Finch Foundry
| Finch Foundry | |
|
Sticklepath | |
|---|---|
|
National Trust | |
 A water wheel of Finch Foundry | |
| Grid reference: | SX64199408 |
| Location: | 50°43’50"N, 3°55’33"W |
| Information | |
| Website: | Finch Foundry |
Finch Foundry is a 19th-century water-powered forge standing in the village of Sticklepath on the edge of Dartmoor near Okehampton in Devon.
The forge was originally used to produce agricultural and mining hand tools and at its peak produced around 400 edge tools a day.[1] It remained an active foundry until 1960 when the roof collapsed[2] and has been a National Trust property since 1994.
The foundry contains examples of a tilt hammer, drop hammer, and shear hammer all powered by the water wheels.[3][4] The Trust maintains it in working order and demonstrations of the tools are given every hour.
A National Trust volunteer explaining how the foundry operated and was powered
Demonstrating the flattening of a red hot cast iron bar using the tilt hammer
Demonstrating the shear hammer by cutting a segment of red hot cast iron bar which had previously been flattened tilt hammer
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Finch Foundry) |
- Finch Foundry: National Trust
References
- ↑ Finch Foundry - National Trust
- ↑ 'Foundry talk forges links with the past': North Devon Journal, 2014
- ↑ National Heritage List 1105302: Finch Foundry and Foundry House
- ↑ Barron, Richard A.: 'Finch Foundry after 1966' (The Finch Foundry Trust and Sticklepath Museum of Rural Industry, 1970)
