Iron ore was quarried and smelted in Seend from the 1850s with three blast furnaces fifty feet high, and employed 300 men. The antiquarian John Aubrey wrote that he discovered iron ore as early as 1666 when it rained so much that it washed away the sand from the ore and the later bright sun reflected on it. Due to the high level of deforestation in the 17th century there was not enough wood to smelt it. The arrival of coal in the 19th century made this possible and mining rights were leased just below the Bell Inn in 1856 where 10,000 tons of ore were mined. The site also had blast furnaces and smelting facilities. The iron works seem to have been out of use by 1876.
| Logging Etiquette: Geocache hiders sometimes go through a great deal of planning to place their caches. As a result, they'd like to hear your feedback on whether you liked or disliked any aspect of the hide, the journey or location, or if you feel that some cache maintenance is required. Single word, acronym, or "copy and paste" logs may be easier when you have a lot of caches to log, but it doesn't tell the hider or other finders anything about your adventure (or lack thereof) in finding the cache. So dont just stick in "easy find TFTC" on every log. Please keep this in mind when entering your log.
Travelbug Etiquette: Cachers pay good money for TravelBugs and Geocoins. Please if you take a TB or GC from a cache will you ensure it is correctly logged in and out, also If you take one that still shows somewhere else please be patient before “grabbing” the item, it does not get its mileage by being grabbed and the last person to place may not have had time to log a previous find or the one you took it from. This is particularly important on busy and new caches. If you have an issue with a bug please e-mail the owner through their profile and advise them of the issue. They will be pleased to hear from you.
|
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw intermittent smelting. There was an influx of men and boys from the outlying area and Ireland and the Black Country to work here. In 1884 complaints were received that Pelch Lane was being badly cut up by the constant haulage of iron ore down the narrow lane. During the First World War, an overhead cable took ore down in large iron buckets to the goods yard at Seend railway station. Boys got free rides up the hill in the empty buckets. After a lull the Second World War renewed demand and the stone was used to provide iron oxide for paint and coal gas. The quarry closed in 1946.