In this unique activity, guests are given an experience of ancient iron production, using only the resources of the woods.

On the way to the Hammer Glade, where the activities take place, guests are given a fun tour of the woods, from Roman times to modern day, encountering the sites, now returned to nature, that once built, fuelled, and armed empires.

Once in the glade, groups are set the challenge of building scale models of charcoal mounds in the traditional method, as would have happened for millennia to produce the fuel to fire iron-smelting bloomeries.

As well as building a mound, firing another one and unearthing a third, guests will also help fuel a life-scale bloomery, as well as experience a demonstration from a professional blacksmith.

Duration: Approx. 3 Hours. All challenges can be paired with others for a full day.

Supplementary activities for your group: Fire by Friction, Deer Tracking, Storytelling, Foraging, Cordage, Mud Pugging (an ancient Sussex clay-target game).

Event Partner: Wealden Iron Research Group.  We are grateful to the Wealden Iron Research Group for their help and information in developing this event.