Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Large pond bay still extant. Suggested site of Markfield iron furnace or forge.

Monument Types

• IRON WORKS? (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
• POND BAY (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

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[TQ 64924311] Matfield, Brenchley; iron working site? There is a large bay across the valley here, with no visible slag or charcoal. Below the bay are contorted masses having the appearance of the roots of large trees, of a rusty iron colour, composed of coarse sand held together with iron oxide. (The soil of the bay and fields is clay without sand). It is considered to be spent moulding sand. This site may possibly have been an adjunct to John Brown's foundry at Horsmonden. Place names: Cinderfield, Cinderhill Wood (these are probably not connected). (1) TQ 64854303. A large pondbay, in good condition, apart from breaches (see OS 25"). No slag or cinder found. Upsteam, at TQ 64504270 and TQ 64624244, are two more bays in fairly good condition, and at TQ 64704292 is a fragment of a third much smaller bay, the greater part of which has been ploughed out. These were probably supply ponds. Surveyed at 1:2500. (2) TQ 649430, Matfield Furnace (?) or Forge (?), water-powered. Bay, length 110m, height 2.75m, breached by streams at both ends. Water system. The west stream has two bays for pen ponds, both dry. TQ 647429, 35m long and 0.75m high. TQ 645427, 80m long with a height of 3m both up and down stream, breached by stream near centre. Probably Straker's site (see auth 1). His casting sand located 1.5m west of stream 3m downstream of bay. The east stream had a bay for a pen pond at TQ 647424, 60m long and now levelled. Working area. The only evidence for any iron workings comes from placenames: - large Cinder Field occupies much area between two streams; There is also Cinderhill Wood, TQ 650427. There are no convicing grounds for accepting this as an iron furnace for 17th century references to founding in Brenchly fit better with Horsmonden furnace (see TR 64 SE 4). Matfield could perhaps, have been the Brownes' brass foundry. The place-names could refer to bloomery cinder. (3) Surveyed in March 1993 by the RCHME Cambridge field survey team. The complex consists of four dams or 'bays' and their associated features, a number of quarries and an area of coppiced woodland which is not certainly contemporary. Documentary reserach on the John Brownes brass foundries has revealed no reference to the Badsell Park Farm site, suggesting that the earthworks were unlikely to have been connected with any form of metalworking. The nature of the earthworks suggests water powered industry of some sort. One possibility is a fulling mill for the preparation of Kentish broadcloth, an industry known to have been active in this region in the 16th century. Surveyed at 1:1000 scale. [See archive report for details]. (4) Herbert argues that the placename evidence probably refers to a MD or earlier bloomery site elsewhere. Whitney points out that the name "Cinderhill" in C13 predates the resumption of MD metalworking in the area, suggesting that they refer to remains of RO metalworking. (5) Main pond bay at TQ 6469 4290, smaller one to the W at TQ 6443 271

Additional bibliography (6-11)

Archive material (12)

<1> Wealden Iron 1931 (E Straker), Page Nos. 281 (OS Card Reference). SKE51283.

<2> F1 ASP 22.02.63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42225.

<3> Cleere, H. Crossley, D. (et al), 1985, The Iron Industry of the Weald, Page Nos. 177,192 (Monograph). SKE6385.

<4> Field report for monument TQ 64 SW 8 - February, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3276.

<5> RCHME, 1993, RCHME: Badsell Park Farm, Kent (Collection). SKE6486.

<6> 1993, Badsell Park Farm/survey (Graphic material). SKE6387.

<7> RCHME, 1993, Badsell Park Farm/computer plot (Graphic material). SKE6388.

<8> RCHME, 1993, Badsell Park Farm, Matfield, Kent: An Archaeological Survey, Oswald AWP & Pattison P, 22-MAR-93, RCHME Field Investigation (Unpublished document). SKE6403.

<9> Archives of the Wealden Iron Research Group (OS Card Reference). SKE37354.

<10> Not applicable, SMR Kent uncatalogued index entry, Colts Hill bypass: arch. aspects of assessment of alternative route. Oxford arch. unit, 1994. (Miscellaneous Material). SKE6440.

<11> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1994, Colts Hill Bypass: Archaeological Aspects of the Assessment of Alternative Routes (Unpublished document). SKE6872.

<12> Historic England archive material associated with Badsell Park Farm (Archive). SKE53831.

Sources and further reading