INDUSTRIES 



who cast Brass or other softer Metals. But this Sort 

 of Iron having not undergone the Preparation of the 

 Finery and Chafery in the Forge, are so very brittle 

 that with one Blow of a Hammer, it will break all to 

 Pieces, especially if it be hot. 



We are told by Dr. Brown that the Silver Ore in 

 the Mines of Hungary affords but about an Ounce, 

 sometimes scarce half an Ounce in loo Pounds 

 Weight ; but that the Ore of the Copper Mine of 

 Herm Grundt is very rich, and in an lOO Lb. yields 

 ordinarily 20, and sometimes 30, 40, 50 and some- 

 times 60 Pounds. By the same Reason the Mine 

 here may also be said to be very rich, for if we com- 

 pare the Chargings and Runnings in iz Hours as 

 above we shall find that 100 Lb. of Ore yields 40 Lb. 

 of Iron, or upwards. 



I have observed above that they take off the Scum 

 or Dross from the fluid Iron at a Place even with the 

 Top of the Hearth, and throw it down the Hill 

 before the Door of the Furnace. Amongst this Slag 

 I observed Abundance of Glass ; for the Limestone, 

 which of its own Nature would burn immediately 

 into a Calx, is here, by Reason of a metalick Mixture, 

 melted into opack vitreous Substance. 



This account may be suitably supplemented by 

 a description, extracted from the same source, of 

 charcoal burning^' : — 



In this Part of the Country they generally let their 

 Oaks stand a Year after they are pill'd,'* which Custom 

 Dr. Plot observed in Staffordshire, and recommended 

 it to his Majesty. For the Winter Air closes the Pores of 

 pilled Wood, and so consequently consolidates all 

 Trees, but especially the Oak does thereby, according 

 to the Opinion of the Ancients, acquire a Sort of 

 Eternity in its Duration. . . . Their Top & Under- 

 wood they here make into Charcoal, the Method of 

 which is this. They cut or rive the Wood into Pieces 

 which they make up into Cords or Stacks (a Cord by 

 Statute is to be 8 Foot long, 4 Foot broad, and 4 high, 

 and every Stick at least 3 Inches about). They place 

 their Pieces all upright in 3 several Stories, S. S. S. in 

 a Conic, or rather in a Cupalo Form, having first 

 struck a Stake into the Ground in the middle of the 

 lowest Floor for the rest to lean upon. Such a Pile 

 they call their Hearth, and in some Places, though 

 very improperly, a Pit. They cover the Wood with 

 a thin Covering of Straw or Stubble, and over that 

 they place a Layer of Sand or Earth. They leave a 

 Hole at the Top of the Pile, where they put in the 

 Fire, and then cover it up. They make here and 

 there small Vent Holes for the Smoak as they see 

 Occasion, and take particular Care never to let it 

 Flame, for that would consume the Wood. A whole 

 Hearth will be coal'd in six or seven Days. Six 

 Loads of Wood will make but one of Charcoal. The 

 greener the Wood the weightier and more lasting is 

 the Coal made of it. 'Tis computed that about Five 

 Hundred Thousand Pounds' worth of Timber is fell'd, 

 and about as much spent in Fireing, in England every 

 Year, besides what is imported from our Colonies in 

 America ; . . . 



^' Quoted from Lucas's Hist, of Warton, ii, 605. 

 For this and the preceding extract we are indebted 

 to J. Rawlinson Ford, F.S.A. 



'* See the ' Prejudice of felling Oak in Summer,' in 

 the Mystery of Husbandry, by J. W. Gent, 234. 



About 1738 Isaac Wilkinson, his wife and 

 son John, later a famous ironmaster in South 

 Staffordshire, settled in the village of Backbarrow 

 in High Furness. His first business was the 

 manufacture of ordinary flat smoothing irons, 

 and having no furnace of his own, he obtained 

 leave, for a suitable remuneration, to take metal 

 in a molten state out of the local iron furnace, 

 which, with the forge, was then worked by the 

 Machell and other old families in the neighbour- 

 hood. This metal was removed in large ladles 

 across the public highway to an adjoining shed, 

 where Wilkinson had his moulds. In 1748 he 

 purchased or built the iron furnace and forge at 

 Wilson House, near Lindal, in the parish of 

 Cartmel, and endeavoured to smelt the rich 

 haematite ore with peat moss. To facilitate 

 moving the ore, a small canal was cut, and an 

 iron boat was constructed for use on it. Smelting 

 by peat did not prove a success, and eventually 

 common wood charcoal was used. About 17 S3 

 Wilkinson first appears in connexion with Ber- 

 sham Iron Works, near Wrexham, and though he 

 still owned property in Furness, his later activities 

 were unconnected with Lancashire. During 

 the tenure of Wilson House, Isaac and John 

 Wilkinson took out a patent for the common box- 

 smoothing iron.^' 



Mention has been made above of the Back- 

 barrow furnace from which Wilkinson obtained 

 his iron. It was built in 17 10 by the Machell 

 and Sandys families. As this furnace has a most 

 interesting history some details about it will be 

 given below, but first mention must be made of 

 one or two earlier furnaces. About the middle 

 of the seventeenth century charcoal smelting 

 furnaces were re-introduced into Furness as 

 private ventures. There is known to have been 

 a bloomery at Coniston Forge in 1650, which 

 continued its existence throughout the eighteenth 

 century. About 1 750 it was turning out 80 tons 

 of iron yearly.^' Ironworks were commenced 

 at Force Forge by William Rawlinson of Rus- 

 land Hall (1680) and soon after by Myles 

 Sandys of Graythwaite.^^ 



As already mentioned the Backbarrow Forge 

 was founded in 17 10. In 1728 this furnace 

 turned out 16 tons of pig-iron ; in 1750 it pro- 

 duced about 260 tons of bar-iron, and in 1796, 

 769 tons of cast iron.'" In 1747 the forge at 

 Newland was founded," and also during the 

 course of the eighteenth century that at Leigh- 

 ton. In 1788 the production of these three 

 furnaces is recorded as 2,100 tons. A return 



" The information for this paragraph was found 

 in Francis Nicholson, 'Notes on the Wilkinsons, 

 Ironmasters,' Mem. of the Manchester Lit. and Philo- 

 sophic Soc. 1905, No. 15, and J. Stockdale, Annals of 

 Cartmel, 209, 210. 



'' Collingwood, op. cit. 9. 



^ Cowper, Hist. ofHawkshead, 285. 



»" Ibid. 287. 3' Ibid. 286. 



363 



