Wealden iron industry

It was formerly an important industry, producing a large proportion of the bar iron made in England in the 16th century and most British cannon until about 1770.

Ironmaking in the Weald used ironstone from various clay beds, and was fuelled by charcoal made from trees in the heavily wooded landscape.

The industry in the Weald declined when ironmaking began to be fuelled by coke made from coal, which does not occur accessibly in the area.

Wood was also needed for pre-roasting the ore on open fires, a process which broke down the lumps or nodules and converted the carbonate into oxide.

Forging and finishing of the iron from bloomeries and blast furnaces also required large quantities of charcoal and was usually carried out at a separate site.

Blast furnaces needed to operate continuously for as long as possible and a series of ponds were often created in a valley to give a sustainable flow for the waterwheel.

Finery forges with three or four waterwheels to drive bellows and hammers needed more water than a furnace at times, although continuity was not as important.

So far only about two dozen sites have been identified where iron was made before the Roman invasion, mostly scattered across East Sussex and the Vale of Kent.

[3] During his invasions of Britain in 55 and 54 BC Julius Caesar noted iron production near the coast, possibly at known sites at Sedlescombe and Crowhurst Park near Hastings.

[4] The Romans made full use of the brown- and ochre-coloured stone in the Weald, and many of their roads there are the means of transport for the ore, and were extensively metalled with slag from iron smelting.

Excavations at a few sites have produced tiles of the Classis Britannica, suggesting that they were actually run by, or were supplying iron to this Roman fleet.

No evidence of iron smelting has been found after the end of Roman rule until the ninth century when a primitive bloomery was built at Millbrook on Ashdown Forest, with a small hearth for reheating the blooms nearby.

Evidence of forging of iron blooms in settlements close to the South Downs does indicate that smelting may have been going on at other undiscovered sites.

Most of them would have been engaged in mining ore and cutting wood (for charcoal), as the actual ironworks only required a small workforce.

Cannon production was a major activity in the Weald until the end of the Seven Years' War, but a cut in the price paid by the Board of Ordnance drove several Wealden ironmasters into bankruptcy.