No 184 Nov 2011 1

www.sihg.org.uk

Currach building at the Meithiel Mara community workshop, (www.mmara.ie), Cork. (left)

The man-lifting engine house at Allihies copper mines, erected c.1862 and recently restored, with Paul Sowan of SIHG and Subterranea Britannica. (below left)

A 1929 Francis turbine displayed at the Ardnacrusha power station. (below right)

See AIA Conference report, page 8. Photos by Glenys Crocker.

SIHG is a group of the Surrey Archaeological Society, Registered Charity No 272098 Castle Arch Guildford Surrey GU1 3SX Group President: Prof AG Crocker FSA

Published by the Surrey Industrial History Group and printed by YesPrint 3 Leafy Oak Workshops Cobbetts Lane Yateley GU17 9LW © SIHG 2011 ISSN1355-8188 Newsletter 184 November 2011 2 Contents 2 Surrey Industrial History Group Officers 3 Surrey History Centre - The Surrey Heritage Online Shop 3 Diary: 23 November 2011- 31 January 2012 4 Other Industrial Archaeology Organisations 7 The AIA 2011 Conference at Cork report by Alan Crocker and Glenys Crocker 5 Wylam’s Other Railway Pioneers (part 2) by Bob Bryson 8 Early Metal Working in Surrey - A Round-Up of Current Archaeological Projects by Pam Taylor 8 The Changing Nature of Innovation - an Historical Overview by Dr John Russell, Past-President, Newcomen Society 9 Railways Around Leatherhead & Dorking by Peter Tarplee book review by Gordon Knowles 9 British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to mid 18th Centuries by Jeremy Hodgkinson

Reports & Notices Details of meetings are reported in good faith, but information may become out of date. Please check details before attending.

SIHG Visits, Details & Updates at www.sihg.org.uk

Surrey Industrial History Group: Half Term Visit 16 February 2012 Thames Bridges & Clock Museum via Thames Clipper Contact Geoff Roles, [email protected]

South East Regional Industrial Archaeology Conference SERIAC 2012 28 April 2012 at St Bartholomew’s School, Newbury Organized by Berkshire Industrial Archaeology Group BIAG, www.biag.org.uk  The Times of Plenty by Ellie Thorne  20th Century Military Sites in West Berkshire by Duncan Coe  The Steam Mechanisation of Agriculture by Jane McCutchan  Watermill: its History and Recent Developments by Mildred Cookson  Allens of by Jonathan Brown  200 Years of Boulton and Watt at Crofton by Jon Willis  Visits & Displays An application form with full details will be enclosed with the January 2012 SIHG Newsletter. This is also available on our website, www.sihg.org.uk.

SIHG Membership Renewal The SIHG membership database has been merged with the recently established Surrey Archaeological Society database. Cheques payable to ‘Surrey Archaeological Society’ please, to Castle Arch, Guildford GU1 3SX The membership form is available on our website, or please contact Pam Taylor (see p 2) for a printed form.

Surrey Industrial History Group Officers Chairman & SIHG Lectures Organiser: Robert Bryson, [email protected] Secretary: Alan Thomas, [email protected] Treasurer: Anne Lea, [email protected] Membership Secretary: Pam Taylor, [email protected] Newsletter Editor: Jan Spencer, [email protected] Newsletter 184 November 2011 3 SIHG Newsletter No 184 November 2011 DIARY The 36th series of SIHG Industrial Archaeology Lectures continues on alternate Tuesdays, 1930 - 2130, University of Surrey (Lecture Theatre F) Enquiries to programme co-ordinator, Bob Bryson, [email protected]. Maps at www.sihg.org.uk Free parking is available in the evening on the main campus car park. Single lectures at £5, payable on the night, are open to all.

The Spring 2012 Thursday Morning Lecture Series at Leatherhead starts on 12 January 2012. Enquiries to Ken Tythacott, [email protected], or Geoff Roles, [email protected]. As seating is strictly limited, enrolment is for the whole course only; casual attendance is not possible.

Diary November 2011 29 Tue Surrey Industrial History Group Guildford Lecture: The Life and Works of John Rennie by Peter Cross-Rudkin, ICE Panel for Historical Engineering Works. Diary December 2011 13 Tue Surrey Industrial History Group Guildford Meeting: Members’ Talks; all welcome, free.

Diary January 2012

10 Tue Surrey Industrial History Group Guildford Lecture: The Lost Countryside: Images of Rural Life by Chris Shepheard, Director Rural Life Centre.

12 Thu SIHG Leatherhead Spring Lecture Series begins: Railway Races to the North by Ken Tythacott. 24 Tue Surrey Industrial History Group Guildford Lecture: The Role of the Surrey Archaeological Society by David Calow, SyAS Secretary.

Surrey History Centre - The Surrey Heritage Online Shop A variety of research products and publications is now available online.  The newly completed Surrey tithe records CDs and DVDs  Archaeology books from SCAU’s SpoilHeap Publications  Surrey Ordnance Survey historical maps CDs set  “Surrey on Film 1914 - 1953 - A community in peace and war” DVD  Godstone Poor Law Union Application and Report Books indexes on CD  Chertsey Poor Law Union Admission and Discharge Books indexes available online and on CD  Surrey Regiment Recruitment Registers CD  Dennis Specialist Vehicles pamphlets. A limited number of original Dennis vehicle handbooks are also for sale by calling Laurence Spring on 01483 518737. Go to www.surreycc.gov.uk/surreyhistorycentre and click on [Surrey Heritage Shop] for further details.

The deadline for submitting copy for the next Newsletter is 10 January 2012. Copy is accepted in typescript, on a floppy disk, CD or USB stick or by email to [email protected]. Anything related to IA will be considered. Priority will be given to Surrey-based or topical articles. Contributions will be published as soon as space is available. Readers are advised that the views of contributors are not necessarily the views of SIHG. Website: www.sihg.org.uk Newsletter 184 November 2011 4

Other IA Organisations

Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre: next to Amberley railway station, West Sussex, www,amberleymuseum.co.uk. Anne of Cleves House (Wealden Ironwork): 52 Southover High St, Lewes, E Sussex, BN7 1JA; 01273 474610; [email protected] Association for Industrial Archaeology: www.industrial-archaeology.org. Basingstoke Canal Authority: 01252 370073. Brighton Circle (, Brighton & South Coast Railway): www.lbscr.demon.co.uk. Chatham Historic Dockyard: Kent ME4 4TZ; www.chdt.org.uk. Cobham Bus Museum: London Bus Preservation Trust, Redhill Road, Cobham, Surrey KT11 1EF; www.lbpt.org. Crofton Beam Engines : Crofton Pumping Station, Crofton, Marlborough, Wilts, SN8 3DW; www.croftonbeamengines.org, 01672 870300. Crossness Pumping Station : The Old Works, Belvedere Road, Abbey Wood, London SE2 9AQ; www.crossness.org.uk, 020 8311 3711. Croydon Airport Visitor Centre: Aiport House, Purley Way Croydon CR0 0XZ; www.croydon-airport.org.uk. Croydon Natural History & Scientific Society: meetings: Small Hall, United Reformed Church Hall, Addiscombe Grove, E Croydon. Cuffley Industrial Heritage Society: Northaw Village Hall, 5 Northaw Road West, Northaw EN6 4NW; www.cihs.org.uk. : Access via Didcot Parkway Station; www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk. Docklands History Group: Museum in Docklands, No 1 Warehouse, West India Quay, Hertsmere Road, London, E14 4AL; www.docklandshistorygroup.org.uk. East London History Society : Latimer Church Hall, Ernest Street, E1; www.eastlondonhistory.org.uk. Enfield Society: Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane, Enfield, EN2 0AJ; www.enfieldsociety.org.uk. Fetcham U3A: Fetcham Village Hall; www.fetchamu3a.org.uk/indutrialheritage1.htm, [email protected]. Greenwich Industrial History Society: Old Bakehouse, Age Exchange Centre, 11 Blackheath Village, SE3 (opposite Blackheath Station). Great Dorset Steam Fair: South Down, Tarrant Hinton, nr Blandford, Dorset DT11 8HX; www.gdfs.co.uk. Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society: Willoughby Theatre Charterhouse Square; 020 8692 8512, Guildford Museum: Castle Arch, Guildford, Surrey GU1 3SX; [email protected]. Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Yard (off Gresham Street), London EC2V 5AE. Hampshire Archaeology Society (HIAS): Underhill Centre, St. John's Road, Hedge End, SO30 4AF. Hampshire Mills Group: www.hampshiremills.org. Heritage Walks, Woking: with Iain Wakefield, [email protected]. Heritage Open Days: 1 Waterehouse Square, 138-142 Holborn, London EC1N 2ST; www.heritageopendays.org.uk. Honeywood Museum: by Carshalton Ponds, Honeywood Walk, Carshalton, Surrey SM5 3NX; www.friendsofhoneywood.co.uk. Kempton Great Engines: Feltham Hill Road, Hanworth, Middx TW13 6XH (off elevated section of A316); www.kemptonsteam.org. Kew Bridge Steam Museum: Green Dragon Lane, Brentford, Middlesex TW8 0EN; www.kbsm.org. Kingston upon Thames Archaeological Society: URC, Union St/Eden St, Kingston upon Thames; [email protected]. Lewisham Local History Society: Lewisham Methodist Church SE13 6BT. London Canal Museum: 12/13 New Wharf Road, N1 9RT; www.canalmuseum.org.uk. London Transport Museum, Acton Depot: 2 Museum Way, 118 - 120 Gunnersbury Lane, London, W3 9BQ; 020 7565 7298. London Underground Railway Society; Upper Room, All Souls Clubhouse, 141 Cleveland Street, London W1T 6QG; www.lurs.org.uk Lowfield Heath Windmill: Russ Hill, Charlwood, RH6 0EL (TQ 234 407). National Trust: www.nationaltrust.org.uk, 01483 561389. Newcomen Society London: Fellows’ Room, Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD. Newcomen Society Portsmouth: Room 0.27, Portland Building, University of Portsmouth, St James Street off Queen Street, Portsea. Open City London (Open House London): www.open-city.org.uk. Portsmouth Historic Dockyard: www.historicdockyard.co.uk. Railway & Canal Historical Society: The Rugby Tavern, Rugby Street, London WC1; www.rchs.org.uk Rotherhithe & Bermondsey Local History Group: Time & Talents Centre, Old Mortuary, St Mary Church Street, Rotherhithe Village, SE16; www.kingstairs.com/rotherhithe. Royal Gunpowder Mills: Waltham Abbey; www.royalgunpowdermills.com. Rural Life Centre, Old Kiln Museum, Reeds Road, Tilford, Farnham, Surrey GU10 2DL. Shalford Mill (National Trust), Shalford Guildford Surrey GU4 8BX. Shere, Gomshall & Peaslake Local History Society: Shere Village Hall, Gomshall Lane, Shere GU5 9HE; www.sherehistorysociety.co.uk. Shirley Windmill: Postmill Close, Shirley, Croydon CR0 5DY; [email protected]. Southwark and Lambeth Archaeological Society: Housing Co-op Hall, 106 The Cut SE1 8LN (almost opposite the Old Vic). Spelthorne Museum: Elmsleigh Road, Staines TW18 4PN, (access through library), 01784 461804, www.spelthornemuseum.org.uk. STEAM - Museum of the Great Western Railway: Kemble Drive, Swindon, SN2 2TA; www.steam-museum.org.uk Surrey & Hampshire Canal Society (The Basingstoke Canal): Parish Pavilion, Station Road, Chobham; ww.basingstoke-canal.org.uk. Surrey History Centre: 130 Goldsworth Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6ND, 01483 518737, [email protected]. Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society (SIAS): www.sussexias.co.uk. Sussex Mills Group: www.sussexmillsgroup.org.uk. Twyford Waterworks:Hazeley Road, Twyford, Hampshire SO21 1QA; www.twyfordwaterworks.co.uk/. Wanborough Great Barn: Wanborough, N of Hog’s Back, Guildford GU3 2JR; 01483 444751, www.guildfordmuseum.co.uk. Watercress Line (Mid-Hants Rly): Alresford Station, Alresford, Hants SO24 9JG or Alton Station, GU34 2PZ; www.watercressline.co.uk. Weald & Downland Open Air Museum, Singleton: Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 0EU, 01243 811348. Wealden Iron Research Group: Nutley Memorial Hall, Sussex, (North end of village, West side of A22). Westcott Local History Group: Westcott Reading Room, Westcott near Dorking, Surrey RH4 3NP; [email protected]. Wey & Arun Canal Trust: The Granary, Flitchfold Farm, Loxwood Billingshurst, West Sussex RH14 ORH; www.weyandarun.co.uk. Wings & Wheels at Dunsfold Park: near Cranleigh, Surrey GU6 8TB; www.wingsandwheels.net. Newsletter 184 November 2011 5 Wylam’s Other Railway Pioneers (part 2) by Bob Bryson

In 1828 the boiler of the Locomotion ex- Hackworth’s Royal George in 1827 ploded, killing the driver. She was rebuilt but did not perform well. The main problem was the inability to produce enough steam for a twenty mile run. took over respon- sibility for the Locomotion and enlarged the boiler and installed a return fire tube. This im- proved the performance of the , but by 1827 Hackworth had already build a new locomotive, the Royal George. Hackworth’s locomotive was mounted on six wheels, the cylinders were vertical, inverted and outside the boiler, and pistons and connecting rods drove the rear wheels. The Royal George, then the most powerful engine ever built, was half as heavy again as Stephenson’s engines and of- fered better adhesion coupled with less track wear. She cost £425 to build and was in service for nearly 20 years. The records show that the Royal George was a more efficient and powerful locomotive than others used by the that the Rocket designed largely by the young Robert Ste- Stockton and Darlington Railway. An eminent engineer, phenson won this competition. T U Rastrick, visited the railway in January 1829 on be- The competition was held at Rainhill during October half of the directors of the proposed Liverpool to Man- 1829. Each competing locomotive had to haul a load of chester railway, in particular he wished to weigh up the three times its own weight at a speed of at least 10 mph. relative merits of the different forms of traction. His note- The had to run twenty times up and down the book contains a table of the earnings of the locomotive track at Rainhill, which made the distance roughly equiva- drivers for March1828, at a rate of a farthing per ton of lent to a return trip between Liverpool and Manchester. coal per mile hauled by their engines. William Gowland, Afraid that heavy locomotives would break the rails, only driver of the Royal George, earned £37.8s.11d, whereas machines that weighed less than six tons could compete in the other drivers including James Stephenson (Georges’s the competition. brother), who usually drove Locomotion, earned between £18.5s.4d and £22.18s.ld. However it has to be admitted Timothy Hackworth entered a new engine called Sans that when Rastrick made his report to the Liverpool to Pareil. Hackworth’s Sans Pareil design included a return- Manchester railway directors he did not recommend loco- tube boiler and steam was exhausted up the chimney by a motives, but, (incredible as it seems now,) preferred fixed blast-pipe to draw the fire as fiercely as possible. Cylinders engines with rope haulage. It would seem that Hack- were vertical but were inverted so the pistons drove the worth’s engine, despite its strength, did not apparently rear pair of wheels directly by connecting rods. The main have the qualities needed to persuade Rastrick and his weakness of this approach was that it effectively prevented colleagues that the future lay with steam-powered loco- springs being used to carry the locomotive. At first there motion. In the event, the Liverpool to Manchester direc- were doubts whether Hackworth’s Sans Pareil would com- tors agreed to hold a trial at Rainhill in 1829, to discover pete as she weighed more than the six tons limit. However, whether any better locomotives might emerge. Ten loco- it was eventually agreed to let Timothy Hackworth show motives were originally entered for the but what his new locomotive could do. Sans Pareil, despite only five turned up and two of these were withdrawn be- making some good runs at average speeds equal to the cause of mechanical problems. It is common knowledge Rocket, consumed enormous quantities of coke. The Rainhill trial was not a happy experience Sans Pareil entered by Timothy for Hackworth. After a promising start the Hackworth in the Rainhill Trials Sans Pareil suffered a cracked . Ironi- cally, the cylinder had been cast by the Ste- phensons. While there was no actual evidence of any wrongdoing Hackworth felt he had been sabotaged. Considering the state of the art at that time cylinders exploded with alarming regularity. The problem was traced to a fault in the casting of the joint between the cylinder and the steam pipe that left just one sixteenth of an inch thickness of metal instead of what should have been seven eighths of an inch.

(Continued on page 6)

Newsletter 184 November 2011 6

Replica of Sans Pareil entered by Timothy Hackworth in the Rainhill Trials.

(Continued from page 5) Hackworth was incensed, writing to the Liverpool The outstation at board, claiming that Shildon incorporates the former home of Timothy “...circumstances over which I could not have Hackworth. The museum is built on the original any control from my peculiar situation, com- Stockton & Darlington Railway Shildon Works site, pelled me to put that confidence in others which became Timothy Hackworth’s Soho Works. which I found with sorrow was but too implicit- The museum is basically in two halves, the area ly placed.” around Hackworth’s old house, which tells the story of the part played by Timothy Hackworth in the birth Despite its failure to win the competition, the own- of passenger railways, and a large modern building ers of the Liverpool & Manchester railway decided to called Locomotion which houses the various steam purchase Sans Pareil and the engine was kept in service train exhibits.. ¤ until it was sold to John Hargreaves & Son in 1831. They leased it to the Bolton & Leigh Railway where it was used to haul goods and passengers until 1844. The locomotive was then leased to a colliery that used the locomotive as a stationary engine until 1863. The Sans Pareil was then restored by the Soho Iron Works at Bolton and in 1865 was presented to Hackworth’s Sans Pareil No 2 of 1849 the South Kensington Museum. In 1833 Hackworth decided to form his own Soho locomotive building company at Shildon. The company was very successful and Hackworth lived in a fine house facing the Shildon Railway Station, which is now part of the memo- rial to Timothy Hackworth I mentioned at the start of this article. Hackworth continued to build engines for the Stockton & Darlington Railway, but also worked for other British and over- seas railways, including lines in Nova Scotia and Russia. He died on 7 July 1850 a year after building Sans Pareil No 2, which he regarded as his master- piece.

Newsletter 184 November 2011 7 The AIA 2011 Conference at Cork report by Alan Crocker and Glenys Crocker This year the annual conference of the Association example, the 1850s Jonval turbine, which we recorded in for Industrial Archaeology was held at University College 1993, was hidden by vegetation and litter. We were Cork from Friday 26 August to Thursday 1 September. pleased however to see that research on the history of the About 80 people (fewer than usual) attended the main mills carried out by the late George Kelleher, a friend of conference at the weekend and about 40 stayed to the end ours, was recognised by a commemorative plaque in the of the following programme of visits. We were unable to park. attend the introductory seminar on the Friday, which On Sunday evening we had an excellent lecture on included talks on a 19th century Quaker textile village, a Irish copper mines and on Monday morning we set off at narrow gauge railway, Limerick’s flour milling heritage, 9 to visit those at Allihies on the coast in West Cork. On Ireland’s inland waterways, the work of an industrial the way we saw, from a distance, a disused railway via- archaeologist, the birth of Aer Lingus and the archaeology duct of 1847 and a five-storey cotton mill. We also had a of urban planning. Three of these talks were given by brief stop at Bantry and eventually reached the copper research students of Colin Rynne, the local organiser of mines museum at 2.30. After viewing the displays and the conference. We also missed a visit to Midleton distill- enjoying an excellent lunch (for which we later had reason ery but had been there in 1993 when we attended the to be thankful) we went on a walking tour of some of the opening ceremony of the Ballincollig gunpowder mills ruins, including an impressive man-engine. We set off to museum, located on the outskirts of Cork City. The distill- return to Cork at 5, the time when we were scheduled to ery has an 1835 Peele & Williams beam engine, an 1852 get back! We arrived at 9 in the evening, having missed Fairbairn suspension waterwheel 22ft in diameter and a dinner (the food had been sent to a charity) and the pot still of 1826 which is the largest in the world. We evening’s lecture. We had biscuits and cups of tea in the arrived just in time for dinner (after a 20 minute walk kitchen at our residence. from our residence) and a talk by Colin Rynne on the IA of the south Munster region. The first visit on Tuesday was to the Cork Corpora- tion Waterworks of 1858, originally powered by steam On Saturday morning we had three talks: on the but- engines and Fourneyron water turbines by MacAdam ter trade - Ireland exported butter to distant parts of the Brothers of Belfast, who also supplied a similar water world before refrigeration; distilling in County Cork; and turbine to Catteshall Mill, Godalming. The works are the local Monard Iron Works, which made all kinds of occupied by ‘Lifetime Lab’, an educational/tourist attrac- spades. We were particularly interested in the iron works tion. We then had a tour of industrial archaeology sites in as we had explored the derelict site in 1993 and have a Cork city including a brewery, a maltings, a distillery and video of the mills working, which was shown as part of a Ford tractor factory, at one time the largest tractor works the presentation. The first part of the afternoon was occu- in the world. Some of us also made a spontaneous infor- pied by five members’ contributions, including one on the mal visit to a small boat builder’s workshop run by a com- Czech Republic and one on Malta. Then, after tea, we had munity training scheme, where they make currachs. That various awards including one for publications. The SIHG evening we had a cheese and wine reception at Cork Newsletter should be submitted next year! The conference Public Museum, of which Colin Rynne’s wife is the cura- dinner was held at a local hotel that evening. tor. Sunday morning started with the AIA AGM. We On Wednesday we visited the hydroelectric scheme remembered John Day, the SIHG member who died in at Ardnacrusha on the Shannon in County Clare near Lim- June and was well known in industrial archaeology and erick. On the way we stopped at the elegant railway historical engineering circles. After the meeting there were station at Mallow and glanced at the potato market, docks, talks on the next AIA overseas visit, which is to be to flax spinning and weaving mill and Shannon bridges at Tasmania, and on next year’s AIA conference to be held Limerick, where we found our own lunches. Then we in Essex. It is now 21 years since SIHG hosted it in Sur- went to the power station. In 1925, three years after inde- rey. After coffee the Rolt memorial lecture was delivered pendence, Ireland placed a contract with Siemens- by Patrick Malone, a professor of urban studies and Amer- Schuckert to build this plant together with 3,400km of ican civilisation at Brown University, Rhode Island. He overhead cables, two railways (900mm and 600mm talked about the use of water power at Lowell, Massa- gauge) 100km long, and a giant millrace from the chussetts, where in the mid-19th century J B Francis Shannon 12.6km long. Initially three Francis turbines developed his eponymous turbine, and in particular about were installed but a Kaplan turbine was added 4 years current controversial planning issues concerning the dam. later. Each was rated at 30,000hp and the head of water The lecture was of particular interest to us, and we look was about 30m, depending on the water level in the head- forward to its publication in the IA Review, because we and tail-races, the latter being tidal. When we entered the made a very memorable visit to Lowell in 1993. The power house none of the generators were working but at Royal Gunpowder Mills Ballincollig, which we had also about 3.30 the Kaplan turbine was switched on from a visited that year, was the venue for the Sunday afternoon control room in Dublin. The other turbines would be conference visit. The remains had been conserved and the switched on later as the demand for electricity increased. Visitor Centre and a reconstructed incorporating mill had We set off back to Cork and arrived in time for a wine and been built with European funding but had been closed cheese reception at the Cork Butter Museum. after a few years - a familiar story. We were saddened to see how the site has deteriorated. The incorporating mill is now locked up and other buildings are neglected. For (Continued on page 8) Newsletter 184 November 2011 8

(Continued from page 7) Finally Alan visited St Finbarre’s Cathedral, which On Thursday there was a trip to Cobh (formerly was designed by William Burges, the architect responsi- Queenstown), the last stopping place of the Titanic, and ble for restoring Cardiff Castle and the nearby Castell Kinsale to see an early cottage lighthouse. However we Coch in the late 19th century. were flying home that afternoon and decided to spend the morning looking around Cork City again. We visited So, in retrospect it was a very enjoyable conference the local studies library and discovered information in spite of several irritating hiccups. The only other about the Magnay family, who had paper mills near SIHG member present was Paul Sowan; perhaps there Cork as well as on our local site at the Albury/Chilworth will be a few more in Essex next year - 10-16 August at boundary (later Botting’s corn mill). Then we looked Chelmsford and being promoted as an alternative to the around the ‘English Market’, very much like the indoor Olympics. The draft programme looks good and we are markets we remember from the 1950s and visited by the assured that the residences are near the conference. See Queen earlier this year. page one for pictures. ¤

Early Metal Working in Surrey - A Round-Up of Current Archaeological Projects: Raby’s Downside Mill and The Rural Life Centre by Pam Taylor

We start with a training dig that was conducted by Sur- cating metal production and working. It would seem that Sur- rey Archaeological Society in the summer of 2008 The site rey had a more widespread metal capability than had previous- was in Cobham Park, at Downside Mill, one of the places ly been supposed. There is scope for a study of iron-working where Alexander Raby operated. This enterprise has been along the Wey and Mole valleys, if anyone has the interest and documented in the book, Alexander Raby, Ironmaster, the expertise to help, we shall be happy to make the contact. proceedings of a conference in 1998, edited by Glenys Crock- There is also an opportunity to take part in experimental er. A small number of SIHG members took part during the dig. archaeology and its application. At the Rural Life Centre, Not surprisingly, much evidence of metal working and produc- Tilford, there has been a project to research, build and run a tion was found in the excavation. During the post-excavation half-scale working Wealden Iron Furnace. This is nearing work samples were sent to English Heritage for analysis, as completion, and a test burn in the furnace was carried out re- they were deemed to merit further investigation. EH experts cently which was witnessed by members of the Wealden Iron have now reported that the finds were indeed special, as they Research Group, including Alan and Glenys Crocker. Alan show early evidence of being subjected to a cold puddling wrote about the visit in the September 2011 SIHG Newsletter. process, which had only been patented as the Cort process a SIHG has recognised the achievement to date by awarding a short time before the date of the Downside Mill works. As grant to allow completion of the work. Once the furnace is such, they are the earliest recorded examples in the country. ready to start the production and working of the metal it is EH plans to publish its analysis fully, the report runs to 47 intended to run it for demonstration purposes as part of the pages, in Industrial Archaeology Review, and relevant details museum’s programme. To do this, enthusiastic volunteers are will also be published in SyAS Collections. needed to help man and run the furnace; the initiator of the Any metallurgists, amateur or professional, among our project, Gerald Baker, would be very happy to receive offers members who could help in any way with the interpretation of of help with any part of this. Anyone who has an interest in, or this important site and its artefacts, should contact me, or an- knowledge of, this classic Wealden industry will be welcome other SIHG committee member. to assist; perhaps you have practical information on the sources of ironstone or the preparation of the ore? Please con- Further interest in metallurgical samples is also being sider offering your help to this fascinating project. ¤ engendered on several of the sites currently being excavated by SyAS members, by the unexpected finds of samples indi-

Surrey Industrial History Group Lecture 4 October 2011 The Changing Nature of Innovation - an Historical Overview by Dr John Russell, Past-President, Newcomen Society

Dr John Russell began by saying that to awaken the trial history of, say, the Victorian and Edwardian eras, can interest of engineers and technologists in the history of their accommodate the reality of 20th century technology and professions, this history needs to be made relevant to their engineering and its operating environment.” work and to their career development. John later said “Our approach must be nearer that of Materials science has been a major influence on the industrial anthropology, rather than industrial archaeology, development and use of technology, and on engineering prac- where we can talk with those involved in the actual practice of tice. Drawing upon innovation case studies about the devel- engineering, and not rely solely on past historical records”. opment and use of synthetic polymers or plastics, he showed how the nature of the innovation, and hence the practice, of The speaker stressed that traditional studies in industrial engineering and technology has changed quite radically over history should not be set aside; rather we should complement the past hundred years. In the past it was largely entrepre- this with a new focus on the present and the future. In particu- neurial with a low science base, but it now involves fusions lar we should endeavour to describe the way specific technolo- of technologies, complex relationships between sophisticated technology based organisations, and very specialised engi- gies have evolved over time, and to reach out to where our neering disciplines working alongside business. He said “It prospective and current engineers and technologists are learn- begs the question whether the approaches taken to the indus- ing or practising their craft. ¤ Newsletter 184 November 2011 9 Railways Around Leatherhead & Dorking by Peter Tarplee IBSN 978 0 9552785 6 3: 158 pages - 136 B&W photographs & 11 maps book review by Gordon Knowles

Peter has aimed his latest book at Industrial lines too are not forgotten, the general reader and, as he says in the both standard and narrow gauge. The introduction, not at “rivet-counting rail- quarry systems at Betchworth and way enthusiasts and ‘gricers’”. Neverthe- Brockham and the tram lines at Chil- less there is much to inform even those worth gunpowder works and at Mizen’s who already have some knowledge of the watercress farm at Fetcham are covered area and its railways. Many of the gener- and illustrated; as are the Epsom hospi- ally excellent illustrations are from the tals railways from Ewell West. Pre- Leatherhead & District Local History served and model lines are included and Society and various other local collec- finally Peter looks at the post WWII tions, but there are some that are not at- situation and speculates on the future. tributed that I suspect Peter has taken The book covers a wide spectrum and is himself. He has also uncovered some that a good read. It is recommended to both are new to me, and, I suspect, to most the industrial archaeologist and the so- readers. There is a useful map in the fron- cial historian as well those with a more tispiece showing the opening dates, not general interest in local history. It is a only of those lines around Leatherhead and fitting companion to the earlier work by the late Alan Dorking, but also covering the complicated system Jackson published in 1999, “The Railway in Surrey” and around Epsom and on to London; and also West to adds to the wide range of books now published by the Guildford and South to Horsham. It is a pity that the two Leatherhead & District Local History Society. Jackson towns that feature predominantly in the book are in the covered the whole county and obviously did not go into fold in the centre of the map. Perhaps a foldout map as much detail as Peter has done on the local scene. would have been better, but no doubt the question of cost There is a useful list for further reading, and what is not influenced that decision. always found in books of this format, but essential for There are 14 chapters; they range from the first the serious reader and researcher, is an index. The only railway in the locality, that of the Reading, Guildford proof reading error I have spotted is in the Introduction and Reigate through Dorking in 1846, and other early which conveniently lists the opening dates of the various local railways, including Leatherhead’s first in 1859 and local lines. 1867 is shown correctly for the line from the extension on to Dorking in 1867. The ‘new line’ to Leatherhead to Dorking and Horsham, but it is preceded Guildford via Cobham is discussed as is the route from by “1867 Leatherhead to Leatherhead”!!! Leatherhead to Effingham junction across and under The perfect-bound book costs a very reasonable £10 Bookham Common, both in 1885. Peter then covers the and is available from local bookshops, at the Leatherhead electrification of the local lines and the extension from Museum or post free from the Sales Secretary, Leather- Chessington to Leatherhead that never was - stopped by head & District Local History Society, The Museum, 64 the outbreak of WWII. Station architecture is not over- Church St., Leatherhead KT22 8DP. ¤ looked, from the classic London & Brighton at Leather- head to the typical London & South Western at Bookham and on the Cobham line.

British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to mid 18th Centuries by Jeremy Hodgkinson

From the sleeve notes: Illustrated with more than 300 photo- Firebacks began to be made in Britain in the first graphs, this first survey of British firebacks half of the sixteenth century. From the purely functional sets out to explore their development and purpose of protecting the back of the fireplace and re- variety, and to provide interpretation, where flecting heat into the room, it was not long before the possible, of the decoration to be found on opportunity was taken to embellish their plain surfaces. them. The illustrations are to scale so the Their decoration provides us with a reflection of the relative sizes of firebacks can be compared, social history of the times in which they were made, and there is a comprehensive gazetteer with whether in the heraldry of royalty and the landed class, full details of each fireback shown. the religious and political turmoil of the Stuart period, Available from Hodgers Books or the beginnings of the Enlightenment and the redis- Price £24.99 covery of classical literature.

Recording Factory Closures A good opportunity to record the history & to rescue traditional papers & machinery! If you hear of a factory which is about to close, please report it to us; contacts on page 2.