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NEWSLETTER No. 1. January 1974. The appointment of a Vice-Chairman, which was left in the hands of the Chairman at the A.G.M., has now been resolved. We are very happy to announce that Mr. P. Adorian of Gibbons Mill, Billingshurst has agreed to become our Vice-Chairman. At the A.G.M. in November 1973, Mr. Jonathan Mills, who has negotiated a lease of Goldstone Pumping Station, was invited to attend and after the meeting he told members something of his plans for the future of Goldstone. The minutes of the A.G.M. are enclosed, containing a report of his talk. Two Members Evenings have been held this Winter; at Eastbourne on December 13th when the Chairman gave a talk, illustrated by slides, on the water-driven olive-oil mills of the South of France, and at Lewes on 17th January when Mr. $ Mrs. Farrant reviewed the industrial history and archaeology of Brighton, copiously illustrated with slides from their collection. The attendances at both evenings were rather thin, particularly at Eastbourne, where only 7 members turned up. We hope that any future Members Evenings will be better attended. We have applied for affiliation with the Local History Committee of the Sussex Rural Community Council which has among its objects to bring local history societies together- and to facilitate the exchange of information among them. 'We shall receive copies of all publications and papers prepared by the Committee. A well-preserved horse-gin in the grounds of a private house at Guestling, near Hastings', is shown in Figure 1 at the end of the Newsletter, and Figure 2 shows the portable horse-gin found on a farm at Ringmer, which is now to be transferred to the Agricultural Museum at Wilmington. The C.B.A. IA Survey Officer, Keith Falconer, reports a very pertinent recom-mendation of the Derelict Land Working Party of the Professional Institutions' Council for Conservation: "Archaeologists are now interested in recent industrial remains as well as ancient 'sites and an adequate method of consultation should be established and a code of practice laid down giving reasonable time for an appraisal to be made of the historical significance of the site before reclamation commences. Reclamation should be considered to cover the consolidation' of important remains as well as site clearance". Representations must be made to local authorities to give effect to this. EXCAVATED WINDMILL SITES in the EASTBOURNE AREA. 1. FRISTON POST MILL SITE-Map Ref- TQ60/551983. 2. PASHLEY DOWNS NR. EASTBOURNE - Map Ref: TQ60/593982. 3. Sunken Post Mill Site, Pashley Down, excavated by Mr. & Mrs. L. Stevens 1968, a few yards to the north of the Bolting House/Horizontal Windmill site. Excavation of a circular depression in the ground about 15' in diameter retained by a wall nearly 4' high and composed of rough chalk and mortar. Brick plinths were placed opposite each other upon which the cross-trees would have rested. No published report. 4. SAXON PLACE, EASTBOURNE - Map Ref: TQ60/595008. "Rescue dig" led by Mrs. L. Stevens. Excavation of two Cruciform Millsteads, each being cut into the natural chalk. Millstead 99 had 8' 9" arms, 6'6" deep and 2'6" wide at the bottom. Millstead 101 had 9'3" arms, 4'6" deep and 2'6" wide at the bottom. Both millsteads were filled in with chalk rubble and earth in which there were numerous fragments of Medieval pottery, and millstone fragments of the French Burr type and a few pieces of Neidermendig. A selection of photographs and finds are on view at Polegate Windmill Museum. Noted in S.A.S. Newsletter No.4 1970, ;see Ocklynge Saxon Cemetery. No published report exists. A. view of Millstead 99 can be seen in Fig. 4 at the back of the Newsletter. TOKENS - A RECORD OF THE PAST RECENT PUBLICATIONS ON THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF SUSSEX Back in October 1969, in S.I.A.S.G. Newsletter, No.4, I suggested that members might collaborate in producing a bibliography of Sussex industrial archaeology. There was a nil response - independently Hugh Gordon has produced more general booklists on I.A. To some extent I have been able to achieve my objective by other means: lists of new publications on all aspects of Sussex history and archaeology for 1970, 1971 and 1972 have appeared in the Sussex Archaeological Society News-letter, and in them industrial archaeologists may find items of interest. Even so, there may be something to be said for bringing particular articles, pamphlets and books to members attention, and I now submit a few reviews/abstracts. Other members may like to do the same. G.D. Coleman, Hastings & St. Leonards Waterworks 1830-1970
(Hastings: County Borough of Hastings Water Committee, 1971.Pp. v+112+(14). 75p.
or 80p by post, from the Water Engineer, 28, Wellington Square, Hastings. S.C. Newton, Rails Across the Weald, East Sussex Record Office Handbook, No.4 (Lewes: East Sussex County Council, 1972, Pp.26. 45p.) This pamphlet by the County Archivist comprises two parts. The first reviews the types of record available in the Record Office which relate to railway history. Those materials are likely only to supplement research in other repositories, and one would welcome fuller reference to what is in the British Transport Historical Records (referred to as British Rail Archives), in the House of Lords Record Office and in local libraries, particularly Brighton. The bibliography is on the thin side. The second part is a summary list of plans, deposited as part of the procedure for obtaining Acts of Parliament to authorise railway building, and now held in the Record Office. The majority of the schemes so illustrated were not realised, and include such proposals as a Brighton Underground, 1897. Michael Robbins, 'The First Sussex Railway', The Railway Magazine, cxvii, No.843 (July 1971), 355-7. The remains of the inclined plane tramway at Offham are known to many members. This short article briefly describes them with diagrams and summarises the documentary evidence in the East Sussex Record Office relating to its planning and construction in 1807-9. G. Hammersley, 'The charcoal iron industry and its fuel, 1540-1750', Economic History Review, 2nd series, xxvi, No.4 (November 1973), 593-613. The author questions the generally accepted argument that the serious inroads of the Wealden Iron industry into the woodlands led, from the later 16th century, to the industry spreading further afield where undisturbed woods existed (Forest of Dean, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, etc.) which too in time were 'exhausted', and a British iron industry was only saved by the discovery and exploitation of coke smelting. He argues that (i) the diffusion of the indirect process can be accounted for on grounds of profit-able exploitation of landowners' property and of more economic production (on factors other than fuel) outside the Weald; (ii) the British charcoal iron industry did not destroy its fuel and did not suffer from strikingly exceptional fuel problems, though it did encounter Swedish competition for other reasons; (iii) early experi-ments with coal and coke smelting were received coolly. John H. Farrant, Sussex in the 18th and 19th Centuries: A Bibliography,
University of Sussex Centre for Continuing Education Occasional Papers No.l
(Brighton: the Centre,Pp.48. 30p., or 35p. by post from the Centre for
Continuing Education, Educational Development Building, The University,
Brighton, BN1 9RG) This booklet includes notes on the libraries and record
offices in the county which hold manu-script or printed material on the history
of Sussex, notes on particular classes of record and selected references to
published material under a number of heads including, for industrial
archaeologists, Urban Development, Transport and its Traffic, and Trades and
Industry. The total number of bibliographical references is some 250. AMENDMENTS TO 'SUSSEX INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY: A FIELD GUIDE' 'Further Reading' A third edition of P.A.L. Vine, London's Lost Route to the Sea ;was published in 1973. For R.W. Kinder, read R.W. Kidner.
CAPTIONS FOR ILLUSTRATIONS Figure I. Horse-gin in the garden of a private house near
Guestling.
Figure 4. Millstead 99, from the Saxon Place, 'Rescue' dig.
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