James,
I would be very very surprised if there were any man-powered bloomeries
still in operation as late as the 17th century in England. Most of the
written descriptions from this period imply the use of water-power, but
this does not mean that all bloomeries were so powered. SOme areas can take a
long time to adopt the new technology. However, most of the late bloomeries are
situated besides streams, which I assumed were to power the bellows if not the
hammer.
You might try contacting Effie Photos to ask her if the later
bloomeries in area of Scotland that she has been investigating were
water-powered (the HMS paper in Vol 32 does not have dates associated with most
of the sites however Allt na Ceardaich appears to be water-powered and had a
C-14 date of 1450-1660 cal AD, 2sigma, JHMS 32.1 p21).
The term 'machinery' sounds like a term to cover fixed apparatus,
rather than portable tools, etc.
Chris Salter
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