Bloomeries and the medieval iron industry

Two bloomery sites are known locally. Both have been investigated by GeoArch in projects commissioned by the Four Parishes Heritage Group and funded by the Local Heritage Initiative. In addition, there is evidence for ironstone mining and suggestions of smelting at other sites

Neds Garden

This site is located at (SO706840), on a stream that forms the boundary between Stottesdon (Chorley) and Billingsley. There are significant quantities of bloomery slag on both sides of the stream. The only documentary reference to the site is in a document written about 1800 where it was noted that an ironworks existed at this place in “ancient times”. The original name of the site is unknown. Geophysical survey indicated that there were a number of probable hearths surrounding the slag on both sides of the brook, although these may simply have been used for roasting the iron ore rather than smelting. A water channel was identified on the Billingsley side of the complex, but it was not possible to date it and it seems more likely to relate to post-medieval activity at the site. The probability is that the furnaces on this site were all operated by hand.

Excavation revealed large quantities of 12th Century pottery associated with the slag; it is possible that the sequence began in the late 12th Century and may have extended into the early 14th Century. The volume of pottery would suggest that there were houses close by in addition to the furnaces; these were presumably the homes of the ironworkers. After a break in occupation, the pottery sequence begins again in the late 16th or early 17th Centuries and continues into the 18th Century. This is probably associated with a resumption of coal and ironstone mining; in addition, there is documentary evidence that the slag was taken to Charlecot Furnace; the high iron content of bloomery slag made it valuable to blast furnace operators.

The archaeological evidence shows that there was a considerable 13th Century iron works at Ned’s Garden. The evidence for domestic occupation suggests that this was more than the temporary site of an itinerant bloomsmith. Almost certainly it would have used the local iron ore; shallow workings are found on the fringes of the site. The area is likely to have been wooded, or at least close to woodland, in the 13th Century, which could have supplied charcoal. The 13th Century was a time of prosperity, with a rising population that would have generated a market for iron. Stottesdon was owned by a number of families, all of whom would have had the resources to fund an iron works. In the late 12th Century, the Crown gave the manor to the Gamages who were royal favourites. For a brief period in the early 13th Century it was held by members of the Pantulf family, who also owned land in East Shropshire. Finally, it passed to John de Plessetis, who became Earl of Warwick and who tried to develop Stottesdon into a market town, obtaining in 1244 the right to hold a market and fair. The eventual abandonment of the site may be connected to an economic depression that set in, sparked by poor harvests in the early 14th Century. Equally, it could have been due to some problem with the supply of raw materials or even a quarrel with the tenants of the furnace. What is certain is that the economic problems of the century got sharply worse with the Black Death in 1348/9; once closed, there would have been very little incentive to resume iron-making.

Related Links on other Websites

• Click here for the full text of the archaeological report on Ned's Garden

Cinder Mill (Fiddle Bloomery)

This site is located on Fiddle Brook near High Green in Chorley, SO705832. The original name is unknown; it was called Cinder Mill in the middle of the 17th Century. There is a substantial area of slag bisected by a water channel; on higher ground to the north, geophysics has indicated a number of hearths, perhaps reflecting ore roasting hearths. The geophysics also recorded a pronounced feature just to the north of the water course. Excavation has confirmed that the water course is indeed a leat cut through the site, making it plausible that the geophysical anomaly is a water-blown furnace. A small quantity of 15th Century pottery was recovered from the bottom of the leat. As with Ned’s Garden, there is abundant archaeological evidence for subsequent occupation stretching to the end of the 18th Century. Documentary evidence demonstrates there was a house here which was associated with a water corn mill (Walford’s Mill or Reynold’s Mill), although there is some evidence to think that the mill itself was on the opposite bank of the brook about ¼ mile downstream.

It is possible to identify the start of this site with some precision, due to the survival of an account roll of the manor from 1455/6. At this time, Stottesdon belonged to John Mowbray, Earl of Arundel. The account roll records a payment of 66/8 to John Grove, a carpenter for work on the dam and floodgates of the “Bloomsmithy”. The steward was also paid 7/8 for trips first to the Forest of Dean and then to Sheffield to recruit a bloomsmith to operate the works. The same account roll notes how the ironstone was leased at 40/- pa. This looks like a scheme by Mowbray to increase the income from his manor by developing a water-powered iron works. Some caution is needed in assuming that the Fiddle site is the same as the works mentioned in the accounts as there is no evidence that any smithing of blooms was carried out there; it may be that the bloomsmithy was a distinct site from the furnace at Fiddle. None-the-less, even if this is correct, the furnace and the bloomsmithy are almost certainly part of the same endeavor. The economy in the 15th Century was patchy; nationally it struggled for most of the period, but there were opportunities for entrepreneurs to make good. There seems to have been some sort of recovery in the demand for iron. It is not clear how long the works continued. There is no mention of it in two consecutive accounts from a quarter of a century later, suggesting it had closed.

Related Links on other Websites

• Click here for the full text of the archaeological report on Fiddle Bloomery

Iron working in Neen Savage

Ironstone outcrops in the parish of Neen Savage. Part of the parish was within Cleobury Park, a deer park established by the Mortimers on the edge of the Wyre Forest. A 1384 account for Cleobury Park recorded a payment of 8/- for 8 loads of ironstone. Most of the park lies on barren Etruria Marl or the Old Red Sandstone. However, a thin band of productive coal measures are found along part of the valley of Baveney Brook, on the boundary with Kinlet. These just enter into the area of the former Cleobury Park and at this point there are numerous ironstone pits. These must be the 1384 mines. There is no mention of the ironstone mines in accounts just a few years earlier, suggesting that production had only recently begun. It is unclear how long the mines lasted. They are mentioned in accounts a century later, but simply in the form of null returns. There are around 40 pits grouped into two areas, corresponding to two seams of ironstone that can be identified as outcropping in the brook. The output recorded in 1384 is that which might be expected from just one pit; even if several operated together, it seems that the area might have been worked for around 20 years.

There is more nebulous evidence for ironworking at an earlier period. In around 1275, a William Faber (ie William Smith) granted land at Wall Town (close to ironstone outcrops) to Roger de Mortimer. In 1304 Thomas de Eldcote (near Wall Town) paid a rent for his land in Kinlet of 12 horseshoes a year; both men must have been blacksmiths, although it does not follow that either were making their own iron. At the same date, Henry le Collier in Earnwood was probably a charcoal burner and may have sold his product to local furnaces.

In the 1570s, the Neen Savage parish registers mention a place in the parish called the Bloomsmithy. This was undoubtedly an ironworks, although it is not clear if it was still in operation at this time; as blast furnaces had just started in Cleobury, it would seem unlikely it was functional. Unfortunately it cannot be located; it was probably on the site of one of the three mills in the parish that are on the Rea.

Small quantities of bloomery slag have been recovered from Baveney brook adjacent to the ironstone mines. There is a substantial earth dam here and it has been suggested that it could be the site of a bloomery. However, it may simply be a storage dam for blast furnaces further downstream. It cannot be excluded that some smelting of iron ore took place on this site, perhaps with a hand-operated furnace. A thick layer of silt may be hiding more significant slag deposits.

Iron working elsewhere in the Wyre Forest

There is currently an almost total lack of archaeological evidence for iron working in the Wyre Forest outside of Neen Savage. Bloomery slag is present at Furnace Mill, but this may simply have been brought in to supplement the charge of ore for the blast furnace. Documentary evidence is equally scant. The Domesday book records the presence of a smith at Bayton on the Worcestershire side of the forest. In 1280, at Carton, next to Colliers Hill in Bayton, William le Collier was assessed to pay 3/6. There was a Gilbert Fabrio at Alton; fabrio is probably a mutated form of fabricus, ie smith. In 1327 Adam le Smith was also in the area, at Rock.