The blowing house method of smelting tin was probably introduced early in the 14th century to replace the earliest method of smelting which had to be done in two stages – a first smelting probably took place near to the tinworks and the roughly smelted metal was taken to a stannary town to be smelted again to produce the final refined product.
The blowing house method of smelting tin emerged as an alternative to the earlier two-step process involving initial smelting near the tinworks followed by transportation to a stannary town for further refining.