The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-12-02
IRON IN BRITAIN.
Its Manufacture Mentioned by Cesar,
Pliny, solinus and other Romans.

Il
It's Manufacture Mentioned by Cesar.
Pliny, soiinus and other Roman
At what time the manufacture of iron
was first attempted in Britain can not
be precisely ascertained. Caesar men-
tons that the currency of the inhab-
itants of Britain consisted partly of iron
rings, adjusted to a certain weight
(%.utuntur aut acre aut annulis ferries, |
ad certum pondus ex aminatis, pro num-
mo'), and, as he states in the same |
breath that their brass was imported |
('.are utuntur importantly, it may rea-
sonably be inferred that their iron was
of home manufacture. However, Ce- |
sar may have erred in asserting that |
Britain produced but little iron ('nas-
citur ibi in maritimis [regionibus] fer |
rum; sed ejus exigua 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 '.gold, silver and
other metals" Pliny alludes 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.. G. L. Prince, of the observatory,
Crowborough Beacon, in the year of
| 1874, of tibulae, coins and Samion ware
In a cinder-bed at Crowborough. These
he took to Rev. Edward Turner, of
Maresfield, whose archaeological acu-
men pronounced them to be evidently
| Roman. Immediately upon the judg-
ment being pronounced, Mr.. Turner
| directed his attention to a heap of
scorie or cinders so called laid ready
for use by the side of the London road.
In this heap he also found a small frag-
ment of pottery, which, on examination,
proved to be Roman. These cinders
had been dug on Old Land farm, in
his own parish of Maresfield, and close
to Buxted. He at nee visited the spot,
and found that the workmen engaged
in the digging were exposing to view
the undoubted remains of a 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 VI IL varying ocPln iioni "
to ten feet having been already re-
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 a considerable quantity of broken
Roman pottery, evidently the remains
of a funeral deposit. The number of
skeletons also discovered in this cinder-
bed led to the inference that the IRON
works at his place were carried on by
the Romans during a long series of
years. So exceedingly numerous were
the remains of Roman pottery on the
spot that scarcely a 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, Vespasian,
Tetricus and Dooletian, tibule, armil-
la, 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 Westiield, 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 iroa-works carried on
by the Romans in England were in the
county of Worcestershire. So extern
sive 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
scor Sc for their principal supply OF
metal. The scorie 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 a 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 the
chief objects made. But the art, under
stood as such, was altogether unknown,
or in so rude a state that it could not
be prosecuted with advantage. In
Do omsday-Book the iron trade of Sus-
sex is not mentioned, although the iron
trade of Cheshire, Hereford, Gloucester,
Somerset and Lincoln is spoken OF. The
earliest actual record of the iron trade
of Sussex is contained in the mirage
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 prece pit from the King
e~xchecquer, made a provision Of horse.
shoes and nails of different sorts for the
expedition against the Scots.-Art Jour.
nal.
A Curious Javanese Custom.
A curious custom of the natives Of