Master Huggett and his man John
they did cast the first cannon.

When a furnace was fired up, it took some time to produce acceptable quality iron for the production of cannon. The first iron from the furnace was used for pig iron castings, to supply a number of forges in the area ( Burwash , Lewes and Crawley ). The next iron was used to make forge equipment, iron backs ("fire backs"), water pipes, rollers(agricultural and garden). The finally the remaining iron was felt to be of sufficient quality to produce the valuable cannons, even this started with the small cannons progressing on to the larger models.

The Fuller family from Brightling were a major cannon manufacturer in the local area, and produced a wide range of models from 32 pdr 10ft long to a 6 pdr 6ft long. 48 pdr guns could be manufactured, but it was felt that about 1 ton in 4 of iron was vapourised and lost in the process.

The Brede furnace was built in 1578 to produce cannons for the Royal navy. In 1754 the Churchills at Robertsbridge installed a furnace that re-melted pig iron and old rejected cannons, to produce new ones. (Recently discovered correspondence has revealed that John Churchill asked for such a furnace to be reinstated as a finery forge, and suggested that it may have been built by his predecessors, the Jukes brothers.)  - The above information was kindly provided by the Wealden Iron Trust All the cannons produced in the area were proved at Woolwich Arsenal in London, by double charging the cannon with powder, and testing twice in this manor. This was felt to reveal any manufacturing flaws especially in the area of the muzzle. For 270 years cannons were produced in the area, with the last furnace at Ashburnham being shut in 1813.