Bibliography - W.I.R.G.: 1st Series Bulletin No. 4, Summer 1972
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Wealden Iron Research Group: First Series Bulletin No. 4, Summer 1972, edited by Henry Cleere, published Summer 1972 (Wealden Iron Research Group) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

Chemistry and the Wealden Iron Industry, by P. J. Ovenden, published Summer 1972 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No 4, article, pp.3-10) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

The future development of industrial archaeology, particularly in the study of bygone technology, may well depend on the systematic application of chemistry, metallurgy, and mineralogy. Since smelting is a chemical process that may be of archaeological interest, the systematic application of chemistry to the Wealden iron industry cannot be avoided for much longer. What is required is not the odd analysis to round off a paper on a hitherto unknown site, but a standard scheme to be applied without exception, whereby a comprehensive body of data may be steadily built up with a view to resolving the more general archaeological problems. It is the purpose of this article to discuss the nature of these problems, and to indicate the type of chemical information and some of the difficulties in the way.

Aliens in Wealden Iron Districts 1524-5, by Joseph Pettitt, published Summer 1972 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No 4, article, pp.11-14) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

Straker and Schubert both record the presence of aliens in Hartfield in and after 1496. Such aliens had come from the Continent to work the new (indirect) process of ironmaking in blast furnaces and hammer forges. The writers also made use of parish registers, none earlier than 1538, and naturalization (denization) lists dating from 1544.1 Neither made use of the Subsidy Rolls of 1524-5.2 These may throw light on the spread of the new process. They are taxation lists and comprehend a wide social range from gentry to labourer - and alien. Nobility and clergy were excluded, hence the term "Lay".

A contemporary description of John Brown's gun-founding furnace at Barden, Kent (1646), edited by P. Marshall, Scottish History Society, published Summer 1972 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No 4, article, pp.15-20) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

John Brown was probably the most prominent of the 17th century Wealden gun founders; he held the post of "His Majesty's Founder" in 1640, producing pieces at Brenchley and Horsmonden, as well as at Barden. In the 1660s, the family was to widen its interests still further, working Cowden, Hamsell, and Hawkhurst Furnaces in 1664, and leasing Imbham's Furnace (Surrey) in 1665.

Marinus and Wealden Iron, by C. F. Tebbutt, published Summer 1972 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No 4, shorter note, pp.21-22) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

A Simple Pantograph, by Brian K. Herbert, published Summer 1972 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No 4, shorter note, pp.22-23) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF