Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Hudson
Hello Triarii, Until Keith produced his book on the Shotley Bridge Swordmakers I didnt really know much about the English involvement in sword making either there or in Hounslow...That was rather a shock to me since I was actually born in Shotley Bridge!!!... but I soon caught up with proceedings and supported by Jims incredible knowledge on all things swords and Keith whose work on the SB Swordmakers is brilliant...I got quickly in step with proceedings although I have to say I found information hard to come by especially on Hounslow...and it is fair to say getting a grip on Hounslow is key to understanding Shotley Bridge...and without those two cornerstones Birmingham, London and Sheffield make no sense; thus they are foundations vital to understanding English Swords....
As Jim was saying books on the subject of Hounslow are few n' far between...so you need to hit all the buttons you can on anything about Hounslow on the web...and scoop up any details you find on museums and references you can..Use everything available at Forum Library and if in doubt just ask...The PM system is good for that...You might want to develope a hit list of details you want to focuss upon but I suggest you just vacuum up all the information you can and once that is all catalogued then decide what is important ... and I bet by then your priorities will have changed...
Regards,
Peter Hudson.
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Thanks Peter. My focus is pretty much on what was Hounslow's volume of production and how far did it go to offset imports, especially when it came to equipping the army under Sir Thomas Fairfax from spring 1645 onwards. There's an account of 200 swords with Dutch blades being supplied, which may be German weapons supplied via Amsterdam or Rotterdam intermediaries. The other references are very vague. EDIT: typo - there are 1000's of swords with 'Dutch blades' ordered.