Author: Jeremy Hodgkinson

SMELT DAY DEMO SATURDAY 11 JULY 2026

Members of WIRG are invited to a demonstration of smelting local ore in the replica Roman era  bloomery furnace at Pippingford Park, off A22 near Nutley, E Sussex.

HOW TO FIND THE WIRG BLOOMERY

The site is in woodland at Pippingford Park. There is no precise post code but the mansion which is 100m further along the track forking right (take the left fork here) is TN22 3HW OS grid Ref is TQ 4387 3072 or the What 3 Words for the parking location alongside the drive is attention.fire.chuckle.  The furnace W3W is played.barrel.shiver. See the waymarker on the attached map – top centre on large scale map on right or top centre on left hand map for the furnace location. I will also put out WIRG direction signs from the Parking area.

Travelling from the north:

The site is off the A22 about 6 miles south as you leave East Grinstead (look for the Eastbourne A22 signs in East Grinstead as the junction is a bit complex) – keep going through Forest Row and then Wych Cross (lights). After 1.5 mile look out for a private drive on the left with Pippingford Park at the entrance at the start of a layby on the left. (If you get to a major car park on both sides of the road you have gone too far so turn around).

Follow the drive for about 0.25 mile ignoring side roads, bear left at the fork and park just after a track on the left. Park off the drive and keep the left turning clear as it is used by traffic from a wood yard.

Walk down this track, pass  under the power line and after about 15m bear off right into the woods downhill for approx. 100m. You may be able to see smoke from the site as from the track.

Travelling from the south:

Take the A22 north and pass through Nutley and continue about 1.25 miles past a large car park on both sides of the road. Carry on about 0.25mile and you will see the entrance to a layby on the right (the old road). Turn right at the northern end of this layby into the drive marked Pippingford Park.

Follow the drive for about 0.25 mile ignoring side roads, bear left at the fork and park just after a track on the left. Park off the drive and keep the left turning clear as it is used by traffic from a wood yard.  (See last para ‘Travelling from North’ for location in woods.)

We will be operating there from early morning until about 5pm with the bloom expected to be drawn around 4pm.

Should the weather forecast be wet please confirm with Tim on 01403 710148 Friday evening as we will have to postpone as using an electric blower will not be safe in wet weather.

EXPERIMENTAL SMELTING

The group carries out experiments in a bloomery furnace similar to those that were operated in the Weald from pre-Roman times until the end of the Middle Ages.

Smelts take place at Pippingford Park which is about six miles south of East Grinstead off the A22, between Wych Cross and Nutley.  We will be there from early Saturday morning to preheat the furnace and expect to start charging ore at about 11am with the drawing of the furnace around 3.30pm.

If you wish to attend please contact Tim Smith at the Secretary for detailed instructions how to find the site which is in woodland, and also so you can be informed should the event have to be postponed due to weather conditions which can be too wet (as we use an electrical pump) or too dry as the latter is a fire risk to the surrounding woodland.

Notices will be posted to indicate where to park.

NOTE, the site is in woodland so will be shaded but insects can be fierce so repellent, long sleeved shirt and trousers are recommended.

Attendance requires participants to be members of WIRG. If you are not a member an application form can be downloaded from application form (PDF). The Membership fee is £15 and includes a bi-annual Newsletter and the annual Bulletin Wealden Iron and the option to attend a programme of fieldwork in the autumn and winter, as well as bi-annual meetings with visiting speakers, small-scale excavations, and a variety of other projects undertaken by its members.

 

More Paintings of Early-Modern Ironworks

Following on from Tim Smith’s article in Newsletter 77 on the painting of ironworks by the artist Herri met de Bles that hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Grohmann Museum of the School of Engineering in Milwaukee, USA, has a collection of paintings of people in work situations. The collection includes two paintings by Marten van Valckenborch (1534-1612) which show furnaces and forges probably in the Meuse valley of southern Belgium.
Marten and his brother Lucas produced many paintings of similar scenes with ironworks as either the main subject or merely as features in the landscape.

A river valley with iron mining scenes, 1612; Marten van Valckenborch (Grohmann Museum, Milwaukee).

A smelt using the new reciprocating blower

In a move towards greater authenticity in our smelting experiments at Pippingford Park we have switched from our vortex blower, which supplies a constant flow of air, to an electrically driven reciprocating pump kindly denoted to WIRG by Peter Crew who conducted numerous experimental smelts using this in North Wales. Designed and built by Roger Miles, using a section of mains water pipe as the cylinder and a motor from a washing machine, the reciprocating pump better simulates blowing with bellows. This would have been the method used in early times, but requires a number of fit personnel to supply air for the duration of a day’s smelt.

Our latest smelt revealed both the change in colour of the flame as reduction takes place with the flame at the start being yellow and luminous as carbon monoxide is burning away, then fades to a more transparent flame as the ore consumes carbon monoxide during reduction. The flame returns to a luminous state during ‘burn down’ once all the ore has been reduced.

A temperature profile during the smelt shows a general fall in temperature while reduction takes place, as this is an endothermic (takes heat) reaction. This is best seen following the red line which is the thermocouple in the hotter position, closest to the reduction region.

A TV reporter from Meridian News filmed part of the smelt, interviewing me, and also Jeremy Hodgkinson, Jonathan Prus and Judie English the following weekend at the Fernhurst Open Day. You can see the filmed sequence HERE

Our final smelt for the season is scheduled for Saturday 8 October.  Should you wish to come, but the weather forecast be wet, check with Tim (01403 710148) on the Friday evening to see if we have had to postpone.

Tim Smith

Click HERE to see a short video of the different stages of the smelt (66.3Mb -Be patient!).

Help Needed – Who owns Roman sites?

Our sponsored PhD student Ethan Greenwood is planning his post-doctoral project, which will look further into Roman sites in the Weald. In these restricted times it will not be possible for him to call on prospective owners of sites to seek access to them, so he is appealing to WIRG members for help in identifying who owns some of these sites.

Details of the Roman sites can be found by following THIS LINK.

If you know a person who owns one or more of these sites, please pass on their contact details (address, phone number or email) to Ethan Greenwood so he can get in touch with them.