Old Ironstone Works, Mells
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| Old Iron Works, Mells | |
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| Area of Search | Somerset |
| Grid Reference | ST738488 |
| Interest | Industrial Archaeology, Biological |
| Area | 0.25 hectare |
| Notification | 1987 |
| Location Map | English Nature |
Old Iron Works, Mells (Fussells' Lower Works) (grid reference ST738488) is a 0.25 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, south of the village of Mells in Somerset, notified in 1987. The site is a ruined iron works, mainly producing agricultural edge tools which were exported all over the world, and is now, in addition to its unique and major importance in relation to industrial archaeology, used as a breeding site by horseshoe bats. The block of buildings adjacent to the entrance is listed Grade II* and most of the rest of the site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
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[edit] Biological Interest
The site is used by both Greater and Lesser Horseshoe Bats. The roofspace of one of the former works building was used, before the building burnt down in the 1980s, as a breeding roost in summer by large numbers of Greater Horseshoes and smaller numbers of Lesser Horseshoes. Disused flues and tunnels in a low cliff are used for hibernation.[1]
[edit] History
The land on which the iron works was built was leased by John Horner (of Little Jack Horner fame) to James Fussell of Stoke Lane, dated 25 December 1744, to erect "a good, firme and substantiall Mill or Mills for Grinding Edge Tools and forging Iron plates". The family continued the business on this site and others locally for many years,[2] although it is likely that there was some form of foundry on or near the site since about 1500 when Mells seems to have been known as Iron Burgh.[3] (The source for this last statement is not given in Toulson's book but it may be derived from a reference to a place immediately south-east of nearby Leigh-on-Mendip named as Irenborgh in a document dated 1515) There are further documentary records which indicate that iron working had been undertaken locally since at least the early 13th century.
[edit] References
- ^ English Nature citation sheet (2006). Retrieved on 2006-07-25.
- ^ Atthill, Robin (1964). Old Mendip. Newton Abbott: David and Charles. ISBN 0715351710.
- ^ Toulson, Shirley (1984). The Mendip Hills: A Threatened Landscape. London: Victor Gollancz. ISBN 057503453X.
[edit] External links
- Fussells Iron Industry Society website
- English Nature website (SSSI information)
- Site boundary at Nature on the Map website
