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Site Name:
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Tilgate Furnace |
OS Reference:
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TQ 2843 3550
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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Furnace |
Period:
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Modern |
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Century:
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16, 17 |
Geology:
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Weald Clay |
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Geology notes:
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Earliest known date:
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1588 |
Latest known date:
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1685 |
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Dating evidence:
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Henry Bowyer had the forge at Tinsley and a furnace in "Moore Foreste" (probably Strudgate) in 1574, but died possessed of two iron mills and land called "Tynsley" in 1588 held of Sir Edward More in his manor of Crabbett (Cooper 1899, 47). In 1606 Sir John Shurley and David Middleton formalised their 21-year partnership here and at Tinsley Forge (ESRO, SAS-H/202), the need for formalisation perhaps being prompted by the death of Sir Henry Bowyer, from whom they occupied at least one of the sites. A furnace and forge in Worth leased by Sir Edward More to John Middleton and John Needler in 1617 (WSRO Lytton/127) are probably Worth and Blackwater, the Eversfield family holding the other moiety of the Forest of Worth. More had no connection with Tilgate. Tinsley, which was More's, was separately occupied under More's agreement with the Bowyers and later Sir John Shurley (Sir Henry Bowyer's widow's second husband). By 1636, Thomas Burrell was working the furnace for his brothers, John and Walter (Cooper 1900, 14). In 1653 Walter Burrell was recorded as having set his furnace to work for casting shot (TNA SP1839/31) and it is most likely that this relates to Tilgate. In the 1653 list the furnace was in use, then discontinued but re-stocked in 1664. Roads to and from the furnace are referred to in 1685 (WSRO Lytton/202-3). When in 1690 Leonard Gale and Henry Johnson, owners of Tilgate farm, enjoined their tenant Thomas Budgen to maintain the upper and lower ponds, there was no indication that these were kept in water other than for fish (TNA C5/79/84).
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Site Description:
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Bay:
Has been levelled and almost all traces removed by Furnace Green housing estate, Crawley. 'Furnace Pond' is marked on the 'Plan of the Proposed Line of Canal from the Ouse Navigation at River's Lock to form a Junction with the Grand Southern Canal in the Parish of Worth' of 1810 (ESRO, QDP/29A/1). The same pond is shown adjacent to Furnace Farm on the Worth Tithe Award, supplied by a channel from the main stream at TQ 2810 3510. Existing (dry) channel returns to main stream at TQ 2870 3610.
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Scheduled Monument Number:
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HER Reference:
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MWS5786 |
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Bay Height (m.):
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Bay Length (m.):
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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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No |
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Excavation Details:
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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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Straker, E. (1931) Wealden Iron. Bell. London
(for this site see page(s) 465)
Cleere, H. F. and Crossley, D. W.. (1995) The iron industry of the Weald. Merton Priory Press. Cardiff
(for this site see page(s) 361)
Attree, F. W. T.. (1912) Notes of post-mortem inquisitions taken in Sussex. Sussex Record Society vol 14. Lewes
(for this site see page(s) 35)
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) 28-9)
Crossley, D. W.. (1975) The Lists of Furnaces and Forges of 1664. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. First series, 8. pp. 2-7
(for this site see page(s) 3)
Cooper, J. H.. (1900) Cuckfield Families III. Sussex Archaeological Collections. 43. pp. 1-43
(for this site see page(s) 14)
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Persons with known connections to this site:
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Bowyer, Henry - Lessee/ironmaster aft 1574-88
Bowyer, Henry - Lessee/ironmaster 1588-1606
Bowyer, William - Lessee/ironmaster 1606-bef 1617
Burrell, John - Co-lessee? bef 1636-?
Burrell, Thomas - Tenant/ironmaster bef 1636-?
Burrell, Walter - ?Co-lessee bef 1636-71
Covert, John - Owner 1632-1679?
Covert, Walter - Owner ?-1631
Middleton, David - Co-Lessee/ironmaster 1585-aft 1606
Shirley, John - Co-Lessee/ironmaster 1585-aft 1606
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Documents:
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Images:
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