Approx 1.5 miles north of Littledean, Forest of Dean, Glos.
Also known as Gunns Mills, Gun Mills, and variations thereof.
An important example of a large 17th century charcoal blast furnace.
It became a paper mill, utilising the water supply, and offers a rare example of a masonry blast furnace with a later half-timbered building superimposed. Currently (2014) there is little to see, the building being encased in scaffolding and deteriorating plastic sheeting, with NO PUBLIC ACCESS, and the site is fenced off for safety.
Iron production on the Gunns Mill site began as early as 1629 and carried on [not without interuption] until the 1730s.[1]. Surviving cast iron lintels in the structure bear the dates of rebuilding - 1682 and, apparently, 1693.
1795 'On Wednesday died, Mr. Philip Lloyd, second son of Mr. Lloyd, an eminent papermaker, at Gun's Mills, in the Forest of Dean.'[2]
A good account of the furnace/mill and its progressive alterations is provided in an article by B V Cave, available online[3]
Photograph taken pre-scaffolding [4]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Historical Metallurgy Society, No. 46, Winter 2000/1
- ↑ Gloucester Journal, 29 June 1795
- ↑ [1] 'Mill Sites on the Longhope - Flaxley - Westbury Streams' by B V Cave, Gloucester Society for Industrial Archaeology 1974, pp.8-32
- ↑ [2] English Heritage at Risk Register: Guns Mill Barn, Littledean - Forest of Dean