172:. He readily ingratiated himself with the iron-workers; and, having for some time carefully observed their machinery, he believed he had found out their methods. He therefore returned to Stourbridge, full of hope that he had acquired the secret of the construction of a slitting-mill, by means of which plates of wrought iron could be slit into nail-rods. So strongly persuaded was he of success that a gentleman was induced to advance the requisite money; but, alas! to the great disappointment of all concerned, the machinery failed to slit the iron. Foley therefore set out for Sweden a second time, receiving on his arrival a joyful welcome from the Swedish workmen. So gladly indeed did they receive the returned fiddler, that, with a disastrous confidence, to make sure of him they lodged him in the very citadel of the business, the slitting-mill itself, looking on him, in their simple-minded, uncommercial good-fellowship, as a mere fiddler, and nothing more. He remained long enough to ascertain where his mistakes lay, and then again disappeared. On his return to Stourbridge he succeeded in having machinery constructed that perfectly performed the work required. Thereafter he not only supplied the nail-makers with the nail-rods they wanted, but also made a fortune in doing it. It is pleasant and gratifying to record that while amassing wealth himself, he was not unmindful of the needs of others; for he invariably and generously aided all the plans of benevolence set on foot in his neighbourhood".
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159:"It was early in the seventeenth century when the neighbourhood of Stourbridge was the centre of the nail-making industry of England that Sweden became a discomforting competitor to those engaged in this industry; as nails made there were sold in England at prices with which Stourbridge makers could not compete. This caused young Foley of Stourbridge to resolve to find out, if possible, how their underselling was accomplished. He accordingly started for Sweden, but with so little money that it was exhausted on his arrival there, and he was left (not unlike
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foot each; these pieces are put into a furnace, and heated red-hot, then taken out and put between a couple of steel rollers, which draw them to the length of about four feet, and the breadth of about three inches; thence they are immediately put between two other rollers, which having a number of sharp edges fitting each other like scissors, cut the bar as it passes thro' into about eight square rods; after the rods are cold, they are tied up in bundles for the nailor's use. We din'd and spent the evening (after walking again to Dudson) at Mr. Lloyd's.
211:(1664-1724), Lloyd's slitting and corn mills are shown with access from Digbeth by Lower Mill Lane. A later map dated 1751 shows the slitting-mill with a mill pool and a large garden. A description of the slitting mill survives in a letter dated 31 July 1755 written by visitors from London to the Pembertons, Lloyd cousins:
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outline, drawn from a number of documentary sources, of the development of the charcoal iron industry in the west
Midlands between the magnates of the Elizabethan period and the professional ironmasters of the late-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The author argues that the period was one of
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Next
Morning (Monday) we went to see Mr. L 's Slitting Mill, which is too curious to pass by without notice. Its use is to prepare iron for making nails. The process is as follows: they take a large iron bar, and with a huge pair of shears, work'd by a water-wheel, cut it into lengths of about a
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About a mile above is a place called the Hide ... Here was the first mill for rolling and slitting iron that was erected in
England. One Brindley, whose posterity enjoyed it till about 20 years ago, went into Germany, there he acted the fool, and from thence brought back this excellent machine
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in 1625. The application of the story to Foley is thus not credible, but it could refer to his brother-in-law George
Brynley, who ran the mill for Foley. His son Richard bought Hyde Mill and Farm in 1647, and it descended in the family until John Brindley became bankrupt in 1730.
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How far this legend reflects what actually happened is doubtful. The earliest version of the story to name Foley is that of
William Playfair in 1809, which takes him to Holland. However the earliest version was published by Stebbing Shaw, quoting the manuscript history of
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organisational change rather than technological development, such as the amalgamation of ironworks so as to control the charcoal supply in a district, and that firms were fewer in number and operating on a larger scale much earlier than was hitherto suspected.
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in his travels in
Holland) with the solitary but somewhat lively resource of a fiddle. He was, however, an excellent musician, as well as a pleasant fellow, and he successfully begged and fiddled his way to the celebrated
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about three inches (75 mm) wide and half an inch (13 mm) thick. A piece was cut off the end of the bar with shears powered by one of the water wheels and heated in a furnace. This was then passed between
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which made it into a thick plate. It was then passed through the second rollers (known as cutters), which slit it into rods. The cutters had intersecting grooves which sheared the iron lengthways.
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Richard Foley was already a substantial entrepreneur in 1627 when he leased Hyde Mill for conversion to a slitting mill, and leased Himley
Furnace from
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in 1627. Others followed in various parts of
England where iron was made. However, there was a particular concentration of them on the
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349:"The Development of the Iron Industry in South Staffordshire in the 17th century: history and myth"
425:'Original collection for the History of Staffordshire by Richard Wilkes M.D.' William Salt Library
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The technology is said to have been brought from Sweden by the industrial espionage of
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bars of iron into rods. The rods then were passed to nailers who made the rods into
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which has been so serviceable and has brought so much money into this country.
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The Lloyds of
Birmingham with some Account of the Founding of Lloyd's Bank
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The Lloyds of
Birmingham with some Account of the Founding of Lloyd's Bank
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at the once separate village which was called Stonehouse, but now called
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History of the British Iron and Steel Industry from c.450 BC to 1775 AD
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The slitting mill consisted of two pairs of rollers turned by
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The Black Country Iron Industry: a technical history
372:. London: Iron and Steel Institute. pp. 14–15.
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63:. The first slitting mill in England was built at
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139:(1580-1657) ("Fiddler Foley") of Stourbridge, a
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55:The slitting mill was probably invented near
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16:Watermill for cutting rods of iron into bars
412:History and Antiquities of Staffordshire
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383:(2nd ed.). Birmingham & London.
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388:Cooksley, M. V. (1981). "Hyde Mill".
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410:Shaw, S. Shaw (1801). "p. 265".
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131:Swedish slitting mill in 1734.
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199:Description of Lloyd's mills
179:Richard Wilkes of Willenhall
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403:British family Antiquities
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123:Fiddler Foley's espionage
334:Schubert, H. R. (1957).
368:Gale, W. K. V. (1966).
110:. Mill bars were flat
377:Lloyd, Samuel (1907).
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427:. Stafford: Salt MSS.
401:Playfair, W. (1813).
390:West Midlands Studies
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347:King, P. W. (1999).
342:. pp. 304–312.
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145:Baron Foley
85:Stourbridge
81:River Stour
338:. London:
318:Lloyd 1907
294:Fernihough
258:Lloyd 1907
221:References
205:Birmingham
359:: 62–64.
340:Routledge
282:Shaw 1801
234:King 1999
89:Stourport
42:watermill
436:Category
396:: 44–49.
83:between
65:Dartford
46:slitting
357:XXXVIII
170:Uppsala
168:, near
141:Puritan
99:in the
97:nailers
69:Rugeley
61:Belgium
77:Kinver
40:was a
57:Liège
50:nails
418:(1).
149:Farm
87:and
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