The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
By CAROL BYRNE EAST Clare had an extensive charcoal blast furnace industry in the 17th century based around several rich haematite mines, and this industry has sparked a visit by an international Historical Metallurgy Society next month. The Historical Metallurgy Society is an International forum for the exchange of information and research in historical metallurgy. Local historian Gerard Madden of East Clare Heritage has been researching the iron works and woods of Sliabh Aughty for the past 20 years. Together with Belgium born Paul Rondelez, who now lives in Mitchelstown County Cork, Gerard is to publish a transcription of 80 hitherto unknown letters written between 1693 and 1701 primarily on the iron works of Scariff and Woodford. John Emmerton owned ironworks in Scariff and Woodford from 1692 to 1697 and the recently acquired letters are from his managers there, George Young and William Downes. In 1997 Gerard published an article in the East Clare Heritage Journal, Sliabh Aughty Vol 7, …
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