Monument record MDR5038 - Iron forge/red lead mill (site of), Hanging Banks, Wingerworth

By the middle of the 17th century there was a furnace [SMR 15308] and a forge at Wingerworth, both powered by the Tricket Brook which ran through much of the parish before joining the Rother. By 1717 the forge had been converted to a red-lead mill. This was abandoned early in the 19th century and the site partly landscaped by new plantations, but there are substantial remains of the dam-wall still to be seen and the fields which once formed the mill-pond are identifiable from estate plans. (1) The first known reference to a red-lead mill at Wingerworth is in 1717, to a red-lead mill leased by Sir Thomas Windsor Hunloke to John Bright, a Chesterfield lead merchant. A map dated 1758 shows a mill-dam (named as such, without reference to red-lead) and a building immediately downstream. A terrier of 1779 corresponds with this map and refers to the red-lead mill. Henry Harvey, red-lead maker is named in a lease of property at Woolley Moor in 1786 and his name ('of Wingerworth Red Lead Mill') and that of his brother Godfrey, appear on a tombstone in Wingerworth churchyard, their dates of death being 1801 and 1802 respectively. No red-lead mill is included in the Hunloke estate terrier of 1819. The name Redleadmill Bridge is still used for the main road crossing of the brook, and the dam marked on the 1758 map shows as a bank across the valley. Disturbed ground marks the site of the mill, and scatters of low-density bubbly slag can be found in the stream adjacent. (2) Evidence that this was the site of the 17th century forge is provided by the name Hammer Dam for two closes adjoining the dam on an estate map of 1758. By 1819 the pond had been drained, forming part of Bottom Red Lead Mill Meadow, but the name Hammer Dam survived for an adjoining close. Auth. 2 is incorrect in stating that John Bright had a lease of the mill in 1717 - in fact, he merely had an annual tenancy. (3) A small manuscript book survives which contains a record of the production of red lead in the 1720s, probably at the Wingerworth mill. The record comprises details of deliveries and furnace charges of pig lead, weights of barrels of red lead, and deliveries and dispatch of barrels. The mill operated continuously, with twice-weekly 'meltings', between April 1724 and July 1728, producing about 280 tons of red lead during that period. (4)