Category: Uncategorized

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 What3Words 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.

The 2026 Summer Meeting and AGM will be held on Saturday 1st August
at Fairwarp Village Hall, East Sussex
with a visit to the site of Hendall Furnace and Forge in the afternoon.

Further details in due course.

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 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.

 

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.