into the country. Richard Foley was already a substantial entrepreneur in 1627 when he leased Hyde Mill for conversion to a slitting mill, and leased Himley Furnace from Lord Dudley in 1625. The application of the story to Foley is thus not credible, but it could refer to his brother-in-law George Brynley, who ran the mill for Foley. His son Richard bought Hyde Mill and Farm in 1647, and it descended in the family until John Brindley became bankrupt in 1730. Description of Lloyd's mills In a map of Birmingham dated 1731, 7 years after the death of Sampson I Lloyd (1664-1724), Lloyd's slitting and corn mills are shown with access from Digbeth by Lower Mill Lane. A later map dated 1751 shows the slitting-mill with a mill pool and a large garden. A description of the slitting mill survives in a letter dated 31 July 1755 written by visitors from London to the Pembertons, Lloyd cousins: Next Morning (Monday) [July 1755] we went to see Mr. L 's Slitting Mill, which is too curious to pass by without notice. Its use is to prepare iron for making nails. The process is as follows: they take a large iron bar, and with a huge pair of shears, work'd by a water-wheel, cut it into lengths of about a foot each; these pieces are put into a furnace, and heated red-hot, then taken out and put between a couple of steel rollers, which draw them to the length of about four feet, and the breadth of about three inches; thence they are immediately put between two other rollers, which having a number of sharp edges fitting each other like scissors, cut the bar as it passes thro' into about eight square rods; after the rods are cold, they are tied up in bundles for the nailor's use. We din'd and spent the evening (after walking again to Dudson) at Mr. Lloyd's. References Further reading W. K. V. Gale, The Black Country Iron Industry: a technical history (Iron and Steel Institute, London, 1966), 14–15. P. W. King, 'The Development of the Iron Industry in South Staffordshire in the 17th century: history and myth' Trans. Staffs. Arch. & Hist. Soc. XXXVIII (1999 for 1996–7), 62–4. Metalworking