INDUSTRIES 



';^7 is. of old brushwood (busca), and ore 

 (minera) of iron sold there during 47 weeks, viz. 

 3^. the week, and in the same source under 

 Trawden, £j i6s. Sd. of old brushwood and 

 ore of iron sold there during 47 weeks, viz. 

 25. 4-d. the week.' " 



The four bloomeries which have recently been 

 discovered in Rossendale were probably at work 

 at a much later date. The remains of these old 

 bloomeries are at Millar Barn, Meadow Wood, 

 near Newchurch ; Cinder Hill, near Rams- 

 bottom ; Priest Booth, near Bacup ; and Rake- 

 head, near Stacksteads. The last of these 

 was worked by a family of Ashworths, who 

 were originally cutlers in Sheffield. They 

 were at work at Rakehead from about 1480 till 

 1700.^* 



The probability is that all these bloomeries 

 were worked by charcoal in the time of Eliza- 

 beth, with red haematite ore of the Furness 

 district. This supposition is supported by the 

 fact that bloomeries were suppressed in High 

 Furness in 1564, to prevent the woods from 

 being used up. Rossendale offered the advan- 

 tages of being well wooded and of being fairly 

 accessible, water carriage being employed as far 

 as Preston. The richness of the scoria about the 

 sites of these Rossendale bloomeries also points 

 to the use of haematite ore.^' 



In the eighteenth century iron appears to have 

 been worked near Wigan and near Rossendale, 

 as well as at Furness. At the first place iron- 

 smelting was carried on in a very small way on 

 the estate of the earl of Crawford at Haigh, the 

 iron being made from ironstone found on the 

 estate.^" In 1773 the will of James Morris of 

 Haigh, parish of Wigan, ironmaster, was proved.^^ 

 Baines^^ informs us that the noble proprietor of 

 Haigh commenced a foundry upon his estate in 

 1787, but this was probably quite distinct from 

 the smelting of iron, which, according to Baines, 

 was discontinued about 1809, on account of the 

 low price of the metal. The only mention of 

 iron mining near Rochdale is that in Baines. 

 'Iron mines have been wrought m this town- 

 ship [Milnrow] since 1744, at a place called 

 TunshiU.'^' 



The following interesting account of a bloomery 

 at Brackenthwaite in the early eighteenth century 

 appears in a recently discovered MS. of John 

 Lucas, History of Warton (ii, 464 et seq.) : — 



Soon after the Beginning of this (i8th) Century, 

 the Proprietors of the Iron Works in Forness, having 



" Duchy of Lane. Mins. Accts., bdle. 1 148, No. 6. 



'* James Kerr, ' On the Remains of some Old 

 Bloomeries,' formerly existing in Lancashire {Hiji. of 

 Lane, and Ches. xii), 62. 



'^ Kerr, loc. cit. 61. 



™ Folkard, Industries of Wigan, 15. 



'' Lane, and Ches. Ree. Soe. xxxvii. 



" Lane. Direetory and Gaz. 1824, ii, 611. 



" His/, of Lane. (ed. 1836), ii, 641. 



2 36 



purchased the Fall of Leighton Park, and several 

 other considerable Quantities in that Demesn and 

 Places not far distant, erected a Furnace here upon a 

 Goit drawn out of Leighton Beck for the Smelting of 

 Iron : as a Forge had been a few Years before built at 

 Kere Holm very near the Borders of this Parish upon 

 Account of the Fall of Dalton Park Scc'^ The mighty 

 Destruction of Wood, occasioned by the great Quantity 

 of Iron made in this Kingdom has long been com- 

 plained of in all Parts of the Nation ; and not with- 

 out very good Reason : for in the County of Sussex 

 alone there are, or lately were, no less than One 

 Hundred and Thirty Furnaces and Hammers, 

 which by an exact Computation are found to con- 

 sume yearly Ninety four Thousand nine Hundred 

 Loads of Charcoal, to the extravagant Consumption 

 of Timber. 



But to come to a particular Description of this 

 Furnace. It is built like most others, against the Side 

 of an Hill, in a square Form, the Sides descending 

 obliquely about Six Yards, and drawing nearer one 

 another towards the Bottom like the Hopper of a 

 Mill. These oblique Walls terminate at the Top of 

 a perpendicular Square called the Hearth whose Side 

 is about 4^ Feet which is lined with the best Fire 

 Stone to take off the Force of the Fire from the Walls, 

 and to hold the fluid Metal which drops into it as it 

 melts. The Top of the Furnace is covered with a 

 large thick Iron Plate, in the Middle of which is a 

 Hole about f of a Yard square where they throw in 

 the Fuel and Ore. When they begin to work a new 

 Furnace, they put in Fire for two or three Days before 

 they begin to blow, which they call Seasoning ; at 

 first they blow gently, gradually increasing till in about 

 three Weekes Time the Fire will be so intense that 

 they can run a Sow and Pigs once in about twelve 

 Hours : and after they are once kindled they are kept 

 at Work Day and Night for many Months or Years, 

 still supplying the Wast of the Fuel & other Materials 

 w* fresh poured in at y° Top. 



The Ore they use here is brought across the Bay by 

 Coasters from Stonton in Furness, where it is found 

 lying in the Cliffs of the Rocks of gray Limestone. 

 The Veins are sometimes an Inch, sometimes a Foot, 

 and sometimes three or four Yards broad, which they 

 have followed towards the Centre of the Earth for 

 many Fathoms. The Ore which lies at the outside 

 of the Vein or near the Rock on either Side is hard, 

 and that which is in the Middle is commonly soft like 

 Clay. They are both red or else bluish, and smooth 

 as Velvet to the Touch when broken. As for the 

 medicinal Uses of this Ore, they use the soft sort 

 frequently, and with great Success, for the Murrain in 

 Cattle, and for most Diseases in Swine they give a 

 HandfuU or two in Milk. 



When the Ore which the Workmen here commonly 

 call the Mine, is brought to the Furnace, their first 

 Work is to burn it in a Kiln, much after the Fashion 

 of our ordinary Limekilns ; a Thing we find practised 

 not only in the Iron Works in Sweeden, but also in 

 all the Mines in Hungary, whether Gold, Silver, 

 Copper, Iron, Lead or Lapis Calaminaris. These 

 Kilns they here fill up to the Top with Turf and Ore 

 Stratum super Stratum, and then putting Fire to the 

 Bottom let it burn till the Fuel be wasted, and the 

 mere drossy Part of the Ore consumed, and the other 

 I 46 



