On The Pond 2 - Hawkins Pond, St Leonards Forest

The Weald of Sussex and Kent was noted especially in the 16th and 17th Centuries for its Iron Production. Valleys were dammed to produce ponds that in turn operated waterwheels that drove tilt hammers in forges (Tilt hammers can be seen today at Sheffield) and bellows in the furnaces.

Hawkins Pond supplied water to both a forge and a furnace downstream and nearby Hammer Pond served a furnace. These works were established in St Leonards Forest during the mid 16th Century and were owned along with the forest by the Dukes Of Norfolk. This pond and nearby Hammer pond are both about three quarters of a mile long and are used as a private fishery. A road goes over the dams of both which are locally known as a bay. I looked over the other side and the bay is long and high. The one thing I would have loved to find was slag from the furnace and forge and I have a box of different slags from different sites that I have visited. Forge Cinder looks very like clinker, while blast furnace slag looks a dark olive green to black and glassy. It will have bubbles in it and specks of iron impurities. All these works used locally produced charcoal. The whole industry died out due to the development of coke smelting which was cheaper and was done much closer to the raw material in the Midlands where it all gradually shifted. Hawkins Pond is one of the finest surviving Hammer Ponds and is very picturesque.