Forge I (1742 & 2014)
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| Hemphill Castings, 2014. |
Approximate Co-ordinates: 52.503596, -1.830722 (Hemphill) 52.506395, -1.831621 (Forge).
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| Bromford Forge, as drawn by R. R. Angerstein who visited in 1742. |
Angerstein wrote of Bromford Forge in his diary:
Bromford Forge
In the morning of the 8th I went to Bromford Forge, which is located three-and-a-half English miles from Birmingham […], and is provided with water by the river ‘Edsborsen’ [river Tame] which flows past and partly through the town. In the forge, which is built out of wood, the hammer and its drive and other equipment were the same as in Sweden. There were three hearths in operation, two of them finery hearths using charcoal, and the third a chafery hearth heated with mineral coal. It required two hours to make a bloom weighing 1 ¼ cwt. The weekly production was 7 tons, and last year the total production amounted to 340 tons. The wages were 99s.6d, which is divided between ten people. The finers, numbering six, get 10s.6d each, and the four hammermen 9 shillings each. The iron made here is cold-short. The works belong to Messrs Knight and Spooner, who also own the blast furnace that lies on the other side of Birmingham, to the west.
Nail Smithies
On the way to Bromford I saw several nail factories, where there were generally four smiths for each small hearth.
Rabbits
On the way I encountered a large number of rabbits that had dug their holes on a sandy heath. Here stood a watchman’s hut, indicating that they belonged to a farmer in some village in the neighbourhood.
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