1) Used of iron in the form of a rod.
In 1690, the Act which sanctioned new taxes on imported iron wire, metal and metal products defined it thus: iron slit or hammered into rods, commonly known by the name of rod iron. In the late seventeenth century the slitting mills at Wortley and Rotherham were the sole suppliers of rod iron to the south Yorkshire nailmakers. Further north, in August 1745, Mr Spencer of Cannon Hall wrote to Francis Watts of a contract with John Stringer which was to bring him 5 tons Rod Iron from Colne Bridge to Barnby Furnace: he added that there’s none Slit of the sort at Rotheram. In that financial year the Colne Bridge accounts have payments to customers over a wide area, including Lancashire, for the Carr: [carriage] of Rod Iron.