Next Weekend - 12th and 13th of September - is the Fernhurst Furnace Open Weekend - details here. Just outside Fernhurst (but in Lynchmere parish) the remains of the 17th Century furnace with its cannon casting pit and its pond are possibly the most intact remnant of the Wealden Iron Industry, a distributed network of foundries and forges which prior to the industrial revolution was the heart of iron making in England. I wrote about last years open weekend here - it was my second post.
The aim of the weekend is to raise awareness of the furnace, its place in Wealden Iron Industry and its impact upon the environment and landscape whiched helped shape much of which we see and enjoy today. The remaining structures desparately need proper conservation and ideally facilities for education and interpretation, Admission is free and there are plenty of related demonstrations to see including the sealed knot and their cannon.
The blacksmiths will be there going hammers and tongs, as will the charcoal burner and many other rural crafts that would have supported the furnace in operation. For examlpe, it would have required around 2500 acres of coppice to provide enough charcoal to keep the furnace in operation.
Click on the flyer to enlarge or to download a jpg copyA couple of weeks ago we spent some time with Volunteers from the South Downs board, the Lynchmere Society and the Fernhurst Furnace Preservation Society to remove some of the undergrowth from the site and prepare access to the areas surrounding the furnace for the open weekend .
You can still see the original watercourse which led from the wheel-pit (this furnace actually had two wheel pits) around the cannon casting pit. You can just see the circular remains of the cannon casting put below the watercourse.
It's great to be able to experience the furnace during the peace and quiet of late summer as we work to conserve it and also during the noise and hubbub of the weekend when it comes alive giving us just a glimpse of how it would have been during it's century and a half of operation.
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