Could you please confirm the location or at least the general area where the
material you are studying comes from? If it is Stanley Grange (of Dale
Abbey) as some one has suggested or somewhere else within the
Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire coalfield, the ore used will almost certainly be
argillaceous ironstone from the coal measures, which would (at least in the
early modern period) have been converted from a carbonate to an oxide by
calcining.
If however (as others have assumed) you are dealing with material from
further south or east, in Lincolnshire or Northamptonshire for example,
some more fundamental questions arise. There is evidence of medieval iron
smelting in Northamptonshire in the 11th century and then nothing until
after 1850. No one has provided any satisfactory explanation as to why.
From what I know of the history of iron industry in the early modern period,
there is no reason why a Northamptonshire industry should not have
developed, assuming this landlocked county could provide a couple of
thousand acres of coppices for fuel.
England imported large quantities of iron from Russia and Sweden in the late
17th and 18th centuries and considerable amounts from Spain in the 15th and
early 16th centuries. If it was possible to make iron in Northamptonshire
in this period one would have thought some one would have tried. Is there
a technological reason why Northamptonshire ironstone was unsuitable? Was
limestone (for use as a flux) lacking? This is a significant issue that
deserves investigation.
Peter King
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Keech <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 16 July 2001 19:33
Subject: Iron Smelting
> I am currently studying for an MSc in Archaeological Materials, and
require
> some advice or points of guidence with my dissertation topic.
>
> I am studying Iron slags from a 12th-13th century iron smelting site in
the
> East Midlands. The site consists of eight furnace installations. I am half
> way through the analysis of the furnace slags with a SEM.
>
> The problem which I face is that the results show two types of furnace in
> use at the site, one is a basic bloomery furnace producing results which
> are typical of other sites of the period.
>
> The second type of furnace, produce results in the slags which are high in
> alumina levels (12-16%) in both furnace and tap slag, iron levels between
> 23-53% and calcium levels of 5-6%. The alumina is not provided from the
> ore, which has been analysed and is hematite.
>
> Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Michael Keech
|