Warmley Brassworks, Siston, Bristol : Analysis of Some Eighteenth-Century Brassworking Debris
Author(s): David Dungworth, Harriet White
William Champion established the brassworks at Warmley in the 1740s as the first integrated production plant of its kind for non-ferrous metal goods. Production included copper smelting, brass manufacture by cementation, and zinc distillation. A variety of residues thought to derive from the industrial processes carried out at Warmley were recovered from the site during archaeological interventions. These were examined using SEM-EDS to investigate their origin or use. A fragment of refractory was from a zinc retort, a zinc-rich deposit was the spent charge from zinc distillation, and slag samples were shown to be from copper smelting. Analysis of a fragment of clay-graphite crucible revealed that it had been exposed to high temperatures and strongly reducing conditions, however, it could not be linked with any certainty to Champion’s industrial processes.
- Report Number:
- 54/2007
- Series:
- Research Department Reports
- Pages:
- 21
- Keywords:
- Metal Working-non Fe Post Medieval Technology
