Eric Gibson
master brummie
You may already know about this then Gen. https://www.forestofdeanhistory.org.uk/learn-about-the-forest/whitecliff-furnace/
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Birmingham steel making
- Thread starter Morturn
- Start date
I think the reference in McKenna's book came from J.H.Muirhead's book "Biurm knjgham Institutiions" (downloadable from https://archive.org/details/b24853574/page/n3/mode/2up?q="birmingham+institutions")
Richard Dye
master brummie
Genmac1, thank you for this update. I have a keen interest in steel making in Birmingham and have many questions but a few right now if you can help.
* In the late 16th and early 17th century were they actually smelting iron ore?
* Do you know areas where the ore was mined?
* Was the reason to keep moving resource based?
* Do you know when they started to make steel from?
Thank you in advance for any answers/reponses!
Hi Eric
Thank you for this very informative link to the Forest of Dean History Society especially relating to growth of the iron and steel industry in the Forest of Dean. My initial specific interest is the early development of the tin plating and rolling industries in the Lydney area where one part of my family were involved from 1780 until 1830 when they moved to Cookley near Kidderminster along the River Severn. Most of the tin plating rolling mills were owned by the Foley family.
Another side of the Forest of Dean family hailed from Yorkley and Whitecroft involved in leather work and coal haulage
Richard, I am very interested in early and later development of Iron and Steel Industries in the South Staffordshire areas including Handsworth which originally was in South Staffordshire before it became part of Birmingham which is part of my family history. In answer to some of your questions ,the following is my best attempt bearing in mind that the early history is sparse:-
Locations of small Iron Blast Melting Furnaces in Birmingham area in late16th and early 17th centuries.
(Ironworks furnaces were owned successively by Richard Parkes, Lord Willoughby (Middletons) ,Goreinge & Co, Thomas Nye and Richard Foley)
- BROMWICH FURNACE - opened in 1590 in West Bromwich on the Handsworth border by Richard Parkes
- in 1773-1775 owned by Richard Jesson who became an 'Iron Master'
- 1808 the Dawes family became owners and the 'Iron Masters'
- ASTON FURNACE - opened in 1615 was on Hockley Brook near Porchester Road and Furnace Lane
- owned by Jenners
- Hockley Brook used to power the 24ft blast furnace bellows
- Charcoal, Oak, Ash & Birch
- iron ore sourced from local coal mines
Eric Gibson
master brummie
I first came to Clearwell in the Forest in 1965 Gen, many of the villagers worked at 'the tin works' which at that time was located at Redbrook a village on the Wye., I've also lived in Yorkley and I'm currently settled down in Bream.
Just outside Coleford there's a monument to the Mushets.
https://www.visitdeanwye.co.uk/explore/famous-people/david-and-robert-mushet
Just outside Coleford there's a monument to the Mushets.
https://www.visitdeanwye.co.uk/explore/famous-people/david-and-robert-mushet
Richard Dye
master brummie
Thank you! This is very good information. As with all research like this we have to collect the pieces of information to bring them into focus!
Richard Dye
master brummie
Eric, that is a very information (at least to me), thank you for sharing!
Heartland
master brummie
I did discuss the ironmaking in this area in my book South Staffordshire ironmasters, with the History Press and an article has been submitted to the Black Countryman for possible future publication on Steel Making. But the details of the early steel house in Steelhouse Lane are hard to come by.
Aston Furnace was active for a time using charcoal in the blast furnace.
John Kettle is name that appears in early trade directories as living in New Street and being a steel maker for a time.
He may be the John Kettle was was in partnership with Joseph Kettle who faced bankruptcy proceedings later
Then there was a John Kettle whose will of 1803 mentions property and farms at Erdington, Bromsgrove and Northfield. He had property in New Street also mentioned that was leased to the road carrier George Swain. He also had shares in the Birmingham Canal Navigations. He had a son called John, who may be the partner of Joseph Kettle.
Aston Furnace was active for a time using charcoal in the blast furnace.
John Kettle is name that appears in early trade directories as living in New Street and being a steel maker for a time.
He may be the John Kettle was was in partnership with Joseph Kettle who faced bankruptcy proceedings later
Then there was a John Kettle whose will of 1803 mentions property and farms at Erdington, Bromsgrove and Northfield. He had property in New Street also mentioned that was leased to the road carrier George Swain. He also had shares in the Birmingham Canal Navigations. He had a son called John, who may be the partner of Joseph Kettle.
Once again Eric thank you very much for your excellent link and helping me to extend my working knowledge to the social history associated with my family origins in Lydney and Yorkley .Yes I am very interested in the development of tin plating and tin plate rolling in the Lydney area as some of my ancestors worked in this new fledging industry between 1780 - 1830.
Also I was also very interested in Robert Forester Mushet 1811- 1891 metallurgist and 'iron master' based in Coleford in the Forest of Dean. The list of his metallurgical achievements are impressive:-
- first person to start to develop 'alloy steels' in early 1800's
- invented 'self hardening Manganese Steel' Fe /8%-15% Mn now used all round the world for railway lines now called Hadfield's Steel - the rolling action of the railway wheels keeps hardening the rails first used at Derby (Midland Railway) in 1857
- first to develop 'hot top feeders' on top of sand casting iron moulds to contain the 'solidification shrinkage' defects
- first to develop with his father David Mushet in 1818 a high quality superior pure iron more malleable and more suitable for tinplate by direct smelting in the Dark Hill coke fired iron furnace rather than the older poorer post refining method
Also I was also very interested in Robert Forester Mushet 1811- 1891 metallurgist and 'iron master' based in Coleford in the Forest of Dean. The list of his metallurgical achievements are impressive:-
- first person to start to develop 'alloy steels' in early 1800's
- invented 'self hardening Manganese Steel' Fe /8%-15% Mn now used all round the world for railway lines now called Hadfield's Steel - the rolling action of the railway wheels keeps hardening the rails first used at Derby (Midland Railway) in 1857
- first to develop 'hot top feeders' on top of sand casting iron moulds to contain the 'solidification shrinkage' defects
- first to develop with his father David Mushet in 1818 a high quality superior pure iron more malleable and more suitable for tinplate by direct smelting in the Dark Hill coke fired iron furnace rather than the older poorer post refining method
I hope that you will be able to publish your book in Black Countryman in near future. Always wondered about the origin of the naming of Steelhouse Lane.
Heartland
master brummie
It was Hutton in his History of Birmingham published in 1795 that explained the involvement of the Kettles as beginning in the 17th century. It seems that William Kettle was associated with land purchases in the early 18th century including Whitehall Lane, as it then was. The Kettles are sometimes described as iron mongers.
Richard Dye
master brummie
Genmac, was the material in your last paragraph that was coated with tin iron or steel? I am very familiar with tin plating and always using steel as the substrate. Iron in its raw state is not flexible while being ductile.
Thanks for your clarification……
Thomas Warren was an auctioneer. Not clear who the sellers were , or, as they are "not resident", perhaps they have become bankrupt. The site seems to be that later occupied by The Steam Mill co in 1818 , and labelled on maps of c1824 and c1839 as "New Steam Mills Co", as shown on the maps below.
Richard sorry for any confusion on my part.
The initial success of early producing small thin gauge tin plate for items such as cans in the early 1800's in the Forest of Dean was to produce a low carbon iron (Fe /0.1%C) which is sufficiently 'malleable/ductile' to be hot rolled and subsequently cold rolled to thin gauges prior to coating with a very thin layer of tin (prior to the development of Bessemer Convertor to make steel in the mid 1800's.)
HOT DIP PROCESS (1800-1850 Lydney/Wolveley)
Hot forge billet
Hot roll into strip sheets to medium thickness gauges
'Black' Pickling in weak acid to remove black iron oxide mill scale, followed by washing in water
'Black' Annealing at 800-900 degrees Centigrade for 10 -14 hours and slow cool for 48 hours to soften (more ductile) the sheets ready for cold rolling
Cold Rolling using highly polished rolling mill rolls to finished thin gauge sheets
Hot Dip thin iron sheets into molten tin (with flux) at 232 degrees Centigrade to coat with very thin layer of tin
(This was later basis of the large British Steel Tin Plating plant, which had now moved to South Wales, using modern continuous strip rolling mills using ductile low carbon mild steel processed in Bessemer Converters)
Eric Gibson
master brummie
When my father worked for Wolseley Sheep Sheering they had a tin plating section, I recall him telling me that one of the staff was caught stealing the tin from the dipping tank, it was noticed because the tin was not quite fully molten so left a hole in the surface where the tin was scooped out.
Richard Dye
master brummie
Thank you!
Heartland
master brummie
The Cast Steel furnace is not in Steel House Lane, but the bottom of Fazeley Street, and as noted by the advert was owned by someone outside the West Midlands and yes I agree it became the site of the New Steam Mill.
The Kettle property in Steel House Lane may not have been a location for converting iron into steel but simply a house, or warehouse for storing steel brought from elsewhere. As the road to Coleshill met up with the bottom of Steel House Lane, Steel or iron brought along the Upper Trent Navigation may well have come that way prior to the turnpikes,
The William Kettle who will is dated 1733 seems to make no mention of a steel furnace, but different properties around Birmingham, Erdington and in Worcestershire
The Kettle property in Steel House Lane may not have been a location for converting iron into steel but simply a house, or warehouse for storing steel brought from elsewhere. As the road to Coleshill met up with the bottom of Steel House Lane, Steel or iron brought along the Upper Trent Navigation may well have come that way prior to the turnpikes,
The William Kettle who will is dated 1733 seems to make no mention of a steel furnace, but different properties around Birmingham, Erdington and in Worcestershire
Heartland
master brummie
I finally found a map of Birmingham, dated 1731, which does show Kettle's Steel Houses which are two in number.
They are evidently works for the conversion of iron into steel.
They are not marked as such on the 1755 map, but there are shapes on that map which correspond
Not far away on the 1731 map is Carlesse's Steel House, which is shown as Turner's Brass Works on the 1755 map,
So steel making in Birmingham at that time was clearly an important trade. The question that must be answered was how iron was converted in into steel at that time.
They are evidently works for the conversion of iron into steel.
They are not marked as such on the 1755 map, but there are shapes on that map which correspond
Not far away on the 1731 map is Carlesse's Steel House, which is shown as Turner's Brass Works on the 1755 map,
So steel making in Birmingham at that time was clearly an important trade. The question that must be answered was how iron was converted in into steel at that time.
Heartland
master brummie
Pitt's account of Joseph Heydon is indeed a useful description of how steel was made using Spanish or Swedish iron encased in fireclay and heated by burning coal in a furnace. Perhaps such a method was used by Carless / Careless and the Kettles in Birmingham. There was a decree of secrecy in the method, or art, to know the time to remove the bars from the furnace. It would seem that the carbon content within the iron was alloyed to make steel, even if the chemistry/ metallurgy of the process was then not fully understood.
Bromley, Kingswinsford had access to local supplies of fireclay, but for Birmingham, if it was used, such clay would require transport. Swedish and Spanish Iron had to be brought by sea and land carriage, although the Severn or Trent might have been used in the late seventeenth century as well. For the Severn. Bewdley had road links to South Staffordshire, and Birmingham. and there were also road links from Wiln Ferry on the Trent at that time. As to the Thames there was a head of navigation at Lechlade.
Hearth returns for Birmingham in 1682 and 183 mention the Carless family as ironmongers owning hearths
Bromley, Kingswinsford had access to local supplies of fireclay, but for Birmingham, if it was used, such clay would require transport. Swedish and Spanish Iron had to be brought by sea and land carriage, although the Severn or Trent might have been used in the late seventeenth century as well. For the Severn. Bewdley had road links to South Staffordshire, and Birmingham. and there were also road links from Wiln Ferry on the Trent at that time. As to the Thames there was a head of navigation at Lechlade.
Hearth returns for Birmingham in 1682 and 183 mention the Carless family as ironmongers owning hearths
