Peter Munsten and family

[Triarii]

Urban Spaceman - I know Stone was involved in getting the Hounslow works up and running at scale, though it was Heyden who got the German smiths over from Rotterdam. Was the Hounslow site purely chosen because of the existing mills and the convenience of Northumberland's 'Cutt river'?

Jim - good point on names. When Charles' army stopped at Turnham Green to face Essex's army and the London Trained Bands, those outside London referred to it as 'London', though it was 6 or 7 miles outside. Brentford, oddly, was identified as such when there was a small battle there.

[urbanspaceman]

Good question Triari. General knowledge appears to indicate the suitability of the (originally 4,000 acre) location as an army camp-ground, certainly dating back to Roman occupation times.
The Cut river was a man-made canal built to supply the Duke of Northumberland's Syon House. In 1639 Jenkes attempted to gain permission from the Duke (the original letter is in Alnwick Castle) to build a mill using the Cut for power. NB: Jenkes (who was working for Stone at the time) also mentions secret machines and typically promises to teach us Limeys the craft.
In regard to Stone: his story is told by both parties quite differently. The only sticking point (oops) is just how much smuggling of blades was involved... it may not have been anything. If Oley could supply 21,000 blades pa, and he was the only bladesmith, then I am certain Stone could have matched that quite comfortably; and the Hounslow marked blades that included the Passau Wolf may easily have been marked by the local Germans... which they were more than entitled to so do. A Munsten blade is a Munsten blade - regardless of where it was forged, save perhaps for the quality of the ore.

[urbanspaceman]

James II (present, as indicated by the viewing platform) is marshaling his troops to intimidate Parliament. There are various countrys' flags adding insult to injury.

[Jim McDougall]

It seems that it is typically noted that the sites for renowned blade making centers were chosen for the access of iron ore. This is mentioned I know for Sheffield, I think it was noted for Hounslow but cannot place the cite.

With Solingen it was always profoundly noted that the iron ore in nearby areas was the key to that location.However in a note in a reference I have since feverishly tried to relocate, it claims that during the Thirty Years War, much of the disruption of production was caused by loss of access to Swedish steel imports. This caused the guilds to enforce limitations on the numbers of weapons allotted to each smith or shop.
These restrictions then may have been the reasons for the smiths to relocate to other locations.

I wonder if Swedish steel was indeed imported into England in the same manner? I know we have discussed this before years ago, but perhaps a talking point here? It seems rich deposits in the north led to Sheffield, which curiously never largely entered into sword blades, just knives.