FURNACE AT "WHEEL BIRKS. 287 



blown out, stood some years complete, and inaccessible to 

 depredation at top ; and the rain and frost disintegrated the 

 upper interior part, which was not vitrified by heat like the 

 lower and hottest portion, and thus gradually showered down 

 a rain of this fine bright red clean sand. 



In an article on " The Mineral Kingdom " in " Knight's 

 Store of Knowledge," published about 1840, is an engraving 

 which represents very nearly what this old furnace must have 

 been in plan and elevation. 



The old water course from a dam in the stream, some 200 

 yards in length, can still be traced. In one place it deviates 

 from the straight to avoid an old thorn tree — a proof that the 

 thorn must have even then been a thick one, or it would have 

 been removed and made a double debt to pay — getting out of 

 the way as well as feeding the furnace. Clearing the country- 

 side of its natural growth of birch, thorn, juniper, oak, and 

 other trees for smelting purposes, must have prepared the land 

 for enclosure, cultivation, and the planting of larch, spruce, 

 and Scotch firs, just as in Spain to-day the use of brushwood 

 in smelting has allowed the hills to be covered with olive trees 

 instead. During the short existence of this remote outlying 

 iron work, the power of the Stocksfield burn would at times 

 of drought be insufficient to work the bellows — no wonder 

 therefore that smelting work did not long continue. Annexed 

 are drawings giving some idea of the existing remains and of 

 the probable design of the complete structure. 



M 



