Publications
Stephen Aynscombe and the Earl of Gondomar, by Tim Cornish, published 2006 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 26, article, pp.6-9, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506573] Download PDF
In her article for Wealden Iron (2005) about John Browne, Gunfounder to the Stuarts, Ruth Brown refers to Stephen Aynscombe as a smuggler of illicit ordnance to Portugal in 1620, working in tandem with the Spanish Ambassador, the Earl of Gondomar. Her general point about the prevalence of smuggling of ordnance is correct and Aynscombe, who came from Mayfield and who ran Pounsley Furnace, south of Hadlow Down had a record as a gun smuggler. However, there is some evidence that on this occasion Aynscombe was the victim of a false accusation which was inspired by national anti-Spanish feeling.
Richard Woodman - Ironmaster and Martyr, by Tim Cornish, published 2007 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 27, article, pp.11-17, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506574] Download PDF
Just to the west of Warbleton church lived, in the 1550s, a bold and radical man called Richard Woodman who ran either a forge or a furnace at TQ 603176 (named 'Woodman's). 'Firm facts are short for this site . . The Woodman ascription is unproven: he was active at this time, for immigrants made charcoal for him in 1549 and 1550 . . but it is not known for certain where he worked'. His entry in Straker states that he owned Woodman's Furnace ('a very large bay, by tradition the site of Woodman's Furnace') and also that he owned or worked Steel Forge and Markly Furnace at Rushlake Green.
Thirteenth-century Ploughshares, by Tim Cornish, published 2008 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 28, article, pp.14-15, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506575] Download PDF
The location of Etchingham Forge, by Brian Herbert and Tim Cornish, published 2012 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 31, article, pp.28-34, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506579] Download PDF