[TQ 61533817] A forge at Melhill? 51 deg 7' 10" N. 0 deg 18' 30" E. Three quarters of a mile E. of Benhall. Power-forge cinder in irregularly shaped masses. No place names. This forge is associated with two other sites nearby - Benhall and Breecher's Forge, (see TQ 63 NW & TQ 63 NW 6) in Frant. The River Teise was diverted to supply them with water and the county boundary marks the old course. The forge occurs in the 16th and 17th centuries. (1) A few pieces of forge cinder can be seen in the Teise and its banks at TQ 61513814, but no certain evidence of a forge can be recognised. (2) No further information. (3) TQ 615381, Melhill Forge, Pembury (sic) Water-Powered site. Slight undulations may represent a silted-up pond and bay. Forge cinder scattered in main and side streams, but no clear nucleus. References in 1630 and 1633 show that Whittingham Fogge had an iron mill and Forge at Melhill. As Straker's succession of 16th century references to a forge culminate at the beginning of the seventeenth century (see auth 1), it is likely but not certain that the site's existence can be taken back to 1567, when a forge was first mentioned,manor rolls of Frant, cited by Straker. (4) Pembury (shown on a distribution map of parishes with ironworks extantin 1574). (5) (Melhill Forge was originally situated in this parish).

<1> Wealden Iron 1931 264-267 (E Straker) (OS Card Reference). SKE51292.

<2> F1 CFW 07-FEB-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42467.

<3> F2 ASP 20-OCT-69 (OS Card Reference). SKE43141.

<4> Iron Ind of the Weald 1985 345 (H Cleere & D Crossley) (OS Card Reference). SKE44516.

<5> Hist Met Soc Newl 8 Winter 1980 The Weald 79 (Conference Rep) 4-8 Fig (OS Card Reference). SKE43908.

<6> Field report for monument TQ 63 NW 4 - February, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3212.

<7> Field report for monument TQ 63 NW 4 - October, 1969 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3213.