This is not quite my subject, but I will do what I can. I do not think I
can help very much specifically on copper kettles, as opposed to copper and
brass pots generally. Perhaps there is some one else who knows more.
1. There is/was a place called Fryingpan houses at Wandsworth near the
mouth of the river Wandle (Greater London formerly Surrey).
2. Brass pots and pans were made by the Bristol brass industry, using
small water-powered hammers. There were also brass mills in Surrey, but I
am not clear precisely what they did. Some at least were making wire and
certain others probably involved a rolling mill. I do not recall any of
them being referred to as battery works
3. There was a traded commodity known as 'metal prepared for battery', or
even just 'metal prepared'. I think I saw this in import Port Books rather
than export ones but am not sure. This would have been used in Battery
works, a variety of mill.
4. A mill at Rogerstone near Newport (Gwent) may have been a battery work
before it became a slitting mill for iron in the late 18th century, and I
think there may have been one near Neath, which was a copper works (not
brass).
5. At a more fundamental level. There was no copper production in England
for a considerable period before 1690, though the Society of Mines Royal
mined and smelted it successfully in the Elizabethan period. During that
period the principal source of copper in Europe was in Sweden (I think at
Falun). Accordingly the obvious place to make copper goods would have been
near London, where the imported copper would have been available.
6. From 1651 until the Revolution virtually all colonial trade had to pass
through England (after 1707 Great Britain). From 1697 English export
statistics were systematically compiled. A summary of these has been
published by E.B. Schumpeter, English Overseas Trade Statistics 1697-1808
(1960). This will certainly cover the subject but may only give total
exports from England, not specifically the quantity sent to America; if so
you will need to go back to her source, Public Record Office (London), CUST
3 (and other CUST classes). The PRO normally issues these only on
microfilm and it may be that there are copies of these films elsewhere tough
I do not know where. Collection of statistics from this source is not a
quick process due to the way the data is arranged.
Peter King
Suggested reading:
Joan Day, Bristol Brass.
M.B. Donald, Elizabethan copper
H. Hamilton, ?British copper industry [I regret I do not recall the exact
title]
None of these works are particularly recent.
----- Original Message -----
From: T Moran <[log in to unmask]>
To: Arch-l <[log in to unmask]>; Arch-Metals
<[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 01 September 2000 13:26
Subject: Request for information
> Dear list members,
> I am tring to find out if ay one has done research on the production of
> copper kettles in europe in the years 1500 to 1800. Are there specific
> production sites? Are there samples of the work produced? Is there any
> written records to indicate the numbers produced, numbers shipped to
> North America?
>
> Yours
> T.W.Moran
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