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Site Name:
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Crowhurst Forge |
OS Reference:
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TQ 4008 4694
Click here to view on Where's The Path |
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Parish:
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Crowhurst |
Former Parish:
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Hundred:
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Tandridge |
District:
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Tandridge |
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County:
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Surrey |
River Basin:
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Medway |
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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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16 |
Geology:
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Weald Clay |
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Geology notes:
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Earliest known date:
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1551 |
Latest known date:
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1560 |
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Dating evidence:
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Thomas Gaynesford, of Crowhurst Place, left his forge to his half-brother, Erasmus, placing it in the charge of his executor, Sir George Harper, in his will of 1551 (TNA PROB 11/34/285). In 1553 Harper and William Ayloffe leased the forge to John Cole, Thomas Holloway, John Tychborne and Regnold Holmeden for seven years, with charcoal from lands Gaynesford had purchased from Sir John Gage in 1550, possibly indicating when the forge was built. Thomas Holloway's will of 1558 suggests problems with Holmeden's partnership (TNA PROB 11/42a/528), and in an agreement of 1560 between Erasmus and Thomas Gaynesford's daughter, Anne (later Forster), William Forder is listed as occupier of the forge (Surrey History Centre, 2186/30/59). Forder was still in possession of Crowhurst Place in Erasmus Gaynesford's will of 1581, but the forge is not mentioned (Webb 1999). It does not appear in the lists of 1574 and no further documented history is known, although the existence of Nicholas Gelke, an alien recorded in Crowhurst in 1576, suggests the forge may still have been working then .
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Site Description:
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Likely site is former mill noted on map of Crowhurst manor in 1679 (SHC, 6960/1).
Bay: L 40m
Water System: Pond in water, formerly fed by a leat, 1.37km long, from TQ 4010 4791, N of Caterfield Bridge.
Working area: Small number of forge bottoms located under grass NE of pond and present stream.
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Scheduled Monument Number:
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HER Reference:
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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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J. S. Hodgkinson, B. K. Herbert
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References:
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Hodgkinson, J. S.. (2012) Crowhurst Forge - a new site identified. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. Second series, 32. pp. 5-10
Webb, C.. (1999) Archdeaconry of Surrey Will Abstracts, vol 16. West Surrey Family History Society
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Persons with known connections to this site:
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Ayloffe, William - Co-trustee 1551-5
Cole, John - Co-lessee 1553-c1559
Forder, William - Lessee in 1560
Gaynesford, Erasmus - Owner 1551-c1560
Gaynesford, Thomas - Owner ?1550-1
Gelke, Nicholas - iron worker in 1576
Harper, George - Trustee 1551-?
Holloway, Thomas - Co-lessee 1553-1559
Holmden, Regnold - Co-lessee 1553-c1559
Johnson, John - iron worker in 1551
Jouly, John - iron worker in 1552
Tichborne, John - Co-lessee 1553-7
Tichborne, Richard - Co-Lessee 1557-c1559
unknown, Charles - iron worker in 1552
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Documents:
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Images:
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