Foundry Mill at Seacroft

[warringtonrhino]

Page 1 -1160 -1577
Page 2 -1577- 1600
Page 3 -1600 -1783
Page 4 -1783-1912
Page 5 -Background Notes Mill location & Mather’s Leat
Page 6 -Background Notes Mill Layouts
Plate 1 A general plan of Seacroft and Foundry Mill
Plate 2 The first Corn Mill 1500
Plate 3 The second Corn Mill 1600
Plate 4 The third Mill 1700
Plate 5 Mather’s Leat route Part 1 Easterly Road to North Parkway
Plate 6 Mather’s Leat route Part 2 North Parkway to Foxwood
Plate 7 Mather’s Leat route Part 3 Foxwood to South Parkway
Plate 8 Mather’s Leat route Part 4 South Parkway to Foundry Mill
Plate 9 Jeffrey’s 1775 map
Plate 10 The Easterly Road end of Mather’s Leat
Plate 11 Mather’s Leat construction details
Plate 12 Mather’s Leat section and plan Easterly Road to Foundry Mill
Plate 13 Mather’s Leat section and plan Seacroft Hall to Foundry Mill
Plate 14 1779 mill building plan
Plate 15 1847 mill building plan
Plate 16 1891 mill building plan
Plate 17 1909 mill building plan
Plate 18 Smeaton’s Fire Engine and Pump details
Plate 19 Smeaton’s Blower and Furnace Stack details
Plate 20 Smeaton’s Blower working method
I am working on a book provisionally called 'the history of my Seacroft'. Tonight after only 20+ years the Foundry Mill chapter has been completed. I will be having a well earned Guinness later.
At this rate the whole book could be finished on my 200th birthday, I have attached the contents page for that chapter, ( which has decided to be at the top of the post) if anyone wants to see more please let me know.

[chemimike]

Hope you finish it in time for me to be able to purchase it. It sounds very interesting

[warringtonrhino]

Hope you finish it in time for me to be able to purchase it. It sounds very interesting

At the current rate of progress it probably will never be finished. In my will I have suggested the work done so far is given to a library.
The History of Foundry Mill Seacroft chapter is complete and I will be producing a few bound copies to give to anyone with a genuine interest, once I know how many people want one.

[warringtonrhino]

Next week I will be printing 'the Foundry Mill at Seacroft' it is 30 pages of history with 20 pages of drawings.
If you you have contributed to this topic and would like a bound copy (free) please send me a private message with your contact details. They should be ready by the end of the month.

[warringtonrhino]

As many already know, I have been writing (mainly drawing ) a history of East Leeds for the last 35 years.
On Saturday 1st July I will be at the Library in Leeds to explain how I solved some of the conundrums regarding the Foundry Mill at Seacroft. I will have notes, drawings maps and 3D models on my laptop.
: http://www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/h ... undry-mill

[The Parksider]

Hello to all, it's been some time since I came on her regarding foundry mill and the Roundhay/seacroft iron industry.

Whilst the Mill is very real to us, since the "cinder hills" were used to create drainage for Fearnville sports complex, nothing really remains on the ground.

There was a few years ago an archeological dig around Dacre and Darley to examine the iron industry there.

Just google Dacre and Darley Iron industry and enjoy, There are tremendous parallels with the wyke beck iron industry

Whilst we all half know this stuff and more, it was interesting to see how at the end of the industry around 1700's anything worth anything was taken away. Stone for buildings, slag heaps for roadmaking, timber for firewood etc. Then sites would be covered over by the grass growing and the soil level rising.

However only a matter of inches below the archeologists found many features including water channels and culverts and all diferent kinds of furnace bottons clay lines with blow holes with their stone foundations perhaps a little too embedded to be able to cart away.

Similarly to Seacroft they got their Iron by digging out nodules of ironstone from the shales, something you can still see at the Barnbow colliery where shale and ironstone is on the spoil heaps. Old OS maps for Leeds include a mineral analysis and in the Iron Hills above the valley I assume these measures existed as they do further down the beck at halton Moor.

Pieces of charcoal were found at Darley/Dacre produced by their Colliers similar to our Shadwell colliers who walked down to make Charcoal in Roundhay Park along "Colliers Lane". Later coal was used but Dacre/Darley coal was "poor quality" and of course along the wyke near to the area of working "coal pit close" can be found on the Tithe Maps.

The survey at Dacre picked up on how iron making created pollution and poisoned the soil and although fields were enclosed on the land they often did not then use them due to this. Certainly it seems the land along the Wyke Beck looks to be overgrown and unused and could have been like that since the industry closed down here.

There were water mills depicted on the Darley maps, but interestingly there was an idea that the map drawers didn't often see the actual land/features so they drew full watermills where only a wheel in watercourse may have been on site.

Fascinating stuff helping us to perhaps get a better picture of Wyke Beck Iron Industry .....

[harrym1byt]

Next week I will be printing 'the Foundry Mill at Seacroft' it is 30 pages of history with 20 pages of drawings.
If you you have contributed to this topic and would like a bound copy (free) please send me a private message with your contact details. They should be ready by the end of the month.

I am always interested in this sort of thing. I have not contributed, because I have nothing really to contribute, but if there might still be a spare copy around or even a pdf file I would appreciate it please.

[warringtonrhino]

Shortly I will be printing some more copies, so if you let me know your address I will be pleased to post one to you.
The Foundry Mill chapter will be included into a much larger volume -my history of Seacroft, so I prefer to send paper copies to trusted individuals.

[harrym1byt]

PM sent (maybe), but the site shows its usual error when I try click 'send'.

[warringtonrhino]

PM sent (maybe), but the site shows its usual error when I try click 'send'.

Yes I got the details, I will send you a copy as soon as the printing is completed - maybe next week?