Thanks for the comments on the Neath smelter. As an iron master,
Weston would have been very familiar with blast furnace technology,
which might be relevant to whether Neath was a blast or reverberatory
furnace.
As a follow-up question (and displaying my considerable ignorance
about copper smelting), at what stage(s) was coal used in the process?
As I recall, there were several smelting stages after the ore roasting
stage. I think the argument has been that Neath was selected for the
furnace rather than Cornwall due to the proximity of fuel (although
perhaps charcoal supplies were a more important consideration than
coal).
David
|