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Date: |
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Description: | Demolished 1973.
Henry Cort established a water-powered forge at Funtley on the estate of Place House, Titchfield in 1779 although a forge with a tilt hammer had existed there since the early 18th century. Born in Lancaster in 1740 he became a naval agent in 1775, and in 1776 purchased a forge in Gosport, Hants with the intention of carrying out experiments in the forging and working of iron. His links with Hampshire date from 1774 when his wife inherited business interests in the county, including Funtley ironworks, from her uncle William Attwick, who had a contract with Portsmouth Dockyard for the supply of mooring chains and other iron naval stores.
The ironworks at Funtley had been in operation for almost 200 years by this time, having been initially the property of the Earl of Southampton. Henry Cort made major improvements to the works and undertook experiments in an attempt to improve the quality of wrought iron, which was of poor quality at the time in England. In 1779 he bought a mill on the River Meon at Funtley. In 1783 and 1784 he took out patents for his new processes, which represented major technological advances in the production of wrought iron, using coal and water power. The processes which he patented were for "rolling" in 1783 and for "fining" or "puddling" in 1784 and related the passing of the metal through grooved rollers and refining it in a reverbatory furnace. His reverbatory furnace produced rolled iron with the impurities removed on an unprecedented scale and soon the navy stipulated that all iron produced for their use had to meet Cort's standards. He and his partner Samuel Jellicoe obtained contracts with the Royal Navy to supply the Navy with mast hoops.
Unfortunately Adam Jellicoe, the father of Samuel who had advanced several thousand pounds to Cort's business died suddenly in 1789 with large debts to the Navy, the liability of which passed to Cort, who was thereby financially ruined. The Government awarded him a pension in 1794 but he died in 1800 and is buried in Hampstead churchyard. The iron works at Funtley and Gosport along with its stock was passed to Samuel Jellicoe, son of Adam, and he remained there until his death 30 years later.
Today there are few traces of Cort's iron mill but archaeological evidence has revealed the foundations of Cort's Mill. Before Cort developed his processes, England imported massive quantities of wrought iron from abroad but within a decade of his patents, became a major exporter of iron.
Today, Fareham's Henry Cort Millennium Project has transformed West Street with a permanent exhibition of the work of 12 blacksmith artists from throughout Europe celebrating the achievements of Henry Cort. Works include Horn of Plenty by Igor Andrukhin of Russia, Still Moves (Rock and Chain) by Chris Brammall of Cumbria and the Tipping Scales water sculpture by Jouko Nieminen of Finland.
References:
1. Lloyd, David W. 1974. Buildings of Portsmouth and its environs, p.34.
2. Dickinson, H W. Newcomen Society transactions 21 (1940-41) Henry Cort's Bicentenary, p. 31-47.
3. Fareham Borough Council. 2000. Henry Cort Millennium Exhibition.
3. Dictionary of National Biography. Cort, Henry, p.1182-1183.
4. Alverstoke Parish Magazine. June 1864. Henry Cort, p. 1-6. | Format: | image/jpeg | License: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?a=query&p=gateway&f=generic_sitetext%2ehtm&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&cms_con_core_subtype%3acms_con_text_what=copyright&%3acms_sys_group=%22sopse%22 | Rights holder: | Laing O'Rourke plc | Subjects: | Earl of Southampton building Samuel Jellicoe Cort's Mill street Funtley Ironworks Iron Masters Cottage business Adam Jellicoe William Attwick West Street blacksmith Jouko Nieminen ironworks Place House Igor Andrukhin Henry Cort Millennium Project River Meon Henry Cort Chris Brammell Iron Mill Lane river | Temporal: | start=1973-03-01; end=1973-03-31; | Source: | Sense of place SE | Creator: | John Laing and Son Ltd | Identifier: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | image/jpeg | Go to resource |
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