Apart from Powdermill lane/wood/hotel/country club/etc near Battle I've not heard of powdermills - please explain! _________________ [url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]
[/url]
Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:56 am Post subject: Re: Powder Mills
V wrote:
How relevant are the old powdermills of sussex to the bonfire celebrations of sussex ?
no particular relevance at all according to the information here
battle gets a namecheck for producing very high quality powder, but only in the context of post-1650 manufacture, although there is a mention of "illicit" powder-making in sussex prior to this
it's a safe bet, though, that there was a lot of home-made gunpowder in the area, primarily because charcoal is an important component and there was obviously loads of that available given the coppicing and charcoal burning across the weald (by the way - did you know that the village of blackboys near framfield and east hoathly was named after the blackened charcoal burners that used to live and work in the area !) - there would also have been all the relevant technology to hand for preparing sulphur and nitrates given all the old iron-smelting furnaces and bloomeries across the (eastern part) of the county....
bit more digging reveals that there were plenty of gunpowder mills throughout the county at pevensey, sedlescombe, brede, and six different ones down the length of the astern stream between catsfield and crowhurst - farthing works, house works (the biggest and first established), pepperengheye, lower pepperengheye and two un-named mills at crowhurst
the other thing to remember, of course, is that the wealden iron industry meant that the area supplied all manner of ordnance to the military by way of canon from tudor and elizabethan times - mayfield and buxted in particular were famous for this sort of thing - it makes perfect sense that the powder would have been manufactured near the source of the guns, i suppose
it's also stated in several sources that as the natural resources for iron working, and the demand for the products, both diminished (after the threat from the spanish armada receded) many wealden iron foundries turned to powder making as an alternative trade, as the existing hammer ponds provided the required power source, and there was plenty of charcoal to hand - these "local mills for local people", however, meant that there was a lot of pretty crap gunpowder being made, and as from the early 1600's a royal charter was required before you could make it, and it had to be quality-assessed by some governement sort, hence the establishment of more formal mills as the 17th century progressed
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Join! (free) 
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
Maresfield powder mills c.1830 to c1855... is this were Fletching used
