Bibliography - Industry and work: Iron industry
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Sussex Iron Works and Iron Masters, by M. A. Lower, F.S.A., published 1866 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 18, article, pp.10-16) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2103] & The Keep [LIB/500237] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Sussex Iron Works, by Samuel Evershed, published 1867 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 19, notes & queries, pp.206-207) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2104] & The Keep [LIB/500238] & S.A.S. library   View Online

On the Ironworks of Sussex, by J. C. Savery, published December 1868 in Journal of the British Archaeological Association (first series, vol 24, issue 4, article, pp.335-342)   View Online

Chimney Back of Sussex Iron, by Samuel Evershed, published 1871 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 23, article, pp.119-122) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2108] & The Keep [LIB/500241] & S.A.S. library   View Online

The Sussex Ironworks, by John L. Parsons, published 1882 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 32, article, pp.19-32) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2117] & The Keep [LIB/500250] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Sussex Iron Work and Pottery, by Charles Dawson, published 1903 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 46, article, pp.1-62) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2131] & The Keep [LIB/500264] & S.A.S. library   View Online

The Accounts of the Ironworks at Sheffield and Worth in Sussex, 1546-1549, by M. S. Giuseppi, F.S.A., published 1912 in The Archaeological Journal (vol. 69, article, pp.276-311)   View Online

Old Sussex Iron, by G. F. Chambers, published 1915 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 57, notes & queries, pp.223-224) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2142] & The Keep [LIB/500275] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Old Sussex Iron, by Mary Willett, published 1916 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 58, notes & queries, pp.197-198) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2143] & The Keep [LIB/500276] & S.A.S. library   View Online

Fire-Back from the Old Anchor Inn at Hartfield, now in Pennsylvania, by Ian C. Hannah, published 1919 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 60, notes & queries, p.146) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2145] & The Keep [LIB/500278] & S.A.S. library   View Online

The Rise and Fall of the Sussex Iron Industry I, by Rhys Jenkins, published 1920 in Newcomen: The International Society for the History of Engineering and Technology (vol. 1, issue 1, article, pp.16-24)   View Online

The Rise and Fall of the Sussex Iron Industry II, by Rhys Jenkins, published 1920 in Newcomen: The International Society for the History of Engineering and Technology (vol. 1, issue 1, article, pp.25-33)   View Online

Ornamental Sussex Ironwork, by Helena Hall, published 1927 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. I no. 12, article, pp.509-510) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2303][Lib 8326] & The Keep [LIB/500137]

Statistical History of the Iron Trade of England and Wales, 1717-1750, by E. Wyndham Hulme, B.A. (read at the Iron and Steel Institute, Westminster, Nov. 21st, 1928), published 1928 in Newcomen: The International Society for the History of Engineering and Technology (vol. 9, issue 1, article, pp.12-35)   View Online

Sussex Furnaces and Forges in 1717, by E. Wyndham Hulme, published February 1929 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. II no. 5, note, pp.148-149) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8951] & The Keep [LIB/500204] & S.A.S. library

Wealden Iron: a monograph on the former Ironworks in the counties of Sussex, Surrey and Kent, by Ernest Straker, published 1931 (xiv + 487 pp., London: G. Bell & Sons) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8299][Lib 2542] & The Keep [LIB/502224] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

A Museum of Sussex Ironwork, by F. W. Jackson, published 1932 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. VI no. 10, article, pp.661-665) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9325] & The Keep [LIB/500175]

Objects found at the Roman Ironworks, Ridge Hill, East Grinstead , by Ivan D. Margary, F.S.A., published May 1933 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. IV no. 6, article, pp.177-178) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2203][Lib 8222][Lib 8861] & The Keep [LIB/500206] & S.A.S. library

Slab of Wealden Iron, Rowhook, by J. F. P. Thornhill, B.A., published November 1933 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. IV no. 8, note, p.246) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2203][Lib 8222][Lib 8861] & The Keep [LIB/500206] & S.A.S. library

A Lost Tudor Iron Furnace Found , by Ernest Straker, published August 1937 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VI no. 7, note, pp.217-218) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12537][Lib 8863][Lib 8224] & The Keep [LIB/500208] & S.A.S. library

The Men who Killed the Sussex Iron Industry, by Admiral Chambers, C.B., published 1938 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. XII no. 2, article, pp.109-114) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2317] & The Keep [LIB/500183]

Wealden Ironworks in 1574, by Ernest Straker, F.S.A., published November 1938 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VII no. 4, article, pp.97-103) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12536][Lib 8864][Lib 2206] & The Keep [LIB/500209] & S.A.S. library

Sussex Iron in 1851, by R. J., published May 1940 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VIII no. 2, note, pp.59-60) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8865][Lib 2207] & The Keep [LIB/500210] & S.A.S. library

Lister's Account of Sussex Ironstone, by E. Wyndham Hulme, published November 1940 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VIII no. 4, article, pp.100-102) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8865][Lib 2207] & The Keep [LIB/500210] & S.A.S. library

The Vachery Ironworks, by Ernest Straker, published 1941 in Surrey A.C. (vol. 47, article)

Wealden iron ore and the history of its industry: Weald Research Communication, No. 32, by G. S. Sweeting, D.I.C., F.G.S., published 1944 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 55 issue 1, article, pp.1-20)   View Online

In 1925 and 1930, the writer contributed two small papers to the Proceedings on the geology of various areas in East Sussex from which much iron ore had been extracted in earlier times. In the 1930 paper, some notes were added on "The Wealden Iron Ore," and attention is, therefore, directed to this communication, particularly for chemical analyses of the ore.
To picture South East England with its present quiet and beautiful surroundings as an area of noise and smoke-laden skies would be a difficult matter. Such, however, were the conditions which prevailed in Sussex, Kent and Surrey during Tudor days. Sussex and Kent had from very early times been important producers of iron, and they were destined to become for a time the seat of the largest iron trade in the British Isles.
Iron being the most plentiful and accessible of the metals, it follows that it would be naturally one of the first to be employed by an early race. Though we have no certain knowledge of the beginning of the iron ore industry in South East England, we know that in early times the iron ore in the Weald was of such importance as to be noticed by Caesar before the Christian era, and by Strabo in 20 A.D. The Romans extracted iron on a large scale as is seen by the size of their workings; in fact, during their occupation, there was much activity all over the Weald and iron became one of its chief exports. This is proved by the abundant heaps of iron slag found at Maresfield, Westfield, Seddlescombe, Crowhurst and Ashburnham in Sussex, and at Cowden and Tenterden in Kent.

Wealden Iron, by G. H. Kenyon, published November 1952 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XIII nos. 11 & 12, article, pp.234-241) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8231] & The Keep [LIB/500215] & S.A.S. library

Wealden Iron, by G. H. Kenyon, published November 1953 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XIII nos. 15 & 16, note, pp.321-322) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8231] & The Keep [LIB/500215] & S.A.S. library

The Iron Furnace and Forge in Rogate, by E. M. Yates, published May 1955 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XIV nos. 5 & 6, article, pp.82-85) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8232][Lib 2213] & The Keep [LIB/500216] & S.A.S. library

Iron ore workings in the Weald Clay of the Western Weald, by B. C. Worssam, published 1964 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 75 issue 4, article, pp.529-546)   View Online

The location and extent of a belt of old workings for clay ironstone on the outcrop of the Weald Clay of parts of western Surrey and Sussex are described, and related to the stratigraphy and geological structure. Historical evidence for iron-working in the western part of the Weald is referred to. For the first time an estimate is made of the total production of ore from a worked ironstone bed in the Weald Clay. It is concluded that exhaustion of iron ore supplies was a factor in the decline of the iron industry in the western part of the Weald.

The Management of a Sixteenth-Century Ironworks, by D. W. Crossley, published August 1966 in The Economic History Review (vol. 19 issue 2, article, pp.273-288)   View Online

Wealden Iron: a monograph on the former Iron works in the counties of Sussex, Surrey and Kent, by Ernest Straker, published 1969 (reprint, xvi + 487 pp., Newton Abbott: David & Charles) accessible at: & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Wealden Iron and Worth, by Arthur Lloyd-Taylor, published 1972 (pamphlet, 26 pp., Brighton: Southern Publishing) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 4345] & The Keep [LIB/502226] & East Sussex Libraries

The historical geography of the Wealden Iron Industry, by C. S. Cattell, 1972 at University of London (M.A. thesis)

Iron ore workings near Horsham, Sussex, and the sedimentology of Wealden clay ironstone, by B. C. Worssam, published 1972 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 83 issue 1, article, pp.37-55) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 5347]   View Online

The distribution of old workings, or 'minepits', for clay ironstone in an area between Horsham and Crawley is shown on geological sketch-maps. The geological structure of the area is described in outline. The old workings, except for those in two anomalous patches, are restricted to two argillaceous units in the Upper Tunbridge Wells Sand and to an ironstone horizon some 2 m. below the Horsham Stone in the Weald Clay. Slags from two bloomery sites are described. The amount of ore dug from the minepits is estimated to correspond roughly to the requirements of local blast furnaces, of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century date. Depletion of iron ore reserves is suggested as a factor deciding against resumption of the iron industry in the area after the Civil War.
Bringing into consideration evidence from the whole Wealden area, the origin of clay ironstone is discussed in relation to the environment of deposition of the Wealden Beds. Non-spherulitic ironstone occurs at five main Wealden horizons. In the Weald Clay, ironstone development appears to be related to cycles of sedimentation.

Iron ore workings near Horsham, Sussex, by P. J. Ovenden and B. C. Worssam, published 1972 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 83 issue 2, article, pp.237-238)   View Online

The Classification of Early Iron-Smelting Furnaces, by H. F. Cleere, published March 1972 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 52, article, pp.8-23) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 1862]   View Online

The paper begins by surveying the different types of early iron-smelting furnace, based on a tentative classification proposed by Coghlan in 1956. The ambiguities in this classification are indicated, together with examples of furnaces that do not fall easily into one of its three categories.
On the basis of data derived principally from furnaces of the Early Iron Age and Roman periods from northern Europe, the author proposes a new classification into two main groups, differentiated by their provisions or otherwise for the removal of molten slag during the iron-smelting operation. Each of these groups is further subdivided, according to the shape of the furnace superstructure and/or the method of supplying the air blast.

This article is important for the field-worker in districts where iron was made during the bloomery period. In a new attempt to classify bloomery furnaces the author questions the validity of the division between bowl hearths, domed furnaces and shaft furnaces. He puts the case for a classification depending on the presence or otherwise of facility for tapping molten slag. He divides the non-tapping furnaces between those without a superstructure (bowl furnaces) and those with cones or shafts (typified by the Schlackenklotz found in eastern Europe). Where provision for tapping is present he distinguishes between those with and without bellows, sub-dividing each into shaft furnaces and dome furnaces. While this is a useful suggestion, it does leave open the question why in each of the main divisions there are shafts and domes, and whether the differences in function between the two types of superstructure were sufficiently consistent to be given more attention.
What is particularly valuable is the author's reminder to archaeologists to question assumptions about furnace fragments found in the field. He shows how shaft furnaces, severely damaged either in antiquity or by modern land use, can present the appearance of bowl furnaces. Also he asks how many furnaces could really have operated with induced rather than forced draught. In particular he suggests that a domed furnace with a single wind hole could hardly function without bellows. Having made this point, drawing on the evidence of modern experiments, the author should perhaps have stressed in his diagrams and classification (pp.22-3) that his Type B/2/ii(Slag tapping/Hemispherical natural draught) could only be expected to work with multiple wind holes, a point which emerges in the early part of the article.

Materials found on Wealden Iron sites, by Dennis Hemsley, published Spring 1972 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No 3, article, p.7) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

Bloomeries in the upper (east) Rother basin, by C. S. Cattell, published Spring 1972 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No 3, article, p.13) 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".

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

Ore for the Wealden Iron Industry, by Bernard Worssam, published 1973 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No 5, article, pp.1-3) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

The principal ore for the Wealden iron industry, and the one on which certainly the blast furnace if not also the bloomery industry is based, is known as clay ironstone, and more specifically as siderite mudstone.

Wealden Fortified Camps and the Iron Industry, by C. F. Tebbutt, published 1973 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No 5, article, pp.11-12) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

Thoughts on the title of this article were prompted by a recent visit by Mr and Mrs E.W. Holden and myself to that most interesting earthwork known as Piper's Copse, near Kirdford, Sussex (SU 978 295). This was first surveyed by G.H. Kenyon in 1935, who carried out a small excavation there with S.E. Winbolt soon afterwards (see Sussex Arch. Collections 77 (1936) pp.245-9; further notes on the site were contributed by Mr Kenyon in S.A.C. 86 (1947) p.xxxix, and 99 (1961) p.248; also in Sussex Notes and Queries May 1969; and by Winbolt in The Times of August 5th 1935.)

Sussex Guns, by Christopher Lloyd, published November 1973 in History Today (vol 23, issue 11, article)   View Online

When the iron industry depended on wood, not coal, Sussex and Kent were the centres of English gunfounders, writes Christopher Lloyd.
The description of Sussex in Camden's Britannia (1586) comes as a surprise to the modern reader:Full of iron mines it is in sundry places, where for the making and fining whereof there be furnaces on every side, and a huge deal of wood is yearly spent, to which purpose divers brooks in many places are brought to run in one channel, and sundry meadows turned into pools and water, that there might be of power sufficient to drive hammer mills, which beating upon the iron, resound all over the places adjoining. The ironmasters cast much great ordnance thereof and other things, to their no small gain.He is describing the area generally known as the Weald, comprising east Sussex and parts of southern Kent, the area geologically speaking of the Hastings beds and Wadhurst clay. In those days the Weald was heavily wooded with oak, which was used for the charcoal furnaces.

Iron Age and Romano-British iron working site in Minepit Wood, Rotherfield, Sussex, by J.H. Money, published 1974 in Historical Metallurgy (vol. 8, no. 1, article, pp.1-19)

Ralph Hogge's Ironworks Accounts, 1576-81, by David Crossley, published 1974 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 112, article, pp.48-79) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 5960] & The Keep [LIB/500317] & S.A.S. library

Philip Henslowe's notebook, recording his financial involvements with theatrical companies in the early 17th century, was deposited by his stepdaughter in the library of Dulwich College, founded by her husband Edward Alleyn. This MS book has long been familiar to theatre historians, but until recently no one interested in Wealden ironworks appears to have known, or been informed that at the back were some accounts of Ralph Hogge the famous Buxted ironmaster. He had married Philip Henslowe's sister Margaret, and John Henslowe, another brother kept his accounts.
The accounts are unfortunately very incomplete but they do throw a little more light on this rather mysterious and almost mythical local character. Their incompleteness makes them almost useless to calculate the economics of his famous cannon casting business, but they do suggest the scale of his enterprises and the names, activities, and working methods, of the sub-contractors, who made, cut, dug, and carted his raw materials.
The author has written a masterly introduction to the Accounts and all that they reveal. Many members of W.I.R.G., as members also of Sussex Archaeological Society, will have received copies of this article. For others it is available in public libraries.

The Bewl Valley Ironworks, c.1300-1730, by David Crossley, published 1975 (112 pp., London: Royal Archaeological Institute, ISBN-10: 0903986035 & ISBN-13: 9780903986038) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502217] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Sidney Ironworks Accounts 1541-1573, by David Crossley, published 1975 (259 pp., Royal Historical Society, ISBN-10: 0901050253 & ISBN-13: 9780901050250) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/507455] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The Robertsbridge and Panningridge ironworks in Sussex were built by Sir William Sidney who had purchased Robertsbridge Abbey at the Dissolution; they passed to his son in 1553, and it was under him that the steelworks and ironworks in Glamorgan were built. This volume reproduces 22 documents with accounts for various years, and a useful interpretative introduction.

All students of the wealden iron industry owe a debt to David Crossley for his excavations at Panningridge, Chingley, and Pippingford (all published) and the light they throw on the layouts and technical processes of this industry in the pre-Industrial Revolution period. The author, rightly not content with fieldwork alone, has also devoted much time to documentary research, where material was available.
The publication of the Sidney Ironworks Accounts relates to Sir Henry Sidney's interests in establishing, running, and maintaining a furnace and forge at Robertsbridge, a furnace eight miles away at Panningridge (excavated by the author, see Post-Medieval Archaeology Vol.6 (1972) pp.42-68), and a furnace in Glamorgan, S. Wales. This latter he rented to secure a supply of cast iron plates for his steel works at Robertsbridge Abbey and Boxhurst, nearby. The local Welsh haematite ores were found to produce iron more suitable for this purpose than those in the Weald. In a scholarly introduction, with many footnotes, the author has squeezed every bit of information from the detailed accounts to piece together the methods and materials used to build and maintain this industrial complex. For example the labour employed, which included skilled furnace and forge men, miners, charcoal burners, timber cutters, carpenters, stone masons, and carters, etc., and their wages, is all analysed, compared and date tested to see if their employment was seasonal or permanent. Much information from other sources, consulted by the author, is used for a final analysis, which makes a fascinating story.

The Roman iron industry of the Weald and its connexions with the Classis Britannica, by Henry Cleere, published 1975 in The Archaeological Journal (vol. 131, article, pp.171-199)   View Online

Although iron working had begun on the Weald margins before the Roman invasion, 36 sites of known RB date can be listed in the High Weald and near the coast. The western group of sites was possibly in the hands of civilians trading to London overland; the eastern group relied primarily on river and sea communications. The Classis Britannica was controlling these eastern sites and the estuarine port at Bodiam between mid-2nd and mid-3rd century. Decline of the Wealden industry was partly due to over-exploitation of resources, but pirate raids may have forced closure (and perhaps removal to the Forest of Dean) in mid-3rd century.

Wealden Iron Research Group, by Charles Frederick Tebbutt, published 1976 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 114, shorter notice, p.338) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 6476] & The Keep [LIB/500315] & S.A.S. library

Two Outlying Iron-Working Sites: A North-eastern Extension of the Early Wealden Iron Industry., by C. F. Tebbutt, published 1976 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No. 9, article, pp.21-22) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

Wealden Gunfounding: An Analysis of its Demise in the Eighteenth Century, by Howard C. Tomlinson, published August 1976 in The Economic History Review (vol. 29 issue 3, article, pp.383-400)   View Online

The Iron-Age hill-fort and Romano-British iron-working settlement at Garden Hill, Sussex: interim report on excavations, 1968-76, by J. H. Money, M. G. Fulford and C. Eade, published November 1977 in Britannia (vol. 8, article, pp.339-350)   View Online

The earthwork at Garden Hill, Hartfield, East Sussex, until then unrecognised, was identified in 1968 by Mr C. F. Tebbutt, who found early Romano-British material in a trial excavation. Five seasons of excavation (1972-76) by the Garden Hill Excavation Group have established the broad outline of the site's history. A scatter of worked flints indicates slight occupation in the Neolithic/Bronze Age period. Attributed to the late pre-Roman Iron Age are a round house and part of what may be another. A hill-fort, with stonerevetted and palisaded defences, was built, possibly against the Roman invasion, but soon fell into disuse and was followed by Romano-British occupation. This included a rectangular timber building, roasting- and smeltingfurnaces and a forging-hearth of the first century; a rectangular building with two verandahs, using timber uprights set on padstones and in post-holes, and a four-post structure on the same alignment, both probably first-century; a timber building set on a stone platform and attached stone bath-building, of the second century; and undated post-hole and timber-slot systems (not fully excavated) representing fences and other timber structures. It is possible that Garden Hill was the base from which local iron-smelting sites were operated in the first and second centuries.

Wealden Ironmasters in the Age of Elizabeth, by Jeremy Goring, published 1978 in Wealth and Power in Tudor England (article, Athlone Press, University of London)

The above is the title of a chapter contributed by Dr J. J. Goring to E. W. Ives et al (eds), Wealth and Power in Tudor England (Athlone Press, University of London, 1978), and is a confident and succinct account of his subject. This confidence comes from a thorough and exhaustive research into many of the surviving relevant documents that throw light on the Elizabethan ironmasters, their business methods, financial success or otherwise, social aspirations and religious beliefs.
The author first explains what he regards as the definition of an ironmaster, actually not a contemporary term, and accepts J. W. Gough's definition of an industrial entrepreneur from his The Rise of the Entrepreneur (1969): 'He is more than just a manager; he is a leader in business, an initiator, a policy maker. He must either himself supply capital or have some control over the supply of it. He must also be a producer or developer and be personally involved in his enterprise, although not necessarily alone in it.' The word ironmaster, by Dr Goring's definition, is not applied to people who were merely owners or managers or ironworks but only to those who had a definite stake in the business. From the well-known 1674 lists 61 men were judged to qualify under the above definition. These again can be subdivided into tenants and owner-occupiers, and further subdivisions can be made.

The Excavation of a Late Sixteenth/Early Seventeenth Century Gun Casting Furnace at Maynard's Gate, Crowborough, East Sussex, by Owen Bedwin, published 1978 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 116, article, pp.163-178) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7197] & The Keep [LIB/500313] & S.A.S. library

This was a rescue dig, in advance of industrial development, by the Sussex Field Unit, ably undertaken by Dr Owen Bedwin. Although extensive robbing of stonework had taken place since the furnace was abandoned, and little of the furnace itself remained, other features of great interest were found and recorded before destruction. The carefully-contrived pattern of drains under the furnace was still intact, emphasising the importance of dryness in furnace working, and much of the wheel pit remained with its ashlar walls and timber base (rather surprisingly of chestnut).
Perhaps the find of greatest interest was the second Wealden gun casting pit to be excavated. This dated from 100 years earlier than the first to be found, in 1974 at Pippingford Furnace. At Pippingford the timber pit lining was intact and, short of partial destruction, it had been impossible to determine by excavation exactly how it had been constructed. At Maynards Gate, perhaps fortunately, all the upright timber staves had been robbed, leaving, down the sides of the pit, a regularly-spaced series of horizontal wooden hoops to which the missing perpendicular staves had been fastened. The laths forming the hoops had overlapping chamfered joints; these were nailed together in such a way that this could only have been done before they were placed in the pit. One may therefore surmise that the large barrel- like structure, 1.5 m. across and 3 m. deep, was built on the surface and lowered into the pit. Elaborate precautions, clay caulking, had been taken to make the pit watertight. Excellent photographs and drawings illustrate the finds.
The Maynards Gate excavation has added significantly to our knowledge of the Wealden gun-casting industry and we are grateful to, the Field Unit for undertaking it at short notice and in limited time.

Note on Early Iron-Making in Sussex [at Warbleton], by W. R. Beswick, published 1978 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 8, article, pp.23-24) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/8] & The Keep [LIB/506525]   Download PDF

The Excavation of Three Roman Bloomery Furnaces at Hartfield, Sussex, by Charles Frederick Tebbutt, published 1979 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 117, article, pp.47-56) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 7497] & The Keep [LIB/500312] & S.A.S. library

Ironmaking Origins and their Early Impact on the English Weald, by W. R. Beswick, published 1979 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 9, article, pp.7-14) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506525]   Download PDF

Excavations in the Iron-Age Hill Fort and Romano-British Iron-Working Settlement at Garden Hill, Hartfield, East Sussex (1968-1978), by J. H. Money and A. D. F. Streeten, published 1979 in Wealden Iron Research Group (First Series No. 15, article, pp.16-26) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506558]   Download PDF

Garden Hill, part of an area known as 'The Park', is a NE-pointing spur of high ground 1½ miles (2.4km.) east of Wych Cross and 3½ miles (5.6km.) SW of Hartfield (in which parish of East Sussex it lies), between 500 and 550 feet above sea level. The nearest towns are Tunbridge Wells, 10 miles (16km.) north-east, and East Grinstead, 5 miles (8km.) north-west. The ground falls away fairly steeply on the north, south and east sides of the hill, but there is a level approach from the west. The subsoil is Ashdown Sand. The top of the hill is mainly flat, growing luxuriant bracken, with a sprinkling of trees, chiefly sweet chestnut and birch, but including a few very old yews.
Garden Hill lies near a minor Roman road (Margary 148), which in turn connects with the main London-Lewes road (Margary 14) at Gallypot Street. If, as is likely, a road linked the Romano-British settlement to Route 148, it would probably have been on the NW side, where the intervening ground is flat.
It is clear from the archaeological excavation that sometime in the past the hill-top was lightly ploughed and, as part of The Park, it may have been under grass. At present, Garden Hill lies within the Army Training Area of Pippingford Park and is owned by the Ministry of Defence.
In 1968 our Chairman, Mr C.F. Tebbutt, discovered the earthwork, which encloses an oblong area of about 6.8 acres (2.7 hectares) on the hill and has been proved to be a late Iron Age hill-fort with a typical inturned entrance at the NE corner there is possibly another entrance at the NW corner.
After promising trial excavations in the SE corner by Mr Tebbutt, in which first-century AD Romano-British material was found, the earthwork and the area which it enclosed were scheduled as an Ancient Monument by the then Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, fenced off from the rest of the Training Area and placed out of bounds to troops. The earthwork was surveyed and a plan drawn by Mr E.W. Holden.
In 1972, a small group, directed by Mr J.H. Money and Mr Tebbutt, investigated an area where buried structures were evident and excavated what turned out to be a small but complete 2nd-century AD Romano-British bath-building.
Following these encouraging results the Garden Hill Excavation Group was formed with the support of the Sussex Archaeological Society, and excavation on a much larger scale has taken place annually since 1973. These excavations have produced evidence of Neolithic/Bronze Age/Early pre-Roman Iron Age occupation of the hill-top and uncovered remains of the late pre-Roman Iron Age and a Romano-British iron-working settlement of the first, second and early third centuries AD.

Richard Maynard - yeoman and ironmaster, published September 1979 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 1 no. 2, article, pp.72-76) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 17603] & The Keep [LIB/501187] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

The story of Richard Maynard of Copyhold Farm at Hamsell in Rotherfield. Includes 'An inventory of all and singuler the good cattell & debtes of Richard Maynard late of Retherfeld in the county of Sussex yeoman deceased taken and prised the one & Twentieth day of January in Anno dni 1618'

The operation of charcoal blast furnaces in Sussex in the early eighteenth century, by R.V. Saville, published 1980 in Historical Metallurgy (vol. 14, no. 2, article, pp.65-73)

The excavation of a late 16th-century blast furnace at Batsford, Herstmonceux, East Sussex, 1978, by Owen Bedwin, published 1980 in Post-Medieval Archaeology (vol. 14, no. 1, article, pp.89-112)

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

French Immigrant Ironworkers in Sussex, 1541-44, by Brian Awty, published December 1980 in Sussex Genealogist and Family Historian (vol. 2 no. 3, article, pp.102-110) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8671] & The Keep [LIB/501188] & CD SXGS from S.F.H.G.

Wealden Bloomery Iron Smelting Furnaces, by Charles Frederick Tebbutt, published 1981 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 119, article, pp.57-64) 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

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.

The Continental Origins of Wealden Ironworkers, 1451-1544, by Brian G. Awty, published November 1981 in The Economic History Review (vol. 34 issue 4, article, pp.524-539)   View Online

The Pays de Bray in northern France is shown to be the area whence many ironworkers came to the Weald after 1490. The records of denization (1544) and contemporary Subsidy Rolls are used to show the French places of origin and where in the Weald surviving immigrants were working.

Iron Working in Westfield, by Simon Kamer and John Bell, William Parker School, Hastings, published 1982 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 12, article, pp.38-44) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506525]   Download PDF

A slightly abridged copy of the Prize-winning Essay submitted for the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society's Schools Essay Competition of 1981.
The readily available iron ore natural to the Wealden clays, which provided the essential raw material, and the dense woodland, which provided fuel in the form of charcoal, are the two major reasons why, in the past, there was a successful iron industry in the area.
The industry seems to have flourished in two main periods, Roman and post Medieval although there is also some evidence from preceding, intervening and succeeding times. In Westfield there is evidence from both the main periods although domestic needs may have been fulfilled at other times without leaving traces.

This article contains a summary of ironworking, from prehistoric to post-medieval, in the hinterland of Hastings. In particular it describes the foundation of Westfield Forge exposed when the bay was inadvertently destroyed by the water authority in 1980.

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.

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

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.

Aliens in the ironworking areas of the Weald: The Subsidy Rolls 1524-1603, by Brian G. Awty, published 1984 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 4, article, pp.13-78, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506559]   Download PDF

According to Giuseppi's Guide to the Public Records the Subsidy was 'a tax which from the reign of Richard II was imposed on persons according to the reputed value (on a very moderate estimate) of their estates, at the rate of 4s. in the pound for lands and 2s. 8d. for goods, those of aliens being valued at a double rate'. In practice things were not always so simple. In the mid-1520s, the Subsidy was combined with a kind of poll tax, resulting in the most comprehensive assessment of the century for Sussex. It gave rise to the sort of complexities and anomalies described by J. Cornwall in the introduction to his Sussex Record Society volume on that Subsidy. Later, during the financial crisis of Edward VI's reign we are looking at what are in fact 'reliefs' rather than subsidies. In some cases the rolls record only the amounts contributed, so that the actual assessment can only be arrived at by calculation. Because of this and because only just over ten per cent of the aliens were affluent enough to pay on goods, it seems simpler to reverse Cornwall's procedure by stating the tax paid rather than the value assessed. The proportion of aliens qualifying to pay on land was minute - Nicholas Jarrett is the only one who springs to mind.

The Queen's Gunstonemaker: An account of Ralph Hogge, Elizabethan Ironmaster & Gunfounder, by Edmund Teesdale, published 1 July 1984 (130 pp., Seaford: Lindel Publishing Co., ISBN-10: 0950235474 & ISBN-13: 9780950235479) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502223] & East Sussex Libraries

References to Ironworks in Records at the Sussex Record Office, by Brian Phillips, published 1985 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 5, article, pp.41-43, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506559]   Download PDF

Iron industry of the Weald, by Henry Cleere, D. Crossley and B. C. Worssam, published 31 December 1985 (367 pp., Leicester Uniersity Press, ISBN-10: 0718512138 & ISBN-13: 9780718512132) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9491] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

The 1574 Lists of Ironworks in the Weald. A Re-examination, by Edmund Teesdale, published 1986 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 6, article, pp.7-41, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506559]   Download PDF

The documents often referred to as 'the 1574 lists' constitute the most extensive and important collection of evidence available as to the size of the Wealden iron industry in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, and as to the ownership, management and location of individual furnaces and forges at that time. The lists consist of a number of documents, all to be found in the State Papers Domestic of Elizabeth I, with the exception of one document of three folios to be found among the Stow manuscripts in the British Library. Several of the documents are, apart from the spelling, so similar in content as to leave no doubt that they are no more than copies. Others reveal significant differences, differences as to personal ownership or management, and the number of works or sites attributed to each individual. These documents have, from time to time, received comment by writers on the Wealden iron industry, but none of the studies made, although helpful in many ways, has been entirely without some confusion or imprecision. The present paper is a fresh attempt to describe, analyse, compare and evaluate the documents, firstly with the object of providing a clearer and more comprehensive guide to the lists than has hitherto existed; and secondly, of reaching some conclusion as to which of the documents contains the most reliable evidence about the owners or managers and the extent of the works they held.

Index to the Gazetteer of Water-powered Sites in The Iron Industry of the Weald, by David Combes, published 1987 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 7, article, pp.38-43, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16400] & The Keep [LIB/506560]   Download PDF

The index contains only the names of those persons having a direct interest in a site and for which there is some documentary evidence. Names of persons whose connection is purely circumstantial have been omitted.

Iron Industry in the Weald, by Mrs. J. M. Turnbull, published December 1990 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 9 no. 4, article, pp.144-147) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 11999] & The Keep [LIB/501261] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

The Iron Industry of the Weald including a list of Immigrant Ironworkers c. 1490-1544

Gunfounding in the Weald in the Sixteenth Century, by Edmund Teesdale, published December 1991 (142 pp., Trustees of the Royal Armouries, ISBN-10: 0948092173 & ISBN-13: 9780948092176) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13026] & The Keep [LIB/502221] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

This is the first study of the formative years of gunfounding in the Weald of Sussex and Kent. It looks in detail at the development of this industry and focuses on the men who developed the technology, analysing their output and success

Harman or should they be Harmer?, by David L. N. Harman, published December 1994 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 11 no. 4, article, pp.139-140) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14878] & The Keep [LIB/501263] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

An account of the descendants of Richard and Clemencia Harman of East Grinstead. Richard was a mercer and he lived at Middle Row, East Grinstead, where his house still stands. In 1530 he was a part owner in Parrock's Iron Forge at Hartfield with others who were Flemings.

Iron industry of the Weald, by Henry Cleere, D. W. Crossley and edited by Jeremy Hodgkinson, published 7 April 1995 (revised edition, 424 pp., Merton Priory Press Ltd., ISBN-10: 1898937044 & ISBN-13: 9781898937043) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12860] & The Keep [LIB/502218] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries   Download PDF

The Weald of Kent, Surrey and Sussex form the site of the major concentration of ironmaking in Britain during two distinct periods of the island's history; during the Roman occupation of AD43-400 and in the 16th and 17th centuries. This book surveys the evidence derived from excavation, fieldwork, documentary studies and experimental archæology carried out by the Wealden Iron Research Group. It includes chapters on geology and topography of the region, the iron industry during the successive periods of operation, and the technology of the direct and indirect ironmaking processes, together with a detailed gazetteer of sites.

Romano-British iron production in the Sussex and Kent Weald: a review of current data, by Jeremy Hodgkinson, published 1999 (academia.edu)   Download PDF

A succession of studies over the past sixty years has shown that iron making was well-developed in the Weald in the Romano-British period. Distribution maps showing the extent of the industry in the region have not, hitherto, attempted to indicate a measure of output for individual sites. This revision of data provides such an opportunity.

Iron and Glass Industries, by David Crossley, published 1 January 1999 in An Historical Atlas of Sussex (pp.62-63, Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd, ISBN-10: 1860771122 & ISBN-13: 9781860771125) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14026][Lib 18777] & The Keep [LIB/501686][LIB/508903] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Warren Furnace, by Jeremy Hodgkinson, published 2000 (Felbridge & District History Group) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

Alexander Raby, Ironmaster: Proceedings of a Conference held at Cobham on 28 November 1998, by Glenys Crocker, published April 2000 (Surrey Industrial History Group)

Wealden Ironmaking, by Don Burgess, published June 2001 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 14 no. 6, article, pp.222-223) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14881] & The Keep [LIB/508823] & CD SFH40 from S.F.H.G.

Charcoal Burning and the Febridge Area, by Jeremy Hodgkinson, published 2002 (Felbridge & District History Group) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

Bar iron production in the Weald in the early 18th century, by P. W. King, published 2002 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 22, article, pp.26-35, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506569]   Download PDF

Factors of production in mid-18th century Wealden Iron smelting, by J. S. Hodgkinson, published 2002 in Wealden Iron Research Group (Second Series No. 22, article, pp.36-56, ISSN: 0266-4402) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/506569]   Download PDF

Studies of the factors which controlled production at ironworks in the Weald have largely focused on data from a small number of sets of accounts. In the sixteenth century, the Sidney and Hogge accounts have provided the opportunity for detailed case studies, while the Fuller papers in the eighteenth century offer a wealth of detail. Other source material, notably the Pelham accounts and the papers relating to the Harrison-Legas partnership, remains to be fully exploited. In addition to these major sources, however, and although much incidental detail can be derived from legal documents and letters, it is the archives of the Board of Ordnance to which we should turn for much more than accounts of the purchase of guns.

Fernhurst Furnace, and other Industrial Sites in the Western Weald, by John Magilton, published 2003 (Chichester District Council, ISBN-10: 0850170133 & ISBN-13: 9780850170139) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 14994] & West Sussex Libraries

Ironworking in Warbleton, by M. Beswick, published 2003 (Warbleton and District History Group) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503064]

The Wimble Family of East Sussex, 1570-1720; iron founders, farmers, brickmakers and smugglers, by Paul Anthony Collins, published 1 October 2003 (68 pp., Dancing Elk Publications, ISBN-10: 0954615204 & ISBN-13: 9780954615208) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries

Wealden Iron Industry, by Jeremy Hodgkinson, published 14 July 2008 (160 pp., The History Press, ISBN-10: 0752445731 & ISBN-13: 9780752445731) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/502191] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

For two periods of British history - the first part of the Roman occupation and the Tudor and early Stuart periods - the Weald of south-east England was the most productive iron-producing region in the country. Looking across the tranquil Wealden countryside, it is hard to identify anything that hints at its industrial past. Yet 400 years ago, nearly 100 furnaces and forges roared and hammered there, the smoke from charcoal-making curling up from the surrounding woods and the roads bustling with wagons laden with ore and iron sows. Many British naval campaigns, including the Spanish Armada, the wars against the Dutch and The Seven Years' War, relied on Wealden iron cannon; the pressures of conflict driving forward the development of iron-producing technology. For a time the economy of the whole area was dominated by the production of iron and its raw materials, providing employment, generating prosperity and shaping the landscape irrevocably. Drawing on a wealth of local evidence, this book explores the archaeology and history of an area whose iron industry was of international importance.

In 1931 an eccentric stationer and bookbinder, Ernest Straker, published at his own expense a rather idiosyncratic book of nearly 500 pages entitled Wealden Iron. In the Preface he reported that, with the exception of a single brochure, ". . . no work speci!cally dealing with this exceedingly interesting chapter of our industrial history" had previously been published. The following decades saw the sporadic publication of papers dealing with different aspects of this very wide-ranging subject in the Society's Collections and elsewhere, but it was not until 1995 that the next major survey, The Iron Industry of the Weald, appeared. This was the fruit of nearly thirty years' work by the Wealden Iron Research Group (WIRG), founded at an enthusiastic meeting at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
Jeremy Hodgkinson has played an ifluential role in the development and work of WIRG, as a member of its Council for many years and Chairman from 1981 to 2005. He has contributed to fieldwork, excavations, and historical research, and now lectures widely on the industry. His stated objective in writing this book was "to present the story of the industry . . . for the more general reader".
Chapters on geology and raw materials, prehistoric, Roman, and medieval ironmaking, blast furnaces and forges, and iron production in the 16th-19th centuries are followed by others on the economic effects of ironmaking and on products, with special emphasis on cannon production. Two appendices provide guidance on where to see Wealden iron and a list of blast furnaces and finery forges, and there is an excellent bibliography. The book is well illustrated with photographs, maps, plans, and some superb reconstruction drawings by the late Reg Houghton.
The author has admirably achieved his objective of presenting this vanished industry to the general reader. I have just two suggestions for inclusion in the second edition that will assuredly be called for: a list of bloomery sites would be desirable, and also a glossary of ironmaking terms.

Reflections on the role of the Sussex ironmasters in Elizabethan Glamorgan, by John O. Morley, published 2010 in Journal of Glamorgan History (vol. 54, article, pp.5-43)

Hammer and Furnace Ponds: Relics of the Wealden Iron Industry, by Helen Pearce, published 11 March 2011 (108 pp., Pomegranate Press, ISBN-10: 1907242155 & ISBN-13: 9781907242151) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries   View Online

They beautify the woodlands of the Kent and Sussex High Weald and adjacent parts of Surrey, but they were created to power what has been described as the country's first industrial revolution. This walker-friendly guide to the rich crop of surviving hammer and furnace ponds in the area traces the history of iron exploitation from pre-Roman times, but concentrates on the 16th and 17th centuries when the Weald throbbed to the sound of trip hammers. Fortunes were made by iron-masters such as the Fullers of Brightling, the Barhams of Wadhurst and the Streatfeildes of Chiddingstone, and several of their grand houses survive in the landscape as a testimony to their wealth. Guns for government ordnance or sale to foreign governments were the major line, but the foundries turned out a range of products, from firebacks to grave slabs. This is the first popular guide to the subject in recent years and includes a complete gazetteer of the surviving ponds with map references and access details, a list of relevant museums, a glossary of terms and ideas for further reading.

C & H Tickell, Ironfounders of Southampton: Their work in West sussex, by Adge Roberts, published 2012 in Sussex Industrial History (issue no. 42, article, pp.20-26, ISSN: 0263-5151) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/42] & The Keep [LIB/506539]   Download PDF

Barcombe and Beddingham: Roman Villas from Wealden Iron?, by Ann Best, published 2015 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 153, article, pp.63-71) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 18934] & The Keep [LIB/509033] & S.A.S. library   View Online

This paper puts forward the archaeological evidence to suggest that Barcombe and Beddingham Roman villas, and the Romano-British settlement at Upper Wellingham, were not only part of the immediate agricultural landscape, but also linked to the wider industrial landscape which had iron production at its core. It also explores how the economic results of an expanding iron industry could have provided the necessary wealth to support these Romanised houses and a substantial trading settlement in this rural location.

The development of iron production in the Roman Weald, by Jeremy Hodgkinson, published 31 December 2016 in Agriculture and Industry in South-Eastern Roman Britain (edited by David Bird, pp.282-300, Oxbow Books, ISBN-10: 1785703196 & ISBN-13: 9781785703195)