Birmingham itself operated as the commercial hub for manufacturing activity which took place across the Birmingham Plateau, which itself formed the centre of a network of iron forges and furnaces stretching from South Wales and the Forest of Dean to Cheshire. While 16th century deeds record nailers in Moseley, Harborne, Handsworth and King's Norton; bladesmiths in Witton, Erdington and Smethwick and scythesmiths in Aston, Erdington, Yardley and Bordesley; the ironmongers – the merchants who organised finance, supplied raw materials and marketed products, acting as middlemen between the smiths, their suppliers and their customers – were concentrated in the town of Birmingham itself. Birmingham ironmongers are recorded selling the Royal Armouries large quantities of bills as early as 1514; by the 1550s Birmingham merchants were trading as far afield as London, Bristol and Norwich, in 1596 Birmingham men are recorded selling arms in Ireland, and by 1657 the reputation of the Birmingham metalware market had reached the West Indies. By 1600 Birmingham ranked alongside London as one of the two great concentrations of iron merchants in the country, flourishing from its economic freedom and its proximity to manufacturers and raw materials, while London's traders remained under the control of a powerful corporate body.