Bibliography - W.I.R.G.: 2nd Series Bulletin No. 19, 1999
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Wealden Iron Research Group: Second Series Bulletin No. 19, 1999, edited by D. W. Crossley, published 1999 (Wealden Iron Research Group, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506566]   Download PDF

Field Notes, compiled by J. S. Hodgkinson, published 1999 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 19, report, p.2, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506566]   Download PDF

The Wealden Iron Research Group Experimental Bloomery Furnace, by B. K. Herbert, published 1999 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 19, article, pp.3-19, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506566]   Download PDF

This note records the setting-up and results of an experimental iron furnace on Ashdown Forest, Sussex. The Wealden Iron Research Group has been carrying out bloomery furnace experiments for about 25 years, initially under Roger Adams but now with a group of eight volunteers. It was one of the first Groups outside a university to study iron smelting under primitive conditions. Although several pieces of iron were produced, one an impressive 7lbs of high quality steel, it was impossible to make iron to order. The object of these experiments is to build on the knowledge already gained and try to consistently produce wrought iron and steel by the bloomery process.

Vachery Forge and Furnace, Cranleigh, Surrey, by Judie English, published 1999 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 19, article, pp.19-29, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506566]   Download PDF

Documentary and field evidence for the forge and furnace sites at Vachery, Cranleigh, have been described previously (Straker, 1941) but whilst the location of the forge site is uncontroversial, field evidence for the furnace site is scant and it is thought that it was destroyed, or at least flooded, by the creation of Vachery Pond as the summit water for the Wey and Arun Junction Canal in 1814. Evidence will be given here for either an alternative, or possibly a second, furnace site. The identity and background of some of the people associated primarily with the forge site will also be discussed.

Frith Furnace, Northchapel - Site Survey 1999, by R. G. Houghton and J. S. Hodgkinson, published 1999 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 19, article, pp.30-33, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506566]   Download PDF

This site was first surveyed for the Wealden Iron Research Group by Peter Ovenden in 1972, although the estimated length of the bay was later revised. As part of a continuing programme to make measured survey drawings of water-powered furnaces and forges, the site was resurveyed in January and February 1999. Frith is an extensive site with large quantities of blast furnace slag confirming a working life in excess of a hundred years. The streams which fed the pond for the furnace, rise in springs at the foot of Blackdown, less than a mile to the west of the site, and downstream provided power for three other ironworks: Shillinglee Furnace, Mitchell Park Forge and Wassell Forge.

Notes from the Board of Ordnance Papers 1705-1720, by Ruth Rhynas Brown, published 1999 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 19, article, pp.34-46, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506566]   Download PDF

The Board of Ordnance papers for the period 1700-1750 are much less informative than the others dealt with in my previous articles, since there are gaps of many years in the series of surviving Minute Books until 1749. I have chosen a series of extracts which show relations between the Board and the gunfounders; first, the Board's attempts to control the weights of guns and then how they introduced a new gun pattern while attempting to reduce the price of iron. Inevitably the records dwell on times when matters go wrong rather than well, so that these details may be misleading about successful gunfounding business. However they do reflect the growing pattern of control which the Board would increasingly pursue during the 18th century.

Swedenborg's Description of English Iron-making, by Jeremy Hodgkinson and Anne Dalton, published 1999 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 19, article, pp.47-63, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506566]   Download PDF

In Wealden Iron, Ernest Straker made use of an illustration of the Gloucester Furnace, Lamberhurst, from an 18th century treatise on iron entitled De Ferro, written by Emanuel Swedenborg, which had been published in 1734. In the original treatise the illustration accompanied a chapter on iron-making in England which included a description of the furnace, as well as of Wealden gun production, and blast furnaces and forges in general. No complete translation of the treatise into English is known to the editors.