[Sited at TQ 4565 4107] (a) A bloomery at Birchenwood, Cowden was dug in the autumn of 1928, but proved to be quite shallow although large lumps of cinder had been taken from it. In one piece that the author had previously found, there were distinct marks of a crowbar or similar tool. The oxidation of the cinder had cemented the sand into a hard but thin pavement, below which was the natural soil. (1) "There is another deposit a little higher up the stream." (1a) There is nothing to be seen at the grid ref. given by Straker, the ground being completely overgrown, but cemented cinder lumps found in a shallow pit on the line of the London-Lewes Ro. Road (R.R.14), and almost certainly representing the metalling of that road, appear to be the second deposit he refers to 'higher up the stream'. (2) TQ 454414 Cowden - appears in a checklist of all known Wealden bloomery sites. (3)

<1> ID Margary (OS Card Reference). SKE44197.

<2> Wealden Iron 1931 228 (E Straker) (OS Card Reference). SKE51289.

<3> F1 CFW 17-DEC-62 (OS Card Reference). SKE42607.

<4> The Iron Ind of the Weald 1985 289 (H Cleere & D Crossley) (OS Card Reference). SKE50388.

<5> Field report for monument TQ 44 SE 5 - December, 1962 (Bibliographic reference). SKE2659.