Annotation - Page 2
From Riddley Walker Annotations
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- (1:2) "Making chard coal for the iron reddy at Widders Dump"
Charcoal produces the high temperatures needed for smelting iron. The use of reddy is unclear here (some readers see it as "the iron [that is] ready at Widders Dump") but from later context it seems that the iron reddy is a place where iron is both heated red and made ready—i.e. a forge. (RH concurs: "The iron reddy is a smelter where old iron is melted down to make it ready for new uses.")
Widders Dump: See Places.