Query principally to Peter K, but also to anyone else who might have some
info - and I know this is not strictly mining history as such but...

Re supply of iron, be it from Sweden, Russia, South Wales or wherever - has
anyone come across sales being made to Fussells of Mells? The company name/s
changed from time to time but Fussell isn't that common, especially in the
edge tool business. Place could also be Nunney and possibly other locations
north west of Frome, Somerset. The Mells branch, which became pretty big,
started in 1744 (and lasted as an independent concern until near the end of
the 19th century), but there were precursors at Stoke St Michael/Stoke Lane
for example. Any info gratefully received! And of course it is possible that
some of the tools Fussells produced may have been used in a *mining* context
- particularly as the family was also involved in the local coal mining
industry.

God Jul och Gott Nytt År till alla!
James

On 14 December 2010 20:17, Peter King <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I come lately to this string, having been abroad.  I can confirm what Chris
> Salter has said, but I will put a historian's slant on it.
>
> "Ironmonger" usually means a hardware shopkeeper, but his stock may well
> have included not only finished ironmongery made elsewhere (probably in the
> Black Country), but also bar iron - probably from south Wales in the 19th
> century, but perhaps imported from Sweden or Russia in the 18th.
>
> In the Black Country, ironmongers were the capitalists in manufacturing bar
> (or rod) iron into ironware and then selling it over a wide area.
>
> I have never studied the Cornish iron ore industry in detail. but one early
> participant was the owner of a furnace at Llanelli.  I have never heard of
> any iron-producing works in Cornwall.  As Chris has said there was one on
> the south side of Dartmoor, but as far as I can discover, this operated in
> the 17th century only and was quite short-lived.
>
> Exeter was being supplied with finished ironware from the Midlands as early
> as the 1660s.  In the 1730s, Graffin Prankard of Bristol imported Swedish
> and Russian iron and distributed it over a wide area of the southwest, as
> far south as Beaminster, Dorset, and into Pembrokeshire, probably by men
> from there visiting the Bristol Fairs, but imports into Cornwall are likely
> to have been through more local ports.
>
> I think Treffry (or rather his agent) had not understood the difficulty of
> making wrought iron.
>
> I am not at all surprised that many mines employed a smith to make and mend
> tools.  I gain the impression that most finery forges had a smith on the
> staff, or at least on call for the same reason.
>
> Peter King
> 49, Stourbridge Road,
> Hagley,
> Stourbridge
> West Midlands
> DY9 0QS
> 01562-720368
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
> Tony Brooks
> Sent: 09 December 2010 19:22
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Mine smithies (and ironmongers) in Cornwall
>
>
> Hi All
>
> Following Chris Salter's comments I have come across the following
> reference
> from J T Treffry who was involved in the Retire Iron Mine here in Cornwall
>
> In a letter that he wrote in l849 he said:
>
>
>
>            Since I have found difficulty in selling my Iron Ores I have
> built a kiln for the purpose of smelting iron - where my Smelting Agent
> says
> he can make saddles, stamp heads and various other articles which we are
> constantly using - and as we have good peat (?) he says he could also make
> superior wrought iron - but, if I can barter my Iron Ores, I should not go
> to the expense of preparation for making wrought iron.
>
>
>
>  I have not established where Treffry's 'kiln' was located.
>
>
>
> By 1870 iron mining in Cornwall had almost ceased.  Certainly blacksmiths
> around 1905 would have obtained their iron from outside Cornwall
>
>
>
> Regards
>
>
>
> Tony Brooks
>