine. Samuel Homfray probably withdrew from the firm in 1813 to concentrate on his works at Tredegar. Thomas Homfray had probably returned to the Midlands to run family ironworks there.

In 1788 it made 1,113 tpa. This rose gradually until 1796, when 2,232 tpa were made. The furnace was blown out on 10th July 1795 after five years nine months and six days. A second furnace was built in 1800, following the renewal of the lease and the third began to fill on New Year’s Day 1802. Until Pentrebach opened, substantially the whole production was sent to Cyfarthfa Forge. In 1805 the three furnaces made 5,789 tpa. In 1810 there were four furnaces, which in 1812 made 160 tpw. Anthony Hill of Plymouth patented the production of cinder pig iron in 1814, using one part of cinder with three parts ironstone in the furnace charge. He won a case for patent infringement in 1817, 510

Chapter 33: Northern Glamorgan apparently against the Penydarren Company, who were using one part in eight. He took out another ironmaking patent that year. Diary 1766-7: Gross 2001 (mentions), esp. 84-6 1501. Letterbook of Richard Hill from 1786: Plymouth l/b. Accounts 1787 on: NLW, MSS. 15335D & 15336-8E. Sources Wilkins 1867, 212ff; 1903, 148ff; Lloyd 1906, 7285; Elsas 1960, passim; Jones 1987, 8-11 23; Evans 1993b; Ince 1993, 53-7; Taylor 1968; London Gazette, no. 11609, 7 (28 Oct. 1775); 11658, 2 (16 Apr. 1776); 11941, 3 (28 Sep. 1779); Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, 15 Mar. 1779; St. James Chronicle, 1 Jul. 1779; Patent no. 3825 4151; Cambrian, 13 Dec. 1817. Most accounts seem to assume that the sale by Guest and Wilkinson in 1766 gave Anthony Bacon full ownership, but that is contradicted by the newspapers mentioning Watkins.

511

34 The Cardiff and Newport Area Introduction

a frequent, if not continuous, business of the forge for the next century and more.

This chapter is concerned with the southern arc of the outcrop of the Welsh Coalfield. This is a coastal plain at the foot of the uplands of the interior. Through the area run the river Taff with its mouth at Cardiff and the river Rhymney, whose effluent is a short distance to the east of Cardiff. Near Newport, a number of other rivers combine to join the Severn Estuary through the mouth of the Usk. Inland of the narrow coastal plain the ground becomes broken and is still well wooded. The various furnaces obtained ore from a haematite orefield, stretching from Llanharry (south of Llantrisant) to Rudry near Caerphilly. These ores were probably mined from the 16th century, particularly at the Garth at Pentyrch. Plates from Sir Henry Sidney’s works were sent to Robertsbridge in the 16th century for the production of steel. This suggests that the ore was particularly free from impurities, and hence suitable for steel.

In 1622 John Steevens was clerk to Edmond Thomas and Thomas Hackett at Maughan (sic) Forge.5 Thomas Hackett (1567-c.1633) had been clerk of the wireworks at Tintern before 1590 under Richard Hanbury. He remained there for the rest of his life, managing them first for John Challenor and Co, then becoming the managing partner at Tintern. Hackett, Thomas, and William Morgan also held ironworks in Wisewood, just north of Tintern. He disappears from the records in 1632, after losing an action, concerning wood bought these works.6 Shortly after this ironworks was started (by 1564), another furnace was built on the opposite bank of the River Taff at Pentyrch. There has been confusion over the identities of the two furnaces. Schubert and Riden both believed that the furnace at Tongwynlais was the one operated for Sir Henry Sidney and several partners including Edmond Roberts. Sir Henry Sidney was at the time Lord President of the Marches, in effect Viceroy of Wales.7 This was possibly a misunderstanding of a reference to William Matthews (the lord of the manor of Pentrych) having two parts of a furnace in 1565.8 The true identity of Sidney’s furnace, as at Pentyrch, is indicated by a payment of rent (recorded in the surviving accounts) to Mr Matthewe, but it is not clear how long Sidney & Co used it,9 but Sir Henry withdrew from direct operation of the works on his estate at Robertsbridge in Sussex in 1574.10 William Matthew was succeeded by Edmund Matthews of Radyr. The destiny of the ironworks is mainly known from proceedings against him and his manager (later tenant) Peter Semayne in the early 17th century over the illegal export of ordnance. This led to the suppression of the furnace in about 1616.11 In 1605 Edmund Matthews was involved in building Monmouth Forge, presumably to consume pig iron made at this furnace.12 Robert Chauntrell his partner there had a patent for using mineral coal in ironmaking in 1607,13 and he perhaps used it at Pentyrch.

The first blast furnace in Wales was Taff Furnace, built in about 1560. This was built at Tongwynlais, a few miles north of Cardiff. Unusually for this period the forge to operate with it was not built on a neighbouring site, but some miles away at Rhydygwern in the Glamorgan portion of the parish of Machen. These were established by Hugh Lambarde of Tonbridge and Radyr in 1560.1 This furnace was among the earliest ironworks using the indirect process outside the Weald. From 1569 Machen Forge, and therefore presumably Taff Furnace were held by the farmers of Tintern wireworks. Later Edmund Roberts was apparently a partner of Richard Hanbury and Edmond Brode in Abercarn Furnace and Forge and perhaps also at Pontypool. Abercarn is also referred to as a gunfoundry. He died insolvent about 1581 and was succeeded by Richard Hanbury.2 His son-in-law Edmond Wheler complained of the loss of goods from Rhydygwern during his imprisonment in the Fleet in 1598. This suggests that these works were in much the same tenure as the ironworks at Monkswood, Abercarn and Pontypool at this period.3 By the death of John Challenor in 1607 Machen Forge had passed from Hanbury’s son-in-law Edmond Wheeler to him, apparently marking the end of a period of conflict over the wireworks. Challenor’s partners as at Tintern wireworks were George Catchmaye. Edmond Thomas, and his own son William.4 This may mark the start of a period when Rhydygwern (or Machen) Forge began to supply osmond iron to the wireworks, probably 1 2 3 4

5

NLW, Tredegar MSS & documents 729. He may have died, being aged 65: see chapter 29; Rees 1968, 283n. 7 Schubert 1957, 319 389; Riden 1992; Crossley 1975, 32-4 232-48. 8 Rees 1968, 259; Riden 1992, 70, identifying Rees’ source as a notebook of David Jones (Cardiff Library, MS 2.1148, 139). ‘Two parts’ might indicate that the other third belonged to a dowager. If so, this is evidence of ownership (and existence) of the works, not of who was operating them. 9 Crossley 1975, 240. Tim Young pointed this out to me. 10 Cleere & Crossley 1995a, 144. 11 Rees 1968, 261. 12 Q.v. 13 Daff 1972, 11. 6

Rees 1968, 259-262. The earlier Abercarn works is discussed in chapter 32. See chapter 32. TNA, PROB 11/109/206.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 34. Cardiff and Newport area. 1, Abercarn ‘old foundry’; 2, Abercarn Osmond Forge; 3, Abercarn Forge (later rolling mill); 4, Abercarn Wire Mill; 5, Caerleon Forge; 6, Caerphilly Furnace; 7, Cardiff Forge; 8, Llantrisant Furnace; 9, Llantrisant Forge; 10, Machen Forges; 11, Rhydygwern and Gelliwastod; 12, Melingriffith Works; 13, Pentyrch Ironworks I; 14, Pentyrch Ironworks II furnace; 15, Pentyrch Ironworks II forge; 16, Ponthir Works; 17, Rogerstone Works; 18, Taff Furnace, near Tongwynlais; 19, Tredegar Forge, Bassaleg; 20, Tydee Works; 21, Aber Forges; 22, Cardiff rolling mill; 23, Clunn Park near Llantrisant; 24, Newport Forge; 25, Pontrhydyrun Tinplate Works; 26, Pontnewydd Works; 27, Pontymister Works.

his son. At other times they had the managers as partners. Between 1732 and 1748 due to the minority of the heir, it was run by the managers and their associates alone. In 1765 the works were let to John Maybery and Thomas Wilkins who had built a new furnace at Hirwaun, just inside Breconshire. They also had a forge, which they built by Brecon Furnace. They were succeeded in 1781 in the Tredegar Works by Harford Partridge & Co, after the Morgan heir (as the new landlord) considered the existing lease went beyond the leasing power in the family settlement, and thus not binding on him.19

John Steevens (previously its clerk) became his own master at Machen before 1640, probably shortly after the death of Thomas Hackett. When next heard of both works were in the hands of Alice widow of George Steevens, Sir Richard Hart (apparently a relative), John Greenuff and two others. They had them from 1655 until the 1670s,14 when the works were acquired by William Morgan of Tredegar. A second Machen Forge may have been built in 1658.15 William Herbert had built a forge in Morgan’s park at Tredegar House outside Newport in the 1650s.16 Herbert was associated with Thomas Foley I(W) at Tintern, but Morgan resumed the forge and was buying pig iron and cast iron necessaries from Foley by 1669.17 Shortly after William Morgan’s death, his trustees ordered a new furnace to be built at Caerphilly, as Taff Furnace did not have enough water to drive the bellows in the summer.18 These works, Caerphilly, Machen, and Tredegar, were managed together until the early 19th century. At times they were managed for the head of the Morgan family or

Harford, Partridge & Co Harford, Partridge & Co were one of the last great charcoal iron partnerships, with works stretching from Cardiff to the Forest of Dean. They were a Bristol Company with a large number of partners, the business being managed by a committee of the Company. The considerable number of the partners meant that the firm existed under different names at different times. It is probable that the names, Donne & Co; Hilhouse, Getley & Co; Daniels, Harford & Co; Reynolds, Getley & Co; Harford, Getley & Co; Harford, Partridge & Co; and Harfords, Crocker & Co all refer to successive expressions of the same enterprise, but the documents to prove this do not survive. The firm seems to go back to 1727 when the firm was formed to build a furnace at Bryn Coch in the Vale of Neath. In 1732 they bought what was thence called the Welch Iron Foundry

14 NLW. Plymouth 566; 871; Tredegar Park 76/1; TNA, C 7/530/107; C 6/188/57. 15 NLW, Tredegar MSS & documents 753. 16 The name of this forge has led several historians astray, starting with Lloyd (1906, 135-44). He dealt with the forge in the same chapter as Tredegar Furnace, apparently on the incorrect assumption that the forge was a small precursor of the furnace. However NLW, Tredegar Park 76/1 (dated 1747) explicitly states that it was in Tredegar Park in the parish of Bassaleg, as does ibid. 76/255-6 (dated 1789). The name Bassaleg Forge also occurs for it, e.g. Coxe 1801, 3. 17 Schafer 1978, 42 98; cf. Foley E12/VI/Ac/1 3 and E12/VI/Af/2-6. 18 Tredegar MSS & documents 871; Tredegar Park 76/1.

19

514

See NLW, Tredegar Park 76, passim; Rees 1968, 312-7.

Chapter 34: The Cardiff and Newport Area (sic) in Back Lane (now Jacob Street) Bristol, probably just north of St Philip and St Jacob’s church. Bryn Coch was a coke furnace but right to mine coal was abandoned at some time prior to the sale of furnace in 1757.20 It is possible that they are identical with the Bristol Company in King George County in Virginia, which was established in 1721 by Lionel Lyde and others, with John Tayloe as a manager in Virginia. William Donne was one of its committee by 1728.21 This supplied imported pig iron Edward Knight & Co in the Stour valley variously as Bristol Co, Donne & Co and Lionel Lyde & Co.22 The firm owned Woollard tinplate works southwest of Bristol throughout its career in that industry from about 1740 to about 1770.23 As Thomas Daniel & Co or Reynolds and Daniel they rented Monmouth Forge from Michaelmas 1740 until c.1807.24 In 1747 Maynard Colchester made an agreement with Reynolds and Daniels for the erection of a furnace at Burton Corner near the Forest of Dean, but this came to nothing and the agreement was cancelled in 1751.25 They also owned Brecon Furnace and Pipton Forge for a few years until they sold in 1753.26

his bankruptcy in 1799. When the works were divided in 1808, Melingriffith and Pentyrch (added in 1805) passed to Richard Blakemore & Co and thus remained with a branch of one of the founding families for the first half of the 19th century. The Ebbw Vale Works with those at Caerphilly, Machen and Bassaleg (i.e. Tredegar Forge) became Harfords, Crocker & Co, while their foundry at Bristol (with the same partners) traded as James Harford and Ironfoundery Co (sic).34 The firm later became Harfords, Davies & Co, but failed in about 1842.35 The full extent of the firm’s activities remains to be determined.36 It is not improbable that they also traded in other commodities and may well have been involved in overseas trade. Many of the partners, if not all, were Quakers. This was clearly a large firm, which was by the 1790s operating like a company. It was managed by a committee, which operated much as the board of directors of a limited company did in later times. Indeed it is noteworthy that several of the longest enduring industrial enterprises of 18th century were Quaker firms. The other obvious example in the iron trade is of course the Coalbrookdale Company. Men called Richard Reynolds, probably father and son, were partners in both firms. The fear of being disowned by the Society of Friends, if they incurred debts that they could not pay, similarly encouraged entrepreneurs to obtain equity capital (so that others shared the profits and losses), rather than borrowing money for working capital on bond as others tended to do. This may have been assisted by the Friends’ moral teaching, which encouraged probity in business and sanctioned the failure to pay debts. This probably meant that the sleeping partners could trust the active ones to account properly for their shares. This is a larger topic which cannot fully be addressed here,37 but it has recently argued that denominational coercion was less significant than used to be supposed.38 Other 18th-century examples include the London Lead Company and Bristol Brass Wire Company.39

The great expansion of the firm belongs to the last third of the 18th century. Trostrey Forge near Usk was probably built by them in 1765 or 1766, but later belonged to a separate company.27 They took over the Melingriffith Works near Cardiff in 1768.28 Reynolds and Partridge operated Redbrook Furnace and Lydbrook Forges from 1763 to 1793.29 They had the Lydney Works briefly in 1775 and again in 1789-90 when David Tanner surrendered it to them as his mortgagees.30 They apparently also had Caerleon Forge in 1770, also before David Tanner.31 In 1781, after Maybury and Wilkins had been forced to give them up, they leased Tredegar and Machen Forges, and Caerphilly Furnace, which at this time could use either coke or charcoal as fuel.32 In the 1790s they partnered Thomas Hill & Co (as Hill, Harford & Co) in building Nantyglo, but Hill refused to advance more capital in 1795, leading to its closure until 1802. Instead in 1796 they took over the Ebbw Vale Works.33

Other ironworks A series of new charcoal ironworks were established in this area in the mid-18th century. Two of these were integrated operations, a furnace and forge at Pentyrch, built in c.1740 and the Abercarn works, with a forge at Caerleon, in 1751. Melingriffith Forge (built by 1749) was however not linked to a furnace. Cardiff Forge (of 1751) shared partners with Pentyrch, as did Dowlais, the first coke ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil (described in the preceding chapter). Though not necessarily an original objective, the focus of the industry became tinplate. The first Abercarn Company built Ponthir tinplate works at Caerleon, but their works went their separate ways when the company failed in 1758 and the two Caerleon

This enterprise remained intact until about 1808 when the works were divided between the branches of the founding families. Harford, Partridge & Co were one of the largest businesses making charcoal iron in the period in which they were operating; their only major rival in south Wales and Gloucestershire in terms of scale was David Tanner until Bristol RO, 09458/26; 4658/6a-6b. Brydon 1934. 22 SW a/c. 23 Q.v. 24 NLW, Badminton III, BMA 3/2, ‘Monmouth’ and passim. 25 Gloucs RO, D36/E16 and q.v. 26 NLW, Maybery 1215; Lloyd 1906, 1-11. 27 Q.v. 28 Chappell 1940, 31. 29 Hart 1971, 78 97. 30 Hart 1971, 89 92. 31 Q.v. 32 British Chronicle or Pugh’s Hereford Journal, 23 Mar. 1780; NLW, Tredegar Park 76/254-7. 33 Ince 1993, 105 129. 20 21

Cambrian, 16 Dec. 1809. Ince 1991b, 105-6. 36 The largest group of surviving records is the ledgers of the Ebbw Vale Works from 1805 (EV a/c), but these only refer to one branch of the firm. 37 For Quaker business see Raistrick 1950; Price 1986. 38 Sahle 2018. 39 For see companies see Raistrick 1977; Day 1973. 34 35

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II works parting in c.1770. Melingriffith included a newly built tinplate works in 1767. Such tinplate works could absorb the bar iron output from one to two large forges, so that very little charcoal bar iron was shipped to Bristol or elsewhere: it was all being made into tinplate. This probably applies to the whole region from Gloucester to Pembroke. The letter book of Robert Morgan of Carmarthen and accounts for Caerleon and Melingriffith all show the same picture.

Gazetteer

To some extent the new forges are the counterpart of expansion in the number of charcoal furnaces in North Lancashire and up and down the west coast of Britain, smelting redmine from the mines of Furness. For example, Maryport Furnace in Cumberland was a major supplier of Caerleon Forge.40 The forges also used pig iron imported from Virginia and Maryland, imported to Bristol as ballast for tobacco until the 1770s.41 The forges in turn stimulated the growth of the tinplate industry. This variety of economic development is not unique to the area covered by this chapter. It applies also to the Swansea and Neath valleys and to Carmarthenshire. However, unlike those areas, there was at times little overall vertical integration. Caerleon Forge and Ponthir Works went in different directions from Abercarn. Melingriffith only became linked to local ironworks when its owners took over Machen and Tredegar Forges in 1781 and then Pentyrch in 1805.

The works stood at the modern town of Abercarn beside the River Ebbw near the mouth of Nant Gwyddon, the valley in which lay an earlier furnace (described in chapter 32). Both works lay in Mynyddislwyn parish and Abercarn manor. The 18th-century (and later) works formed a complex with four water-powered ironworks. Some of the works were on Nant Gwyddon, where John Hanbury in 1769 renewed a lease of a pool on the east side of the town. The wire mill stood on a site, now vacant, beside the River Ebbw. The water returned to the river above another weir, from which a leat filled the Osmond Forge Pond. This provided power for the Great Forge. The furnace has in recent years been discovered to survive and published by Burland et al. The furnace was probably one of the last charcoal furnaces to be built on an inland site.

Charcoal ironworks Abercarn, also called Abergwython: ‘old foundry’ Osmond Forge: Old or Great Forge Forge (later bar iron rolling mill) Wire Mill

The erection of a furnace near Abergwython House, replacing Abergwyddon Mill, was initially proposed in 1750 to operate in connection with Caerleon Forge. The site was sold by Henry Burgh (lord of Abercarn) to John Roberts, Elizabeth Hanbury and Henry Romsey of Bristol and John Griffiths of Pontypool, his lessees of Caerleon Forge. His object was to provide a means of using the woods of Burgh’s manor of Abercarn. The tenants, contrary to their initial expectation, managed to get a supply of pig iron for the forge and so apparently did not immediately proceed with the furnace, but by 1753 they had a forge, wiremill and tilting mill. Mr Hanbury, Mr Roberts and other Quaker partners from Bristol (evidently the same company as at Caerleon) certainly had a furnace and forge when Angerstein visited (and drew) in 1755. The managers included John Griffith and George Worrall in 1758 when the works were advertised.

Caerphilly and Pentyrch Furnaces were both sometimes blown with coke, but no specifically coke furnaces were built anywhere near this area until the late 19th century. The great development of coke furnaces in the late 18th century was further north. During the 19th century most of the remaining forges became tinplate works; some of these closed in the late 19th century when the Americans raised a tariff barrier (the McKinley tariffs). Some were closed in the 1930s depression or under a redundancy scheme after World War II. Melingriffith closed in 1957. Abercarn remained in use as a satellite of a modern cold-rolling plant, finally being closed by the British Steel Corporation in about 1980. It was the last survivor of former ‘pack mills’.42 Tinplate is now produced in continuous strip mills in large modern integrated steel works, one of which, at Llanwern, lies just outside Newport.

As a result of the furnace not being immediately built (or perhaps not fully used), the landlord made difficulties in 1759 when the tenants applied for licence to assign the lease of Caerleon Forge. These were compromised by the tenants releasing their right to wood round Abercarn. The purchasers were a partnership from Birmingham, consisting of John Darbyshire (bankrupt 1764), John Humphries, Joshua Glover, Samuel Birch, Thomas Richards and Samuel Garbett, but subsequently the last three were replaced by Richard Rabone. From 1764 Joshua Glover was the leading partner and owned copyhold land, which had previously belonged to John Griffiths and then John Darbyshire. Elias Wallin was his partner from 1772 until 1788, when following Joshua’s death in 1786, his son successor Samuel Glover bought Wallin out. The furnace

General sources Rees 1968 seems reliable in dealing with this area. Lloyd 1906 and Ince 1993 focus on coke ironmaking in the industrial revolution and beyond. Tinplate is dealt with in Brooke 1944-9; Minchinton 1957; and Jenkins 1995. I have found no satisfactory general account of Harford, Partridge & Co.

40 41 42

[1] ST216948 [2] ST214949 [3] ST215948 [4] ST215952

Caerleon Mill a/c. For the role of ballast see Middleton 1953, 170. Jenkins 1995, 231 243-5.

516

Chapter 34: The Cardiff and Newport Area Trading 1758 to 1770 Abercarn Co supplied cast necessaries and occasionally pig iron to Caerleon Forge (Caerleon a/c); Joshua Glover sold 1 ton pig iron to Wolverley Forge in 1766 (SW  a/c). About 1763 mixing Tubal pigs (from America) with the Company’s own pig iron answered well in making loops. The use of Abby [Tintern] and Lancashire pigs melted in an air furnace with [cannon?] ‘balls’ was also mentioned (NLW, Bedford 1763, 1v 4v; Burland et al 1997, 36). 1783 Anthony Bacon contracted to supply 800 tpa pig iron from Hirwaun. Joshua Glover leased Hirwaun Furnace from about 1786. In 1787 Samuel Glover bought the Llwyd Coed estate, on which the Aberdare Ironworks was subsequently built, though only after he sold it. Samuel Glover bought finers metal from Ebbw Vale Ironworks 1805-7, as did David Jenkins & Co in 1815-7 and Daniels Jenkins & Co in 1817/8 (EV a/c).

was probably closed in 1783, when Joshua and Samuel Glover contracted to take 800 tpa pig iron from Hirwaun Furnace. The ‘1794’ list names ‘Glover & Son’ (perhaps anachronistically). In 1808 Samuel Glover sold the works with his manor of Abercarn to Richard Crawshay. It was offered to let in 1809, but on Crawshay’s death in 1811, it passed to his son-in-law Benjamin Hall. About this time, Hall began to build a tramroad to his collieries. The partnership of J. Thomas, M. Bevan, W. Thomas and E. Edwards of Abercarne, ironmasters and wire-manufacturers was dissolved in 1811. By 1815 a forge, at least, was held by David (or Daniels) Jenkins & Co. The partnership of John Lawrence, John Jenkins, William Jenkins (of Pontyhir) William Jenkins (of Caerleon), William Powell, Ann Lewis, William Daniell and Edward Jenkins as charcoal bar iron manufacturers was dissolved in 1825, with the business being continued by William Daniell. In 1833 he let the old wire mill and bar iron rolling mill to Daniel, Lewis & Co (William Daniel of Abercarn, John Lewis of Tydee, Edward Daniel of Llanvrechva, and Ann Lewis). In 1844 he let the Osmond or Great or Old Forge (including a tin mill), which Davies & Co had held at least between 1831 and 1839, to David Morris & Co (David and William Morris and W.T. Morgan). By 1865 Biddulph and Spence built a tinplate works, which was taken over in 1865 by their manager Daniel Whitehouse, who ran the works until 1895. The works was reopened by Richard Thomas and others as Abercarn Tinplate Company in 1895-1901; and it was then Newport Tinplate Co in 1902-1914. The works were modernised in 1912, and the company was taken over by Richard Thomas & Co Ltd in 1914. It operated until the mid-1970s, probably remaining a traditional pack mill until about 1960.

Sources Burland et al 1997; Gwent RO, Man/B/1/0035; D20/42 44 65 & 85-130 passim; Angerstein’s Diary, 1534; London Evening Post, 7 Jan. 1758; TNA, C 112/186(2); Lloyd 1906, 157-60; Plymouth l/b, 23 Sep. 1786; Riden 1993, 11-2; Pugh 1934, 61; Rattenbury 1988, 170-2; Brooke 1944, 7-8; Birmingham Gazette, 29 May 1809; Gross 2008, 56 127 183; Jenkins 1995, 231 243. A bundle of documents throwing further light on this ironworks was discovered in the 1990s in an estate office and used by Burland et al, but I have not examined it. Caerleon Forge (The Britannia Works)

[5] SO336915

The forge stands on low ground beside the Caerleon to Pontypool road and was driven by a leat from Afon Llwyd leaving the river at a weir almost a mile away at ST328924. There are various descriptions of the works’ history, but they are hard to reconcile, partly due to confusion with the nearby Caerleon Plate Mills (The Ponthir Works) and also the Pontnewydd Works.

Size R.R. Angerstein visited Abercarn in 1754 and described the furnace and mine kilns in detail, also the straining hammer and scouring wheel for the wireworks. The forge had 3 hearths, presumably a chafery and two fineries (Angerstein’s Diary, 153-6). In 1758 there were a forge, a furnace, a wiremill, and a tilting and rounding mill. In 1788 there was a closed furnace; and in 1790 4 fineries and a chafery and a wiremill at Abergwythen; another version of the list says that S. Glover had a pitcoal forge, a charcoal furnace (not used) and a charcoal wireworks (Coxe 1801, 3; Flower 1880, 1423 citing J. Evans & J. Britton, The beauties of England & Wales, 1810). The Hirwaun pig iron contract suggests production of about 550 tpa. Some wire was supplied to the Penydarren works at Merthyr in 1788 (NLW, MS 15593E, 18). In 1809, there was an osmond forge, a wiremill (capable of 100 bundles per week) and a forge that could shingle 70 tons per week and a rolling mill, making 60 tons of half blooms into bars.

The forge was built in 1751 by Rev Henry Burgh (who was lord of the manors of Caerleon and Abercarn) to be used for 21 years by John Roberts and Elizabeth Hanbury of Bristol ironmongers, with Henry Romsey and John Griffiths of Pontypool. By 1758 John Griffiths junior was managing the forge, which does not seem to have prospered: Elizabeth Hanbury was bankrupt and John Griffiths had left the realm, presumably on account of debt. He is said to have gone to America and established an iron and japanning works there. The assignment of the lease was authorised, the purchaser probably being Lewis Davies. John Griffiths junior continued to manage the works until 1764, being succeeded by Hamman Davies, the son of Lewis Davies, who had just become of age. The surviving accounts for the forge finish raggedly in 1770. In that year Harford, Partridge & Co were described as having the forge.

Associations The initial supply of pig iron from elsewhere, which caused difficulties with the landlord, may have consisted in renting Llanelly Furnace (q.v.), where ironstone would have been more readily available.

David Tanner was renting the works by 1775 (perhaps from c.1772) and did so until 1783. He was followed from 1783 517

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II whole of the production of the forge was transferred to the Plate Mills (that is Ponthir Works).

to 1786 by John Hanbury (d.1784) and his representatives, but from 1786 it was back in the hands David Tanner, until he was bankrupt in 1798. From c.1800 Fothergill & Co had it, the partners in 1814 being Richard Fothergill and I. Jenkins. William Forman retired from a partnership with Richard, Thomas and Rowland Fothergill in 1827. J. & R. Fothergill had it in 1865, but Francis Moggridge & Co in 1868. Llwydiarth Iron Steel and Tinplate Co Ltd (David Grey, Thomas Thomas & William Williams) had it in 18851893. In 1893, Caerleon Tinplate Co was incorporated. In 1894, R. Cook Jenkins bought the lease from a mortgagee; followed in 1901 by Richards and Hopkins Ltd (J. Richards & G.H. Hopkins), and later Richards & Thompson Ltd (J. Richards & C.F. Thompson). In 1909 W.T. Arthur & W.T. Jones trading as Caerleon Tinplate & Engineering Works incorporated a limited company of that name, which went into liquidation in 1913. John Paton bought the works and incorporated Caerleon Works Ltd in 1914. In 1920 this was amalgamated into Partridge Jones and John Paton Ltd. The works was requisitioned in 1942 and was later reopened by the Staffordshire firm, William Hunt (The Brades) Ltd. The buildings were in the 1990s still in use for a commercial purpose and mainly consisted of rather dilapidated corrugated iron buildings. Among these was a small older building, which may well be the original forge.

Accounts 1758-70 journal detailing most transactions: Caerleon Mill MSS. Sources Gwent RO, D 10/1123; Man/1/0035; D 25/0196 & 0916; D 394/B2 passim; Gibbs 1951C; London Evening Post, 7 Jan. 1758; Glamorgan RO, CL deeds calendar vol II, 30-36; London Gazette, no. 18346, 703 (23 Mar. 1827); Brooke 1944, 35-6 & 188; Kennerley 1980. Wireworks: London Gazette, no. 15771, 71 (12 Jan. 1805); no. 17191, 2157 (12 Nov. 1816). Caerphilly Furnace

[6] ST142877

The furnace stood on Nant yr Aber in the township of Hendredenny and parish of Eglwysilan to the northwest of the town of Caerphilly. The furnace stack does not seem to survive, but there are the ruins of substantial buildings which may well have been the blowing and casting houses. Foundations in the field above may well represent a charcoal barn. There are large amounts of slag in the area. It was built by order of the trustees of William Morgan in about 1680 to replace Taff Furnace, whose water supply was inadequate. It was managed during Thomas Morgan’s minority by Roger Williams. It was then occupied with Machen by the following: 1690 to 1700 Thomas Morgan with Roger Williams and his son-in-law Roger Powell as partners; then John Morgan, ‘Merchant Morgan’ (d.1716); then Sir William (d.1731); 1732 to 1748 James Pratt (lately the manager) with Samuel Pratt of London and Richard Davies of Gelliwastod (and later others) as partners; 1748 to 1754 Thomas Morgan, Hugh Jones of Gelliwastod and Samuel Pratt; 1754 to 1764 William Morgan or a continuation of the previous partnership; 1764 to 1775 John Maybery and John Wilkins; 1775 to 1779 to Charles Price, Henry Morgan of Bristol & James Price (insolvent); 1781 on Harford, Getley & Co, later called Harford, Partridge & Co. The lease was renewed in 1802 and passed to the successor Harfords, Crocker & Co in 1809. The amounts of Ebbw Vale pig iron and finers metal used from 1805 by Tredegar and Machen Forges (EV a/c) imply that the furnace was not then in use. However reduced receipts after this imply there was another source, possibly this furnace, which is reported not to have closed until 1819, but the extent of its use in the early 19th century remains uncertain.

Fothergill & Co (Matthew Monkhouse, Richard Fothergill, William Wood, William Fothergill, Thomas Millward and Henry Fletcher as executor of Henry Parry) also traded as William Wood and Co as wire manufacturers until 1805, when a business was transferred to William Parry, trading as the Caerleon Wire Work Company. Henry and William Parry apparently later became tinplate manufacturers, but were bankrupt in 1816. The relationship of this wire works to the forge and its subsequent history is unclear. Size Angerstein described the forge. It had two fineries and a chafery, making 6 tpw (Angerstein’s Diary, 148-50). In 1770 it was ‘a large iron and tinplate works’. In 1790 D. Tanner had 2 fineries and 1 chafery (also in 1798). In 1832 it was still a forge, but in 1840 tin & wire works. Associations The original partnership bought, but did not immediately fully develop, a site for a furnace at Abercarn. That firm, or at least some of the partners, built the Ponthir Works a short distance upstream from the works. these seem to have continued in common ownership until 1770. Harford Partridge & Co and David Tanner between them at one time or another held most of the ironworks of the region. David Tanner’s re-entry to the works probably coincides with his taking over the Pontypool Works, which was followed by the purchase of the Blaendare estate near Pontymoel where he built furnaces.

Size 1717 200 tpa: this figure seems too low. Unfortunately the surviving accounts for Tredegar and Machen Forges so not easily allow an output to be deduced, but the forges would have needed 700-800 tpa pig iron, though some was certainly bought in (see under Tredegar Forge). Carriers took 845 tons from the furnace to various forges in 1748/9 and 487 tons in 1749/50 (Morgan & Jones ledger). The underlease of 1775 included Ridgwern [Rhydygwern] Coalworks and ironstone mine but also provided for the sale of ‘coals’, from the price evidently charcoal. In 1778 it could make 25 tpw with charcoal or 20 tpw with coke

Trading In 1754, pig iron came from Abercarn (Angerstein’s Diary). After 1758, the accounts show that the main source of pig iron was Netherhall Furnace at Maryport in Cumberland, which usually provided about 170 tpa. Some of this came from Richard Seys of Chepstow. Other pig iron came from a wide variety of sources. Almost the 518

Chapter 34: The Cardiff and Newport Area Trading According to John Bedford the works used whatever pig iron they could get, mainly what he called redshort [usually called tough], and made considerable losses (NLW, Bedford 1765/b).

(Aris Birmingham Gazette). 1788 600 tpa; 1790 & 1794 a charcoal furnace; 1796 695 tpa; 1801 not listed (Coxe 1801, 3); 1805 silent; 1810 not listed. It had no doubt largely been replaced by the Ebbw Vale ironworks, bought in 1796.

Sources NLW, Bute box 48; Chappell 1940, 28.

Associations Except from 1775 to 1779 the furnace was always held with Machen and Tredegar Forges. Maybery & Wilkins converted Brecon Furnace to a forge and built Hirwaun Furnace and operated it until 1775. Harford Partridge & Co were a Bristol company, described in the introduction.

Llantrisant

In 1551 the Earl of Pembroke granted a mining lease in respect of several manors to Thomas Smith of London and Sir William Winter of Lydney. It is not known what was done under this lease. However after the deaths of Winter in 1588 and Smith in 1593, the latter’s son John assigned his lease in 1595 to George Leicester and Ferdinando Clutterbuck, who brought in John Ramsden, an ironmaster. The lease was then surrendered in 1596 in exchange for a new one for 18 years in favour of Leicester and Urye Babington, who brought in William Hawes. The new lease could have been so that a separate lease could be granted of another part of the demised premises, which could be the basis of the ironworks in Glynrhondda (see preceding chapter). Babington afterwards transferred his share to Hawes. This partnership of Londoners then built a furnace, but apparently not a forge. The furnace is mentioned in 1601, but not heard of subsequently and probably only lasted a few years. Slag at Hendy Isaf may be from a forge, which presumably operated with the furnace, but was only built after Babington left.

Trading There does not seem to be much evidence of pig iron being supplied other than to associated works before the 1748, when some was sent to Melingriffith (Morgan & Jones Ledger). ‘Hugh Jones Macken’ supplied the Stour Works in 1750-4 (SW a/c). In 1786/6 Melingriffith Works took 435 tons of pig iron, but less in other years between 1780 and 1796, but this included 29 tons of finers’ metal in 1795/6, which might indicate a refinery was added at the furnace (Evans 2001, 419-22). Accounts see Tredegar Forge. Sources NLW, Castell Gorfod 62; NLW, Tredegar MSS. & docs. 871; NLW, Tredegar Park 76/passim (especially 107 43-49 112 & 250-7); Aris Birmingham Gazette, 3 Nov. 1777; 23 Feb. 1778; British Chronicle or Pugh’s Hereford Journal, 23 Mar. 1780; Cambrian, 16 Dec. 1809; Williams 1960; Riden 1993, 15-7; Ince 1993, 278; Rees 1968, 312-7. Cardiff Forge

[8] Furnace: ST033812 [9] Forge: ST043812

Sources Riden & King, ‘Llantrisant’, 11-16; TNA, C  2/ Eliz/B13/3; C  78/163/14; inf. from Tim Young. D.M. Rees (1969, 52 citing Bevan 1956) suggested the Earl of Leicester was involved: a Leicester was indeed involved, but not the Earl.

[7] probably ST179765

The forge was beside Cardiff Mill near the west gate of Cardiff and the George Inn. It was built in 1751 by David Howell of Pentyrch, Thomas Price, James Whitfield, and John Jones. However David Howell sold out in 1754. In 1765 the partners were Thomas Harris, Nathaniel Webb, John Jones, Thomas Price, William Lewis, and Thomas Williams. They agreed to let the works to Francis Dorsett junior & Co, but he defaulted in completing the transaction. The works were let in 1768 pending the outcome of Chancery proceedings to George Pengree. Eventually in 1777 the lease was completed. William Lewis bought the share of Thomas Price’s family in 1786, but surrendered the lease to the Earl of Bute in 1793. Its unroofing is mentioned about this time and it appears to have closed. The leat was later diverted along the northern moat of Cardiff Castle, so that it would run into what became Bute East Dock.

Machen Forges or Rhydygwern and Gelliwastod

[10] ST202889 [11] ST203888

The two forges lay quite close together. Both seem to have relied on water from a weir on the River Rhymney at ST196984, fixed to Gelliwastod land on the other side of the river. From this ran a fleam supplying a large pound. The Upper Forge seems to have lain between this pound and the river, just within Rudry. The Lower Forge lay beyond the west end of the pound in Rhydygwern in the parish of Machen, and was part of the Rupperra estate. The leat running to the works remained distinct in the 1990s with a footpath running along its bank; and apparently carrying some water at times. The ruins of one of the forge buildings could be detected in the undergrowth near where the pound was. It may be that other foundations could also be found.

Size The works does not appear in any of the usual lists, but is described as comprising a bar iron forge and plating forge. In 1754 a refiner and 4 bloom makers were under contract to the company.

The two forges were always held together, as indeed they had to be since they relied on the same water supply for their power. The earlier forge was probably the lower one. It may have been built as early as 1560. In 1569 (or perhaps 1571) it was taken by Andrew Palmer and John

Associations Lewis and Price were partners at Pentyrch. All or most of the 1765 partners were partners in Dowlais Ironworks. 519

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Wheeler on behalf of themselves and the other farmers of Tintern wireworks. Edmond Roberts was still living at Rhydygwern in 1576, perhaps as their manager. It then probably descended with the wireworks, probably being in the hands of Richard Hanbury about 1590 and then, perhaps temporarily, passing by 1597 to his son-in-law Edmund Wheler. Subsequently, before John Challenor’s death in 1607, the lease passed to him and his son William together with George Catchmay and Edmond Thomas, perhaps as part of a settlement of the dispute over the supply of osmond iron to Tintern wireworks. It was thus again united with Tintern. John’s share passed, on his death, to his sons William and Richard.

Pratt of London and Richard Davies of Gelliwastod as partners. The composition of the firm changed before its lease came to an end in 1748. After this Thomas Morgan, Hugh Jones of Gelliwastod and Samuel Pratt ran the ironworks until 1754 when William Morgan probably took them in hand. John Maybery took a long lease in 1764. This lease was subsequently found to be void as against the heir as being in excess of the leasing powers in a family settlement and John Maybery and his partner John Wilkins surrendered it in 1779. The partnership, involving Charles and James Price that held Caephilly Furnace, may have had the works until 1781. After this, the works were taken by Harford, Getley & Co even though the lease, in favour of Harford, Partridge & Co was in fact not completed until 1789. The lease was renewed in 1802. Following the division of that firm in 1809, it passed to Harfords, Crocker & Co, John Harford being the resident partner in 1820.

In 1622 it was held by Edmond Thomas and Thomas Hackett, the manager of Tintern wireworks, with John Steevens as their clerk. Thomas Hackett is said to have held it jointly with Sir Basil Brooke and George Mynne after 1626. However in 1642 it was held by John Steevens, by then in his own right. In 1655 it was taken on lease by John Greenuff and partners. In 1664 the firm consisted of John Greenuff himself; Richard Jones and Gregory Iremonger, who are not known to have been otherwise involved in the iron industry; Richard Hart, who became the leading partner after John Greenuff’s death; and Alice widow of George Steevens.

The Waterloo Tinplate Works was built nearby in 1826 and was probably operated in conjunction with the forges. These works were in the hands of Philip Woodruff in 1865. The Machen Iron and Tinplate Company Limited was incorporated in 1869 and was succeeded in 1877 by Waterloo Iron and Tinplate Company Limited, of which Huzzey & Co were proprietors. P.S. Phillips owned the works in 1893 and it passed to the ubiquitous Richard Thomas in 1895. Machen Tinplate Works was disused by 1901 and many of the buildings had already been demolished. The later Waterloo Works, which at one time incorporated a blast furnace, continued in use long after this.

The upper forge was built by this partnership, probably in 1658. The date is indicated by a licence to divert water, granted to George Steevens by Thomas Morgan. It stood on the land of Rowland Robert, whose son Edward Rowland sold the property to Alice Steevens and her new husband Reinald Williams in 1666. They sold it in 1668 to John Harries, who in turn sold it to William Morgan of Tredegar in 1676. He had bought Gelliwastod from Richard Hart in 1675. It is probably about this date that a survey of the forges and Taff Furnace at Whitchurch was drawn up (NLW, Tredegar Park 76/1), probably in preparatory to William Morgan taking them over. However the exact date of his acquisition of the forge leases is not entirely certain. He already had Tredegar Forge in hand by this time.

Size 1717 200 tpa (the two forges); 1718 & 1736 (with Tredegar) 550 tpa; 1750 (with Tredegar) 600 tpa. The arrangements of Maybery and Wilkins suggest that the three forges and Brecon took 300 tpa pig iron from Hirwaun furnace and probably the whole output of Caerphilly Furnace, perhaps with imports from elsewhere, suggesting production of at least the 1750 level; 1790 4 fineries and 2 chaferies. Associations The forges were almost always occupied with Taff Furnace then with its replacement, Caerphilly Furnace. As mentioned, the forge had a close relationship with the wireworks at Tintern until at least the 1620s. This points to the works including an osmond forge. Osmond continued to be made there until late in that century. Greenuff and Hart respectively bought Hales castings in 1668 and 1670 (Foley a/c). William Morgan used Tredegar Forge prior to his acquisition of Taff Furnace and Machen Forges. They continued to be held together until the closure of Tredegar, probably in the early 19th century. Maybery and Wilkins also held Hirwaun Furnace and Brecon Forge. Harford Partridge & Co held a large number of ironworks stretching from the Wye Valley to this area (see introduction).

Following William Morgan’s death the executors directed Roger Williams to continue managing Machen Forges and also the new furnace, which they ordered to be built at Hendredenny in the parish of Eglwysilan, a furnace is usually known as Caerphilly Furnace (see above). Rowland Morgan was appointed to manage Tredegar Forge. This was, in each case, during the minority of Thomas Morgan. In 1690 Thomas Morgan made Roger Williams and his son-in-law Roger Powell partners. Roger Williams was general manager and Taynton was clerk at Machen and Caerphilly. After Roger Williams’ death the partnership ceased and the works were either then or a few years later run by John Morgan, ‘Merchant Morgan’ (d.1716) and his son Sir William Morgan (d.1731), for the rest of their lives.

Trading and Accounts see Tredegar Forge.

In 1732 the furnace and all three forges (Tredegar and two at Machen) were let to James Pratt, who may well by then have been managing them for many years. He took Samuel

Sources TNA, E 134/39 Eliz/Hil 23; PROB 11/109/206; Donald 1961, 54 97-9 107 122 & 135; for other early 520

Chapter 34: The Cardiff and Newport Area references compare Taff Furnace; Locke 1916, 136-7; Williams 1960; NLW, Plymouth 566; NLW, Castell Gorfod 62; NLW, Tredegar MSS & docs 729 753 755 770 791 871; NLW, Tredegar Park 19/13-4; 48/72-82; 48/98; 56/370; 64/399; 67/335; 72/89-95; 76/passim; TNA, C 7/530/107; C 6/188/57; British Chronicle or Pugh’s Hereford Journal, 23 Mar. 1780; London Gazette, no. 12204. 7; no. 12226, 7 (3 Jul. and 18 Sep. 1781); Cambrian, 16 Dec. 1809; Rees 1968, 263-4 312-7. Note also a report on Waterloo Works: Glamorgan RO, Philip Riden Papers. Melingriffith Works

and a newly erected mill for tinplate, sheet iron, etc. The workforce of Woollard Mill were brought here when it closed, perhaps in 1770. By 1775 there were two tinplate mills with a third mill was added that year, followed by a third finery in 1779, increasing production to 430 tons of bar iron. In 1785/6 the three fineries made 420 tons, substantially all used in the tinmills; there were two blackplate mills known as the old and new mills which made each 333 tons of blackplate, that is 11,936 boxes between them; this produced 10,578 boxes of tinplate; 8 scrap shops made the shearings into 100 tpa of bolt iron. In 1794 there were three fineries and a chafery. The tinplate production process in use is described in Tucker & Wakelin 1981.

[12] ST142802

The Melingriffith Tinplate Works stands on the river Taff in the manor of Whitchurch, a few miles north of the centre of Cardiff, in what are now on the northern outskirts of the city. The forge is described as having been built by Rees Powell and is probably the one held by Mr Lloyd until 1749 (see trading below). It was let as a ‘new forge’ to Richard Jordan and Francis Homfray in 1749, with liberty to build a second one. Francis Homfray withdrew by 1760. Richard Jordan obtained a 200 year lease in 1760. He took his sons, Thomas and William Jordan, into partnership, being succeeded by them by 1765, but they became bankrupt in 1767.

Associations The Jordan family had Grange Furnace and Heath Forge (Staffs). It is not clear if Edward Jordan of the Tintern Works was connected. The Homfray family began as Stourbridge ironmongers, expanding into making iron and steel. Francis Homfray probably returned to the Midlands to manage the steel business of his late brother John in partnership with his nephew another John, who was only a child (see chapter 24). Trading 101 tons of pig iron was carried from Caerphilly Furnace to ‘Mr Lloyd’s Forge’ in 1748/9 and 42 tons the following year when 20 tons also went to ‘Mr Homfray’s Forge’. In each case the carrier was paid four shillings per ton which probably represents a distance of about six miles (Morgan & Jones ledger). In 1754 Richard Jordan owed £159 to that firm (NLW Tredegar 76/47). There does not seem to be any other forge that could be the destination of this trade. In 1765 John Bedford wrote that they had, ever since they were built, worked tough pigs wherever they could get them and had made losses upon the whole (NLW, Bedford 1765/b, 19r). In the early 1770s, most of the feedstock was American pig iron, but in 1779-81 mostly from Redbrook with some from Caerphilly (Evans 2001, 418-9). In 1786/7 it used 435 tons pig iron from Caerphilly and 85 tons American pig iron mainly Speedwell; the blackplate mills additionally needed 196 tons of iron from Machen and 226 tons from Pentyrch, which was supplemented by 333 boxes of blackplate from Lydbrook (Melingriffith a/c). In 1791 Harford Partridge & Co had 161 tons of Lorn pig iron shipped to Cardiff (Lorn l/b, 8 Apr. & 4 Oct. 1791). The accounts show the use of more than that in the 1790s, along with pig and finers’ metal from a number of other sources (Evans 2001, 421-2). In 1805/6 72 tons of pig iron came from Ebbw Vale with a few tons of castings that year and two years later (EV a/c). The works were probably being supplied subsequently from Pentyrch, after the firm acquired it in 1805.

In (or by) 1770 the works came into the hands of Reynolds, Getley & Co. This was a group of merchants from Bristol, many of them Quakers, who from this time collected up an impressive array of ironworks in the Forest of Dean and South Wales. Following a reconstruction of the partnership in about 1780 the firm became known as Harford, Partridge & Co. Joseph Vaughan managed the works for many years. Many other members of the family managed other works often for the same partnership. Vaughan was followed in 1799 by Robert Rowland. The partnership was dissolved in 1808 and its assets partitioned among the members. Richard Blakemore received Melingriffith in 1808, and held it with partners until 1822, then alone until 1834, then with his nephew T.W. Booker, who acquired his uncle’s share in 1845. His business was incorporated as Thomas W. Booker & Co Ltd in 1872, but liquidated in 1879. James Spence of Liverpool bought the works and incorporated Cardiff Iron and Tinplate Co Ltd which was liquidated in 1888. Richard Thomas then bought the works and it continued in the hands of his company and its successors, Richard Thomas and Baldwins Ltd, until its closure in 1957. The buildings have since been demolished, but the site was not redeveloped, as the site is built on arches over a series of watercourses, which formerly drove water wheels to power the works. There was a complicated arrangement with the Glamorgan Canal by which some of the water from the canal was used to drive machinery and then the outflow from this was used to pump some of it back into the canal.

Accounts Melingriffith a/c 1786/7 only; at the same location are other accounts, including for a truck shop, and also various letters. I have not studied further accounts in National Museum of Wales and Carms RO, Trostre collection (but see Evans 2001).

Size not listed in 1736; 1750 300 tpa, perhaps suggesting that the additional works authorised the previous year were then operating. In 1767 there were two fineries, a chafery

Sources Chappel 1940; Evans 2001; Glamorgan RO, D/D Mat 256; London Evening Post, 2 May 1767; Brooke 1944, 521

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Pentyrch Ironworks II or Cardiff Furnace

75-81 & 203 citing NLW, Ewenny (now in Glamorgan RO); NLW, Melingriffith (E.L. Chappel box 5); Bristol Mercury, 9 Dec. 1809; Cambrian, 16 Dec 1809; London Gazette, no. 17268, 1576 (15 Jul. 1817). Pentyrch Ironworks I

[13] furnace: ST123832 [14] forge: ST125827

The forge was driven from a long leat from River Taff beginning at a weir at ST118836, but the furnace may have been powered by a brook. There was a considerable pound against the forge building. The early history of the works is not well documented. The works were built by Thomas Lewis and Nicholas Price, under a 99-year lease from Christmas 1740. The works traded as David Howell 1746 to 1751, but Lewis and Thompson are said to have been the proprietors in 1750. They were then held by Nicholas Price until his death in 1757, when his sons Nicholas and William (d.1777) succeeded him. The works were held by Nicholas Price II in 1775 and by Thomas Lewis’ grandson William Lewis who had married Mary Price in 1796. William Lewis had advertised the works to let in 1777. It is possible that the works remained in partnership between the Price and Lewis families throughout this period.

probably c. ST130831

It is not certainly known where this ironworks was, but the site of the 18th-century ironworks (see below) is probably the most likely candidate. The histories of this ironworks and Taff Furnace in Tongwynlais, which was under a mile away on the other side of the River Taff, are uncomplicated, but there had been confusion as to which of them the surviving accounts of Sir Henry Sidney and others for an ironworks in Glamorgan relate. The introduction to this chapter argues in favour of Pentyrch. It has been suggested that the furnace was built in the time of Miles Matthews who died in 1557, but this is improbable. Two parts of a furnace belonged in 1565 to William Matthews (d.1587), but this seems to be the furnace operated as his tenants by Sir Henry Sidney with Edmund Roberts and Raffe Knight by 1564. In 1568, the partners were Sidney, Roberts, David Willard, and Joane Knight with licence to use non-timber trees. When they left, William Matthews may have operated the works himself, and it then passed with his estates to his brother Henry Matthews (d.1600), then another brother, Edmund Matthews, who appears to have made ordnance there from 1597. In 1600 or 1601 he let the works to Robert Cantrell and Peter Semyne and then in 1603 to Peter Semyne (or Semayne) alone. An inquiry, held in 1609, recorded the production of ordnance, apparently lawfully, but its resumption in 1616 resulted in the suppression of the furnace. There was then no ironworks until c.1740.

The works were acquired by Harford Partridge & Co in 1805. Thomas Vaughan was clerk in this period. The forge continued to be held with Melingriffith for much of the 19th century, passing to Richard Blakemore & Co in 1808, when the business of Harford, Partridge & Co was divided. On the failure of Thomas W. Booker & Co Ltd in 1879, the bank continued the works for three years, but they then reverted to G.E.R. Wingfield, the freeholder. The works were operated spasmodically between 1890 and 1915 by Waterhouse Bros, a Midlands holloware firm. In 1920 Pentyrch Steel and Tinplate Co Ltd was incorporated and ran the works until 1931 when Melingriffith Co Ltd bought the works probably to get the benefit of its quota. The furnace site has been developed as for housing. The forge site is occupied by a modern warehouse development. Size Furnace: 1788 600 tpa; 1790 a charcoal furnace (Scrivenor 1841, 361); 1794 ‘0 coke furnaces’, presumably implying it was out of blast then, as it was in 1796; it was not listed in 1805, and so was probably closed by then. However, it is referred to as a charcoal furnace in 1802 (Riden 1993, 27). Given the requirements of ‘New Forge’, the ability consistently to supply over 250 tpa to forges in the Stour Valley for several years suggests the furnace was capable of making at least 600 tpa. The coke furnace, which appears in lists of iron works from 1823 to 1885, was probably a new one on the same site.

Size and Trading The forge made 81 and 87 tons of iron in 1565 and 1567. The furnace made 103 tons of sows and plates in 1567, but at another point 157 tons of sows and 67t. 7cwt plates are mentioned (accounts). The plates were shipped to Rye for use in the steel works at Robertsbridge and Boxhurst. Edmund Matthewe made ordnance from 1597 to 1600, and Peter Semyne made about 700 tons of it in the following nine years. In addition the furnace supplied a forge at or near Pentyrch and probably also Monmouth Forge, where Robert Cantrell and Edmund Matthewe were partners. Robert Chantrell had a patent for using mineral coal in iron manufacture, which was presumably tried here (Daff 1972, 112).

Forge: ‘New Forge’ 250 tpa, which appears in the 1750 list, is likely to refer to this forge, rather than Cardiff Forge, which was not built until the following year. A forgeman was drowned in 1756. In 1778, the furnace could operate with charcoal or coke and there were two forges, which seem to be (uncharacteristically) omitted from the 1790 list. In 1791 there were three fineries each making 14-16 tons of blooms per month (that is 540 tpa). A new melting ‘furnace’ was built in July 1791 (Elsas 1959, 118 cf. 33 152-3) and in December 1792 a puddling furnace that made 19¼ tons of blooms per month (Chappell 1940, 27). However Peter Onions was apparently making ‘patent

Accounts Charge and discharge accounts 1564-8: Crossley 1975, 232-48. Sources Riden 1992b, 69-81 etc; Chappel 1940, 16-23 citing TNA, E 178/4143 & deed of indemnity referred to in an action Sir Henry Billingsley v Matthews; Cal. Patent Rolls 1566-9, no. 1910; Davies 1963, 81-2; Rees 1968, 259-63. Riden 1992b offers a different synthesis from that here.

522

Chapter 34: The Cardiff and Newport Area blooms’ here in 1788 (Evans 1990, p. xiv nos. 71 90). The presence of his original patent among the Dowlais archives (Elsas 1959, 186-7) shows the close link between Pentyrch and Dowlais at this period. The forge is marked on Yates map of Glamorgan of 1799.

Pontnewydd Works together. The Conway family then founded Pontrhydrun Tinplate Works and the Baptist chapel there about 1807. The works were built in 1756, probably on land leased from Humphrey Mackworth of Gnoll. The founders were the Abercarn Company, who also built Caerleon Forge. That company failed in 1758, and the works (including Caerleon Forge up to c.1770) were sold probably to Lewis Davies. He apprenticed his son Hamman Davies (then aged 15), to John Griffiths junior (one of the Abercarn Co), who continued as manager until 1764, when Hamman Davies (being of age) succeeded him. Samuel Watkins may have continued to be interested in the works until his death in 1787. Hamman Davies died in 1781, aged only 35. In 1782 his widow Mary married John Butler who ran the works until his death in 1808, having extended them in 1792. Mrs Butler’s nephew John Hamman Pritchard (bankrupt 1816) succeeded and ran the works in partnership with John Jenkins until 1812 (as Pritchard & Jenkins), though their partnership was only formally dissolved at the end of the following year.

Associations The departure of David Howell may be compared to his withdrawal from Cardiff Ironworks in 1754. Price and Lewis were also founding partners in those works and in Dowlais Furnace. Their disposal of Pentyrch in 1805 could be related to the decision to start a forge at Dowlais, a couple of years before. Thomas Lewis, a partner in Pytt, Lewis & Co and Coles, Lewis & Co, in the Swansea and Neath Valleys, was almost certainly a different person. Trading ‘Cardiff’ [Furnace] supplied pig iron to the Stour Works partnership 1746-56, sales totalling 365 tpa in 1750 (SW a/c). 1758-65 some pig iron was supplied to Caerleon Forge (Caerleon a/c). John Bedford praised the wisdom of the proprietors in mixing tough and coldshort mine (NLW, Bedford 1765/b, 15v & 19r). In 1785/6 it supplied 227 tons bar iron to Melingriffith (Melingriffith a/c). In 1791 much of the production of the forge was tinplate bars and was being sold to Melingriffith. This must have been a longterm major customer of the works. Alexander Cuthbertson of Neath, who was John Miers’ agent, was another customer (Chappel 1940, 27). The forge received 50 tons of Lorn pig iron in 1788 (Lorn l/b, 18 Feb. 1788). From 1805 to 1809 an average of about 150 tpa pig iron was brought from Ebbw Vale, but none was supplied thereafter (EV a/c), no doubt due to the division of the firm.

In 1812 they were let to Peter Maze, John and William Jenkins, followed by John Jenkins & Co (John and William Jenkins) until 1864; Alex Jenkins & Co (A.H. Jenkins) 1864 to 1873; Conway, Conway & Co (J.H. Conway who died 1889; then W.T. Conway, who was bankrupt in 1891; with William Conway who died 1891) 1873 to 1891; Ponthir Tinplate Works (I. Llewellyn & James Clements) 1892 on; then Waterhouse Brothers of Dudley Hill, Bradford, who operated the works up to their closure in about 1916. It is conceivable the composition of the firm in the mid-19th century was more complicated.

Accounts A cash book covering the period from 1791-3 (then in private hands) was available to Chappel.

Size 1794 1 ‘rolling mill (Butlers) for tinplate’. In 1795 it was a large tinworks; and in 1810 it made 14,000-20,000 boxes per year (Flower 1880, 142-3 152).

Sources Glamorgan RO, D/D Xfc 11/19; Hurley 1977; Chappel 1940, passim; Bristol Mercury, 9 Dec. 1809; Cambrian, 16 Dec 1809; London Gazette, no. 17268, 1576 (15 Jul. 1817); Brooke 1944, 155; Mahoney & Owen 1977; Owen 1982; Ince 1993, 145-6; Davies 1963, 84-5. Ponthir Works also called Caerleon Plate Mills

Associations John Butler had several tinplate works including Pontnewydd and Rogerstone.

[16] ST325926

Accounts Caerleon Mill MSS: 1756-65 & 1788-93. Sources Stephens 1934, 5-6 & 8; Gibbs 1951c; Kennerley 1980; Gwent RO, D43/569 3525-9 861 868-9 & 876-8; land tax, Llanfrechfa lower; Newport Central Library, q M319 (900) DEE (copies of deeds relating to Llantarnam Abbey Park ...), 33-58 & 197-264; London Gazette, no. 16852, 289 (5 February 1814); no. 17217, 284 (17 Feb. 1817); no. 17321, 87 (10 Jan. 1818); Brooke 1944-9, 35-6 ‘Caerleon’ 159 & 232; Coxe 1801, 3; Bradney, Mons. iii(2), 205-7.

This tinplate works stood on Afon Llwyd in Llanfrechfa Lower, a certain distance above the bridge from which it took its name. It was between the river and the railway there. In the 1990s, the leat could be detected in a belt of scrub alongside the railway. This began to widen to form a pound, but between this and the site of the works nothing remained. The works themselves were a ruin, over part of which was a Dutch barn. The works, being close to Caerleon, have been confused with Caerleon Forge (Britannia Works). This confusion has been made worse by the statement that John Jenkins and George Conway built the works. The original men of these names were workmen brought from Ynyspenllwch to run the works. Their families do not seem to have been proprietors of any works until the 19th century, when they built the

Rogerstone Works (or Rocheston Works)

[17] ST271877

This was on River Ebbw near Rogerstone Castle. Its site and that of the Tydee Works (with which it has sometimes been confused) were both within the boundary of British 523

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Alcan’s Rogerstone Works in the 1990s. John Bedford built a rolling and slitting mill was in 1766. In 1770 he bought land at Cefn Cribwr to build a furnace and may have left Rogerstone then. John Butler had it by 1782 and probably until (d.1808); then perhaps Pritchard & Jenkins, then 1812 to 1833 Jenkins & Co (Peter Maze, John Jenkins, and William Jenkins), as at Ponthir; 1833 on Daniel & Co; 1838 to 1841 or later Daniel Lewis & Co (William Daniel of Abercarn Works, John Lewis of Tydee Ironworks, George Brewer and Ann Lewis); 1876 John Lewis & Co. It ceased trading in 1881 and the machinery was removed in 1886. About then Nettlefolds Ltd, the Smethwick screw manufacturers bought Rogerstone and Tydee, building a Bessemer steel works there.

the Company of Mineral and Battery Works and then to their farmers and so descended with Tintern wireworks into the hands of Richard Hanbury and then his son-in-law Edmond Wheler. It is probable that Taff Furnace descended with them, rather than belonging to Edmund Matthew, the owner of Pentyrch, as claimed by Iolo Morgannwg, who was probably merely relying on a tradition at least 150 years old. The furnace was certainly again occupied with the wireworks and Machen Forge probably from 1622 and this continued until the furnace was replaced by Caerphilly in c.1680. It is not unlikely (though the furnace is not mentioned) that it was related to a lease of ‘two parcels of Forest in the lordship of Seningham [Senghenydd] called the Forest of Kevenivw and ... Kevenon’, which were let in 1606 to George Catchmaye, Edmond Thomas, John Challenor, and the latter’s son William, who were partners at Tintern. Thomas Hackett occupied it between 1622 and 1625, while managing partner at Tintern, but he disappears abruptly from the records in c.1632 (perhaps died), when there were difficulties at Tintern. He was followed by: John Steevens by 1642; then John Greenuff & partners: Richard Jones, Alice widow of George Steevens, Sir Richard Hart, and Gregory Iremonger 1655 to 1676; and William Morgan of Tredegar 1676 to 1680. This is the same descent as Machen Forge (q.v.). The furnace was included in a lease to Thomas Morgan in 1687, but is unlikely to have been used after his trustees had built a new furnace at Caerphilly to replace it.

Associations John Bedford built (or revived) Trostrey Forge in 1761. He afterwards built Cefn Cribwr Ironworks in Glamorgan. John Butler had other tinplate works at Ponthir and Pontnewydd. It is likely that this one was his own, unlike Ponthir which he had in right of his wife. Size and Trading This works contained a mill for rolling bolts from 1782. It has been suggested that this was an application of John Purnell’s patent (Mott 1983, 68), but John Butler obtained his own patent for this in 1786 (English Patent 1536). In 1766 when planning to extend his Rogerstone Works, John Bedford drew a mill he saw at Sarehole Mill near Birmingham, for rolling slit rods into round rods. He also planned other improvements, including a forge with finery, chafery, and an air furnace and tilting hammer for steel. There is no evidence these were built (Bedford MSS). In the early 1790s, this may have merely been a blackplate mill, the plate being taken to Caerleon for finishing and tinning (Caerleon Mill MSS).

Size In the mid-17th century to was presumably large enough to keep both forges at Machen occupied, perhaps meaning as much as 500 tpa was produced, but the comments as to the water supply in summer may imply it was lower. Associations As far as can be determined the history of the furnace is identical to that of Machen Forge; the descent stated from 1589 to 1642 is given on this assumption.

Sources NLW, Bedford particularly 1766/c & d; Gwent RO, D43/3233 3525 & 1244; land tax, Rogerstone; NLW, Tredegar BRA 2133/88/passim; Coxe 1801, 3; Riden 1992, 15-17; Brooke 1944-9, 162 & 232; Mott 1983, 6870; Rees 1969b, 2; Jones 1987, 222-3. Taff Furnace near Tongwynlais

Sources TNA, PROB  11/109/2069; NLW, Tredegar 76/1; NLW, Plymouth 566; Gwent RO, D 43.5499 (M245); Riden 1992b, 81-88; TNA, C 7/530/107; C 6/188/57; Rees 1968, 263-4 312; Atkinson & Boyns 1989, 110; HMC, De L’Isle & Dudley I, 241-9; Bevan 1956, 25; see also Machen. Riden 1992b offers a different synthesis from that here.

[18] about ST131823

The furnace site seems to have been destroyed to make way for the Glamorgan Canal or a railway. If some vestige of it survived the building of these, it has certainly been destroyed by the new Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil trunk road. It was described in the 1670s as standing on the brink of river Tave (sic). The wheel was 26 foot high and the river 10 foot below the wheel, so that if the river were to be used to drive the furnace it would have to be raised 40 feet. Eight inches square would have served the furnace, but the stream did not have a third of that in summer. The furnace may have been standing in Iolo Morgannwg’s time in the late 18th century.

Tredegar Forge, Bassaleg

[19] perhaps ST279868

Several authors (including Lloyd and Ince) have confused this forge with the coke ironworks at the town of Tredegar. The town owes its existence to the coke ironworks, but it did not exist before 1800. Both the furnace and the town were named in honour of the landowner’s Tredegar House near Newport. The forge was like the House in Bassaleg Parish and was on several occasions stated to be in Tredegar Park. The forge seems to have been built by Captain William Herbert about 1654. He owned it for some ten years, after which it was operated by its owner William Morgan of Tredegar until his death in 1680. He bought Machen Forges and Taff Furnace in 1676. This forge then

The history of this furnace and that at Pentyrch have been confused. Taff Furnace was probably built in 1560 by Hugh Lambarde of Tonbridge. In 1569 Machen Forge passed to 524

Chapter 34: The Cardiff and Newport Area descended with Machen Forges and Caerphilly Furnace, which the trustees of William Morgan ordered to be built in 1680 to replace Taff. The trustees may have run it until the heir was of age, then: c.1690 to 1700 John Morgan, with Roger Williams and his son-in-law Roger Powell as partners; then John Morgan, ‘Merchant Morgan’ (d.1716) and his son Sir William (d.1732); 1732 to 1748 James Pratt (lately the manager) with Samuel Pratt of London and Richard Davies of Gelliwastod (and later others) as partners; 1748 to 1754 Thomas Morgan, Hugh Jones of Gelliwastod and Samuel Pratt; then William Morgan or a continuation of the previous partnership.

B a/c, Morgan a/c); Flaxley from 1696 to 1713; and Neath from 1694 to 1716; ‘Avodyrynis’ (Hafodyrynys, a collection point on the road from Llanelly) 1715 to 1717 & 1730; and Trosnant (Pontypool) in 1730 (Morgan a/c). Foley Forest Works supplied some pig iron from time to time but were not usually very major suppliers, but 160 tons is referred to in 1669 (Schafer 1978, trowmen’s a/c; Foley a/c). In 1714/5 pig iron came from ‘William Rea Cunsey’ & ‘Mr Champion Lancashire’, presumably meaning Backbarrow (Morgan a/c). In the mid-18th century some pig iron was bought from merchants at Bristol. Then, and probably before, bar iron was being sold to merchants there (Morgan & Jones Ledger). In 1758 there were, for example, negotiations for Elizabeth Hanbury and her partner John Roberts (in Abercarn and Caerleon) to take five or six tons per week for two and a half years (NLW, Tredegar Park 50/4). In 1786/7 ‘Tredegar Works Machen Forge’ supplied 196 tons of bar iron to Melingriffith Mills (Melingriffith a/c). 50 tons of Lorn pig iron was shipped to Cardiff for Harford, Partridge & Co in 1788 and 170 tons in 1791 (Lorn l/b 7 Oct. 1789 20 Apr. and 31 Aug, 1791). After Harford, Partridge & Co acquired the Ebbw Vale Ironworks in 1796, they supplied most of the pig iron and finers’ metal required by the forges. A considerable reduction in consumption, about the time of the partition of the firm’s works, perhaps represents an increased consumption of Caerphilly pig iron. In 1806/7 the Tredegar Works received 2,318 tons of pig iron and finers metal from Ebbw Vale, suggesting a combined production of 1500 tpa bar iron (EV a/c). EV a/c after 1820 have not been considered in detail.

In 1764, it was let to John Maybery and John Wilkins, until 1779. They were succeeded in 1781 Harford, Getley & Co, later called Harford, Partridge & Co. They renewed the lease in 1802. Following the division of that firm in 1808, the works probably belonged to Harfords, Crocker & Co; the forge was in the hands of Harford & Co until at least 1819, but it was void by 1824: it may have closed in 1823 when the lease expired. The exact site of the forge has not been determined, but it was within the old extent of Tredegar Park, probably near Ebbw Mill in Duffryn in the old parish of Bassaleg, in the outskirts of Newport, Gwent. This and Ebbw Mill seem to have been driven by water from a weir in River Ebbw at ST279869 whence a leat fed two large pools which also served to ornament the Park and one of which survives at ST288855. There is a cascade out of the lower pool is a possible site for the forge, but there are no apparent remains on this site. From there a fleam led to Ebbw Mill. Alternatively, the site of the forge may be represented by a second weir leading from the start of the leat back into the river (SO279686).

Accounts Full annual accounts: Morgan a/c 1691-1701; incomplete data: ibid. 1711-7 (not 1714/5) & 1730-2; Morgan & Jones Ledger: 1748-50. Newport warehouse ledger for bar iron from Machen and Bassaleg Forges: Cardiff Library, MS 2.380 1754-60. Extracts from some of these are printed in Jones 1985, 8-13.

Size 1717 180 tpa; 1718 1736 & 1750 included in total with Machen; 1794 2 fineries one chafery. Associations William Herbert was a partner at Tintern and the regular supply of Tintern pig iron to the forge in the late 17th century no doubt goes back to this connection. A few years after taking this forge, William Morgan acquired Taff Furnace and the two Machen Forges. Taff Furnace was replaced by one at Caerphilly and these were thereafter always held together.

Sources NLW, Tredegar Park MSS/1-7 (rent ledgers); and 76 (whole box); NLW, Tredegar MS & docs 871; also many of the documents cited for Machen; Rees 1968, 312-7 (with the correct location); Lloyd 1906, 1358 (misattributed); Williams 1960; NLW, Melingriffith (E.L. Chappel, box 5), letter to R. Rowland 10 Mar. 1810; land tax, Duffryn; British Chronicle or Pugh’s Hereford Journal, 23 Mar. 1780; Cambrian, 16 Dec. 1809. The location of Tredegar Forge in Bassaleg Parish is expressly stated in NLW, Tredegar Park 76/43-44 and 76/256-7, also Coxe 1801, 3.

Trading There is considerable data regarding the trading activities of the works. The three forges seem generally to have operated as a unit, although under different clerks, and it is frequently not possible to distinguish what particular purchase of pig iron relates to what forge. Because of their respective geographic positions, it would seem likely that Machen Forges relied primarily on the furnace and Tredegar primarily on supplies brought in by sea, but the evidence is incomplete: this is an over-simplification, as the accounts show Machen also using pig iron bought from third parties. Mr Morgan bought castings delivered at ‘Ebboth Pill’ in 1768 and 1770 (Foley a/c).

Tydee Works

[20] ST285881

The mill stood on the river Ebbw a short distance above Rogerstone, but has been completely obliterated by the Alcan Works. Its origin has been confused with that of Rogerstone. John Butler is reported to have leased Rogerstone Mill (previously a copper mill) from the Mines Royal Company in 1772. However that mill had a different

The more important suppliers (apart from associated furnaces) were: Tintern until 1700 (Tintern F a/c, Tintern 525

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II landlord and the reference might be to Tydee. This issue has not been adequately resolved.

park of Clunn in the 16th century. Iron mines there were let in June 1540 to William Kendall of Launceston, Cornwall and were included in a grant to the Earl of Pembroke in 1547. The works apparently passed to John Sadler by 1545 and were recorded by Rhys Merrick in 1578. The existence of the mines was known in 1666, but they were probably not then being worked.

In 1804, John Brown built an iron and hoop mill, with 2 puddling furnaces and 2 bloom furnaces. Brown was by far the largest customer of the Ebbw Vale Ironworks until 1815, when the sales stopped abruptly. He became bankrupt in 1816. It was again in use 1825 when a ball furnace man or heater was sought. By 1845, the works (with Pontymister and Abercarn) were in the hands of Messrs Lewis. John Lewis of Tydee iron and wire works was married in 1831. However their history remains obscure. It was still a tinworks in 1886, when the works were sold to Nettlefolds Ltd, the Smethwick screw manufacturers, who used it as a rolling mill and hoop mill. It was a nailworks in 1947.

Sources Riden & King, ‘Llantrisant’; Cal. Patent Rolls, Edward VI, i, 193-8; Bevan 1956, 7 & 11. Newport Forge

An ironworks and grist mill was among property advertised for sale in 1813. The ironworks compromised a rolling mill, forge, turning mill and foundry. The mill had three pairs of stones. Both were in Newport, between the canals and the river Usk and supplied with water from the canal. Enquiries were directed to Mr Hale of Maindee near Newport. Nothing else is known of this. It probably belonged to the Newport bank of Joseph Tomkins, Joseph Mason Cox and Robert Jones, whose partnership was dissolved in 1806, describing them also as ironmasters or ironworkers and millers. A mill on this site is marked on the St Woolas tithe map and is labelled ‘Flour Mill’ on the earliest 6-inch O.S. map.

Sources Gibbs 1951c, 127; Gwent RO, D 43/1244; Riden 1992, 17; EV a/c; London Courier and Evening Gazette, 21 Apr. 1809; London Gazette, no. 17191, 2158 (12 Nov. 1816); Cambrian and General Advertiser, 18 Jun. 1831; Morning Post, 23 Sep. 1845; Brooke 1944-9, 162 232; Jones 1987, 222-3; cf. Rogerstone (above). Other ironworks Aber Forges

[21] ST127891

Sources Cambrian, 13 Mar. 1813; Gloucester Journal, 5 Apr. 1813; London Gazette, no. 15960, 1280 (23 September 1806).

The forges at the junction of three brooks in the parish of Eglwysilan were advertised for sale in 1814 with a 92 year lease, suggesting erection in 1807. The description fits Abertridwr (meaning the mouth of three waters). It was an edged tool making works making hoes, bills, etc. with a tilt hammer and a grinding wheel. The partnership of Charles and Joseph Brown was dissolved by the Court of Great Sessions in 1816, after which nothing has been discovered of it. The description as using water from three brooks suggests the mill below Aberfawr. The present village of Abertridwr derives from the sinking of a colliery in the 1890s.

Pontrhydyrun Tinplate Works or Edlogan

[22] perhaps ST1895757

Sources Gwent RO, D749/399a; Brooke 1944, 55-6; Stephens 1934; industrialgwent.co.uk website.

William Wood advertised for sale in 1814 a rolling mill on the wharf at Cardiff, built at great expense in 1808 and powered by a steam engine with a 31½-inch cylinder. It had five stacks of rolls each with an air furnace for puddling, blooming, or as a hoop furnace, capable of turning out 100 tons per week by rolling bar and bolt iron, slitting rods and rolling hoops. Nothing further is known of it.

Pontnewydd Works

[26] ST299962

John Jenkins managed these works for John Butler (d.1808), and his son and brother-in-law apparently became partners in it. In 1809 W.W. Phillips was appointed as receiver and manager in an action in Chancery between George Conway and Edward Jenkins and others. Land tax assessments show Edward Jenkins & Co as occupiers continuously from 1805 to 1825.

Sources Cambrian, 22 Jan. 1814. Clunn Park near Llantrisant

[25] ST299973

This was built in 1805 by eight partners mostly named Conway and managed in 1808 by John Conway; they were perhaps children of George Conway, who had previously worked at Ponthir Works and been a partner at Pontnewydd. He (or they) founded a Baptist church near the works. The works long remained in the hands of the Conway family. Edlogan Tin Plate Co Ltd was incorporated in 1908, but acquired by Richard Thomas & Co Ltd in 1908. It closed in the late 1920s and was dismantled in 1946.

Sources Cambrian, 19 Feb. 1814; London Gazette, no. 17199, 2347. Cardiff rolling mill

[24] ST312887

unknown

Sources NLW, Maybery 278-9; Stephens 1934, 6; Gwent RO, land tax, Llanfrechfa lower.

There was an ironworks, presumably a bloomery forge blown manually, exploiting haematite ores in the lower 526

Chapter 34: The Cardiff and Newport Area Pontymister Works

[27] ST242898

The works were built in 1801 by John Franklyn & Co (the Mister Forge Co), consisting of William Phillips of Risca, who provided the site, George and John Franklyn and John Thomas. The forge apparently lost money and was in 1806 assigned to trustees for their creditors. The works were offered for sale, comprising a ball mill, a rolling mill, hammer, seven puddling furnaces, two bloom furnaces, an air furnace, a ‘chaffery’, and turning machine. John Thomas & Co ran the forge subsequently, probably having taken an underlease. William Phillips left the partnership in 1808 and Thomas George in 1811, leaving John Thomas as sole proprietor. He immediately offered the works to let (but apparently unsuccessfully). He became bankrupt in 1813, but was able to offer it for sale in 1821. In 1813 Thomas Pierce, previously a clerk at Cyfarthfa, was concerned there. In 1814, there was a wooden helve for drawing out uses and a rolling mill capable of 40 tons per week, as well as 14 cottages. In 1824, James Wise was concerned in the works, but on dissolution of a partnership in 1834, the partners were Thomas Pearce and John Llewellin. T. & G. Lewis had a tinplate works from 1843; Banks & Co in 1857-76, perhaps the firm who had Broadwaters Forge in north Worcestershire from 1863; Capt P.S. Phillips trading as Pontymister Tin Plate Co in 1880-96; then Monmouthshire Tinplate Co Ltd from 1897. This company amalgamated with Partridge, Jones & John Paton Ltd in 1921. The works operated until 1946. Sources NLW, Maybury 4552; EV a/c; Roberts 1958, 40; Brooke 1944-9, 93 & 208; land tax, Machen lower (Mons.); Morning Post, 12 Mar. 1806; 10 Jun. 1811; London Gazette, no. 16257, 699 (16 May 1809); no. 16493, 1052 (4 Jun. 1811); no. 19129, 294 (18 Feb. 1824); Cambrian, 2 February 1811; 11 December 1813; 2 April 1814; 20 April 1820; Bath Chronicle, 16 Dec. 1824 (marriage); Morning Post, 23 Sep. 1845; Jenkins 1995, 244; Griffiths 1873, adverts xii-xiii. Afterword I left unresolved the question of which works was occupied by the Company of Mines Royal, on the basis that John Butler had it from 1772. Roberts (1957, 74) says that the Company occupied Rogerstone from 1772. A possible solution to this conundrum is that this is correct and Butler did not acquire the mill until the 1780s, after he had acquired Ponthir by marrying a widow. If so, the suggestion that the Company occupied Tydee is incorrect.

527

35 The Bristol Area Introduction

Spooner in Birmingham at his death in 1762.8 Edward Knight & Co in the Stour valley (in which Spooner was a partner) were in the 1740s buying Mullers iron (from Olonitz in Russia), a commodity that Prankard had earlier handled.9 In 1752 Lewis and Perks of Bristol were dealing with the leading London merchants A & C Lindegren, who were importing iron from C & C Grill to import iron made at Fredericksburg in West Dalarna, Sweden.10 W. James was importing both Stockholm and Russian iron in 1789 for his son Isaac Spooner. Other importers that year included Harford, Partridge & Co and Daniel Harford, Weare & Co; and Harvey, Wasson & Co. Bristol was much less significant than Hull as an import port for iron, as it is on the opposite side of the country to the places of origin. Bristol imported 2,615 tons in 1789, whereas Hull imported 8,506 tons in the preceding year.11

Bristol was the second most important port in England (after London) until the rise of Liverpool. It is not an area noted for producing iron, but iron was imported from Spain from medieval times,1 some of which was processed near Bristol. Bristol was the location of an important 18th-century brass industry, described in detail by Day.2 Iron hardly features. There were mills slitting imported Swedish and Russian iron; a steelworks at Keynsham; and foundries, which used American pig iron, but for pots they needed at least an admixture of Coalbrookdale pig iron.3 A considerable amount is known of iron imports from Sweden and Russia in the 1730s from the surviving records of the Bristol merchant Graffin Prankard. His major Midland customers included John Kettle the Birmingham steelmaker (for oregrounds iron), and the Homfray family of Stourbridge, with steel furnaces there and a slitting mill nearby. He also sold bar iron to ironmongers in country towns in the west Midlands (including Rowland Pytt of Gloucester, and people in Tewkesbury, Warwick, and Worcester, as well as the Black Country); the West Country (including Warminster, Beaminster, Cirencester, Devizes, Bridgwater, and Taunton); and South Wales (including Haverfordwest, Pembroke, Carmarthen and Swansea).4 He was not the only importer. In 1731, Jos. and Samuel Percival imported Spanish iron; John Parkin for Henry Norris iron from Stockholm; and Cors. and Francis Rogers (once for Sampson Lloyd [of Birmingham]), Lewis Casamajor, and Walter Hawksworth Russian iron from ‘Petersburg’; and several merchants brought in iron and steel from Rotterdam, which would ultimately be from Germany or the Liège region.5 Abram Spooner and Finch also imported iron and supplied Prankard’s best chapman [probably John Kettle].6

Bristol had a small coalfield and the North Somerset Coalfield is within reach. Not far to the north of Bristol is Iron Acton, which probably produced iron in the medieval period, but not later. This chapter accordingly covers a miscellany of works, none of which actually made iron, though Wick Ironworks recycled scrap, and Redfield or Boyd River Furnace intended to make coke iron, but probably never got into blast. Some worked imported iron; others iron made in other parts of the region; or both. There were a few 19th-century ironworks, but they are beyond the scope of this book. Most works are related to Bristol’s importance as a commercial centre. Bristol is however probably more notable as a centre for the production and manufacture of copper and brass than of iron. Pig iron was mainly imported from Virginia and Maryland. It was useful as a paying ballast for imports of tobacco. Some of the investment in the American iron industry came from Bristol or places in its hinterland up the river Severn. The Bristol ironworks in King George County, Virginia was mentioned in the last chapter. The Principio Company (with Principio and Potomack – or Accokeek – Furnaces in Virginia has a Midland origin including members of the Russell family of Birmingham ironmongers, but the company’s English management seems later to have been from London.12 Perry & Hayes were Wolverhampton ironmongers with a partner resident in Bristol and ironworks at Spotswood NJ, where bar iron and other goods were expropriated during the American Revolution, for

Much less is known of the subsequent period, because few port books survive. It is not even clear who the principal importers were. ‘Finch’ is referred to in letters of 1746 from Richard Sykes to his factors H & P Muilman in Amsterdam and John Jennings & Co in Stockholm as a participant in the oregrounds contract [cartel] for the Hull and Bristol markets.7 This may have been William Finch of Cambridge merchant, who was in partnership with

1

Childs 1981; King thesis, 217-20 426. Day 1973; also 1975; 1991. 3 Prankard l/b, 17 Jun. 1730. 4 Prankard a/c & l/b; used by Bettey 1990; Evans et al. 2002; 105-20. 5 TNA, E 190/1207/2. 6 Prankard l/b, 4 Aug. 1731. 7 Hull UL, DDSY/101/91, 26 Oct. & 26 Nov. 1746; note also 9 Nov 1748 (entered at 1 Feb. 1748[9]) to John Finch jun. & Co (ordering nails). 2

TNA, PROB 11/874/271; cf. Finch 1993, 52-9; Bushell 1934. SW a/c; Prankard l/b, 9 Feb. 1731[2]. 10 Hildebrand 1958, 31. 11 TNA, E 190/1239/1; Hull Portbook for 1788. 12 Rowlands 1975, 65-6; for this company see Whiteley 1887; May 1945; Robbins 1986. 8 9

529

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 35. The Bristol area. 1, Combsbury Slitting Mill; 2, Willsbridge Mill; 3, Woollard Mill; 4, Cheese Lane Foundry; 5, Welch Ironfoundry; 6, Bye Mills, Stanton Drew; 7, Cleeve Iron Mill; 8, Frenchay Iron Mill; 9, Keynsham steel mill; 10, Publow Mill; 11, Wick Ironworks; 12, Wick Ironworks; 13, Redfield Furnace.

which they failed subsequently to recover compensation.13 In a similar way, several Midland firms had a relative or partner at Bristol. In 1766, Joseph Turton was the Bristol agent for John Turton & Co of Birmingham. William Turton ironmonger had had property in Bristol since the beginning of the 18th century.14 William Gibbons of T. W. & B. Gibbons, who took over the Cradley and Level ironworks in the Stour valley in 1788, lived in Bristol, presumably to manage Bristol aspects of their business. William Gibbons & Co occurs in the 1789 port book importing pig iron.15 In an earlier generation when they were ironmongers, John Gibbons of Gornal (near Dudley) had a son resident at Bristol in 1750.16 William played a leading role in the campaign over the Irish Proposals of 1778 against the taxation of iron in 1797 and 1806.17

Glover would settle at the two annual fairs in Bristol, on the feasts of St Paul (25 January) and St James (25 July). A series of such accounts survives and appears to refer to a partnership between George Gibbons of Amblecote, Robert Foley and Henry Glover.21 This may in turn be a later version of a wider partnership from 1662 with eight partners, also including the Exeter ironmonger Edward Hickman, Thomas Foley, Joshua Newborough, and two others to take over the trade of John Russell, and to sell nails and ironware down the river Severn and into all the southwestern counties, including Wiltshire and Hmapshire.22 John Russell had been Robert Foley’s agent in 1654.23 Bristol was involved in the distribution of pig iron: Nehemiah Champion handled sales for the Backbarrow Company and the associated Invergarry Company until 1733, when he was replaced by John Beckett.24 Some of the American pig iron, used by Edward Knight & Co in the Stour valley, reached them from Black Country ironmongers, who were their customers, including John Turton of West Bromwich, William Seney of Walsall, and William Jevon of Tipton. They had presumably received the pig in part payment for iron exported,25 though precisely how is not clear. Later in the 18th century, pig iron from Furness and Lorn was consigned to merchants at Chepstow, rather than Bristol. The Duddon Company consigned it to Warren Sayes in 1782-80; Backbarrow to John Buckle & Son in 1787; and Lorn to John Baldwin in 1787-91 then Hodges & Watkin.26 In the 1760s, Richard

Bristol was also a centre for the distribution of ironware. John Stibbens was a 17th-century ironmonger, whose father had married a daughter of another such ironmonger Edward Foley. Thomas Foley I(W) and George Brinley the marriage settlement feoffees are likely to be closely related, suggesting that Edward was a factor for Thomas’s father Richard.18 The father had traded with Robert Foley (Thomas’s ironmonger brother) in the late 1650s.19 Their trade was financed by a loan (on bond) from Henry Glover.20 This was one of a series of accounts which

13 Morgan 1993, 95 104 110; Journal of House of Representatives: John Adams Administration: ii fifth Congress second session, Nov. 1797-Jul. 1798 (Glazier, Wilmington, Delaware), 444-5; cf. HMC Dartmouth II, 280 295 378 389 444-5. 14 Morgan 1993, 105; Leech 1997, 86-7 132-3. 15 TNA, E 190/1239/1. 16 Rowlands 1975. 17 Le Guillou 1968; Smith 1978; for the family see Smith 1971; thesis. 18 TNA, C 6/87/36. 19 TNA, C 10/51/153. 20 Foley E12/VI/DAf/12-13.

21 22 23 24 25 26

530

Foley E12/VI/DAf/3-15. TNA, C 6/161/51. Rowlands 1975, 110. BB a/c; Invergarry a/c. Rowlands 1975, 64. Duddon a/c; BB a/c; Lorn l/b.

Chapter 35: The Bristol Area Seys had similarly supplied Netherhall and Seaton pigs to Caerleon Forge.27

capable of making 20 tons of hoops per week, a steelconverting furnace, and a 35-hp engine for refilling the pool in summer. The present buildings on the site are of stone and are likely to incorporate the original structure, though in the present form they are evidently those of a 19th-century corn mill. The buildings have been restored by Avon Wildlife Trust, no doubt because the mill pound and the valley of the Millclack or Syston Brook make a good and varied habitat. A wrought iron gate from the mill has also been preserved.

General sources None, but Day 1973 deals with the brass industry.

Gazetteer Slitting and rolling mills Combsbury Slitting Mill

[1] ST44106362

Sources Ellacombe 1881, 231; Woolrich 1986, 35-6; London Gazette, no. 16890, 887 (26 Apr. 1814); no. 17003, 714 (15 Apr. 1815); Gloucester Journal, 15 Apr. 1816; Tucker 1989; Gloucs RO, land tax, Oldland; cf. Journal of the House of Commons xxii, 854.

The status of Combsbury or Congressbury Mill as a slitting mill depends on a single reference in Graffin Prankard’s accounts to his sending 5½ tons of iron to the mill of William Donne jun. at Combsbury to be slit in July 1734. He sent a further 1¼ tons to William Donne’s mill two years later. William Donne apparently acquired the mill (or an interest in it) in 1725 and it was sold by the daughters of William Donne jun. in 1767, but had probably reverted to being a corn mill when William Donne made his will in 1754.

Woollard Mill

John Stephens replaced two corn mills with two mills for ‘rolling and splitting iron and iron hoops and for tinning iron plates’ in about 1738. In 1753 his widow sold the works to Reynolds, Getley & Co. They made 3000 boxes of tinplate [per year ?], each box of 225 sheets weighing 225lb. They sold the mill to Elton, Tyndall & Co, one of the Bristol brass companies, who had ‘enjoyed the profits’ from 1770, although the sale was not completed until 1783. From this time, this ceased to be a tin mill. A stone mill building stands beside the River Chew south of Bristol and is now occupied as a dwelling. There is little to indicate its former use as a tinplate works. The workforce appears to have been transferred to Melin Griffith when the tin mill closed.

Sources Prankard a/c, 27 Jul. 1734; June 1736; Journal of the House of Commons xxii, 854; Bedingfield 1998; information from Mrs G. Bedingfield, citing Weston super Mare LSL, notes of Preb. Alex Cran, private deeds, and TNA, PROB 11/917, William Donne. Willsbridge Mill

[2] ST664708

According to Ellacombe, John Pearsall moved from Rowley Regis (S. Staffs) to Bristol in 1712. He then became a Quaker and bought land at Willsbridge in 1716. Here he built a slitting and rolling mill, making hoops and rod iron. He died in 1762, but the mill remained in his family, being run for some time by widow Pearsall, until it was closed and sold in 1816 by Thomas Pearsall (d.1825). If this is correct, it is surprising that the first Pearsall is so absent from the accounts of his fellow Quaker Graffin Prankard. In these, he is referred to as a smith and as buying a few tons of ordinary Stockholm iron each year. However the accounts do not record any other buyer of Russian iron in sufficient quantities to imply the buyer owned the mill. Certain Bristol ironmongers, such as Edward Oliver and Reynolds and Daniel were buying some of Prankard’s Russian iron and may have had it slit here. Another alternative is that this is the second slitting mill owned by William Donne in 1737. Thomas Pearsall in 1811 patented a system of wrought iron roofs using hoop iron plates ‘in an edgewise position cut or let into each other’ to form a latticework. This system proved insufficient for large spans, such as the 35 foot required for the West India Docks, and led to his bankruptcy in 1815 and the sale of the works the next year. John Winwood was a partner up to 1814.

Associations Stephens was described as of Usk and of Bristol; one of the lives in the lease was the son of a Pontypool victualler, pointing to his origin. Reynolds, Getley & Co was a Bristol firm of iron merchants and ironfounders, who were discussed in more fully in the preceding chapter. Sources West Glam. RO, D/DXhr/34-38; Angerstein’s Diary, 134-6; Woolrich 1986, 34-5; Evans 2001, 417; Brooke 1944, 163; Day 1973, 126 & 285. Early Bristol foundries Cheese Lane Foundry

[4] about ST592728

Abraham Darby became a partner in brass works at Baptist Mills in Bristol on their establishment in 1702. He expanded in business by establishing a foundry in Cheese Lane. Abraham Darby there developed his method of casting cast iron bellied pots in ‘green sand’ and obtained a patent for this in 1707, employing John Thomas (previously his apprentice) in the business. According to his opponents, this invention was not original, having long before been used for brass bellied pots, including by his assistants John and James Flowery. Thomas moved with Darby to Coalbrookdale, when Darby leased the furnace

In 1816, it had two overshot wheels of 18 foot diameter and a hoop mill with two more wheels of a similar size,

27

[3] ST633643

Caerleon a/c.

531

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II 3 Mar. 1821; South Gloucestershire Archaeology 7 (2004), 3; cf. Barrow RO, DDHJ 2/3/7; Foley a/c; for Hornblower: Dickinson & Jenkins 1927, 304-5, citing a pamphlet in Goldsmith’s Library, GB96 MS 514; for Jones at Llanelly: NLW, Badminton III, BA 1/8-10.

there in 1708. It is not clear what then happened to the foundry. However from 1718 the Bristol merchant Thomas Goldney was a partner in the Coalbrookdale Company and managed their affairs at Bristol, including the disposal of coke pig iron: it is possible that he oversaw the foundry for the company. It also could have been the Bristol foundry in which the partners from 1730 included Job Rawlinson (then a Bristol merchant, but later the owner of Graythwaite in Furness, and related to a Backbarrow partner), but the partnership deed does not state where the works were to be.

Welch Ironfoundry

[5] about ST596731

The Welch Ironfoundry took its name from its association with Bryn Coch Furnace near Neath. William Donne bought it from members of the Axford family in 1732, on behalf of ten partners. It was in Back Lane (now Jacob Street), between it and Old Market. Rate books allow the property to be identified as Charles Axford’s premises called a ‘workhouse’ (from 1710), ‘ironworks’ (from 1719), and ‘pothouse’ (from 1727). This links it to sales of pig iron from Blakeney and other Forest furnaces from 1709/10. When sued by Abraham Darby for patent infringement in casting bellied pots in sand, Axford answered that the process was not original having been long used in brassfounding. His partners were Daniel Hickman (ironmonger), Joshua Franklyn (merchant), and William Whitehead (distiller), but Hickman and Franklyn withdrew in April 1709, probably due to Darby’s threat. Donne & Co’s partnership was established in 1728, and renewed in 1742 and 1757. This is probably the foundry of Hilhouse & Co described by Angerstein in 1754, one of four in the city. Changes in the leading partners meant that the firm became Reynolds, Getley & Co and later Harford, Partridge & Co. Until 1808, this was the same firm operating at Melin Griffith, Ebbw Vale, Monmouth and elsewhere, but its Bristol business was known as James Harford and Ironfoundery Co, a name continued for their Bristol foundry by Harfords, Crocker & Co, the successor firm at Ebbw Vale.

John Jones of Bristol ironmaster was one of the founding partners of the Dowlais Ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil in 1759, but his previous activities are little known. John Jones paid the Duke of Beaufort for iron ore, probably for Llanelly Furnace in 1746-50, which may indicate that he was a partner there. He was like some other Dowlais partners involved in Cardiff Forge from 1751. He owed money (perhaps for iron) to Morgan & Jones of Machen and Tredegar in 1754. He and two of the other partners Isaac Wilkinson and Thomas Harris established (or took over) a foundry in 1764. Wilkinson sold his share in 1766 to John Winwood. In the 1770s, they cast ‘fire engine’ cylinders, equipment for sugar mills, rollers and other metal goods. They had a contract in 1774 to cast cannon solid for the Board of Ordnance, but John Wilkinson prosecuted them for infringing his patent. Winwood was certainly a partner by 1776. He was apparently a partner in Jonathan Hornblower’s patent for the compound steam engine, as he was co-author with Hornblower of a pamphlet in support of Hornblower’s petition for the extension of his patent. Winwood continued the business after Jones’ death in 1788. John and Thomas Winwood cast iron rolls for Kings Bromley tinplate works in Staffordshire in 1797 (but the 1796 order was to John Winwood only). In 1798, he probably chaired the Bristol trade’s opposition to William Pitt’s proposal to levy a tax on iron, writing a published letter addressed to Lord Sheffield. Winwood’s death in 1810, aged 78, did not end the business. The firm also had a manufactory in West Street, which they sold in 1821 after removing its business to their ironworks in Cheese Lane. This has been carried on by Simon William & Co and then by Winwood & Donaldson. T. Winwood and John Protheroe took this over in 1784, making millwork for sugar mills, wrought iron boilers screws for cloth and cylinder presses, axles strakes, nails, chains and other things. This may suggest that he cast cylinders for Hornblower, for example for Hornblower’s Radstock engine. Angerstein (Diary, 161) referred in 1754 to rolls at Pontypool being obtained from foundries in Bristol. This might have been from this foundry, during the period when its history is unknown.

Sources Bristol RO, PR/StP&J; 09458/26; 4658/6a-6b; 21782/XIV/159/B; TNA, C 7/89/4; Angerstein’s Diary, 128; Cambrian, 16 Dec. 1809. Other ironworks Bye Mills, Stanton Drew

[6] ST611638

This was an ironworks making iron before 1600, though it is not known of what kind, and was then converted to a plating forge making plates for armour and pans by Sir John Cowper. Shortly before his death in 1611 he leased the works to Robert Burges, whom Cowper had previously employed as his servant ‘in surveying and looking after’ the works. The workmen there were Cornelius Hallyne and his apprentice John Hassall, the former being one of the family who later made pans at Coalbrookdale, Keele and elsewhere over the ensuing century or more. Plating was still in progress in 1614. Edward Barker of London or of Wandsworth in Surrey was probably concerned in the works by 1635. His son James bought it in 1668 from George Cooper, the lord of the manor. It was let in 1695 to William Sheppard founder and Oliver Moseley brasier. They were using it as a copper mill in 1714 when the freehold was sold to Thomas Coster of Redbrook.

Sources Raistrick 1953, 20-3 70; Torrens 1980; 1989; Ward 1996; Cornwell 1989; TNA, C 7/89/4; WO 47/83-88 passim s.v. gunfounders; NLW, Tredegar Park 76/47; Ince 1993b, 47; TNA, PROB 11/1166/110; KB l/b, 11 Jan. 1796 4 Mar. 27 Jul. 19 Sep. and 7 Nov. 1797; Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal, 4 Sep. 1784; Bristol Mirror, 29 Sep. 1810; 532

Chapter 35: The Bristol Area Publow Mill

Sources Gerhold 2009, 35-40; TNA, E  112/118/348; Somerset RO, DD/OB/103/1; Swansea RO, D/DXhr/9; Day 1973, 57 & 208. Cleeve Iron Mill

The mill is now a farm. A substantial fleam left the River Chew at Publow Bridge, of which the first part has been taken into the churchyard and the next section remains as a dry hollow in the field with a footpath along the bank. Iremills or Ironmills was rented by John Anthony from before 1650 until 1719. It is thought to have been the frying pan forge that operated with the plating forge at Bye Mill, Stanton Drew. In 1720 Thomas Coster paid a fine for a lease and converted it to a rolling mill for copper. A member of the ironworking Leonard family was living in Publow Parish in 1634-6, perhaps at Pensford.

[7] ST645778

The mill was called an iron mill by 1720 and had probably become one when William Browne senior took a lease in 1714. It seems to have shared the history of Frenchay Iron Mill in making agricultural implements, latterly sometimes being called the Upper Works of the Frenchay Iron Co. The description ‘iron mill’ could ultimately be derived from an early (otherwise unknown) ironworks at Cleeve.

Sources Somerset RO, DD/Pot/32 & 128; Gerhold 2009, 39; Day 1973, 210; Awty 2019, 270-1.

Sources Ward 1969, 25; Ward 1978, 31. Frenchay Iron Mill

Wick Ironworks and

[8] ST642773

The works were a forge making spades, shovels and hoes. They were built in 1761 on land of the Harford family and belonged to Browne and Gibson by 1782. The partnership of William Gibbons, James Browne and Philip Furse was dissolved in 1805. The firm amalgamated to become the Frenchay Iron Co about 1810 and continued in operation until 1880, when the mill was converted to a flock mill.

[11] ST695726 [12] ST705731

The ironworks occupied two sites adjoining the river Boyd. One, perhaps the lower site, was probably the forge and the other a rolling and slitting mill. Information on the works is scanty. It was probably built in 1785 by Richard and Thomas Haynes and probably remained in their hands until the end of the Napoleonic War. In ‘1794’ there were a chafery, a balling furnace, a rolling mill, and a slitting mill. In 1823, it was advertised as a hoop and bar iron mill, recently erected, with sheet iron and slitting mills; another waterwheel powered a scrap-iron forge with air and other furnaces, hollow fires and a pot kiln. This was followed by the dissolution of the partnership of the Wick Iron Co (Richard Bright, Robert Bush, James Elton, G.H. Ames, and G.W. Pritchard). The same premises were advertised again in 1831. Ellacombe said that scrap iron was worked under heavy tilt hammers into masses called puddings then rolled into bar and bolt iron. This process involved the use of clay and coal, but not apparently charcoal. This may be related to Wainbrook iron forge, a scrap iron forge and rolling mill at Redfield, occupied by Hayes & Co, capable of 12 tpw, advertised in 1824 and run by T. Summerland in 1826. An 1831 advert describes a slitting and rolling mill and a scrap forge (with a pot kiln). By the time of the tithe award the lower site was disused, but the upper occupied by Thomas Maybury.

Sources Ward 1969, 25; Ward 1978, 30; Morning Post, 19 Aug. 1805. Keynsham steel mill

[10] ST625642

[9] ST656679

The existence of a steel mill at Keynsham is indicated by the road name Steel Mills Lane. In 1725 there was a steel furnace. The works probably belonged in the 1730s to J. & W. Shallard, who were both suppliers and customers of Graffin Prankard, the Bristol iron merchant. They evidently also had a slitting mill, which is no doubt a purpose for which the mill was also used. John Shallord otherwise Shallard, Steelmaker of Keynsham died in 1739, having outlived his son William. A lease, made to William Shallard in 1729, was renewed for lives to his grandson Christopher in 1749, including a steel furnace. When Angerstein visited it in 1755 he found ‘a steelworks with furnaces and one hammer for forging’. The owner had recently died, and he met his widow, a very large lady. The works belonged to Jane Shallard in 1767 and by 1782 to Mr Shallard, named as Chr. Shallard in 1801, the premises being described as steel mills in 1786. He was still there in 1807, but probably disposed of the mill the following year. The site is probably that occupied by Albert Mills, a large 19th-century mill which has in turn been converted into flats in modern times. There are also substantial remains of weirs in the river.

Sources Ellacombe 1881, 231; Bristol RO, 14851/HA/ B/10-12; Cambrian, 23 Feb. 1823; 25 Apr. 1831; London Gazette, 17927, 883 (31 May 1823); cf. Birmingham Gazette, 12 Apr. 1824; 6 Feb. 1826; Shrewsbury Chronicle, 22 Apr. 1831. Coke ironworks Redfield Furnace or Boyd River Furnace

Sources Prankard l/b & a/c; Somerset RO, DD/SOG/466; Barraclough 1985(1), 97; Angerstein’s diary, 139-40; TNA, PROB 11/697/168; Land tax, Keynsham; Collinson, Somerset (1791), ii, 400; La Trobe-Bateman 1999.

[13] possibly ST690713

The site of this unsuccessful coke furnace does not seem to be precisely known. It was built, probably during the 1770s, by a company that included Isaac Wilkinson and 533

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II John Guest, but was unsuccessful. In 1777 the company let it to Isaac Wilkinson, John Guest and his son Thomas Guest. The following year, John Guest transferred his share to Thomas Whitehouse, a Bristol ironmonger. He failed to pay his share of the costs of getting the furnace going, and persuaded Wilkinson to join him in dissolving the partnership. Business stopped and litigation dragged on inconclusively for almost a decade. Sources Evans 1992; TNA, C 12/1657/15; C 12/1689/17; C 108/84 (accounts of wages etc. paid); Riden 1992c, 43.

534

36 The Southwestern Penninsula Introduction

Various blade mills have existed in Somerset and Dorset, of which the best known are those around Mells in Somerset belonging to the Fussell family. Edged tool making goes back to the late 17th century. Isaac Fussell was an edged tool maker by 1702 and his son Josiah leased a site to build a mill in 1734. This passed down the family and further mills were added, all in an area to the west of Frome. The business passed down the Fussell family until the mid-19th century. James Fussell and his son went bankrupt in 1881. Two family businesses were then amalgamated into a company, James, Isaac & John Fussell Ltd. This went into voluntary liquidation in 1894. Isaac Nash of Belbroughton who has rented one of the works for some years now bought the business transferred it to Belbroughton.4 Subsequently there were several businesses, becoming divided among Fussell descendants. These have been described by Thomas (2010).

This chapter is concerned with the iron industry in Devon, Cornwall, and West Somerset, an area not noted for ironmaking. Cornwall contained iron mines, from which, for example, Alexander Raby obtained ore for his furnace at Llanelli around 1800. Otherwise little is known of their history, and no ironworks are known to have existed there. The Brendon Hills in Somerset were an important source of mine for the Welsh iron industry at Ebbw Vale from the 1850s,1 but these were hardly worked earlier. Devon contained a few deposits of ore, but they were hardly used in the period covered by this book, though used in earlier times. There was medieval ironworking in the Blackdown Hills,2 but apparently none later. Westcote, in about 1630, wrote, Iron mines were sometimes wrought near North Molton and Molland; but in our time by Brent, Ashburton and Hole.

Gazetteer Ausewell Iron Mill, Ashburton or Holne

Westcote referred to a quarry of lodestones [magnetite] at Brent, apparently identical with the iron mine there.3 This was worked for a time in the early 17th century, probably in connection with a blast furnace (and presumably a forge) beside the river Dart at Ausewell Wood near Holne in Ashburton. As loadstone is mentioned as being quarried in the area, the ironworks presumably smelted magnetite. The use of ‘moorcoal’, presumably either peat or coaled peat, is also mentioned. The ironworks existed in 1605 and may have ceased working by 1630. Its ruins survive, though its history is largely unknown. The ore deposit at Molland on the southern edge of Exmoor was worked in the 19th century. This must be the source of ore for an ironworks at West Lee in that parish, of which nothing has been discovered but its bare existence. The iron mill at Witham in West Somerset is an oddity, apparently an isolated forge, perhasp fining pig iron from the Forest of Dean. This may also apply to Horner Mill, also obscure. So far as can be determined, iron production (as in north Glamorgan) was concentrated in an early period and then ceased, to be followed by a scatter of miscellaneous other ironworks after 1800, with nothing at all in between. Cornwall had several notable foundries in the late 18th century (which lie beyond the scope of this work), and Devon had a few plating forges, but these do not represent any coherent pattern.

1 2 3

[1] SX727713

An early map (of 1605) shows an iron mill standing beside the River Dart in Ashburton, adjoining Ausewell Wood. It was about two-thirds of a mile upstream from Holne Bridge. The map shows two buildings, both beside outlets from a leat. The ruins of one of them are clearly those of a blast furnace; part of the slate with which the hearth was lined was in situ in 1982. It may be presumed that the other building was a forge. This was referred to in 1598 as ‘certain iron mills … of Mr Adryan Gilbertes, which produced good iron and steel from ore carried from Brent Hill. Westcote refers to a quarry of lodestones [magnetite] at Brent, apparently identical with the iron mine there. A manorial survey of South Brent in 1565 had reported the presence of iron ore on Brent Hill and suggested it would yield great profit to the lord of the manor. The works perhaps came to an end when the local mine was exhausted. The site is described (with an analysis of slag) by Blick. I have not explored the activities of Adrian Gilbert, who appears to have owned a property called Sandridge and been involved in silver-lead mines at Combe Martin. Sources Amery 1924, 51-3 & 93-6 citing TNA, E134/2 Jas I/Hil 15, map; Westcote, Devonshire, 65; Blick 1984, 47; Awty 2019, 218 715; cf. Devon RO, 123 M/E 31.

Kendall 1893, 37-8. Griffith & Weddell 1996. Westcote, Devonshire, 65

4

535

Thornes 2010.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 36. The Southwest Penninsula. 1, Ausewell Ironworks or Holne; 2, Horner Mill, Luccombe; 3, West Lee Ironworks, Molland; 4, Witham Iron Mill; 5, Wookey Iron Mill; 6, Mells Upper Works; 7, Mells Lower Works; 8, Great Elm Works; 9, Nunney Mill; 10, Orchardleigh: Kirty’s Mill; 11, Stoney Lane Ironworks, Chantry; 12, Railford Works; 13, Vobster Mill; 14, Ashton Mills; 15, Finch Foundry; 16, Tavistock Ironworks: Mount Foundry; 17, Tavistock Ironworks.

Horner Mill, Luccombe

[2] SS 8967 4387

boundary leaves the river at one point, suggesting that the river has changed its course. All this indicates a former mill site. Whether the ironworks reported by the incumbent was before or after Westcote wrote in 1630 is unknown, but it must have been long enough before 1750 for all details of its operation to have been forgotten, though the remains still existed. A little further upstream (SS821265), field names in the tithe award suggest there was a blade mill.

The brothers William, Robert, and George Hensley established an iron mill of some kind at Horner Mill in Luccombe, Somerset in about 1600. The only known documentary source is a single Chancery case: in 1610, George’s widow and her new husband were seeking to recover his third of it. Nothing else is known of it. Sources TNA, C 2/Jas I/E3/31; whence Chadwych Healey 1901, 102; Binding 2013; Exmoor HER, MEM15419 MSO7424; Berry 1995, 17-19; Awty 2019, 715. West Lee Ironworks in Molland

The manor of Molland Bottreaux (of which West Lee was part) belonged to the Courtenay family of West Molland, so that one of that family must have established the ironworks either personally or through a tenant. John Courtenay paid £750 to compound for his delinquency in 1647 and settled much of his property on his widow and then his eldest son in 1653. West Lee was occupied in by his second son James Courtenay of Meshaw (d.1683), after which his mother granted a lease for lives of West Lee to Peter Pierce (a Tiverton brewer) in 1672, taking a fine of £720. Neither that lease nor subsequent ones alludes to any ironworks, but if my inferences as to its location are right, the ironworks would needed rights through West Lee. This points to the ironworks being earlier, but whether its operator (or patron) was James Courtenay, his father John (d.1661), his great-uncle Humphrey (d.1634) or even his great-grandfather Phillip (d.1611) can only be a matter of speculation.

[3] perhaps SS810267

West Lee is a farm on the north bank of the river Yeo. The incumbent of Molland had sometime reported in the period 1747 to 1756: There are in several places of the parish iron works, and there is to be seen on the tenement of West Lee some remains of an iron furnace, a forge, and a mill, the two latter wrought by water. Devon HER attributes this to a structure in Zeal Quarry, which is probably a limekiln. However, O.S. maps mark a weir in river near the farm that appears to feed a leat that does not lead to any mill. Furthermore, the parish 536

Chapter 36: The Southwestern Penninsula

Witham Iron Mill

In about 1690, Richard Hodinott leased a cottage near Hills Mill in Mells as an edged tool works. He died in 1733 and was succeeded by his son Simon (d.1751) and grandson Richard (d.1760), who in 1752 had shearmills at Nunney, for grinding clothiers’ shears, called Hodinott Mills. Following his death the mill passed to James Fussel, being managed by his son John.

[4] ST760424

Sir Robert Hopton and his mother had a forge near Witham Friary in south Somerset in 1619, when Sir Robert Boyle instructed an agent to visit him and if possible sell him 100 tons of pig iron from Cappoquin Furnace, in the hinterland of Youghal in the east of Co. Cork. This was in a period when the King’s Works in the Forest of Dean had been stopped. It is likely that the forge had been using pig iron from the Forest, which in turn suggests its erection in the 1610s. In 1621, R. Hopton declined to take more sow iron, because of a previous short delivery. This is the last reference to the forge, which may have stopped not long after. The forge was no doubt near Iron Mills Farm in the adjacent Trudoxhill. It may go back to 1544 when an iron mill (presumably a bloomery) was sold to Sir Ralph Hopton with the estate of the Carthusian Priory of Witham, though that estate apparently did not include Iron Mills Farm. Iron slag is also reported at Witham Hole.

Sources Thornes 2010, 25-6; Athill 1970; 1971; McGarvie 1984, 355. Orchardleigh: Kirty’s Mill

Sources Thornes 2010, 51-2. Stoney Lane Ironworks, Chantry Railford Works

[11] ST721467 [12] ST721471

James Fussell bought the Stoney Lane Estate in 1806, through which Whatley Brook runs. Shortly after this, he was granted the right to make a conduit from the tail of Downhead Mill (ST688459) to Dead Woman’s Bottom, to improve the water supply in Fordbury Water. Probably soon after this Fussell built a forge at Stoney Lane and grinding mill at Railford. Certainly there was a mill pool at Stoney Lane by c.1810, and an edged tool maker was living there by 1817.

[5] ST526488

Documentary references indicate the existence of an iron mill from 1603, but the mill was closed by 1640. This stood beside the river Axe. Slag from the site suggests that this was a bloomery forge. A survey of the site has been published.

Sources Thornes 2010, 52-5. Vobster Mill

Source Luker & Haslar 1993.

[13] perhaps ST706490

In 1688 James Everett was permitted to set up an edged tool works with a pond at Vobster. After his death it passed to George Snook by 1721, then James Nuth by 1755, who renewed the lease in 1769, but it fails to appear on a map of 1779. The power available may have subsequently been applied to colliery drainage.

Edged tool works at Mells and elsewhere Mells Upper Works Mells Lower Works Great Elm Works

[10] ST781501

William Montague of Elm, who had worked for the Fussells, leased Kirty’s Mill at Orchardleigh in 1793. He emigrated in 1808 to Roxbury near Boston, Mass and made spades, shovels and scythes there. The mill was let in 1809 to James Fussell. It was still an edge tool mill in 1824.

Sources Ferris 1984; McGarvie 1984; Chatsworth, Cork MSS, 10-12, passim; the most important items are printed in Lismore Papers, ser. 2, ii, 164-8; also Thornes 2010, 212. I owe the Chatsworth references (and indeed knowing of the forge) to Paul Rondolez. Wookey Iron Mill

[9] ST736459

Nunney Mill

Sources Milles, ‘Survey of Parishes’ (Bodleian, MS Top Devon 62); Westcote, Devonshire, 65; Devon HER, MDV42173 MDV47120; cf. SBT, DR5/380 556-8. Note also North Devon RO, 2309 B/T47/25. For the descent of Molland see Wikipedia, ‘Manor of Molland’. Peter Claughton pointed me to the Milles reference.

[6] ST733488 [7] ST739488 [8] ST749492

Sources Thornes 2010, 22-4.

James Fussell leased the site of Wadbury Mill in Mells on 1734 to build a mill for grinding edge tools, followed by a second in 1744 for that purpose and forging iron plates. A map of 1779 calls it a plating and steel mill. On his death he was succeeded by his sons Austin, John and James. Austin added a new mill also at Wadbury in 1781. This was followed by a fourth mill (counting their Nunney Mill) in 1792 at Great Elm. James Fussell obtained a patent in 1810 for making and working forge and other bellows.

Other ironworks Ashton Mills

[14] SX842843

In 1807 the assignees of Walter Waller advertised an iron mill, recently built under a lease of 1803 at a cost of £2,500. It was on the river Teign in south Devon and worked by a water wheel of 12-foot diameter and had a balling furnace and two tilt hammers, one for iron and the other for steel. There was also a grist mill, which had been sublet.

Sources Thornes 2010, 25-36; Athill 1970; 1971; Cornwell 1975; English patent 3326. 537

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sources Royal Cornwall Gazette, 25 Jul. 1807. Finch Foundry

bars by water. The smith called Tucker, who had been a dockyard apprentice, then worked there as a smith for 14 years and then for three years at Mount Foundry.

[15] SX64179408

Sources TNA, ADM 106/1643, P. Thorne, Nov. 1814.

This mill, near Oakhampton, north of Dartmoor, had previously been corn and woollen mills. The woollen mill was leased to William Finch in 1814 and he installed a tilt hammer and shears. Later the grist mill was also acquired and converted to a grinding house. The forge was therefore fully equipped to make edged tools. It remained in the Finch family, the firm becoming William Finch and Sons in about 1835, Isaac and John Finch in 1862, and John Finch from 1868 until his death in 1873. His widow Emlin continued it until her death in 1883, and was followed by her brother-in-law George (who died in 1885) and then his widow Rebecca. After her death in 1891, the works were continued by her three sons as Finch Brothers, until Albany George Finch, the last brother died in 1945. The business was incorporated as Finch Brothers Ltd, with Albany’s grandson Richard Bowden, his daughter Muriel Bowden, and Ralph Finch (son of James, another of the brothers) as directors. The works closed in 1960 when its rear wall collapsed and Richard Bowden retired, but its importance was recognised and a charitable trust was established in 1966 to buy, restore and preserve it. The trust ultimately proved not to be viable financially and ownership was passed in 1994 to the National Trust. They have the works (with its machinery in situ) open to visitors. Sources Barron 1983?; Richardson & Watts 1995. Tavistock Ironworks: Mount Foundry

[16] SX48627470

The Mount Foundry of Rundle & Gill was investigated archaeologically in 2004 and 2007, having operated until 1965. The foundry contained hammer and boring mills. The original partnership of 1804 was dissolved in 1818. The large hammer mill had three hammers and the small one (for edged tools). Another product is alluded to by an alternative name ‘Tavistock Engine Works’. In 1815 the works were advertised for sale as a bar iron works, ‘foundery’, edge tool manufactory and anchor smithery [with] nine waterwheels, eight hammers, blast and air furnaces, blowing cylinders, boring rolling and grinding mills and an extensive smithery’. The lease was for 90 years, suggesting a start of 1806, but perhaps it was only granted when the works were completed. The blast furnace was probably a foundry cupola. Sources Smith & Trevarthen 2010; Royal Cornwall Gazette, 24 Jun. 1815; Booker 1967, 262-3. Tavistock Ironworks: another one

unidentified

In 1814, Philip Thorne of Tavistock wrote to the Navy Board of the utility of the Plymouth Dockyard using the products of a works within 30 miles of Plymouth, built 12 months before. It made general uses for shipbuilding from scrap or bushel iron, put into a coke fire and worked into 538

37 Western Glamorgan Introduction

and his managing partner Roger Williams built Neath (or Melin Court) Furnace.5 John Hanbury of Pontypool took it over about 1708. He was the partner of Ambrose Crowley of Stourbridge in Ynyscedwyn Furnace (built in 1710) and Forest Forge. Hanbury declined to renew the Melin Court lease in 1712, with the result that Lord Mansell (its owner) had to operate it himself. This may be the occasion for the building of Aberavon Forge, which Lord Mansell was operating in 1718.6 It is possible that its erection was a reaction to the failure of negotiations in or just before 1717, with John Phillips, an agent of Dr John Lane, the copper entrepreneur.7 Both Ynyscedwyn and Forest were later in the hands of Thomas Popkins of Forest, who added Llandyfan Forge in 1739, but the works then went their separate ways after his death in 1752. There was one other furnace in the area, early coke furnace at Bryn Coch. This was built in 1727 and initially supplied pig iron to the Welch Iron Foundry at Bristol.

Compared to other parts of Glamorgan the iron industry seems to have been a relatively late arrival. There can have been no shortage of water power with such considerable rivers available as the Tawe and the Neath. Ironstone was readily available in the area from the coalfield. The relatively late date for the first furnaces is therefore somewhat surprising. However, much less is known of it than of north Monmouthshire and north Glamorgan, because the works were less involved in identified litigation. The first ironworks was built in the late 16th century by Sir Henry Sidney in the lordship of Coity, while he was Lord President of the Marches.1 The works are mainly known from a few passing references and do not seem to have survived far into the 17th century. Further west there were ironworks in the early 17th century when John Challenor and Thomas Moore had works at Aberpergwm in the upper part of the Vale of Neath at the death of the former in 1607; they also had works in northwest Monmouthshire.2 The precise location and identity of these works in the Vale of Neath is not known, but they probably included some of the early ironworks whose remains have been reported, such as the forge at Aberdulais. They may have originated with a transaction involving the surrender to the Earl of Pembroke of a mining lease relating to several Glamorgan lordships including Neath Ultra, and the re-grant by him of a separate lease for each lordship, as ironworks at Llantrisant and Rhondda seem to have a similar origin.3 Robert Challenor, perhaps John’s grandson, had a forge at Ynyspenllwch in the lower Swansea valley about the middle of the century. The whereabouts of the associated furnace is not known: it could have been at Ynyscedwyn where there was later a furnace; or it could have been the one at Longford Court (near Neath), which was defunct by 1694.4 Thus there would seem to have been a modest, but flourishing iron industry in the Swansea and Neath Valleys in the first half of the 17th century. This may have died out in the latter part of the century, perhaps due to no care being taken to enclose the woods after they were cut, so that they regrew as coppices. Unfortunately information as to this period is so scanty that no definite conclusions can be reached. However, it is also possible that there was no gap when no iron was made.

Both the furnaces, listed in 1717, had a low output. That may be due to a shortage of sufficient wood for more pig iron to be made, but it could merely be because each was supplying a single forge. Apparently, the idea of making pig iron for forges elsewhere had hardly penetrated into the area, though no doubt both Morgan and Hanbury supplied their own works further east. There was a close association between Ynyscedwyn Furnace and Forest Forge for many years, and it seems probable that the two were operated together without pig iron being regularly brought from elsewhere into the Swansea valley or taken from it in significant quantities, but there is evidence of modest imports. The relatively small scale of iron production is in marked contrast with that of tinplate in the second half of the 18th century. Presumably because of the closeness of Cornwall (with its tin mines), across the Bristol Channel, the production of tinplate began almost as early as it did anywhere in Britain. Ynyspenllwch became a tinplate works in 1738. Rowland Pytt, a Gloucestershire ironmaster replaced John Morris as Thomas Lewis’ partner there in 1747. In 1747 he also took a lease of Melin Court Furnace and Aberavon Forge. In 1750 he and Thomas Lewis wished to build another tinplate works at Ynysygerwyn in the Neath Valley. Lacking the finance they approached John Miers of London, who was probably one of their major customers. He seems to have been a leading figure in the Tinplate Workers Company (in London). He agreed

After this early phase ended, iron production was reintroduced in about 1694 when John Morgan of Tredegar 1 2 3 4

HMC De L’Isle & Dudley i, 229; Bevan 1956, 8-9. TNA, PROB 11/109/206. See under Llantrisant for details. NLW, Coleman 829.

5

Morgan a/c. John 1943. The archives on which this was based were destroyed during World War II. 7 TNA, C 11/2426/22. 6

539

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 37. Western Glamorgan. 1, Aberavon (or Avon) Forge; 2, Aberdulais Forge I; 3, Aberdulais Forge (Lower Works); 4, Aberpergwm Ironworks; 5, Cwm­ gwrlach; 6, Bryn Coch Furnace; 7, Cambrian Rolling Mill; 8, Clydach Forge (later Upper Forge); 9, Coity Furnace (or Angleton Furnace); 10, Forest Forge; 11, Lliw Forge; 12, Melin Court (or Cwrt) Furnace; 13, Neath Abbey Furnace; 14, later ironworks at Neath Abbey; 15, Neath Fechan Furnace; 16, Ynyscedwyn Furnace; 17, Ynyspenllwch Works; 18, Ynysygerwyn Tinplate Works; 20, Nantrhydyvilis Air Furnace; 21, Neath Valley; 23, Cefn Cribwr Furnace; 24, Cwmavon Furnace; 25, Llanelli Furnace, Carms; 26, Llanelli Forge; 27, Penrhiwtyn Furnace.

to take an equal share with them in the new works, and put up all the money, taking a mortgage over the shares of the other two partners in the works. The landlords had second thoughts about the venture and litigation followed, which was resolved largely in favour of Pytt, Lewis, & Co, but the works were not finished until 1758. The right to fix the weir to the east side of the River Neath had to be confirmed by Act of Parliament as Miss Mansel, the landlord, was under age.

following the death of Thomas Lewis, his brother sold that share to John Miers, who sometime subsequently bought out the Coles share. He thus became sole proprietor of the firm, which was thenceforth known as John Miers. John Miers died in 1780, followed by his son Nathaniel in 1784; thus began a period when the works were carried on by Dr J.C. Lettsom as executor, until the majority of John Miers’ grandson, J.N. Miers.9 The works were then carried on as John Miers & Co by J.N. Miers and his cousin, S.F. Lettsom, another grandson of John Miers. They went their separate ways about 1810, S.F. Lettsom taking a mining lease in Cwmavon where the furnace may have been built in his time. S.F. Lettsom of J.N. Miers & Co was bankrupt in 1819. His partnership with John Vigurs and Leonard Smith as Vigurs and Smith in London and John Miers & Co in Wales was dissolved in 1821. William Llewellyn and John Vigurs, who were later proprietors of some of these iron and tin works, had begun as managers for John Miers & Co.

Rowland Pytt died before the end of the litigation leaving his share of this partnership to his daughter Hannah, whose husband William Coles therefore succeeded him as partner and participated in building Ynysygerwyn. The ironworks at Melin Court and Aberavon passed equally to Rowland Pytt II and to William Coles in the right of his wife. The next venture was the erection of another forge, built by Coles and Lewis on the east side of the river Neath opposite Aberdulais. This and other leases also provided the rights of navigation on the river, though it is not known if navigation occurred. In 1769 Rowland Pytt II’s executors decided to dispose of their Glamorgan ironworks, but they retained their Lydney Ironworks in Gloucestershire until 1775 and the Tintern ironworks until about 1776.8 The disposal locally was done by Pytt & Coles amalgamating with Coles, Lewis & Co: John Miers and Thomas Lewis bought the share of Rowland Pytt II, and then William Coles sold them a sixth share. In 1776 8

During this period, Ynyscedwyn passed successively through the hands of Thomas Price (who also held Bryn Coch Furnace), David Tanner (whose main activities were in Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire), and Richard Parsons. Richard Parsons took a lease of property at Neath Abbey but sublet it to Fox & Co (a Cornish firm), who built the Neath Abbey ironworks. This operated for many years and had considerable renown for making steam

Q.v.

9

540

Partnership deeds: Glamorgan RO, CL 236/221 269-73.

Chapter 37: Western Glamorgan engines. Parsons also built a forge in 1786 at Clydach, north of Swansea, which was one of the last finery forges to be built in Britain, if not the last. Forest Forge had been converted to a copper mill, presumably a battery, about a decade earlier. Richard Parsons got into financial difficulty and for a long period he was managing Ynyscedwyn on behalf of trustees for the benefit of his creditors.

by Robert B Byass (a partner since 1860) alone 1863 on. Robert B. Byass & Co Ltd was incorporated in 1918, and it became a subsidiary of Baldwins Ltd in 1934; and hence part of Richard Thomas and Baldwins Ltd; of the Steel Company of Wales; and then of British Steel Corporation. Size ‘1717’ not included; 1718 150 tpa; 1736 75 tpa; 1750 350 tpa. It is likely that this large expansion took place when Rowland Pytt took it over. Philip Jenkins’ lease only provided for him to receive 400 to 550 long welsh cords of wood. As he was perhaps using coal in the chafery, this was probably enough for 150 to 200 tpa, suggesting that the listed figure is on the low side. In 1794 there were 2 fineries and a chafery.

It was perhaps the shortage of wood that led Melin Court to be turned to smelting with coke in the latter part of the 18th century. It seems that Ynyscedwyn continued as a charcoal furnace until 1801 when a new lease allowed the erection of a second furnace and provided a supply of coal. Even after this the original furnace may have continued to produce charcoal iron. Alexander Raby’s Llanelli furnaces had a chequered history, periodically ceasing operation due to insolvency. Another coke furnaces was built and Penrhiwtyn, but there is little sign of it working. Evidently it was a failure.

Associations The forge was held with Melin Court Furnace (q.v.) throughout the 18th century. Trading Lord Mansell failed to sell most of his output. Cordwood was supplied from the Cilybebyll estate around 1790 (NLW, Cilybebyll II p91, 1490-1502). Philip Jenkins bought 37 tons of Invergarry pig iron at Bristol over 3 years in 1730-2 (Invergarry a/c). Some of the pig iron landed at Neath from Lorn Furnace for John Miers’ trustees (noted under Aberdulais Forge) in 1788 may have been worked up here rather than at Aberdulais.

General Sources None. Phillips 1925 and Jenkins 1974 cover the Neath valley, where Glamorgan RO, CL 236/221 269-72 are important sources. Hughes 2008 covers the copper smelting area around Swansea. Ince 2001 covers a small area.

Gazetteer

Accounts are referred to in John 1943 but I have not located them. They were probably part of the Britton Ferry archive, which was destroyed in the Second World War.

Charcoal ironworks Aberavon (or Avon) Forge

[1] SS773905

Sources Glamorgan RO, CL  236/269-73; NLW, Penrice & Margam 5082 5167 5505 5608 5693 & 5695; Phillips 1925, 295; Phillips 1933, 14-16 & 20-1; O’Brien 1933, 47-8; John 1943, 95 &c; Brooke 1944 31-34; Rees 1990; London Gazette, no. 17541, 2184 (4 Dec. 1819); no. 17687, 588 (10 Mar. 1821); no. 18147, 1079 (18 Jun. 1825).

There were two iron and tinplate works at Aberavon, which is now part of Port Talbot. The Upper Forge was the older works. It stood on the east bank of River Afan a short distance from where the river emerged into a coastal plain, which was presumably formerly moors and dunes. The site of the Upper Forge was in the 1990s still used for some industrial purpose, but then the buildings there did not look particularly ancient. The forge was apparently built by Lord Mansell at some time before 1718, probably in 1716 when a road had to be repaired for the transit of a hammer beam. His object to provide an outlet for iron from his Melin Court Furnace in the Neath Valley. Lord Mansell let it to Philip Jenkins for 11 years from 1726 and Jenkins continued as tenant beyond this term until 1746. Rowland Pytt I had it from 1747 until his death in 1753; then Rowland Pytt II (and executors) and William Coles until 1769 (renewing the lease in 1759); followed by Coles, Lewis & Co 1769 to 1778. John Miers became the sole proprietor of the firm in that year, having bought out both the other partners. The works were operated by him and his family into the 19th century. William Cook of Avon [i.e. Aberavon] Forge, who bought cordwood 1786-92, may have been a manager. In 1822 Robert Smith of Avon Forge built the second works, known as the Margam Tinplate Works. After buying out his partner John Reynolds in 1824, he continued the works until his death 1840. He was succeeded by Motley, Fussel & Co 1840 to 1843; by William Llewellyn & Co 1843 to 1863;

Aberdulais Forge I

[2] SS772995

The existence of a forge in 1667 is recorded in Neath Ultra pleas for 1727. This had replaced a copper smelting works of the Mines Royal Society, which were built perhaps in 1584 and remained in use at least 1598. The forge must have succeeded this sometime in the early 17th century. It may be related to the iron ore mine at Cilybybyll, leased in 1596 and 1633 (see Aberpergwm). The presence of the copper industry is not surprising as the manor of Neath Ultra at the time belonged to the Earl of Pembroke, who was also governor of the Society of Mines Royal. Iron slag was found in the course of excavation. Sources Phillips 1925, 299; Rees 1968, 266 432-5; Hayman 1986, 148; 1987. Aberdulais Mill II

[2] SS772995

After the closure of the forge mentioned above the site was used for a corn mill and a tucking mill. The original lease of the Ynysygerwyn Works in 1751 included ‘a little house 541

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II formerly a tucking mill and also a ground floor room’ in the corn mill ... ‘with liberty to build works for tinning or otherwise manufacturing iron plates.’ It would therefore seem that this was a tinmill to Ynysygerwyn. This must be one of the last works built where hot rolling was carried out on a separate site from cold rolling and tinning, though the two were not as far apart as at Bringewood and Mitton. This mill may be the smaller building, which appears in contemporary illustrations on the upstream side of the corn mill. Nothing remains of this building except the floor and some foundations. Everything else was probably removed when a new tinplate works of the usual kind was built in about 1830, a mill is outside the scope of this work. This works, like many other tinplate works, closed in about 1890 (due to the McKinley tariffs) and was left to decay. In the 1980s, the site was acquired by the National Trust. The Trust has been excavated and consolidated the mills, whose site is open to the public as part of their Aberdulais Falls property. It is possible that the tinmill was a third building which is only shown only in the earliest of the illustrations of the falls, lying between the other mills and the falls. If so, the site is probably behind a structure known as the bastion, a part of the 1830 works which remains unexcavated.

river near the forge but this has been filled in, presumably to provide more space for Calor Gas who occupied the site in the 1990s. Certain buildings at the southern end of the Calor Gas site contained masonry, which may possibly be the remains of the original forge.

Sources Glamorgan RO, CL 236/221; cf. Hayman 1986; 1987; Taylor 1993.

Aberpergwm Ironworks Cwmgwrelach Furnace

Aberdulais Lower Works [3]

John Challenor held ‘furnaces and forges’ at Aberpergwm, presumably near Aberpergwm House, at the time of his death in 1607, in partnership with Thomas More. Aberpergwm House is across the valley from Cwmgwrelach Furnace, another obscure early ironworks, (presumably between SN888066 and SN906055). It is possible these are references to the same furnace. Wilkins stated it was a place called the Venallt in Cwmgwrelach (SN 864050), where anthracite-fulled blast furnaces operated in the 1840s to 1860s. They are probably related to a lease of the right to mine iron ore, held in 1596 by Challenor and Moore; a mine that was probably still in use in 1633. As Robert Challenor and William Sandy had forge at Ynyspenllwch in 1647, at a time when no furnace is known in the area, either this furnace or that near Longford Court must have remained in use possibly as late as 1695. The first forge at Aberdulais presumably also worked with them. Ironstone for Melin Court and Neath Furnaces was got in this area in 1800.

Size 1794 2 fineries 1 chafery. Associations see Ynysygerwyn. Melin Court Furnace and Aberavon Forge were brought into the partnership by amalgamation in 1769. Trading Pig iron was sent from Lorn Furnace to Neath or to John Miers’ executors at Neath, presumably for this forge or Aberavon: a cargo in June 1778 (referred to in 17 Mar. 1787), 50 tons (14 Sep. 1787), 3 cargoes [perhaps 80 tons each] (10 Apr. and 5 Dec. 1788), & 83 tons (4 Dec. 1793) (Lorn l/b). Sources Glamorgan RO, CL  236/221 269-72; West Glamorgan RO, D/D BF 161 990-1 & 1191; D/DT 23/1-2 & 441-8; London Gazette, no. 17541, 2184 (4 Dec. 1819); no. 17687, 588 (10 Mar. 1821); Phillips 1925, 299-304; Rees 1968, 305 309 (‘Dylais’); Brooke 1944, 8-11.

SS774991

The forge stood on the southeast bank of River Neath and was powered by a canal from the main river. The works was built by Coles Lewis & Co, contemporaneously with Ynysygerwyn. The 1751 lease suggests that the original plan was that Ynysygerwyn should be the forge and Aberdulais the tinplate works. The plan was however reversed and the forge was built at Aberdulais. The works descended with Ynysygerwyn to John Miers and then to his executors. In 1802 the lease was renewed by John Nathaniel Miers. When John Miers’ estate was distributed Aberdulais and Ynysygerwyn were assigned to Samuel Fothergill Lettsom. He took John Vigurs and Leonard Smith as partners but became bankrupt in 1819. Vigurs and Smith sublet the works to George Tennant with the condition that he should not make charcoal iron. In 1827 he sublet back to Vigurs and Smith who had the option to hold for one year or fourteen. William Llewellyn & Co had a tinplate works here in 1842 and 1852, but this may refer only to the upper works. The works were taken over by Joshua Williams & Co in 1859. In 1912 this firm was acquired by M G Roberts and others; Aberdulais Tinplate Co Ltd was incorporated in 1914. Richard Thomas & Co Ltd took over the works in 1936. They wound up their Aberdulais subsidiary in 1939, but apparently continued the works for a few more years. The weir still exists standing a few yards upstream of the aqueduct of the Tennant Canal. The leat left the river a short distance upstream from the weir. The beginning of this can be seen together with the arch that carried the leat under the Tennant Canal. The leat used to continue alongside the Neath Canal to rejoin the

[4] near SN865060 [5] c.SN9006

Sources TNA, PROB  11/109/206; Donald 1961, 122; NLW, Cilybebyll 185; Wilkins 1903, 227; Phillips 1925, 306; Rees 1968, 266 (citing a survey of the manor of Neath Ultra); Watt’s Tour of Wales; for the later iron works: Blick 1984, 44-7; Riden & Owen 1995, 29. Angleton Furnace see Coity Bryn Coch Furnace Duffryn Clydach

[6] SN741001

The furnace was probably planned as a coke furnace. The site was leased for 50 years from 1727 by a company, 542

Chapter 37: Western Glamorgan many of whose members were Bristol Quakers and which carried on the ‘Welch Iron Foundry’ in Back Lane (now Jacob Street) there from 1732. This firm afterwards became Reynolds, Getley & Co and then Harford, Partridge & Co (and is described in the chapter 34). In 1757 they sold the furnace to Thomas Pryce of Cwrtrhydhir [or Longford Court]. In 1772 it was let for 35 years to Coles Lewis & Co. As it does not appear in the ‘1794’ list it is likely that it was closed by that date. The rent reserved in the 1772 lease rose after five years, suggesting that the 1727 lease was then still subsisting. The site of the furnace is indicated by ‘Old Furnace’ on the tithe map for Cadoxton juxta Neath. The furnace was on the Duffryn estate of the Williams Family, near the junction of a small brook and the river Clydach and might have been driven by either. The existence of a furnace in the vicinity is confirmed by the presence of slag. There are no apparent remains of the furnace, but the site has not been closely investigated.

probably converted to a finery forge of the traditional type by Richard Parsons of Ynyscedwyn in 1786, he and Sir H. Mackworth having renewed the lease the previous year. Parsons had leased water rights from the Duke of Beaufort in 1784. It must be one of the last of the finery forges to be built in Britain. The partnership of Richard Parsons and Samuel Fox Parsons was dissolved in 1824. Llewellyn Llewellyn of Ynispenllwch later occupied it. It continued in use until 1864. Not surprisingly, in 1800, it was working up Ynyscedwyn pig iron. Iron was also received from Llandyfan. There are substantial remains of the forge in the river bed, particularly of a wheel pit and anvil bases, together with the forge pound. The river now flows through what was the old forge building. The Lower Forge (SN688013) was probably established by Parsons in about 1810. A lease expired in 1848, but a forge operated into the 1860s, but does not appear in the lists of puddling furnaces in the Mineral Statistics.

Size The 1727 lease included the right to mine coal, but this right had been abandoned by 1757. The 1772 lease also included a colliery. The colliery of Pryce and Williams is referred to in 1754. It is conceivable that the furnace used charcoal in the 1750s, but otherwise it seems to have been a coke ironworks.

Size in ‘1794’ it had 2 fineries and a chafery; these were later replaced by puddling furnaces.

Associations as to Thomas Pryce see Ynyscedwyn; as to Coles Lewis & Co see Ynysygerwyn and Melin Court.

Coity Furnace or Angleton Furnace

Trading 1758-64 Thomas Pryce supplied round shot to the Ordnance Board, but was singularly unsuccessful when he tried casting cannon in 1758 (TNA, WO 47/51-64 passim; WO  47/53, 153; Tomlinson 1976, 398; Phillips 1925, 287). He also cast iron ballast from 1756 to 1762 (Navy a/c ballast; King 1995b). These contracts together suggest production of at least 600 tpa.

Sir Robert Sidney granted a lease to John Cross of Cleobury Mortimer and John Thornton of Neen Savage (near there) in 1589 to build a furnace and forge. Cross was still there in 1594, but apparently as clerk to Percival Willoughby. By 1600 it had passed to Willard & Bullen and in 1631 was in possession of John Matthew. The furnace is not heard of again, but the paucity of archive material hardly renders this surprising. There were formerly more substantial remains consisting of a mass of stone at the bottom of the railway embankment on the northern suburbs of Bridgend. This had two fused faces each about three foot long, but the rest of it was a mere mound of rubble, held together by the roots of a tree growing above it. This was illustrated in Riley 1895, but collapsed in the late 20th century, probably following the removal of the tree. In the early 1990s only the foundations of furnace remained, beside a footpath.

Sources Davies 1982; Hughes & Reynolds 1989, 17; Hughes 2008, 115 118; Taylor 2008, 127 130; Cadwalladr 1983; Watt’s Tour of Wales; NLW, Badminton II, 871.

Sources Bristol RO, 4658(6)a-b; cf. 09458(21); Phillips 1925, 286-7. Cambrian Rolling Mill

[7] about SS658933

The Cambrian Copper Works were built in 1720 and operated until 1745, after which Robert Morris may have used the copper rolling mill until 1764. After that, the site was leased to William Coles (of Coles, Lewis & Co), who used the rolling mill to roll iron, probably in connection with his tinplate works at Ynyspenllwch. He converted another part into a pottery, the Cambrian Pottery, which operated until 1868.

Size The 1589 grant allowed 3000 cords per year, implying production of 150-200 tpa bar iron. An analysis of the slag suggests the use of clayband ironstone rather than haematite. Associations There must have been a forge somewhere in the area, but its location remains unknown. Sir Henry Sidney earlier had iron and steel works at Robertsbridge and the Pentyrch Works. Percival Willoughby had ironworks at Middleton (Warws), Hints and Oakamoor (Staffs), and Codnor, Heanor, and Duffield (Derbs).

Sources Hughes 2008, 11-14 41-2 57. Clydach Forge later Upper Forge

[9] SS904820

[8] SN68690197

The forge was built by the lower River Clydach, in Llangevelach, a few miles north of Swansea. It apparently began as an iron battery built before 1764 by Thomas Lewis and John Morse (of Ynyspenllwch). It was

Sources HMC De L’Isle & Dudley i, 229; Riley 1895, 76-9 (with two illustrations); Bevan 1956, 8-9; Schubert 1957, 372; Smith 1968, 129; Rees 1969, 52-5; Rees 1968, 265; 543

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Lliw Forge

Morgan 1997. The early deeds of the Coity estate have not been located, but would no doubt throw further light on this furnace and the alleged Coychurch Forge.

The forge is claimed to date from 1740, but it fails to appear in any of the 18th century lists, suggesting that (if real) it was only a plating forge. It was worked by Raby’s partners at Llanelli, the Nevilles, until 1817, when the forge had a finery and chafery. It was advertised with the Ynispenllwch Works, which might point to the owners being John Miers & Co. David James and Thomas Corslet were tenants of the associated Pandy Farm in 1817 and the latter was responsible for viewings in 1824.

Cwmgwrelach Furnace see under Aberpergwm Forest Forge

[11] SN606008

[10] SS675981

The location of Forest seems to have given rise to some confusion. Both Treforest and the hamlet of Fforest in Merthyr Tydfil have been suggested. However the ‘Forest’, where the forge lay, was in the parish of Llansamlet outside Swansea. Its location is indicated by the field name Cae Forge in the tithe award. There were in fact two estates called Forest. Lower Forest Farm belonged to the Dukes of Beaufort and Upper Forest to the Popkins Family. The deeds of the latter have not been traced, but a copy of one deed and papers regarding a dispute with the Duke have been found in the Badminton Papers. The works was driven by means of a fleam from a weir about half a mile away at SS682990. An area adjacent to the site of the forge was and its head of water were used in the 19th century for Upper Forest Tinplate Works. The site was unused between the closure of the forge and opening of the tinworks. A corn mill continued to use an adjacent site. In the early 1990s, the mill leat was a dry ditch beside the lane past the site, which had a travellers’ encampment on it. The corn mill then remained as a ruin. Forest Hall, the home of the Popkins family, still stood in 1884 adjoining the tinplate works.

Sources Taylor 2008, 171-3; Cambrian, 8 Sep. 1817; 23 May 1818; 24 Jul. 1824. Longford Court see Neath Abbey Melin Court (or Cwrt) Furnace also called Neath Furnace

[12] SN824018

The remains of the furnace stand to the south of River Neath, six miles up the Vale from Neath. It was driven by the Melin Court Brook, which descends a steep side valley. It was apparently built by John Morgan and Roger Williams in about 1696, probably to provide pig iron for Tredegar Forge, replacing a regular supply from Tintern. John Hanbury probably took it over in 1708. In 1712 he refused to pay a premium of £1,000 demanded for the renewal of the lease and Thomas Lord Mansell therefore took over the furnace himself. Mansell experienced considerable difficulty in selling pig iron and only sold little between 1714 and 1718. It is therefore probable the furnace was not often in blast, and no doubt why he built Aberavon Forge. After this the furnace probably descended with Aberavon forge, but no lease to Philip Jenkins survives. Thomas Popkins leased it in 1736 and Rowland Pytt in 1748. On his death in 1753, it passed to his son Rowland Pytt II and son-in-law William Coles. When the executors of the former withdrew in 1769, William Coles, Thomas Lewis and John Miers added these works to their Ynysygerwyn partnership, with which it descended until its closure sometime in the early 19th century. The last known lease ran until 1814. It was listed in 1825 as belonging to ‘Myers & Co’, but that is probably an anachronism. There are substantial ruins of the furnace and associated buildings, probably including a mine kiln above the furnace.

The Forest Works were probably built shortly after 1714 by Ambrose Crowley  of Stourbridge (d.1721) and John Hanbury, the former perhaps being succeeded by his son Benjamin (d.1724). After this the forge probably continued to descend with Ynyscedwyn Furnace until 1752. In 1752 Thomas Popkins let it to his son Robert. In 1779, it was let to Lockwood, Morris & Co, who had copper works on the Lower Forest estate. They no doubt used the forge in their copper business. There was only a ‘mill’ at the time of the tithe award. Size 1717 150 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 200 tpa. 1794 owned by Mr Poppin (sic) and in occupation of Morris & Co – Copper. Associations Probably always held with Ynyscedwyn furnace.

Size 1717 ‘Neath’ 200 tpa. Under the leases of 1736 and 1748 the landlord provided only enough wood for 100 and 150 tpa respectively, but no doubt wood was bought elsewhere. 500 cords of wood were to be bought by the tenant under the 1736 lease and 300 more from 1748. 1788 a coke furnace formerly using charcoal; also 1794; 1796 503 tpa; 1805 900 tpa; 1810 in blast. An air furnace was mentioned in 1793. In 1799 the furnace was 47 feet high and 13 broad and there were an air furnace and a refining furnace, but not a puddling furnace. The blast was from cylinders worked by water power (Hopkins 1966, 215).

Trading Thomas Popkins and Mat Price bought nearly 50 tons of Backbarrow pig iron delivered at Swansea in 1747 (BB a/c). Sources Flinn 1962, 14-15; NLW, Badminton II 1496 1595-7 & 1732 cf. 924 1261 etc.; TNA, PROB 11/796/418; West Glamorgan RO, D/DYc 558; Hughes 2008, 55 115 211; Taylor 2008, 115-6. I must thank Peter Hutchison for his help in confirming the location of the forge.

544

Chapter 37: Western Glamorgan Associations There is no evidence of an associated forge until Lord Mansel built Aberavon Forges a little before 1718. Thereafter these were held with the furnace. Morgan, Hanbury, Popkins and Pytt all had other ironworks.

many of which survive (Ince 1984). In 1796 the furnaces made 1,759 tpa; in 1800 each furnace made 31 tpw (Watt’s Tour of Wales), perhaps 2,500-3,000 tpa; in 1805 and 1810 both are listed as out of blast. The furnace stacks are intact and each has three tuyeres. They stand 63½ and 53½ feet high, a height that is partly dictated by that of the adjacent ground, but they are nevertheless unusually high for the period.

Trading In 1694-1700 up to 150 tpa was sent to Tredegar and Machen Forges. In 1711-16 45-118 tpa was sent to Tredegar Forge (Morgan a/c). In 1708 Major Hanbury sold 25 tons pig iron to Forest Partnership’s Blackpool Forge in Pembrokeshire (Foley a/c). Pig iron was exported coastwise from Neath in 1708 and 1710 (Williams 1940b, 196), presumably came from here. William Coles & Co and then John Miers provided 200 to 500 tpa cast iron ballast from 1775 to 1781 (Navy a/c, ballast). In 1800 it was making forge pig iron with ironstone from opposite Aberpergwm and coal (Watt’s Tour of Wales).

Sources NLW, Coleman 829: cited or discussed in Phillips 1925, 285-6; Rees 1968, 304; D.M. Rees in Jenkins 1974, 149-50; Riden 1993, 24; Trans. Neath Antiquarian. Soc. Ser. II, 3, 82-3. Also: West Glamorgan RO, D/D D1197; Jenkins 1974, 121 & 145; Ince 1984; 1993, 91-6; 2001, 35-88; Cambrian, 6 Dec. 1817; Joshua Gilpin’s diary. Neath Fechan Furnace

Sources NLW, Penrice and Margam 5695-7; Glamorgan RO, CL/BRA236/158 & 269-73; Phillips 1925, 284-9; John 1943; Green 1981; Ince 1993, 28; Gwent RO, Misc. MS 448 (printed Schubert 1957, 425).

[15] near SN901077 and/or SN910079

The existence of an old iron furnace of unknown date is noted by Wilkins and (from him) by Phillips ‘by the old mill on the banks of the Lesser Neath, Pontneddfechan and also one by the entrance to Curtis and Harvey’s Powder Mills, Pontneddfechan’. The latter mill site is Glyn Neath Mills (SN917084). Two ironworks in such close proximity might be a furnace and forge. While nothing can certainly be said of the furnace it does not seem improbable that it was belongs to the period when the Earls of Pembroke were lords of Neath Ultra. It may have been associated with Aberdulais Forge I of 1667.

Neath Abbey Furnace [13] SS737983 and and later ironworks at Neath Abbey SS737979 A furnace stood on the river Clydach at some date prior to 1694, when the site was let for the erection of a battery work for copper. Iron slag is reported to have been found under copper slag near Tyllwyd, at the first site given above, which was therefore suggested as the site of the furnace. Nothing else is known of it. It might have operated with the forges at Ynyspenllwch and Aberdulais (q.v.), the former of which seems to have been in operation until about 1695. This suggests that it may have been in operation by 1647 when Robert Challenor and William Sandy had a forge at Ynispenllwch.

Sources Phillips 1925, 306; Wilkins 1903, 227. Ynyscedwyn Furnace [16] SN783091 (or Uniskedwin Unishadden or Ynysgedwyn) The furnace, which lay just in Breconshire, rather than Glamorgan, stood beside the River Tawe, but was driven by a leat from Afon Twrch. The furnace was built in 1711, according to a a plate found in 1870, when building a new furnace. Its founders were Ambrose Crowley of Stourbridge (d.1721) and John Hanbury of Pontypool, perhaps with other partners. Benjamin Crowley (d.1724) may have succeeded to his father’s share. Later it may have been held by Howell, William Bowen. Thomas Popkins had it between 1739 and 1752; then Thomas Price 1752 to 1775; and David Tanner 1775 to 1782 or later. Richard Parsons and his mortgagees (with trustees for his creditors under a deed of 1803) from 1788 until 1817. It may be noted that Richard Parsons also succeeded Thomas Pryce as occupier of Longford Court. The partnership of Richard Parsons and Samuel Fox Parsons was dissolved in 1824, which may be when the works passed to George Crane, who with his manager David Thomas pioneered the use of anthracite in ironmaking. George Haynes & Co (a Swansea bank) were partners when they became bankrupt, leading to arrangements for disposal of their interest in 1828. The company operated as Ynyscedwyn Iron Co in about 1849. This was incorporated in 1864 and followed by other eponymous companies until 1878. A tinplate works

Prior to 1792 Richard Parsons had a foundry and mill for rolling iron plates. He then took a new lease intending to build three furnaces. Only two furnaces were ever built; and not by him but in 1792 by Fox & Co, a Quaker firm of Cornish ironfounders, to whom he granted a sublease. Its partners also had the Perran Foundry in Cornwall (built 1791) and included seven members of the Fox family, Peter Price, Samuel Tregelles, and William Wood of Swansea ironmaster. A rolling mill formed part of their works at a later date and was presumably the same one. It was retained as part of the new ironworks and so appears on plans of the works. The foundry and rolling mill were ‘heretofore used as mills for battering copper’. This raises the question of whether there were two battery works as D.M. Rees indicated. The histories he gave to the two works seem to be complementary and it therefore seems likely that there was really only one. It is however not unlikely that the leases included land for some distance along the valley. Bowen’s Map of South Wales (1729) marks a forge in this vicinity, but this is probably a reference to the battery work. The two furnaces with a boring mill were offered for sale in 1817, but were evidently not sold. The works of Fox & Co specialised in making engines, the drawings for 545

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II was built in the site in 1889. The site has been cleared of industrial remains and redeveloped partly as housing and partly as a community hospital. The only industrial structures remaining are two rows of pillars, belonging to a period much later than that of this book.

forge was let to Robert Challenor and William Sandy in 1647. In 1656 it was in the tenure of Thomas Foord and was then let to David Evans and John Llewellyn. In 1663 it was let to Richard Ford. In 1687 it was held by John Howell. In 1697 Sir Humphrey Mackworth agreed not to build an ironworks here for 21 years as long as John Hanbury and Ambrose Crowley held the nearby Forest Ironworks. The mill was probably then used by Dr Lane as a copper rod mill and battering mill, until his bankruptcy in 1726.

Size 1717 ‘Unishadden’ 200 tpa. In 1794 there was one furnace using charcoal. 1796 1,352 tpa (probably meaning 26 tpw). In 1800 the furnace had lately been rebuilt 39 foot high and 19 foot wide at the boshes, and was making 30 tpw using coal, but the iron was very bad and mostly made into ballast (Watt’s Tour of Wales). A lease of 1801 provided for the erection of a second furnace with liberty to add others. A royalty was paid on ironstone consumed with a minimum of 3,000 tons of ironstone per year for this furnace only. By 1837 there was a third furnace and the minimum royalty on 20,000 tons of ironstone for all three furnaces. Provisions as to the sale of cordwood appear in leases as late as 1837. The production of some charcoal iron may therefore well have continued into the 19th century. There is no evidence of production of coke pig iron before 1801, but the making of some cannot be ruled out. 1796 800 tpa; 1805 and 1810 lists mention one furnace in blast.

[17] SN697009

In 1726 Sir Humphrey Mackworth wanted three good men to carry on rolling slitting and wiremills at ‘Ynispenllwch’. In 1741 it was let as a rolling mill to John Morse and Thomas Lewis. Six years later they surrendered this lease, so that a new one could be granted to Rowland Pytt of Gloucester, John Morse, and Thomas Lewis. On his death in 1753, Rowland Pytt left his share to his daughter Hannah Coles, whose husband William Coles therefore became a partner. Analogy with Ynysygerwyn suggests that William Coles bought Thomas Lewis’ share following his death and that he subsequently sold the works to John Miers, his partner in Ynysygerwyn and other works in the Neath and Afan valleys. John Miers died in 1780, rapidly followed by his sons Nathaniel in 1782 and John in 1787. The business was continued by J.C. Lettsom as John Miers’ executor until 1799. Miers’ two grandsons, John Nathaniel Miers and Samuel Fothergill Lettsom, then followed. About 1809 they divided the works, Ynyspenllwch being taken over by J.N. Miers. On his death in 1814, S.F. Lettsom took it over, continuing to trade as John Miers & Co, but became bankrupt in 1819. He was succeeded elsewhere by Vigurs and Smith, former employees, who had risen to be partners; the same perhaps occurred here. An auction of the machinery in the works was advertised in 1817. In 1825 it was let to William Llewellyn, another former Miers manager, took a sixty year lease in partnership with John Cook. The long term of the lease suggests that their firm (William Llewellyn & Co) intended substantial improvements. The firm was later William Llewellyn & Son; William Llewellyn died in 1857 and his son Llewellyn Llewellyn in 1860, being succeeded by his brother-in-law Henry Strick, who continued the works in partnership with Francis. Richard Thomas and others formed Ynyspenllwch Works Ltd in 1867. Thomas left in 1871 to run Lydbrook Tinplate Works, and the Company ceased trading in 1875. Tawe Tinplate Co ran the works from 1876 to 1879, and Birchgrove Steel and Tinplate Co Ltd from 1884 to 1897, when tinplate production ceased. It then became the Canister Works, which was acquired by Metal Box Co in 1937 and operated until 1952. The area has been redeveloped and nothing remains except a muddy channel that was the fleam.

The works were on a fleam from the River Tawe at Clydach in the Swansea Valley. It is possible that it began as the ironworks at ‘Ennis Pengloghe’, suppressed by Order in Council in 1580. In the 17th century, this was a forge and in the 18th it was a tinplate works. The

Associations This works was one of a number in this part of Wales belonging to a series of partnerships involving Rowland Pytt and his children, all of which eventually devolved on John Miers. William Llewellyn and Co also built the tinplate works at Aberdulais Falls in about 1830.

Associations Ambrose Crowley and John Hanbury also had other considerable interests in the iron industry (for Crowley see chapter 24 and Hanbury chapter 34). If 1711 is correct as the date of erection, then the furnace probably replaced that at Melin Court, where Hanbury failed to renew the lease the following year. Forest Forge was also held with the furnace for many years. From 1739 to 1775 it was held with Llandyfan Forge. Richard Parsons had coalmines at Neath Abbey and a foundry and rolling mill there. He took the original leases to build the Neath Abbey Ironworks and the Neath Copper Works of the Cheadle Brass Wire Co there, but sublet the sites to others who built those works. Trading Pig iron from the furnace is likely to have been wrought at Forest Forge. Richard Parsons ‘Uniskedwin’ sold 29 and 26 tpa pig iron to forges at Mitton in 1787 and 1788 (SW a/c). Sources Flinn 1962, 13-14 23 & 29; West Glamorgan RO D/D Yc/558 561-3 623-7 & 938-9; TNA, PROB 11/796/418; Ince 1993, 161-3; Lloyd 1906, 106-7; London Gazette, no. 18026, 768 (11 May 1824); Cambrian, 19 Jan. 1828. The account of the furnace in Rees (1968, 306-7) is confused, as it concentrates on the ownership of the estate, rather than operation of the furnace. He also conflated Ambrose Crowley of Stourbridge with his son Sir Ambrose. Ynyspenllwch Works

546

Chapter 37: Western Glamorgan Sources West Glamorgan RO, D/D Gn/1; Toft 2012; Brooke 1944-9, 163-6; Flinn 1962, 14; Williams (M.) 1986; Taylor 2008, 131-3; Clydach History Soc. 1989, 1-5; Hughes 2008, 40-1 55 114-5; Cambrian, 8 September 1817; London Gazette, no. 17541, 2184 (4 Dec. 1819).

only a blacksmith’s shop (NLW, Penrice & Margam 4581), and actually at Ogmore in St. Brides Major. If there was a forge at Coychurch, the most likely site is at SS955800, just into Pencoed township, where the tithe award shows a works in Coychurch as ‘factory’, presumably for flannel.

Ynysygerwyn Tinplate Works

Nantrhydyvilis Air Furnace and Landore Forge

[18] SS784997

This rolling mill stood at Ynysygerwyn Fach and was driven by means of a leat from the River Neath. It was built under a lease of 1751, but litigation delayed building until 1755, the works being completed by December 1757. The original partners were Rowland Pytt I, Thomas Lewis, and John Miers who provided all the finance. William Coles succeeded his father-in-law Rowland Pytt on his death. John Miers bought Thomas Lewis’ share from his administrator in 1776 and William Coles’ share from him in 1779. The works passed to J.C. Lettsom as John Miers’ executor, then to John Nathaniel Miers. Finally, on the partition of the family’s works between him and Samuel Fothergill Lettsom, it was assigned to the latter. He took John Vigurs and Leonard Smith as partners, but was bankrupt in 1819. This partnership was dissolved in 1821. In 1825 Vigurs and Smith sublet the works to George Tennant, with the condition that they should not be used for making tinplate. Tinplate production was moved to Cwm Avon. Tennant intended to annex it to his canal and convert it to a saw mill, but in 1830 he let the works to the proprietors of the Red Jacket Copper Works. The lease was surrendered in 1842 in part settlement of a claim by the landlord for dilapidations. The leat has carried water in recent times, but is now largely dry. There is a group of buildings on the site, but little remains of the tinplate works.

A stamping and rolling mill was built in connection with Landore Copper Works (of 1793). A battering mill existed (at SS66179597) in connection with this and may also have been used as a forge, though not after 1814. A new a forge was built in 1814 in connection with the Nantrhydyvilis Air Furnace Company. An air furnace is not water-powered, but the forge would be. This had an 18-foot diameter waterwheel, operating two tilt hammers. Initially the object was to extract metal from copper slag in reverberatory (i.e. air) furnaces. The company belonged by 1814 to William Bevan & Sons, but was slightly older, as the Company advertised in the 1810s thanking friends for orders in the cast iron way and announcing a manufactory for spades, shovels, ladles and edged tools; also to hire workmen for this. William Bevan jun. again needed a hammerman in 1814. The Landore Iron Company (William Bevan senior and junior and Dr Robert Bevan of Monmouth) advertised the business for sale in 1829, with a long lease, but evidently unsuccessfully. By then they had a blast furnace with 23 coke ovens and 3 mine kilns; a finery and two melting cupolas; a 28-hp steam engine; a forge with two tilt hammers; a balling furnace; and a mill for grinding shovels. By the end of the year they were declared bankrupt, and the creditors were asked to authorise the continuation of the business, pending its sale; and the settling of accounts with the solvent partners in the Glamorgan Pottery (in which the Bevans were also partners). The forge remained in use until 1897. The furnace does not appear in the list by Riden & Owen (1995), which may indicate that it was short-lived. Landore was later the venue for Sir William Siemens’ Open Hearth steelworks of 1870 and at various times other metallurgical enterprises, but these are beyond the scope of this book.

Size Originally Ynysygerwyn was merely a rolling mill; the plates were tinned at Aberdulais Falls. In 1794 it was described as a tinmill, being held with the forge at ‘Aberillas’ [Aberdulais]. By 1798 the whole process was carried out at Ynysygerwyn. Associations Before 1769, this and Melin Court belonged to different (but associated) partnerships. In 1769 the Melin Court works were transferred to the Ynysygerwyn partnership and they were thereafter held together.

Sources Cambrian, 21 Apr. 1810; 22 Jan. 1814; 28 Dec. 1828; London Gazette, no. 18236, 2363-4 (18 Dec. 1829); no. 18645, 83 (12 Jan. 1830); Hughes 2008, 298-9.

Sources Glamorgan RO, CL/BRA236/221 198 & 269-73; Swansea RO, D/DT 441-5 476b; Phillips 1925, 299-304; Brooke 1944, 166-8; London Gazette, no. 17541, 2184 (4 Dec. 1819); no. 17687, 588 (10 Mar. 1821).

Neath Valley

dubious

John (1943, 95) referred to a forge being erected in the Neath Valley about 1726. His source may have been the Britton Ferry archive (which does not survive). Alternatively, this may be an anachronistic reference to Aberdulais Forge.

Other ironworks Coychurch Forge

[20] SS66979588

probably spurious

Ogmore

A forge at Coychurch appears to be included in the Hulme’s (1928) edition 1736 list. But the original list (reproduced in facsimile) has a forge at Coidmore, Pembrokeshire, not Coychurch, Glamorgan. The forge, let by Lord Mansell to Evan Jenkin in 1724 (Rees 1968, 265 n59), was probably

not built

John Bedford claimed in 1786 to have bought a site for a forge on the river Ogmore near Bridgend to work with

547

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Cefn Cribwr Furnace, but in fact he never completed his purchase.

manager in 1817, but was bankrupt in 1819. A partnership between John Vigurs, Leonard Smith, and S.F. Lettsom was dissolved in 1821. William Llewellyn sought vessels to bring Lancashire ore and carry pig iron to London in 1821. Vigors & Smith retained the works until 1841, when they were bought by the Company of Copper Miners in England (the English Copper Company). The company had 30 puddling furnaces in 1871, including those at Oakwood, but the Company was liquidated in 1876. Different elements of the business then went different ways. Wright, Butler & Co Ltd had a furnace in blast in 1891 and Baldwin’s Ltd perhaps operated some part of the works until 1928. The Copper Miners’ Tin Plate Co Ltd was in 1944 running a tinplate works (built in 1825 to replace Ynisygerwyn).

Sources Riden 1992, 70-1. Coke furnaces Both Melin Court and Ynyscedwyn Furnaces began life as charcoal furnaces and then went over to coke by 1800 and have therefore been dealt with above, as have Neath Abbey Furnaces since they may well stand on the site of an earlier ironworks. Since Bryn Coch Furnace began life as a coke furnace in about 1727, it too has already been described. This leaves Cefn Cribwr and certain furnaces that belonged to Alexander Raby, who also had Dale Abbey Furnaces in Derbyshire and iron mills in Surrey; all relatively short-lived. Cefn Cribwr Furnace or Kevan Furnace

Sources Cambrian, 15 May 1819; 11 Sep. 1819; 17 Mar. 1821; 15 Sep. 1821; cf. London Gazette, no. 17541, 2184 (4 Dec. 1819); no. 17687, 588 (10 Mar. 1821); Brooke 1944, 41.

[23] SS852835

Llanelli Furnace, Carms Llanelli Forge

Erection of this ironworks was probably begun by John Bedford, perhaps as early as 1774. His surviving records are a series of notes mainly on iron technology. The numbering on them suggests they were once part of a much larger group of papers, the rest of which have not survived. The selective preservation of the papers probably gives a false impression. The material on the iron industry falls into a series of groups: 1763 and 1766 when he was building and extending the Rogerstone Works; 1774 concerning building the furnace; and 1782-7 relating to a balling forge and a gunbarrel forge and boring mill, which he planned there about that time. His interest in gunbarrels dated back to 1777, when he had a gun made of horse nail scraps, but it burst on proof. He died in about October 1791, and it is uncertain whether Cefn Cribwr was ever completed or made iron in his time.

This furnace should not be confused with Llanelly, Breconshire (then Gwent). It is possible (but very unlikely) that there was a charcoal furnace there about 30 years earlier: the evidence for it is only slight. The furnace (also locally known as Cwmddyche or Stradey) was built in 1793 by Alexander Raby and two others whom he bought out in 1796. He cast carronades for the Board of Ordnance in 1795-7, but it is not known if they were made here or at Dale Abbey in Derbyshire. He similarly supplied ballast to the Navy Board in 1797 and offered to in 1806, but the former could also be from Dale Abbey. Raby’s sources of ironstone included mines at Pembrey and, in 1796-1802, 9,293 tons of ore from Combe Martin in north Devon. 1,560 tons were made in 1796 and 2,267 tons in 2 furnaces in 1805. Raby made an assignment of his property to his creditors in 1807, as a result of which his property was offered for sale in 1809 and the furnaces were out of blast in 1810. In 1811 an arrangement with his creditors and a loan enabled Raby to resume operations, with his son Arthur T. Raby as a partner, but their debts resulted in the business again passing into the hands of their creditors’ trustees, who employed Raby & Son. Alexander Raby retired in 1823 and the creditors sold his son up in 1826, and Arthur Raby then cancelled the lease of the forge. It is uncertain to what extent the furnaces were in use during these last fifteen years. Raby is known to have imported iron ore from Cornwall. His forge was built before 1809. The stack of one furnace is still standing. ‘Straddy’ pig was used at Kidwelly Forge in 1799 (NLW, G.E. Owen 163)

The furnace is listed as Cefn Cupp in the ‘1794’ list and then occupied by Green and Price, apparently a Birmingham firm with twelve partners. They were succeeded by Petty, Knight and Cracklow in 1798, and Thomas Bedford & Co from about 1809 to 1813, the furnace being altered on each occasion. The Bedford estate at Cefn Cribwr was offered for sale by a mortgagee in 1813 and eventually sold in 1826, but the Bryant family’s Cefn Iron Company of 1827, and then Pile Iron Company of 1834, were equally unsuccessful in making iron profitably there. Sources Riden 1992, 17-102; NLW, Bedford 1774-87 passim; Rees 1969b; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 3 Oct. 1791; Cambrian, 24 July 1813. Cwmavon Furnace

[25] SN50390158 [26] SN50050047

[24] SS7892

Sources Symons 1979, 95-100 128-139; John 2000; Kendall 1893, 37-8; Riden 1993, 22; Hughes and Reynolds 1989, 19; Morning Post, 4 Oct. 1809; Cambrian, 13 Jul. 1823; Cole thesis, 227-8; TNA ADM 106/2747 (digest), s.v. ballast and iron.

S.F. Lettsom took a mining lease in Cwmavon in in 1810 and he, rather than his successors Vigurs and Smith (who owned it subsequently), may have built the furnace there. He advertised (from Ynisygerwyn) for a blast furnace 548

Chapter 37: Western Glamorgan Penrhiwtyn Furnace

[27] SS745963

This was built about 1793 by Alexander Raby with Herbert Evans and others. Its omission from the 1796 list suggests it was then idle. It was also idle in 1798, in 1805 and in 1810. It was presumably blown for a short time soon after it was built, but there is precious little evidence of this. Lord Vernon in 1810 forfeited the lease, which was among the property offered for sale the previous year. T. Mansell Talbot had his estate surveyed for mines from 1798: it is possible Raby failed to find a seam of ironstone or that the coal proved unsuitable, and so was unable even to bring the furnace into blast. James Watt jun. commented on the absence of ironstone near Swansea, but did not visit this furnace. The furnace was offered for sale with the adjacent farm in 1830, but without any indication that it was in use. Source NLW, MS 6582E, f.12-28; Phillips 1925, 304-5; Taylor 1935; Green 1978; Watt’s Tour of Wales; Morning Post, 4 Oct. 1809; Cambrian, 24 Jun. 1830.

549

38 Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire Introduction

his estate was not initially sequestrated, but their property was plundered when the king captured Bristol. He claimed to have been plundered of £8,000 in Bristol, £17,000 in Carmarthenshire, and £15,000 in Monmouthshire, but these figures seem to be exaggerated, as the stock in the hands of William Rutland, his clerk at Whitland, was only some £400. He followed the king to Gloucester, seeking redress, but was (for his pains) imprisoned in the Royalist stronghold of Oxford, until Lord Herbert gave £5,000 security for his release. Parliament then declared him a delinquent for making an address to the king and sequestrated his estate. His widow thus had to compound to recover his estate. Shortly before Mynne died in April 1648, he sold Whitland to Thomas Foley. When the widow sought an account from Rutland, he pleaded that Mynne had given him a discharge before his death.10 The sale was presumably part of the transaction under which Thomas Foley I(W), the Midland ironmaster, bought the wireworks at Tintern, but by 1655 Rutland seems to have been operating on his own account.11

South West Wales is a land of rivers with deep estuaries. Water power is plentiful. The limiting factor on iron production was therefore, as in many places, the supply of wood. Ironstone was available from a narrow band of the coal measures of the South Wales Coalfield stretching across both counties. The ironworks of the area are widely scattered, no doubt to make the best use possible of the wood available. The arrival of the iron industry in the area probably took place about 1611 when Hugh Grundy built a furnace near Ponthenry in Llangendeirne. Little is known of his activities, but he presumably had a forge, perhaps at Kidwelly. Nevertheless it is possible there was an earlier ironworks (see under Gwendraeth). The furnace had to be laid down in about 1629 as a result of litigation, apparently over a watercourse. It was said that there was a furnace at Llandyfan, where there was later a forge, but its site (if real) was already forgotten by the mid-18th century. There were two furnaces in Carmarthenshire at the time of the Civil War, but it is not clear where.

The industry in east Carmarthenshire in the mid-17th century, as yet, remains obscure. There were forges at Llandyfan and Kidwelly. There must have been a furnace to supply these. Both these forges were run by William Davies from about 1670 to 1692. He appears to have operated under the patronage of the Vaughans of Golden Grove. Perhaps there was a furnace somewhere on their estates, even if not at Llandyfan, or perhaps he was relying on pig iron imported from outside the area.

George Mynne was from Woodcote in Surrey, but his industrial activities were spread along the northern coast of the Bristol Channel. His early activities were in association with Sir Basil Brooke, who had held some of the King’s ironworks in the Forest of Dean for a few years from 1615 with Thomas Hackett. Hackett had from 1613 been a farmer of the Company of Mineral and Battery Works’ wire works at Tintern. From 1627 these three had been farmers of both Tintern and the Kings Ironworks, until the latter was abruptly suspended pending the Forest Eyre of 1634. Mynne withdrew from the Forest Works, perhaps wisely, his partners buying him out. This did not do them much good, as they were not allowed to restart operations in the Forest. Mynne remained a partner in farming Tintern wireworks.

In the early 18th century, there were definitely two separate substantial operators. Henry Owen had Kidwelly Forge from 1697 and built Cwmdwyfran Forge at that time. He may also have built the small forge at Cwmbran. His purchases of pig iron from the Foley Forest Partnership are at a very modest level, suggesting that he had a furnace. As he did not hold Ponthenry (or Kidwelly) Furnace and Llandyfan Forge was held by William Spencer rather than him, it is not possible to say where this was.

George Mynne thus sought and obtained licence from the Company of Mineral and Battery Works to build ironworks and letters patent from the king to cut wood within 12 miles around Whitland. He built a forge at Whitland, but there is no evidence of a furnace there. He built his furnace at Blackpool in 1635, with a forge there, adjoining the Eastern Cleddau, in east Pembrokeshire at the point where it becomes tidal, part of that arm of the sea reaching deep inland, known as Milford Haven. George Mynne remained a partner at Tintern. His partner Sir Basil Brooke was a Catholic and a royalist, so that his estate was sequestrated. As Mynne lived in ‘Parliamentary quarters’,

The other early 18th century ironmasters were the Chetle family: Thomas Chetle and his son Peter, with Zachary Downing of Halesowen as a partner. They had Gwendraeth (or Kidwelly or Ponthenry) Furnace and Whitland Forge Cal Committee for the Advancement of Money i, 200-5; TNA, C 7/419/8; Evans 1967, 25. Mynne’s widow did not seek to recover the forge itself, but added up the balances in series of accounts, though the balance of one account would have been brought into account in the next. The matter that did not have to be fully litigated, as the final discharge before the sale to Foley (whose significance Evans did not appreciate) was a complete answer to the claim. 11 TNA, C 6/169/70; Wade a/c. 10

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Map 38. Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. 1, Blackpool Forge; 2, Blackpool Furnace; 3, Carmarthen Iron and Tin Works; 4, Cwmbran Forge; 5, Cwmdwyfran Forge; 6, Gwendraeth Furnace; 7, Kidwelly Forge; 8, Kidwelly Tinplate Works; 9, Llanbedr Forge; 10, Llandyfan (old) Forge; 11, Llandyfan (old) Furnace; 12, Llandyfan New Forge; 13, Whitland Forge.

from about 1696. The furnace had been out of use and was probably rebuilt, possibly on a new site. This may have been a coke ironworks, as Chetle had a patent for coke smelting.12 He was a Worcestershire gentleman with coal-mining interests at Tipton in the Black Country.13 Downing sent Roger Downes, who had cast pots in sand for Shadrach Fox at Coalbrookdale, to work at Gwendraeth.14 Thomas Chetle also had Llandyfan Forge from before 1712 until 1715, and Peter Chetle succeeded Henry Owen at Kidwelly Forge. In 1729 just before his death, Peter Chetle sold his iron making interests to Lewis Hughes. In 1736 Hughes’ widow married Robert Morgan, who thereby succeeded to these ironworks.

that could not be sustained in the long term. Nevertheless, competition, between Thomas and Peter Chetle on the one hand and Henry Owen on the other, may not been healthy for either of them. Henry Owen’s furnace, wherever it was, is not heard of again. From 1739 Llandyfan was held with Ynyscedwyn Furnace in the Swansea Valley (see preceding chapter). Little is known of Cwmbran Forge. The landlord of Kidwelly resumed it under a clause in his lease to Peter Chetle and it was later occupied by Lewis Rogers. Blackpool Forge was held for some time by Thomas Lewis. Rees Saunders had Cwmdwyfran. In other words the industry was highly fragmented. Yet, the amount of pig iron known to have reached the area from Backbarrow and Invergarry does not seem enough to have kept the forges going.

It is very noticeable that the production of every forge in the area (except Blackpool – 200 tpa) is listed in 1717 at an extremely low figure. William Rea commented that Blackpool would not make 50 tpa for want of wood. He ought to have known as managing partner of the Foley Forest Works, which had been operating Blackpool since just after the turn of the century, but the comment probably relates to the aftermath of the Swedish embargo: the price of iron had been high, encouraging an increase in output

It was not really until the 1740s that any very discernible pattern emerges: Robert Morgan began collecting up ironworks. He had acquired Ponthenry (or Gwendraeth) Furnace and Whitland Forge by marrying in 1736 the widow of Lewis Hughes, who had in 1729 taken over Peter Chettle’s works, Ponthenri Furnace and Kidwelly and Whitland Forges.15 He lost Kidwelly Forge in 1740, but leased Cwmdwyfran Forge in 1745, Priory Mills at Carmarthen in 1747, Blackpool in 1760, and Kidwelly in 1766. He failed to renew the lease of Ponthenry Furnace which he gave up at old Michaelmas 1760.16 He built a

12 The patent is omitted from the usual numbered sequence, compiled by the Patent Office in the mid-19th century (Woodcroft 1854), but the original survives (Birmingham Archives, 571053) and it is enrolled in the usual way (TNA, C 66/3381, no.15). It and two others ought to appear between Patents 338 and 339. The petition for the patent is at TNA, SP 44/237, 146. 13 King 2007b, 39. 14 TNA, C 11/1726/18.

15 16

552

Evans 1967, 39; Green 1915, 249. Morgan l/b, 23 Aug. 1760

Chapter 38: Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire furnace at Priory Mills, Carmarthen in 1746 and produced ordnance in the early part of the Seven Years’ War. He was for a short time a partner in Kidwelly Tinmills around 1760, but had built his own tinplate works at Carmarthen before that in partnership with John Stephens of Princes Street, London; George Tyler who was his gunfounder until he died in October 1759; and Mr Lewis Rogers of Kidwelly Tinplate Works.17 His acquisitions placed the whole of the area’s iron industry in his hands, except Llandyfan, whose landlord was afraid his monopoly would result in a reduction in the price of cordwood. The acquisition of that forge had to wait until 1800.

tenants Reynolds and Smith removed all they could to Aberavon. The Morgan family let the tinplate works and their ‘MC’ tinplate brand. There was much rejoicing locally when the Morgans won a passing off action over this against Reynolds and Smith in the Kings Bench in 1828. Carmarthen tinplate works remained in use for the rest of the 19th century. Kidwelly tinplate works replaced a ruined stamping mill built in connection with an abandoned copper mining project. The works was built in 1737 by Charles Gwyn. His partner Anthony Rogers bought him out in 1747. It was probably for their benefit that the landlord of Kidwelly Forge resumed it in 1740. The tinplate works remained in the family for the rest of the century. Both Carmarthen and Kidwelly tinplate works remained in use throughout the 19th century and Kidwelly until recent times. The production of iron continued for a good deal of this time, probably mainly in order to supply the tinplate works.

Robert Morgan brought his sons into the business. His third son Charles was made a partner in Carmarthen tinworks in 1769. His second son, John Morgan, succeeded to the ironworks and also to the extensive estates which had been bought from the profits of the works, as his eldest son was handicapped. John Morgan appears to have run the whole of his father’s works alone from his father’s death in 1778 until 1800. In that year, the tinplate works and Kidwelly Forge were let to a partnership including his nephew John Morgan junior. This firm also acquired Llandyfan Forge in 1800. In 1805 they made improvements at Carmarthen, including the erection of a forge there. At this period, pig iron was being brought in to supplement what their furnace made. Some was coke pig from north Monmouthshire, but some came from further afield, including American pig iron landed at Liverpool.

In the 19th century Llanelli had a large number of tinplate works, but none in the period of this book. Apart from the possibility that Chetle family used coke at Gwendraeth Furnace, the only coke blast furnaces, built before 1815, were those of Alexander Raby at Llanelli. These operated from 1791 until the 1820s, and were described in the previous chapter. General Sources: Green 1915; Evans 1967; 1975; Page 2007.

In 1800 John Morgan senior retained Carmarthen Furnace, the boring mill there and Blackpool, Cwmdwyfran and Whitland Forges. He had by this time acquired the freehold of all the works except Blackpool Forge. He died in 1805, a bachelor, and settled his estate on his nephews John Morgan II and Charles Morgan II, who was a doctor. When the lease of Blackpool came up for renewal in 1806 and an increased rent was demanded, they did not renew it. The tinplate company quit Llandyfan the following year. John Griffiths and William Roderick the tenants of Llandyfan Old Forge had built a second small forge, probably in the 1780s, Llandyfan New Forge, and this remained in their hands after Morgan took over the Old Forge until Roderick’s bankruptcy in 1808.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Blackpool or Slebech or Sleabatch

Forge: [1] SN06051435 Furnace: [2] SN06561449

The forge stood near the tidal limit of the Eastern Cleddau, one of the arms of Milford Haven, in Pembrokeshire. A substantial leat has been dammed and filled with water to give the appearance that it is useable. The furnace site is adjacent to Canaston Wood and was probably originally within the wood. A building is shown there on the first edition 6-inch O.S. map but had disappeared before the beginning of the 20th century. Today it is marked by a dry leat and the base of the stack. The situation of the furnace adjoining a large wood is typical of furnaces of the period (Blick et al. 1991, 48).

John Morgan junior died, also in 1808, leaving liabilities that exceeded his unsettled assets. This led to his estate being administered in Chancery. The cause of this is uncertain. It may be that the ironworks, which he and his brother had continued after their father’s death, had become unprofitable. Whitland Forge was probably closed in 1808 and the workmen moved to Cwmdwyfran, presumably to work a night shift. That forge also closed temporarily in May 1808, but was open again in the following year and until 1811. Carmarthen Furnace presumably closed at the same time. The tinplate works became Morgan, Morris & Co. When an 1820 lease expired in 1826, the

A furnace and forge were built by George Mynne in about 1636 on the site of a decayed mill. George Mynne was sequestrated in the Civil War and probably sold his works (as at Whitland) shortly before his death in 1647. His property apparently included a mortgage of the Barlow estate. The works’ history is then obscure, until 1696 when George Barlow, the landlord, was working it, as he was until 1701; and perhaps for many years before. It then became associated with the Foley ironworks, being used: 1702 to 1705 by John Wheeler, William Rea and

17 Morgan l/b, 9 Dec. 1759; 4 Aug. and 20 & 30 Nov. 1760; Williams 1959.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Carmarthen Iron and Tin Works

Obadiah Lane (with forges in the Wye Valley); and 1705 to 1716 by the Foley Forest Partnership. From 1716 to 1758 or later Thomas Lewis occupied it. In 1747 there is reference to Lewis & Farmer. By 1760, the firm became Robert Morgan and Thomas Lewis, then John Morgan 1778 to 1800; John Morgan & Co 1800 to 1806. In 1806, the forge was offered to let, perhaps unsuccessfully. The present substantial four storey brick corn mill was built in 1813. The mill is now open seasonally to the public as a tourist attraction.

[3] SN420206

Carmarthen had a large integrated ironworks, standing to the east of the town. This was built on the site of the medieval Priory Mills and powered by a leat over a mile long from the River Gwili. The latter part of the leat is clearly identifiable, though now dry, beside a footpath to the south of the works. James (1976) reported that much of the fabric of the furnace stands concealed in the timber merchants premises occupying the site. Presumably this is the tall building built against a bank at the end of Furnace Row. The lower tin mill building was intact in the 1990s and used as part of the same works. The other buildings have largely been removed. Furnace Lodge, the manager’s house, is a regency house on the opposite side of the main road. Furnace House, the Carmarthen home of the Morgan family, is now the town’s library.

Size The furnace is likely to have been used regularly until about 1700, but very probably not thereafter. The landlord was to provide 4,000 to 5,000 long cords per year from 1636 at ten shillings each. The high price probably reflects the ease of removing the iron, as ships could be brought up almost to the forge. The amount of wood suggests production of some 250 to 300 tpa bar iron. Forge: 1717 200 tpa; 1718 240 tpa. ‘Mr Ray’ [William Rea] (probably in the early 1720s) expressed the opinion that there was not wood for 50 tons (addendum to 1717 list). This may be the result of an unsustainable temporary increase in production at the time of the Swedish embargo. 1736 only 120 tpa; 1750 240 tpa. In 1794 there were two fineries and a chafery.

Prior to Robert Morgan leasing them, Priory Mills comprised two corn mills and a fulling mill (sometime a leather dressing mill). Robert Morgan built a blast furnace in 1746. He also had a boring mill for cannon there. He apparently had a tinplate mill there by 1759. His second one started work about February 1762. He built an air furnace in 1759, but the erection of a forge was still only under consideration in November 1761. George Tyler, his gunfounder, was a partner, as also was John Stephens of the Marine Society, London, who was his London correspondent; and a Mr Rogers.

Associations As to George Mynne and Robert Morgan see introduction. Mynne also had Whitland Forge and a share in the Tintern Wireworks. Thomas Lewis, the forge tenant from 1716, is not known to be connected with the founding partner of the same name at Dowlais and Pentyrch.

Robert Morgan took his youngest son Charles Morgan as his partner in the tinmills in 1769. On his death in 1778, he left the ironworks to John Morgan, his second son and principal heir. John continued the business until his death in 1805, except that the tinplate works were let with Kidwelly and Blackpool Forges to his nephew John Morgan II with a number of partners. John Morgan I left his estate to his nephews John and Charles Morgan, but difficulties arose on the death in 1808 of John Morgan II. The furnace was continued for a time but probably went out of use about 1811 (when it was offered to let). However, it was still mentioned in the advertisement when the works were available to let in 1827.

Trading Certain purchases by William and John Rutland (listed under Whitland) may well have been for this forge, but there is no trace of the importation of pig iron coastwise at this period in the Newport & Chepstow Port Books. 1696 to 1701 Sir George Barlow was buying up to 120 tpa pig iron from Foley Ironworks in Partnership. In 1716/7 Thomas Lewis bought 2 tons of pig iron and 6 cwt. blooms, probably the stock of the forge. He bought 30 tons of Redbrook pig iron 1723 (Foley a/c). 1735-48 Backbarrow pig iron shipped, to Milford Haven or to Landshipping in Milford Haven must have been for this forge. The purchaser was Thomas Lewis in 1741 and Lewis & Farmer in 1747 (BB a/c). Robert Morgan ordered pig iron from James Machell [Backbarrow] in 1759 and 1760 for his partner Thomas Lewis and American pig iron in 1761 and 1762 (Morgan l/b).

The tinplate firm, John Morgan & Co added a forge to their works in 1805; on the death of John Morgan II, the family withdrew from the firm, which was thereafter known as Morgan Morris & Co, but Robert Smith was a partner of three of the Morris family when Thomas Jones withdrew in 1815. Two members of the Morgan family were subsequently partners. The works were let in 1820 to Reynolds and Smith for 6 years. Thomas Smith replaced John Reynolds both here and at Aberavon in 1824. At the end of the term, they removed whatever they could (including the workforce) to Aberavon, where they converted the forge into a tinplate works. They tried to take with them the brand MC [Morgan Carmarthen], claiming that it stood for Margam Co. The Court of King’s Bench awarded £1000 damages in proceedings over the brand in 1828, leading to local

Accounts Foley a/c 1705 to 1716. As ‘Sleabatch Forge’ there are some details in Foley a/c 1702 to 1705. Sources Page 2007, 182-4; NLW, Slebech 441 659 5609 169 & 3508; Warks RO, CR1291/629; Foley E12/VI/ DEc/11-13; Morgan l/b, 25 Feb. 1760 etc.; Dashwood c.1970; Cambrian, 26 Nov. 1806; Johnson 1952, 332; Hart 1971, 63; Claughton 1998. Page’s suggestion that the forge was only built after the furnace closed is probably not correct, though no evidence of how has been found of the ironworks was operated in the postRestoration period. 554

Chapter 38: Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire rejoicing. The works were repaired by a new company, but offered to let again in 1830. Subsequent tenants included: Downman & Co 1831 to 1838; Wayne & Dunn or Wayne & Co 1844 to 1850 or later; Thomas Lester & Co (latterly his sons) 1865 to 1900. The works closed at the end of 1900 and were dismantled in 1903. The Lester family continued to live at Furnace Lodge and bought it in 1926.

charcoal pig iron for sale in 1808 (Cambrian, 26 Nov. 1808). Accounts may exist in early 19th century (including NLW, G.E. Owen). Letterbook Morgan l/b: Sep. 1759 to Feb. 1762. Sources Carms RO, Trant/Yel/12 20-26 61 108 406 506 912 983 1046 1143-4 1420-8 1442-50 1460 1465 etc.; NLW, Cwmgwili 14 18 40 & 572-3; Green 1915; Evans 1938; Williams 1959; Williams 1961; James 1976; Carmarthen Journal, 13 Apr. 1811; 10 Oct. 1828; London Gazette, no. 15715, 814 (17 Apr. 1804); no. 17004, 732 (18 Apr. 1815); no. 17672, 197 (23 Jan 1821); Cambrian, 4 Dec. 1824; 24 Nov. 1827; Liverpool Mercury, 15 Jan. 1830; Brooke 1944, 141-3; Ince 1993, 28-9.

Size Robert Morgan mainly made blend iron for tinplate, using some Lancashire pig iron. The forges required 500 tpa pig iron and he was able to interested in getting contracts for two to three hundred tons of shot or ballast (Morgan l/b, to Stephens 25 Dec. 1760). This suggests a furnace capable of the 700-800 tpa. He used two parts of Lancashire ore to one part of colshire (ibid. to Knight, 2 Jul. 1762). Guns were the main product of the furnace in the years before 1761 when, having lost Gwendraeth Furnace, he began to make pig iron too. Until George Tyler’s death in 1759 he made government guns, i.e. for the Ordnance Board, but then being unable to find an adequate replacement gunfounder contented himself with making guns for merchants in Liverpool and Bristol and shot for the government. The tinplate works used virtually all the iron from the four forges, in which he was interested. Occasionally small parcels were shipped to Bristol, but no iron was brought in. Robert Morgan built an air furnace to melt old guns and shot in 1759 and was proposing a forge in November 1761 to ensure iron was made to the right gauge for the tinmill. The mill would make 2,000 boxes, which the second mill would increase to 3,000-3,500 boxes (Morgan l/b, passim; Williams 1959). 1788 400 tpa; 1790 charcoal furnace, forge with 2 fineries and chafery, rolling mill, and tinmill; 1796 furnace estimated at 1,056 tpa [21 tpw], but the exact return was only 290 tpa; 1805 in blast, production not stated. Ore from the Whitriggs and Crossgates mines in Furness was in use in this period (NLW, G.E. Owen 185). The furnace is not listed in 1823 or 1825, but it still existed; as indeed it still does. In 1828, the tinplate works was capable of 500-600 boxes per week, but only 500 in 1830.

Cwmbran Forge

[4] SN748288

Cwmbran was an obscure little forge, of which little is known. It is said to have been built by Henry Owen therefore presumably after 1697. However, 40 tons of pig iron destined for Blackpool Forge are recorded in 1710 as being ‘in Alexander Phillips’ custody at Comb.’, presumably Cwmbran. Alexander Phillips was responsible for shipping pig iron from Chepstow to Bristol, Carmarthen, and Swansea in 1681 and the 1690s. He was buying pig iron from Tintern in the 1690s; and from Redbrook from 1696 to 1706. John Phillips who bought Invergarry pig iron in 1730-32 may have been his successor, and Philip Phillips who bought Tintern pig iron in 1690/1 might be connected. However, this whole historical edifice rests on a very slight foundation, the interpretation of ‘Comb.’. The forge is listed as closed in 1736 and the only subsequent reference is that in the 1749 list, which may be a mere repetition of the 1718 production figure. The cessation of Alexander Phillips’ purchases from the Foley Forest works coincides approximately with the erection of Neath (or Melin Court) Furnace. The pig iron in his hands in 1710 may have been an exchange or even a misappropriation: the accounts say no more of it. Trading Alexander Phillips shipped pig iron from Chepstow in 1681. He sent pig iron to Carmarthen and Swansea in 1693 and 1694 (Chepstow port books). He bought pig iron from Tintern in 1690-99, once 112 tpa (Tintern B a/c) and from the Forest Partnership, usually from Redbrook, in 1696-1706 and 1710, but never more than 40 tpa (Foley a/c).

Associations Robert Morgan eventually held all the forges in the area, except Cwmbran (which had probably closed) and Llandyfan, which John Morgan & Co acquired in 1800. In appointing a proxy for the ironmasters’ meeting before the Bristol fair in January 1761, he claimed the first or second vote, as having four forges (Morgan l/b, 22 Jan. 1761). It is not clear if John Stephens was the same as the partner at Sowley (Hants).

Size 1717 20 tpa; 1718 60 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 60 tpa; closed by 1788.

Trading Sales of pig iron to Stour Works are listed under Gwendraeth Furnace, but many of them are likely to have been of iron made here. It may be ‘Kidwelly’ was used by Robert Morgan as a brand name. Continuing sales after 1765 are described as from Carmarthen (SW a/c). John Morgan owed money for ore from Whitriggs Mine in 1780, but had overpaid 1782 (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/1/4-5). Charles Morgan had 200-300 tons of

Sources Foley, E12/VI/DFf/5, f.1; Evans 1967, 26; Evans 1975, 146; Rees 1975, 39. Cwmdwyfran Forge

[5] SN413245

The forge was on Afon Gwili on the west boundary of the parish of Newchurch, some miles north of Carmarthen. 555

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II The forge was driven by a long fleam from the river. It was built in 1697 by Henry Owen, who was granted a 1000 year lease of a large farm. Henry Owen had it from 1697 until his death in 1727, but perhaps with John Brettle and John Pritchet as tenants (or possibly managers) at least between 1706 and 1711. Its history then obscure until the late 1730s: Rees Saunders may have had it in 1738 and certainly by 1741. In 1745 it passed to the Morgan family: Robert Morgan (d.1778); then John Morgan I (d.1805); then John Morgan II (d.1808) & Charles Morgan 1805 to 1811; then perhaps Morgan, Morris & Co (as at Carmarthen); and John Reynolds and Robert Smith 1822 to 1826. It was converted to a corn mill in 1839.

The furnace is said to have been built by a Swede in the time of Elizabeth and to have been reopened by Hugh Grundy about 1611. It closed in 1629 as a result of litigation. The furnace remained in the Grundy family eventually descending to his granddaughter Lucy who married Anthony Morgan. However at this period, The Furnace was probably merely the name of a farm. In 1696 Lucy Morgan and her son granted a lease to Thomas Chetle, providing that he might rebuild the furnace on a new site, if he did not find satisfactory the place where the old one had been. He held it, in partnership with his son Peter, and Zachary Downing of Halesowen from 1700 to 1704. Peter Chetle renewed the lease in 1710 and died in 1729, shortly after selling his ironworks to Lewis Hughes. Robert Morgan married Lewis Hughes’s widow Frances in 1736 and operated the furnace until 1760. There was then litigation with ‘old Johnson’ and Robert Morgan had to deposit ordnance debentures with Allen Coram & Co, his Bristol tinplate merchants, who had provided bail for a claim for £5,000. At the end of 1761 James Johnson had the estate for sale, and Robert Morgan was trying to buy it in the hope of reopening the furnace, but it probably stayed closed.

Size 1717 50 tpa; 1718 120 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 120 tpa; 1794 one finery and one chafery. Associations Henry Owen also held Kidwelly and (possibly) Cwmbran Forges. A Mr Brettell (perhaps the same man) was a partner in Dolgun Furnace and its associated forges in the 1720s. From 1745 like many Carmarthenshire Ironworks it was in the hands of Robert Morgan and his descendants. Trading Henry Owen bought 10 to 20 tpa pig iron from Blakeney 1698-1701; John Pritchet sold the Foleys 4 tons of bar iron in 1702/3 and bought pig iron from them from 1701 to 1704; Brettle and Pritchet sold 6 tons of bar iron to Monmouth Forge (for resale) in 1707/8; John Brettle bought two hammers and 34 tons of Redbrook pig iron in 1706/7 (Foley a/c). However John Brittle (sic) was living in Halesowen in 1728 and 1730 when Graffin Prankard sold him 2 tons of Swedish bar iron (Prankard a/c). John ‘Brettel’ was described as ‘of Newchurch, Carmarthenshire ironmaster’ in a deed of 1711 (Worcs RO, 705:778 BA 6382). Rees Saunders bought Backbarrow [pig] iron in 1738 and 1742 (BB a/c).

Size 1717 listed as 100 tpa. This is almost certainly an underestimate of its true capacity. It is possible that this represents the capacity of a forge, and that the furnace has been omitted. It is not in the ‘1794’ list. Thomas Chetle had a patent for smelting iron with coke (TNA, C 66/3381, no.15; noted in Schubert 1959b, 3 from the original patent, Birmingham Archives, 571073 – see footnote 3). Zachary Downing sent Roger Downes, the founder who had cast iron pots for Shadrach Fox at Coalbrookdale, to ‘Gwendrath’ to work for Peter Chetle (TNA, C 11/1726/18). Prior to losing the furnace at Old Michaelmas 1760, Robert Morgan had been making pig iron for his forges here, also describing it as the ‘furnace where I made ball [shot] in’ (Morgan l/b, 7 Aug. 1760).

Sources Evans 1975; 1967, 27-8; Carms RO, Trant/ Yel/505; Morgan l/b, 22 Jan. 1761 & 23 Jan. 1762; Carmarthen Journal, 13 Apr. 1811. Pritchet’s link with the forge depends on a single reference to Brettle & Pritchett: Foley, E12/VI/DFf/3 ‘Monmouth Forge’; cf. Worcs RO, 705:778 BA 6382 (address). Gwendraeth Furnace or Ponthenry or Kidwelly

Associations The furnace was held from the 1720s with Kidwelly Forge; and with Whitland Forge even earlier. Robert Morgan later had a furnace and tinplate works at Carmarthen, and Cwmdwyfran and Blackpool Forges. Trading 1705-17 Peter Chetle intermittently sold pig iron to Foley Forest Partnership for their Blackpool Forge (Foley a/c). Williams (2015) claimed that Abraham Darby must have had a source of coke pig iron when casting pots in ‘green sand’ moulds at Bristol, perhaps from here, before his move to Coalbrookdale. From 1744 to 1768 (with gaps) pig was supplied to the Stour Works’ forges, usually described as from Kidwelly until 1762/3, but ‘Carmarthen’ from 1765/6. In 1754 this amounted to 174 tpa (SW a/c). Around 1760 Robert Morgan was more usually a buyer of pig iron than a seller, but occasional sales to Mr Knight or Bristol merchants took place (Morgan l/b).

[6] SN47410917 and SN47850860

The two successive furnaces were driven by water from a tributary of Gwendraeth Fawr and from that river itself. The former (now Furnace Farm) is probably the site of the earlier furnace as the Grundy family seem to have continued living at The Furnace after they had stopped operating a furnace. It seems this site was reused when a new furnace was built in 1696. The other site (Hen Ffwrnes i.e. old furnace) has no known history, and had that name in 1761. However, it might explain the reference in a Duchy of Lancaster survey to wood being supplied to a furnace for about 20 years before 1609.

Inventory NLW, Cilmaenllwyd 92.

556

Chapter 38: Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire Kidwelly Furnace see Gwendraeth

Sources Evans 1967, 30ff; Roberts 1979; Page 2007, 184-8; NLW, Edwinsford 3504-24 (passim); NLW, Cilmaenllwyd 90-2; Morgan l/b, 5 May 1760; 23 Aug. 1760; 27 Jan. 1761; 11 Jan. 1762; 4 Feb. 1762; etc. Kidwelly Forge

Kidwelly Tinplate Works

[8] SN42120790

The tinplate works stands on the east bank of Afon Gwendraeth Fach, about a mile from Kidwelly and half a mile south of the forge. A stamping mill was built here by Dr John Lane in connection with a copper prospecting venture in 1717, but he was bankrupt in 1726. In 1737 this was ruinous and was let to Charles Gwynn, who erected a rolling mill. Anthony Rogers became his partner the following year and bought him out in 1747. On his death, his executor Leonard Bilson Gwyn ran it until his son’s majority in 1758. Lewis Rogers, the son, had Robert Morgan as his partner from 1758 to 1761. Robert Morgan built his own tinplate mill at Carmarthen, replacing his interest here. Lewis Rogers died intestate in 1777, and the works were inherited by his sister. Her husband, the same L.B. Gwynn ran the works until he died in 1798, leaving a daughter. The Rogers estate was sold in Chancery in 1790, the works being bought by L.B. Gwynn.

[7] SN420086

This stood on the east bank of Gwendraeth Fach. Although it cannot be ruled out that the forge was built by George Mynne, as has been suggested, it is more likely to be the work of William Rutland, his clerk and successor, in the 1650s. However, it could have been built by Hugh Grundy before 1615. From 1665 to 1669 John Rutland and John Moorer were partners, the latter withdrawing in 1670. After some rapid changes of ownership, the forge came to William Davies of Dryslwyn. He sublet it to Henry Lewis of Kidwelly in 1692. Zachary Downing advanced pig iron and money to restart the works in exchange for a partnership, but the tenant surrendered his lease for a new one, granted to Henry Owen who took Henry Lewis as his partner; the result was litigation. Peter Chetle leased it in 1724. It thus passed with Gwendraeth Furnace to Lewis Hughes in 1729; then to his widow Frances; and then Robert Morgan, whom she married in 1736. In 1740 the landlord resumed it and probably let it to the tenants of Kidwelly tinplate works, Anthony Rogers and Charles Gwyn. It was held by the former’s son until the late 1750s, when Robert Morgan again took it over. The succession of tenants was: Robert Morgan by 1761 to 1778 (death); John Morgan I 1778 to 1800; John Morgan & Co 1800 to 1808; Morgan, Morris & Co 1808 to 1820; Reynolds and Smith 1820 to 1826. The forge may well have continued working for some time after this in conjunction with Kidwelly Tinplate Works. The site continues to be known as Old Forge.

In 1801 the mill was let Haselwood, Hathaway and Perkins, who rebuilt it. Perkins advertised it for sale in 1807. Thomas Waters (a banker) took it over with R.A. Daniel of Truro the following year. In 1814 it was let to Richard Blackmore of Melingriffith. The lease was renewed to Philip Protheroe in 1816 and Philip Vaughan was involved from about 1817, advertising in 1819 for a finer and two second hands for a melting and stamping finery. This indicates the addition of a forge, perhaps in 1801. Thomas Hay and Co advertised for finers in 1828, probably having taken the works over not long before. From 1838 to 1845 H.H. Downman lately of Carmarthen held it. After being idle for a time, Ricketts & Jones occupied it, followed in 1850 by H.R. Downman & Mr Briggs, and then Crawshay Bailey. In 1858 he sold it to Jacob Chivers & Thomas Bright. Later the owners were: Chivers & Son, and then Thomas Chivers; Gwendraeth Iron Sheet & Tinplate Co Ltd (directors included David Evans, the landlord, and Thomas Chivers) 1889 to 1894; Kidwelly Sheet Iron Tinplate Company Ltd 1899 to 1901 (liquidated); Kidwelly Tinplate Co Ltd 1904 to 1939. It belonged to Llanelly Associated Tinplate Companies Limited 1939 to 1946. The 1899 resumption only related to the upper works, the lower one being abandoned and dismanatled. The works are preserved as an industrial museum, run by Kidwelly Industrial Museum Trust, set up in 1980.

Size 1717 not listed, but the amount of just 100 tpa listed for Kidwelly Furnace could in fact be the capacity of this forge. 1718 100 tpa; 1736 30 tpa; 1750 100 tpa; 1790 2 fineries 1 chafery 1 rolling mill 1 tinmill; the rolling and tin mill refer to a separate works (below). Associations It is likely that the forge was always held with Whitland. From the 1730s Gwendraeth Furnace was in the same hands, Cwmdwyfran and Blackpool forges later joining them. Trading In 1697 Henry Lewis was in debt to Benedict Hall of High Meadow, no doubt for pig iron. Zachary Downing supplied 100 tons as part of his partnership stock. Henry Owen was buying small amounts of pig iron from Blakeney furnace in 1698-1701 (Foley a/c). Robert Morgan bought Backbarrow pig iron from 1738-42 and Anthony Rogers ‘of Carmarthen’ had pig iron delivered there or at Kidwelly 1741-3 (BB a/c).

Associations Anthony and Lewis Rogers probably successively held Kidwelly Forge from 1740 to 1766. Robert Morgan had numerous other works in the county (see introduction). In 1800, it made 3000 boxes of tinplate per month Trading Hathaway & Perkins bought charcoal and tin iron from John Morgan of Carmarthen (NLW, G.E. Owen 185).

Sources Evans 1967, 32ff; James 1976, 33; Carms RO, Trant/Yel/103 110 459-60 505 &c; Morgan l/b 22 Jan. 1761 & 23 Jan. 1762; Rees 1975, 39. TNA, C 5/324/25 may relate. 557

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sources Morris 1969; Morgan l/b 12 Oct. 1761 9 Nov. 1761 30 Nov. 1761 7 Jan. 1762 etc.; London Gazette, 13227, 512 (10 Aug. 1790); no. 18569, 738 (21 Apr. 1829); Cambrian, 14 Feb. 1807; Brooke 1944, 69-71. Note also Swansea Univ. Archives, LAC/55. For Lane: TNA, C 11/2426/22. Llanbedr Forge

Associations 1670-92 held with Kidwelly Forge. 1739 to 1775 held with Ynyscedwyn Furnace, also allegedly in 1794. When he ran out of tin in 1761, Robert Morgan wondered ‘if Mr Thomas Price or Mr Lewis Rogers [of Kidwelly] bespoke my tin at the Michaelmas coinage’ (Morgan l/b, 12 Oct. 1761). This presumably indicates Thomas Price was involved in a tinplate works: possibly he replaced Morgan as a partner in Kidwelly.

[9] about SN1414

Trading In 1668/9 John Rutland landed 20 tons of pig iron from Newport at Loughor; another 20 tons was later brought by the same ship. Roger Williams sent pig iron from Newport to Loughor in 1677/8 and 1678/9 (Newport Port Books). William Davies was a regular purchaser of pig iron from Tintern from 1672-85 and 1690-8 (Tintern F & B a/c). William Davies supplied 67 tons of pig iron to Wilden and Shelsley Forges in 1685; a Samuel Davies supplied some in 1686 (Foley E12/VI/KH/5 & 7); William Spencer and Hannah Thomas bought Redbrook pig iron about 20 tpa in 1701 and 1703 (Foley a/c). Most of these are without named locations.

According to Rees, John Challenor and William Moore developed a forge at Park Green in Llanbedr, possibly Lampeter Velfrey (otherwise Llanbedr Felfre), Pembs in 1627. If this is correct, it must be a reference to a son of John Challenor (d.1607), who was active in the industry in the 1590s. It would presumably be connected to their works at Aberpergwm. Sources Rees 1968, 266 (source not stated); cf. Donald 1961, 122 & note. Llandyfan (old) Forge and Furnace (or Yskennen)

[10] SN65901694 unknown

Sources Evans 1967, 32-5; 1973, 137; Page 2007, 188-94; www.enchantedtowy.co.uk/llandyfan.htm; TNA, PROB 11/796/418.

The forge lies near the head of the river Loughor, which divides about half a mile below its source. There were formerly agreements regulating the flow at this junction. The origins of the forge remain obscure. However the pig iron, which John Rutland imported to Loughor in 1668/9, was most probably for this forge. He was succeeded (as at Kidwelly Forge) by William Davies, who had the forge from 1670 until 1692 when he assigned the lease to Mr Astrey. The lease was reassigned to William Spencer of Carmarthen in 1702. By 1702 he was replaced by Thomas Chetle. From 1715 to 1736 Thomas Price of Llandeilo Fawr and Rees Powell of Glynhir near Llandybie ran it. 1736 to 1739 idle; in 1739 it was so out of repair that its collapse was anticipated. Thomas Popkins rented it from 1739 until his death in 1752, his will calling it Yskennen. He left it to his grandson Thomas Price, who was followed in 1777 by John Griffiths and William Roderick, then the latter alone. James Vaughan had it in 1798; and John Morgan & Co from 1799 to 1807, when a flood caused its closure.

[12] SN65631682

Llandyfan New Forge

Llandyfan New Forge was built by William Roderick and John Griffiths (of the old forge) in 1782 and held by Roderick until his bankruptcy in 1808, after John Morgan took over the old forge. It was sold to a nominee of Lord Dynevor, the landlord. It is not clear if it closed then or, as has been reported, after the Napoleonic Wars. One account indicates that it was acquired by the Duboisson family in 1808 and operated until the 1830s. In the 1840s there was a woollen factory on the site. Sources as Llandyfan. Ponthenry Furnace see Gwendraeth Slebech Forge see Blackpool Whitland Forge

A furnace is only referred to in a letter of 1756, when its site was no longer known. This (wherever it was) is likely to be the second Carmarthenshire Furnace that supplied cannon balls for the siege of Pembroke Castle in the Civil War. There is no evidence as to where it was, but the need of forges for a source of pig iron suggests that there was one somewhere, though not necessarily at Llandyfan. If real, it probably closed in the 1680s.

[13] perhaps SN227180

Whitland Abbey stands beside the river Gronw near its junction with Nant Colomeny (SN207180). Precisely where the forge was is uncertain. It was built by George Mynne, who appointed William Rutland as his clerk in 1639. George Mynne’s goods suffered plunder, when the king captured Bristol. Between June 1647 and his death in April 1648, he sold the forge to Thomas Foley, perhaps in conjunction with the sale of Tintern ironworks. However by 1655, William Rutland was operating the forge and did so until about 1670 (cf. Kidwelly). Afterwards it may have been in the hands of John Rutland. The forge was in the hands of Mr Cherle [?Chetle] in 1709 and of Peter Chetle by 1722 (and perhaps by 1702), until he sold it in 1729 to Lewis Hughes. Hughes’ widow married Robert Morgan

Size Forge 1717 20 tpa; 1718 100 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 100 tpa. In 1790 the two forges each had 2 fineries and one chafery; Mr Parsons was listed as occupier (probably erroneously): he perhaps merely supplied them with pig iron from Ynyscedwyn.

558

Chapter 38: Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire in 1736, and he had it until his death in 1778; then John Morgan I (d.1805); then John Morgan jun. (d.1808) and Charles Morgan. It probably closed in 1811 (when it was advertised to let). The only remains are of a leat.

investigated Carmarthen Port Books, which survive up to c.1715. Accordingly, the research for this chapter may have been less thorough than elsewhere.

Size 1717 60 tpa; 1718 100 tpa; 1736 idle; 1750 100 tpa. In 1790 there were two fineries and a chafery. It is unlikely there was a furnace here. It is more likely that in George Mynne’s time the forge made use of pig iron cast at his Blackpool Furnace. Associations As to George Mynne see introduction; locally he also held Blackpool Furnace and Forge. Foley was a Midlands ironmaster, with many works (see chapter 24), but may have considered Whitland too distant to manage. William Rutland held Kidwelly Forge from the 1650s to 1670, possibly also Llandyfan. After about 1700 it was probably always held with Kidwelly (or Ponthenry) Furnace, until that closed. Trading 1655-7 William Rutland bought pig iron from what had been Kings Works, the enormous amount of 237 tons in the year 1656/7 (Wade a/c). He sold 25 tons of bar iron in Bristol in 1658 (TNA, C 6/169/70). John Rutland (no location) bought up to 30 tpa pig iron from Tintern in 1672-5 and 1682/3 (Tintern F a/c). Peter and Thomas Chetle bought pig iron from Redbrook and Blakeney Furnaces, 20 or 30 tpa intermittently 1702-14 (Foley a/c). Sources Evans 1967, 22-5; TNA, C 6/169/70; C 7/419/8; NLW, Slebech 5609; Carms RO, Trant/Yel/104 110 190; Morgan l/b, 22 Jan. 1761 & 23 Jan. 1762; Carmarthen Journal, 13 Apr. 1811. As to the Whitland estate note also: TNA, C 5/445/25; C 8/182/291; C 8/242/60; C 8/321/274. Yskennen Forge see Llandyfan (old) Forge Conclusion The picture remains incomplete. There seems to have been a regular modest coastal trade in the late 17th century in pig iron from Newport and Chepstow to Carmarthen and Swansea generally of 40 to 100 tpa. The much larger shipments in 1671 and 1681, respectively 229 and 122 tons from Chepstow and Newport point to the existence of a furnace that was in those years temporarily out of blast (Chepstow and Newport Port Books). The ‘merchant’ named is usually the clerk of the furnace from which the iron came, but occasionally an ironmaster is named, such as Alexander Phillips (see Cwmbran above). John Read of Carmarthen similarly appears as a purchaser in 1700/1 and 1703/4 (Foley a/c), but cannot at present be linked to any forge. Certain purchasers, who are named in Backbarrow and Invergarry accounts around 1730 but have not been located, may also have been Carmarthenshire people. Carmarthenshire Record Office was closed for a long period when I was doing supplementary research. Thus, access to certain collections I might have wished to examine further was not possible. I might also have 559

39 The Coasts of West and North Wales Introduction

built a forge at Llanfread (now Glanfraid). Dolgun is best recorded during two periods when John Kelsall was the clerk there, up to 1720 and 1729-34. The composition of the company is only clear at Coedmore,4 but several of its partners were mentioned by Kelsall as concerned at Dolgun. The leading partners in the second period were John and Henry Payton of Dudley. John Sparry, sold out at Coedmore in January 1728, visited Kelsall at Dolgun in October 1729,5 and Mr Brettell and Mr Harward visited in March 1730, going on to ‘Llanfraed’,6 but Brettell left the partnership that April. They sold up Coedmore in 1729 to a local landowner, but it probably did not survive many years.7 Samuel Milner of Bewdley was bankrupt in 1729.8 Kelsall was replaced by Peter Scott of Sutton, who ‘belongs to Mr Hall’s works’ and had been a clerk at Cunsey.9 Jonathan Bunce the clerk at Glanfraid probably remained there and may be ‘my predecessor JB’, mentioned in the letterbook for that forge starting in 1781.10 Bunce died nearby in 1785.11 After Kelsall left, nothing is known of Dolgun for some time. Subsequent references are largely to a forge, probably built in c.1757.12 One of the few references to Dolgun in the third quarter of the 18th century refers to John Chadwick, whose family had forges near Chorley in Lancashire. He was associated with Edward Thomas of ‘Dolgyn’ in seeking a patent for fining iron with peat. Chadwick was in turn a partner in the Newland Company.13 It is not clear if the furnace was working in this period and (if not) where it, and a further forge at Borthwnog (held for the same lease term), obtained their pig iron. However, advertisements for their sale do not mention a furnace, which may thus have closed in the 1730s.

This chapter covers ironworks along the west and north coasts of Wales from Cardiganshire to the Clwydian Range and the mouth of the river Dee, a boundary that does not fit precisely with pre-1974 country boundaries. The 1974 reorganisation combined Denbighshire and Flintshire into a new Clwyd. A further local government reorganisation divided Clwyd into new Council Areas, reviving Flintshire and Denbighshire, but their current boundaries differ from the old counties. References to counties and boundaries in this chapter are generally to historic ones. The Denbighshire coalfield is in north Wales was more closely linked with the iron industry in Shropshire than with this region. It and east Montgomeryshire have therefore been described (before Shropshire) in the chapters 14 and 15, linking them to the Midlands. The coasts are perhaps an area where the iron industry would not be expected to be found. It is therefore hardly surprising that its arrival should mostly be relatively late and generally on a small scale. Water power from Welsh rivers was plentiful. There was probably a moderately good supply of charcoal from the steep slopes of valleys and this seems to have been the prime attraction of the area. Apart from ore obtained for Dolgun Furnace from a local quarry at Bryn Castle,1 the region lacked any significant source of iron ore. Certainly in the 18th century most was imported coastwise from Furness and West Cumberland. This is a defining characteristic of the area. The furnaces were all built close to the navigable water of sheltered estuaries, facilitating the import of ore and export of pig iron. The entrepreneurs were also from elsewhere, initially the Midlands.

Iron production near the north coast began in 1698, when the Cheshire Ironmasters built a forge at Bodfari, followed some years later by one at Holywell.14 These seem to have been designed to convert pig iron, made elsewhere using Cumbrian ores, into bar iron for the local market. Holywell Forge was closed in the recession of the iron industry that occurred in the period either side of 1730. Conway Furnace and Dovey Furnaces were built, in 1748 and 1755 respectively, by William and Edward Bridge, nephews of Edward Hall of Cranage, who was the managing partner

The industry was somewhat spasmodic in its operation. The earliest furnace, on the Nannau estate near Dolgellau from 1596 (replacing a bloomery of 1588),2 and Mathafarn at the head of the Dovey (or Dyfi) may only have operated fairly briefly, around 1630.3 Both are little documented. After that there was no iron industry until the early 18th century. Coedmore on the river Teifi was built by 1707. Dolgun near Dolgellau was planned by Abraham Darby of Coalbrookdale, but he failed to live to build it. His widow sold the prospect in 1718 to Samuel Milner of Bewdley. The purchase was probably for a company of Midland Quakers, who also leased Coedmore Forge and probably

4 5 6 7 8 9

1

10

Kelsall’s Dairy, 10 8mo [Oct.] 1729. 2 Parry 1963; Crew 2009, 23-7. 3 The evidence for the date is from the shipment of ‘raw iron’ (in one case transcribed as ‘rod iron’) to the Port of Gloucester (Gloucester Port Books Database).

11 12 13 14

561

Evans 1974. Kelsall’s diary, 22 8mo [Oct.] 1729. Kelsall’s diary, 28 12mo [Feb.] 1729[30] and 25 1mo [Mar.] 1730. Evans 1974. London Gazette, 6778, 4 (13 May 1729). TNA, C 11/1548/21. Glanfred l/b. NLW, B/1785/143. Q.v. Awty 1957, 105. Being near the Dee estuary Holywell appears in chapter 14.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 39. The coasts of west and north Wales. West coast: 2, Bontwynog Forge; 3, Coedmore Forge; 5, Dolgûn Furnace [Dolgyn]; 6, Dolgûn or Dolgellau [Dolgelly] Forge; 7, Nannau Furnace; 8, Dovey Furnace [Dyfi]; 9, Glanfred or Llanfraed Forge; 10, Mathafarn Furnace; 11, Mathafarn Forge; 12, The Forge, Penegroes; 13, Penygored Tinplate Works; 14, Aberaeron Forge; 16, Wheeler Wire Mill, Caerwys. North coast: 1, Bodfari Forge; 4, Conway Furnace.

Furnace was apparently in blast in 1810.16 Glanfred was advertised in 1806,17 and replaced by a flannel factory. Dolgun may still have been in use in 1817.18 Bodfari Forge declined into a smith’s shop, but probably still with a powered hammer. This in turn moved into motor repairs as the Old Forge Garage, which operated until about 2009. The presence of industry in this area was the result of it having available wood, to which ore could be brought by sea. This is comparable with the industry in the West Highlands of Scotland.

of the Cheshire Ironmasters. Conway was not a longterm success. By about 1770 most of the available wood had been used up. Angerstein commented, even in 1754, on the lack of wood.15 Presumably the Conway valley was just not sufficiently wooded. The Bridge brothers were bankrupt in 1773. This marked the end of Conway Furnace, but Dovey Furnace (where Ralph Vernon had a share) continued in operation until 1816. Ralph Vernon’s share was probably bought by the Kendall family, who had taken over the Cheshire Ironmasters. They presumably took over the Bridge brothers’ shares and operated Dovey until the end of the century. Whether because of losses or the difficulty of managing such a distant works, it seems that they did not renew the lease when it expired in 1795. The furnace was subsequently in other hands, though the Kendall family (by then of Beaufort ironworks) may have retained some interest.

Gazetteer Bodfari Forge

[1] SJ098701

The forge was on the river Wheeler in the parish and township of Bodfari (Flintshire), at a point where the river was the boundary with Aberwheeler township in Denbighshire. Pentree Mill (sic) was converted to a forge by Thomas Hall on behalf of himself and the other Cheshire Ironmasters in 1698. In 1710 it was assigned to William Burslem and Thomas Hart, who took George

With the rise of new methods of making iron without charcoal in the late 18th century, the need for charcoal iron declined. The local industry withered away. Dovey

15 Angerstein’s Diary, 326. He called it ‘Dalcowen’, but his description as 12 miles from Bodfari could only fit Conway, actually more like 20 miles away.

16 17 18

562

Weale list of 1810. Hereford Journal, 22 Oct. 1806. Manchester Mercury, 19 Aug. 1817.

Chapter 39: The Coasts of West and North Wales Sources Staffs RO, D 593/C/21/4/1/10-13; D(W) 1788 / P40/B6, 26 Jan. 1711[2]; Flints RO, D/BC/2003-8 & D/ DM/223/76; Johnson 1954, 33 & 46-7; Awty 1957, 88 97 108 112 & 115; King 2018a, 304; London Gazette, no. 11342, 6 (6 Apr. 1773); Chester Chronicle, 22 Jan 1830; Edwards 1961, 52 & 61; land tax, Aberwheeler; Directories (under Caerwys).

Sparrow as partner. George Sparrow declared this to be subject to his partnership with Francis Parrott in 1711. William Burslem transferred his share in 1716 to Lord Gower, who satisfied his debt to the Exchequer. The forge was sold later that year to Edward Hall and Daniel Cotton, presumably for the Cheshire Ironmasters. The forge was presumably run by the Cheshire Ironmasters continuously almost until a reconstruction of the partnership in about 1750. It then probably passed to William and Edward Bridge, who built Conway Furnace in about 1748. They became bankrupt in 1773. Thomas Eyton had the forge by 1776. It was then held by: Eyton & Son in 1794; Thomas Eyton in 1806; Mr Hamberton in 1829; William Whitehouse between 1828 and 1856, but not in 1868. It was presumably the forge at St Asaph, whose machinery was advertised in 1830. The first edition 6-inch O.S. map shows a smithy, but perhaps still with water-power, presumably a plating forge. The forge building survives being used as a workshop for a garage called the Old Forge. It is not the only smith’s shop that moved into motor repairs in the period when horses ceased to be important for transport. It was however probably the only one that began as a finery forge. It was a single storey building built partly of stone and partly of brick, until redeveloped in c.2009.

Borthwnog Forge (or Bontwynog)

[2] about SH689192

There is virtually no remnant of this forge, which stood close to the shore of the Mawddwy estuary. Nor is there much evidence of its history. It is virtually only known from pictures of it made by two passing artists in the late 18th century, the second of which dated 1796 may show it as derelict. Paul Sandby produced two pictures of forges between Barmouth and Dolgellau in the 1770s, probably one of this forge and the other of Dolgun (British Museum 1904, 0819.21; and Metropolitan Museum of Art 36.8.32 = National Museum of Wales, NMW A 7272 – a print, published c.1776). When advertised in 1802, the lease had 55 years to run, suggesting construction in 1757. It is to be presumed that the forge was always associated with Dolgun, but is not mentioned in Kelsall’s diary, and must be later. The forge and equipment were offered for sale in 1765, following the bankruptcy of John Roberts of Wrexham and Thomas Radenhurst of the forge. It was offered for sale with Dolgun Forge in 1802, with the suggestion that it might be converted to a rolling and slitting mill.

Size 1717 150 tpa; 1718 200 tpa; 1736 130 tpa; 1750 200 tpa; 1754 150 tpa (Angerstein’s diary, 326-7). In 1716 (and also in 1794) there were two fineries and one chafery. Associations The Cheshire Ironmasters are discussed in chapters 12 and 13. Thomas Hart’s activities are referred to in connection with his wiremill at Holywell in chapter 14. A warehouse at Mostyn was usually held with the forge. Thomas Eyton also held Dolgun Forge in 1787.

Sources Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 30 Jul. 1765; 4 Nov.1765; Morning Post, 18 May 1802; cf. Kelsall’s diary (not mentioned). Coedmore Forge

Trading The forge was almost certainly built with a view to its using Vale Royal pig iron and supplying bar iron to the Vale of Clwyd, north Flintshire and southwest Lancashire. Among the sale terms in 1710 was that the purchasers would buy 100 tpa Vale Royal pig iron; they took 150 tons in 1711. In its earliest years, it had been receiving about this amount but from 1703 on 170-180 tpa was usual. Accounts show purchases of pig iron from Richard Patrickson [Cleator] in 1700/1; and 37 tons of Forest pig in 1703/4 from Obadiah Lane. Thomas Eyton bought Backbarrow pig iron for this forge in 1798 and 1800. Thomas Eyton & Co’s purchase in 1787 was shipped to Barmouth and must therefore have been for Dolgun Forge (BB a/c). In 1804 Thomas Eyton bought ½ ton Old Park pig iron (OP a/c). In 1806 Thomas Eyton was persuaded to buy some timber, apparently partly against his better judgment (Flints RO, D/BC/721).

[3] SN213437

The forge stood on the north bank of the River Teifi, almost opposite the later Penygored Tinplate Works. The forge was built not later than 1707 by Nathaniel Wade. He retained the forge in 1714, when the death of Samuel Davies, his co-owner forced him to sell the Coedmore estate. Thomas Lewis was probably his partner from 1714 and bought the utensils of the forge from his widow in 1719. In 1720 the forge was let to Samuel Milner of [W]ribbenhall, who bought Dolgun Furnace from Mary Darby of Coalbrookdale about the same time. Soon after he formed a partnership with John Sparry of Hagley, John Brettell of Halesowen, William Harward and Thomas Milner of Wribbenhall, and John Payton and William Wharton of Dudley all in north Worcestershire. Thomas Milner and Harward dropped out in 1726 and Sparry in 1728. Then, after losses, the forge was sold in 1729 to Thomas Symmonds, a local landowner, who may have let it to Thomas Lewis. The forge had apparently fallen down by 1751, when a ‘forge or site of a forge’ was sold. The 1750 list is thus perhaps wrong in stating that ‘Coiducore is rebuilding’. ‘The site and liberties of a forge’ were advertised for sale in 1767. Subsequent activity in the area was at Penygored (see below). There are slight traces

Accounts 1700-10, with gaps Cheshire a/c: Foley E12/ VI/MDf/4-10. There is an inventory in the assignment of 1716. This does not appear to indicate that pig iron was being obtained other than from the Cheshire Ironmasters. It may however be that they were supplying some of it from Cunsey (on Windermere). 563

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II of a leat, which left the river by Llechryd Bridge. Otherwise, there are no remains.

Associations Bodfari Forge also belonged to the Bridge Brothers, who were also leading partners at Dovey.

Size 1717 omitted; 1718 100 tpa; 1736 idle. Hulme (1928) in his analysis of the lists applies these figures to ‘Coychurch Glamorgan’, but the facsimile printed by him places it in Pembrokeshire, which would be correct, if the forge was on the opposite bank of the river Teifi.

Trading In 1760/1 40 tons of pig iron was sent to Caerleon Forge (Caerleon a/c). Ore sent from Cumberland in 1771 to ‘William Bridge, Conway Furnace Co’, but was still not paid for in 1787, due to the insolvency (Workington a/c). Pig iron from ‘Dovey and Conway’ was used in the Stour valley in 1762-72 (SW a/c); see under Dovey Furnace.

Associations Dolgun Furnace and Glanfred Forge were in similar hands in the 1720s. John Sparry was perhaps related to Thomas Sparry of Strangworth Forge in northwest Herefordshire, perhaps clerk there.

Sources Edwards 1961, 63-65; Pannett 2011; Barrow-inFurness RO, z26 (address). Cych Forge see Penygored

Trading In 1707-1714 Major Wade and in 1714-6 Major Wade and [Mr] Lewis bought up to 95 tpa Forest pig iron; Thomas Lewis ‘Coydmore’ bought 4 tons at Blackpool in 1714/5 (Foley a/c). Payton & Co presumably supplied it from Dolgun Furnace. It is not mentioned in Kelsall’s diary, while he was clerk of Dolgun, probably because the Company had given it up before he returned to Dolgun.

Dolgun Furnace [Dolgyn]

The furnace stands near the junction of rivers Wnion and Clywedog about two miles east of Dolgellau near the head of navigation on the river Mawddwy. The power for the furnace bellows must have come from Afon Clywedog. It was planned by Abraham Darby of Coalbrookdale in 1714, following the first flush of his success in making pig iron with coke. Being so distant from any coalfield, it is very unlikely however that it was ever contemplated that the furnace would use anything but charcoal. The right to build the furnace, whose erection had barely begun, was sold in 1718 by his widow to Samuel Milner, another Quaker. Milner dismissed John Kelsall (Darby’s clerk) in 1719 and replaced him with Thomas Dalton, leading Kelsall to move to Dolobran. Samuel Milner was a member of a family, who kept a warehouse for iron at Bewdley, but he was bankrupt in 1729. The furnace was then in the hands of the Payton Family of Dudley, who again employed John Kelsall as clerk from 1729 to 1734, replacing Elisha Francis. The company may have been the same one as at Coedmore. John Brettell was a partner until April 1730 and John Sparry may also have been, as at Coedmore. Kelsall was probably replaced by Peter Scott of Sutton, ‘who belongs to Mr Hall’s works’. It is not clear how long the furnace remained in use, but a writer in 1748 implies that the furnace was out of use. After this, most references are to a forge (see next item), but it is conceivable that it was again in use in 1788.

Sources Evans 1974; Lloyd’s Evening Post, 13 Apr. 1767; cf. Kelsall’s diary (not mentioned). Conway Furnace

[5] SH751188

[4] SH796723

The furnace stood close to the grounds of Bodnant, now a very fine woodland garden, owned by the National Trust. A considerable pool that now forms a feature of the grounds is no doubt the former furnace pound. From there slight remains of a leat may be traced through the gardens, leading to a building. This building may be the Felin Furnace or Furnace Mill that is marked on the tithe map and early O.S. maps, a corn mill (later sawmill), the leat continued to the probable furnace site, near Furnace Farm. The furnace was built in about 1748 by William and Edward Bridge, who were nephews of Edward Hall the Cheshire ironmaster. There may well have been other partners, but who is not known. Both brothers became bankrupt in 1773. The furnace was offered for sale in 1773 and again in 1779, but seems to have remained unsold and been left derelict. ‘Old furnace’ appears on a map of 1805, a short distance to the northeast of Furnace Farm, but apparently not on subsequent ones.

The furnace stands against the hillside and has been excavated. The remains, which are exposed, stand seven feet high at the front and perhaps 20 feet high at the back to the charging platform. The tapered opening is an original feature, with the side walls vitrified, the taper being used to wedge in the timp stone. It still has the dam stone and tapping slot at the base of the opening. There is a structure that has been suggested to be a coke oven, but that seems improbable. Recent examination of residues recovered from it, suggest it was used for roasting ores.

Size Probably comparatively small, perhaps 400 tpa. The furnace is presumably ‘Dalcowen’ Furnace, noted by Angerstein (Diary, 326), which used Cumberland ore. Dalcowen may be Tal y Cafn, the old ferry over the river Conwy, presumably the landing place used. The cause of failure may well have been the absence of an adequate local supply of wood for charcoal, a matter on which Angerstein commented in 1754. From 1767 charcoal was being sent from the Dee valley (Conway Port Books). When it was offered for sale, unlike Dovey Furnace, no statement was made about there being plentiful supplies of wood. It is therefore likely that all available wood had been consumed and there was no prospect of finding sufficient to work the furnace again.

Size In its first campaign the furnace made 446 tons in a 36 week campaign (Schubert 1961). Although John Kelsall had been clerk from 1714 to 1720, it was not in blast until 1719. It is therefore correctly omitted from the 1717 564

Chapter 39: The Coasts of West and North Wales list. This ought to be the charcoal furnace listed in 1788 in Merioneth making 400 tpa, but Dovey is more likely, though it was south of the Dyfi estuary and thus actually in Cardiganshire.

1775. This suggests a period for their tenure of Dolgun. They retained their share in the Newland Company near Ulverston at least until the 1780s, so 1775 need not be the end of their interest in Dolgun. There was another forge at Borthwnog (q.v.) further down the estuary in the late 18th century which was held with this ironworks. Thomas Eyton & Co also held Bodfari Forge in 1787. These works are most notable by their virtual absence in the accounts of other late 18th century ironworks, which might point to a furnace continuing.

Associations Glanfred Forge was probably in the same hands in the 1720s and 1730s, as was Coedmore Forge in the 1720s. Trading During Kelsall’s time ironstone (bedded oolitic ironstone) came from a rock at Bryn Castle [Bryn Castell, near Cross Foxes], but 200 tons of Lancashire ore was also used. During Kelsall’s time as clerk pig iron seems only to have gone to the associated ‘Llanfread’ Forge (or Glanfred).

Trading 1759-61 Dolegun (sic) Company bought Horsehay pig iron, 96½ tons in six months in 1761 (HH a/c). Thomas Eyton & Co. Bodvarry & Dolgun Forges had 62 tons of pig iron delivered at Barmouth from Backbarrow in 1787 (BB a/c).

Diary Kelsall’s diary 1718-9 and 1729-34.

Sources Thomas 1984; Crew 2009, 28-31 and pers. comm.; Dodd 1951, 23 147-8; Lloyd 1975 44n 54 & 58; Blick 1984, 47-8; Cranstone 1989, 120; Birchall website; London Evening Post, 1 Dec. 1763; Aris’ Birmingham Gazette, 16 Jan. 1764; 24 Jun. 1776; 27 Aug. 1781; London Gazette 11844, 5 (27 Jan. 1777); NLW, SA/1796/44; Morning Post, 18 May 1802; Manchester Mercury, 19 Aug. 1817.

Sources Cheshire RO, DBC 1063/10, copy deed dated 1717; Schubert 1961; Thomas 1984; Crew 2009, 28-31; and pers. comm.; Davies 1946, 61 & 86; Dodd 1951, 23 147-8; Lloyd 1975 44n 54 & 58; Blick 1984, 47-8; Cranstone 1989, 120; London Gazette, no. 6778, 4 (13 May 1729); Oxford DNB, ‘John Kelsall’; Lloyd 1974, citing Lewis Morris (1748). Dolgun Forge or Dolgellau [Dolgelly]

[6] SH751188

Dol y Clochydd Furnace or Nannau Furnace [Nanney]

The forge was evidently erected after 1750, as it is not in that list. In 1802 the lease had 55 years to run, suggesting the forge was built in 1757. Its proprietors, Andrew Bradley, Joseph Taylor, and Samuel William Penson Padmore became bankrupt in 1764. Edward Thomas of Dolgun Forge sought a patent in 1767 jointly with John son of Thomas Chadwick the Lancashire ironmaster. John Radenhurst of Dolgun Forge was bankrupt in 1776, but this was superseded the following January. The forge was offered for sale in 1781. In 1790 [‘1794’], Dolgelly Forge was in the occupation of Eyton & Son. Before making her will in 1790, Elizabeth Smalley gave it and a wiremill at Holywell to her sons William and John Smalley who had it (or perhaps a share) until at least 1801. The works were offered for sale in 1802. It is again mentioned on the sale of the Dolgun estate in 1817, when in the occupation of Taylor and others. J. Lewis of the Ebbw Vale Works had some connection with this sale. The location of the forge, 25m north-east of the furnace, has recently been confirmed by a high resolution magnetometer survey, with clearly defined anomalies from three hearths and one from a spread of forging debris.

[7] SH730213

This early furnace stood on the bank of Afon Mawddach, where its foundations have been exposed by excavation. The site cannot have been very well chosen as the river can flood it. This perhaps explains how it came to be so shortlived. It was built by John Smith of Newcastle-underLyme (Staffs) and John Dale of London grocer in 1588, probably initially as a bloomery. Hugh Nanney granted a new 21-year lease in 1597. The lease included the right to cut wood on Penrhos Common, which was in fact Crown land. It was claimed 30,000 oaks had been cut in 15 years to 1603. Hugh Nanney was found guilty of 10,000 and fined £1,500 (3s per tree). This probably marks the end of the works. Presumably there was also a forge in the area, unless the pig iron went to a forge elsewhere, such as the ironworks that John Smith had on Knutton Heath, near Newcastle-under-Lyme. Sources Parry 1963; Lead 1972; Crew & Williams 1985, 23-30; Crew 2009, 23-7; Schubert 1957, 181. Dovey Furnace [Dyfi]

[8] SN685952

This furnace is substantially intact and has been being restored in recent times and CADW open it to visitors. It stands in the village of Furnace (Welsh Ffwrnais) adjoining the main road from Machynlleth to Aberystwyth in Llanvihangelgenerglyn parish (now Geneu’rglyn). The large water wheel on the side of the building gives very good impression, but is not quite of the same dimensions as the original one. The furnace site was leased in 1755 for 40 years to William and Edward Bridges and Ralph

Size In 1790 there were two fineries and one chafery (also in 1763). In 1802 the works were said to be able to make 6-8 tons bar iron and 8-10 tons of half blooms each week. In 1802 the works included a water-powered blast engine, which had cost £800. The forge is probably one of those drawn by Paul Sandy in 1776 (see under Borthwnog). Associations Successive members of the Chadwick family had forges in South Lancashire from the early 1740s until 565

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Vernon. The latter retired in the late 1760s and the Bridge brothers became bankrupt in 1773. The furnace was bought by Jonathan Kendall & Co (the Cheshire Ironmasters). Later it was being managed for the family by Jonathan’s son Edward Kendall of Beaufort Furnace near Llangattock Breconshire. About 1796 it then passed to Gaskell and Bell, Thomas Bell having previously been the resident manager. It was still in use in 1805 and 1810 (when listed as still belonging to ‘Kendall’), but probably closed not long after, certainly by 1816.

to his colleague Jonathan Bunce the clerk at ‘Llanfread’. Bunce probably succeeded the Paytons as tenant in about 1736 and had the forge for many years. If he is the person referred to as ‘my predecessor JB’ in the letter book, his tenure lasted until 1781. Bunce was living at Lligwy, Merioneth when made his will in 1785. He was succeeded by David Morgan, who had the forge from 1781 until at least 1794. The whole Glanfred estate was offered for sale in 1800, when John Gevers had just repaired the forge. His lease – with 16 (or 14) years to run – was offered for sale in 1806. It was converted to a flannel factory in 1808. The meadows where the forge was were in the 1990s used as a caravan site. A levee has been constructed to prevent this being flooded. This seems to have led to all trace of the forge having disappeared. Only the weir was left.

Size Purchases of Workington ore suggest that it was out of blast in 1793 and 1794, perhaps the cause of its appearance in the ‘1788’ closures list with the comment ‘down’, but it (rather than Dolgun) might nevertheless be the furnace (actually in Cardiganshire), appearing in another 1788 list under Merioneth, as making 400 tpa; 1796 150 tpa; 1805 150 tpa; 1810 in blast.

Size ‘1718’ 120 tpa; 1736 40 tpa; 1750 120 tpa. In 1794 there was one finery and one chafery. The letter book speaks of taking 4 tpw Dovey pigs, perhaps suggesting production of 150 tpa was possible. Other difficulties quite probably meant this level was not usually achieved.

Associations William and Edward Bridge also held Conway Furnace. The forge at Penegoes could have been associated with the furnace latterly.

Associations The Paytons also had Dolgun Furnace and were partners in Coedmore Forge.

Trading In 1787 Henry Kendall’s executors bought 113½ tons of Furness ore. In 1801/2 Gaskell & Bell bought 49 tons (BB a/c). Jonathan Kendall & Co. in 1787, his son Edward Kendall in 1789-93 and 1795 and Gaskell and Bell in 1796 and 1800 were buying Cumberland ore (Workington a/c). From 1781 to 1785 the proprietor of Glanfred Forge was buying or trying to buy pig iron from Dovey Furnace. Mr Fayle was the resident manager, but strictly under orders from the Kendall Family as to the disposal of pig iron. The owner of Glanfred thus wrote to Jonathan Kendall at Lea Forge in 1781 and 1782 and to Edward Kendall of Beaufort Furnace in 1784, just after he had visited the furnace (Glanfred l/b). Conway and Dovey Furnaces supplied pig iron to the Stour Works Forges especially those at Mitton: 1764-5 William Bridge & Co; 1766-7 Jonathan Kendall & Co; (Dovey only) 1797 Henry Kendall & Co., possibly referring to old stock. The supply amounted to 197 tpa in 1765 (SW a/c).

Trading Henry and John Payton in 1735 paid the Backbarrow Company an amount perhaps representing about 48 tons of pig iron supplied the previous year. Jonathan Bunce regularly bought Backbarrow pig iron in 1737-1750, usually about 30 tpa (BB a/c). The forge is never named, but there can be no doubt as this was then the only forge operating in the hinterland of Aberdovey. In the 1780s, the writer of the letter book did not find it easy to get ships to make the voyage to Aberdovey or Aberystwyth, and on one occasion ran out of stock as a result. His usual suppliers seem to have been the furnaces of northern Lancashire and Cumberland. He also bought pig iron from Dovey Furnace. The tone of the letter book may imply that his predecessor had not done so. Letterbook Glanfred l/b 1781-4: its writer did not name himself, but may be identified as David Morgan (‘of Glenproed’ (sic) near Aberystwyth) in a pedigree of the Hallen family (Hallen 1885; Worcs RO, BA 5575) from his reference in letters to the late Mr Hallen (apparently of Lightmoor Furnace, Shropshire) as his father-in-law and to Nancy (apparently his wife).

Sources Dinn 1988; Davies 1946; Edwards 1961, 65; Rees 1965, 118-9; NLW, Castell Gorfod 61; Bulkeley-Owen 1893, 197; Awty 1957, 112-3; Hughes 1965, 201n. Glanfred or Llanfread Forge (now spelt Glanfraid)

[9] SN633879

Sources Rees 1975, 42-43; Evans 1974, 191-2; Kelsall’s diary; Hereford Journal, 4 Jun. 1800; 22 Oct. 1806; 26 Nov. 1806; Chester Courant, 15 Jul. 1800; cf. NLW, B/1785/143.

The forge was on the Afon Leri a short distance south of the Dovey estuary, obtaining water by means of a weir a couple of hundred yards upstream of the forge. The forge does not appear in the pre-embargo ironworks list of 1717. It was thus probably built during the embargo on Swedish trade of 1717-18. From Samuel Milner it passed to Henry and John Payton of Dudley, evidently to work up pig iron cast at Dolgun. This was certainly its function about 1730. John Brettell was a partner until April 1730 and the partners may have been the same as at Coedmore and Dolgun. Kelsall as clerk of Dolgun made several visits

Llechryd see Penygored Mathafarn Ironworks

furnace: [10] c.SH808052 Forge: [11] SH806045

Mathafarn is on the north side of the Dovey valley about five miles east of Machynlleth. The huge beams of a 566

Chapter 39: The Coasts of West and North Wales barn at Mathafarn, according to tradition, came from a forge, which stood in a field called Cae Forge, and was a ruin in the mid-19th century. The sandstone lining of a blast furnace was identified in 1990s (by P. Crew, from information from B. Herbert), used as a garden wall at Pant Cottage, about a mile to the north. Some slag is in a ruined building 30m to the south with a substantial heap of green glassy slag 100m down the slope to the southeast. It would have been powered from Afon Graig-ddu. The only indication (so far discovered) of its date concerns the shipment of pig iron from creeks belonging to the port of Gloucester: 140 tons were sent in vessels described as of Gatcombe on behalf of Richard Tyler in 1630, and a further 100 tons of ‘raw iron’ in Tewkesbury vessels in 1634 for John Gough. Unfortunately no port books are available for Milford (which included Aberdovey) in this period and it has therefore not been possible to discover more about the ironworks from this source. After the Restoration their silence about iron implies the ironworks had closed. Mathafarn and an estate of about 2,500 acres belonged to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn at the time of the tithe award. The mansion at Mathafarn then belonging to the Pugh family was burnt down during the Civil War and the ironworks may have suffered too. On the other hand, its history might be linked to that of the great manor of Cyfeiliog, which belonged to Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester in the Elizabethan era.

SN229432. This leat is sufficiently massive for the O.S. to mark it as an old canal. The works was built by a group of investors, mainly from London, who bought an estate in the area in 1769: Walter Lloyd, James Walker, William Dermer senior, and Griffith Howell. They obtained an Act of Parliament to provide a secure title to their leat in 1772. Shares were advertised in 1776 and 1777 and ultimately the whole works in 1778 and 1779. Following the death of one of the partners, his family forced the sale of the works, which were bought in 1780 by John Halliday and George Daniels; Benjamin Hammett was among the underbidders. Thomas and Samuel Daniell of Kilgerran were bankrupt in 1785, after which it was offered for sale in London, but ‘Holliday & Co’ apparently still had it in 1790. The later history is somewhat confused: it is said to have been sold to Alexander Raby of Llanelly (Carms.) and Cox & Co. held it in 1799. Sir Benjamin Hammett (died 1800) was proprietor by 1794, perhaps from 1790. It was managed by Mr Francis Hammett in 1796. In 1806 John Hammett closed the works, following his loss of litigation with the Burgesses of Cilgerran. It is said to have been unprofitable. However, according to the Bankers’ Magazine in 1844 an attempt to float the works as a public company was made in 1807. The following January, the machinery was offered for sale and the works were presumably then dismantled. According to his 1812 obituary, Thomas Morris was the engineer, who had regulation of the machinery throughout the life of the works. With the cost of transport to such a remote location, its difficulties are perhaps hardly surprising. The site is now occupied by a hotel.

Sources Davies 1939, 64; Peter Crew, pers. comm. Gloucester Port Books database. Nannau [Nanney] Furnace see Dol y Clochydd

Size In 1779, there was a forge capable of 500 tpa; a double hammer under one drome beam; a tin mill and ‘cold roll’, perhaps uncompleted, but capable of 15,000 boxes of tinplate per year. In 1785 there were two rolling mills (one let for rolling copper) and two forge hammers each of 7 cwt with fineries. In ‘1794’, there was just a rolling mill and tin mill, but ‘Cych Forge’ was advertised (perhaps by John Halliday) as capable of 150 tpa.

The Forge, Penegoes [12] about SH764001 or Llynlloed Forge or Machynlleth Forge The forge stood on Afon Dulais. It was advertised for sale with an adjacent farm in 1788, with 16 years of the lease unexpired: John Prothero the forgeman would show it to potential purchasers. The lease then current may have run from 1783, which could be the date of its erection, but it could equally be much older. In the 1790 list, Machynlleth Forge had one finery and one chafery, the owner being given as Mr Herbert Park and the occupier left blank. It does not appear in any of the earlier standard lists. Mr E. Anwyl to whom the ironmaster at Glanfred, applied for a loan of pig iron in 1784 may perhaps have occupied this forge. The only indication of the location of his forge is that he was offered repayment at either Garreg or Dowlais. There are no obvious remains of it. It is not known to have had any connection with Dovey Furnace.

Trading In 1796 it was receiving pig iron from Neath Abbey Co. The owner of Glanfred Forge supplied tinplate bar iron on one occasion in the early 1780s. Halliday sent Thomas Llewellyn, a rollerman, to Funtley in Hampshire to investigate Cort’s puddling process in 1786, but concluded it would not be profitable, perhaps due to the price of coal locally. The use of the forge was thus probably intermittent. Llewellyn worked for a time at Funtley. When he went home to collect his family, he found work at Ynyspenllwch in the Swansea valley, and so failed to return (as promised) to Funtley.

Sources Aris Birmingham Gazette, 21 Jul. 1788; Davies 1946, 64 (Glanfred l/b, Nov. 1784).

Sources Voce 2007; NLW, Noyadd 677 & 1806 1810; Morning Post and Daily Advertiser, 4 Jul. 1776; Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, 12 Mar. 1777 5 Aug. 1778 18 Feb. 1779; London Gazette, no. 11949, 5 (30 Jan. 1779); no. 12634, 163 (29 Mar. 1785); no. 12648, 245 (17 May 1785); Hereford Journal, 27 Jan. 1790; Cambrian, 23 Jan. 1808; Carmarthen Journal, 11 Jul. 1812; SML, Weale

[13] SN213436 Penygored Tinplate Works near Llechryd (perhaps also Cych Forge) This forge and tinplate works stood on the Carmarthenshire side of Afon Teifi being fed by a leat leaving the river near 567

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sources Dodd 1951, 145-6; Chester Courant, 8 November 1805; 12 Aug. 1806; 25 Nov. 1806; York Herald, 3 Jan. 1829; Hayman thesis, 240.

MSS 371/4, 240-3; Brooke 1944, 157-9; John 1950, 25 52; Minchinton 1957, 16-7 101 104 110. Other ironworks Aberaeron Forge

[14] SN502582

A plating forge existed in Ciliau Areon. It initially made sickles from iron brought from Bristol. After about 1900, the product was the Aberaeron Shovel, made until about 1939. The hammer is now in the National Museum of Wales, Department of Industry. The account books from 1893 to 1939 are in Ceredigion Museum. Sources pilgrim.ceredigion.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid= 5696; Rees 1965, 121-2; 1969, 96-7. Gwydir or Trefriw Forge

probably spurious

Davies claimed there was a forge at Trefriw (presumably at SH782632), run in 1722 by the London Company of Quakers, of which the Hales family of Staines were principals and that Kelsall sent iron to Gwydir. There is no trace of it in the Ancaster rentals for the Gwydir estate, though these do refer to a lead mill. Kelsall’s diary records that Jos Hales of London asked Charles Lloyd for help concerning his nephew Israel Hales, who was imprisoned at Caernarvon in 1722. Charles Lloyd and Kelsall went there, secured his release, and arranged his departure by sea. The company alluded to was probably the London Lead Company (who were Quakers). Unfortunately, Davies did not cite his source, despite being asked to in discussion: it may be that he misunderstood some reference to the lead mill or made more of John Kelsall’s references to Israel Hales than the context can bear. There is no trace of the import of pig iron to Conway or the export of bar iron coastwise in the Conway Port Books around 1750, again pointing to this not being an iron forge. Sources Davies 1946, 88; Edwards 1961, 72; cf. Kelsall diary, Apr and May 1722; Lincolnshire Archives, Ancaster rentals (not mentioned); Conway Port Books (silent). Wheeler Wire Mill, Caerwys

[16] about SJ131716

Joseph Green had a wire mill in 1805 on the Afon Wen near Caerwys. Afon Wen is a tributary of the river Wheeler. A share in this was offered for sale with a lease with 85 years unexpired, suggesting it was built in c.1792. Dodd suggests that this was Holywell Wire Mill relocated when the Smalley family went into cotton spinning. James Hammerton operated the mills in the 1820s, when he was a customer of Old Park Ironworks in Shropshire, but he was bankrupt in 1829. There were two paper mills at hamlet of Afonwen, one on the Wheeler and the other on the tributary, built in 1786 and 1822, as well as a corn mills further upstream. The wire mill probably preceded one of these.

568

Part VI Northwest England

40 South Lancashire Introduction

the expiry of this licence in 1699 and was almost certainly closed by 1717.

This chapter is about Lancashire south of the River Ribble together with a small part of Cheshire nearest Manchester. However, two furnaces in the Pennine foothills are dealt with in chapter 8, as they were closely associated with west Yorkshire, something that at one period also applied to Brock Mill, which is dealt with in this one. The area consists of a plain in the west and the foothills of the Pennines to the east. The principal industry of the region was textile production, notably fustian in Manchester. Water-power was intensively used for some processes in the industrial revolution, but there is no reason to suspect any great shortage of water power hindered the iron industry in the 18th century.

Apart from these, the history of the iron industry, using the indirect process, really starts in Lancashire with two furnaces close to the later town of St. Helens. Both were built by ironmasters operating in Cheshire. Sutton was the work of the Vale Royal Company. It was built in about 1719 and probably closed on the failure of the company about fourteen years later, or a little later.4 Carr Mill Furnace was built about 1720 by Edward Hall of Cranage, who was a managing partner of the Cheshire Ironmasters. In 1711 several members of the firm established another company, which built a furnace at Cunsey in the Furness Fells; this Cunsey Company built Carr and also converted a bloomery forge at Aintree into a finery forge.5

Ore was available from the local coalfield but does not seem to have been greatly used until the 1850s. The indirect process was a late arrival in the heart of the area: there is no evidence of its use anywhere before the mid17th century. This contrasts with the Midlands, where iron production had risen to approximately the highest level that could be sustained on the basis of available wood at an early date.

The further local development of the industry only began when the iron industry recovered from the recession of the late 1720s and 1730s. With a few exceptions, such as Brock near Wigan where a forge and slitting mill passed through a multitude of hands, the iron industry was in the hands of two families. The Chadwick family had forges on the River Yarrow at Birkacre and Burgh near Chorley around 1740. A few further works were added as time passed, including Bottlingwood Forge and Wigan slitting mill. About 1775 Thomas Chadwick retired, and most of the works were disposed of. Burgh and Birkacre soon after were converted to textile works.

The earliest reference to the early modern industry comes from about 1674 approximately 193 tons of pig iron shortweight (about 180½ tons longweight) were sold by the owners of Tintern Furnace in Monmouthshire to Robert Barker of Lankesh (sic) and partners. This was under an initial contract for 80 tons with William Bancks of Winstanley, Robert Barker of Lowton and John Blackburne of Orford as partners in Bradley Forge. This was shipped to Liverpool.1 John Blackburn and his brother Jonathan Blackburn bought further pig iron from the same source in a later period. The first named partner recalls John Banckes who was a partner in Barnby Furnace, Kirkstall Forge and other works in Yorkshire. The location of this Bradley Forge remains uncertain, but a possible site is suggested below. There was also a slitting mill, Brock Mill near Wigan, named from its first clerk. This can be traced back to c.1660, being founded by Yorkshire ironmasters.2 Another relatively early furnace (though with no known forge) stood on the River Goyt at Disley on the border between Cheshire and Derbyshire. Edmond Jodrell obtained a royal licence to use wood in the furnace in 1678. 3 The furnace probably did not last much beyond

1 2 3

Such forges of course needed pig iron. The Chadwick family secured this from furnaces outside the immediate area. Thomas Chadwick acquired a share in the Newland Company which had furnaces at Newland and Nibthwaite in Furness and Lorn Furnace in Scotland. John Chadwick his son was apparently a partner at Dolgun near Dolgellau in 1771. All these belonged to the final generation of charcoal furnaces which were built along the west coast of Britain to use Furness ore with local charcoal to make pig iron, mostly to be carried coastwise to forges nearer their eventual markets. The other major centre for the iron industry was at Warrington. Warrington was a 13th-century market town, on a bridgehead site, where an important road (later a Post Road) crossed the river Mersey. Thomas Patten, a Warrington merchant cleared the river of obstructions up to Warrington by 1698, establishing Bank Quay as the head of navigation. His son, another Thomas Patten, established

Foley E12/VI/Ac/4; Tintern F a/c. Awty 1957, 106-7. Cal. Treasury Books v, 1105-6.

4 5

571

King 1993. Awty 1957, 101.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 40. South Lancashire. 1, Aintree Forge; 2, Bidston Mills; 3, Birkacre Forge; 4, Burgh Forge; 5, Bradley Forge; 6, Brock Mill; 7, Carr Mill; 8, Disley Furnace; 9, Lymm Slitting Mill; 10, Partington Slitting Mill; 11, Great Sankey Slitting Mill; 12, Stanley Mill; 13, Sutton Furnace; 14, Wigan Slitting Mill; 15, Arley Smithy; 16, Ashton le Willows Forge; 17, Botlingwood Forge; 18, Collyhurst Forge; 21, Marple Bridge Spade Forge; 20, Mersey Ironworks, Warrington; 22, Salford: Etna Foundry; 23, Smithel’s Forge, near Bolton; 24, Dukinfield Furnace; 25, Haigh Ironworks.

The only venture of the family into making iron was at Brock Mill near Wigan for a short period from 1748.

copper works there in about 1717. The town, rather like Stourbridge, was a convenient place for an ironmonger. Warrington was accessible by water transport, being a port able to receive Mersey flats, vessels trading with Liverpool, but was also close to the edge of a coalfield with its cheap fuel. Trade was no doubt further stimulated by the opening of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, authorised in 1721 and completed in 1734,6 providing freight of goods right into the heart of Manchester. This might have given Manchester an advantage over Birmingham, which remained only accessible by land for another half century; but in the iron industry that did not happen, probably because the manufacture of wrought iron goods was already so well entrenched in the area west of Birmingham. Manchester’s wealth came from textiles, such as fustian, no doubt a development of the linen element of its traditional cloth trade.7 Any potential advantage was no doubt diminished by the relatively undeveloped state of the port of Liverpool, which was only beginning its long growth at this period, as well as the greater distance that goods had to be shipped coastwise to London and other markets in southern England. The most important Warrington ironmongers were a Quaker family, the Titleys: Joseph Titley (d.c.1731), his son Thomas (d.1753) and grandson Abraham (d.1772, without children). Most of their works were slitting mills: Lymm, Partington and Sankey, all in or close to the Mersey valley. 6 7

The two furnaces built around 1720 only had a limited life. Sutton shared the fate of the company to which it belonged, which probably ceased to trade about 1731, though a foundry worked until c.1736. Carr Furnace may have been less than fully used when the Cheshire Ironmasters were reducing the scope of their activities in the 1740s, but was apparently using ore from Furness in the early 1750s after the firm gave up Cunsey. A few years later it was let to George Perry of Coalbrookdale (a partner in Lightmoor Furnace) and four local entrepreneurs. The lease did not grant the right to mine coal. Nevertheless in 1788 the furnace was listed as a closed coke furnace. By 1784 there was a rolling mill. The furnace would therefore not seem to have been more than a modest success. If this was the start of coke smelting in Lancashire, it was perhaps in a sense a false start. The first purpose built coke furnace in the area was at Dukinfield, a few miles west of Manchester. It was built by a local resident then let to James Bateman, who had a foundry business at Salford and also Collyhurst Forge. This was built in 1775 and certainly operated until 1790. However references to Bateman and to William Sherratt, his partner in the Salford Foundry, in Manchester Directories from 1794 make no mention of the works at Dukinfield or Collyhurst Forge, and it probably closed in 1792, when the Dukinfield owner advertised the sale of three cylinders.

Owen (D.E.) 1977, 10. Cf. Willan 1980, 48-79.

572

Chapter 40: South Lancashire The only other early coke furnace in the county was built by the Earl of Balcarres, his brother and another partner at Haigh, on the earl’s estate near Wigan. The works were not well managed in the early years and were at first not very profitable. The company expanded into the field of building steam engines, at first as a way of marketing the product of the works. Later this came to be their major activity, which continued very successfully after the closure of the furnace in 1815 and its demolition in 1828. The works eventually became makers of locomotives. All in all, the iron industry in South Lancashire began at a late date and never became more than a relatively minor industry in the area. The great industry of the area was based on cotton imported through Liverpool. After the textile industry began to be mechanised, it remained for a time reliant on water power. Following the devising of an effective rotary engine and the expiry of James Watt’s patent for a separate condenser, steam power was used. Iron was needed both to make the textile machinery and to make the engines to drive them. It was by tapping into this market that the Haigh Ironworks achieved their eventual success. Sutton, Carr, and Dukinfield had all probably been connected to the foundry trade.

ones as an iron forge. This need not be significant. The forge then appears to have been converted to a finery forge by Edward Hall and his partners in the Cunsey Company, so that it could operate in association with their furnace at Carr Mill. The forge, which was in use in 1727, was idle in 1736, having made 60 tpa according to the 1736 list. It was still active in 1734, when the ‘Lancashire Works’ sent ‘Aintry’ bar iron to Cranage Forge in Cheshire (owned by an associated firm) to be slit and sold as rod iron, but the lack of mention the following year may indicate its closure. Source Blundell diary, 73 87 215 & 240; TNA, E 112/957/107, Edward Hall; Cheshire RO, DTO/A/5, pp. 9 53 99 139. Bidston Mills

This slitting mill was almost unique in the iron industry as being a tide mill. It stood at the head of Wallasey Pool in the sea marshes. It was occupied by John Penkett by 1745 until his death in 1758; by then his brother William Penkett until 1777; then by Peter Rigby of Liverpool and John Cooke of Kilnhurst Forge, Yorkshire in 1777 to 1780; and by Brice Grant in 1781 until about 1803. The mill appears to be shown as ruinous on the tithe map. The site seems to have been in use again later, but was cleared in the 1990s for redevelopment.

Without a plentiful supply of iron, the textile machinery could not have been made. This was probably the 18thcentury function of Collyhurst and a small number of other forges in the region. The iron industry was in this region only a handmaiden of textliles, though iron was a leading sector of the industrial revolution elsewhere. Together cotton and iron led to the British commercial domination of the world, which was a feature of the 19th century, the imperial past to which we now look back.

Size 1759 5 tpw hoops or 18 tpw rods; 1794 1 rolling mill. Associations The Rigby Family were ironmongers. One of them later had a foundry at Hawarden, Flints.

Langton suggested that the Wigan area was responsible for significant exports of ironware from Liverpool in the late 18th century. He noted pottery coming from north Staffordshire, using the Trent and Mersey Canal.8 Some ironware was made around Warrington, but in the long term the Black Country was perhaps also a major source. The Wigan area only began to become an important area for iron production with the erection of Kirkless Hall Ironworks in c.1858.9 However, Dallam Forge near Warrington probably dates only from c.1840.10

Sources Awty 1957, 107-8 (source not stated); Lloyd’s Evening Post, 7 Mar. 1759. Birkacre Forge Burgh Forge

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks [1] possibly SJ385987

The forge was mentioned by Nicholas Blundell in his diary from 1713 to 1720, being worked by Mr Martingall. The earlier references refer to it as a bloomery and the later 8 9 10

[3] SD570153 [4] SD573148

These two forges occupied adjacent sites on the northeast side of the River Yarrow, southwest of Chorley. Water was taken from the river along a leat into the small lodge which supplied Burgh, the upper forge. Immediately below this is the large lodge, almost a small lake, providing water for the lower forge, Birkacre. The two lodges are constructed wholly on the Chorley side of the valley, retained by a dam or wall built among the length of the valley. About 125 yards above the tail of the small lodge is a weir which diverted the water down the leat. This has been dry since vandals removed the boards in the sluice which controlled the water level. Where water flowed from the small lodge (now dry) into the lower one there appears to be a wheel pit. Cinder is spread over the surrounding area. The area below the lower lodge is reported to have been excavated, prior to being laid out as a car park for a country park, of which the lower lodge is a feature.

General Sources Awty 1957.

Aintree Forge

[2] about SJ298909

Langton 1983, 11. Riden & Owen 1995, 142-3. www.gracesguide.co.uk, citing The Times, 9 July 1913.

The lower forge was probably built by John Chadwick in the late 1730s and the upper forge by his son Thomas 573

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Brock Mill

Chadwick, after his marriage to a daughter of Matthew Cragg of Burgh Hall. The works, so far as is known, were always held together by members of the Chadwick family. Burgh Forge was advertised to let in 1774. In 1777 it was taken over by a partnership led by Richard Arkwright who built a spinning mill. In autumn 1779 the mill was attacked and sacked by a mob of hand workers and burned down. Richard considered the place too insecure to proceed with their business there, and paid £200 to be released from the lease. In 1783 Birkacre House and a printshop were let to Ralph Kirkham, the factory having been enlarged and repaired since it was burnt down. The print works continued for many years.

This stood on the River Douglas north of Wigan where is it crossed by Brock Mill Lane. It was part of the Haigh estate of the Bradshaigh and later Lindsey families. This slitting mill and forge was probably built about 1660. John Spencer and Gilbert Foanes [Fownes] were selling Yorkshire iron in the area about 1650/1. Thomas Dickin, perhaps their clerk, did so in subsequent years. The clerk of the mill was Richard Brock, from whom the mill seems to have been taken its name. In 1662, Spencer & Co had stock at ‘the slitting mill in Lancashire,’ which probably represents iron sent there for slitting and sale. The subsequent history of the forge in this period remains obscure.

Size 1750 120 tpa, probably referring to both works; in 1754 Birkacre made 80 tpa and ‘Brockmill’ [?Burgh] 30 tpa, using a ‘wind furnace’ [air furnace] to melt scrap iron. The use of a tuiron [tuyere] cooled by water is mentioned. In 1774 Burgh Forges had 2 fineries, 2 chaferies, 2 lift and 1 tilt hammers, an air furnace for balling, and one for casting hammers and anvils.

Sir Roger Bradshaigh, its landlord, was a substantial debtor of the Cunsey Company in 1725. The mill was let in 1716 to John Russell. He was succeeded by: Edmund Lee by 1738; 1743 to 1747 Edmund Lee and James Morris; Thomas Titley from 1748; James Morris by 1761 (perhaps by 1756) until his death in 1763; his son John Morris in 1763 to 1767; James Wigan (with Henry Morris manager) in 1767 to 1775 (bankrupt); Henry Morris (son of James Morris) in 1775 to about 1790. It then became part of Haigh Ironworks of Lord Balcarres and partners. It would seem likely that the management of the works was somewhat less fractured than might appear from the frequent changes of ownership. The subsequent history of the site is the same as that of the Haigh Ironworks (below). It ceased to be an ironworks in 1885, but the site was still in use for industrial purposes in the 1990s, and apparently until 2007.

Associations held with Bottlingwood Forge and Wigan Slitting Mill; the Chadwick family also had interests in the Newland and Dolgûn Companies. Newland Furnace no doubt supplied the pig iron required. Sources Awty 1957, 103-5; Angerstein’s Diary, 295-6; Manchester Mercury, 11 Oct. 1774; as to Arkwright and later: Fitton 1989, 51-55; Lancs RO, DDPr: see Lancashire Record Office Guide, 333; Wigan RO, D/DZ Bu 4/2-3. Bradley Forge

[6] SD583083

[5] unknown possibly SJ567947

Size The sale of pig iron in 1672 might suggest 80-90 tpa being made. It was described in 1739 as a forge and slitting mill, but does not appear in any of the usual lists of ironworks, perhaps because it was primarily a slitting mill. Lee patented in 1745 the fantail, used to keep windmills facing into the wind (Buckland 1987; Lance & McNeil 1996, 425). There was an air furnace for working up old iron in 1748. Angerstein’s account (Diary, 295-6) seems to confuse Burgh and Brock, placing a slitting mill near Chowbent and a forge at Brockmill. He names the windmill as invented by Mr Melin, who also devised a mechanism for operating five pairs of bellows with one waterwheel, perhaps for smiths’ forges.

William Banckes of Winstanley, Robert Barker of Lowton and John Blackburne of Orford contracted to buy 80 tons of pig iron from Tintern Furnace in 1674 for their Bradley Forge in Lancashire, but the total delivered from there was 193 tons in about 1½ years. ‘Lancashire partners’ bought 196 tons of Longhope pig iron in 1670. They bought nearly 1 ton 14 cwt. of cast iron goods from Hales Furnace in 1669, Mr Barber of ‘Lanc’ 3 tons the following year. Patkins and Barber owed £153.13.3 for goods from Hales in 1672. Subsequent sales until 1679 were to John Blackburn and his brother Jonathan. John Blackburn shipped pig iron from Chepstow to Liverpool in 1678-80. Neither earlier nor later references have been traced. This would seem to be a relatively short-lived forge, making perhaps 80 tpa. It is not even clear which Bradley is meant, but the residences of the partners point to an area between Wigan and St Helens, where there is (or was) a Bradlegh Hall and Mill. If this is indeed the right place, it had apparently reverted to being a corn mill, as a settlement of 1703 included Bradlegh mill and kiln. This still had a corn mill in the 1840s, then becoming Mill Farm, Bradley Lane.

Trading The details given above are from TNA, CHES 16/89, Allsopp v Spencer; Cunsey a/c. Sources Awty 1957, 82-3 106-7; Hawkes 1945, 61-2; General Advertiser, 15 Feb. 1746; General Evening Post, 4 Aug. 1748; Leeds Intelligencer, 10 Jan. 1775; Daglish 1993, 123-4, citing inter alia TNA, CHES 16/89 & 15/89; Wadsworth and Mann 1931, 486, citing TNA, PL 6/86/48 and Williamson’s Liverpool Advertiser, 12 Dec 1755; Buckland 1987, 10-15.

Sources Foley E12/VI/Ac/4; Tintern F a/c; Foley a/c; TNA, E 190/1280/8; E 190/1280/16; for location cf. VCH Lancs iii, 324-8; Lancs RO, DX/1817. 574

Chapter 40: South Lancashire Carr Mill

[7] about SJ527977

the Stour Works partnership 1747-55; until 1751 this was combined with amounts from Cunsey and once Duddon. This suggests that the product was identical, implying that redmine from Furness was being used. The vendors are given as Thomas Cotton & Co up to 1750 and then Hall & Co, the same succession as for sales of ‘Cheshire Coldshort’ (SW a/c).

This furnace stood on Blackbrook near the head of Sankey Navigation, and was driven by water from an extensive pool known as Carr Mill Dam adjoining the more recent main road from Liverpool to Manchester. It was built in 1720 beside a corn mill by Edward Hall on behalf of the Cunsey Company. He gave instructions to get in as much charcoal as possible in 1742, as it would not be used the year after. The Cheshire Ironmasters were cutting down their activities at this time and the furnace may therefore only have operated intermittently at this time. After the lease expired, sales by the Cheshire Ironmasters of pig iron, made here, continue until 1755. However, it is possible the furnace was then idle for a few years.

Sources Lancs RO, QDD 4th roll, deed of 7 Mar 1720, enrolled 31 Aug. 7 Geo.; DX/1816; DDGe(E) 815; DDGe(M) 842; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 23 Feb. 1784; Manchester Mercury, 21 May 1811; Awty 1957, 101 112 115; Ashmore 1969, 75 & 236. Disley Furnace

[8] SK009838

The furnace stood on the river Goyt on the estate of the Jodrell family on the boundary of Disley and Yeardsley. The furnace was built in 1678 by Edmund Jodrell, on his copyhold land that he held of the manor of Macclesfield, to use decayed wood and underwood so as to improve his land. He had a licence for this from the Treasury Board for 21 years from 1678. Pig iron was sent hence into north Derbyshire and Yorkshire in the period on either side of 1700, but apart from this nothing is known. It does not appear in any of the usual lists, and so probably closed before 1717. Samuel Bagshaw was described as tenant of the Furnace in 1737 and Joseph Lowe in 1777, but they were probably merely farmers living in Furnace House. The name ‘The Furnace’ survived as a place name, but has now been transmuted into Furness Vale. The house that bore the name was in Yeardsley. The most likely site for the forge (if there was one) is however just north of the border in Disley, probably at the foot of a former wood, Webster Heywood. In the 19th century the site was occupied by a print works.

In 1759 the furnace was taken over by George Perry of ‘Coalbrookdale’ with Samuel Johnson of Liverpool, Roger Rogerson of Warrington, and John Gosling of Coalbrookdale ironmongers and two other local investors, William Finch of Warrington and John Hodson of Wigan. This probably marks the beginning of a second phase of its life, as a coke furnace. How long it remained in use is not clear. John Rigby of Carr Mill Forge and Warrington was bankrupt in 1766, but presumably recovered from this. By 1784 it was a rolling mill, leased with Stanley Mill. Both were then immediately offered for sale, apparently by John Rigby of Billinge. In 1805 the lease was renewed for 21 years by John Weston, William Brocklebank and James Harrison. This lease was offered for sale in 1811. In 1825 Whittingham and Gladstone were ironmasters at the forge. The dam continues to retain a considerable quantity of water. The road, to the Sankey Navigation to be built under the terms of the 1759 lease, is probably the broad path on the south side of the brook. It is possible that the bank on the north side of the brook contain the remains of the furnace or of a mill.

Sources Cal. Treasury Books v, 1105-6; Awty 1957, 89-90.

Size not known; in 1788 it is listed as converted to a coke and then to a C--- [copper?] Mill. There was a corn mill as well as a rolling mill in 1784, but John Rigby’s business in 1766 was buying pig iron and making bar iron, implying a finery forge.

Lymm Slitting Mill

[9] SJ681875

On the brook at Lymm, there were two mill pools on either side of the road there. Each of these had a corn mill. Adjoining the lower mill was a slitting mill. This was excavated in preparation for the landscaping to the area as a park. The mill had two wheelpits, presumably indicating one driving each of the rolls according to the ancient system. The foundations have been consolidated and left exposed, including one of the wheelpits. The other is presumably occupied by the brook. Exactly when the slitting mill was built remains uncertain. It was apparently already old in 1720 and had recently been rolling hoops. In 1758 it was held by Abraham Titley, the great Warrington ironmonger. This suggests he was preceded by his father Thomas Titley. Abraham Titley died in 1772. The works was in the hands of Walter Wilson in 1781. In 1800 it was leased to two woollen manufacturers. The list of ‘1794’ states that it was built in 1774. This is almost certainly wrong but might be when the unnamed proprietor acquired it.

Associations The Cunsey Company (in which the Cheshire Ironmasters were partners) also held Aintree Forge: see also chapters 13 and 41. George Perry was a partner in the Lightmoor Company in Shropshire and concerned in the Coalbrookdale Foundry at Liverpool, though (despite his address) never in the Coalbrookdale Company itself. Stanley Mill was also included in the 1784 and 1805 leases. Accounts a brief account in 1726: Cunsey a/c. Trading 1726 account suggests the Cunsey Co supplied pig iron to ironworks in the Severn Valley, such as Lord Foley’s at Wilden, and to several of the Cheshire Ironmasters’ forges. Ironstone mined at Parr in 1743 (Barker & Harris 1964, 32n) was presumably smelted here. Modest amounts of pig iron cast here were sold to 575

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II ironmongers including Alexander Chorley (bankrupt 1785), John Rigby, and John Postlethwaite (bankrupt about 1785). Alexander Chorley who was Abraham Titley’s executor was certainly a partner there in the early 1780s. John Rigby bought out his partners in 1784, but made an assignment for his creditors the following year, when debts were to be paid to James Harriman clerk at Stanley Mill. Harriman was still at Stanley Mill in 1800, when his partnership in nailmaking at Orrell with James and Richard Woodward was dissolved. It was presumably connected with the nail trade in which he became partner of John Greenall about 1780. The lease of Carr Mill and this mill were renewed in 1784 and immediately offered for sale. In ‘1794’ it belonged to the executors of T. Rigby. It was later let with Carr Mill to John Weston, William Brocklebank, and James Harriman. Their partnership was dissolved in 1810 and the lease was offered for sale in 1811. It is likely to have been in the hands of Whittingham and Gladstone in 1825. It was a corn mill by the 1840s. The area was very overgrown in the 1990s, but has since become part of Sankey Valley Park. Some archaeological investigations were undertaken in 2006-11.

Size 1794 a slitting mill. Associations Thomas and then Abraham Titley had a number of slitting mills in the area. Sources Cheshire RO, DUL 44 & 62-3; Johnson 1974; Johnson & Bearpark 1976; Miller 2019. Partington Slitting Mill

[10] SJ705913

The mill stood on the south side of the River Mersey adjoining Partington Lock on the Mersey and Irwell Navigation. This lock was not retained when the navigation was converted into the Manchester Ship Canal. However its position is perhaps marked by a tongue of land projecting into the canal, and rubble on the downstream side of this may well be from a mill. The pond on the bank a short distance away (SJ706914) may perhaps have begun life as a reserve supply of water for the mill and lock. It was built by Thomas Titley (d.1753), perhaps in the 1740s. The proprietors of the navigation granted his son Abraham Titley a lease of the rights to the weir there for 3 lives. Abraham Titley died in 1772, after which its history is unknown. Abraham Titley also built a paper mill at Partington, apparently next to the slitting mill. Though the slitting mill appears on a map of 1786, no mill was listed in 1794, suggesting that it closed shortly before.

Associations see Carr Mill. Sources Awty 1957, 107; Barker & Harris 1954, 87 1246; Lancs RO, DDGe(M) 842; Aris Birmingham Gazette, 23 Feb. 1784; Manchester Mercury, 7 Feb. 1786; 21 May 1811; Gore’s Liverpool General Advertiser, 5 Jun. 1800; London Gazette, no. 16357, 495 (31 Mar. 1810); cf. Barker & Harris 1954, 75-7. www.stanleymill.org.uk/

Associations This was one of a number of slitting mill built and held by successive members of the Titley family. Sources Lancs RO, DDKe/box 65/1, 1757, Cheshire; Awty 1957, 107; Manchester Mercury, 15 Sep. 1772. The deeds of the Navigation Proprietors in Manchester Public Library (M300) were largely unlisted, when I visited, and have not been considered. Great Sankey Slitting Mill

Sutton Furnace

The furnace was built in 1719 on land of Peter Bold by the Vale Royal Company: Charles Cholmondeley of Vale Royal Abbey, Thomas Baylies (previously of Coalbrookdale), Richard Turner of Pettywood (near Vale Royal Furnace) and William Watts of Newton near Middlewich. Little more is known of it, but it presumably closed at the same time and for the same reasons as Vale Royal Furnace. However John Evans, an iron pot maker was living at Sutton in 1736 and may have been associated with the furnace. The ‘Prescot men’ were providing competition for Coalbrookdale and Bersham in the Liverpool market, but Richard Ford expected that selling pots (at a loss) at £10 per ton in 1736 would soon exhaust their stock. He had settled with Williams & Co of Newcastle (owners of Clifton Furnace) that neither would sell at less than £11 per ton once the opposition had been crushed.

[11] about SJ5988

The mill was probably built by Joseph Titley, one of the chief Warrington ironmongers, who died in 1731. He was followed by Thomas Titley 1731 to 1748 or later (d.1753), and then presumably by Abraham Titley, who imported 100 tpa for slitting. It is not known whether it was at Sankey Higher Mill (SJ582881) one or Lower Mill (SJ585877), but it was presumably at one of them. Associations This was the first of a number of slitting mills owned by the Titley family, which also included Partington and briefly Brock Forge.

The motive for building it seems to have been that Richard Turner had a colliery on the nearby Thatto Heath. This implies that it was a coke furnace, and presumably intended for the foundry trade. Certainly no reference has been found to any forge using its pig iron. Furthermore, Thomas Baylies may have believed that he had the right to exploit Abraham Darby’s potfounding patent (which did not expire until 1722). Peter Scott ‘from Sutton’ became clerk of Dolgûn Furnace in 1732, as ‘belonging to Mr

Sources Awty 1957, 106; Angerstein’s Diary, 316. Stanley Mill

[13] perhaps SJ526924

[12] about SD534986

This slitting mill was (like Carr Mill) on the Black Brook, a tributary of the Sankey Brook near the head of the navigation there. Distinct from the copper works of Thomas Patten & Co (the Warrington Co) built in 1771, this mill was built in 1773, probably by a partnership of south Lancashire 576

Chapter 40: South Lancashire Hall’s works’, which seems to refer to his assisting at Cunsey. The site of the furnace is not definitely known. That suggested here seems the most likely, as it belonged to Sir Henry Bold Houghton at the time of the tithe award.

east side of the River Douglas and to a few former fields to the south. The forge was probably built by Thomas Chadwick about 1755. From 1768 the occupiers were Forth Winter, Thomas Morland, and Thomas Ireland; in 1773 their partnership was dissolved, but business was continued by Winter and Morland, being managed by the latter until 1776, when the stock was auctioned off. Some of the fixtures were bought by John Sutton, whose name is recalled in the later name of the mill, Sutton Corn Mill, whose construction marks the end of the forge. The forge thus probably became Sutton Mill, which has in turn almost disappeared. The forge produced spades, hoes, and such like, as is shown by the final inventory of stock (Kent Archives, U813/E15). It was thus not a finery forge.

Sources Lancs RO, DDKe/box 50/30-1 49; King 1993; Ford l/b, 31 Aug. and 2 Nov. 1736. For Scott, see Kelsall Diary, 12 Oct. 1732; TNA, C 11/1245/13; C 11/1548/18. King 1993 misattributed a reference to the production of pots to FMH, Norris MSS., but the source was later traced to Edwards 1961, and thence to the Ford l/b. The allusion referred to was in fact mainly to pots from Workington, i.e. from Little Clifton Furnace. Wigan Slitting Mill

[14] near SD5705

Associations as to the Chadwick family see Burgh. Winter & Co had Whitenell and Wellhouse Forges near Ulverston (see next chapter).

This was built by Thomas Chadwick about 1755; and still in use in 1774. Chadwick died in 1783. It was a forge in 1845 but was not listed in 1794. It is possible that it is identical with Bottlingwood Forge. Its size is not known; the 54 tons slit in 1774 was perhaps a small proportion of its real capacity. John Holt left his partnership of Robert Diggles and Thomas Holt at Wigan and Toxteth Park in 1797. Park, Johnson and Gaskell of Wigan iron forge advertised that they sold bars, shafts and other ironwork in Manchester in 1827, but Nicholas Gaskell was bankrupt in 1830.

Sources Lancs RO, DDX 379/2; Barrow RO, BDX 209/7/3/6-7; Kent Archives, U813/E11-15; Awty 1957, 104-5. Coalbrookdale Foundry [18] SJ347897 Later called Phoenix Foundry, Liverpool George Perry moved from Coalbrookdale in 1758 to establish a foundry in Liverpool. Shortly afterwards he (and others) leased Carr Furnace. On his death in 1771, the Coalbrookdale Company appointed Joseph Rathbone to manage their Liverpool business and settle accounts for Perry’s separate affairs. The Coalbrookdale Company leased the foundry to William Fawcett and a Mr Burrow and sold it to Fawcett in 1794. He was disowned by the Quakers in 1797 for selling arms (probably cannon for merchantmen) and became bankrupt in 1810. However he was retained as manager by George and Henry Littledale, who bought the works in 1813. Fawcett was able to buy back a third share in 1817. The firm became Fawcett, Preston & Co in the 1820s. The foundry made equipment for some of Richard Trevithick’s steam engines in the 1800s and built marine engines subsequently.

Associations held with Burgh Birkacre and Bottlingwood Forges by the Chadwick Family. Sources Awty 1957, 104-5; Manchester Mercury, 6 May 1783; London Gazette, 13968, 16 (3 Jan. 1797); 18646, 111 (15 Jan. 1830); Manchester Courier, 18 Aug. 1827; 5 Jan. 1828. Other ironworks Arley Smithy

[15] [near] SD589107

In 1460, Christopher Worthington granted a licence for James de Standish of Arley to erect a milldam and smithy (that is, a bloomery forge) on the Douglas water.

Sources White 1958; Raistrick 1953, 72n & 211; Eyles 1971, 143n and passim; Trinder 2000, 33-5.

Sources Porteus & West 1933, 129. Ashton le Willows Forge

[16] [near] SJ5799

Collyhurst Forge

On his retirement in 1820, Thomas Unsworth advertised this forge and smith’s shop in Ashton le Willows (now Ashton in Makerfield); with an iron hammer worked by waterwheel and four fires; and a lathe and grindstone, worked by another waterwheel. This perhaps made edged tools.

This forge was on the Moston Brook, a tributary of the River Irk, just north of Manchester, on the estate of the Moseley Family. The forge is mentioned in Blackley parish register from 1731, but its nature is not known. However, it does not appear in the usual lists and was presumably a plating forge. It is presumably the mill to grind knives upon Collyhurst (Common), existing in 1599 and evidently a blade mill. Its ownership is not known until the later years of the century. Samuel Wellwood advertised having moved from here in 1779 and it was in the hands of James Bateman by 1788. By 1783, he had Dukinfield Furnace (built in 1775). It is

Sources Liverpool Mercury, 8 Dec. 1820. Botlingwood Forge

[19] SJ852999

[17] probably SD586060

The name Bottling Wood strictly applied to a wood on the northern boundary of Wigan adjoining Haigh on the 577

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II probable that the forge passed into his hands about that period. The forge was advertised to let in 1817, as having two wheels. It was rebuilt as a chemical works between 1820 (Johnson’s map) and 1848 (first edn 6-inch O.S.). James Bateman was an iron merchant in Deansgate, Manchester and had a foundry at Salford (see below). His main business was in the supply of castings rather than bar iron, but he probably needed a forge for the wrought iron parts of machinery.

35-hp engine of the ‘late patent principle’. The wire mills had six pairs of tongs on the first floor, 26 wiredrawing blocks on the second and 100 hand blocks in the attic. George Ainsworth advertised the premises again in 1810, the engines having been removed. At some point, Ainsworth had a new partner Nathaniel Greening, who is said to have come from Tintern ironworks. In 1812 Ainsworth gave up and Greening took a new partner John Rylands. Two men trained here established other works in the area.

Sources Awty 1957, 90; Willan 1980, 48; Manchester Mercury, 30 Nov. 1779; 13 May 1817; Musson & Robinson 1969, 408; cf. Tann 1979, 104. Dean Mill, Haydock

Sources London Gazette, 15797, 516 (13 Apr. 1805); Chester Chronicle, 21 Nov. 1806; Chester Courant, 27 Mar. 1810; Hayman thesis, 240; cf. Barker & Harris 1954, 75-6.

not built: SJ592968

Salford: Etna Foundry

The Vale Royal Company planned to convert this mill into a forge in 1719, presumably to consume pig iron made at Sutton. It is not clear whether this took place.

Bateman & Sherratt had a foundry at 7 Hardman Street, Salford, making castings for cotton mills, cylinders and pipes for steam engines and ovens and grates. James Bateman was in partnership as an ironmonger in Deansgate, Manchester by 1773. Bateman was also listed in 1788 as a forger at Collyhurst and a founder at Dukinfield. He announced his ironfoundry in 1782. William Sherratt was subsequently his partner. They are best known for their foundry and as builders of steam engines, being frequent infringers of Watt’s patent until they submitted to Boulton & Watt’s terms in 1796. The partnership of John Bateman and William and John Sherratt was dissolved in 1813, the business being continued by members of the Sherratt family until the death of Thomas Sherratt in 1837. In the early 19th century, he was buying melting pig iron from the Old Park Furnaces in Shropshire (OP a/c), but presumably for his Salford Foundry. The foundry subsequently passed to successive members of the Mathan and Platt families, who moved the business to Newton Heath, finally withdrawing from the original works in 1938. Hardman Street was stopped up and absorbed into the works, which expanded in several directions.

Sources Lancs RO, DDKe 9/108/49 [box 50/49]; King 1993, 8. Marple Bridge Spade Forge

[21] SJ966891

The partnership of William and Richard Yarwood of Marple Grove spade makers was dissolved in 1814. Richard Yarwood of Stockport spademaker had been bankrupt in 1804. A photo of the building dated 1978 shows a stone-built building with a single waterwheel. Sources London Gazette, 15676, 231 (17 Jul. 1804); 16296, 1666 (16 Aug. 1814); Marple Local Hist. Soc. Website. Mersey Ironworks, Warrington

[22] about SJ832987

[20] SJ599878

Warrington is much more associated with copper than iron. Thomas Patten & Co established copper smelting works at Bank Quay in 1717, but by the 1730s they were also smelting at Cheadle, so that the firm became the Cheadle Company, but an associated enterprise continued at Warrington, being a separate Warrington Company from 1755. Copper smelting probably continued until the company secured a site at Stanley in 1771, with a contract for a supply of coal. It is likely that smelting at Warrington was then discontinued. Thomas Williams ‘the copper king’ bought the Stanley Works in 1785. Subsequent events are not clear, but the subsequent ironworks was on land leased for 2000 years from 1768. It does not appear in the 1790 list and is thus probably later.

Sources Musson & Robinson 1969, 407-9 416-7; Tann 1979, 104; Manchester Mercury, 15 Jan. 1782; London Gazette, 16762, 584 (10 Aug. 1813); www.gracesguide. co.uk. Smithel’s Forge, near Bolton

[23] near SD7309

In 1779, Samuel Wellwood late of Collyhurst (the forge near Manchester) announced that he and a partner had begun business at Smithel’s Forge near Bolton, making cranks for coal works, ironwork for calendars, axle trees for waggons, tyre iron, spades, edged tools, and other things. Smithel might be the name of a previous occupier, but otherwise nothing is known.

Until 1803, George Ainsworth had been a partner in the Gwersyllt wire mill in Denbighshire. In 1805, he (then of Warrington) and John Stephens of Liverpool became bankrupt, having traded as Mersey Wire Co at Warrington. Their premises at Bank Quay were advertised for sale, consisting of a forge with an iron helve and two pairs of rolls, a preparing fire and three reverberatory furnaces and two hollow fires, worked by a

Sources Manchester Mercury, 30 Nov. 1779.

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Chapter 41: Furness and North Lancashire Coke ironworks Dukinfield Furnace

Sources Birch 1953 (based mainly in MSS, now known as the Crawford MSS in National Library of Scotland); Birch 1967, 86-99; Daglish 1993, 123-4; Chester Chronicle, 24 Sep. 1790; London Gazette, 13558, 693 (13 Aug. 1793); Wigan Observer, 3 May 1856; 13 Aug. 1864; 12 Jan. 1884; www.gracesguide.co.uk.

[24] unidentified [SJ9894]

The furnace was built in 1775 on the River Tame opposite Ashton under Lyme. It may be the furnace, described as near Wrexham (which this was not), which Richard Crowder of Dukinfield Lodge and his landlord John Astley attempted to let in 1776. Crowder apparently sold it in 1783 to James Bateman. Prior to this Crowder had several hundred tons of pig iron on hand and needed a founder for large castings. The firm later became Bateman and Sherratt in about 1792. The furnace must be the coke furnace in Cheshire which made 600 tpa, according to the 1788 list. It does not appear in any of the lists subsequent to that of ‘1794’. It probably closed in 1792 when Crowder offered for sale three cylinders and other things, probably from the blowing machinery. This presumably accounts for Bateman & Sherratt’s purchases of melting pigs from Old Park in Shropshire (noted above under Salford Foundry, above). Sources Cheshire RO, DDX 100; Manchester Mercury, 22 Apr. 1783; 24 Jan. 1792; Musson & Robinson 1969, 406-23. Haigh Ironworks

[25] SD584076

The furnace was built in 1788 by the Earl of Balcarres, his brother Robert Lindsey and James Corbett (d.1790) on the former’s estate. James Corbett added a boring mill in 1789. John Coward, the manager of the Dukinfield works, was appointed manager in 1790 and was followed by several inefficient successors. There were four furnaces in 1805 of which one was in blast. The furnace operated until about 1815. At times it traded very unprofitably, probably mainly due to poor management. The works only really became profitable when it turned to the production of engines. This trade continued long after the closure of the furnace into the railway era when the works were renowned builders of railway engines, the first being built for a local colliery in 1812. From then until 1835, the works were managed by Robert Dalgish. In 1835, the next Earl let the works (including Brock Mill) to a company: Benjamin Fletcher of Haigh engineer, Robert Thompson, T.C. Ryley and J.F. Cannell of Liverpool and Edward Evans of Bartonupon-Irwell distiller. They traded as Evans & Ryley and amongst other things built locomotives. A speech at a dinner when Evans retired claimed that when he arrived in c.1835 Brock Mill had ‘one strike hammer and one small hammer’ and made 5 tons of metal per fortnight, whereas in 1856 the ‘late company’ were making 70 tons. The old stacks and foundry had been pulled down in 1828 and a new foundry built. The foundry has made the first wrought iron wheels with a solid boss. This was presumably what Ryley and Evans patented in 1853. The next tenants Birley & Thompson were there until 1884. Photos posted on the Internet in 2017 show derelict buildings.

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41 Furness and North Lancashire Introduction

from Staffordshire ironstone. Exports to in Ireland also took place in the late 17th century.

The main subject of this chapter is the part of the old county of Lancashire that is north of the River Ribble. A few works, just outside the old county, in Westmoreland or Cumberland, are however included. The area between the rivers Ribble and Kent consists principally of the Fylde peninsular. This plain is devoid of ironworks, as is the upland of the Forest of Bowland. There was presumably a certain amount of wood within the area, but this was probably not very great, as is indicated by the relatively modest size of the iron industry in the area.

In the second quarter of the 18th century, Miles Troughton and then his grandson Philip Sone owned shares in Furness iron ore mines, evidently to supply their Sowley Furnace at in Hampshire. Both the lordship of Furness and the Beaulieu estate, of which Sowley Furnace was part, belonged to the Earls (later Dukes) of Montagu. Thomas Hall (d.1748), a son of Edward Hall of the Cunsey Company and the Cheshire Ironmaster was a partner at Sowley in the 1730s.2 Sales from Sowley Furnace were in the name of William Ford of the Newland Company in the mid-1760s and then of John Dixon, their manager,3 perhaps representing the freighting of Sowley pig iron to Bristol in ships returning from taking redmine to Sowley. Robert Morgan of Carmarthen had an arrangement in the early 1760s by which he exchanged ironstone that he had mined locally there for redmine, sending his ironstone on to Sowley.4 His successor also used Furness ore at the start of the next century.5

Lancashire north of the Sands (that is north of the estuary of the River Kent and Morecambe Bay), was combined with Westmoreland and Cumberland to form the new county of Cumbria in 1974. This part of Lancashire was divided by Windermere and the River Leven into districts known as Furness and Cartmel. Much of the iron industry was within Furness itself. The remainder was scattered sparsely over the rest of the region. A great many of the works in Furness lay in the valleys of the two main rivers, the River Leven which flows out of Windermere, and the River Crake which connects Coniston Water with the sea. These two rivers (together with Grizedale Beck, which drains a valley between the two lakes) share a common estuary, on which stands the port of Ulverston. That the Lake District (and particularly the southern side of it) is so well wooded today is very probably in considerable measure the result of the continued presence of the iron industry in the area. This was the last area where charcoal was used as a fuel for the iron industry. Backbarrow only began to use coke in 1920 and only closed in 1966. Newland Furnace used charcoal until it was finally blown out on 19th January 1891.

Without the availability of ore from Furness the development of a series of furnaces along the west coast of Britain would not have been possible. Only those at Leighton and Halton in north Lancashire were relatively close to the sources of ore. Invergarry Furnace was neither close to the source of the ore nor to any market for pig iron, as there was no forge there. This also applies to the later Lorn and Argyll Furnaces. None had any nearby forge. The sole reason for their existence was the presence of extensive woodlands which could be managed to produce charcoal. Furnaces on the Welsh Coast mainly performed the same function. In the 1720s, Dolgun near Dolgellau, used locally quarried ironstone, combined with imported haematite. Later furnaces were built by connections of the Cheshire Ironmasters in the Conway and Dovey Valleys. Conway failed, perhaps because there was insufficient wood available in the vicinity. Dovey continued until the time of the Napoleonic War. Towards the end of the 18th century, there were also shipments to furnaces in south Wales and the Forest of Dean, to supplement local sources of ore.

Redmine The only ore known to have been used was redmine from Furness. As a result, the iron industry in the Lancaster region was in a sense merely a satellite of the much more important Furness industry. This could also be said of north Wales and the West Highlands of Scotland. This ore came from a number of mines of very rich haematite, mostly in the Furness peninsula.1 These mines were commonly operated by the furnace companies, sometimes alone and sometimes with outside partners. The ore was not only used in the local furnaces but also exported. This trade goes back to the 17th century when some ore was being used in Cheshire, to improve the quality of pig iron made

The ore trade expanded greatly in the 19th century reaching its peak late in the century. Ore mining continued, until the end of the Second World War permitted the importation of ore from abroad at a price that could not be matched 2 3 4

1

5

Young 2007.

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Bartlet 1974, 17-18. SW a/c. Morgan l/b, 8 Dec. 1759; 12 & 14 Jan. 1760; 3 Apr. 1760 and passim. NLW, G.E. Owen 185.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 41. Furness and north Lancashire. 1, Backbarrow Furnace and Forge; 2, Cark Forge; 3, Caton Forge; 4, Coniston Forge; 5, Cunsey Furnace; 6, Cunsey Forge; 7, Duddon Furnace; 8a&b Force Forge, Furness Fells; 9, Force Mill Forge, near Kendal; 10a&b Force Bank Forges near Lancaster; 11, Halton Furnace; 12, Leighton Furnace, Lancashire; 13, Lowwood Furnace; 14, Millom Ironworks; 15, Newland Furnace; 16, Newland Forge and Rolling Mill; 17, Nibthwaite Ironworks; 18, Pennybridge Furnace; 19, Sparkbridge Forge; 20, Ulpha Forge; 21, Wilson House Furnace; 22, Bardsea bloomery; 23, Barnacre Forge, near Garstang; 24, Burblethwaite Forge; 25, Burnbarrow Forge; 26, Cartmel Forge; 27, Cunswick; 28, Fell Foot; 29, Hackett Forge, Langdale; 30, Hornby Forge; 31, Kendal; 32, Keerholme Forge; 33, Milnthorpe Forge; 34, Stony Hazel Forge; 35, Woodland Forge; 36, Lowick Green Spade Forge; 42, Lowick Green Forge (on Crake); 43, Myerscough Iron Forge; 44, Natland; 37, Redbeck Forge; 38, Rosside Spade Forge; 39, Wellhouse Forge, Bardsea; 40, Whitewell Forge, Ulverston; 41, Woodland Grove.

locally. These haematite ores were particularly important with the rise of mild steel in the second half of the 19th century. Until the development of the Gilchrist-Thomas basic process of steelmaking, the raw material for the (acidic) Bessemer process had to be what was known as Bessemer pig iron, which was made from haematite ores with their low phosphorus content.6 This expansion of the trade is outside the scope of this work. The long distance trade in ore also operated in the West Cumberland Orefield, where the export of ore to Ireland was important in the 16th century. This trade is almost unique in the 6

history of the British iron industry. The only trades that were remotely comparable existed for less than 25 years in the mid-17th century when ore and cinders were probably taken up the river Severn to furnaces near its banks in the Midlands; and the export to Ireland of Forest of Dean mine in the 1600s, before the start of the King’s Ironworks there. Bloomeries The indirect process of making iron was a late arrival in the northwest of England. Furness Abbey had made iron on its extensive estates for the benefit of its tenants. In 1537, the commissioners charged with suppressing Furness Abbey

Birch 1967, 323-30; Barraclough 1990b, 45-6.

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Chapter 41: Furness and North Lancashire recommended the provision of iron smithies and a lease was granted that November to William Sandys and John Sawrey allowing them to build three. Following Sawrey’s death, Sandys renewed the lease for 41 years in 1547, an action contested by Sawrey’s widow Catherine and her new husband William Rawlinson, who said that the lessees had agreed a partition under which Sandys had Constey [Cunsey] Smithy, and Sawrey had Forse [Force] Smithy; and they would alternate annually in operating the third. The identity of the third is not clear, but it may have been at Backbarrow, where there was in 1689 a parcel called Smiddyes, where there had been a bloomsmithy.7 This phase ended in 1564 when the tenants of Hawkshead obtained a decree from the Duchy Court in 1564 suppressing all bloomsmithies then existing in Furness, in exchange for a ‘bloomsmithy rent’.8 This should not have prevented ironworks being established elsewhere, but there is little evidence that any were.

in 1630 at Brougham, with an extra five shillings when local ore from Bewley was used.11 Evidence of the output is somewhat elusive, but in about four and a half years or so years in which Thomas Rawlinson managed Force Forge for Margaret Fell and her daughters, it made 89.25 tons, about 20 tons per year. Evidence elsewhere suggests 20-28 tons per hearth per year.12 Operations at Brougham around 1630 produced 175.67 tons in 3.25 years, 54 tons per year but probably from more than one hearth.13 There were also bloomery forges south of the Sands, but relatively little is known of them. Some seem to have continued in use until well into the 18th century, rather later than in Furness. Lord Morley had ironworks of some kind on his Hornby Castle estate between 1635 and 1642, when the Duchy Court found the supply of wood was not sufficient to meet the customary entitlements of local people. Caton Forge seems to have become a finery forge by the 1730s. Barnacre Forge was described as ‘iron smelt houses’ in 1750. The term ‘smelt houses’ implies this was a bloomery forge. This was almost certainly the last to operate in Britain. In 1754, R.R. Angerstein wrote as if Milnthorpe Forge was also working, and they were making 60 tpa between them.14 The forge was thought still to be operating c.1770,15 but subsequently became a plating forge for spades.16

There was certainly little commercial production of iron in Furness until after the sale of crown lands in 1613: the presence of William Wright (a hammerman or forgeman) at Backbarrow in 1608 and 1609 and at Burnbarrow from 1611 suggests there was a forge in that area. He was the lessee of Burnbarrow by 1615, but this forge closed within a few years, due to the opposition of the Prestons of Holker. Wright was the leading entrepreneur in establishing a new bloomery industry around the Lake District. He followed Burnbarrow up by establishing Cunsey Forge in 1618, Force Forge in 1622, Hackett (in Little Langdale) in 1630, Brougham from 1633 (leasing an existing forge), Muncaster Head in Eskdale in 1636, and Milnthorpe by 1653. His son Alexander was associated with him in the renewal of the lease of Cunsey Forge in 1638 and another son Balthasar (or Towsie) worked at Milnthorpe until his death in 1688. William seems to have withdrawn from Cunsey and Force Forges about 1658, but probably continued to have a forge somewhere, as he bought iron ore from Stainton mines in 1665. He was living at Snab in Gressingham, between Caton and Hornby around 1660, but at Blencarn near Penrith in 1666 and 1667.9

The hearths of these late bloomery forges were referred to as fineries and chaferies, rather than as older terms of bloomhearths and stringhearths. The terms might suggest the presence of blast furnaces, but there is no evidence of any associated with these forges: it is probable that the terminology of the later process was used, because the break in continuity of the bloomery industry led to the loss of its terminology. Thus in 1639 Cunsey Forge had three hearths called the upper finery, lower finery, and chafferie. From that time two men shared the forge, each using one hearth for the whole process. The terminology is discussed in detail by Awty and Phillips (1980). DaviesShiel (1998) published a list of bloomery sites. I have not always followed this, particularly as to dating, as some of his interpretation seems flawed and he provided little in the way of references. I have generally limited my content to cases where there is documentary evidence.

After the Restoration, the operation of the forges seems largely to have been in the hands of local gentry, who owned them. Their role was to provide materials and sell the products. Production was apparently managed by the hammerman, which was of course Wright’s trade. Certainly, in 1681, about the time he acquired Force Forge, Thomas Rawlinson entered into articles with John Massocks of Cartmel for him to operate the forge. He was expected to produce a ton longweight of iron from six quarters of iron ore and 7½ loads of charcoal. He would be paid 33 shillings per ton for this, out of which he would have to pay the bloomer and any other workmen.10 Earlier John Wright had been paid £2 per ton

The indirect process The introduction of blast furnaces was much later than in any other region of England and Wales. There are possibilities of earlier ones in the wider region. In Cumberland, Walter Colman of Cannock has an ironworks somewhere in the 1610s, perhaps the furnace in Flimby Park that has no known history. Place-names point to the 11

Spence 1991, 105. Awty 1977, 103. The accounts that Awty discussed are now at Barrow RO, DDHJ 2/3/2. 13 Spence 1991, 107-8. 14 Angerstein’s Diary, 293. 15 Lewis c.1775 iv, 76. 16 Lancs RO, QJB 57/89. 12

7 8 9 10

Lancs RO, DDMc 8/49. Fell 1908, 178-90 426-34. Phillips 1977; 1977b. Barrow RO, BD/HJ/89/10/1.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II that their production of bar iron should be similar. This led to the Backbarrow Company exporting a considerable proportion of the pig iron that they produced, to be sold by fellow Quakers: Samuel Milner at Bewdley and Nehemiah Champion and then (from 1735) John Beckett at Bristol.20 In the early 1730s the use of these factors began to be partly replaced by direct sales to forges in West Wales, in Lancashire, and (in smaller quantities) to Ireland.21

Huddlestons of Millom having had a furnace in Millom Park, perhaps in the 1670s.17 However none of these lasted for a significant period, so that there were no blast furnaces in north of the Ribble for several decades before 1711. The reason for the very late arrival of blast furnaces is not clear. It could be relating to the relative difficulty in fusing haematite ores.18 Blast furnaces were built in 1711 at Backbarrow and Cunsey. The former was built by some local Quakers led by William Rawlinson and John Machell, who had previously been operating bloomery forges. Cunsey was built by a partnership led by several of the Cheshire Ironmasters. The Backbarrow Company built another furnace in 1714 at Leighton, south of the Sands. The previous few years had probably seen damaging competition between the two companies over the purchase of charcoal. This was ended by an agreement under which they would divide the charcoal of the district between them. The first idea seems to have been that Leighton Furnace should become a joint work of the two firms, but on second thoughts Leighton was left with the Backbarrow Company. It was agreed that Anthony Wilson (for Cunsey) and Robert Ridgway (for Backbarrow) would deliver 1500 loads to charcoal to each furnace in turn, for them to blow alternately. These wood clerks bought charcoal at 28s per load and supplied it to the companies at 2s 6d more, in effect paying them a commission on each load supplied.19 The Cunsey Company built their second furnace at Carr Mill in South Lancashire about 1720. In 1727, some members of the Backbarrow Company (with others) were attracted, by the prospect of cheap charcoal near Invergarry, into building a furnace there, but it was too remote for it to be profitable. It was abandoned in 1736.

The charcoal agreement remained in force beyond its initial term of 21 years. Arguments occurred in 1718 over wood that the Cunsey Company had bought in Wyredale; and in 1726 over the members of the Backbarrow Company supplying their works from their own woods without bringing that charcoal into account. However, these were settled amicably by means of supplementary agreements. On the second occasion, the argument got very close to being litigated. An earlier supplementary agreement provided for the two firms to lease the bloomery forges at Hackett and Burblethwaite, sharing the expense of paying dead rents for them. This method was also used in 1724 to suppress a new bloomery forge built in 1718 known as Stony Hazel Forge.22 The two companies also shared the cost of the Cunsey Company employing the ironmaster John Russell as their stocktaker at Cunsey, after he had ‘made it his business to buy up woods and charcoal’ to their detriment.23 This cosy relationship between the two companies was disturbed by the defection in 1735 of Richard Ford, originally from Winford in Cheshire. He had replaced Ridgway as the Cunsey manager in 1722. This may have been a reaction to the Cunsey partners deciding not to blow Cunsey Furnace in certain preceding years,24 presumably due to the depressed state of the iron trade. As his remuneration consisted of his 2s 6d mark up on charcoal he bought for the Company, he lost his income. His reaction was to set up a rival furnace at Nibthwaite in partnership with Thomas Rigg, a local landowner. The venture was not probably as successful as originally hoped. Thomas Rigg transferred a quarter of his share to his father and then the following year wanted to withdraw his remaining capital. An agreement was therefore made permitting any partner so minded to withdraw his capital for seven years at a time.25 Throughout this period, the Cunsey Company discomforted Ford with litigious claims over his accounts before he quit the company’s service and his occupation of the farm at Cunsey. The issues at stake were fairly trivial ones.26 He was also subject to an ejectment action by the Bradyll estate, which claimed to own the river Crake.27 The prospect of competition did not prevent the Cunsey and Backbarrow Companies expanding

Initially, the two companies trading activities are likely to have been somewhat dissimilar, but the 1714 agreement changed that. The Cunsey Company’s main activity was probably the production of pig iron for use by forges in Cheshire, but locally they acquired Sparkbridge Forge and Cunsey Forge. The Backbarrow Company had previously been operating some of the district’s bloomery forges. Several of these became finery forges. The rest were kept idle. Backbarrow Forge was greatly enlarged about 1714. Most of the others produced little more than they had as bloomeries. This may well indicate that very little reconstruction had taken place in them and that they were still single hearth forges, that hearth being used as a finery or chafery as the occasion required. One result of the 1714 agreement was a substantial reduction in the number of forges operating. Coniston Forge became a joint work of the two companies. Their agreement provided for the forges of the two companies to have equal amounts of charcoal. It was therefore inevitable

20 21 22 23

Q.v. 18 Cf. Williams 2019, 25-6, citing de Saint Ange, Metallurgie pratique du Fer (Paris 1835-8), 24. 19 Lancs RO, DDMc 30/17; TNA, C 11/1245/13; C11/1548/18. 17

24 25 26 27

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Barrow RO, DDHJ 2/3/7; BB a/c. BB a/c. Q.v. Barrow RO, DDHJ 2/3/2/7. TNA, C 11/1245/13; C11/1548/18. Q.v. TNA, C 11/1245/13; C11/1548/18. Brydson 1908, 100-6.

Chapter 41: Furness and North Lancashire their activities. In 1737 they jointly built Duddon Furnace. Coniston Forge was transferred wholly to the Cunsey Company at the same time, probably because its distance from Backbarrow made it uneconomic for the Backbarrow Company to supply it with pig iron, Cunsey being much closer. In 1741 both these works were transferred wholly to the Cunsey Company.

references are to a forge, built there in 1751. Sparkbridge Forge was bought from the Backbarrow Company in 1798. The origins of the Lowwood Company are associated with a dispute within the Backbarrow Company. Whether the building of the Lowwood Furnace was the cause of the dispute or its consequence does not appear. The original partners in 1747 were Job Rawlinson (who had been executor of the older William Rawlinson), William Crossfield, George Drinkall of Rusland, and Isaac Wilkinson (the potfounder at Backbarrow). The presence of a member of the Rawlinson family in this firm was probably the cause of William Rawlinson leaving the Backbarrow Company. The Lowwood Company seem to have acquired Force Forge in 1748, but their venture does not seem to have been a great success. In 1749 all the original partners had departed selling their shares, in most cases to John and Thomas Sunderland. The Sunderlands operated the furnace and Force Forge until 1785, after their respective deaths in 1774 and 1782. After that, the furnace was bought by the Newland and Backbarrow Companies, who closed it about 1786.

In 1744 the Cunsey Company proposed to bring the Nibthwaite Company into the charcoal cartel. Backbarrow, Nibthwaite, and Cunsey (with a forge each) were each to have two shares of the charcoal, while Duddon (with Spark Forge) would have one share together with all charcoal on the Cumberland side of the river Duddon. Additionally the parties were allowed all charcoal from the proprietors’ own lands and (for Cunsey) from the lands of their landlord William Sandys.28 Richard Ford’s reaction is not known, but the course of later events may imply that his response was not positive. The Backbarrow and Cunsey Companies arranged for Thomas Rigg to give notice to re-enter the Nibthwaite Company and Rigg then leased his share to them for 40 years. When the Backbarrow and Cunsey Companies sought to be admitted as partners at Nibthwaite, Richard Ford responded by claiming to be admitted as a partner in the other companies, under a clause in the Nibthwaite partnership agreement, which prohibited any partner from being involved in competing works without offering his partners a share. This resulted in stalemate and apparently litigation. A compromise agreement, drawn up in 1751, seems to have been acted on, even though it was not signed. Under this, the other two companies agreed to transfer their claim to share Nibthwaite to Ford, who was to pay the rent for Thomas Rigg’s share. The clause permitting a partner who had left to rejoin the firm again caused difficulty at the end of Thomas Rigg’s lease to the two companies. This was eventually compromised in 1799 by the Newland Company (as Ford’s business had become) agreeing to pay all arrears of rent and in future a ground rent of ten pounds per year.29

Pennybridge Furnace was the result of a campaign by the wood owners to prevent a new charcoal cartel reducing the price. William Penny and his partners prepared articles of agreement in 1748 and circulated them around the countryside for people to subscribe. In consideration of the partners buying charcoal from all the woods that the subscribers cut within 30 years, the partners promised to pay thirty four shillings per load. The obligations imposed on wood owners varied according to whether they were near Cunsey or near the furnace proposed to be built near Pennybridge. Those near Cunsey could continue to sell to that furnace while the current lease continued. The new company expected to be able to take it over themselves in due course, as Miles Sandys its landlord was one of the partners in the new firm. Pennybridge furnace more than any other, was the wood owners’ furnace. The site is very near Nibthwaite and it must be doubtful if both furnaces could have operated profitably for any great length of time.

Richard Ford perhaps built Newland Furnace in 1747 (to replace Nibthwaite), as a protective move against the predatory activity of the other two companies, rather than for the purpose of expanding. The acquisition was initially made in 1746 in the name of Ford’s sister-inlaw Agnes Bordley, but the works were soon afterwards transferred to a new company consisting of Richard Ford, his son William, Michael Knott and James Backhouse. This company was extremely successful and its operations expanded. Lorn Furnace in Scotland was built by the Company in 1752. Sowley Furnace in Hampshire was leased for a time from the 1760s, either by the Company or some of its members. Nibthwaite was at some stage brought within the partnership, probably after William Ford bought the share which William Rigg has inherited from his father Thomas Rigg senior, but most subsequent

As outsiders, the Cunsey Company, i.e. the Cheshire Ironmasters, probably came off worst from this competition. Their furnace was not very well placed for receiving ore. Most of the partners had died and many of their successors were not interested in involvement in the industry. In 1749 they accordingly gave notice to quit. Cunsey Furnace thus passed to the Pennybridge Company, in which (as mentioned) Miles Sandys, the landlord of Cunsey, was a partner. The new Cheshire Ironmasters partnership (known locally as Henry Kendall & Co), continued operating Duddon Furnace, and for a time also Sparkbridge Forge, but Sparkbridge sold to the Backbarrow Company in 1761. In 1751 the Pennybridge and Backbarrow Companies amalgamated. This was after William Rawlinson was bought out at Backbarrow, to settle a dispute over his family’s involvement in Lowwood Furnace. They gave

Lancs RO, DDMc 30/22. Fell 1908, 211-5. This and what follows differs little from the account by Fell (1908), so that detailed sources are not cited here. 28 29

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II more profitable.32 Pennybridge Furnace was therefore left idle until it was sold in 1805. The end of the Napoleonic War was everywhere a difficult period for the iron industry. The Backbarrow Company presumably suffered a series of losses in this period. Therefore in 1818, it decided to dispose of their works and wind the company up. The works, just consisting of Backbarrow Furnace and Forge, were sold to the Newland Company who thereby became the only firm of ironmasters in Furness itself. Duddon Furnace continued separately for another 10 years, just beyond the River Duddon in Cumberland. The winding up of the Backbarrow Company was complicated by continuing liability for the dead rents of works that had been kept idle. At Cunsey Furnace, Miles Sandys had to be bought out by substituting an annuity for the furnace rent.

up Leighton Furnace when the lease expired in 1756, but bought Sparkbridge Forge in 1761. Pennybridge Furnace was continued in operation until 1780, but was producing rather less than Backbarrow Furnace latterly.30 The Pennybridge wood articles of 1751 had been concerned with enhancing the price of wood for landowners, breaking the cartel that had subsisted since 1714, but by the early 1760s, the charcoal price had risen again. The Backbarrow Company were thus using the articles as a means to force wood owners to sell their charcoal at less than the current market price. The courts forced the wood owners to comply. The new proprietors of Leighton Furnace were the Halton Company. Halton Furnace near Lancaster was built in about 1746 by a company, who developed their own iron ore mines in Furness. The partners included Miles Birkett, who bought pig iron (probably for Caton Forge) in 1734, and Abraham Rawlinson, presumably a relative of the Backbarrow ironmaster. The company’s mines at Lindal and Whitriggs were managed by another partner, James Stockdale, who was also interested, probably originally as a member of the company, in Cark Forge in Cartmel. For nearly two and a half decades from 1756 the company traded as John Ayrey & Co. John Ayrey was probably the son of Benjamin Ayrey, who had managed Backbarrow for many years.

Finery forges Except in the earliest years of the Backbarrow Company, there were relatively few finery forges in the area. In Furness they began operation about the same time as the furnaces, often in direct succession to bloomery forges, but generally only consumed a modest part of what the furnaces made. There was generally just one forge held with each furnace, usually a small one. This forge was perhaps merely kept working sufficiently to consume the braises, charcoal dust too small for use in a furnace. Where the ore in use was ironstone, braises could be used to calcine the mine, but it was unnecessary to calcine Furness haematite, so that the braises had to be used up in forges.

In 1757 the company took over Leighton Furnace and ran the two furnaces as a single enterprise until Leighton’s demise: it exploded in 1806, though it may have been rebuilt. The name of pig iron vendor (as recorded at the Stour Ironworks) changed in 1784,31 but this possibly only represented a change in management, not ownership. A longstanding partnership with 10 partners was dissolved in 1808, with the stock to be worked up. Sales of the works (including Force Bank Forge on the banks of the river Lune) were advertised in 1810 and 1812, Halton perhaps passed from Robert Inman & Co to Heaton and Whewall about 1817. With various changes of partner this firm probably continued producing pig iron until the 1840s, when a bobbin mill was built. Charcoal pig iron made with redmine remained a useful product for some purposes where tough iron was required into the 19th century. However, by the time the furnace closed, the introduction of hot blast in coke furnaces enabled meant that coke pig iron, approaching the same quality, could be produced at a much lower cost. This spelled the doom of Halton Furnace.

In the second half of the 18th century several additional forges were built by the Halton Company. Caton Forge already existed and may have succeeded a bloomery forge, but Cark Forge and three forges all called Force Forge were new. These three forges were respectively near Kendal, near Lancaster, and in the Furness Fells. The last was a decayed forge that was rebuilt, rather than a wholly new one. These forges presumably used local pig iron and supplied iron to the local market. The majority of these forges belonged to the furnace companies. However Force Forge near Kendal belonged to a company of Kendal merchants, formed for the purpose, called Holmes, Strickland & Co. A large part of the business of the furnace companies was shipping pig iron coastwise to forges in south and west Wales and the Severn Valley. This business was shared with other furnaces (also using Furness redmine) elsewhere on the west coast of Britain: Argyll, Lorn and Dovey Furnaces belonged to the same companies as Newland and Duddon, or to close associates. The increase from about 1748 in the number of furnaces using Furness ore was mirrored by an increase in the number of forges in south Wales that used the pig iron they made. John Bedford regarded the product as redshort,33 but when mixed with local coldshort

North of the Sands, in 1780 a new agreement was reached concerning charcoal supplies, under which the three companies with furnaces in Furness were to share equally all charcoal (except from the proprietors’ own property). The Backbarrow Company assessed the results of their two furnaces and concluded that Backbarrow was the

Awty 1965. NLW, John Bedford papers. Bedford seems to have regarded all though iron as redshort, which would normally mean that it contained 32

30 31

33

Awty 1965. SW a/c.

586

Chapter 41: Furness and North Lancashire it produced a good merchant iron or used alone, it was highly suitable for making tinplate.

Coke-fuelled furnaces (using haematite) began to be established in the 1850s, their number growing in the following decades, as the demand for low-phosphorus Bessemer pig iron grew. The product of the furnaces at Newland and Backbarrow until the 1880s was a cold blast charcoal pig iron sold under the brand name Lorn. From that time a hot blast charcoal pig iron was sometimes made under the brand name Leven.38 The company has a shortlived operation at Warsash in Hampshire from 1869 to 1877.39 Lorn furnace was closed in 1866; Duddon in 1867; and Newland in 1891; leaving the company just with Backbarrow. The identity of the purchasers of the pig iron in this period is not clear. The quantity supplied to each purchaser (named in the surviving accounts) was relatively small, but it is difficult to discern a pattern among them. The purchasers included several local ironworks; some castings companies (including Hadfields Steel Foundry Co, who produced crucible steel); and several customers apparently with German names. Evidently there was still a market for charcoal pig iron as a special grade.40 However, technology had moved on: there had been the introduction of hot blast in the furnace; and the finery forge had been replaced by a puddling furnace and rolling mill. By then puddled iron was in decline, in the face of the rise of mild steel, first from Bessemer and then also Open Hearth furnaces.

Claims have been made that various forges (notably Stony Hazel and Force Forges) worked much longer than indicated here. The fallacy arises from the assumption that, if a company paid rent for a forge, it must have been using that forge. This led to Stony Hazel for a time going into the literature as the type-site for finery forges, with about a century of use.34 It was bought jointly by the Backbarrow and Cunsey Companies in 1720 and stripped of any useful fittings.35 The two companies seem to have paid dead rents for the forges to prevent their use, so that they would not compete for charcoal. If they had used Stoney Hazel (or another one), they would have supplied it with pig iron and have shared its profits, but there is no trace of this in the surviving Backbarrow accounts between 1728 and 1750.36 Furthermore, it would have been named in the various mid to late 18th-century charcoal sharing agreements, but they are completely silent about it. Force Forge (in Satterthwaite) was left to decay, until 1748, when it was transferred to the Lowwood Company. The one potential exception is suggested by the supply of some pig iron to James Birkett of Burblethwaite in 1731/2, but its destination may have been the same as that bought in 1734 by Miles Birkett, which was sent to Lancaster, probably for Caton Forge.37

A forge had been added at Newland in 1783, followed by a rolling mill in 1799. These operated until 1903.41 This may have been where an improved charcoal refining process was developed. This was known in Sweden as the Lancashire process. The increased output of those charcoal-fired forges that continued to be used in England (such as Eardington in Shropshire)42 suggests that it was used elsewhere. However, the identification with Newland is largely for want of any other candidate. The industry moved on again from the 1860s, with mild steel produced by the Bessemer and Open Hearth processes, gradually replacing wrought iron. Backbarrow and its fellows had long been left behind by progress. The area became important in the 1860s and 1870s as a source of phosphorus-free Bessemer pig iron, made from the same haematite ore (redmine) that made the area significant in the 18th century. However, that story lies beyond the scope of this book.43

Later events The Newland Company remained to a considerable extent in the hands of the founding families until the First World War. Richard Ford left two daughters. One married a Mr Knott and the other Dr Ainslie. Matthew Harrison, the manager bought a share in 1785. The Knott family were later bought out and the firm continued as Harrison, Ainslie & Co throughout the 19th century. The firm acquired Backbarrow in 1820 and so became a new Backbarrow Company. It bought Duddon Furnace in 1828, the last independently owned charcoal furnace in the area. By 1880 the interests of the Harrison and Ainslie families were divided among a great many descendants of the founders. Following proceedings in Chancery and a private Act of Parliament, the firm was reconstructed as an unincorporated joint stock company, with a large number of shares, rather like a limited company. Later still, this was replaced by a limited company, Harrison Ainslie & Co Ltd. In 1917 the business was sold. The purchasers formed a new company which they called the Charcoal Iron Company Limited. Shortly after, despite the name, they changed their fuel to coke. Their Backbarrow Furnace finally closed in 1966.

Spade forges This is not a region noted for iron manufacture. However, a number of spade-making forges were established. At various times there have been at least a dozen of these. Botlingwood (near Wigan) was an outlier. This was associated with Wellhouse Forge (1756) and Whitewell Barrow-in-Furnace RO, BDB/2. Riden 1993, 143. 40 Barrow-in-Furnace RO, BDB/2; for Hadfields, see Griffiths 1873, 201-3 and adverts xliv-xlvi. 41 Fell 1908, 218. 42 Hayman 2008. 43 See Barraclough 1990b. 38 39

sulphur. He may have meant that it is not coldshort (which was true). 34 Davies-Shiel 1970; Marshall 1973. 35 Bowden 2000, 73; Bayley et al. 2008, 59. 36 BB a/c. The series is not quite continuous. 37 BB a/c.

587

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II out William Rawlinson’s share and then amalgamated their company with the Pennybridge Company. This partnership lasted from 1750 until 1818 when the Backbarrow Company sold its works to Harrison, Ainslie & Co, the Newland Company. For the next 70 years and more Backbarrow was one of the works of the Newland Company (q.v.), but few business records survive for that period. Following proceedings in Chancery, there was a new partnership deed in 1879, the first for that company since 1746. The business was incorporated as Harrison Ainslie & Co Ltd in 1890. This company was liquidated in 1903 and replaced with another of the same name incorporated in 1904. That company was in turn liquidated in 1917, after the sale of the business in that year to the Charcoal Iron Co Limited, in which members of the While family were directors and shareholders. The furnace was finally blown out in 1966. There can be few furnaces that have had a longer history than this one. Power came from a leat, starting from a large weir in the River Leven adjoining the upstream end of the site. Later this was replaced by steam power.

Forge (1760). These three belonged to Forth, Winter & Co. The firm that ultimately failed in 1780 and Whitewell became Ulverston Low Mill, a cotton mill, by 1800. Forges at Redbeck (at Greenodd), Rosside, and Lowick Green seem to date from the 1770s. In West Cumberland, Cleator Forge was in operation by 1756, followed by one at Prospect Hill, Distington (1778), Wath (1782), Bridgfoot (by 1787), Greta Forge at Keswick (1790), and Lanefoot (by 1804). Some of those belonged to the long during firm of Lindow, Little & Allison (later S. & J. Lindow) and operated well into the 20th century. Dalston Forge (southwest of Carlisle) began making spade forge by 1789, and this seems to have been the final use of the last bloomery, Birkacre Forge, near Garstang. There was also such a forge at Crawick in Dumfriesshire, beyond the Scottish border. These seem to form a cluster, but its origins are unclear. Principal Sources The primary starting point for any study of this region has to be Fell 1908. The bloomery period: Phillips 1977; 1977b; Awty 1977; Awty and Phillips 1980. Some additional analysis is provided by Marshall 1958; 1969; 1970; 1989; and particularly Marshall & DaviesShiel 1969. Deeds and accounts in Lancashire Record Office, DDMc and DDSa; and Barrow RO, BDHJ, DDHJ, and Z collections are also important. I have made little use of M. Davies-Shiel’s papers in Kendal RO, WDMDS.

The furnace stack and buildings are substantially intact, but were in very poor condition. These, of course, represent the final stage of the site’s use. The above the original stone stack is a tall brick structure bound with iron. This was added in the 19th century and looked unstable. The present hearth is a steel one installed in the 1960s. The casting shed was demolished when a gas pipe was laid in the mid-1980s. On the opposite side of the present road is a substantial materials store house, which is largely intact. Historic England have recently supervised work to conserve the remains, including the stack, blowing engine and hot air stoves. The Backbarrow Ironworks Heritage Trust has been established to take it over, enabling adjacent land to be developed for housing.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Backbarrow Furnace and Forge

[1] SD356857

The date of the first ironworks on this site beside the River Leven is unclear. In 1689, John son of Miles Walker sold to James Maychell (a shipwright) a parcel of ground called Smiddyes, which formerly had been an ancient bloomsmithy with the ‘bloom smithy stead’. This makes it a probable candidate to be the third bloomsmithy (with Cunsey and Force) operating in the period 1537-64, ending with the Bloomsmithy Decree of 1564. When and how Miles Walker came by this property is unclear. The Machell collection contains various other deeds of the Walker family, but none referring to any bloomsmithy. Thus James Machell built a new bloomery forge in 1689, which he operated in partnership with Thomas Preston of Holker in conjunction with the latter’s Cartmel Forge, until Preston’s widow leased her share to Machell in 1709.

Size Furnace 1717 500 tpa. The second and third blasts produced 689 and 849 tons. The next one produced 556 tons. After this the agreement with the Cunsey limited the charcoal available to 1500 loads per blast. As some of this was needed for the forges, this sort of level of production was probably maintained. An unusual activity (for a charcoal furnace of the time) from 1735 to 1747 was the production at the furnace of considerable quantities of cast iron goods made by Isaac Wilkinson (Cranstone 1991). These were sold all over the north of England, as far afield as Barnard Castle, Wakefield and Manchester. Wilkinson had a patent for cast-iron smoothing irons and iron cylinder bellows (English Patent no. 565). He and his brother John had a mill for grinding smoothing irons. This business ceased abruptly when Isaac Wilkinson became involved as a partner in the Lowwood Company, but pots were again cast in 1752. Pipes for the Chelsea Waterworks were made in 1744; some cannon (probably merchant guns) in 1758; and 65 tons of shot in 1747 (Fell 1908, 239 245). Between 1763 and 1780 the furnace production varied between 500 and 850 tpa, averaging 660 tpa. In 1788 the furnace was classed as making 700 tpa; but only 450 tpa in 1791. In 1796 it made 769 tons; 445 tons in 1805; and 1200 tons in 1855.

A blast furnace was built in 1712. The original furnace company consisted of John Machell and William Rawlinson with two shares each and Stephen Crossfield and John Olivant with one share each. John Olivant transferred his share, so that William Rawlinson and William Rawlinson junior each had a quarter by 1720. John Machell bought Crossfield’s share between 1726 and 1728, equalising the shares of the two families. Following a dispute between them, probably connected with the establishment of Lowwood Furnace nearby, James and John Machell bought 588

Chapter 41: Furness and North Lancashire Forge The forge was probably not rebuilt with a finery until after the erection of the furnace. Production recorded in the accounts varied between 100 and 160 tpa except in the boom years of 1717 and 1718 when 200 tpa was exceeded. 1717 not listed (the list has a single item ‘bloomeries’); 1718 200 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 260 tpa. The latter figure is not born out by the accounts for the preceding few years, as the pig iron sent to the forge over that period would not even be insufficient to make 100 tpa. It is probable that just enough bar iron was produced to keep the workmen there occupied and to use up the braises. Isaac Wilkinson provided cylinder bellows for two fineries and a chafery in 1737-9 (Cranstone 1991, 88-9), according to his patent. An anchor forge operated from the 1753 to 1773. In c.1790 there was just one finery and one chafery.

the Company’s mines at Stainton and Whitriggs. This represented a considerable portion of the Company’s business. Trading Initially most of the production of the furnace was made into bar iron at associated forges. The agreement for parity with Cunsey in charcoal evidently hindered this, as that Company’s objective was to export pig iron to associated forges elsewhere. This led to the trade which continued for the rest of the century (and beyond) of exporting much of the production of the furnace for use by forges scattered over much of western Britain. At first, this trade was managed by agents such as Nehemiah Champion at Bristol and Samuel Milner at Bewdley (BB a/c). Increasingly from the 1730s on the sales were dealt with direct. From 1748 to 1799 very substantial quantities of pig iron were supplied to the Stour Works Partnership, particularly to Mitton Forges near Stourport, Worcestershire. This was generally over 300 tpa, with pig iron from Leighton and Backbarrow not being distinguished from each other prior to 1756. In 1751 the two furnaces between them sent no less than 792 tons to that firm (SW a/c). In 1787-90 ironstone from Workington was used (Workington a/c).

Furnace – 1880s and beyond In the late 19th century, accounts show the furnace making 1000 to 1500 tpa, depending how long it was kept in blast. The furnace had blasts of 176 and 179 weeks in 1883-6 and 1891-5. The product was sold under the brand name ‘Lorn’. In 1888 hot blast ‘Lorn Special’ pig iron was made for about a month, perhaps the first time hot blast had been used. This was sold to a moderate number of customers, including Hadfields Steel Foundry Co. Despite the name of the company ‘Charcoal Iron Co Ltd’, the use of charcoal ceased in 1920, coke being substituted as elsewhere. It is rumoured that a small amount of charcoal iron was made during the Second World War in order to produce a tough enough case for the ‘bouncing bomb’. M. DaviesShiel (pers comm.) reported seeing a pig stamp reading ‘Grazebrooke’ there in the 1950s, which suggests the company acquired the goodwill (or at least the stamp) of the Blowers Green Furnaces at Netherton in Dudley when these closed in about 1947. Those furnaces had used cold blast to their end.

Diary Rawlinson Diary 1714-6. Accounts Backbarrow Accounts survive intermittently throughout the 18th century (BB a/c). Later, accounts (BDB/2) are largely complete from 1879. There is an analysis of production, materials used and profit from 1763 to 1780 (Awty 1965, from Lancs RO, DP 373), probably prepared in connection with the 1780 charcoal articles. There is however no detail at all of sales between 1750 and 1787 or for most of the 19th century. Sources Barrow RO, z5; BDB/2 (collection); Lancs RO, DDSa 39/4; DDMc 8/49 30/17 30/22 30/60; Fell 1908, 208-9 228-35 &c; Bowden 2000, 48 58 68-71 etc; John Harris, ‘Isaac Wilkinson’, ODNB; Cranstone 1991; Lancaster Gazette, 12 Sep. 1818; Davies-Shiel 2007; Industrial Archaeology News 186 (2018), 23.

Associations In its early years, the Company also held Coniston, Cunsey and Force Forges, and also rented several bloomery forges, to keep them idle and not competing for charcoal supplies. In 1714 the Company built Leighton Furnace, just south of the Sands. Following the agreement with the Cunsey Company, Coniston Forge became a joint work of the two companies. The other forges were left to decay or were disposed of. Members of the company with others formed the Invergarry Company, but then abandoned the furnace after several years, having never made a profit. The amalgamation with the Pennybridge Company provided them with a second furnace at Pennybridge which was used until about 1780. Leighton Furnace was retained until the expiry of its lease in 1756. Spark Forge was bought in 1761 and sold in 1798.

Cark Forge

[2] SD362765

The forge was on Cark Beck and replaced a fulling mill. In 1764 it belonged equally to William Rigg, William Crossfield, William Richardson (followed by his son John Fletcher Richardson), and James Stockdale, who traded there as James Stockdale & Co. James Stockdale bought out his partners in 1783. He then bought extra land and built a cotton mill in 1784 to replace the forge. Little remains even of Cark Cotton Mill, let alone the forge. Associations James Stockdale seems to have been a partner in the Halton Company. Their furnaces at Halton and Leighton presumably therefore supplied the forge. Stockdale also managed the Halton Company’s iron ore mines (see Halton).

The Company was at most periods involved in iron ore mining alone or with partners. Ore was shipped north for use at Invergarry during the period of that disastrous venture. In the late 18th century considerable amounts of ore were being shipped to furnaces along the west Coast of Britain, in South Wales, and the Forest of Dean from 589

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Trading in 1768 the forge made boiler plate for James Watt at Greenock.

(of the Cunsey Company) and the Backbarrow partners. In 1741 the Backbarrow Company sold their share of this forge and Duddon Furnace to the Cunsey Company. Three years later it was proposed to offer it to Richard Ford of Nibthwaite (and later Newland), to provide him with an outlet for his braises, and discourage him from building a forge of his own. In 1749 the Cunsey Company agreed to sell 63/64ths of Cunsey Furnace and Forge and of their share of this forge to the Lowwood Company. This sale probably did not go through, as it was Michael Knott (probably a Newland manager) who was involved in discussions about repairs in 1761, it being noted that the repairing covenant in the 1735 lease had not been performed. From 1756 two of the cottages at the forge were occupied by copper miners. In 1766 the landlord sold the contents of the forge, so far as saleable, for £13.13s. This marks the end of the forge, but it had probably not been used for at least a decade.

Sources Lancs RO, DDCa 1/47; Barrow RO, BDX 83/1015 28-9; Chaloner 1964, 357; Fell 1908 247, 253; Stockdale 1872, 205-6, citing ‘the books of Carke Forge’, apparently then in his possession, but probably not now surviving. Caton Forge

[3] SD532636

This stood on the Artle Beck. The date of its erection is not known, but it appears in the 1736 list and in its predecessor of 1718, suggesting it was erected about then. However it is possible it was previously a much older bloomery forge. A daughter of Abraham Rawlinson of Caton married Thomas Titley the Warrington ironmonger in 1734. Miles Birkett may have been its proprietor in 1734; he occurs in an early reference to Halton Furnace. The firm was called Rawlinson & Co in 1754. James Stockdale was also a partner in both these works, the forge trading as Caton Forge Company in 1782. In 1787 William Townson & Co had it; and in 1790 Mr Stringer. It was later a flax mill then a cotton mill and finally a bobbin mill. The site is occupied by a number of large stone buildings which are textile mills that have been converted to dwellings. The tail leat from the mill was carried across the beck and drove a series of other textile mills in the village of Caton. Little or nothing remains of the forge except the name.

Size Between August 1716 and December 1718 it made 150 tons longweight [=161 tons shortweight, 69 tpa]; 1718 80 tpa; 1736 40 tpa; 1750 80 tpa. The 1716-8 figure suggests that the nominal capacity, allegedly what was made in 1718, is marginally exaggerated. The 1735 lease required the tenants to use the forge at least three months per year on average, but the fact that the Cunsey Company thought they still only owned half the forge in 1749 suggests it not even used that much. The reason for this need not be a shortage of wood in the area. The proprietors may have preferred to use the wood to produce pig iron.

Size 1717 not listed unless included in ‘bloomeries 200 tons’; 1718 & 1736 Cottam (sic) 50 tpa; 1750 50 tpa; 1754 2 hearths, making 2½ tpw [120 tpa] (Angerstein’s Diary, 292), but it apparently only made 57 tons in Nov. 1752Aug. 1754 (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/1/2). 1794 a finery and chafery. A 1787 version of the 1718 and 1736 lists (in the ‘1794’ list booklet) calls it as Cotton’s bloomery.

Trading The Backbarrow Company sent it 163 tons of pig iron in 1713-5; but later only very modest amounts intermittently and none after 1740. This suggests that in practice most of the pig iron came from Cunsey, which was much nearer.

Trading In 1734 Miles Birkett Lancaster bought 17 tons Backbarrow pig iron. A sale to ‘James Birkett Burblethwaite’ in 1732 could also have been for Caton, rather than the former bloomery forge at Burblethwaite. In 1787 William Townson & Co bought 116 tons (BB a/c).

Inventory of tools in 1703: Tyson 1989, 201. Accounts 1712-5 see Backbarrow; a/c for 1716-8: DDMc 30/17. Sources Tyson 1989; Lancashire RO, DDMc 30/17 30/22 & 30/40; DDSa 38/3; Barrow RO, z536, 55-62; Fell 1908, 195-6.

Sources Stockdale 1872, 205-6; Fell 1908, 291-92; Chaloner 1964, 357; Ashmore 1969, 254; Price 1983, 49 78; Newman 2007, 56. Coniston Forge

Cunsey Furnace Cunsey Forge

[4] SD301977

[5] SD383936 [6] SD376936

Both sites lie beside the Cunsey Beck (or river Esthwaite) which connects Esthwaite Water with Windermere. Cunsey was the site of one of the 16th century bloomsmithies, which seems to have been sited near the lake shore, close to the later mill and furnace site. The mill was presumably built to replace the bloomery after its suppression in 1564. It was included in the later forge lease, but its use was not to be prejudicial to the mill. Licence was subsequently granted for its conversion to a ‘syth’ [scythe] mill, but this seems not to have been done. This later became the site of the furnace, and then of a 19th century bobbin mill. There was in the 1990s a channel leading to a sluice gate that

The forge stood on Church Beck, but has long since been demolished. Its very location is only known from ‘The Forge’ having survived as a place name. Coniston Forge began life in 1675 as a bloomery forge. It was built by Sir Daniel Fleming of Rydal Hall and managed by his brother William, with Charles Russell as hammerman. The forge made a loss and Sir Daniel let it to Russell in 1693. This lease was renewed by his executors in 1703. In 1712, the Backbarrow Company leased it, and used it as a finery forge until 1715. It then became a joint work with the Cunsey Company. The lease was renewed in 1735 by Edward Hall 590

Chapter 41: Furness and North Lancashire appeared to be in good repair, and was no doubt related to the later mill.

Coniston Forge to the Lowwood Company for £150. This was agreement was probably not completed. Instead, the Cunsey Company gave notice to quit the works.

William Wright built a new forge (upstream of the mill) from 1617, though the lease was not completed until 1621 and confirmed in 1622 following a dispute. Wright and his son Alexander renewed the lease in 1638, and they operated the forge until 1658, with Gawen Braithwaite having a share (the upper finery) from 1639. Its subsequent history is unclear, but Myles Sandys may have run it himself. He, Richard Washington whitesmith of Kendall, and Charles Russell forgeman of Cunsey ran it as equal partners in 1681 for six years. Sandys agreed to buy iron ore mined at Grasmere in 1693, and leased half the forge in 1699 to Oliver Sandys, who was probably soon joined by William Braithwaite. William Braithwaite and Oliver Sandys underlet it from 1709 to 1714 to William Rawlinson and John ‘Maychell’, who thus included it in their Backbarrow Company, using it latterly as a finery forge.

Miles Sandys of Graythwaite, the landlord, leased the works to the Backbarrow Company, in which he became a partner at that time, as a result of the amalgamation of the Backbarrow and Pennybridge Companies. The furnace probably did not remain in use for many years: it was probably more convenient to use the charcoal that might have supplied it at Backbarrow and Pennybridge. In 1779 the property comprised in the lease (other than the furnace and forge themselves) was surrendered. A dead rent continued to be paid for the works until the dissolution of the Backbarrow Company. When the parties could not agree the terms for the lease to be surrendered, the question was determined by an arbitrator. The lease was eventually surrendered in 1824. Size Furnace: 1717 500 tpa. The agreements with the Backbarrow Company to divide the charcoal of the district between them imply that the two furnaces were of similar size.

In 1711 Daniel Cotton and Edward Hall of the Cheshire Ironmasters took a lease of the corn mill and built a furnace alongside it. They took this lease on behalf of a partnership known as the Cunsey Company (or Lancashire partnership), whose other members were Robert Foley (the Stourbridge ironmonger), William Rea of Monmouth (the manager of the Forest Works), and Ralph Kent (a relative of Edward Hall). All were partners in the Cheshire Ironworks, except Robert Foley who soon sold his share to Edward Kendall of Stourbridge; and Ralph Kent who was probably their lawyer. Each of the five partners provided £650. The local managers were Robert Ridgway who was their wood clerk; from 1722 Richard Ford; and probably from c.1735 William Latham. The forge was included in the furnace lease from 1714, when the Backbarrow Company’s lease expired. The forge appears to have been in use in 1757, but perhaps not for much longer.

Forge: 1718 120 tpa; 1735 100 tpa; 1750 120 tpa; 1754 2 hearths (Angerstein’s Diary, 292). Associations The Company owned a half share in Coniston Forge from 1715 to 1741 and then the whole of it. They built Sparke Forge shortly after building the furnace, and continued operating it after quitting Cunsey. The company built Carr Furnace in south Lancashire and converted the bloomery at Aintree into a finery forge, but this was idle by 1735. Duddon Furnace began in 1735 as a joint work with the Backbarrow Company, but from 1741 it belonged entirely to the Cunsey Company. After quitting Cunsey, the company continued for many years as the Duddon Company.

William Rea’s financial troubles (see chapter 30) no doubt led to his share being sold or bought in. Ralph Kent’s share may have been bought out when (or after) the Cheshire Ironmasters partnership was reconstructed in 1731, at the time of a dispute over Anne Lane’s share in it. In 1736, the partners were Warine Falkner, Edward Hall, Thomas Cotton and Edward Kendall. From about this time the composition of the Cunsey Company and of the Cheshire Ironmasters was the same. William Westby Cotton was a partner with a 3/40 share which he bought of Edward Kendall in 1714 and sold back to him in 1729. This may be related to their partnership in Kemberton Furnace and some forges in Staffordshire.

Accounts Bar iron sales 1709 on: Barrow RO, DDHJ/2/3/4; Hall a/c: a brief account dated 1726. Forge Inventories 1701 1709 and 1757: Lancs RO, DDSa 2/23-4; 2/26. Trading Some pig iron reached Mitton Forges at Stourport from 1747-50 mixed with pig iron from Carr Furnace in South Lancashire (SW a/c). Sources TNA, PL 6/22, no. 144; E 112/957/111, Edward Hall; C 11/1245/13; C 11/1548/18; Barrow RO, DDHJ 2/3/4-8; BD/HJ Precedent Book 2, 93-5; z536, 55-62; z24; Lancs RO, DDSa 2/5-40; 30/1/32; 38/1-3; DDMc 30/17 & 30/22; Fell 1908, 191-3 209 &c; Bowden 2000, 68; Miller 2005; 2007.

Despite the availability of carriage by water on Windermere, Cunsey was not as well located for the exporting pig iron to the Midlands as Cunsey. By 1749 most of the partners had died, and the wood owners were combining to force up the charcoal price. The Furness Fells were no longer a place where outsiders could do well. In 1749 the partners entered into an agreement to sell 63/64ths of Cunsey Furnace and Forge and of their part of

Duddon Furnace

[7] SD197883

The furnace stands on the Cumberland side of the river Duddon a short distance northwest of Duddon Bridge. In this position the furnace had direct access to navigable water and was therefore very favourably placed for 591

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II exporting pig iron to other parts of Britain. Power came initially from a small brook. In about 1790 a leat was brought from the river Duddon.

tough pig iron to Cheshire forges. The accounts in the 1770s show a large part of the pig iron being shipped to Warren Sayes & Co at Chepstow, who were evidently merchants. With the withdrawal of the Kendall family from Cheshire in the early 1780s, the old pattern of trade was probably re-established. William Latham owed money for ore from Whitriggs Mine in 1780 when Henry Kendall & Co also bought ore, presumably for Argyll (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/1/4). Joseph and Richard Latham bought some Workington ironstone in 1789-1801 (Workington a/c).

Duddon Furnace was originally built as a joint work of the Cunsey and Backbarrow Companies in 1737. In 1741 the Backbarrow Company sold their share to the Cunsey Company. The furnace was then one of the enterprises of the Cheshire Ironmasters for about 30 years, managed by William Latham. He had managed the local affairs of the Cunsey Company (as it had been) generally since Richard Ford struck out on his own in 1735. There was a change in the accounting procedure in 1772, perhaps reflecting the formation of Kendall & Hopkins in the Midlands. It was probably then that the furnace passed exclusively to William Latham, who was followed by his sons Joseph and Richard, who renewed the lease in 1790. In 1806 the proprietor is given as Mitchell & Co, Barrow, but Richard Latham was recorded as paying a rent for liberty of laying pig iron on the shore at Duddon in 1803 and the late 1820s. In 1828 the furnace was sold to Harrison, Ainslie & Co, who continued to use it until about 1867. The furnace and its buildings are among the best preserved of their kind in Britain. They are intact but mostly roofless. The bridge house and the shell of the casting house remain, as does a large charcoal barn. The site has been excavated and is open to visitors.

Accounts 1750 & 1755-80: Lancs RO, DDX 192/1-4. These are an incomplete series of ledgers and cash books; those prior to 1772 hardly contain any record of sales, merely recording local disbursements etc. financed by money provided by Henry Kendall, or Samuel Hopkins, or their London bankers Messrs Noteris. Sources Lancs RO, DDMc 30/40; DDSa 38/3; Fell 1908, 215-6 & 265-6; Mart 1938; Smythe 1938; Morton 1962; 1965; Bowden 2000, 48-50 53 etc; Carlisle RO, D/Lons/ W5/34-43, Millom; Fletcher 1881, 8; Post-Medieval Archaeology 18, (1984), 321-2 & 19, (1985), 185. Force Forge, Furness Fells

[8a] SD33979099 [8b] SD334904

The name Force Forge applies to several sites. This one stood on the Grizedale Beck in Satterthwaite, probably at a site now called Force Mills (SD33979099), rather than the nearby one now called ‘Force Forge’ (SD334904). This was probably one of the three bloomsmithies leased in 1537 to William Sandys and John Sawrey, at the dissolution of Furness Abbey, but these were suppressed by the Bloomsmithy Decree in 1564.

Size In 1750 it made 160 tons in 17 weeks, in a period of intense competition for charcoal. Accounts for 1772-5 suggest production of 250-300 tpa for export coastwise. When charcoal was available for a longer campaign there is no reason why 400 tpa should not have been possible; 1788 300 tpa; 1796 325 tpa; 1805 175 tpa; 1855 1000 tpa. Associations Coniston Forge was in the same hands as the furnace up to 1744. The company probably held Spark Forge until 1761. As to the Cheshire Ironmasters and Kendalls see chapters 12 and 13. A member of Latham family was a partner of the Kendalls in Argyll Furnace in Scotland and from 1796 Joseph Latham was their managing partner at Beaufort in South Wales. John Latham of Woore was a partner in Hopkins and Latham, who operated Lea Forges in Cheshire and Winnington Forge in north Staffordshire from the 1780s in succession to the Kendalls, until he retired in 1793.

Its life as a bloomery resumed in 1616. John Sawrey of Satterthwaite sold a half share to William Wright in 1621. Sawrey mortgaged his share in 1629 and sold it to Samuel Sandys in 1636. In 1659 Wright sold his share and Thomas Massocke the other share, both to George Fell. However, his mother Margaret Fell of Swarthmore Hall and her daughters operated it, probably on the basis that it was part of the estate of Margaret’s late husband, Thomas Fell. George sold it to his sisters. Thomas Rawlinson managed it for Margaret (a pioneering Quaker) and her daughters until 1663. He accounted to her in September 1664, while she was imprisoned (as a Quaker) in Lancaster Castle, but there was subsequent litigation between them about this in 1669. The next clerk was Reginald Walker. William Lower of Marsh Grange and his wife Mary (one of the daughters) sold the forge to Thomas Rawlinson in 1681. About the same time, he entered into articles for John Massocks of Cartmel to be his hammerman, managing production there. Thomas was certainly buying charcoal for it in subsequent years. It was settled with the Graythwaite estate on William Rawlinson’s marriage in 1688, but William then let the forge to Abraham Rawlinson in 1689 and a moiety to Richard Dodgshon in 1696.

Trading 116 tons of pig iron from here reached forges in north Worcestershire in 1741 but the supply was combined with that made at Carr and Cunsey in 1749 (SW a/c). Under the 1744 charcoal proposals, Duddon with Spark Forge was allotted one-seventh of the charcoal from north Lancashire, together with all that from the Cumberland side of the river Duddon (Lancs RO, DDMc 30/22). Henry Kendall, who lived at Ulverston and was evidently the resident partner, contracted to supply 100 tons of ballast to the Navy in 1759, for delivery at Milford and Plymouth. Whether this was made at Duddon, Argyll, or even Dovey cannot be determined (TNA, ADM 106/3606, 128). The main object of the furnace was almost certainly to supply 592

Chapter 41: Furness and North Lancashire The forge (probably at the Mills) was granted on a long lease to the Backbarrow Company in 1711. They seem to have used it at times for a few years, but they then left it to fall down. In 1748 it was sold to the Lowwood Company, subject to the lease. It is probable that company took possession and refined their pig iron there, but this is not certain. Their use of it would have ceased when their furnace closed in about 1783.

of the same partners but including John Wakefield, who was the last partner in that company to die. Somervell is wrong in describing that company as a tontine: the agreement contains the usual provision for the continuing partners to repay the capital of their deceased partners. In 1794 the forge was held by Mr Wakefield. It was last mentioned in 1816 and therefore probably closed in the recession of that period.

A forge (perhaps the site at SD334904) subsequently passed into the hands of Thomas and Myles Walker in 1802, when they employed Joseph Hodgson, apparently both as finer and hammerman. The 6-inch O.S. map (surveyed 1846-51) names Forge Forge. Both sites became bobbin mills, the Force Mills site before that map was surveyed. A stone building standing on the site may well be the forge building. It is now used as a dwelling.

Size In 1794 there were two fineries and a chafery. Trading In 1769 it was recorded that pigs were brought in through Milnthorpe from Scotland etc. (McIntire 1936, 52; Somervell 1938, 238). In 1774 and 1775 Holme, Strickland & Co bought 34 and 14 tons of Duddon pig iron (Duddon a/c). In 1790 John Wilkinson sought shipping to carry pigs to the discharging place for Milnthorpe, evidently for here (Barrow RO, BBHJ 4/3/2/26). In 1791 Wakefield and Gurnal bought about 20 tons of Backbarrow pig iron (BB a/c).

Size The forge does not appear in any of standard lists, implying that it was not operating in 1736 or 1750. Trading 1798-1801 Thomas and Miles Walker bought small amounts of Backbarrow pig iron (BB a/c).

Sources Kendall RO, WD/W box 6; Somervell 1930, 73; 1938, 238; McIntire 1936, 51-2; Universal British Directory (1798) III, 477; cf. Kendall RO, WDMDS/ PC/8/207. The muniments of the Levens estate at Levens Hall have not been examined.

Accounts 1658-63 and 1670-1: Barrow RO, DDHJ 2/3/2; also passing mentions in 1660s in Penney 1920; BB a/c to 1715 only, a mere 56 tons of bar iron being made in two years.

Force Bank Forges near Lancaster

Sources Phillips 1977, 26; Awty 1977; Lancs RO, DDSa16/1-3; DDX 987/1; DDAr 212; Barrow RO, z5 z14 & z32; DDHJ 2/3/1-3; 2/3/7; BD/HJ 89-91, passim; Fell 1908, 192-5; Pastscape no. 40034. Force Mill Forge, near Kendal

[10a] SD511647 and/or [10b] SD504649

The forges stood on River Lune at Halton. They were advertised for sale as part of the works of the Halton Company (see under Halton, below) in 1810 and 1812. The firm (as at Halton) became Heaton and Whewall by 1813. The forge was again offered for sale in 1824, after which it was probably used for other purposes, being a textile mill by the 1860s. In the 1990s, the upper site had weir across the river, used in connection with a water supply intake. The fleam had been filled in to provide a road to the adjoining mill, now a ruin. The lower site had no remains of a mill, but there was a weir there too.

[9] c. SD507866

A couple of miles south of Kendal, the River Kent drops steeply over a rocky bed into the narrow valley that contains Levens Park. In the course of this descent it was used to drive several mills. Two of these stood on the east side of the river and belonged to the Sedgwick estate, including Basingill Gunpowder Mill (SD509867) just below Force Bridge. A map of this estate dated 1796 shows a weir, leading to a wall built lengthways down the river, apparently leading to a mill, which was presumably the forge (beyond the edge of that map). The wall is now represented by an island. The exact location of the forge on the ground is hard to determine; it is probable that it was built across its leat, that is, the western arm of the river, and has been demolished by stones carried down by the river and floods. Somervell reported that the presence of slag made the bottom fishing difficult in the area.

Size In 1810, the Upper Forge had two refineries and two chaferies, wrought with an iron cylinder, and air furnaces for working scrap iron. The Lower Forge had lift and tilt hammers for a plating work. In 1824 it had two fineries, 4 blooming hearths, 2 tilt hammers, 3 sets of cylinder bellows and 6 waterwheels. This suggests a substantial forge and is therefore evidently the works of Heaton and Whewell manufacturers of bar iron in 1817. Picture by Paul Sandby: Yale Center for British Art, B1977.14.5346. Trading In 1791/2 Force Bank Co near Lancaster bought 182 tons of Backbarrow pig iron (BB a/c). Tomlinson and Heaton bought 44¼ tons of Snedshill pig iron in 1793, when the same amount was also sold to the Leighton Co (TNA, C  12/211/5). Joseph Sharpe, Halton Iron Co, in 1803 bought 5 tons of Old Park pig iron (OP a/c).

The forge was built on land belonging to the Levens estate in about 1760 by Thomas Holme, Thomas Strickland, John Johnson and William Gurnal, all of whom were ironmongers or merchants from Kendal. John Johnson resided at the forge and was described as an ironmaster in the partnership deed relating to Lakerigg or Sizergh Gunpowder Mill (SD509879) dated 1770. This had many 593

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sources Price 1982; 1983, 48-50 83; Lancaster Gazette, 23 Jul. 1808; 4 Aug. 1810; 22 Feb. 1812; 20 Nov. 1824. Halton Furnace

maximum of 487 tpa in 1757 (SW a/c). Samuel Routh, Lancaster, supplied pig iron to Glanfred Forge in West Wales 1782-4, but in December 1784 the correspondent was Robert Inman (Glanfred l/b). John Wilkinson sent pigs to Tomlinson & Heaton in 1787 and 1788, but it is not clear whence (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/2/13 & 25). The company had seven shares in Whitriggs Mine, with James Stockdale (who manage the mine) having the other one (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/1/3-6). A representative of the Dowlais Company looking for orders in 1815 did not think the 10-20 tons at a time that Heatons were in the habit of ordering to be worth the trouble of sending (Elsas 1960, 107), which must indicate that the Company had another source of pig iron: either the furnace was still working or they were buying pig iron in Furness. The company (or successive companies) also used Workington ironstone (Workington a/c).

[11] SD457651

The furnace is shown on the tithe map. It seems that it was in the triangle between the old and new courses of Foundry Lane and motorway M6. There is no trace of the furnace above ground; ‘Furnace Cottage’ might be a workman’s house. The furnace’s origins are probably to be associated with the grant of the right to mine iron ore in Lindal in Furness granted in 1745 to Abraham Rawlinson and Miles Birkett (both of Lancaster ironmasters) and James Stockdale. Stockdale became manager of those mines and others at Whitriggs. These three seem to be the original partners in the Halton Company. The company was represented by Miles Birkett in 1753, but it traded as John Ayrey & Co from 1756 to 1780. James Stockdale was probably a partner throughout this period.

Accounts One page from a 1750s account book: see Leighton.

The company traded as Samuel Routh 1782 to 1784. Robert Inman first appears in December 1784, but his appearance may merely represent a change of management. He appears as agent until 1793, when Thomas Giles became agent to Joseph Sharp & Co. Tomlinson and Heaton occur in 1783 and Joseph Sharpe, Halton Iron Co in 1803, but directories describe Sharpe as an anchor smith. These names probably all refer to the same company, probably the partnership with 10 partners, including Thomas Heaton, Robert Tomlinson, David Dockray, and Joseph Sharp (all deceased), which was dissolved in June 1808. Two Lancaster merchants were appointed to wind the business up. An auction of the whole of the company’s works was advertised in 1810. This furnace and the forges (though not Leighton Furnace) was again advertised in 1812, and Force Bank Forge (but no furnace) in 1824. Heaton and Whewall owned it in 1813 and 1816 and also in the following year a forge, clearly Force Bank Forge (above). The firm became Heaton, Rossall & Co by 1834, and later Rossall and Charnley (tithe award). It erected the Lune Foundry at Lancaster in 1827 and John Bower became a partner there before 1837, when the foundry was assigned to creditors. It was succeeded by a bobbin mill built in 1848.

Sources Ashmore 1969, 270; Price 1982; 1983, 4850; 1987; Stockdale 1872, 205-6; Riden 1993, 112-3; Lancaster Gazette, 23 Jul. 1808; 4 Aug. 1810; 22 Feb. 1812; 20 Nov. 1824; Wardle & Pratt directory. No deeds relating to this ironworks have been traced. Leighton Furnace, Lancashire

[12] SD485778

Leighton Beck is a modest sized brook, forming the boundary between Lancashire and Westmoreland. The furnace was built by the Backbarrow Company in 1713 and blown in in November 1715. The company retained the furnace until 1756. Discussions between the Backbarrow and Cunsey Companies in 1714 had suggested making this a joint work of the two companies, but this was deleted from the final proposals. In 1756, it passed to the Halton Company, who had it until 1806. In that year, it was allegedly demolished following an explosion. However, it was later advertised for sale as part of the Halton Company’s works. In 1821 it was described as ‘heretofore used for making pig iron’. There are clear traces of a leat along the hillside, but no obvious remains of the furnace. An adjoining building, now converted to a dwelling, is one of the charcoal houses.

Size 1788 700 tpa. It is also in subsequent lists, but it is possible that the compilers of lists have conflated this furnace and Leighton, which also belonged to the Halton Company.

Size 1717 (appendix) 300 tpa; 1788 (under Westmoreland) 400 tpa; 1805 in blast, but no return. In 1717/8 it made 735 tons in a blast of 51 weeks, making a profit of 53s.6d per ton (Fell 1908, 237-8). It is said to have been in blast in 1810 and to have existed in 1825, but these may be references to Halton Furnace. In its early years at least, the furnace was partly fuelled with peat. J. Cartmel went over to Ireland to find out how to do this (Rawlinson diary, 4 Jan. 1714[5] and 24 Apr. 1715).

Associations Leighton Furnace was held by the same company from 1757 until its closure. Partners were also involved in Catton and Cark Forges. Trading Miles Birkett entered into an agreement concerning the purchase of wood in 1753 (Fell 1908, 142). The ore used seems to have come mainly from the company’s mines at Whitriggs and Lindal in Furness. However some was bought from the Backbarrow Company’s mines there 1787-1801 (BB a/c). Pig iron was sold to forges in the Stour Valley in North Worcestershire 1757-1783, with a

Description Schubert 1957, 491-3. Trading Ore was brought across the Sands from Dalton. All sales of pig iron are listed with those from Backbarrow or Halton. The furnace made 57 tons of shot in 1747 (Fell 594

Chapter 41: Furness and North Lancashire 1908, 245). SW a/c always refer to two furnaces together implying that some pig iron came from each. The only exception is in 1749 when 200 tons from Leighton were received at Upper Mitton Forge Worcestershire. In 1752 Leighton and Backbarrow sent 792 tons to the Stour Valley. In 1793 ‘Leighton Co’ received 44¼ tons of pig iron from Snedshill, and Tomlinson & Heaton the same amount (TNA, C 12/211/5), but this was presumably for the Company’s Force Bank Forges.

The furnace was then sold in 1756 to the Backbarrow and Newland Companies who closed the furnace soon after, probably as soon as the stock there was used up. The furnace was demolished in 1799 and replaced by a gunpowder works, whose ruins occupy the site. A large leat running past the site still contained some water in the 1990s. It is quite likely that some of the ancillary buildings of the furnace were reused for the gunpowder works. Isaac Wilkinson included in the works premises for polishing iron, presumably so as to continue the trade of making smooth irons, which he had carried on at Backbarrow. This portion of the works was subsequently used as a forge.

Diary Rawlinson diary 1714-6. Accounts There are some details in early BB a/c, including in 1716. One page from a 1750s account book shows deliveries of bar iron from Caton Forge 1752-4 and pig iron sales from Leighton in 1756 (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/1/2).

Trading and size Charcoal purchase arrangements imply the furnace was similar in size to the others in the district. Pig iron was supplied to Mitton Forges in north Worcestershire from 1761-74 and 1778-86, exceeding 400 tpa in 1767 and 1769. The company had a greater interest in forges than the other contemporary Furness iron firms. Hence the company’s main business, at least at first would seem to be in the production of tough bar iron. John Sunderland had two contracts to provide the Navy with ballast during the Seven Years’ War, 60 tons (with John Houseman) in September 1755 and 400 tons (alone) a year later (TNA, ADM 106/3604, 100; ADM 106/3605, 4). The Backbarrow Company sent 89 tins of Lowwood pig to John Buckle & Co of Chepstow in 1787, presumably stock acquired with the furnace (BB a/c). The furnace does not appear in the 1790/4 or later lists, confirming its disuse.

Sources Fell 209-10; Morton 1965; Price 1983, 47-8; Lancaster Gazette, 4 Aug. 1810; 25 Aug. 1821; Blick 1983, 135; Blick et al. 1991, 52; McIntire 1936, 50; Ashmore 1982, 230. Lowwood Furnace

[13] SD347837

This was on the east side of the River Leven, a short distance south of Backbarrow. The earliest ironworks on the site was Burnbarrow Bloomery Forge (see Bloomeries, below), which operated from the early years of the 17th century. An agreement for the erection of a furnace was made in 1728 between the owner and Richard Ford, who at the time was the Cunsey Company’s manager, but nothing came of this.

Sources Fell 1908, 218-20; Cranstone 1991, 89-90; Barrow RO, z536, 55-62 92-6; BDX 209/7/3/9 & 13; DDHJ 2/3/11; Cumberland Pacquet, 19 Aug. 1783; 5 Jun. 1798. Note also Kendal RO, WDBGLD/1/B/4.

In 1747 George Bigland let land in Lowwood for the erection of a furnace to Job Rawlinson, William Crossfield, George Drinkall and Isaac Wilkinson. They formed a company which also included William Rawlinson (a partner in Backbarrow), Robert Bare, George Rigge, John Sunderland and John Wilson. Isaac Wilkinson was employed as the ironfounder at Backbarrow Furnace and was breaking his contract of service. William Rawlinson as a partner there was presumably acting in breach of the partnership agreement there. The eventual solution was that both severed their connection with Backbarrow.

Millom Ironworks

[14] perhaps about SD173825

There were ironworks at Millom and also Ulpha from before 1614, but they are referred to in the 1630s as forges, and may thus only have been bloomeries. T. Denton in 1688 also referred to forges for which oak worth £4000 had been cut down. The discovery of slag in the late 19th century and the existence of the name ‘Furnace Beck’ (for a beck flowing out of Millom Park) suggest there was a blast furnace and finery forge. If so, they are likely to have existed sometime during the 17th century. One possible date is indicated by the shipment of five tons of forge hammers and anvils from Duddon to Whitehaven in 1672 ‘per Ferdinando Huddleston’, and shipped to Pielfoudry in 1678. William Fleming bought 7 iron plates from ‘Millum Furnace’ at Millom Castle, and these were carried to Coniston in 1680. He negotiated with the ‘Lady of Millum’ for more in 1685. Plates from here were sold to John Russell in 1710, when he was building Sparkbridge Forge. This would be one of the earliest blast furnaces in the northwest of England, but its very existence has almost been a matter of speculation, particularly as M. DaviesShiel told me that he failed to find blast furnace slag in this vicinity. It is conceivable that this was the ironworks

The company agreed to buy 63/64ths of the Cunsey Works in 1749, but this probably came to nothing, though it is possible that they did acquire Coniston Forge which had been included in the sale. They were more successful in 1748 in buying Force Forge (then derelict). In 1752 Thomas Sunderland bought out most of the partners including the remaining original lessees. Isaac Wilkinson had previously withdrawn, but Crossfield was apparently still a partner in 1760. This left the Sunderland brothers, John Wilson (who had married Bigland’s widow), and William Rawlinson. After this, things became more settled. The company acquired Sparkbridge Forge in 1761. Despite the deaths of John Sunderland in 1774 amd Thomas Sunderland in 1782, the company traded as John Sunderland & Co until 1781 and then as Thomas Sunderland & Co until about 1785, being advertised for sale in 1783 and 1798. 595

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II extremely fragmented with certain estates being administered in Chancery. This led to the execution of a new partnership deed in 1879. This marks the opening of a new period in the Company’s history, which has been described fully under Backbarrow. Newland Furnace declined in importance in the company in the 1880s. It was last blown out in 1891 and partly dismantled in 1903. The reasons for the closure of the furnace are not certain but may be related to the closure of so many tinplate works in South Wales in the same period due to the imposition of the McKinley tariffs in America, though tinplate works were not its customers.

in Cumberland of Walter Coleman of Cannock, operating about 1612, but Flimby is more likely. Sources TNA, C 78/353/7; Jefferson 1842, 146; Fletcher 1881, 8; English Place-names Soc. 20, 14; cf. Carlisle RO, D/Hud/6/1, export coastwise, 10 Apr. 1678; Tyson 1989, 195-7; Hughes 1965, 50; Rigg 1967, 21; M. Davies-Shiel, pers. comm. For Colman: TNA, C  2/Chas I/C5/67; C  2/ Chas I/C20/17, answer; C  21/C45/18; cf. King 1999a, 68; I am grateful to David Cranstone for pointing out the existence of Furnace Beck. Newland Furnace

[15] SD299798

This was one of the last charcoal ironworks to operate. As such, it is fairly well preserved. The furnace stack has been damaged by the removal of the usable material including the cast iron lintels of the arches (‘dismantling’) in 1903, but still remains fairly complete. Restoration work has been undertaken gradually over the past decade or so, principally to support the structure, which had become unstable due to the removal of lintels. A large charcoal barn survives. The fleam that powered the bellows (or blowing tubs) still carries some water.

The furnace was built in 1746 by Richard Ford. The lease was taken in the name of Agnes Bordley, his sister-inlaw. It may therefore be that it was intended to protect his position as an ironmaster, in case he lost his litigation with the Backbarrow and Cunsey Companies over their claim to a share in Nibthwaite. It might have enabled him to close down Nibthwaite, or at least withdraw from partnership there. The original partners, from 1747 were Richard Ford, (d.1759), his son William, Michael Knott and James Backhouse. Backhouse sold his share to Michael Knott and William Ford in 1761. At some date before this, Richard Ford transferred some shares by entries in the firm’s books to Thomas Chadwick of Burgh (the Lancashire forgemaster) and Nathaniel Taylor. William Ford died in 1767, leaving two daughters who respectively married George son of Michael Knott and Henry Ainslie. Matthew Harrison first appears as one of the executors of this George Knott, under whose will he was appointed sole manager of the concern. He had probably assisted George Knott in management earlier. He acquired the Taylor share in 1786. In 1812 Michael Knott sold the last of his shares to Matthew Harrison.

Size probably similar to the other Furness furnaces, producing 300-400 tpa. It is not improbable that more could have been made, if wood were available. In 1754, it made 15-16 tpw (Angerstein’s Diary, 290). The closure of Lowwood provided fuel to allow an increase in output. 1788 700 tpa; 1796 700 tpa; 1805 and 1810 in blast but output not stated; 1855 1,200 tpa. In the 1880s the furnace was making ‘Lorn’ pig iron. In several years, more than 1,400 tpa was produced. A forge was added in 1783 and a rolling mill in 1799 (see below). Associations The ironworks was closely associated with the furnace and forge at Nibthwaite, although William Rigge was a partner in the latter until 1768, but not at Newland. The Company built Lorn Furnace in Scotland about 1752. This belonged to the Newland Company throughout its life, but initially there was a separate partnership between James Backhouse, William Ford, and Michael Knott. Backhouse sold his share to the others in 1761.

The firm traded under a variety of names at different times, according to who was at the time the leading partner: Richard Ford & Co until 1759; William Ford & Co 1759 to 1767; then executors of William Ford & Co; then from 1770 at Lorn, J Dixon – its manager (17631804); 1776 to 1784 George Knott & Co; 1785 to 1796 executors of George Knott & Co; and 1796 on George Knott & Co. From 1812 the firm was Harrison, Ainslie & Co and remained so for many years. Henry Ainslie took an active interest in the firm, although his wife’s share was smaller than that belonging to the Knott family, and then to Matthew Harrison. The firm was sometimes referred to as Harrison, Ainslie and Roper. The latter was Richard Roper, presumably the former Backbarrow partner. If so, his interest presumably began when the Newland Company bought the Backbarrow Works in 1819. Since the company was still divided, in the third quarter of the 19th century, into the same 16 shares, as in the late 18th. Richard Roper’s share must have been Chadwick’s.

Trading Pig iron was supplied to Mitton Forges in the Stour Valley in north Worcestershire 1782-8 and to other forges of John Knight & Co in a few other years (SW a/c). Richard and then William Ford supplied shot to the Board of Ordnance in 1758-62, also shells and trucks (wheels), but some of this was made at Lorn (TNA, WO 47/52-59, passim). George Knott & Co supplied shot in 1781 and 1782. They also had a contract for iron ordnance, but it is likely the guns were actually cast by John Wilkinson. The trunnion marks were K and K solid (WO 47/95-112, passim; Brown (R.R.) 1988, 107-8). 230 tons of shot, made in 1781, came from both Newland and Lorn (Fell 1908, 245). Similar sales from Lorn Furnace took place over a much longer period. Sales of pig iron from Sowley (Hampshire) by ‘Mr Ford’ are linked to some of these from 1760. This probably represents sales from back cargoes of

Following the deaths of Benson Harrison in 1863 and Thomas Roper in 1870, the shareholdings became 596

Chapter 41: Furness and North Lancashire ships that took redmine to Sowley. John Wilkinson had 40 or 50 tons of pigs shipped from here in 1778 to Chester, evidently for Bersham (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/2/1). George Knott bought Workington ironstone in 17871801, but supplies are usually not distinguished between Newland and Lorn Furnaces (Workington a/c).

southern end of Coniston Water. This was the first works of what became the Newland Company, the longest enduring the Lakeland iron firms. It was built in 1735 in partnership between Richard Ford, who had been the Cunsey Company’s manager, and Thomas Rigge, the owner of Nibthwaite Grange. The latter soon after gave one eighth of his half to each of his two sons. In 1736 the partnership agreement was altered, so that any partner might decline to continue a partner and then be able to resume his partnership at the end of any seven year period. This clause caused great trouble: the Backbarrow and Cunsey Companies arranged for Thomas Rigge junior to serve such notice to return in 1744 and then to lease for 40 years his and his late father’s 7/16ths share to Benjamin Ayrey and William Latham in their roles as agents to Backbarrow and Cunsey Companies. Richard Ford then refused to admit them to the partnership, saying (amongst other things) that under the Nibthwaite partnership deed he should have a share in the other companies. Chancery litigation followed, but achieved little: the case was too involved for there to be an obvious solution. In 1751 the parties reached a compromise that the Newland Company would pay the other companies a modest rent for their share. A deed was drawn up to this effect. Although this was perhaps never signed, the compromise held. William Ford bought out William Rigge’s share in 1768, thereafter the works belonged exclusively to the partners in the Newland Company and thus became one of their works. Thomas Rigge again sought to come into the partnership in 1786 but was rebuffed. Eventually in 1799 it was agreed that he should have a perpetual £10 rentcharge.

Accounts existed in Fell’s time fairly continuously from 1780, but have unfortunately since disappeared. M. DaviesShiel (pers. comm.) stated that many papers relating to the company were dropped down a mine shaft. Complete accounts from 1879 until its closure survive (Barrow RO, BDB/2). The purchasers named in this period are not easy to identify, but include other companies using haematite to make pig iron and some making tools or tool steel. Some buyers’ names sound German. Sources Barrow in Furness RO, z34 z40 z52 z57-60 z67 z82 z122; BDB/2 collection; Fell 1908, 217-8 269-75; Marshall et al. 1996; Bowden 2000, 50 56-7 etc. Newland Forge and Rolling Mill

[16] SD299799 and SD297797

These additional works were built by the Newland Company and were always in the same ownership. The forge was built in 1793, adjoining the weir at the head of the furnace fleam and part of it may survive as part of Millrace Cottage. A rolling mill was built further upstream in 1799 and worked until about 1840. This building survives in a derelict state. The forge had one finery and one chafery in 1790 and is stated to have closed in 1809, but fineries must have remained in use to provide blooms for the rolling mill; and a hammer would also have been needed for shingling. The closure date is therefore doubtful. Iron was certainly been made when Gustav Ekman visited the works in 1828 and 1831. His visits enabled him, after his return home to Sweden, to develop the ‘Lancashire hearth’, a refinement of the charcoal finery process, also influenced by his observations at Pontypool and other ironworks in south Wales, which were using the puddling process. This method of fining iron was the dominant one used in Sweden in the 19th century and was also used to some extent in Britain. It differs from puddling in that puddling took place in a reverberatory furnace where the fuel and the iron were kept separate, whereas in the Lancashire hearth, the charcoal and iron were together, as in the traditional finery. In consequence, this site is of particular importance to the history of metallurgy.

It is not clear how long Nibthwaite Furnace continued in use as such. It is referred to in an assignment of a partnership share dated 1761, but one dated 1785 refers only to the forge. The furnace was probably rarely (if ever) used. Certainly it could not have been used after the charcoal agreement of 1780. The Newland Company (as they had become) built a forge in the 1751. This continued in operation until about 1840. This was in 1834 called an iron forge and bobbin mill, belonging to Mr Worrall, who may have been a subtenant of the Newland Co. In 1850 the Company sold its Nibthwaite property and the purchasers operated a bobbin mill, but apparently only until 1857. After this closed, the mill was derelict for some time, until Mr Satterthwaite converted it to a saw mill. He was succeeded in this by his son, who is living in retirement in an adjoining bungalow and kindly pointed out details of the works to me in the 1990s, describing its modern history.

Sources Fell 1908, 218; information from Nils Ekman from the travel journal of his ancestor, Gustav Ekman at a conference of Historical Metallurgy Society; and see furnace above. Nibthwaite Ironworks

The furnace stack was incorporated into the bobbin mill that succeeded the forge. The remainder of the bobbin mill is probably in the blowing house of the furnace. This has been converted into a house. A grassed area behind this house is surrounded by walls, which were consolidated to preserve them after excavation. This was formerly part of the 20th-century saw mill, but it is possible that is where the forge was. The wheel was formerly against the side

[17] SD295883

The enduring remains of this ironworks is a hamlet on the east bank of the River Crake about a mile below the 597

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II of what is now a house. Latterly a sluice for a turbine was made in a different position. The charcoal house has also been converted to dwellings. There is a broad fleam carrying water to the mill from a weir about 300 yards up the river.

1760 (Fell 1908, 245). The furnace was typical in size for its period but not utilised to its full capacity. It was usually only in blast for about 25 weeks. Sources Lancs RO, DDMc 6/54; Fell 1908, 221-2 & 2601; BDX 209/7/3/2; Rigg 1967, 22.

Size The charcoal proposals of 1744 assigned the furnace an equal share in the charcoal with Cunsey and Backbarrow, implying it produced about as much, perhaps 500 tpa. In 1790 the forge had 2 fineries and a chafery, no doubt the three hearths recorded by Angerstein in 1754 (Diary, 292).

Sparkbridge Forge or Spark Forge

The forge stood upon the west bank of the River Crake above the bridge. John Russell built a bloomery forge in 1710, but it was before 1714 converted to a finery forge, probably by the Cunsey Company. In 1750 it was being managed with Duddon Furnace. The freehold was sold to the Backbarrow Company in 1761. In 1798 they in turn sold it to the Newland Company. It was still in their occupation (as Roper & Co) in 1834 and (as Harrison & Co) in 1850, but the mortgagees of Col. Bradyll’s estate then required them to quit the use of the water. Virtually all trace of it has gone. The site was subsequently used for a bobbin mill, which has in turn been converted in recent years into a row of cottages.

Associations Coniston Forge was proposed to be transferred to Richard Ford in 1744 to provide him with a means of using his braises. Otherwise see Newland. Trading 50 tons of pig iron was sold to the Stour Valley forges of Edward Knight & Co in 1741-2. Richard Ford supplied round shot to the Board of Ordnance during the War of Austrian Succession, 405 tons of it in 1745, but less in other years (TNA, WO 51/157-77 passim; cf. Fell 1908, 244-5). Further sales by the Fords, listed under Newland, may have of goods made here and (vice versa) including some of those just mentioned.

Size 1718 120 tpa; 1736 100 tpa; 1750 120 tpa; 1754 one finery one chafery, making 2-2½ tpw (Angerstein’s Diary, 291); 1790 one finery and one chafery. In 1834, it had two hammers and two pairs of bellows with a head nof 14-15 feet, reckoned at 40 hp.

Sources Barrow in Furness RO, z24 z34 z40 z57 z67b & z82/2; BDX 209/7/3/2; Lancs RO, DDMc30/22 30/68-9 & 30/74-6; Fell 1908, 211-5; Morton 1963b; Bowden 2000, 54-6; Brydon 1908, 99-106. Pennybridge Furnace

[19] SD305849

Trading Pig iron seems always to have come from the successive associated furnaces.

[18] SD318838

The furnace stood at the foot of a steep hill on the east bank of the River Crake. It was supplied by a leat from a weir just beyond the boundary of William Penny’s land. The remains of this leat, as later widened for use by a flax mill, are plain to be seen. The flax mill was a ruin in the 1990s. Of the furnace itself there is little sign. On the hillside above the site is a row of cottages, at the back of the northernmost of these is a substantial barn, which may have been the charcoal barn of the furnace. The furnace was built in 1748 by William Penny of Pennybridge with eight partners, following a public campaign to prevent a cartel of the other ironmasters reducing the price of wood for making charcoal. In 1751 the Company amalgamated with the Backbarrow Company. The furnace was operated as one of that company’s works until about 1780, when it was decided to concentrate its activities on Backbarrow, as being the better furnace. The furnace continued to belong to the Company until 1805, but there is no evidence of its being used. It was then sold to Thomas Pearson, who converted it to a flax mill.

Sources Lancs RO, DDMc 30/17 and 12/78; Barrow in Furness RO, z67; z70; BDX 209/7/3/2; Rigg 1967, 22. Ulpha Forge

[20] perhaps SD164809

Some of the evidence that suggests a furnace at Millom also points to a forge at Ulpha, a village lying in the lordship of Millom, a few miles up Dunnerdale, still a well-wooded valley. Whether this was a finery forge or a bloomsmithy ultimately depends on whether the ironworks at Millom was a furnace. The site suggested is adjacent to Forge Wood and close to Ulpha Park. Henry Elletson, ‘hamerman’, was charged with theft from the forge in 1692. Plates, etc from ‘Dudden Bridge’ were sold in 1710 to John Russell for Sparkbridge Forge. SD19599174 has also been suggested as a location. Sources Lancs RO, QSP/724/2 & 10; Hughes 1965, 50; Rigg 1967, 21; and see Millom. Wilson House Furnace

Associations and Trading see Backbarrow.

[21] SD426810

Wilson House, Lindale stands beside the River Winster, which flows into the estuary of the River Kent. The furnace has been something of a mystery. It was probably not built when Isaac Wilkinson bought Wilson House (as sometimes suggested). John Wilkinson ordered a blast engine for it

Size and Accounts Various production statistics 17631780 (Lancs RO, DP 373; Awty 1973) indicate that the furnace was in blast every year usually making about 400 tpa; however in 1770 it made 746 tons. It made shot in 598

Chapter 41: Furness and North Lancashire Sources Ashmore 1969 75 & 242; Price 1983, 49 74; Newman 2007, 55-6; Schubert 1957, 152; Camden Soc. n.s. 42 (1888), 13; Angerstein’s Diary, 293; Lewis c. 1775 iv, 76; Lancs RO, ARR 11, 21 Nov. 1762; QJB 57/89. The owner in 1847 was the Duke of Hamilton, whose archives I have not examined.

in 1777 from Boulton & Watt, and this is its most likely date. It is unlikely that it operated for a significant period, perhaps indeed only for a single blast. It is said to have used charred peat and charcoal when it was brought into blast in 1778. This may have been soon abandoned, as it was not a success. Wilson House is perhaps best regarded as an experimental furnace, for Wilkinson to play with while on his holiday at his nearby house of Castlehead. The furnace does not appear in any of the standard lists. Suggestions that Isaac Wilkinson operated a furnace here in the early 1750s derive from Stockdale (1872), who may have made more of Isaac Wilkinson’s address than he perhaps should have. There is little trace of it apart from a leat and some slag. The site has a number of cast iron pipes about it, some supporting buildings, but not all of the uniform size.

Burblethwaite Forge

This bloomery forge, dating at least from the 1670s, was in the occupation of the Backbarrow Company when they built their furnace. In 1714, as part of their charcoal agreement, they and the Cunsey Company agreed jointly to lease this and Hackett Forges, paying rents to keep them idle. Burblethwaite was repaired in 1713 and again in 1722. Some pig iron was sent from Backbarrow to James Birkett of Burblethwaite in 1732. It is therefore possible that it briefly operated as a finery forge at that time, but the pig iron could also have been for Caton Forge. A corn mill was subsequently built on the site.

Sources Cranstone 2007; Stockdale 1872, 208 & 212; Fell 1908, 268; Marshall & Davis-Shiel 1969, 250; Ashton 1924, 44 & 70; Ince 1992, 85; Dickinson & Jenkins 1927, 115-6.

Sources Fell 1908, 199; Phillips 1977, 26; Lancs RO, DDMc 30/17; BB a/c 1731/2.

Bloomeries Bardsea bloomery

Burnbarrow Forge

[22] SD299741

[25] SD346837

This forge almost certainly lay too close to Backbarrow for the two of them to have worked simultaneously. It was occupied by John Gardner and Thomas Robinson, who assigned their interest to William Kellett in 1609. It was then let to William Wright in 1615, but evidently closed in 1620, when George Preston of Holker destroyed the weir. However, William Wright attempted to recover the forge in 1661. He alleged that he had lost his deeds during the war; that the fittings of the forge had been taken by others; and that John Bigland had pulled down the buildings. Cinders from here were taken to Backbarrow to be re-smelted in 1723. It later became the site of Lowwood Furnace.

Nothing is known of this site save its existence. The only mill in the area is Bardsea Mill, which is divided from the Sands by a road. This presumably subsequently became Wellhouse Forge (see other ironworks below). Source Phillips 1977, 25. Barnacre Forge, near Garstang

[24] SD41868921

[23] SD50484592

There is a mill known as the Forge on the boundary of the townships of Barnacre and Bonds, but just in the latter. Its name misled Ashmore into believing the surviving building to be that of a forge. In fact the site was used as a bobbin mill in 1846 (tithe award) and as a brush stock mill in 1890 (O.S. 25-in). The mill was in the 1990s a two-storey stone building with a surviving waterwheel, from which a drive has been taken from the rim. This arrangement is 19thcentury technology and would not be suitable for a forge. It is a listed building.

Sources Fell 1908, 200-1; Phillips 1977, 26; Awty & Phillips 1980, 35; TNA, DL 4/77/45; PL 6/22, no. 94. Cartmel Forge

[26] SD37677846

The forge, at Cark Shaws in Cartmel, belonged to the Preston family of Holker. It may well go back to the 1610s: John Wright the bloomer, who established Brougham Forge near Penrith, moved from there with a wife and child. However, it is unlikely to have been much earlier as George Preston of Holker only purchased the manor of Holker from the Duchy of Lancaster in 1610. Richard Maybury of Cartmel Forge occurs in 1634. His son John worked there until 1657, when he absconded to Ireland. When Thomas Preston settled Cartmel and Holker in 1641, his property included water corn mills, iron mills, paper mills, furnaces, and ironworks. He probably operated the forge himself after the Restoration, as in 1664 he had 60 tons of ore from the iron mines of his cousin (also) Thomas Preston at Stainton. However William Rawlinson

The Forge does not appear in any of the usual 18th century lists, which might suggest that it ceased making iron before 1735. It is however probable that it is the ‘iron smelting houses’ near Garstang seen by Dr Richard Pococke in 1750. In 1754, it could make 2 cwt. per day, 12 cwt per week [30 tpa], but was not at work when Angerstein was in there. William Lewis wrote soon after 1770 as if it were still working. As such, it was probably the last bloomery in Britain. Documentary evidence is scarce. William Shenton of Claughton in Garstang forgeman is named in a marriage bond of 1762, and William Salisbury of Barnacre Forge blacksmith or spademan was an insolvent debtor in 1812. This suggests that ironmaking ceased and it became as a plating forge for spades. 599

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Hornby Forge

contracted to sell iron for delivery at Cartmel Forge in 1659, though this could refer to iron for Force Forge. In 1691 the next Thomas Preston took James Machell into partnership and Machell became sole lessee in 1709. The forge was leased to the Backbarrow Company for a further six years in 1714. They covenanted to work it, but they may have kept it idle, so as to leave wood available for Backbarrow.

Hudson alluded to Lord Morley’s furnace and pointed to the existence of Furnace (or Furness) Ford Road, leading to a bridge over the Hindburn. There were ironworks in the Honour of Hornby by 1560, but nothing further is known of them. A passing reference to ironworks in 1613 may only be to proposed ones, but in 1626, Lord Morley was receiving a forge rent of £3.6s.8d. In the 1630s the forge was rented by Alexander Rigby, who paid £172.4s.9d for wood in a half year in 1640. Operations were then stayed by the Duchy Court, pending an investigation into Lord Morley’s right to cut wood. It was alleged that not enough wood was left for the tenants’ customary entitlements, and much less than 20 years before 1638. The stay seems to have become permanent, as a survey of Hornby in 1662 mentions no ironworks. In 1642, the Russell brothers (the hammermen) moved away and the implements were sold to Mr Spachers. The forge is mentioned in Melling parish register between 1635 and 1640, when members of the Russell family were there. Despite the presence of a furnace name, that word does not appear in the depositions in the Duchy Court, only ‘forge’ or ironworks, suggesting that it was only a bloomery forge. Price reported that the ground was blackened for an area of 30 by 20 yards with much slag and charcoal. He regarded this as similar to sites at Largill (NY651650) and by river Hindburn (NY648652), which may have been medieval bloomeries.

Sources Fell 1908, 199-200; Phillips 1977, 26; Awty & Phillips 1980, 33; Barrow RO, DD/HJ/2/3/2, 29 Dec. 1659; Lancs RO, QSP1/132/3; DDCA/Acc12005/box 16/673 682; and box 49/782; TNA C 10/527/77; cf. Spence 1991, 103; VCH Lancs, viii, 257; Pastscape no. 39507; cf. Galagano 1976. Cunswick

dubious [SD4893]

This was the place from which Charles Russell came in 1674. He was a workman employed at Coniston Forge, which would suggest a bloomsmithy, but the context is only an address. Cunswick was the home of the Leyburne family who were partners at Milnthorpe. This does not seem a likely place for a powered forge. Sources Phillips 1977, 27; Awty & Phillips 1980, 27; Tyson 1989, 187. Fell Foot

[27] NY29700313

Sources Holt 2013, 145 (citing Lancs RO, DDHC box 12); DDX 270; TNA, DL 4/92/30; DL4/93/30; cf. DL 4/79/11; Phillips 1977, 27; Awty & Phillips 1980, 33 39n, citing TNA, C 10/39/123; Awty 2019, 708 712; Price 1983, 47; Hudson & Price 1989, 73; Hudson 1995, 18 20; Newman 2007, 55-6.

A forge here is thought to have been at work in 1660. Sources Phillips 1977, 27. Hackett Forge, Langdale

[29] near SD632668

[28] NY322030

Kendal

This bloomsmithy was built by William Wright about 1625. He moved on, having assigned his lease in 1633 to Gawen Braithwaite, who left it to Thomas Braithwaite, but shortly after this, it was being managed by Sir William Pennington’s steward. It may have been used by the Society of Mines Royal Copper in c.1697. It was in the hands of William Rawlinson and John Machell in 1710-11 and they made 30 tons of bar iron there, using pig iron sent up Coniston Lake. In 1715, William Rawlinson paid rent to William Braithwaite for Hackett and Cunsey Forges. Though the forge was rebuilt in 1715 and repaired in 1726 it was probably never used again, being kept idle to leave wood to fuel other works. Sir Joseph Pennington received a royalty on 38 tons of iron in 1693, which might suggest the forge then had two bloomhearths. In 1706 ore came from a mine within the manor of Langdale, but this mine was probably not worked again until about the 1860s. There are the remains of a pond and leat now dry leading to Forge Cottage, which stands on or close to the site of the forge.

unlocated [SD5192]

A forge at is mentioned in the parish register there for 1606. Nothing else is known of it. Sources Phillips 1977, 3 27. Keerholme Forge

[31] about SD559740

The forge was on the river Keer, which is the boundary between Lancashire and Westmoreland. It belonged to William Marshall between 1690 and 1720. Davies-Shiel’s assertion that it went back to c.1625 is unproven. Source Newman 2007, 55; Price 1983, 47; Davies-Shiel 1998, 49. Milnthorpe Forge

[32] SD49658118

The only claim to fame of an unremarkable 17th century bloomery forge is that it was the subject a contemporary description. It was probably built by William Wright in 1652 and his son Balthasar (or Towsie) Wright was bloomer there until he died in 1688. In 1664 it was used

Sources Fell 1908, 196-99; Phillips 1977, 27; Bowden 2000, 71-3; Rawlinson Diary, 4 Jul 1714; Pastscape, no. 10300. 600

Chapter 41: Furness and North Lancashire for six weeks in turn by Sir George Middleton of Leighton Hall and then by George Leyburn as trustee for his brothers Charles and William Leyburne of Cunswick for two weeks. By 1692, it had been turned into a paper mill. On the other hand, Angerstein was told in 1754 (perhaps anachronistically) that it could work, making as much iron as Barnacre [about 30 tpa]. Statements suggesting that it continued into the late 18th century are wrong, conflating this with Force Bank Mill, near Kendal.

where slags have been found adjacent to the dam of a small reservoir. Its closure is probably marked by an agreement in 1675, when William Kirkby sold two new hammers and all iron gear, which included four old hammers and three old anvils. These were taken to Coniston. Sources Barrow RO, z365; Tyson 1989, 189; P. Crew, pers. comm. Other ironworks

Sources Schubert 1957, 149 & 417; others also reproduce the contemporary description; Fell 1908, 203-05; Awty & Phillips 1980; Price 1983, 47; Newman 2007, 53-55 5760; Bingham 1989, 157; McIntire 1936, 50; Lancs RO, DDTo/H/13, articles, 1663/4; Angerstein’s Diary, 293; Davies-Shiel 1998, 49. Stony Hazel Forge

Lowick Green Spade Forge

The spade mill was built in 1776 on a tributary of the river Crake. Anthony Gradwell advertised it to let in 1797 but was still making spades at his death (in 1811). Another Anthony Gradwell advertised the sale of a copyhold farm (but not the forge) in 1821. John Pearson, spade maker made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors in 1811. George Pearson dissolved the partnership with his son George in 1859 and died in 1861 aged 81; his wife Dinah had died in 1843. The younger George advertised it for sale in 1875. The accounts of the next owner survive, continuing until 1898, which probably the date when production ceased, rather than the reported closure date of 1906 (perhaps that of a sale).

[33] SD338896

This was almost certainly the last new bloomery forge to be built in England. It was built Edward Robinson, Francis Chamley, and Richard Herdson in 1718 at the time of the Swedish embargo. They sold it in 1720 to William Fletcher and Richard Taylor, who in 1725 sold it to the Cunsey and Backbarrow Companies jointly, with all utensils, but not two hammers. The Backbarrow accounts show no pig iron being sent there, implying the purchase was part of the two company’s policy of buying up bloomeries, in order to keep them idle and prevent them competing to buy wood. The two companies each paid lump sums to be rid of the liability to pay rent in 1751 and 1756. This is one of the few forges to have been excavated, twice in fact. Unfortunately, only certain aspects of the first excavation have been published, when it was wrongly interpreted as a finery forge. This is contrary to the documentary evidence, and is also inconsistent with the presence of a bin containing haematite. This misinterpretation is particularly unfortunate, as it has been treated as the type site for finery forges. Claims that it worked until c.1820 result from the making too much of the payment of a rent (see introduction).

Accounts sales 1875-98 and wages 1876-83: Barrow RO, BDB 19/1. Sources Cumberland Pacquet, 28 Nov. 1797; 12 Mar. 1811; 22 Sep. 1821; Lancaster Gazette, 23 Feb. & 20 April 1811; 17 Jul. 1875; Westmoreland Gazette, 29 Apr. 1843; Perry’s Bankrupt Gazette, 4 Jun. 1859; Carlisle Journal, 21 Jun 1861; Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969, 251. Lowick Green Forge (on Crake)

[41] SD30258030

There was another spade forge on the river Crake, a short distance above Crake Mill (SD 304850). John Salthouse had partly pulled it down by 1834 to divert its water to his Crake Mill, a cotton mill. The claims of the Bradyll mortgagees to interfere with water to the cotton mill were resisted in 1853 on the basis that the cotton mill had replaced an ancient corn mill. I have not investigated its history, but it may have been the spade forge at Lowick Green where John Frearson made an assignment of his estate to his creditors in 1809 and that at Spark Bridge of David Frearson, who died in 1830. I may perhaps have misattributed content between the two Lowick Green Forges.

Sources Lancs RO, DDAr 135-83 passim; Fell 1908, 202-03; Davies-Shiel 1970; Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969, 34 258-9; Marshall 1973; Bowden 2000, 73-6; Bayley et al. 2008, 58-9; Smith 2018; Michael DaviesShiel and David Cranstone, pers. comm. Bowden cites typescript reports by D. Cranstone in Lake District National Park HER, which I have not seen. I have also not examined N. Davies-Shiel’s papers on the forge: Kendal RO, WDMDS/81. Woodland Forge

[35] SD298853

[34] SD246883

Sources BDX 209/7/3/2; Lancaster Gazette, 18 Mar. 1809; 10 Jul. 1830.

The existence of this forge is most clearly indicated by a conveyance by George Atkinson (a collier), in which in 1633 he reserved a tenement in a pasture called Cow Close for his life for as long as ‘Roger Kirkby’s Woodland Forge should go’. The precise location of this forge is not known, but it is most probably at Longfield Wood, Thornthwaite,

Myerscough Iron Forge

[42] SD49913983

In 1802, James Gill announced that he had taken the forge and intended to make edged tools, hoes, bills axes, adzes, and spades. This iron forge was offered to let in 1821, 601

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II being in the occupation of John Gill. It was again offered in 1823 when occupied by Thomas Houghton.

Ulverston) in 1760. By 1768 certain partners had left, including Henry Law, whose wife’s family owned Well House. Forth Winter, Thomas Ireland, and Thomas Matson agreed to continue the partnership at Whitewell Forge and Bottlingwood Mill near Wigan. In 1773 this partnership was dissolved, and Thomas Morland appointed manager in place of Thomas Ireland. The forge was then let, but the tenant had difficulty paying his rent. As Bottlingwood Forge made spades and such like, it is probable this one did too. Until 1774 Thomas Morland and Forth Winter with Thomas Ashburner and John Robinson of Ulverston (presumably new partners) used Ellers Mill (SD 289782), once a fulling and leather mill, for grinding hoes and other ironware. Forth Winter became bankrupt in 1779. The history of Wellhouse Forge after 1768 is unclear, but it may have become the Bardsea (corn) Mill, whose 2-storey building stands, though now used for other purposes. The site of Whitewell Forge is near a derelict stone industrial building, which may be related to the original forge. It was subsequently Ulverston Low Mill, used by a firm of cotton spinners at least from 1799. The Matson and then Morland family had iron ore mines on their land called Titcup in Dalton in Furness by the 1730s.

Sources Lancaster Gazette, 11 Dec. 1802; 8 Sep. 1821; 12 Oct. 1822; 29 Nov. 1823. Natland

[43] SD51909082

Davies-Shiel placed a ‘bloom forge’ at this location. His own records refer to an ironfoundry being established by John Wilkinson of Wilson House. His source was a newspaper cutting, reportedly taken from Kendal Mercury, 21 Jan. 1865 (but in which I failed to locate this). This quoted a lecture to the Kendal Mechanics Institute in 1825, largely about the foundry of Edward Winder at Gatebeck. This account seems garbled (conflating John Wilkinson with his father Isaac). However, it is conceivable that it records the location of John Wilkinson’s experimental furnace (see Wilson House). Sources Davies-Shiel 1998, 49; Kendal RO, WDMDS/ PC/8/207. Redbeck Forge or Low Smithy

[37] c.SD312818

Sources Lancs RO, DDX 379/2; Kent History & Lib. Centre, U813/E10-14; U813/T64; U813/T52/3; London Gazette, 11964, 3 (2 Jan. 1779); Barrow RO, BDB 42/6170; BDX 209/7/3/3 & 6-7; BSUDU/L/3/30-1 & 60; Fell 1908, 246; Awty 1957, 104; cf. Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969, 263; Marshall 1958, 51; Park 1932, 39-43, printing Lancaster Gazette, 4 Jan 1806.

John Lindow had a plating forge on his own land at Pennybridge. In 1774 he sold this to John Dixon of Sparkbridge (a carpenter) and his blacksmith son of the same name. The latter made a will in 1813 devising it to his son a third John Dixon. His daughter and heiress mortgaged it calling it a spade forge in 1846. A mortgagee sold it in 1849 to J.P. Machell. It was converted to a saw mill in or by 1875.

Woodland Grove

Sources Lancs RO, DDMc 12/88; cf. Lancaster Gazette, 27 Nov. 1802. Rosside Spade Forge

This site was first recorded by M. Davies-Shiel, but was incorrectly thought to be the Woodland Forge (q.v.). This water-powered site has produced a remarkable collection of finds from two phases. Two blooms (90kg and 15kg) of low carbon iron, tap slags and large cakes of refining slag indicate a first phase of bloomery smelting and bar iron production. The furnace had a lower casing of local stone with an upper lining of high alumina firebrick and fireclay. The later phase, probably dating to the end of the 17th century, produced cast iron using coke fuel, with low-iron black glassy slags. There is no evidence for the refining of the cast iron. The form of the later furnace is not known, but it seems unlikely to have been a blast furnace. Large trapezoidal bricks which have been heavily fired might suggest a form of reverberatory structure. This is currently an enigmatic site.

[38] SD272788

This stands on Barn Beck in Ulverston and is said to have been built in 1773 and to have operated until about 1930. The works was expanded on its centenary in 1874 and Rosside Spade Forge Co registered “S & B” as a trade mark. The initials were those of Salthouse and Barrow of Ulverston, who advertised for spade makers in 1795 and 1815. The partnership of Elijah and Thomas Salthouse and Thomas Barrow at Rosshead was dissolved in 1827. Sources Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969, 17 48-9 263; Cumberland Pacquet, 3 Nov. 1795; Lancaster Gazette, 22 Apr. 1815; London Gazette, 18393, 187; Sunderland Daily Echo, 9 Sep. and 14 Nov. 1874. Wellhouse Forge, Bardsea Whitewell Forge, Ulverston

[41] SD24809084

Sources Davies-Shiel 1998, 49; The Crucible 90 (2015), 15; 93 (2016), 5; Crew et al. 2017; P. Crew, pers. comm.

[39] SD299741 [40] SD298776

Thomas Ireland, William Matson, Forth Winter and others formed a partnership to manufacture iron at Well House at Bardsea near Ulverston in 1756. A second forge was built at Whitewell (adjoining Oxenholme Common at 602

42 West Cumberland and Beyond Introduction

Conway Port Books show some charcoal being shipped coastwise in north Wales in the mid-18th century.4 There was something similar in 1718 when the Cunsey Company bought wood in Wyresdale in mid Lancashire, allegedly in breach of their agreement with the Backbarrow Company.5

The iron industry in Cumberland was on a very modest scale in the 18th century. Duddon Furnace and the Millom area are best considered as an extension of the Furness area and thus appear in the preceding chapter. The area possessed two sources of ore. There are nodules of ironstone in seams in the coal measures of the West Cumberland Coalfield. This chapter focuses on the coalfield and its immediate vicinity, but occasionally strays into a rather wider area, including other parts of Cumbria and two ironworks beyond the Scottish border. There were also haematite deposits of the same kind that occur in the Furness peninsula. It is said the latter were largely unknown until the 19th century.1 Thus the 18thcentury industry in Cumberland may have been engaged in producing coldshort iron, as in the coalfields of the Midlands and South Wales.

As in Furness, the use of bloomeries persisted throughout the 17th century. However much less is known of this than in Furness. Where detail is known, the personnel were the same as there, including William Wright and Gawen Braithwaite.6 A forge persisted until at least 1740 in Eskdale run by one of the Russell family, who forged iron for William Wood in around 1730.7 The earliest furnace (apart from that at Flimby, whose history is not certainly known) was one at Cleator where Richard Patrickson and Thomas Addison conducted experiments in the reduction of iron ore with pit coals in 1694. The contemporary mentions of this refer however to a forge, but this may be imprecise language. Little is known of this venture, but the possibility of buying 1,500 tons of ore per year must imply that a furnace was intended. It seems very probable that the period of the furnace’s use was brief, closing probably in 1702.8 Certainly, it was not listed in 1717. Patrickson and others built a forge at Canonbie in Dumfrieshire in 1699, at the point when Cleator Furnace reverted to charcoal. This struggled on until it came into the hands of William Wood.9

West Cumberland had two major disadvantages compared to those areas. Firstly it was a very long way from the great markets of the Midlands, although freight in coasters was very cheap compared to carriage on land. Secondly the supply of charcoal seems to have been rather limited. The coast is exposed to west gales and most of the uncultivated land was therefore moors rather than woodlands. It is unlikely there were sufficient woodlands for more sustained production to iron with charcoal to be possible. Unusually ironstone was not just mined for use by local ironworks but was also exported by sea to distant places. An important early source of iron ore was the Langhorn or Langarren mine, of which Thomas Addison and Ann Heber were lessees in the late 17th century, perhaps from 1667 to 1711. In 1716-9, destinations for ore from the Bigrigg mine included Wexford, Wicklow, Limerick, Dublin and Belfast.2 In the late 18th century, furnaces along the west coast of Britain were the main recipients of this trade. This trade is discussed in more detail in the preceding chapter.

The next furnace was built at Little Clifton in 1723. It seems normally to have used pitcoal to produce cast iron goods. The date of its erection is probably significant as Abraham Darby’s patent for his method of casting pots expired in 1721. The partners included Isaac Cookson of Newcastle and Edward Kendall of Stourbridge, who soon after became the owner of the Cradley Ironworks and a partner in the Cheshire ironworks. The managing partner was John Williams, previously of Stourbridge. The partnership also had a foundry at Gateshead and later built Whitehill Furnace in Durham. Isaac Wilkinson was a potfounder at Little Clifton, before he moved to Backbarrow. I have found no references to it supplying pig iron to any forge, which suggests that the furnace was (like Darby’s Coalbrookdale) exclusively engaged in the foundry trade throughout its life.

The ironworks of West Cumberland were few in number. All of them seem at various times to have used or tried coke. Charcoal was also imported into the area from southwest Scotland. Bringing charcoal such a distance is unusual, but the ironworks of Furness did so in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.3 They may have taken over a trade that had ceased to go to West Cumberland after coke the replaced charcoal there. This trade is unusual, but the

4 5 6 1 2 3

Young 2007. Fletcher 1881, 18-19; Carlisle RO, D/Lec/240/mines. Fell 1908, 137.

7 8 9

603

TNA, E 190, Conway port books for 1748-62. Lancs RO, DDMc 30/17, 24 Nov. 1718. See bloomeries gazetteer, below. King 2014b, 171. Tyson 1999. MacDonald 1999.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

604

Chapter 42: West Cumberland and Beyond Map 42. West Cumberland and beyond. 1, Brigham Forge, Keswick; 2, Canonbie Ironworks; 3, Cleator Furnace; 4, Clifton Furnace; 5, Dalston Forge; 6, Flimby Furnace; 7, Low Mill, Egremont; 8, Netherhall or Ellenfoot Furnace; 9, Seaton Ironworks; 10, Blencarn Forge; 11, Branthwaite Forge; 12, Brougham Forge; 13, Eskdale Forge; 14, Holme Forge, Beckermet; 15, Langstrath Bloomsmithy; 16, Muncaster Head Bloomsmithy; 17a&b Bridgfoot Forges; 18, Cleator Forge; 19, Cleator Steelworks; 20, Crawick Forge, Dumfries; 21, Distington Forge; 22, Frizington; 23, Greta Forge, Keswick; 42, Lanefoot Forge, Lamplugh; 24, Warwickbridge Forge; 25, Wath Forge; 26, Lowca Works.

The availability of coal was no doubt one of the factors that attracted William Wood to the area. Its remoteness from the Stock Exchange in London was probably a stronger inducement, since part of his objective was to make a profit from stockjobbing (manipulating the price of the company stocks on the Exchange). After his son Francis conducted experiments at Bellingham in Northumberland and obtained a patent for a novel ironmaking method, William built air furnaces at Frizington, to use this reverberatory process. He succeeded in producing some iron with coal, but it was extremely bad iron. Ultimately, nothing came of the business, except possibly some profits from stock jobbing. After Mines Royal Company, financing him, withheld further funding, he applied for a charter for a £1,000,000 Company of Ironmasters of Great Britain. In the course of agitation for this and after William Wood’s death, the government paid for a trial of the process at Chelsea, led by his son Charles. However, the smiths commissioned to test the product rejected it as very difficult to work. This made the proposal to incorporate a Company politically impossible, despite Sir Robert Walpole’s previous support. Walpole perhaps owed Wood a favour, following the failure of Wood’s Irish halfpennies project. Kingsmill Eyre, one of Walpole’s minions, who had been involved in the project, obtained his own patent in 1736, but failed to revive Frizington. If the process had worked, it would have revolutionised the iron industry. Several of Wood’s sons (including Charles and Francis) and later Kingsmill Eyre were made bankrupt. Ultimately the implementation of the project was fraudulent, but it may have provided a substrate for Charles’ later success at Low Mill.10 It is probably mere coincidence that Joshua Gee mined iron ore at Frizington from c.1748, to supply Bersham Furnace in Denbighshire and thus his forges in Shropshire. This concerns Frizington Demesne, not the Frizington Park and Frizington Moor, where Wood had operated. Gee had Daniel Stephenson as a partner from 1749, but he became bankrupt. Gee came in 1753 and remained 10-11 years,11 giving up his ironworks in Shropshire in 1755 to retire to Frizington and manage the mines.12

leases to Peter How (a Whitehaven merchant), Charles Wood, Gabriel Griffith and William Hicks included iron mines, but strangely, they apparently had no furnace. The forge, built in 1749, was initially an ordinary finery forge, probably mainly refining pig iron imported to Whitehaven from America as ballast for tobacco.13 When R.R. Angerstein visited Low Mill, Charles Wood referred to experiments in (probably) a reverberatory furnace, but allowed no one access to his new works: Charles presumably hoped to succeed where he and his father had failed 25 years before.14 Charles seems to have developed this plant for recycling imported scrap and then for the potting and stamping process. He and his brother John patented this in 1761 and 1763. The forge was offered for sale (including the use of the patent process) in 1764 and again in 1770, but was probably then converted to other purposes. Despite the firm having a mining lease, there is nothing to indicate they produced their own pig iron. The firm also built Dalston Forge near Carlisle in 1756. Brigham Forge at Keswick, advertised for sale with it in 1764, may also have been associated.15 Netherhall or Ellenfoot Furnace in Maryport, the other new ironworks of the period around 1750, was built in 1752 by James Postlethwaite, William Lewthwaite, William Postlethwaite, with Thomas Hartley and three other Whitehaven merchants. It was probably not an enormous success, as several partners exchanged their shares for annuities in the 1760s. The firm was latterly known as Hartleys and Atkinson and closed in 1783, a considerable portion of the company’s capital having been lost. The furnace was bought by Humphrey Senhouse, the landlord for £600. He was perhaps willing to pay this to free himself from the obligation only to sell ironstone to Netherhall. This coincides with a relative becoming a partner at Seaton. Seaton Furnace was built in 1763 on Barepots Meadow beside the River Derwent by Spedding, Hicks and Co and operated successfully for many years, and developed into a substantial integrated ironworks with two furnaces a double forge and mills. The first furnace operated from 1763 using charcoal. The use of charcoal probably continued in some degree at least until the 1790s, but from 1766 the works also consumed considerable quantities of coal from part of a seam that was found to be sufficiently sulphur free to permit this. In 1781, Sir James Lowther

The shortage of pig iron, as the industry began to pick up about 1750, enabled two further ironmaking operations to be started. Low Mill Forge near Egremont remains somewhat obscure. It is however an exceptionally important site, as the place where Charles Wood developed his potting and stamping process of making bar iron from pig iron. The

Forge: q.v.; ballast: Middleton 1953, 170. Angerstein’s diary, 288. 15 Adverts for the Keswick Forge and Bishops Forge at Dalston are successive items in Newcastle Courant, 11 Aug. 1764. 13

10 11 12

King 2014b. Fletcher 1881, 19-21. Birmingham Archives, 278121; King 2011b, 78.

14

605

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Crosthwaite (the parish where Keswick is), entered into a bond in 1788, implying it had ceased to be a forge by then. Manorial surveys indicate that the property was freehold, owned by John Blakey in 1820 and 1830 and Richard Metcalfe in 1837, but give no more details. The date of erection of the forge is unclear: it could have been as early as 1741, when Charles Wood settled in Keswick, but a date in the early 1750s (after Low Mill) is more likely, as it does not appear in the 1750 list. Its date is unlikely to have been as early as 1624 (as Davies-Shiel thought). The mill is on the river Greta, about a mile east of Keswick. Various mill buildings remain at the end of Forge Road, mostly now in residential use.

was annoyed to find that the lease required him to sell coal to the furnace at shipping prices, not the higher landsale price. He accordingly stopped pumping out his mines, thus allowing his collieries at Flimby, Seaton and Clifton to flood. This led to the flooding of Cookson’s colliery and thus the closure of Little Clifton Furnace.16 After Humphrey Senhouse bought out the Netherhall lease, J.T. Senhouse became a partner, perhaps enabling access to resources, to replace those made unavailable by Lowther’s spiteful action. The firm thus became Spedding, Hicks, Senhouse, and Co in about 1784. Coke, as already mentioned, took an early strong hold on the industry, but, after the closures of Little Clifton and Netherhall Furnaces, Seaton remained the only furnace in the area until the erection of Lowca Ironworks (perhaps only a foundry) in about 1799. The Seaton Company closed and sold its works in 1819. It was almost certainly by then not engaged in making charcoal iron. The works were held by Tulk, Ley & Co from 1827 to 1850 and were then intermittently in use as a tinplate works until 1890.

Sources Phillips 1977, 3 26; Newcastle Courant 11 Aug. 1764; cf. Kendall RO, WD AG/Box 59/5; Whitehaven RO, DMW 11/1-3; DMW 11/366; DMW 1/90; Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969, 247; Davies-Shiel 1998, 49; Gross 2001, x & 49. Canonbie Ironworks Dumfriesshire

The iron industry in West Cumberland was, in the 18th century, never on more than a very small scale and was probably mainly concerned in supplying local markets, with some export of iron to Ireland and elsewhere. There were few finery forges, except those associated with Low Mill around 1760. There were a number of spade forges from the late 18th century, which may be may be compared to a similar development in northern Ireland where it began around 1780, no doubt to provide the appropriate tool for the cultivation of the potato. The history of Dalston Forge, about six miles southwest of Carlisle, after the failure of two of the partners in 1763 is not entirely clear, by 1789 it had a spade forge, probably subsequently using scrap iron as a raw material.

The precise nature of this ironworks remains unclear. The works were set up in 1699 by Richard Patrickson of ‘Calbrodie’ (Cumb); Thomas Fawcett, a clockmaker of Eaglesfield, Egremont; and Charles Russell, a hammerman of ‘Cumunlee’ (Lancs), with a 19-year tack of lands from the Duchess of Buccleuch and the right to take wood over 10 years for £1,500. However the partners ‘broke’ in 1702. The estate advanced £115 to John Davidson (the previous partners’ manager) to enable him to continue the works, but they were continued until about 1711 by William and Joel Russell (Charles’ sons and guarantors). The next tack was to William Hall of London and Thomas Davies in 1712, later joined by Captain Robert Child, but they were in arrears in 1715 and surrendered the works with its stock to the duchess. The third forge contract was in favour of John Henry Boock, a London merchant, and Thomas Dod of St Martins in the Fields. ‘Dod and Partners’ paid rent until 1729. By that time, possession of the works had passed to William Wood and his son Charles, who used some asset at ‘Canaby’ in Scotland as security for a loan by the Company of Mineral and Battery Works to in 1728. In December 1728, Wood sent his millwright to ‘Canonby’, presumably to prepare it to forge iron made by his process. Dodd may be the man who moved to Whitehaven to set up a much needed ‘nailery and some other iron manufactory’ in October 1725, having been broken by an iron furnace he set up in the borders of Scotland. Simon Routledge was living at the forge when he died in 1739.

General sources: Fletcher 1881; Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969; Lancaster & Wattleworth 1977; Wood 1988; Beckett 1981. On specific works: MacDonald 1999; Hughes 1965; King 2014b.

Gazetteer Charcoal ironworks Brigham Forge, Keswick

[1] NY281239

Brigham or Brigholm was the site of the copper works of the Company of Mines Royal, under Elizabeth. Phillips listed this as a bloomery, but only indicated that it existed, which could be right. However a newspaper advertised the sale of a finery forge at Keswick in 1764, capable of making 150 tons per year. This is immediately before an advert for Dalston Forge, suggesting they were in common ownership, probably that of Peter How & Co, most of whose partners were bankrupt. Benjamin Banks and John Edmondson, fullers of cloth, both of Brigham Forge,

16

[2] about NY3976

The Duke of Buccleuch’s agent told Kalmeter in 1719 it consisted of a smelting house and four forge hammers. An inventory in 1715 had included pouring dishes, a grindstone, 84 harrow teeth and iron, including ‘sprouchlie’ (Spruce i.e. Prussian iron) suggests the production of agricultural implements. The smelting side sounds more like a large bloomery forge, than the more usual furnace

Wood 1988, 76.

606

Chapter 42: West Cumberland and Beyond and forge. However, Patrickson & Co may originally have set up a finery forge to use pig iron from Cleator.

by Isaac Cookson, who settled in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1704, and his brother William (died 1744). Isaac was active in the iron industry there, as a partner in a foundry on Old Trunk Quay in Gateshead and also involved in the salt, glass, and lead trades there (see chapter 5). The furnace was being built in 1723 and throughout its history belonged to partnerships that included members of the Cookson Family. From 1729 it belonged to the same partnership as the Gateshead Foundry, the partners being Isaac Cookson of Newcastle, Joseph Button of Gateshead, Edward Kendall and John Williams both of Stourbridge. From 1735 Cookson and Williams held Thomas Salkeld’s neighbouring colliery from which they supplied the furnace with coal and ironstone. Shortly before that lease expired sale particulars for the manor extolled the ‘only pit coal found in Europe yet found out so free of sulphur as to be able to be made use of in making iron’. The partners then made a contract for coal with Sir James Lowther. John Button’s 3/16ths was offered for sale on 1760. From 1757 to 1781 the firm was usually called John Cookson & Co, but from 1769 to 1775 Cookson, Hodgson & Co. Isaac Cookson had been succeeded by his son John in 1744. Williams and John Hodgson regularly occur as associates of Cookson in businesses near Newcastle, including Whitehill Furnace at Chester le Street and Derwentcote Forge and Steel Furnace. Edward Kendall’s son Jonathan sold his share in them to John Cookson in 1758. The furnace was managed by Richard Bell in 1778. A later Sir James Lowther closed his collieries in the area in 1781. This was to spite the Seaton Company, who held him to clauses in their lease requiring him to provide them with coal at the price at which he shipped it, rather than a higher price he was charging Cookson & Co. This led to the flooding of all local mines and deprived the furnace of its raw material. The furnace was offered for sale in 1783 by John Kendall, the last mention of it.

Sources MacDonald 1999; Kalmeter in Scotland, 19; King 2014b, 167 170; TNA, PC 1/4/106/57; Carlisle RO, D/Lons/ W2/1/68, 22 Oct. 1725; D/Lons/W2/1/72, 27 Dec. 1728; D/ Lons/W2/1/74, 20 Feb. 1729[30]; PROB 1739/AX26. Cleator Furnace

[3] NY014131

There were a furnace and forge on the River Ehen at Cleator near Egremont. According to Fletcher the furnace was in use by Richard Patrickson in the final years of the 17th century. The furnace seems to have begun with mineral fuel about 1694 by two of the promoters of the Company for Running Iron with Pitcoal, but went over to charcoal for a few years from 1699. Very little is known of this venture, but it was probably not a great success. The furnace was considered by Schubert to be a large one. The purchase of 1,500 tpa ore for it was contemplated in 1697: only a blast furnace could use this quantity. The furnace is reported to have turned back to charcoal latterly, before closing in the first years of the 18th century. Nothing is known of its trading, but possibly 20 tons of Lawton pig iron sold to ‘Mr Addison for new furnace’ in 1696/7 (Cheshire a/c) may have been for Cleator. Richard Patrickson’s failure in 1696 to pay the rent for his iron ore ‘steath’ [staith – a loading place], may have been a result of these difficulties. However, M. Davies-Shiel (pers. comm.) considered these events to relate to another furnace. Patrickson’s involvement at Canonbie suggests that the furnace may have operated until 1702. It is conceivable that it was revived in 1749, when some of the partners in Low Mill leased iron mines, but the inclusion of Joseph Bowes of Clifton Furnace (probably a manager there) may indicate that Clifton was the local customer. The furnace was at some stage converted to a corn mill but remained substantially intact until in relatively recent times, when the core of the stack was taken out to improve the house into which it had been converted.

Size and Trading In 1738 it made 120 tons annually, of which 50 to 70 tons were sent to Newcastle, presumably for use at their Gateshead Foundry (Beckett 1981, 1267). The furnace was originally intended as a coke furnace, but occasionally used charcoal. The product of the furnace in the 1750s was described as ‘iron pots and other utensils of iron’. There is no evidence of the production of pig iron for forges or of any association with a forge. The furnace was entirely engaged in producing cast iron goods and foundry pig iron. This is confirmed by the employment of Isaac Wilkinson worked at the furnace prior to his moving in 1735 to Backbarrow, where he was employed as potfounder. The furnace and its coal were of course not quite as unique as claimed: the use of coke by Abraham Darby at Coalbrookdale antedates that at Clifton by about 15 years. In 1756, Joseph Bowes of Clifton Furnace sold metal pans and a ‘parcel of clean furnaces’ to Daniel Mussenden, a Belfast merchant (Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, list for D 354/713 & 724). Bowes (perhaps a clerk, rather than a partner) was a partner (with members of the Lowmill Company) in iron ore mines near Egremont in 1749 and 1753, suggesting the furnace used mine from there.

Sources TNA, C 6/319/80; Tyson 1999, 4-10; Fletcher 1881, 9; Schubert 1957, 371; Hainsworth 1983, letters 165 167 267 375 382 406 409 etc.; J. Cherry in Post-Medieval Archaeology 16 (1982), 226; P.J. Brown, pers. comm. In King (2002a, 40), I went too far in attributing this to the Company for Melting Iron with Pitcoal, rather than to some of its officers. Clifton Furnace Little Clifton

[4] about NY062281 or NY059279

The furnace stood in Little Clifton on the banks of River Marron a few miles west of Workington. It has not been possible to determine its site exactly because of the absence of early maps or deeds. It is possible that its site has been destroyed by the railway (Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969, 250-1), but its existence is recalled by ‘Furnace House’ on higher ground above the site. It stood on land acquired 607

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Associations The Cookson Family held Derwentcote Forge, County Durham in the late 18th century and held Gateshead Foundry and Whitehill Furnace in the same period. There is nothing to link the forges on the river north of Bridgefoot (q.v.) in the early 19th century with the furnace. They were plating forges making spades.

Size 1764: one finery and one chafery, capable of 150 tpa; it presumably sold iron to local markets. Trading Liddell & Lewthwaite bought 27 tons of Backbarrow pig iron in 1787 (BB a/c) and 60 tons from Lorn in 1786 (Lorn l/b), but its main supplies of pig iron are likely to have come from Netherhall, where William Lewthwaite was a partner, or from Seaton.

Sources Carlisle RO, D/Cu/4/221; D/Lons/W3/9, f.221-45 (liberty to get sand for Clifton Furnace); D/Lons/W2/7678 and 99, Nov. 1735 to Mar. 1737[8], passim; 7 & 18 Apr. and 9 May 1736; ‘Newcastle partnership deeds’; Cookson l/b; Warden 1927?; Angerstein’s diary, 286-9; Chevalier 1947, 61-2; Fletcher 1881, 9-10; Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969, 39-41 250-1; Lancaster & Wattleworth 1977, 19-20; Beckett 1981, 126-7; Wood 1988, 32-3 36 76; Newcastle Courant, 10 Jan. 1756 and 26 Jul. 1760; Cumberland Pacquet, 23 June 1778 and 21 Oct. 1783; Riden 1992c, 41; Cranstone 1997, 20.

Sources Carlisle RO, DRC, survey list 20; DRC 2/1601; DRC 2/42-5 & 48; D/Hud/8/27; Newcastle Courant 11 Aug. 1764 and 22 Jun 1776; London Gazette, no. 11633, 3 (20 Jan. 1776); 17742, 1786 (1 Sep. 1821); Cumberland Pacquet, 22 Apr. 1789; Tyne Mercury, 13 Jul. 1819; Carlisle Patriot, 13 Sep. 1828; 10 Jan. 1829; 19 Apr. 1865; Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969, 48 240.

Dalston Forge or Bishop’s Forge

Flimby Furnace

Ellenfoot Furnace see Netherhall

[5] NY371494

A leat from the river Caldew originally provided power for the Bishops Mill in Buckabank township, Dalston. In the early 19th century this drove four mills, respectively the Bishops Forge, the Bishops Mill, a Walk Mill and a mill spinning cotton. The second and fourth of these are largely intact, although not fulfilling their original purpose. The walk mill is marked only by a small waterfall in the leat. The forge stood on the east side of the leat, but has been demolished to make way for a small estate of houses known as The Forge, which also covers the site of its pool. At the head of the leat is a sluice-gate which was largely intact in the 1990s.

[6] NY039336

This furnace, marked on older large scale O.S. maps, is still standing beside Furnace Gill. It is in an area that has been extensively mined for coal where there are uncapped mineshafts, so that the area is dangerous and should not be visited. Davies-Shiel thought it operated briefly in the 1720s, but that the charge solidified, clogging the furnace, which was accordingly soon abandoned. However, this seems to be a conclusion from the presence of bloomerylike slag. He may have assumed that it was associated with William Wood’s process. However, I have found nothing whatever about this mentioned in the extensive Lowther/ Spedding correspondence, though coalmining there is mentioned. What sources Davies-Shiel may have had is not clear, but it is possible he drew false inferences.

The forge was built in 1756 by Peter How & Co of Low Mill, Egremont, most of whose partners were bankrupt in 1763. Precisely who owned it after it was advertised in 1764 is unclear. Charles Wood and another disposed of some interest in the forge in 1767. It was advertised again in 1776, including the share of John Banks (who was bankrupt); John Brown of the forge would show it and particulars were also available from Mr Dawson at Keswick and others. By 1777 Joseph Liddell and one Lewthwaite were the Bishop’s tenants, but only Musgrave Lewthwaite from 1792. Thomas Watson became his partner in 1803 and then sole occupant in 1807. The Watson family remained lessees until 1845, but probably underlet the forge. Liddell & Lewthwaite advertised for spade makers in 1789, as did Barnes & Weir in 1819. Robert Barnes retired from his partnership with William Weir as iron and spade manufacturers in 1821. John Watson took over the business in 1829. However, it was in the occupation of John Dover when advertised to let in 1844. In 1845 it was bought by George Cowan and belonged to his family for several generations, Jacob Cowan & Sons Ltd being incorporated in 1937. It is reported to have continued operating until modern times, probably until its site was sold for housing development. Davies-Shiel reported some remains in a garden in c.1968.

Another possibility is that this was the ironworks in Cumberland of Walter Colman of Cannock in Staffordshire, who according to Thomas Chetwynd, his partner there, ‘received sums [of money from him] and went into Cumberland and Ireland and became a dealer in ironworks and there as a partner with some in those countries ... received great losses.’ Colman left for Ireland in 1612, but had sent a wood collier called Richard Goodman from Cumberland to Abbey Hulton a few years earlier. Walter Coleman occurs in relation to Sir Richard Boyle’s ironworks in southern Ireland. Sources HMS News 25 (1993), 3; 26 (1994), 2; King 1999a, 68; M. Davies-Shiel, ‘Flimby’; cf. Carlisle RO, D/ Lons/W2/1 (not mentioned); P. Rondolez, pers. comm., citing inter alia National Archives of Ireland, Lismore papers. Low Mill, Egremont

[7] NY007087

As the place where the potting and stamping process originated, and one not used for any later ironmaking process, this is an exceptionally important archaeological site. Michael Bell, who lives at Low Mill, told me that 608

Chapter 42: West Cumberland and Beyond excavations had revealed a series of channels under the row of cottages that stands end on to the river, which suggests that they represent one of the forges. It is most unfortunate that the importance of the site was not appreciated, when some archaeological investigations were undertaken in 2008 in advance of a flood prevention scheme.

flourishing the said metal’; a building with an air furnace for castings and a mill for grinding and preparing clay for bricks and pots; the purchaser would have liberty to work under the patent of Charles and John Wood (1764 advert). The description in a 1770 advert differs little from that.

The forge was on the river Ehen in a place still known as Lowmill, which was parochially in Lowside Quarter of St Bees parish, but probably in the Lordship of Egremont and close to (even straddling) the boundary of St John, Beckermet. Angerstein’s description of it as two miles south of Egremont confirms the location. The forge was built in 1749 by Peter How & Co (or the Lowmill Co), How’s partners being Gabriel Griffiths, Charles Wood (son of the notorious William Wood) and William Hicks. The forge lease was surrendered in 1789 being then described as in decay. Two of the partners had become bankrupt in 1763, as a result of the failure of a firm of tobacco importers, in which Peter How was concerned. Charles Wood moved to Wales and was in Merthyr Tydfil by April 1766, and William Hicks became a partner in the Seaton Company. Fletcher reported that workmen also went to Merthyr Tydfil. William Nicholls managed the forge after Wood left. After it was advertised for sale in 1770, he applied in 1771 to be employed at Ford Forge, a plating forge in Northumberland near Coldstream. The forge was presumably converted in c.1770 to the paper mills shown on a 1774 map. However, the 1749 lease was only surrendered in 1789. It was described in 1795 as having been a ruin. By 1829, a flax mill had been burnt down and rebuilt for sail cloth manufacture. The some of the present buildings at Low Mill (now converted to houses) could be those of the forge.

The associated mining company paid royalties on sufficient ore for a furnace making up to 700-800 tpa (Carlisle RO, D/Lec/240/Mines/Peter How), but it is not clear where their furnace was, or even if they had one. Charles Wood and his brother John in 1763 obtained a patent for an the early process for making iron with raw coal, following one obtained by John in 1761 for making malleable iron from pig iron with pitcoal, probably the first potting and stamping process (Patents: Daff 1972, 12; Morton & Mutton 1967, 723-4). This was partly on the basis of experimental work carried out by Charles Wood, which must have been done at Low Mill (Gross 2001, 26 & 27 Jun. 1766). Charles Wood travelled through the Midlands in 1754 with Gabriel Griffiths and made a diary of his trip (Gross 2001, 219-24). Amongst other things they saw Charles’ brother John Wood at Wednesbury. The diary refers to the use of pots and furnaces, and also compared the method processing clay at Stourbridge for making glasshouse pots and bricks (evidently firebricks). This suggests that potting began both at Low Mill and Wednesbury before 1754, as a process for recycling scrap. Most references to John Wood’s Wednesbury Field Forge (established c.1740) imply that its feedstock was scrap iron. Associations Dalston Forge was built by the same partnership in 1756. Brigham Forge was probably also theirs. A lease for iron mines was granted to Peter How, Gabriel Griffith and two others in 1749, and at the same time a lease of coal mines to Peter How and Charles Wood. The lessees of the iron mine quit in 1765 and the Carron Co made a proposal to take a lease, Lord Egremont having bought in the colliery lease ‘to prevent its falling into improper hands’ (Wood 1988, 69). Most of the partners were tobacco merchants, who would have received pig iron from Virginia as ballast for tobacco (cf. Middleton 1953, 170). Angerstein says that the forge used English and Virginia pig iron and scrap was mostly purchased in London, coming from Holland where old nails, locks keys and rusty iron were packed in barrels.

Size In 1754 Angerstein found three forges and a slitting mill. One was a standard finery forge with two fineries and a chafery, using English and Virginia pig iron. Another only had a chafery, ‘in which iron, welded together from old scrap iron in a wind [i.e. air] furnace, is heated for drawing down under a hammer’. This used old nails, locks, keys and other rusty iron, which was scoured in a mill (like those at the wire mill in Wales) and then placed in closed clay pots in the ‘wind furnace’. Charles Wood refused access to another furnace, like those for ‘copper-smelting at Bristol and in Wales’, where he was experimenting with ‘a new method of smelting iron ore’ (Angerstein’s diary, 286-9). Possibly this was a further attempt to use his father’s failed process, on which see Frizington, below. Wood carried out experiments in 17523 and 1761, describing the furnace he built (Gross 2001, 199-219). In 1764, there were a forge with two fineries and a chafery capable of making 300 tpa; a slitting mill; a building with a hammer, a chafery, and four air furnaces, ‘which are now used in making all kinds of pig and cast metal, as also scull and cinder iron, malleable with raw pit coal, which will make 500 tons of blooms yearly with coal only’; a building with two stampers ‘for preparing metal for two air furnaces, under the same roof, for

Trading Nothing is known apart from a few sales of bar iron to local collieries (see Wood 1988, 49). Sources Fletcher 1881, 18; Beckett 1975, 263; 1981, 129-31; Caine 1916, 221-2; Angerstein Diary, 287-9; Newcastle Courant, 20 Oct. 1764; 29 Sep. 1770; Carlisle RO, D/Hud/8/40-1; D/Lec/60/26; /18/23; cf. /60/16A, /240/mines/How; /16/50-56; /265/206; TNA, C  54/6160, nos. 3-6; Northumb RO, 2/DE/16/1/15-16; Wood 1988, 36 49; Hutchinson, Cumberland II, 83-4; Cracknell 2008; Howitt 1889, 17.

609

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Netherhall or Ellenfoot Furnace Maryport

[8] NY034362

charcoal pig iron was supplied to Mitton Forges in north Worcestershire (SW a/c; Ince 1991b, 117). In the course of the excavation of the 17 coke ovens, some charcoal was found (Cranstone 1989, 120-1). Sale particulars in 1783 refer to coal houses able to hold a year’s supply of charcoal or coke. There is very little reason to store so much coke and it is not really necessary to keep it in a building; this too suggests a charcoal furnace. Charcoal was certainly initially its fuel (Carlisle RO, D/Lec/50/timber). Several of the partners were also partners in Broughton Colliery from 1760 (ibid, D/Lec/65/10), but this have been an independent venture or merely to provide ironstone for the furnace.

The names above were applied to the furnace in contemporary documents; ‘Maryport’ was not. It stood a short distance from the mouth of the River Ellen in what is now the town of Maryport, but which then hardly existed. The lease allowed the proprietors of the furnace to make the river navigable from the furnace to the sea. The furnace was built in 1753. The original partners were James Postlethwaite of Cartmel, William Lewthwaite of Kirkby Hall, William Postlewaite of Kirkby, Thomas Hartley, John Gale, Edward Tubman and Edward Gibson all Whitehaven merchants. They probably contributed £500 each to the capital, the company having power to borrow another £2000. The company operated successfully in its early years, so that shares changed hands at about 60% premium over their original value during the 1760s. As a result of John and Thomas Hartley granting annuities to some of their partners in exchange for their shares, a considerable part of the Company came to be theirs. Thomas Atkinson was at least latterly the manager and the firm was therefore referred to as Hartleys and Atkinson.

Sources Whitehaven RO, Senhouse, estate management: furnace; Cumberland Pacquet, 1 Apr. 1777; 11 & 18 Mar. 1783; Leeds Intelligencer, 8 Apr. 1777; Miller 2000; Schubert 1952; Tylecote et al. 1965; Beckett 1981, 131; Lancaster & Wattleworth 1977, 21-3; Fletcher 1881, 1012; Slater 1973; Wood 1988, 76 79; Cranstone 1989, 1201; Hughes 1965, 51 138. Seaton Ironworks or Barepots Works

The partners also involved in operating a coalmine, but it suffered losses, not necessarily in the iron trade, which left them financially embarrassed. The furnace was offered for sale in 1783, but seems not to have reached its reserve. In the latter part of the year, a sale was negotiated to Humphrey Senhouse, the landlord of the works, who bought it early in 1784 for £600, excluding most of the stock. As Senhouse did not make use of the furnace himself and the price seems too high to pay just to be free of a nuisance, it must be presumed that his objective was to be able to sell his ore to Seaton Furnace, which was not possible under the terms of the furnace lease. Perhaps he was faced with the choice of closing his iron ore mines or buying the lease. An enquiry about renting the furnace in 1785 does not seem to have been followed up. The furnace was demolished in 1963. Its water-supply system is described in Slater 1973. The associated coke ovens were excavated in advance of the landscaping of the area. The furnace site was excavated in 1993 in advance of development.

[9] NY013294

This integrated ironworks was built on flat ground beside River Derwent, very close to Workington. The works was built in 1762 on land of James Lowther (afterwards Earl of Lonsdale) by Spedding, Hicks and Co (James Spedding, his land agent; William Hicks; Robert Walters; John Ponsonby; William Skyrin; and Richard Dearman). The latter seems to have been manager and later Skyrin’s executor. In the 1780s Joseph Tiffin Senhouse joined the Company, which was thereafter called Spedding, Hicks, Senhouse & Co. Ponsonby’s interest ceased on his bankruptcy in 1784. Senhouse was active in the management until at least 1799, but Joseph Walker was the clerk of the works. Spedding’s share was advertised for sale in 1789. In 1814, the works were offered for sale, as two of the principal partners James Dickinson and Robert Russell were not living locally, but they were not sold. The partnership of Speddings, Dickinson, Russell & Co was dissolved in 1816. The subsequent sale in 1819, managed by Robert Dickenson, was probably successful.

Associations A member of the Lewthwaite family was by 1777 interested in Dalston Forge near Carlisle, but not before 1763.

Adam Heslop who devised an improvement to the steam engine in 1790 came to Seaton shortly after and built engines for at least 13 coal pits, but then moved to Lowca in 1799, to establish his own works. His firm bought the works in 1819. After this, the works were held: Heslop, Milward, Johnston, and Co 1819-1827; Tulk, Ley & Co 1827-51; Henderson & Davis 1852-6; W.S. Smith & Co 1859-61; S.S. Briggs trading as Lonsdale Haematite Rolling Mills 1865-9; W.I. Griffiths 1869-1885; West Cumberland Haematite Iron and Steel Co Ltd 1885-90. The Mineral Statistics show a furnace in blast in 1857 only. The works were closed in 1890 and dismantled 1899. The leat serving the works, which still carries water, first served a corn mill. There are some industrial buildings near the site, as well as houses formerly

Trading In 1754, it was using a mixture of redmine from Ulverston and grey ore for the coalfield, making 14 tpw (Angerstein’s diary, 278-9). In 1756-70 a regular supply of pig iron was sent to the proprietors of Caerleon Forge, almost always 170 tpa. These sales are recorded as by John Scott Netherhall, perhaps Kelsall’s successor as clerk at Dolgun. That forge also occasional purchased Netherhall pig from Richard Seys, a merchant at Chepstow (Caerleon a/c). In 1783, a vessel was wanted to load pig iron for London. Iron bellows were obtained from Bersham in 1777, weighing 146 cwt. In 1778-80 a total of 46 tons of 610

Chapter 42: West Cumberland and Beyond occupied by workmen. Much of the works has however been demolished.

Mercury, 21 May 1819; Hughes 1965, 205; Chevalier 1947, 61; Wood 1988, 76 85 109.

Size A second furnace was built in about 1765 to produce coke iron for the foundry trade. By 1772 there was a double forge, a slitting and rolling mill, a foundry with several air furnaces, a boring mill and a grinding and turning house. The first furnace was intended to be a coke furnace, but satisfactory coal was not available and charcoal was in use. On about 1766 it was found that certain strata in a coal seam was sufficiently sulphur free and the company paid the extra cost of bringing up two varieties of coal separately. A 1779 advertisement mentions the production of cannon and a wide variety of other cast iron goods; as well as charcoal and coke pig iron; bar, rod, and sheet iron; and spades. In 1780 permission was granted to ship 120 tons of cannon and shot from Workington to Whitehaven for vessels fitting out at Whitehaven (Wood 1988, 109). These would be for merchantmen, as the firm does not appear in Ordnance Board Records (TNA, WO 47, passim). In 1790 there were one furnace, 3 fineries and a chafery. In 1788 a single coke furnace made 700 tpa; in 1796 240 tons; and in 1805 670 tons. The furnace was substantially rebuilt in 1813 and then said to be able to make 30-40 tpw, and there were a double forge and rolling mill.

Bloomeries Blencarn Forge

[10] NY65593132

William Wright was living at Blencarn by 1666 and is suspected to have had a forge there, though nothing is certainly known. Sources Phillips 1977, 26; 1977b, 38-9; Davies-Shiel 1969, 48; 1998, 49. Branthwaite Forge

[11] NY0625

This was the location of a forge, probably of 17th century date, but nothing is known of it. Sources Phillips 1977, 26; Davies-Shiel 1969, 48. Brougham Forge

[12] NY536291

A bloomery forge was built by Francis Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, in 1619 initially under the supervision of John Wright and the Earl’s steward, George Goodgion. Iron involved in its construction came from Tanfield. In 1633, following Goodgion’s death about a year and a half earlier, the forge was leased to William Wright, who lived at the castle and was at Brougham until 1650. After the estate was inherited by Lady Anne Clifford, Wright surrendered his lease and it is probable that the forge was not subsequently used.

Trading 1764 & 1767 Richard Seys of Chepstow (a merchant) supplied Seaton pigs to Caerleon Forge (Caerleon a/c). In 1774 150 tons of best charcoal pig was sent to Burton Forge, Staffordshire (Lloyd 1975, 194-5). In 1772-95 (with gaps) charcoal pig iron was supplied to the Stour Works partnership, mainly to Mitton Forges in North Worcestershire, the amount twice exceeding 200 tpa; the vendor was ‘Richard Dearman’ in 1781-9, but previously Samuel and Sampson Freeth, who were probably both Birmingham ironfounders, acting as factors (SW a/c; Ince 1991b, 118). The furnace was approached as a potential supplier by the proprietor of Glanfred Forge, Cardiganshire (Glanfred l/b). Spedding Hicks & Co owed money for ore from Whitriggs Mine in 1780 (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/1/4). In 1786-9, the furnace used ore from the Crossgates Mine, of which James Spedding was a lessee (Kendall 1893, 18) and ironstone from J.C. Curwen’s Workington mines (Workington a/c). The company made piston rods for Boulton & Watt’s engines in 1778-80 (Birmingham Archives, MS 3782/1/2, f.93 and related journals).

Sources Spence 1991; Phillips 1977, 35-8; Davies-Shiel 1998, 49. Eskdale Forge

[13] SD14709928

Mr Russell had a forge operating in Eskdale by the late 1720s and it was still operating in 1740. It used charcoal, but material was exchanged with William Wood’s works (using mineral fuel) at Frizington. While at Eskdale scrap iron was added to the very bad iron made at Frizington, improving its qualities somewhat (see under Frizington). Sir James Lowther suggested that the forge could be used in connection with Payne’s iron project in 1740, so save the cost of building a forge. A letter of 1736 alludes to a discussion between Mr Stanley and Mr Russell as to what the rent should be, 40 shillings or a crown. This appears to confirm that the forge was in Stanley’s manor of Birker.

Accounts None known but there is a file of invoices from the Company in Senhouse papers (Whitehaven RO, D/ Sen), another in the Curwen Papers (ibid., D/Cu/5/11), and two letters concerning the purchase of charcoal in 1763 (ibid., DH/564).

John Russell was a customary tenant of property at Austhwaite Field called Howhow in that manor until 1748, when he sold it to Henry Kendall gent. He sold it in 1751 to John Viccars, who by 1754 was holding ‘Howe Powe’. John Viccars seems to have enfranchised it and other property in c.1771. A later John Vickers sold the property to Lord Muncaster in about 1900 as

Sources Lancaster & Wattleworth 1977, 24ff; Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W/unlisted, Seaton Ironworks; DX BRA 93/5; D/ Lec/333/Bradyll; London Gazette, no. 12592, 6; 12576, 6 (both 1784); 13130, 593 (8 Sep. 1789); 17123, 608 (30 Mar. 1816); Cumberland Pacquet, 26 Oct. 1779; 26 Jul. 1814; Manchester Mercury, 2 Aug. 1814; Liverpool 611

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Bridgfoot Forges

the Forge and Swordshouse. However this concerns the descent of a farm, not a forge. The forge probably closed when Henry Kendall (presumably the partner in Dudden Furnace) bought it, probably to eliminate a rival user of charcoal. This was probably one of the latest bloomeries to operate in Britain, but its history remains obscure. The site is now known as Forge Farm. A possible leat ends at the farm buildings, which may thus be on the site of the forge.

There were two spade forges at Bridgfoot. The lower one (at Reelfitz) probably belonged to the Lowthers, whereas the upper (at Cat Bank) did not, but they collected a rent for a weir on the river Marron, for an iron plate forge, from Henry Braithwaite from 1787 until at least 1803. Henry offered for sale it and an inn in 1811. Joseph Braithwaite paid the weir rent in 1827, and until this rent was disposed on in an exchange in 1832. William Braithwaite advertised for a spademaker in 1871.

Sources Phillips 1977, 3 27; Beckett 1981, 126; King 2014b, 171; TNA, PC 1/4/106, f.49v-50; Carlisle RO, D/ Lons/W2/1/102, 10 Jan. 1740[1]; Whitehaven RO, DPen 320/26; cf. DStan 3/1; DPen 146/1; DPen 172; Barrow RO, BDKF 231/1/2, 1 Oct. 1748; 5 Nov. 1751; and 1771 and 1772 rentals; D. Cranstone, pers. comm. Holme Forge, Beckermet

It is not clear when the lower forge was built, but it was probably the manorial corn mill of Clifton, bought by one of the Lowther family as part of the manor in the 1750s. It was still used as a corn mill in 1803. By 1824, it had become a forge, occupied by Mead & Co (or Mead & Heslop). They were succeeded in about 1827 by Joseph Allinson & Co. In about 1839, that firm became Richard Allinson & Co until 1844 and then Samuel Lindow & Co, all those being probably alternative names for Little, Allinson and Lindow of Cleator and Wath Forges. The status of the dam was called into question in 1867, when John Lindow stated that he and his brother had occupied the forge for 28 years in succession to their father who had had it for 14 years (i.e. since 1825). Both forges remained in use at least until the late 19th century as spade manufactories. Both sites have surviving buildings, though now mostly domestic in use.

[14] NY01850643

This was the location of a (bloomery) forge, probably of 17th century date, but nothing is known of it. However, R. & H. Curwen had a spade forge, late of Thomas Braithwaite, at the Holm near Beckermet in 1829 and R. Curwen, a Whitehaven ironmonger advertised that he was making spades in 1825. It is thus possible that its identification as a bloomery is mistaken. Sources Phillips 1977, 26; Cumberland Pacquet, 5 Apr. 1825; 8 Sep. 1829. Langstrath Bloomsmithy

[17a] NY055293 and [17b] NY059295

[15] NY26731153

Sources Carlisle RO, WDMDS/PC/2/60-71 and PC/32/724.

Sources Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W5/21-56, and D/Lons/ L3/2/243-79 passim, s.v. Clifton; land tax, Little Clifton; Cumberland Pacquet, 19 Nov. 1811; Carlisle Journal, 20 Sep 1867; Whitehaven News, 23 Mar. 1871; Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969, 48 251.

Muncaster Head Bloomsmithy

Cleator Forge

This bloomsmithy is known as an archaeological site.

[16] SD 1428 9891

This is one of the few bloomery forges to have been excavated. It was built by William Wright of Brougham and William Pennington of Muncaster on the latter’s land in 1636 with three hearths, two of them ‘fineries’. Initially they were to be equal partners, until they had used 3,200 cords, of which half had been bought by Gavin Braithwaite from the Stanleys. After that, Pennington had the option of being a partner or leaving Wright to run it alone. The forge was still working in 1660. It is conceivable that this, rather than the site identified above, was been Mr Russell’s Eskdale Forge that was still operating in 1740.

[18] NY013131

Cleator Plating Forge existed by 1756 when its masters, Joseph Woodall, Thomas Reveley, and Jonah Lindall employed John Bartolomew, a plater to make spades. Nothing further of this is known until 1792, when Jonas Lindow was described as ‘of Cleator iron manufacturer’ in a lease to him and John Litt of iron mines in much of Egremont from the Earl of Egremont. Jonas and John Lindow renewed the lease in 1795. Jonas Lindow junior (a partner) was bankrupt in 1815, but survived this. In 1818, the lease was renewed by Abraham Little, Jonas Lindow junior, Thomas Little and Joseph Allinson. Accounts (from 1818) show Little, Allinson and Lindow using it as a plating forge producing spades and shovels. A partnership was expired in 1822, but the business was evidently continued by some of the partners. Jonas Lindow bought the freehold in 1841. It was still in operation in 1916, the firm being S. & J. Lindow in the 1890s. During the period, 1818-38, for which accounts survive, these products were made from plates drawn out at Wath Forge and were sold through Joseph Allinson’s warehouse at Whitehaven.

Sources Tylecote 1968; Tylecote & Cherry 1969; 1970; Whitehaven RO, DPen 185/1; Phillips 1977, 27; 1977b, 37-8; Davies-Shiel 1998, 49; Awty 2019, 711. Other ironworks There may have been more plating forges for spades in Cumberland than are listed here.

612

Chapter 42: West Cumberland and Beyond Sources Whitehaven RO, D/Lec/240/misc/Service agreements; D/Lec/18/23; YDGO/Burns Lindow, box 10, 1795 1818 and 1841; D/Lin/2/7/1-2; cf. YDX/56 (letters to Allinson); London Gazette, 17003, 712 (15 April 1815); 17858, 1628 (5 October 1822); Cumberland Pacquet, 18 Apr. 1815; 26 Jan. 1819; 5 Sep. 1895; Marshall & DaviesShiel 1969, 48 (photo: p.17) 234. Cleator Steelworks

Sources Whitehaven RO, DBH 36/3/5/8-12; Whitehaven News, 11 Apr. 1861; cf. Davies-Shiel 1998, 49. Frizington

William Wood’s activities at Frizington began with Thomas Baylies visiting Whitehaven in 1723, looking for a source of ore, probably for furnaces in Denbighshire. After his son, Francis Wood devised an ironmaking process at Bellingham in Northumberland, patented in 1727, the process was transferred to Frizington, and an ambitious works was erected on Frizington Moor. The process, patented by Francis in 1727 and William in 1728, involved heating coal dust and ore together in a reverberatory furnace. William Wood had high hopes for it. If it had worked, he might have replaced iron imports (then substantial) with his products. He financed his operations by advance sales of his iron, which (he claimed) would be as good as Swedish. The buyer was the (amalgamated) Society of Mines Royal and Company of Mineral and Battery Works, by that stage a largely moribund company. It issued new shares to fund the business. When Wood failed to supply iron, raising the financiers’ suspicions, they declined to make the second call on the new shares, and thus the next advance to Wood, who was deprived of anticipated capital to complete the works.

[19] NY020137

In 1792 John Read of Sheffield refiner petitioned for licence to build a weir across the river Ehen to build a forge. A lease for 63 years was granted. This was evidently connected with a steel works built by Read & Co at Cleator about the same time. In 1794 Lucas, Read & Co of Cleator negotiated with the Lorn Furnace Co for charcoal dust. The Lucas named was probably Edward Lucas, who patented a process for making steel in a cementation furnace from haematite and charcoal. The partnership of Samuel Lucas, Edward Lucas, John Read and James Bedford was dissolved in 1797, the business to be continued by John Read & Co. Steel production ceased in 1799 and the works were converted to a flax mill. Sources Fletcher 1881, 17; Caine 1916, 217 219; Carlisle RO, D/Lec/265/298; D/Lec/leases/18/19; Barraclough 1984(1), 10; 1984(2), 85-87; Lorn l/b, 6 & 22 Aug. 1794; London Gazette, no. 14065, 1098 (14 Nov. 1797); English patents nos. 1869 1915. Crawick Forge, Dumfriesshire

Wood then sought the incorporation by royal charter of the Company of Ironmasters of Great Britain, with a capital of £1,000,000. This affair was continued after Wood’s death in 1730 by his sons and others. The king directed a trial near London (carried out beside the road to Chelsea), but ultimately, its proponents were unable to demonstrate that they were making good iron. The best of their product had a black fracture. When tested by smiths, the iron (if it should be allowed the name) was worse than ordinary redshort iron. Iron, which had been taken from Frizington to Eskdale Forge to be reworked with scrap iron, emerged with white flecks on its fracture, but was only a little better. In 1732 and 1733, those sons involved in the project William Wood junior, Francis Wood, Charles Wood and William Buckland (a son-in-law) were made bankrupt. Kingsmill Eyre, one of their financiers and minion of Sir Robert Walpole, attempted to continue, and took out his own patent in 1736. He was protected from imprisonment for debt by holding a minor government office and residing within the verge of the Royal Court, but took the benefit of the Bankruptcy Acts in 1738. Nevertheless, experience gained in experimentation during this period may have enabled Charles Wood to develop his potting and stamping process, on which he experimented in the 1750s at Low Mill, Egremont and which he operated successfully in the 1760s.

[20] NS77511093

John Rigg of Dalston was persuaded by the lessee of Sanquhar coal pits in 1772 to set up a tilt mill for spades and other implements. It still belonged to the Rigg family in the 1830s and to James Rigg & Sons in 1914. Sources Shaw 1974, 426; www.gracesguide.co.uk, s.v. James Rigg & Sons; Statistical Account of Scotland x (1794), 450. Distington Forge

[22] NY03451780

[21] NY011201

Richard Bailiff of Prospect Hill, Distington entered into a partnership in 1778 with Thomas Martin of Whitehaven, Edward Martin of Workington (both whitesmiths) and William Smith (a Workington blacksmith) to build a forge 30 feet by 22, on Gunnerdale Beck (now called Stubsgill Beck). Bailiff withdrew from the partnership in 1779. The Prospect Hill estate was purchased by Peter Peel, whose will gave an annuity to his relative Mary Martin, but it is not clear whether she was related to the forge tenants, or even who did occupy the forge, but it still was a forge in the 1860s. It was advertised for sale with Prospect House and Stubsgill Farm in 1861. The foundations of the forge survive, together will a dry mill-head. Davies-Shiel placed the site at NY01822292, claiming it as a 17th century bloomery, but (improbably) using coke fuel.

Sources King 2014b, from TNA, PC 1/4/1/5-6; Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W2/1, various; etc.; Fletcher 1881, 13-16; English Patents nos. 489 502 and 553; previous accounts of this subject include Treadwell 1974; Beckett 1981, 12730; Flinn 1961.

613

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Greta Forge, Keswick

[23] NY266238

from late 1820s. A large sale of the stock took place in 1840.

Robert Richardson, a Keswick blacksmith, bought land beside the river Greta, just north of the town centre of Keswick and in 1790 built a forge, probably for plating, also buying further land in 1791. Peter Crosthwaite seems to have bought some adjoining land about the same time and built a bark mill, which apparently operated from the same head. Richardson was succeeded by his widow Jane in 1826. Following her death in 1841, the forge was sold. It may be Isaac Sealby’s edged tool works of 1847. It was advertised to let in 1849. The 1841 purchaser was probably Robert Gibson and in 1903 it formed part of the property of Margaret Gibson (owner of the surviving pencil manufactory). It was sold again on the death of her nephew in 1907. The forge was presumably incorporated into the pencil factory. It had by 2014 been converted into flats called Greta Court.

Sources Caine 1916, 221-2; Whitehaven RO, D/Lin/2/7/12 (Cleator accounts); Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969, 48; Cumberland Pacquet, 26 Jul. 1785; 5 Jan. 1813; 26 Jan. 1819; 31 Mar. 1823 and 5 May 1840; London Gazette, 17858, 1628 (5 October 1822). Coke ironworks Cleator, Clifton, Seaton, and Netherhall Furnaces all used coke, at least at times, but have been included in the charcoal section above. This leaves only one works to be considered here, a foundry. Lowca Works

The Lowca ironworks were established in about 1799 by Adam Heslop with his brothers Crosby and Thomas and other partners, when Adam left Seaton ironworks. They laid the foundations for two blast furnaces, but quickly abandoned them, though continuing a foundry. In 1819, as Heslop, Milward, Johnston and Co (Adam and Crosby Heslop, Edward Johnston, Thomas Milward, Mary Stead, and Betty Ritson), they bought the Seaton Works. The two works subsequently worked together until at least 1839. The foundry made railway engines for the Maryport and Carlisle Railway (opened 1838). The works is not listed in Riden and Owen’s British Blast Furnace Statistics. This indicates that it does not appear in any of the lists they used, which in turn confirms that the works was no more than a foundry, which is how it is marked on O.S. 25-inch map, surveyed in 1861. More recent maps suggest the site has been covered by colliery waste.

Sources Carlisle RO, BD 1/83-93; Whitehaven RO, DMW 2/80; DBT/A/72, Margaret Gibson – will and estate account; cf. Whitehaven RO, DMW 11/365/1; DMW 1/2, deeds of 1790 and 1791; Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969, 247-8; Cumberland Pacquet, 25 Sep. 1849; cf. Asquith 2011. Lanefoot Forge, Lamplugh

[28] NY066205

William Nicholson of Lanefoot Forge advertised for a spade and edged-tool maker in 1804. This belonged to W. & A. Nicholson in c.1847. Sources Cumberland Pacquet, 17 Jul. 1804. Warwickbridge Forge

[25] NY474569

Sources Lancaster & Wattleworth 1977, 31-2; Wood 1988, 128; Fletcher 1881, 16-7.

In 1817, Joseph Robinson offered Warwickbridge Forge near Carlisle for sale. This was apparently water-powered, though another advertisement in 1819 describes it as a smiths shop. Sources Cumberland Pacquet, 20 May 1817; 26 Jun. 1819. Wath Forge

[27] NX891213

[26] NY027140

This originated with a 40-year lease of a piece of land to Thomas Dixon and John Colquhoun in 1782 to build forges. The business was evidently not a success as Colquhoun became bankrupt in 1786. D. Robinson advertised for a hoe and shovel and maker in 1785. Soon after it was sublet to Thomas Allinson, and James Atkinson later occupied it with him. In 1813 the forge, late of Perry & Little, was continued by Little, Dodgson & Allinson. By 1818 the firm had become Little, Allinson & Lindow, who used it to make the plates, which were made into spades and shovels at Cleator. However, their surviving accounts only concern business carried on at Cleator. It closed sometime in the late 19th century. The firm also had a forge at Bridgfoot

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Part VII Scotland

43 The Scottish Highlands Introduction

was prohibited by Parliament in 1607 to preserve woods, perhaps in response to what was going on in Ireland. An exception was made for Sir George Hay in 1610. Three sites have been identified for his activities: Red Smiddy at the mouth of the loch, Furnace at Letterewe halfway along it and Fasagh at the head of the Loch.

The 17th and 18th iron industry in the Scottish Highlands may be seen as a form of colonial development by outsiders. Locals were no doubt employed as woodcutters and carriers, but the necessary capital and technical expertise came from outside the region. The highlands are by their nature an area where land travel has traditionally been difficult: there were very few good roads. There has long been a considerable network of packhorse trails, but the first network of broader roads was not built until the central government deemed it expedient for pacifying the highlands in the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. Today the last remnants of the Caledonian Forest are carefully preserved. It is not easy to be certain how extensive this forest really was in the 17th and 18th centuries.1 Other considerable changes have been made to the land as a result of the highland clearances, to make way for sheepwalks and deer forests. Previously crofters had collected seaweed as a source of alkalis, but the invention of new chemical means of making alkalis artificially rendered them redundant.

The name, Red Smiddy, suggests a bloomery, but excavation has revealed a blast furnace. Letterewe has not been excavated and the remains are indeterminate, but the name ‘Furnace’ and documentary sources referring to the production of ordnance imply that it was also a furnace. The remains at Fasagh include anvil blocks, implying the site was a forge of some kind. It has been suggested this was a bloomery, but its association with blast furnaces makes it probable that it was a finery forge, producing bar iron from their pig iron. Sir George Hay returned to the lowlands in 1616 or 1617 and the works would appear to have been laid down. The works were probably revived about 1626 when James Galloway and Nathaniel Woodward obtained a patent enabling them to manufacture ordnance in the Highlands. They took the Earl of Seaforth as a partner and a forge and ironworks at ‘Letter iu’ are mentioned about 1634. In 1634 Galloway and Richard Ferrear obtained a monopoly of steel manufacture in Scotland and Galloway was appointed master of the royal mines in 1641. By 1661 the mines at Letterewe were defunct. This appears to mark the end of these works.

Clearly the prime attraction of the Highlands to the iron industry was the presence of a considerable amount of wood. Ore was not readily available in any great quantities: bog iron ore was probably the basis of the early 17thcentury industry around Loch Marree in the far northwest, supplemented by clayband ore from Fife and Cumbrian haematite. The Abernethy works were supplied from a vein of ore near Tomintoul, the high cost of winning this perhaps being one of the causes of the failure of the those works, but the grave indebtedness of the York Buildings Company cannot have helped. Glenkinglass used bog ore from Jura and Islay. Bog ore was sought for Invergarry, but not used in significant quantities. The bulk of the ore used at Invergarry and the later Lorn and Argyll works was the Furness peninsula in North Lancashire (now Cumbria). In this respect these works were part of the Furness industry like those along the coast of north and west Wales.

Sources Lindsay 1977, 49-53; Lewis 1984, 435-6 & 439445; Shaw 1984, 87-9; Awty (2019, 743-6) places the industry of this period in its wider British context. Other early ironworks There are several other sites where ironworks were built or at least considered in the 17th century. These include a smelting house built by the Laird of Edzell to exploit iron ore he found near the wood of Dalbog. Archibald Primrose of Edinburgh held office as clerk of the mines from 1611 to 1614, with licence to make iron in Perthshire. An iron mill on the River Arkaig in Lochaber is mentioned in 1688. The site is not known, but the implication is that it was a bloomery forge. Works were built by John Meikle about 1686 for ‘founding ... balls, cannon and such other useful instruments’. The casting of balls might be by remelting scrap cast iron in a forge hearth, but the casting of cannon would suggest a furnace.

The Early industry Loch Maree Red Smiddy Letterewe Fasagh

[1] NG861798 [2] NG958805 [3] NH011654

The first furnaces in Scotland were built on the shores of Loch Maree near Poolewe in Wester Ross. Iron making 1

Source Lindsay 1977, 53-5; Butt 1966, 193.

This issue is addressed in Smout et al 2004; Smout 2005.

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Map 43. Scottish Highlands. 1, Red Smiddy; 2, Letterewe; 3, Fasagh; 4, Achray Forge, Mentieth; 5a&b Abernethy Ironworks; 6, Argyll Furnace; 7, Glenkinglass Furnace; 8, Invergarry Furnace; 9, Lorn or Bonawe Furnace.

Achray Forge, Mentieth

[4] perhaps c.NN501063

Two of the ironworks, Abernethy and Invergarry, were on inland sites and were not built until the iron industry was beginning to enter a recession in the late 1720s, as a result of the arrival of large quantities of cheap Russian iron in England. These were unprofitable because of the lack of good sources of local iron ore and the enormous cost of carriage in getting the product to market. The attraction was evidently the low price of the wood, but it must be doubted if the works could have been profitable, even if the wood had been free. Additionally the relatively undeveloped state of the local economy probably made the erection of the works more expensive than it would have been in England. At Invergarry the situation was made worse by clash of culture between the resident agent who regarded his home as a place of privacy, and local clansmen who expected to act as courtiers to their chief. This ended with the murder of the former and the consequent execution of some of the latter. Both works were abandoned in the mid-1730s due to the losses incurred. In the case of the York Buildings Company at Abernethy, the Company suffered from other problems, particularly severe indebtedness.2

A forge near Achray east of Loch Katrine produced iron from ore and Dutch scrap. It was probably therefore a sort of bloomery forge. The Loch Katrine birchwoods were sold to John Smith and John Irvine, both from Ulster, and in 1722 the forge was held by John Gordon, James Graham, and a number of Scottish merchants. The wood contract ran until 1729. An account was prepared on the death of a partner in 1738. The works were clearly short-lived and may have been built in response to the high price of iron at the time of the Swedish embargo. In 1726, Mr ‘Rawlinson’ a partner in ironworks ‘near Liverpool’ [presumably the Backbarrow partner] negotiated for it. A claim to wood under the 1710 contract was rejected in 1748. Source Lindsay 1977, 55-6 from Scottish RO, RH 15/120/91; GD 234/5/10; GD 220/6/1659; RH 9/17/182.

The Later Industry The main period of the use of the indirect process began after the suppression of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. Achray (above) may be seen as transitional between these two periods. Each of the ironworks was founded on the basis of a contract for the sale of woods by a local landowner or clan chief. The period readily divides into two phases:

The remaining three works were built very close to the coast. Glenkinglass and its successor at Lorn made use of the woods of Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochnell. Argyll Furnace those of the Duke of Argyll. Glenkinglass Furnace used bog iron ore from Islay and Jura, but very little is

• 1715-40 Glenkinglass, Abernethy and Invergarry • 1750-1870 Lorn & Argyll.

For York Buildings Company generally see Murray 1883; for Invergarry, see Fell 1908, 343-89. 2

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Chapter 43: The Scottish Highlands known of its activities. The two later furnaces mainly used redmine from Furness. This was supplemented in the early years of the 19th century, at least at Lorn by ironstone from the Lowlands. The builders of Glenkinglass were from Dublin. Lorn was built by the Newland Company, with mines in Furness and ironworks between Ulverston and Coniston Water. The Argyll Furnace Company was closely connected to the Duddon Company (but perhaps not identical). Both these furnaces and later Dovey Furnace on the west coast of Wales belonged to partnerships led by Jonathan and Henry Kendall, who were also the Cheshire Ironmasters, owning most of the ironworks between Cannock Chase and the Mersey.3

records of the Lorn Company do not survive, so that only a little can be said about the activities of Lorn Furnace. It is unlikely they differed much from the company’s business in Furness. General Sources Lindsay 1977; Lewis 1984; Fell 1908; Dawson 1995. Gazetteer of Charcoal Ironworks Abernethy Ironworks furnace: [5a] NJ004204 (?) or Coulnakyle forge: [5b] NH999210 (?) or Strathdown [Strathdovern]

Except for Achray and Abernethy, there were no forges in the region in this period. It is not known where pig iron from Glenkinglass went, but a forge in Ireland is likely. The two later furnaces (and also Invergarry) were engaged in supplying it to forges in England. In the case of Argyll up to 1781, these included forges in the Staffordshire and Cheshire belonging to an associated partnership. The Newland Company’s only forges were in Furness where their Newland Furnace would have provided the pig iron needed. Accordingly, Lorn pig iron was mostly sold to third parties, particularly those who had forges near the coast in South Wales or the River Severn. Earlier, the trade of Invergarry Furnace had been similar.

In 1729 The York Buildings Company bought 60,000 trees in Abernethy and Kincardine from Sir James Grant of that Ilk. The full name of the company was the Company for Raising Water from the River Thames at York Buildings. It was a waterworks undertaking in the West End of London. The Company had increased its capital to £1,200,000 in 1719 and bought from the government a number of Scottish estates forfeited as a result of the 1715 Jacobite rebellion. However the shares were not fully paid up and dividends were paid despite the lack of profits. Annuities were issued to provide further capital in 1721; and bonds in 1724. The company was unable to meet its debts as they fell due, meaning it was insolvent. This led to litigation from the mid-1730s, as to which class of creditor had the first claim on its assets. The company was thus for many years operated for the benefit of its creditors. Many of the Scottish estates were sold in the 1780s, often to the heirs of their former owners, but the company was not formally dissolved until 1829.

Freight (by ship) amounted to a mere fraction of the cost of land carriage. The furnaces were therefore placed close to the coast, so that iron ore could be shipped in and pig iron shipped out, almost to and from the furnace door. The erection of additional forges near Newport in Gwent was probably stimulated by the availability of tough pig iron shipped coastwise, not only from Scotland, but also northwest England and west Wales. This was rather too tough for some purposes, but either alone or blended with local coldshort could be used to make excellent tinplate. This was the foundation of that important Welsh industry.

The company hoped to supply masts to the navy, but none of its timber was fit for that. It also cut the timber and floated it down the River Spey; there were two saw mills to process the timber. The ironworks were in operation during 1730, but were probably closed from 1735. Benjamin Lund managed the ironworks, but Thomas Baylies (a Quaker, previously at Coalbrookdale and then a partner ay Vale Royal) is also mentioned. The works consisted of a furnace and perhaps two forges. The works were not profitable and the best management could hardly have made them so. They were built at a time when the iron industry was entering a depression; and they were too far from any market to be profitable without major (but economically unviable) transport investment. Iron must have been carried fifty miles by road to the coast (unless carried down on timber rafts) and then shipped to Edinburgh or Newcastle, where they would be in competition with Swedish and Russian imports. The site is thought to have been near the confluence of the Rivers Nethy and Spey. Part of the works was exposed by flood in the 1830s, but has disappeared again. Forsyth places the furnace at Balnagowhan, which suggests that it preceded the saw mill there.

While the Midlands was accessible by water by way of the river Severn, it was not accessible to ships suitable for use in the open sea. Tough pig iron to be consumed in the Midlands was therefore dispatched to merchants at first at Bristol, and later at Chepstow for sale. From there, it could be taken in trows to Bewdley or even further upstream. Some Invergarry pig iron reached Mathrafal in Montgomeryshire, which involved taking it to Pool Quay, the head of navigation on the Severn. Argyll Furnace was discontinued in the early 19th century when the wood contract expired. Lorn Furnace continued in use until 1866, a few years after the original contract was renewed. Throughout its life it shared the fortunes of its proprietors, the Newland Company, who were the last producers of charcoal iron. Unfortunately few of the

3

Size The forge had 2 hammers; perhaps 2 chaferies; 2 fineries; and a bloomery in 1734 (Forsyth 1897, 192).

See chapters 12 and 13 also 39 and 41.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Trading The ore came from Lecht Burn (NJ238159) near Tomintoul. 100 tons of pig iron from Invergarry were bought in 1730, but were never fully paid for (Invergarry a/c). They were presumably the ‘Glengarry pigs’ noted by Murray (1883, 64). The works’ own product was described as ‘Strathdown pigs’ (ibid.).

Duddon) and/or one of his sons Joseph and Richard is not clear. Joseph was the Kendalls’ managing partner at Beaufort in south Wales from 1797. Trading The main function of the furnace was undoubtedly to supply pig iron to the Cheshire Ironmasters’ forges in Cheshire and Staffordshire. Pig iron was also supplied to the Stour Works partnership intermittently in 1761-3 and 1781-1801 (SW a/c). The date 1781 is significant, being the year when the Kendall family largely withdrew from Cheshire. In 1782 the Stour Works partnership used 378 tons of Argyll pig iron (SW a/c), which must have been a very substantial part of its output. In 1785-90 ore was bought from Crossgate in Furness (Kendall 1893, 18). Kendall, Latham & Co bought Stenton and Whitriggs redmine from 1787 to 1799 (BB a/c). Henry Kendall & Co owed money for ore from Whitriggs Mine in 1780 and 1782, separately from William Latham [of Duddon] (Barrow RO, DDHJ 4/3/1/4-5). It also used Workington ironstone in this period (Workington a/c).

Sources Fraser 1883, 1, xcix; Murray 1883, 63-5; Macadam 1887, 126-8; Forsyth 1897; Lindsay 1977, 5960; Lewis 1984, 445; Shaw 1984, 411; King 1993, 10; Scottish RO, GD 248/135/1 passim. Argyll Furnace [6] NN027001 or Craleckan, Goatfield, or Inveraray Furnace The furnace is very well preserved. Like Dovey Furnace, it has given its name to the village. The stack is intact, but some of the lining has collapsed inside. The casting house is intact, with a corrugated iron roof. The blowing house is roofless. Also like Dovey Furnace, the furnace was filled from a floor over the bellows chamber. A charcoal house and another associated building stand nearby. For some reason the wall round the top of the stack is crenellated. The furnace is even closer to the sea than those at Lorn and Glenkinglass. One of the lintels bears the legend ‘GF 1755,’ probably standing for Goatfield. The date 1775, which is often quoted from Fell, must be due to a misprint.

Sources NLW, Castell Gorfod 61; cf. NLW, Maybery 255; Awty 1957, 71 108-9 & 112-3; Fell 1908, 411-2 (but his date of 1775 is a mistake); Hume 1977, 150-1; Lindsay 1977, 61-2; Lewis 1984, 438-9; Macadam 1887, 129-31; Caledonian Mercury, 13 Jan. 1810. I have not investigated the archive of the Dukes of Argyll at Inveraray Castle. Glenkinglass Furnace

The furnace was built in 1755 to use the Duke of Argyll’s woods. The composition of the Argyll Company is by no means clear. The firm was usually known to outsiders as Henry Kendall & Co, implying that Henry Kendall of Ulverston managed this furnace with Duddon. A few payments relating to the furnace appear in the accounts of Duddon Furnace, probably for the same reason. A share in the company was bought by the Cheshire Ironmasters (Kendall and Hopkins) sometime between 1771 and 1775. This could have been shares of William and Edward Bridge (who became bankrupt). After the death of Henry Kendall the firm was known as Kendall, Latham & Co, the partners probably being the owner of Duddon Furnace and the next generation of the Kendall family, who established the Beaufort Ironworks in south Wales. The original contract provided for three cycles of coppicing. Fell states it was blown out in 1813. This might be a little too late as the Duke’s chamberlain advertised the furnace as to let from Whitsuntide 1812.

[7] NN082371

The furnace stands about a mile above where the River Kinglass enters Loch Etive, a sea loch. It was built, probably about 1722, by an Irish company who had purchased a tract of woodland from Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochnell. This was one of a series of contracts made by the Dublin-based Glenorchy Firwood Company, to exploit Scottish woodlands in this period. The original partners were Capt Arthur Galbraith of Dublin and Roger Murphy of Enniskillen tanner. They were joined in 1723 by Charles Armstrong and in 1724 by William Ketlewell in this. Later Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochnell and Daniel Campbell of Shawfield appear to have been partners. The furnace probably closed about 1738. The base of the stack is intact. Where it adjoins a raised beach, which was used as the charging platform, it is preserved to above the boshes. Much of the hearth is in situ, but parts (including the tuyere) have been removed to the museum at Lorn Furnace to preserve them. The space between the hearth and the walls of the furnace is filled with sand. Above the boshes there would appear to have been no more lining, as there are signs of vitrification on the walls. The foundations of the casting house survive, but the blowing house has been washed away. The furnace was excavated by Lewis in 1979, because of fears that further erosion by the river would wash the furnace away. Boulders, then placed in the river bed adjoining the site, appear to have stopped erosion. Indeed it is possible that most of the past erosion occurred on just one occasion, when the weir broke. The site is well worth a visit, but suffers from the disadvantage of being seven miles from

Size 1788 700 tpa; 1791 450 tpa; 1796 300 tpa; 1805 and 1810 out of blast. It has been suggested there was a forge at Craleckan, but there is no obvious site for one, nor is any listed in 1790. Furthermore the presence of one would be contrary to the current practice of having pig iron made in a remote area and then shipped elsewhere for fining into bar iron. Accordingly, the existence of a forge is improbable. Associations The activities of the Kendall family are explored in chapters on 12, 13 and 41. Whether the Latham who was a partner was William Latham (the manager of 620

Chapter 43: The Scottish Highlands the nearest tarred road, though there are good tracks to within a short distance of the site.

number of persons, most of whom had forges in South Wales or the Midlands. John Beckett disposed of 667 tons, without naming who bought it (accounts). However, in their own accounts the Stour Works Partnership record the use in their forges of 338 tons over several years, mostly after the closure of the furnace (SW a/c).

Trading The furnace used bog ore from Jura and Islay and redmine imported from Lancashire. This was smelted with locally produced charcoal. Except that some castings supplied to the York Buildings Company’s lead works at Strontian, nothing is known as to where the pig iron was used.

Accounts Invergarry a/c are complete journals and ledgers for its whole life, 1727-36.

Sources Lindsay 1977, 56-7; Lewis 1984, 445-64; Hume 1977, 146-7; Shaw 1984, 90 422; Smout et al. 2004, 34261; Smout 2005, 90.

Sources Fell 1908, 343-89; Scottish RO, GD 1/168, passim; Barrow RO, DDHJ 2/3/10; Hamilton 1963, 18991; Lindsay 1977, 58-9; Lewis 1984, 437 & 445.

Invergarry Furnace

Lorn or Bonawe Furnace

[8] NH313010

Invergarry Furnace was a failed attempt at expansion by the Backbarrow Company, with additional partners. Glengarry woodlands were bought from John Macdonnell of Invergarry by Thomas Rawlinson in 1727. He formed a company to build and operate the ironworks, consisting of his father and brother (both William), his brother-in-law Charles Ormiston, John Maychell (another Backbarrow partner), Anthony Wilson and Benjamin Ayrey (clerks at Backbarrow), John Spedding (James Lowther’s Whitehaven agent), and William Jackson. Benjamin Ayrey sold his share to some of the other partners in 1732 and was therefore the only one of them who saw any of his investment again.

[9] NN009318

The furnace, like its predecessor at Glenkinglass, was built very close to the tidal waters of Loch Etive. The furnace is preserved as an ancient monument and is open to the public. The display in one of the charcoal sheds includes an Invergarry pig and two Lorn pigs. The ironworks was excavated by Lewis. Power was provided by a long leat from the River Awe, which led to a low breast-shot wheel. The stack and bridgehouse are substantially intact, having been reroofed in modern times. The top of the stack is reached from the floor of the bridge house by a flight of steps six or eight feet high. This presumably indicates that the height of the furnace was increased by this amount during its life, as charging would normally be from the bridge-house floor. Most of the lintels are inscribed ‘Bunaw 1753.’ The other is difficult to read. It might say ‘VF 1743’, the significance of this is not clear. Near the bridgehouse is an ore shed divided into four compartments. The two charcoal houses are also divided into compartments. The division was probably to ensure there could be a proper turnover of stock. In the case of the ore house, the division would also have enabled more than one kind of ore to be stocked. All of them are provided with doors high up in the back wall for filling them.

Like Abernethy, this furnace was built in the wrong place and at the wrong time: the industry was going into a recession, and the furnace was so far inland that carriage to and from the furnace was very expensive. The furnace was not brought into blast until the third year of the company’s existence. It never made a profit. In August 1736 the livestock was sold off and the rest of the stock written off. The woods that had not been cut were ‘left growing’. Unlike Abernethy there is no reason to suppose the works were mismanaged: the cost of the wood was very modest; and the value of the product usually exceeded its prime cost, in materials, wages and so on by about a pound per ton, even leaving the cost of buildings out of account. The remains of the furnace stand beside the River Garry about 600 yards from the bank of Loch Oich. There are some discernible remains of the furnace and slag heaps, but the site is overgrown with trees and undergrowth (Lewis). Size The accounts indicate production of 400-550 tpa, the typical size of furnaces of the period. The total made in five blasts was 2,425 tons.

Like Glenkinglass Furnace, this furnace owes its origins to a contract for the sale of wood by (the same) Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochnell, here for four cuttings or 110 years. The Lorn Furnace Company was identical with the Newland Company of Furness. Thus the Company was successively also as Richard Ford & Co, William Ford & Co, George Knott & Co, George Knott’s trustees & Co, and finally Harrison, Ainslie & Co. The furnace remained in the hands of this company throughout its life. When the wood agreement expired in 1863, it was renewed for 14 years, but the furnace was blown out in 1866.

Trading Some efforts were made to collect bog ore locally, but substantially the whole of the ore used in the furnace was imported from Furness. It came from a number of suppliers, not just the Backbarrow Company’s mines. Some cinders were brought from the Forest of Dean area. Well over three-quarters of the pig iron made was sold to or through agents at Bristol, first Nehemiah Champion then John Beckett. Nehemiah Champion sold the pigs to a large

Local managers included Mr Longmire (until 1790) and John Harriman (from 1791). Other names appear in the account of forges in the Stour valley: John Dixon, who supplied pig iron to Mitton Forges in the years 1771-6 from here and Sowley, was probably a general manager for the executors of William Ford & Co, rather than a local manager. However George Buckle, who supplied them from 1806 to 1810, may well have been another local 621

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II manager. In 1807 the supplier named was Pattin Mills & Co, probably merchants (SW a/c). Size 1788 700 tpa; 1791 450 tpa; 1796 600 tpa; 1805 400 tpa; 1810 in blast; 1825 and 1823/30 not listed; 1839 400 tpa; 1855 800 tpa. The furnace was only occasionally in blast in the 1860s and appears to have last been blown in 1876. Associations see Newland. Trading The furnace mainly used redmine shipped in from the Company’s mines in Furness; also in 1787-1801 ironstone from Workington (Workington a/c). In 1810 and 1812 it appears some ironstone from the Scottish Lowlands was in use (Lorn l/b, 18 Jan. 1810 & 2 Feb. 1812). A contract was made for wood with the 3rd Earl of Breadalbane at the outset. Towards the end of the century the resident manager was arranging the purchase of woods all along the west coast of Scotland, for example at Kinloch Moidart. Some of the charcoal from this source was sent to Ulverston for Newland. Pig iron, sold to the Stour Works partnership, was mainly for their Mitton Forges for much the half century from 1756; sales averaged 100 tpa over a long period and twice (in 1757 and 1768) exceeded 300 tpa (SW a/c). The managers’ letterbooks indicate the main customers in the late 18th century were forges in South Wales and Gloucestershire and merchants at Chepstow. Letterbooks of resident managers: Lorn l/b 1786-1812: very few letters are after 1800. The book for 178690 includes detailed reports to Matthew Harrison, the managing partner, on the furnace’s operation. Sources Fell 1908, 391-413 etc.; Lindsay 1975; 1977, 601; Lewis 1984, 438; Hume 1977, 150-1; Macadam 1887, 124-6; Robertson 1990.

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44 The Scottish Lowlands Introduction

the last years of the 18th century. At that time, David Mushet found that, by the use of a greater amount of limestone flux than was usual, it could be satisfactorily smelted.

In Ireland, the English wanted to clear the woodlands to prevent them harbouring rebels and bandits (or, if you prefer, nationalists). This was an aspect of their policy of settling the country. Ironworks made a more profitable use of the wood than just cutting it down and burning it; so that Ireland teems with 17th century ironworks.1 In contrast, the Scottish Parliament prohibited iron smelting in Scotland in 1609, with a view to preserving their woodlands. For this reason, the iron industry in the Scottish Lowlands hardly began before the late 18th century. There was an ironworks consisting of a furnace and forge probably built by one of the earls of Cathcart at Tarrioch, a few miles west of Muirkirk sometime in the early 18th century. Another forge operated at ‘Cannaby in the province of Annandale’ [Canonbie], but as it is closely associated with the industry in Cumberland, it is dealt with in chapter 42.2 Apart from these, the first ironworks in the Lowlands was also the first coke ironworks in Scotland: essentially, there was no charcoal iron industry in the Lowlands. All that existed were a few works concerned with processing imported iron, for the main source of iron in Scotland before the industrial revolution was imports from Sweden and Russia. This amounted to 1,000 tons per year at the beginning of the 18th century, rising to an average of 1,600 tons from 1720 to 1745, and then sharply to 3,800 tons per year in the period 1763-83.3

The earliest large scale iron industry in the Lowlands were largely iron manufacturing businesses, using imported iron. The Smithfield Company (founded 1734) had a slitting mill at Partick from 1738. Their Clydeside neighbours, the Dalnotter Company built a slitting mill in 1769 and a forge in 1773. On the other side of the country in 1750 a group of Leith merchants built a slitting mill at Cramond, just east of Edinburgh. This was sold to Samuel Garbett in 1759, and thus it passed to the Carron Company. In 1771 when William Cadell & Son withdrew from Carron, they took over Cramond Mill from the company. This slitting mill continued in use for a long period, with Thomas Edington as manager and then a partner.4 Neither of these involved a finery forge, but they did have a steel furnace from 1770. The Carron ironworks was a large integrated establishment, built in 1760 and possessing the only finery forge in Scotland. The production of bar and rod iron was however a minor activity of the company, whose main products were cast iron goods: cannon, water pipes, stoves, engine cylinders, and much else. This forge was thus the whole of the Lowland Scottish charcoal bar iron industry. Despite having four coke blast furnaces by the end of its first decade, the forge at first mainly used pig iron bought from third parties. On one occasion, when this could not be obtained, one of the furnaces was for a time blown with charcoal.5

There is no reason to suppose that water power can ever have been a serious problem for the foundation of the iron industry. Some of the early coke ironworks were water powered. It is however probable that the lack of woodland, together with the statutory prohibition on their use, was a severe hindrance to an iron industry commencing. The Carron Company experienced difficulties with water supply, but this was the result of placing too many works on the same head. When they needed charcoal for their forges, it was sometimes necessary to ship it from distant parts of the highlands.

The next ironworks was Wilsonstown, built in 1782, built by a firm of London iron merchants, who were leading importers of Swedish and Russian iron, being the sole supplier of Swedish iron (including oregrounds iron) to the Navy between 1786 and 1808 and of iron to the East India Company between 1784 and 1798.6 This was followed by several more ironworks towards the end of the decade. The capital for most of the earlier works was largely Scottish. The technology inevitably had to be obtained from England. By 1805 there were 27 furnaces at 10 ironworks making some 21,000 tpa. In 1785 there had been 7 furnaces at two ironworks making some 6,500 tpa. Even in 1825 the production of pig iron, at 29,200 tpa, was rather less than that of Yorkshire. Before that the industry had gone through a severe recession with the bankruptcy

There are extensive coalfields in the Scottish Lowlands. Ironstone mainly occurred in two portions of the strata, known respectively as the clayband and blackband. The blackband ironstone was not known to be smeltable until

1

McCracken 1957; 1965. See also MacDonald 1999; King 2013. 3 Data from Sound Toll Tables, combined with interpolated data on Gothenburg exports from Lind 1923: see files deposited at Archaeological Data Service with King thesis: downloads, Import Trade, Sound Toll files. For accounts of Scottish merchant houses there see Cormack 1947; 1960; Duncan 1991; Grage 1981; 1986. 2

Cadell 1973. Campbell 1961; Watters 1998. 6 TNA, ADM 106/3621-2; NMM. CHA/N/1; India a/c; cf. King 2003, 36. 4 5

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II

Map 44. Scottish Lowlands. 1, Carron Ironworks; 2, Cockle Mill, Cramond; 3, Fairafar Mill, Cramond; 4, Peggie’s Mill, Cramond; 5, Dowie’s Mill, Cramond; 6, Dalnotter Ironworks; 7, Duntocher Forge; 8, Partick Mill; 9, Tarrioch Furnace (now Terrioch); 10, Tarrioch Forge; 11, Aberdour Iron Mill; 12, Dalkeith Iron Mill; 13, Heugh Mill, Dunfermline; 14, Limekilns Iron Mill; 15, Calder Ironworks; 16, Clyde Ironworks; 17, Devon Ironworks; 18, Glenbuck Ironworks; 19, Markinch Ironworks, Fifeshire; 20, Muirkirk Ironworks; 21, Omoa or Cleland Ironworks; 22, Shotts Ironworks; 23, Wilsonstown Ironworks.

The Carron Company was formed in 1759 by members of the Garbett, Roebuck, and Cadell families with an initial capital of £12,000. This ought to have been quite adequate, if the company had been slightly less ambitious. Partly as a result of over-extending themselves and partly due to confusion of the company’s affairs with private ventures of the partners, the company was frequently short of money and was for a long time carried on in reliance on credit. When this dried up in 1773 (due to the banking crisis, following the failure of the Ayr Bank), the company very nearly failed. Several of the partners, including the manager, became personally bankrupt at that time.

of a considerable number of the works. Only Carron, Clyde and Omoa with their good communications seem to have done well at that period. Some reopened when conditions improved; others never did. The main problem appears to have been the absence of a well-developed local market for such a substantial amount of iron. Later in the 19th century, there was a flourishing market for Scottish pig iron at Liverpool, supplying works with puddling furnaces in England, involving tradable warrants for its delivery.7 General Sources on coke ironworks: Butt 1966; Duckham 1970. Note also Butt 1976.

Gazetteer

William Cadell junior was the first managing partner and ran the works until 1769. He was then removed in favour of Charles Gascoigne, who remained manager until after his departure to Russia in 1786. His assistant Joseph Stainton was appointed to succeed him in 1788 after a period as acting manager, and his brother-in-law James Maclaren became the company’s agent in Liverpool. The preceding period had seen conflict between the remaining original partners. The Cadell family had refused to sign new articles of copartnery in 1771 and were eventually bought out by the company, the Caddells taking over Cramond Mill and its associated nail trade from the company. The company was incorporated by royal charter in 1772 with unlimited liability and 600 shares. By 1797, the capital was £150,000. Stainton’s nephew Joseph Dawson became manager in

The charcoal period Carron Ironworks

[1] NS881825

The ironworks stood alongside the Carron Water near Falkirk. It was a large integrated ironworks begun at the beginning of the coke era. It was essentially a coke ironworks, but possessed a finery forge. In 1769 when there were difficulties in obtaining charcoal pig iron, one of the furnaces was for a short time blown with charcoal.

7

Birch 1967, 237-43; Griffiths 1873, 169-74.

624

Chapter 44: The Scottish Lowlands 1825. The share register was subsequently dominated by the Dawson, Maclaren and Stainton families, who in 1873 held 300 of the 456 shares in issue. The works remained in use until 1982. Since then, virtually every trace of the works has now been erased.

guns that fired heavier shot than conventional cannon and were devastating at short range. New tactics in the War of 1812 and subsequently saw vessels firing at a longer range, beyond that of the carronade, rendering them obsolescent (Campbell 1961, 90-103 219-20). In four years during the American War of Independence, they provided the Navy with 4,023 tons of iron ballast (TNA, ADM 106/3612-9, passim). The company was probably rebuffed in its attempt to buy the iron mine of Peter How & Co near Egremont in 1763 (Whitehaven RO, D/Lec/240/mines/How). In 178690, Carron used ore from Crossgates in Furness (Kendall 1893, 18). The company had the Crowgarth mine in west Cumberland from 1797 (Lancaster & Wattleworth 1977, 12). The company again supplied ballast to the Navy Board in 1797 and 1800 (TNA, ADM 106/2747 (digest), s.v. iron).

Size 2 coke blast furnaces were built by the end of 1761; then a forge with three fineries and two hammers in 1762; then in 1766 two more coke furnaces; in addition there were several air furnaces and one or two boring mills (for cannon and engine cylinders). Most of the works were on the same head, which accordingly proved inadequate in summer. A large reservoir was provided at Dunipace in 1765 and the level of Loch Coulter was raised. In 1767 an engine was installed and a new one in 1780. John Smeaton was consulted concerning these problems and his plans and reports survive. Blast was at first provided from bellows but after a short time these were replaced by blowing cylinders. A fifth furnace was added shortly before 1800. Early in 1762 two furnaces produced 38 tpw [1,900 tpa]. 1788 the furnaces probably made about 5,000 tpa. John Roebuck took out an English patent on 1762 as to fining pig iron. The forge had three fineries making 80 tpa each. In 1796 4 furnaces made 5,616 tpa. In 1797, there were 5 furnaces, 3 cupolas, 15 air furnaces and 4 boring mills. 100 tpw iron ore and ironstone was consumed, both from Fife and Cumbria, with 800 tpw coal and 100 tpw limestone. Forges for making malleable iron and stamping iron existed, together with a plating forge. One had a cast iron helve of 1½ tons. In 1805 5 furnaces made 7,380 tpa. Two sources on the 1820s give output as 5,000 and 7,000 tpa and lists of the early 1840s as 255 and 180 tpw [9,00013,000 tpa].

Accounts There is a large archive of account and letter books at Scottish RO (GD58/4-6) which I have not studied, but were used by Campbell, Watters, and others. Sources Campbell 1961; Watters 1998; Hamilton 1932, 155-61; Statistical Account of Scotland iii (1792), 334; xix (1797), 93-6; Chevalier 1947, 61l Steward 2017, 214-5; English patent 780. Note also Smeaton’s Reports; Smeaton’s Designs; for Ayr Bank: Hamilton 1956. Cramond Mills: Cockle Mill Fairafar Mill Peggie’s Mill Dowie’s Mill

[2] NT186766 [3] NT184764 [4] NT182760 [5] NT187766

Cramond is now a parish in the suburbs of Edinburgh. In former times it was a few miles to the east of the city. The mills stood on the River Almond. Four corn mills under one roof at Cockle Mill were replaced by a slitting mill, built by the Smith & Wright Company of Leith, and was open for business in 1753. The company had been founded by William Moyes in 1747 to make small forgings, but taken over by a larger partnership on 1749. It imported Russian and Swedish iron, which was slit and put out to nailers, who had previously been making nails out of scraps imported from Holland. Samuel Garbett bought the mill at an Edinburgh Coffee House in 1759, on behalf of what became the Carron Company. When William Cadell senior and junior withdrew from the company in 1771, they took over Cramond Mill and its associated nail trade, which by this time included nailers in Fifeshire. Thomas Edington became manager of the works in 1765 and a partner in 1772. He died in 1811. The partnership had been reconstructed in 1795, with William Hood, their London agent becoming a partner. However members of the Caddell family retained 16 of the 28 shares. This partnership may have continued until a new one was agreed in 1847. In 1859, when the 1847 partnership expired, the mills were put to a variety of uses, including papers mills. The walls of Fairafar Mill stood one storey high in the 1970s.

Associations The Garbett family were from Birmingham, where they made vitriol. The Roebuck family were involved in steel in the Sheffield area. The company had Cramond Mill from 1759 to 1771. Trading At first, the forge was using charcoal pig iron brought in from elsewhere, in particular imports brought by Glasgow tobacco merchants from America. Later the company presumably supplied itself. John Wiggin was the company’s agent in London in 1764-1777, when he was replaced by William Lowes. The company cast roundshot in the latter part of the Seven Years War. They secured the only contract for cannon in 1766 by quoting the low price of £6 per ton to the Board of Ordnance and enjoyed something of a monopoly for some years, but the propensity of their guns to burst ultimately led to all their guns being withdrawn from naval service in 1773. In 1776, they again began to supply shot, but did not again get orders for ordnance until the Navy adopted their carronades, devised in 1778. Initially these were used to arm merchantmen, but a trial at Woolwich in 1779 was successful and orders from the Board of Ordnance followed (TNA, WO 47/59-108 passim). They supplied considerable quantities of carronades in the 1790s, but the Board also placed contracts with other suppliers from 1795 (Cole thesis, 226-8). Carronades were short light-weight

Size In 1759, there were a slitting mill for iron hoops and rod iron and a blade mill for grinding edged tools 625

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II from the firm. In 1800 the remaining partners sold the company’s various works in Old Kilpatrick, but not its share in the Muirkirk ironworks.

at Cockle Mill. Subsequently, a steel furnace was added in 1770. Then in 1772, the firm converted Fairafar Mill, the next upstream to a forge, making spades and other implements. This was followed by two more spade forges at Peggie’s Mill and Dowie’s Mill. In 1791 the works used upwards of 1,000 tons of iron imported from Sweden and Russia. There was a steel converting furnace, which used oregrounds iron (Scrivenor 1841, 92n from Statistical Account of Scotland i (1791), 300). In 1823, there were 2 forges and a mill for slitting and rolling on three distinct falls of water, with 2 steel furnaces, Peggie’s Mill having become a paper mill in 1815. Riden (1993, 150) stated incorrectly that the 1794 list showed a charcoal furnace, which he correctly dismissed as mistaken. In 1845 there were a rolling mill, two forge hammers and a steel furnace (New Statistical Account of Scotland i, 1845, 600).

The company was also known from 1769 as the Glasgow Iron and Steel Company and as Murdoch, Gillies and Co, or just as Gillies & Co or by longer titles naming more partners. It was advertised in 1799, with a slitting and rolling mill, a forge, grinding and other mills, with shops for edged-tools, hoes, spades, shovels and nails. The new proprietors in 1800 were Robert and Richard Dennistoun, Robert and James McNair, and Walter Tassie (who left before 1806). By 1808 Colin MacLaren had replaced the McNairs as partner. In 1813 the Dalnotter Ironworks was sold to William Dunn, who replaced it with Milton Spinning Mill in 1821. This makes it unlikely that there are any substantial remains. In 1774, when George Murdoch and George Hudson retired, it was called an iron and steel works.

Associations Cadell and Edington were founding partners in Muirkirk Ironworks in 1787, but probably withdrew about 1797. Thomas Edington founded Clyde Ironworks in 1786. In 1810 three other ironworks are stated to have belonged to Edington & Co. At least two of these seem to have become bankrupt about that time. Clyde Ironworks apparently had a new proprietor; and Thomas Edington II merely had a spade forge at Duntocher in 1820: this suggests Thomas Edington died insolvent. Later Thomas Edington & Sons were noted ironfounders and engineers.

Associations The Company also had a forge at Duntocher Mill and two grinding mills upstream of that mill. George Hudson was also to manage the company’s manufacturing business in England and to teach someone the ‘art or mystery of converting iron to steel’. Advertisements imply the company had a steel converting furnace, but whether this was at Glasgow or elsewhere, cannot at present be determined. In 1806, the company advertised for a manager in the slitting and rolling department, particularly the rolling of tin plates, sheet iron and hoops.

Trading Nails were supplied to Henry Cort for Portsmouth Dockyard in 1779. In 1796, bar iron in stock included Swedish and Russian iron. There was also some from Carron and Muirkirk; and 60 tons from Mr Mather of Duffield, Derbyshire [i.e. New Mills].

Sources Thompson 1956; Shaw 1984, 424; London Gazette, no. 11527, 3 (14 Jan. 1775); Caledonian Mercury, 31 Aug. 1799; Cambrian, 29 Mar. 1806.

Archives Caddell 1973 is based on archives in the Scottish RO, which I have not been studied.

Duntocher Forge Old Kilpatrick

Sources Cadell 1973; Campbell 1961, passim; Hamilton 1932, 165-7 212; Hume 1976, 186; Shaw 1984, 425; Caledonian Mercury, 20 Feb. 1753; 20 Feb. 1759; 18 Jul. 1772; 8 Mar. 1823. Dalnotter Ironworks (a slitting mill)

[7] perhaps NS497728

The forge was under the same roof as the Corn Mill of Duntocher on the Duntocher Burn, just west of Roman Bridge. It was built in 1773 by the Dalnotter Company and descended as part of the company’s works beyond 1800 being sold with rest of the Company’s works in that year. By 1820 Thomas Edington (son of the founder of Clyde Ironworks) was using it as a spade forge. The forge has 11,000 square feet of building representing a very substantial manufactory.

[6] NS465728

The works stood at the mouth of Dalnotter Burn, between the River Clyde, the road to Erskine Ferry and the Glasgow to Kilpatrick Road on the site of Dalnotter corn mill. The Dalnotter Company was essentially an iron manufactory, rather than an ironworks in the usual sense. Their slitting mill at Dalnotter was built in 1769 by George Murdoch, Peter Murdoch and William Cunninghame of Glasgow and George Hudson and James King of Newcastle. The latter were steel converters. George Hudson was apparently the first managing partner, but was replaced in 1774 by John Gillies, who then joined the firm. There were changes in partnership in 1769, 1774, 1783, and 1787. In 1792 several partners, who were also partners in the Glasgow Arms Bank, became bankrupt due to the failure of that bank and were accordingly excluded

Size The 1769 Dalnotter partnership agreement included making bar iron among the company’s objects, but it seems unlikely this activity lasted more than a brief period: the most obvious source of pig iron for the forge must have been American imports, but these ceased in 1775 due to the American War of Independence. Thus it is likely the forge was mainly a plating forge. It is not listed in the 1794 list as possessing fineries and was not receiving Lorn pig iron at that period (Lorn l/b). From the first the Dalnotter Company was mainly renowned as a manufacturer of agricultural implements, and this was probably the forge’s main function. 626

Chapter 44: The Scottish Lowlands Associations The Company also possessed a slitting and rolling mill at Dalnotter and a grinding mill further up the burn adjoining Hardgate Mill. The latter was acquired in 1769 from a papermaker and may therefore have succeeded a paper mill. The company also had a steel converting furnace.

Trading The function of the mill was to slit and roll imported iron, probably mainly Swedish. Little seems to have been traced of its activities. It is possible the mill was given up as a result of an agreement between them and the Dalnotter Company to use the latter’s slitting mill jointly. This may in turn be the result of a decline in the export of wrought iron goods to America following independence.

Sources Thompson 1956; Sun Life Policy, 11936/386/ 596490.

Sources McUre 1736 (1830 edn), 257; Regality Club, 1st Ser., 61-3; 2nd Ser., 60-63; Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Glasgow, V, 494; VI, 15 45; VII, 139 243 491 551; IX, 34; X, 15 Mitchell Library, Archives, B/10/15, nos. 6973 7017 7025 7087 7184 7214; TD 729/93 112; Thompson 1956, 11; Hume & Butt 1966, 166; Hamilton 1932, 166-7; Shaw 1984, 419-20 424.

Partick [8] NS550663 The Smithfield Company’s slitting mill The Smithfield Company (John Craig, Robert Luke and Allan Dreghorn) was established in 1732, building works on Broomielaw Croft near Glasgow to make ‘nails, hoes, axes, hinges, spades, stock locks, etc.’. They built a slitting mill in 1738 on the Kelvin at Partick. The company was permitted to make an aqueduct and watergang from the dam for Glasgow Burgh Council’s Partick Mill (a corn mill). In 1777, they took a tack [lease] of Partick Mill, no doubt to control the water, as that mill had the first right to it. By 1796, when the 1777 tack was expiring, the company had bought Scotstown Mill. They resold it reserving the second right to the water from the dam. In 1813, the company bought Partick Mill.

Tarrioch Furnace (now Terrioch) and Forge

[9] NS642269 unlocated

The remains of the furnace stand on the south side of the River Ayr a few miles west of Muirkirk. The stack now consists of a mound of rubble. Water from the tail of the wheel must have passed behind the furnace, according to a very common arrangement. There are the remains of a leat and pound and foundations of ore and charcoal houses. There are traces of a road across the moor to the present Muirkirk to Crummock Road. Neither the date nor ownership of the furnace is certain. It is thought to have been built by one of the Earls of Cathcart, either about 1705 or 1732. The area is today mostly barren moorland with some improved pastures, with one area of poor woodland nearby. It seems not unlikely that the ironworks operated only long enough to clear the country of trees, then it closed. If the date is 1732, it was an inauspicious time to set up ironworks.

Allan Dreghorn was still a partner in 1763, but died the next year, after which his successors probably disposed of his interest. Other partners in 1763 included James Dennistoun and Thomas Dunlop, when the company exchanged lands at Partick with the City of Glasgow. By 1764, the leading partner was William Robertson, who took a series of apprentices. Alexander Spiers was a partner by 1767 and George Bogle by 1779, when a further exchange of land at Partick was agreed with the City. In 1782 William Robinson bought the slit mill from his partners, George Bogle, James Ritchie, George Oswald, James Dennistoun, Alexander Spiers, Thomas Donald, John Hamilton, George Buchanan, Allan Scott, and William Robertson, all Glasgow merchants. He formed a new partnership with George Bogle and John Robertson. The factory at Broomielaw (comprising three acres of ground) was sold in 1786 to Alexander Oswald, a developer, who with his son James formed it into Oswald Street. The 1786 sale was perhaps to enable the company to participate with the Dalnotter and Cramond companies in building Muirkirk Ironworks. In 1790 the mill is listed as belonging to Robertson & Co. Except for the loss of John Robertson, the partnership was unchanged in 1807, when the mill was sold to John Gibson of Johnston. The Smithfield Company’s purchase of the adjoining corn mill may indicate that slitting continued. Various Robertson firms continued to operate as ironmongers until 1833. In 1835, William Rose appeared in directories as ‘manager of the Smithfield Company and successor to J.M. Robertson & Co’. The mill later became a grain mill and was afterwards part of Inglis’ Pointhouse shipyard. Hence it is presumed all trace of it has long since disappeared.

Trading It is reported that ore from this area was used at ‘Bonawe’ and that pig iron from there was refined at the forge. It is possible that the reference should be to Glenkinglass Furnace rather than Bonawe (or Lorn) Furnace. If so, conceivably the forge was also related, in which case its date would be in the 1720s and 1730s. Sources Lewis 1984, 439 & 464-5; Statistical Account of Scotland ix (1794), 434. Other ironworks Aberdour Iron Mill

[11] NT187886

A recently erected spade and shovel forge existed at Aberdour in 1792. It was about a mile north of the village and remained in use in the 1840s, but was disused by 1854. Sources Statistical Account of Scotland iv (1792), 331; S. Lewis, Topographical dictionary of Scotland (1851 edn) i, 25; Shaw 1984, 431; O.S. 6-inch (1st edn).

627

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Dalkeith Iron Mill

[12] NT062846

departure broke up the partnership, and by 1807 Dixon owned Calder, but the firm appears in the 1810 list as Dalrymple & Co (like Glenbuck). The works remained in use, owned by members of the Dixon family or companies bearing their name until 1958.

A forge existed by 1720 at Dalkeith. James Gray (d.1761) in 1757 wrote that this had been established by his greatgrandfather in 1648. James Gray occurs as an ironmaster in 1726. He was succeeded by his nephew David Hutchison, whose son died in 1830. The mill was converted to a corn mill at the end of the 18th century. The New Statistical Account records that it made iron bars, sheet iron and all sorts of heavy smith work.

Sources Hamilton 1932, 172 &c; Butt 1966, 199 & 209; Duckham 1970, 183-4; cf. English patent 2447. Carron see charcoal section above. Cleland see Omoa

Sources New Statistical Account of Scotland i (1845), 503; Scottish RO, GD 436/3/17; GD 224/336/7; GD 436/3/38, 18; Mackenzie 1927, 221-2; Shaw 1984, 426; Smith (D.R.) 1998. Heugh Mill, Dunfermline

Clyde Ironworks

Thomas Edington, the manager at Cramond, built this ironworks in 1786 in association with John Mackenzie of Strathgarven, but Edington bought Mackenzie’s shares from his heirs in 1790. William Cadell later bought part of Edington’s share. The works operated successfully for many years. In 1786-90, it used ore from the Crossgates mine in Furness. In 1796 Edington had three furnaces, one built after the 1790/4 list. These made 2,216 tons in 1796. In 1795-6 the company cast a few cannon and carronades for the Board of Ordnance. In 1805 Cadell & Co had two of the three furnaces in blast and made 2,687 tons. In 1810 all three were in blast. In 1810 Colin and James Dunlop acquired the works, which were still held by Colin Dunlop & Co in 1825. However Colin Dunlop’s estate was sequestrated in 1819. James Dunlop had supplied mineral to the works since their commandment. David Mushet conducted his first metallurgical experiments at Clyde ironworks. This was supposedly in his spare time, but his employers considered that the time he spent on this detracted from his efficiency in their service. Various members of the Dunlop family or companies using their name the works, until continued they were taken over by Colvilles about 1930. They were finally closed by British Steel Corporation in about 1976. The two of the furnaces then standing dated from the late 1930s and the other from 1948. The site was subsequently cleared and redeveloped.

[13] NT08988717

James Anderson, a blacksmith, had an iron beating mill at the foot of Heugh Mills, sometime before 1769. This was presumably a plating forge or edged tool works. This was the lowest of a series of five mills in Pittencrief Glen. Sources Shaw 1974, 426; Skinner 1966, 188-9. Limekilns Iron Mill

[14] possibly NT062846

There was apparently an iron mill of some kind on the Fife Coast near Limekilns in the time of Lord Chancellor Hay (in office 1622-36). The raw material was gad iron. This suggests a hammer mill making imported Swedish osmonds into bar iron. Such hammer mills existed in the hinterland of Danzig and Lübeck on the early 17th century, until the Swedes required their iron to be forged into bars before export. The location of the mill does not seem to be known. The grid reference given is that of the nearest mill to the village. Sources Shaw 1974, 89; for hammer mills cf. Åström 1963, 33-4. Coke furnaces

Sources Hamilton 1932, 166 (from the archives of the ironworks); Butt 1966, 197; Hume 1976, 177; Duckham 1970, 181; Kendall 1893, 18; Cole thesis, 188-90 227-8; Caledonian Mercury, 15 Apr. 1790; London Gazette, no. 17495, 1273 (17 Jul. 1819); Statistical Account of Scotland vii (1793), 386-9.

Balgonie see Markinch Calder Ironworks

[16] NS638623

[15] NS747638

This ironworks was built to exploit David Mushet’s discovery of the blackband ironstone. They were established by David Mushet with Alexander and David Allan (Glasgow merchants) and James Burns. Two furnaces were in blast by 1802, but the partners were not wealthy men and enlarged their credit by means of accommodation bills drawn on a London iron merchant. This failed to provide adequate capital and the firm became insolvent in 1803. The next year it was sold to William Dixon and William Creelman, who continued to employ David Mushet until 1805, when he left for a lucrative position in England. That year, one of the two furnaces was in blast and made 1,077 tons. Mushet’s

Devon Ironworks Also called Sauchie

[17] near NS4964

The history of this works, in the Clackmannan coalfield is among the less studied. They were built about 1793 on the banks of the River Devon, three miles from Alloa. A single furnace called Sauchie existed in 1794, when it was held by Roebuck & Co, John Roebuck, son of Dr Roebuck of Carron, being the managing partner. In 1796 its output is combined with the 2 furnaces at Omoa, the four furnaces making 2,396 tons between them. Two furnaces with a fire 628

Chapter 44: The Scottish Lowlands Losh formed the New Balgonie Iron Co that July. In 1812 Lewis compounded with his creditors. He bought the works for £4,000 and spent £4,700 on improvements, but it was still not profitable and was closed in 1814. Losh & Co had two furnaces in 1805, but they were not in blast then or in 1810, which is the last list in which they appear. It was blown from a waterwheel, which also provided the blast for a ‘cupilo’ in 1808. The Losh family also had the Walker ironworks near Newcastle.

engine were advertised for sale in 1798. In 1805 Gordon & Co had two furnaces which made 2,596 tpa. These were held by Edington & Co in 1810. The works was then performing well, after increased blast began to be used. It was well placed in relation to transport links. The furnaces and casting house were unusual in being hewn out of the solid rock. The last furnace was in blast in 1857, though the works continued to exist for some years after. Sources Butt 1966, 198; Hamilton 1932, 164 174 & 178; Caledonian Mercury, 29 Nov. 1798; Statistical Account of Scotland xiv (1795), 627-8. Glenbuck Ironworks

Sources Hamilton 1932, 173-4; Butt 1966, 199-200; Duckham 1970, 145-6; Shaw 1984, 423; Scrivenor 1841, 96; Caledonian Mercury, 13 Sep. 1800; 26 Nov. 1803; 29 Aug. 1808.

[18] NS753295

Muirkirk Ironworks

This, like Muirkirk, was built in a remote inland site in Ayrshire. John Rumney of Workington had already been mining in Muirkirk parish for a couple of years before he established the ironworks in 1796. In 1805 it made 790 tpa. In 1805 and 1810 it is listed (perhaps incorrectly) as belonging to the same proprietor as Calder: Dixon and Dalrymple respectively. Rumney gave up control of the company in 1805 to avoid bankruptcy. The new firm was Patrick and Peter Hodgson of Whitehaven. The failure of the Workington Country Bank destroyed the company’s credit and led to its sequestration in 1812 and winding up. By 1810 a second furnace may have been built. It made the rails for the Kilmarnock to Troon tramroad about this time, but was bankrupt in 1813. The works (including a new foundry with 2 cupolas and two air furnaces) were not revived and long remained a ruin.

This ironworks arose out of the need of the British Tar Company to find a use for the coke produced from their works and from the desire of Commodore (later Admiral) Stewart to develop his estate. After the failure of attempts to interest English ironmasters in the mineral wealth of the area, it was let in 1787 jointly to the Smithfield Company of Glasgow, the Dalnotter Company of Old Kilpatrick and the Cramond Company. They appointed John Greive as manager. The furnace was not brought into blast until early 1789. In 1791 the erection of four more furnaces and a forge was proposed. However, there were only three furnaces when a Glasgow bank, where some of the partners were concerned, ran into difficulties, but the works were kept going with the aid of a loan from the Royal Bank. The ‘1794’ list records 3 furnaces and a forge, with a finery, three melting fineries, and a balling furnace. In 1796 2 furnaces made 2,878 tpa. The Cramond partners may have withdrawn about this time. In 1804 (and also 1817) there were 3 furnaces and two forges, of which one was wrought by a canal and the other by a patent steam engine, with preparing fires and puddling furnaces. In 1805 Robinson & Co made 3,043 tpa in two of the three furnaces. Later owners included Muirkirk Iron Co, and from 1857 William Baird & Co. There were 10-14 puddling furnaces in the 1860s and 1870s. The works continued to operate until the 1930s. The furnaces were dismantled in 1937.

Sources Donnachie & Butt 1964, 217-9; Butt 1966, 198; Hamilton 1932, 168 & 178; Duckham 1970, 188; Shaw 1984, 423, citing J. Butt, ‘Glenbuck ironworks’ Ayrshire Archaeological Collections 2nd ser. 8, 68-75; Caledonian Mercury, 15 Oct. 1803; 18 Nov. 1813. Markinch Ironworks, Fifeshire (or Balgonie or Levens)

[20] NS696266

[19] NO3001

Markinch Ironworks was another a short-lived one, established on the Balgonie estate of the Earls of Leven about 1800, and were at times also known by both these names. Markinch is a suburb of Glenrothes, 6 or 7 miles north of Kirkcaldy on south coast of Fife. It was described as on the river Leven, five miles from Loch Leven. The Leven Iron Company was promoted from Newcastle, the partners being George and William Losh, John Robinson and Joseph Wilson (all of Teams Ironworks), Henry Martin (a London banker), Alexander Barker, and Joseph and Samuel Cooper of Leith Walk Foundry. Following their sequestration in 1803 the works were continued by the Balgonie Iron Co (George, James, and John Losh). In 1807 Duncan McIntyre & Co of Leith bought a half share, but the works were sequestrated again in 1808. George Losh bought the works again and took Thomas Thomson of Markinch as partner (perhaps trading as Levens Ironworks). Thomson was bought out by Thomas Lewis and John Surtees in 1810 and Lewis and George

Sources Hume & Butt 1966; Donnachie & Butt 1964, 217-9; Butt 1966, 197-8; Hume 1976, 67; Hamilton 1932, 166-7; Statistical Account of Scotland vii (1793), 606-7; Caledonian Mercury, 17 Sep. 1804; Manchester Mercury, 8 Jul. 1817. Omoa or Cleland Ironworks

[21] NS795583

The history of this ironworks is rather less well known than its contemporaries at Muirkirk and Clyde. It adjoined Tillan Burn, just west of the present village of Cleland on the land of Colonel William Dalrymple. It was built about 1787, John Mackenzie being the managing partner. The Omoa Company was dissolved in 1791, the retiring partners including David Barnes (perhaps the Chesterfield ironmaster), after which Dalrymple, the local laird, 629

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II operated the two furnaces himself as owner and occupier. In 1791 Dalrymple was congratulated by Crawshay, Son & Thompson (Richard Crawshay’s London house) on the quality of their iron, when offering to do business with him. However the 1789 lease was evidently kept on foot, as it was advertised for sale in 1814. In 1793-4 it used 26 tons per day of coal. In 1796 Dalrymple and Addison are listed as having two furnaces each which made 2,396 tpa, but ‘Addison’ may refer to Devon. In 1806, two of the three furnaces were in blast and had made 1,896 tpa the previous year. In 1810 Edington & Co had all three going. The company was bankrupt by 1813, but two of the 3 furnaces were in blast when it the works were offered for sale in 1814. William Young bought the works, but was sequestrated in 1821. He was enabled to buy the land and machinery back, the latter from the Muirkirk Iron Co, but was sequestrated again in 1827. Young seems to have survived this too and operated the works until about 1841. Robert Steward then ran them until their closure in about 1868.

major importer of Swedish iron from the late 1780s, and the London participant in the oregrounds contract. Robert then proposed they should join in building ironworks. A furnace was built in 1779 and a second in 1787. However there was no forge plant in c.1790. In about 1795 there were 10 fineries making blooms, and a rolling mill was added in 1794. In 1796 the furnaces made 2,080 tpa. In 1805 one furnace was in blast and 1,381 tpa were made. The works may have been one of the earlier users of Cort’s puddling process. The enterprise was initially marred by the incompetence and inexperience of Robert Wilson, who was accordingly bought out in 1785. The works were briefly let to Banks and Onions (of Shropshire) and then a manager Alexander Gunn was appointed, but proved idle. After this, disputes arose between the brothers, John not being willing to let his brother take effective control of the management. John bought his brother out in 1797 and made two of his sons partners, but kept control of the works in his own hands. By the time he died in 1808 the business was hopelessly insolvent. The Swedish iron import business in London was quickly sold to a member of the Tottie family, their Stockholm correspondents, but the Wilsonstown works stayed in the hands of trustees for its creditors, who continued them until the end of 1812. It remained unsold until William Dixon of Calder Ironworks bought it in 1821. In the preceding period, newspaper advertisements for the sale of the works had appeared with monotonous regularity. It closed in 1842, having again become unprofitable. The works was a long way inland, without cheap transport, and it was almost certainly incompetently managed. The real problem was perhaps that the proprietors were obstinate old men. When the Forestry Commission afforested the area of the works, they bulldozed the ruins of the works and the workers village (except a pub, which they did not own). With changed priorities, Forestry Commission Scotland commissioned industrial archaeology research into the site and have provided some interpretation of the remains.

Sources Butt 1966, 198; Duckham 1970, 188; Hamilton 1932, 167-8 178; Evans 1990, nos 362 & 385; London Gazette, no. 13333, 467 (13 Aug. 1791); Caledonian Mercury, 18 Jul. 1814. Sauchie see Markinch Shotts Ironworks

[22] NS879598

The Shotts Iron Company was formed in 1801 by Hugh and Robert Baird with Walter Munro, George Logan and John Baird. John Baird was managing partner for some 40 years, but the other members of his family withdrew in 1810. The following year, the other partners were insolvent, but the firm survived by taking in new partners and lived from hand to mouth until 1825 when a new company with a larger capital was formed. The company produced melting pig iron for use in its own foundries at Shotts and Glasgow and at Carron. The company, also known as Logan & Co had one furnace in blast in 1806, having made 2,034 tpa the previous year. In 1810 both furnaces were in blast; but in 1813 this was reduced to one furnace which was losing money. The Shotts Iron Company weathered the recession and the works continued for many years, being incorporated in 1900 and closing in about 1946. There were still substantial remains in the 1970s.

Sources Ritchie 1939; Donachie & Butt 1967; Donnachie & Butt 1964, 212-7; Butt 1966, 196-7; King 2003, 367; Hyde 1977, 91; scotland.forestry.gov.uk/activities/ heritage/industrial-heritage-sites/wilsontown?id=725.

Sources Hamilton 1932, 173 177-8; Butt 1966, 199; Duckham 1970, 188-9; Hume 1976, 179-80. Wilsonstown Ironworks

[23] NS951549

A furnace was built by the brothers Robert, John and William Wilson on the family estate near Cleugh House in Carnwath. John Wilson had made a fortune in the Swedish East India Company and set William up to manage that company’s London agency, which was also highly profitable. He then retired and took a share in the London business. This was (amongst other things) a 630

45 Conclusion This book has set out what is known about each ironworks in its period, and sometimes little beyond that period. For well-recorded ironworks, it is a summary. For ill-recorded ones, it is everything I have been able to discover. I have not been afraid to rely on inference. In particular, where several works appear to share a common history, they probably do so. Accordingly, the date of change in one place can fairly safely be attributed to the whole group.

This was inferred from the name; from its proximity to the furnace discovered further upstream at Sharpley Pool; and from evidence of the Dick Brook having been navigable. However Astley Forge was used for several other purposes in the 18th century and would need to have had two periods as a forge.10 Yarranton wrote that he made two rivers navigable and the brook nearly so. These were the Worcestershire Stour, the Warwickshire Avon and the Salwarpe (not the Dick Brook). The mistake resulted from not realising the extent of Yarranton’s work on the Avon.11 Furthermore, I have found evidence that Yarranton rented Shelsley Forge, being provided with it so that he would not build one for himself.12 Even worse is ill-founded theory of J.G. Rollins (1981; 1984, 38) that the Redditch needle industry had a monkish origin, arguments whose flimsy basis was comprehensively exposed by Gaffney (1988).

Some past errors I have found several occasions where a previous author has found good evidence of the history of an ironworks, but has attributed it to the wrong one. Thus Hillen (1951) attributed to the nearby Cox’s Lock Mill what is in fact the history of Ham Haw Mill, Weybridge; and A.S. Davies (1939) attributed to Pool Quay Forge the activities of the Duvall family at Mathrafal Forge. In the light of the less good historical knowledge and with fewer sources available, such mistakes are forgivable. I may have been guilty of such errors in early articles and possibly even here. In King 1999a, I tentatively suggested that John Jennens might have bought Thomas Nye’s share in certain ironworks in partnership with Richard Foley and that they partitioned the works in c.1638. This seemed to fit what happened but was unsupported by any evidence. I have now abandoned that theory: in litigation in 1633 over the supply of bar iron to Bustleholme Mill, Foley consulted his son (not Jennens);8 and only Foley (not Jennens) was prosecuted for engrossing wood in 1636.9 The penalty imposed on him was a severe one, and this may be the occasion for passing Aston Furnace and Bromford Forge to Jennens, who took a lease of these in 1638 and subsequently also had Hints Forge and probably Rushall Furnace. Quite recently (in King 2015b), I attributed to Thomas Tomkyns’ experimental ironmaking to Temple Mills at Bisham, having failed to locate a mill at Taplow. Long before, I had failed to walk across Maidenhead Bridge and had thus not realised that there was a mill on the Taplow side of the river as well as Boulters Mill on the Maidenhead side.

Another danger results from good historians generalising too far from a local case study. S.R.H. Jones (1984) produced an impeccable article on the distribution of Redditch needles, but he entitled it as about the ‘Distribution of Birmingham hardware’, which was at best broader than its actual subject. P. Satia’s excellent book (2018) on the Birmingham gun trade becomes less good when she moves away from that subject into trade in other Birmingham goods, apparently without realising that the Birmingham men were in these cases sometimes operating as factors, not manufacturers. Jacob M. Price (1989) went astray in arguing that the Midlands hardware industry was heavily engaged in export to continental Europe. He relied on Robinson’s discussion (1960) of the export of Birmingham ‘toys’ by Boulton & Fothergill and then generalised from this to the rest of the hardware industry. The toy trade was a special case. In fact the export of ‘wrought iron’ (manufactured ironware) and particularly nails was largely focused outside Europe.13 Price also went wrong by comparing English iron exports with English production, failing to take into account English manufacture relied on a large amount of imported iron. Incomplete data led him in this case to a wrong conclusion. Irrelevant data can also lead to bad conclusions. B. Thomas (1986) used price data from Oxford colleges and London, on the price of charcoal and finished ironware, to argue a case as to the economics of the iron industry in the 17th century. However, the data were from areas where no iron was made, and where the local price of charcoal (which was rarely carried far) would have little influence on the costs of actual ironmasters. Furthermore, the price

What is far less forgivable is going a long way beyond the available evidence and building a castle in the air from legends and supposition that has no basis in fact. Such theories can sometimes be detected by the use of the tense “must have”, which in fact means that the author is just guessing. Successive authors have built up a theory as to Astley Forge having been Andrew Yarranton’s.

10 11 8 9

TNA, C 8/41/19; C 2/Chas I/F15/12; cf. C 2/Chas I/F5/58. TNA, SP 16/321/42 (f.80).

12 13

631

See under that forge in chapter 26. Skempton et al. 2002, s.v. Yarranton. Foley, E12/IV/30, Philip Foley’s case against Thomas Foley. King thesis, 254-9.

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Other work is also forthcoming: George Demidowicz is writing a book on Matthew Boulton’s Soho Works. An archaeological report is being prepared on Kirkstall Forge. I had similarly not seen Paul Belford’s thesis (Belford 2018) on Sir Basil Brooke, though I gathered from him that he has not discovered any significant new sources, not known to me. He did however offer better information on the Coalbrookdale forges, which is reflected in an afterword to chapter 18. 16th-century steel production has sometimes been alluded to here, for example at Robertsbridge and Linton, but deserves fuller treatment. Further work could usefully be undertaken on the scythemiths and sicklesmiths wheels in north Derbyshire and elsewhere, just beyond the scope of Ball et al., Water Power on Sheffield Rivers (2006); on the Birmingham sword industry and its blade mills; on mills for the Redditch needle industry; on the Gloucester pin industry; and on foundries. All of these are explicitly beyond the scope of this book. There is probably also more to be discovered on iron manufactures.

of finished ironware has to take account of the smith’s wages in manufacture. His data were thus irrelevant to the issue he tried to address. His calculations showed a real fluctuation in the costs, but ones that were far more likely to be due to the disruption to the economy and to trade caused by the English Civil War, than to underlying trends in the iron industry.

Future work This work is unlikely to be the final word on the subject. New archives emerge periodically from the estate offices of great estates or from solicitor’s offices.14 The better cataloguing of existing archive deposits and their inclusion in on-line databases is likely to identify new archival sources. For example, the current listing, of TNA classes C 2/Chas I and C 10, only provides a pair of surnames. Something similar applies to the addition of further newspapers to British Newspaper Archive, which may add to information here. My research into the records (TNA ADM 20, Naval series) of the Naval Treasurer for Naval Services (as opposed to Victualling) has been slight, but would provide much quantitative data on ironware used by the navy.

This book is explicitly a gazetteer. It incorporates an updated version of the source material for my 2003 thesis and the article published as King 2005, but with the addition of further material. The first appearance of the Access to Archives database (now incorporated into TNA Discovery catalogue) came too late to be used much for the thesis. My 2005 estimates of the production and consumption of iron thus require revision.

Similarly, I have hardly delved into the massive archives of certain coke ironworks: Dowlais (Glamorgan Archives), Cyfarthfa (ibid. and NLW), Thorncliffe (Sheffield Archives, TR) and Carron (Scottish RO). Hayman (thesis) found more in the records (OP a/c) of Old Park in Shropshire than I did. Young and Hart (2018; 2019) published work concerning Cyfarthfa Forge as I was finishing this book. I have sought at the last minute to incorporate their conclusions and those of P. Satia (2018) and R. Williams (2019a; 2019b), but their work may not be as well embedded here, as I might have liked.

The most recent general monographs on the iron industry are now quite old: Schubert 1957, Birch 1967, and works by Gale (1966; 1967; 1969), and Tylecote (1991, 1992). Hayman (2005), although good, is written for general (rather than an academic) readership. A general discursive account of the iron industry is overdue. I hope that I may be able to provide such a work.

Much of the detailed work of the late Brian Awty, contained in a book that he left unpublished, has been edited by Jeremy Hodgkinson. The Wealden Iron Research Group published this as Adventure in Iron in April 2019, as I was finishing this work. Awty did much work to trace the descent of ironworkers from Namur to Bray to the Weald, and then to the rest of Britain and to America. Some of this is contained in his published articles, but the book contains much more information. This book focuses on ironworks and ironmasters. Awty’s book focuses on ironworkers, some of whom became masters, with an emphasis on the period before 1650. He identified a very few ironworks that were previously unknown to me and that I have thus added here. He referred a few by their parish, rather than their name, for example to Burrington, rather than Bringewood. I have made some alterations to take account of his conclusions. I have not done so at all in the chapter on the Weald and may not have fully taken them into account elsewhere. Nevertheless, in some degree, his work and mine are likely to be complementary.

This book formally ends at about 1815, a date chosen because it could be taken as the end of a significant charcoal industry. However, when I chose that date, I was unaware of what Hayman (2008) found on the 19th-century charcoal industry; and was so until I saw his article. My work traces the history of works established before then is traced forward to their closure. However research into the period after 1815, and particularly after 1830 is less comprehensive than before. New ironworks, built after 1815, have rigorously been excluded, as a matter of policy. Coke blast furnaces of the subsequent period are listed in the Riden & Owen’s massive British Blast Furnace Statistics, but there is nothing equivalent on the forge sector (dealing with puddling furnaces and rolling mills). Detailed statistics are available on this sector only from c.1860 (Mineral Statistics; King 2018b), but there remains a yawning gap in the Regency and early Victorian periods, where the flesh still needs to be put on the bones that were defined by the work of Birch, Gale, and others. That is a task that must probably be left to a younger author.

14 For example, Shropshire Archives had recently received some archives of the Blount family of Mawley near Cleobury Mortimer.

632

Bibliography CBD a/c: Shrops RO, 6001/329-30; and IGMT, CBD ms.1 (also called CBD59.82.5). Specific references are to the stock books. Some information derived from books that no longer survive is in the Institution of Mechanic Engineers, IMS 113, but has not been used here.

Principal Manuscript Sources With a work in this scale, it is not feasible to list here every original documents consulted, or even every repository visited. I have tried to conform to their respective systems of citation. However to avoid a plethora of abbreviations for repositories, they are usually referred to either as ‘Archives’ or ‘Record Office’ and using the town or county where they are, rather than more a complicated official name. Full archival citations are usually given, except for ironworks and other accounts (a/c), letterbooks (l/b), and diaries. These are accordingly exhaustively listed, together with a small number of contemporary volumes in manuscript and a few other documents cited by description only. Unless otherwise indicated, where a volume has both original and modern pagination, the original one has been used, because that is what is used in contemporary indices. Occasional references, especially in the Weald, to TNA, WO 47 (and other Ordnance Board classes) derive from the work of Jeremy Hodgkinson, Ruth R. Brown, or others, who have used the modern foliation.

Cheshire a/c: Lawton: Foley, E12/VI/MDf/1-8 & 25-27; Vale Royal: E12/VI/MDf/1-11; Warmingham and Street Forges: E12/ VI/MDf/1-3 & 12-21; Cranage Forge: E12/VI/MDf/1-3 & 2227. These are annual accounts covering the period 1696-1712, during which Philip Foley was a partner, but with gaps. For later accounts see VR a/c and Cranage a/c. Cranage a/c: Ches RO, DTo/A/3/1-5. Various account books for Cranage Forge 1716-37. The cash book for 1728-33 has been published as Record Soc. Lancs & Ches 154 (2017). Cunsey a/c: TNA, E  112/957/107, Edward Hall. Account of Lancashire partnership 1718-26 for Cunsey Furnace and Forge, half Coniston Forge and Carr Furnace and Aintree Forge. Downton a/c: Herefs RO, T74/431, account of Willey Furnace 1729-33; also accounts between Richard Knight and his sons. Duddon a/c: Lancs RO, DDX 192. Accounts of Duddon Furnace and Sparkbridge Forge 1750-80, passim. Details of sales only appear 1772-80. E of Shrews a/c: Sheffield Archives, ACM/S114-S117 passim: 1583-90 for Lizard Forge (Shrops) and Attercliffe Forge and Oxspring Smithies (Yorks). Those for Lizard are published as Watts 2000.

Ironworks accounts Archer a/c: SBT, DR 37/vols 3-6a & 12-13 & ER 1/43. DR37/36a are accounts of Clifford Forge 1673-95. The remainder are stewards’ accounts including sales of wood.

EV a/c: 1805-9: TNA, C  114/124(2); 1809-13: TNA, C  114/124(1); 1813-7: TNA, C  114/125(1); 1817-20: TNA, C  114/125(2); 1820-40: TNA, C  114/126-127: the original ledgers (only) for Ebbw Vale Ironworks. Those after 1820 have not been used.

Ashburnham a/c: East Sussex RO, ASH/1815-32. Full journals and ledgers for Ashburnham Furnace 1758-92; accounts for same furnace and forge 1792-1826.

Foley a/c: 1667-72: Foley, E12/KBf/4 & 15-18 (Stour); 16921705: E12/VI/DEf/1-13 (Dean and Stour); 1705-17: E12/VI/ DFf/1-13 (Dean); 1723-4: E12/VI/DGf/36/1-36 (Dean); 172551: E12/VI/DGf/1-35 (Dean). Annual Accounts: 1667-72 Stour Valley & elsewhere in south Staffs; 1692-1705 Stour Valley; 1692-1751 Forest of Dean etc. Other accounts in the Foley collection have other abbreviations or are cited by their full reference. Some of the accounts 1669-72 have been printed as Schafer 1979 and 1990.

BB a/c: 1713-5: Newcastle UL, Misc. Ms 32 and Barrow in Furness RO, z  186; 1728: z  188, f.17; 1729-43: Lancs RO, DDMc30/1-9; 1746-51: Barrow in Furness RO, z  192; 17871801 (passim) z  193-6. These concern Backbarrow, and are mostly full journals and ledgers, but those for 1787-1801 also deal with iron ore mines. Boycott a/c: 1679-81 & 1691/2: NLW, Cilybebyll 202 413-4 & 1291-5; 1695-1702: TNA, E 112/880/Salop 9; a brief annual accounts by various clerks at Leighton Furnace and Sheinton Forge 1679-81 and 1691-2, for Willey Furnace 1695-1702 and all their works 1700-02.

Foley G a/c: Foley, E12/IV/19: ledger of Henry Glover 16848 for Moorland Works in north Staffordshire. See Staffs a/c for preceding and succeeding periods. His personal papers are in Foley, E12/IV/18.

Butterley a/c: Derbs RO, D 593B/Furnace ledger B: furnace sales etc. 1801 on (part of a considerable deposit of documents relating to this ironworks).

Foley St a/c: Foley, E12/F/VI/MBf/1-8: accounts of Staveley Furnace and Forge and Carburton Forge 1695-8 with collection of debts 1698/9. For later accounts, see SpSt. Staveley a/c and SIR St a/c.

BW a/c: 1733-42: Knight 244; 1742-55: Knight 245; 175678: Knight 246-68 (one item per year): annual accounts for Bringewood with Charlcot Furnace and Mitton tinmill.

Fuller a/c: East Sussex RO, SAS/RF 15/various. Gibbons a/c: Staffs RO, D 1046. Triennial balance sheets of T., W. & B. Gibbons for Level Furnaces, Lye & Cradley Forges 1788-1805, with one previous one apparently dealing with the ironmongers business in 1786; also accounts for Cradley ironworks 1805-12: Dudley Archives, z121.

Caerleon a/c: 1758-70 Newport Central Library (Gwent), qM260 671. Further books (up to 1843) have not been used. Calder a/c: Leeds Archives, KF, passim: complete account books (except first ledger) of Calder Iron & Coal Co. 1803-15. Cannock a/c: See Welch 2000.

633

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Goldney a/c: Wilts RO, 473/295. Journal of Thomas Goldney’s sales on behalf of Willey, Coalbrookdale, and Leighton Companies from 1741 and various other private business affairs.

year. Full references to specific pages are therefore cited by year, J[ournal] or L[edger], page or folio, e.g. SIR a/c, 1718 J, 89 & SIR a/c, 1716/21 L, 197 respectively mean SIR/5, part 3 (1718), p.89 and SIR/19, f.197. The ‘year’ 1718 means about 12 months from midsummer 1718.

HH a/c: 1755-62: Shrops RO, 6001/332; 1767-74: Shrops RO, 6001/333; 1774-81: Shrops RO, 245/3; 1799-1806: Shrops RO, 6001/335.

Snedshill a/c: TNA, C 12/211/5, schedule to the answer of John Wilkinson; copy in Butler notes.

Invergarry a/c: Scottish RO, GD  1/168/1-7. The complete journals and ledgers of Invergarry Furnace 1726-36.

Sp early a/c: TNA, CHES 16/89, Allsopp v Spencer. Stock and profit only of Bank & Barnby Furnaces and Wortley Colnbridge & Kirkstall Forges 1658-1665.

Kirkstall a/c: Leeds Archives, KF, passim; and KF/addl: account books of Beechcroft & Butlers for Kirkstall Forge, nearly complete series of journals and ledgers from 1779 and letterbooks from 1795. There were said to be further volumes in Board Room at GKN Axles, Kirkstall Forge, Leeds.

Sp Bank & Barnby a/c: 1720-37: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60494B. Production and charge for each furnace only. Sp Bank a/c: 1696-1743: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60459/145; 1727: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60494B/1; 1744: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60494B/1. Annual abstracts of accounts; there are no accounts for 1732 and 1740, as it was idle.

Lydney a/c: Gloucs RO, D 421/E6 & E9. E6: brief account of Kings Works in Forest of Dean 1663-4; E9: brief account of Lydney Furnace 1697-1700.

Sp Barnby a/c: 1738-42 Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60494B/1.

Llancillo a/c: TNA, C 105/24: a brief account of Llancillo Forge 1719-25.

Sp Carburton a/c: 1701-20 Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60472/130: annual abstracts of accounts for Carburton Forge.

Melin Griffith a/c: NLW, Melin Griffith (E L Chappel) box 5: Account book 1786/7 & inventory 1787; also a cash book 1774/5, truck shop book 1779, some correspondence 17841810 and sundry other papers. Further accounts are in National Museum of Wales and were used in Evans 2001.

Sp Colnbridge a/c: 1692-1751: Bradford Archives, SpSt. 5/5/3/2; 1775-85: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60468/1-9: annual abstracts of accounts for Colnbridge Forge 1692-1751. Sp Foxbrooke a/c: 1707-15: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60474/714: annual abstracts of accounts.

Moreton a/c: Herefs RO, T74/431: account of Moreton Corbett Forge, Jul. 1721 to Feb. 1723.

Sp Holmes Chapel a/c: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60494B: Cost of erection 1713 and two accounts covering the 1720s.

Morgan & Jones ledger: NLW, Tredegar Park MSS/136: ledger for Hon. Thomas Morgan and [?Hugh] Jones for Machen Forges, Tredegar Forge and Caerphilly Furnace, 1748-50.

Sp Kirkstall a/c: 1700-57: Bradford Archives, SpSt. 5/5/3/4: annual abstracts of accounts for Kirkstall Forge.

Morgan a/c: 1691-1701: NLW, Tredegar Park 76/2-25 passim; 1711-7 & 1730-2: ibid. 75/26-32: 1691-1701 accounts of John Morgan & Co for Tredegar and Machen forges; and 1711-32 accounts of Mr Morgan mainly for Tredegar Forge.

Sp Renishaw a/c: 1700-2: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60473/1-2: annual abstracts of accounts. For later accounts, see Sp Staveley Forge a/c. Sp Staveley Forge a/c: 1700-20: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60475/1-19: annual abstracts of accounts.

Morgan Iron Ledger: Cardiff Library, MS 2.380. Carriage of iron from Bassaleg [i.e. Tredegar Forge] and Machen to Newport 1754-60.

Sp Staveley Furnace a/c: 1701-6: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60474/1-6; 1718: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60494B/1: annual abstracts of accounts.

OP a/c: John Rylands Library, Manchester, Botfield Colln, accounts of Old Park Furnaces 1790-1832: journals and ledgers. These were unlisted when examined, but now BOT/2/24/1-3 etc.

Sp wiremill a/c: 1724 Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60471/23; also SpSt 60514/48 & 53: capital account for wiremills and slitting mills partnership 1724 etc.

Pelham a/c: BL, Add. mss. 33154-56: accounts of Waldron Furnace and Brightling and Bivelham Forges 1639-1715 (with gaps). Powis a/c: NLW, Powis Castle 1855-69 passim: accounts for Mathrafal Forge 1742-53 passim.

Sp Wortley a/c: 1695-1702: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60471/17; 1721-37: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60471/22: abstracts of accounts 1695-1702; profit and loss only 1721-37.

Savile & Nevile a/c: 1639-51: Notts RO, DDSR 211/128/1/ passim; and YAS Library, MD 335/70/67-100: various papers relating to Toadhole Furnace and Crich Forge and to Chappel Furnace and Kimberworth Forge, but not a series of coherent accounts.

Staffs a/c: 1673-83: Foley E12/VI/MAf/1-4; 1688-9 & 16921710: Foley E12/VI/MAf/6-31: accounts of Mearheath Furnace 1673-87 (with gaps) and of the whole of Staffordshire ironworks 1689 & 1690-1710 (1701-3 missing). For 1683-8, see Foley G a/c.

SIR St a/c: Sheffield Archives, SIR/28-9 & 55-6. Full journals and ledgers for Staveley Furnace and Forge and Carburton Forge 1750-73.

Staffs ledger: Foley, E12/VI/MAf/34: ledger for deliveries of iron from Lawton 1678-9 and Mearheath. At least some of the persons named are probably carriers.

SIR W a/c: Sheffield Archives, SIR/30. Account book for Wingerworth Furnace and Bulwell & New Mills Forges 1772-7. The same volume has also been used for other purposes including as a furnace orders book 1806-10.

SW a/c: 1725-41: Knight 141; 1742-52: Knight 142; 1753-1812: Knight 143-200 (one item per year); 1812-49 Knight 201-39 (one item per year). The accounts for 1725-1812 are a continuous run of annual accounts for Edward (later John) Knight & Co’s Stour Works, including from 1745 Aston Furnace and Bromford Forge. Knight 243 is a more detailed account for certain forges. Knight 201-39 contain rather less detail than the earlier ones. One 19th century account and a few deeds are in a recent deposit with Somerset RO, which I have not used.

SIR Y a/c: 1690-1727: Sheffield Archives, SIR/1-6 & 12-20; 1727-64: Sheffield Archives, SIR/7-11 & 21-25. Full journals and ledgers for the Sheffield ironworks managed by the Fell family for Simpson, Hayford and others; ledgers missing 16938. Internal pagination of journals is usually separate for each

634

Bibliography Thorncliffe a/c: Sheffield Archives, TR. Little use has been made of these: those examined seemed to refer to the production of cast iron goods.

Uffington wharfage a/c: Shrops RO, 6000/18289: some details of wharfage and other matters in a volume of rent accounts 16529.

Tintern B a/c: NLW, Badminton 8575-81 9940 & 10475: accounts of Tintern ironworks, while managed for the Duke of Beaufort.

Vict. a/c: 1684-1775: TNA, ADM 20/35-273 passim, Victualing series; 1776-1819: TNA, ADM 112/162-205, usually s.v. ‘iron hoops’. Used mainly for suppliers of iron hoops. Treasurer’s ‘ledgers’ usually have a summary by commodity in the back of the last volume for each half year. Years are calendar years new style and are those of the bill, usually a few days after delivery, not that of payment.

Tintern F a/c: Ironworks 1673-83: Foley E12/VI/Af/2-6 & 9; wireworks 1673-7 & 1686-7 Foley E12/VI/Af/10-17. Accounts for Tintern iron and wire works. Foley E12/VI/Af/9 is labelled ‘Henry Glover’s book’ and fills in a gap where annual accounts do not survive: the accounts probably came into the hands of Philip Foley as Henry Glover’s executor.

Workington a/c: Carlisle RO, D/Cu/5/99: Sales probably of ironstone from collieries of the Curwen family of Workington 1787-1801.

VR a/c: 1719-23: Cheshire RO, DBC  4710/1/1: journal of Vale Royal Furnace: neither its ledger nor any accounts for the Company’s Sutton Furnace and Acton Forge have survived. For earlier accounts see Cheshire a/c.

Letters and letterbooks

Wade a/c: 1653-6: TNA, SP 18/130/146ff; 1656-7: TNA, SP 18/156B; 1657-60 TNA, E 178/6080: accounts of the Commonwealth’s (formerly King’s) Ironworks in the Forest of Dean under the management of Major Wade.

Crawshay l/b: Calendared as Evans 1990.

Cookson l/b: Tyne & Wear Archives, 1512/5571. John Cookson, Newcastle merchant, 1747-69. Dalton l/b: John Rylands Library Manchester, Bagshawe 5/4/13. Richard Dalton, a Sheffield merchant supplying (inter alia) iron 1735-50.

Willoughby a/c: Nottingham UL, Middleton Colln, various (mf in Staffs RO and fully described in Smith 1967; some statistics in Welch 2000). Very detailed accounts of ironworks at Middleton & Hints, at Oakamoor, and at Codnor in the 1590s.

Ford l/b: Shrops RO, 6001/3190: letters of Richard Ford to Thomas Goldney 1732-7. Fuller l/b: See Crossley & Saville 1991.

Wytheford a/c: Shrops RO, 625/15. Brief account of Wytheford Forge 1687-9, by Mr Woodhouse, the clerk there.

Galton l/b: Birmingham Archives 205/1: various business, mostly connected with the Birmingham gun trade.

Accounts for related activities

Glanfred l/b: NLW, Cwrt Mawr 823D: letterbook of Glanfred Forge, Cardiganshire 1781-4. The writer’s name is not stated, but can be identified as David Morgan, who married Ann Hallen in 1775 (cf. Hallen pedigree, in Hallen 1885).

Dean cordwood: TNA, LR 4/1-18. Sales of cordwood in the Forest of Dean have been extracted from Crown land revenue accounts for forests. No other forest seems to have been managed to produce cordwood, or perhaps the underwood and tops and lops of timber were perquisites of forest officers.

Janson letters: TNA, C 11/1575/31, answer of Joseph Janson, schedule B.

Egremont a/c: Carlisle RO, D/Lec/240/mines. Royalties from Langaran iron ore mine, Egremont 1635-1711; tenure of same mine 1712-43; shipments of iron ore from Bigrigg mine to Ireland 1716-9; royalties paid by Peter How & Co 1753-60.

KB l/b: Staffs RO, D 6702 (formerly D 872): letter book of Samuel Barnett of Kings Bromley Tinmill 1796-1800, continued subsequently for other correspondence. Lorn l/b: National Library of Scotland, MS. 994-5: letterbooks of agents at Lorn Furnace 1786-1800, with a few letters 1810-12.

India a/c: BL, India Office Records, accounts of East India Co. 1567-1834: ledgers: L/AG/1/1/2-32; cash journals: L/AG/1/5/134; stock journals: L/AG/1/10/1-2. The ledgers have mainly been used.

Morgan l/b: NLW, Griffith E Owen 162: letterbook of Robert Morgan of Carmarthen 1759-62. This is the manuscript, referred to in Williams 1959 & 1961.

Maister: Maister Day Book 1714-22: Hull UL DP/82: a stock ledger and journal of William Maister of Hull.

Plumsted l/b: 1756-8: Cambridge UL, Add Ms. 2798: letterbook of Robert Plumsted, a London ironmonger trading with America, principally concerned with foreign trade, but also recording sales of American pig iron. See Skeel 1916.

Morgan cordwood a/c: NLW, Tredegar Park 76/87: account of cordwood supplied to Maybury & Wilkins 1764-76. Navy a/c: Information on the purchase of naval stores extracted from: 1694-1781: TNA, ADM 106/3583-3620 passim and ADM 49/32-33; 1795-1821: NMM, CHA/N/1. Mainly used for cast iron ballast, but also imported bar iron. References to ballast before 1755 references are fully cited individually. Further information on contracts is available in NMM, POR/A series. The Naval series of Treasurer’s “ledgers” (TNA, ADM 20) which have more detail on these and also ironmongery have not been used.

Plymouth l/b: 1786-92: NLW, MS 15334E: letterbook of Richard Hill concerning Plymouth Furnace, and also at first Cyfarthfa. Prankard l/b: Somerset RO, DD/DN/423-30: letterbooks of Graffin Prankard, a partner in Coalbrookdale ironworks 1712-15 and a leading Bristol iron importer 1728-56. See also Prankard a/c. Sitwell l/b: Published as Riden 1985.

Prankard a/c: Somerset RO, DD/DN/433-444: account books of Graffin Prankard of Bristol, an importer of iron and other goods.

Spencer l/b: 1738-43: Sheffield Archives SpSt 60505/1; 174654 60605/3: letterbook of William Spencer of Cannon Hall, Cawthorne ironmaster 1738-44 and nail manufacturer 1738-54. Other Spencer letters: Barnsley Archives, SpSt 60512-43 passim, also a few letters in Bradford Archives SpSt. Full citation is always given.

RH a/c: TNA, C 108/111: accounts for Rough Hills Colliery, for sales of ironstone 1803-13, also sales of refined iron from Rough Hills ironworks 1803-4.

Watt’s diary: Sheffield Archives, MD 3483: ‘Diary and letterbook of John Watts 1715’. Watts was at this time manager of Staveley and Carburton ironworks.

Pemberton inventory: Birmingham Archives, MS 258/4: inventory of John Pemberton of Birmingham ironmonger referred to in articles (missing) dated 1729.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Major archive collections of ironmasters

Port Books: TNA, E190, sometimes cited by port and year, rather than reference.

Foley: Herefs RO. Family archive of the Foley family, ironmasters in Midlands 1640s-1705 and near Forest of Dean 1660s-1751, including Foley a/c; Cheshire a/c; Staffs a/c; etc. Records for earlier and later dates and for the family’s Great Witley estate do not survive.

Statute: English and British Acts of Parliament, cited by regnal year and chapter from Statutes of the Realm (Record Commission, 1810-28) or Statutes at Large (various editions). Local and private Acts (which are separately numbered) are described as such.

Knight: Worcs RO, 899:310 BA 10470, cited by piece number as in Kidderminster Library Catalogue, not by box number. Family archive of Edward Knight and descendants 1725-1850, including SW a/c and BW a/c. Other material on the family (cited in full) is in Herefs RO (T74) and Somerset RO.

Sun Life Office policies: Details have been incorporated into TNA Discovery catalogue, from originals in Guildhall Library, London. I have not examined the originals. Tithe awards and maps: At least three copies exist: TNA, IR 29-30; and diocesan and parochial copies. The two latter have commonly been deposited in Record Offices, but Welsh diocesan copies are in NLW and available on-line. Some others are also now available on websites.

Spencer-Stanhope: Barnsley and Bradford Archives, SpSt. Cited in full, except a/c and l/b items.

Diaries and other manuscript volumes Angerstein’s diary: see printed works.

Searchable databases available on-line

Aubrey, ‘Perambulation’: J. Aubrey, ‘Perambulation of Surrey, begun 1673’ Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Aubrey 4.

Coflein: Heritage catalogue for Wales, of Royal Commission for Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales.

BL, Loan MS 16/1-2: Minute books of Company of Mineral and Battery Works.

Companies House: used for details of companies registration in late 19th and 20th centuries.

Butler’s Diary: see Butler 1954.

Familysearch: used to verify vital dates.

Joshua Gilpin’s diary: mf in Birmingham UL, described in Hancock and Wilkinson 1959.

Graces Guide: A compilation of records of industry, mainly in UK.

Kelsall’s diary: Transcripts in FMH, MS S.185ff.

Historic England listed buildings.

Lewis c.1775: Cardiff Library, MS.3.250 ‘The chemical and mineral history of iron’ by William Lewis (1708-81). A valuable source, mainly on technology, written after 1770 [see iv, 153]. For the author’s biography see Gibbs 1952a. However Gibbs was not aware of this manuscript.

Pastscape: National Record of the Historic Environment, of Historic England. Wealden iron database: www.wirgdata.org. Only “people” database used (occasionally), as chapter 2 is an edition of part of its “sites” database.

Mushet Diary: see printed works. Rawlinson diary: Barrow in Furness RO, DD/HJ 89/18; Journal of WR [William Rawlinson] beginning 24 August 1714.

Wikipedia: Encyclopedia: only rarely cited, when it gave information not found elsewhere, which appears independent and credible, not including articles on which I have worked.

Skippe’s Diary: Hereford Library, L.C. Mss. (Oversize), class W.920 Skyppe (sic), ‘Diary’ of George Skippe: largely a register of deeds etc. that he executed.

Contemporary lists of ironworks, cited by date 1717: Hulme 1928, ‘List A’, conventionally dated 1717 (but probably slightly earlier); also King 1996b.

Watt’s Tour of Wales: Birmingham Archives, B&W, M I/6/12 ‘1800 Ironworks in South Wales’ by James Watt junior.

1718: Hulme 1928, ‘List B’, past output; also King 1996b.

Weale mss: SML, Weale Mss. 371/1-4. A collection of papers by the secretary of Lord Sheffield for a book on the iron industry intended to be written about 1810, including papers of Lord Sheffield concerning the Irish Proposals of about 1785 and copies of correspondence of Henry Cort mostly in the 1780s.

1736: Hulme 1928, ‘List B’, present output; also King 1996b. 1750: Hulme 1928, ‘List C’; also King 1996b.

Wood’s diary: published as Gross 2001.

1788: SML, Weale mss, 371/1, f.88-91; Scrivenor 1840, 86-7 (furnaces); Mushet 1839, 44 (forges); Birmingham Archives, B&W MII/5/10 (closed furnaces). See King 2012.

Sundry primary sources

1790: see 1794 1794: Birmingham Archives, B&W, MII/5/10; another version is printed Scrivenor 1841, 359-61. The list bears date 1794, but the names given indicate that much of the information in fact dates from 1790 or earlier, with information on new works then appended. The Scrivenor version bears the date May 1790. The list is published in King 2012, 124-35.

Census: Census returns: most record offices have microfilms of these for their county, but they are too late to be much used. English Patent: English patents of invention, cited as numbered in Woodcroft 1854. Where reference is needed to an original enrolment, a full citation is given.

1796: SML, Weale mss., 371/1, f. 92; Scrivenor 1840, 93-5; see also Evans 1993.

Foley: See abbreviations. Knight: See abbreviations.

1805 or 1806: Birmingham Archives, B&W, MII/5/12; see also Evans 1993. The B & W version is in a group of papers connected with agitation against a tax on coal used to make iron; most published versions are derived from this printed paper or copies.

Land tax: Land Tax Assessments: a duplicate was filed with the Clerk of the Peace in c.1780-1832 as evidence of the right to vote. These are to be found among Quarter Sessions records in record offices. Occasionally copies derived from the Land Tax Commissioners also survive. Citation is by parish (or township) and date.

1810: SML, Weale mss., 371/3, 183-185v.

636

Bibliography 1812: Atkinson & Baber 1987, 9; for south Wales only.

Aitken 1880: John Aitken, ‘On the discovery of an ancient iron mine in Cliviger and ... remains of old bloomeries [near] Todmorden’, Trans. Manchester Geological Soc., 15 (1880), 261-78.

1815: Butler 1954, 242-51; also Edgar Allen News Aug. & Sept. 1952: for Staffordshire and Shropshire only. The original is among Kirkstall Forge MSS. in Leeds Archives.

Alexander 2002: Eric Alexander, ‘Henry Cort and the Black Country’, The Blackcountryman, 35(4) (2002), 17-22.

1823 & 1825: Birmingham Archives, B&W, MII/17/2. Two separate lists: the latter includes figures from 1830, but apparently omits North Staffordshire.

Allen 1827: Thomas Allen, History and Antiquities of the Parish of Lambeth … (1827).

Data on puddling furnaces after 1859 is from Mineral Statistics. Data on furnaces from 1790 is published in Riden & Owen 1995.

Allen 1929: G.C. Allen, Industrial Development of Birmingham and the Black Country 1860-1927 (George  Allen  and Unwin, 1929).

Directories

Allen 1969: J.S. Allen, ‘Some early Newcomen engines and legal disputes surrounding them’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 41 (1968-9), 181-201.

Extensive use has been made of directories, but these are only cited among ‘sources’ where they are a particularly significant.

Allen 2000: J.S. Allen, A history of Horseley, Tipton: 200 years of engineering progress (Landmark, Ashbourne, 2000).

Kent’s Directory and various other 18th century London directories: mf in Guildhall Library, London.

Allport 1913: C.H. Allport, A Royal Town: history of Conisborough from the earliest times to the present day (Sheffield 1913).

Bailey’s British Directory (1784): in BL. Universal British Directory (1790-4) (mf in Birmingham UL)

Amery 1924: J.S. Amery, ‘Address of the President’, Devon Association, 56 (1924), 43-102.

Holden’s Biennial Directory (1816-7) etc. in BL. The exact title varies between volumes.

Andrews 1956: C.R. Andrews, The story of Wortley Ironworks (2nd edn, Millward, Nottingham 1956; 3rd edn 1975).

Newspapers etc.:

Andrews 2015: Phil Andrews, Riverside Exchange, Sheffield: investigations on the site of the Town Mill, Cutler’s wheel, Marshall’s steelworks and Naylor Vickers Works (Wessex Archaeology, Salisbury).

References come mostly from searches of BL Burney Collection (via Thomson-Gale website), British Newspapers Archive (website); London Gazette (website); Welsh newspapers on-line (website). Also:

Andrews et al 2017: Phil Andrews, Roderick Mackenzie and Patrick Sean Quinn, ‘Crucible Steel production at Derwentcote Forge, County Durham’, Hist. Metallurgy, 50(1) (2017 for 2016), 53-66.

Aris Birmingham Gazette: mf in Birmingham Central LSL. I am most grateful to the late Prof. J.R. Harris for access to the Birmingham Metal Trades Index, a card index to this newspaper 1740-99, compiled for him and now among his papers in IGMT.

Angerstein’s diary: Torsten and Peter Berg (transl.), R.R. Angerstein’s illustrated travel diary 1753-1755 (Science Museum, London 2001). For commentary see Floren & Rydén 1996.

Derby Mercury: mf in Derby LSL. Newcastle Chronicle and Newcastle Courant: Gateshead LSL.

anon. 1971: anon., ‘Investigations and excavations during the year’, Archaeologia Cantiana 85 (1971), 175-195.

Published Sources

anon. 1973: anon., ‘Inventory of Iron Sites visited by WIRG’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 6 (1973), 17-31.

A few manuscript items, unpublished theses, and other things than printed works are included, as if they were published. A few works are cited by title, rather than by author and date. Brief notes are sometimes cited by the periodical title and are thus not included. Calendars of material in TNA, published by it or HMSO and those of private archives, published by Historical manuscripts Commission are cited by series and volume and are similarly not included. This also applies to certain other calendars and editions of original documents. Victoria County History is similarly treated like a periodical, cited by county and volume. County and other printed maps are cited in full in the text and not listed here.

anon. 1974: anon., ‘Inventory of Iron Sites visited by WIRG’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 7 (1974), 10-27. anon. 1975: anon., ‘Inventory of Iron Sites visited by WIRG’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 8 (1975), 8-44. anon. 1976: anon., ‘Inventory of Sites visited by WIRG’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 9 (1976), 2-18. Anstis 1990: Ralph Anstis, The industrial Teagues and the Forest of Dean (Alan Sutton, Gloucester 1990). Appleby 1987: J.H. Appleby, ‘Moses Stringer (fl. 1695-1713): Iatrochemist and Mineral Master General’, Ambix, 34(1) (1987), 31-45.

Adams 1951: Arthur Adams, The history of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths (Sylvan Press, London 1951).

Arnott & Sayer 1978: A.T. Arnott & M. Sayer, ‘Beam engines in blast furnace blowing’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 3(1) (1978), 29-44.

Adams 1976: R. Adams, ‘Scarlets Furnace: a note’, Wealden Iron, 1st ser 9 (1976), 23.

Ashmore 1969: Owen Ashmore, Industrial archaeology of Lancashire (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1969).

Addis 1957: J.P. Addis, The Crawshay Dynasty (University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1957).

Ashmore 1982: Owen Ashmore, Industrial archaeology of northwest England (Chetham Soc. 3rd Ser. 29, 1982).

637

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Ashton 1924: T.S. Ashton, Iron and steel in the industrial revolution (Manchester University Press 1924; 2nd edn 1951; 3rd edn 1963). An important study, though sometimes a little dated; the later editions differ little from the first.

Awty 1978: B.G. Awty, ‘Denization returns and lay subsidy rolls as sources for French ironworkers in the Weald’, Wealden Iron, ser. I, 13 (1978), 17-19. A preliminary report. Awty 1979: B.G. Awty, ‘Provisional identifications of ironworkers among French immigrants listed in the denization rolls of 1541 and 1544’, Wealden Iron, ser. I, 16 (1979), 2-11.

Asquith 2011: Roger Asquith, ‘The characters and events that shaped Keswick’s pencil industry’, The Journal – Lorton and Derwent Fells Local History Soc., 48 (Feb. 2011), 10-23.

Awty 1981a: B.G. Awty, ‘The continental origins of Wealden ironworkers’, Economic History Review, ser. II, 34 (1981), 52439. An important paper.

Åström 1963: S-E. Åström, From Cloth to Iron: the Anglo-Baltic trade in the late seventeenth century: i The growth, structure, and organisation of the trade, (Societas Scientarum Fennica: Commentationes Humanarum Littarum 33(1), Helsingfors 1963).

Awty 1981b: B.G. Awty, ‘French immigrants and the iron industry in Sheffield’, Yorks Arch. J., 53 (1981), 57-62. An important paper not limited to Yorkshire.

Åström 1982: S-E. Åström, ‘Swedish iron and the English iron industry about 1700’, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 30 (1982), 129-41. An important study on effects of Swedish trade in England.

Awty 1984: B.G. Awty, ‘Aliens in the ironworking areas of the Weald: the Subsidy Rolls, 1524-1603’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 4 (1984), 13-78.

Athill 1971: R. Athill, Old Mendip (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1971).

Awty & Phillips 1980: B.G. Awty & C.B. Phillips, ‘The Cumbrian bloomery forge in the seventeenth century and forge equipment in the charcoal iron industry’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 51 (1970-80), 25-40.

Atkinson 1884: Rev. J.C. Atkinson, ‘Existing traces of medieval ironworking in Cleveland’, Yorks Arch. J., 8 (1884), 30-48.

Awty 1986: B.G. Awty, ‘Richard and Joan Isted: ironmasters’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 6 (1986), 45-9.

Atkinson 1891: Rev. J.C. Atkinson, Forty years in a moorland parish (1891, reprint Leeds 1981).

Awty 1987a: B.G. Awty, ‘The origin of the blast furnace: evidence from the francophone areas’, Hist. Metallurgy, 21(2) (1987), 96-9. A reply to Tholander & Blomgren 1986; see also further correspondence Hist. Metallurgy 22(2) (1988), 125-7.

Athill 1970: R. Athill, ‘Nettlebridge valley’, BIAS J., 3 (1970), 9.

Atkinson 1974: Frank Atkinson, Industrial archaeology of northeast England (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1974).

Awty 1987b: B.G. Awty, ‘Cast-iron cannon of the 1540s’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 125 (1987), 115-23.

Atkinson 1987: David Atkinson, The German swordmakers of Shotley Bridge (Northeast Centre for Education about Europe, 1987: occasional paper 2).

Awty 1989a: B.G. Awty, ‘Parson Levett and English cannon founding’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 127 (1989), 133-45. The origins of English cannon founding.

Atkinson & Baber 1987: Michael Atkinson & Colin Baber, The growth and decline of the south Wales iron industry 1760-1880: an industrial history (University of Wales Press, 1987: Board of Celtic Studies, Social Science monograph 9).

Awty 1989b: B.G. Awty, ‘A new forgemaster, William Bassett, and an old name, Grubsbars, for Crowborough forge’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 9 (1989), 33-38.

Atkinson & Boyns 1989: M. Atkinson & Trevor Boyns, ‘Haematite mining in Glamorgan in nineteenth century’, Glamorgan Historian, 12 (1989), 108-122.

Awty 1990a: B.G. Awty, ‘The blast furnace in the renaissance: haut fourneau or fonderie’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 61 (1989-90), 65-78.

Attman et al 1987: A. Attman, Forsmark och vallonjärnet [Forsmark and Walloon iron] (Sweden 1987). Attree 1912: F.W.T. Attree, Notes of post-mortem inquisitions taken in Sussex (Sussex Record Soc., 14, 1912).

Awty 1990b: B.G. Awty, ‘The indirect process in the pays de Bray (and gazetteer)’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 10 (1990), 7-11 1935.

Aubery, Surrey: J. Aubery, The Natural History and Antiquities of … Surrey, begun … 1673 (London 1709).

Awty 1991a: B.G. Awty, ‘Henry VII’s first attempt to exploit iron in Ashdown Forest’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 11 (1991), 11-14.

Auchmuty 1911: S.F.F. Auchmuty, The history of the Parish of Cleobury Mortimer, Salop (1911; repr. Baldwin, Cleobury Mortimer 1996; image on cleoburymortimerhistory.co.uk).

Awty 1991b: B.G. Awty, ‘English cast-iron ordnance of 1564’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 11 (1991), 14-17.

Austen 1947: E. Austen, Brede: the story of a Sussex Parish (Adams & Son, Rye, 1947).

Awty 1994: B.G. Awty, ‘Were there medieval ironworking contacts between Sweden and Namur?’, Hist. Metallurgy, 28(1) (1994), 7-10.

Awty 1957: B.G. Awty, ‘Charcoal ironmasters of Cheshire and Lancashire 1600-1785’, Trans. Hist. Soc. Lancs & Ches, 109 (1957), 71-121. An important study.

Awty 1996: B.G. Awty, ‘Early cast irons and the impact of fuel availability on their production’, Hist. Metallurgy, 30(1) (1996), 17-22.

Awty 1960: B.G. Awty, ‘Sir Richard Shireburn’s Esholt ironworks’, Bradford Antiquary, n.s., 8(40) (1960), 243-54. A bloomery forge.

Awty 2003a: Brian Awty, ‘Queenstock furnace at Buxted, Sussex: the earliest in England?’, Hist. Metallurgy, 37(1) (2003), 51-2.

Awty 1965: B.G. Awty, ‘Backbarrow and Pennybridge furnace accounts 1763-80’, Trans. Hist. Soc. Lancs & Ches, 116 (1965), 19-38.

Awty 2003b: B.G. Awty, ‘Crookford Furnace; not Cotchford but Worth’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 23 (2003), 21-23. Awty & Whittick 2004: Brian Awty & Chris Whittick (with Pam Combes), ‘The Lordship of Canterbury, iron-founding at Buxted, and the continental antecedents of cannon-founding in the Weald’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 140 (2004 for 2002), 71-81.

Awty 1977: B.G. Awty, ‘Force Forge in the seventeenth century’, Trans. Cumb & Westm Antiquarian & Arch. Soc., n.s., 77 (1977), 97-112. A bloomery.

638

Bibliography Awty 2006: B.G. Awty, ‘The elusive finery forges of Liège’, Hist. Metallurgy, 40(2) (2006), 129-38.

Barraclough 1977a: K.C. Barraclough, ‘Benjamin Huntsman 1704-1776’, Hist. Metallurgy, 11(1) (1977), 25-9.

Awty 2007: B. Awty, ‘The Development and Dissemination of the Walloon Method of Ironworking’, Technology and Culture, 48 (2007), 783-803.

Barraclough 1977b: K.C. Barraclough, ‘Wortley Forge: the possibility of early steel production’, Hist. Metallurgy, 11(2) (1977), 88-92.

Awty 2019: B.G. Awty (ed. J.S. Hodgkinson and C.H.C. Whittick), Adventure in Iron: the blast furnace and its spread from Namur to northern France, England and North America: a technological, political and genealogical investigation (Wealden Iron Research Group, Hildenborough, Tonbridge 2019).

Barraclough 1984(1): K.C. Barraclough, Steelmaking before Bessemer: i Blister Steel: the birth of an industry (The Metals Soc., London 1984). The basic work on steel. Barraclough 1984(2): K.C. Barraclough, Steelmaking before Bessemer: ii Crucible Steel: the growth of an industry (The Metals Soc., London 1984). The basic work on steel.

Baber 1973: Colin Baber, ‘Monmouthshire Canal and its tramroads’, J. Railway & Canal Hist. Soc., 19 (1973), 9-16.

Barraclough 1990: K.C. Barraclough, ‘Swedish iron and Sheffield steel’, History of Technology, 12 (1990), 1-39. An important paper, originally published in Swedish in Attman et al. 1987.

Baildon 1913-26: W.P. Baildon, Baildon and the Baildons: the history of a Yorkshire manor and family (3 vols, privately, Bradford 1913-26).

Barraclough 1990b: K.C. Barraclough, Steelmaking 1850-1900 (Institute of Metals, London 1990).

Bailey & Nie 1978: De Witt Bailey & Douglas A. Nie, English Gunmakers: the Birmingham & provincial guntrade in the 18th and 19th centuries (Arms & Armour Press, London 1978).

Barraclough 1991: K.C. Barraclough, ‘Steel in the industrial revolution’, in Day and Tylecote 1991, 261-306.

Bailey 1988: De Witt Bailey, ‘The Board of Ordnance and Small Arms Supply: the Ordnance system, 1714 – 1783’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of London). Baines 1980: J.M. Baines, ‘Darwell Furnace, Mountfield’, Wealden Iron, Ser. I, 17 (1980), 9-12.

Barron 1983?: R.A. Barron, Finch Brothers Foundry Trust and Sticklepath museum of rural industry (Finch Foundry Trust, Sticklepath, Devon, c.1983). The forge (not a foundry) is now owned by the National Trust.

Baker 1943: H.G. Baker, ‘Early iron manufacture and an inventory of Whitchurch Forge, Herefordshire 1633’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 31(2) (1943), 103ff.

Barter Bailey 1989: S. Barter Bailey, ‘John Browne and Prince Rupert’s guns’ in R. Smith (ed.), British Naval Armaments (Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds 1989: Conference proceedings 1).

Baker 1944: H.G. Baker, ‘Blast furnace construction and costs in 1740’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 24 [1943-5] (1949), 113-20.

Barter Bailey 1991: S. Barter Bailey, ‘Information relating to the operation of the early cast-iron industry from a manuscript account book in the collection of the Royal Armouries’, J. Ordnance Soc. 3 (1991), 11-23.

Baker 1945: H.G. Baker, Samuel Walker and his partners (Sheffield Trades Hist. Soc., Sheffield 1945). Also published Edgar Allen News 26 (1947-8), 877-8 908-9 930-1 948-51 & 623: a description of material published as John 1951.

Barter Bailey 2000: S. Barter Bailey, Prince Rupert’s Patent Guns (Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds 2000: Royal Armouries monograph 6).

Baldwin 1994: Mark Baldwin, ‘Ironworking in Cleobury Mortimer, part 1’, Cleobury Chronicles, 3 (1994), 34-50.

Barter Bailey 2000: S. Barter Bailey, Prince Rupert’s Patent Guns (Royal Armouries, Leeds, 2000).

Ball et al. 2006: C. Ball, D. Crossley, & N. Flavell (eds.), Water Power on Sheffield Rivers (South Yorks Industrial History Soc. 2006). 1st edn is Crossley et al 1989

Bartlet 1973: Alan Bartlet, ‘Beaulieu in Tudor and Stuart times: the end of the Abbey: the Wriothesleys 1500-1673’ (TS, Hants RO, ‘thesis’).

Barber 1879: Fairless Barber, ‘West Riding sessions rolls’, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 5 (1879), 363-403.

Bartlet 1974: Alan Bartlet, ‘The ironworks at Sowley in the manor of Beaulieu c.1600-1820’ (TS, Beaulieu Palace House (Hants), Archives; also Hants RO, TOP Beaulieu 3).

Barker 1992: Richard Barker, ‘John Wilkinson and the Paris water pipes’, Wilkinson Studies, 2 (1992), 57-76.

Baxter 1966: Bertram Baxter, Stone blocks and iron rails (David and Charles, Newton Abbot 1966).

Barker & Harris 1954: T.C. Barker & J.R. Harris, A Merseyside town in the Industrial Revolution 1750-1900 [St Helens] (Liverpool University Press 1954).

Bayley, Crossley & Ponting 2008: J. Bayley, D. Crossley, & M. Ponting, Metals and Metalworking: a research framework of archaeometallurgy (Hist. Metallurgy Soc., Occasional Publication 6, 2008).

Barker 2000: David Barker, ‘Raby’s Mill at Addlestone’, in Crocker 2000a, 29-34.

Bayliss 1987: D.G. Bayliss, ‘The effect of Bringewood Forge on the landscape of north Herefordshire at the end of the seventeenth century’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 45(3) (1987), 721-9.

Barnes 1991: Carla Barnes, ‘Iron-working sites in the Haslemere area’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 11 (1991), 19-29. Barnsley 1969: Peter Barnsley, ‘Two Cradley mills’, The Blackcountryman, 2(1) (1969), 39ff.

Beacham 2019: M.J.A. Beacham, ‘Watermills in West Gloucestershire: corn mills on tributaries of the river Severn: part 1’, Wind and Water Mills 38 (2019), 46-67.

Barraclough & Awty 1987: K.C. Barraclough and B.G. Awty, ‘Denis Hayford: an early steel master’, Hist. Metallurgy, 21(1) (1987), 16-17.

Beckett 1975: J.V. Beckett, ‘Dr William Brownrigg, F.R.S.: physician, chemist and country gentleman’, Notes and Records Royal Soc. of London, 30 (1975), 255-71.

Barraclough 1972: K.C. Barraclough, ‘An eighteenth century steelmaking enterprise: the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire 1759-1772’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 6(2) (1972), 24-30.

Beckett 1981: J.V. Beckett, Coal and tobacco: the Lowthers and the economic development of west Cumberland 1660-1760 (Cambridge University Press 1981).

Barraclough 1976: K.C. Barraclough, Sheffield Steel, (Moorland, Buxton, Derbs. 1976: Historic industrial scenes).

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Bergen 1941?: Chris Bergen, History of Bedlington ironworks (Bedlington c. 1940).

Beckwith 1966: I.S. Beckwith, ‘Transport in the lower Trent valley in the 18th century’, East Midland Geographer, 4 (1966), 99-107.

Berners Price et al. 1991: J.F. Berners Price, R.G. Houghton, & J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Cuckfield Furnace: Site Survey 1989’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 11 (1991), 7-9.

Beckwith 1967: I.S. Beckwith, ‘The river trade of Gainsborough, 1500-1850’, Lincolnshire History & Archaeology, 2 (1967), 3-20.

Berners Price 1993: J.F. Berners Price, ‘Henly Furnace (lower), near Wadhurst’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 13 (1993), 4-7.

Bedford-Smith 1949?: A. Bedford-Smith, ‘Dudonius Dudley’ (TS in Birmingham Central Library, class L78.1). Bedingfield 1998: G. Bedingfield, ‘Congresbury and the iron industry’, BIAS J, 31 (1998).

Berry 1995: N. Berry, ‘Horner Wood 1995: an archaeological survey of Stoke Wood and Ten Acre Cleeve’ (unpublished report to National Trust: copy in Exmoor HER).

Bedwin 1976: O. Bedwin, ‘The excavation of Ardingly fulling mill and forge’, Post-Medieval Archaeology 10 (1976), 34-64.

Bestall 1967: J.M. Bestall, ‘Abbeydale Works, Sheffield’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 1(8) (1967), 17-23.

Bedwin 1978: O. Bedwin, ‘The excavation of a late sixteenth /early seventeenth century gun-casting furnace at Maynard’s Gate’, Sussex Arch. Collns 116 (1978), 163-78.

Beswick & Ennever 1981: W.R. Beswick & C.C. Ennever, ‘The Penhurst-Ashburnham Leat (Aqueduct Channel)’, Wealden Iron, series II, 1, 4-7

Bedwin 1980: O. Bedwin, ‘The excavation of a late 16th century blast furnace at Batsford, Herstmonceux, East Sussex, 1978’, Post-Medieval Archaeology 14 (1980), 89-112.

Beswick et al. 1984: W.R. Beswick, P.J. Broomhall, and J.D. Bickersteth, ‘Ashburnham Furnace: a definite date for its closure’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 122 (1984), 226-7. Bettey 1990: J.H. Bettey, ‘Graffin Prankard, an 18th century Bristol merchant’, Southern History, 12 (1990), 34-47.

Behagg 1998: Clive Behagg, ‘Mass production without the factory: craft producers, guns, and small arm innovation, 17901815’, Business History, 43(3) (1998), 1-15.

Bevan 1956: Thomas Bevan, ‘Sussex ironmasters in Wales’, Trans. Cardiff Naturalists Field Club, 86 (1956-7), 5-12.

Belford 1998: Paul Belford, ‘Converters and refiners: urban steelmaking sites in Sheffield’, S. Yorks Industrial History Soc. J., 1 (1998), 7-19.

Bick 1980: D.E. Bick, ‘The remains of Newent furnace’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 1980, 29-37.

Belford 2007: Paul Belford, ‘Sublime Cascades: Water and Power in Coalbrookdale’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 29(2) (2007), 138-48.

Bick 1982: David Bick, ‘Remnants of Newent Ironworks’, Papers presented at Hist. Metallurgy Soc. annual general meeting 1982 at Gloucester, 17-23.

Belford & Mitchell 2006: Paul Belford & W. Mitchell, Excavations at Wednesbury Forge (leaflet, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust 2006).

Bick 1987: David Bick, The mines of Newent and Ross (The Pound House, Newent, Glos 1987). Bick 1990: David Bick, ‘Early iron production from the Forest of Dean’, Hist. Metallurgy, 24(1) (1990), 39-42.

Belford & Ross 2007: P. Belford & R.A. Ross, ‘English steelmaking in the seventeenth century: excavation of two cementation furnaces at Coalbrookdale’, Hist. Metallurgy, 41(2) (2007), 105-123.

Bick 1992: David Bick, ‘Iron ore for Newent Furnace’, Hist. Metallurgy, 26 (1992), 61-2. Binding 2013: H. Binding, ‘Past Times: Horner Woods’, Exmoor Magazine, Autumn 2013.

Belford & Mitchell 2009: Paul Belford & W. Mitchell, ‘Archaeological Excavations at Wednesbury Forge, Wednesbury’, Ironbridge Archaeology Series 230 (2009): paulbelford.blogspot. co.uk/p/grey-literature.html.

Binfield & Hey 1997: Clyde Binfield & David Hey, Mesters to Masters: a history of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire (Oxford University Press 1997).

Belford 2010: Paul Belford, ‘Five centuries of iron working: excavations at Wednesbury Forge’, Post-Medieval Archaeology, 44 (2010), 1-53.

Bingham 1987: R.K. Bingham, The Chronicles of Milnthorpe (Cicerone Press, Milnthorpe, Cumbria 1987). Bining 1933: A.C. Bining, British regulation of the colonial iron trade (University of Philadelphia Press 1933: University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. thesis). An important work.

Belford et al. 2010: P. Belford, M. Palmer, & R. White (eds.), Footprints of Industry: papers from the 300th anniversary confernece at Coalbrookdale 3-7 June 2009 (BAR British Series 523, 2010).

Birch 1953: Alan Birch, ‘The Haigh Ironworks’, Bull. of John Rylands Lib., 35(2) (1953), 316ff.

Belford 2018: P. Belford, Blood, Faith and Iron: a dynasty of Catholic industrialistsin the sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries (Archaeopress 2018).

Birch 1956: Alan Birch, ‘Coalbrookdale: fact and fiction’, Edgar Allen News, 35 (Sept 1956), 198-200. Discusses a novel based on Coalbrookdale.

Bell 1864a: I.L. Bell, ‘On the manufacture of iron in connection with the Northumberland and Durham coalfield’, North of England Institute of Mining Engineers, 13 (1864), 110-55.

Birch 1967: Alan Birch, The economic history of the British iron & steel industry 1784-1879 (Frank Cass, London, 1967). An important study, but much of it on a later period that this book.

Bell 1864b: I.L. Bell, ‘On the manufacture of iron in connection with the Northumberland and Durham coalfield’, in W.G. Armstrong & others (eds.), The industrial resources of the district of the three northern rivers, the Tyne, Wear and Tees (British Association, Newcastle 1864). Probably identical to Bell 1864a.

Birchall website: J.P. Birchall, ‘Early Industrialists in Flintshire’ (www.themeister.co.uk/hindley/flintshire_industrialists.htm). Bird 1971: R. Bird, The Journal of Giles Moore 1656-1679 (Sussex Record Soc., 68, 1971).

Bell-Irving 1903: E.M. Bell-Irving, Mayfield: the story of an old Wealden village (William Clowes, London, 1903).

Björkenstam 1995: Nils Björkenstam, ‘The blast furnace in Europe during medieval times: part of a new sytem for producing iron’, in Magnusson 1995, 143-53.

Berg 2001: see Angerstein’s diary.

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Blacker et al. 1997: G. Blacker & M. Barley, ‘Thomas Dyke and the Brimham iron works: a technological link between the Weald of Sussex and Kent and Nidderdale’, British Mining, 59 (1997), 32-51.

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Brian 1997: Anthea Brian, ‘“As to the River Lugg”: its vanished mills, broken weirs and damaged bridges’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 48(1) (1997), 37-96.

Blick 1984: Charles Blick, ‘Early blast furnace news’, Hist. Metallurgy, 18 (1984), 44-50.

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Blick et al. 1991: Charles Blick & others, ‘Early blast furnace notes’, Hist. Metallurgy, 25(1), 1991, 47-55. Blundell, diary: Nicholas Blundell, The great diurnal, vol 2: 1712-9 (Record Soc. of Lancs & Ches 112, 1970).

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Booker 1967: Frank Booker, Industrial Archaeology of the Tamar Valley (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1967). Booth & Jones 2007: Tim Booth and Madge Jones, ‘Galton’s Mill, Belbroughton, Worcestershire’, Wind and Water Mills, 26 (2007), 2-31.

Britannicus 1752: Britannicus (pseud.) [?John Cockshutt], ‘Of the nature and qualities of iron’, London Magazine or Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer, 21 (1752), 67-9. The author is identified as John Cockshutt: Schubert 1957, 120n.

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Broadbridge 1980: S.R. Broadbridge, ‘British industry in 1767: Extracts from the travel diary of Joseph Banks’, History of Technology, 5 (1980), 119-142. Includes a description of Coalbrookdale and of Cranage’s refining process.

Booth 1985: D.T.N. Booth, ‘Watermills and water-powered Works on the River Stour, Worcs and Staffs: part 4 Halesowen’, Wind and Water Mills, 6 (1985), 34-41. A brief survey: other parts are in the same periodical, but with different authors

Brockie 1887: William Brockie, ‘The Hawkes family’, Monthly chronicle of North Country lore and legend, 1(1) (Newcastle, 1887), 28-31.

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Brooke 1944 (or 1944-9): E.H. Brooke, Chronology of the tinplate industry of Great Britain (Cardiff 1944) often bound with Appendix (1949), continuously paginated. An important source, but with a few gaps and errors, particularly in relation to England.

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Brooks & Irwin 2007: Graham Brooks & Chris Irwin (eds.), Master of them all: Ironmaking in Cumbria: proceedings of a joint conference of the Cumbria Industrial History Soc. and the Hist. Metallurgy Soc. (Cumbria Industrial History Soc. 2007).

Bradley & Blunt 2008: Margaret Bradley & Barry Blunt, History of Cradley: Cradley Mills on the Stour: a study of the development of Cradley water mills from agricultural to industrial to extinction (authors, Cradley 2008). Bradley 2015: Margaret Bradley, The History of Corngreaves Hall (author, Cradley 2015).

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Bradney, Mons: J.A. Bradney, History of Monmouthshire (1906 etc). A county history.

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Bulkeley-Owen 1893: Hon. Mrs Bulkeley-Owen, ‘Selattyn: history of the parish: chapter 4’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., ser. II, 5 (1893), 151-210.

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Bull 1869: Dr Bull, ‘Some account of Bringewood furnace and forge’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 1869, 54-60. A useful early study, but not wholly accurate

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Burchall 1983: M.J. Burchall, ‘Richard Maynard – Yeoman and Ironmaster’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 3 (1983), 18-24. Burgon 1839: J.W. Burgon, The life and times of Sir Thomas Gresham ii (Robert Jennings, London, 1839).

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Burland et al 1997: Len Burland, Foster Frowen, & Lionel Milsom, ‘Abercarn Furnace’, Gwent Local History, 82 (1997), 16-43.

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Burley 1961: G.H.C. Burley, ‘Andrew Yarranton: a seventeenth century Worcestershire worthy’, Trans. Worcs Arch. Soc., n.s., 38 (1961), 25-36.

Brown 1994: Ruth R. Brown, ‘Wealden ironmasters and the Board of Ordnance after 1770’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 14 (1994), 31-47. Brown 1999: R.R. Brown, ‘Notes from the Board of Ordnance Papers 1705-20’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 19 (1999), 34-46.

Bushell 1934: W.D. Bushell, ‘Finch’s Walk and Messrs Finch, ironfounders of Market Hill Cambridge’, Cambridge Public Library Record and Book List, 6 (23) (June 1934), 1-4.

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Butler 1845: W. & J. Butler, A Genealogical Memoranda of the Butler Family (privately published, 1845).

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Butler 1906: A.E. Butler and others (eds.), The diary of Thomas Butler (Chiswick Press, London, 1906).

Brown 2001b: R.R. Brown, ‘Concealed plugs and rotten trunnions: David Tanner and his problems with gunfounding in the American Wars of Independence’, Hist. Metallurgy, 35 (2001), 81-6.

Butler 1954: R.F. Butler, The history of Kirkstall Forge through seven centuries (York 1954). Appendix C contains Butler’s tour of Staffs 1815, also published as Birch 1952. Butler & Tebbutt 1975: D.S. Butler & C.F. Tebbutt, ‘A Wealden cannon-boring bar’, Post-Medieval Archaeology 9 (1975), 38-41.

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Butler 1981: David Butler, ‘The Fullers and Carron’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 1 (1981), 24-30.

Brown 2005: R.R. Brown, ‘John Browne, Gunfounder to the Stuarts’ Wealden Iron, ser. II, 25 (2005), 38-61.

Butler & Green 2003: R. Butler & C. Green, English Bronze Cooking Vessels & their Founders 1350-1830 (Privately, Honiton, 2003).

Brown 2006: R.R. Brown, ‘John Browne: gunfounder to the Stuarts: part 2 bronze and iron guns’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 29 (2006), 31-50. Brown 2008: R.R. Brown, ‘At Home with the Walkers: cannon and social mobility’, ICOMAM Magazine, 1 (Sep. 2008), 27-8.

Butler notes: Janet Butler, ‘Notes on John Wilkinson’ (IGMT, Archives). Notes collected for a Ph.D. which the author died without completing.

Brown 2009: R.R. Brown, ‘Abroad with the Walkers: from Rotherham to Rio de Janeiro’, ICOMAM Magazine, 2 (Apr. 2009), 28-9.

Butler thesis: Janet Butler, ‘John Wilkinson’, Butler notes, final item. Citation is by chapter and typed page number, not the archival pencilled numbering.

Brown 2010: R.R. Brown, ‘Guns for merchant shipping’, J. Ordnance Soc., 22 (2010), 23-38.

Butt 1966: J. Butt, ‘The Scottish iron and steel industry before hot-blast’, West of Scotland Iron and Steel Institute J., 73 (19656), 193-220. An important paper on the coke iron industry in the Scottish lowlands.

Brown 2011: R.R. Brown, ‘Wealden cannon in Oman’, ICOMAM Magazine, 6 (2011), 49-54.

Butt 1976: John Butt, ‘Capital and enterprise in the Scottish iron industry 1780-1840’, Scottish themes: essays in honour of Professor D.G.E. Lythe (Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh 1976).

Browne 1960: P.J. Browne, ‘Cast cannon: the 15th to 19th century’, Foundry Trade J., 108 (1960), 163-5. Brydon 1934: G. Maclaren Brydon, ‘The Bristol Ironworks in King George County’, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 42(2) (1934), 97-102.

Buttriss 1985: G.E. Buttriss, ‘Alexander Raby: a Surrey ironmaster’, Walton & Weybridge Local History Soc.: Monograph 34: TS, copy in Surrey History Centre.

Brydson 1908: A.P. Brydson, Some record of two Lakeland townships (Blawith and Nibthwaite) (London c.1908-9).

Byng 1996 edn: John Byng, Viscount Torrington, Rides around Britain (Folio Soc., London 1996 edn).

Buckland 1987: Stephen Buckland, Lee’s Patent Windmill: a history of the development of the windmill fantail (Wind and Watermill section, Soc. for Protection of Ancient Buildings, Occasional Paper 1, 1987).

Cadell 1973: Patrick Cadell, The Iron Mills of Cramond (Bratton, Edinburgh, for Edinburgh University Extra-mural Studies 1973).

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Chaloner 1960: W.H. Chaloner, ‘Isaac Wilkinson, potfounder’, in L.S. Pressnell (ed.), Studies in the industrial revolution presented to T.S. Ashton (Athlone Press, University of London 1960), 23-51.

Caine 1916: Caesar Caine, Cleator and Cleator Moor: past and present (T. Wilson, Kendal 1916).

Chaloner 1964: W.H. Chaloner, ‘Stockdale and Wilkinson families and cotton mills of Cark in Cartmel’, Trans. Cumb & Westm Antiquarian & Arch. Soc., n.s., 64 (1964) 356ff.

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Callum 1962: G.B. Callum, ‘The first Sheffield blast furnaces’, Iron & Steel, 35 (1962), 14. The Earl of Shrewsbury’s ironworks at Kimberworth and Attercliffe.

Chance 1909: J.F. Chance, George I & the Northern War (London 1909).

Campbell 1961: R.H. Campbell, The Carron Company (Oliver & Boyd, London & Edinburgh 1961). A detailed history of the company.

Chaplin 1961: R. Chaplin, ‘Location and scale of Tern Works’, Shrops Newsletter, 14 (Feb 1961). Chaplin 1963: Robin Chaplin, ‘New ironworks in Shropshire’, Shrops Newsletter, 22 (May 1963).

Cantill & Wight 1929: T.C. Cantill & M. Wight, ‘Yarranton’s works at Astley’, Trans. Worcs Arch. Soc., n.s., 7 (1929), 92-115.

Chaplin 1969: Robin Chaplin, ‘A forgotten industrial valley’, Shrops Newsletter, 36 (June 1969). The Tern Valley.

Carter 1987: P.S.M. Carter, ‘A Midlands Forge [Churchill]’, Industrial Heritage, 5(4) (1987), 5-9.

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Chapman 1965: S.D. Chapman, ‘The pioneers of worsted spinning by power’, Business History, 7(2) (1965), 97-116.

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Chatwin 1982: Amina Chatwin, ‘Some Gloucestershire ironmasters’ (Papers presented at Hist. Metallurgy Soc., annual general meeting 1982 at Gloucester), 1-13.

Chadwych Healey 1901: C.E.H. Chadwych Healey, History of part of West Somerset: comprising Luccombe, Selworthy, Stoke Pero, Porlock, Culbone and Ore (1901).

Chatwin 1997: Amina Chatwin, ‘Some Gloucestershire ironmasters’, Hist. Metallurgy, 31(1) (1997), 17-24. A revision of Chatwin 1982.

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Chaudhiri 1978: K.N. Chaudhiri, The trading world of Asia and the English East India Company 1660-1760 (Cambridge University Press 1978).

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Chevalier 1947: Jean Chevalier, ‘La mission de Gabriel Jars dans les mines et les usines Britanique en 1764’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 26 (1947-9), 57-68. A general description only.

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Clark 1989: Catherine Clark (with others), ‘Horsehay ironworks: an archaeological investigation’ (Ironbridge Institute Research Paper 46, 1989).

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Clarke 2019: Neil Clarke, ‘An ironmaster’s transport issues’. J. Railway & Canal Hist. Soc., 39(9) (2019), 562-6.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Claughton 1998: Peter Claughton, ‘Charcoal fired blast furnace site in Canaston Wood, near Blackpool Mill, Pembrokeshire’ (Internet, www.exter.ac.uk/pfclaught/mhinf/bp_iron.htm).

Combes & Whittick 2002: P. Combes & C. Whittick, ‘Iron Plat, Queenstock hammer-pond and a 15-century ironworking site in Buxted’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 22 (2002), 10-18.

Clavering and Rounding 1997: Eric Clavering and Alan Rounding, ‘Early Tyneside industrialism: the lower Derwent and Blaydon Burn valleys 1550-1700’, Archaeology Aeliana, 5th ser. 23 (1995), 249-68.

Combes 1987: Pam Combes, ‘The eighteenth century revival of Howbourne Forge, Buxted’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 7 (1987), 1619. Combes 1996: Pam Combes, ‘Oldlands Furnace, Marshalls and the Nutt family’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 16 (1996), 13-16.

Clayton 1955: A.K. Clayton, The story of the Elsecar and the Milton Iron Works from their opening until 1848 (TS in Barnsley LSL, class B672, 1955).

Cook 1998: Martin Cook, ‘Archaeological recording at Powick weir near Worcester’ (Herefordshire & Worcestershire County Archaeology Services: Internal Report 505).

Cleere & Hemsley 1971: H.F. Cleere & D. Hemsley, ‘Fieldwork in the Wadhurst-Ticehurst area’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 2 (1971), 5-6.

Cooksley 1980: M.V. Cooksley, ‘Iron industry of Kinver’ (TS, William Salt Library (Stafford), thesis 43; photocopy in Kinver Lib.).

Cleere & Crossley 1995: H. Cleere & D.W. Crossley, Iron Industry of the Weald (1984; 2 edn, Merton Priory Press, 1995).

Cooksley 1981: M.V. Cooksley, ‘Hyde Mill’, West Midlands Studies, 14 (1981), 44-9. A section of Cooksley 1980.

Clinch ‘Powick’: A.J. Clinch, ‘The mill at Powick’ (TS in Worcs RO, 989.9: 484 BA 5361).

Cooksley 1984: M.V. Cooksley, ‘Watermills and water-powered works on the River Stour, Worcestershire and Staffordshire: 2. Wolverley and Kinver’, Wind and Water Mills, 5 (1984), 5-16.

Clow 1956: Archibald & N.L. Clow, ‘The timber famine and the development of technology’, Annals of Science, 12 (1956) 85101. Refuted by Flinn 1959b.

Cooksley 1986: S.M. & M.V. Cooksley, ‘Watermills and waterpowered works on the River Stour, Worcs and Staffs: part 5. Smestow Brook’, Wind and Water Mills, 7 (1986), 11-23. Other parts are in the same periodical, but by other authors.

Clydach Hist Soc 1989: Anon., ‘The Ynispenllwch estate 17501850: Some aspects of its industrial and agricultural history’, Clydach Hist. Soc. Newletter, 23 (1989), 1-5.

Cooper 1899: J.H. Cooper, ‘Cuckfield Families II’, Sussex Arch. Collns 42 (1899), 19-53.

Coates & Tucker 1978: S.D. Coates & D.G. Tucker, Watermills of Monnow and Trothy and their tributaries (Monmouth Museum Service 1978). A valuable survey.

Cooper (J.H.) 1900: J.H. Cooper, ‘Cuckfield Families III’, Sussex Arch. Collns 43 (1900), 1-43.

Coates & Tucker 1983: S.D. Coates & D.G. Tucker, Watermills of middle Wye and its tributaries (Monmouth Museum Service 1983). A valuable survey.

Cooper (T.S.) 1900: T.S. Cooper, ‘The will of Thomas Quennell, of Lythe Hill, Chiddingfold, yeoman, 1571’, Surrey Arch. Collns 15 (1900), 40-50.

Cochrane 1967: Louise Cochrane, ‘Linch and its iron resources’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 105 (1967), 37-48.

Cooper 1991: Cooper, Transformation of a valley (Scarthin Books, Cromford 1991).

Cochrane 2007: Don Cochrane, The History of the Hill family of Oldnall, Dennis (Author, [Stourbridge], 2007). Cockburn 1975: J.S.Cockburn, Calendar of Assize Records: Sussex Indictments James I (HMSO, London, 1975).

Cope 1989?: Dorothy Cope, The scythemen of Belbroughton (Belbroughton Hist. Soc., n.d. [1987/90]). Mainly relating to relatively modern times.

Cockeram 2005: Tom Cockeram, ‘Bailey Pegg & Co’, www.84f. com/chronology/1900s/1903%20Industry/190314bp.htm.

Cormack 1947: A.A. Cormack, The Carnegie family in Gothenburg (Montrose 1947).

Cohen 1955: I. Cohen, ‘The non-tidal Wye and its navigation’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 34 (1955), 83-101.

Cormack 1960: A.A. Cormack, Colin Campbell 1686-1757, merchant, Gothenburg: his will annotated (Aberdeen 1960).

Cole thesis: G. Cole, ‘The Office of Ordnance and the arming of the fleet in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars 17931815’ (Ph.D. thesis, Exeter University 2008).

Cornish & Herbert 2016: T. Cornish & B.K. Herbert, ‘The location of Mayfield Finery Forge’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 36 (2016), 19-26.

Coleridge 1888: S.T. Coleridge, Tabletalk (1888 edn).

Cornwell 1975: John Cornwell, ‘Fussells Ironworks, Mells’, BIAS Journal, 8 (1975).

Collins 1992: Paul Collins, ‘Cradley Forge, an historical and archaeological survey of surviving remains’ (Ironbridge Institute Research Paper 85: TS, Jul 1992).

Cornwell 1989: J. Cornwell, ‘Industrial Archaeology and the Avon ring road’, BIAS J., 21 (1989), 12-16. Coulton 1989: B. Coulton, ‘Tern Hall and the Hill family’, Trans. Shrops Arch. & Hist. Soc., 66 (1989), 97-107.

Collins 2003: P. Collins, ‘Scrag Oak (Snape) Furnace’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 23 (2003), 27-8.

Court 1938: W.H.B. Court, The rise of Midland industries (Oxford University Press 1938).

Collinson, Somerset: Rev. John Collinson, The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, collected from authentick records (Bath 1791).

Cowper 1894: J.M. Cowper, Canterbury Marriage Licences Second Series 1619-1660 (Cross & Jackman, Canterbury, 1894).

Collinson 1996: Catherine Collinson, ‘Enterprise and experiment in the Elizabethan iron industry: the career of Thomas Proctor’, Yorks Arch. J., 68 (1996), 191-208.

Cox 1990: Nancy Cox, ‘Imagination and innovation of an industrial pioneer: The first Abraham Darby’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 12(2) (1990), 127-144.

Comber 1919: J. Comber, ‘The Family of Gratwicke, of Jarvis, Shermanbury and Tortington’, Sussex Arch. Collns 60 (1919), 34-66.

Coxe 1801: William Coxe, An Historical tour of Monmouthshire (London 1801).

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Crossley 1967: D.W. Crossley, ‘The bloomery at Rockley Smithies’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 1(8) (1967), 12-16. For a fuller report see Crossley and Ashurst 1968.

Craddock 1997: P.T. Craddock, ‘The inception of the blast furnace process in Britain’, HMS News, 36 (1997), 4.

Crossley & Ashurst 1968: David Crossley and Denis Ashurst, ‘Excavations at Rockley Smithies, a water powered bloomery of sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’, Post-Medieval Archaeology, 2 (1968), 10-54.

Craddock et al 2017: Paul Craddock, Phil Andrews, and Michela Spataro, ‘“Not even if we had offered him £50”: early crucible steel production and the history of the Huntsman process’, Hist. Metallurgy, 50(1) (2017 for 2016), 28-42.

Crossley 1972: David Crossley, ‘A sixteenth century Wealden blast-furnace: a report on the excavations at Panningridge, Sussex’, Post-Medieval Archaeology, 6 (1972), 42-68.

Cranstone 1985a: David Cranstone, ‘The iron industry of the Ashby coalfield’, Leics. Industrial History Soc. Bull., 8 (1988), 23-31.

Crossley 1974: D.W. Crossley, ‘Ralph Hogge’s Ironworks Accounts, 1576-1581’, Sussex Arch. Collns 112 (1974), 48-79.

Cranstone 1985b: David Cranstone, Moira Furnace: a Napoleonic blast furnace in Leicestershire (Northwest Leicestershire District Council, 1985).

Crossley 1975a: D.W. Crossley, The Sidney Ironworks 15411573 (Royal Hist. Soc., Camden 4th ser., 15, 1975). Edition of account books.

Cranstone 1989: D. Cranstone, ‘Early coke ovens: a note’, Hist. Metallurgy, 23(2) (1989), 120-2.

Crossley 1975b: D.W. Crossley, ‘Cannon manufacture at Pippingford: excavation of two furnaces of c.1717’, PostMedieval Archaeology, 9 (1975), 1-37.

Cranstone 1991: David Cranstone, ‘Isaac Wilkinson at Backbarrow’, Hist. Metallurgy, 25(2) (1991), 87-91.

Crossley 1975c: David Crossley, Bewl valley ironworks, Kent c.1300- c.1730 (Royal Archaeological Institute, London 1975).

Cranstone 1991b: David Cranstone, ‘Winlaton mill ironworks: an interim report’, Archaeology North, 2 (1991), 22-24.

Crossley 1975d: D.W. Crossley, ‘The Lists of Furnaces and Forges of 1664’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 8 (1975), 2-7.

Cranstone 1997: David Cranstone, Derwentcote Steel Furnace: an industrial monument in County Durham (Lancaster Imprints 6, Lancaster 1997).

Crossley 1977: D.W. Crossley, ‘Ashburnham Furnace, Penhurst’. Wealden Iron, 1st ser., 12, 7-8 Crossley 1979: D.W. Crossley, ‘A guncasting furnace at Scarlets, Cowden, Kent’, Post-Medieval Archaeology, 13 (1979), 239-49.

Cranstone 2007: David Cranstone, ‘Wilson House, Lindale: John Wilkinson’s peat fuelled blast furnace’, in Brooks & Irwin 2007, 65-92.

Crossley 1980: D.W. Crossley, ‘Rockley Furnace and engine house’, Arch. J., 137 (1980), 445-7.

Cranstone 2011: David Cranstone, ‘From slitting mill to alloy steel: Swallwell Ironworks, Tyne & Wear’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 33(1) (2011), 40-57.

Crossley et al. 1989: David Crossley with others, Water power on the Sheffield rivers (Sheffield Trades Hist. Soc., Sheffield 1989), see new edition: Ball et al. 2006.

Crew & Williams 1985: Peter Crew and Merfyn Williams, ‘Early iron production in northwest Wales’, in G. Magnusson (ed.) 1985, Medieval Iron in Society II (Papers and discussions at the symposium in Norberg, May 6-10, 1985), Jernkontorets Forskning H39 (Stockholm), 20-30.

Crossley & Saville 1991: David Crossley & Richard Saville, The Fuller letters 1728-1755: guns, slaves and finance (Sussex Record Soc. 76, 1991). The Fuller letterbook. Crossley 1995: David Crossley with others, ‘The blast furnace at Rockley, South Yorkshire’, Arch. J., 152 (1995), 391-421.

Crew 2009: Peter Crew, Iron working in Merioneth from prehistory to the 18th century (Snowdonia National Park, Maentwrog 2009: Merfyn Williams Memorial Lecture 2).

Crow 1956: A. & C Crumpe 1950: W.B. Crumpe, ‘Early iron workings at Creskelde’, Thoresby Miscellany 12 (Thoresby Soc. Publications), 41(3) (1950), 300-8.

Crew et al. 2017: P. Crew, M. Charlton, B. Gilmour, and J. Procter, ‘Cast iron and refractory firebricks from a late 17th century bloomery furnace: The final phase of innovation in Cumbrian bloomery smelting’, in J. Hošek, E. Ottenwelter and I. Laboutková (eds), Book of Abstracts: Iron in Archaeology – Bloomery Smelters and Blacksmiths in Europe and Beyond (Prague CPSA conference 2017) www.academia.edu/33422997.

Cudworth 1891: William Cudworth, Histories of Bolton and Bowling (Bradford 1891). D’Elboux 1944: R.H. D’Elboux, Surveys of the manors of Robertsbridge, Sussex and Michelmarsh, Hampshire and of the demesne lands of Halden in Rolvenden Kent 1567-1570 (Sussex Record Soc., 47, 1944).

Crocker 2000a: Glenys Crocker (ed.), Alexander Raby, ironmaster: Proceedings of a Conference held at Cobham on 28 November 1998 (Surrey Industrial History Group, Guildford 2000).

Daff 1972: Trevor Daff, ‘The early English iron patents’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 6(1) (1972), 1-18.

Crocker 2000b: Alan Crocker, ‘Downside Mill, Cobham’, in Crocker 2000a, 22-9.

Daff 1973: Trevor Daff, ‘Charcoal blast furnaces: construction and operation’, BIAS J., 6 (1973), 4-13.

Crompton 1991: John Crompton, Industrial archaeology of the West Midlands (Association for Industrial Archaeology 1991).

Daglish 1993: Richard Daglish, ‘A Yorkshire Horse’, J. Railway and Canal Hist. Soc., 31(3) (1993), 123-310. Refers to early locomotives made at Haigh Ironworks.

Crossland 1994: Phyllis Crossland, ‘Thurgoland wiremills’, in B. Elliott (ed.), Aspects of Barnsley, 2 (1994), 215-228.

Dale 1931: T.C. Dale (ed.), The inhabitants of London in 1631 (2 vols. Soc. of Genealogists, London 1931).

Crossley 1966: D.W. Crossley, ‘The management of a sixteenth century ironworks’, Economic History Review, 2 ser. 19 (1966), 273-88.

Dalton 1983: Anne Dalton, ‘Inventory of the iron-works at Hamsell in 1708’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 3 (1983), 8-11.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Davies-Shiel 1970: M. Davies-Shiel, ‘Excavation at Stony Hazel, High Furness, Lake District 1968-1969: an interim report’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 4(1) (1970), 28-32. Brief excavation report.

Dalton 1996: A. Dalton, ‘Dutch’ labourers at Salehurst in 15661568’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 16 (1996), 19-23. Dalton 1997: A. Dalton, ‘Burgh Wood Forge, Etchingham’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 17 (1997), 40-5.

Davies-Shiel 1998: M. Davies-Shiel, ‘First definitive list of iron mines and smelt sites, January 1997’, The Cumbrian Historian, 1 (1998), 45-49.

Dalton 1998: A. Dalton, ‘Hawksden Forge, Mayfield, and the Sands family’, Wealden Iron ser. II, 18 (1998), 39-47. Dalwood & Edwards 2004: H. Dalwood & R. Edwards, Excavations at Deansway, Worcester 1988-9: Romano-British small town to late Medieval city (CBA Research Report 139, 2004).

Davies-Shiel 2007: Michael Davies-Shiel, ‘Backbarrow Furnace and its history 1868-1967’, in Brooks & Irwin 2007, 117-34. Davies-Shiel, ‘Flimby’: M. Davies-Shiel, ‘Flimby Woods Report’ (TS: copy in Cumbria HER, SMR 16832).

Dane 1985: Norman Dane, Kilnhurst Forge (privately 1985: copy in Rotherham Archives).

Dawson 1918: Mrs M.L. Dawson, ‘Notes on the history of Glasbury’, Archaeologia Cambrensis, 73 (1918), 279-319. With brief mentions of Pipton Forge.

Daniel-Tyssen 1871: J.R. Daniel-Tyssen, ‘Parliamentary surveys of Sussex pt 1’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 23 (1871), 217-313.

Dawson 1995: Charles Dawson, ‘Iron-making in the Scottish Highlands’, Industrial Heritage, 13(3) (1995), 22-4.

Darby 2010: M. Darby, ‘Ironworks to museum: Coalbrookdale 1709-2009’, in Belford et al. 2010, 3-18. Dashwood c.1970: Sir Francis Dashwood bart, The story of Blackpool Mill (pamphlet on sale at Blackpool Mill, c.1970).

Dawson 2012: Frank Dawson, John Wilkinson: King of the ironmasters (History Press, Stroud 2012).

Daunton 1972: M.J. Daunton, ‘Dowlais Company in the iron industry 1800-50’, Welsh History Review, 6(1) (1972), 16-48.

Day 1962: W. Day, ‘Fernhill & Maesbury Forges’, Shrops Newsletter, 20 (Sept 1962). Identification of sites of works referred to in Edwards 1958

Davies (E.I.) thesis: E.I. Davies, ‘The home-made nail trade of Birmingham and district’ (M. Comm. thesis, University of Birmingham 1933: copy in Birmingham LSL).

Day 1973: Joan Day, Bristol Brass: a history of the industry (David & Charles, Newton Abbott 1973). The basic work on this subject, with passing references to iron.

Davies & Williams 1986: K. Davies & C.J. Williams, The Greenfield Valley: introduction to history and industrial archaeolology of the Greenfield Valley, Holywell, North Wales (Holywell Town Council 1986). A well-researched guide book.

Day 1975: Joan Day, ‘The Costers: copper-smelters and manufacturers’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 47 (1975), 47-58. Day 1991: Joan Day, ‘Copper, zinc, and brass production’ in Day & Tylecote 1991, 131-99.

Davies (K.) thesis: K. Davies, ‘Manufacturing industries of the Greenfield valley 1750-1900’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Wales, Bangor: copy in Hawarden RO).

Day & Tylecote 1991: Joan Day and R.F. Tylecote (eds.), The Industrial Revolution in Metals (The Institute of Metals, London, 1991).

Davies 1933: A. Stanley Davies, ‘The river trade and craft of Montgomeryshire and its borders, part 1’, Monts Collns, 43 (1934), 33-46.

De Seife 1986: Tony de Seife, ‘Garrett Mill’, Bull. of the Wandle Group, 14 (Mar 1986). Pamphlet in Surrey History Centre, P.23/9035/11.

Davies 1939: A. Stanley Davies, ‘The charcoal iron industry of Powys Land’, Monts Collns, 46(1) (1939), 31-66. An important paper, but some conclusions are wrong; includes a precis of Kelsall’s diary.

Deane 1979: P. Deane, The First Industrial Revolution (Cambridge University Press 1979). Demidowicz & Price 2009: George Demidowicz & Stephen Price, King’s Norton: a history (Phillimore, Chichester 2009).

Davies 1946: A. Stanley Davies, ‘The early iron industry in north Wales’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 25 (1945-7) 83ff. An important paper, but partly superseded by publications by Edwards and others.

den Ouden 1981: A. den Ouden, ‘The production of wrought iron in finery hearths, part 1: the finery process and its development’, Hist. Metallurgy, 15(2) (1981), 63-87. An important paper on the process.

Davies 1949: A. Stanley Davies, ‘Isaac Wilkinson (c. 1705-84) of Bersham’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 28 (1949-51), 69-72.

den Ouden 1982: Alex den Ouden, ‘The production of wrought iron in finery hearths, part 2: survey of remains’, Hist. Metallurgy, 16(1) (1982), 29-32. All surviving fineries listed are in Belgium, Sweden, and Germany.

Davies 1963: J.B. Davies, ‘The parish of Pentyrch’, Glamorgan Historian, 1 (1963), 77-87. Davies 1966: Gwladys M. Davies, ‘Mills of the Leadon and tributaries’, Newsletter of Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology, 7 (1966), 26ff.

den Ouden 1985: Alex den Ouden, ‘The introduction and early spread of the blast furnace in Europe’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 5 (1985), 21-35.

Davies 1968: John Davies, ‘The Dowlais lease 1748-1900’, Morgannwg, 12 (1968), 37-66.

Dent 1880: Robert K. Dent, Birmingham, Old & New: a history of the town and its people (Birmingham 1880).

Davies 1978: Alun C. Davies, ‘A Welsh waterway in the industrial revolution: the Aberdare Canal 1793-1900’, J. of Transport History, n.s., 4 (1977-8), 147-69.

Denton & Lewis 1977: J.H. Denton & M.J.T. Lewis, ‘The River Tern navigation’, J. Railway & Canal Hist. Soc., 23(2) (Jul 1977), 56-64. With references to Tern Forge and Upton Forge. I date its origin earlier.

Davies 1982: J.C. Davies, ‘Clydach’, Gower, 33 (1982), 40-53. Davies 1991: Ron Davies, ‘Gothersley Mill’, The Blackcountryman, 24(2) (1991), 39ff. Probably largely derived from Hodgson 1971.

Dickinson 1914: H.W. Dickinson, John Wilkinson, ironmaster (Ulverston 1914).

646

Bibliography Dudley 1665: Dud Dudley, Metallum Martis or iron made with pitcoale seacoale etc (1665): reprinted Bagnall, Wolverhampton 1854; as a patent specification (1858); J. Iron & Steel Institute 1872(2), 215-36 and (in part) in Joan Thirsk & J.P. Cooper (eds.), Seventeenth century economic documents, (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1972), 277-84). Dud Dudley’s claims have been much discussed, but remain doubtful. See King 2002b.

Dickinson & Jenkins 1927: H.W. Dickinson & Rhys Jenkins, James Watt & the steam engine: memorial volume (1927: 2nd edn Moorland, Ashbourne 1981). Dickinson 1937: H.W. Dickinson, Matthew Boulton (Cambridge 1937). Dickinson 1942: H.W. Dickinson, ‘Origin and manufacture of woodscrews’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 22 (1942), 79-89.

Duffy 1981: M.C. Duffy, ‘George Stephenson and the introduction of rolled railway rail’, J. of Mechanical Working Technology, 5(3-4) (1981), 309-42.

Dickinson 1970: H.W. Dickinson, Sir Samuel Morland: diplomat and inventor 1625-95 (Newcomen Soc., extra publication 6, 1970).

Duncan 1991: J.G. Duncan, ‘A Scottish trading house in eighteenth century Gothenburg: Carnegy and Shepherd’, Northern Scotland, 11 (1991), 1-10.

Dietz 1972: Brian Dietz, Port and trade of early Elizabethan London (London Record Soc. 8, 1972). An edition of the London port book for 1568.

Duncumb, Herefs: John Duncumb, Collections towards a history of the county of Hereford (1812 etc.).

Dilworth 1976: D. Dilworth, The Tame mills of Staffordshire (Phillimore, Chichester 1976). A detailed history of most mills on the River Tame northwest of Birmingham.

Dungworth 2010: David Dungworth, ‘The possible waterpowered bloomery at Goscote (Rushall), Walsall, West Midlands’, Hist. Metallurgy (44(1) (2010), 15-20).

Dinn 1988: James Dinn, ‘Dyfi Furnace excavations 1982-7’, Post-Medieval Archaeology, 22 (1988), 111-142. Excavation report of a furnace, known to contemporaries as Dovey.

Dunham 1955: K. Dunham, The gun trade of Birmingham: a short historical note of some of the more intersting features of a long established trade (Birmingham Museums 1955).

Dodd 1951: A.H. Dodd, The industrial revolution in north Wales (University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1933; 2nd edn 1951). An important study based partly on newspaper advertisements. The 1971 edition may occasionally have been used.

Dunkin 1844: John Dunkin, History and antiquities of Dartford (London 1844).

Dodd 1972: A.E. Dodd, ‘Notes on Ellastone parish register’, N. Staffs J. of Field Studies, 12 (1972), 119.

Dunkin 1914: E.H.W. Dunkin, Sussex Manors Advowsons etc vol 1 A-L (Sussex Record Soc., 19, 1914).

Dodsworth 1969: C. Dodsworth, ‘Further observations on Bowling Ironworks’, Industrial Archaeology, 6 (1969), 114-23.

Dunkin 1915: E.H.W. Dunkin, Sussex Manors Advowsons etc vol 2 M-Z (Sussex Record Soc., 20, 1915).

Dodsworth 1971: C. Dodsworth, ‘The Low Moor Ironworks’, Industrial Archaeology, 8 (1971), 122-64. With a history of each the Bradford coke ironworks.

Dunphy 2012: Angus Dunphy, The Smestow: Wolverhampton’s river (The Black Country Soc. 2012). Dyer 1973: A.D. Dyer, Worcester in the sixteenth century (Leicester University Press 1973). Passing references to trade in metalware only.

Donald 1961: M.B. Donald, Elizabethan monopolies: history of Company of Mineral and Battery Works from 1565 to 1604 (Oliver & Boyd, London 1961). A detailed study of the company. Donald 1974: Joyce Donald, ‘The Crendon needlemakers’, Records of Bucks, 19 (1971-4), 8-16.

Earle 1989: P. Earle, The making of the English middle class: business, society, and family life in London, 1660-1730 (Methuen, London 1989).

Donnachie & Butt 1964: I.L. Donnachie & J. Butt, ‘Three Scottish ironworks [Wilsonstown, Muirkirk, & Glenbuck]’, Industrial Archaeology, 1 (1964), 212-21.

Ede 1962: J.F. Ede, History of Bilston (Bilston Corporation 1962). Edge & Williams 2003: David Edge & Alan Williams, ‘Some early medieval swords in the Wallace Collection and elsewhere’, Gladius, 23 (2003), 191-210.

Donnachie & Butt 1967: I.L. Donnachie & J. Butt, ‘The Wilsons of Wilsonstown Ironworks (1779-1813): a study in entrepreneurial failure’, Explorations in Entrepreneurial History, ser. II, 4 (1966-7), 150-68. Dorling 2011: P. Dorling, ‘New Weir Forge, Whitchurch Herefordshire: report of excavations in 2009 and 2010’ (Herefordshire Archaeology Report 306, 2011).

Edwards 1958: Ifor Edwards, ‘The early ironworks of northwest Shropshire’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 56 (1957-60), 185202. Chirk, Fernhill and Maesbury, based mainly on accounts 1640-60 in NLW Longueville.

Downes 1950: R.L. Downes, ‘The Stour partnership 1726-36: A note on landed capital in the iron industry’, Economic History Review, ser. II, 3 (1950), 90-96.

Edwards 1960: Ifor Edwards, ‘Charcoal iron industry in east Denbighshire 1630-98’, Denbs Hist. Soc. Trans., 9 (1960), 2354. An important study.

Downing 2001: H.H. Downing, A short history of nailmaking: the nailmakers (Dudley Libraries, Dudley 2001).

Edwards 1961: Ifor Edwards, ‘Charcoal iron industry of Denbighshire 1690-1770’, Denbs Hist. Soc. Trans., 10 (1961), 49-96. An important study.

Draper 1986: L. Draper, ‘West End post-medieval iron-working site, western Weald’, Surrey Arch. Collns 77 (1986), 207-11.

Edwards 1965: Ifor Edwards, ‘Iron production in north Wales: The canal era 1795-1850’, Denbs Hist. Soc. Trans., 14 (1965), 141-84. An important study.

Drury 1992: J. Linda Drury, ‘Medieval smelting in County Durham: an archivist’s point of view’, in D. Cranstone and L. Willies (eds.), Bolehills and smeltmills (Hist. Metallurgy Soc. 1992), 22-4.

Edwards 1972: Ifor Edwards, ‘Some notes on John Wilkinson and his relations with Boulton and Watt’, Denbs Hist. Soc. Trans., 21 (1972), 109-16.

Duckham 1970: Baron F. Duckham, A history of the Scottish coal industry, vol I 1700-1815 (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1970).

Edwards 1974: E.E. Edwards, Echoes of Rhymney (Starling Press Ltd, Risca, Gwent 1974).

647

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Edwards 1980: Ifor Edwards, ‘Gilbert Gilpin: clerk to the Wilkinsons at Bersham Furnace’, Denbs Hist. Soc. Trans., 29 (1980), 79-94.

Evans 1958: F. Evans, ‘Casting iron cannon’, Foundry Trade J., 104 (1958) 153-6. Evans 1961: J.D., ‘The uncrowned king: The first William Crawshay’, National Library of Wales J., 7 (1951), 12-32. Cyfarthfa etc. 1810-34

Edwards 1982: Ifor Edwards, ‘The British Iron Company’ Denbs Hist. Soc. Trans., 31 (1982), 109-48.

Evans 1967: M.C.S. Evans, ‘Pioneers of the Carmarthenshire iron industry’, Carmarthen Historian, 4 (1967), 22-40. An important study.

Eeles 1947: H.S. Eeles, Frant – A Parish History (Courier, Tunbridge Wells, 1947). Eisel 2001: J.C. Eisel, ‘The Castle Mills, Hereford’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 50(1) (for 2000), 58-67.

Evans 1973: M.C.S. Evans, ‘Llandyfan Forges: A study of iron in upper Loughor valley’, Carmarthen Antiquary, 9 (1973), 14676.

Eley 2000: Philip Eley, ‘The Gosport Iron Foundry and Henry Cort’ (Gosport Museum Publications 2001). Ellacombe 1881: Rev H.T. Ellacombe, History of the parish of Bitton (Exeter 1881).

Evans 1974: M.C.S. Evans, ‘Coedmore Forge, Llechrhyd’, Carms Studies: essays presented to Major Francis Jones (Carmarthen 1974), 186-194.

Elliott 1988: Brian Elliott, The making of Barnsley (Wharncliffe, Barnsley, 1988).

Evans 1975: M.C.S. Evans, ‘Cwmdwyfran Forge 1697-1839’, Carmarthen Antiquary, 11 (1975), 146-76.

Ellis 1861: H. Ellis, ‘Inventories of Goods etc. in Cheseworth, Sedgwick, Sheffield and Worth’, Sussex Arch. Collns 13 (1861), 118-131.

Evans & Hodgkinson 1984: T.E. Evans and J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Birchenbridge Forge: a new site identified’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 4 (1984), 7-10.

Ellis 1975: M. Ellis, Hampshire industrial archaeology: a guide (Southampton University Industrial Archaeology Group 1975).

Evans 1988: T.E. Evans, ‘Pen Ponds at Cuckfield’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 8 (1988), 9.

Ellis 1982: Howard Ellis, ‘The hunt for Flaxley Furnace’ (Papers presented at Hist. Metallurgy Soc., annual general meeting 1982 at Gloucester), 13-17.

Evans 1990a: Chris Evans (ed.), The letterbook of Richard Crawshay 1788-97 (Publications South Wales Record Soc. 6, 1990).

Ellis 1991: H.J. Ellis, ‘Ironworking at Flaxley Abbey’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 1991, 34-44.

Evans 1990b: Chris Evans, ‘Gilbert Gilpin: a witness to the south Wales iron industry at its ascendancy’, Morgannwg, 34 (1990), 30-39.

Ellis 2002: Jason Ellis, Glassmakers of Stourbridge and Dudley 1612-2002: a biographical history of a once great industry (privately 2002).

Evans 1991: Chris Evans, ‘Failure in a new technology: smelting iron with coke in south Gloucestershire in the 1770s’, Trans. Bristol & Gloucs Arch. Soc., 109 (1991), 199-206. Boyd River Furnace.

Elliston-Erwood 1950: F.C. Elliston-Erwood, ‘John Barker’s plan of Woolwich 1749: description and commentary’, Woolwich and District Antiquarian Soc. Annual report etc., 29 (1950), 1755.

Evans 1992: Chris Evans, ‘Manufacturing iron in the northeast during the eighteenth century: the case of Bedlington’, Northern History, 28 (1992), 178-196.

Ellwell 1988: C.J.L. Ellwell, ‘The rhinoceros case: A Blackcountry man v The City’, The Blackcountryman, 21(3) (1988), 19-22 & 21(4) (1988), 18-22. Litigation concerning Corngreaves and other ironworks after 1825

Evans 1993: Chris Evans, ‘The statistical surveys of the British iron industry in 1797-8 and 1806’, Hist. Metallurgy, 27(2) (1993), 84-101. Including text of those lists. Evans 1993b: Chris Evans, The labyrinth of flames: work and social conflict in early industrial Merthyr Tydfil (University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1993: Studies in Welsh History 7).

Elsas 1960: Madeleine Elsas (ed.), Iron in the making: Dowlais Iron Company letters 1782-1860 (Glamorgan Record Committee, Cardiff, 1960). Emery 1969: F.V. Emery, ‘Fresh light on Dr John Lane’, Gower, 20 (1969), 8-13.

Evans (J.A.H.) 1993: J.A.H. Evans, ‘David Tanner of Monmouth, 1743-c.1806’ (M.A. Thesis, University of Wales, 1993: NLW theses, 1994/733).

England 1959: J.W. England, ‘The Dowlais Ironworks 175993’, Morgannwg, 3 (1959) 41-60.

Evans 1994: C. Evans, ‘Iron puddling: the quest for a new technology in the 18th century’, Llafur, 6 (1994), 44-57.

English 1999: J. English, ‘Vachery Forge and Furnace, Cranleigh, Surrey’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 19 (1999), 19-29.

Evans 1996: Chris Evans, ‘The Hawks family of Gateshead’, Northeast Labour History, 30 (1996), 22-28.

English 2014: J. English, ‘A water-powered industrial site on Coneyhurst Gill, Ewhurst, and its possible relationship with Wealden timber production’, Surrey Arch. Coll. 98 (2014), 191– 200.

Evans (D.E.A.) 1996: D.E.A. Evans, ‘Did Dud do it?’, The Blackcountryman (30(1) (Winter 1996/7), 17-18). A reply to King 1996a. Evans 1997: C. Evans, ‘The corporate culture of the British iron industry, 1650-1850’, in G. Rydén (ed.), The Social organisation of the European iron production industry, 1600-1900: papers presented to the 11th Economic History Conference, Milan, September 1994 (Stockholm 1997: Jernkontorets berghistoriska uskott H67), 121-145.

European Market: [Anon.], Iron and steel on the European Market in the 17th century: a contemporary Swedish account of production forms and marketing (Historical Metallurgy Group of Swedish Ironmasters’ Association, Stockholm 1982). Evans 1938: Leslie W. Evans, ‘Robert Morgan of Kidwelly, ironmaster’, Trans. Carms Antiquarian Soc., 28 (1938), 1368. An important study: the source (cited as Morgan MSS in Carmarthen Museum) is probably now Carmarthen RO, Museum/337-8 & 342.

Evans 2001: C. Evans, ‘Global Commerce and Industrial Organisation in an eighteenth century Welsh enterprise: The Melingriffith Company’, Welsh History Review, 20 (2001), 41334.

648

Bibliography Evans et al. 2002: C. Evans, Owen Jackson, and Göran Rydén, ‘Baltic iron and the British iron industry in the eighteenth century’, Economic History Review, 55(4) (2002), 642-665.

Flinn 1957a: M.W. Flinn, The law book of the Crowley ironworks (Surtees Soc. 167, 1957 for 1952). Text (partly summarised) of BL Add. Ms. 34555.

Evans 2005: Chris Evans, ‘The Industrial Revolution in the British Isles’, Chris Evans and Göran Rydén (eds.),The Industrial Revolution in Iron: The impact of British Coal technology in nineteenth-century Europe (Ashgate, Aldershot 2005), 15-28.

Flinn 1958: M.W. Flinn, ‘The growth of the English iron industry 1660-1760’, Economic History Review, ser. II, 11 (1958), 14453. A very important study at the time; but now superseded by the Riden 1977 and other more recent research.

Evans & Rydén 2007: C. Evans and Göran Rydén, Baltic iron in the Atlantic World in the eighteenth century (Brill, Leiden 2007).

Flinn 1959a: M.W. Flinn, ‘The Lloyds in the early English iron industry’, Business History, 2 (1959-60), 21-31. Probably superseded by Lloyd 1975.

Evans 2008: C. Evans, ‘Crucible steel as an enlightened material’, Hist. Metallurgy, 42(2) (2008), 79-88.

Flinn 1959b: M.W. Flinn, ‘Timber and the advance of technology: a reconsideration’, Annals of Science, 15 (1959), 109-20. A refutation of Clow 1956.

Evans & Withey 2012: C. Evans & A. Withey, ‘An enlightenment in steel? innovation in the steel trades of eighteenth-century Britain’, Technology and Culture, 53 (2012), 533-60.

Flinn 1959c: M.W. Flinn, ‘Abraham Darby and the cokesmelting process’, Economica, n.s. 26 (1959), 55-9.

Evers-Swindell 1909: J.S. Evers-Swindell, ‘Notes on an early blast-furnace at Cradley ironworks’, Proceedings Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Feb 1909(1-2), 293-4. repr. in Collins 1992, 47.

Flinn 1961: M.W. Flinn, ‘William Wood and the coke smelting process’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 34 (1961-2), 55-71. Largely superseded by Treadwell 1974 and King 2014b.

Eyles 1971: Joan M. Eyles, ‘William Smith, Richard Trevithick and Samuel Homfray: their correspondence on steam engines 1804-1806’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 43 (1970-1), 137-161.

Flinn 1962: M.W. Flinn, Men of iron: The Crowleys in the early iron industry (Edinburgh University Press, 1962). An important family study.

Fairclough 1991: K.R. Fairclough, ‘Temple Mills [Hackney] as an industrial site in the 17th century’, Essex Archaeology & History, 22 (1991), 115-21.

Flinn, Svedensteirna: M.W. Flinn, Svedensteirna’s tour of Great Britain 1802-3: travel diary of an industrial spy (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1973). A Swedish travel diary.

Farey, Derbs: John Farey, General view of agriculture and minerals of Derbyshire (1811, repr. 1989).

Floren & Rydén 1996: Anders Floren & Göran Rydén, ‘A journey into a market society: a Swedish pre-industrial spy in the middle of the 18th century’, in R. Björk & K. Molin (eds.), Societies made up of history, (Uppsala, Sweden 1996), 259-301. The spy was R.R. Angerstein: see also Angerstein’s diary.

Fell 1908: A. Fell, The early industrial history of Furness and district (Ulverston 1908; repr. Cass, London 1968). An excellent study to which more recent research has added little Ferguson et al. 2006: Peter Fergusson, Glyn Coppack, Stuart A. Harrison, Rievaulx Abbey (English Heritage 2006).

Flower 1880: P.W. Flower, A history of the trade in tin (London 1880). A history of the tinplate industry: superseded by Brooke 1944-8 and Minchinton 1957.

Ferris 1984: J.P. Ferris, ‘The iron lady of Somerset’, Somerset & Dorset Notes & Queries, 31 (1984), 351-3.

Foley: see abbreviations: an archive collection

Feuerbach 1997: A. Feuerbach, ‘Damascus Steel and Crucible Steel in Central Asia’, American Soc. of Arms Collectors Bull., 82 (1997), 33-42.

Fowkes 1971: D.V. Fowkes, ‘The Butterley Co in Codnor Park’, Derbs Miscellany, 6(1) (Spring 1971), 1-4. Fowler 1929: J. Fowler, A Description of the High Stream of Arundel etc (Littlehampton Museum Nature and Archaeology Circle, Littlehampton, 1929).

Feuerbach 2006: A. Feuerbach, ‘Crucible Damascus steel: a fascination for almost 2000 years’, JOM, 58 (May 2006), 48-50. Ffoulkes 1937: Charles Ffoulkes, The gun-founders of England (Cambridge University Press 1937).

Fox 1944: C.F. Fox, ‘Ironworks, Bursledon’, Papers and Proceedings Hampshire Field Club & Archaeology Soc., 16 (1944), 287-8.

Finch 1993: R.N. & E.S. Finch, Our Finch families and others (privately 1993). Firth 1977: Gary Firth, ‘The origins of Low Moor Ironworks’, Yorks Arch. J., 49 (1977), 127-40.

Fraser 1883: William Fraser, Chiefs of Grant (Edinburgh 1883). Contains a brief reference to the York Buildings Company at Abernethy.

Firth 1990: Gary Firth, Bradford and the Industrial Revolution: an economic history (Ryburn, Halifax 1990). An important regional study.

Fraser 1942: W. Fraser, ‘Notes on watermills: illustrated by those on Repton Brook’, J. Derbs Arch. & Natural History Soc., 63 (1942), 79-90.

Fitton 1989: R.S. Fitton, The Arkwrights: Spinners of Fortune (Manchester University Press, 1989).

Fraser TS: T. Fraser, ‘The Hazledine Foundry, Bridgnorth’ (TS in IGMT).

Flavell 1996: Neville Flavell, ‘The economic development of Sheffield and the growth of the town c.1740-c.1820’, (Ph.D. thesis, Sheffield University 1996).

Freeman 1971: M.D. Freeman, ‘Funtley Mill, Fareham, Hampshire’, Industrial Archaeology, 8 (1971), 63-68.

Fletcher 1881: H.A. Fletcher, ‘Archaeology of the west Cumberland iron trade’, Trans. Cumb & Westm Antiquarian & Arch. Soc., 5 (1881), 5-21. Still a valuable source, despite its age.

Freese 2008: Stanley Freese, ed. M. Farley, E. Legg, and J. Venn, The watermills of Buckinghamshire: a 1930s account with original photographs (Buckinghamshire Arch. Soc.: Buckinghamshire papers 12, 2008).

Flinn 1955: M.W. Flinn, ‘Industry and Technology in the Derwent valley of Durham and Northumberland’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 29 (1955), 255-62.

Freke 1979: D.J. Freke, ‘The excavation of a 16th-century pottery kiln at Lower Parrock, Hartfeld, East Sussex, 1977’, Post-medieval Archaeology 13 (1979), 79-126.

649

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Gibbs 1951c: F.W. Gibbs, ‘The rise of the tinplate industry: IV an eighteenth century tinplate mill’, Annals of Science, 7 (1951) 113-27. Mainly about a tinplate mill at Caerleon: evidently Caerleon Forge and the tinplate works that later known as Ponthir Works.

Frost 2003: Pat Frost, Moreton Mill, nr Shawbury, Shropshire: archaeological building assessment (Castlering Archaeology Report 149, 2003: copy at Shrops HER, ESA4993). Fuller, Worthies: T. Fuller (ed. P.A. Nuttall), The history of the Worthies of England (1662; new edn. AMS Press, New York 1965).

Gibbs 1953: F.W. Gibbs, ‘Historical survey of the japanning trade: III Pontypool & Usk; IV The Midlands’, Annals of Science, 9 (1953), 197-232.

Gaffney 1987: V. Gaffney, ‘Industrial Archaeology: debunking the needle industry’, Industrial Archaeology, 18 (1988), 105-9. Refuting speculative content in Rollins 1981.

Gibbs 1955: F.W. Gibbs, ‘The rise of the tinplate industry: J. Cockshutt on tinplate manufacture’, Annals of Science, 11(2) (1955), 145-53.

Gale 1943: W.K.V. Gale, ‘Notes on the Black Country iron industry’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 24 [1943-5] (1949), 13-26.

Gibson-Hill, J. & Worssam 1976: J. Gibson-Hill & B.C. Worssam, ‘Analyses of Wealden iron ores and their archaeological significance’, Bull. Institute of Archaeology, 13 (1976), 247-263.

Gale 1954: W.K.V. Gale, Coneygree story (1954). Gale 1966: W.K.V. Gale, The Black Country iron industry: a technical history (The Iron & Steel Institute, London 1966). An important work on technology.

Gill 1954: Conrad Gill, ‘Blackwell Hall Factors, 1795-1799’, Economic History Review, n.s. 6 (1954), 268-81.

Gale 1967: W.K.V. Gale, The British iron & steel industry: a technical history (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1967). An important work on technology.

Giuseppi 1912: M.S. Giuseppi, ‘The accounts of the ironworks at Sheffield and Worth in Sussex, 1546-1549’, Arch. J. 69 (1912), 276-311.

Gale 1969: W.K.V. Gale, Iron and Steel (Longmans, London 1969). An important work on technology.

Gloucester Port Books Database: David Hussey, N.C. Cox & G.J. Milne (eds.), Gloucester Port Books Database 1575-1765 (CD ROM, Adam Matthew 1998). Data are deposited with Archaeological Data Service.

Gale 1971: W.K.V. Gale, The iron and steel industry: a dictionary of terms (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1971). Gale 1979: W.K.V. Gale, Lilleshall Company Limited: a history 1764 – 1964 (Moorland, Ashbourne 1979).

Goodchild 1959: John F. Goodchild, ‘Emmet’s Canal: an industrial canal in the West Riding’, J. Railway & Canal Hist. Soc., 5 (1959), 98-9.

Gale 1980: W.K.V. Gale, ‘Bromford Ironworks 1780-1980: condensed from a history published privately by Bromford Iron & Steel Co Ltd’, The Blackcountryman, 13(3) (1980), 11-13. Relates to Bromford Mill, Oldbury.

Goodchild 1978: John Goodchild, The coal kings of Yorkshire (Wakefield Historical Publications 1978).

Gale 1981: W.K.V. Gale, ‘Griffin to Griffin in 200 years’, The Blackcountryman, 14(1) (Jan 1981), 48-51. Withymore Forge: a scythe forge.

Goodchild, Iron notes: John Goodchild, various unpublished compilations on the iron industry (Typescripts, in Wakefield Archives, Goodchild collection).

Galgano 1976: Michel J. Galgano, ‘Iron mines in restoration Furness: The case of Sir Thomas Preston’, Recusant History, 13 (1975-6), 212-9.

Goodman 1865: J.D. Goodman, ‘The Birmingham gun trade’, in Timmins 1865, 381-431. Goodman 1980: K.W.G. Goodman, ‘Tilsop Furnace’, West Midlands Studies, 13 (1980), 40-46. An extract from the author’s thesis, published posthumously.

Galloway 2005: J. Galloway, ‘Warbleton Priory Furnace’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 25 (2005), 21-24. Gardner 1960: E.M. Gardner, ‘The three mills, Bromley by Bow’, Edgar Allen News, 39 (1960), 135-37 and 158ff.

Goodman thesis: K.W.G. Goodman, ‘Hammerman’s hill: the land, people, and industry of the Titterstone Clee area of Shropshire from the sixteenth to eighteenth century’ (Ph.D. Thesis, Keele University 1978: copy in Shrops RO).

Gardner & Whittick 2008: M. Gardner & C. Whittick, ‘Accounts & Records of the Manor of Mote in Iden ‘ (Sussex Record Soc., 92, 2008).

Goodway 1987: M. Goodway, ‘Phosphorus in antique music wire’, Science, 236 (1987), 927-32.

Garraway Rice & Godfrey 1936: R. Garraway Rice & W.H. Godfrey, Transcript of Sussex Wills Vol II Chiddingly to Horsham (Sussex Record Soc., 42, 1936).

Goodway & Fisher 1988: M. Goodway & R.M. Fisher, ‘Phosphorus in low carbon iron: its beneficial properties’, Hist. Metallurgy, 22(1) (1988), 21-23.

Garrow 1825: David Garrow, History of Lymington (1825). Gates 2015: Tim Gates, ‘An early 17th-century blast furnace at Furness Farm, Hunwick, Co Durham’, Hist. Metallurgy, 49(1) (2015), 50-62.

Goring 1978: J.J. Goring, ‘Wealden ironmasters in the age of Elizabeth’, in E.W. Ives and others (eds.),Wealth and Power in Tudor England: essays presented to S.T. Bindoff (Athlone Press, London 1978), 204-27.

Gerhold 2009: D. Gerhold, ‘The Hallen family, iron platers and frying pan makers’, International J. for the History of Engineering and Technology, 79(1) (2009), 34-58.

Gould & Morton 1967: J. Gould & G.R. Morton, ‘Little Aston Forge 1574-1798’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 205 (1967), 237-244; also in Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group 1(1-6) (1982 repr.), 23-9.

Gibbs 1950: F.W. Gibbs, ‘The rise of the tinplate industry: I the tinplate workers’, Annals of Science, 6 (1950), 390ff.

Gould 1969: J. Gould, ‘Excavation fifteenth century iron mill at Bourne Pool, Aldridge, Staffs’, Trans. S. Staffs Arch. & Hist. Soc., 11 (1969-70), 58-63.

Gibbs 1951a: F.W. Gibbs, ‘The rise of the tinplate industry: II early tinplate manufacture to 1700’, Annals of Science, 7(1) (1951), 25-42.

Gould 1981: Jim Gould, ‘The Lichfield Canal and Wychnor Ironworks’, Trans. S. Staffs Arch. & Hist. Soc., 23 (1981-2), 10917.

Gibbs 1951b: F.W. Gibbs, ‘The rise of the tinplate industry: III John Hanbury 1664-1734’, Annals of Science, 7 (1951) 43-61.

650

Bibliography Gwilliam & Tucker 1983: H.W. Gwilliam & Gordon Tucker, ‘Watermills and water-powered works on River Stour, Worcestershire and Staffordshire’, Wind and Water Mills, 4 (1983), 5-20.

Grage 1981: E-B. Grage, ‘Capital supply in Gothenburg’s foreign trade 1765-1810’, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 39 (1981), 97-128. Grage 1986: E-B. Grage, ‘Scottish merchants in Gothenburg 1621-1850’, in T.C. Smout (ed.), Scotland and Europe 12001850 (Donald, Edinburgh 1986), 112-27.

Gwilliam 1984: H.W. Gwilliam, ‘Forges, Furnaces, and mills on the river Stour’ (TS 2 vols. 1984: copies in Kidderminster and other Worcestershire libraries).

Graham 2015: D. & A. Graham, ‘Thursley Upper Hammer Pond’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 35 (2015), 58-61.

Gwilliam, ‘Astley’: H.W. Gwilliam, ‘Astley Forge’, TS provided privately, perhaps from Worcs RO.

Gras 1918: N.S.B. Gras, The early English Customs system (Harvard University Press 1918: Harvard Economic Studies 18).

Gyll 1862: G.W.J. Gyll, History of the parish of Wraysbury, Ankerwycke Priory and Magna Carta Island with the history of Horton and the town of Colnbrook (1862).

Gray-Jones 1970: Arthur Gray-Jones, A history of Ebbw Vale (Privately 1970, copy in Gwent RO).

Habington, Worcs: T. Habington, A Survey of Worcestershire (2 vols. Worcs Hist. Soc. 1899).

Green 1915: Francis Green, ‘Carmarthen Tinworks and its founder’ [Robert Morgan], West Wales Hist. Record, 5 (1915), 245-70. Still valuable though partly superseded.

Hackwood 1891: F.W. Hackwood, History of Tipton (published in instalments in Dudley Herald; collected copy in Dudley Archives).

Green 1935: Herbert Green, ‘Southern portion of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire coalfield and the development of transport before 1850’, J. Derbs Arch. & Natural History Soc., 56 (1935), 61-70.

Hackwood 1899: F.W. Hackwood, Olden (Wednesbury 1899: repr. British Library, c.2010).

Green 1978: Harry Green, ‘Penrhiwtyn Furnace and Eaglesbush coal’, Trans. Neath Antiquarian Soc., 1978, 50-7.

Wednesbury

Hackwood 1902: F.W. Hackwood, Story of the Black Country (Wolverhampton [1902]).

Green 1981: Harry Green, ‘Melin y Cwrt Furnace: earth, air, fire, and water’, Trans. Neath Antiquarian Soc., 1980-1, 43-6.

Hackwood 1903: F.W. Hackwood, Chronicles of Cannock Chase (The Mercury, Lichfield 1903).

Grenter 1991: Stephen Gretner, ‘John Wilkinson and the Bersham Ironworks, Wrexham’, Wilkinson Studies, 1 (1991), 218.

Hadfield & Norris 1968: Charles Hadfield & J. Norris, Waterways to Stratford (2nd edn, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1968).

Grenter 1992: Stephen Gretner, ‘Bersham Ironworks Excavation: an interim report’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 14(2) (1992), 177-92.

Hadfield 1969: Charles Hadfield, The Canals of the West Midlands (2nd edn, David & Charles, Newton Abbott 1969).

Grenter 1993: Stephen Grenter, ‘A wooden waggonway complex at Bersham ironworks’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 15(2) (1993), 195ff.

Hadfield 1972: Charles Hadfield, Canals of Yorkshire and Northeast England (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1972). Hadley 1976: Guy Hadley, Citizens and founders: a history of the Worshipful Company of Founders, London (Phillimore, Chichester 1976).

Grey-Davies 1969: Tom Grey-Davies, ‘Redbrook Tinplate Works: The last of an era’, Presenting Monmouthshire, 27 (1969), 37-41.

Hainsworth 1983: D.R. Hainsworth (ed.), The correspondence of Sir John Lowther of Whitehaven 1693-8: a provincial community in wartime (Records of Social & Economic History, British Academy, London n.s. 7, 1983).

Griffin 1971: A.R. Griffin, Mining in the east Midlands 15501947 (Cass, London 1971). Griffith & Weddell 1996: Frances Griffith & Peter Weddell, ‘Ironworking in the Blackdown Hills: results of a recent survey’, in Philip Newman (ed.), The Archaeology of Mining and Metallurgy in south west Britain (Hist. Metallurgy Soc., 1996: special publication).

Hallen 1885: A.W.C. Hallen, An account of the Hallen family (privately, Birmingham 1885). Hallett & Morton 1968: M.M. Hallett & G R Morton, ‘Yarranton’s furnace at Sharpley Pool, Worcs’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 206 (1968), 689-92. For a fuller excavation report see Brown 1982.

Griffiths 1873: S. Griffiths, Griffiths’ Guide to the Iron Trade (London 1873). Gross 2001: Joseph Gross (ed.), The Diary of Charles Wood of Cyfarthfa Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil 1766-1769 (Merton Priory Press, Cardiff 2001).

Hamilton 1932: Henry Hamilton, The Industrial Revolution in Scotland (Oxford 1932). An important study.

Giuseppi 1902: M.S. Giuseppi, ‘Manor of Ewood and the ironworks there in 1575’, Surrey Arch. Collns, 17 (1902), 29-35.

Hamilton 1956: H. Hamilton, ‘The failure of Ayr Bank 1772’, Economic History Review, ser. II, 8 (1956), 405-17.

Giuseppi 1903: M.S. Giuseppi, ‘Rake in Witley ... ironworks in Witley and Thursley Heaths’, Surrey Arch. Collns, 18 (1903), 1260.

Hamilton 1963: Henry Hamilton, Economic History of Scotland in the eighteenth century (Oxford 1963). Hammersley 1957: G. Hammersley, ‘The crown woods and their exploitation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’, Bull. Institute for Hist. Research, 30 (1957), 136-161.

Giuseppi 1912: M.S. Giuseppi, ‘The accounts of the iron-works at Sheffield and Worth in Sussex, 1546-1549’ Arch. J. 69 (1912), 276-311. Guttery 1956: D.R. Guttery, From Broad-glass to Cut Crystal: a history of the Stourbridge glass industry (London, 1956).

Hammersley 1973: G. Hammersley, ‘The charcoal iron industry and its fuel 1540-1750’, Economic History Review, ser. II, 26 (1973), 593-613. The most important study on charcoal.

Gwilliam 1981: H.W. Gwilliam, ‘Mills and forges on the Wannerton Brook in north Worcestershire’, Wind and Water Mills, 2 (1981), 20-31.

Hammersley 1979: G. Hammersley, ‘Did it fall or was it pushed? The Foleys and the end of the charcoal iron industry in the eighteenth century’, T.C. Smout (ed.),The search for wealth

651

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Hatcher 1993: John Hatcher, History of the British Coal Industry: i before 1700: towards the age of coal (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1993).

and stability: essays on economic and social history presented to M.W. Flinn (Macmillan, London 1979), 67-90. Hancock & Wilkinson 1959: H.B. Hancock & N.B. Wilkinson, ‘Joshua Gilpin: an American manufacturer in England and Wales 1795-1801’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 32 (1959), 15-28.

Havill 1983: Elizabeth Havill, ‘William Taitt and the Dowlais Ironworks 1748-1815’, Trans. Hon. Soc. of Cymmrodorion, 1983, 97-114.

Hardman 1972: Desmond Hardman, ‘Early history of Silverdale Ironworks’, Staffs Industrial Archaeology Soc. J., 3 (1972), 1 ff.

Hawkes 1945: A.J. Hawkes, ‘Sir Roger Bradshaigh of Haigh’, Chetham Soc., n.s., 109(5) (1945), 1-73.

Harris 1958: J.R. Harris, ‘The introduction of coal into iron smelting’, Edgar Allen News, 37 (1958), 204-05.

Hayes 1970: R.H. Hayes, History of Rosedale (Helmsley 1970). Hayes 1978: R.H. Hayes, ‘Early iron-working sites in northeast Yorkshire’, Hist. Metallurgy, 12 (1978), 18-27.

Harris 1964: J.R. Harris, The Copper King: a biography of Thomas Williams of Llanidan (Liverpool University Press 1964; 2nd edn, Landmark, Ashbourne 2003).

Hayman 1986: R. Hayman, ‘Aberdulais Falls’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 8(2) (1986), 147-155. Excavation of a nineteenth century tinplate works on an earlier industrial site

Harris 1967: P.G. Harris, ‘Monmouth iron and tinplate; New Weir Forge; Tintern; etc’, Wye Valley industrial history (Monmouth). A collection of papers 1967-8, individually paginated: copy in Gloucs RO.

Hayman 1987: Richard Hayman, ‘Artists’ impressions of Aberdulais Mill’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 9(2) (1987), 155ff.

Harris 1974: F.T.J. Harris, ‘Guns Mill as a paper mill’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 1974, 33-40.

Hayman & Horton 1999: R. Hayman & W. Horton, Ironbridge: History & Guide (Tempus, Stroud 1999).

Harris 1988: J.R. Harris, The British Iron Industry 1700-1850 (Macmillan, London, 1988: Studies in Economic & Social History). A useful summary of the economic history of the industry

Hayman, Horton & White 1999: Richard Hayman, Wendy Horton & Shelley White, Archaeology and Conservation in Ironbridge (CBA Research Report 123, 1999). Hayman thesis: Richard Hayman, ‘The Shropshire wrought iron industry, c.1600-1900’ (Ph.D. thesis, Birmingham University, 2003).

Harris 1992: J.R. Harris, Essays in Industry and Technology in the 18th century: England and France, (Variorum, Aldershot 1992).

Hayman 2004: R. Hayman, ‘The Cranage Brothers and eighteenth-century forge technology’, Hist. Metallurgy, 38(2) (2004), 113-20.

Harrison & Willis 1879: W. Harrison & C. Willis, The great Jennens case (Sheffield 1879). The book contains much useful material on the Jennens family, but the authors lost their claim to descent from the Jennens family of Birmingham and thus to share in the estate of William Jennens (died 1798).

Hayman 2005: R. Hayman, Ironmaking: the history and archaeology of the iron industry (Tempus, Stroud, 2005). Hayman 2008: R. Hayman, ‘Charcoal ironmaking in 19thcentury Shropshire’, Economic History Review, 61(1) (2008), 80-98.

Harrison 1979: C.J. Harrison, ‘Cannock Chase ironworks report: an assessment’, North Staffs J. of Field Studies, 19 (1979), 22-9. See also Jones & Harrison 1978.

Henn 1926: Karl Henn, ‘The hand-made nail trade of Dudley and district’ (M. Comm. dissertation, Birmingham University 1926).

Harrison (J.K.) 1979: J.K. Harrison, ‘The production of pig iron in Northeast England 1577-1865’, in C.A. Hempstead (ed.), Cleveland iron and steel industry: the background and nineteenth century history (British Steel Corporation 1979), 49-80.

Herbert 1979: M.V. Herbert, The Hickmans of Oldswinford (Research Publishing, London 1979).

Harrison’s survey: J.G. Ronkesley (ed.), An exact and perfect survey and view of the manor of Sheffield and other lands by John Harrison 1637 (Privately 1908).

Herbert 1983: B.K. Herbert, ‘Bassetts blast furnace’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 3 (1983), 36-42. Herbert 1986: B. Herbert, ‘Three sites in the Tudeley area, near Tonbridge, Kent’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 6 (1986), 52-3.

Hart 1871: W.H. Hart (ed.), ‘The Parliamentary Survey of Richmond, Wimbledon & Nonsuch, A D 1649’, Surrey Arch. Collns, 5 (1871), 75-156.

Herbert 1992: Brian Herbert, ‘Gloucester Furnace bressumer found’, Wealden Iron Research Group Newsletter, 15 (spring 1992).

Hart 1953: C.E. Hart, The Free Miners of the Royal Forest of Dean and Hundred of St Briavels (British Publishing, Gloucester 1953).

Herbert 1993: B.K. Herbert, ‘Henly Upper Furnace’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 13 (1993), 7-8.

Hart 1966: C.E. Hart, Royal Forest: a history of Dean’s woods as producers of timber (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1966).

Herbert 1993: B.K. Herbert, ‘Two ironworking sites at Hoathly, near Lamberhurst’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 13 13 (1993), 34-50.

Hart 1971: C.E. Hart, The Industrial History of the Forest of Dean (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1971).

Herbert & Cornish 2012: B.K. Herbert & T. Cornish, ‘The location of Etchingham Forge’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 32 (2012), 28-34.

Hart 1995: Cyril Hart, The Forest of Dean: new history (Sutton, Stroud 1995).

Hey 1971: David G. Hey, ‘Nailmaking background of the Walkers and the Booths’, Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., 10(1) (1971), 31-36.

Hasted, Kent: Edward Hasted, History and topographical survey of the County of Kent (London, 1797-1801; reprint EP Publishing 1972).

Hey 1972: D.G. Hey, The rural metal workers of the Sheffield Region (Leicester University Press 1975: Department of English Local History, Occasional Paper, ser. 2, no.5).

Hastings 1981: R.P. Hastings, Essays in North Riding history (North Yorkshire County Council 1981).

652

Bibliography Hodgkinson 1986a: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Standford Furnace, Hampshire: a case of mistaken identity’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 6 (1986), 42-4.

Hey 1977: D.G. Hey, ‘The ironworks at Chapeltown’, Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., 10(4) (1977), 252-9. Hey 1980: David Hey, Packmen, carriers and packhorse roads: trade and communications in north Derbyshire and South Yorkshire (Leicester University Press 1980; 2 edn Landmark, Ashbourne 2001).

Hodgkinson 1986b: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Rowfrant Supra Forge’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 6 (1986), 49-51. Hodgkinson 1989: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘William Clutton – ironmaster’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 9 (1989), 27-33.

Hey 1990: David Hey, ‘The origins and early growth of the Hallamshire cutlery and allied trades’, in John Chartres & David Hey (eds.), English rural society, 1500-1800: essays in honour of Joan Thirsk (Cambridge University Press 1990), 343-67.

Hodgkinson & Houghton 1992: J.S. Hodgkinson & R.G. Houghton, ‘Warren furnace, Worth, Sussex’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 12 (1992), 16-23.

Hey 1991: David Hey, The Fiery Blades of Hallamshire: Sheffield and its neighbourhood 1660-1740 (Leicester University Press 1991).

Hodgkinson 1993: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Notes on Kentish furnaces’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 13 (1993), 8-10. Hodgkinson 1994a: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘The possible use of coke for smelting iron in the Weald’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 14 (1994), 13-16.

Hey 1997: David Hey, ‘The establishment of the Cutlers’ Company’, in Binfield & Hey 1997, 12-25. Hey 2001: David Hey, Packmen, carriers, and packhorse roads: trade and communications in north Derbyshire and South Yorkshire (2 edn Landmark, Ashbourne 2001). A second edition of Hey 1980.

Hodgkinson 1994b: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Contemporary illustrations of Wealden furnaces’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 14 (1994), 20-7. Hodgkinson 1994c: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Further additions to the list of Wealden graveslabs’, Wealden iron, ser. II, 14 (1994), 289.

Higgs 2005: Carl Higgs, ‘Dud Dudley and Abraham Darby: Forging New Links’, The Blackcountryman, 38(3) (2005), 73-6. Hildebrand 1958: K-G. Hildebrand, ‘Foreign markets for Swedish iron in the eighteenth century’, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 6(1) (1958), 3-52. An important study based (so far as England is concerned) on TNA, Customs ledgers (CUST 3): it is largely a translation of two chapters of his Fagerstabrukens Historia I: sexton- och sjuttonhundratalen [History of the Fagersta Works I: 16th and 17th centuries] (Upsalla, Sweden 1957).

Hodgkinson 1994d: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Mill Place and Gravetye Furnaces: a note on their operation or otherwise in the seventeenth century’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 14 (1994), 29-31. Hodgkinson 1994e: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Fordley North Park: coke-smelting in the Weald’, Hist. Metallurgy, 28(1) (1994), 1113. Hodgkinson 1996a: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘A Wealden steel-making patent’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 16 (1996), 9-12.

Hildebrand 1993: K-G. Hildebrand, Swedish iron in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: export industry before industrialization (Jernkontorets Berghistoriska skriftserie 29, Stockholm, 1992).

Hodgkinson 1996b: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘The decline of the ordnance trade in the Weald: the Seven Years War and its aftermath’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 134 (1996), 155-67.

Hill & Dent 1897: Joseph Hill and Robert K. Dent, Memorials of Old Square (Birmingham 1897). A history of each house in the Birmingham square (since demolished.), where several industrialists lived.

Hodgkinson 1997a: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Field Notes’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 17 (1997), 2-9.

Hillen 1951: J. Hillen, Old Surrey watermills (Skeffington, London 1951).

Hodgkinson 1997b: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Forges in the late eighteenth century Weald’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 17 (1997), 1323.

Hinderwell 1798 & 1811: Thomas Hinderwell, History and antiquities of Scarborough (1st edition: York 1798; another edition: York 1811). The two editions are not identical.

Hodgkinson & Houghton 1997: J.S. Hodgkinson & R.G. Houghton, ‘Ebernoe Furnace – site survey 1996’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 17 (1997), 9-13.

Hiscock 1986: Ted Hiscock, Gone are the days: a history of Little Aston and District (Storm Publishing, Stourbridge 1986).

Hodgkinson 1998: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘“Brass” casting at a Kent furnace’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 18 (1998), 48-51.

Hobson 1924: J.M. Hobson, The book of the Wandle: the story of a Surrey river (Routledge, London 1924).

Hodgkinson & Dalton 1999: J.S. Hodgkinson & A. Dalton, ‘Swedenborg’s Description of English Iron-making’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 19 (1999), 47-63.

Hodgkins 1981: Keith Hodgkins, ‘Can we save Corngreaves Hall?’, The Blackcountryman, 14(3) (1981), 53-54.

Hodgkinson 2000: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘The Raby background: The Midlands, London and the Weald’, in Crocker 2000a, 1-8.

Hodgkinson 1978a: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘The carrier’s accounts of Robert Knight: I introduction’, Wealden Iron, ser. I, 13 (1978), 24-5.

Hodgkinson & Houghton 2000: J.S. Hodgkinson & R.G. Houghton, ‘Iridge Furnace, Hurst Green’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 20 (2000), 32-39.

Hodgkinson 1978b: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘The carrier’s account of Robert Knight: part II background and text’, Wealden Iron, ser. I, 14 (1978), 11-24.

Hodgkinson 2001: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Field Notes’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 21 (2001), 2-8.

Hodgkinson 1979: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘The Weale manuscripts’, Wealden Iron, ser. I, 16 (1979), 11-14.

Hodgkinson 2004: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Ironworks in 17th century Kent’, Wealden Iron, ser. II,. 24 (2004), 6-16. List of furnaces and cannon there

Hodgkinson 1984: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘West End furnace, Chiddingfold, Surrey’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 4 (1984), 6-7

Hodgkinson 2007: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘A godly chimney plate and other firebacks from Brede’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 27 (2007), 1826.

Hodgkinson 1985: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Blackfold Furnace, Handcross’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 5 (1985), 4.

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Hodgkinson 2008a: J.S. Hodgkinson, History of the Iron Industry in West Hoathly (West Hoathly Local History Group, West Hoathly, 2008).

Holcroft 1948: H. Holcroft, ‘John Wilkinson: an addendum’, Edgar Allen News, 27(316) (Oct 1948), 153-6. Holden 1912: Joshua Holden, History of Todmorden (Manchester University Press 1912).

Hodgkinson 2008b: J.S. Hodgkinson, The Wealden Iron Industry (History Press, Stroud 2008).

Holden 1972: L. Holden, ‘Bradley and Foster’, The Blackcountryman, 5(2) (1972), 11.

Hodgkinson 2009: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘The Legas-Remnant Letters’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 29 (2009), 14-68.

Holderness 1973: B.A. Holderness, ‘Elizabeth Parkin and her investments, 1733-66: aspects of the Sheffield money market in the eighteenth century’, Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., 10(2) (1973), 81-7.

Hodgkinson 2010: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Pot founders at Wealden ironworks’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 30 (2010), 30-33. Hodgkinson 2011: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Witley Park Furnace, Witley, Surrey’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 31 (2011), 23-28.

Holderness 1973b: B.A. Holderness, ‘A Sheffield commercial house in the mid-18th century: Messrs Oborne and Gunning around 1760’, Business History, 15(1) (1973), 32-44.

Hodgkinson 2012a: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Crowhurst Forge – a new site identified’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 32 (2012a), 5-10. Hodgkinson 2012b: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Notices of Wealden ironworks in early English newspapers’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 32 (2012b ), 11-27.

Holgate 1927: M.S. Holgate, Sussex Inquisitions (Sussex Record Soc., 33, 1927). Holling 1970: F.W. Holling, ‘Witley: Iron furnace in Witley Park’, Surrey Arch. Soc. Bull. 64 (1970), 4.

Hodgkinson 2013: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘A Pope family fireback. Wealden Iron, ser. II, 33 (2013), 27-31

Holt 1984: M. Holt, ‘Hawkesden Forge Iron Master’s House’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 4 (1984), 11-12.

Hodgkinson 2014a: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Cowden Furnaces in the late-16th Century – Some further comments’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 34 (2014a ), 60-2.

Holt 1988: Richard Holt, The mills of medieval England (Blackwell, Oxford 1988).

Hodgkinson 2014b: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Biddenden Hammer Mill: Site Survey’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 34 (2014), 63-8.

Holt Local Hist. Soc. 1999: Holt: a pictorial history (1999).

Hodgkinson 2015a: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Field Notes’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 35 (2015), 3-12.

Holt 2013: J.S. Holt, ‘Financial rewards of winning the battle for secure customary tenure’, in J. Whittle (ed.), Landlords and Tenants in Britain, 1440-1660: Tawney’s Agrarian Problem Revisited (Boydell, Woodbridge, 2013), 133-49.

Hodgkinson 2015b: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘A bloomforge in Frant – The case of Marriott’s Croft’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 35 (2015), 44-54.

Hopkins 1966: T.J. Hopkins, ‘Robert Clutterbuck’s tour through Glamorgan 1799’, Glamorgan Historian, 3 (1966), 201-19.

Hodgkinson 2015c: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Kinians’ Forge – a suggested identification’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 35 (2015), 55-7.

Hopkins 1998: Eric Hopkins, The Rise of the Manufacturing Town: Birmingham and the Industrial Revolution (2nd edn, Sutton, Stroud 1998; 1st edn 1989).

Hodgkinson 2016a: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Henly and Riverhall Ironworks’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 36(1) (2016), 10-17.

Hopkinson 1952: G.G. Hopkinson, ‘Staveley Forge 1762-83’, Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., 7(2) (1952), 94-5. A very brief note.

Hodgkinson 2016b: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Early newspapers: further references to the iron trade’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 36(1) (2016), 33-8. Hodgkinson 2016c: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘The Prickett family and Wealden iron’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 36(1) (2016), 38-43.

Hopkinson 1954: G.G. Hopkinson, ‘A Sheffield business partnership 1750-65’, Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., 7 (1953-4), 10317.

Hodgkinson 2017a: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘The location of Mayfield finery forge: a critique and alternative view’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 37 (2017), 29-37.

Hopkinson 1956: G.G. Hopkinson, ‘The development of inland navigation in south Yorkshire and north Derbyshire 1697-1850’, Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., 7(5) (1956), 229-52.

Hodgkinson 2017b: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘St Leonard’s Forest ironworks: two previously unrecorded leases’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 37 (2017), 45-6.

Hopkinson 1957: G.G. Hopkinson, ‘The development of the south Yorkshire and north Derbyshire coalfield 1500-1775’, Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., 7(6) (1957), 295-318.

Hodgkinson 2019a: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Chiddingstone Furnace and Forge’, Wealden Iron, 39 (2019), 14-21.

Hopkinson 1961: G.G. Hopkinson, ‘The charcoal iron industry of the Sheffield region 1500-1775’, Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., 8 (1961), 122-51. An important study, mainly based on Sheffield Archives, SIR, which are usually cited here as SIR St a/c and SIR Y a/c.

Hodgkinson 2019b: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘A projected lease of Ashburnham Furnace’, Wealden Iron, 39 (2019), 25-7. Hodgkinson thesis: J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘The iron industry in the Weald in the period of the Seven years’ war 1750-1770’ (M.A. dissertation, University of Brighton 1993), wealdeniron. org.uk/ research.htm.

Horovitz 1988: David Horovitz, Brewood: some notes on the history of Brewood in Staffordshire ... (author, Brewood, Staffs 1988).

Hodgson 1971: K.C. Hodgson, Out of the Mahogany Chest (Research Publishing, London 1971). A family history, based partly on letters.

Horsfall 1971: John Horsfall, The Ironmasters of Penns (The Roundwood Press, Kineton, Warks, 1971). A valuable family and company history concerned with wiremaking, but the author failed to discover all of the Webster family’s works.

Hodson & Odell 1925: L.J. Hodson, & J.A. Odell, Ticehurst (Courier, Tunbridge Wells 1925).

Horton 1982: E.H. Horton, ‘The history of Redbrook tinplate works from 1930 to 1961’, Gwent Local History, 52 (1982), 1323.

Hogg 1963: O.F.G. Hogg, The Royal Arsenal: its background origin and subsequent history (Oxford University Press 1963).

654

Bibliography Horton 1985: E.H. Horton, ‘The manufacture of tinplate at Redbrook 1930-61’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 8(1) (1985), 59-69.

Hulme 1944: E.W. Hulme, ‘The pedigree and career of Benjamin Huntsman, inventor in Europe of crucible steel’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 24 (1943-44), 37-48.

Hoskison 1946: T.M. Hoskison, ‘Northumberland blast furnace plant in the nineteenth century’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 25 (1945-7), 73-83.

Hume & Butt 1966: J.R. Hume & J. Butt, ‘Muirkirk 1786-1802: the creation of a Scottish community’, Scottish Hist. Review, 45 (1966), 161-83.

Houghton 1983: R.G. Houghton, ‘The recovered Courthope papers: transcriptions’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 3 (1983), 12-17.

Hume 1976: J.R. Hume, Industrial archaeology of Scotland 1. The Lowlands and Borders (Batsford 1976). Hume 1977: J.R. Hume, Industrial archaeology of Scotland 2. Highlands and Islands (Batsford 1977).

Houghton & Hodgkinson 1989: R.G. Houghton & J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘St Leonards Lower Forge and Furnace site survey 1988’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 9 (1989), 12-17.

Humphries 1954: ? Humphries, ‘Coxes Lock Mill’, TS, Surrey History Centre, G137/12/41.

Houghton & Hodgkinson 1990: R.G. Houghton & J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Heathfield Furnace Site Survey 1989’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 10 (1990), 3-6.

Humphries 1979: D.J. Humphries, ‘The Grazebrook blowing engine’, The Blackcountryman, 12(3) (1979), 48-9. Hunniset 1996: R.F. Hunniset, Sussex Coroners’ Inquests 15581603 (PRO Publications, Kew, 1996).

Houghton & Hodgkinson 1999: R.G. Houghton & J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Frith Furnace, Northchapel – Site Survey 1999’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 19 (1999), 30-33.

Hunniset 1998: R.F. Hunniset, Sussex Coroners’ Inquests 16031688 (PRO Publications, Kew, 1998).

Houghton & Hodgkinson 2005: R.G. Houghton & J.S. Hodgkinson, ‘Bungehurst Furnace, Heathfield – Site Survey’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 25 (2005), 19-21.

Hunt 1852: R. Hunt, ‘Note on the coal raised and iron made at present (December 1852) in South Staffordshire’, Records of the School of Mines …, 1(2) (Longmans 1853), 342-8.

HOW 2004: HOW [History of Wollaston Group], A History of Wollaston (authors, Wollaston, Stourbridge 2004).

Hunt 1979: L.B. Hunt, ‘The Parker brothers: Black Country ironmasters’, Hist. Metallurgy, 13(1) (1979), 31.

Howitt 1889: Mary Howitt (ed. Margaret Howitt), An Autobiography (London 1889).

Hunter, Hallamshire: Rev. Joseph Hunter, South Yorkshire (2 vols 1828 & 1831, repr. EP Publishing, 1974).

Hudson & Price 1989: P. Hudson & I. Price, ‘Ironworking sites in the Lancashire Fells’, Contrebis, 15 (1989), 68-77.

Hunter 2018: John Hunter, ‘Newcomen-type pumping engines in collieries and ironworks on the north side of the Don valley in the Rotherham area of South Yorkshire in the eighteenth century’, International J. for the History of Engineering and Technology 88(1) (2018), 1-36.

Hudson 1989: P. Hudson (ed.), Regions and Industries: a perspective on the industrial revolution in Britain (Cambridge University Press, 1989).

Hurley 1977: Ted Hurley (the editor), ‘The Pentyrch iron industry’, J. of Southeast Wales Industrial Archaeology Soc., 2(3) (Apr 1977), 17-24.

Hudson 1995: P. Hudson, ‘Economic activity in Quernmore: Forest products’, Contrebis, 22 (1995), 15-26. Hughes 1952: Edward Hughes, North Country Life in the eighteenth century: [vol 1] the north-east 1700-1750 (Oxford University Press 1952).

Hurley 2001: Heather Hurley, The Story of Bill Mills (Logaston Press, Almeley, Herefordshire). Hurley 2008: Heather Hurley, ‘The River’s industrial past’, in idem (ed.), Landscape origins of the Wye valley (Wye Preservation Trust and Logaston Press 2008).

Hughes 1965: Edward Hughes, North Country Life in the eighteenth century: vol 2 Cumberland and Westmoreland 17001830 (Oxford University Press 1965).

Hutchinson, Cumberland: W. Hutchinson, The History of Cumberland and places adjacent (Carlisle 1795).

Hughes 1987: Stephen Hughes, ‘Landore: a study of the use of water power during the industrial revolution’, Melin 3 (1987), 43-58.

Hutchinson, Durham: W. Hutchinson, History and Antiquities of the County Palatinate of Durham (Newcastle upon Tyne 1787).

Hughes & Reynolds 1989: Stephen Hughes & P.R. Reynolds, A guide to the industrial archaeology of the Swansea region (Royal Commission for ancient and historic monuments of Wales, 2nd edn, 1989). A good gazetteer of sites.

Hutton 1791: W. Hutton, History of Derby (1791). Hyde thesis: Charles K. Hyde, ‘The technical development of the British iron industry to 1860’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin 1971). My citations are from a duplicated typescript given to me by Malcolm Wanklyn, which I take to be a copy of the final thesis.

Hughes & Hurley 1999: P. Hughes & H. Hurley, The story of Ross on Wye (Logaston Press, Almley, Herefordshire 1999). Hughes 2008: Stephen Hughes, Copperopolis: landscapes of the early industrial period in Swansea (Royal Commission for ancient and historic monuments of Wales 2000; revised 2008).

Hyde 1973: Charles K. Hyde, ‘The iron industry of the West Midlands in 1754: observations from the travel account of Charles Wood’, West Midlands Studies, 6 (1973), 39-40: republished in Gross 2001, 219-24.

Hughes, ‘Worcester Water Supply’: Joan Hughes, ‘The Greatest Blessings: a history of Worcester’s water supply’ www. callnetuk.com/home/fortroyal/stafford/waterhtm.htm.

Hyde 1973b: Charles K. Hyde, ‘The adoption of coke smelting by the British iron industry, 1709-1790’, Explorations in Economic History, 10 (1972-3), 397-418. A shortened version of ch 1 & 2 of his thesis, see also Hyde 1977.

Hulme 1928: E.W. Hulme, ‘The statistical history of the iron trade’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 9 (1928-9), 12-33. A key source for iron production statistics: there is generally no reason to doubt its accuracy in most areas; quoted for production 1716, 1718, 1736 and 1749. See also King 1996b.

Hyde (H.M.) 1973: H.M. Hyde The unexpected prime minister (Hart-Davis MacGibbon, London 1973).

655

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Hyde 1974: Charles K. Hyde, ‘Technological change in the British wrought iron industry, 1750-1815: a reinterpretation’, Economic History Review, ser.II, 27 (1974), 190-206. Based on chapter 3 of his 1971 thesis, see also Hyde 1977.

Jenkins 1936: Rhys Jenkins, Collected papers of Rhys Jenkins: links in the history of engineering and technology from Tudor times (Cambridge University Press, 1936: for Newcomen Soc.). Comprising articles originally published before 1920.

Hyde 1977: Charles K. Hyde, Technological change and the British iron industry 1700-1870 (Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1977). His conclusions regarding the relative economics of coke and charcoal iron remain controversial and have recently been doubted: see Rehder 1987; Ince 1991a; and King 2011a.

Jenkins 1937: Rhys Jenkins, ‘Industry of Herefordshire in bygone times’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 17 (1936-7), 175-86. Largely superseded

Ince 1984: Laurence Ince, Neath Abbey Iron Company (Eindhoven 1984).

Jenkins 1991: D.E. Jenkins, ‘The Brocksopps of Hasland: yeoman ironmaster industrialists in northeast Derbyshire 17001830’ (M.A. dissertation, Nottingham University 1981: copy in Chesterfield LSL).

Jenkins 1974: Elizabeth Jenkins (ed.), Neath & district, a symposium (Neath 1974). A valuable regional collection

Ince 1991a: Laurence Ince, ‘Introduction of coke iron at the Stour forges of the Knight Family’, Hist. Metallurgy, 24 (1991), 107-14. Reconsiders Hyde’s arguments on the relative economics of coke and charcoal iron production at forges 1750-80.

Jenkins 1992: D.E. Jenkins, ‘John Brocksopp: yeoman ironmaster of Hasland’, Derbs Arch. J., 112 (1992), 69-78.

Ince 1991b: Laurence Ince, The Knight Family and the British Iron Industry 1695-1902 (Merton Priory Press, Cardiff 1991). An important study. The dates for purchases of pig iron in appendices 18 & 19 are probably those of its consumption in forges, rather than of purchase.

Jenkins 1995: Paul Jenkins, ‘Twenty by Fourteen’: a history of the south Wales tinplate industry 1700-1961 (Gomer, Llandysul, Dyfed 1995).

Ince 1992: Laurence Ince, ‘The Boulton and Watt engine and the British iron industry’, Wilkinson Studies, 2 (1992), 80-89. With relevant parts of the catalogue of old engines in appendices.

Jennings 1992b: Bernard Jennings (ed.), Pennine Valley: a history of upper Calderdale (Smith Settle, Otley 1992).

Jennings 1992a: B. Jennings (ed.), A history of Nidderdale (3 edn., Sessions, York 1992).

Jepson 1997: Ursula Jepson, ‘The Brecon ironworks’, Brycheiniog, 29 (1996-7), 47-51.

Ince 1993: Laurence Ince, The south Wales iron industry 17501885 (Merton Priory Press, Cardiff 1993). An excellent book providing a comprehensive history of the coke iron industry, particularly its ownership and plant.

Jerrome 1979: P. Jerrome, Cloakbag and Common Purse (The Window Press, Dorchester, c.1979). John 1943: A.H. John, ‘Coal and Iron on a Glamorgan estate 1700-1740’, Economic History Review, [1st Ser.] 13 (1943), 93ff. An important study concerning the Britton Ferry estate, which worked Melin Court Furnace 1712-25 and Aberavon Forge: his source on these was destroyed in World War II.

Ince 2001: Laurence Ince, Neath Abbey and the Industrial Revolution (Tempus, Stroud 2001). Jack 1980: Sybil M. Jack, ‘Sources for the History of the Iron Industry in the PRO, Pt 1’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 17 (1980), 1214.

John 1950: A.H. John, The industrial development of South Wales (University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1950). An important study.

Jack 1981: Sybil M. Jack, ‘Sources for the History of the Iron Industry in the PRO, Pt 2’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 1 (1981), 7-11. Jack 1982: Sybil M. Jack, ‘Sources for the History of the Iron Industry in the PRO, Pt 3’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 2 (1982), 21-30. Jack 1983: Sybil Jack, ‘Sources in the Public Record Office for the history of the Wealden iron industry IV’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 3 (1983), 25 28-32.

John 1951: A.H. John (ed.), The Walker family: iron founders and lead manufacturers 1741-1893: minutes relating to Messrs Samuel Walker & Co, Rotherham, iron founders and steel refiners 1741-1829 (Council for the Preservation of Business Archives, London 1951).

Jackson 1972: Gordon Jackson, Hull in the eighteenth century: a study in economic and social history (Oxford University Press, London, 1972: for University of Hull).

John 1953: W.D. John, Pontypool and Usk japanned wares with the early history of the iron and tinplate industries of Pontypool (Ceramic Book Co., Newport, Mons. 1953).

James 1976: Terence James, ‘Carmarthen Tinplate Works 180021’, Carms Antiquary, 12 (1976), 31-54.

John 2000: Lyn John, ‘Alexander Raby: ironmaster and coalmaster’, in Crocker 2000a, 35-40.

Jefferson 1842: Samuel Jefferson, The history and antiquities of Allerdale Ward, above Derwent, in the county of Cumberland (London, 1842).

Johnson 1950: B.L.C. Johnson, ‘The Stour valley iron industry in the late seventeenth century’, Trans. Worcs Arch. Soc., n.s., 27 (1950), 35-46. An important study of the Foley ironworks in north Worcestershire.

Jenkins 1918: Rhys Jenkins, ‘Links in the history of engineering: The slitting mill’, The Engineer, 125 (1918), 445-6 and 486-9. repr. in Jenkins 1936.

Johnson 1951: B.L.C. Johnson, ‘The charcoal iron industry in the early eighteenth century’, Geographic J., 117 (1951), 167177. An important study of the Foley ironworks.

Jenkins 1922: Rhys Jenkins, ‘Notes on the early history of steel making in England’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 3 (1922-3), 16-40.

Johnson 1952: B.L.C. Johnson, ‘The Foley partnerships: The iron industry at the end of the charcoal era’, Economic History Review, ser. II, 4 (1952), 322-40. An important study.

Jenkins 1934: Rhys Jenkins, ‘The reverberatory furnace with coal fuel 1612-1712’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 14 (1933-4), 6782. Includes a little on the direct reduction of iron ore.

Johnson (T.W.M.) 1952: T.W.M. Johnson, ‘The diary of George Skyppe’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 34 (1952-4), 54-62. The MS described is cited here as Skyppe’s diary.

Jenkins 1935: Rhys Jenkins, ‘The hollow sword blade company and sword making at Shotley Bridge’, Trans. of the Newcomen Soc., 15 (1935), 185-194.

Johnson 1953: B.L.C. Johnson, ‘New light on the iron industry of the Forest of Dean’, Trans. Bristol & Gloucs Arch. Soc.,

656

Bibliography Kent 1973: H.S.K. Kent, War and Trade in the Northern Seas: Anglo-Scandinavian economic relations in the mid eighteenth century, (Cambridge University Press 1973).

72 (1953), 129-143. An important study mainly of the Foley ironworks. Johnson 1954: B.L.C. Johnson, ‘The iron industry of Cheshire and north Staffordshire 1688-1712’, North Staffs Field Club Trans., 88 (1953-4), 32-55. An important study of the Foley ironworks.

Kenyon 1952: G.H. Kenyon, ‘Wealden iron’, Sussex Notes and Queries, 13 (1952), 234-8. Kenyon 1958: G.H. Kenyon, ‘Petworth town and trades’, Sussex Arch. Collns 96 (1958), 35-107.

Johnson 1960: R. Johnson, ‘Seventeenth century iron works at Bulwell and Kirkby’, Trans. Thoroton Soc. Notts., 64 (1960), 447. A very brief account based on a very few documents.

Kerr 1872: James Kerr, ‘On the remains of some old bloomeries formerly existing in Lancashire’, Trans Hist. Soc. Lancs & Ches, 24 (1872), 57-70.

Johnson 1974: D. Johnson, ‘Lymm Slitting Mill’, Ches Arch. Bull., 2 (1974), 23-5 & fig 8.

Kerry 1907: Rev. Charles Kerry, History and Antiquities of Smalley in the county of Derby (London 1907).

Johnson & Bearpark 1976: B. Johnson & P. Bearpark, ‘Lymm Slitting Mill’, Hist. Metallurgy, 10(2) (1976), 83. Also published Ches. Arch. Bull. 4 (1976), 30-1.

Kettle 1988: Pamela Kettle, Sutton Scarsdale’s story: pt. 1 The Leekes of Sutton (Ilkeston 1988).

Jones, Brecknock: Theophilus Jones, A History of the county of Brecknock (enlarged edition, 4 vols, Brecknock Soc. 1909-30).

Kiernan 1989: David Kiernan, The Derbyshire Lead Industry in the sixteenth century (Derbs Record Soc. 14, 1989).

Jones (O.) 1969: Oliver Jones, The early days of Sirhowy and Tredegar (Tredegar Hist. Soc. 1969).

King 1988: P.W. King, ‘Wolverley Lower Mill and the beginnings of the tinplate industry’, Hist. Metallurgy, 22(2) (1988), 104-113.

Jones 1978: S.R.H. Jones, ‘The development of needle manufacturing in the west Midlands before 1750’, Economic History Review, 2 ser. 31, 354-68.

King 1993: P.W. King, ‘The Vale Royal Company and its rivals’, Trans. of the Hist. Soc. Lancs & Ches, 142 (1993), 1-18. King 1994: P.W. King, ‘Pont Gwaith yr Haearn’, Gwent Local History, 75 (1994), 13-16.

Jones & Harrison 1978: A.C. Jones & C.J. Harrison, ‘The Cannock Chase Ironworks 1590’, English History Review, 93 (1978), 795-810. Mainly a description of how to operate the ironworks and to achieve a profit: assessed in Harrison 1979.

King 1995a: P.W. King, ‘The Early Navigation of the river Don: portage in English river navigation’, J. Railway and Canal Hist. Soc., 31(8) (1995), 414-6.

Jones 1980: Stephen K. Jones, ‘A link with the Past: the history of the Newbridge Works of Brown, Lenox & Co., Pontypridd’, Glamorgan Historian, 12 (1980), 27-41.

King 1995b: P.W. King, ‘Iron ballast for the Georgian Navy and its producers’, The Mariner’s Mirror, 81(1) (1995), 15-20.

Jones 1984: S.R.H. Jones, ‘The country trade and the marketing and distribution of Birmingham Hardware 1750-1810’, Business History, 26 (1984), 24-42. The distribution in needle trade by J. English & Co of Feckenham (Worcs).

King 1995c: P.W. King, ‘Ashburnham Furnace in the early 18th century’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 133 (1995), 255-62. King 1996a: P.W. King, ‘Dud Dudley and pit-coal iron’, The Blackcountryman, 29(3) (1996), 23-24.

Jones 1985: Haydn Jones, Accounting, costing, and cost estimation: Welsh industry 1700-1830 (University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1985). Prints various ironworks and other accounts as examples.

King 1996b: P.W. King, ‘Early Statistics for the iron industry: a vindication’, Hist. Metallurgy, 30(1) (1996), 23-46. King 1997: P.W. King, ‘Lye Forge’, The Blackcountryman, 30(4) (1997), 61-63.

Jones 1987: Edgar Jones, The history of GKN: vol I innovation & enterprise 1759-1918 (Macmillan, London 1987).

King 1999a: P.W. King, ‘The development of the iron industry in south Staffordshire in the 17th century: history and myth’, Trans. Staffs Arch. & Hist. Soc., 38 (1999 for 1996-7), 59-76.

Jones 1993: D.H. Jones, ‘Belbroughton: a water-powered edge tool district’, TIMS 8 Transactions: Transactions of the eighth symposium of Molinology (1993), 17-26.

King 1999b: P.W. King, ‘The Cupola near Bristol’, Somerset Archaeology and Natural History, 140 (1999 for 1996), 37-51.

Jones 2008: P.M. Jones, Industrial Enlightenment: Science, technology and culture in Birmingham and the West Midlands, 1760-1820 (Manchester University Press 2008).

King 2002a: P.W. King, ‘Sir Clement Clerke and the adoption of coal in metallurgy’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 73(1) (2001-2), 33-52.

Judge 1993: Terry Judge, ‘A commentary on recent work on the Morley Park and Alderwasley ironworks and coal mines’, Derbs Miscellany, 13(4) (1993), 94-101.

King 2002b: P.W. King, ‘Dud Dudley’s contribution to metallurgy’, Hist. Metallurgy, 36(1) (2002), 43-53.

Kalmeter in Scotland: T.C. Smout (ed.), ‘Kalmeter’s travels in Scotland 1719-20’, in Scottish industrial history: a miscellany (Scottish Hist. Soc., 4th ser. 14, 1978), 1-52.

King 2002c: P.W. King, ‘Bar iron production in the Weald in the early 18th century’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 22 (2002), 26-35. King 2003a: P.W. King, ‘The Cartel in Oregrounds Iron: trading relationships in the raw material for steel’, J. of Industrial History, 6(1) (2003), 25-48.

Kamer & Bell 1982: S. Kamer and J. Bell, ‘Iron Working in Westfield’, Sussex Industrial History 12 (1982), 38-44. Kendall 1893: J.D. Kendall, The Iron Ores of Great Britain (1893).

King thesis or 2003b: P.W. King, ‘The Iron Trade in England and Wales 1500-1815: The Charcoal Iron Industry and its Transition to Coke’ (Ph.D. Thesis, Wolverhampton University 2003) doi. org/10.5284/1000239.

Kennedy 1980: Jos. Kennedy, Biddulph (“By the diggings”): a local history (University of Keele, Department of Adult Education, 1980.).

King 2004: P.W. King, ‘Trench Brook: a case of mistaken identity’, West Midlands Archaeology, 47 (2006 for 2004), 1518.

Kennerley 1980: Eija Kennerley, ‘Caerleon Mills and Ponthir Works’, Gwent Local History, 49 (1980), 18-24.

657

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II King & Poyner 2004a: P.W. King & D. Poyner, ‘Cleobury Mortimer: Catherton Furnace’, West Midlands Archaeology, 47 (2006 for 2004), 43.

King 2018b: P.W. King, ‘The zenith of iron and the transition to mild steel in Great Britain’, Hist. Metallurgy, 50(2) (2018 for 2016), 109-22.

King & Poyner 2004b: P.W. King & D. Poyner, ‘Hopton Wafers: Down Furnace’, West Midlands Archaeology, 47 (2006 for 2004), 44-5.

King et al, ‘Shrawley Wood’: P.W. King et al, ‘Shrawley Wood: a history’, in preparation. King thesis: see King 2003b.

King 2005: P.W. King, ‘The production and consumption of bar iron in early modern England and Wales’, Economic History Review, 58(1) (2005), 1-33 with corrigendum 59(1) (2006), 264.

King, ‘Firmstone family’: W.W. King, ‘The Firmstone Family’ (unpublished TS, owned by Mrs C.J. Fellows of Landbeach, Cambs.).

King 2006a: P.W. King, ‘Perry Barr and its water Mills’, Trans. Staffs Arch. & Hist. Soc., 41 (2006), 65-78.

Kings & Cooper 1989: Bill Kings & Margaret Cooper, Glory Gone: the story of nailing in Bromsgrove (Halfshire Books, Cutnall Green, Worcs 1989).

King 2006b: P.W. King, ‘The River Teme and other Midlands River navigations’, Journal of Railway and Canal Historical Society 35(5) (July 2006), 348-55

Kinvig et al. 1950: R.H. Kinvig, J.G. Smith, & M.J. Wise, Birmingham and its regional setting, (British Association, Birmingham 1950),

King 2007a: P.W. King, ‘The north Worcestershire scythe industry’, Hist. Metallurgy, 41(2) (2007), 124-47.

Kirby 1993: M.W. Kirby, The origins of railway enterprise: the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 1821-1863 (Cambridge University Press).

King 2007b: P.W. King, ‘Black County Mining before the Industrial Revolution’, Mining History – Bull. Peak District Mining History Soc., 16(6) (Winter 2007), 34-49.

Kissack 1975: Keith Kissack, Monmouth: the making of a county town (Phillimore, Chichester 1975).

King 2008: P.W. King, ‘Grange Furnace’, The Blackcountryman, 41(3) (2008), 44-48.

Knight: see abbreviations: an archive collection.

King 2010a: P.W. King, ‘Management, Finance and Cost Control in the Midlands charcoal iron industry’, Accounting, Financial and Business History, 20(3) (2010), 385-402.

Knight (J.K.) 1977: Jeremy K. Knight, ‘Blaenavon Ironworks 1789-1976: a preliminary survey’, J. Southeast Wales Industrial Archaeology Soc., 2(3) (Apr 1977). Probably superseded

King 2010b: P.W. King, ‘Technological Advance in the Severn Gorge’, in Belford et al. 2010, 53-8.

Knight (J.K.) 1992: Jeremy K. Knight, Blaenavon Ironworks: a bicentennial guide (H.M.S.O. 1992).

King 2010c: P.W. King, ‘The first Shropshire Railways’, in G. Boyes (ed.), Early Railways 4: Papers from the Fourth International Railways Conference (Six Martlets, Sudbury 2010).

Lancaster & Wattleworth 1977: J.Y. Lancaster & D.R. Wattleworth, The iron & steel industry of west Cumberland: An Historical Survey (British Steel Corporation, Workington and Barrow Works, Teeside Div., 1977). An important study.

King 2011a: P.W. King, ‘The choice of fuel in the 18th century iron industry: The Coalbrookdale accounts reconsidered’, Economic History Review, 64 (1) (2011), 132–156.

Land 1990: N. Land, The history of Redditch and the Locality (Brewin Books, Studley 1984; 4th edn 1990). Langford 1974: J.I. Langford, Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal: Towpath Guide (Goose & Son 1974).

King 2011b: P.W. King, ‘The History of the Tern Company’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 83 (2011 for 2008), 68-82.

Langley 2014: K. Langley, ‘Personnel at St Leonard’s Forest Ironworks, 1587-8’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 34 (2014), 53-9.

King 2011c: P.W. King, ‘John Fell & Co of Sheffield, ironmasters’, Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., 25 (2011 for 2009). King 2012: P.W. King, ‘Iron in 1790: production statistics 178796 and the arrival of puddling’, Hist. Metallurgy, 45(2) (2012 for 2011), 102-33.

Langton 1983: J. Langton, ‘Liverpool and its hinterland in th late 18th century’, in B.L. Anderson and P.J. Storey (eds.), Commerce, Industry, and Transport: studies in economic change on Merseyside (Liverpool University Press 1983), 1-25.

King 2014a: P.W. King, ‘Textile Mills in north Worcestershire’, Wind and Water Mills, 33 (2014), 2-26.

Lapsley 1899: G.T. Lapsley, ‘The account roll of a fifteenth century ironmaster’, English History Review, 14 (1899), 509-29.

King 2014b: P.W. King, ‘Frizington Fraud: William Wood’s patent iron process’, Trans. Cumb & Westm Antiquarian and Arch. Soc., 3rd ser., 14 (2014), 161-86.

Larkin, Proclamations: J.F. Larkin (ed.) Stuart royal proclamations. Vol.2, Royal proclamations of King Charles I, 1625-1646 (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1983).

King 2014c: P.W. King, ‘Seventeenth century footrails: a confusion of terminology’, in D. Gwyn (ed.), Early Railways V: papers from the 5th Early Railways Conference, at Bangor, June 2012 (Six Martlets, Sudbury, 2014), 12-21.

Latham 1981: F.A. Latham (ed.), Farndon: the history of a Cheshire village (1981). LaTrobe-Bateman 1999: Emily LaTrobe-Bateman, ‘Bath Avon Extensive Urban Survey: Keynsham’ www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/ default/files/keynsham_eus_report.pdf.

King 2015a: P.W. King, ‘18th-century ironfounding: coke iron, air furnaces and cupolas’, Hist. Metallurgy, 47(2) (2015 for 2013), 138-45.

Larkin, Proclamations: J.F. Larkin (ed.), Stuart Royal Proclamations: ii Proclamations of King Charles I, 1625-1646 (1983).

King 2015b: P.W. King, ‘Experimental ironmaking in the 1720s: Thomas Tomkyns and his contemporaries’, Hist. Metallurgy, 48 (2015 for 2014), 79-85.

Lavery 1983-84: Brian Lavery, Ship of the line: I The Development of the Battlefleet 1650-1850; II Design, Construction, and Fittings (Conway Maritime, London, 1983 & 1984).

King 2018a: P.W. King, ‘George Sparrow, coalmaster, and early steam engines’, International J. for the History of Engineering and Technology, 87(2) (2018 for 2017), 303-11.

Lawley 1893: George T. Lawley, A history of Bilston (Bilston 1893).

658

Bibliography Lawson 1973: J.B. Lawson, ‘Sir Basil Brooke and Bromley’s Forge (SJ439167)’, Shrops Newsletter, 33 (1973), 7.

Linsley 1981: S.M. Linsley, ‘Furnace rediscovered – provisional note’ [Wheelbirks], Industrial Archaeology Review, 6(1) (19812), 69-72.

Lawton 2013: Guy Lawton (ed.), Church Lawton Manor Rolls 1631-1860 (Record Soc. Lancs & Ches 167, 2013).

Lismore Papers: Rev. A.B. Grosart (ed.), Lismore Papers, 2nd ser.: Selections from the correspondence … of Sir Richard Boyle … Earl of Cork (1886-8).

Lead 1972: Peter Lead, ‘John Smith of Newcastle: sixteenth century ironmaster’, Staffs Magazine, 1(2) (Dec 1972), 27.

Litherland 1990: S. Litherland, ‘An Archaeological Evaluation near Lifford Hall, Kings Norton, Birmingham’ (TS, Birmingham Archaeological Field Unit 1990): doi.org/10.5284/1032098 .

Lead 1977a: Peter Lead, ‘The north Staffordshire iron industry 1600-1800’, Hist. Metallurgy, 11(1) (1977), 1-14. An important study.

Llewellin 1863a: William Llewellin, ‘The Sussex ironmasters in Glamorganshire’, Archaeologia Cambrensis, 9 (1863), 81-119. An excellent piece of early industrial archaeology, supported by documentary research, still useful today.

Lead 1977b: P. Lead, ‘The north Staffordshire iron industry 1600-1800’, Staffs Industrial Archaeology Soc. J., 7 (1977), 19ff. Contrary to the implication of certain bibliographies, this lightweight article is not identical with Lead 1977a.

Llewellin 1863b: William Llewellin, ‘Some account of the iron and wire works of Tintern’, Archaeologia Cambrensis, 9 (1863), 291-318. Probably superseded.

Leat & Lowe 2005: Monica Leat & Roz Lowe, ‘The 16th century leat at the Old Forge, Goodrich’, Herefs Arch. News, 76 (2005), 37-8.

Lloyd 1906: J. Lloyd, The early history of old Welsh iron works (1760-1840) (Bedford Press, London 1906; repr. Kessinger Publishing). Still valuable, though dated.

Leconfield 1954: Lord Leconfield, Petworth in the seventeenth century (Oxford University Press 1954). Leighton 1972: J. Leighton, ‘Frying pans: a forgotten craft at Keele’, Staffs Archaeology, 1 (1972), 9-10. Lewis c.1775: see manuscript volumes.

Lloyd 1913: G.I.H. Lloyd, The Cutlery Trades: an historical essay in the economics of smaller scale production (Longmans, London 1913). A classic study.

Lewis 1951: R.A. Lewis, ‘Transport for eighteenth century ironworks’, Economica, n.s. 18 (1951), 278-84. Important, mainly because there is little like it.

Lloyd 1938: L.C. Lloyd, ‘Paper making in Shropshire: some records of a bye-gone industry’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 49 (1937-8), 121-87.

Lewis et al 1969: M.J.T. Lewis, W.N. Slatcher, and P.N. Jarvis, ‘Flashlocks on English waterways: a survey’, Industrial Archaeology, 6 (1969), 209-60.

Lloyd 1950: L.C. Lloyd, ‘Paper-making in Shropshire: supplementary notes’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 53 (1949-50), 153-63.

Lewis 1970: M.J.T. Lewis, Early Wooden Railways (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1970).

Lloyd 1968: H. Lloyd, ‘The iron forges of the Vyrnwy valley’, Monts Collns, 60 (1967-8), 104-110. Correcting Davies 1939 on the identity of the forges in Mathrafal area, but not on some other issues.

Lewis 1984: J.H. Lewis, ‘The charcoal-fired blast furnaces of Scotland: a review’, Proceedings Soc. Antiquaries Scotland, 114 (1984), 433-79. An important study, with excavation reports

Lloyd 1974: L.W. Lloyd, Maritime Merioneth, 1. The town & port of Barmouth, Harlech, 1974.

Lewis 2003: M.J.T. Lewis, ‘Bar to fish-belly: the evolution of the cast-iron rail’, in M.J.T. Lewis (ed.), Early Railways 2: Papers from the second international Early railways conference (Newcomen Society 2003), 102-13.

Lloyd 1975: Humphrey Lloyd, The Quaker Lloyds in the Industrial Revolution (Hutchinson, London 1975). A family history of an important family of ironmasters and later bankers.

Lewis 2005: Beryl Lewis, ‘A history of Mowley Wood at Staunton on Arrow SO 350597’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 50(3) (2005 for 2002), 347-355.

Locke 1916: A.A. Locke, The Hanbury family (2 vols, London 1916). An important family history of ironmasters in Monmouthshire.

Lewis thesis: R.A. Lewis, ‘Two partnerships of the Knight family: a study of the Midlands iron industry in the eighteenth century’ (M.A. thesis, Birmingham University, 1949).

Loder 1907: G.W.E. Loder, Wakehurst Place (privately printed, London, 1907). Long 1968: Hilary Long, ‘The Bowling Ironworks’, Industrial Archaeology, 5 (1968), 171-7.

Lind 1923: Ivan Lind, Göteborgs handel och sjöfart 1637-1920: historisk statistisk översikt [Gothenburg’s trade and shipping 1637-1920: a historical overview] (Göteborg 1923).

Lord 1972: Alan E. Lord, ‘The Ironworks and Ironmasters of Beaufort, Monmouthshire’, J. Southeast Wales Industrial Archaeology Soc., 2(1) (1972), 41-3.

Lindsay 1965: Jean Lindsay, ‘The Butterley coal and iron works 1792-1816’, Derbs Arch. J., 85 (1965), 25-43. Superseded by Riden 1990b.

Louis 1930: Henry Louis, ‘Ancient lease of a forge’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 121 (1930), 495.

Lindsay 1975: J.M. Lindsay, ‘Charcoal iron smelting and its fuel: the example of Lorn Furnace, Argyllshire, 1753-1876’, J. Hist. Georgr., 1 (1975), 283-98.

Lowe & Lawler 1980: Jeremy Lowe & Martin Lawler, ‘Landscapes of the iron industry at Blaenafon’, Landscape History, 2 (1980), 71-82.

Lindsay 1977: J.M. Lindsay, ‘The iron industry in the Highlands: charcoal blast furnaces’, Scottish Hist. Review, 56 (1977), 49-63. An important study.

Lowe 1998: Roz Lowe, ‘Field meeting at Goodrich’, Herefs Arch. News, 69 (1998), 37-47. Lowe 2005: Roz Lowe, ‘Field Meeting to Whitchurch, Langrove, and Glynston Chapel’, Herefs Arch. News, 76 (2005), 2-4.

Linsley & Hetherington 1978: Stafford Linsley & Roger Hetherington, ‘A seventeenth century blast furnace at Allensford, Northumberland’, Hist. Metallurgy, 12 (1978), 1-11. History and excavation report.

Lower 1866: M.A. Lower, ‘Sussex iron works and iron masters’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 18 (1866), 10-16.

659

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Luker & Hasler 1993: B. Luker and J. Hasler, ‘An industrial site at Wookey’, Somerset Archaeology and Natural History, 137 (1993), 119-22.

Marshall & Davies-Shiel 1969: J.D. Marshall & M. DaviesShiel, Industrial archaeology of the Lakeland counties (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1969).

Lysons 1792 and 1810: Rev. Daniel Lysons, The Environs of London (several volumes 1792 etc.; second edition 1810).

Marshall 1973: J.D. Marshall, ‘Stony Hazel Forge: an adventure in reconstruction’, Contrebis, 1(2) (1973), 18-21.

Macadam 1887: W.I. Macadam, ‘Notes on the ancient iron industry of Scotland’, Proceedings Soc. Antiquaries of Scotland, 21 (1887), 89-131.

Marshall 1989: J.D. Marshall, ‘Stages of industrialisation in Cumbria’, in Hudson 1989, 132-55. Marshall et al. 1996: J.D. Marshall, J. Helme, J. Wignall, and J.C. Braithwaite, ‘The lineaments of Newland Furnace, 1747-1903, an historical investigation’, Trans. Cumb & Westm Antiquarian & Arch. Soc., n.s. 96 (1996), 195-213.

Macartney & West 1979: S. Macartney & J. West, A history of the Lewisham Silk Mills (Lewisham Hist. Soc. 1979). MacDonald 1999: Alan R. Macdonald, ‘The first English ironworks in Scotland? The ‘Forge’ at Canonbie, Dumfriesshire’, Trans. Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Soc., LXXXIII (1999), 209-221.

Mart 1938: J.N. Mart, ‘The “iron bellows” of Duddon Furnace, Cumberland 1775’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 18 (1937-8), 93-101. Martin 1974: Evan Martin, Bedlington iron and engine works 1736-1867 (Northern History Booklets no. 52, Graham, Newcastle, 1974).

MacInnes 1986: Angus MacInnes, ‘The Village Community 1660-1760’, in Christopher Harrison (ed.), Essays on the history of Keele (University of Keele 1988).

Maxim 1919: J.L. Maxim, ‘Discovery of a bloomery at Birches, Healey’, Trans. Rochdale Literary and Scientific Soc., 13 (1919), 94-9.

Mackenzie & Whiteman 2006: R.J. MacKenzie and J.A. Whiteman, ‘Why pay more? An archeometallurgical investigation of 19th century Swedish wrought iron and Sheffield blister steel’, Hist. Metallurgy, 40(2) (2006), 138-49.

Maxwell Lyte 1888: H.C. Maxwell Lyte (ed.), ‘The manuscripts of E. Lloyd Gatacre esq’ Trans. Shrops. Arch. Soc. 9 (1888). 4256.

MacKenzie 1927: H. MacKenzie, Ancedotes and Egotisms (London 1927).

May 1945: E.C. May, Principio to Wheeling 1715-1945, (Harper, New York, 1945).

MacLeod 1926: D. MacLeod, ‘Forgotten smelting sites in East Sussex’, Sussex Notes and Queries ser.1, 7 (1926), 224-5.

McCracken 1957: Eileen McCracken, ‘Charcoal burning ironworks in seventeenth and eighteenth century Ireland’, Ulster J. of Archaeology, 3rd ser. 20 (1957), 123-38. A brief sketch of the subject with a gazetteer, but only scratching its surface; however there is still no more detailed general survey.

Magilton 1990: J. Magilton, ‘Linchmere: North Park Furnace’, The Archaeology of Chichester & District, 1989 (1990), 30-5. Magilton & Wildman 1992: J. Magilton & J. Wildman, ‘Linchmere: North Park Furnace’, The Archaeology of Chichester and District, 1992 (1992).

McCracken 1965: Eileen McCracken, ‘Supplementary list of Irish charcoal-burning ironworks’, Ulster J. of Archaeology, 28 (1965), 132-35.

Magilton 2003: John Magilton, Fernhurst Furnace (Chichester District Archaeology, 2, 2003).

McDonnell 1963: J.G. McDonnell (ed.), History of Helmsley, Rievaulx, and district (Helmsley? 1963).

Mahoney & Owen 1977: J. Mahoney & J.G. Owen, ‘The Pentyrch Forge building’, J. Southeast Wales Industrial Archaeology Soc., 2(3) (Apr 1977), 53-5.

McDonnell 1972: J.G. McDonnell, ‘An account of the iron industry in upper Ryedale and Bilsdale’, Ryedale Historian, no.6 (Apr 1972), 23-49.

Maill 1870: Louis C. Maill, ‘Ancient bloomeries of Yorkshire’, Yorks Arch. and Topographical J., 2 (1870), 110-5.

McDonnell & Watson 1989: J.G. McDonnell & B. Watson, ‘Archive report on Harvington Mill post-medieval ironworking site, Hereford & Worcester’ (copy at Worcs HER, SWR 1760).

Major 1964: J.K. Major, ‘Berkshire Watermills’, Berks Arch. J., 61 (1963-4), 83-91.

McGarvie 1984: Michael McGarvie, ‘Iron smelting at Witham Friary, Tudoxhill and Nunney’, Somerset & Dorset Notes & Queries, 31 (1984), 353-5.

Major 1970: J.K. Major, ‘A Berkshire Foundry’, Berks Arch. J., 65 (1970), 49-51. Malcolm 1805: J. Malcolm, A Compendium of Modern Husbandry (Baldwin, London, 1805).

McIntire 1936: W.T. McIntire, ‘The port of Milnthorpe’, Trans. Cumb & Westm Antiquarian and Arch. Soc., 2nd ser. 36 (1936), 34-60.

Malden 1910: H.E. Malden, ‘Burningfold in Dunsfold’, Surrey Arch. Collns 23 (1910), 61-75.

McNeil 1989: I. McNeil, ‘Blast: from blowpipe to blowing engine’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 60 (1988-9), 95-106.

Manders 1977: F.W.D. Manders, A history of Gateshead (Gateshead Corporation, 1977).

McUre 1736/1830: John McUre, A View of the City of Glasgow (Glasgow 1736; new edn 1830).

Marsh 1964: Warren Marsh, ‘Guns Mill’, Newsletter of Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology, 3 (Nov 1964), 16. Marshall 1958: J.D. Marshall, Furness and the industrial revolution (Barrow in Furness 1958).

Meades & Houghton 1992: D.M. Meades & R.G. Houghton, ‘Iron Plat, Buxted, Sussex Furnace and Forge site survey’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 12 (1992), 23-26.

Marshall (P.) 1958: P. Marshall, ‘The Diary of Sir James Hope’, Scottish History Soc. 3rd ser. 50 (1958), Miscellany IX, 127-97.

Meades 1988: D.M. Meades, ‘Langles Furnace and Forge Site Survey 1986/87’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 8 (1988), 48-53.

Marshall 1969: J.D. Marshall, ‘Some aspects of the Furness charcoal iron industry’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 3(1) (1969), 4-5. A brief review.

Mees 2010: K. Mees, ‘Documentary and literary evidence relating to Burwash Forge and Wynhamford Mill, East Sussex’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 30 (2010), 10-29.

660

Bibliography Melling 1961: E. Melling, Kentish Sources: III Aspects of Agriculture and Industry (Kent County Council, Maidstone, 1961).

Morley 1998: Chris Morley, ‘The Walkers of Masbrough: a reexamination ...’, South Yorks Industrial History Soc. J., 1 (1998), 20-38.

Middlemas & Barnes 1969: Keith Middlemas & John Barnes, Baldwin: a biography (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London 1969).

Morrall 1954: M.T. Morrall, History and description of needle making (2 edn Salford 1854).

Middleton 1953: A.P. Middleton, Tobacco Coast: a maritime history of Chesapeake Bay in the colonial era (Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia, 1953).

Morris 1969: W.H. Morris, ‘Kidwelly Tinplate Works: eighteenth century leases’, Carms Antiquary, 5 (1964-9), 21-4. Morris 2003: Pat Morris, ‘The Introduction of the tin-plate industry to the Lower Wye Valley and the Newerne Valley of the Forest of Dean.’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 2003, 3-9.

Millard 1955: A.M. Millard (comp.), ‘List of goods imported to London between 1560 and 1640’ (MS. in TNA library: presumably derived from Millard thesis).

Morris 2004: Pat Morris, ‘The development of tin plating at Lydbrook’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 2004, 1930.

Millard thesis: A.M. Millard, ‘The Import Trade of London 1560-1640’ (Ph.D. thesis, London University 1956). Miller 1949: W.T. Miller, Water Mills of Sheffield. Superseded by Crossley 1989 and Ball et al. 2006, except as to Blackburn Brook.

Morris 2008: Pat Morris, ‘Red Brook Iron works: an examination of evidence from Thomas Ansley’s account book 1794-8’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 2008, 24-36.

Miller 2000: Ian Miller, ‘The Netherhall blast furnace, Maryport’, Hist. Metallurgy, 34(2) (2000), 97-109.

Morris 2009: Pat Morris, ‘Upper Redbrook iron works 17989: David Tanner’s bankruptcy’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 2009, 36-40.

Miller 2005: Ian Miller, ‘Iron-working at Cunsey Forge: the archaeological and documentary evidence from an initial survey’, Trans. of Cumb & Westm Antiquarian and Arch. Soc., 4th ser. 5 (2005), 173-98.

Morris 2011: Pat Morris, ‘John James, ironmaster’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 2011, 33-44.

Miller 2007: Ian Miller, ‘Archaeological investigation at Cunsey Forge: an interim report’, in Brooks & Irwin 2007, 27-48.

Morton 1962: G.R. Morton, ‘The furnace at Duddon Bridge’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 200 (1962), 444-52.

Miller 2019: Ian Miller, ‘Rolling to mechanisation: excavations at Lymm Slitting Mill’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 41(2) (2019), 107-121.

Morton 1963: G.R. Morton, ‘The reconstruction of an industry: the Paget ironworks, Cannock Chase 1561’, Trans. Lichfield & South Staffs Arch. & Hist. Soc., 6 (1963-4), 21ff. A valuable study.

Mills 1998: Stephen Mills, ‘Fromebridge Mill, Frampton-OnSevern, Gloucestershire’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 1998, 6-22.

Morton 1963b: G.R. Morton, ‘The products of Nibthwaite Ironworks’, The Metallurgist, 2(11) (1963), 257-69.

Mills 1999: Stephen Mills, ‘Fromebridge Mill, Frampton-OnSevern, Gloucestershire’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 1999, 63-5.

Morton 1965: G.R. Morton, ‘The use of peat in the extraction of iron from its ores’, Iron & Steel, 38 (1965), 421-4. Mainly at Leighton (Lancs).

Milward 1989: Richard Milward, Historic Wimbledon: Caesar’s Camp to Centre Court (Windrush Press, Windrush, Glos and Fielders, Wimbledon 1989).

Morton 1966: G.R. Morton, ‘Some details of an early blast furnace’ [on Cannock Chase], Iron & Steel, 39 (1966), 563-6. Morton & Smith 1966: G.R. Morton & W.A. Smith, ‘The Bradley Ironworks of John Wilkinson’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 204 (1966), 661-78. Also letter to editor by R.A. Mott and reply by authors and rejoinder by Mott: ibid. 205 (1967), 442-3

Minchinton 1957: W.E. Minchinton, The British Tinplate Industry: a history (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1957). An important study, but largely concerned with the 19th and 20th centuries.

Morton & Mutton 1967: G.R. Morton & N. Mutton, ‘The transition to Cort’s puddling process’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 205(7) (1967), 722-8. Long an important study, but now superseded by King 2012 and Young and Hart 2018.

Minchinton 1960: W.E. Minchinton, ‘The place of Brecknock in the industrialisation of south Wales’, Brycheiniog, 7 (1960), 1-46. A useful summary. Mineral Statistics: R. Hunt (comp.), Mineral Statistics (Geological Museum, London; continued by Mining Office of Board of Trade, annually 1859-85).

Morton & Wanklyn 1967: G.R. Morton & M.D.G. Wanklyn, ‘Dud Dudley: a new appraisal’, J. of West Midlands Studies, 1 (1967), 48-65.

Molander 1987: Bo Molander, ‘Forsmarks stångjärnståmpel in över 250 år [Forsmark’s bar iron stamp over 250 years]’, in Attman et al. 1987, 71ff.

Morton & Wingrove 1970: G.R. Morton & Joyce Wingrove, ‘Metallurgical consideration of some early bloomeries in south Staffordshire’, Trans. South Staffs Arch. & Hist. Soc., 11 (196970), 64-66.

Moore 1984: Pam Moore, A guide to the industrial archaeology of Hampshire (Southampton University Industrial Archaeology Group, 1984).

Morton thesis: John Morton, ‘Rise of the modern copper and brass industry in Britain 1690-1750’ (Ph.D. thesis, Birmingham University, 1985).

Moore 1988: Pam Moore, The Industrial Heritage of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (Phillimore, Chichester 1988).

Moseley 1971: Austin Moseley, ‘The nailmakers’, The Blackcountryman, 4(1) 56ff. Mainly concerned with terminology.

Moore, ‘Worsborough’: B.A. Moore, ‘The Industries of Worsborough’ (MS in Barnsley LSL, class B338).

Moss 1977: Ron Moss, ‘Preserved water wheel driven tilt hammer in Halesowen’, The Blackcountryman, 10(3) (1977), 26ff.

Morgan 1997: K.E. Morgan, ‘Angelton iron furnace’, Wealden Iron Research Group Newsletter, 25 (1997), 6-7.

661

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Moss 1990: D.J. Moss, Thomas Attwood: the biography of a radical (McGill-Queen’s University Press 1990).

Murray 1883: David Murray, The York Buildings Company: a chapter in Scottish history (Glasgow 1883; repr. Kessinger, LaVergue, TN 2009).

Mott & Wilkinson: R.A. Mott & H.C. Wilkinson, ‘The bishop of Durham’s iron bloomery of 1408: Byrkeknott; Co Durham’ (TS, Durham RO, pamphlets C.B1C2.M07).

Mushet 1840: D. Mushet, Papers on iron and steel (London 1840).

Mott 1934: R.A. Mott, ‘Dud Dudley and the early coal-iron industry’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 15 (1934-5), 17-37.

Mushet’s diary: R.M. Healey (ed.), The Diary of George Mushet (Derbs Arch. Soc., 1982).

Mott 1950: R.A. Mott, ‘Early ironmaking in the Sheffield area’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 27 (1949-51), 225-35. Much of the earlier part is concerned with bloomeries.

Musson & Robinson 1969: A.E. Musson & E. Robinson, Science and technology in the Industrial Revolution (Mancester University Press 1969).

Mott 1957a: R.A. Mott, ‘The Shropshire iron industry’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 56 (1957-60), 68-81.

Mutton 1965: N. Mutton, ‘Charlcotte Furnace’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 58(1) (for 1965), 84ff.

Mott 1957b: R.A. Mott, ‘Coalbrookdale in the early years’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 56 (1957-60), 82-93. Mainly about 1708-25.

Mutton 1966: N. Mutton, ‘Charlcot Furnace 1733-79’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 1(6) (1966: 1982 repr.), 43-53. Excavation report and history of this standing furnace.

Mott 1957c: R.A. Mott, ‘The earliest use of coke for ironmaking’, The Gas World, 145 (5 Jan. 1957), coking section supplement, 7-18; also cited as Year Book, Coke Oven Managers Association 1958, 142-65. A very full account of his research in early account books of Coalbrookdale Co.

Mutton 1966b: Norman Mutton, ‘Activities in the Midlands area – Charlcot Furnace’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 1(7) (1966), 35. Mutton 1966 is a much fuller account. Mutton 1966c: N. Mutton, ‘Work in progress’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 1(7) (1966), 42-3.

Mott 1958: R.A. Mott, ‘Abraham Darby I & II’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 31 (1957-9), 49-95. Important studies from account books.

Mutton 1968: Norman Mutton, ‘The forges at Eardington and Hampton Loade’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 58(3) (1967-8), 23543.

Mott 1959a: R.A. Mott, ‘The Coalbrookdale Horsehay Works (part I)’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 31 (1957-9), 271-88. Important studies from account books.

Mutton 1971: N. Mutton, ‘Forgotten industries at Billingsley’, Shrops Magazine, 23(3) (May 1971), 29. A coke ironworks.

Mott 1959b: R.A. Mott, ‘The Coalbrookdale Horsehay Works (part II)’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 32 (1959-60), 43-56. Important studies from account books.

Mutton 1973a: N. Mutton, ‘Sites of charcoal blast furnaces at Shifnal and Kemberton Shropshire, 1972’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 7(1) (1973), 26-7.

Mott 1961: R.A. Mott, ‘English bloomeries (1329-1586)’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 198 (1961), 149-161.

Mutton 1973b: Norman Mutton, ‘The Foster Family: a study of a Midland industrial dynasty 1786-1899’ (Thesis: copy in Dudley Archives). A company/family history mainly relating to the 19th century.

Mott 1965: R.A. Mott, ‘The Sheffield crucible steel industry and its founder, Benjamin Huntsman’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 203 (1965), 227-37.

Mutton 1974: N. Mutton, ‘Ironmaking at Ellastone’, Staffs Archaeology, 3 (1974), 51.

Mott 1966: R.A. Mott, ‘The Coalbrookdale story: facts and fantasies’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 58(2) (1966), 152-66.

Mynors 1952: H.C.B. Mynors, ‘Iron manufacture under Charles II’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 34 (1952), 3.

Mott 1969: R.A. Mott, ‘Tramways of the eighteenth century and the originator, John Curr’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 42 (1969-70), 1-23.

NAA 2005: Northern Archaeological Associates, ‘Blaidon Burn: Archaeological desk-based assessment and building survey of industrial structures’, northernarchaeologicalassociates.co.uk/ profile/05-BBI.htm.

Mott 1969b: R.A. Mott, ‘The water mills of Beauchief’, Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., 9(4) (1969), 203-20. Including a brief account of Norton (formerly in north Derbyshire)

NAA 2012: Northern Archaeological Associates, ‘Lumley Forge: Archaeological site survey, assessment and monitoring report’, northernarchaeologicalassociates.co.uk/profile/LF/LumleyForge​ Report.pdf.

Mott 1971: R.A. Mott, ‘The early history of Wortley Forges’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 5 (1971) 63-70. Mott 1972: R.A. Mott, ‘Kirkstall forge and monkish ironmaking’, Publications Thoresby Soc., 15(2) (1972), 154-66.

Nair 1988: Gwyneth Nair, Highley: the development of a community 1550-1880 (Blackwell, Oxford, 1988).

Mott 1977: R.A. Mott, ‘Wet and dry puddling’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 49 (1977-8), 153-8 (with addendum ibid. 50 (1978-9), 2312). The new refining processes of the late 18th century: largely superseded by King 2012 and Young and Hart 2018.

Nair & Poyner 1993: Gwyneth Nair & D. Poyner, ‘The Coming of Coal: industrial development in a south Shropshire parish’, Midland History, 18 (1993), 87-103.

Mott 1983: R.A. Mott (ed. P. Singer), Henry Cort: The great finer: creator of puddled iron (The Metals Soc., London 1983). A biography of an important innovator, but see also King 2012 and Young and Hart 2018 as to the implementation of puddling.

Namier 1930: L.B. Namier, ‘Anthony Bacon, M.P.’, J. of Economic & Business History, 2 (1929-30), 20. An early coke ironmaster at Merthyr Tydfil.

Mottram & Coote 1950: R.H. Mottram & Colin Coote, Through five generations: the history of the Butterley Company (Faber & Faber, London 1950). Superseded by Riden 1990b.

Naylor 2008: Peter J. Naylor, ‘The mines and forges of the Lower Derwent valley, Derbyshire, covering the Duffield Frith, Heage and beyond’, Mining History, 17(1) (2008), 18-53.

Mundy 1913: P.D. Mundy, Abstracts of Star Chamber Proceedings in Sussex Henry VII to Philip & Mary (Sussex Record Soc., 16, 1913).

Nef 1932: John U. Nef, The rise of the British coal industry (Routledge, London 1932). An important study in its time, but now rather dated.

662

Bibliography Nesbitt 1883: A. Nesbitt, ‘Ashburnham Iron-Works’, Sussex Arch. Collns 33 (1883), 267-8.

Ovenden 1971: P.J. Ovenden, ‘Verdley Wood Furnace’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 2, 8 (1971).

New Statistical Account of Scotland: New Statistical Account of Scotland (14 vols, 1845).

Owen 1968: C.C. Owen, ‘The early history of the upper Trent navigation’, Transport History, 1 (1968), 233-59.

Newcastle 1667: Margaret [Cavendish] Duchess of Newcastle, ed. M.A. Lower, Life of the thrice noble ... prince William Cavendish Duke ... of Newcastle (1667; London 1872 edn).

Owen 1977: John A. Owen, History of Dowlais Ironworks (Stirling Press, Risca 1977). Owen (D.E.) 1977: D.E. Owen, Canals to Manchester (Manchester University Press, 1977).

‘Newcastle partnership deeds’: Anon., ‘Local partnership deeds from MS. in collection of Richard Welford’, Proceedings Soc. of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, 3rd ser., 3 (1907-8), 169-171.

Owen 1978: C.C. Owen, The development of industry in Burton on Trent (Phillimore, Chichester 1978). Owen 1982: J.G. Owen, ‘The Pentyrch iron industry’, in R.L. Brown (ed.), Taffs Well and Nantgarwn in the ‘80’s & beyond (privately, Taffs Well 1982).

Newell 1918: Abraham Newell, ‘Primitive iron industry in upper Calderdale’, Papers read before Halifax Antiquarian Soc., 1918, 101-13.

Owen 1984: Colin Owen, The Leicestershire and south Derbyshire coalfield 1200-1900 (Moorland, Ashbourne 1984).

Newell 1925: Abm Newell, A hillside view of industrial history: a study in industrial evolution in the Pennine highlands with some records (Todmorden 1925).

Paar 1973a: H.W. Paar, The Severn & Wye Railway: a history of railways in the Forest of Dean: part 1 (2nd edn, David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1973).

Newman 1982: Richard Newman, ‘The origins of Cinderford Furnace’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 1982, 1216.

Paar 1973b: H.W. Paar, ‘The furnaces at Coed Ithel and Trellech’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 7(1) (1973), 36-9.

Newman 2007: Richard Newman, ‘The bloomsmithies of south Westmoreland and north Lancashire’, in Brooks & Irwin 2007, 49-64.

Paar 1974: H.W. Paar, ‘The locks of the river Wye’, J. Railway & Canal Hist. Soc., 20 (1974), 61-7. Paar & Tucker 1975: H.W. Paar & D.G. Tucker, ‘The old wireworks and ironworks of the Angidy valley at Tintern, Gwent’, Hist. Metallurgy, 9(1) (1975), 1-14.

Ní Chíobháin 2014: Delia Ní Chíobháin, ‘The Armament’, in Jens Auer and Thijs J. Maarleveld (eds), The Gresham Ship Project: A 16th-Century Merchantman Wrecked in the Princes Channel, Thames Estuary: i. Excavation and Hull Studies (BAR British Ser. 602, 2014: Nautical Arch. Soc. Monograph 4), 47-55.

Paar & Tucker 1977: H.W. Paar & D.G. Tucker, ‘The technology of wiremaking at Tintern, Gwent 1566-c.1880’, Hist. Metallurgy, 11(1) (1977), 15-24.

Nicholl 1866: J. Nicholl, Some account of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers (2 ed., London 1866).

Padgham 1999: D. Padgham, ‘Crowham Forge, Westfield’, HAARG Journal (Hastings), n.s. 8 (1999), 10-15.

Nichols, Leics: John Nichols, History and Antiquities of Leicestershire (4 vols, London 1795-1811; reprinted in 8 pts., SR Publishers & Leics County Council, 1971).

Page 1979: Robert Page, ‘Richard and Edward Knight: ironmasters of Bringewood and Wolverley’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 43(1) (1979), 7-17. An important family/ company history, but see also Ince 1992b.

Nichols 1981: R. Nichols, ‘Pontypool and Usk Japan Ware’ (privately, Pontypool 1981).

Page 2007: N. Page, ‘A survey of the charcoal-fuelled ironmaking industries of Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire’, Post-Medieval Archaeology, 41 (2007), 180-97.

Nixon 1957: F. Nixon, ‘The early steam engine in Derbyshire’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 31(1) (1957), 1-28. Nixon 1969: F. Nixon, Industrial archaeology of Derbyshire (David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1969).

Pagett 1993: Tom Pagett et al., Water mill sites in north Worcestershire (Hagley Hist. and Field Soc., Hagley, Worcs 1993).

Noble 1889: T.C. Noble, A brief history of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, London: AD 1351-1889 (London 1889).

Palfrey 1927: H.E. Palfrey, A short account of the Talbot Hotel in the High Street of Stourbridge (Stourbridge 1927). Palfrey 1947: H.E. Palfrey, ‘Ambrose Crowley: further records of links with past’, The Ironmonger, 1 Nov. 1947. Also County Express, 3 Jan. 1948: copies Worcs. RO, 899: 31 BA 3762/5.

Nokes 1969: B.C.G. Nokes, ‘John English of Feckenham, needle manufacturer’, Business History, 11(1) (1969), 31-6. Norden 1610: J. Norden, The Surveyor’s Dialogue (1610 edn).

Palmer 1898: A.N. Palmer, ‘John Wilkinson and the old Bersham Ironworks’, Trans. Hon. Soc. of Cymmrodorion, 1897-8, 23-64. Probably largely superseded.

Norman 1969: W.L. Norman, ‘Fall Ings, Wakefield: some notes on an eighteenth century foundry’, Industrial Archaeology, 6 (1969), 74-9. Northumberland County History: Northumberland County History (15 vols, 1893-1940).

Palmer & Berrill 1958: J.M. Palmer & M.I. Berrill, ‘Andrew Yarranton & the navigation works at Astley’, J. Railway & Canal Hist. Soc., 4 (1958), 41-6 (with comment 77-8).

O’Brien 1933: J. O’Brien, ‘The water mills of Avan and Margam’, Trans. Aberafan & Margam District Hist. Soc., 5 (1932-3), 44-9.

Palmer 1970: F.A. Palmer, The blacksmith’s ledgers of the Hedges family of Bucklebury, Berkshire, 1736-1773 (University of Reading, Research Paper no. 2, 1970).

ODNB: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004, and updated): www.oxforddnb.com

Pannett 1969: D. Pannett, ‘A note on Bromley’s Forge (SJ 439167)’, Shrops Newsletter, 36 (1969), 18-19.

Olding 1994: Frank Olding, ‘Editor’s note: Eiddil Gwent “Pont Gwaith yr Haearn”’, Gwent Local History, 75 (1994), 17-20.

Pannett 2011: A. Pannett, ‘Furnace Farm, Bodnant, Conwy: a watching brief’ (Archaeology Wales, Report 1012): www.

663

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Pelham 1950: R.A. Pelham, ‘The migration of the iron industry towards Birmingham in the sixteenth century’, Trans. Birmingham and Warwickshire Arch. Soc., 66 (1950), 142ff. A useful compilation, now rather dated.

walesher1974.org/her/groups/GAT/media/Non_GAT_Reports/ AW1012_compressed.pdf Pape 1919: T. Pape, ‘John Smith’s iron tablet’, Staffs Hist. Collns, 1919-20, 90ff.

Pelham 1950b: R.A. Pelham, ‘The growth of settlement and industry c.1500-c.1700’, in Kinvig et al. 1950, 135-58.

Pape 1938: T. Pape, Newcastle under Lyme in Tudor and Stuart times (Manchester University Press 1938).

Pelham 1953: R.A. Pelham, ‘The establishment of the Willoughby ironworks in north Warwickshire in the 16th century’, University of Birmingham Hist. J., 4 (1953), 18-29. Smith 1967 is a fuller study of the same material.

Pape 1956: T. Pape, ‘Early ironworking of Newcastle under Lyme’, North Staffs Field Club Trans., [1954-5] (1956), 41. Park 1932: James Park, Some Ulverston Records (Ulverston 1932).

Pelham 1963: R.A. Pelham, ‘Water-power crisis in Birmingham in the eighteenth century’, University of Birmingham Hist. J., 9 (1963), 64-91.

Parker 1904: James Parker, Illustrated ramble from Hipperholme to Tong (Bradford 1904). Parker Oxspring 1979: J.H. Parker Oxspring, ‘Andrew Yarranton, “Worcestershire Worthy” 1619-84: his life and work with special reference to ... river Stour’ (TS: 2 vols, Worcester City Library, class WQB/YAR).

Pennant 1796: Thomas Pennant, The History of the Parishes of Whiteford, and Holywell (London 1796).

Parkes 1915: John Parkes, A History of Tipton (Elton & Brown, Tipton 1915).

Perry 1987: Nigel R. Perry, ‘Lye Forge’, The Blackcountryman, 20(2) (1987), 29-33. A useful compilation, but some conclusions reached by analogy are unwarranted: see also King 1997.

Perkins 1905: M. Perkins, Dudley’s tradesmen’s tokens ... and history of Dudley banks (Dudley 1905).

Parrott 1733: Richard Parrott, ‘Account of ... parish of Audley and hamlet of Talke ... for 200 years past’, Staffs Hist. Collns, 1944, 35ff.

Perry 2001: Nigel Perry, A history of Stourbridge (Phillimore, Chichester 2001).

Parry 1963: Bryn R. Parry, ‘A sixteenth century Merioneth ironworks’, J. Merioneth Hist. & Record Soc., 4 (1961-4), 20911. Nannau Furnace.

Perry 2017: Nigel Perry, ‘The Story of William Russell: his time at Lye Forge and life in the Midlands iron industry’, The Blackcountryman, 51(1) (2017), 10-18.

Parry 1964: T.B. Parry, ‘The Blorenge: A study of old ironworkings on the Blorenge Mountain in Monmouthshire’, Industrial Archaeology, 1 (1964), 77-93. Mainly 19th century.

Petree 1934: J. Foster Petree, ‘Maudslay, Sons & Field as General Engineers’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 15 (1934-5), 39-61. Pettitt 1973: J. Pettitt, ‘Pushing back the frontier, part two’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 6 (1973), 3-5.

Parry 1967: R. Ivor Parry, ‘Aberdare and the Industrial Revolution’, Glamorgan Historian, 4 (1967), 194-7.

Pettitt 1976: J. Pettitt, ‘Maresfield powder mills, furnace and forge’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 6 (1976), 19-21.

Parsons 1882: J.L. Parsons, ‘The Sussex ironworks’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 32 (1882), 19-32. Important in its time but superseded by Straker 1931 and by Cleere and Crossley 1995.

Pettitt 1978: J. Pettitt, ‘John Collen: his hammer-forge in Burwash 1524-6’, Wealden Iron, ser. I, 14 (1978), 10-11.

Patel 2018: Rowan Patel, ‘The development of the Outrampattern plateway, 1793-1796’, J. of the Railway & Canal Hist. Society, 39(6) (2018). 326-37.

Phelps et al. 2012: Matt Phelps, Sarah Paynter, and David Dungworth, Downside Mill, Cobham: analysis of metalworking remains (English Heritage, Research Department Report Series 43-2011).

Pattinson 2011: Andrew Pattinson, ‘William Hazledine, Shropshire ironmaster and millwright: a reconstruction of his life, and his contribution to the development of engineering, 1780 – 1840’ (M.Phil. thesis, Birmingham University 2011).

Phillips 1896: C.T. Phillips, ‘Interesting additions to the museum’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 39 (1896), 214-5.

Pattinson 2017: Andrew Pattinson, William Hazledine: pioneer ironmaster (Brewin Books, Dudley, Warws). Based on his 2011 thesis.

Phillips 1925: D. Rhys Phillips, The history of the Vale of Neath (Swansea 1925). An excellent local history, making use of some documents that may no longer be extant.

Peacock 2011: Roy Peacock, The Seventeenth century Foleys (The Black Country Soc. 2011).

Phillips 1933: Martin Phillips, ‘Early developments of the iron & tinplate industries in the Port Talbot district’, Trans. Aberafan and Margam District Hist. Soc., 5 (1932-3), 11-30.

Peacock 2017: Roy Peacock, ‘1636 – When Richard Foley faced ruin’, The Blackcountryman, 50(2) (2017), 65-7. Peatman 1981: Janet Peatman, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet (Sheffield City Museums, 1981).

Phillips 1977: C.B. Phillips, ‘The Cumbrian iron industry in the seventeenth century’, in W.H. Chaloner & B.M. Ratcliffe (eds.), Trade & Transport: essays in honour of T.S. Willan (Manchester 1977), 1-34. Bloomery Forges: an important study

Peatman 1989: Janet Peatman, ‘The Abbeydale industrial hamlet: history and restoration’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 11(2) (1989), 141-154.

Phillips 1977b: C.B. Phillips, ‘William Wright: Cumbrian ironmaster’, Trans. Cumb & Westm Antiquarian & Arch. Soc., n.s. 79 (1977), 34-45.

Pee & Hawes c.1977: R. Pee & M. Hawes, John Wilkinson and the two Willey ironworks (Wilkinson Soc.: Broseley [c.1977]: monograph 1).

Phillips 1985: B. Phillips, ‘References to ironworks in records at the Sussex Record Offices’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 5 (1985), 41-44.

Pelham 1949: R.A. Pelham, ‘The west Midland iron industry and the American market in the 18th century’, University of Birmingham Hist. J., 2 (1949-50) 141-162.

Pickin 1982: John Pickin, ‘Excavations at Abbey Tintern Furnace’, Hist. Metallurgy, 16(1) (1982), 1-21. A detailed excavation report

664

Bibliography Prince 1922: Rev. J.F. Prince, Silkstone: the history and topography of the parish of Silkstone in the county of York (Don Press, Penistone 1922).

Pickin 1982b: John Pickin, ‘Ironworks at Tintern and Sirhowy’, Gwent Local History, 52 (1982), 3-9. Pickin 1983: John Pickin, ‘Excavations at Abbey Tintern Furnace (part 2)’, Hist. Metallurgy, 17(1) (1983), 4-11. A continuation of Pickin 1982.

Prince 1924: H.H. Prince, West Bromwich: a story of long ago (West Bromwich 1924).

Pink 1991: James Pink, ‘The eighteenth century “superguns”‘, Wilkinson Studies 1 (1991), 43-4.

Pritchard 1966: T.J. Pritchard, ‘Rural Rhondda’, Glamorgan Historian, 3 (1966), 220-37.

Pitt 1817: William Pitt, Topographical History of Staffordshire (Newcastle under Lyme 1817). Perhaps at times anachronistic.

Proctor 2011: Jennifer Proctor, ‘Archaeological Investigations at Swallwell Ironworks, Tyne & Wear’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 33(1) (2011), 18-39.

Place & Bedwin 1992: C. Place and O. Bedwin, ‘The sixteenthcentury forge at Blackwater Green, Worth, West Sussex: Excavations 1988’, Sussex Arch. Collns 130 (1992), 147-163.

Pugh 1934: Rex H. Pugh, Glimpses of West Gwent: a historical survey of Abercarn and District (Newport 1934).

Place 1989: C. Place, ‘Blackwater Green, Crawley’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 9 (1989), 10-11.

Pullein 1928: C. Pullein, Rotherfield: the story of some Wealden manors (Courier, Tunbridge Wells, 1928).

Playfair 1809: E. Playfair, British Family Antiquities (1809).

Pye 1970: W.R. Pye, ‘Mills on the Arrow’, Herefs Arch. Newsheet, no.18 (1970), [4-5].

Plot 1686: Robert Plot, The Natural History of Staffordshire (Oxford 1686; repr. Morden, Manchester 1973).

Rabbitt 1974: Angela K. Rabbitt, ‘The iron industry at Nantyglo’, Presenting Monmouthshire, 38 (1974), 11-15.

Pook 1989: R.O. Pook, ‘A furnace at Ewhurst’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 9 (1989), 18.

Raistrick & Allen 1939: A. Raistrick & E. Allen, ‘The south Yorkshire ironmasters (1690-1750)’, Economic History Review, [ser. I] 9 (1939), 168-185. A key study: the Spencer family’s ironworks

Porter 2004: Lindsey Porter, Ecton Copper Mines under the Dukes of Devonshire 1760-1790 (Landmark, Ashbourne 2004). Porteus & West 1933: Rev. T.C. Porteus and Rev. Thomas West, Calendar of Standish deeds 1230-1575 …, with abstracts of 228 deeds not now in the collection (Wigan Public Library 1933).

Raistrick 1938: A. Raistrick, ‘The south Yorkshire iron industry 1698-1756’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 19 (1938-9), 51-86. A key study: the Spencer family’s ironworks.

Potter 1982: J.F. Potter, ‘Iron making in the vicinity of Weybridge, Surrey’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 6(3) (1982), 211-23.

Raistrick 1950: Arthur Raistrick, Quakers in Science and Industry (Bannisdale Press, London 1950; repr. David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1968; Sessions, York 1993).

Potter 2000: J.F. Potter, ‘Iron making in the northern Surrey’, in Crocker 2000a, 9-14.

Raistrick 1953: A. Raistrick, Dynasty of Ironfounders: The Darbys of Coalbrookdale (Bannisdale Press, London 1953: 2 edn, Sessions Book Trust, York 1989). An important study, the new edition is identical to the original except new concluding chapters.

Powell 1986: J. Powell, ‘Bristol and Coalbrookdale’, BIAS J., 19 (1986), 8-13. Poyner 2000: David Poyner, ‘Hampton Loade Furnace’, Alveley Hist. Soc. Trans., 6 (2000), 53-68. Poyner 2005: David Poyner, ‘The mills on the Hopton Brook’, Wind and Water Mills, 24 (2005), 60-80.

Raistrick 1967: Arthur Raistrick (ed.), The Hackett diary: a tour through the counties of England and Scotland in 1796 visiting mines & manufactures (Barton, Truro 1976).

Pressnell 1956: L.S. Pressnell, Country banking in the industrial revolution (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1956).

Raistrick 1977: A. Raistrick, Two centuries of industrial welfare: the London (Quaker) Lead Company 1692-1905 (2nd ed, 1977: repr. Kelsall & Davis, Littleborough & Newcastle 1988; 1st edn dated 1938).

Preston 1939: Wm E. Preston, ‘Two seventeenth century Yorkshire rentals’, Yorks Arch. J., 34 (1939), 329-41. Based on YAS Library, MD 335/70/67-121.

Raistrick 1980: A. Raistrick, ‘The old furnace at Coalbrookdale’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 4(2) (1980), 117-35. How it came to be preserved.

Price 1944: W.W. Price, ‘The legend of Anthony Bacon’, Bull. Board for Celtic Studies, 11(2) (1941-4), 109-12. Price 1969: A.H. Price, ‘Bustleholme Blackcountryman, 1(4) (1968), 23.

Mill’,

The

Rattenbury 1972: P.G. Rattenbury, ‘Tramroads of Pontypool’, J. Railway & Canal Hist. Soc., 18 (1972), 64-8.

Price 1982: James Price, ‘Iron making at Halton’, Contrebis, 9 (1982), 23-9; cf. 16 (1990), 21-9.

Rattenbury 1980: Gordon Rattenbury, Tramroads of the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal (Railway and Canal Hist. Soc. 1980).

Price 1983: James W.A. Price, Industrial archaeology of the Lune valley (University of Lancaster Centre for Northwest Regional Studies, Occasional Paper 13, 1983). A valuable study of local industrial archaeology.

Rattenbury 1986: Gordon Rattenbury, ‘The Brecknock Boat Company’, J. Railway & Canal Hist. Soc., 28(9) (1986), 378-93.

Price 1986: Jacob M. Price, ‘The Great Quaker Business Families of Eighteenth-Century London: the Rise and Fall of a Sectarian Patricate’, repr. in idem (ed.), Overseas Trade and Traders: essays on some commercial and political challenges facing British Atlantic merchants 1660-1775 (Variorum, Aldershot 1996), chapter III.

Rattenbury 1988: Gordon Rattenbury, ‘Hall’s tramroad’, J. Railway & Canal Hist. Soc., 29(4) (1988), 170-83. Rattenbury 1989: G. Rattenbury, ‘The Trevill Rail Road Company’, J. Railway & Canal Hist. Soc., 39(9) (1989), 454-70. Rattenbury & Lewis 2004: Gordon Rattenbury & M.J.T. Lewis, Merthyr Tydfil Tramroads and Locomotives (Railway and Canal Hist. Soc. 2004).

Price 1987: James Price, ‘The Lune Foundry, Lancaster’, Contrebis, 13 (1986-7), 22-26.

665

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Raybould 1973: T.J. Raybould, The Economic Emergence of the Black Country: a study of the Dudley estate (David & Charles, Newton Abbott 1973). Mostly about the Industrial Revolution.

Riden 1985: Philip Riden (ed.), George Sitwell’s Letterbook 1662-6 (Derbs Record Soc. 10, 1985). A key source on the iron industry in the northeast Midlands.

Raybould 2014: Trevor Rayould, ‘The Gibbons family of ironmasters: pioneering methods in the production of iron’, The Blackcountryman, 47(3) (2014), 82-4.

Riden 1987: Philip Riden, see new edition: Riden 1993. Riden 1988: Philip Riden, ‘The ironworks at Alderwasley and Morley Park’, Derbs Arch. J., 108 (1988), 77-107 with comment by M. Johnson and postscript by author ibid, 109 (1989), 173-9 and a further comment: see Judge 1993.

Réaumur 1722: A.G. Sisco (trans.) and C.S. Smith (ed.), Réaumur’s Memoirs on Steel and Iron: a translation from an original printed in 1722 (University of Chicago Press 1956).

Riden 1990: Philip Riden, ‘The charcoal iron industry in the east Midlands 1580-1780’, Derbs Arch. J., 110 (1990), 64-84. A key study.

Rees 1965: D.M. Rees, ‘Industrial Archaeology in Cardiganshire’, Ceredigion, 5(2) (1965), 109-24. Rees 1968: William Rees, Industry before the Industrial Revolution (2 vols, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1968). A valuable study, but marred by errors of detail, particularly when dealing with areas other than south Wales. I have made extensive use of it in my research underlying this book, but every statement has to be examined critically, and the ultimate sources identified and cited, wherever possible.

Riden 1990b: Philip Riden, The Butterley Company 1790-1830 (2 edn, Derbs Record Soc. 16, 1990).

Rees 1969: D. Morgan Rees, Mines, Mills and Furnaces: an introduction to the industrial archaeology of Wales (National Museum of Wales 1969). A valuable study.

Riden 1992c: Philip Riden, ‘Some unsuccessful blast furnaces of the early coke era’, Hist. Metallurgy, 26 (1992), 36-44.

Riden 1992: Philip Riden, John Bedford and the ironworks at Cefn Cribwr (Merton Priory Press, Cardiff 1992). Riden 1992b: P. Riden, ‘Early ironworks in the lower Taff valley’, Morgannwg, 36 (1992), 69-93.

Riden 1993: P. Riden, A gazetteer of charcoal-fired blast furnaces in Great Britain in use since 1660 (1987; 2nd edn, Merton Priory Press, Cardiff 1993). A very important study, but largely compiled only from published material.

Rees 1969b: D. Morgan Rees, ‘John Bedford: a lesser known ironmaster’, J. Southeast Wales Industrial Archaeology Soc., 1(3) (1969), 1-4. Brief and superseded by Riden 1992. Rees 1975: D. Morgan Rees, Industrial archaeology of Wales (David & Charles, Newton Abbott 1975). A valuable study.

Riden 1994: Philip Riden, ‘The final phase of charcoal ironsmelting in Britain, 1660-1800’, Hist. Metallurgy, 28(1) (1994), 14-26.

Rees 1990: Arthur Rees, ‘Aberavon Forge’, Trans. Port Talbot Hist. Soc., 4(1) 1990.

Riden & Owen 1995: Philip Riden and J.G. Owen, British blast furnace statistics 1790-1980, (Merton Priory Press, Cardiff 1995). A compilation from the Mineral Statistics and other listings.

Rehder 1987: J.E. Rehder, ‘The change from charcoal to coke in iron smelting’, Hist. Metallurgy, 21(1) (1987), 37-43. Renishaw 1991: Renishaw local history group, Renishaw: then and now (pamphlet, 1991: copy in Nottingham UL, local history pamphlet, Der 221.D14 REN).

Riden & King, ‘Llantrisant’: Philip Riden & P.W. King, ‘Early ironworks near Llantrisant and Llanharry’, www.academia. edu/15074401/Early_ironworks_near_Lantrisant_and_ Llanharry.

Rennison & Scott 2008: R.W. Rennison & A.W. Scott, ‘The ironworks of Hawks, Crawshay & Sons, Gateshead 1748-1889’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 78(1) (2008), 127-57.

Ridley 1992: Oliver Ridley, ‘Pre-Wilkinson history of the Bersham and Willey sites’, Wilkinson Studies, 2 (1992), 29-32.

Rhodes 1969: John H. Rhodes, ‘Early steam engines in Flintshire’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 41 (1968-9), 217-24.

Rigg 1967: A.M. Rigg, The industrial history of the parish of Egton cum Newland up to the nineteenth century (Egton 1967). Riley 1895: William Riley, ‘Intrenchments and camps on Mynnydd Baidan and Mynydd Margam’, Report & Trans. Cardiff Naturalists Soc., 27(2) (1885), 71-89. Including a description of Angleton blast furnace near Bridgend, with illustrations.

Richardson & Watts 1995: I. Richardson & M. Watts, ‘The Finch Foundry, Devon’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 18(1) (1995), 83-95. Richardson 1907: D. Richardson, ‘Notes on an old iron smelting furnace’ [Wheelbirks], Trans. Natural History Soc. of Northumberland Durham & Newcastle upon Tyne, n.s. 1(2) (1904-7), 283-7.

Riley 1971: R.C. Riley, ‘Henry Cort at Funtley’, Industrial Archaeology, 8 (1971), 69-76. Riley 1987: George Riley, Ancient water wheels on the Checkley brook (pamphlet, Keele University Adult Education Department 1987).

Richardson 1973: David Richardson, The Swordmakers of Shotley Bridge (Graham, Newcastle, 1973: Northern History booklet 37).

Ritchie 1939: P.M. Ritchie, ‘The romance of Wilsonstown’, West of Scotland Iron and Steel Institute J., 46 (1937-8), 1-18. A useful study.

Riden 1973: Philip Riden, ‘Excavations at Wingerworth Ironworks, Derbyshire, 1973’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 7(2) (1973), 48. A brief interim report prior to opencast mining.

Rivers & Russell 2007: R.W. Rivers and H.W. Russell, Hothfield a history of the village (Hothfield History Soc., Hothfield, 2007).

Riden 1977: Philip Riden, ‘The output of the British iron industry before 1870’, Economic History Review, ser. II, 30 (1977), 442459. An important study, superseding Flinn 1958, but see also Riden 1994 and King 2005.

Robbins 1986: Michael W. Robbins, Principio Company: ironmaking in colonial Maryland, (Garland, New York, 1986).

Riden 1984: Philip Riden, ‘Joseph Butler, coal and iron master 1763-1837’, Derbs Arch. J., 104 (1984), 87-96.

Roberts 1951: R.O. Roberts, ‘Dr John Lane and the foundation of the non-ferrous metal industries in the Swansea valley’, Gower, 4 (1951), 19-24.

Riden 1984b: Philip Riden, History of Chesterfield: 2(1) Tudor and Stuart Chesterfield (Borough of Chesterfield 1984).

Roberts 1957: R.O. Roberts, ‘Copper and economic growth in Britain’, National Library of Wales Journal, 10(1) (1957), 65-74.

666

Bibliography Roberts 1958: R.O. Roberts, ‘The operations of the Brecon Old Bank of Wilkins & Co, 1778-1890’, Business History, 1 (1958), 35-51. Little direct relevance to the iron industry.

Royalist Ordnance Papers: Ian Roy (ed.), Royalist Ordnance Papers 1642-6 (Oxfordshire Record Soc. 43, 1963-4 & 49, 1975).

Roberts 1972: R.O. Roberts, ‘Further note on Dr John Lane’, Gower, 22 (1972), 23-5.

Rye 1900: Henry A. Rye, ‘Rievaulx Abbey, its canals and building stones’, Arch. J., 57 (1900), 69-77. The canals are almost certainly mill leats.

Roberts 1979: D.H.V. Roberts (with M.C.S. Evans), ‘Another early iron furnace at Ponthenri’, Y Gwendraeth (Gwendraeth Valleys Hist. Soc., Kidwelly), 2 (1979-80), 16.

Sahle 2018L Esther Sahle, ‘Quakers, coercion and pre-modern growth: why the Friends’ formal institutions for contract enforcement did not matter for early modern expansion’, Economic History Review, 71 (2018), 418-36.

Robertson 1990: John Robertson, ‘The powder mills of Argyll’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 12 (1990), 205-13.

Salt 1966: Mary C.C. Salt, ‘The Fullers of Brightling Park’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 104 (1966), 63-87.

Robins 1995: C. Robins, ‘The Brierley Hill Foundry order books 1812-1825’, J. Ordnance Soc., 7 (1995), 1-5. Robinson 1925: Maj. Stewart Robinson, ‘The forests and woodland areas of Herefordshire’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 1921-3 (1925), 193-220.

Salt 1968: Mary C.C. Salt, ‘The Fullers of Brightling: part ii’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 106 (1968), 73-88. Part iii [107 (1969), 1424] does not concern iron. These articles cover similar matter to Saville 1983 and Crossley & Saville 1991; also Blackman 1926.

Robinson 1957: Philip Robinson, The Smiths of Chesterfield: a history of the Griffin Foundry (Brayshaw, Chesterfield 1957, [with supplement 1960]). Coke ironmasters.

Satia 2018: Priya Satia, Empire of Guns: the violent making of the Industrial Revolution (Dickworth, London 2018). An important study of the small arms trade in Birmingham and elsewhere.

Robinson 1983: D.H. Robinson, The Wandering Worfe (Waine Research Publishing [1983]).

Saville 1983: R.V. Saville, ‘Gentry wealth on the Weald in the eighteenth century: the Fullers of Brightling Park’, Sussex Arch. Collns, 121 (1983), 129-149. See also Crossley & Saville 1991.

Robinson 1988: D.H. Robinson, The Sleepy Meese (Waine Research Publishing 1988). Robson 1964: M.E. Robson, ‘Nailmaking industry at Belper’, Derbs Miscellany, 3(2) (1964), 495-502.

Saville thesis: R.V. Saville, ‘Some aspects of the role of government in the industrial development of England 16881720’ (Ph.D. thesis, Sheffield University 1979).

Rollason 1921: A.A. Rollason, ‘The seamy side of Dud Dudley and his father’ (reprinted from The Dudley Herald, 1921). Copy in Birmingham Central LSL.

Scarsdale Surveys: J.V. Beckett, ‘The Scarsdale surveys of 1652-1662’, A seventeenth century Scarsdale miscellany (Derbs Record Soc. 20, 1993).

Rollins 1966: J.G. Rollins, ‘The Forge Mill, Redditch’, Industrial Archaeology, 3 (1966), 84.

Schafer 1971: R.G. Schafer, ‘Genesis and structure of the Foley “Ironworks in Partnership” of 1692’, Business History, 13(1) (1971), 19-38. An important study on the Foley ironworks.

Rollins 1981: J.G. Rollins, ‘The Forge Mill, Redditch’, Industrial Archaeology, 16(1) (1981), 158-68.

Schafer 1978: R.G. Schafer, A selection from the records of Philip Foley’s Stour valley iron works 1668-74, part 1 (Worcs Hist. Soc., n.s., 9, 1978). An important edition of accounts.

Rollins 1984: J.G. Rollins, A history of Redditch (Phillimore, Redditch 1984). Rolt & Allen 1997: L.T.C. Rolt & J.S. Allen, The steam engine of Thomas Newcomen (Landmark, Ashbourne 1997).

Schafer 1990: R.G. Schafer, A selection from the records of Philip Foley’s Stour valley iron works 1668-74, part II (Worcs Hist. Soc., n.s., 13). An important edition of accounts.

Roper 1969: J.S. Roper, ‘Early north Worcestershire scythesmiths and scythegrinders 1541-1647’, West Midlands Studies, 3 (1969), 73-87. Mainly based on probate inventories: see also King 2007a.

Schmoller 1992: Tanya Schmoller, Sheffield papermakers: three centuries of papermaking in the Sheffield area (Allenholme Press, Wylam 1992). Schofield 1962: M. Schofield, ‘Two historic west Midland foundries’ [Bridgnorth and Stourbridge], Iron & Steel, 35 (1962), 359-60.

Rostron 1979: Primrose Rostron, ‘M. & W. Grazebrook’s Netherton Works: a profile’, The Blackcountryman, 12(2) (1979), 47-50.

Schofield 1963: M. Schofield, ‘The Shropshire leadership of 1763’, Iron & Steel, 36 (1963), 429-30. Pointing out how coke smelting technology spread from Shropshire

Rowlands 1975: Marie B. Rowlands, Masters and Men in the West Midlands metalware trades before the industrial revolution (Manchester University Press 1975). A key study.

Schubert 1946: H.R. Schubert, ‘Shrewsbury letters: a contribution to the history of ironmaking’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 155 (1946), 521-5.

Rowlands 1977: M.B. Rowlands, ‘Society. and Industry in the west Midlands at the end of the seventeenth century’, Midland History, 4 (1977), 48-60.

Schubert 1948: H.R. Schubert, ‘Northern extension of the Wealden iron industry’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 160 (1948), 245-6.

Rowlands 1989: M.B. Rowlands, ‘Continuity and Change in an industrialising society: the case of the west Midland industries’, in Hudson 1989, 103-31. Rowley 1966: Trevor Rowley, ‘Bouldon Mill’, Shrops Magazine, 17(12) (Feb 1966), 28-9. Brief and without references.

Schubert 1950: H.R. Schubert, ‘The truth about Dud Dudley’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 166 (1950), 184. An important reassessment, but see also King 2002b.

Rowley 1967: T. Rowley, ‘History of the South Shropshire landscape’ (B. Litt. thesis, Oxford 1967). copy in Shrewsbury LSL.

Schubert 1950b: H.R. Schubert, ‘The economic aspect of Sir Henry Sidney’s steelworks at Robertsbridge in Sussex and Boxhurst in Kent’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 164 (1950), 278-80.

Rowley 1972: T. Rowley, The Shropshire Landscape (Hodder & Stoughton, London 1972).

Schubert 1951: H.R. Schubert, ‘A Tudor furnace in Waterdown Forest’, J. Iron and Steel Institute 169 (1951), 241-2.

667

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Schubert 1952: H.R. Schubert, ‘The old blast-furnace at Maryport, Cumberland’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 173 (1952), 162.

Simpson 1826: R. Simpson, A collection of fragments illustrative of the history and antiquities of Derby (2 vols, Derby 1826). Singleton 2013: A.F. Singleton, ‘Hothfield Forge, Kent – A new water-powered site’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 33 (2013), 32-37.

Schubert 1952b: H.R. Schubert, ‘Early use of mineral fuel in the chafery of the English forge’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 170 (1952), 313-4.

Sitwell 1943: Sir George R. Sitwell, bart, The story of the Sitwells (bound galley proofs, Oxford 1943: copy in Birmingham Central Library).

Schubert 1953: H.R. Schubert, ‘The Kings Works in the Forest of Dean 1612-74’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 173 (1953) 153-62. A valuable study: also covered in Hart 1971.

Skeel 1916: C.A.J. Skeel, ‘The letter book of a Quaker merchant 1756-8’ [Robert Plumsted], English Hist. Review, 31 (1916), 137-43. Source is cited here as Plumsted l/b.

Schubert 1957: H.R. Schubert, History of the British iron and steel industry from c.450 B.C. to A.D. 1775 (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1957). This remains a key text book on the iron industry, but I have only cited it on general issues or where I have not examined his source. As a technical history it will probably long remain unsurpassed. The furnace list in the appendix v has been superseded.

Skeel 1920: Caroline A.J. Skeel, ‘The Bridgnorth Company of Smiths’, English Hist. Review, 35 (1920), 244-8. A blacksmiths guild. Skempton et al. 2002: A.W. Skempton, M.W. Chrimes and others (eds.), A biographical dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: I. 1500-1830 (Thomas Telford, London 2002).

Schubert 1959: H.R. Schubert, ‘Abraham Darby and the beginnings of the coke iron industry’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 193 (1959), 1-5.

Skidmore 2002: Peter Skidmore, ‘The Mills of Wollaston’, The Blackcountryman, 36(1) (2002), 77-81.

Schubert 1961: H.R. Schubert, ‘Dolgun or Dolgyn Furnace near Dolgelley, Merioneth’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 197 (1961), 151.

Skinner 1966: Basil Skinner, ‘The Heugh Mills at Dunfermline’, Scottish Studies, 10(2) (1966), 188-9.

Scott 1832: W. Scott, Stourbridge and its vicinity (Stourbridge 1832).

Slatcher 1968: S.N. Slatcher, ‘The Barnsley Canal: the first twenty years’, Transport History, 1 (1968), 48-66.

Scott 1910-12: W.R. Scott, The Constitution and Finance of English, Scottish and Irish Joint-Stock Companies to 1720 (Cambridge University Press, 1910-12).

Slater 1973: T.R. Slater, ‘The old blast furnace at Maryport: its water supply system’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 10 (1973), 318-24.

Scrivenor 1841: Harry Scrivenor, A comprehensive history of the iron trade (1841; 2 edn 1854). There is a modern reprint of 1854 edn, but the 1841 edn has normally been used, because it contains useful statistics omitted from later one.

Smeaton’s Designs: [John Smeaton], A catalogue of civil and mechanical engineering designs (1741-1792) of John Smeaton ... in library of Royal Soc. (Newcomen Soc., extra publn 5, 1950).

Shaw, Staffs.: Stebbing Shaw, History and Antiquities of Staffordshire (2 vols 1799-1801). There is also a modern reprint.

Smeaton’s Reports: [John Smeaton], Reports of the late John Smeaton ... (London 1812).

Shaw 1984: John Shaw, Water power in Scotland 1550-1870 (Donald, Edinburgh 1984).

Smiles 1858: Samuel Smiles, Self-help (1858).

Shaw 2010: M. Shaw, ‘Historical background’, in C. Hewitson et al., The Great Hall, Wolverhampton: Elizabethan mansion to Victorian workshop: archaeological investigations at Old Hall Street, Wolverhampton, 2000-7 (BAR British Series 517, 2010), 6-16.

Smith 1965: David M. Smith, Industrial Archaeology of East Midlands.

Smiles 1863: Samuel Smiles, Industrial Biography: Iron Workers and Tool Makers (London 1863).

Smith 1966a: W.E. [W.A.?] Smith, ‘The Bradley Ironworks of John Wilkinson’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 1(6), 57-8 (reprint edn).

‘Sheffield furnaces’: Anon, ‘Blast furnaces of Sheffield’ (TS, Sheffield LSL, MP 2540M).

Smith 1966b: W.E. [W.A.?] Smith, ‘Hallfields Furnace, Bradley Ironworks’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 1(7) (1966), 36-9. An account of archaeological site investigations there, complementing Morton & Smith 1966.

Sherlock 1976: R. Sherlock, Industrial archaeology of Staffordshire (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1976). Mainly about standing buildings. Shill 2008: Ray Shill, South Staffordshire ironmasters (History Press, Stroud 2008). A valuable work but without references, so that the basis of statements is often unclear.

Smith 1967: Barbara M.D. Smith, ‘The Galtons of Birmingham: Quaker gun merchants and bankers’, Business History, 9 (1967), 132-150.

Shore Memorial: T.W. Shore, Hampshire Field Club and Arch. Soc., Shore memorial volume: Hampshire papers ... and miscellanea (c.1942). Collected articles of T.W. Shore.

Smith 1968: Richard S. Smith, ‘Sir Francis Willoughby’s ironworks 1570-1610’, Renaissance and Modern Studies, 11 (1967), 90-140.

Shorter 1950: Alfred H. Shorter, ‘The excise number of paper mills in Shropshire’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 53 (1949-50), 145-52.

Smith 1971: W.A. Smith, ‘The contribution of the Gibbons family to the technical development of the coal and iron industries’, West Midlands Studies, 4 (1970-1), 46-55.

Silvester & Athanson 2018: Bob Silvester and Michael Athanson, ‘Two legal maps from Shropshire’, Trans. Shrops Arch. & Hist. Soc. 93 (2018), 45-52.

Smith 1975: D.T. Smith, ‘Mousehole Forge’, Trans. Hunter Arch. Soc., 10(3) (1975), 182ff. Smith 1978: W.A. Smith, ‘Combinations of West Midlands ironmasters during the industrial revolution’, West Midlands Studies, 11 (1978), 1-10.

Simmonds 1980: H.E.S. Simmonds, ‘Watermills and forges on the Belne Brooke’, ed. with introduction by J. Briggs & D.G. Tucker., Wind and Water Mills, 1 (1980), 30-44

668

Bibliography Smith 1979: Stuart B. Smith, ‘New light on the Bedlam Furnaces, Ironbridge, Telford’, Hist. Metallurgy, 13(1) (1979), 21-30.

17th century’, Trans. Cumb & Westm Antiquarian & Arch. Soc., n.s. 91 (1991), 101-17.

Smith 1981: Stuart B. Smith, ‘Blowing engine at Bedlam Furnace, Ironbridge, Shropshire’, Hist. Metallurgy, 15(1) (1981), 16-7.

Spence 1992: R.T. Spence, ‘Mining & smelting in Yorkshire by the Cliffords, Earls of Cumberland, in the Tudor and early Stuart period’, Yorks Arch. J., 64 (1992), 157-83.

Smith 1981: S. Smith, ‘The Vachery ironworks’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 1 (1981), 2-4.

Standing & Coates 1979: I. Standing & S. Coates, ‘Historical sites of industrial importance on Forestry Commission land in Dean’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 1979, 16-20. A useful gazetteer

Smith 1991: R.D. Smith, ‘Early cast-iron ordnance, with particular reference to guns on the Isle of Man’, J. Ordnance Soc. 3 (1991), 25-45.

Standing 1980: I.J. Standing, ‘Whitecliffe Ironworks in the Forest of Dean pt I 1798-1808’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 1980, 18-28.

Smith 1998: Denis Smith, ‘The industrial interests of the Tingle and Ashton families’, South Yorks Industrial History Soc. J., 1 (1998), 39-44.

Standing 1981: I.J. Standing, ‘Dear Mushet: A history of Whitecliffe Ironworks pt II 1808-10’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 1981, 32-71.

Smith (D.R.) 1998: D.R. Smith, ‘The Old Mill Lade’, Midlothian Advertiser, 8 Jan. 1998.

Standing 1986: I.J. Standing, ‘Whitecliffe Ironworks in the Forest of Dean’ [History pt III], Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 1986, 2-19.

Smith & Trevarthen 2010: J.R. Smith & M. Trevarthen, ‘Mount Foundry, Tavistock: an early 19th-century iron and brass foundry in West Devon’, Post-Medieval Archaeology, 44 (2010), 349-56.

Standing 2014: I. Standing, ‘Gunns Mill Furnace, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire’, The Crucible: Hist. Metallurgy Soc. News, 84 (2014), 3-4.

Smith 2016: Tim Smith, ‘Stream Forge, Furnace, and boring mill’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 36(1) (2016), 27-32. Smith 2017: Tim Smith, ‘New finds at Horsmonden Furnace’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 37 (2017), 38-44.

Stanford 1964: S.C. Stanford, ‘Archaeology, 1964’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 38(1) (1964), 86-9.

Smith 2018: Tim Smith, ‘Fake News? – Stoney Hazel Forge’, The Crucible: Hist. Metallurgy Soc. News, 38 (2018), 6-7.

Statistical Account of Scotland: Sir John Sinclair (ed.), Statistical Account of Scotland (20 vols, 1791-9).

Smith 2019: ‘Ashburnham Furnace: the final blow’, Wealden Iron, 39 (2019), 28-32.

Steel 1969: T. Dyne Steel, ‘Blaenavon Works’, Presenting Mons., 28 (1969), 42-6. Written about 1893

Smith (W.A.) thesis: W.A. Smith, ‘The Gibbons family: coal and iron masters: 1750-1873’ (Ph.D. thesis, London University 1978).

Stembridge 1986: P.K. Stembridge, ‘A Bristol-Coalbrookdale conection: the Goldneys’, BIAS J., 19 (1986), 14-20. Stembridge 1998: P.K. Stembridge, The Goldney family: a Bristol dynasty, (Bristol Record Soc. 49, 1998).

Smout et al. 2004: T.C. Smout, A.R. MacDonald, & F. Watson, History of the Native Woodlands of Scotland 1500-1920 (Edinburgh University Press, 2004).

Stephens 1934: Tom Stephens, History of Zion Baptist Chapel, Ponthir [Monmouthshire] (privately 1934: copy in Gwent RO). Tinplate manufacturers were among the founders

Smout 2005: T.C. Smout, Exploring environmental history: select essays (Edinburgh University Press, 2005).

Stephens 1980: F.J. Stephens, ‘The Barnes of Ashgate: a study of a family of the lesser gentry in northeast Derbyshire’ (M.Phil. thesis, Nottingham University 1980).

Smythe 1938: J.A. Smythe, ‘Duddon pig iron 1772’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 19 (1938-9), 227-8. Soldon 1998: N.C. Soldon, John Wilkinson (1728-1808), English ironmaster and inventor (Edwin Mellen, Lampeter, Lewiston, NY).

Stevenson 1970: Peter Stevenson, Nutbrook Canal (David & Charles, Newton Abbott 1970). Stevenson 1981: Peter Stevenson, ‘Dale Abbey Ironworks’, Ilkeston & District Local History Soc. Newsletter, 2(19) (1981), 86.

Somervell 1930: John Somervell, Water-powered mills in south Westmoreland (Kendal 1930). Somervell 1938: John Somervell, ‘Water power and industries in Westmoreland’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 18 (1937-8), 235-44.

Stevenson 1999: J.H. Stevenson, ‘Alexander Nesbitt, a Sussex antiquary, and the Oldlands estate’, Sussex Arch. Collns 137 (1999), 161-73.

Somerville 1953: R. Somerville, History of the Duchy of Lancaster 1265-1603 (Duchy of Lancaster, London, 1953). Soulsby 1983: Ian Soulsby, The Towns of Medieval Wales (Phillimore, Chichester 1983).

Stewart 2017: R.J. Stewart, ‘Smeaton and the Fire Engine, 1765-1785’, International J. for the History of Engineering and Technology, 87(2) (2018 for 2017), 190-226.

Sparrow 1898: A. Sparrow, The History of Church Preen (London 1898).

Stidder 1990: Derek Stidder, The Watermills of Surrey (Barracuda Books, Buckingham 1990).

Spavold 1984: Janet Spavold, At the sign of the Bull’s Head: a history of Hartshorne (1984).

Stiles 1972: R.A. Stiles, ‘Elmbridge Furnace, Oxenhall’, Gloucs Hist. Studies, 5 (1972).

Speake 1972: Robert Speake, Audley: ‘an out of the way, quiet place’ (Keele University Adult Educ. Dept. 1972).

Stockdale 1872: James Stockdale, Annales Caermoelenses [Annals of Cartmel] (Ulverston 1872).

Speight 1906: Harry Speight, Upper Nidderdale with Knaresborough Forest (London 1906).

Stockinger 1996: V.R. Stockinger, The rivers Wye and Lugg Navigation: a documentary history (Logaston Press 1996).

Spence 1991: R.T. Spence, ‘Mining and smelting by the Cliffords, earls of Cumberland, in Westmoreland in the early

Stone 1965: L. Stone, The crisis of the aristocracy 1558-1641 (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1965).

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A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Straker 1931: Ernest Straker, Wealden Iron (Bell, London 1931). Largely superseded by Cleere & Crossley 1985 and 1995, but nevertheless still a significant work.

Taylor 1997: Elizabeth Taylor, Kings Caple in Archenfield (Logaston Press, Almeley, Herefordshire 1997). The material on the iron industry adds nothing to Taylor 1986.

Straker 1931b: E. Straker, ‘Westell’s Book of Panningridge’, Sussex Arch. Collns 72 (1931), 253-260.

Taylor 2000: David Taylor, ‘Alexander Raby at Cobham’, in Crocker 2000a, 15-21.

Straker 1931c: E. Straker, ‘Leigh Hammer’, Surrey Arch. Collns, 39 (1931), 146-7.

Taylor 2008: Bryan Taylor, Watermills of the Lordship of Gower (Brydor, Bishopston, Swansea 2008).

Straker 1933: E. Straker, The Buckhurst Terrier (Sussex Record Soc., 39, 1933).

Tebbutt 1977a: C.F. Tebbutt, ‘Reports on Fieldwork’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 11 (1977a), 2-5.

Straker 1937: E. Straker, ‘A lost Tudor furnace found’, Sussex Notes and Queries, 6 (1937), 217-8.

Tebbutt 1977b: C.F. Tebbutt, ‘Iron Sites on Ashdown Forest’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 11 (1977), 9-13.

Straker 1938: E. Straker, ‘Wealden ironworks in 1574’, Sussex Notes and Queries, 7 (1938), 97-103.

Tebbutt 1977c: C.F. Tebbutt, ‘Reports on fieldwork’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 12 (1977), 2-3.

Straker 1939: E. Straker, ‘Lost mills on the Medway’, Sussex County Magazine 13 (1939), 531.

Tebbutt 1978: C.F. Tebbutt, ‘Iron plate from Henley Lower Furnace’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 13 (1978), 15.

Straker 1941: E. Straker, ‘The Vachery ironworks’, Surrey Arch. Collns 47 (1941), 48-51.

Tebbutt 1980: C.F. Tebbutt, ‘Recent Field-work’, Wealden Iron 1st ser. 17 (1980), 15-19.

Surtees, Durham: Robert Surtees, History and Antiquities of the County Palatinate of Durham (London 1820, repr. EP Publishing 1972).

Tebbutt 1982: C.F. Tebbutt, ‘Field Notes’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 2 (1982), 6-10.

Survey of London: [Anon.] for London County Council, Survey of London (London, various dates).

Teesdale 1984: E.B. Teesdale, The Queen’s Gunstonemaker (Lindel, Seaford, 1984).

Swabey 1976: E.J.B. Swabey, A history of Churchill and Blakedown (Westwood, Sutton Coldfield for Churchill and Blakedown Parish Council).

Teesdale 1986: E.B. Teesdale, ‘The 1574 lists of ironworks in the Weald A re-examination’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 6 (1986), 7-41. Terry 1989: R. Terry, ‘The Willey Valley and Ironworks: an archaeological evaluation’ (TS, copy in Shrops HER).

Swanton & Woods 1914: E.W. Swanton & P. Woods, Bygone Haslemere (West Newman & Co, London, 1914). Symons 1979: M.V. Symons, Coalmining in the Llanelli area: I sixteenth century to 1829 (Llanelli Borough Council 1979).

Tholander & Blomgren 1986: Erik Tholander & Stig Blomgren, ‘Some aspects of the origin of the blast furnace’, Hist. Metallurgy, 20(2) (1986), 79-86. Then controversial: see Awty 1987.

Tann 1967: J. Tann, Gloucestershire Woollen Mills (David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1967).

Thomas 1976: G.M. Thomas, Warrior Prince: Prince Rupert of the Rhine (Secker & Warburg, London, 1976).

Tann 1970: J. Tann, The Development of the Factory (Cornmarket, London 1970).

Thomas 1984: Bernard Thomas, ‘Ironmaking at Dolgellau’, J. Merioneth Hist. & Record Soc., 9(4) (1981-4), 474-5.

Tann 1974: Jennifer Tann, ‘Suppliers of parts: the relationship between Boulton and Watt and the suppliers of engine components, 1775-1795’, Trans. Birmingham and Warwickshire Arch. Soc., 86 (1974), 167-77.

Thomas 1999: Emyr Thomas, Coalbrookdale and the Darbys (Sessions, York 1999). This is much more concerned with family history than with industrial. Thompson 1956: George Thompson, ‘The Dalnotter Iron Company: an eighteenth century Scottish industrial undertaking’, Scottish Hist. Review, 35 (1956), 10-20. Primarily an iron manufacturing business.

Tann 1979: Jennifer Tann, ‘Mr Hornblower and his crew: steam engine pirates of the eighteenth century’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 51 (1979-80), 95-109. Tann 1996: Peter Tann, ‘The Tappenden tramroad to the Neath Canal 1800-14’, J. Railway and Canal Hist. Soc., 32(2) (Jul 1996), 88-101.

Thompson 1975: W.J. Thompson, Industrial archaeology of north Staffordshire (Moorland Publishing Co., Buxton, c.1975). Thornes 2010: Robin Thornes, Men of Iron: the Fussels of Mells (Frome Soc. for Local History, Frome Somerset).

Taylor 1935: G.A. Taylor, ‘Penrhiwtyn Furnace and Alexander Raby’, Trans. Neath Antiquarian Soc., ser. II, 5 (1934-6), 53-9.

Thornton 2013: Harry Thornton, ‘Bygone ironmasters of Amblecote and Rugeley and their industrial legacy …’, J. of Staffs Industrial Archaeology Soc., 23 (2013), 79-88.

Taylor 1966: M.S. Taylor, ‘The Penydarren Ironworks 17841859’, Glamorgan Historian, 3 (1966), 75-88. Taylor 1968: M.S. Taylor, ‘The Plymouth Ironworks’, Glamorgan Historian, 5 (1968) 186-92.

Thorpe 1932: W.H. Thorpe, ‘The Marquis of Worcester and Vauxhall’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 13 (1931-2), 75-88.

Taylor 1986: Elizabeth Taylor, ‘The seventeenth century iron forge at Carey Mill’, Trans. Woolhope Naturalists Field Club, 45(2) (1986), 450-468.

Thorpe 1990: F.S. Thorpe, The heritage of Codnor and Loscoe (Codnor 1990: privately).

Taylor 1991: Harold Taylor, ‘Nailmakers and their successors in the community of Darton parish’, Yorks Arch. J., 63 (1991), 153-76.

Threlfall-Holmes 1999: Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, ‘Late Medieval iron production and trade in the North-East’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th ser. 27 (1999), 109-122.

Taylor 1993: B.S. Taylor, ‘Aberdulais Falls: a site of innovation’, Melin 9 (1993), 21-9.

Timmins 1865: S. Timmins (ed.), Birmingham and Midland Hardware District (British Association Handbook 1865).

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Toft 2012: L.A. Toft, ‘Ynyspenllwch: three centuries of tinplate making in South Wales’, Industrial Archaeology Review (34(2) (2012), 92-102). Tolson 1929: Legh Tolson, History of the church ... of Kirkheaton (Kendal 1929). With some references to Colnbridge Forge.

Tucker 1986: Gordon Tucker, ‘Mills of the upper Arrow Valley in and near Kington Herefordshire’, Wind and Water Mills, 7 (1986), 24-37.

Tomlinson 1976: H.C. Tomlinson, ‘Wealden gunfounding: an analysis of its demise in the eighteenth century’, Economic History Review, ser. II, 29 (1976), 383-400. Appendix lists gunfounders and their production.

Tucker 1989: M.T. Tucker, ‘An unusual wrought iron artefact: the Pearsall gate’, Hist. Metallurgy, 23(2) (1989), 90-1.

Tomlinson 1979: T.D. Tomlinson, The mills of Hathersage (Hathersage 1979).

Tucker 1991: Gordon Tucker, Some Watermills of South-West Shropshire (Midland Wind and Water Mills Group 1991).

Tonkin 1949: S. Morley Tonkin, ‘Trevethick, Raistrick & the Hazledine foundry, Bridgnorth’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 26 (1947-9), 171-83.

Turley 1978: J.T. Turley, ‘The iron industry of East Denbighshire during the late eighteenth century’, Hist. Metallurgy, 12(1) (1978), 28-35. Mostly about Bersham.

Torrens 1980: H. Torrens, ‘Winwoods of Bristol: part one 17671788’, BIAS J., 13 (1980), 8-17.

Turley 1980: J.T. Turley, ‘The iron industry in East Denbighshire during the early eighteenth century: with particular reference to Bersham’, Hist. Metallurgy, 14(1) (1980), 28-33.

Torrens 1989: H.S. Torrens, ‘Engineering enterprise in Bristol and Bath’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 11(2) (1989), 196201.

Turner 1978: Trevor Turner, ‘The Works of John Smeaton: a chronological survey’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 50 (1978-9), 3753.

Treadwell 1974: J.M. Treadwell, ‘William Wood and the Company of Ironmasters of Great Britain’, Business History, 16(2) (1974), 93-112.

Turner 2004: G.A. Turner, Shottermill – its farms families and mills, part 1: early times to the 1700s (John Owen Smith, Headley Down, 2004).

Trinder 1968: B.S. Trinder, ‘A description of Coalbrookdale in 1801’, Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 58(3) (1967-8), 244-58.

Tylecote 1960: R.F. Tylecote, ‘The location of Byrkeknott [Kyrkeknott]: a fifteenth century iron smelting site [with excavation report]’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 194 (1960), 451-8. A bloomery forge

Trinder 1973: Barrie Trinder, The Industrial Revolution in Shropshire (1st edn, Phillimore, Chichester 1973). This edition contains some material not included in the 3rd edition (Trinder 2000).

Tylecote et al. 1965: R.F. Tylecote and others, ‘Maryport blast furnace: post mortem and reconstruction’, J. Iron & SteeI Institute., 203 (1965), 867-74.

Trinder 1974: Barrie Trinder, The Darbys of Coalbrookdale (Phillimore, Chichester 1974: 1978 edn). A family history not incorporating much not appearing in Trinder 1973 or Raistrick 1953.

Tylecote 1966: R.F. Tylecote, ‘Blast furnace at Coed Ithel, Llandogo, Monmouthshire’, J. Iron & Steel Institute, 206 (1966), 314-9. Excavation report; the history attributed to Coed Ithel is mostly that of Tintern Furnace.

Trinder 1979: Barrie Trinder, ‘The first iron bridges’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 3 (1979), 112-21.

Tylecote 1968: R.F. Tylecote, ‘Muncaster Head Bloomery’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 2(1) (1968), 51-3. A brief note: for a full report see Tylecote & Cherry 1969.

Trinder 1988: Barrie Trinder (ed.), “The Most Extraordinary District in the World”: Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale: an anothology of visitors’ impressions of Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale and the Shropshire coalfield (Phillimore, Chichester 1988).

Tylecote & Cherry 1969: R.F. Tylecote & J. Cherry, ‘The seventeenth century bloomery at Muncaster Head, Cumberland’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 3(1) (1969), 12-18.

Trinder 1996: Barrie Trinder, The industrial archaeology of Shropshire (Phillimore, Chichester 1996). Trinder 2000: Barrie Trinder, The Industrial Revolution in Shropshire (3rd edn, Phillimore, Chichester 2000). An important study. This new edition is more focussed than the 1973 one on the coalfield, and it omits some material relating to other parts of Shropshire

Tylecote & Cherry 1970: R.F. Tylecote & J. Cherry, ‘The 17th century bloomery at Muncaster Head’, Trans. Cumb & Westm Antiquarian & Arch. Soc., n.s. 70 (1970), 69-109. Tylecote 1983: R.F. Tylecote, ‘A survey of iron and steel making sites in the Tyne-Wear area of the United Kingdom’, CIM Bull., 76(854) (Jun 1983), 90-101.

Tucker & Wakelin 1981: D.G. Tucker & P. Wakelin, ‘Metallurgy in the Wye valley and south Wales in the late eighteenth century’, Hist. Metallurgy, 15(2) (1981), 94-100. At Tintern and elsewhere, based on tourists accounts.

Tylecote 1991: R.F. Tylecote, ‘Iron in the industrial revolution’, in Day & Tylecote 1991, 200-60.

Tucker 1972: D.G. Tucker, ‘The paper mills of Whitebrook, Monmouthshire’, Archaeologia Cambrensis 121 (1972), 80-96

Tylecote 1992: R.F. Tylecote, A History of Metallurgy (2 edn, Institute of Materials, London 1992). A key text book.

Tucker 1973: D.G. Tucker, ‘The seventeenth century wireworks at Whitebrook, Monmouthshire’, Bull. Hist. Metallurgy Group, 7(1) (1973), 28-35.

Tyson 1989: Blake Tyson, ‘Coniston Forge: 14th January 1675 to 12 May 1766’, Trans. Cumb & Westm Antiquarian & Arch. Soc., 89 (1989), 187-206.

Tucker 1978: D.G. Tucker, ‘The beginning of the Wireworks at Whitebrook, Gwent, in the early 17th century’, Hist. Metallurgy, 12(2) (1978), 102-3.

Tyson 1999: Blake Tyson, ‘Attempts to smelt metals with coal near Whitehaven before 1700’, The Cumbrian Industrialist, 2 (1999), 3-22.

Tucker 1982: Gordon Tucker, ‘Watermills of the river Salwarpe and its tributaries: part 2. The system outside Bromsgrove’, Wind and Water Mills, 3 (1982), 2-19. Part 1 is Briggs 1981.

Ullathorne 2004: Graham Ullathorne, ‘Migration from Derbyshire to Hallamshire: the evidence of the Cutlers’ Company records 1624 to 1814’, Northern History, 41(1) (2004), 81-109.

671

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Underhill 1976: C.H. Underhill, History of Burton on Trent (2nd edn, Burton on Trent 1976; 1st edn dated 1941). Unwin 1964: R.W. Unwin, ‘The Aire and Calder Navigation: part I The beginning of the navigation’, Bradford Antiquary, n.s., 9(42) (1964), 53-86. Mainly about obtaining the Act

Wanklyn 1998: Malcolm Wanklyn (ed.), Inventories of Worcestershire Gentry 1537-1786 (Worcs Hist. Soc. n.s. 16, 1998).

Unwin 1967: R.W. Unwin, ‘The Aire and Calder Navigation: part II The navigation in the pre-canal age’, Bradford Antiquary, n.s. 9(44) (1967), 151-86.

Ward 1969: Owen Ward, ‘Mills of the Bristol Frome’, BIAS J., 2 (1969), 24-28.

Upton 1981: J. Upton, ‘Catsfield Furnace: a new discovery’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 1 (1981), 16-17.

Ward 1978: Owen Ward, ‘Mills on the Bristol Frome’, BIAS J., 11 (1978), 27-33.

Usher TS: Howard Usher, ‘Melbourne Furnace’ (TS, kindly supplied by its author, Mr H. Usher of Melbourne, Derbs.).

Ward 1996: Owen Ward, ‘Winwood & Co, Bristol’, BIAS J., 29 (1996), 46.

van Laun 1977: John van Laun, ‘Tramroads in the Clydach [Gwent]’, BIAS J., 10 (1977), 20-22.

Ward diary: A.B. Bell and R.E. Leader, Peeps into the past: passages from the diary of Thomas Asline Ward (London and Sheffield 1909).

van Laun 1979a: J. van Laun, ‘17th century ironmaking in south west Herefordshire’, Hist. Metallurgy, 13(2) (1979), 55-68. An important study.

Warden 1927?: J.J. Warden, ‘History of Cookson industries’ (TS, Durham UL Archives, Cookson 3/48). Warner 1802: R. Warner, A tour through the northern counties of England ... (1802).

van Laun 1979b: J. van Laun, ‘Bringewood Furnace and Forge: a preliminary report’ (TS, IGMT Library 1979).

Watson 1994: Bruce Watson, ‘Harvington Mill: a post-medieval iron working site in Hereford and Worcester’, West Midlands Archaeology, 37 (1994), 18-21.

van Laun 1989: J. van Laun, ‘Bringewood Ironworks’. (and) ‘An outline of the technology of the charcoal iron industry in Herefordshire’, Herefs Arch. News, no.52 (Autumn 1989), 4-9.

Watters 1998: Brian Watters, Where Iron Runs like Water: a new history of Carron ironworks 1759-1982 (Donald, Edinburgh 1998).

van Laun 2001: John van Laun, Early Limestone Railways: how railways developed to feed the furnaces in the Industrial Revolution in South East Wales (Newcomen Soc., 2001).

Watts 1998: Silvia Watts, ‘A gentry estate over seven centuries’ [Briggs of Haughton in Shifnal], Trans. Shrops Arch. Soc., 73 (1998), 44-50.

van Laun 2008: John van Laun, Industrial Archaeology in Blaenau Gwent (for Blaenau Gwent Borough Council 2008). VCH: [Many editors], Victoria County History of England (Institute of Historical Research, London, many volumes, 1901 to date). Cited by County, volume, and page. The amount of detail and usefulness varies considerably. Recently produced volumes are generally excellent; early ones are often less good, commonly with little on economic and industrial history.

Watts 2000: Sylvia Watts (ed.), ‘Shifnal ironworks accounts 1583-90’, Shropshire Historical Documents: a miscellany (Shropshire Record Series 4, 2000).

Vigor 2014: P.H. Vigor, ‘Bedlam Furnaces, Ironbridge: revisited, revised’, The Crucible: Hist. Metallurgy Soc. News, 85 (2014), 6-9.

Weate 1995: Mary Weate, The timber feller of Wheaton Aston, Staffs: the long history and travels (pamphlet: Fritillary Press 1995).

Vivian 1953: Sir Sylvanus P. Vivian, Manor of Etchingham cum Salehurst (Sussex Record Soc. 53, 1953).

Webb 1960: B.D. Webb, ‘The needle industry of Redditch’ (dissertation, Southampton University 1960: copy in Rollins papers: Worcs RO, 899: 794 BA 9159).

Watts 2001 & 2002: Sylvia Watts (ed.), Glebe Terriers of Shropshire (2 vols, Shropshire Record Series 5-6, 2001-2).

Voce 2007: Alan Voce, ‘The Llechryd Canal’, J. Railway & Canal Hist. Soc., 35(8) (2007), 608-9.

Webb 1999: C. Webb, Archdeaconry of Surrey Will Abstracts vol 16 (West Surrey Family History Soc., 1999).

Wade 1968: F.J. Wade, ‘Story of Tanfield and Beamish’ (TS in Newcastle upon Tyne LSL 1968).

Webster 1880: Capt. P.C.G. Webster (ed. F.H. Webster), Notes, genealogical, historical, and heraldic relating to the Websters ... (privately, Leamington 1880).

Wadsworth & Mann 1931: A.P. Wadsworth and J. de L. Mann, The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire 1600-1780 (Manchester University Press 1931).

Weekley 1961: Montague Weekley, A Memoir of Thomas Bewick [1753-1828] written by himself (London, 1961).

Wagner 2008: Donald B. Wagner (continuing Joseph Needham), Science and Civilisation in China: 5 Chemistry and Chemical Technology: part 11 Ferrous Metallurgy (Cambridge University Press 2008).

Welch 1995: C.M. Welch, ‘Cannock Chase: an industrial woodland’, West Midlands Archaeology, 38 (1995), 7-8. Welch 2000: C. Welch, ‘Elizabethan ironmaking and woodlands of Cannock Chase and the Churnet valley’, Staffs Studies, 12 (2000), 17-74.

Wallis, Northumberland: J. Wallis, The natural history and antiquities of Northumberland (1769).

Wessex Archaeology 2004: Wessex Archaeology, ‘Old Furnace Cottage and Eastwall Farm, Oakamoor, Staffordshire: an archaeological evaluation and an assessment of the results’, www.wessexarch.co.uk/system/files/52568_Oakamoor.pdf.

Wanklyn 1969: M.D.G. Wanklyn, ‘John Weld of Willey 15851666: an enterprising landowner in the early 17th century’, West Midlands Studies, 3 (1969), 88-99. An owner of mines and ironworks.

Wessex Archaeology 2012: Wessex Archaeology, ‘Derwentcote Forge: Archaeological assessment and evaluation of results’, www.wessexarch.co.uk/system/files/74157_Derwentcote.pdf.

Wanklyn 1973: M. Wanklyn, ‘Iron and steel in Coalbrookdale in 1645’, Shrops Newsletter, 44 (Jun. 1973), 3-6.

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Williams 1977: A.R. Williams, ‘Methods of manufacture of swords in medieval Europe: illustrated by the metallography of some examples’, Gladius, 13 (1977), 13-101.

Westerfield 1915: R.B. Westerfield, Middlemen in English Business (Yale University Press 1915; repr. Kelley, New York 1968).

Williams 1986: C.J. Williams, Industry in Clwyd: an illustrated history (Clwyd RO, 1986). Williams (M.) 1986: Merlin Williams, ‘From iron forge to hydrogen plant’, Clydach Historical Society Newsletter, 11 (1986), 1-3.

Wheat 1955: Mabel Wheat, A story about Sambrook (Newport, Salop 1955). Whistler 1888: R.F. Whistler, ‘Penhurst: being some account of its iron works, manor house, church etc.’, Sussex Arch. Collns 36 (1888), 1-18.

Williams 1995: J.M. & L. Williams, ‘Nail making in Audley, circa 1550 to circa 1750’, Audley Historian, 1 (1975), 55-74. Williams 2009: David Williams, The Birmingham Gun Trade (Revealing History 2009).

White 1958: Horace White, Fossets: a record of two centuries of engineers (Fawcett, Preston & Co Ltd, Bromsborough, Cheshire 1958). White 1976: W.P. White, ‘Darvel Furnace – A note’, Wealden Iron, 1st ser. 9 (1976), 18.

Williams 2010: David Williams, ‘James Farmer and Samuel Galton, the reality of gun making for the Board of Ordnance in the mid-18th century’, Arms & Armour, 7(2) (2010), 119-141.

Whiteley 1887: Henry Whiteley, ‘The Principio Company’, Pennsylvania Mag. of History & Biography, 11 (1887), 63-8 190-8 & 288-95.

Williams 2015: R. Williams, ‘A question of grey or white: why Abraham Darby I chose to smelt with coke’, Hist. Metallurgy, 46(2) (2015 for 2013), 125-37.

Whittick 1992: C.H.C. Whittick, ‘Wealden iron in California’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 12 (1992), 29-62.

Williams 2019a: R. Williams, ‘The performance of Abraham Darby I’s coke furnace revisited, part 1: temperature of operation’, Hist. Metallurgy 51(1) (2019 for 2017), 23-33.

Whittick 1997: C.H.C. Whittick, ‘The supply of raw materials to the Heathfield ironworks’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 17 (1997), 46-47.

Williams 2019b: R. Williams, ‘The performance of Abraham Darby I’s coke furnace revisited, part 2: output and efficiency’, Hist. Metallurgy 51(2) (2019 for 2017), 87-98.

Whittick 2002: C.H.C. Whittick, ‘Re-dating an early document’, Wealden Iron, ser. II, 22 (2002), 18-21.

Williams & de Haan 2019: R. Williams and D. de Haan, ‘A link between blast furnaces at Coalbrookdale and Staveley: the note of Mr Chas. Hornblower’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 41(2) (2019), 122-131.

Whitworth 1766: Richard Whitworth, The advantage of Inland Navigation (1766).

Willmore 1887: F.W. Willmore, A History of Walsall (1887: repr. SR Publishers, Wakefield 1972).

Wickham Legg 1936: L.G. Wickham Legg, Miscellany 16: A relation of a short survey of the Western Counties (Camden Third Series, 52, 1936).

Wilmot & King 2012: Jeff Wilmot and Peter King, ‘Aspirations to greatness: the Wilmots of Hartlebury’, Trans. Worcs Arch. Soc., 3rd ser. 23 (2012), 121-38.

Wilcock 2012: Paul Wilcock, ‘The Armoury of His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry’, Arms & Armour, 9(2) (2012), 181-205.

Wilson 1955: P.N. Wilson, ‘The Waterwheels of John Smeaton’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 30 (1955), 25-48.

Wilkins 1867: Charles Wilkins, History of Merthyr Tydfil (Merthyr Tydfil 1867).

Wilson 1969: R.G. Wilson, ‘The Aire and Calder Navigation: part III The navigation in the second part of the eighteenth century’, Bradford Antiquary, n.s, 9(44) (1969), 215-45. Parts I & II are Unwin 1964 & Unwin 1967; part IV by R.G. Wilson is ibid. 9(45), 332-69.

Wilkins 1903: Charles Wilkins, History of the iron steel and tinplate and other trades of Wales (Merthyr Tydfil 1903). Now dated, also somewhat romantic. Willan 1962: T.S. Willan, A Tudor Book of Rates (Manchester University Press 1962).

Wilson 1988: Anne Wilson, ‘Excavation of Clydach Ironworks [Gwent]’, Industrial Archaeology Review, 9(1) (1988), 16ff.

Willan 1965: T.S. Willan, The early history of the Don Navigation (Manchester University Press 1965). Including Palmer’s survey of river Don 1722

Wilson 1990: Anne Wilson, ‘The excavation of Clydach Ironworks [Gwent]’, Gwent Local History, 68 (1990), 4-34. Similar to Wilson 1988.

Willan 1980: T.S. Willan, Elizabethan Manchester (Chetham Soc., ser. III, 27, 1980).

Wilson 1996: Ray Wilson, ‘Coaley Mill: corn, cloth, and ironworks’, Gloucs Soc. for Industrial Archaeology J., 1996, 4250.

Willetts 1986: Arthur Willetts, The Black Country Nail Trade (Dudley Libraries 1987; repr. 1996).

Wilton 1989: N. Wilton, Moira Furnace: a guide to its industrial origin (Moira 1989). Pamphlet on sale at the furnace.

Williams 1959: L.J. Williams, ‘A Carmarthenshire ironmaster and the seven years’ war’, Business History, 2 (1959-60), 32-43. Robert Morgan’s furnace products particularly cannon.

Wise & Johnson 1950: M.J. Wise & B.L.C. Johnson, ‘The changing regional pattern during the eighteenth century’ in Kinvig et al. 1950, 161-186.

Williams 1960: L.J. Williams, ‘A Welsh ironworks at the close of the seventeenth century’, National Library of Wales J., 11 (1959-60), 266-74. Machen and Tredegar Works.

Wood 1950: A.C. Wood, ‘History of trade and transport on the river Trent’, Trans. Thoroton Soc. Notts., 54 (1950), 1-45.

Williams 1961: L.J. Williams, ‘The Welsh tinplate trade in the mid eighteenth century’, Economic History Review, ser. II, 13 (1961), 440-9. Robert Morgan’s tinplate trade at Carmarthen.

Wood 1988: Oliver Wood, West Cumberland coal 1600-1982 (Cumb & Westm Antiquarian & Arch. Soc., extra series, 24, 1988). An important study

673

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Woodcroft 1854: Bennet Woodcroft, Chronological index of patents of inventions from 2 March 1617 (14 James I) to October 1 1852 (16 Victoria) (London 1854). Also a similar Alphabetic Index. Woodhead 1965: J.R. Woodhead, The Rulers of London 1660-89: a biographical record of the aldermen and common councilmen of London (London & Middlesex Arch. Soc., London, 1965). Woolley 1992: Dorothy Woolley, ‘Thomas Hill of Tern 16931782’, Archives, 21 (1992), 167-68. Woolrich 1986: A.P. Woolrich, Ferrner’s journal 1759/60: an industrial spy in Bristol and Bath (De Archaeologishe Pers, Eindhoven Netherlands [1986]) Worssam 1964: B.C. Worssam, ‘Iron workings in the Weald clay of the western Weald’, Proceedings Geological Association 75 (1964), 529-546. Yamamoto 2015: Koji Yamamoto, ‘Medicine, metals and empire: the survival of a chymical projector in early eighteenthcentury London’ [Moses Stringer], British J. for the History of Science, 48(4) (2015), 607-37. Yarranton 1677-81: Andrew Yarranton, England’s Improvement by land and sea ... (2 parts, London 1677 and 1681). Yates 1955: E.M. Yates, ‘The iron furnace and forge in Rogate’, Sussex Notes and Queries, 14 ser. 5 & 6 (1955), 82-85. Young 1923: W.A. Young, ‘Works organisation in the seventeenth century’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 4 (1923-4), 73-93. An account of the Crowley factories: superseded by Flinn 1957; 1961; 1962 Young 1935: D.W. Young, ‘History of the Birmingham gun trade’ (M. Comm. dissertation, Birmingham University 1936). Copy in Birmingham Central LSL. Young 1938: W.A. Young, ‘A stock book of 1828 and other finds’, Trans. Newcomen Soc., 18 (1938), 193-203. Young 2007: Brian Young, ‘Iron ore in Cumbria’, in Brooks & Irwin 2007, 5-25. Young 2011a: T.P. Young, ‘Geophysical and topographic survey of Cleobury Park Furnace’, (GeoArch Report, 2011/04), www. geoarch.co.uk Young 2011b: T.P. Young, ‘Evaluation of archeometallurgical residues from New Weir Forge, Herefordshire’ (GeoArch Report 267, 2011/12), www.geoarch.co.uk. Young 2011c: T.P. Young, ‘Analysis of archaeometallurgical residues from Cleobury Park Furnace’, (GeoArch Report 2011/28), www.geoarch.co.uk Young & Poyner 2012: T.P. Young & David Poyner (with others), ‘Two medieval bloomery sites in Shropshire: the adoption of water power for iron smelting’, Hist. Metallurgy, 46(2) (2014 for 2012), 66-77. Young & Hart 2018: Tim Young & Rowena Hart, ‘The refining process, part 1: a review of its origins and development’, Hist. Metallurgy, 50(2) (2018 for 2016), 95-108. Young & Hart 2019: Tim Young & Rowena Hart, ‘The refining process, part 2: new data from Ynysfach Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil’, Hist. Metallurgy 51(1) (2019 for 2017), 34-50.

674

Appendix Patents of Invention The subject of patents is too complicated to include them in the index. Instead this table is provided. The numbers are from the conventional series (Woodcroft 1854). Those without numbers were omitted from that series. Some date from before the Statute of Monopolies, or were granted during the Commonwealth. The status of those without numbers in the 1690s is unclear: one is certainly an omission from Woodcroft’s list; the status of the rest is uncertain and possibly the description of same as patents is mistaken. The first three are not inventions in the normal sense, but licences to establish a new industry by bringing in foreign workers. Locations in square brackets so not refer to gazetteer entries. Page numbers in square brackets lack explicit mention of the patent. The list is inevitably selective, particularly after 1790. A few of the identifications are speculative and marked (?). Date

No

Patentee

Title

Early exploitation

Page

1565 etc

William Humfrey Christopher Shutz (assigned to Company of Mineral and Battery Works)

To mine calamine and make latten, battery ware and wire

Tintern

191, 195, 461-2, 487

1565

Sir Henry Sidney Edmund Roberts Ralph Knight David Willard

Robertsbridge To bring in strangers for making iron Boxhurst and steel Linton

7

1589

Thomas Proctor William Peterson

To make iron and lead with sea-coal Shipley Hurst or turf

133-5

1590

Bevis Bulmer

Slitting mill

Dartford

81, 91

1595

Sir Robert Cecil

Use of coal in iron manufacture

Tanfield

135 133, 476, 513, 522

1607

Robert Chauntrell

Use of coal in iron manufacture

Monmouth Pentyrch (?)

1612

Simon Sturtevant

Use of coal in iron manufacture

None (?)

1613

John Rovenzon

Use of coal in iron manufacture

As patent 18

1614

William Ellyiot Matthias Meysey (assigned to Sir Basil Brooke)

Steel in cementation furnace

Coalbrookdale

86, 283-4, 294, [432]

Clement Dawbeney

Slitting mill

Dartford

81

Robert Fludd John Rochier

steel

[London]

86

18

Edward, Lord Dudley

Smelting iron ore and making cast iron or bar iron with sea-coal in furnaces with bellows

Pensnett Himley Hascod

133, 364

117

Sir George Horsey David Ramsey Roger Foulke Dud Dudley

Making iron into any sort of cast works with sea or pit-coals, peat or [lead near Bristol] only turf, and with the same to make said iron into plate works or bars

Jeremy Buck

Smelting iron with stone-coal

[Forest of Dean]

1618

10

1620 1621

1638 1651 1655

John Copley

Making iron with charked pit-coal

[Kingswood near Bristol]

1662

Sir John Reresby Sir Thomas Strickland (assigned to Charles Tooker)

Making steel

Rotherham

165, 180

Wickham (?)

105

1661

148

William Chamberlayne Tinning iron plates Dud Dudley

675

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Date

No

Patentee

Title

1670-71 161-165

Prince Rupert

Softening cast iron so that it may be Temple Mills filed and wrought like forge iron (Hackney)

1673

171

William Chamberlayne Tinning iron plates

Wickham (?)

1677

198

Frederick De Blewston Smelting iron with pitcoal

[Wednesbury]

1678

207

Thomas Harvey

Engine for drawing Spanish and Swedish iron into all sorts of rounds Crayford for bolts

81-2, 90

1683

229

William Palin William Loggins

Making by millwork tyres for wheels, plates for fenders, half rounds, etc.

Crayford

81-2, 90

Sir Talbot Clerke George Moore

Rasping brazil and other woods for dyestuffs

Temple Mills (Hackney)

97

unknown

1691

Early exploitation

Page 21 105, 361, 366, 395, 490

1691

282

Edmund Hemings

Tinning iron plates

1692

291

Thomas Addison

Use of pit-coal for smelting iron ore, Vauxhall air furnace stone, flags, cinders, old iron and Cleator blast furnace other materials

98, [113], 285-6, 292

1693

Thomas Puckle

Casting great guns in mould of metal [London] (?)

96

1694

Samuel Davis

tinplate

[Mitcham Copper Mill]

1694

Samuel Clark

Black latten and tinned plates according to the German way

Temple Mills (Bisham) 82, 89 (?)

Use of pitcoal in smelting iron

Gwendraeth

287, 369, 552, 556

Vauxhall

98

82

1695

omitted

Thomas Chetle

1697

351

Robert Lydall

Separating silver from lead

1699

356

Thomas Savery

Engine to raise water by fire

1707

380

Abraham Darby I

Casting bellied pots in sand

1718

418

James Puckle

Musket revolver

none

87

Oakamoor, Taplow Lydney

88, 93, 228

3, 289, 300 Cheese Lane (Bristol) 237, 287-8, 292, 532, Coalbrookdale 576, 603

1724

460

Roger Woodhouse (for Thomas Tomkyns)

Rendering cast iron malleable by means of coals without coking

1727

489

Francis Wood

Making iron in reverberatory furnace Bellingham with pitcoal Frizington

118, 331, 342, 605, 613

1727

490

William Fallowfield

Smelting iron ore, and refining and drawing out the same into bar iron with a different fuel

Leek

231

1728

502

William Wood (similar to 489)

Making raw iron, or iron metal prepared in an air furnace with pitcoal immediately from the ore

Frizington

86, 87, 97, 331, 605, 613

1728

505

John Payne

Making pig iron malleable, and drawing the same into bars by the use of the forge hammer

Not used (?)

1736

553

Kingsmill Eyre (similar to 489)

Making raw iron or iron metal from ironstone or ore in air furnaces with Frizington pit-coal

605, 613

Backbarrow Swallwell

4, 588

1738

565

Isaac Wilkinson

Bellows of cast metal for forges, furnaces or any other works (blowing cylinders); also cast iron sad irons

1745

615

Edmund Lee

Fantail for windmills

[Brock Mill]

574

1757

713

Isaac Wilkinson

Machine, or bellows to be wrought by fire or water (blowing cylinders with regulator)

Bersham Dowlais

4, 252, 509

1760

751

Job and William Wyatt

Cutting wood screws with an engine

Tatenhill Hartshorne

217

1761

759

John Wood (replaced by 794)

Making malleable iron from pig or sow metal

Wednesbury Field Forge

7, 290, 331, 342, 605, 609

676

Appendix Date

No

Patentee

Title

Early exploitation

Page

Carron

623

Bringewood (?) Charlcot (?)

4, 419

1762

780

John Roebuck

Making malleable iron from pig or sow metal

1762

783

James Knight

Making and drawing iron and other metals by a new kind of wood bellows

1763

794

John Wood Chas. Wood

Wednesbury Field Making fused or cast and cinder iron Forge malleable with raw pit-coal Low Mill, Egremont (stampering or potting and stamping) Cyfarthfa

7, 290, 331,342, 605, 609

1766

851

Thomas Cranage George Cranage

Making pig iron or cast iron malleable in a reverberatory or air furnace with pit coal only

290, 294, 296, 304

1766

854

John Purnell

Machine for making ship’s bolts Froombridge and round rods, and wire of iron and Ayleford steel

446, 524

1767

880

Alexander Brodie

Fire stoves and registers

307

1769

913

James Watt

Separate condenser for steam engine

1771

988

John Cockshutt

Bloomery for making and refining Wortley iron and other ironmaking processes

1771

1000

James Goodyer

Making steel direct from pig iron

290, 305, 332, 335, 372; also (?) 270, 304 251, 253, 307, 532

Coalbrookdale Bridgnorth

Soho manufactory Soho Works

Guildford (see under Abinger)

156, 332, 350, 408, 573, 578, 629 152 76

1773

1054

John Wright Richard Jesson

Making malleable iron from cast iron … with raw coals or coke, Bromwich without charcoal, granulations, Wrens Nest mixtures of fluxes, or other infusions (stampering or potting and stamping)

1774

1063

John Wilkinson

Casting and boring iron guns and cannon

1780

1263

James Pickard

Machine for forging, rolling, slitting and flatting iron [crank for steam [Birmingham (?)] engine]

1780

1271

Alexander Brodie

Ship stove, kitchen or hearth with smoke jack and iron boilers

1781

1291

Archibald, Earl of Dundonald

Extracting tar, pitch, essential oils, volatile alkali, mineral acids, salts and cinders from pit coal

1781

1298

Jonathan Hornblower

Engine or machine for raising water Bristol: Cheese Lane by fire and steam

532

1783

1351

Henry Cort

Furnace for preparing and welding iron (rolling bars of recycled iron)

Funtley

103

1783

1360

George Matthews

Making cast iron malleable and suitable for making cannon etc.

Calcutts Gloucester Furnace

98

1783

1362

John Bradley of Southwark

Cast iron tuyere fitting into a metal plate

See under Rotherhithe 96

1783

1370

Refining cast or pig iron and Peter Onions of Dowlais converting the same from a fluid state into wrought or bar iron

Pentyrch (?)

290, 509, 521-2

1783

1381

William Forbes

Rolling mill (for copper bolts)

Byfleet

89

Richard Jesson

Making bar iron from cast iron by the use of coals or coke, without charcoal (stampering on poles, without pots)

Bromwich Wrens Nest

295, 335

Funtley Rotherhithe Cyfarthfa

88, 96, 103, 112, 290

Ponthir Rogerstone

524

1783

1396

1784

1420

Henry Cort

Shingling, welding, and manufacturing iron and steel into bars, plates, and rods (puddling and rolling iron)

1786

1536

John Butler

Making bolts and rods of iron, copper, or brass, or from iron shearings

677

Bersham Willey

307 Calcutts

307

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Date 1787

No 1599

Patentee

Title

Early exploitation

Page

Alexander Brodie

Making iron tyres for wheel carriages

Calcutts

307

Froombridge Framilode

446

1787

1608

William Purnell

Preparing, shingling, and welding iron with coal from the ore, or pig or other cast iron by means of a machine

1792

1857

John Wilkinson

Rolling or flattening of iron and other metals by means of steam engines or any other power

Bradley (Staffs)

[353]

1792

1869

Samuel Lucas

Bringing iron one and calx of iron into a metallic state without it becoming fluid

Cleator Steelworks

613

1792

1915

Edward Lucas

Fusing metal ores and calces of metals (to make steel)

Cleator Steelworks

613

1794

1993

John Wilkinson

Making cast metal or pig iron from the ore for the purpose of making it Bersham into bar or malleable iron (allegedly Bradley (Staffs) foundry cupola)

[353]

1798

2244

John Hazledine

Reducing and forming pigs and pieces of iron, copper, brass, and other metals into bars, plates, and hoops

[304]

See under Hampton Loade Forge

1800

2447

David Mushet

Process applicable to the manufacture of metals from the ore into bars, ingots, or otherwise, and to Calder (Scotland) the completion of the various articles usually made of such metals

1807

3061

James Bradly

Hollow bars for fireplaces, boilers furnaces

1810

3326

James Fussell

Making and working forge and other Mells bellows

537

1811

3503

Thomas Pearsall

Constructing iron-work for Buildings (roof of hoop iron plates)

Willsbridge

531

1812

3601

John Bunn

Making rods and hoops from old iron hoops

Weybridge

84, 94

Brockmoor

408

628

See under Rotherhithe 96

1814

3813

George Heywood

Rolling gun barrels

1814

3825

Anthony Hill

Smelting iron (pig iron from cinders) Plymouth Furnace

1815

3944

David Mushet

Manufacturing iron (finers’ iron)

[Forest of Dean]

1816

4067

George Stephenson William Losh

Cast iron rails for railways

Walker

115, 127

1817

4149

John Hawks

Making iron rails for railways

Bedlington, etc.

115, 118

1817

4151

Anthony Hill

Working iron – action of blast on a Plymouth Furnace finely divided, falling stream of iron

511

John Jones Richard Blakemore

Armorphous metal plates

Redbrook Melingriffith

478

John Birkinshaw

Wrought iron rails for railways

Bedlington

115, 118

1818 1820 After 1815

4503

503, 514

340, 346, 351, 394. 579

Sundry patents

678

Index To keep the scale of this index within bounds, items appearing in ‘size’, ‘associations’, ‘trading’ and ‘accounts’ are generally not indexed. This means that this index will not allow a search for all ironworks operating particular processes (if widespread) or the trade in pig iron. Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations. Page numbers in bold refer to the main entry or description. Square brackets contain variant spellings and alternative names, while parentheses contain further qualifying information. Dates not preceded by d. are usually the dates the subject was active. Full life dates are given in some instances. A Abbeydale Works 160, 176 Abbey Hulton ironworks 220, 223 Abbey Tintern Works see Tintern Ironworks and Wireworks Abbey Tintern Wire and Tinplate Co 462 Abbots Bromley see Bromley Forge Abbott, John 358 Abby Mill, West Ham 82, 89 AB Crane 295 Abdon Furnace, Lower Norncott 415, 416, 417 Abenbury Forge, Wrexham 249, 250, 252 Aberaeron Forge 562, 568 Aberavon [Avon] Forge 93, 441, 539, 540, 540, 541, 544, 554 Abercanaid 506 Abercarn: early ironworks 488, 488, 489, 494 Abercarn Company 495, 515, 523 Abercarn Forge (later rolling mill) 514, 516–17, 526 Abercarn Furnace and Forge 488, 508, 513 Abercarn ‘old foundry’ 514, 515, 516–17 Abercarn Osmond Forge 514, 516–17 Abercarn Tinplate Co 517 Abercarn Wire Mill 514, 516–17, 526 Aberdare and Plymouth Co Ltd 507 Aberdare Canal Company 508 Aberdare Company 507 Aberdare Furnace 503, 504, 507 Aberdare Iron Company 510 Aberdour Iron Mill 624, 627 Aberdulais Forge I 539, 540, 541, 542, 545, 547 Aberdulais Lower Works 540, 542 Aberdulais Mill II 541–2 Aberdulais Tinplate Co Ltd 542

Aber Forges 514, 526 Abergavenny, Lord (d.1535) 41, 42 Abergavenny, Lord (d.1587) 38, 39, 40, 67, 69, 75 Abergavenny, Lord (d.1843) 491, 497, 499 Abergavenny and Brecknock Canal see under transport by navigable waterways Abergwython see Abercarn Aberllynfi see Pipton Forge Abernant Furnace 504, 507 Abernant Ironworks 168, 506 Abernethy [Coulnakyle, Strathdown, Strathdovern] Ironworks 617, 618, 618, 619–20 Aberpergwm Ironworks 489, 539, 540, 542 Abinger [Shere] Hammer 58, 64, 76, 78 Achray Forge, Menteith 618, 618, 619 Acklington (Northumb) 228 Acklington Mill 110, 116 Acrefair 259 Acton, Clement 370, 376 Acton, Sir Edward 301 Acton, Walter 299, 301 Acton, William 301 Acton Forge 236, 237, 240 Adams, Benjamin 347 Adams, Charles 350 Adams, James 259 Adams, John 96 Adams, John James 259 Adams, Richard 350 Adams, Thomas 347 Adamson-Butterley Ltd 295 Addenbrooke (family) 296, 356, 371 Addenbrooke, Edward 389 Addenbrooke, Henry 375, 389 Addenbrooke, John (1697) 378

679

Addenbrooke [previously Homfray], John Addenbrooke (d.1837) 356, 371, 378, 380, 389, 390, 392, 408 Addenbrooke, Pidcock & Co 296 Addison, Thomas 98, 286, 603, 607 Addlestone see Coxes Lock Mill Adelphi Co 346 Adelphi steelworks see Birmingham Adelphi Works, Duckmanton 188, 202, 203 Adur, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Adur Catchment 58–9 AGA Foodservice plc 291 Agard, Francis 212 Ainslie, Henry 498, 596 Ainsworth, George 578 Ainsworth and Hayton 254 Aintree Forge 238, 571, 572, 573 Aire, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Aire and Calder Navigation see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) air furnaces see under furnaces Aked, John 155 Akehurst, John 26, 32 Alchorne, Richard 28 Alcon, Richard 28 Aldenham Furnace, at the Hurst 299, 300, 301, 303 Alderton, William 60 Alderwasley Ironworks 188, 190, 191, 203 Aldridge Smithy 328, 343 Alfray, Richard 29 Alfraye, Thomas 29 Alfreton [Riddings] Ironworks 188, 202 Alfreton Wire Mill 188, 191 Alfrey, Thomas 28

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Allan, Alexander 628 Allan, David 628 Allaway (family) 443 Allaway, Partridge and Co 474 Allaway, Thomas 471, 474 Allaway, William 449 Allday, Mr (1827) 338 Allen, Edward 49 Allen, Robinson & Co 115, 121 Allen, Thomas 121, 170, 178 Allender, George 297 Allensford Forge 110, 110, 116 Allensford Furnace 109, 110, 110, 111, 112, 116–17, 133 Alleyne, Abraham 113 Allgood, Davies & Edwards 490 Allgood, Edward 490 Allgood, Thomas 490 Allied Ironfounders Ltd 291, 292 Allingham, Thomas 96 Allinson, Joseph 612; & Co 612 Allinson, Richard, & Co 612 Allinson, Thomas 614 Allsopp, Russell 139, 144, 145, 147 Almond, Richard 207, 214, 223, 319, 323 Alsopp, Roland 196 Amblecote bloomsmithy 367, 379, 405 Amblecote Town Mill see Stourbridge Town Mills Ambler, William 209 Ambrose, John 499 American iron trade and iron production 9, 84, 268, 627 bar iron 81 industry 369 McKinley tariffs 369, 596 pig iron 84, 86, 105, 112, 129, 131, 163, 168, 190, 192, 197, 213, 266, 288, 289, 294, 448, 515, 516, 519, 521, 529, 530, 553, 554, 605, 625, 626 Amery, John 228 Ames, J.H. 533 Amherst, Stephen 95 Amies, Richard 418 Amill, Richard 41 Amsinck, William 90 Anderon [Arderon], George 165, 180, 181 Anderon, John 165 Anderson, James 628 Anderson, Nicholas 165 Andrews, Burrows & Co 151, 152 Andrews, Thomas, I (d.1871) 143, 151 Andrews, Thomas, II (d.1907) 143, 151 Angleton Furnace see Coity Furnace Anglo-American Tin Stamping Co Limited 397 Angrom [Angrome], William 199, 419

Annandale, Peter 126 annealing see under iron production Anstice, William 297 Anthony, John 533 anthracite 545 Antrum, Thomas 92 anvils 5, 166 hammers and 2, 52, 86, 96, 135, 152, 171, 192, 197, 228, 240, 255–6, 257, 278, 376–7, 421, 441, 473, 483, 574, 595, 601, wrought 164, 172, 231, 383, 475 Anwyl, Mr E. 567 Apedale Coal & Iron Co 232 Apedale Furnace 220, 222, 231, 232, 233 Apley Forge see Wrens Nest Forges Appleby, Francis 203 Appleby, Thomas 185, 203 Appleby & Co 203 Apsley (family) 59 Archer (family) 427, 430 Archer, Andrew 430 Archer, Thomas 430, 434 Arderon, George see Anderon, George Ardingley Forge 24, 58, 69 Ardingley Furnace 58, 70 Argoed colliery 500 Argyll, Dukes of 239, 618, 620 Argyll Company 620 Argyll [Craleckan, Goatfield, Inveraray] Furnace 222, 239, 240, 370, 581, 586, 617, 618, 618, 619, 620 Argyll Furnace Company 619 Arkwright, Richard 574 Arley Smithy 572, 577 Armitage (family) 173 Armitage, Charles 172 Armitage, George 172, 204; G. 155 Armitage, George and Charles 172 Armitage, George C. 172 Armitage, James, & Co 147 Armitage, Morgan and Henry 172 Armitage, William (d.1816; elder) 164, 172 Armitage, William (younger) 172 Armitage & Co 179 armour 81 Armoury Mill, The, Greenwich 81, 82, 94 Armstrong, Charles 620 Arnold, Ephraim 20, 34 Arthur, Dr John 141, 144 Arthur, W.T. 518 Arun, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Arun Catchment 60–6 Arundel, Alathea Howard, Countess of 159, 311

680

Arundel, Thomas Howard, Earl of 159, 161, 311 Arundel Street see Sheffield Ash, Martin 187, 188, 194 Ashbourne Catchment 24–8 Ashburner, Thomas 602 Ashburnham, George, 3rd Earl of (d.1820) 124 Ashburnham, John, 1st Earl of (d.1737) 28 Ashburnham, John, 2nd Earl of (d.1812) 24, 53, 113 Ashburnham, John (d.1563) 25 Ashburnham, John (d.1591) 25, 26, 27 Ashburnham, William 47 Ashburnham Furnace, Dallington 16, 21, 22, 24, 25, 77, 112, 113 Ashburnham Lower Forge see Kitchenham Forge Ashburnham Upper Forge 16, 25–6 Ashburton see Ausewell Iron Mill Ashdown Forest 17, 41, 42 Ashford’s Mill 352 Ashley, Anthony, Lord (later Earl of Shaftesbury) 21 Ashmore, Joe 348 Ashpool, Henry 257 Ashton, Josias 181 Ashton, T.S. 1 Ashton le Willows Forge 572, 577 Ashton Mills 536, 537–8 Ashurst, Henry 392 Ashurst [Pilbeams] Forge 16, 35 Ashurst Furnace 16, 35–6 Ashworth (family) 154 Askue, William 344 Asline, Robert 180 Astell 106 Asten Catchment 28–9 Astley, John 579 Astley Forge 428, 435–6, 631 Astley Furnace 366, 415, 421, 424, 427, 428, 429, 434 Aston see Steel’s Mill Aston, Holt Street see Birmingham: Holt Street, Aston Aston, John 429 Aston, W[illiam] 349, 351, 354, 357 Aston (Asson) Forge, Shenstone parish see Little Aston Forge Aston Furnace 3, 207, 208, 209, 328, 328, 329, 330, 331, 333, 337, 338, 345, 351, 365, 370, 631 Aston Junction Forge 297, 328, 347 Astrey, Mr (1692) 558 Atkinson, Mr (c.1780) 491 Atkinson, George 601 Atkinson, James 614 Atkinson, Thomas (1752; Sheffield) 178 Atkinson, Thomas (c.1780; Cumberland) 500, 610

Index Atkinson, Thomas (1800) 499, 500 Atkis, Thomas 270 Atkyns, Agnes 53 Atkyns, Stephen 53 Atlas Works see Hathersage Attercliffe cast steel furnace 160, 179 Attercliffe: crucible furnace 160, 166, 179–80 Attercliffe: steel furnace 160, 165, 168, 179, 180 Attercliffe: steel furnace at Washford Bridge 160, 180 Attercliffe: Upper Hammer see Upper Hammer Attercliffe Forge 86, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 167, 168, 169, 170, 176, 177 Attercliffe Slitting Mill 160, 163, 164, 170, 174 Attwood (family) 358 Attwood, Aaron 412 Attwood, Benjamin 407 Attwood, Benjamin, & Co 407 Attwood, George 346, 380, 381, 382, 412; & Co 381, 412; & Sons 346, 382 Attwood, James 380, 381, 412 Attwood, Joseph 407 Attwood, Matthias [Mathias] 380, 381, 382, 412 Attwood & Co 412 Audley, Lord (d.1560) 219, 231 Audley, Lord (d.1617) 224 Augrove, William 216 Ausewell Iron Mill, Ashburton or Holne 535, 536 Austin, James, and Sons Ltd 155 Austwick, Thomas 85 Avenant, Caleb 424 Avenant, Cornelius 489 Avenant, Richard 226, 368, 374, 375, 376, 384, 385, 388, 392, 393, 394, 396, 401, 416, 424, 430, 439, 445, 447, 468, 469, 472, 475 Avon, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Avon Forge, Port Talbot see Aberavon Forge Avon Mill, Keynsham 286 Awty, Brian 12, 15, 17, 632 Axford (family) 532 Axford, Charles 287, 532 axles 405; see also under railways Aydon, Samuel 157 Ayleford and Bradley Wireworks 440, 444, 446 Aylesbury, Marquesses of 135 Ayloffe, William 34 Aynscombe, Stephen 74 Ayrey, Benjamin 586, 597, 621 Ayrey, John 586; & Co 586, 594

B Babington, Matthew 214 Babington, Urye 519 Bache (family) 405 Bache, Charles 335, 349 Bache, Claud 404 Bache, Henry 404, 405 Bache, T.P. & W. 404, 405 Bache, William 405 Bachelar, Goddard 50 Bachford, George, & Co 97 Backbarrow Company 105, 137, 239, 530, 584–6, 587, 588, 590, 591, 592, 593, 594, 595, 597, 598, 599, 600, 601, 621 Backbarrow Furnace and Forge 4, 254, 255, 581, 582, 583, 584, 586, 587, 588–9, 595 Backhouse, James 585, 596 Bacon, Mr (c.1570) 62 Bacon, Anthony (d.1786; father) 84, 86, 251, 252, 371, 441, 508, 509, 510; & Co 509, 510 Bacon, Anthony (1799; son) 508 Bacon, Thomas (1799; Glamorgan) 508 Bacon, Thomas (1814; West Midlands) 347 Baddeley, Richard 331, 341 Baddy, Owen 249, 256, 264 Baden, Robert 97 Badhurste 26 Bage, Robert 216 Baggeleys Smithy 226 Bagley, Dudley 379, 411, 412 Bagley, John 380 Bagley, Matthew 86 Bagleys Mill 367, 378, 379–80, 405 Bagnall, James 349, 351 Bagnall, John 348, 351 Bagnall, John, & Son 348 Bagnall, John, & Sons 348, 349, 354, 356 Bagnall, Norton & Co 356 Bagnall, Sir Ralph 231 Bagnall, Thomas 348, 351 Bagnall, William 348, 351 Bagot, Stephen 231 Bagshaw, Robert 22 Bagshaw, Samuel 575 Baildon, William 472 Bailey (family) 497, 499 Bailey, Crawshay 87, 497, 557 Bailey, Edward 282 Bailey, John, & Co 334 Bailey, Joseph 180, 497, 499, 508 Bailey, Pegg & Co 88, 410 Bailey, W. (1820–50; West Midlands) 356, 409 Bailey, Ward, & Crawshay 509 Bailey, William (1842; London) 87

681

Bailey [Bayley] & Co 409, 499 Bailey & Pegg 410 Bailey Field, Trippetts Lane see Sheffield Bailiff, Richard 613 Baillie, Pocock, & Co 307 Bainbridgeth, Robert 195 Bainham, Thomas 473 Baird, Hugh 630 Baird, John 630 Baird, Robert 630 Baird, William, & Co 629 Baker, Sir Henry 44 Baker, John (1543; Isenhurst) 56 Baker, Sir John (1544; Cranbrook) 56 Baker, John (d.1555; Withyham) 18, 38, 56 Baker, John (d.1587) 27, 39, 40, 43, 50 Baker, John (1581–1638) 38, 40, 44, 55, 56 Baker, John (d.1688) 40, 55 Baker, John (1690; gunfounder, Weald) 21 Baker, John (c.1720–30; Hartlebury) 423 Baker, Sir Richard 27, 44, 49, 53 Baker, Robert 22, 38, 40, 51 Baker, Samuel 35, 54 Balcarres, Earl of 573, 574, 579 Baldwin, Aston & Co 358 Baldwin, E., P. & W. 373, 388, 401 Baldwin, John 421, 530 Baldwin [Baldwyn], Richard 416; & Co 300, 302, 418, 421 Baldwin, Sir Samuel 434 Baldwin, William 358 Baldwins Ltd 392, 412, 541, 548 Baldwyn (family) 418 Balgonie Iron Co 629 Balgonie Ironworks see Markinch Ironworks Ball, Henry 182 Ball, John 33 Ballard, Richard 43, 45 Ballard, Thomas 47 ballast 11, 33, 39, 84, 86, 87, 97, 101, 104, 142, 156, 158, 202, 441, 509, 516, 529, 548, 605 Ballifield steel furnace 160, 165, 180, 181, 182 Balm Green crucible furnaces see Sheffield Bamford, John 477 Bamford, Thomas 315, 316, 317, 318, 321, 323, 336 Bancks, Allsopp and Fownes 139, 144, 147 Bancks [Banckes], Christopher 307, 413; C. 233

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Bancks [Banckes, Bankes, Banks], John (1660–75) 139, 144, 145 147, 571, 608 Bancks, Richard 413 Bancks, William (1674) 571, 574 Bancks [Banckes, Banks], William (d.1803) 233, 355, 306, 307, 411 Bancks, William (1815–27) 233, 408, 413 Bancks [Banks] & Co 348, 411, 413, 527 Bancks [Banckes, Banks] and Onions 306, 411, 630 Bank Furnace see Nether Bank Furnace; New [Upper] Bank Furnace Banks, Benjamin 606 Banks, John (1660–75) see Bancks, John Banks, John (1776) 608 Banks, Morgan and Banks 389 Banks, Thomas 389, 395 Banks & Morgan 397 Bannister, Hallett, Harrison and Wordsworth 124 Bannister, John 113, 114, 124, 168 Bannister & Co 114, 115, 117 Baptist Mills, Bristol 286, 531 Barantyne, Drewe 70 Barber, Edward 162, 189 Barbor, Robert 317 Barden Furnace and Forge 16, 20, 23, 33, 36, 87, 97 Bardsea see Bardsea Bloomery; Wellhouse Forge Bardsea Bloomery 582, 599 Bardyng, John 69 Bare, Robert 595 Bareports Works see Seaton Ironworks Barham, John (d.1558) 18, 50 Barham, John (d.1583) 45, 48 Barham, John (d.1640) 57 Barham, John (d.1648) 57 Barham, William 57 bar iron see under iron, varieties of Barker (family) 233, 315 Barker, Alexander 629 Barker, Catherine 216 Barker, Edward (1656; Herefordshire) 483 Barker, Edward (1664; Sheffield) 172 Barker, Edward (d.1670; London and Bristol) 93, 532 Barker, Edward (1687) 93 Barker, Edward (c.1800) 215, 216, 322, 324 Barker, Frederick 316, 317 Barker, George 280, 296 Barker, J. (1787) 422 Barker, James (1668) 532 Barker, James (c.1750) 266 Barker, John (d.1783) 211, 216, 255, 311

Barker, John (1815–32) 407 Barker, Joseph (1768; Staffs) 324 Barker, Joseph (1773; Co. Durham) 126 Barker, Robert 571, 574 Barker, Thomas (1728; Wrexham) 255 Barker, Thomas (1744–57; Staffs) 316, 317 Barker, Thomas, II (1778–1810; Staffs) 233, 311, 316, 317, 324 Barker, William (1735–61) 310, 311, 324 Barker, William (1810) 233, 356 Barker & Co 216, 296 Barkfold [Idehurst] Forge 58, 60 Barkfold Furnace 58, 60 Barlow, Francis 165, 173 Barlow, George 553 Barlow, J. & J. 254 Barlow, James 252 Barlow, Thomas 151, 162, 163, 252 Barlow & Sons 252 Barlow Furnace 187, 188, 189, 191, 193, 194, 208, 330 Barnaby, John 498 Barnacre Forge, near Garstang 582, 583, 599 Barnage Forge 152 Barnard, Mr (1807) 232 Barnby [Barneby], Thomas 137, 143, 144, 145, 146, 154 Barnby Furnace 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 144–5, 158, 163 Barnedge Forge 440, 441, 444, 445, 448 Barnefield, Robert 278 Barnes, David 203–4, 629; Co 191 Barnes, Nathaniel 477 Barnes, Richard 180 Barnes, Robert 608 Barnes & Co 203 Barnes & Weir 608 Barnet, Samuel (c.1740–50) 222 Barnet, Thomas 401 Barnett (family) 399 Barnett, John 400 Barnett, Lydia 397 Barnett [Barnet], John 397 Barnett, Samuel (1781–1831) 215, 216, 324, 397, 405, 408; & Co 215 Barnett, Thomas 408 Barnett, William 215, 216, 263, 397 Barnetts Leasow, Broseley 300, 301, 305, 306, 348, 499 Barnfield Mill see Hathersage Barnham, Stephen 43 Barns, Malachi 85 Barnsley 143, 153 Barnsley, William 380 Barnsley Smithy 138, 153 Barraclough, K.C. 181

682

Barrantyne [Barrentyne], Sir William 18, 71 Barras, Jane 114 Barras, William 114 barrel hoops see hoops Barrett, Sir Edward 147 Barrow (family) 199 Barrow, G.H. 199 Barrow, James 444 Barrow, Jonathan 310 Barrow, Thomas 602 Barrow, William 499, 500 Bartell Thomas see Brattle, Thomas Bartholomew, James 105 Bartholomew, John (d.1597) 72 Bartholomew, John (1756) 612 Bartholomew, John (1837) 105 Bartleet, Thomas 405 Bartlett, Walter 64 Bartley, Anthony 70 Barton, Richard 36 Barton Fields Forge 189, 190, 207, 208, 211–12, 217, 330 Basingill Gunpowder Mill 593 Bassett, Walter 232 Bassett, William 35, 38, 39, 73 Bassetts Furnace 16, 38 Batchelor, Humphrey 4 Bate, Samuel 378 Bate, William 304 Bate & Robins 356 Bateman, James 572, 577, 578, 579 Bateman and Sherratt 258, 572, 578, 579 Bathurst, Benjamin 440, 443 Batsford [Clippenham] 16, 26 Batson, William 356 battery ware see brass; copper Batt’s Foundry 131, 132 Bayham Forge 16, 18, 20, 43 Bayley, Rev Weston 246 Bayley & Co see Bailey & Co Baylies, Thomas 237, 240, 245, 288, 293, 576, 613, 619 Bayliffe and Binks 181 Bayliss, William 121 Beach, Leonard, & Warwick 338, 343 Beach, Samuel 338, 343 Beach & Co 343 Beale, Samuel, & Co. 174 Beamish Forges 110, 114, 115, 117 Bean, Arnold 283 Beard, Daniel 73 Bear Garden see Southwark Bearstone Mill [Bierson Forge] 220, 220, 223, 244 Beasley, Benjamin 407 Beasley, Joseph 407 Beast Market steel furnace see Rotherham

Index Beaudesert Furnace 319, 320, 322 Beaufort, Dukes of 442, 447, 460, 462, 463, 464, 470, 475, 487, 491, 496, 497, 498, 499, 500, 505, 532, 543, 544 Beaufort Furnace 240, 491, 497 Beaufort Ironworks 87, 222, 370, 410, 620 Beaulieu Furnace see Sowley Furnace and Forge Beaumont, Sir Richard 137, 145 Beaumont, Sir Thomas 153 Beaumont, T.R. 158 Bebside Mill 110, 114, 115, Beck, Gilbert 90 Beckermet Forge see Holme Forge Beckett, John 530, 584 Beckley, Best & Gibbons 352 Beckley, William, & Co 352 Beckley and Gibbons 352 Beckley [Conster] Furnace and Forge 16, 21, 22, 29, 30 Bedburn Forge 110, 123 Beddall, Humphrey 229 Beddard, James 387 Bedford, John 486, 524, 547, 548, 586, 613 Bedford, Paul 632 Bedford, Thomas, & Co 548 Bedford and Kempster 382 Bedgebury Forge 16, 43–4 Bedgebury Furnace 16, 43–4 Bedlam Furnaces see Madeley Wood Furnaces Bedlington Coal Co 118 Bedlington Iron Co 118 Bedlington Ironworks 110, 111, 114, 115, 117–18 Bedson, Richard 231 Bedson, William 340 Bedwellty Ironworks 488, 489, 494–5, 504 Beech, John 225 Beech, William 63 Beech Furnace 16, 28, 52, 55 Beecroft, George 148, 156 Beecroft, George S. 148 Beecroft and Butlers 143, 156, 203 Beecroft and Heath 148 Beeley Wood Tilt see Nova Scotia Tilt Belbroughton 167 Belbroughton Company 403 Belbroughton Forge 367, 373, 403, 407, 535 Bell, Benjamin 182 Bell, George 121 Bell, Henry 76, 78 Bell, John 126 Bell, Matthew 121 Bell, Richard 607

Bell, Thomas (1796; mid Wales) 566 Bell, Thomas (1809; Yorkshire) 127 Bell Brook 402–5 Bell Brothers Ltd 127 Belle Vale Forge 367, 380–1, 412 Bellingham Ironworks 88, 110, 111, 118, 268 bellows 3, 588 Bells Mill 377 belly helves 5 Belper 167, 190, 197 Benbow, George 281 Benbow, William 413 Benge, William 21, 22, 28, 29, 36, 37, 40, 46, 47, 51, 53, 74 Benhall Forge 16, 20, 44, 45 Bennet, William 356 Bennett, John 91 Bennett, Richard 503 Benthall Furnaces 300, 306 Bentley, Andrew 368, 392, 394 Bentley, Stephen 194 Berck, Mr 90 Berdoe, John 83, 89, 90 Berdoe, Marmaduke 83, 89 Berdoe, Wilkinson & Deacon 81, 83, 89, 90, 91; Berdoe, Wilkinson & Co 90 Berdoe [Berdoes] & Co 83 Beresford, Francis 202 Berisford, Benjamin 232 Berkeley, John 448 Bersham Co 253 Bersham Furnace 4, 249, 250, 250, 251, 252, 253–4, 261, 268, 289, 298, 307, 605 Bertram, William 111, 113, 118, 119 Bessemer process 7, 105, 510, 582, 587 Best, Edward 351, 352 Bestwood Forge see Bulwell Forge Bethell, Hugh 131 Bettesworth, Sir Peter 61, 63 Bettesworth, Thomas 63, 76 Bevan, M. 517 Bevan, W.H. 497 Bevan, William, sen. 547 Bevan, William, jun. 547 Bevan, William, & Sons 547 Betton, James 255 Bewbush Forge see Ifield Forge Bewbush [Ifield] Furnace 58, 66–7 Bewdley 25, 340, 361, 363, 366, 372, 427, 454, 619 Bibleham Forge see Bivelham Forge Bickley, Benjamin 352 Bickley, John 352, 353 Bickley, John Latty 352, 359 Bickley, Sarah 352 Bickley, William 352 Bickley, William Smith 352

683

Bickley & Smith 353 Biddenden Hammer Mill 16, 33, 44, 53 Biddle, Joseph 92 Biddulph (family) 230 Biddulph, John 118 Biddulph and Spence 517 Biddulph [Lee, Lea] Forge 220, 230 Bidston Mills 572, 573 Bierley Ironworks 138, 155 Bierson Forge see Bearstone Mill Biggetts, Thomas 351 Biggin, Thomas 167, 177 Biggs, Thomas 375 Bigland, George 595 Bigland, John 599 Bigrigg mine 603 Bigwell Forge 468, 478 Billingsley, Mr 303 Billingsley Furnaces 300, 306, 354, 393 Bill Mill, near Ross-on-Wye 468, 471 Bilsdale Smithy 129, 130, 131 Bilston Brook Furnaces 328, 352 Bilston [Ettingshall] Furnaces 328, 347, 352, 412 Bilston Mill [Forge] 328, 347, 352 Bingham, Hempson & Co 213 Bingham, John 195, 203 Bingley, William 185 Binks, Benjamin 170 Binks, Booth, and Hartop 186 Binks, George 170 Binks, William 165, 170, 178, 181 Binks & Co 170 Binney, Joshua 177 Birch, A. 632 Birch, Charles 350, 382 Birch, James 507 Birch, Samuel 350, 516 Birch and Hunt 350, 382 Birchden Forge 16, 38 Birchenbridge Forge 58, 60 Birchgrove Steel and Tinplate Co Ltd 546 Bird, Mr (1827) 341 Bird, Benjamin 382 Bird, Edward 153 Birdsell, J. & B. 143, 151 Birds Wharf Furnaces see Millfield Furnaces Birkacre Forge 571, 572, 573–4, 588 Birkett, James 587, 599 Birkett, Miles 586, 587, 590, 594 Birkinshaw, John 115, 118 Birkenshaw Ironworks 138, 143, 155 Birley & Thompson 579 Birley Meadow Wheel and Tilt 160, 176–7 Birmid Industries Ltd 355 Birmid Qualcast 355

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Birmingham 207–9, 332, 333, 345, 346, 349, 362, 373, 572 Birmingham: Adelphi steelworks 328, 346, 380 Birmingham: The Brades Steel Works 328, 347, 350, 382 Birmingham Coal Company 348, 351, 358 Birmingham: Coleshill Street 328, 346 Birmingham Gun Barrel Co 407 Birmingham: Holt Street, Aston 328, 346 Birmingham: Snow Hill 328, 346 Birmingham Town Mill 328, 331, 334, 346 Birmingham: Whittall Lane 328, 346–7 Birmingham Canal Navigation see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Birminghams Aston Furnace see Aston Furnace Bisham Abbey Battery Works see Temple Mills Bishop, Mr (1668) 246 Bishop, John 407 Bishop & Baddily 246 Bishop’s Forge see Dalston Forge Bishopswood and Lydbrook Company 472, 475 Bishopswood Forge 468, 470, 471, 473 Bishopswood Furnace 366, 372, 439, 467, 468, 468, 470, 471–3, 474 Bishton, John 298, 311 Bishton & Onions 295, 298 Bishton brothers 449 Bissell, J.H. 356 Bivelham [Bibleham] Forge 16, 19, 22, 24, 31, 48–9, 53 Black, James 124 Black, Thomas 124 Blackburn [Blackburne], John 571, 574 Blackburn, Jonathan 571, 574 Blackburn Forge [Blackburn Wheel] 160, 167, 177 Blackburn’s Mill 130, 131–2 Black Country 327–410 Blackden [Blagden, Blackdown] Forge 427, 428, 429–30 Blacker, Latham 413 Blacket [Gavis], John 39, 70, 79 Blackett, William 127 Blackfold Furnace 58, 70 Blackfriars, London 82, 94–5 Blackhall Mill 109, 110, 111, 114, 116, 117, 118–19, 126, 167 Blackmore, Richard 557 blackplate see under iron, varieties of Blackpool [Slebech, Sleabatch] Forge 469, 552, 552, 553–4, 555 Blackpool Furnace 551, 552 Blacksmiths’ Company 84

Blackwater Green Forge 58, 67, 68, 69 Blackwell, Jones & Co 411 Blackwell, Margaret 62 Blackwell, Thomas 64 Blackwell Hall 85 blade mills 7, 167, 332, 373 blade sharpening see under iron production Blaenau Gwent 489 Blaenavon Co Ltd 498, 500 Blaenavon Furnace 488, 497–8 Blaenavon Iron & Steel Co Ltd 498 Blaenavon Iron Co 498 Blaenavon Ironworks 322, 324, 379, 401, 491 Blaencanaid Furnace 504, 506 Blaendare Furnace 441, 442, 488, 491, 498 Blagden Forge see Blackden Forge Blair, Alexander 344 Blake, Joseph 183 Blakedown see Blakedown Forges; Springbrook Forges Blakedown Forges 367, 403 Blakedown Stamping Company 405 Blakemore, John 381 Blakemore, Richard 478, 521; & Co 515, 522 Blakeney Furnace (at Nibley) 287, 439, 440, 444, 469, 532 Blakeway, Messrs 404 Blakeway, Edward 279, 307, 353, 510 Blakeway, Roger 270 Blakey, John 606 Blakiston (family) 121 Blakiston, John 120 Blakiston, Sir Ralph [Raph] 110, 120 Blakiston, Roger 120 Blakiston, Sir William 110, 120 Bland, James Timothy 142, 151, 158 Bland, Joseph 130, 142, 151, 158 Bland, William 177 blast furnaces see under furnaces Blaydon Burn: Massey’s Forge 110, 123 Blaynegwent Ironworks 488, 488, 489, 495 Blencarn Forge 604, 611 blend iron see under iron, varieties of Blenkarne, Thomas 131 Blenkinsop [Blenkinsopp], George 119, 126 Bleverhasset [?Blenerhasset], John 65 Blewett, Elias 43 Blewitt, Captain 448 Blind Lane cementation furnaces see Sheffield Blisset, James 500 blister steel see under steel Blists Hill 297 Blonk, Benjamin 179

684

Blonk & Co 179 Blood, Mary 343 Blood, Thomas 343 blooms 3, 4, 5 bloomeries 3 Cumberland, West 603, 611–12 Lancashire 582–3, 599–601 North Yorkshire 131 Sheffield 176 Shropshire 303 Staffordshire 230–1, 325 Stour Valley 405–6 Weald 15, 79–80 West Midlands 343–4 West Yorkshire 137, 153–4 bloomery steel see under steel Blount (family) 415, 416, 417, 421 Blount, Edward (1570) 390 Blount, (Sir) Edward (d.1758) 418, 421 Blount, Sir Edward (1821) 421 Blount, Sir George 422, 424, 429 Blount, James 421 Blount, Richard 61 Blount, Robert 61 Blount, W. 298 Blount, Sir Walter (c. 1630) 366, 377, 421, 424 Blount, Sir Walter (d.1785) 421 Blount, Sir Walter (d.1803) 418, 421, 422 Blowers Green Furnace, Netherton 362, 410 blowing cylinders 4 Blue Circle 355 Blurton, John 473 Blyth, W.W. 351 Board of Ordnance see Ordnance Board Bodaker, William 89 Bodfari Forge 222, 225, 236, 237, 239, 255, 561, 562–3, 562 Bodidris Forge 250, 257 Boevey (family) 440 Boevey [Boovey], Katherine 445 Boevey, Thomas 445 Boevey, William 445 bog iron ore 617, 618 Bogle, George 627 Bold, Peter 576 Bolden 94 Boleyn, Sir James 56 Boleyn, Thomas 41 Bolton, Craven Smithy 134, 135; see also Smithel’s Forge Bolton, Thomas 356, 392, 393, 394, 399 bolts 88, 89, 90, 96, 305 Bonawe Furnace see Lorn Furnace Bontwynog Forge see Borthwnog Forge Boock, John Henry 606 Booker, Thomas W. 521; & Co Ltd 521, 522

Index Boone, Charles 113 Booth, Abram 185 Booth, John 164, 170, 173, 181 Booth, Lawrence 238 Booth, William (d.1624) 311 Booth, William (1784; Sheffield) 177 Booth, William (1815; Cheshire) 247 Booth & Co 164, 186 Boraston Hammermill 416, 418, 425 Bordesley Steel Company 338 Bordley, Agnes 585, 596 boring mills 7, 332; see also gunfounding; guns (muskets/pistols) Boring Wheel Mill see Maresfield Borrowash Mill 190, 208, 211, 212 Borthwnog [Bontwynog] Forge 561, 562, 563 Bosevile, Thomas 161, 171, 173 boshes 4 Botfield, Beriah (d.1813) 297, 422, 426 Botfield, Beriah, III (1856) 297 Botfield, Thomas (d.1801) 297, 417, 422; & Co 425 Botfield, Thomas (d.1843) 297, 422 Botfield, William 297, 422 Botfield & Co 422, 423 Botham, Samuel 449 Botlingwood [Bottlingwood] Forge 571, 572, 577, 587, 602 Bottinge, Henry 36 Bottinge, Hugh 36 Bough Beech Forge/Furnace see Chiddingstone Forge/Furnace Boulder Clough, Sowerby see Swamp Mills Bouldon Furnace 267, 415, 416, 416, 417, 418 , 421, 422, 425 Boulsover, Thomas 167, 168, 177, 178 Boulter’s Mill 93 Boulton, C.F.N. 403 Boulton, F.J. 379, 403 Boulton, Matthew (d.1759) 346, 349 Boulton, Matthew (d.1809) 216, 346, 349, 350; see also Boulton & Fothergill; Boulton & Watt Boulton & Fothergill 178, 339, 350, 631 Boulton & Watt 127, 185, 186, 251, 253, 258, 297, 305, 346, 349, 353, 355, 408, 578, 599; see also Watt, James Bourne, George 225 Bourne, Henry (1742; Staffs) 323, 331, 335; (1760s–80s; Kent) 30 Bourne, Herbert Dudley 357 Bourne, James (1742; West Midlands) 323, 331, 335, 341; (1768–87; Sussex) 51, 53, 56, 57; Bourne, James (1820; West Midlands) 357 Bourne, John 243 Bourne, Thomas 243

Bourne & Co 23 Bourne and Rigby 243 Bournemill Furnace see Vauxhall Furnace Bowden, John 173, 175 Bowden, Muriel 538 Bowden, Richard 538 Bowen, Thomas 87 Bowen, William 23, 33, 36, 87, 97, 98 Bower, John 594 Bower Forge 16, 36 Bowes, Joseph 607 Bowes, Sir William 122, 123, 200 Bowles, William 443 Bowser, George 96, 507, 508 Bowyer, Denise 41 Bowyer, Frances 36 Bowyer, Henry (d.1589) 38, 41, 42, 59, 68, 75 Bowyer, Sir Henry (d.1606) 38, 68, 69 Bowyer, Simon 59, 60, 66 Bowyer, William 36, 69 Bowzer, Overton, and Oliver 508 Box, Godfrey 81, 90 Boxhurst Steelworks 7, 16, 80 Bowling Ironworks 138, 143, 155, 156 Boycott, Francis 241 Boycott, Silvanus 285, 292 Boycott, William (1620s–50s) 139, 264, 269, 299, 302, 415; Mr (1624) 312 Boycott, William (1702) 241, 242 Boycott & Co 267, 269, 270, 271, 273, 274, 276, 285, 300, 366, 372, 415, 416 Boycott and Fownes 267, 271 Boydell, James 389 Boyd River Furnace see Redfield Furnace Boyle, Richard see Cork, Earl of Boyle, Sir Robert 537 boyts 5 Bradburne, Randle 345, 403 Bradburne, Samuel 345, 403 Brades and Nash Tyzack Ltd 379 Brades Nash Industries 347 Brades Steel Works, The see Birmingham Bradford, Lord 346 Bradford Lime Company 157 Bradley, Andrew 565 Bradley, Ensells and Holt 409 Bradley [Bradly], James 96 Bradley, John 95, 378, 383, 384, 404, 405, 408; & Co 304, 305, 378, 379, 383, 408, 409, 411; & Son 96 Bradley, John, Rolling Mills 409 Bradley, Joshua 378, 396; & Co 396 Bradley, Nicholas 154 Bradley, Richard 96 Bradley, Samuel 405

685

Bradley, T & I 354 Bradley, T & I, & Sons Ltd 354 Bradley, Thomas (1553) 405 Bradley, Thomas (1680s) 398 Bradley and Foster Ltd 354 Bradley Forge (Gloucestershire) 452, 455 Bradley Forge (Lancashire) 571, 572, 574 Bradley Ironworks 251, 298, 301, 307, 328, 331, 352–3, 372 Bradley Wireworks see Ayleford and Bradley Wireworks Bradshaigh, Sir Roger 574 Bradshaughe, Exuperius 196 Bradshaw, Henry 317 Braine, John see Brayne, John braises 5 Braithwaite, Gawen [Gavin] 591, 600, 603, 612 Braithwaite, Henry 612 Braithwaite, Joseph 612 Braithwaite, Thomas 600, 612 Braithwaite, William 591, 600, 612 Bramah & Co 355 Brambletye Forge 16, 38, 67, 90 Bramhall, Ed. 179 Brampton 200 Bramshott Hammer 58, 63, 76 Brandon, Edward 90 Branford Forge see Bromford Forge, Erdington Branthwaite, Richard 497, 500 Branthwaite Forge 604, 611 brass 82, 83, 86, 89, 92, 282, 286–287, 321, 428, 529; see also Bristol Brass and Battery Company; Company (Governor &) of Mineral and Battery Works; Woolwich: Royal Brass Foundry Brattle, John 47 Brattle, Thomas 47 Bray 17, 18 Bray, Edward 79 Bray, Lady Jane 78, 79 Bray, Owen 76 Brayne, Mr (1677) 448 Brayne [Braine], John 439, 447, 448, 456, 474, 475, 478 Brayne, Samuel 277 Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal Company 497 Brecon Furnace (later Forge) 441, 481, 482, 482–3, 484, 491, 515 Brede, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Brede and Tillingham Catchments 29–31 Brede Furnace and Forge 16, 21, 22, 29–30

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Breecher, Robert 40, 44 Breechers [Marriotts Croft] Forge 16, 44–5, 46 Brenchley Furnace see Horsmonden Furnace Brent 535 Bretland, Thomas 200 Brettell, Mr (1730) 561 Brettell, John 563, 564, 566 Brettell, Thomas 382 Brettle, John 556 Brettle Lane Ironfoundry 367, 408, 409–10, 498 Bretton, Nicholas 216 Bretton Furnace 138, 141, 142, 145, 147, 163, 168, 175, 182, 238, 239 Brewer, George 524 Brewood Lower [Brewood Park; Coven] Forge 315, 316, 316–17, 318, 320, 321, 323, 365 Brewood Upper Forge 233, 315, 316, 317, 318, 321, 323, 365 Brewster, Richard 391 Brickweir Furnace see Coed Ithel Furnace Bridge, Edward 239, 561, 562, 563, 564, 565–6, 620 Bridge, William 239, 561, 562, 563, 564, 565–6, 620 Bridgeman, Sir Henry 345 Bridgfoot Forges 588, 604, 612, 614 Bridgnorth Forge 290, 300, 301, 304 Bridgnorth Foundry see Hampton Loade Forge Brierley Ironworks, Coseley 307, 328, 347–8 Brierley Hill Furnace 362, 410–11, 412 Brierley Hill Ironworks 88, 362, 408, 410 Brierley Ironworks 362, 411 Briggs, Mr (1850) 557 Briggs, Sir Humphrey 417 Briggs, Priscilla 309 Briggs, S.S. 610 Briggs, Thomas 462 Brigham Forge, Keswick 604, 605, 606 Brighouse 143 Bright, Richard 533 Bright, Thomas 557 Brightling Forge see Glazier’s Forge Brightmore, Robert 184 Brightmore, William 184 Brightside Forges 160, 164, 166, 170, 178, 186 Brimham Furnace 133–4, 134, 135 Brindley [Brinley], Hester 392 Brindley [Brinley], John 321, 392 Brindley [Brinley; Brynley], Richard 299, 302, 366, 392 Brindley [Brinley], Thomas 392

Bringewood Furnace and Forge 216, 263, 275, 279, 369, 370, 372, 376, 415, 416, 416, 417, 418–20, 426, 485 Bringewood rolling mill (1740) 85, 416, 418–20 Bringewood tinmill 399, 416, 418–20 Brinklaw Forge see Henly Forge Brinley, George see Brynley, George Brinley, Hester see Brindley, Hester Brinley, John see Brindley, John Brinley, Richard see Brindley, Richard Brinley, Thomas see Brindley, Thomas Briscoe, Mrs 387 Briscoe, George 378, 380, 386, 387 Bristol 321, 369, 529–34, 619; see also Baptist Mills; Clifton Bristol Brass and Battery Company 92; Company of Wiredrawers 89; Wire Company 515 Bristol Co (Virginia) 515 Bristow, Joseph (d.1677; father) 228 Bristow, Joseph, II (1680s; son) 228 Bristow, Joseph, and Son 228 Brit, James 324 Brit, John, 324 Brit, Lewis 324 Britannia Works, The see Caerleon Forge British Alcan 523, 525 British Iron Co 259, 381, 408, 411, 412 British Iron Trade Association 369 British Steel Corporation 388, 401, 499, 541, 628 British Tar Company 629 Brittain, George 182 Broadbent (family) 166 Broadbent, Joseph 142, 151, 168, 177, 183, 185 Broadbent, Nicholas 168 Broadbent, Sarah 142, 166 Broadbent, Thomas 142, 168, 177, 184 Broadbridge, John 65 Broade, Francis see Stanier, Francis Broadhurst Furnace 16, 49 broad iron see under iron, varieties of Broadwaters Lower Forge 362, 373, 389–90, 406, 527 Broadwaters Slitting Mill [Middle Forge] 367, 390 Broadwaters Upper Forge [Podmores Forge] 362, 373, 390–1, 405, 527 Brock, Richard 574 Brocklebank, William 575, 576 Brockman, John 131 Brock Mill 571, 572, 572, 574, 579 Brockmoor see Brockmoor Ironworks; Bromley Ironworks; Cookley Works Brockmoor Colliery 411 Brockmoor Ironworks 362, 408 Brocksopp, John 203 Brockweir Furnace see Coed Ithel Furnace

686

Brode, Edmond [Edmund] 488, 489, 493, 513 Brodeley, Nicholas 154 Brodie, Alexander 307 Brokebank, William 133 Brokeslaw Forge see Henly Forge Bromfield, Arthur 103, 105 Bromford Forge, Erdington 207, 208, 209, 327, 328, 328, 329, 330, 331, 333, 334–5, 337, 338, 353, 364, 370, 410, 631 Bromford Iron and Steel Co 348 Bromford Iron & Steel Co Ltd 348 Bromford Iron Co Ltd 348 Bromford Mill, Oldbury 328, 335, 348 Bromley Forge, Abbots Bromley (Staffs) 223, 235, 319, 320, 322, 323 Bromley [Brockmoor] Ironworks, Brierley Hill 362, 408 Bromleys Forge (Shropshire) 261, 262, 263, 275, 279, 283, 284, 415, 454 Bromsgrove 363 Bromwich Forge, West Bromwich 207, 323, 328, 330, 331, 335, 344 Brook, Thomas 436 Brooke (family) 294 Brooke, Sir Basil 86, 261, 263, 268, 283–5, 294, 415, 424, 452, 453, 454, 455, 457, 461, 462, 520, 551, 632 Brooke, Charles 146 Brooke, John (1579) 283 Brooke [Brookes], John (1750) 146, 148 Brooke, Thomas 285 Brooke and Nowell 155 Brooker & Hodgetts 258 Brookes (1927) 172 Brookes, John (1768) 184 Brookfield, George 173 Brookland Forge 16, 18, 45, 48, 57 Brooks, Ebenezer 184 Brooks, John (1830) 184 Brookshaw, John 245 Brookshaw, Thomas 245 Broomfield, Edward 26 Broomfield, Little Sheffield see Sheffield Broomhead, Samuel 167, 178, 179 Broseley 299–307 Broseley Bottom Coal Furnace see Coneybury Broseley Furnace 300, 306 Brougham Forge 583, 604, 611 Broughton, Edward 421 Broughton, Robert 150 Brown, Mr (1790) 92 Brown, Charles 526 Brown, Copley 462 Brown, J. 462, 463 Brown, John (1775; Cumberland) 608 Brown, John (1810–15; Monmouthshire) 499, 526 Brown, Joseph 526

Index Brown, Lenox & Co 507 Brown, Samuel 507 Brown, William 384, 410 Brown, William Sharp 462 Browne (family) 20 Browne, Ambrose 43 Browne, Anthony (d.1548) 43 Browne, Anthony, Viscount Montague (d.1592) see Montague, Anthony Browne, Viscount Browne, George 20, 21, 25, 33, 36, 37, 40, 43, 44, 47, 53, 66, 77 Browne, James 533 Browne, John (d.1651; Weald & Dartford; gunfounder) 20, 31, 33, 36, 37, 43, 47, 91, 456 Browne, John (d.1673; Shropshire) 275, 278, 279, 281 Browne, John (1650s–77; Weald; father) 20, 21, 30, 38, 40, 47, 53 Browne, John (1668–93; Weald; son) 30, 47 Browne, Lucy, Lady 43 Browne, Mary 21 Browne, Robert 225 Browne, Samuel 269 Browne, Thomas 20, 34, 35, 36, 47 Browne, William (1670s) 279, 281 Browne, William, sen. (1714) 533 Browne and Gibson 533 Browning, Thomas 444 Browning, William 290 Brownrigg, William 508 Broxholme, William 65 Bryant (family) 548 Brymbo Furnace 4, 250, 252, 253, 258–9, 291, 307 Brymbo Iron Company 259 Brymbo Steel Company Ltd 259 Brymbo Steel Works Ltd 259 Bryn Coch Furnace 514, 532, 539, 540, 542–3 Brynley [Brinley], George 321, 365, 392, 530 Brynley, Richard see Brindley, Richard Buccleuch, Dukes of 606 Buchanan, George 627 Buck, Thomas 183 Buckholt Forge and Furnace 16, 28 Buckhurst, Lord 40, 41, 70, 74 Buckingham, Duke of (d.1687) 130 Buckland, William 613 Buckle, George 621 Buckle, John, & Son 530 Bucklebury Foundry 82, 95 Buckley, James 229 Bucknall Ironworks 220, 231 Budd, John 240 Budgen, Thomas 68 Bugsell Forge 16, 49

Bullen, George 41 bullet iron see under iron, varieties of: double bullet Bullock, William and family 172 Bulman, Robert 127 Bulmer, Bevis 81, 91 Bulmer, J.P. 127 Bulmer & Co 127 Bulwell Forge [Bestwood Forge] 187, 188, 188, 189, 190, 191–2, 197, 207, 208, 209 Bunce, Jonathan 561, 566 Bungehurst Furnace 16, 49–50 Bunklaw Forge see Henly Forge Bunn, John 84, 88, 90, 91, 94; & Co 84, 93, 94 Bunn, T.B. & Hatton, William 384 Burblethwaite Forge 582, 584, 587, 599 Burdett (family) 214 Burges, Robert 532 Burgess, William 91 Burgh, C.H. 500 Burgh, Henry 516, 517 Burgh, Lady Katherine 37 Burgh, Thomas see Burre, Thomas Burgham, Thomas 479 Burgham Furnace see Darfold Furnace Burgh Forge 571, 572, 573–4 Burgh Wood [Kitchingham] Forge 16, 50 Burhamfold 60 Burley, Nicholas 140, 146, 151 Burn, David 119 Burnbarrow Forge 582, 583, 595, 599 Burndred, Thomas 224 Burndred and Berrisford 232 Burnham 60 Burningfold Forge & Furnace, Dunsfold 58, 59, 60, 66 Burns, James 628 Burr, Alfred 407 Burr, John 382, 407 Burr, Joseph 382 Burre [Burgh], Thomas 37 Burrell, James 76, 78 Burrell, John 68 Burrell, Ninian 27, 71 Burrell, Thomas 68, 69, 76, 78 Burrell, Walter 66, 68, 76, 78 Burrow, Mr (1794) 577 Burrows, John 151 Burrows, Samuel 151 20 Burr Street, London 82, 94 Bursledon 101, 102, 103, 105 Burslem, William 222, 225, 562, 563 Burton 299, 303 Burton, Francis & James Ferne 255 Burton, John (1753) 173 Burton, John (1823) 259 Burton Boat Company 212, 331

687

Burton Forge (Staffs) 208, 210, 212–13, 215, 331 Burton Forge (Sussex) 58, 61 Burton on Trent 210 Burtree Ford Mill 110, 123–4 Burwash [Collins] Forge 16, 21, 24, 50, 57 Busbridge, John 49, 52, 57 Busbridge, William 49 Bush, Robert 533 Bustleholme Slitting Mill 208, 328, 329, 330, 335–6, 631 Busy Cottage, Jesmond 110, 111, 119, 124 Bute, Earl of 519 Bute, Marquis of 508 Bute works 499 Butler (family; Kirkstall) 143, 148 Butler, Mr (d.1775) 60 Butler, John (1762; Sussex) 62 Butler, John (1799; W. Yorks) 147, 148, 156 Butler, John (d.1808; Newport) 523, 524, 525, 526, 527 Butler, Joseph (1781; father) 200 Butler, Joseph (1785–1816; son) 200, 201 Butler, Robert 244 Butler, Thomas 156 Butten, Edward 32 Butten, John 32 Butterley Company 115, 202, 217, 233 Butterley Ironworks 188, 202 Button, John 114, 115, 125, 607 Button, Joseph 113, 124, 607 Button, Thomas 124 Buxted 17, 18; see also Howbourne Forge; Little Forge; Queenstock Furnace & Forge Byass, Robert B. 541; & Co Ltd 541 Bye Mills, Stanton Drew 93, 530, 532–3 Byfleet Mill 81, 82, 83, 89–90, 92 Byrkeknott Bloomery see Kyrkeknott Bloomery Byron (family) 189 Byron, Lord 192 Byron, John 192, 207 Byron, Sir William 216

C Caddick, Bailey 355; & Co 355 Caddick, Thomas 389 Cadell (family) 624 Cadell, William, sen. 625, 628 Cadell, Willian, jun. 624, 625 Cadell, William, & Son 623 Cadell & Co 628 Cadman, Peter 184; & Son 184 Caerleon Forge 441, 500, 514, 515, 516, 517–18, 523, 531

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Caerleon Plate Mills see Ponthir Works Caerleon Tinplate & Engineering Works 518 Caerleon Tinplate Co 518 Caerleon Wire Work Company 518 Caerleon Works Ltd 518 Caerphilly Furnace 514, 514, 515, 516, 518–19, 520, 524, 525 Caerwys Wire Mill see Wheeler Wire Mill, Caerwys Caesar, Elizabeth 26 Cage, Edward 135 Caigheym, James 27 calamine 286 calcining see under iron production Calcutts Furnaces [Jackfield] 300, 306–7 Caldbroke Smithy 294, 299 Caldecott, Richard 452 Calder, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Calder and Hebble Navigation see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Calder Furnace 138, 143, 148, 155, 156 Calder Ironworks 624, 628 Caldwall, William 183 Calehof, Gaspar see Kaltoff, Gaspar Calke Furnace see Staunton Harold Ironworks Calley [Cawley], John 3, 330 Calor Gas 542 Calow Ironworks 188, 202 Calton, Richard 200 Calves Heath 328, 348 Cambrian Copper Works 543 Cambrian Pottery 543 Cambrian Rolling Mill 540, 543 Cambridge Mill 440, 449 Camm, James 177, 182, 184 Camm, Michael 155 Camm & Co 178 Campbell, Daniel 620 Campbell, Sir Duncan 618, 620, 621 Canal Acts 487 canals see under transport by navigable waterways Canckwood Forge 215, 233, 235, 239, 240, 243, 319, 320, 320, 322–3, 324 Canckwood Lower Forge see Rugeley Slitting Mill Canckwood Slitting Mill 320 Canister Works 546 Cannell, J.F. 579 Cannock Chase 81, 207, 221, 222, 235, 301, 315, 319–25 Cannock Forge see Canckwood Forge Cannock Furnace 320, 321, 323 Cannock Furnace, Cannock 320, 323–4

Cannock New [Upper Furnace] see Cannock Furnace Cannock Old [Lower] Furnace 320, 322, 323 Cannock Wood Upper Forge see Canckwood Forge cannons see gunfounding Cannop Furnace 452, 452, 453, 456 Canobie Ironworks 603, 604, 606–7, 623 Cansiron Catchment see Kent Water and Cansiron Catchment Cansiron Forge 16, 36 Cantrell, Robert 522 Caponfields [Capponfields] Furnaces 328, 332, 353–4, 355 Cappoquin Furnace 454, 537 Carburton Forge 141, 163, 187, 188, 189, 190, 192–3, 194, 208, 221, 330, 416 Cardiff Forge 514, 515, 519 Cardiff Furnace see Pentyrch Ironworks II furnace Cardiff rolling mill 514, 526 Careswell, Eliezer 309 Careswell, John 309 Carey Forge 467, 468, 470, 473, 480 Carill, John 41 Cark Forge 582, 586, 589–90 Carless [Carles], Joseph 346, 348 Carmarthen Iron and Tin Works 552, 553, 554–5, 557 Carn Furnace 504, 507–8 Carpenter, John 45, 46, 48 Carpenter, William 454 Carr, Elizabeth 183 Carr, George 183 Carr, James 183 Carr, Ralph 115 Carr, William 172 Carr, William Cochrane 123 Carrill [Carrell], Edward see Caryll, Sir Edward Carrill, John see Caryll, Sir John Carr Mill 238, 239, 296, 571, 572, 572, 573, 575, 576, 577, 584 Carron Company 23, 181, 623, 624, 625 Carron Ironworks 4, 623, 624–5 Cartmel Forge 582, 588, 599–600 Caryll (family) 59 Caryll [Carrill, Carrell], Sir Edward 59, 60, 63, 64, 65, 66 Caryll [Carrill], Sir John 60, 65 Caryll, Sir Thomas 59 Casamajor, Lewis 529 Cassett Wood [Catherton Furnace] 415, 416, 420 cast iron see under iron, varieties of Castle Donnington see Donnington Forge; Kings Mills Castle Fold see Sheffield

688

Castle Green see Sheffield cast steel see under steel Caswell, Eleanor see White, Eleanor Caswell, Jeremiah 271, 272, 375, 392 Caswell, Samuel 401 Caswell & Gibbons 272 Catchmay, John 461 Catchmaye (family) 465 Catchmaye [Catchmay], George 461, 472, 489, 513, 520, 524 Catchmaye, Sir Richard 466 Catchmaye [Catchmay], William 489 Cathcart, Earls of 623, 627 Catherton Furnace see Cassett Wood Caton Forge 582, 583, 586, 587, 590, 599 Caton Forge Company 590 Catsfield see Catsfield Furnace; Potmans Forge Catsfield Furnace 16, 28 Cattell, Charles 399 Catton, William 139, 311 Caughley see Inett Smithy Caughley Wood Smithy 300, 301–2 Caulfield, John see Eversfield, John Caus Ironworks 261, 262, 263 Cave, Zachariah 92 Cavendish, Thomas 483 Cavill, Edward 66 Cawarden, Sir Thomas 47 Cawley, John see Calley, John Cawthorne 138, 153 Caynton Company 275, 276, 277, 291, 296 Caynton Forge [Caynton New Mill] 275, 276, 276, 277–8, 280, 281 Cecil, Sir Robert 133, 135 Cefn Cribwr [Kevan] Furnace 540, 548 Cefn Iron Company 548 cementation process 118, 119, 165, 179, 182, 184, 201, 284, 286; see also steel: blister steel Chaddesley Corbett see Hillpool Forge Chaddesley Manufacturing Co Ltd 392 Chaddesley Park 373 Chadwick (family) 571, 574 Chadwick, John 561, 565, 571, 573 Chadwick, Thomas 565, 571, 573, 577, 596 chafery see under hearths Chaldecott, Richard 283 Challenor, Edmund 489 Challenor [Chalenor], Francis 42, 69, 70, 75 Challenor [Challoner], John (d.1607) 461, 471, 472, 474, 487, 488, 489, 494, 496, 513; & Co 513, 520, 524, 539, 542, 558 Challenor, John (1627) 558 Challenor [Chaloner], Ninian 67, 69, 70, 71, 75

Index Challenor [Challoner], Richard 452, 453, 461, 472, 473, 474, 494, 496, 520 Challenor, Robert 539, 542, 545, 546 Challenor [Challoner], William 461, 472, 489, 494, 496, 513, 520, 524 Challenor & Co 489 Chamberlain, John (1630s) 101, 104, 105 Chamberlain, John (1715) 288 Chamberlain [Chamberlaine, Chamberlayne], William 105, 366 Chambers, John 255 Chambers, Richard 114, 124 Chambers, Reuben 255 Chambers, Thomas 178 Chambers, William 255 Chamley, Francis 601 Champayne, Norten 93 Champayne [Champaigne] & Tull 83, 93 Champion, Henry 76 Champion, John 399 Champion, Nehemiah 530, 584 Champion, Richard 288 Chantrell, Robert 133 Chantry see Stoney Lane Ironworks Chapman, John 352 Chapman, William 336 Chappel Furnace, Chapletown 141, 143, 158, 160, 161, 162, 163, 170–1, 174, 176, 185, 186 Chappell, Henry Pegg 87 charcoal 1, 4, 5, 6, 8–9 charcoal ironworks Cardiff and Newport 516–26 Carmarthenshire 553–9 Cheshire 240–7 Clee Hills 417–25 Cumberland, West 603, 606–11 Derbyshire & Notthinghamshire 181–201 Glamorgan, Northern 505–6 Hampshire 102, 103 Lancashire 573–7, 581, 588–99 Montgomeryshire and the Border 263–6 Northeast 109–11, 115, 116–23 Northern West Riding 133–5 North Monmouthshire 494–6 North Yorkshire 129–31 Pembrokeshire 553–9 Scotland 624–7 Severn Estuary 442–8 Sheffield 169–76 Shropshire 269–74, 277–82, 301–3, 309–12 South Midlands 429–35 Staffordshire 211–16, 223–30, 323–4 Stour Valley 361, 374–9, 384–8

Weald 19 West Midlands 333–43 West Yorkshire 137, 143–53 Wrexham and Flintshire 252–7 Wye Valley 482–6 Charcoal Iron Company Limited 587, 588 Charcot Furnace 372 Charlcot [Charlcotte] Furnace 4, 370, 372, 416, 416, 417, 420–1, 423, 425 Charles I, King 97, 452 Charlton (family) 275, 281 Charlton, Francis 281 Charlton, John 281, 285 Charlton, Marina 126 Chartley Forge 219, 220, 220, 223–4, 228, 239, 323 Chauncy, C.S. 422 Chauntrell, Robert 475, 513 Cheadle Company 255, 578 Chebsey see Norton Bridge Forge Cheese Lane Foundry, Bristol 287, 530, 531–2 Cheeseman, Neville 59 Cheeseman, William 59, 75 Cheney (family) 30 Cheney, Pelham 26 Chepstow 530, 619 Cheshire 235–47 Cheshire, John 324 Cheshire, Manners & Co 322 Cheshire Coldshort see under iron, varieties of Cheshire Ironmasters [Cheshire Partnership] 101, 102, 113, 220, 221–2, 223, 225, 227, 228, 229, 230, 235–9, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 275, 276, 309, 322, 323, 370, 561, 562, 563, 571, 572, 575, 581, 584, 585, 591, 592, 619, 620 Cheshire Ironworks [Works] 140, 222, 226, 228, 235, 236, 238, 241, 244, 322, 603 Cheslyn Hay [Whitnall] Furnace 327, 328, 336, 351 Chester 109 Chesterfield see Griffin Foundry, Little Brampton Chesterfield Canal see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Chester le Street 109; see also Whitehill Furnace Chester Moor 110, 119 Chetle (family) 552, 553 Chetle, Peter 285, 287, 369, 551–2, 556, 557, 558 Chetle, Thomas 287, 369, 551, 552, 556, 558 Chetwynd (family) 221, 321 Chetwynd, Lord 226

689

Chetwynd, John 282, 376 Chetwynd, Richard 223 Chetwynd, Thomas 81, 207, 214, 223, 315, 316, 317, 319, 320, 321, 323, 342, 376, 608 Chetwynd, Walter 219, 224, 225, 227, 230, 235, 244, 245, 321, 322, 324, 342 Chetwynd, William 220, 223, 224, 225, 230, 235, 245, 321 Chicheley, Sir Thomas 21 Chiddingfold see West End Furnace Chiddingly see Stream Furnace and Forge Chiddingstone [Bough Beech] Forge 16, 33–4 Chiddingstone [Bough Beech] Furnace 16, 20, 34 Chifney, Barker Barber 349 Child, Robert 606 Child, William 368 Childe (family) 421, 422 Child’s Ercall 281 Chillington Iron Co 356 Chillington Works 356 Chingley 16 Chingley Forge 16, 22, 45, 57 Chingley Furnace 16, 45–6 Chirk Furnace see Ifton Furnace Chithurst [Iping] Forge 58, 61, 63 Chittingly Furnace 58, 70 Chivers, Jacob 557 Chivers, Thomas 557 Chivers & Son 557 Cholmondeley, Charles 237, 243, 245, 246, 288, 576 Choone [Chowne], Mr 32 Chorley, Alexander 576 Chowne, Bray 66 Christioneth [Cystionydd] Kendrick 255 Christopher, Ann 404, 405 Christopher, John 404, 405 Christopher, William 404, 405 Churchill see Churchill Forge; Stakenbridge Forge Churchill, John 8, 23, 51, 56, 57, 215, 323, 331, 335, 337, 341; & Co 331; & Son 23 Churchill Forge 367, 403–4, 405 Church Preen 274 Cilybybyll 541 Cinderford Furnace 440, 449, 471 Cinderford Iron Company 449 Cinder Mill, Stottesdon 416, 425 cinders 429, 431, 433, 439, 454–6, 470 Clancey, G., Ltd 380 Clanna Forge 440, 441, 444, 445 Clapton Wire Mill 82, 90 Clarke, Edward 430 Clarke, George 162 Clarke [Clark], Samuel (1694) 82, 89

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Clarke [Clerke], Samuel (c.1820) 174 Clatterbatch [Clatterback] Forge 367, 373, 380, 390, 409 Clavering, Sir James 110, 120 Clay, Joseph 146, 163, 169, 185, 190, 192, 193, 196 Clay & Co 169, 179, 185, 203 Clay Mill 208, 211, 213 Clay Mills Iron Works Co Ltd 213 Clayton, Robert 192, 454 Clayton, William 189, 191, 193, 197, 198 Clayton and Finch 456 Cleator Forge 588, 604, 612–13, 614 Cleator Furnace 286, 603, 604, 607 Cleator Steelworks 604, 613 Clee Hill Furnace see Cornbrook Furnace; Knowbury Furnace Clee Hills 415–26 Cleere, Henry 12, 15 Cleeve Iron Mill 530, 533 Cleland Ironworks see Omoa Ironworks Clements, James 523 Cleobury Dale Ironworks 417, 426 Cleobury [Cleobury Lower] Forge 267, 299, 301, 415, 416, 416, 417, 418, 421–2, 424 Cleobury Furnace 415, 416, 422, 424 Cleobury Park Furnace 416, 422 Cleobury Upper Forge [Cleobury Dale Ironworks; Mawley Forge] 299, 416, 422 Clerk, Thomas 445 Clerke, Sir Clement 86, 98, 286, 361, 374, 375, 384, 385, 388, 434 Clerke, Samuel see Clarke, Samuel Clerke, George 286 Clerke, Sir Talbot 97, 98, 286 Clerke [Clarke] and Forth [Foorth] 367, 368; see also Foorth and Clerke Cliff, B. 317 Cliffe, Wastel 347 Clifford, Lady Anne 611 Clifford, Francis, Earl of Cumberland see Cumberland, Francis Clifford, Earl of Clifford, James 283 Clifford Forge 427, 428, 430 Clifton (Bristol) 286 Clifton (W. Yorks) 143 Clifton Furnace (Cumberland) 604, 606, 607–8 Clippenham see Batsford Clipstone Forge 162, 188, 189, 190, 191, 193, 209, 416 Clive (Shropshire) 293 Closegate Foundry see Newcastle Clough Wheel 160, 177 Cludd, Edward 285 Clunn Park near Llantrisant 514, 526 Clutterbuck, Ferdinando 506, 519

Clutton, Ralph 39 Clutton, William 23, 39, 41, 71, 73 Clwyd see Flintshire; Wrexham Clydach Forge [later Upper Forge] 540, 543 Clydach Furnace and Forge I 488, 489, 491, 495, 496, 541 Clydach Furnaces 488, 497, 498 Clyde Ironworks 624, 624, 628 Clytha [Usk] Forge 481, 482, 483, 486 coal see pitcoal; see also coke Coalbrookdale 3, 4, 5, 21, 86, 98, 263, 267, 276, 283–9, 300, 416 Coalbrookdale: Snapper Furnace 284, 293 Coalbrookdale Company 5, 86, 137, 237, 240, 245, 257, 269, 288, 290–1, 292, 295, 296, 297, 301, 304, 532, 577 Coalbrookdale forges 293–4, 298, 454 Coalbrookdale Foundry, Liverpool 577 Coalbrookdale furnaces 292–3, 410 Coalbrookdale Great Forge 284, 293, 298 Coalbrookdale Lower Forge [Plate Forge] 284, 294, 298 Coalbrookdale Middle Forge 284, 293, 298 Coalbrookdale Steelhouse 284, 294 Coalbrookdale Upper Forge [New Blast Furnace] 284, 292–3, 298 Coalbrookdale Upper [Old] Furnace 284, 285, 292–3 Coaley Mill 440, 449 Cobham see Downside Mill Cocheman, George 503 Cocker, Henry 195 Cocker, Robert 195 Cocker, Samuel 195, 201 Cocker, Thomas 195 Cocker & Co 195 Cocker & Sons 201 Cockle Mill, Cramond 625–6 Cockshutt (family) 129, 321 Cockshutt, Edward 130, 142, 151, 172 Cockshutt, James 142, 151, 152, 158, 441, 508, 509; & Co 509 Cockshutt, John, I (d.1774) 130, 140, 141, 142, 143, 151, 152–3, 164, 168, 172 Cockshutt, John, II (d.1819) 142, 151 Cockshutt & Armitage 172 Codnor Furnace 188, 196, 201 Codnor Park Ironworks 188, 202 Coe, William 156 Coed Ithel [Cordithell, Brickweir, Brockweir] Furnace 459, 460, 465–6, 477 Coedmore Forge 485, 561, 562, 563–4 Coggs, John 92 Coidmore 547

690

Coity [Angleton] Furnace 540, 543–4 coke 4, 5, 6, 89, 239, 286, 287 coke ironworks Bristol 533–4 Clee Hills 425–6 Cumberland, West 614 Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire 191, 202–4 Glamorgan, Northern 507–11 Glamorgan, Western 548–9 Northeast 109, 113, 115, 127 North Monmouthshire 491, 497–501 Scotland 623, 628–30 Severn Estuary 442, 449 Sheffield 185–6 Shropshire 283, 288, 289, 292, 294– 8, 306–7 Staffordshire 217, 232–3 Stour Valley 364, 410–13 West Midlands 331, 352–9 West Yorkshire 143, 155–8 Wrexham and Flintshire 250, 252, 258–9 Wye Valley 471 Cokes, Ellen 344 Cokes, Thomas 344 Cokes, William 344 Colbourn & Sons 355 Colchester, Maynard 480, 515 Coldharbour [Horsebane] Hammer 58, 76, 78 coldshort see under iron, varieties of Cole, John 34 Cole, Thomas (1751) 404 Cole, Tom (1670s) 397 Cole, William 404 Coleham Foundry 27 Coleman (family) 321 Coleman, John 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 323, 365, 376, 394 Coleman [Colman], Walter (1610–20; father) 81, 207, 214, 223, 264, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 323, 336, 342, 365, 376, 583, 596, 608 Coleman, Walter (son) 376, 394 Colemore Green 300, 303 Colerick, William 382 Coles, Hannah 546 Coles, Lewis & Co 441, 540, 541, 542, 543 Coles, William 441, 540, 541, 543, 544, 546, 547 Coles and Lewis 540 Coles & Pytt 441 Coleshill: Forge Mills 328, 344–5 Coley, George 381 Coley, Isaac 279 Coley, Joseph 381 Coley, Samuel 382 Collens, William 46

Index Collet, Humfrey 45 Collett, John 380 Colletts Mill, Rowley Regis 380 Colley, James 269 Collier, T.J. 408 Collins, Alexander 47, 57 Collins, David 49 Collins, Henry 50 Collins, John (d.1535) 50, 57 Collins, John (1574) 50 Collins, Stephen 47 Collins, Thomas 57 Collins Forge see Burwash Forge Collyer [Collyn], Hugh 49 Collyhurst Forge 572, 572, 573, 577–8 Colman, John see Coleman, John Colman, Simon 26, 73 Colman, Walter see Coleman, Walter Colnbridge Forge 137, 138, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145–6, 153, 290 Colne Smithies, Lepton 138, 153 Colquhoun, John 614 Coltham Furnaces, Essington 328, 354, 357 Coltman and Grafton 409 Colvilles 628 Combe Furnace, Harting Combe 58, 61, 63 Combe Furnace, Mayfield see Coushopley Furnace Combe Martin 535, 548 Comberford, William 320, 342 Combsbury Slitting Mill 530, 531 Companies (Chartered) see East India Company; English Copper Company; Hollow Swordblade Company; London Lead Company, Mines Royal Company; Royal Africa Company; South Sea Company; York Buildings Company Companies (guilds) see Cutlers Company Company (Governor &) for Making Iron Ordnance 96 Company (Governor &) for Making [Running] Iron with Pitcoal 86, 98, 285, 286, 607 Company for Raising Water from the River Thames at York Buildings see York Buildings Company Company (Governor &) for Smelting down Lead with Pitcoal see London Lead Company Company (Governor &) of Mine Adventurers 96 Company (Governor &) of Copper Miners of England see English Copper Company Company (Governor &) of Mineral and Battery Works 82, 90, 94, 152, 191, 195, 196, 283, 442, 451, 459, 461,

462, 464, 487, 489, 496, 524, 551, 606, 613 Compton, Mr 245 Compton Furnace, Kinver 362, 385, 391 Cone, John 447 Coneybury [Broseley Bottom Coal Furnace] 300, 307 Coneygree Furnace (17th cent.) see Dudley Furnace Coneygre Foundry Ltd, The 355 Coneygre Furnace (18th cent.) see Dudley Port Furnace Coneyhurst Gill Forge 58, 79 Congreve Forge 215, 233, 315, 316, 317–18 Conisbrough Forge I and II 160, 161, 164, 171, 173, 189, 198 Coniston Forge 582, 584, 585, 590, 591, 595, 600 Consall Forge 220, 220, 222, 223, 224, 240 Conster Furnace and Forge see Beckley Furnace and Forge Conway (family) 523, 526 Conway, Conway & Co 523 Conway, John 526 Conway, George 523, 526 Conway, J.H. 523 Conway, W.T. 523 Conway, William 523 Conway Furnace 561, 562, 562, 563, 564, 581 Cook, Mr (17th-cent. merchant) 504, 506 Cook, Capel 393 Cook [Cooke], John (1703–c.1740; Stourton) 393, 410 Cook, John, II (d.1763; Stourton) 393, 394, 399, 490 Cook, John (1825) 546 Cook, Robert 201 Cook, William 541 Cooke, John (c. 1600) 418, 424 Cooke, John (1703–c.1740; Stourton) see Cook, John Cooke, John (d.1774; Kilnhurst) 142, 145, 147 Cooke, John (1777–81; Kilnhurst) 145, 573 Cooke, Thomas (1663; Sheffield) 175 Cooke, Thomas (d.1699; West Midlands) 393, 394, 490 Cooke, Thomas (d.1736; Pontypool) 490 Cooke, Thomas (d.1817; Kilnhurst) 142, 147, 498 Cooke & Co 145, 147 Cookley Forge (and slitting mill) 249, 298, 362, 363, 365, 366, 368, 369, 370, 372, 373, 391–2, 416, 425 Cookley Works, Brockmoor 370, 392

691

Cookson (family) 113–14, 115, 118, 251, 607 Cookson, C.E., & Co 120 Cookson, Hodgson & Co 607 Cookson, Isaac 113, 118, 120, 122, 124, 603, 607; & Co 120 Cookson, John 111, 113, 114, 118, 119, 122, 124, 607; & Co 607 Cookson, Thomas 120 Cookson, William (d.1744) 113, 124, 607 Cookson, William (1874) 256 Cookson & Co 23, 113, 607 Coombe, Thomas (d.1807; father) 305 Coombe, Thomas (after 1807; son) 305 Cooper, Charles 348 Cooper, George 532 Cooper, George M., & Co 449 Cooper [Paler], John 50, 71 Cooper, Joseph 629 Cooper [Purnell], R.B. 446 Cooper, Robert 353 Cooper, Samuel 629 Cooper, William 172, 201 Cooper & Co 186 Cooper Mounsey & Dixon 118 Cooper Wheel, Row Lees and Rolling Mill 160, 177 Cope, Mr (1747) 424 Cope, John 242 Cope, Joshua 104 Cope, Thomas 140, 151, 242 Copley (family) 161 Copley, Christopher 161, 162, 169 Copley, Lionel, I (d.1675) 139, 150, 161, 162, 163, 165, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 176, 189 Copley, Lionel, II (1690) 139, 143, 151, 162 copper 5, 82, 83, 86, 89, 93, 95, 178, 184, 254, 350, 455, 478, 479, 529, 533, 541, 543, 544, 545, 546, 572, 578, 606 Copper Miners’ Tin Plate Co Ltd 548 Coram, Allen, & Co 556 Coram, Vaughan & Crofts 251 Corbett (family) 279 Corbett, Mr (1788) 273 Corbett, Elizabeth, Lady 279 Corbett [Corbet], Henry 97, 101, 104 Corbett, James 579 Corbett, Richard 278 Corbett, Vincent 142, 151, 152, 153, 278, 279 Corbyns Hall Furances 412 Cordithell Furnace see Coed Ithel Furnace Cordwell, Joseph 485 Corfield, Richard 241, 242, 285 Corfield, Thomas 271, 425 Corfield, William 271

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Cork, Richard Boyle, Earl of 320, 452, 454, 608 Cornbrook Furnace [Studley Furnace, Clee Hill] 297, 416, 417, 422, 425–6 Corngreaves Forge 346, 367, 373, 380–1, 408 Corngreaves Steel Furnaces 346, 380–1, 406, 408 Cornish, Henry 374, 384, 385, 388, 392 Cornish, Langworth, and Sergeant [Sargeant; Serjeant] 368, 374, 375, 386, 393 Cornish & Co 434 Cornwall (county) see Southwest Cornwall (family) 425 Cornwall, Thomas 425 Corrie, Joseph 354 Corrie, Joshua 348 Corslet, Thomas 544 Corson, Rebecca 409 Cort, Henry 6, 83, 88, 96, 103, 105, 290, 296, 505 Cort and Jellicoe 88 Coseley see Brierley Ironworks; Coseley Furnace; Deepfields Furnace; see also Highfields Ironworks Coseley Furnace 306, 328, 354 Cosin, John, Bishop of Durham 110, 120, 127 Coster (family) 478 Coster, Thomas 532, 533 Cotchford Forge 16, 38 Cotesworth, William 126 cotton 573 Cotton (family) 140, 238, 322 Cotton, Anna 140, 145, 149 Cotton, Daniel 225, 236, 238, 309, 322, 563, 591 Cotton, Eleanor [Elinor] 144, 145, 257 Cotton, Joshua 119 Cotton, Robert 252 Cotton, Shore & Co 172 Cotton, Thomas (d.1671) 139, 311 Cotton, Thomas (d.1749) 141, 145, 147, 222, 225, 226, 238, 239, 242, 245, 591 Cotton, Thomas (d.1802) 142, 145, 146, 147, 185 Cotton, William, I (d.1675) 139, 140, 144, 145, 148, 149, 151, 235, 236, 256, 264, 265, 311 Cotton, William, II (d.1703) 111, 116, 139, 140, 141, 142, 144, 163, 225, 257, 322 Cotton, William Westby 111, 141, 142, 145, 147, 149, 150, 154, 163, 175, 190, 196, 222, 228, 230, 238, 309, 310, 312, 370, 591 Cotton and Hayford 235, 240, 242, 246 Coulnakyle Ironworks see Abernethy Ironworks

Coulson, John 101 Coulson, Jukes 83, 84, 91, 94 Coulson, Jukes, & Co 87, 88, 90, 93, 94, 95 Coulstocke, Sampson 62, 64 Courtenay (family) 536 Courtenay, Humphrey 536 Courtenay, James 536 Courtenay, John 536 Courtenay, Phillip 536 Courthop, Thomas 44 Courthope, Alexander 20, 33, 36, 43, 44, 47, 53, 77 Courthope, Sir George 36 Courthope, John 37 Courthope, Peter 43, 44, 53, 71, 76, 78 Coushopley Furnace 16, 21, 50–1, 56 Coven Forge see Brewood Upper Forge Coven Furnace 315, 316, 318, 323, 330, 336, 368 Coventry (family) 478 Coventry, Elizabeth see Caesar, Elizabeth Covert, Richard 71, 75 Covert, Sir Walter 43, 58, 59, 65 Cowan, George 608 Cowan, Jacob, & Sons Ltd 608 Coward, John 579 Cowbeech [Cralle] Forge and Furnace 16, 26 Cowden [lower] Furnace 16, 20, 21, 23, 36–7, 87, 97 Cowden [upper] Furnace see Scarlets Furnace Cowford Furnace 16, 38 Cowley, Richard 172 Cowley, William 478 Cowper, John (1602; Sussex) 70 Cowper, Sir John (d.1611; Bristol) 532 Cowper, William 70 Cox, Joseph 370 Cox, Joseph Mason 526 Cox & Co 567 Coxes Lock Mill, Addlestone 82, 83, 84, 90, 91, 631 Coxon, Francis 231 Coychurch Forge 547 Cracroft, Charles 498 Cradley bloomsmithies see Meyre’s bloomsmithy; Wall’s bloomsmithy Cradley (old) Forge 133, 362, 364, 365, 368, 370, 372, 373, 374–5, 378, 384, 387, 412 Cradley Furnace 331, 332, 359, 362, 366, 368, 370, 372, 374–5 Cradley Heath see Corngreaves Forge Cradley Ironworks 370, 603 Cradley Slitting Mill 367, 368, 375 Cradley Upper Forge 113, 222, 296, 362, 374–5 Cragg, Matthew 574

692

Craggs, Thomas 117 Craig, John 627 Craleckan Furnace see Argyll Furnace Cralle Forge and Furnace see Cowbeech Forge and Furnace Cramond Company 629 Cramond Mills 623, 624, 625–6, 627 Cranage, George 290, 294, 296 Cranage, Thomas 290, 294, 296 Cranage Forge 140, 163, 223, 235, 236, 236, 240–1, 245, 246, 573 Crane, George 545 Cranleigh Forge see Vachery Forge Craven, Earls of 422, 425 Craven, John, Lord 36 Craven, William, Earl of 36 Craven Smithy see Bolton Crawick Forge, Dumfries 588, 604, 613 Crawley-Boevey (family) 440 Crawley-Boevey, Thomas (d.1742) 445 Crawley-Boevey, Thomas, II (d.1769) 445 Crawley-Boevey, Thomas, III (1785) 445 Crawshay (family) 505, 508 Crawshay, Cornwall, & Moser 84 Crawshay, Davenport & Co 508 Crawshay, Edwin 449 Crawshaw, John, jun. 157 Crawshay, George 115 Crawshay, Henry 449 Crawshay, Richard 4, 83, 84, 88, 89, 96, 142, 152, 369, 441, 499, 505, 508, 509, 517, 630 Crawshay, Son & Thompson 508, 630 Crawshay, Stevens, and Cockshutt 509; Crawshay & Co 96 Crawshay, William 449, 462, 463, 508 Crayford Mill 38, 81, 82, 83, 84, 89, 90–1 Creed, Sir James 92, 255 Creelman, William 628 Creskelde Park 153 Cresswell, E., & Sons 357 Cresswick, James 178 Crewe, John 246 Crich Forge 187, 188, 193–4, 199 Crimple Ironworks, Knaresborough Forest 133, 134, 134 Cripps, Christopher 71 Cripps, Edward 70, 71 Cripps, John (d.1648; father) 71 Cripps, John (d.1658; son) 70, 71 Cripps, Walter 71 Critchlow, Elizabeth 232 Critchlow, George (d.1758) 232 Critchlow, George (d.1793) 232 Crockett [Crockitt], Edward 411 Crockett & Co 411 Crockitt, John 411

Index Croft (family) 378 Croft, Christopher 207, 214 Croft, Mary 374, 432; and Sons 433 Croft, Richard (d.1756; father) 374, 433 Croft, Richard (1773–88; son) 374, 380, 412 Croft, William 374, 380, 412 Cromewell, Isley 187 Crompton, John 230, 242 Crompton, John William 339, 340 Crookes, Charles 291 Crookes, John 146, 148 Crookes, Richard 148 Crookford Furnace see Worth Forest Furnace Cross, John 543 Cross, Joseph 85 Crosse, John 171, 195 Crossfield, Stephen 588 Crossfield, William 585, 589, 595 Crossgates mine 628 Crossley, David 12, 15 Crosthwaite, Peter 614 Crottenden, Robert 50 Croxden Abbey 228 Crowborough [Grubsbars] Forge 16, 39, 73 Crowborough Warren Furnace 16, 39 Crowder, A & E 397 Crowder, Richard 579 Crowe, Sir Sackville 20, 72, 73, 452 Crowe, William 70, 72, 73 Crowham Forge, Westfield 16, 21, 22, 25, 30 Crowhurst Forge, Surrey 16, 34 Crowhurst Furnace and Forge, Sussex 16, 28–9 Crowley (family) 24, 51, 86, 111, 112, 115, 124, 387; & Co 25, 111–13 Crowley, Ambrose, I (d.1721; Stourbridge) 361, 366–7, 368, 373, 375, 377, 378, 380, 381, 490, 539, 544, 545, 546 Crowley, Sir Ambrose (II) (d.1713) 22, 25, 83, 84, 111–12, 115, 120, 121, 123, 124, 367, 371, 378, 387, 409 Crowley, Ambrose, IV (d.1754) 112, 121, 123 Crowley, Benjamin 367, 544, 545 Crowley, James 378, 409 Crowley, John (d.1728) 22, 25, 83, 111–12, 115, 116, 121, 123, 371, 387 Crowley, John, II (d.1755) 112, 115, 121, 123, 124 Crowley, Mary 210 Crowley, Millington & Co 113, 121, 123 Crowley, Theodosia 83, 112, 113, 121, 123; & Co 23, 111–12, 121, 123 Crowther, John 350

Cruckford 38; see also Worth Forest Furnace Crump, Francis 303 Crump, George 302, 417, 418, 421, 423 Cruttenden, Henry 20, 33, 36, 37 Cruttenden, Robert 50 Cuckbold Point see Rotherhithe Cuckfield Forge 16, 58–9, 71 Cuckfield Furnace 58, 59, 65, 71 Cuckmere Catchment 31–33 Cuckmere river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Cuckney Forge 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 194, 195, 197, 200 Cullen, William 476 Culpeper, John 56 Culpeper, Richard 68 Culpepper, Sir Alexander 34, 43 Culpepper, Anthony 43 Culpepper, Sir Edward 45 Culpepper, Francis 53 Culpepper [Culpeper], Thomas 34, 42, 43, 56 Cumber, Richard 50 Cumberland, Countess of (d.1616) 133 Cumberland, Francis Clifford, Earl of 611 Cumberland, George, Earl of (d.1605) 134, 135 Cumberland, West 603–14 Cunningham, Richard 499 Cunsey Company [Lancashire ironmasters] 101, 102, 113, 222, 238, 239, 469, 571, 573, 574, 575, 584–5, 587, 590, 591, 592, 594, 595, 597, 598, 599, 601, 603 Cunsey Forge 582, 583, 590–1, 600 Cunsey Furnace 237, 239, 571, 572, 577, 582, 584, 586, 590–1 Cunsey Smithy 583 Cunswick 582, 600 Curdworth Boring Mill see Minworth Mill Curr, John 186 Cursey Platt see Coushopley Furnace Curwen, R. & H. 612 Curzon of Penn, Lord 330 Cutler, Henry 216 Cutler, Thomas 154 Cutlers Company [Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire] 166, 167, 183, 184 cutlers’ wheels 7 cutlery trade 165, 166–7 Cut Mill see Whitchurch Furnace Cutts & Co 176 Cwmaman Furnace 504, 505 Cwmavon Furnace 540, 540, 547, 548 Cwmbran Forge 551, 552, 552, 555 Cwm Cynon Forge 504, 505

693

Cwmdwyfran Forge 551, 552, 552, 553, 555–6 Cwmffrwdoer Furnace 488, 492 Cwmgwerlach Furnace 540, 542 Cwm Gwernlas Forge 504, 506 Cwrt Furnace see Melin Court Furnace Cych Forge see Penygored Tinplate Works Cydweli see Kidwelly; see also Gwendraeth Cyfarthfa Forge 84, 504, 505, 508–9, 510 Cyfarthfa Furnaces 4, 6, 84, 96, 142, 252, 290, 296, 371, 441, 449, 491, 504, 504, 508–9, 527 Cynon Valley 505–6, 507–11 Cystionydd Kendrick see Christioneth Kendrick

D Dacre 134, 135 Dacre, Gregory Fiennes, Lord 26, 28, 32 Dale, John 565 Dale Abbey Ironworks 84, 91, 188, 202–3, 215, 548 Dale Company see Coalbrookdale Company Dale Mill see Hathersage Dalgish, Robert 579 Dalkeith Iron Mill 624, 628 Dallam Forge 573 Dallington see Ashburnham Furnace Dalloway, John 339 Dalnotter Company 123, 623, 626, 627, 629 Dalrymple, Col. William 629 Dalrymple & Co 628 Dalston [Bishop’s] Forge 588, 604, 605, 606, 608 Dalton, George 357 Dalton, Richard 166 Dalton, Thomas 564 Danby, Sir Thomas 154 Dancer, Joseph 389 Daniel, Edward 517 Daniel, Lewis & Co 517 Daniel, R.A. 557 Daniel, William 524 Daniel & Co 524 Daniell, Samuel 567 Daniell, Thomas 567 Daniell [Daniel], William 517 Daniels, George 567 Daniels, Harford and Co 443, 444, 514 Daniels [Daniel], Thomas 480, 482; & Co 475, 480, 515 Daniels [Daniel] and Reynolds 475, 480, 482 Dannemora, Sweden 165 Danvers (family) 129 Danvers, Sir John 129

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Danyell, Mr (1572) 54 Darby (family) 250, 259, 287, 499 Darby, Abraham, I (d.1717) 5, 6, 237, 267, 272, 285, 286–8, 292, 364, 531, 532, 561, 564, 576, 603 Darby, Abraham, II (d.1763) 6, 250, 253, 288, 289, 290, 292, 295 Darby, Abraham, III (d.1789) 291, 292, 297 Darby, Abraham, IV (d.1878) 291 Darby, Alfred 291 Darby, Edmund 288, 291 Darby, Francis 291 Darby, J.H. 259 Darby, Mary 288, 292, 563 Darby, Richard 291 Darby, Samuel 291 Darby, William Henry 291 Darbyshire, John 516 Darell, Henry see Darrell, Henry Darell, William 45 Darfold Furnace, Etchingham 16, 51 Darlaston 370, 376 Darnall steel furnaces 160, 165, 168, 180–1 Darrell, Christopher 48, 67, 68, 81 Darrell, George 67, 68 Darrell [Darell], Henry 45, 47, 67 Darrell, Thomas 47 Darrell, William 503 Dartford Slitting Mill I & II 81, 82, 83, 84, 90, 91, 112, 320 Darvel [Darwell] Furnace and Forge, Mountfield 16, 22, 51, 52, 112, 113 Darwin, Erasmus 216 Darwin, J., & Co 186; Darwin & Co 163, 170, 185 Darwin, John, jun. 170, 185 Darwin, William 185 Darwin & Frith 185 Davenport, Richard 508 David, Jean 81 Davidson, John 606 Davies, A.S. 631 Davies, Arthur 279, 297 Davies, Edward (1726) 252 Davies, Edward (1779–99) 266 Davies, Edward (1878) 382 Davies, Hamman 517, 523 Davies, Henry 479 Davies, James 389, 474, 479 Davies, Lewis 517, 523 Davies, Mary 523 Davies, Richard 518, 520, 525 Davies, Samuel (d.1714) 563 Davies, Samuel (1821) 259 Davies, Thomas 606 Davies, William (1670–92) 551, 557, 558 Davies, William (1822) 356

Davies & Co 517 Davis, Daniel 389 Davis, Morgan 204 Davis, Samuel 82 Davison, Mr (1692) 116 Davison, Timothy 115 Davy and United Engineering Company 186 Davy-Ashmore Ltd 186 Davy Brothers 186 DavyMarkham 186 Dawbeney, Clement 81 Dawes, Elizabeth 348 Dawes, John 301, 302, 348 Dawes, John, & Sons 356 Dawes, Samuel 305, 306, 335, 348 Dawes, Thomas 192 Dawes & Co 185 Dawley Castle Furnace 284, 295 Dawley Smithy 276, 282 Dawson (family) 625 Dawson, Mr (1776) 608 Dawson, C.H. 157 Dawson, Joseph (1780s) 143, 157 Dawson, Joseph (1825) 624 Dawson, Samuel 209 Day, Samuel 155 Day, Samuel, jun. 155 Day & Co 155 Deacon, Thomas 83, 89 Deacon & Co 90, 91 Deakin, Mr (1753) 325 Deakin, Mr (1801) 243 Deakin, Francis 346 Deakin, Robert 356 Deakin, Thomas 91 Deakin, William 352 Deakin and Dodd 352 Dean Forest Reforestation Act (1667) 454 Dean Mill, Haydock 578 Dearden, Joseph 185 Dearman, Richard 291, 610 Dedisham Forge 58, 61 Dedisham Furnace 58, 61 Dee, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Deepfield Colliery Company 354 Deepfields [Coseley] Furnace 328, 332, 354, 393 Deepfields Iron Co 354 Deepmore Furnace and Forge 315, 316, 318 Degge, Simon 390 Delonsae, Mr (1734) 76 Delves (family) 241 Delves, Sir Harry 235, 241, 242 Delves, Sir Thomas 241, 242 Demetrius, Daniel 92

694

Demidowicz, George 632 Dempster & Co 209 Denbighshire see Flintshire; Wrexham Denby Furnace 187, 188, 194 Denham, John 30 Dennistoun, James 627 Dent, Robert 170, 178 Deptford 84 Deptford Dockyard 91 Derby Mill 140, 141, 197, 208, 211, 213–14 Derbyshire 187–204 Dermer, William, sen. 567 Derondale forge see Dundle Forge Derwentcote Forge 110, 111, 113, 115, 118, 119–20, 607 Derwent Cote Steel Co Ltd 120 Derwentcote Steel Furnace 110, 113, 118, 119–20, 124 Derwent Navigation (Derbyshire) see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Detsom Forge see Dedisham Forge Devereux, Essex 334 Devey, Henry Fryer 349, 356 Devon see Southwest Devon Ironworks [Sauchie] 624, 628–9, 630 Devonshire, Duke of (1774) 192 Devonshire, William, Earl of 195 Dewsbury, Benj, & Co 203 Dewsbury Ironmills see Thornhill Lees Forge Dibble, Mr (1703) 64, 76, 78 Dibdale Bank Furnace 362, 410, 411 Dickenson, Robert 610 Dickin, Thomas, I (d.1690) 139, 140, 144, 145, 148, 154, 163, 574 Dickin, Thomas, II (d.1701) 140, 143, 144, 145, 148, 151 Dickins, John 274 Dickinson, Barnard 291 Dickinson, Elizabeth 178 Dickinson, Henry 291 Dickinson, James 610 Dickson, John 165, 181 Diggles, Robert 577 Diggs, Francis 42 Dimmock, E.B. 384, 493 Dimmock, Thompson, and Firmstone 491 Dipple, William 64, 76, 78 Disley Furnace 572, 575 Disney, H.C. 203 Distington Forge 588, 604, 613 Dix, Thomas 462, 464 Dix, William 65 Dixon, Amphlett & Bedford 355 Dixon, Edward 357, 411; Dixon & Co 358, 411

Index Dixon, John 581, 596, 602, 621 Dixon, Thomas 614 Dixon, William 628, 630 Dixon & Co see Dixon, Edward; Dudley Old Bank Dixon and Dalrymple 629 Dobbs, Michael 444 Dobbs, Simon 444 Dobbs, Thomas 349 Dobbs & Taylor 444 Dobell (family) 43 Dobell, Walter 43 Dobson, George 123 Dockendale Steel Forge 123 Dockray, David 594 Dockwra, William 92, 96 Dockwray, William 117 Dodd, Matthew 123 Dodd, Richard 352 Dodd [Dod], Thomas 606 Doddington Furnace 235, 236, 240, 241–1, 242, 275 Doddington Works 221, 222, 275 Dodgshon, Richard 592 Dodson, John 274 Dodsworth 138, 154 Dolgun [Dolgyn, Dolgellau, Dolgelly] Forge 562, 563, 565, 571, 581 Dolgun [Dolgyn] Furnace 250, 288, 561, 562, 562, 563, 564–5, 566, 571, 576 Dolobran Forge 261, 262, 263–4 Dol y Clochydd see Nannau Furnace Domet, Francis 118 Donald, Thomas 627 Don, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Don Navigation Company 174, 175 Donne, William (1728–32) 515, 532 Donne, William, jun. (1750) 531 Donne & Co 514, 515, 532 Donnington Forge, Castle Donnington 207, 208, 214, 215, 319; see also King’s Mills, Castle Donnington Donnington Wood Company 291 Donnington Wood Furnaces 284, 295, 298 Dorset, Earl of (1595) 38 Dorsett [Dorset], Francis (1750s–70s; Shropshire) 144, 266, 274; (1776; Kent) 35 Dorsett, Francis, jun., & Co 519 Dorsett, Thomas (d.1747) 267, 269, 272, 281, 285 Dorsett, Thomas (1756–90) 282 double bullet iron see under iron, varieties of Doughty [Doughtye; Doutye], Thomas 320, 394, 400 Douglas, Robert 93

Dover, John 608 Dovey, James 379 Dovey [Dyfi] Furnace 222, 239, 240, 370, 561, 562, 562, 565–6, 581, 586, 619, 620 Dowie’s Mill, Cramond 625–6 Dowlais Company 143, 252, 505, 509 Dowlais Ironworks 4, 6, 504, 508, 509–10, 515, 532 Downes, Henry 164, 173 Downes, Roger 285, 287, 288, 369, 552 Down [Downe] Furnace 415, 416, 422–3 Downman & Co 555 Downing, Benjamin 155 Downing, Henry 413 Downing, John 330, 368, 374, 375, 376, 384, 393 Downing, William 419, 423, 485 Downing, Zachary 8, 285, 287, 330, 335, 368, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 380, 407, 429, 431, 551, 552, 556, 557 Downing and Cooley 419 Downing and Longmore 419 Downman, H.H. 557 Downman, H.R. 557 Downside Mill, Cobham 82, 83, 84, 88–9, 91, 203 Drake, Ralph 69 Draper, Christopher 27 Draper, George 372, 392, 398, 399, 400, 429, 435 Draycott, Philip 224 Drayner, Robert 44 Drayton Forge 362, 377, 402 Dreghorn, Allan 627 Drew, Robert 381 Drews Forge 367, 373, 381 Drinkall, George 585, 595 Druce, Charles 202, 203 Duboisson (family) 558 Duckmanton see Adelphi Works Duddeston Mill 328, 345 Duddon Company 530, 619 Duddon Furnace 105, 222, 239, 240, 582, 585, 586, 587, 590, 591–2, 598, 603, 620 Dudley 362 Dudley, Lady (1770) 350 Dudley [alias Tomlinson], Dud 5, 105, 133, 286, 363, 364–5, 366, 368, 375, 385, 386, 387 Dudley, Edward Sutton, Lord (d.1643) 133, 203, 286, 327, 334, 336, 337, 364, 365, 374, 383, 385, 386, 387 Dudley [alias Sutton], John (1601) 327, 334, 364, 385 Dudley, John Sutton, Lord (d.1487) 405 Dudley, Robert (d.1588) see Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of

695

Dudley [alias Tomlinson], Robert (1637) 374 Dudley [alias Sutton], Thomas (1708) 351 Dudley, Thomas (1810) 500 Dudley, William Humble Ward, Earl of 412; trustees of 355, 412 Dudley, William Ward, Lord Ward; from 1860 Earl of (d.1885) 412 Dudley and Ward, John Ward, Lord (d.1774) 374, 375 Dudley and Ward, William Ward, Viscount (d.1823) 207, 354, 407, 411, 412, 413 Dudley Canal see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Dudley see Dudley Furnace; Parkhead Furnace Dudley [Coneygree] Furnace 328, 336–7, 357, 364, 366; see also Parkhead Furnace Dudley Furnace at Queens Cross 362, 375–6 Dudley Old Bank [Dixon & Co; Finch & Dixon] 358 Dudley Port [Coneygre] Furnace 232, 328, 332, 384, 389 Dudley Wood see Netherton (Old) Duffield, John 43, 64, 79 Duffryn Clydach 542–3 Dugard, Benjamin 305 Duke of Norfolk’s Works 159, 161–3 Dukinfield Furnace 572, 572, 573, 577, 579 Dumaresq, John 355 Dummer, Edmund 101, 104 Dummer, Thomas 101, 104 Duncombe, George 52, 60, 61 Dundas, Henry 290 Dundle Forge 16, 46 Dundonald, Lord 307 Dunlop, Colin 628; & Co 628 Dunlop, James 628 Dunlop, John 424 Dunlop, Thomas 627 Dunmoll [Dunnednoll], John 43 Dunning, Thomas 456 Dunning, William 456 Dunnington see Donnington Forge, Castle Donnington Dunsfold see Burningfold Furnace & Forge Dunsford Hammer 60 Dunston, Whickham 110, 114, 115, 123 Dunston Forge 187, 188, 194 Duntocher Forge, Old Kilpatrick 624, 626–7 Durant, Squire 311

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Durham, Bishops of 109, 119, 125, 127; see also Cosins, John; Trevor, Richard Durham, Earl of (1838) 114, 121 Durrant, Humfrey 61 Durrant, Samuel 39, 41 Dutton, Benjamin 142, 144 Duvall (family) 631 Duvall, Adrian 265 Duvall, Joseph 265 Duvall, Lucy 265 dyestuffs 91, 97, 178, 179, 387 Dyffryn Furnace 510 Dyfi Furnace see Dovey Furnace Dyke (family) 135 Dyke, Henry 44 Dyke, Thomas (d.1615; father) 45, 46, 133–4 Dyke, Thomas, jun. (d.1632; son) 134 Dyke, Thomas (1650) 32 Dyke, William 20, 21, 44, 47 Dynevor, Lord 558 Dyson (family) 176 Dyson, John 153 Dyson & Poynton 153

E Eade, James 76 Eade, Jonathan 23, 39 Eagle Furnace Co 358 Eagle Furnaces, Great Bridge 328, 358 Eardington Lower Forge 275, 276, 300, 301, 304, 354, 393, 408, 587 Eardington Upper Forge 275, 300, 301, 304, 354, 393, 408, 587 Eardley End 224 East Ayton see Seamer Forge East India Company 20, 23, 87, 101, 168, 442, 623 East Lymden Furnace 16, 52 Eastop, Major 429 Eaton (family) 407 Eaton, Francis 461 Eaton, Gerard 268 Eaton, Richard 383 Eaton, Richard Augustus 383 Eaton, William 383 Eaton upon Tern Forge 250, 253, 258, 268, 276, 278 Eaves, Joseph 350 Ebbw Vale Company 491, 493 Ebbw Vale Iron and Steel Co Ltd 493 Ebbw Vale Ironworks 291, 378, 380, 470, 473, 488, 491, 497, 498–9, 515, 526, 532, 565 Ebbw Vale Iron Works Company Ltd 499 Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron & Coal Co Ltd 499 Ebernoe Furnace 58, 61–2

Ecclesfield Furnace 160, 161, 167, 171, 176 Eccleston, John 461 Eckington bloomsmithies 167, 188, 189, 201 Ecton Copper Mines 195, 232 Eden, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Eden Catchment 33–5 Edge, Richard 333 Edge & Beesley 407 Edington, Thomas 623, 625, 626, 628 Edington & Co 628, 630 Edlogan Tin Plate Co 526 Edmondson, John 606 Edsawe, Robert 60 Edwards, Cadwallader 265 Edwards, E. 517 Edwards, Edward 252 Edwards, John 255 Edwards, Moses 486 Edwards, Nathaniel 202 Edwards, Sarah 255 Edwards, William 420 Edwinstow (Notts) 193 Edzell, Laird of 617 Egerton, Sir Philip (d.1698) 244, 245 Egerton, Rev Philip (1701) 245 Egington (family) 351 Egremont see Low Mill Elcock, Thomas 93 Eld (family) 407 Eld, John 407 Eliot, Thomas 203 Ellastone Forge and Furnace 219, 220, 224, 229 Ellbridge Mill see Elmbridge Furnace Ellenfoot Furnace see Netherhall Furnace Ellers [Elers], Peter 87, 96 Ellers Mill 602 Ellesmere (Shropshire) 249 Ellesmere Canal see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Elletson, Henry 598 Elliot, John Fogg 123 Elliot, John Walter 123 Elliot and Hawksley 181 Elliottes, William see Ellyott, William Ellis, Godfrey 429 Ellis, James 40 Ellis, Thomas (1574) 48 Ellis, Thomas (1799) 355 Ellowe, William 496 Ellwell, Mr (before 1836) 348 Ellwell, Edward 343 Ellwell, Edward, Ltd 343 Ellwell, John 156, 157

696

Ellwell, Sarah 157 Ellwell, William 157, 433 Ellyott [Elliottes, Ellyiott], William 86, 283, 294 Elmbridge Furnace 366, 372, 427, 428, 430–1, 439, 468, 470, 473 Elmbridge steelworks 428, 431 Elmsall, Sarah 148 Elmsall, William 148 Elrington, Edward 76 Elrington, Thomas 76 Elsecar 160, 163, 170, 185, 186 Elton, James 533 Elton, Tyndall & Co 531 Eltringham 110, 124 Eltringham, Thomas 167; & Co 118 Elwell, Edward 350 Elwell, Thomas 432 Elwell & Edwards 350 Ember Mill 81, 82, 82, 84, 88, 89, 91–2, 93, 98 Emerson & Co 123 Emerson & Milner 123 Emery, Charles 338 Emery, William 324 Emmerson (family) 123 Emmett, Emmanuel 155 Emmett, Holden & Bolland 155 Emmett [Emmet], John 155; & Co 155; Mr 156 Emmett, William 155 Emmetts 143 Emroyd Furnace 138, 155, 156 Emus, Sanders & Heywood 408 Enfield 81, 94 England, Thomas 131 England, William 379 English, Henry (1613–49; father) 51, 56 English, Henry (1645–93; son) 51 English, Henry (1698) 51 English, John (1780s) 339 English, John (1840s) 195 English, Thomas 202; & Co 87, 95 English & Co 428 English Copper Company [Company (Governor &) of Copper Miners in England] 93, 94, 286, 478, 548 Erbury, Thomas 503, 506 Erdeswick, Richard 245 Eridge Forge 16, 39 Eridge Furnace 16, 39 Esclusham Furnace 249, 250, 254 Esher Mill [Royal Mills] 82, 82, 83, 84, 92 Eskdale Forge 603, 604, 611–12, 613 Essex, Frances Devereux, Countess of 472 Essex, Robert Devereux, Earl of 219, 415, 419, 467, 471, 473, 474 Essington see Coltham Furnaces

Index Essington, John 93 Essington, Margaret 93 Essington, Peter 93 Etchingham see Darfold Furnace; Etchingham Forge Etchingham Forge 16, 18, 51, 52 Etna Foundry see Salford Ettingshall 328, 337, 364 Ettingshall Furnaces see Bilston Furnaces Eure, William, Lord 123 Evans, David (1656) 546 Evans, David (1800) 499 Evans, David (1890) 557 Evans, Edward 579 Evans, Field 266 Evans, Francis 510 Evans, Gryffyth 388 Evans, Herbert 549 Evans, John 576 Evans, Thomas 211, 213 Evans, William 211, 212 Evans & Bingham 213 Evans & Ryley 579 Evelyn (family) 35 Evelyn, Edward 35 Everett, James 537 Evers, S., & Sons 374 Evers, Samuel 374 Evers & Martin 412 Evers-Swindell, Charles 374, 379, 383 Eversfield (family) 68, 69 Eversfield, Anne 74 Eversfield [Caulfield], John 67, 69 Eversfield, Mary 74 Eversfield, Nicholas 18, 74 Ewhurst see Coneyhill Gill Forge; Ewhurst Furnace Ewhurst Furnace 16, 52 Ewood Furnace and Forge 58, 67, 68 Exeter, Earls of 135 Exmoor 370 Eyles, Sir John 443 Eyre, John 139, 143, 150, 151, 162, 175 Eyre, Kingsmill 605, 613 Eyre, Urban 400 Eyre, Vincent 177 Eyton (family) 256, 257 Eyton, Gerrard 249, 256, 257 Eyton, Thomas 563 Eyton & Son 563, 565

F Faber, Spence & Slagg 147 factors 3 Fagge, John 26 faggots see under steel Fairafar Mill, Cramond 625–6 Fairbank, William 166 Falcon Ironfoundry see Southwark

Falkner, Warine 222, 226, 238, 239, 469, 591 Falling Sands Rolling Mill 216, 367, 373, 397, 405 Fall Ings Foundry 156 Fallowfield, William 231, 336 Fane, Sir Francis 147 Fane, Sir Thomas 34 Farmer (family) 333 Farmer, James 333, 334, 345, 346, 402, 403 Farmer, Joseph 85, 333, 334, 341, 345, 346 Farmer, Thomas (1717) 341 Farmer, Thomas (1744) 462 Farmer, William (1661–75) 256, 257 Farmer, William (1828) 407 Farmer & Galton 407 Farnden, Peter (d.1653) 29, 30 Farnden, Peter (d.1681) 22, 29, 30, 57 Farnden, Richard 28, 29, 31 Farnley Smithies 138, 154 Fasagh 617, 618 Faukenor, John see Fawkner, John Faulconer, Henry 41 Faulds and Woodiwiss 186 Faversham powder mill 97 Fawcett, Preston & Co 577 Fawcett, Thomas 606 Fawcett, William 500, 577 Fawkener (family) 77 Fawkner [Faukenor], John 35, 72 Fawley see Whitefield Forge Feckenham 428 Fell, George 592 Fell, John, I (1702–20s) 116, 137, 163, 168, 169, 170, 190 Fell, John, II (1730s–50s) 146, 163, 164, 165, 169, 170, 181, 185, 192, 193, 194, 196, 198 Fell, John, & Co 137, 141, 144, 151, 163, 165, 167, 169, 170, 177, 180, 181, 182, 185, 198; see also Hayford & Co; Simpson & Co Fell, Margaret 583, 592 Fell, Thomas 592 Fell, William 163, 174 Fell Foot 582, 600 Fellows, Joseph 383 Fellows, Robert 381 Fenner, Edward 67 Fenner, Eleanor 67 Fenner [Fennor], Thomas 67, 461, 489, 496 Fenton, Matthew 177 Fenton & Co 147 Fenton & Walker 147 Fenwick (family) 122 Fenwick, Addison 121 Fenwick, Nicholas 116

697

Fereday, Bickley & Smith 353 Fereday, Emanuel 389 Fereday, John, & Co 353 Fereday, John Turton 353, 357 Fereday [Ferreday], Joseph 411, 413 Fereday, Mander, and Rylands 357 Fereday [Ferreday], Samuel 355, 357; S. 353 Fereday, Smith & Ward 357 Fereday, Turton, and Firmstone 355 Fereday & Co 297, 357 Fereday & Turton 356, 357 Feredays, Turton and Walker 356 Fergus, Thomas 121 Fermor, Alexander (1574) 40 Fermour, Alexander (1658) 72 Ferne, James 255 Fernhill Forge 249, 261, 262, 264, 265, 363 Fernhurst Furnace [North Park] 58, 62, 77, 88 Fernyhough, Thomas 324 Ferrear, Richard 617 Ferreday, Joseph see Fereday, Joseph Ferreday, Samuel see Fereday, Samuel Ferreday, Wainwright & Jones 411 Ferrers, Walter, Lord 344 Ferriday, William 297 Ffolie see Foley Ffrwd Furnace 250, 259 Field, Cochrane and Faulds 186 Field, Cooper and Faulds 186 Field, Joshua 95 Fieldhead Furnace 138, 156 Filmer, Sir Edward 47 Filmer, Robert 47 Finch (family) 137, 388 Finch, Albany George 538 Finch, Emlin 538 Finch, Francis 430, 431, 454, 473 Finch, George 538 Finch, Henry 362 Finch, Isaac 538 Finch, John (1665–73) 208, 210, 330, 336, 366, 368, 375, 378, 380, 392, 393, 396, 434 Finch, John (1728; father) 362 Finch, John (son) 362 Finch, John (d.1873) 538 Finch, Sir Moile 31 Finch, Ralph 538 Finch, Rebecca 538 Finch, William (1759; Warrington) 575 Finch, William (d.1762; Cambridge) 363, 529 Finch, William (1782–93; Stour Valley) 351, 386, 387 Finch, William (1814; Devon) 538; and Sons 538 Finch & Dixon see Dudley Old Bank

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Finch Brothers 538 Fincher, Philip 117 Finch Foundry 536, 538 fineries see under forges; hearths finers 4 finers’ metal see under iron, varieties of finery steel see under steel Finnemore, William 384 firebrick 4 fireclay 4 Firminger, Andrew 37 Firmstone, George 355 Firmstone, H.O. 392 Firmstone, Joseph 6, 290, 332, 353, 354, 355, 493, 505 Firmstone, Joseph Parsons 355 Firmstone, Thomas 232, 355 Firmstone, W. & G. 410 Firmstone, William 355 Fish, John 209 Fisher, Ann 324 Fisher, James 349 Fisher, Richard 391 Fisher, Robert 324 Fisher, Samuel 324 Fishwick, Gibson & Co 127 Fitting Forge, Gornal 367, 388 Fitzhugh (family) 252 Fitzwilliam, Lord 185 flat iron see under iron, varieties of Flaxley Forges 440, 445, 468 Flaxley Furnace 436, 439, 440, 442, 445, 468 Fleming, Sir Daniel 590 Fleming, William 590, 595 Fletcher, Captain (1764) 93 Fletcher, Mr (1664) 236 Fletcher, Benjamin 579 Fletcher, Henry 518 Fletcher, Leonard 89 Fletcher, Richard 477 Fletcher, Thomas 311 Fletcher, William (1542) 325 Fletcher, William (1660s) 240 Fletcher, William (1720) 601 Fletching see Fletching Forge; Sheffield Forge; Sheffield Furnace Fletching Forge 58, 70 Flimby Furnace 320, 583, 596, 603, 604, 606, 608 Flinn, M.W. 1 Flintshire 249–59 Florry, John 353, 422 Florry & Co 353 Flower, Mitford 117 Flowery, James 287, 351 Flowery, John 287, 351 Fludd, Dr Robert 86 Foanes, Gilbert see Fownes, Gilbert Fogg, John see Elliot, John Fogg

Fogge, Richard 44 Fogge, Whittingham 44, 47 Foley (family) 43, 221, 315, 340, 365–8, 404, 415, 431, 467–70 Foley, Lord (d.1733; Thomas III(W)) 369, 379, 401, 424, 464 Foley, Lord (d.1766; Thomas IV(W)) 401, 424 Foley, Lord (d.1777; Thomas III(S),V(W)) 401, 424, 430, 470, 472, 473, 475, 497 Foley, Lord (d.1793) 390, 497, 498 Foley, Hon. Andrew 397, 430, 472 Foley, Mrs E.M.F. 356, 384 Foley, Edward 400, 530 Foley, John (d.1685; Turkey merchant) 220, 221, 226, 228, 235, 240, 242, 246, 391, 400 Foley, Dr John (1689; Nantwich) 228 Foley, Paul (d.1699; Stoke Edith, Speaker of Commons) 226, 235, 367, 368, 372, 430, 431, 439, 440, 445, 447, 454, 456, 467, 468, 469, 472, 474, 478, 483, 484, 485 Foley, Philip 190, 208, 221, 226, 235, 236, 238, 275, 281, 299, 302, 315, 316, 317, 318, 330, 335, 336, 338, 342, 345, 351, 366, 367–8, 370, 372, 374, 375, 376, 380, 384, 385, 386, 388, 393, 394, 395, 396, 401, 424, 429, 431, 434, 439, 468, 469, 481, 483, 484 Foley, Richard, I (d.1600; Dudley, nailer) 365 Foley [Ffolie, Folly], Richard, II (d.1657; Dudley then Stourbridge) 85, 207, 220, 225, 227, 281, 285, 321, 328–9, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 342, 351, 364, 365–6, 374, 377, 400, 530 Foley, Richard, III (d.1678; Birmingham then Longton) 163, 220, 221, 226, 228, 235, 236, 240, 242, 246, 315, 365, 376, 384, 385, 386, 387, 391, 392, 394, 631 Foley, Richard, IV (d.1680; Longton, Guinea merchant) 220, 226, 235, 240, 246 Foley, Robert, I (d.1676; Stourbridge) 245, 365, 530 Foley, Robert, III (1711; Stourbridge) 237, 591 Foley, Robert, of Prestwood (1716) 238 Foley, Samuel 365 Foley, Thomas, I(W) (d.1677; Great Witley and Austin Friars, London) 20, 33, 36, 44, 47, 53, 227, 275, 278, 280, 281, 285, 299, 302, 315, 316, 318, 329, 335, 336, 338, 339, 342, 351, 363, 366, 367, 372, 374, 376, 377, 384, 385, 386, 387, 394, 396, 400, 401, 424, 429, 430, 431, 434,

698

439, 447, 461, 462, 463, 466, 467–8, 469, 472, 514, 530, 551, 558 Foley, Thomas, I(S) (d.1737; Stoke Edith) 447, 469 Foley, Thomas, II(W) (d.1702; Great Witley) 374, 401, 462, 463, 464, 468 Foley, Thomas, II(S) (d.1749; Stoke Edith) 430, 469, 470, 472, 473 Foley, Thomas, III(W) (d.1733; Great Witley) see Foley, Lord Foley, Thomas, III(S) (d.1777; Stoke Edith; V of Great Witley) see Foley, Lord Foley, Thomas, IV(W) (d.1766; Great Witley) see Foley, Lord Foley, William 371 Foley Forest Partnership 22, 25, 30, 112, 287, 370, 416, 427, 430, 439, 469, 470, 474, 475, 483, 484, 551, 554, 555; see also Foley Ironworks in Partnership Foley Ironworks in Partnership 368, 372, 374, 376, 384, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 398, 401, 424, 430, 439, 444, 447, 448, 469, 470, 472, 478, 553 Foljambe, Godfrey 200 Foljambe, Thomas 200 Folkes, Constantine 378 Folkes, John 378 Folkes, William 378 Folkes Group 378 Folly, Richard see Foley, Richard, II Fontley [Funtley] Iron Mill see Titchfield Hammer Foord, Thomas 546 Foorth and Clerke [Forth and Clarke] 368, 375, 386, 393; see also Clerke and Forth Forbes, William 83, 89 Force Bank Forges, near Lancaster 582, 586, 587, 593–4 Force Forge, Furness Fells 582, 583, 585, 586, 587, 592–3, 595, 600 Force Mill Forge, near Kendal 582, 586, 587, 593 Force Smithy 583 Ford (family; Coalbrookdale) 250, 291 Ford, Abraham 276, 277, 291 Ford, Edmund 297 Ford, Richard (1663) 546 Ford, Richard (1733–63; Newland) 22, 102, 222, 576, 584, 585, 587, 590, 591, 592, 595, 596, 597; & Co 596, 621 Ford, Richard, I (d.1745; Coalbrookdale) 250, 253, 269, 288, 289, 292, 300 Ford, Richard, II (1748–59; Coalbrookdale) 276, 277, 291 Ford, William (Newland) 102, 104, 581, 585, 596; & Co 596, 621 Ford and Goldney 302

Index Forder, William 34 Ford Forge 110, 124, 609 Ford Green Forge 220, 231 Foreman, William see Forman, William Foremark Furnace 207, 208, 214 Forest, John (1503) 303 Forest, John (1589) 76 Forest Forge (Glamorgan) 112, 490, 507, 539, 540, 541, 544, 546; see also Upper Forest Tinplate Works Forest Law 452 Forest of Dean 3, 366, 368, 372, 439, 451–7; see also King’s Ironworks Forest of Dean Iron Company 449 Forester, R.F. 202 Forge, The, Penegroes see Penegroes Forge mill, Redditch see Redditch Forges forges 3, 4–6, 8 fineries 4 plating forges 6, 7, 167, 210, 373 tilts 6, 166, 167 Walloon forges 4 Forge Wheel, Sheffield 175 Forman (family) 371 Forman, Richard 510 Forman, Rowland 500 Forman [Foreman], William 90, 500, 507, 510, 518 Forman & Co 499 Forrest & Co 374 Forrester, John, & Sons 378 Forrester, Robert 230 Forster, Christopher 93 Fortescue, Francis 61, 63 Fortescue, John 431 Forth, John 361, 374, 384, 385, 388, 454 Forth, Winter & Co 588 Forth and Clarke see Clerke and Forth; Foorth and Clerke Fosbrooke, Leonard 209 Fosbrooke, Robert 209 Foster (family) 305 Foster, George 380, 408 Foster, Henry 383 Foster, James 304, 305, 306, 378, 379, 383, 408 Foster, Mary 404, 408 Foster, W.H. 304, 305, 408 Foster, W.O. 304, 305, 379, 408 Foster, William 383, 404, 408 Foster & Co 378 Foster & Raistrick 409 Fothergill, Brown & Co 507 Fothergill, Hankey and Bateman 507, 510 Fothergill, J. & R. 518 Fothergill, Monkhouse & Branthwaite 500

Fothergill, Richard 500, 518 Fothergill, Rowland 507, 518 Fothergill, Thomas 507, 518 Fothergill, William 518 Fothergill & Co 500, 518 Foulke, Roger see Fowke, Roger foundries 5–6; see also furnaces: air furnaces foundry cupolas see under furnaces; see also potfounding; shot and shell founding Foundsley, John 405 Fountains Abbey 135 Fowke, Ferrare 309 Fowke [Fowlke], Gerrard 336, 400 Fowke [Fowlke], John 400 Fowke [Fowlke, Foulke], Roger 335 Fowke, Thomas 338 Fowke [Fowlke], Walter 400 Fowle, Anthony 31, 40, 61, 72 Fowle, John 50 Fowle, Mildred 50 Fowle, Nicholas 40, 48 Fowle, Richard 40 Fowle, William 47 Fownder, William 45 Fownes, Elizabeth 139 Fownes [Foanes], Gilbert 139, 144, 145, 147, 574 Fownes, John 139, 148 Fownes, William, I (d. c.1647) 139, 144, 147, 151, 264, 267, 269 Fownes, William II (1652–75) 144, 145, 261, 265 Fownes & Spencer 143, 151 Fox (family) 545 Fox, James 217 Fox, Shadrach 5, 21, 86–7, 98, 275, 281, 285, 288, 292 Fox, Thomas (1652–70; Shropshire) 275, 277, 278, 281 Fox, Thomas (d.1704; London and Coalbrookdale) 86–7, 98, 178, 275, 285 Fox, Thomas (1785–94; Sheffield) 178, 180 Fox, William 254 Foxall, Thomas 49 Fox & Co 540, 545 Foxbrooke Furnace 176, 188, 189, 190, 194–5, 198 Fox Hall Foundry see Vauxhall Foundry Foxley 224 Fraithorne, Joseph 446 Framfield see New Place Furnace Framilode Mill 440, 445–6 Franceys, Ralph 168 Francis, Mr (1860) 546 Francis, Sir Edward 64 Francis, Elisha 564 Franklyn, George 527

699

Franklyn, John 527; & Co 527 Franklyn, Joshua 532 Fraysell, Alexander 270 Frearson, David 601 Frearson, John 601 Frecheville, John 187, 198 French, Henry 96 French, John 32, 35 French, Stephen 32, 60, 66 French, Thomas 61 Frenchay Iron Co 533 Frenchay Iron Mill 530, 532 Frengman, William see Fownder, William Frere, Cooke, and Powells 498 Frere, Edward 498 Freshfield Forge 50, 58, 70 Friar Park Bloomsmithy 328, 344 Friar Park Rolling Mill 328, 348 Fridd Mathrafal Forge see Mathrafal Forge Friend, John 114, 115, 126 Frith, Dr (1803) 183 Frith, Francis 185 Frith Furnace, Hawkhurst (Kent) 16, 44, 53 Frith Furnace, Northchapel (Sussex) 58, 62–3, 64 Frizington 5, 88, 118, 251, 268, 331, 604, 605, 611, 613 Froombridge [Fromebridge] Mill 440, 445–6 Fryer, John 444 Fullard, William 180 Fuller (family) 31, 53, 69 Fuller, John (d.1679) 32, 56 Fuller, John (d.1722) 21, 31, 50, 72, 79 Fuller, John (d.1745) 19–20, 22, 24, 33, 87 Fuller, John (d.1755) 22, 23 Fuller, Rose 23 Funderley, William 405 Funsloe Smithy [Fundleys Mill] 367, 405–6 Funtley Iron Mill see Titchfield Hammer Furnace Farm, Stanford-on-Teme 416, 425 Furnace Forge, Halesowen 367, 376, 382 Furnace Mill, Cowden 37 furnaces 3–4, 8 air furnaces 5, 6 blast furnaces 3, 4, 17, 583–4, 595 foundry cupolas 5, 184–5, 286; see also potfounding; shot and shell founding puddling furnaces 6, 290, 332 reverberatory furnaces 5, 6, 86, 88, 118, 286, 335, 605

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Furness 3, 9, 10, 22, 101, 102, 235, 236, 516, 530, 561, 571, 572, 581–602, 617 Furness Abbey 582 Furness Mill, Helmington see Helmington Furnace Furness Fells see Force Forge Furse (family) 352 Furse, Philip 533 Fussell (family) 167, 535 Fussell, Austin 537 Fussell, Isaac 535 Fussell, James (father) 535, 537 Fussell, James (son) 537 Fussell, James, Isaac & John, Ltd 535 Fussell, John 537 Fussell, Josiah 535 Fyltness, Edward 40 Fynche, Sir William 30 Fyndern, Michael 214 Fyndern Wood Forge 208, 214 Fyner, Henry 17, 41 Fysher, Edmund 76 Fysher, Peter 76

G Gadd, Robert 97 gad steel see under steel Gaffney, V. 631 Gage (family) 35, 72, 475 Gage, 1st Viscount (d.1754) 441 Gage, 2nd Viscount (d.1791) 470, 477 Gage, Sir John 34, 42, 75 Galbraith, Arthur 620 Gale, Henry 69 Gale, John 610 Gale, Leonard 37, 65, 68, 69 Gale, W.K.V. 632 Galloway, Ambrose 69, 72 Galloway, James 617 Galton, John 345, 403 Galton, Samuel (d.1799; father) 345, 346, 402, 403, 407 Galton, Samuel (1787–1814; son) 403 Galton, Samuel, & Son 403 Galton, Samuel Tertius 346 Galton (family) 333, 344 Galtons Forge 345, 362, 402–3, 407 Gamage, Antony 461 Gamer and Hislop 93 Garbett (family) 624 Garbett, Benjamin 311 Garbett, Samuel 216, 516, 623, 625 Gardam, Matthew 194 Gardden pothouse 250, 250, 257–8, 268 Gardener, John see Lambard, John Garden Street see Sheffield Gardiner, Anthony 28 Gardiner, Henry 52 Gardner, Howard & Co 88, 96

Gardner, John (1574; Sussex) 26 Gardner, John (1609; Lancashire) 599 Gardner, Thomas 96 Gardner & Co 88 Gardner and Howard 96 Gardner and Manser 96 Garreway, John 41 Garstang see Barnacre Forge Garton, William 170, 178 Garway, John 42 Garway, William 42 Gascoigne, Charles 624 Gascoigne, John 149 Gaskell, Nicholas 577 Gaskell and Bell 566 Gastons Bridge see Holmsted Forge Gatacre, William 299, 303 Gateshead: New Deptford 110, 115, 124–5 Gateshead: New Greenwich 110, 114, 125 Gateshead: Teams Mill see Teams Mill Gateshead Fell Colliery 124 Gateshead Foundry 110, 113, 124, 603, 607 Gateshead Steel Furnace 110, 124 Gateshead Wire Mill 155 Gaveller, Thomas 42, 75 Gavis, John see Blacket, John Gawcliffe Smithy 135 Gaynesford, Anne 34 Gaynesford, Erasmus 34 Gaynesford, Thomas 34 Geast, Nicholas 374 Geast, Richard 335 Gee, Joshua 251, 253, 268, 271, 272, 274, 278, 434, 605 Geer, Louis de 19 Gehrwin, Jacob 168 Gelke, Nicholas 34 Gell, Sir John 193, 199 Gelliwastod Forge 514, 519–21 Genyns, Abraham 207 George, Ann 493 George, James 419; & Co 426 George, Samuel 417, 419 George, Thomas 527 George, Watkin 491, 493, 498, 499, 508 George & Lewis 421, 426 Georgia Wheel 170 Gerard, Gilbert 224, 231 Gerard, Thomas, Lord 219, 224, 230 German steel see under steel Gesling [Geslinge], Alsoppe 196 Getley, James 486 Gevers, John 566 Gibbins, Smith & Goode 386 Gibbons (family) 296, 356 Gibbons, Benjamin (1787–1819) 347, 352, 359, 374, 412

700

Gibbons, Benjamin, jun. (1816–49) 358, 359, 412 Gibbons, Edward 177, 348 Gibbons, George James 352 Gibbons, John (1755) 271, 272, 530 Gibbons, John (1805–22) 347, 352, 356, 412 Gibbons, Thomas (1769) 271 Gibbons, Thomas (1816) 347, 352 Gibbons, Thomas, John and Benjamin jun. 374, 412 Gibbons, Thomas, William and Benjamin 271, 374, 378, 412, 530 Gibbons, William 530, 533; & Co 530 Gibbons & Co 352 Gibbons & Stokes 412 Gibside Ironworks 110, 110, 120 Gibraltar see Sheffield Gibson, Edward 610 Gibson, John 127, 627 Gibson, Margaret 614 Gibson, Robert 614 Gibson & Co 334 Gifford, John 442, 453 Gifford, Peter 318 Gig Mill Forge 366, 367, 371, 373, 381 gig mills 381 Gig Wheel 170 Gilbert, Adrian 535 Gilbert, Thomas 317 Gilchrist-Thomas [Basic Bessemer] process 582 Giles, Benjamin 419 Giles, Richard 419 Giles, Thomas 594 Giles, William 104, 443 Gilham, John 75 Gill, James 601 Gill, James Maddock 407 Gill, John 602 Gill, Thomas (1639) 171 Gill, Thomas (1795) 407 Gilpin, Mrs (1770) 95 Gilpin, Benjamin 253 Gilpin, Bernard 351 Gilpin, George 351 Gilpin, Joshua 253 Gilpin, Richard 95; & Co 87 Gilpin, William 336, 351; & Co 351; & Son 351 GKN Axles Ltd 143, 148, 259 Glamorgan, Northern 503–11 Glamorgan, Western 539–49 Glamorgan Pottery 547 Glanfred [Llanfread, Glanfraid] Forge 258, 561, 562, 562, 566, 567 Glangrwney Forge [Llangroyney] 488, 496–7, 498, 500 Glascoed 465 Glascott, George 94

Index Glascott, Thomas 94 Glass [Loxley] Tilt 160, 177 Glazebrook, William 489 Glazier, John 27 Glazier [Glasier], Thomas 27, 53 Glazier’s [Brightling] Forge 16, 19, 22, 31, 53 Gleed, Henry 61, 63 Glenbuck Ironworks 624, 629 Glenkinglass Furnace 617, 618, 618, 619, 620–1 Glenorchy Firwood Company 620 Glidd, Thomas see Glydd, Thomas Gloucester 369, 428 Gloucester and Berkeley Canal see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Gloucester Furnace, Lamberhurst 16, 21, 22, 30, 46, 88 Glover, Henry 220, 221, 226, 228, 235, 236, 241, 242, 366, 377, 396, 462, 463, 530 Glover, Joshua 508, 516, 517 Glover, Samuel 508, 516, 517 Glyd, Jeffrey 50 Glydd [Glidd], Thomas 25, 26, 27, 51, 52 Glynrhondda 506, 519 Glynwed Ltd 291, 292 Gnoll Company 94; Gnoll Copper Co 213 Goatfield Furnace see Argyll Furnace Goddard, Martin 167 Goddard, Thomas 176 Golden, Thomas 93, 104 Goldenhill Furnace 220, 233, 315 Goldney (family) 291 Goldney, Thomas (d.1731) 250, 253, 269, 288, 532 Goldney, Thomas, II (d.1768) 288, 289, 292, 295, 300 Golds Green Ironworks 328, 348–9 Golds Hill Ironworks 328, 348–9 Golynos Works 501 Gonning, John (jun.) 448, 452 Gonning, Thomas 456 Gonning, William 456 Goode’s Mill 352 Goodgion, George 611 Goodman, Richard 320, 608 Goodwin, William 390, 405 Goodyear [Goodyer], James 62, 76, 77, 78 Goostrey, William 443 Gordon, Adam 124 Gordon, C.D. 118 Gordon, David 114, 124 Gordon, John 618 Gordon & Co 114, 118, 125, 628 Gordon and Stanley 115

Goreing [Goreinge], Henry 219, 223, 224, 229 Gorham, Henry 49 Gorham, John 49 Goring, Sir Henry 60 Goring, Sir William 61 Gornal see Dibdale Bank Furnace; Fitting Forge; Gornal Forge; Gornalwood Furnace; Graveyard Furnaces Gornal Forge 367, 388, 406 Gornalwood Furnace 362, 410, 411 Goscote Bloomery, Rushall 328, 344 Gosden Furnace 58, 59, 61, 65, 66 Gosling, F. (1796) 232 Gosling, Francis (d.1793) 230, 232 Gosling, Francis, & Son 230 Gosling, G. 232 Gosling, George 230 Gosling, George Crichlow 232 Gosling, John 575 Gosling, S.F. 230 Gosling & Son 232 Gospel Oak Furnace, Tipton 164, 328, 355 Gosport 88 Gothenburg iron see under iron, varieties of Gothersley Mill 367, 371, 372, 384, 507 Gott, Maximilian 22, 29, 30 Gott, Peter 21, 29, 30, 47, 51 Gott, Samuel 22, 29, 30, 43, 46, 47, 96 Gough, Mr (1838) 340 Gough, John 567 Governor and Company see Company Gower, Lord 563 Gradwell, Anthony 601 Graham, James 618 Graham, Robert 121, 158, 185 Graham, W.L. 355 Graham, William 158, 185 Graham & Co 158 Graham & Graham 121 Grainger, J.S. 351 Grand Trunk Canal see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Grange Furnace [Trescott Grange Furnace] 267, 318, 331, 362, 368, 370, 372, 383, 384–5 Grant, Brice 573 Grant, Sir James 619 Gratwick, Richard 79 Gratwick, Roger (d.1570) 65, 66, 67 Gratwick, Roger (d.1596) 58, 59, 60, 65, 66, 67 Graunt Pierre see Roberts, Peter Gravetye Furnace 16, 23, 35, 39–40, 71 Graveyard Furnaces 362, 410, 411–12 Gray, James 628

701

Graythwaite 532 Grazebrook, M. & W., Ltd 410 Grazebrook, Michael 382, 410 Grazebrook, Michael and William 410 Grazebrook, T.W. 382 Grazebrook & Co 410 Greane, Thomas 54 Great Bridge see Eagle Furnaces Great Bridge, Tipton 328, 349 Great Elm Works 536, 537 Great Forge of the King see King’s Great Forge, Forest of Dean Great Fryup: Furnace Farm 129–30, 130 great hammers see under hammers Great Sankey Slitting Mill 572, 572, 576 Greaves, Charles 177, 179 Greaves, Sir Edward 65 Greaves, George 182, 184; & Co 184 Greaves, John 176 Greaves, Robert 154 Green, Joseph 568 Green, Thomas 302, 343, 364, 385, 391, 421 Greenall, John 576 Green and Price 338, 548 Greene, Richard 54 Greener, Mr (1824) 119 Greenfield Abbey Works 255 Greengoe see Gringo Greenhow R.T. & R. 259 Greening, Nathaniel 578 Green Lane see Sheffield Greens Forge, at Greensforge 362, 364, 368, 383, 385 Greenuff, John 514, 520, 524 Greenwich see Armoury Mill, The Grene, William 133 Grenfell, Pascoe 89 Grenoside Foundry 160, 185 Grenoside Steel Refining Furnace 160, 166, 181 Gresham, Sir Thomas 45, 46, 48, 54, 55 Gresley, Sir Nigel 230, 233 Greta Forge, Keswick 588, 604, 614 Greville, Sir Fulke 319, 320 Grey, David 518 Griffin, James (d.1818) 383 Griffin, James (after 1818) 383 Griffin, James Avery (d.1853) 383 Griffin Foundry, Little Brampton, Chesterfield 188, 200, 202, 203 Griffis, John 430 Griffith, John 79 Griffiths, David 476, 478 Griffiths [Griffith], Gabriel 605, 609 Griffiths, Grace 462 Griffiths, H.T., & Co 476 Griffiths, Horatio 476

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Griffiths [Griffith], John 495, 499, 516, 517, 553, 558 Griffiths, John, jun. 517, 523 Griffiths, John Rowland 462; & Co 462 Griffiths, Richard 387 Griffiths, W.I. 610 Griffiths & Son 476 Grill, C & C 529 Grindle Forge 275, 309, 310 Gringo [Greengoe] (family) 101, 103, 104, 105 Gringo [Greengoe], John (1647–61) 101, 104, 105 Gringo, John (d.1773) 102, 103, 105 Gringo, Peter 101 Gringo [Greengoe], Robert 101, 104 Gringo [Greengoe], Roger 101, 104 Gritton, Thomas 356 Grosvenor, William 227 Grove, Henry 344 Grove, John 407, 425 Grubb, Anthony 477 Grubsbars Forge see Crowborough Forge Grunday (family) 556 Grundy, Mr (1753) 325 Grundy, Hugh 551, 556, 557 Grundy, Lucy 556 gudgeons see boyts Guest, Lady Charlotte 510 Guest, J.J. 510 Guest, John 6, 252, 290, 306, 307, 387, 505, 508, 509, 510, 534 Guest, Nicholas 387 Guest, Sarah 510 Guest, Thomas 252, 306, 510, 534 Guest & Co 374 Guest Keen & Nettlefolds Ltd 143, 148, 510 Guildford steel furnace 76 gunfounding (cannons) 11, 18–24, 86, 96, 97–8, 113, 251–2, 344–6, 371, 441, 532 Gunn, Alexander 630 Gunn, William 447 Gunning [Gonyng, Gunninge], John 461, 466 Gunning, Thomas 168, 180, 182 guns (muskets/pistols) 7, 85, 87, 332–3, 344–6, 403, 407–8 Gunsmill Furnace 439, 440, 446–7, 469 Gunter, Thomas 29 Guy, David 56 Gwehelog 465 Gwendraeth [Ponthenry, Kidwelly] Furnace 285, 287, 369, 551, 552, 552, 553, 556–7 Gwendraeth Iron Sheet & Tinplate Co Ltd 557 Gwersyllt [Gwersyth] Forge 250, 250, 254

Gwersyllt Lower Wiremill 250, 254, 258, 578 Gwersyllt Upper Wiremill 250, 254, 258, 578 Gwillym, Richard 480 Gwillym, Rudhall 480 Gwydir [Trefriw] Forge 568 Gwyn [Gwynn], Charles 553, 557 Gwyn [Gwynn], Leonard Bilson 557 Gyles, Joan 25, 26 Gyles, John 25, 26

H Habershon, Henry 174 Habershon, J.J. 174 Habin [Rogate] Forge 58, 61, 63 Hackett, James 150 Hackett, Thomas 448, 451, 454, 461, 462, 463, 473, 513, 520, 524, 551 Hackett Forge, Langdale 582, 583, 584, 599, 600 Hackney see Temple Mills Haden [Heydon], John 409 Haden, Joseph 411 Hadfields Steel Foundry Co 587 Hadley (family) 333 Hadley, Ezra 348 Hadley, John 436 Hadley, Joseph 351 Hadley, Thomas 333, 345, 350, 382 Hadley Ironworks see New Hadley Ironworks Hadnall, Stephen 299, 303, 421 haematite 459, 467, 510, 513, 581, 582, 587 Hagley Bloomsmithy 320, 325 Hague, Jonathan (1767) 183 Hague, Jonathan, jun. (1786) 183 Hague and Parkin 166 Haigh Ironworks 572, 573, 574, 579 Haines, William 47 Hale, Mr (1813) 526 Hales (family) 568 Hales, Israel 568 Hales, Jos 568 Hales Forge, Halesowen 321, 362, 363, 377, 382 Hales Furnace, Halesowen 208, 320, 330, 331, 345, 361, 362, 363, 368, 369, 370, 372, 374, 376–7, 382, 441, 574 Halesowen Forge 350, 367, 382 Halesowen Furnace Forge see Furnace Forge, Halesowen Halesowen Mill 367, 373, 382, 412 Halfcot Wire Mills [Prestwood Wire Mill] 340, 367, 377–8 Halford, Joseph 335 Halford, Thomas 449 Hall (family; Cheshire) 237, 322, 418 Hall (family; Gloucestershire) 467, 475

702

Hall, Anne 475 Hall, Benedict (d.1668) 467, 474, 475, 478 Hall, Benedict (1691–1702) 478 Hall, Benjamin 499, 508, 517 Hall, Edward 141, 145, 147, 222, 225, 226, 236, 237, 238, 239, 243, 246, 322, 561, 563, 564, 571, 573, 575, 590, 591 Hall, Gabriel (Newcastle) 114, 118, 124; Mr 125; & Co 118 Hall, George 389 Hall, Henry 483, 484 Hall, Henry Benedict 467, 474, 478 Hall, Holcroft, and Pearson 412 Hall, James 412 Hall, John (1662) 425 Hall, John (1693–1716) 475, 484 Hall, John (1784) 121, 167 Hall, John (1875) 389 Hall, Joseph 155 Hall, Michael, II 236, 418 Hall, Richard 183, 418 Hall, Thomas (d.1715) 140, 163, 220, 221, 222, 225, 226, 228, 230, 235, 236, 240, 244, 246, 562; & Co 140 Hall, Thomas, II (d.1748) 101, 102, 104, 142, 239, 254, 581 Hall, William (d.1615) 467, 478 Hall, William (1660s–80s; Herefordshire) 475, 483, 484, 485 Hall, William (1696–1718; Shropshire) 418, 421 Hall, William (1712; London) 606 Hall and Scudamore 447 Hallfields Furnace, Bradley 328, 331, 352–3 Hallbeath 127 Hallen [Hallyne, Holland] (family) 231, 258, 269, 293, 332, 373, 380 Hallen, Cornelius (d.1682; panmaker) 267, 269, 381 Hallen, Cornelius (1704–11; father) 294, 388, 423 Hallen, Cornelius (1741; son) 423 Hallen, David 380 Hallen, George 380, 390, 409 Hallen, George William 294 Hallen, John (d.1761) 380 Hallen, John (1784–90; Wednesbury) 358, 423 Hallen, Richard 276, 277, 280 Hallen, Samuel (d.c.1786; father) 423 Hallen, Samuel (1784–90; son, Wednesbury) 358, 423 Hallen, William (d.1737) 294, 380, 381, 388 Hallen, William (1748–88) 274, 276, 277, 279, 280, 291, 296, 304 Hallen, William (1806) 294 Hallett, Crowley 114, 115, 124, 168

Index Halliday, John 567; ‘Holliday’ & Co 567 Halliwell, James 93 Hallow Blademill 428, 436 Hallyne (family) see Hallen (family) Hallyne, Cornelius (1611) 532 Halmer End bloomery 220, 230 Halton Company 586, 593, 594 Halton Furnace 581, 582, 586, 590, 594 Hamberton, Mr (1829) 563 Hambleton, Joseph 98 Ham Haw Mill see Weybridge Ironworks Hamilton, John 627 hammering see under iron production hammermen 4 hammer ponds 15 hammers 5 great hammers 17 tilt hammers 5, 6, 166, 459 toss-hammers 164 see also anvils; boyts; helves; hurst Hammersley, G. 1 Hammerton, James 254, 255, 568 Hammett, Sir Benjamin 567 Hammett, Francis 567 Hammett, John 567 Hammett, Richard 387 Hammond, Lt (1635) 61 Hammond, Thomas 378, 396 Hamond, Mr (c.1590) 131 Hampshire 101–6 Hampton Loade Forge 300, 301, 302, 304–5, 408, 507 Hampton Loade Furnace 299, 300, 302, 366 Hampton Loade Iron Company 304 Hamsell Furnace 16, 20, 21, 22, 38, 40 Hanbury (family) 487–91, 492, 494, 504 Hanbury, Capel (d.1704) 489, 490, 493, 494, 495 Hanbury, Capel (d.1765) 491, 493 Hanbury, Elizabeth 516, 517 Hanbury, John (d.1659) 493 Hanbury, John (d.1734; father) 112, 366, 399, 448, 463, 489, 490, 492, 539, 544, 545, 546 Hanbury, John (d.1736; son) 491 Hanbury, John (d.1784; grandson) 441, 491, 493, 495, 516, 518 Hanbury, Richard (d.1608) 442, 459, 461, 463, 487–9, 492, 493, 494, 495, 496, 513, 520, 524 Hanbury, Richard (d.1660) 489 Hanbury, Samuel 357 Hancock, John 258 Hancock, Joseph 184 Hancock, Joshua 179 Hancocks (family) 370 Hancocks, William (1811) 392, 500 Hancocks, William, jun. (1869) 389

Hancocks Mill 480 Hancox, Joseph 403, 405 Handasyde, Gilbert 87 Handasyde and Prickett 87 Handsworth, Hammermill 328, 344 Handley and Sketchley 211 Hankell, James see Henckell, James Hankey, Thomas 202 Hankinson, Richard 452 Hanmer, John 113 Hanmer, Roger 113 Hannis, John 472 Hanscomb, John 500 Hanson, Robert 162, 172 Hanway, John 454 Harborne Mill 328, 345 Harcourt, Robert 226, 227 Harcourt, Sir Walter 226, 227, 318 Harcourt Forge 275, 276, 278, 279 hardwaremen 3 Hardwick Forge 177, 416, 423 Harward, William 561, 563 Harwood, Thomas 272, 273 Hardy, John 143, 157 Hardy, Thomas 178 Harefield Copper Mills, Uxbridge 82, 95 Harford (family) 533 Harford, Getley & Co 514, 518, 520, 525 Harford, James, and Ironfoundery Co 515, 532 Harford, John 520 Harford, Joseph 486 Harford, Partridge & Co 137, 441, 470, 471, 472, 474, 475, 479, 486, 491, 498, 499, 514–15, 517, 518, 520, 521, 522, 525, 529, 532, 543 Harford (Daniel), Weare & Co 529 Harford & Co 475, 498, 500, 525 Harfords, Crocker & Co 498, 514, 515, 518, 520, 525, 532 Harfords, Davies & Co 515 Harle, Ralph 119, 126 Harley (family) 485 Harley, Edward 419 Harley Forge 267, 268, 269, 299 Harper, Sir George 34, 42 Harper, Moses 336, 395 Harpur, Richard 214 Harries, F.B., & Co 306 Harries, Francis Blithe (father and son) 306 Harries, John 520 Harriman, James 576 Harriman, John 621 Harrington, Sir James 200 Harris, Philip [Phillip] 452, 453, 474 Harris, Thomas 519, 532 Harris and Barker 333

703

Harrison (family; London) 86, 87 Harrison (family; Sheffield) 165 Harrison, Ainslie & Co 103, 105, 587, 588, 592, 596, 621; Ltd 587, 588 Harrison, Ainslie and Roper 596 Harrison, Andrews 22, 115, 126, 252 Harrison, Andrews & John [Harrison & Co] 84, 114–15, 126, 252, 598 Harrison, Bagshaw and Tapsell [Harrison and Bagshaw] 22, 29, 30, 40, 46, 88 Harrison, Benson 596 Harrison, Edward 121 Harrison, George 165, 179, 180, 181 Harrison, Gordon and Stanley 114 Harrison, James 575 Harrison, John 22, 115, 126, 178, 183, 252; & Sons 183 Harrison, Joseph 499 Harrison, Matthew 587, 596 Harrison, Richard 355 Harrison, Robert (c.1667; elder) 165, 181 Harrison, Robert (younger) 165, 181 Harrison, Thomas 178 Harrison, William 22, 29, 30, 32, 40, 46, 47, 48, 53, 54, 57, 96, 98, 99, 114, 115, 126, 168, 201 Harrison and Bagshaw see Harrison, Bagshaw and Tapsell Harrison & Co see Harrison, Andrews & John; Harrison, Bagshaw and Tapsell Harrow (family) 93 Hart, Jane 415 Hart, R. 505, 632 Hart, Sir Richard 462, 520, 524 Hart, Thomas 222, 225, 237, 245, 254–5, 562 Hart, Sir William 514 Hartfield see Hartfield Forge; Steel Forge Hartfield Forge 16, 79 Harthey Forge 188, 194, 195 Harthope Mill 125 Harting Combe see Combe Furnace Hartland, John 356 Hartlebury 397–402 Hartle Forge [Middle Mill] 367, 404 Hartley, John 610 Hartley, Thomas 378, 605, 610 Hartleys and Atkinson 605, 610 Hartoft End see Spiers Furnace Hartop [Hartopp], Henry 143, 158, 185 Hartop, John (d.1790) 170, 177 Hartop, John (1803) 177 Hartop, William 170 Hartop & Co 185 Hartshay 187 Hartshorne Furnace 189, 207, 208, 208, 214–15, 216, 319, 330 Hartshorne Screw Works 208, 216–17 Harvey, Ann [Anne] 268, 272

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Harvey, Benjamin 253, 268, 272, 378, 383 Harvey, James 486 Harvey, Samuel 349 Harvey, Thomas (1679) 90 Harvey, Thomas (d.1731) 85, 250, 257, 258, 267, 268, 272, 278, 434 Harvey, Thomas Sergeant 258, 278 Harvey, Wasson & Co 486, 529; Harvey & Co 486 Harvey, William 180 Harvey & Co see under Harvey, Wasson & Co Harvie, Charles 30 Harvington Iron Mill 427, 428, 431 Harvo, John 74 Harvy, David 50 Hascod Furnace 286, 362, 364, 365, 383, 385–6, 387 Haselridge, Sir Arthur 120 Haselwood, Hathaway and Perkins 557 Hasland Furnace 188, 203 Hassall, John 532 Hastings, Sir George 216 Hatch, John 38, 40 Hathaway, Henry 446, 478 Hathersage: Atlas Works 188, 195 Hathersage: Barnfield Mill 188, 201 Hathersage: Dale Mill 188, 195, 201 Hatton Ltd 389 Hatton, Sons & Co 389 Hatton, William, jun. 384, 389 Hausbury, Sir Raphe 162 Hawarden Foundry 250, 258, 259 Hawes, Edmund 29 Hawes, Robert 56 Hawes, William (1651–71) 28, 56 Hawes, William (1596) 519 Hawke, Richard 411 Hawke & Co 411 Hawkes, Mr (1794) 355, 357 Hawkes, Jos. Hateley 354 Hawkes, R.W. 411 Hawkes [Hawks], Richard 348, 354, 358, 411 Hawkes, Thomas 411 Hawkesley, John 177 Hawkesworth, William 178 Hawkhurst see Frith Furnace; Hawkhurst Forge and Furnace Hawkhurst [Wenebridge] Forge and Furnace 16, 20, 21 Hawkins, Isaac 281 Hawkins, James 472 Hawkins, John 250, 253, 289 Hawkins, William 258 Hawks, Crawshay & Co 117; and Sons 127 Hawks, John 121 Hawks, Joseph 121

Hawks, Longridge & Co 117, 118 Hawks, Longridge, and Todd 121 Hawks, Sir Robert Shaftoe 121 Hawks, Stanley & Co 117 Hawks, William 114, 115, 117, 125; Mr 126; & Co 115, 117, 118, 121, 125, 126, 127 Hawks & Longridge 114; Hawks, William, & Longridge 118 Hawksden Forge and Furnace 16, 22, 54 Hawksford, Eleanor 351 Hawkshead 583 Hawksley, Joshua 181 Hawksley, Thomas 181 Hawksley Wheel see Holmes Wheel Hawksworth, S. & E. 216 Hawksworth, Walter 529 Hawthorn, William 68 Hay, Sir George 617 Hay, Richard 28 Hay, Thomas (1574–9) 25, 28, 55 Hay, Thomas, & Co (1828) 557 Hay, William 26 Haydock 237; see also Dean Mill Hayes, Thomas 26, 52 Hayes & Co 533 Hayford, Dennis 111, 116, 117, 118, 140, 141, 144, 146, 149, 150, 151, 152, 162, 163, 173, 174, 176, 192, 225, 235, 236, 322; & Co 109, 110, 116 Hayford, Dennis, II (d.1732) 111, 118 Hayford, Jane 144 Hayford, Millington 111, 114, 118, 162–3, 190, 192, 198 Hayford, Simpson and Co 169, 170; Hayford and Simpson 140; Hayford & Co 192, 198; see also Fell, John, & Co; Simpson & Co Hayman, R. 632 Hay Mills 339, 340 Hayne, George 209, 210 Hayne, Henry 210 Haynes, George, & Co 545 Haynes, Richard 533 Haynes, Thomas 533 Hayseech Forge 367, 373, 407 Hayton, J.W. 255 Hayton, John, sen. (d.1803) 254 Hayton, John, jun., & Co 254 Hayton, John Wright 254 Hayton & Co 254, 255 Hazard, Thomas 83 Hazelwell Mill, Kings Norton 328, 345 Hazell & Co 411 ledine, John 304 Hazledine, Robert 304 Hazledine [Hazeldine], William 258, 269, 270, 271, 274, 307, 358 Healey & Co 345 Heanor Furnace 201

704

Hearn William 324 Hearnshaw, Francis 346 hearths 4 chafery 4, 5 finery 4 melting fineries 6 osmond 459 refinery 6 running out hearths 6 Heath, Joseph 407 Heath, Matthew 396 Heath, Richard 56 Heath, Robert 233 Heath & Mills 407 Heathcote, J.E. 232 Heathcote, R.E. [R.C.] 232 Heathcote, Sir Thomas 233 Heatherslaw Mill 124 Heathfield Furnace 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 31, 32, 39, 54, 62 Heath Forge 351, 362, 364, 368, 370, 383, 384, 386, 387 Heaton, Francis 385 Heaton, Rossall & Co 594 Heaton, Thomas 594 Heaton and Whewall 586, 593 Heaven, Samuel 444 Hebble, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Heber, Ann 603 Hedgecourt Furnace see Warren Furnace Hedges (family) 95 Heeley Tilt 160, 166, 177 Heigham, Edward 49, 52 Heigham, Walter 52 Heighley Furnace 219, 220, 220, 224–5, 227, 321 Heley, William 344 Hellifield, George 165 Helm, Frederick 433 Helmington Furnace 110, 110, 120–1, 129 helves 5 Hemlingford Mills, Kingsbury 328, 345 Hemsworth, George 147 Henckell [Hankell], James 88, 98 Hendall Furnace and Forge 19, 58, 70–1 Henderson & Davis 610 Hendley, William 44 Hendredenny Furnace see Caerphilly Furnace Henfrey, John 170 Henly [Brinklaw, Bunklaw] Forge 16, 45, 46 Henly Lower Furnace see Riverhall Furnace Hennem, Jonathon 94 Henry VIII, King 81, 94 Henry le Feron [Hennedric] 17

Index Henshall & Co 212 Hensley, George 536 Hensley, Robert 536 Hensley, William 536 Henworth, William 209 Henzell, Joshua 124 Hepden, John 50 Hepden, Thomas 50 Herbert, Lord (later Marquis of Worcester) 98 Herbert, Edward 20, 33, 36, 44 Herbert, George 33 Herbert, William 415, 419, 463, 514, 524 Herdson, Richard 601 Hereford, James 485 Hernden Furnace see Frith Furnace Heron, Roger 124 Herring, Agnes 228 Herring, Edward 228 Herring, Symon 228 Hervey, Thomas 402 Heslop, Adam 610, 614 Heslop, Crosby 614 Heslop, Milward, Johnson, and Co 610, 614 Heslop, Thomas 614 Hesylwell Smithy 138, 154 Heugh Mill, Dunfermline 624, 628 Hewitt, C.F. 389 Hewitt, James see Lifford, Lord Hewitt, Jane 279 Hewitt, Thomas 279 Hewitt, William 279 Hewlett, Samuel 444 Hexham 110, 125 Heydon, John see Haden, John Heywood, George 408 Hiat, John 76 Hickin, John 353 Hickman, Daniel 532 Hickman, Edward 530 Hickman, Richard 381, 387 Hicks, William 605, 609, 610 Higgins, Benger 86 Higgs, Benjamin 407 Higham Forge 188, 195, 199 Highfields Ironworks 328, 332, 354, 355 High Rocks [Hungershall] Forge 16, 40 Highway, George 324 Highway, James 324 Highway, Thomas 402 Hildreth, William 177, 179 Hildreth and Greaves 177, 179 Hilhouse, Getley & Co 514 Hilhouse & Co 532 Hill (family; Court of Hill) 424 Hill (family; Stourbridge and Blaenavon) 392 Hill, Andrew (Court of Hill) 425

Hill, Ann 381 Hill, Anthony (Plymouth Furnace) 503, 510 Hill, Bate and Robins [Stourbridge Old Bank] 356, 392, 491 Hill, Caleb 225 Hill, Edward 321 Hill, Francis 383, 411, 435 Hill, Harford & Co 499, 515 Hill, Humphrey 92 Hill, John 381 Hill, Katherine 280 Hill, Richard (father; Plymouth Furnace) 507, 510 Hill, Richard (son; Plymouth Furnace) 506, 507, 510 Hill, Roger 249, 256, 387 Hill, Thomas (1730s) 273 Hill, Thomas (d.1824; Stourbridge and Blaenavon) 322, 349, 378, 379, 383, 400, 401, 491, 499; & Co 324, 400, 401, 424, 491, 497, 498, 499, 515 Hill, William 225, 280 Hillen, J. 631 Hillpool Forge, Chaddesley Corbett 367, 404 Himley see New Smithy; Himley Furnace Himley Furnace 286, 321, 362, 364, 365, 383, 386–7 Hinde, Francis 309 Hinde and Cosham 508 Hingley, N., & Sons (Netherton) Ltd 409, 410, 412 Hingley, Noah 382 Hinksford Forge 367, 388–9 Hinstock see Shackerford Mill Hints Forge 208, 323, 327, 328, 330, 331, 337, 338, 341, 343, 631 Hipkiss, Henry 382 Hird (1783) 143 , 157 Hird, Dawson and Hardy 157 Hirst, William 183 Hirwaun Furnace 481, 482, 497, 504, 504, 506, 508, 514, 517 Hislop, W.T. 93 Hitchcock, John 82, 83, 91–2, 93 Hitchcock, William 92 Hoad, John (1649; father) 77 Hoad, John (1697; son) 77 Hoadly Forge see Lamberhurst Forge Hobson, Edward (1663) 175 Hobson, Edward (1802) 408 Hobson, Francis 182, 408 Hobson, James 30 Hode, Thomas 67, 505 Hodesdale Forge 16, 30–1 Hodge, James 448 Hodges & Watkin 530 Hodgetts, Booth 348 Hodgetts, Elizabeth 304, 384, 507

705

Hodgetts, John (1767; Herefordshire) 485 Hodgetts, John (1802; Gothersley) 304, 384, 507 Hodgetts, S.W. 411 Hodgetts, Thomas 348 Hodgetts-Foley, J.H. 384 Hodgkinson, Jeremy 632 Hodgkinson, James 195 Hodgson, Mr (1805) 147 Hodgson, Barnabe 54 Hodgson, Charles 178 Hodgson, Henry 384; & Co 388 Hodgson, John (1758–75) 111, 113, 114, 119, 607 Hodgson, John (1792) 347 Hodgson, John, & Co 125 Hodgson, Joseph 593 Hodgson, Patrick 629 Hodgson, Peter 629 Hodgson, Richard 120 Hodgson, Robert (1562) 74 Hodgson, Robert (1785) 119 Hodgson, Samuel 379; & Co 379 Hodgson, Thomas 74 Hodgson, Walter Edward 156 Hodgson, William 120 Hodinott, Richard (d.1733; grandfather) 537 Hodinott, Richard (d.1760; grandson) 537 Hodinott, Simon 537 Hodshon, John 110, 120 Hodson, John 575 Hofford Mill 339 Hogan, Thomas 69, 74, 75 Hogge, Ralph 19, 40, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74 Holbeck, Richard 267, 269, 270 Holbeck Forge 138, 154–5, 156 Holbrook see Perry Wire Mills Holden, Thomas 185 Holden, William 350 Holden and Willetts 343 Holdgate Mill 416, 425 Holford Mill see Perry Forge Holland (family) see Hallen (family) Holland, Elizabeth 231 Holland, John (1673; father) 225, 231 Holland, John (1718; son) 231 Holland, William 231 ‘Holliday & Co’ see under Halliday, John Hollier, Isaac 265 Hollier, Thomas 94 Hollinswood Furnace 251, 284, 295 Holloway, Mr (1794) 349 Holloway, Garret [Jarrett] 28, 51 Holloway, Thomas 34 Hollow Mill [Swindon/Swin Lower Forge] 362, 364, 371, 372, 387

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Hollow Sword Blade Company 111, 125, 126 Holme, James 324 Holme, Thomas 593 Holmeden, Regnold 34 Holme Forge, Beckermet 604, 612 Holme Lacy ironworks 468, 480 Holmer (family) 375 Holmer & Raby 91 Holmes, Francis 147 Holmes, Roger 276, 277 Holmes, Solomon 117 Holmes, Strickland & Co 586 Holmes, William 276, 277 Holmes Chapel Furnace 138, 140, 146–7, 236 Holmes Ironworks 160, 171, 174 Holmes Steel Works 160, 164, 166, 181 Holmes [Hawksley] Wheel 168 Holm House Mill, Warley 138, 155 Holmsted [Gastons Bridge] Forge 58, 70, 71 Holne see Ausewell Iron Mill Holt, John 409, 577 Holt, Joseph 403 Holt, Thomas 577 Holton, Robert 178 Holton, Susan 178 Holywell Forge 250, 254, 561 Holywell Wiremills 237, 250, 254–5, 565, 568 Hombersley, J. 298 Hombersley, William 296 Home, Francis 411 Homesby, Alex 44 Homfray (family) 371–2, 491, 529 Homfray, Messrs, & Co 390 Homfray, David 371, 390, 393 Homfray, F. (1820) 386 Homfray, Francis, I (d.1736) 371, 373, 378, 381, 384, 388 Homfray, Francis, II (d.1798) 370, 371, 378, 387, 388, 389, 390, 392, 393, 400, 441, 443, 521 Homfray, Francis, III (d.1809) 215, 296, 371, 378, 388, 392 Homfray, George 371, 443 Homfray, Henry 390 Homfray, Jeremiah 371, 372, 441, 497, 498, 507, 508, 509, 510 Homfray, Jeston, I (1737–95) 371, 373, 381, 393 Homfray, Jeston, II (d.1816) 371, 388, 390, 393 Homfray, John 296, 371, 378, 388, 389, 400, 402 Homfray, John Addenbrooke see Addenbrooke, John Addenbrooke Homfray, Mary 296, 388

Homfray, Samuel 6, 290, 371, 372, 441, 491, 500, 505, 507, 509, 510; & Co 499 Homfray, Thomas 371, 378, 386, 388, 392, 510 Homfray and Addenbrooke 296 Homfray & Co 500 Homfray and Shinton 388 Honeywood, Edward 44 Hoo, Thomas 331, 352, 353, 356 Hood, William 625 Hooke, Henry 63, 76 Hooke, John 76 Hooper, Charles 42 Hooper, James 42 hoops 6, 11, 82–4, 92 Hope, Sir James 33 Hope Furnace 440, 447 Hope Mansell 471 Hope Works 185 Hopkins (family) 324 Hopkins, Mr (1638) 85 Hopkins, G.H. 518 Hopkins, John 222, 225, 230, 239, 242, 322, 324 Hopkins, Samuel 222, 223, 225, 230, 233, 240, 242, 322, 324, 497 Hopkins, Thomas 230, 239, 322, 324, 401, 491 Hopkins and Latham 242 Hopkins and Liversage 242 Hopley, Thomas 92 Hopping [Hoppinge] Mill Forge 187, 188, 188, 194, 195 Hopton, Lady 454, 537 Hopton, Sir Ralph 537 Hopton, Sir Robert 454, 537 Hornblower, Mr (c.1800) 381, 407 Hornblower, Jonathan 532 Hornblower, William 407 Hornbuckle, Richard 94 Hornby Forge 582, 600 Horne, Henry 86 Horner Mill, Luccombe 535, 536, 536 Horsebane Hammer see Coldharbour Hammer horse harnesses 362 Horsehay Ironworks 6, 250, 276, 284, 289, 290, 291, 295, 296, 297, 298, 347, 348, 372, 400, 403, 408, 441 Horseley, William 131 Horseley Ironworks 328, 355 Horsfall, James 339 Horsfeild 44 Horsmonden [Horsmondon], John 20, 33, 36 Horsmonden Furnace 16, 20, 47 Horsted Keynes Furnace 18, 58, 71 Horton (family) 478 Horton, Daniel 410

706

Horton, Joseph 413 Horton, Thomas 356 Horton, W. (1837) 298 Horton, Sir William (1750s–60s) 141, 146, 148, 163, 190, 198 Horton Forge 220, 231 Horton Furnace see Leek Furnace Horton Mill 82, 92 Hothfield Forge 16, 33, 44 Houghton, Thomas 602 Hoult, John 181 Houndsditch foundry 86 Housom, H.H. 122 How, Peter 605, 609; & Co 606, 608, 609 Howard, Charles 74 Howard, Thomas 52 Howbourne [Buxted] Forge 58, 71 Howe, Earl 330 Howell, David 519, 522 Howell, Griffith 567 Howell, John 546 Howell, William Bowen 545 Hoyland, John 177 Huband [Hubaud], Sir John 431 Hubbals Mill 267, 299, 300, 302, 303, 415, 462; see also Morville Forge Huddleston (family) 584 Huddleston, Ferdinando 595 Hudson, Bolton 499 Hudson, George 123 Hudson, Thomas 74 Huggetts Furnace 58, 71–2 Huggins, Mr (1690s) 98 Hughes, Edward 252 Hughes, Frances 556, 557 Hughes, Henry 462, 463 Hughes, Lewis 552, 556, 557, 558 Hughes, Mark Bolton 413 Hughes, Samuel 507, 508 Hughes, William (1752) 92 Hughes, William (1840) 258 Hull, Thomas 433 Humfrey, William 459, 461, 496 Humphreyville, Thomas 89 Humphries, John 516 Hungershall Forge see High Rocks Forge Hunloke, Sir Henry 187, 200 Hunloke, James 200 Hunsdon, Lord 201 Hunshelf see Wortley Tinmill Hunslet Ironworks 138, 147, 157 Hunt, Benjamin 350 Hunt, Edward 232 Hunt, Harry 350 Hunt, Henry (1763) 382 Hunt, Henry (1822) 500 Hunt, James 500 Hunt, John (1680) 378, 396 Hunt, John (1814) 232

Index Hunt, John (1830–40) 384, 410 Hunt [Johnson], Richard 389 Hunt, Thomas (1629) 226 Hunt, Thomas (1783) 95 Hunt, William 232, 347, 350, 382 Hunt, William, & Sons 347 Hunt, William, (The Brades) Ltd 518 Hunt and Cliff 347 Hunt & Co 350 Hunt [Munt] and Maulton 232 Hunt Brothers 501 Huntingdon, Earl of 207, 214, 216, 319 Huntsman, Benjamin 166, 179–80 Huntsman, Francis 180 Huntsman, John 180 Huntsman, William 180 Huntsman, William, Ltd 180 Hunts Mill 367, 387, 389, 406 Hunwick 110 Hurd, John 346, 349 Hurd, Thomas 346 hurst 5 Hurst, Rupert 228 Hurst, the see Aldenham Furnace Hurt, Francis (1764) 191, 203 Hurt, Francis, II (d.1801) 191, 203 Hurt, Francis, III (after 1801) 191, 203 Hurt, John 190 Hurt, Valentine 150 Hussey (family) 117 Hussey, David 167, 177 Hussey, Edward 425 Hussey, Peter 177, 423 Hussey, Thomas 22, 25, 29, 30, 32, 48, 53, 54, 177 Hutchison, David 628 Hutton, Mrs (c.1800) 178 Hutton, R. 132 Hutton and Mitchell 178 Huzzey & Co 520 Hyde Mill, Kinver 296, 321, 363, 365, 366, 367, 371, 372, 392–3 Hyett, Richard 92 Hytche, Robert 129

I Ibberson, Broomhead, Blonk & Co 179 Ibberson, Joseph 179 Ibberson, Joseph, and Co 179 Ibbotson, Henry 195 Ibbotson, Joseph 183 Idehurst Forge see Barkfold Forge Iden, John 47 Idle, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Ifield [Bewbush] Forge 58, 66, 67–8 Ifield Furnace see Bewbush Furnace Ifton Furnace 249, 262, 264–5 Ilman, Richard 67

Ilman [Illman], Thomas 67 Imbhams Furnace 58, 77 Inett Smith, Caughley 300, 303 Innet, James 397 Infield (family) 41 Ingram, Joshua 155 Ingram, Robert 266 Inholmes Copse Furnace 58, 63 Inman, Robert 594; & Co 586 Invergarry Company 530 Invergarry Furnace 581, 617, 618, 618, 619, 621 Inveraray Furnace see Argyll Furnace Ipsley Forge 368, 428, 431–2 Ireland 320, 582, 603, 623 Ireland, Anthony 98 Ireland, Thomas 577, 602 Iremonger, Gregory 520, 524 Iridge Furnace 16, 54 Iron Acton 529 iron, varieties of bar iron 2, 4, 5, 6 blackplate 6, 85, 490 blend 5 broad 5 bushel see iron recycling cast iron 2, 3, 5, 113 Cheshire Coldshort 235, 239, 276 coldshort 5, 327, 459 double bullet 409 finers’ metal 6 flat iron 5 Gothenburg iron 363 Leven (pig iron) 587 Lorn (pig iron) 587 merchant bar 5 mill bar 5 Muller’s iron 363, 529 narrow 5 oregrounds iron 7, 165 osmond iron 4, 6, 459 pig iron [sow iron] 2, 3, 5, 6, 88, 112, 228, 287, 372, 587, 609 redshort 5, 287 refined iron 6 rod iron 2, 6, 363, 365 sable 121, 215, 216 scrap see iron recycling short broads 5 squares 5 stamped 6 strake iron 5 tin bar 5, 6 tinplate 6, 82, 85, 89, 103, 105, 222, 228, 361, 366, 368, 373, 395, 399, 422, 471, 490, 516, 539 tough [tuf] 5, 467 tyre iron 5 wrought iron 2, 165

707

iron goods 2; see also anvils; armour; axles; ballast; bolts; gunfounding; guns; hoops; locks; nails; pans; saws; screws; scythes; spades/shovels; swords; wire ironmasters 3 ironmongers 3 Ironmongers’ Company see London Ironmongers Company iron ore, sources of 3 Clee Hills 415 Forest of Dean 451 Hampshire 102 Lancashire 102, 235, 581–2 Montgomeryshire and the Border 263 Northeast 109, 110 North Yorkshire 129 Penk Valley 315 Scotland 617, 623 Shropshire 267, 299, 303 South Midlands 427 South Wales 487 Southwest 535 Staffordshire 219 Stour Valley 361 Tame Valley 327, 336 Trent Valley 207, 231 Weald 15 Wales 102, 513 Wrexham and Flintshire 256 Wye Valley 459, 467 iron ore, type of see bog iron; haematite; ironstone; limonite; magnetite; redmine Iron Plat see Queenstock Furnace & Forge, Buxted iron production (processes) 2 annealing (neiled) 21, 97, 460 blade sharpening 7 calcining 3, 5 hammering 3, 4–5 potting and stamping 6, 290, 305, 331, 332, 335, 342, 372, 605, 609 puddling 6, 290 rolling 6 sand moulding 287 shingling 4, 6 slitting 6 smelting iron from cinders 503 smelting with charcoal 3 smelting with coal [pitcoal, mineral coal, coke] 6, 133, 134, 135, 287, 292, 364, 369, 476, 552, 556 stampering [potting and stamping] 6 Walloon process 17, 459 wiredrawing 4, 6–7, 459–60 see also forges; furnaces; hammers; malleablizing iron recycling (scrap/bushel iron) 6, 86, 88–9, 103, 114, 115, 117, 120, 290

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II ironstone 3, 5, 15, 102, 109, 110, 113, 119, 120, 122, 129, 135, 207, 219, 231, 256, 263, 299, 303, 315, 327, 336, 581, 603, 605, 607, 610, 619, 623 iron trade and economics 8–9, 81, 85, 112, 209–11, 368–9, 454, 582, 619 Irvine, John 618 Isted, Joan 18, 54, 55 Isted, Thomas 55 Ives, John 209 Ives, William 288 Ivie, Daniel 257 Izon, William 410, 412 Izon & Whitehurst 410, 412 Izons & Co 410 Izons & Whitehouse 356

J Jackfield see Calcutts Furnaces Jackson, Mr (1804) 421 Jackson, Joseph (1747; Derbyshire) 215 Jackson, Joseph (1774; Gloucestershire) 479 Jackson, Thomas 486 Jackson, William 621 Jagger, J. & G. 153 James I, King 372, 451 James, David 544 James, John 324, 443, 449, 478 James, Robert 37 James, Thomas 22, 37 James, W. (1789) 529 James, William 91680s) 415, 419 James Bridge Bloomsmithy 328, 344 Janns, Thomas 317 japanning 332, 490 Jarman, Henry 52 Jarratt, John 143, 157 Jarrett, Charles 27 Jarvis, John 409 Jausse-les-Ferons 17 Jayne, John 498 Jeffereys, John 354 Jefferies & Co 354 Jeffrey, Bartholomew 27, 28, 38, 49 Jellicoe, Adam 103, 105, 290 Jellicoe, Samuel 103, 105 Jenkin, Evan 547 Jenkins, Alex, & Co 523 Jenkins, David/Daniels, & Co 517 Jenkins, Digby 346 Jenkins, Edward 517, 526; & Co 526 Jenkins, I. 518 Jenkins, John 517, 523, 524, 526; & Co 523 Jenkins, Philip 541, 544 Jenkins, R. Cook 518 Jenkins, William (of Caerleon) 517

Jenkins, William (of Pontyhir) 517, 523, 524 Jenkins & Co 524 Jenkinson, Mr (1660) 223 Jenkinson, Thomas 228 Jenn’, Hugh ap 279 Jennens (family) 189, 207–8, 329–30, 341 Jennens, Ambrose 84 Jennens, Charles 330 Jennens, Henry 211 Jennens, Hester 84 Jennens, Humfrey [Humphrey] (d.1690) 189, 192, 195, 196, 197, 201, 207–8, 211, 214, 217, 328, 329–30, 333, 334, 335, 336, 338, 341, 342, 343, 345, 368, 376 Jennens [Jennings], John (d.1653) 84, 85, 189, 191, 192, 195, 196, 197, 200, 201, 207–8, 333, 334, 337, 631 Jennens, John (1689–1707) 207, 214, 330, 333, 334, 335, 336, 338, 341, 342, 343, 368 Jennings, John, & Co (1746) 529 Jennyhole Forge see Upper Mitton Forge Jerningham, Sir George and family 311 Jesmond see Busy Cottage Jesson, Joseph 305, 335; & Co 305, 306, 335; ; see also Wright & Jesson Jesson, Richard 295, 305, 306, 332, 335, 348 Jesson, Thomas 305, 306, 335, 348 Jesson & Dawes 306 Jessop, William 202; & Co 170; & Sons 170 Jevon, William 530 Jevyn, Richard 405 Jewett, Richard 135 Jewkes, George see Jukes, George Jewkes, Samuel 396 Jewkes, Talbot 395, 396 Jewkes, William see Jukes, William Jodrell (family) 575 Jodrell, Edmond [Edmund] 571, 575 Johnson, A.C. 90 Johnson, Charles, & Co 247 Johnson, Francis (1588–90) 36, 37 Johnson, Francis (1817) 256 Johnson, George 306 Johnson, Henry 68, 96 Johnson, James 556 Johnson, Jeremiah [Jeremy] (d.1681) 66, 69 Johnson, Jeremy (1717) 35 Johnson, John (1580s) 20 Johnson, John (1760; Lancashire) 593 Johnson, John (1777–79; North Yorkshire) 127, 424 Johnson, Joseph 256 Johnson, Matthew 247 Johnson, Nephew & Co Ltd 191

708

Johnson, Owen 335, 349 Johnson, Richard see Hunt, Richard Johnson, Richard, & Nephew 191 Johnson, Samuel 575 Johnson, Thomas (1570s–90s; Queen’s Gunfounder) 20, 40, 42, 47 Johnson, Thomas (1600) 187, 188, 194, 195, 196 Johnson, Thomas (1701) 87, 96 Johnson, Thomas (1761; swordmaker) 127 Johnson, William 332, 353, 357 Johnston, Edward 614 Jones, Mr (1649) 466 Jones, Mr (1783; Stourbridge) 435 Jones, Mr (1822) 280 Jones, Charles 250, 275, 277, 281 Jones, Ellis 265 Jones, George 352, 354 Jones, Hugh 518, 520, 525 Jones, James 87, 94 Jones, John (1745–50; Monmouthshire) 495 Jones, John (1751; Cardiff) 519 Jones, John (1760s; Bristol) 251, 509, 532; see also Jones & Winwood Jones, John (1780s; Wrexham) 255 Jones, John (1800; Shropshire) 270 Jones, John (1805; Wrexham) 258 Jones, John (1813; Montgomeryshire; father) 259 Jones, John (1813–20; Redbrook) 478 Jones, John (c. 1820; West Midlands) 413 Jones, John (1828; Montgomeryshire; son) 259 Jones, John, & Co (1870s) 411 Jones, Joseph 263 Jones, Partridge 493, 518 Jones [alias Martin], Richard (1585) 406 Jones, Richard (1656; Sussex) 38 Jones, Richard (1664; Glamorgan) 520, 524 Jones, Richard (1706–18) 22, 46, 87, 96, 97, 98 Jones, Rigby, and Jones 259 Jones, Robert 526 Jones, S.R.H. 631 Jones, Thomas (after 1770) 350 Jones, Thomas (1807–23; Wrexham) 252, 253, 259, 353; & Co 255, 258 Jones, Thomas (1815; Carmarthen) 554 Jones, Thomas (1815–18; coal merchant, West Midlands) 346, 411, 412 Jones, W.T. 518 Jones, Whitehouse & Co 359 Jones, William (1776; London) 116 Jones, William (1783–91; Shropshire) 270, 304 Jones, William (1822; Wrexham) 258, 259

Index Jones, William West 359 Jones and Bullock 94 Jones and Rigby 259 Jones & Winwood 23; see also Jones, John (1760s; Bristol) Jordan (family) 331, 333, 384 Jordan, Edward (1730s; gunsmith) 333, 345 Jordan, Edward (1752–68) 441, 463, 470 Jordan, Nicholas 219 Jordan, Richard 370, 384, 386, 521 Jordan, Thomas 345, 370, 521 Jordan [Jordon], William (1714) 267, 370, 384 Jordan, William (1764) 370, 521 Joseph’s Foundry, Lambeth 95 Jubb, George 153 Jubb, Joel 153 Juckes, Margaret 302 Jukes [Jewkes], George 22, 28 , 56, 57, 60 Jukes, Thomas (1669; father) 481, 485 Jukes, Thomas (1686; son) 481, 484, 485 Jukes [Jewkes], William 22, 28, 56, 57, 60; & Co 86, 87, 288 Jupp, Thomas 103, 105 Justice, Peter 126 Justis, John 168

K Kaltoff, Gaspar 98 Kaye, John 154, 163, 170, 171 Kear, Isaac 456 Kear, Peter 456 Kearsby, Sir John see Reresby, Sir John Keate, Robert 411 Kegworth Forge 208, 217 Keele Plating Forge 220, 231 Keeling, Francis 240 Keeling, William 240 Keep & Watkin 388 Keerholme Forge 582, 600 Keinton Forge see Caynton Forge Keir, James 344 Kellett, William 599 Kelly, Christopher 324 Kelsall, John 97, 250, 253, 263, 369, 561, 564, 566, 568 Kelsey, Thomas 76 Keswick Forge see Brigham Forge; Greta Forge Kemberton Furnace 145, 222, 223, 230, 275, 309, 310, 310–11, 312, 370, 591 Kemble, George 467, 477 Kemble, Richard 467, 483, 484 Kemp, Mr (c.1720) 86 Kendal 582, 600; see also Force Mill Forge

Kendall (family) 122, 137, 238, 239–40, 243, 322, 324, 491, 497, 498, 562 Kendall, Anna 374 Kendall, Edward 113, 124, 145, 222, 225, 226, 228, 230, 237, 238–9, 244, 251, 275, 280, 309, 310, 312, 322, 335, 370, 374, 378, 397, 410, 469, 497, 566, 591, 603, 607 Kendall, George 116, 228 Kendall, Henry (1748) 611 Kendall, Henry (d.1788) 230, 239, 242, 322, 370, 497, 611, 619, 620; & Co 239, 585, 620 Kendall, John (c.1840; Chaddesley Corbett) 407 Kendall, Jonathan (d.1790; uncle) 230, 239, 242, 322, 370, 374, 375, 497, 607, 619; & Co 566; John 607; Mr 246 Kendall, Jonathan, jun. (1783; nephew) 242 Kendall, Latham & Co 620 Kendall, William 526 Kendall & Hopkins 592, 620 Kendrick, Archibald 500 Kendrick, G.S. 500 Kendrick, James 258 Kendrick, William 485 Kendrick & Co 500 Kenley Furnace 267, 268, 269, 299 Kennard, Robert 498 Kennet and Avon Canal Co 93 Kennett, Astley, and Hogarth 92 Kennion, George see Kenyon, George Kenrick, John 258 Kent see Weald Kent, Duke of (1724) 447 Kent, 8th Earl of (d.1639) 161, 170, 477, 480 Kent, Earls of 471, 477 Kent, Elizabeth, Countess of 159 Kent, Ralph 591 Kent, Stephen 89 Kent, Walter 89, 92 Kent Water and Cansiron Catchment 35–7 Kenyon (family) 164, 173 Kenyon, Firth and Woolhouse 173 Kenyon [Kennion], George 72 Kenyon, J. & J. 172 Kenyon, John 173 Ketlewell, William 620 Ketley Furnaces 6, 276, 284, 289, 290, 291, 295–6, 297 Ketley Iron Co 296 Kettle (family) 346 Kettle, John (d.1733) 85, 347, 529 Kettle, John (d.1803) 347, 377 Kettle, William 209, 347 Kevan Furnace see Cefn Cribwr Furnace

709

Keynsham see Avon Mill; Keynsham steel mill Keynsham steel mill 529, 530, 533 Kidderminster 397–402 Kidson, Richard 301 Kidwelly Forge 548, 551, 552, 552, 553, 557 Kidwelly Furnace see Gwendraeth Furnace Kidwelly Tinplate Co Ltd 557 Kidwelly Tinplate Works 552, 553, 557–8 Kidwelly Sheet Iron Tinplate Company Ltd 557 Killamarsh Forge 188, 200, 201, 340 Killinghall, Henry 109, 119 Killinghall, William 109, 119 Kilmorey, Lord 240 Kilnhurst Forge 138, 141, 142, 145, 147, 163, 167, 168, 172, 175, 182, 238, 239 Kimberworth Forge 161, 162, 170, 174 Kimberworth Furnace see Chappel Furnace Kimberworth ironworks 159, 161, 164 Kimberworth steel furnace 160, 165, 181 King, James 38 King, Joseph 383 King, William 383, 508 King and Queen Ironworks see Rotherhithe Ironworks Kings Bromley Tinmill 208, 215, 232, 532 Kingsbury Mill see Hemlingford Mills King’s Great Forge, Forest of Dean 451, 455–7 Kings Howbrook Forge/Furnace see Lydbrook Forge/Furnace King’s Ironworks, Forest of Dean 263, 283, 424, 451–3, 455, 551 King’s Meadow Forge see Royal Forge, Stourbridge King’s Mills, Castle Donnington 207, 210, 214; see also Donnington Forge, Castle Donnington Kings Norton see Hazelwell Mill Kingston, Earls of 187, 188, 194, 200 Kingswinford see Corbyn Hall Furnaces Kinman, Francis 87, 88, 95 Kinman, Thomas 87, 88, 95 Kinman, William 87, 88, 95 Kinnersley, Thomas 233 Kinnersley, William 217 Kinver 389–402; see also Compton Furnace; Gothersley Mill; Halfcot Mill; Hyde Mill; Kinver Mill; Stourton Slitting Mill; Whittington Forge Kinver Mill 367, 372, 393 Kipping, Walter 42

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Kirkby, Roger 601 Kirkby, William 601 Kirkby Furnace 142, 188, 189, 190, 195–6, 197, 207, 208, 209, 330, 416 Kirkham, Ralph 574 Kirkland, George 459 Kirkless Hall Ironworks 573 Kirkstall Forge 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 147–9, 203, 632 Kirle [Kyrle], Sir John 447, 467, 477 Kirle [Kyrle], Robert 447, 448, 472, 474, 475, 478 Kirle and Braine 455, 456 Kirty’s Mill see Orchardleigh Kitchenham [Ashburnham Lower] Forge 16, 26–27 Kitchingham Forge see Burgh Wood Forge Kitchingham Furnace see Darfold Furnace Kiteley, Richard 355 Knaresborough Forest see Crimple Ironworks Knepp Furnace 58, 59 Knifton, Henry 228 Knight (family) 331, 369–70, 395, 398, 417 Knight, Edward 289, 369, 370, 372, 376, 392, 399, 417, 419, 420, 490; & Co 209, 289, 295, 338, 363, 370, 376, 416, 515, 529, 530; see also Stour Works Partnership Knight, Francis (c.1720; Nottinghamshire) 193 Knight, Francis (after 1750; Worcestershire) 375 Knight, James 4, 370, 417, 419, 420; & Co 419 Knight, Joane 522 Knight, John (1588) 37 Knight, John (1618) 37 Knight, John (d.1795) 369, 392, 419, 420 Knight, John (d.1850) 215, 500 Knight, John, & Co 295, 296, 370, 373, 392, 395, 396, 416, 500; see also Stour Works Partnership Knight, Jonas 37 Knight, Owen, & Co 78 Knight, Raffe (1564) 522 Knight, Ralph (d.1754) 370, 372, 399, 417, 419, 420; & Co 419, 490 Knight, Richard (1633; Kent; uncle) 37 Knight, Richard (1644; Kent; nephew) 37, 70 Knight, Richard (I) (1650s; Madeley) 416 Knight, Richard (II) (d.1745; Bringewood) 190, 192, 193, 195, 226, 238, 239, 257, 279, 302, 369, 370, 372, 376, 392, 396, 397, 398,

399, 401, 416–17, 418, 419, 420, 421, 423, 435, 469 Knight, Robert 41, 70 Knight & Co (Varteg) 500 Knight & Crowder 397 Knight & Spooner 331, 353; see also Stour Works Partnership Knight Bringewood Partnership 490 Knight Stour Works Partnership see Stour Works Partnership Knot Mill, Manchester 307 Knott (family) 587 Knott, George 596; & Co 252, 596, 621 Knott, Michael 585, 590, 596 Knottingley Forge 117, 138, 140, 141, 144, 149, 163, 172 Knowbury [Clee Hill] Furnace 416, 417, 421, 426 Knowles, James 400 Knutton Furnace and Forge, Newcastle under Lyme 220, 225, 229, 565 Knutton Plating Forge 220, 231, 233 Knutton, Thomas, jun. 181 Knyveton, William 200 Kock, Remancle 81 Krisker, Gervase 80 Kynaston, Arthur 249, 256, 264 Kynaston, Beatrice 279 Kynaston, Corbet 279 Kynaston, John 273 Kynaston, Samuel 264 Kynaston, Thomas 264, 391 Kyrke, James 259 Kyrke, Richard 259 Kyrkeknott [Byrkeknott] Bloomery 109, 110, 123, 125 Kyrle see Kirle

L Lacon (family) 269, 299, 302, 421 Lacon, James 285, 292 Lacon, Roger 269 Lacon, Roland 267 Lacy, Walter 419 Lade, Sir John 19 LaFarge 355 Laidlaw [Laidler], George 119, 124 Lake, Thomas 418, 424 Lakerigg [Sizergh] Gunpowder Mill 593 Lambard [Lambarde], John 65, 79 Lambarde, Hugh 513, 524 Lamberhurst see Gloucester Furnace; Lamberhurst Forge Lamberhurst [Hoadly] Forge 16, 22, 47, 57 Lambeth: Joseph’s Foundry see Joseph’s Foundry Lambeth: Pedlar’s Acre 82, 95 Lamplugh Forge see Lanefoot Forge

710

Lancashire: north 581–602; south 571–9 Lancashire ironmasters see Cunsey Company Lancashire process 587, 597 Lancaster see Force Bank Forges; Lune Foundry Landell, David 114 Landell and Chambers 114, 120, 124 Landore Copper Works 547 Landore Forge 547 Landore Iron Company 547 Lane (family) 237 Lane, Anne [Ann] 222, 226, 238, 591 Lane, Cecilia 226, 238 Lane, Dr John 83, 90, 539, 546, 557 Lane, Nathaniel 226, 237 Lane, Obadiah 221, 222, 226, 230, 236, 237, 238, 245, 464, 469, 474, 475, 554 Lane, Penelope 222 Lane, Thomas 345 Lanefoot Forge, Lamplugh 588, 604, 614 Langdale see Hackett Forge Langhorn [Langarren] mine 603 Langley, George 299 Langley [Langles] Furnace 19, 58, 72 Langstrath Bloomsmithy 604, 612 Langworth, John 374, 384, 385, 388 Lapphyttan 17 Lasher, James 91 Latham, John 223, 230, 240, 242 Latham, Joseph 497, 592 Latham, Richard 311, 592 Latham, William 222, 240, 591, 592, 597 Law, Henry 602 Law, William 178 Lawley (family) 330 Lawley, Anne 26 Lawley Smithy 276, 282, 295 Lawrence, John 517 Lawton Furnace 140, 163, 221, 223, 230, 235, 236, 236, 239, 242, 244, 276, 277, 322, 607 Laycock, Joseph 121 Layton, Mr (1815) 233 Lea, J.F. 392 Lea Brook [Leabrook] 328, 332, 356 Leacroft, William 324 lead 5, 17, 86, 96, 98, 123, 125, 133, 135, 142, 164, 184, 211, 216, 266, 286, 451 Leadbitter, John 240 Leadenhall (London) 85 Lea Forge (Cheshire) 223, 230, 235, 236, 240, 241, 242–3, 275 Lea [Lee] Forge (Staffordshire) see Biddulph Forge Leah, Henry 155

Index Leasingby, Margaret Palmer 255 Lechford, Henry 68 Lee, Edmund 574 Lee, John 173 Lee, river [Navigation] see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Lee [Lea] Forge see Biddulph Forge Leeche, Charity 74 Leeche, Richard 44, 70, 74 Leeche, William 44 Leeke (family) 201 Leeke, Sir Francis 187, 197 Leeke, William 281, 302 Leekfrith ironworks 220, 231 Leek Furnace, Horton 220, 231–2 Lees, John 232 Legas, John 22, 29, 30, 32, 45, 46, 47, 48, 53, 54, 99, 287 Legas, Sebastian 422 Leggatt, John 175 Legge, Job 389 Leicester, George 227, 519 Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of 415, 421, 567 Leigh, Capel Hanbury 442, 491, 493, 494, 498 Leigh, George, and Smith 493 Leigh, Robert 147 Leigh and George 493 Leighe, Edward 337, 338, 341 Leigh Hammer 58, 68 Leighton Furnace (Lancashire) 581, 582, 584, 586, 594–5 Leighton Furnace (Shropshire) 268, 269–70, 271, 276, 289, 294, 372, 372, 415 Leintwardine Forge 416, 425 Leith Walk Foundry 629 le Jean, Robert 67 Lemington [Tyne] Ironworks 110, 115, 127 Lenard, Lawrence 29 Lenard, Richard 29 Lenox, Samuel 507 Leonard (family) 533 Leonard, Charles 336, 348 Lepton see Colne Smithies Lester (family) 555 Lester, Thomas, & Co 555 Letterewe 617, 618 Lettsom, Dr J.C. 540, 546, 547 Lettsom, Samuel Fothergill 540, 542, 546, 547, 548 Level Ironworks: New Level 356, 362, 372, 374, 412 Level Ironworks: Old Level 362, 372, 374, 410, 412 Leven 587 Leven Iron Company 629

Levens Ironworks see Markinch Ironworks Leveson (family) 228 Leveson, John 336 Leveson, Sir Richard 278, 309 Leveson, Sir Walter 278, 309 Leveson-Gower (family) 278, 280 Leveson-Gower, Lord Granville 295 Levett (family) 74 Levett, Elizabeth 34 Levett, John 34, 52, 74, 75 Levett, Lawrence 74 Levett, Mary 74 Levett, William 18, 69, 73, 74, 75 Levit, Lawrence 74 Lewis, Ann 517, 524 Lewis, Sir Edward 503, 506 Lewis, George 36 Lewis, George James 421 Lewis, Henry 557 Lewis, J. 565 Lewis, James George 417, 426 Lewis, John (1760s) 446 Lewis, John (1833) 517, 524, 526; & Co 524 Lewis, Richard 418, 424 Lewis, Susan 36 Lewis, T. & G. 527 Lewis, Thomas 509, 522, 539, 540, 543, 544, 546, 547, 552, 554, 563, 629; & Co 441 Lewis, William (1770s) 153, 509, 519 Lewis, Dr William (1788) 446 Lewis & Farmer 554 Lewis and Perks 529 Lewis and Thompson 522 Lewisham see Royal Arms Factory Lewknor, Humphrey 45 Lewthwaite, Musgrove 608 Lewthwaite, William 605, 610 Lewty, W.T. 401 Lewty and Partridge 401 Leyburne (family) 600 Leyburne, Charles 601 Leyburne [Leyburn], George 601 Leyburne, William 601 Leycett (Madeley, Staffs) 232 Leysand, Nicholas 47 Leys Furnaces 410 Leys Ironfoundry 355, 367, 410 Libenrood, John Englebert 93 Lichfield see Stow Mill Lichfield Corporation 325 Liddell, Jos. (1724) 115 Liddell, Joseph (1777–84) 121, 608 Liddell & Lewthwaite 608 Lidgwood Forges see Lizard Forges Liège 81 Lifford, Lord 349 Lifford Mill 328, 349

711

Light Castings Ltd 291, 292 Lightmaker, Edward 71 Lightmoor Company 297 Lightmoor Furnace 250, 276, 279, 284, 289, 295, 296–7, 371 Lilleshall Company 295, 298, 311 Lilleshall Forge 276, 278–9 Lilleshall Furnace 275, 276, 278–9, 298 Lilly, Robert 222, 228, 230, 410 Lilly, T. 272, 410 Limekilns Iron Mill 624, 628 Limerick Wheel 168 limonite 3, 467 Linchamps 81 Lindal 586, 594 Lindall, Jonah 612 Lindegren, A & C 529 Lindow, John 602, 612 Lindow, Jonas 612 Lindow, Jonas, jun. 612 Lindow, Little & Allison 588 Lindow, S. & J. 588, 612 Lindow, Samuel, & Co 612 Lindsey, Robert (1788) 579 Lindsey, Robert, Earl of (1639) 419 Linop, Thomas 231 Linton Furnace 7, 165, 368, 427, 428, 467, 632 Linton Steelworks 428 Lintzford Mill 110, 125, 127 Lisle, James 109, 119 Little, Abraham 612 Little, Allinson & Lindow 612, 614 Little, Dodgson & Allinson 614 Little, Thomas 612 Little Aston Forge 207, 209, 330, 331, 337–8, 343, 346 Littleboy, George 26 Little Brampton see Griffin Furnace Little Clifton Furnace 113, 124, 251, 288, 410, 576, 603, 606, 607–8 Littledale, George 577 Littledale, Henry 577 Little Eaton Gangway 202 Little Forge, Buxted 58, 72 Littlehales, John 299, 302 Littlehales, Richard 299 Little London Works 160, 177 Littleton, Sir Edward 324 Littleton, James 35, 37 Littlewood, William 177 Littlewood King & Co 383 Liverpool 572; see also Coalbrookdale Foundry; Phoenix Foundry Liversage, Richard 223, 230, 240, 242 Liversedge see Swamp Hall Lizard Forges 233, 309, 310, 310, 311–12, 315, 477 Lizard ironworks 140 Llanbedr Forge 552, 558

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Llancillo Forge 441, 467, 481, 482, 483–4, 491 Llandyfan (old) Forge [Yskennen Forge] 539, 551, 552, 552, 553, 558 Llandyfan (old) Furnace 543, 551, 552, 558 Llandyfan New Forge 552, 553, 558 Llanelli Forge (Carms) 540, 548 Llanelli Furnace (Carms) 84, 91, 202, 203, 535, 540, 541, 548, 553 Llanelly Associated Tinplate Companies 557 Llanelly Charcoal Iron Co 495 Llanelly Forge (Monmouthshire) 441, 488, 495–6, 498 Llanelly Furnace (Monmouthshire) 441, 481, 488, 489, 490, 491, 495–6, 532 Llangroyney Forge see Glangrwney Forge Llantrisant: Penbwch see Penbwch Llantrisant Forge 514, 519 Llantrisant Furnace 514, 519 Llanwern 516 Llays Iron Co 254 Llechryd Tinplate Works see Penygored Tinplate Works Llewellin, Mr (1673) 270 Llewellin, John 527 Llewellyn, I. 523 Llewellyn, John 546 Llewellyn, Llewellyn 543, 546 Llewellyn, William 540, 546, 548; & Co 541, 542, 546; & Son 546 Lliw Forge 540, 544 Lloyd (family; Birmingham) 137, 212, 428 Lloyd (family; Plas Maddock) 251, 262 Lloyd, Mr (1749) 521 Lloyd, Sir Charles (1651; Moelygarth) 265 Lloyd, Charles (d.1741; Birmingham) 331, 568 Lloyd, Charles (d.1828; Birmingham, banker) 331; see also Lloyd, S., N. & C. Lloyd, Charles, III (d.1748; of Dolobran) 210, 250, 252, 253, 261, 263, 265, 268, 346 Lloyd, Charles, IV (d.1767; of Dolobran) 261, 263 Lloyd, Edward (d.1691; Plas Maddock) 21, 251, 255 Lloyd, Edward, II (d.1760; Plas Maddock) 251, 255, 256, 266 Lloyd, J.F. 350 Lloyd, John (London and Whittington) 264, 265 Lloyd, Nehemiah 331; see also Lloyd, S., N. & C. Lloyd, Sampson, I (d.1725) 210, 331, 339

Lloyd, Sampson, II (d.1779) 210, 212, 331, 333, 346, 529 Lloyd, Sampson, III (d.1807) 331, 358 Lloyd, Sampson (1854) 350 Lloyd, Sampson, and Son 210, 212, 215, 333, 337; & Sons 331; & Co 433 Lloyd, Sampson, Nehemiah & Charles [S., N. & C.] 212, 331, 334, 348, 433 Lloyd, Samuel 255 Lloyd, Sarah 333 Lloyd, Thomas 423 Lloyd, Walter 567 Lloyd, William 121 Lloyd, Wilson 350 Lloyds Foster & Co 331 Llwydcoed Ironworks 504, 506 Llwydiarth Iron, Steel and Tinplate Co Ltd 518 Llwyneinnion Furnace 250, 259 Llwyn Onn Forge 250, 250, 252, 255 Llynlloed Forge see Pengroes, The Forge locks (door) 215, 332, 362, 627 locks (musket/pistol) 85, 333 locks (navigation) 89, 90, 92, 93, 94, 147, 272, 274, 361, 395, 401, 431, 435, 467, 471, 477, 479, 576 Lockwood, Morris & Co 544 Lodge, Sir Thomas 219, 224, 227, 231 Lodge [Troyal] Forge 367, 373, 380, 382, 406, 412 Lodge Steel and Iron Works 382 Lofthouse, Edward 184 Loftus, Brightmore & Co 184 Logan, George 630 Logan & Co 630 Loggin, John 90 Loggin [Loggins], William 81, 90; Mr 83 Loggins [Loggin], Laurence 196, 229 Lomas, Joseph 202 London 84–6, 109; see also Blackfriars; Burr Street; Greenwick; Lambeth; Leadenhall; New Square, Fetter Lane; Southwark; Thames Valley; Woolwich London Company of Drapers 84, 111 London Company of Girdlers 459 London Grocers (and Teamen) 67, 84, 499 London Gunmakers Company 333 London Ironmongers Company 84, 85 London Lead Company [Company for Smelting down Lead with Pitcoal] 98, 255, 286, 515, 568 London Tinplate Workers Company 539 Long Crendon 428 Longe, Katherine 106 Longe, Sir Walter 106 Longford Court 539, 545

712

Longhope Furnace(s) 366, 372, 439, 440, 447, 468, 574 Longmire, Mr (1790) 621 Longmore, Joseph 449 Longnor Forge 267, 268, 270–1, 340, 415, 416, 420 Longnor Lower Forge 268, 270–1 Longridge (family) 114 Longridge, Michael 118 Longridge, Thomas 114, 117, 125 Longridge, W.S. 191 Lonsdale, Earl of see Lowther, Sir James Lonsdale Haematite Rolling Mills 610 loop [loup] 4 Lord, Thomas 51 Lord Paget’s Works 220, 221, 223, 225, 235, 236, 315, 319–22, 323, 324, 330 Lorn [Bonawe] Furnace 104, 105, 351, 530, 571, 581, 585, 586, 587, 617, 618, 618, 619, 621–2 Lorn Furnace Co 613, 621 Loscoe Furnace 187, 188, 195, 196, 201 Losh, George 629 Losh, James 629 Losh, John 127, 629 Losh, Lewis 629 Losh, Robinson & Co 115 Losh, William 127, 629 Losh, Wilson & Bell 115, 127 Losh & Co 115, 629 loup see loop Lovatt, William 216 Love, John 183 Love and Manson 166 Love and Spear 166 Lowbridge, Thomas, I (d.1680) 401 Lowbridge, Thomas, II (d.1722) 257, 265, 372, 397, 398, 400, 417, 420 Lowca Works 604, 606, 614 Lowcock, William 274 Lowe, Mr (1770s; Weald) 78 Lowe, Mr (1785; Staffordshire) 388 Lowe, Alexander 336 Lowe, E.R. 198 Lowe, Humphrey [Humfrey] 336, 374, 376 Lowe, Jesson 336 Lowe, John 336 Lowe, Joseph 575 Lowe [Low], Patrick 187, 194, 195 Lowe, R.C. 435 Lowe, Richard 404 Lowe & Ward 197 Lower, Mary 592 Lower, William 592 Lower Bungehurst Furnace 16, 49–50 Lower [Pill] Forge, Lydney 440, 442 Lower Mitton Forge 362, 366, 370, 372, 373, 397–8, 400

Index Lower Norncott Furnace see Abdon Furnace Lower Stour Valley 389–413 Lower Tinplate Works 468 Lowick Green Forge (on Crake) 582, 601 Lowick Green Spade Forge 582, 588, 601 Low Mill, Egremont 6, 290, 604, 605, 607, 608–9, 613 Low Mill, Silkstone see Silkstone Furnace Lowmill Co 609 Low Moor Ironworks 138, 143, 155, 157, 158 Low Smithy see Redbeck Forge Lowther (family) 612 Lowther, Sir James (later Earl of Lonsdale) 22, 113, 331, 605–6, 607, 610, 611 Low Wood 251 Lowwood Company 585, 587, 590, 591, 593 Lowwood Furnace 582, 585, 588, 595, 599 Lowwood Gunpowder Co Ltd 240 Loxley Forges see Wisewood Forge Loxley Tilt see Glass Tilt Lubbren, Frederick Malin 119 Lucas, Edward 613 Lucas, Read & Co 613 Lucas, Samuel 613 Luccombe see Horner Mill Luce, Robert 219, 224, 231 Luck, John 39 Luck, William 39 Lugg, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Luke, Robert 627 Lukin, James 97 Lumley 110, 125 Lumley Forge 110, 114, 115, 117, 121 Lumley Forge Co 127 Lund, Benjamin 619 Lune Foundry, Lancaster 594 Lunsford, Master 18 Lurgashall Furnace 58, 63 Lutley Mill 367, 407 Lutman, Thomas 38 Lycette, Nicholas 228 Lydall, Robert 98 Lydbrook [King’s Howbrook] Forge (destr. 1650) 340, 441, 442, 452, 452, 453, 456 Lydbrook Forges 459, 462, 467, 468, 468, 469, 470, 473–5, 477, 491, 515 Lydbrook [Kings Howbrook] Furnace 452, 452, 453, 454, 456, 473 Lydbrook Tinplate Works 471 Lyddyatt, Edward 387

Lyde, Lionel 515; & Co 515 Lydiot Forges see Lizard Forges Lydney Forges see Lower Forge, Lydney; Middle Forge, Lydney; New Mills; Upper Forge, Lydney Lydney Furnace 88, 296, 371, 431, 439, 440, 440, 441, 442, 468, 471, 478, 540; see also Old Furnace, Lydney Lydney Furnace and Forges 442–3, 471, 491, 515 Lydney Trading Society 472 Lye Forge 362, 370, 372, 378, 380, 412 Lyghe, John a 50 Lymm Slitting Mill 572, 572, 575–6 Lynacre, James 202 Lynall, Richard 309 Lyndley, Henry 415 Lyne Stream see Mountfield Furnace and Forge Lyttelton (family) 363 Lyttelton, Lord 382 Lyttelton, Sir John 376 Lyttelton, Merriel 376 Lyttelton, Sir Thomas (d.1650) 320, 369–70, 376 Lyttelton, Sir Thomas (d.1751) 376

M Mabrey 131 Macdonnell, John 621 Machell, J.P. 602 Machell [Maychell], James 588, 600 Machell [Maychell], John 584, 588, 591, 600, 621 Machen Forges 459, 461, 462, 489, 499, 500, 513, 514, 514, 515, 516, 518, 519–21, 524, 525 Machen Iron and Tinplate Company Limited 520 Machen Tinplate Works 520 Machin, John 342 Machin, William 380 McIntyre, Duncan, & Co 629 Mackenzie, John 628, 629 Maclaren (family) 625 Maclaren, James 624 Machyn, Roger 38, 42, 74, 342 Machynlleth Forge see Penegoes, The Forge Mackworth, Sir Humphrey 523, 543, 546 Mackworth, Thomas 285 Macnab, Henry 306 Maddison, T. 413 Maddox, Illedge 353 Madeley Furnace (Staffordshire) 163, 219, 220, 220, 221–2, 223, 224, 225–6, 227, 230, 235, 237, 239 Madeley Wood [Bedlam] Furnaces 4, 261, 284, 289, 291, 297

713

Maesbury Forge 249, 261, 262, 265, 363 magnetite 535 Maidenhead see Taplow Mill Mainwaring, Edward 226 Mainwaring, Richard 354 Maister, Nathaniel 212 Maister, William 209, 347 Makeney see New Mills Forge Malbourne Mills 167 Malcher, Samuel 83, 91 Maling [Malings], William 114, 117 malleablizing 21 Manby, Aaron 355 Manby and Smith 355 Manchester 572 Mander (family) 211 Mander, Dorothy 196, 197, 209, 330 Mander, Humfrey [Humphrey] 197, 200 Mander [Maunder], John (1727–46) 189, 190, 193, 196, 197, 200, 208–9, 210, 215, 333, 334; & Co 189, 200, 209, 215, 330–1, 338, 343 Mander, John (19th cent.) 357 Maney Forge and Boring Mill 328, 345 Manners, George 324 Manners, John 324 Manners and Cheshire 324 Manning, Charles (d.1719; father) 42, 81, 82, 83, 91 Manning, Charles (after 1719; son) 91 Manning, Henry 91 Manning, John 26 Manning, Richard 36 Mansel [Mansell], Lord (d.1723) 93, 369, 539, 541, 544, 547 Mansell, John 317 Mansell, Marrabella 317 Mansell, William 226, 315, 316, 317, 318, 368 Manser & Co 88, 96 Mansfield, Henry 198 Manson, Thomas 183 Mapledurham Wiremill 82, 92–3 March, Richard 60 March, Stephen 104 Marchant, Richard 199, 207, 216, 419 March-les-Dames 17 Marden, Stephen 71 Maresfield: Boring Wheel Mill 54, 58, 72 Maresfield: Old Forge see Marshalls Furnace at Old Forge, Maresfield Maresfield Forge 24, 58, 72–3 Maresfield Furnace 58, 73 Margam Co 554 Margam Tinplate Works 541 Marigold Steps see Southwark Markinch [Balgonie, Levens] Ironworks, Fifeshire 624, 629

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Markly [Rushlake] Furnace 16, 31 Marple Bridge Spade Forge 572, 578 Marples, Richard 200 Marriott, George 167, 172, 178 Marriott, John 198 Marriott, Samuel 198 Marriott, Sarah 198 Marriotts Croft Forge see Breechers Forge Marriott Wheel 178 Marsden, David, & Co 170 Marsden, Samuel 156 Marsh Ironmill 299, 303 Marsh, William 60 Marsh Bros 173 Marshall, Benjamin 179 Marshall, George 382 Marshall, James 155 Marshall, John (1731) 179 Marshall, John (1760s) 166, 168, 183, 184 Marshall, Jonathan (1796–1809) 177, 184 Marshall, Osborne & Co Ltd 306 Marshall, William 600 Marshalls Furnace at Old Forge, Maresfield 19, 58, 73 Marsham, Ferdinando 50 Marsham, John 50, 72 Marshe, John 405 Marston, Henry 433 Marston, Richard 393 Marston Forge 236, 243 Marten, George (1550s) 323 Marten, Robert 505 Martin, Edward 613 Martin, Elizabeth 505 Martin, George (1626) 29 Martin, Henry 629 Martin, Mary 613 Martin, Michael 29, 61, 63 Martin, Richard (1585) see Jones, Richard Martin [Martyn], Sir Richard (1570–80; Alderman) 461, 487, 496 Martin, Robert 505, 506 Martin, Thomas 613 Martin, William 231 Martin & Gardner 88 Martingall, Mr (1720) 573 Maryport and Carlisle Railway 614 Maryport Furnace see Netherhall Furnace Masbrough Ironworks 174, 181, 185 Mason (family) 427 Mason, Bartlett 430 Mason, Hatton, and Davies 430 Mason, James 296 Mason, Jeffrey [Geoffrey] 385, 391 Mason, Nathaniel 430

Massey, Major-General Edward 442, 453 Massey’s Forge see Blaydon Burn Massocke, Thomas 592 Massocks, John 583, 592 Masters[Master], Alexander 35; see also Masters & Raby Masters & Raby 62, 83, 88; see also Raby & Masters Mathafarn Ironworks 561, 562, 566–7 Mathan (family) 578 Mather (family) 211 Mather, Humphrey [Humfrey] 189, 197, 200, 209 Mather, Walter 189, 190, 197, 198, 200, 209, 211, 212, 215 Mather, William 200 Mathews, George see Matthews, George Mathrafal Company [Mathrafal Forge Co] 261, 263, 265, 289, 297 Mathrafal Forge 261, 262, 263, 265–6, 372, 631 Matson (family) 602 Matson, William 602 Matthew, Edmund 475, 524 Matthew, John 543 Matthew, Thomas 475 Matthewman, Mr 184 Matthews, Edmund 513, 522 Matthews [Mathews], George 46, 88, 98, 200, 305, 306–7, 371 Matthews, Henry 522 Matthews, Miles 522 Matthews, Thomas 356 Matthews, William 462, 513, 522 Matthews and Homfray 307 Mathrafal Forge 236, 250 Maud, W.E., & Co 240 Maudsley, Henry, & Co 95 Maudsley, Sons and Field 95 Maulton, William 232 Maunder, John see Mander, John Mawley Forge see Cleobury Upper Forge May (family) 50 May, Anthony 25, 26, 56 May, Galfridus [Jeffrey] 44 May, George 49 May, Thomas 18, 54, 56 Maybery (family) 506 Maybery, Mary 433 Maybery [Maybury], John (1755–75) 482, 508, 514, 515, 518, 520, 525 Maybery, Thomas (d.1758; father) 433, 482, 508 Maybery, Thomas (1766; son) 433 Maybury [Mowbray], John (1680) 150 Maybury, John (1657) 599; see also Mabrey Maybury, John (d.1840) 216, 274 Maybury, Joseph 384

714

Maybury, Richard 599 Maybury [Mowberi], Roger 334 Maybury, Thomas 533 Maybury, William 274 Maychell see Machell Mayfield see Coushopley Furnace; Mayfield Forge; Mayfield Furnace; Moat Forge Mayfield Forge 16, 54–5 Mayfield Furnace 16, 54–5 Maynard, Agnes 56 Maynard, John 36, 38 Maynard, Richard 40, 55, 56, 70 Maynards Gate Forge 16, 40–1 Maynards Gate Furnace 16, 40–1 Mayne, John 67 Maze, Peter 523, 524 Meacham, George 389 Mead & Co 612 Mead & Heslop 612 Meare, Humphrey 375 Mearheath Furnace 219, 220, 220, 222, 223, 224, 226–7, 235, 236, 239, 242, 249, 330 Measham Ironworks 208, 217 Medway 33–48 Medway, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Medway Upper Catchment 37–43 Meggitt, William 184 Meikle, John 617 Mekin, John 183 Melbourne Forge I & II 207, 208, 215, 331 Melbourne Furnace 208, 209, 210, 215, 331 Melchior, Samuel 83, 91 Melhill Forge 16, 44, 47 Melin Court [Cwrt, Neath] Furnace 441, 490, 539, 540, 540, 541, 542, 544–5, 555 Melingriffith Co Ltd 522 Melingriffith Works 370, 463, 514, 515, 516, 521–1, 522, 531, 532 Mells 167, 535 Mells Lower Works 536, 537 Mells Upper Works 536, 537 melting fineries see under hearths Menham, Thomas 119 Menteith Forge see Achray Forge Menyfee, Thomas see Mynyfee, Thomas merchant bar see under iron, varieties of Meredith, Ellis 254, 256 Meredith, Joseph 404 Mereton 91 Merevale Smithy 328, 344 Merrick, Gelly 415 Merrick, Rhys 526

Index Mersey and Irwell Navigation see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Mersey Ironworks, Warrington 572, 578 Mersey Wire Co 578 Merthyr Tydfil see Cyfarthfa Forge/ Furnace; Dowlais Ironworks; Penydarren Ironworks; Plymouth Furnace Metal Box Co 546 Metcalfe, Jane 227 Metcalfe, Richard 606 Meyre, Humphrey 406 Meyre’s bloomsmithy, Cradley 367, 406 Meysey, Mathias 86, 283, 294 Michelbourne [Michelborne], Richard 61, 63, 71 Michell, Edmund 70 Michell, Thomas (d.1551) 70 Michell, Thomas (1574) 70 Middle Forge [Mill] (Broadwaters) see Broadwaters Upper Forge Middle Forge (Lydney) 440, 442 Middle Mill (Belbroughton) see Hartle Forge Micklethwaite, John 181, 183 Middleton (family) 140 Middleton [Myddleton], Arthur 40, 60, 66, 71, 72, 207, 214, 215 Middleton, David 68, 69, 70, 73 Middleton, Sir Francis 187 Middleton, Sir George 601 Middleton, Goreinge, Nye & Co 223, 224, 227, 229, 281, 328, 329, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 341 Middleton, John (Sussex & Staffs) 59, 60, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 219, 223 Middleton, Mary 252, 256 Middleton, Richard (d.1641) 79 Middleton, Richard (1670s) 257 Middleton, Thomas (1597) 61 Middleton, Thomas (1654; Sussex) 66 Middleton, Sir Thomas (d.1666; Chirk Castle) 249, 256, 264, 391 Middleton, Timothy 256, 264, 265 Middleton, William 177 Middleton Furnace 327, 328, 337, 338, 341 Middlewood Forge 160, 166, 171–2, 173, 178 Middlewood Slitting Mill 160, 164, 166, 171–2, 178 Midland Coal, Coke, and Iron Co Ltd 232 Midland Railway 173 Midgley Bank Smithies 143, 144 Miers, John (d.1780; father) 539–40, 541, 542, 544, 546, 547; & Co 540, 544, 546 Miers, John (son) 546

Miers, John Nathaniel 507, 540, 542, 546, 547; & Co 540 Miers, Nathaniel 540, 546 mild steel see Bessemer process; Gilchrist–Thomas process; Siemens– Martin process Milland Furnace 58, 63–4 mill bar see under iron, varieties of Millfield [Birds Wharf] Furnaces 328, 356 Millington, Crowley 121, 123 Millington, Isaiah 113, 121, 123 Millington, Jeffrey 278 Millington, Mary 124 Millington, Mary Anne 124 Millington, T.I. 124 Millington, Thomas 121, 123 Millington & Co. 25 Millom Ironworks 582, 584, 595–6, 598, 603 Mill Place Furnace 16, 38, 41, 67 Mills (1574) 41 Mills, James 352 Millsands, steel furnaces see Sheffield Millwall Ironworks 82, 88, 95 Millward, Lt 429 Millward, Charles 381 Millward, Thomas 518 Milner, Gamaliel 163, 198 Milner, Samuel 288, 561, 563, 564, 566, 584 Milner, Thomas 240, 345, 563 Milnes, James (1725; sen.) 200 Milnes, James (d.1814; jun.) 156 Milnes, Richard 204 Milns, Benjamin 178 Milnthorpe Forge 582, 583, 600–1 Milton Furnaces 143, 160, 164, 185–6 Milward, Thomas 614 Minchinhampton Iron Mill 440, 449 Mine Adventurers see Company Mineral and Battery Works see Company Mines Royal Acts 82, 95 Mines Royal Company [Society] 82, 95, 525, 527, 541, 605, 606, 613 Minworth Mill 328, 333, 345–6 Mirfield Furnace see Calder Furnace Missing, John 33 Mister Forge Co 527 Mitcham Copper Mill 82 Mitcheldean Furnace Co 468, 480 Mitchell, Humfrey 489, 496 Mitchell, Wreaks & Co 178 Mitchell & Co 592 Mitchell Park Forge 58, 62, 64 Mitton, Thomas 391 Mitton mills 399–400, 621 Mitton Tin Mill [Wire Mill Farm] 85, 146, 216, 324, 367, 370, 399, 419,

715

490; see also Lower Mitton Forge; Upper Mitton Forge Moat Forge, Mayfield 16, 18, 54, 55 Moat Mill Forge 18, 54 Moddershall [Stone] Furnace 219, 220, 223, 226, 227, 275, 318 Moggridge, Francis, & Co 518 Mohl, Herman (1710; father) 126 Mohl, Herman (1725; son) 126 Moira, Earl of 217 Moira Furnace 208, 211, 217 Mold, Benjamin, & Co 216; Mr 216 Mold, Charles 191, 203 Mold, J. & C. 216 Mold, John 191, 203, 216 Mold & Barker 216 Mole, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Mole Catchment 66–9 Molland see West Lee Ironworks Molyneux, Benjamin 72, 73 Momma, Elizabeth 92 Momma, Jacob 91, 92 Momma, Sarah 92 Moncaster, Isabel 115 Moncaster, James 115, 119 Monkbretton Smithies 138, 149, 153 Monkhouse, Rev Matthew 500, 518 Monkswood ironworks 461, 465, 487, 488, 488, 489, 496 Monmer [Monmore] Lane Ironworks 352 Monmouth, Duke of 459, 469 Monmouth Corporation 476 Monmouth Forge 133, 446, 447, 463, 467, 468, 469, 470, 471, 475–6, 480, 513, 515, 532 Monmouthshire, North see North Monmouthshire Monmouthshire Canal Act (1792) 498, 499 Monmouthshire Tinplate Co Ltd 527 Monslow, Thomas 311 Monslowe, John 263, 299, 301, 405 Montagu, Earls of 581 Montagu, Edward 32 Montague, Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount (d.1592) 43, 63, 65, 66, 77 Montague, Anthony Browne, 6th Viscount (d.1767) 60, 77 Montague, Anthony-Marie Browne, 2nd Viscount (d.1629) 48, 77 Montague, Francis Browne, 4th Viscount (d.1708) 28 Montague, William (1793; Somerset) 537 Montague, William (1824; Gloucestershire) 449 Montford, Simon 343 Montgomeryshire 261–6

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II moor coal see peat Moorcroft Furnaces 328, 356 Moore (family) 404 Moore, Daniel 351, 386 Moore, Sir Edward (1617) see More, Sir Edward Moore, Edward (1838) 155 Moore, Edwin 404 Moore, George (1595–1611) 452, 473, 474, 477 Moore, George (1691) 97 Moore, Hugh 254, 256 Moore, Humphrey 223 Moore, John 148 Moore, Jonathan 178 Moore, Robert 461 Moore [More], Thomas 489, 494, 539, 542 Moore, William 558 Moore and Vernon 387 Moore and Ward 178 Moorer, John 557 Moorfields Foundry 86 Moorland Works 220, 228 More [Moore], Sir Edward 67, 68, 69, 78 More, Sir George 78 More, Thomas see Moore, Thomas Moreton, John 241, 242, 275, 277, 280 Moreton, Joseph 275, 277, 280 Moreton, Matthew Ducie 448 Moreton Corbett [Sowbatch] Forge 263, 274, 275, 276, 277, 279–80, 415, 416 Morgan (family of Tredegar) 514 Morgan, Anthony 556 Morgan, Banks and Morgan 390 Morgan, Charles (1769; Carmarthen) 553, 554 Morgan, Sir Charles (1800; of Tredegar) 500 Morgan, Charles, II (1806; doctor) 553, 554, 556, 559 Morgan, David 566 Morgan, Henry (c.1610) 419 Morgan, Henry (1775) 518 Morgan, John [‘Merchant Morgan’] (d.1732; of Tredegar) 518, 520, 539, 544 Morgan, John, I (d.1805; Carmarthen) 525, 553–4, 554, 556, 557, 559; & Co 554, 557, 558 Morgan, John, II (d.1808; Carmarthen) 553, 554, 556, 559 Morgan, Morris & Co 553, 554, 556, 557 Morgan, Nathaniel 483, 484 Morgan, Robert (Carmarthen) 5, 23, 102, 105, 369, 552–4, 556, 557, 558, 581 Morgan, Rowland 520

Morgan, Thomas (d.1664; of Tredegar) 520 Morgan, Thomas (d.1699; of Tredegar) 518, 520, 524 Morgan, Thomas (1691–1705; Rodmore) 444 Morgan, Thomas (1769; of Tredegar) 518, 525 Morgan, Thomas (1801) 444 Morgan, Thomas (1863) 389, 395 Morgan, W.T. 517 Morgan, William (d.1680; of Tredegar) 513–14, 518, 520, 524, 525 Morgan, Sir William (d.1731; of Tredegar) 518, 520, 525 Morgan & Jones 532 Morland (family) 602 Morland, Sir Samuel 97 Morland, Thomas 577, 602 Morley (family) 54 Morley, Lord 583, 600 Morley, Anthony 70, 71, 503, 505, 506 Morley, Herbert 54 Morley, John 505 Morley, Thomas 54 Morley Park Furnaces 188, 191, 203 Morrell [Morrall], Hugh 294, 299 Morrell, John 299, 301 Morris, David 517; & Co 517 Morris, Henry 574 Morris, James 574 Morris, John 539, 574 Morris, Robert 543 Morris, Thomas (1709) 434 Morris, Thomas (1727) 429 Morris, Thomas (1819; Tame Valley) 336 Morris, William (1819; Tame Valley) 336 Morris, William (1831; Newport) 517 Morrison, Martin 121 Morrison, Mossman & Co 121 Morse, Elizabeth 483 Morse, John 543, 546 Morse, William 483 Morton, John, Archbishop of Canterbury 17, 74 Morton Forge 220, 227 Morville Forge 299, 300; see also Hubbals Mill Morville Furnace see Aldenham Furnace, at the Hurst Mose, Mrs John 64 Moseley (family) 577 Moseley, James 191 Moseley, Oliver 532 Moseley, Samuel 433 Moss & Co 254 Mossman, William 121 Mostyn, Pyers 255

716

Motley, Fussel & Co 541 Mountfield see Darvel Furnace and Forge; Mountfield Furnace and Forge Mountfield Furnace and Forge 16, 18, 31, 55 Mountford, Richard 296 Mount Foundry see Tavistock Ironworks Mousehole Forge 141, 160, 164, 167, 171, 173, 175 Mowbray [Moweberi] see Maybury Mowbray, John see Norfolk, Duke of Mowld, Samuel 166 Mowld, Thomas 166 Mowson Mr (1809) 155 Moxley colliery 358 Moxon, James 324 Moyes, William 625 Muchall, Col. (1658) 215 Mucklestone see Bearstone Forge; Norton Forge; Winnington Forge Muckley Smithy 300, 303 Muddle, Hugh 45 Muddle, John 45 Mugg, Nathaniel 431 Muggleswick 110, 125 Muilman, H & P 529 Muirkirk Iron Co 629, 630 Muirkirk Ironworks 624, 627, 629 Muller’s iron see under iron, varieties of Mullinax, Richard 29 Mullins, Messrs (1823) 171 Muncaster, Lord 611 Muncaster Head Bloomsmithy 583, 604, 612 Munro, Walter 630 Munslow, Thomas 303 Munt and Maulton see Hunt and Maulton Muntz, John 347 Murgatroyd, Joseph 213 Murgatroyd, William 130, 140, 141, 152, 211, 213 Murphy, Roger 620 Murrell and Stothert 462 Musgrove, J.W. 211 Musgrove, William 211 Mushet, David 1, 202, 449, 456, 623, 628 music wire 341; see also wire muskets see guns Myddleton, Arthur see Middleton, Arthur Myers & Co 544 Myerscough Iron Forge 582, 601–2 Mynd, John 470, 472 Mynd, William 470, 472 Mynne, George 424, 452, 455, 457, 461, 520, 551, 553, 557, 558 Mynyfee [Menyfee], Thomas 503, 505, 506

Index Myston, John 303 Mytton, John 263 Mytton, Thomas 264 Mytton & Co 265

N Naden, Robert 196 nails 5, 6, 81, 141, 143, 165, 167, 185, 327, 363, 625 Namur 17 Nannau [Nanney, Dol y Clochydd] Furnace 225, 561, 562, 565 Nanney, Hugh 565 Nantrhydyvilis Air Furnace 540, 547 Nant-y-glo & Blaina Iron Works Ltd 497, 499 Nantyglo Furnace 498 Nantyglo Ironworks 87, 410, 488, 491, 499, 515 narrow iron see under iron, varieties of Nash, Isaac (1858–73) 373, 389, 402, 403, 404, 407, 535 Nash, Isaac, II (d.1908) 379, 389, 393, 403 Nash, Isaac, and Sons Ltd 379 Nash, Isaac, Belbroughton Ltd 389, 403 Nash, W.R. 403 Natland 582, 602 navigation see transport by navigable waterways Navigation Acts 8, 210, 211, 219, 477 Navy Board 2, 5, 11, 84, 87, 88, 93, 97, 101, 103, 142, 156, 158, 168, 290, 296, 441, 454, 499, 509, 538, 548, 623, 625 Naylor, Thomas 228, 230 Naylor & Co 184 Naylor and Sanderson 169 Naylor, Vickers & Co 184 Neal, Benjamin 181 Neale, John 96, 208 Neale, Richard 189, 193 Neath Abbey Furnace 4, 540, 540, 542, 545 Neath Abbey ironworks 540, 545 Neath Fechan Furnace 540, 545 Neath Furnace see Melin Court Furnace Neath Valley 540, 547 necessaries 5 Nechells Park Mill see Park Mill, Nechells Needham, William 500 Needhams Mill 305 needle mills (and trade) 7, 195, 201, 339, 428 stocking frame needles 153 Needler, John 68, 69 Neen Savage bloomsmithy 416, 425 Neill Tools Limited 183 Nelson, George 243 Nesbitt & Marsden 170

Nether Bank Furnace 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 143–4 Netherfield Furnace 16, 18, 28, 55 Netherhall [Ellenfoot] Furnace, Maryport 491, 500, 516, 531, 604, 605, 606, 610 Nether Hammer, Attercliffe 170 Netherton see Blowers Green Furnace; Netherton (Old); Netherton Furnaces; Windmill End Furnaces Netherton (Old), Dudley Wood 362, 412 Netherton Furnaces 362, 381, 410, 413 Nettlefold, J.S. 217 Nettlefold and Chamberlain 393 Nettlefolds Ltd 524, 526 Nevil, Christopher 74 Nevile, Francis 161, 162, 170, 174, 193 Nevile, Gervas 172 Nevile, Sir Henry 54 Nevile, Sir Robert 154 Nevile, William 195 Nevill (family) 67 Neville (family) 544 New, Henry 405 New Balgonie Iron Co 629 New [Upper] Bank Furnace 138, 140, 141, 144, 163 Newbold see Stone Gravel Furnace Newborough, Joshua 267, 366, 372, 377, 378, 380, 395, 396, 530 Newbridge Chain Cable and Anchor Works 507 Newbridge Furnace, Ruabon (Wrexham) 250, 259 Newbridge Furnace and Forge (Sussex) 18, 16, 41, 42 Newbridge Works (Glamorgan) 504, 507 New British Iron Company 381 New Buffery Furnaces 362, 411 Newcastle: Closegate Foundry 110, 113, 125 Newcastle: Pandon Dene 110, 114, 125–6 Newcastle: Skinnerburn 110, 114, 115, 126 Newcastle, Duke of (17th cent.) 190, 192, 208 Newcastle, Earl of 192, 193 Newcastle and Carlisle Railway 124 Newcastle under Lyme see Knutton Furnace and Forge Newcastle-upon-Tyne 7, 84, 109 New Clydach Sheet and Bar Iron Co Ltd 498 Newcomen, Thomas 289, 363 New Coppice Mill 389 New Deptford see Gateshead Newdigate, Sir Richard 333 Newell, George 324 Newell, Henry 85

717

Newent Furnace 430–1 New Greenwich see Gateshead New Hadley Ironworks 251, 284, 297 Newland Company 102, 103, 104, 105, 239, 252, 498, 561, 571, 581, 585, 586, 587, 588, 595, 596, 597, 598, 619, 621 Newland Forge and Rolling Mill 582, 587, 597 Newland Furnace 571, 581, 582, 585, 587, 596–7, 619 Newman, Gregory 67 New Mills, Hunslet see Hunslet Ironworks New Mills and Furnace, Lydney 440, 442 New Mills Forge, Makeney 167, 187, 188, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 194, 195, 196–7, 201, 208, 209, 330 Newnham, John 35, 72, 74 New Park Smithy 367, 389, 406 New Place Furnace, Framfield 58, 73 Newport 487 Newport, Sir Richard 267, 269, 271, 299 Newport Forge 514, 526 Newport Tinplate Co 517 New Smithy, Himley 405 8 New Square, Fetter Lane 82, 95 Newton, Mr (1665) 77 Newton, Chambers & Co 186; Newton & Chambers 170 Newton, George 178 Newton, Isaac 389 Newton, Samuel 189 Newton, Thomas 269 Newton, William (1606) 216 Newton, William (1650) 193 Newtown Forge 367, 404 New Weir Forge 101, 240, 463, 466, 467, 468, 470, 471, 475, 477–8 New Willey Company 279, 301, 302 New Willey Furnace see Willey New Ironworks New York Mill 135 Nibley see Blakeney Furnace Nibthwaite Company 585, 596 Nibthwaite Ironworks 571, 582, 584, 585, 596, 597–8 Nicholl, Anthony 94 Nicholls, William 609 Nicholson, John 89 Nicholson, W. & A. 614 Nicholson, William 614 Nicoll, James 51 Nicoll [Nicholl], John 51, 52 Nightingale, Edward 375 Nightingale, Joan 351 Nimpsfield Forge 440, 440, 447 Nine Elms 88 Nine Locks Ironworks 362, 408

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Nock (family) 350 Nock, Henry 347 Norden, James 39 Norfolk, John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of (d.1461) 425 Norfolk, 3rd Duke of (d.1554) 18, 69, 74, 75 Norfolk, 4th Duke of (d.1572) 59, 65 Norfolk, 8th Duke of (d.1732) 180, 182 Norfolk, 9th Duke of (d.1777) 173 Norfolk, 10th Duke of (d.1786) 180, 182, 183 Norfolk, 11th Duke of (d.1815) 183, 185 Norfolk, Dukes of 159, 161–3 Norman, John 255 Norris, Mr (1709) 93 Norris, Alexander 379 Norris, Henry 529 Norris, James 379 Norris, Thomas 379 Norris, William Gregory 291 Northchapel see Frith Furnace Northeast England 109–204 Northern Midlands 207–312 Northiam Furnace 16, 52, 55 North Monmouthshire 487–501 North Park see Fernhurst Furnace Northumberland, 1st Duke of (d.1553) 34, 405 Northumberland, 8th Earl of (d.1585) 62 Northumberland, 9th Earl of (d.1632) 134 North Wales Iron and Brick Works 254 Northwest England 569–614 North Wingfield see Stretton Ironworks; Wingfield Furnace North Yorkshire 129–36 Norton, Roger 84 Norton Bridge Forge, Chebsey (Staffordshire) 219, 220, 220, 226, 227, 318 Norton Forge, Mucklestone (Shropshire) 220, 220, 222, 223, 225, 227–8, 230, 239, 244, 275, 309, 410 Norton Furnace and Forge (Sheffield) 145, 160, 161, 162, 164, 167, 172 nose helves 5 Nottingham 187, 209 Nottingham Boat Company 210 Nottinghamshire 187–204 Nourse, John 439 Nourse, Thomas 447, 480 Nova Scotia [Beeley Wood] Tilt 160, 166, 167, 168, 177 Noye, Mary 97 Nunne, Robert 76 Nunney Mill 536, 537 Nurthe, William 489 Nuth, James 537

Nutt, John 72 Nutt, Thomas 73 Nye, Thomas 219, 223, 227, 328, 329, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 341, 365, 631 Nysell, William 41

O Oakamoor Forge 219, 220, 220, 222, 223, 224, 228–9, 235, 239, 399, 490 Oakamoor Furnace 88, 219, 220, 229 Oakes, Edwards & Co 202 Oakes, Edwards and Forester 202 Oakes, James 202 Oakes & Co 202 Oak Farm ironworks 389 Oakwood 548 Oates, James 130, 140, 151, 152, 163, 213 Oates, Ruth 181 Oborne, Walter 168, 180, 182 Ockenden, William 89, 92, 93 Office for Surveying and Marking Iron 5 Ogmore 547–8 Olcoatt [Olcoate], John 226, 230 Old Buffery Furnace 362, 411 Oldbury see Bromford Mill; Oldbury Furnace Oldbury Forge see Thimble Mill, Warley Oldbury Furnace 328, 356 Old Forge, Maresfield see Marshalls Furnace Old Forge, Southborough 16, 34, 42, 80 Old Furnace, Lydney 442 Oldlands Furnace 58, 73 Old Mill Furnace 16, 18, 56 Oldnall (family) 404 Oldnall, Elizabeth 404 Oldnall, John (1720) 404 Oldnall, John (d.1781) 404 Oldnall, Thomas 404 Old Park Iron Co Ltd 297 Old Park Ironworks 155, 284, 296, 297, 298, 324, 347, 349, 351, 355, 383, 393, 422, 568, 578, 579 Oley (family) 126 Oley, Christopher 126 Oley, William 126 Olivant, John 588 Oliver, Edward 531 Oliver, Henry 475 Oliver, John 355 Oliver & Co 355 Olonitz, Russia 363 Olyffe, Robert 71 Olyffe, William 74 Omoa Company 629 Omoa [Cleland] Ironworks 624, 624, 628, 629–30 Ongerfield, John 52

718

Ongly, Edward 72 Ongly, Katherine 72 Ongly, Nicholas 72 Ongly [Ongley], Thomas 72S Onions, Henry 316 Onions, John (d.1819) 306, 307, 411; & Co 411 Onions, John, II 307 Onions, Peter 290, 296, 509, 522 Onions [Onyons], Stephen 316 Onions, Thomas 316 Onneley, William 299, 303 Onslow (family) 430 Onslow, Sir Richard 61 Open Hearth process see Siemens– Martin process Orchardleigh: Kirty’s Mill 536, 537 Orchard Place see Sheffield Orchard Street, furnace off see Sheffield Ordnance Board 2, 8, 11, 20, 21, 22, 23, 39, 42, 69, 81, 84, 85, 87, 88, 94, 95, 96, 99, 101, 104, 150, 202, 251, 285, 333, 345, 509, 532, 548, 628 oregrounds iron see under iron, varieties of Örgrund, Sweden 7 Original Steel Services Ltd [OSSL] 348 Orme, William 383, 404 Ormiston, Charles 621 Orrell 576 Orrell, Thomas 229 Osbaston Forge see Monmouth Forge Osborne, Charles 341 Osborne, Elizabeth 470 Osborne, Humphrey 85 osmond hearth see under hearths osmond iron see under iron, varieties of Österby, Sweden 409 Oswald, Alexander 627 Oswald, George 627 Oswald, James 627 Otway, Richard 61 Oughton (family) 333 Oughton, Jn. & C. 345 Oughton, John 345 Oughton, John, & Co 345 Oughton, Joseph (d.1773) 345 Oughton, Joseph, II (d.1793) 345 Ould, Richard 301 Oulton Furnace 236, 237, 238, 239, 243–4, 246, 276 Ouse, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Ouse Catchment 69–76 Outram, Benjamin 202; & Co 202 Overbury Furnace 372, 427, 428 Overman, Thomas 26 Overton, George 508 Owen, Christopher 381; & Co 381

Index Owen, Henry 551, 552, 555, 556, 557 Owen, J.G. 8, 12, 632 Owen, Thomas 263 Owen & Hodgson 380 Owlerton slitting mill 160, 164, 173 Owlerton Wheel 168 Oxenbridge, John 52 Oxford, Earls of 485 Oxford Canal see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Oxspring Smithy 138, 154 Oxspring wire mill 138, 155

P Paddy [Paddey], James 240, 244, 246, 247 Paddy, John 244 Paddy, Martin 244, 246 Paddy, Thomas 244 Padmore, Samuel William Penson 565 Page, John 71 Paget, William, 1st Baron (d.1563) 319 Paget, William, 4th Baron (d.1629) 319, 323 Paget, William, 6th Baron (d.1713) 210, 220, 221, 223, 225, 236 Paget, William, 5th Baron (d.1678) 223 Paget, Henry, 2nd Baron (d.1568) 319 Paget, Henry, 7th Baron see Uxbridge, Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Paget, Thomas, 3rd Baron (d.1590) 319 Pagett, Joseph 217 Pakeman, Robert 154 Paler, John see Cooper, John Paley, Richard 156 Pallingham Furnace 58, 64 Palmer, Andrew 461, 487, 489, 496, 519 Palmer, Charles 356 Palmer, Henry 423 Palmer, Robert 266, 423 Palmer, Samuel 216, 322; & Co 216 Palmer, William 341 Palmer and Mold [Mole] 211, 216 Pandon Dene see Newcastle Panningridge Furnace 16, 26, 27 pans, frying and dripping 72, 90, 93, 167, 231, 373, 380 Pant Furnaces see Ruabon Furnaces Papps, Charles 92 Papps, George 92 Parcher, John see Barker, John Pardoe (1819) 381 Park, Herbert 567 Park, Johnson and Gaskell 577 Parkend Forge (1617) 452, 452, 453, 456 Parkend Furnace (1617) 452, 452, 453, 454, 456, 471 Parkend Ironworks (1799) 440, 449

Parker (family) 222 Parker, Messrs 232, 336, 356, 357 Parker, Abraham 336, 357 Parker, Arthur 173 Parker, Benjamin 336, 357 Parker, Ebenezer 181 Parker, Edward 78 Parker, George, & Co 355, 356 Parker, John (1660) 162, 173, 189 Parker, John (1783) 336, 357 Parker, Robert 94 Parker, Richard 336, 357 Parker, William (1763–74) 177, 181 Parker, William (d.c.1820) 156, 231 Parker, William (1840s–52) 173 Parker Tilt 160, 166, 170, 178 Parkes (family) 337 Parkes, Messrs 354 Parkes, A & F 449 Parkes, Adam see Persehouse, Adam Parkes, J., & Co 355 Parkes, John 340, 351 Parkes, Joseph (1794; ironmaster) 354 Parkes, Joseph (1805–30; spakemaker) 381, 392 Parkes, Richard 219, 227, 278, 281, 310, 318, 328, 334, 335, 338, 339, 341, 351, 384 Parkes, Thomas (d.1602; grandfather) 219, 227, 315, 318, 327, 328, 334, 338, 339, 342, 351 Parkes, Thomas (1619; grandson) 227, 333, 334, 336, 337, 338, 339, 341 Parkes, Thomas (1642) 406 Parkes, Thomas (1805–30) 381, 392 Parkes, Z., & Co 412 Parkes, Zachariah [Zachary] 354, 389, 412 Parkes, Zechariah 354 Parkes, Zephaniah 354 Parkes and Whorwood 341 Parkfield Pressings and Fabrications 392 Park Furnace 143, 170 Park Gate Iron Co Ltd 174 Parkgate Ironworks 174 Parkhead Furnace (Dudley) 362, 389, 412 Parkin, Elizabeth 165, 167, 168, 180, 181, 182 Parkin, John (1730s; Bristol) 529 Parkin, John (1786; Sheffield) 183 Parkin, Jonathan 178, 183 Parkin, Joseph 179, 185 Parkin, Thomas 165, 167, 168, 180, 182 Parkin, William 168, 184, 190, 197 Parkin & Sitwell 168 Park Ironworks see Sheffield Park Mathrafal Ironworks 262, 266 Park Mill, Nechells 328, 331, 338 Parritt, William 510

719

Parrock Furnace and Forge 16, 40–1 Parrott, Francis 563 Parrott, Stonier 225 Parry, Henry 518 Parry, John (1720) 89 Parry, John (1813) 259 Parry, Meredith 259 Parry, William 486, 518 Parsons, John 126 Parsons, Richard 540, 541, 543, 545 Parsons, Samuel Fox 543, 545 Parsons, William 306, 355; & Co 355 Partick Mill 623, 624, 627 Partington Slitting Mill 572, 572, 576 Partridge, Henry 85 Partridge, John (sen. & jun.) 470, 472, 474, 475, 477, 479 Partridge, Jones & John Paton Ltd 527 Partridge, William 470, 472, 473, 475, 477 Partridge Nest [Springwood Furnace] 220, 232, 233 Parys Company 255 Pashley, John 164, 173 Pashley Furnace and Forge 16, 18, 56 Passye, Timothy 192 Patchett, Francis 389 patents see Appendix Patkins and Barber 574 Paton, John 518 Paton, John, Ltd 493, 518 Patrickson, Richard 286, 603, 606, 607 Patrickson & Co 607 Patten, Thomas (father) 571 Patten, Thomas (son) 254, 571; & Co 576, 578 Pattin Mills & Co 622 Patton, Thomas, and Co 228 Paul, Sir Onesiphorus 306 Paul & Co 347 Paulin, William 81, 82, 90 Pawley, Walter 65 Pawley, William 65 Payne (1574) 43 Payne, Robert 279 Payton (family) 564 Payton, Henry 561, 566 Payton, James 29 Payton, John 561, 563, 566 Pea Croft see Sheffield Peake, Samuel 233 Peak Forest Railway 202 Pearce, James 473 Pearce, John 449 Pearce, Thomas 527 Pearce and Allaway 471, 474 Pearsall, John 531 Pearsall, Thomas 531 Pearson, Francis 184 Pearson, George (d.1861; father) 601

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Pearson, George (1875; son) 601 Pearson, J.H. 412 Pearson, John 601 Pearson, Roger 61 Pearson, Thomas 347, 412 Peat [moor coal] 131, 134–5, 231, 535, 561, 565, 599 Pedlar’s Acre see Lambeth Peel, John 212 Peel, Peter 613 Pegg, Robert 105 Pegg, Samuel 87 Peggie’s Mill, Cramond 625–6 Pelham (family) 28, 50, 70 Pelham, Mr (1708) 435 Pelham, Anthony 54, 67 Pelham, Edmund 45 Pelham, Herbert 26 Pelham, Sir John 32, 48, 53 Pelham, Sir Nicholas 18, 27, 32, 53 Pelham, Sir Thomas 31 Pelham, William 48 Pellett, Francis 76 Peltzer, Sarah 90 Pemberton, Edwin 354 Pemberton, Samuel 306, 354 Pemberton, Thomas 189, 196, 200, 208, 209, 210, 330 Pemberton & Co 354 Pemberton & Stokes 304 Pemberton Stokes and Co 354 Pembrey 548 Pembroke, 1st Earl of (d.1570) 519, 526 Pembroke, 2nd Earl of (d.1601) 465, 466, 489, 494, 541 Pembroke, 3rd Earl of (d.1630) 451, 452, 456, 465, 466, 539 Pembroke, 4th Earl of (d.1649) 159, 161, 170, 193, 199 Pembroke, Earls of 487, 494, 503, 504, 545 Penbwch, Llantrisant 505–6 Pendrill, Thomas 430, 470 Penegroes, The Forge [Llynlloed Forge, Machynlleth Forge] 562, 567 Penfold, Henry 64, 76, 78 Pengree, George 89, 519 Penhurst Furnace 16, 27 Penkett, John 573 Penkett, William 573 Penkhurst, Elizabeth 50 Penkhurst, Stephen (d.1646; elder) 50, 70 Penkhurst, Stephen (d.1657; younger) 50, 70, 72 Penk valley 315–18 Penley Iron Forge 250, 258 Penn, Mr (1808) 354 Penn, Benj., & Co 354 Penn, Benjamin 357, 411

Penn, Henry 356 Penn, John 338, 402 Penn, William 356, 411 Penn & Grove 402 Pennine Dales 137–58 Pennington, Sir Joseph 600 Pennington, William 612 Penns Mill 328, 338, 340 Penny, William 585, 598 Pennybridge Company 588, 591, 598 Pennybridge Furnace 582, 585, 586, 598 Penrhiwtyn Furnace 84, 91, 540, 549 Pensell, Richard 241, 242, 245, 275, 277 Pensnett Chase 286 Pensnett Furnace 362, 364, 383, 387, 389 Pentwyn 501 Pentrebach Forge 504, 507, 510 Pentyrch Ironworks I 514, 522 Pentyrch Ironworks II forge 133, 290, 509, 513, 514, 515, 516, 522–3 Pentyrch Ironworks II furnace [Cardiff Furnace] 514, 515, 516, 522–3 Pentyrch Steel and Tinplate Co Ltd 522 Penydarren Iron Company 510, 511 Penydarren Ironworks 6, 290, 371, 372, 441, 491, 497, 499, 504, 507, 509, 510 Penygored Tinplate Works 562, 563, 567–8 Percival, Jos. 529 Percival, Samuel 246, 529 Perkins, Mr (1799) 449 Perks 380 Perran Foundry 545 Perry, George 279, 296, 572, 575, 577; & Co 296 Perry, James 387 Perry, Thomas 355 Perry & Hayes 529 Perry & Little 614 Perry Barr: Hammermill Meadow 328, 337, 344 Perry Bloomsmithy 328, 344 Perry Forge 328, 339–40 Perry Furnace 328, 339–40 Perry Wire Mills (Lower) 328, 340, 377 Perry Wire Mills (Upper) 328, 340, 377 Persehouse [Parkes], Adam 343 Persehouse, John (uncle & nephew) 343 Persehouse, Richard 343 Persehouse, Thomas 343 Pershore, John 346 Peterchurch Forge 481, 482, 484, 485 Peters, James 288 Peters, Stephen 22, 87, 99 Pethills Forge 220, 232 Petley, William 87

720

Pettingale, Bartolomew 493 Petty, Knight and Cracklow 548 Peyto, Sir Edward 335 Phillips, Alexander 555, 559 Phillips, Charles 306 Phillips, Grifantius 456, 457 Phillips, James 405 Phillips, John (1590) 35 Phillips, John (1717–32) 539, 555 Phillips, Katherine, Lady 345 Phillips, Mark 500 Phillips, P.S. 520, 527 Phillips, Philip 555 Phillips, Sir Richard 345 Phillips, W.W. 526 Phillips, William 527 Phillips & McEwan 412 Phillips and Parsons 305 Philpott, Thomas 118 Phipson, J.W. 377, 402 Phoenix Foundry, Liverpool 577 Phoenix Foundry, Sheffield see Sheffield piano wire see music wire Pickayes, Drew see Pickhayes, Drewe Pickering, Mr (1656) 38 Pickering, Leonard 322 Pickfatt, Charles 333 Pickhayes [Pickayes], Drewe [Drew] 38, 90 Pidcock (family) 296, 371 Pidcock, John (d.1791; father) 443, 444 Pidcock, John (son) 443, 444 Pidcock, Robert 443, 444 Pidcock, Thomas 443 Pierce, Peter 536 Pierce, Thomas 527 Pierrepont (family) 194 Pierrepont, Robert 187 pig iron see under iron, varieties of Pig Mill Forge 328, 344, 349 Pilbeam, Thomas 69 Pilbeams Forge see Ashurst Forge Pile Iron Company 548 Pill Forge see Lower Forge Pinches, Richard 435 Pingo, John 86 Pinkney, Leonard 161, 162, 169 pins 428 Pippingford Furnace 16, 21, 42, 91 Pipton [Three Cocks] Forge, Aberllynfi 441, 481, 482, 484, 515 Pitchford Forge 267, 268, 268, 271, 272 pitcoal [coal; mineral coal; seacoal] 5, 7, 19, 98, 109, 133, 135, 313, 363, 364, 476; see also coke Pitt, William (1788) 388 Pitt, William, the younger 232, 532 Plants Forge [Plantsbrook Mill] 201, 328, 340–1 Plas Kynaston Foundry 250, 258, 274

Index Plas Maddock Furnace 21, 249, 250, 250, 251, 255–6 plating forges see under forges Platt (family) 578 Platt, John 441, 443 Platt, Ralph 52 Pleasley Forge 187, 188, 189, 190, 197–8, 201, 208, 211, 330 Plimley, Charles 338, 343, 346; & Co 338, 346 Plimley, Mary 346 Plumbley Furnace 188, 189, 198 Plumley Smithy 188, 202 Plummer, Thomas 44 Plumsted, Clement 111 Plumsted, Robert 84, 86 Plymouth, Earl of 434 Plymouth Forge Co 507, 510 Plymouth Furnace (Merthyr Tydfil) 4, 252, 306, 503, 504, 507, 509, 510–11 Pocock, Charles 93, 104 Pocock, Charles Montague 93, 104 Pocock, Henry 104 Pococke (family) 102 Podmore (family) 373 Podmore, John, I (d.1720) 351, 388, 390, 405 Podmore, John, II (1720–30) 390, 395 Podmore, John, III (1755–62) 390 Podmore, Sarah 390 Podmore, Stephen 395 Podmores Forge see Broadwaters Upper Forge Pogmore, John 179 Pointon, William 244 Point Pleasant see Wandsworth Pan Works Polhill, William 56 Poncklye Furnace 362, 383, 387 Pond Forge 167, 175 Pondmill 160, 164, 173, 175 Pond Tilt [Pond Lane Tilt] 160, 166, 172, 178 Ponkey Furnace 250, 259 Pontbrenllwyd 506 Ponsonby, John 610 Ponthenry Furnace see Gwendraeth Furnace Ponthir Tinplate Works 523 Ponthir Works [Caerleon Plate Mills] 514, 515, 516, 517, 523 Pontifex, Edmund 94 Pontifex, William 94 Pontnewydd Works 514, 523, 526 Pontrhydyrun Tinplate Works [Edlogan] 514, 523, 526 Pontrilas Forge 467, 481, 482, 484 Pontyblew Forge 140, 236, 249, 250, 251, 252, 254, 255, 256, 261, 264, 265

Pontygwaith in Rhondda Fach 503, 504, 506 Pontygwaith Forge near Abercynon 504, 506 Pontymister Tin Plate Co 527 Pontymister Works 514, 526, 527 Pontymoel: early ironworks 461, 488, 488, 496 Pontymoel Lower Mill 488, 489, 492 Pontymoel Upper Mill 488, 490, 492, 493 Pontnewydd Works 514, 517 Pontypool: Trosnant Furnace see Trosnant Furnace Pontypool Furnace and Forge 488 Pontypool Iron Co 491, 493, 498 Pontypool Iron and Tinplate Company 491, 493 Pontypool Osborn Forge 488, 490, 492, 493 Pontypool Plate 490 Pontypool Town Forge 488, 489, 492, 493 Pontypool Works 89, 142, 399, 441, 442, 459, 461, 487, 489, 490, 491, 492–4, 496, 498, 504 Pontypool Works Ltd 493 Pontyrhyn Furnace 504, 506 Pont-y-saeson [Pontsaison; Bont Seyson] Forge see Tintern Ironworks and Wireworks Poole Bank [Pool Bank; Poolbank; Pulbach] Furnace 207, 328, 330, 341 Poolhayes, Willenhall 328, 357 Pool Quay Forge 251, 261, 262, 263, 266, 631 Pope, Nicholas 70 Pope, Ralph 70 Pope, Sackville 71 Pophole Hammer 58, 62, 77, 88 Popkins (family) 544 Popkins, Robert 544 Popkins, Thomas 539, 544, 545, 558 Popplewell, Samuel 157 Port, Philip 217 Port Talbot see Avon Forge Portello, Mr (1717) 98 Porter, John 43, 47, 48 Porter, Richard 47 Porter & Clarke 446 Portland, Duke of 192 Portmore, Lord 93 Portsea 101 Post, Richard 85 Postern Forge 16, 34, 42, 48, 80 Postlethwaite, James 605, 610 Postlethwaite, John 576 Postlethwaite, William 605, 610 potfounding 237, 287–8, 292, 532, 576, 603 Pothill, Robert 47

721

Potmans Forge, Catsfield 16, 29 potting and stamping see under iron production Potts, Laurence 179 Poulter (18th cent.) 404 Pounsley Furnace and Forge 18, 58, 73–4 Povey, Richard 96 Pow & Faucus 121 Powell (family) 370 Powell, Elizabeth 340 Powell, John 447, 498 Powell, Nathaniel 30, 52, 54, 55 Powell, Ralph 384, 386 Powell, Rees 521, 558 Powell, Roger 518, 520, 525 Powell, Thomas 335, 386 Powell, Walter 498 Powell, William 517 Powick Forge 212, 331, 427, 428, 433 Powis, Duke of (1733–53) 265 Pownsley see Symard Poyntz, William 83, 91 Prankard, Graffin 85, 288, 347, 363, 369, 409, 427, 436, 529, 531, 533 Pratt, Benjamin (Wilden and Blaenavon) 322, 381, 400, 424, 491, 497, 498 Pratt, Isaac 401 Pratt, James (1732–48; Machen) 518, 520, 525 Pratt, James (1750–74; Wilden) 400, 401, 491, 498 Pratt, Joseph 217 Pratt, Samuel (Machen) 518, 520, 525 Pratt, Thomas 217 Pratt, William 217 Pratt & Co 217 Pray, Hugh 72 Prescott, Robert 283 Prescott Forge 416, 417, 422, 423 Prestage, Mr (1827) 89 Preston (family) 599 Preston, George 599 Preston, Hird and Jarratt 157 Preston, John 157 Preston, Thomas 588, 599, 600 Prestwood Wire Mill see Halfcot Wire Mills Pretty, Thomas 349, 351, 356 Price, Charles 518, 520 Price, Francis 462 Price, Jacob M. 631 Price, James 518, 520 Price, John 419 Price, Margaret 419 Price, Moses 407 Price, Nicholas (d.1757) 522 Price, Nicholas, II (1775) 522 Price, Peter 545 Price, Richard 381

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Price, Thomas (1715–36) 558 Price, Thomas (1751–75) 509, 519, 540, 545, 558 Price, Thomas (1825) 352; Price & Co 352 Price, Thomas, jun. (1806) 389 Price, William 522 Price and Hill 306 Prickett, Richard 73 Prickett, Thomas 62, 77, 88 Prickett and Handasyde 87, 97 Priest, Joseph 340 Priestfield Furnaces 328, 357 Priesthawes 45 Priestley, Joseph 386, 500 Primrose, Archibald 617 Principio Company 529 Prinkham Farm Forge 16, 37 Priory Mills 552, 553, 554 Pritchard, G.W. 533 Pritchard, John Hamman 523 Pritchard & Jenkins 523, 524 Pritchet, John 556 Proby, Edward 81, 90 Probyn, Serjeant 447 Probyn, William 467 Proctor, Charles 337 Proctor, Stephen 133 Proctor, Thomas 5, 133, 134, 135 Prothero, John (1788; Powys) 567 Protheroe, Edward 449 Protheroe, John (1785–1805; Gloucestershire and Bristol) 449, 532 Protheroe, Philip 557 Proud, John 126 Pryce, Thomas 23, 543, 545 Publow Mill 530, 533 Puckle, James 87, 285 Puckle, Thomas 96 puddling see under iron production puddling furnaces see under furnaces Pugh (family) 567 Pugh, Edward 266 Pugh, John 266 Pulbach Furnace see Poole Bank Furnace Pullan, Richard 157 Puplett, John 92 Puplett, Matthew 92 Purdew, Isabella 356 Purnell, John (grandfather) 446 Purnell, John (d.1786; grandson) 446 Purnell, R.B. see Cooper, R.B. Purnell, Thomas 446 Purnell, Veale & Co 475 Purnell, William 446; & Co 444, 446, 475 Pury, Thomas 456, 457 Pusey, Timothy 187, 188, 195, 196, 199

Pylcher, John 50 Pytt, Hannah 540 Pytt, Lewis & Co 540 Pytt, Rowland (I) (d.1757) 369, 435, 440–1, 443, 448, 462, 470, 474, 479, 529, 539, 540, 541, 544, 546, 547 Pytt, Rowland, II (d.1766) 441, 462, 470, 474, 479, 540, 541, 544 Pytt & Coles 540

Q Quakers 101, 137, 163, 168, 250, 265, 267, 272, 286, 515, 531 Queenstock Furnace & Forge [Iron Plat], Buxted 17, 18, 19, 58, 74 Queenswood Furnace 284, 297 Quennell, Thomas 77 Quentens see Tylor, Roger Quintine [Quyntyn] 37 Quinton, William 225 Quintyne, Henry 20 Quynell, Peter (elder) 77 Quynell, Peter (younger) 77 Quynell, Robert 77

R Rabone, Richard 516 Rabson, John 43 Raby, Alexander 35, 76, 83, 84, 88, 90, 91, 92, 202, 203, 535, 541, 548, 549, 553; & Co 83; & Son 548, 567 Raby, Arthur T. 548 Raby, Edward 23, 35, 71, 83–4, 91; see also Masters & Raby Raby & Masters 83; see also Masters & Raby Raby & Rogers 40, 91 Radenhurst, Thomas 563, 565 Raikes, Robert 440, 443 Railford Works 536, 537 railways 173, 202; engines 614; iron rails 114, 115, 118, 127; waggon axles 143; see also Little Eaton Gangway; Maryport and Carlisle Railway; Midland Railway; Newcastle and Carlisle Railway; Peak Forest Railway; Severn and Wye Railway; Sirhowy Tramroad Company; Stockton and Darlington Railway Raisbeck, Edward 155 Raistrick, John Urpeth 409 Rakehead: Smithy Croft 138, 154 Raleigh, Sir Carewe 106 Ramsden, John (1596) 506, 519 Ramsden, John (1815) 155 Ramsden Furnace 138, 138, 149–50 Randall, John 91 Ransom & Morgan 395 Rapley, Edward 77 Rary, William 125

722

Rathbone, Joseph 291, 292, 295, 577 Rats Castle Forge 34, 42, 58, 80 Rawlins, Mr (1786) 485 Rawlinson, Mr (1726) 618 Rawlinson, Abraham 586, 590, 592, 594 Rawlinson, Job 532, 585, 595 Rawlinson, Richard 131 Rawlinson, Thomas 583, 592, 621 Rawlinson, William, sen. 583, 584, 588, 591, 595, 599, 600, 621 Rawlinson, William, jun. 588, 621 Rawlinson & Co 590 Rawson, Thomas 176 Raybould, James 384 Raybould, John 408 Raybould, Thomas 389 Rayne, Robert 119 Rayner, Benjamin 155 Rea, Littleton 238 Rea, William 22, 25, 29, 30, 222, 238, 287, 374, 376, 378, 396, 401, 416, 468–70, 474, 475, 484, 552, 553, 591 Read, John (1700) 559 Read, John (1792; Cumberland) 613; & Co 613 Read, John (1812; Warwickshire) 306, 348, 353, 355, 356 Read, Joseph 281 Read, Thomas 418 Read, Ralph see Reed, Ralph Read & Co (1792; Cumberland) 613 Read & Co (1815; Warwickshire) 356 Reay & Co 115 recycling iron see iron recycling Redbeck Forge [Low Smithy] 582, 588, 602 Redbrook: Lower Tinplate Works 286, 468, 478 Redbrook: Upper Redbrook Works 468, 478–9 Redbrook: Upper Tinplate Works 468, 471, 479 Redbrook Forge 479 Redbrook Furnaces 441, 442, 467, 468, 468, 469, 470, 474, 478–9, 491, 515, 555 Redbrook Ironfoundry 479 Redbrook Tinplate Co Ltd 471, 476, 478 Redditch 428, 631 Redditch Forges 7, 268, 428, 434 Redfield [Boyd River] Furnace 252, 529, 530, 533–4 Red Jacket Copper Works 547 redmine 3, 102, 235, 581–2 redshort see under iron, varieties of Red Smiddy 617, 618 Reed, John 116 Reed [Read], Ralph 112, 113, 119, 121 refined iron see under iron, varieties of Relfe, Constance 30, 505 Relfe, Gregory 29

Index Relfe, John 28, 56, 71 Relfe, William 25, 26, 27, 30, 38, 505 Remnant, Samuel 22, 87, 98, 99 Remnant, Stephen 87, 99 Renishaw Co Ltd 203 Renishaw Furnaces 185, 188, 203 Renishaw Iron Co 203 Renishaw Slitting Mill 141, 167, 188, 189, 190, 194, 198 Rennie, John 94, 306 Reresby, Sir John 165, 182 Repton, Humphrey 274 Reveley, Thomas 612 Revell, Rowland 311 reverberatory furnaces see under furnaces Reynolds, Getley & Co 137, 441, 443, 470, 475, 486, 514, 521, 531, 532, 543 Reynolds, John 541, 554, 556 Reynolds, Joseph 296 Reynolds, Richard (d.1768; father) 292, 480, 482, 515 Reynolds, Richard (d.1816; son) 289, 290, 291, 296, 474, 479, 486, 515 Reynolds, Robert 38, 41, 67, 68 Reynolds, William 292, 295, 296; & Co 296, 297, 304 Reynolds & Co 297 Reynolds and Daniel 515, 531 Reynolds and Partridge 515 Reynolds and Smith 553, 554, 557 Rhondda Valley 506, 519 Rhos Hall Iron Company Ltd 259, 357 Rhyde, Thomas 90 Rhydygwern Forge 489, 513, 514, 519–21 Rhymney [Union] Furnaces 488, 491, 499 Rhymney Iron Co 499 Rich (family) 217 Rich, John, the younger 217 Richards, J. 518 Richard, Jesiah 493 Richards, Josiah 462 Richards, Robert 379 Richards, Shaw & Brown 388 Richards, Thomas 516 Richards and Hopkins Ltd 518 Richards & Thompson Ltd 518 Richardson, Godfrey 215 Richardson, Jane 614 Richardson, John Fletcher 589 Richardson, Robert 614 Richardson, Thomas 38 Richardson, William 589 Richley, Ruben, & Co 119 Richmond steel furnace 160, 165, 181, 182 Ricketts & Jones 557

Riddings Ironworks see Alfreton Ironworks Riden, Philip 1, 8, 12, 632 Ridge, Joseph 185 Ridgway, Robert 584, 591 Ridley, Mr 303 Ridley, John 114 Ridley, Nicholas 115 Ridley [Rydeley], Reynold 299, 303 Ridley [Rydeley], Thomas 303 Ridley & Co 121 Rievaulx Abbey 129, 144 Rievaulx Ironworks: Furnace and Forge 130, 130, 135 Rigby, Alexander 600 Rigby, John 258, 575, 576 Rigby, Peter 573 Rigby, T. (1780) 576 Rigby, T.J. (1890) 243 Rigby, Thomas 295, 298 Rigby, William 256, 258 Rigg (family) 613 Rigg, John 613; & Sons 613 Rigg [Rigge], Thomas, sen. 584, 585, 597 Rigg [Rigge], Thomas, jun. 597 Rigg [Rigge], William 585, 589, 597 Rigge, George 595 Riley, William 356 Risom Bridge Bloomsmithy 320, 325 Ritchie, James 627 Ritson, Betty 614 Riverhall Forge 16, 47–8 Riverhall Furnace 16, 42, 46, 48 river transport and named rivers see under transport by navigable waterways Rivers, Sir George 36 Robert, Rowland 520 Roberts, Dorothy 27 Roberts, Edmond [Edmund] 488, 489, 493, 494, 513, 520, 522 Roberts, Elizabeth 29, 56, 57 Roberts, Gilbert 166, 178 Roberts, John (c.1681) 27, 29, 56, 57 Roberts, John (1765) 516, 517, 563 Roberts, Joseph 183 Roberts, M.G. 542 Roberts, Oliver 282 Roberts, Peter 17, 41 Roberts, Phillip 443 Roberts, Thomas (1648) 27 Roberts, Sir Thomas (1714) 47 Roberts, Thomas (1830) 405 Roberts, Wm, (Tipton) Ltd 358 Roberts & Reynolds 475 Robertsbridge Forge 16, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 51, 55, 56–7, 632 Robertsbridge Furnace 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 28, 49, 51, 57, 632

723

Robertsbridge Steel Forge 7, 16, 45, 80 Robertson, J.M., & Co 627 Robertson, John 627 Robertson, William 627 Robertson & Co 627 Robins, Jane 352 Robinson (family) 478 Robinson, Mr (after 1783) 192 Robinson, D. 614 Robinson, Edward 601 Robinson, George 93 Robinson, John (1603) 424 Robinson, John (1774) 602, 629 Robinson, Jonathan 254 Robinson, Joseph (1817; Cumberland) 614 Robinson, Joseph (1822; Staffordshire) 389 Robinson, Samuel 170, 178 Robinson, Thomas 599 Robinson & Co 629 Robinson Lytton (family) 52 Roche Abbey [Stone] Forge 160, 161, 162, 163, 172, 173–4, 189, 198, 208 Rocheston Works see Rogerstone Works Rochford, Lord 161, 171 Rochier, John 86 Rock, George 316, 317, 401 Rock, Thomas 316, 317 Rockingham Street see Sheffield Rockley, Francis 142, 150, 162 Rockley Lower Furnace 138, 141, 142, 143, 150, 154, 161, 176, 186 Rockley Smithies 138, 150, 154 Rockley Upper Furnace 138, 139, 150, 161, 162, 176 Roddis, George 203 Roderick, William 553, 558 rod iron see under iron, varieties of Rodmore Furnace and Forge 439, 440, 447–8 Roe, John 410 Roebuck (family) 624 Roebuck, Benjamin 181 Roebuck, Ebenezer 181 Roebuck, John 181, 628 Roebuck, John, and Sons 181 Roebuck, Thomas 181 Roebuck & Co 628 Rogate Forge see Habin Forge Rogers, Mr (1761) 554 Rogers, Anthony 553, 557 Rogers, Cors. 529 Rogers, Francis 529 Rogers, Lewis 552, 553, 557 Rogers, O.W. 90 Rogerson, Roger 575 Rogerstone [Rocheston] Works 514, 523–4, 527, 548 Roker, Henry 76, 78

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Rollason, Abel 334 Rollason, James 334 Rollason Wire Co 334 rolling see under iron production rolling mills 6, 82, 83, 89 Rollins, J.G. 631 Roman iron industry 3, 15, 451 Rombonson, Claud 42 Romsey, Henry 516, 517 Roper, Francis 87, 95, 181 Roper, George 181 Roper, Richard 596 Roper, Thomas 596 Roper & Co 598 Rose, Aaron 382 Rose, Daniel 500 Rose, John 350 Rose, William 627 Rossall and Charnley 594 Rossett Mill 250, 252, 256 Rosside Spade Forge 582, 588, 602 Ross-on-Wye 468, 480 Rosthorne, William 146 Rother, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Rotheram Forge 423 Rother Catchment 48–58 Rotherham: steel furnace in Beast Market 160, 165, 182 Rotherham Mill 139, 141, 160, 161, 162, 163, 174–5 Rotherhithe: Cuckbold Point 82, 95–6 Rotherhithe: foundry 82, 96 Rotherhithe Co 88 Rotherhithe Ironworks [King and Queen Ironworks; Union Works] 82, 88, 96 Rothwell Haigh 138, 154 Rottesley, Sir John see Wrottesley, Sir John Rotton, John 212 Rotton, Storer, and Evans 213 Rough Hay 371 Roughhills Colliery 352, 353, 355, 356, 357, 408, 411 Roughhills Furnaces 328, 357 Round Oak Steel Works 412 Roundwick Furnace 58, 64 Rous, Thomas 104 Routh, Samuel 200, 594 Routledge, Simon 606 Rowfant Forge 58, 68 Rowfant Supra Forge 58, 68 Rowland, Robert 521 Rowland & Son 259 Rowlands [Rowland] (family) 251 Rowlands [Rowland], Edward 255, 256, 257, 259, 520; Mr 272; & Co 259; & Sons 257

Rowlands [Rowland], Edward Lloyd 251, 252, 259; Co 259 Rowlands [Rowland], John 251, 256, 266; & Son 266 Rowley, Benjamin 298 Rowley, John 42 Rowley, Thomas 274 Rowley, William 240 Rowley Forge 440, 441, 444, 445, 448 Rowley Regis 351; see also Brades Steel Works; Colletts Mill; Corngreaves Forge; Corngreaves Steel Furnaces Royal Africa Company 82 Royal Arms Factory, Lewisham 94 Royal Brass Foundry see Woolwich Royal Forge [King’s Meadow Forge; Stourbridge Forge], Stourbridge 268, 362, 366, 371, 373, 378–9, 408, 409 Royal Mills see Esher Mill Royal Paper Mills see Wimbledon copper mill Royal Small Arms Factory 94 Royds Furnaces 138, 147, 157 Royds Mill 164, 170 Ruabon Forge 250, 258 Ruabon Furnaces 140, 249, 250, 250, 251, 252, 256–7, 258, 261, 264, 265, 279, 372, 416, 420 Ruabon [Pant] Furnaces 256, 259 Ruabon Wiremill 250, 258 Rudg, Henry 472 Rufford and Biggs 411 Rugeley Forge 233, 243, 320, 324 Rugeley Rolling Mill 215, 311, 320, 324, 325, 399, 490 Rugeley Sheet Iron and Tinplate Co Ltd 324 Rugeley Slitting Mill 91, 222, 239, 320, 321, 322, 323 Rumens, George 46; Mr 29 Rumney, John 629 Rundle & Gill 538 Rupert, Prince 21, 97 Rushall see Goscote Bloomery; Rushall Furnace Rushall Furnace 323, 328, 331, 337, 338, 341, 631 Rushgrove, William 389 Rushlake Furnace see Markly Furnace Russell (family; Birmingham) 529 Russell (family; Lancashire) 600, 603 Russell, Mr (1720s) 611, 612 Russell, Addison 350 Russell, Charles 590, 591, 600, 606 Russell, Delionel 91 Russell, James 383 Russell, Joel 606 Russel, John (1660; Stourbridge) 363, 530

724

Russell, John (1716; Lancashire) 574, 584, 595, 598 Russell, John (1748; Cumberland) 611 Russell, John (1817) 350 Russell, Jurdayne 503 Russell, Peter 37 Russell, Richard 131 Russell, Robert 391, 610 Russell, Thomas 131 Russell, William (1711) 606 Russell, Sir William (1631) 65 Russian iron trade 8, 113, 115, 164, 165, 207, 210, 334, 363, 379, 384, 481, 529, 531, 618, 619, 623, 625–6; see also iron, varieties of: Muller’s iron; sable Ruston, Edward 350 Ruston, John 431, 440, 442, 443 Ruston and Hurd 346 Rutland, 1st Earl of (d.1543) 129, 130, 131 Rutland, 3rd Earl of (d.1587) 130 Rutland, 6th Earl of (d.1632) 130 Rutland, John 557, 558 Rutland, William 551, 557, 558 Rydeley see Ridley Ryder, Nicholas 243 Ryder, Thomas 240, 243; & Co 240 Ryland, John (1759–92; wiredrawer) 377, 402, 407 Rylands, John (1812) 578 Ryley, T.C. 579 Ryton Slitting Mill 309, 310, 312

S sable see under iron, varieties of Sackville (family) 28 Sackville, John 29 Sackville, Sir Richard 56, 69, 71, 75 Sackville, Robert 20, 38 Sackville, Thomas (d.1608) 69, 75 Sackville, Thomas (d.1639) 30 Sackville, Sir Thomas (1650s–70s) 30, 50 Sackville, Winifred 71 Sadburne, Robert 303 Sadler, John 526 St Leonards Lower Forge and Furnace 58, 65 St Leonards Upper Forge 58, 65 St Nicholas, Thomas 161, 162, 169, 171 St Paul, Sir Horace 413 St Weonards Furnace 467, 468, 469, 481, 482, 484–5 Sale, Edward 340 Sale, John 340 Salehurst 28, 54 Salford: Etna Foundry 572, 578 Salford Ironworks 240, 572 Salisbury, Hawkes, & Co 411

Index Salisbury, Richard 411; & Co 411 Salisbury, William 599 Salisbury & Co 411 Salkeld, Thomas 607 Salkeld, William 435 Salt, Mr (1779) 382 Salthouse, Elijah 602 Salthouse, John 601 Salthouse, Thomas 602 Salthouse and Barrow 602 Saltley Forge 328, 345, 346 Sambrooke, Thomas 230 Sambrook Forge 223, 275, 276, 276, 277, 280, 309 sand 287, 288, 532 Sandbed Wheel 168 Sandburne, Robert 299 Sanders, Jonathan see Saunders, Jonathan Sanderson (family) 169 Sanderson, Joseph 153 Sandford, John 125, 126 sand moulding see under iron production Sands, Thomas 50, 54 sandstone 4 Sandy, William 542, 545, 546 Sandys (family) 436 Sandys, Martin 436 Sandys, Miles [Myles] 585, 591 Sandys, Oliver 591 Sandys, Samuel 592 Sandys, Sir William 427, 431, 467, 477, 583, 585, 592 Sankey Slitting Mill see Great Sankey Slitting Mill Sarehole Mill 328, 349 Sargeant, Thomas see Sergeant, Thomas Satia, P. 631, 632 Satterthwaite, Mr 597 Sauchie see Devon Ironworks Saunders, John (1605) 44, 45, 46, 47 Saunders [Sanders], Jonathan (1822) 349, 356 Saunders, Rees 552, 556 Saunders, Thomas 45, 47, 48 Saunders, William 41, 42 Savage, Mr (1796) 258 Savage, Henry 449 Savery, Thomas 289 Savile, Anne 193 Savile, Sir George 142, 193 Savile, John, Viscount 147 Savile, Sir William (d.1643) 161, 170, 193, 199 Saville, William, & Co [Sons] (1809) 84, 92 Sawrey, Catherine 583 Sawrey, John (1537) 583, 592 Sawrey, John (1621; of Satterthwaite) 592

saws 373 Saxelbye, Thomas 202 & Co 202 Saxton, Joseph 92 Sayes, Warren 530 Scaife, Arthur 87, 96 Scaife, John 96 Scale [Scales], George 304, 507 Scale [Scales], John 304, 384, 507 Scarborough, Earl of (1784) 121, 125 Scarf, Benjamin 348 Scarf, Fred 348 Scarlets Furnace 16, 22, 36, 37 Scarlett, Benjamin 25, 26 Scawthorn, John 209 Schofield, Mr 177 Scholfield, Edward 185, 203 Scholfield, James 185, 203 Scholey, Samuel 180 Schubert, H.R. 1, 12, 632 Schütz [Schutz, Shutz], Christopher 195, 459, 461, 496 scissors 167 Scorer, Richard 41 Scorer, Robert 41 Scotland 606–7, 613, 615–30; Highlands 617–22; Lowlands 623–30 Scotland Street see Sheffield Scott, Allan 627 Scott, Foliott, & Co 88, 96 Scott, George 156 Scott, Henry 311 Scott, Hickman 381 Scott, Joseph 339 Scott, Peter 561, 564, 576 Scott, Robert (d.1631) 97 Scott, Robert (1803) 121 Scrag Oak [Snape] Furnace 16, 45, 47 screws 216, 217 Scudamore (family) 467 Scudamore, Viscountess (1718) 469 Scudamore, George 467, 470, 475, 480 Scudamore, Sir James 467 Scudamore, Sir John (later Viscount) 467, 473, 480, 483 Scudamore, Milborne 467, 475 Scudamore, William 467, 473 scythes 167, 373, 389, 402 scythesmiths’ wheels 7 seacoal see pitcoal Seacroft Furnace 138, 143, 157 Seaforth, Earl of 617 Seagar, William 398 Seagar & Co 410 Seagar & Piggott 410 Sealby, Isaac 614 Seale, Samuel 209, 210, 212 Seale, T. & S. 212 Seale, Thomas 209, 210, 212 Sealy, John 499

725

Seamer Forge, East Ayton 129, 130, 130–1, 140, 142, 211, 213 Seaton Company 606, 607, 609 Seaton Ironworks [Barepots Works] 531, 604, 605, 606, 610–11, 614 Sedgefield Forge 110, 126 Seimar [Semer], Lambert 129, 130, 131, 135 Semayne [Semyne], Peter 513, 522 Seney, William 530 Senhouse, Humphrey 605, 606, 610 Senhouse, John Tiffin 606, 610 Senior, Edwards & Co 258 Serenden Furnace see Horsmonden Furnace Sergeant, Joshua 288 Sergeant [Sargeant; Serjeant], Thomas 374, 384, 385, 388, 392 Severn, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Severn and Wye Railway 442, 467 Seymour, Sir Thomas 67 Seys, Richard 531 Shackerford Mill, Hinstock 282 Shallard, Christopher 533 Shallard, J. & W. 533 Shallard, Jane 533 Shallard [Shallord], John 533 Shallard, William 533 Sharp, Joseph 594; & Co 594 Sharpe, Joseph, Halton Iron Co 594 Sharroe, Francis 135 Shaw, Benjamin 343 Shaw, George 247 Shaw, John 269 Shaw, Joseph 147, 157 Shaw, William 10, 155 Shaw & Co 147, 157 shears 167 Sheepwash Mill, Tipton 328, 350 Sheffield (Yorkshire) 6, 7, 159–86 Sheffield: Arundel Street 160, 182 Sheffield: Bailey Field near Trippetts Lane 160, 182 Sheffield: Balm Green crucible furnaces 160, 182 Sheffield: Bline Lane cementation furnaces 160, 165, 168, 182 Sheffield: Broomfield, Little Sheffield 160, 182 Sheffield: Castle Fold 160, 165, 180, 182 Sheffield: Castle Green 160, 182 Sheffield: Forge Wheel see Forge Wheel Sheffield: Garden Street 160, 183 Sheffield: Gibraltar (several works) 160, 183, 185, 203 Sheffield: Green Lane (2 steel furnaces) 160, 183

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sheffield: Millsands, steel furnaces at 160, 166, 177, 183–4 Sheffield: Orchard Place 160, 184 Sheffield: Orchard Street, furnace off 160, 184 Sheffield: Park Ironworks 160, 164, 186 Sheffield: Pea Croft 160, 184 Sheffield: Phoenix Foundry 186 Sheffield: Rockingham Street 160, 184 Sheffield: Scotland Street 160, 184 Sheffield: The Wicker 160, 184, 204 Sheffield Forge (Yorkshire) 139, 160, 170, 173, 175 Sheffield Forge, Fletching (Sussex) 18, 58, 70, 74–5 Sheffield Furnace, Fletching (Sussex) 58, 75 Sheffield ironmasters [works] 111, 139, 142, 150, 163, 170; see also Attercliffe Forge; Chappell Furnace; Fell, John, & Co; Duke of Norfolk’s Works; Hayford, Simpson & Co; Simpson & Co; Wadsley Forge Sheffield Plate, Old 177, 178 Sheffield Walk Mill 168 Sheinton Forge 267, 268, 271–2, 415 Shelf Furnace 138, 157 Shelsley Forge 283, 366, 368, 401, 416, 421, 424, 425, 454, 462, 631 Shelton, Henry 281 Shemeld, Joseph 183 Shemeld & Co 178 Shemeld and Oakes 178 Shenton, John 154 Shenton, William 599 Shepherd, Isaac 409 Sheppard, William 532 Shere Hammer see Abinger Hammer Sherley [Shurley], Sir Thomas 59, 60, 66 Sherratt (family) 578 Sherratt, J & T 240 Sherratt, John 578 Sherratt, Thomas 578 Sherratt, William 240, 572, 578 Shifnal 369 Shifnal Furnace 187, 301, 309, 310, 311, 312 Shillinglee Furnace 58, 62, 64, 66 Shilton, William 351 Shiltons Mill 367, 382–3, 407 shingling see under iron production Shinton, R. 386 Shinton, Richard 435 Shinton, Thomas 394 Shipley Forge (Sussex) 5, 58, 59 Shipley Furnace (Derbyshire) 188, 198 Shipley Furnace (Yorkshire) 133, 134, 134–5 Shipley Hurst Forge (Yorkshire) 134, 134–5

Shirlett smithies 299, 300, 303–4 Shirley, Sir George 207, 216 Shirley, Sir John see Shurley, Sir John Shore (family) 137 Shore, John 168, 182, 183 Shore, Samuel (d.1751) 141, 145, 147, 150, 154, 165, 167, 168, 177, 179, 180, 182, 238 Shore, Samuel, II (d.1785) 168, 181, 182, 183 Shore and Gibson 334 Shorey, John 89 short broads see under iron, varieties of Shorthouse, William 217, 217 Shorthouse, Wood & Co 216, 217 Short, Willets & Co 343 shot and shell founding 11, 17, 87–8, 96, 117, 285 Shotley Bridge sword mill 110, 111, 118, 119, 126 Shotley Grove Mill 110, 116, 126–7 Shotter, Roger 77 Shotter, William 62 Shotts Iron Company 630 Shotts Ironworks 624, 630 Shoyswell, Thomas 52 Shrewsbury, Earls of 187, 199, 477, 479, 480 Shrewsbury, Edward Talbot, Earl of (d.1617) 110, 119, 120, 121, 170, 477 Shrewsbury, Elizabeth of Hardwick, Countess of 188, 199, 229 Shrewsbury, George, Earl of (d.1590) 7, 159, 165, 167, 169, 174, 195, 195, 219, 228, 301, 309, 311, 312, 467, 470 Shrewsbury, Gilbert, Earl of (d.1616) 149, 154, 161, 167, 169, 170, 174, 176, 187, 193, 196, 198, 199, 219, 311, 439, 447, 452, 471 Shrewsbury, Mary, Countess of 193 Shropshire 261–312 Shurley [Shirley], Sir John 38, 68, 69 Shurley, Sir Thomas see Sherley, Sir Thomas Shut End Ironworks 411 sickles 167, 568 Sidaway, John 382 Sidaway, Joseph 382 Sidney, Sir Henry 7, 513, 522, 539 Sidney, Sir Robert 543 Sidney, Sir William 18, 27, 56, 57, 80 Siemens, Sir William 547 Siemens–Martin [Open Hearth] process 7, 510, 587 Silkstone Furnace, at Low Mill 138, 142, 154, 157–8, 185 Silkstone Smithies 137, 138, 138, 154 silver 98, 178, 350

726

Silverdale Furnaces 220, 223, 231, 233, 240 Silvester (1719) 99 Silvester, John 146 Simcox [Simmack], John 85 Simmons, James 77 Simms, William, & Co 388 Simpson, Gervase 163 Simpson, Henry 295 Simpson, John 111, 116, 149, 162, 163, 190, 198 Simpson, Thomas 114, 117 Simpson, William 111, 116, 139, 141, 143, 144, 150, 151, 162, 163, 173, 174, 176, 190 Simpson and Co 169; Simpson, Hayford and Barlow 175; Simpson and Hayford; see also Hayford & Co Sims, Joseph 347 Sims, Samuel 347 Sims, Thomas 347 Sirhowy Company 497 Sirhowy Furnace 488, 491, 497, 498, 499–500 Sirhowy Tramroad Company 500 Sissinghurst 44, 53 Sitwell (family) 168 Sitwell, Francis 168, 189, 192, 194, 198 Sitwell, George (1606) 189 Sitwell, George (d.1667) 161, 162, 168, 173, 176, 188, 192, 194, 197, 198, 201, 208, 210, 330 Sitwell, George (1670s–90s) 168, 189, 190, 192, 193, 198 Sitwell, Sir George (1829) 201 Sitwell, Katherine 189, 192, 198 Sitwell, Robert 168, 198 Sitwell, William 84, 168 Sizergh Gunpowder Mill see Lakerigg Gunpowder Mill Skinnerburn see Newcastle Sketchley, William 211 Skinner, Mr (1642) 456, 466 Skinner, Richard 245 Skippe, George 434 Skyrin, William 610 Slack Wheels 160, 178 Slagg, R.H. 147 Slaney [Slanes], Edward 220, 223, 228, 230, 244 Slaney, John 302, 303; Mr 301 Slaney, Richard 245 Slaney, Robert (1662; father) 227, 245, 275, 280, 309, 310, 312 Slaney, Robert (1714; son) 310, 311 Slap, Edward 255 Slaugham Furnace 58, 71, 75 Slebech [Sleabatch] Forge see Blackpool Forge Sleche, John 72 slitting see under iron production

Index slitting mills 6, 81–4, 91, 141, 210, 320–1, 363, 365 Smalley (family) 568 Smalley, Elizabeth 255, 565 Smalley, John 255, 565 Smalley, William 255, 565 Smallman, John 385 Smallwell Forge 23 Smart, Thomas 474 Smeaton, John 4, 98, 116, 497 Smeaton, Wigglesworth, Eyres & Co 157 Smestow Brook 383–9 Smilton, Philip 177 Smith, Mr (1750s–80; Whitehill) 119, 122 Smith, Abel Josiah 409 Smith, Anne 493 Smith, Anthony 76, 78 Smith, Barbara 60 Smith, Clark, Munton & Co 203 Smith, Cuthbert 115, 119 Smith, David 354 Smith, Ebenezer, & Co 191, 203 Smith, Edgar 379 Smith, George (1619) 62 Smith, Georgius (1782) 176, 228 Smith, Henry 188, 189, 196 Smith, John (1578; Sussex) 62, 64, 66 Smith, John, (1595; Glamorgan) 519 Smith, John (d.1619; Staffs) 225, 229, 230, 231, 565 Smith, John (d.1720; Hampshire) 103, 105 Smith, John (c.1722; Scotland) 618 Smith, John (1775) 203 Smith, John and Ebenezer 203 Smith, John Thomas 357 Smith, Joseph (1759) 377 Smith, Joseph (1809) 355 Smith, Sir Laurence 231 Smith, Leonard 540, 542, 547, 548 Smith, Nicholas 38 Smith, Port, Wood & Co 217 Smith, Ralph 189, 192 Smith, Read & Co 353 Smith, Richard (1730; Herefordshire) 483 Smith, Richard (1759; Shropshire) 279 Smith, Robert (1815–22; Glamorgan & Carmarthen) 541, 554, 556 Smith, Samuel 184, 204 Smith, Silvester [Sylvester] 188, 192, 195, 196, 199 Smith, Thomas (1551; Glamorgan) 506, 519 Smith, Thomas (d.1579; Sussex) 60, 64, 66 Smith, Thomas (d.1591; Kent) 33 Smith, Thomas (d.1690; Surrey) 76, 78

Smith, Thomas (1719; Hampshire) 105 Smith, Thomas (1778; Sheffield) 184 Smith, Thomas (1797–1811; Birmingham) 350, 353, 354, 355; & Co 353 Smith, Thomas (1824; Carmarthen) 554 Smith, W.A. 204 Smith, W.H. 306 Smith, W.S., & Co 610 Smith, William (1593) 188 Smith, William (1778; Cumberland) 613 Smith, William (1800; Staffordshire) 204, 217 Smith and Armitage 204 Smith & Co 408 Smith & Wright Company 625 Smith and Shepherd 409 Smithel’s Forge, near Bolton 572, 578 Smitheman, John 289, 297 Smithfield Company 623, 627, 629 Smithies [bloomsmithies] 3 Smiths & Co 202, 203, 353 Smithson, John 111, 116, 163 Smithson, Hunt 116 Smithy Croft see Rakehead Smithyman, John, & Co 265 Smyth, Jonathan 156 Smyth, William 199 Smythe (family) 61 Smythe, John 61 Snape Furnace see Scrag Oak Furnace Snapper Furnace see Coalbrookdale Snedshill Bar Iron Company 298 Snedshill Coal Company 298 Snedshill Furnaces 4, 94, 95, 251, 284, 295, 297–8 Snepp, John 49 Snepp, Thomas, jun. (son) 56, 57 Snepp, Thomas, sen. (father) 56, 57 Sneyd (family) 233 Sneyd, Walter 233 Snook, George 537 Soane, William 69 Society [Company] of Mines Royal 94, 462, 541 Society of Mines Royal Copper 600 Socknersh Furnace 16, 21, 50, 57–8 Soho Manufactory 251, 253, 258, 328, 349, 350, 632 Soley, Mr (1683) 418 Soley, Humfrey 434 Soley, John (d.1720) 395, 400, 434 Soley, John, II 395 Soley, William 431, 434 Solley, Messrs 356 Solly, James 356 Solly Brothers 356 Somerbridge Forge 133, 134, 134, 135 Somerset see Bristol; Southwest England Somerton, William 351

727

Sommers, Laurence 26 Sone, Philip 101, 102, 104, 581 Sone, Philip, and Son 23, 101 Sone, Philip Troughton 101, 104 Sone and Stephens 101 Soresby, William 200; & Co 190 Sorsbie, Jonathan 119 Sorsbie, Malin 119 Soudley Forge 452, 452, 453, 456–7 Soudley Furnace 452, 452, 456–7 Soule, John 436, 445 Soulton Forge, Wem 276, 280 Southall, R. 386 Southall, R., sen. 386 Southall, Richard 386; & Co 386 Southall & Co 388 Southampton, Earls of 101, 103, 104, 105 Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of (d.1624) 490 Southampton, William FitzWilliam, 1st Earl of (d.1542) 43 Southborough see Old Forge Southcot wire mill 82, 93 Southeast region 13–106 Southern, John 349 Southern Midlands 313–436 Southfrith 34, 80 South Midlands 427–36 South Sea Company 101, 222 Southwark: Bear Garden 82, 96, 97, 123 Southwark: Falcon Ironfoundry 62, 82, 87, 96–7, 98 Southwark: Marigold Steps 33, 82, 87, 97 Southwest England 437–86, 529–38 South Wingfield Wire Mill 198 South Yorkshire 159–86 Sowbatch Forge see Moreton Corbett Forge sow iron [pig iron] see under iron, varieties of Sowley Furnace and Forge [Beaulieu Furnace] 93, 101, 102, 102, 103–4, 105, 239, 581, 585, 621 Spachers, Mr (1642) 600 spades/shovels 373, 379, 568, 578, 587–8, 599, 601, 602, 606, 612, 614 Spanish iron trade 8, 165, 529 Sparkbridge [Spark] Forge 237, 582, 584, 585, 595, 598 Sparrow (family) 356 Sparrow, Burslem 350 Sparrow, George 222, 225, 237, 331, 341, 370, 563 Sparrow, James (1797) 350 Sparrow, James (1850s) 259 Sparrow, John 350 Sparrow, Richard 85 Sparrow, W.H. & J.S. 347, 352 Sparrow’s Forge 328, 350

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Sparry, John 485, 561, 563, 564 Spear, Alexander 183 Spear & Jackson 171, 183, 343, 347 Spedding, Hicks and Co 605, 610 Spedding, Hicks, Senhouse, and Co 606, 610 Spedding, James 610 Spedding, John 621 Spedding, R.G. 95 Speddings, Dickinson, Russell & Co 610 Speed, Griffith 252 Speight, Arthur 163 Spence, James (1855; Northumberland) 118 Spencer, James (1879; Cardiff) 521 Spence, John 69 Spencer (family) 137, 139–42 Spencer, Allsopp and Bancks 143, 162 Spencer, Edward, I 139, 144, 147, 151, 152 Spencer, Edward, II (d.1729) 140, 142, 151, 444 Spencer, George 430 Spencer, John, I (d.1658) 139, 144, 145, 147, 151, 574 Spencer, John, II (d.1681) 139, 148 Spencer, John, III (d.1729) 140, 143, 144, 146, 148, 150, 151, 154 Spencer, John, IV (d.1775) 146 Spencer, Jos. 190, 197 Spencer, Stephen 430 Spencer, William (1702) 551, 558 Spencer, William (1730–50) 115, 140, 141, 142, 146, 151, 152, 152, 163, 163, 444 Spencer & Co 141, 143, 144, 145, 163, 190, 192, 198, 574 Spencer-Stanhope (family) 158 Spencer-Stanhope, John 158 Spencer-Stanhope, Walter 142 Spicer, William 27 Spiers, Alexander 627 Spiers Furnace, Hartop End 129, 130, 131 Spooner, Abraham [Abram] 334, 349, 363, 370, 529 Spooner, Isaac 334, 370, 382, 529 Spooner Marshall & Attwood 382 Springbrook Forges, Blakedown 367, 404–5 Springett [Springate], Herbert 20, 33, 36, 44 Springwood Furnace see Partridge Nest Spurr (family) 198 squares see under iron, varieties of Squires (family) 52 Stace, George 35 Stace, John 35 Stacy [Stacey], Thomas 165, 180 Stafford, Henry, Lord 263

Stafford, William, Lord 311 Stafford-Howard, Mary 311 Staffordshire 219–33; see also Trent Valley Staffordshire and Worcester Canal see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Staffordshire Partnership 221, 223, 245, 322 Staffordshire Works 221, 226, 228, 236, 469 Stainborough Smithies 138, 154 Stainton (family) 625 Stainton, Joseph 624 Stairs, James 102, 104 Stakenbridge Forge 367, 403, 405 Stambermill Forge 367, 383 stamped iron see under iron, varieties of stampering see under iron production stamping mills (for cinders) 456, 463; (for copper ore) 553, 557 Standen (family) 50 Standen, Elias 72, 73 Standen, John 30 Standish, James de 577 Stanford, Thomas 35 Standford Furnace see Bramshott Hammer Stanford-on-Teme see Furnace Farm Stanhope steelworks 110, 124, 127 Stanier, Francis (d.1856; father) 231, 233 Stanier [Broade], Francis (1866; son) 233 Stanier & Co 232 Staniforth, Mr (1762) 177 Staniforth, Dysney 182 Stanley, Mr (1736) 611 Stanley, Joseph 124, 369 Stanley, Thomas 286, 293 Stanley, William 114 Stanley Forge (Staffordshire) 220, 232 Stanley Mill (Lancashire) 572, 575, 576 Stanley Works (Lancashire) 578 Stanton, Isaac 342 Stanton, John 342 Stanton, Joseph 342 Stanton, Thomas 342 Stanton Drew see Bye Mills Stanton’s Mill 328, 342 Staples, Alexander 42 Stapley, John 67, 91 Starkie, Thomas 380 Staunton Harold Ironworks 192, 199, 207, 208, 216 Staveley Coal & Iron Co Ltd 199 Staveley Furnace and Forge 140, 141, 162, 163, 167, 169, 176, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 194, 197, 198–9, 200, 204, 209, 221, 330 Stead, Mary 614

728

Steade, Nicholas 183 steam engines 1, 3, 289, 300 Stedman, Joseph 279 steel 3, 7, 56, 76, 80, 86, 109, 165–6, 179, 180, 431, 613 blister steel 7, 86, 165, 166, 283, 409 bloomery 7, 42 cast [crucible] steel 7, 179 faggots 7 finery 7, 80, 431, 432 gad steel 7 German steel 86, 109, 117, 118, 166 mild steel see Bessemer process; cementation process; Gilchrist– Thomas process; Siemens–Martin process see also watch springs Steel Company of Wales 541 Steel Forge, Hartfield 7, 16, 18, 42–3, 75 Steel Forge, Warbleton 16, 26, 28, 32 Steel’s Mill, Aston 328, 350 Steel Stampings Ltd 392 Steer, George 165, 181 Steevens, Alice 514, 520, 524 Steevens, George 514, 520, 524 Steevens, John 513, 514, 520, 524 Stehn, George 90 Stephens, John 102, 104, 531, 553, 554, 578 Stephenson, Daniel 269, 605 Stephenson, George 115, 127 Stephenson, John 127 Stephenson, Samuel 173 Stevens [Steven], William 354, 508 Stevenson, John 225 Steward, Robert 216, 419 Stewart, Admiral 629 Stibbens, John 530 stithy 166 Stockdale, James 586, 589, 594 stocking frame needles see under needles Stockley Slade 286 Stocks, John 157 Stockton and Darlington Railway 114, 115, 118, 127 Stokes, Benjamin 354 Stokes, G. & T. 354 Stokes, George 304, 306, 354, 393; & Co 304, 354, 393 Stokes, James 470, 472, 473, 475 Stokes, Smith & Co 354 Stokes, Stephen 324 Stokes, Thomas 306, 352, 354, 412 Stokes & Co 324 Stollion [Stolion; Stollyan; Stollyon], Thomas 27, 31, 32, 53 Stone, Mr (1809) 486

Index Stone Forge (S. Yorkshire) see Roche Abbey Forge Stone Furnace (Staffordshire) see Moddershall Furnace Stone Furnace and Forge (Sussex) 16, 43 Stone Gravel [Wharf] Ironworks, Newbold 188, 191, 203–4 Stones, John 179 Stoney Lane Ironworks, Chantry 536, 537 Stony Hazel Forge 582, 584, 587, 601 Storey, Walter 309 Storrs Wheel 160, 178 Stottesdon see Cinder Mill Stour, river [Navigation] see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Stourbridge (West Midlands) 361, 369 Stourbridge Canal see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Stourbridge Forge see Royal Forge, Stourbridge Stourbridge Ironworks 362, 378, 408–9 Stourbridge Old Bank see Hill, Bate and Robins Stourbridge Potwork 367, 410 Stourbridge Steel Furnaces 406, 409 Stourbridge Town Mills [Stourbridge Forge; Amblecote Town Mill] 367, 383, 408 Stourport 361 Stourport Wire Co 399 Stourton Slitting Mill [formerly Stourton Forge] 296, 363, 366, 367, 371, 372, 390, 393–4 Stour Valley 361–413 Stour Works Partnership [Edward, later John, Knight & Co] 209, 331, 333, 334, 338, 369–70, 372, 376, 382, 392, 394, 396, 397, 416, 425, 500 Stowe, Nicholas 322 Stow Heath Furnaces 347 Stow Mill, Lichfield 320, 325 Strafford, Earl of 150 strake iron see under iron, varieties of Straker, Ernest 12, 15 Strangworth Forge 481, 482, 482, 485 Stratford, Walter 448 Strathdown [Strathdovern] Ironworks see Abernethy Ironworks Stream Furnace and Forge 16, 32 Streater, Henry 76 Streatfeild, Richard 34, 35, 36 Street Forge 236, 240, 244–5 Street Furnace 220, 223, 235, 236, 236, 244 Stretton (Staffordshire) see Clay Mill Stretton Ironworks, North Wingfield (Derbyshire) 187, 188, 199

Strick, Henry 546 Strickland, Thomas (1760) 593 Strickland, Sir Thomas (1662) 165, 182 Stringer, Mr (1790) 590 Stringer, Moses 94–5 Stripling, William 410 Strode, Sir George 52 Strudgate Furnace 58, 75 Studley Furnace, Clee Hill see Cornbrook Furnace Strudwick, Henry 60 Strudwick, William 60 Strutt (family) 195, 197 Strutt, Jedediah 197 Struttle, Amos 507 Stubbes, Philip 330 Stubbs, Walter 310, 311, 324 Stumbletts Furnace 16, 41, 58, 75 Stumlet Furnace 42 Sturges, John, jun. 156 Sturges, John, sen. 156 Sturges, John, & Co 156 Sturges, William 156 Sturges & Co 143, 154 Sturges & Ellwell 156 Stuttle, William 258, 274, 358 Styles, Thomas 87, 285 Sturt [Wheeler’s] Hammer 58, 77–8 Sudeley [Sudley] Furnace (near Winchcombe) 368, 427, 428, 434 Summerbridge Forge see Somerbridge Forge Summerland, T. 533 Sunderland, John 585, 595; & Co 595 Sunderland, Thomas 585, 595; & Co 595 Surtees, George 126 Surtees, John 629 Sutcliffe, John 177 Sutton [alias Dudley] see Dudley Sutton, Edward see Dudley, Edward Sutton, Lord Sutton, John 577 Sutton Forge (Shropshire) 250, 251, 253, 258, 268, 268, 272 Sutton Furnace (Lancashire) 237, 288, 571, 572, 572, 573, 576–7 Sutton Coldfield 201 Sussex see Weald Swallow, Richard, I (d.1801) 163, 164, 169, 170, 173, 179, 180, 190, 192, 198; & Co 198 Swallow, Richard, II (1805–22) 158, 163, 169, 170, 176, 179, 180 Swallow Hill Furnaces 138, 158, 163, 164 Swalwell [Swallwell] Mill 4, 23, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 121, 139, 158 Swamp Hall, Liversedge 138, 155 Swamp Mills, Boulder Clough 138, 155

729

Swaysland, John 36 Swedish iron trade 8, 111, 115, 164, 165, 210, 237, 363, 367, 369, 409, 459, 469, 529, 623; see also iron, varieties of: double bullet; Gothenburg; oregrounds Swift [Swifte], Robert (1609) 154 Swift, Robert (1652) 236, 265 Swift, William, & Son 240 Swift Brothers 173 Swinden, Jonathan 152 Swindon [Swin] Forge 332, 362, 368, 371, 373, 383, 384, 387–8 Swindon [Swin] Lower Forge see Hollow Mill swords 126, 332 Sykes, Richard (Hull merchant) 529 Sykes, John 178 Sylvester, Field 165, 182 Symart [Symard], John 17 Symart [Symard], Lambert 17, 41 Symart, Pauncelett 17, 18, 41 Symmonds, Thomas 563

T Taff Furnace near Tongwynlais 459, 489, 513, 514, 518, 520, 522, 524, 525 Taff Valley, Upper 506 tail helves 5 Taitt, William 509 Talbot, Lord 508 Talbot, James 374 Talbot, T. Mansell 549 Tame, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Tame Valley 327–59 Tandy, John 375 Tanfield see West Tanfield Tankersley 159, 185 Tanner, Mrs (1759) 483 Tanner, Benjamin 441, 482 Tanner, David 441–2, 443, 463, 470, 471, 474, 478, 479, 482, 483, 491, 493, 495, 498, 509, 515, 517, 518, 540, 545 Tanner [Tanworth], Edward 77 Tanner, George 61 Tanner, John 60 Tanner, Thomas 60 Tanner, William 441, 443, 444, 478, 479, 482 Tanner’s Forge see Brecon Furnace Taplow (Bucks) 88 Taplow Mill, Maidenhead 82, 93, 631 Tappenden (family) 507 Tappenden and Handby 168 Tapsell, Richard 22, 23, 30, 32, 46, 49, 53, 54

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Tarrioch [Terrioch] Furnace and Forge 624, 627 Tate, Francis 496 Tate, Paul 411 Tate, Thomas 496 Tatenhill Screw Works 208, 216, 217 Taverner, Robert 131 Tavistock Ironworks: foundry 536, 538 Tavistock Ironworks: Mount Foundry 536, 538 Tawe Tinplate Co 546 Tayloe, John 515 Taylor, Edwards 155 Taylor, George 394, 454 Taylor, John (1636) 452, 453 Taylor, John (1696) 481, 483 Taylor, John (1807) 90 Taylor, Joseph 565 Taylor, Nathaniel 596 Taylor, Richard (1680s; Staffordshire) 226 Taylor, Richard (1720; Lancashire) 601 Taylor, Thomas 444 Taylor’s Foundry 351 Taynton, Mr (1690) 520 Taynton, Elizabeth 47 Teague, Moses 449 Tealing, Mrs (1782) 92 Tealing, Joseph 83, 92 Teams Mill, Gateshead 110, 112, 114, 115, 121–2, 126, 629 Teanford Furnace 220, 229–30, 239, 323 Teddesley Hay Furnace 315, 319, 320, 324 Teise, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Teise Catchment 43–8 Teme, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Temple Mills, Bisham 82, 82, 89, 92, 93, 631 Temple Mills, Hackney 82, 97 Tennant, George 542, 547 Tern, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Tern Company 250, 261, 267, 272, 294, 370, 384 Tern Forge [Works] 250, 251, 253, 258, 268, 268, 269, 272–3, 274, 293, 294, 317, 331 Tern Mill 383 Terrie, John 153 Terrioch Furnace see Tarrioch Furnace Thacker, John 216 Thacker, Joseph 216 Thacker, Olyver 191

Thames, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Thames Valley 81–99 Thanet, John Tufton, 2nd Earl of 33, 55 Thanet, Nicholas Tufton, 3rd Earl of 33 Thatcher, James 45 Thimble Mill, Aston 328, 350 Thimble Mill, Warley 328, 350–1 thimbles 350 Thomas, Alexander 45, 48, 57 Thomas, B. 631 Thomas, David 545 Thomas, Edmund [Edmond] 461, 472, 489, 513, 520, 524 Thomas, Edward 561, 565 Thomas, Henry 448 Thomas, J. 517 Thomas, John (1700) 286, 531 Thomas, John (1805) 493, 527; & Co 527 Thomas, Leonard 449 Thomas, Owen, & Co 172 Thomas, Price 351, 380 Thomas, Richard 471, 474, 517, 520, 546; & Baldwin[s] Ltd 388, 401, 493, 499, 521, 541; & Co Ltd 474, 499, 517, 526, 542; & Sons 443; Ltd 373 Thomas, Thomas 518 Thomas, W. 517 Thomas, William 353 Thomlinson (family) 112, 115 Thomlinson, Richard 83, 113, 119, 121, 126 Thomlinson, William 113, 114, 117, 119, 121, 126 Thompson, Andrew 304 Thompson, C.F. 518 Thompson, Francis 203 Thompson, Hatton & Co 397 Thompson, J. (1858; Staffordshire) 384 Thompson, John (1742; Staffordshire) 323, 331, 335, 384 Thompson, John (1790s; West Midlands, Aberdare) 304, 347, 384, 507 Thompson, John (1813–49; Wrexham) 258, 259 Thompson, John (1851; Staffordshire) 493 Thompson, Joseph 203 Thompson, Robert 304, 442, 462, 463, 474, 479, 508, 579 Thompson, Stephen 389 Thompson, William 90, 500, 508, 510 Thompson & Co 178 Thompson & Foreman 84 Thompsons and Scales 304 Thomson, Hattons and Morgan 389 Thomson, Thomas 629 Thorncliffe Ironworks 160, 178, 186

730

Thorne, Philip 538 Thornewill, Francis 211, 213 Thornewill, Thomas (1755–66; father) 211, 213 Thornewill, Thomas (1786; son) 213 Thorneycroft, G & B 317 Thorneycroft, G.B. 336 Thorneycroft, George & Edward 384, 388 Thornhill Lees Forge [Dewsbury Ironmills] 138, 155, 156 Thornhurst, Sir Stephen 44 Thornley, Thomas 403 Thornton, John 543 Thorold, Sir John 144 Thorpe (family) 35 Thorpe, John 35, 79 Thorpe, Richard 79 Three Cocks Forge see Pipton Forge Throckmorton, Sir Baynham 452 Throckmorton, Clement 69 Throckmorton, Crowe, Taylor, and Gonning 456 Throckmorton, Sir William 448 Thrybergh Forge 141, 142, 145, 160, 163, 164, 172, 175–6 Thurgoland see Wortley Wire Mills Thursley Lower Hammer 58, 64, 66, 78 Thursley Upper Hammer 58, 64, 66, 78 Thwaites, Robert 149 Thwaites, William 149 Thynne, Charles 106 Tibbatts, Elizabeth 404 Tibbatts, Thomas 198 Tibberton Forge (later Slitting Mill) 275, 276, 277, 280–1 Tib Green Forge 220, 220, 222, 225, 235, 236, 237, 244, 245, 275, 351 Tibbits, Mr (1755) 400 Tichbourne, Benjamin 36 Tickell, J.A. 349 Tickell, Thomas 349, 356 Tickerage Forge and Furnace 58, 75 Tidnor Forge 472, 481, 482, 485–6 Tidy, Richard 73 Tildesley, John 347 Tildesley, Thomas 285 Tiled House steelworks 406, 409 Tiler, John see Tyler, John Tiler, Richard see Tyler, Richard Tilgate Furnace 58, 68, 71 Tilley, Thomas 290, 294 Tillingham, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Tillingham Catchment see Brede and Tillingham Catchments Tilsop Furnace 415, 416, 424–5 Tilte, John 103, 105 tilt hammers see under hammers

Index tilts see under forges tin 451 tin bar see under iron, varieties of Tingle, Benjamin 181 tinplate see under iron, varieties of tinplate works 6 tinplate workers 6 Tinplate Workers Company see London Tinplate Workers Company Tinsley Forge 58, 68–9 Tintern Ironworks and Wireworks 195, 249, 283, 285, 366, 372, 424, 428, 431, 439, 441, 442, 451, 460, 460–4, 467, 468, 470, 487, 491, 496, 508, 513, 520, 524, 540, 551, 555, 571, 574 Tipton: Bloomsmithy 328, 344 Tipton: Gospel Oak Furnace see Gospel Oak Furnace Tipton: Great Bridge see Great Bridge Tipton: Sheepwash Mill see Sheepwash Mill Tipton: Toll End Forge see Toll End Forge Tipton: Tollend Furnaces see Tollend Furnaces Tipton Co 358 Tipton Furnaces [Tipton Old Furnaces] 259, 328, 357 Tipton New Furnaces [Tipton Green; Tipton Three Furnaces] 328, 336, 357–8 Titan Steel Wheels Ltd 392 Titchfield Hammer [Funtley Iron Mill] 6, 101, 102, 103, 104–5, 290 Titley (family) 572 Titley, Abraham 572, 575, 576 Titley, Joseph 572, 576 Titley, Richard 384 Titley, Thomas 572, 574, 575, 576, 590 Titton Forge 362, 400, 491 Toadhole Furnace 187, 188, 193, 199 Todd, William 125 Tole, Richard 351 Toll End Forge, Tipton 328, 348, 351 Tollend Furnaces, Tipton 328, 358 Tollslye Furnace 16, 48 Tolson, Richard 87, 285 Tomkins, Joseph 526 Tomkinson, Richard see Tomlins, Richard Tomkyns [Tomkins], Thomas 88, 93, 228, 239, 443, 631 Tomkys, Hugh 309 Tomkys, William 267 Tomkys & Sparrow 350 Tomlins, Mr (1674–85) 430 Tomlins, Ralph 418 Tomlins [Tomkinson], Richard 424, 452, 474 Tomlinson, Mr (1804) 334

Tomlinson, Dud see Dudley, Dud Tomlinson, John 472, 475 Tomlinson, Robert (1637) see Dudley, Robert Tomlinson, Robert (1808) 594 Tomlinson and Heaton 594 Toney, Michael 356 Tonnett [Toney], Nicholas 93 Tooke, Edmond 91 Tooke, Nicholas 91 Tooker, Charles 165, 180, 181, 182 Topp, Mr (c.1800) 204 Torte, Mr (c.1745) 325 Tortworth Forge 427, 440, 440, 441, 448 toss-hammers see under hammers Tothill, Francis 291 Tottie (family) 630 tough [tuf] iron see under iron, varieties of Tournay [Turney], Anthony 81, 83, 92 Tovey, Captain (1779) 87 Townrow, Bundekin and Tingle 181 Townsend, G. 382 Townsend, John 404 Townsend and Lowe 404 Townsend and Woods 478 Townson, William, & Co 590 Trafford, Jeremiah 265 tramroads 481, 508, 517 Clydach 496, 497 Kimarnock to Troon 629 Merthyr [Penydarren] 505 see also railways; Little Eaton Gangway; Peak Forest Railway; Severn and Wye Railway; Sirhowy Tramroad Company transport by navigable waterways (generally) canals 89, 187, 210, 249, 252, 277, 301, 332 river transport 8, 10 transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Abergavenny and Brecknock Canal 481 Adur, river 58 Aire, river 137, 147 137, 147 Aire and Calder Navigation 147 Arun, river 60 Avon (Warwickshire), river 427 Birmingham Canal Navigation 210, 353, 361 Brede, river 29 Calder, river 137, 147, 155 Calder and Hebble Navigation 155 Chesterfield Canal 208 Cuckmere river 31 Dee, river 249 Derwent Navigation (Derbyshire) 211

731

Don, river 167, 174 Dudley Canal 361, 410 Eden, river 33 Ellesmere Canal 249 Gloucester and Berkeley Canal 446 Grand Trunk Canal 210 Hebble, river 15 Idle, river 159, 187 Lee, river [Navigation] 113 Lugg, river 467 Medway, river 37–8 Mersey and Irwell Navigation 572 Mole, river 66 Ouse, river 69 Oxford Canal 84 Rother, river 29, 48 Severn, river 10, 210, 261, 266, 267, 283, 439, 454 Staffordshire and Worcester Canal 210, 301, 315, 361, 373, 401 Stour, river [Navigation] 361, 429 Stourbridge Canal 361, 373, 410 Tame, river 327 Teise, river 43 Teme, river 415 Tern, river 274 Tillingham, river 29 Thames, river 66, 75, 81, 85 Trent, river 187, 209–10, 212 Trent and Mersey Canal 211, 212, 223 Trent Navigation [incl. Upper] 210, 211, 212 Usk, river 481 Vyrnwy, river 266 Weaver, river [Navigation] 223, 244, 288 Wey, river [Navigation] 75–6, 83, 90, 93 Wye, river 467, 481 Travers, John 252 Tredegar Forge, Bassaleg 500, 514, 515, 516, 518, 520, 524–5, 544 Tredegar Ironworks 90, 372, 488, 491, 499, 500, 524 Treeton 160, 176 Treforest Works 504, 507 Trefriw Forge see Gwydir Forge Tregelles, Samuel 545 Trellech Furnace, Woolpitch Wood 459, 460, 465, 466 Trent, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Trent and Mersey Canal see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Trentham Forge 220, 225, 230 Trent Navigation see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations)

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Trent Valley 207–17 Trescott Grange Furnace see Grange Furnace Trevithick, Richard 510, 577 Trevethin Works see Pontypool Works Trevor (family) 54 Trevor, Richard, Bishop of Durham 49 Trew, John 496 Tristram, John 354 Tristram, Thomas 409 Tristram, William 409 Tristram, William, jun. 409 Trosnant Furnace, Pontypool 488, 491, 492 Trostrey Company 486 Trostrey Forge 481, 482, 483, 486, 515 Troughton, Miles 101, 102, 104, 142, 581 Trowe, Mr (c.1580) 496 Troyal Forge see Lodge Forge True, Richard 34 Tubman, Edward 610 Tucker, Mr (1814) 538 Tuckey, Humphrey 43 Tudeley 80 tuf [tough] iron see under iron, varieties of Tufton, John see Thanet, John Tufton, 2nd Earl of Tufton, Nicholas (d.1679) see Thanet, Nicholas Tufton, 3rd Earl of Tufton, Sir Nicholas (d.1631) 52 Tulk, Ley & Co 606, 610 Tull, John 93 Tully, John 71 Tully, William 196 Tunstall 219, 220, 224, 231 Turley, Joseph 354, 356 Turley, Thomas 354 Turner, Mr (late 18th cent.) 213 Turner, Mr (c.1826) 151 Turner, Bolton & Co 394 Turner, Christopher 91 Turner, Henry 393, 394, 401 Turner, Jacob 393, 394, 399 Turner, John (d.1660) 230, 242, 277, 311 Turner, John (1750s–70s) 177, 178 Turner, Richard 245, 576 Turner, Roger 405 Turner, Sackville 36 Turney, Anthony see Tournay, Anthony Turpin, Richard 209 Turton, G. 403 Turton, Job 489 Turton, John 85, 270, 340, 377, 530; & Co 530 Turton, William 347, 355, 357, 530 Turton Bros 397 tuyeres 3, 4

Twamley [Twambley], Samuel 304; S. 397 Twigg 182 Twigg, Joshua 180 Twigg, Thomas 180 Twiss, John 244 Twynsoe, Edward 280 Tyas, Richard 149 Tychborne (family) 37 Tychborne, John 34 Tydee Works 514, 525–6, 527 Tylecote, R.F. 632 Tyler, Benjamin 216 Tyler, George 553, 554 Tyler, James 337 Tyler, John (1629; Sussex) 74 Tyler [Tiler], John (1640s–50s; Shropshire) 267, 269, 275, 277, 299, 302 Tyler, John (1670s; Cheshire) 241 Tyler, John (18th cent; Staffs) 215 Tyler, Quentin [Quinton] 224, 225 Tyler [Tiler], Richard (1611–34) 452, 466, 473, 474, 477, 567; & Co 467 Tyler, Richard (1670s) 242 Tyler, Thomas 224 Tyler, William 215, 216, 224, 225 Tylor, Roger 59 Tyne Iron Co 127 Tyne Ironworks see Lemington Ironworks Tyne Slitting Mill 125 Typper, John 445, 455 tyre iron see under iron, varieties of Tyrwhitt [Tyrwight], Sir Robert 18, 50, 51, 52 Tyzack (family) 176

U Uffington Mill 268, 273 Ulpha Forge 582, 595, 598 Ulverston Forge see Whitewell Forge Underwood, Nathaniel (1774; father) 449 Underwood, Nathaniel (1817; son) 449 Underwood, R.D. 449 Underwood, Robert 449 Union Furnaces see Rhymney Furnaces Union Works see Rotherhithe Ironworks Uniskedwin [Unishadden] Furnace see Ynyscedwyn Unsworth, Thomas 577 Unwyn, Edward 219, 231 Unwyn, Ursula 231 Upleadon Forge 372, 398, 400, 428, 434–5, 441 Upper Arley 300, 305 Upper Bank Furnace see New Bank Furnace

732

Upper Forest Tinplate Works 544; see also Forest Forge (Glamorgan) Upper Forge, Lydney 440, 442 Upper Hammer, Attercliffe 169, 169 Upper Mitton Forge [Jennyhole Forge] 140, 362, 366, 370, 372, 373, 398–9, 400 Upper Stour Valley 373–83 Upper Trent Navigation see under transport by navigable waterways Upton Forge (Shropshire) 268, 268, 271, 272, 273–4, 276, 358 Upton Mill (Worcestershire) see Broadwaters Lower Forge Urpeth Forge 110, 114, 117, 127 Usk, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Usk Forge see Clytha Forge Usk Valley 481–6 Uvedale, Sir William 105 Uxbridge see Harefield Copper Mills Uxbridge, Henry Paget, 1st Earl (formerly Lord Paget) of 210, 223

V Vachery [Cranleigh] Forge 58, 78–9 Vachery Furnace 58, 79 Vale Royal Company 237, 240, 245, 276, 278, 288, 571, 576, 578 Vale Royal Furnace 236, 236, 237, 238, 243, 244, 245–6, 276, 288, 576 Valey, Ralph 75 Valiance, Elizabeth 149 Valiance, John 149 Vane, Charles 120 Vane, Henry 122 Varteg Furnace 488, 500–1 Varteg Hill Iron Company 500 Vaughan (family) 475, 551 Vaughan, Mr (c.1702) 302 Vaughan, Edward (1619) 419 Vaughan, Edward (1719) 265 Vaughan, George 474 Vaughan, James 558 Vaughan, John 472 Vaughan, Joseph 521 Vaughan, Philip 557 Vaughan, Thomas 522 Vaughan, W. 381 Vaughton (family) 211, 341 Vaughton, Mr (1705–15) 200 Vaughton, Christopher 189, 196, 208, 215, 330, 333, 334 Vaughton, Humphrey [Humfrey] 189, 208, 214, 330 Vaughton, Riland [Ryland] 189, 195, 196, 200, 208–9, 215, 330, 333, 334; & Co 330, 338, 343 Vauxhall [Fox Hall] Foundry 82, 86, 97–8, 286

Index Vauxhall [Bournemill] Furnace 16, 34 Veel, Peter 446 Veel, William 446 Venables, Joseph 403 Venables, William 403 Venymer, Thomas 303 Verdley Wood Furnace 58, 65 Vernon, Lord 549 Vernon, John 323, 341 Vernon, Ralph 241, 246, 274, 562, 566 Vernon, Samuel 246 Vernon, Thomas 304 Vernon, William (1716) 145, 225, 237, 246 Vernon, William (1793–1806) 386 Verredge Forge 16, 45, 48, 57 Viccars, John 611 Vickers, John 611 Vickers and Carr 176 Vickers plc 184 Victualling Board 2, 11, 81, 82, 83, 88, 92, 103 Vigurs, John 540, 542, 547, 548 Vigurs and Smith 540, 546, 547, 548 Vikings 17 Villiers, Lord Francis 130 Vinarhyttan 17 Vincent, Richard 149 Vobster Mill 536, 537 Vyrnwy, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations)

W Wade, John 442, 454, 456, 457 Wade, Nathaniel 563 Wadsley [Wardsend] Forge 86, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 168, 176 Wadsley Furnace 159, 160, 176, 189 Wadworth, Dr Thomas 96 Wainwright, G.W. 409 Wainwright, James, & Co 411 Wakefield see Fall Ings Foundry Wakefield, John 593 Wakes, Richard 18 Waldron (family) 373, 407 Waldron, Edward 404 Waldron, Henry 407 Waldron, Samuel 399 Waldron, T.A. 403, 404 Waldron, Thomas 403, 404 Waldron, William 403, 404, 407 Waldron Furnace 16, 18, 22, 32–3, 39, 48, 52, 53, 54, 69, 72 Wales: south 459–527, 539–59; west and north 561–8, 619 Walker (family) 163, 164, 166, 174, 175, 185, 416, 419, 421 Walker, Mr (1680) 429 Walker, Mrs (1825) 356

Walker, Aaron 185 Walker, Eaton & Co 184 Walker, Francis 267, 270, 273, 415, 418, 419 Walker, Humphrey 41 Walker, James 567 Walker, Job 267, 270, 416, 418, 419, 422, 423, 425 Walker, John (1689) 588 Walker, John (1784–1816) 182, 184, 203 Walker, Joseph (1784; Sheffield) 177 Walker, Joseph (1799; Cumberland) 610 Walker, Joshua, & Co 174, 355 Walker, Matthew 195, 196 Walker, Miles (c.1680) 588 Walker, Myles (1802) 593 Walker, Reginald 592 Walker, Richard 267, 299, 302, 415, 423 Walker, Samuel (1756) 164, 174, 181, 185 Walker, Samuel, jun. (1821–31) 352, 355 Walker, Samuel, & Co 166, 171, 174, 175, 181, 185; & Bros 174 Walker, Thomas (c.1690) 380 Walker, Thomas (d.1793; Leeds) 147 Walker, Thomas (1793; Rotherham) 185 Walker, Thomas (1802; Lancashire) 593 Walker, Thomas (1802; Worcestershire) 433 Walker, William 270, 419 Walker & Co 23, 185 Walker Brothers 355 Walker Ironworks 110, 115, 127, 629 Walkley Bank Tilt 160, 178 Wall, James 404 Wall, William 406 Waller, John (d.1567) 40 Waller, John (1735) 86 Waller, Richard 40 Waller, Sir Thomas 47 Waller, Walter (1807) 537 Waller, Sir Walter (1590) 35, 38, 44 Waller, William 44, 204 Wall Heath Forge 367, 389 Wallin, Elias 516 Walloon forges see under forges Walloon process see under iron production Wallop, Sir Henry 263, 275, 279, 280, 415, 419 Wall’s bloomsmithy, Cradley 367, 406–7 Walpole, Sir Robert 605 Walpole, William 62 Walsall 332, 362 Walsall Bloomsmithy 328, 344 Walsh [Welshe], Joan 49, 51 Walsh, Sir Robert 49

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Walsh, Thomas 54 Walter, Abel 102, 104 Walter, Arthur 470, 472, 473, 475 Walter, John 477 Walters, Robert 610 Walton, William 419 Walton Ironworks 188, 200 Walwyn, Ely 471 Walwyn, Richard 471 Wandsworth Iron Mill 82, 98 Wandsworth Pan Works, Point Pleasant 82, 93, 94 Wannerton Brook 402–5 Wannerton Forge 367, 405 Wansuchen Furnace 488, 492, 493 Warbleton see Steel Forge; Warbleton Priory Furnace; Woodman’s Forge Warbleton Priory Furnace 16, 27 Warburton, Thomas 435 Ward (family) 357, 406 Ward, Alexander 299, 303 Ward, David 184 Ward, E.W. 256 Ward, Francis 351 Ward, Humble 364 Ward, John (peers) see under Dudley Ward, John (1838) 121 Ward, Joseph 178, 179 Ward, Thomas 168 Ward, William (peers) see under Dudley Ward, William (1631) 336, 364 Ward, William (1795–1815) 198 Ward, William (1789–1808; Halesowen) 382 Ward, William (1825–33; Wychnor) 216 Warden, John 71 Warden, Thomas 324 Wards and Moore 178 Wardsend Forge see Wadsley Forge Warley (Staffordshire) see Thimble Mill Warley (W. Yorkshire) see Holm House Mill Warmingham Forge 140, 163, 223, 235, 236, 236, 240, 244, 246–7 Warner, John 41 Warner, Richard 41 Warner, William 41 Warnham Furnace 58, 65–6 Warr, Joseph 356 Warren, John 97 Warren [Hedgecourt] Furnace 16, 23, 34–5, 40, 83 Warrington 571–2; see also Mersey Ironworks Warrington Company 255, 576, 578 Warsash Furnace 102, 103, 105–6, 587 Warwickbridge Forge 604, 614 Washer, Thomas 44 Washford Bridge see Attercliffe: steel furnace

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Washington, Richard 591 Wasse, John 508 Wasse, Thomas 119 Wassell Forge 58, 61, 66 Wasson, John James 486 watch springs 166 Waterfall & Co 151 Waterhouse Bros 522, 523 Waterloo Iron and Tinplate Company Limited 520 Waterloo Tinplate Works 520 water-power 1, 3 , 79–80, 166, 361, 373 Waters, Charles 475 Waters, Moore 475 Waters, Richard 503, 505 Waters, Thomas 557 Waters, William 28, 29 Waterton, Mary 153 Wath Forge 588, 604, 612, 614 Watkins, Francis 494 Watkins, George 231 Watkins, J. 388 Watkins, John (1570s) 503, 505 Watkins, John (1760s–74) 470, 485 Watkins, John (1774–85) 470, 472, 485 Watkins, Samuel 523 Watkins, Thomas 510 Watkins, Walter 497, 498 Watkins, William, & Co 388 Watkins and Wild 510 Watson, John 608 Watson, Richard (1626) 321 Watson, Richard (1794) 273, 274, 279 Watson Raynor and Taylor 184 Watson, Thomas 608 Watt, James 1, 4, 332, 350, 573, 578; see also Boulton & Watt Watts, Francis 110, 140, 145, 146, 148, 163 Watts, John 140, 141, 146, 148, 163, 190, 198 Watts, Susannah 141, 146, 148, 163 Watts, William 245, 576 Waunsuchen/Waun Sychan Furnace see Wansuchen Furnace Wayle, Thomas 135 Wayne, Matthew 499 Wayne & Co 555 Wayne & Dunne 555 Weald 8, 15–80, 109 Wealden Iron Research Group 15, 632 Weale, James 157 Weaman, Phelicia [Felicia] 189, 197, 200, 209, 330, 333, 334; see also Mander, John, & Co Weaman, Thomas 200, 346 Weaman, William 333, 334 Weathered see Wethered

Weaver, river [Navigation] see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Webb, Edward 387 Webb, John 30 Webb, Lewis and Price 504 Webb, Nathaniel 509, 519 Webb, Thomas 461 Webb, William (1691) 384 Webb, Sir William (c.1578) 30 Webbe, Edward 375 Webster, B.D. 339, 340 Webster, John (1722; of Candley) 340 Webster, John (d.1757; of Birmingham) 270, 340, 377 Webster, Joseph, I (d.1780) 337, 339, 340 Webster, Joseph, II (d.1788) 270, 337, 339, 340 Webster, Joseph, III (d.1856) 201, 337, 339, 340 Webster, Phoebe 337, 339, 340 Webster, Sir Thomas 28, 52, 56, 57, 178 Webster, Sir Whistler 56 Webster, William 177 Webster Horsfall 201, 340 Webster Horsfall Ltd 339 Wedgbury Forge see Wednesbury Forge Wedgbury Furnace see Wednesbury Furnace Wedge (family) 336 Wedges Mill, near Cannock 328, 336, 351 Wednesbury 332; see also Rough Hay Wednesbury Field [Bridge] Forge 328, 331, 342, 343 Wednesbury [Old; Wedgbury] Forge 207, 290, 328, 329, 330, 331, 342–3, 344, 350 Wednesbury [Wedgbury; Hallens’] Furnace 258, 328, 332, 358 Wednesbury New Forge see Toll End Forge, Tipton Wednesbury Oak Furnace [Works] 328, 348, 359 Wednesbury Old Forge see Wednesbury Forge Weeford Slitting mill 208, 209, 328, 330, 337, 338, 343, 346 Weetwood Smithy 138, 154 Weir, William 608 Wekes [Weekes], Richard 28, 31, 55 Welch Ironfoundry 514, 530, 532, 539, 543 Weld, Sir John 285, 299, 302, 303, 454 Weller, Henry 39 Weller, Robert 39 Weller, Thomas 39 Wellhouse Forge, Bardsea 582, 587, 602 Wellington, Lawrence 281, 285, 286, 292

734

Wellington, Richard 482 Wells, Mrs (c.1720) 209 Wells, John 71 Wellwood, Samuel 577, 578 Welsh borders 261–6 Welshe, Joan see Walsh, Joan Welsh Iron Co 259 Welsh Ironfoundry see Welch Ironfoundry Wem see Soulton Forge Wembourne [Wenborne], Robert 42, 44 Wenebridge Forge and Furnace see Hawkhurst Forge and Furnace Wenham, John 207 Wenham, William 216 Wenlock Priory 294, 299 Wentbridge Forge 138, 150 Were, Thomas 133 Westall, Harry 27 West Bromwich see Bromwich Forge Westcombe, Lewis 142, 150 Westcote, Lord 382 West Cumberland Haematite Iron and Steel Co Ltd 610 Westdean, William 60 West End Furnace, Chiddingfold 58, 66, 77 Western, Maximilian 21, 25, 28, 30 Western, Samuel 30, 50 Western [Westerne], Thomas (father; d.1706) 21, 26, 30, 50, 56, 82, 84 Western, Thomas (son; 1693) 21, 25, 30, 86 Western, William 52 West Ham see Abby Mill West Lee Ironworks in Molland 535, 536, 536–7 Westmoreland, Ralph, Earl 122 Weston, Edward 254 Weston, John (1576) 421 Westson, John (1784–1805) 575, 576 Weston, Mary 254 Weston, Michael 30, 34, 36, 38, 56, 57 Weston, Ralph 324 Weston, Sir Richard 98 Weston-under-Penyard see Bill Mill, near Ross-on-Wye Westfield see Crowham Forge West Tanfield Furnace and Forge 133, 134, 135 Westwood, John 352 West Yorkshire 137–58 Wethered, Samuel 82, 83 Wethered [Weathered], Thomas 82, 89, 91; & Company 82 Wey, river [Navigation] see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Weybridge Forge 367, 407–8 Weybridge Ironworks [Ham Haw Mill] 82, 83, 84, 90, 92, 93–4, 631

Index Wey Catchment 75–9 Weymouth, Lord 472, 473 Whaley Furnace 187, 188, 190, 200, 208 Wharf ironworks see Stone Gravel Ironworks, Newbold Wharncliffe, Lord 153 Wharton, James 209 Wharton, Thomas 110, 120 Wharton, William 563 Whateley 402 Whateley, George 209 Whateley, Henry Piddock 345, 346 Whateley, John 345, 346, 349 Whateley & Son 333, 345 Wheatley, Thomas 345 Wheelbirks Furnace 109, 110, 122, 133 Wheeler, Edmond see Wheler, Edmond Wheeler, Edward 374, 378 Wheeler, Hanbury 489 Wheeler, John, I (d.1708; West Midlands) 190, 192, 194, 198, 208, 220–1, 223, 226, 236, 237, 238, 309, 322, 330, 368, 370, 374, 375, 376, 378, 384, 385, 388, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 401, 424, 430, 439, 445, 447, 461, 468–9, 472, 474, 475, 487, 489, 496, 520, 553 Wheeler, John (1705–29; Redditch and Powick) 433, 434 Wheeler, John, II (1721; Staffordshire) 378, 469 Wheeler, John (1730s–50s; Mathrafal) 265; & Co 265 Wheeler, John (1777–1804; Shropshire) 274, 276, 279, 304, 358; & Co 273 Wheeler, Mary 397 Wheeler, Richard (1627) 77 Wheeler, Richard (1692–1703; uncle) 368, 370, 384, 392, 393, 395, 396, 416, 468 Wheeler, Richard (1720–5; nephew) 374, 378, Wheeler, Richard & Edward 394 Wheeler, Robert 344 Wheeler, Thomas 344 Wheeler, William 304 Wheeler’s Hammer see Sturt Hammer Wheeler Wire Mill, Caerwys 562, 568 Wheeley, Mr (1815) 498 Wheeley, John, & Co 408 Wheelock Forge 236, 247 Wheler [Wheeler], Edmond [Edmund] 461, 489, 513, 520, 524 Wheler, Richard 68 Wheston, Mr (1580) 228 While (family) 588 Whiston, William 317 Whiston Copper Smelter 232 Whistons, Richard 319 Whitaker, Benjamin 403

Whitbred, John 90 Whitby, Mrs (1803) 356 Whitchurch Furnace (at Cut Mill) 468, 479–80 Whitchurch Furnace and Forge 187, 452, 470, 477, 479, 471, 477, 479 Whitchurch Old Forge 467, 468, 480 White (family) 463, 470 White, Mr (1765) 73 White [Caswell], Eleanor 371, 392 White [Whyte], George, I (d.1723) 240, 470, 475, 477 White, George, II (d.c. 1753) 463, 470, 477 White [Whyte], John (d.1723; of Monmouth) 101, 104, 448, 470, 475 White, John (1824) 335, 349 White, John, & Co (1760s) 510 White, Richard 463, 470, 485 White, Thomas 377 White & Co 477 Whitebrook Wireworks 460, 462, 464–5, 467 Whitecliffe Furnace 440, 449 Whitecroft Forge 452, 452, 453, 454, 457 Whitefield Forge 102, 103, 106 Whitefriars Foundry 82, 97, 98 Whitehaven 22 Whitehead, William 532 Whitehead & Co 247 Whitehill Furnace, Chester le Street 110, 111, 113, 115, 119, 120, 122, 129, 603, 607 Whitehouse (family) 471 Whitehouse, Alfred 476 Whitehouse, Benjamin 359, 382, 449, 475, 478, 500 Whitehouse, Daniel 517 Whitehouse, Henry Bickerton 476, 478 Whitehouse, Sarah, & Sons 478 Whitehouse, Thomas 534 Whitehouse, William 348, 351, 563 Whitehouse & Sons 476 Whiteley Wood Forge 160, 178–9 Whiteley Wood Rolling Mill 160, 178–9 Whitewell Forge, Ulverston 582, 587, 602 Whitfield, James 519 Whitfield, John 68, 71 Whitfield, Robert 68 Whitfield, Thomas 68 Whitland Forge 551, 552, 552, 553, 558–9 Whitmore (family) 419 Whitmore, Edward 318 Whitmore, Henry 291 Whitmore, Sir William 419 Whitnall Furnace see Cheslyn Hay Furnace Whitriggs Mine 258, 307, 353, 586

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Whittingham and Gladstone 575, 576 Whittingham, Charles 246 Whittington Forge 299, 320, 362, 365, 366, 368, 369, 372, 394–5, 454, 481, 485 Whittington Patent Horse Nail Company Ltd 394 Whittington Slitting Mill 363, 367, 370, 394–5 Whitwick 217 Whodsell Forge see Hodesdale Forge Whorwood, William 327, 338, 339, 341, 342 WHS Tyzack 347 Whyle, Samuel 377 Whyte, George see White, George Whyte, John see White, John Wicker, The see Sheffield Wicker Tilts 160, 166, 179 Wickham Plate Mill 102, 103, 105, 490 Wick Iron Co 533 Wick Ironworks 529, 530, 533 Wigan 573 Wigan, James 574 Wigan Slitting Mill 571, 572, 577 Wigfall, Henry 161, 162, 173, 188, 189, 198, 201, 477 Wiken, John 42 Wilcox, Richard 283 Wilde, Thomas 184, 203 Wilden Forge 295, 299, 362, 363, 368, 369, 370, 373, 379, 400–2, 424, 491, 497 Wilden slitting mill 365, 366 Wildgose, Sir Annesley 54 Wildgose [Wilgose], Sir John 54 Wildgose, Richard 54 Wildgose, Robert 54 Wildgose, Thomas 79 Wilkes, Bernard 353 Wilkes, James 388 Wilkes, John 320 Wilkes, Joseph 217 Wilkes, Richard 353 Wilkins, Jeffrey 482, 508 Wilkins, John 482, 508, 515, 518, 520, 525 Wilkins, Thomas 514 Wilkins, W & J 482 Wilkins, Walter 482, 500, 508 Wilkins and Jefferies 482 Wilkinson (family; Yorkshire) 137 Wilkinson, Isaac 4, 251–2, 253, 272, 306, 508, 509, 510, 532, 533, 534, 585, 588, 595, 598, 599, 603 Wilkinson, James 378 Wilkinson, John (1770s; London) 83, 89; see also Berdoe, Wilkinson, and Deacon Wilkinson, John (d.1808; Midlands ironmaster) 4, 6, 23, 184, 251–2,

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II 253, 258, 279, 286, 290, 295, 297, 298, 300, 301, 302, 305, 306, 307, 331, 332, 352, 353, 372, 532, 598, 602 Wilkinson, John Bradley 259 Wilkinson, Mary 353 Wilkinson, William 6, 184, 251, 253, 258, 286, 298 Willard, Abraham 33, 34 Willard, David 29, 33, 34, 42, 80, 522 Willard, Edmund 33, 34, 45 Willard & Bullen 543 Wille, Richard 135, 154 Willem I, Count of Namur 17 Willenhall 332; see Poolhayes; Willenhall Forge Willenhall Forge 332, 351–2 Willetts, Messrs 403, 405 Willetts, Benjamin (1755–86) 343 Willetts, Benjamin, II (after 1786) 343 Willetts, James 403 Willetts, Jeremiah 351 Willetts, John (1704) 342 Willetts, John (1754) 333 Willets, John (1805–19) 403, 405 Willetts, John, II (d.1753) 343 Willetts, Rebecca 403 Willetts, William 403 Willey Company 302 Willey Forge 267, 300, 301, 305, 415 Willey Furnace 251, 252, 267, 276, 289, 294, 299, 300, 300, 301, 302–3, 306, 372, 416, 418 Willey New Ironworks 4, 252, 289, 300, 307 William, Simon, & Co 532 Williams (family) 543 Williams, Benjamin 448 Williams, David 462 Williams, Elijah 374 Williams, Henry 296 Williams, James, & Co 394 Williams, John 113, 122, 124, 603, 607 Williams, Joshua, & Co 542 Williams, Owen 89 Williams, Philip 359; & Sons 359 Williams, R. 632 Williams, Reinald 520 Williams, Roger 518, 520, 525, 539, 544 Williams, Thomas (1764) 519 Williams, Thomas (d.1802; ‘copper king’) 89, 94, 578 Williams, Thomas (1800) 499 Williams, Thomas (1885–93) 518 Williams, Walter 475 Williams, William (1885–93) 518 Williams, William, & Co (1814) 499 Williams & Co 576 Williams & Grenfell 94

Williams-Wynne, Sir Watkin 567 Willis, Thomas 53, 73 Willmott (family) 398 Willmott [Wilmot; Willmot], James 372, 397, 417, 420 Willmott, Jane 398 Willmott, Pinson 398 Willmott [Willmot], Robert 140, 146, 148, 265, 397, 398 Willmott, Thomas 398, 400 Willoughbie, Thomas 34 Willoughby, Sir Francis 188, 196, 201, 229, 327, 329, 337, 338 Willoughby, Henry 187, 196 Willoughby, Sir Percival 196, 209, 229, 327, 337, 338, 543 Willsbridge Mill 530, 531 Wilmot, James see Willmott, James Wilne Rolling Mill 208, 211, 216 Wilson, Mr (1679–90) 151, 162 Wilson, Anthony 584, 621 Wilson, Charles 147 Wilson, Edward 147 Wilson, Hannah 179 Wilson, Humphrey 265 Wilson, J.W. 211 Wilson, John (1747; Lancashire) 595 Wilson, John (1757; Sheffield) 179 Wilson, John (1780s; Scotland) 630 Wilson, John (1814) 177 Wilson, Joseph 179, 629 Wilson, Matthew 130, 140, 142, 151, 152, 172, 213, 444 Wilson, Richard 152 Wilson, Robert 630 Wilson, Sarah 265 Wilson, Thomas (1731) 167, 173, 179 Wilson, Thomas (1809–31) 127; & Co 147 Wilson, Walter 575 Wilson, William (1634) 249, 256, 265, 391 Wilson, William (1780s) 630 Wilson House Furnace 582, 598–9 Wilsontown Ironworks 96, 623, 624, 630 Wilton 23, 39 Wimbledon copper mill [Royal Paper Mills] 88 Wimbledon Iron Mills 81, 82, 82, 93, 94 Winchcombe Furnace see Sudeley Furnace Winchester, Bishops of 96 Winchurst, George 365, 366, 396 Winchurst, John 85 Winchurst, Robert 396 Winchurst, William 365, 366, 391 Winder, Edward 602 Windmill End Furnaces 362, 413 Windsor, Lord (1542) 434

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Windsor, Lord (1660s) 377, 378, 434 Windsor, Viscounts 494 Winfries, James 104 Wingerworth Furnaces 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 197, 200–1, 208, 209, 210, 211, 330 Wingfield, G.E.R. 522 Wingfield Furnace, North Wingfield 187, 188, 189, 201 Winkhill Forge 220, 232 Winlaton Mill 23, 110, 111, 112, 113, 115, 120, 122–3 Winnall, Richard 433 Winnington (family) 415, 425 Winnington, Thomas 238, 239 Winnington Forge 145, 220, 220, 222, 223, 225, 228, 230, 240, 244, 275, 309, 410 Winter [Wintour] (family) 440 Winter, Charles (c.1880) 120 Winter, Sir Charles (d.1698) 443 Winter, Sir Edward 439, 442 Winter, Forth 577, 602 Winter, Frances, Lady 443, 444 Winter [Wintour; Wynter], Sir John 442, 447, 452, 453, 454, 456, 475 Winter, William (1680s) 443 Winter, Sir William (1551) 506, 519 Winterbottoms 155 Winwood, Daniel 383 Winwood, John 531, 532 Winwood, Thomas 532 Winwood & Donaldson 532 wire 5, 6–7, 191, 195, 459, 461–2, 487; see also music wire wiredrawing see under iron production Wire Mill Farm see Mitton Tin Mill wiremills 6, 321; see also Abbey Tintern; Abercarn; Ayleford and Bradley; Caerleon, Clapton, Gateshead, Gwersylly, Halfcot, Holywell, Mapledurham, Mitton, Oxspring, Perry, Ruabon, Southcot, Wheeler, South Wingfield, Wortley wireworkers 7 Wise, James 527 Wiseman, Mr (c.1570) 62 Wisewood Forge [Loxley Forges] 160, 169 Wishaw, John 246 Witham Iron Mill 535, 536, 537 Withers, Joseph 179 Withyham Forge 16, 43 Withyham Furnace see Crowborough Warren Furnace Withymoor Furnaces 362, 410, 412 Withymore Forge 367, 383 Witley Park Furnace 58, 66 Witton 339 Witton, Mr (1699) 383 Witton, Francis 383

Index Witton le Wear Forge 110, 123 Witton Rolling Mill [Witton Forge] 328, 352 Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire 490 Woddy, Robert 30, 44 Wolfe, Francis 285, 292 Wollaston (family) 384 Wollaston, John 344 Wollaston, William 384, 386 Wollaston Slitting Mill 367, 379, 491 Wolseley, Sir Thomas 321 Wolseley Furnace and Forge 319, 320, 324 Wolsingham Forge 110, 127 Wolverhampton 332 Wolverhampton steel furnace 406, 409 Wolverley 389–402 Wolverley Lower Forge 177, 336, 361, 362, 366, 395–6, 400, 409 Wolverley Lower Mill 370, 372, 396, 490 Wolverley Mill see Wolverley Lower Forge; Cookley Forge Wolverley Old Forge 233, 362, 366, 369, 370, 372, 395, 396–7, 416 Wolverley slitting mill see Cookley Forge Wombourne ironworks 386; see also Greens Forge; Heath Forge; Swindon Forge Wombridge Furnace 87, 98, 275, 276, 281, 285, 310, 315 Wooburn Mill, Buckinghamshire 490 Wood (family) 138, 141 Wood, Ambrose 138, 152 Wood, Ann 342 Wood, Charles 6, 290, 293, 331, 342, 490, 505, 509, 510, 605, 606, 608, 609, 613 Wood, Christopher 152 Wood, Francis 88, 92, 111, 118, 605, 613 Wood, George (17th cent.) 149 Wood, George (1765–1800) 217 Wood, George (1831–40) 380, 404 Wood, George, & Brothers 405 Wood, Henry (c.1700) 163, 190 Wood, Henry (1836) 404 Wood, John (1580s) 191 Wood, John (d.1722; S. Yorks) 121, 138–9, 152, 174 Wood, John (d.1779; London and Wednesbury) 6, 87, 96, 97, 290, 331, 338, 342, 380, 605, 609 Wood, Joseph 183 Wood, Richard 272 Wood, Robert 149 Wood, Samuel 91 Wood, Thomas 403, 404 Wood, Thomas, & Sons 378, 380 Wood, William (1609; Sussex) 73

Wood, William (17th cent.; W. Yorks) 138, 152 Wood, William (1671–1730; Wolverhampton/Shropshire/London, father) 5, 6, 86, 87, 88, 92, 97, 118, 228, 231, 250, 251, 257, 263, 267, 268, 272, 279, 331, 341, 434, 603, 605, 606, 611, 613; & Co 253, 257, 261, 518 Wood, William (1732; London, son) 87, 97, 613 Wood, William (1790s–1814) 518, 526, 545 Wood, William (1840s) 382, 404 Wood & Brothers 403 Woodall, Joseph 612 Wood Brothers 380 Woodcock Hammer 16, 35, 37, 66, 83 Woodhall, Benjamin 382 Woodhead, George 182 Woodhead, Matthew 140, 148, 151 Woodhouse, Mr (1687) 281 Woodhouse, Roger 88, 228 Woodhouse Steel Forge 160, 167, 169 Woodland Forge 582, 601, 602 Woodland Grove 582, 602 Woodman, Richard 27 Woodman’s Forge, Warbleton 16, 27–28 Woodruff, Philip 520 Woodruffe, George 149 Woods, John 61 Woodsdale Forge see Hodesdale Forge Woodside Ironworks 355 Woodward, James 576 Woodward, Nathaniel 617 Woodward, Richard 576 Woodward, William 202 Woody, Richard 44 Woodyatt, T.M. 393 Wooffendale [Woolfendale], John 167, 170, 178 Wookey Iron Mill 536, 537 Woolbridge Forge 58, 80 Wooley, Richard 387 Woolfe, Mr (1673–81) 270 Wooliscroft, Joseph 231 Woollard Mill 399, 490, 515, 530, 531 Woolley [Wooley], Edward 351, 356 Woolley, James 346 Woolley, Thomas 216 Woolley & Co 339 Woolpitch Wood Furnace see Trellech Furnace, Woolpitch Wood Woolwich: Royal Brass Foundry 86 Woolwich Foundry 82, 87, 98 Woolwich Works 82, 98–9 Worcester, bishop of 399, 400 Worcester, Earls/Marquesses of 460, 462, 463, 487 Worcester Porcelain Works 435

737

Worcester Waterworks Blademill 428, 436 Wordsley steel furnace 406, 409 Wordsworth (family) 153 Wordsworth, Elias 168 Wordsworth, J.W., & Co 155 Wordsworth, Josias 51, 114, 115, 168 Wordsworth, Samuel 168 Worfe Valley 309–12 Worksop 159 Worrall, Mr (1834) 597 Worrall, George 516 Worsborough Furnaces 150 Worsborough Iron Co 186 Worsborough Ironworks 160, 186 Worsey, Thomas 358 Worth Forest [Crookford] Furnace 18, 58, 67, 68, 69 Worthington, Christopher 577 Worthington, Richard 344 Wortley (family) 139 Wortley, Sir Francis 143, 144, 151, 154 Wortley, Sidney 139, 143, 151 Wortley Forges 138, 138, 139, 140, 142, 143, 144, 150–2, 153, 162, 166, 167, 168 Wortley Iron Co Ltd 151 Wortley Tinmill, Hunshelf 138, 142, 152, 490 Wortley Wire Mills, Thurgoland 129, 138, 138, 140 , 141, 143, 152–3, 158, 211, 213, 459 Wotton, Nicholas 18 Wragge, Edward 258 Wraysbury [Wyrardisbury] Mill 82, 83, 92, 93 Wrens Nest Forges 290, 300, 301, 305–6, 348 Wrexham 249–59 Wrickton Mill 416, 425 Wright, Alexander 583, 591 Wright, Balthasar [Towsie] 583, 600 Wright, Butler & Co Ltd 548 Wright, Edward 358 Wright, Esther 341 Wright, John (1610s; Lancashire) 599 Wright, John (1619; Staffordshire) 225 Wright, John (1630; Cumbria) 583, 599, 603, 611 Wright, John (1642; Derbyshire) 162, 173, 198 Wright, John (1690s; Sheffield) 168, 183 Wright, John (1768–75; Shropshire) 305, 332, 335; see also Wright & Jesson Wright, John (1790; Derbyshire) 202 Wright, John (1800; Sheffield) 182 Wright, John (1830s) 121

A Gazetteer of the British Iron Industry 1490-1815, Volume II Wright, Joseph (1769; London) 62, 77; & Co 87, 97; see also Wright & Prickett Wright, Joseph (1775; Shropshire) 305, 306 Wright, Lidia 168, 182, 183 Wright, Richard 305, 306, 335, 348 Wright, Thomas 242, 431 Wright, William 222, 228, 230, 242, 310, 312, 583, 591, 592, 599, 600, 603, 611, 612 Wright & Co 127 Wright & Jesson 6, 290, 301, 306, 335, 348, 349, 372, 505; see also Jesson, Joseph, & Co Wright & Prickett 23, 35, 46, 62, 77, 87, 88, 97 Wrockwardine Wood Furnaces 284, 295, 298 Wrockwardine Wood Glassworks 296 Wrottesley, Sir Hugh 386 Wrottesley [Rottesley], Sir John 370, 384 wrought iron see under iron, varieties of Wyatt, Charles 217 Wyatt, Francis 60, 76, 78 Wyatt, Job 217 Wyatt, Richard 60 Wyatt, William 217, 337 Wybarne, John 44, 45 Wybarne [Wybarn], William 18, 43, 44, 45, 46 Wychnor Mill 208, 211, 216 Wye, river see under transport by navigable waterways (individual navigations) Wye and Lugg Act (1695) 477 Wye Valley 459–86 Wylde, William 202 Wyllies, Raffe 339 Wynter, Sir John see Winter, Sir John Wyrardisbury Mill see Wraysbury Mill Wyreley, William 344 Wyrley, Humfrey 340 Wyrrall, George 265 Wysewood [Wisewood] Ironworks 465–6, 513 Wytheford Forge 267, 275, 276, 276, 277, 279, 281–2

Yates, Nicholas 173 Yellands 174 Ynyscedwyn [Uniskedwin, Unishadden, Ynysgedwyn] Furnace 112, 366, 490, 539, 540, 540, 541, 543, 544, 545–6, 552 Ynyscedwyn Iron Co 545 Ynysfach Ironworks 504, 508–9 Ynyspenllwch Works 399, 441, 490, 523, 539, 540, 542, 543, 544, 545, 546–7 Ynyspenllwch Works Ltd 546 Ynysygerwyn Tinplate Works 539, 540, 540, 541, 542, 544, 547 Yonge, Mr 281 Yonge, Peter 63 Yonge, William 225 York, Harrison, & Co 355 York Buildings Company [Company for Raising Water from the River Thames at York Buildings] 617, 618, 619 Yorkshire see North Yorkshire; South Yorkshire; West Yorkshire Young [Younge], J.T. 163, 169, 177, 190, 192, 198 Young, John 444 Young, Robert 246 Young, T. 505, 632 Young, William 281, 630 Younge, Sharrow, and Whitelock 182 Yskennen Forge see Llandyfan (old) Forge

Z Zouche (family) 201 Zouche, Sir John (c.1582–1630; father) 109, 127, 187, 191, 195, 196 Zouche, John (son) 187, 194, 196, 201

Y Yalden, John 64, 77, 78 Yalden, William (d.1659) 62, 63, 64, 77 Yalden, William (d.1674) 62, 63, 64, 76, 78 Yalden (family) 62 Yarranton, Andrew 361, 366, 368, 377, 378, 397, 422, 424, 427, 429, 434, 435, 490, 631 Yarwood, Richard 578 Yarwood, William 578

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