Chart Programme

The Coalbrookdale Historical Archaeology Research and Training Programme

The Coalbrookdale Historical Archaeology Research and Training programme was inaugurated in 2001 to provide training in historical archaeology for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and to investigate previously unexplored aspects of the archaeology of Coalbrookdale. The broad themes being examined are

• Industrial innovation and change after the dissolution
• Seventeenth century steelmaking
• Landscape change and industrialisation
• The manufacture and consumption of beer
• Nineteenth and twentieth century working class domestic life

These themes have been examined using a wide range of field techniques including field survey, geophysical survey, building recording and excavation. The main focus of our excavation work has been at the Upper Forge, less than 1km from the historic Darby Furnace at Coalbrookdale.

This project is a collaboration with Professor Ronald A. Ross (Wilfred Laurier University, Canada). We are also extremely grateful for financial support over the years from the Borough of Telford and Wrekin and the University of Birmingham.

After the Dissolution

The period immediately following Henry VIII's dissolution of monastic estates saw an enormous shift in patterns of wealth in society. One of the beneficiaries of this was Robert Brooke, a key figure in parliament in the mid-sixteenth century, who bought the Manor of Madeley (including the Coalbrookdale valley) in 1544. In 1572 the estate passed to John Brooke, and then in the 1590s his son Basil Brooke took over the Manor and invested heavily in the iron industry.

The main focus of activity at that time was the Upper Forge, one of three (possibly four) forging sites in Coalbrookdale. Considerable investment was made by the Brookes in the works at the Upper Forge, and also in the waterpower system throughout Coalbrookdale. Although the Brooke family fortunes were adversely affected by the Civil War (they were Royalists and Catholics and their estates were confiscated), they continued to manage the Coalbrookdale complex after the Restoration. However by the 1680s their main interests were elsewhere, and the ironworks was leased to a series of tenants - of whom Abraham Darby was one in 1708.

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Steelmaking

One of the most interesting and innovative features of the Brookes' investment programme was the construction of a cementation steel furnace in around 1619. The remains of this furnace - the first of its kind in England - were unearthed in 2005. A slightly later sister furnace, probably in use from the 1630s, was excavated during the 2004 season. The cementation process involved the carburisation of wrought iron bars in a charcoal-packed chest, creating relatively large quantities of 'blister steel' which was used for edge tools and weapons. The furnace was probably fired with coal. The technology was developed in Germany in the 1570s, and Sir Basil Brooke was the pioneer of this method in England.

The first Coalbrookdale furnace was later enlarged and modified, and both furnaces were in use until the 1680s, when the ironworking complex began to be leased out to others. By the time Abraham Darby arrived in Coalbrookdale in the early 18th century, the steel furnaces were no longer in use.

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Landscape Change

Traditionally the idea of the 'industrial revolution' has assumed a dramatic and sudden change in people's lifestyles and the environment. In reality, both changes were much more gradual and had their origins in the later middle ages.

Several aspects of landscape change are being explored as part of the CHART project. These include the use of environmental sampling in the various watercourse pools, including the Boring Mill Pool adjacent to the site, and the Upper Furnace Pool further up Coalbrookdale. Elements of this work also feature in the Upper Coalbrookdale Landscape Project. Conventional techniques of landscape survey and geophysical survey are also being deployed.

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The Malthouse

By the 1730s the southern part of the Upper Forge site was in use as a malthouse, the buildings having been converted from the remains of the steel furnace. The excavation found that many of the stones from the steelworks buildings had been re-used to construct the rectangular malthouse building.

The entire footprint of the malthouse has now been excavated during the 2005 season. The building measured some 20m by 6m. The steeping tanks for soaking the barley were located at the south end, and were supplied with water from the headrace to the Boring Mill Pool via a wooden trough. One of the set of steeping tanks had been constructed through the foundations of the second steel furnace. The kiln was at the northern end, and the brick floor of the kiln survived intact. The drying floor was above the level of surviving remains, but the numerous drying-floor tiles were recovered from the fill of related features.

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Domestic Life

During the eighteenth century a series of tenement buildings were constructed to the eastern side of the malthouse, which continued in use. By the 1840s however, the malthouse was no longer operational, and had itself been subdivided into twelve small single-room tenement houses each three stories high.

Much of the evidence for this nineteenth century phase survived on site, and indeed the tenement houses remained occupied until the mid-1960s. Mid-twentieth century artefacts were recovered in quantity from the fill of the cellars, along with a variety of earlier finds. Of particular interest were discrete deposits of domestic artefacts which could be associated with individual domestic units.