probably the Teutonic tribes settled along the south coast, continued
the smelting and manufacture of the metal after the methods taught
them by the colonists. In the midst of the insecurity, however,
engendered by civil war and social changes, the pursuits of industry
must necessarily have been considerably interfered with, and the art
of iron-forging became neglected. No notice of iron being made in
Sussex occurs in Domesday Book, from which it would appear that the
manufacture had in a great measure ceased in that county at the time
of the Conquest, though it was continued in the iron-producing
districts bordering on Wales. In many of the Anglo-Saxon graves which
have been opened, long iron swords have been found, showing that
weapons of that metal were in common use. But it is probable that
iron was still scarce, as ploughs and other agricultural implements
continued to be made of wood,--one of the Anglo-Saxon laws enacting
that no man should undertake to guide a plough who could not make
one; and that the cords with which it was bound should be of twisted
willows. The metal was held in esteem principally as the material of
war. All male adults were required to be provided with weapons, and
honour was awarded to such artificers as excelled in the fabrication
of swords, arms, and defensive armour.*
[footnote...
WILKINS, Leges Sax. 25.
...]

Camden incidentally states that the manufacture of iron was continued
in the western counties during the Saxon era, more particularly in
the Forest of Dean, and that in the time of Edward the Confessor the
tribute paid by the city of Gloucester consisted almost entirely of
iron rods wrought to a size fit for making nails for the king's
ships. An old religious writer speaks of the ironworkers of that day