An earlier example of unintentional fluxing at Medieval workings at Minepit
Wood, Sussex, is offered by J.H. Money in MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY 15 (1971).
In this case the iron ore co-occurs with a thin bed of shelly limestone.
Lucky fellows!
Agricola (1556) mentions use of unslaked lime flux in a shaft furnace. Use
of this flux and water powered bellows allowed considerably larger size for
this furnace than common in earlier models.
-Ron Reno
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