Ian,
As a matter of interest, have you any evidence for the dates of your bloomeries? Are
they hand-operated or water-powered?
David Poyner
On 21 May 2003 at 20:25, Ian Forbes wrote:
> Eighteen months ago, the Friends of Killhope helped finance an important
> piece of archaeological field survey work in upper Teesdale, County Durham,
> England. The work, by Tom Gledhill and Ros Nichol, mapped significant
> remains of a medieval iron industry, including an opencut working for iron
> ore, a number of bloomery sites and a vast number of charcoal pits - all on
> what is now heather moorland, but which must have been wooded in the middle
> ages. Charcoal making in pits is known in Scandinavia, but in the UK
> charcoal making on platforms was the norm. To test the methodology of
> charcoal making and small scale iron-making, Tom and Ros have already
> carried out (eventually successfully) one trial charcoal burn in a pit at
> Killhope Lead Mining Museum in Weardale, County Durham. This weekend
> (24th - 26th May) they will be undertaking another charcoal burn, and they
> will use the charcoal from both burns in an attempt to make an iron bloom in
> an experimental bloomery reconstruction on July 5th. This smelting
> experiment, using ore from Florence mine, will also take place at Killhope.
> Both events, and particularly the iron smelt, should be interesting.
> Anyone is welcome to come along to both events.
> Ian Forbes, Killhope, the North of England Lead Mining Museum
>
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