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As the population of England doubled between 1520 and 1620 more tradespeople connected with the iron industry moved into Waldron. For 150 years the Sussex Weald, known to the Romans as the Forest of Anderida, was possibly the foremost industrial area in the country. Blast furnace techniques using water-powered bellows to heat the iron ore had been imported from France and the high temperatures obtained allowed molten ore to be poured into moulds. From 1540 the first English cannon were cast in wealden furnaces. This freed the Royal Navy from dependence on foreign guns. Most of the ordnance produced had to be dragged on rough and muddy tracks on sleds or special carts drawn by teams of oxen to small coastal ports from whence they would be transported by sea to the naval dockyards at Portsmouth or Chatham. It could take over a year to cast and deliver guns, allowing for several months for a newly fired furnace to reach 'full blast'.<br />
Waldron furnace, constructed at Furnace Farm, was in operation by 1560 and remained in business for some 200 years, producing first cannonballs and iron bars ready for the forge, (known as pig-iron,) but by the 18th century, cannon. The water wheel powering the furnace bellows was driven by a pond fed by the millstream, and the large pond, or dam, can still be seen.<br />
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File:0075-Furnace-House-Waldern.jpg|Furnace HouseFarm, Waldron. Site of Hanson's Foundry
File:0076-Large-furnace-pond.jpg|Large furnace pond in front of the house
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'''This was the site of Hanson's Foundry and Furnace. Gun trunnions were make with a 'W'.'''
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File:0078-Upstream-from-boring-mill.jpg|Site of the Boring Mill upstream
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Many cannon balls have been found at the foot of the bank by metal detectors. There was an older proving bank in a nearby wood.<br />
There are 20 tons or so of iron borings in the stream at the Boring Mill site. In the photo: Douglas Anderson, wheelwright, who made the gun carriage for the Royal Engineers Indian Gun. Peter Davies, retired civil servant and assistant to landowner Peter Reed. Mr Davies has a special interest in muzzle loading guns such as Brown Bess.
Most landowners, particularly the Fullers, had interests in iron founding and they managed their woodland as coppice to produce the enormous amounts 0f charcoal needed for the blast furnaces. It has been estimated that between 4 and 5 thousand acres of coppice was needed to keep each forge and furnace combination in continuous use.<br />
