Publications
Sources for the History of the Wealden Iron Industry in the Public Record Office. Part 1: Inquisitions, by Sybil M. Jack, published 1980 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No. 17, article, pp.12-14) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558] Download PDF
New Light on the Deprivation of Puritan Ministers in Sussex after the Hampton Court Conference, by Sybil Jack, published 1981 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 119, historical note, p.227) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7989] & The Keep [LIB/500306] & S.A.S. library
Sources in the Public Record Office for the History of the Wealden Iron Industry - Part 2, by Sybil M. Jack, published 1981 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 1, article, pp.7-11) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506559] Download PDF
Abstract:Ironworks in lawsuits
Lawsuits are the most likely source of information on the private ownership and use of property in the 16th and 17th centuries, although they are tricky to use except where the judgement can be recovered and matched to the pleadings. The formal proceedings at common law, kept in Latin and according to rules designed for lawyers rather than laymen, may yield valuable material, but they are hard of access, as the contemporary indexes are designed to identify people, not causes.
Lawsuits are the most likely source of information on the private ownership and use of property in the 16th and 17th centuries, although they are tricky to use except where the judgement can be recovered and matched to the pleadings. The formal proceedings at common law, kept in Latin and according to rules designed for lawyers rather than laymen, may yield valuable material, but they are hard of access, as the contemporary indexes are designed to identify people, not causes.
Sources in the Public Record Office for the History of the Wealden Iron Industry - Part 3, by Sybil M. Jack, published 1982 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 2, article, pp.21-30) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506559] Download PDF
Ironworks as Crown Property
If the iron mills stood on the king's own lands, one would expect to find some record of them in one or other of the royal courts. This is also true where mills stood on lands which subsequently came into royal hands and where the records of those lands, or evidence, therefore came to the king. Records relating to property which at some point had been in Crown hands as royal property may be found in the Special Collections. These include rentals and surveys, ministers accounts, court rolls, and even extents, put together from the records of a number of different exchequer departments with a blithe disregard for their archival origins, and the administrative practices which produced them. They include, for example, court rolls for John Gresham's manor of Mayfield from 1546 to the end of Edward VI's reign, but these, alas, only contain formal records of land transfers and no reference to iron mills.
If the iron mills stood on the king's own lands, one would expect to find some record of them in one or other of the royal courts. This is also true where mills stood on lands which subsequently came into royal hands and where the records of those lands, or evidence, therefore came to the king. Records relating to property which at some point had been in Crown hands as royal property may be found in the Special Collections. These include rentals and surveys, ministers accounts, court rolls, and even extents, put together from the records of a number of different exchequer departments with a blithe disregard for their archival origins, and the administrative practices which produced them. They include, for example, court rolls for John Gresham's manor of Mayfield from 1546 to the end of Edward VI's reign, but these, alas, only contain formal records of land transfers and no reference to iron mills.
Sources in the Public Record Office for the History of the Wealden Iron Industry - Part 4, by Sybil M. Jack, published 1983 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 3, article, pp.25-32) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506559] Download PDF
Abstract:A question above all others concerned with the industry which exercised the minds of Tudor governments was that of the manufacture and sale of ordnance. The traditional story is that Henry VIII encouraged this. He summoned named gunfounders - Peter Bawd and van Cohen - from the continent for the purpose, and iron ordnance was successfully cast at Buxted in 1543. This version we owe to Stowe and to others who were apologists for the Tudor monarchy. Other evidence that Henry was an active moving spirit is hard to find. It is certainly true that Bawd and Cohen had been in his employ as gunfounders - they had been since at least 1538.
Ecological destruction in the 16th century: the case of St Leonard's Forest, by Sybil Jack, published 1997 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 135, article, pp.241-248) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13642] & The Keep [LIB/500290] & S.A.S. library