Ralf Hogge (his name has also been rendered "Ralph" and "Huggett") was an English iron-master and gun founder to the king. Web page titled "Historical Village Walk' at Buxted Village Web site, accessed March 2, 2007 Working with French-born cannon-maker Pierre Baude and for his employer, parson William Levett, Hogge succeeded in casting the first iron

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, in 1543. After

Levett Levett is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from eLivet, which is held particularly by families and individuals resident in England and British Commonwealth territories. Origins This surname comes from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, no ...

's death, Hogge went into business for himself, producing cannons with the process he had helped perfect. Hogge's increasing skill at his profession as well as his burgeoning business was manifest in 1560, when Hogge ceased to be known as 'servant to Parson Levett'; after that date, he was "Mr. Ralf Hogge, gentleman." The revolution in English ironfounding had brought a humble tradesman to the status of country squire. This event was immortalised in verse as: :''Master Huggett and his man John'' :''they did cast the first cannon.'' In the village of

Buxted Buxted is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex in England. The parish is situated on the Weald, north of Uckfield; the settlements of Five Ash Down, Heron's Ghyll and High Hurstwood are included within its boundarie ...

, East Sussex, "Hogge is assumed to have built Hogge House in 1583 and recorded his name and the date in the form of a cast iron

rebus A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...

over the door."The Hogge House Rebus, Buxted, circa 1929, theweald.org
/ref> Ralf Hogge married Margaret Henslowe, sister of Philip Henslowe, an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Philip Henslowe diaries between 1592 and 1609 survive. As well as providing an insight into Elizabethan theatre of that period, they were written on the reverse of Hogge's ironworks accounts for the period 1576 to 1581. They give an in-depth look into the business and casting methods of an early ironmaster.

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External links

Web page with information about Hogge
An Archaeological Interpretive Survey of Huggett's Furnace Farm House, Hadlow Down, Mayfield, East Sussex, David Martin FSA and Barbara Martin AIFA

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