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Site Name:
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Maynards Gate Furnace |
OS Reference:
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TQ 5390 2980
Click here to view on Where's The Path |
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Parish:
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Crowborough |
Former Parish:
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Rotherfield |
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Hundred:
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Rotherfield |
District:
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Wealden |
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County:
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East Sussex |
River Basin:
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Medway |
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Site Type:
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Furnace, Gunfoundry |
Period:
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Modern |
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Century:
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17, 16 |
Geology:
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Ashdown Beds |
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Geology notes:
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Earliest known date:
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1562 |
Latest known date:
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1653 |
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Dating evidence:
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Probable but not certain that Anthony Fowle operated at Maynards Gate by 1562 (TNA STAC5 A2/25, cited in Schubert 1957:381). In 1574 Maynards Gate was a gun-founding furnace, owned and operated by Arthur Middleton but, in one version, owned by Lord Buckhurst. Edward Fyltness sold charcoal to Thomas Johnson, of Cowden, for Middleton at Maynards Gate in 1576 (Pullein 1928: 135-6). In 1647 Anthony Fowle of Newick, who had probably inherited the works from Middleton, his stepfather, left the furnace to his son Richard (TNA PROB 11/201/189), who sold it to his half-brother, Nicholas Fowle, in 1652. It was operating in 1653, but ruined by 1664.
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Site Description:
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Bay: L 70m H 1m/3.75m Breached by stream. Gap at N end.
Water system: Pond dry. Wheelpit at S end. Pen pond at TQ 5330 3020.
Working area: At S end, where furnace and gun-casting pits were revealed by rescue excavation in 1976 (Bedwin 1977-8: 163-78).
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Scheduled Monument Number:
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HER Reference:
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MES2959 (ANA) |
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Bay Height (m.):
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3.75 |
Bay Length (m.):
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70 |
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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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No |
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Excavation?:
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Yes |
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Excavation Details:
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see published report (Bedwin 1978)
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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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anon.. (1980) A source of ore for Maynards Gate Furnace. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. First series, 17. pp. 18-19
Bedwin, O. R.. (1977) The Excavation of a Blast Furnace at Maynard's Gate, Crowborough, East Sussex 1975/76.. Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology. 14. pp. 64-8
Straker, E. (1931) Wealden Iron. Bell. London
(for this site see page(s) 254-5)
Schubert, H. R.. (1957) History of the British Iron and Steel Industry. Routledge. London
(for this site see page(s) 381)
Cleere, H. F. and Crossley, D. W.. (1995) The iron industry of the Weald. Merton Priory Press. Cardiff
(for this site see page(s) 344-5, 388)
anon.. (1974) Inventory of Iron Sites visited by WIRG. Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. 1st series, 7. pp. 10-27
(for this site see page(s) 21)
Pullein, C.. (1928) Rotherfield: the story of some Wealden manors. Courier. Tunbridge Wells
(for this site see page(s) 135-6)
Schubert, H. R.. (1951) A Tudor furnace in Waterdown Forest. Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute. 169. pp. 241-2
(for this site see page(s) 242)
Bedwin, O. (1978) The excavation of a late sixteenth/early seventeenth century gun-casting furnace at Maynard's Gate. Sussex Archaeological Collections. 116. pp. 163-78
(for this site see page(s) 163-78)
Teesdale, E. B.. (1986) The 1574 lists of ironworks in the Weald. A re-examination. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. Second series, 6. pp. 7-41
(for this site see page(s) 32-3)
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Persons with known connections to this site:
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Fowle, Anthony - Owner/ironmaster 1591-1647
Fowle, Nicholas - Owner/ironmaster 1652-6
Fowle, Richard - Owner/ironmaster 1647-52
Fyltness, Edward - Supplied charcoal in 1576
Johnson, John - gun founder in 1589
Johnson, Thomas - Purchased charcoal in 1576
Middleton, Arthur - Owner/ironmaster 1574-1591
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Documents:
(click to download)
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Images:
(click on a thumbnail to view)
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