I cannot close without thanking Miss Lucy Drucker of 38 Belsize Square, London, for her assistance at the Public Record Office, Somerset House, and the British Museum. Miss Drucker was recommended to me as a quick and clever searcher: a reputation which I found to be by no means exaggerated.

In the last place, I am indebted to Mr. Kitchin for his untiring attention to these pages as they passed through the press, and also for his trouble in connection with the publication of the work.

ULVERSTON,

A. F.

OCTOBER, 1908.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF IRON.

Origin of the use of iron unknown. Scripture history. Pagan

tradition. Ancient Britons. Iron-making by the Romans. Saxon

rule. Under the Norman Kings. Its decline and recovery. Not

encouraged by the Tudors. Iron-making in the seventeenth century.

The use of coke. Early attempts and final success. The change

from charcoal to coke. Inventions of the eighteenth century.

PAGE

I

PART I. THE MINES.

CHAPTER I.

THE MANOR OF PLAIN FURNESS

Furness little known in pre-Norman times. Domesday Survey. The

Norman lords. Foundation of the Abbey. The wealth of Furness.
Evidence of ancient mining. Mining grants registered in the Coucher:
(1) Orgrave, (2) Alinschales, (3) Merton. Ore got by the Monks
before 1235. The mines. Abandoned prior to the Dissolution.
"Plain " or "Low" Furness. Alienation of land after the Dis-
solution; Elliscales, Mouzell, and Roanhead. Mining lease to
William Sandys, 36 Hen. VIII. Petition of William Southwood,
7 Jas. I.; His lease. Grant to Scriven and Eden, 9 Chas. I.
Its descent to the Duke of Devonshire. Grant of the Lordship
to the Duke of Albemarle, 13 Chas. II.
Descent of the Lordship of Furness.
century. In the eighteenth century.
1707: To Thomas Lower, 1717: To Myles Troughton, 1721: To
Troughton and Hall, 1729. Other leases, 1746-7. Subsequent opera-
tions. Production of Ore. Hills Pits. Crossgates. Heaning
Wood. Ward Close. Lindal Cote. Elliscales. Longlands and
Newton. Whitriggs. Plan of Whitriggs, 1752. Mining in free-
holds. Wetflat. Discovery of the great ore deposits.

Other grants to the Duke.
Mining in the seventeenth
Lease to William Matson,

CHAPTER II.

THE MANOR OF PENNINGTON

Origin of the Pennington family unknown. Mining of compara-

tively recent date. Early references. Tenants encouraged to

search. The first lease. Searches. Ore found. Search discontinued.

New lease. Trials abandoned. Minerals of no value in 1794.

Discovery of the Lindal Moor deposit. Lease of 1799. Rise and fall.

ΙΟ

45

CHAPTER III.

THE MANOR OF MUCHLAND WITH BOLTON AND ADGARLEY

The lords of the Manor. Earliest record of mining, 15 Hen. VIII.

Complaint of Sir William Norreys. Lease to Walter Curwen,

34 Hen. VIII; His interest sold to Thomas Preston, 20 Elizabeth.

Grant to Francis Preston, 7 Jas. I. Complaint of Wilson and

others, 14 Jas. I. Grant to Ditchfield and others, 4 Chas. I.

Information by Sir Wm. Jones, 31 Chas. II. Lease to Sir Thos.

Lowther, 7 William and Mary. Mines leased by Sir Wm. Lowther.

Backbarrow and Cunsey Companies. Other mining companies.

Production. Bolton and Adgarley. No very early records of

mining. The Backbarrow Company. Production. Westly-lands.

Other trials in Muchland.

Origin and descent. Early references to iron. "Insulated

Plumpton." Mining in the eighteenth century. Legal proceed-

ings. Backbarrow and Cunsey Companies. Production. Trial

on Arrad.

DESCRIPTIVE

CHAPTER V.

The veins and beds. Early methods. Appliances. Raising of

ore and water. Windmill at Plumpton. Engines at Whitriggs.

Shafts and levels. Miners tools. Breaking the rock. Use of

gunpowder. Ventilation. Timbering. Accidents. Filling up of

pits. Management. The mining companies and their neighbours.

The miners. Costs. Small profits.

THE ORE

CHAPTER VI.

52

67

74

88

Early sales.

Descriptions. Medicinal uses. Supplied by various

parties in 1712. Places of shipment. Ironmasters begin to mine.

Early shipments. Roads and carters. Measuring and shipping.

Protection. Stainton ore. Risks of mining. Wetflat ore.

riggs ore. Lindal Moor ore. The shipping season. Competition.

Total production unknown. Small demand. Large stocks.

Whit-

PART II.

THE WOODLANDS.

CHAPTER I.

THE WOODS

The Forest of Furness. A sylvan solitude. Encroachments.

Woods an encumbrance. Protected by Elizabeth. Use of wood

for iron-making strongly opposed. Woods of Furness in pre-

Reformation times. At the Dissolution. Ealinghearths. Abolition

of the bloomsmithies. The bloomsmithy rent. Survey of 1567—

Low Furness-Furness Fells. The decree of 12 Elizabeth. Sur-

vey of Parkamoor. Wood-right, In High Furness. Inquiry of

1609. Low Furness. Woods in Colton division become freehold.

Parliamentary Survey. Depositions in 1638. Grants to the Duke

of Albemarle. Grants of timber by the Duke of Montagu. The

woods of Low Furness, Return of Commissioners in 1607. Survey

99

of 1609. Customs. Survey of 1662. Manor of Pennington:

Destruction of woods. Sowerby Wood. Kirkby Ireleth and Much-

land. The botes." The woodlands described in the

century. Mutilation of trees. Scarcity of timber in the 18th

Utility alone considered. Complete destruction of the

century.

forest.

THE CHARCOAL

CHAPTER II.

18th

Early references. Scarcity of fuel. Sources of supply. Work in

the woods. Charcoal burning. Yield and quantity consumed.

Competition. Charcoal from Scotland, Boatage on Windermere

and Coniston lakes. Private purchases. The wood agents. Public

sales. Ironmasters in agreement. Division of supplies. Wood-

owners' grievances. A furnace built, and the "Wood Articles."

Backbarrow Company's action. Rival ironmasters. The wood-

owners' address, 1748. Ironmasters' statement, 1750. Legal

proceedings. Final settlement. The wood-owners' position.

Iron-making divided into five periods. North Britons and the

use of iron. Roman ironworks in Furness improbable. Furness

before the Conquest. Grant by Wm. de Lancaster to Prior of

Conishead. Hearths or bloomeries mentioned in the Coucher.

Iron-making by the Monks. Scots carry away iron from Furness,

1316. Early reference to iron-making in Manor of Ulverston.

Iron-making at the Dissolution. The bloomeries: their sites. Not

wind-furnaces. Use of water. A simple process. The sites ex-

plored, and hearths uncovered. Their form and plan. Earliest

description of a local hearth. Working, The cinder used at the

smelting furnaces. List of bloomeries. Process adopted by the

Monks. In general use after the abolition of the bloomsmithies.

Tenants supplied with Iron by the Abbot. Iron-making by the

tenants of High Furness. Furness Fells in time of Elizabeth.

Inferences.

THE BLOOMSMITHIES

The three smithies.

CHAPTER II.

Leased to Wm. Sandys and John Sawrey.

Lease surrendered and new one granted. Complaint of Wm. Raw-

linson and his wife. Cunsey and Force Smithies. Their structure

and appliances. The decree of Elizabeth. The smithies

abandoned. The trade. The ore road. Last reference in public

records. General remarks.

128

158

178

CHAPTER III.

THE BLOOMERY FORGES

Woods in Colton become freehold. Way open for trade. Cunsey.

Force. Coniston. Hacket. Burblethwaite. Cartmel. Backbarrow.

Burnbarrow. Spark. Stony Hazel. Descriptive. Milnthorpe

Forge. End of the bloomery process.

THE SMELTING FURNACES

CHAPTER IV.

A new departure. Backbarrow. Cunsey. Leighton. Nibthwaite.

Duddon. Newland. Lowwood. Pennybridge.

191

207