The possible water-powered bloomery at Goscote (Rushall), Walsall, West Midlands

Bloomery slag deposits at Goscote (Rushall), West Midlands, have been known since the 1960s, corresponding with archive references to late-medieval and 16th-century iron working, the latter probably water powered. Recent sampling has provided slags which can be compared with those examined by Morton and Wingrove. The new samples were made up of one third tap slag, the rest without distinct morphology. Examination indicated the use of coal-measures ore to produce steel rather than iron, but it cannot be proved that the operation was water powered.