Bibliography - W.I.R.G.: 2nd Series Bulletin No. 20, 2000
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Wealden Iron Research Group: Second Series Bulletin No. 20, 2000, edited by D. W. Crossley, published 2000 (Wealden Iron Research Group, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506567]   Download PDF

Field Notes, compiled by J. S. Hodgkinson, published 2000 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 20, report, pp.2-11, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506567]   Download PDF

An unusual type of slag at Heathfield, by B. C. Worssam, published 2000 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 20, article, pp.12-13, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506567]   Download PDF

At the Romano-British Tilsmore Wood, Heathfield, bloomery site (TQ 5763 2174), visited in January 1999, some slag fragments attracted attention by reason of their brassy-yellow metallic lustre, rather like that of freshly-broken pyrite (iron sulphide), except that pyrite surfaces would be expected to tarnish rapidly once exposed to the air.

Two bloomeries near Bletchingley, Surrey, by B. C. Worssam and B. K. Herbert, published 2000 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 20, article, pp.14-22, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506567]   Download PDF

Straker recorded that a bloomery on the Weald Clay outcrop at South Park, Bletchingley, Surrey, had been shown to him by the landowner, Mr Uvedale Lambert. Mr Lambert had written a two-volume history of Bletchingley, which includes reference to Sir Thomas Cawarden, a 16th-century owner of the estate, who in 1548-49 was head of a commission of enquiry into iron furnaces and fuel in the Weald. Straker wrote of the bloomery: 'It is the most northerly bloomery yet found, being very near the rise of the greensand hills. There is a deposit of Paludina limestone within a short distance, which may have provided the flux. A considerable amount of ancient cinder is spread over the field, and large lumps have been thrown up on the hedges. There are some marlpits which probably yielded the ore.' He gave its location in terms of latitude and longitude, which work out as grid reference TQ 3306 4820. The area was visited by members of WIRG firstly on February 13th 1999, when a reconnaissance was made and two separate bloomery sites discovered, and secondly on February 12th 2000 in order to carry out trial excavation of Straker's site, these visits being made by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Wetter of South Park Farm and of Mr Michael Lambert of Cucksey's Farm.

A gazetteer of medieval iron-making sites in the Weald, by J. S. Hodgkinson, published 2000 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 20, article, pp.23-31, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506567]   Download PDF

In The Iron Industry of the Weald, Cleere and Crossley provided gazetteers of Roman sites and water-powered sites. Medieval sites were identified only in the checklist of bloomeries, and no other details were given. The list below provides a gazetteer of such sites in the same format.

Iridge Furnace, Hurst Green, by J. S. Hodgkinson and R. G. Houghton, published 2000 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 20, article, pp.32-39, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506567]   Download PDF

The Field Group first visited this site in May 1971, and revisited it in 1975 and 1997. The incentive for the present survey has been the acquisition, by East Sussex Record Office, of a fine map, by Ambrose Cogger, of the Iridge Estate, dated 1637. In that year, the estate was inherited by Robert Wildgoose, from his grandfather, Sir John Wildgoose. The furnace, however, had been built in 1584 by Robert's great-grandfather, John. Of particular interest with regard to the iron industry, the map illustrates an elaborate water management system for the furnace, which invites comparison with the water systems of other furnaces in the Weald. It also draws attention to the importance of recording the features of the landscape in which ironworks are located.

Notes from the Office of the Ordnance: the 1650s, by Ruth Rhynas Brown, published 2000 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 20, article, pp.39-55, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506567]   Download PDF

Although the Office of the Ordnance's records for the Civil War and the Protectorate are incomplete, two volumes in the Minute Book series covering the First Dutch War have survived. In many ways this was the first test of the Wealden iron industry. Although the number of ships in the Navy had been gradually growing in the first half of the 17th century, here was an emergency when guns were needed fast, needed regularly and needed often, then not needed until the next emergency, a pattern repeated over the next hundred years. There was one major difference since the government had money from the estates of delinquent royalists; this large purse and prompt payment would be missing from the future pattern. The Navy was the true consumer of the Wealden iron industry; one ship could carry as many guns as a civil war army. The last time that England had fought at sea in strength was during the Spanish threats in the age of Elizabeth, more than 60 years before. This was also the time when the balance changed irrevocably from brass guns for ships to iron; the Navy would never again carry more brass than iron guns.