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Site Name:
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Blackwater Green Forge (Worth Hammer) |
OS Reference:
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TQ 2912 3624
Click here to view on Where's The Path |
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Parish:
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Crawley |
Former Parish:
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Worth |
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Hundred:
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Buttinghill |
District:
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Crawley |
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County:
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West Sussex |
River Basin:
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Mole |
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Site Type:
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Forge |
Period:
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Modern |
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Century:
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17, 16 |
Geology:
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Upper Tunbridge Wells Sand |
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Geology notes:
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Earliest known date:
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1549 |
Latest known date:
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1617 |
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Dating evidence:
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This is likely to be the 'hamer at Worth' mentioned in the accounts for Worth and Sheffield in 1549 (Giuseppi 1912, 299), and in the inventory of ironworks belonging to the Lord Admiral, Sir Thomas Seymour, in the Forest of Worth in the same year (Ellis 1861,128-31). Blackwater is probably one of the two hammers in Moore (Worth) Forest in the ownership of Lord Abergavenny, let to John Caulfield alias Eversfield of East Grinstead in 1574 (Cattell 1979:166), there being difficulties in determining the division and descent of ownership of the forest. Deaths of vagrants at Worth Hammer were noted in the Worth Registers in 1584 and 1588. With Worth Furnace, it is probably the forge leased by Edward More in 1617, rather than Tinsley as has been suggested elsewhere.
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Site Description:
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Bay: L 140m H 2.75m/indeterminate, much altered. Forms bridleway. Breached by stream (bridged) 46m from N end.
Water system: Pond dry. Small existing pond at S end of bay with outlet to main stream may indicate position of spillway.
Working area: Slag-layer in N bank of stream. Forge bottoms in road surface on bay. Glassy slag in stream.
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Scheduled Monument Number:
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HER Reference:
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MWS4253 |
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Bay Height (m.):
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2.75 |
Bay Length (m.):
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140 |
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Classis Britannica tiles:
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No |
Samian pottery:
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No |
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Cylindrical slag plugs:
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No |
Two-finery forge:
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Yes |
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Excavation?:
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Yes |
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Excavation Details:
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Excavation by the UCL Field Unit in 1988 revealed remains of two timber-lined, double wheelpits, and an anvil base (see Place and Bedwin 1992).
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Description of site vegetation:
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Slag Heap Area (m. sq) :
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Slag heap grade (Hodgkinson 1999):
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Persons Involved in Discovery:
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References:
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Cattell, C. (1979) The 1574 lists of Wealden ironworks. Sussex Archaeological Collections. 117. pp. 161-72
(for this site see page(s) 166)
Straker, E. (1931) Wealden Iron. Bell. London
(for this site see page(s) 466)
Place, C. and Bedwin, O. (1992) The sixteenth-century forge at Blackwater Green, Worth, West Sussex: Excavations 1988. Sussex Archaeological Collections. 130. pp. 147-163
anon.. (1975) Inventory of Iron Sites visited by WIRG. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. 1st series, 8. pp. 8-44
(for this site see page(s) 14)
Cleere, H. F. and Crossley, D. W.. (1995) The iron industry of the Weald. Merton Priory Press. Cardiff
(for this site see page(s) 316-7)
Place, C.. (1989) Blackwater Green, Crawley. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. 2nd series, 9. pp. 10-11
Giuseppi, M. S.. (1912) The accounts of the ironworks at Sheffield and Worth in Sussex, 1546-1549. Archaeological Journal. 69. pp. 276-311
(for this site see page(s) 299)
Ellis, H. (1861) Inventories of Goods etc. in Cheseworth, Sedgwick, Sheffield and Worth. Sussex Archaeological Collections. 13. pp. 118-131
(for this site see page(s) 128-31)
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Persons with known connections to this site:
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Eversfield, John - Lessee/ironmaster bef 1574-82?
Eversfield, Thomas - Part-owner 1582-1613
Harward, Walter - Co-lessee 1617-?
Howard, Thomas - Owner c.1544-6, 1553-4
Howard, Thomas - Owner 1554-72?
Jemis - finer in 1552
John - forgeman in 1552
Middleton, John - Co-tenant/ironmaster bef 1617-?
More, Edward - Part-owner 1582-23
Needler, Henry - Tenant/ironmaster ?-1613
Needler, John - Co-tenant 1613-23
Nevill, Henry - Owner in 1574
Segar, Edward - Co-lessee 1617-?
Seymour, Thomas - Lessee 1547-9
Sherief, John - ironmaster/clerk 1546-9
The Crown - Owner 1546-53
Throckmorton, Clement - Lessee 1550-71?
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Documents:
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Images:
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