“Tuiron Hooke, a tool contrived for conveying a lump of tempered clay before the point of the tuiron plate, to guard the wall from wearing away as it would otherwise do in that part, there being the greatest force of the fire.
“Shammel Plate, a piece of cast iron fixed on a wooden frame, in the shape of a
“Firketts are large square pieces of timber laid upon the upper woods of the bellows, to steady it and to work it.
“Firkett Hooks, two strong hooks of square wrought iron fixed at the smallest end of the bellows to keep it firm and in its place.
“Gage, two rods of iron jointed in the middle, with a ring for the filler to drop the shortest end into the furnace at the top, to know when it is worked down low enough to be charged.
“Poises, wooden beams, one over each bellows, fixed upon centres across another very large beam; at the longest end of these poises are open boxes bound with iron, and the little end being fixed with harness to the upper ends of the firketts are thus pressed down, and the bellows with it, by the working of the wheel, while the weight of the poises lifts them up alternately as the wheel goes round.”
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As to the length of time these works continued in operation, the late Mr. Mushet, who knew the district intimately, in his valuable papers on iron, &c., considered that they were abandoned shortly after the date of the inventory, i.e. 1635, since, “with the exception of the slags, traces of the water-mounds, and the faint lines of the water-courses, not a vestige of any of them remains.”
He adds,—