Publications
Sydney papers, consisting of a journal of the Earl of Leicester, and original letters of A. Sydney, by R. W. Blencowe, published 1825
Diary of the Times of Charles the Second by the Hon. H. Sydney, afterwards Earl of Romney, including his Correspondence, by R. W. Blencowe, published 1843 (2 volumes)
Sir Philip Sidney: A 'South Saxon', by Edward Shoosmith, published 1929 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. III no. 12, article, pp.864-869) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2307] & The Keep [LIB/500140]
Land of Sir Henry Sidney in 1567, by Dr. Gordon Ward, published May 1962 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XV no. 9, article, pp.310-311) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8233][Lib 2982] & The Keep [LIB/500217] & S.A.S. library
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
Abstract: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.
Review by C. F. T. [C. F. Tebbutt] in Wealden Iron Research Group: Bulletin 9 Spring 1976: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 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.