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Fountains Abbey: History
Fountains Abbey: Buildings
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Iron (30/33) Almost no handiwork is wrought without iron; no field
is eared, no tilling craft used, nor is any building constructed
without iron.
Iron was an important resource and was required to make tools, fittings and horseshoes, clippers to shear sheep and everyday objects such as buckles, keys, pots and pans. It was even used for construction work. Fountains therefore required a considerable amount of iron to provide for its needs. The community had several forges, for example, at Dacre, Aldborough and Bradley (Kirkheaton), as well as Allerdale, in Cumberland.(136) The site of the forge at Bradley is today marked by earthworks and slag, and may, in fact, be the earliest known medieval water-driven industrial complex in the country.(137) Fountains acquired its lands in Bradley in the late twelfth century, and probably sought these out specifically for the high quality iron ore here. By 1194, the community was working an iron forge here in ‘Smythclough’ – ‘valley of the iron smelters.’(138) |
