If visitors take a walk round Kings Clipstone today it is hard to believe that it had a role to play in the very early part of the industrial revolution. There had long been a mill where the outfall from the Great Pond met the Maun. On the 23^rd November 1220 Henry II, whilst at Winchester, directed his Exchequer to reckon with Philip Mark, sheriff, for the sum of £7 0s  8d that he spent on repairs to the great dam and mill and to the pale about the King’s Houses. By the early 1600 this had become a fullers mill (cloth)..  

During the middle part of the 17^th century the iron industry began to grow rapidly with the introduction of the blast furnace. Iron was smelted in areas where iron ore, limestone and charcoal were available. The pig iron produced was impure and brittle. Before it could be used it needed to be reheated to a high temperature,  and then hammered repeatedly  to force out the carbon impurities. Village blacksmiths did this on a small scale, but large commercial operations ineeded a good supply of charcoal and water power for  the hammer and bellows. The records mention a number of forges and slitting mills along the river. A 20 year period during and immediately after the Civil Wars saw most of the timber including the fencing and great oaks in Clipstone Park turned into charcoal.