INDUSTRIES 



IRON 



The iron industry of Surrey was during 

 the Tudor and Stuart periods one of the 

 most important in the county, and the 

 trade carried on at the various works, which 

 were scattered over the southern border, must 

 have been very considerable. The history of 

 the industry in Surrey however forms only a 

 small part of that of the Wealden district, in 

 which the most ancient and always the most 

 numerous works were to be found in Sussex, 

 those in the adjoining districts in Kent being 

 next in importance. 



For the main facts of our knowledge of 

 the iron industry of Sussex, and indeed of 

 the Weald generally, we are indebted to the 

 contributions of Mr. Mark Antony Lower to 

 the Sussex Archaological Collections} Recently 

 Mr. J. Starkie Gardner has amplified the 

 information supplied by Mr. Lower, more 

 especially as to the history of casting and of 

 the processes employed.' The most impor- 

 tant contribution to the history of the Surrey 

 works in particular is Mr. Maiden's chapter 

 on the subject in his short history of the 

 county.' It is impossible for any one to 

 attempt a further account of these works 

 without acknowledging great indebtedness 

 to him as well as to the two other writers 

 mentioned. 



The antiquity of the Wealden iron indus- 

 try dates back certainly to the Roman period, 

 probably still earlier. The Britons were, as 

 we know, well acquainted before the Roman 

 invasion with the working and use of the 

 metal. Cxsar, who must have obtained his 

 information from them, although he was led 

 to believe that the supply of iron in the 

 country was small, says that it was to be 

 found in the maritime regions.* By these 



Coll. 



169 seq. ; iii. 



' Lower, Suss. Arch. 

 240 seq. ; xviii. 10 seq. 



2 Gardner, Arch. Ivi. 1 3 3 seq. 



3 Maiden, History of Surrey (London, 1 900), 

 260 seq. 



* De Bella Gallico, v. 12. 



regions it is most probable that he implied 

 the Weald of Sussex, where the ferruginous 

 sandstone of the Hastings beds would lend 

 itself to easy processes of extracting the ore, 

 whilst the dense forest of Anderida would 

 supply fuel in abundance for the furnaces. 



Of the period immediately subsequent to 

 the Roman occupation until more than two 

 hundred years after the Norman Conquest the 

 history of the Wealden iron industry is a 

 blank. We need not suppose that it had 

 been allowed to decline altogether, although 

 Domesday Book, which mentions iron in 

 Gloucestershire and certain other counties, is 

 silent on the subject under Sussex. The in- 

 dustry first re-appears as existent in 1266, 

 the date of Henry IIL's grant of murage to 

 the inhabitants of Lewes. 



Of the antiquity which is known to belong 

 to the Wealden iron industry in Sussex it is 

 not possible that anything can be claimed for 

 Surrey. Although in the year 13 19 Peter de 

 Walsham, the sheriff of Surrey and Sussex, 

 did, in obedience to the royal mandate, pro- 

 vide horseshoes and nails for the expedition 

 against the Scots, we can only, in the absence 

 of any specific reference to the industry in 

 Surrey at this time, infer that he obtained 

 them from Sussex. Indeed not until 1553 

 have we a definite mention of Surrey iron- 

 works. In that year on 24 March Henry 

 Nevill, Lord Abergavenny, by deed of bargain 

 and sale conveyed to George and Christopher 

 Darrell all his messuages, lands, tenements, 

 woods, waters and rough grounds called 

 Ewood or Ewood Park in the parish of 

 Newdigate, and also 'all the buildings, iron 

 works and offices set and being within the 

 same.' ^ The next reference to the industry 

 in Surrey is in June 1557, when Owen 

 Bray and his wife Ann levied a fine of their 

 manor of Paddynden or Paddyngton with its 

 appurtenances, including an iron-mill, a pond, 

 a hundred acres of woods, etc., in Abinger, 



263 



6 Close, 7 Edw. VL pt. i, No. 2. 



