The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-12-10
IRON IN BRITAIN.
It's Manufacture Mentioned by Cesar
Pliny, Solinus and Other Romans.

It's Manufacture Mentioned by Cesar
Pliny, Solinus and Other Romans.
At what time the manufacture of iron
vas first attempted in Britain can not
pc precisely ascertained. Caesar men
lions that the currency of the inhab-
itants of Britain consisted partly of ipon
rings, adjusted to a certain weight
("utuntur aut acre aut annulis ferries,
I'd certum pondus examinatis. pro num-
mo'D, and. as he states in the same
breath that their brass was imported
(..are utuntur importatO'), it may rea-
sonably be inferred that their iron was
Of home manufacture. However, Ca-
sar NAV have erred in asserting that
Britain produced but little iron (''nas-
citur ibi in maritimis [regionibus1 fer
rum; sed ejus sxigua est copia' }. his
allusion is useful As proving his knowl-
edge of the fact that the island was not
destitute of this invaluable mineral
The '.maratime regions" referred to by
him were, in all probability. the wealds
of Kent and Sussex. Tacitus tells US
that Britain produces ''goid. silver and
other metals" Pliny ailudes to the
smelling of iron in this province,
and Solinus not only mentions the Brit
ish iron. but specifies the agricultural
and other implements fabricated from
it in his time. A discovery was made
by DR.. c. l.. Prince, of the observatory.
Crowborough Beacon. in the year of
1874, of tibuiae. coins and Samion ware
in cinder-bed ut CrowborOugh. These
he took to Rev. Edward Turner. of
Maresiield, whose archaeological aeu-
men pronounced them to be evidently
Roman. Immediately upon the judg-
ment being pronounced, Mr.. Turner
directed his attention to heap of
scori;e or cinders so called laid ready
for use by the side of the London road.
In this heap he also found small frag
ment ofpot.ery. which, on examination.
proved to be Roman. These cinders
had been dug on Old Land farm, in
his own parish of Marestield, and close
to Buxted. He ut once visited the spot.
and found that the workmen engaged
in the digging were exposing to view
the undoubted remains of Roman set
Element. The place in question is the
site of one of the innumerable fields Of
iron scori;e making the localities OF the
extinct furnaces and FORCES OF the Sus-
sex weald. The bed was originally Of
great extent, no less than six or seven
acres Of it varying in depth from two
to ten feet) having been already re-
moved for the purpose of repairing the
roads. A few days previously
to Mr.. Turner's visit the labor
ers had opened, in the middle of this
field. a kind of grave. about twelve
feet in depth, at the bottom of which
lay considerable quantity of broken
Roman pottery, evidently the remains
Of funeral deposit. The number of
skeletons also discovered in this cinder-
bed led to the inference that the IRON
works at bis place were carried on by
the Romans during long series Of
years. So exceedingly numerous were
the remains of Roman pottery on the
spot that scarcely 4 barrOw-load of Gin
ders was driven out that did not con-
tain several fragments of it. The prin-
ciple objects rescued from destruction
were the coins of Nero. Vespas'an.
Tetricus and Doolet;an, tibul;e, armil-
le. fragments of coarse fictile vessels,
chiefly domestic, red samian ware,
glass, sheet lead full of nails. From the
the preponderance of the coins of Yes
pasian it is very probable that these
works were commenced during the
reign of that Emperor. At Seddlecombe
and Westtield. respectively, five and
three miles north of Hastings, coins
have been also found in cinder-bedS. Be-
fore dismissing the historical portion
of this subjects which relates to
the Romans it may be stated
that the greatest iron-wOrks carried on
BY the Romans in En- gland were in the
county of Worcestershire. So extern
siye were those works, and so imper-
feet the smelling practiced by them,
that in the sixteenth and following
centuries the irOn-masters, instead OF
digging for ore. resOrted to the beds of
SCORE for their principal supply of
metal. The scori;e found at Mares
field and other Roman iron-works are,
owing to the fact of this imperfect
knowledge, much more valuable than
other cinder-beds for road-making. be-
cause they contain far greater pro-
portion of iron. As regards the seven
or eight centuries which succeeded the
departure of the Romans from Britain,
history and archaeology are alike silent
on the subject of Sussex iron. But
doubtless the Romanized Britons. and
the Saxons after them, continued the
art of smelling and working iron upon
the old sites. 1t is probable also that
the establishment of the Danes in Eng
land improved this manufacture. At
this period small pieces of mallea-
BILE iron. called foot blasts, were thu
chief objects made. But the art, under
stood as such, was altogether unknown.
or in go rude a state that it could no:
be prosecuted with advantage. In
Doomsday- Book the iron trade of Sus.
sex is not mentioned, although the irou
trade of Cheshire, Hereford. Gloucester.
Somerset and Lincoln is spoken of. Tn,
earliest actual record of the iron trad,
of Sussex is contained in the nanract
grant made BY Henry H., in 1866, to
the town of Lewes. This empowered
the inhabitants to raise tolls for the re-
pair of the town walls after the battle.
Every cart laden with iron for sale. from
the neighboring weald, paid one penny
toll, and every horse-load of iron hall
that sum. In 1881, reign of Edward l..
iron was smelted at st. Leonard's forest
In 1920. reign of Edward H., Peter de
Walsham, sheriff of Surrey and Sussex.
by virtue of a precept from the King
exchecquer, made provision of horse
shoes and nails of different sorts for tn.
expedition against the Scots.-Art Jour
nal.
A Curious Javanese Custom.
A curious custom of the natives Of
Java in the neighborhood of the Bromo