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Site Name:
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Garden Hill |
OS Reference:
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TQ 4440 3190
Click here to view on Where's The Path |
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Parish:
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Hartfield |
Former Parish:
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Hundred:
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District:
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Wealden |
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County:
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East Sussex |
River Basin:
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Medway |
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Site Type:
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Administrative Centre, Bloomery |
Period:
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Roman |
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Century:
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01, 02 |
Geology:
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Ashdown Beds |
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Geology notes:
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Earliest known date:
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Latest known date:
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Dating evidence:
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Pottery: Samian, New Forest and Castor wares and a stamped amphora handle; portable finds included: various types of slag; numerous fragments of 1st/2nd century Roman window-glass and vessels (bowls and bottles); part of a glass paste intaglio representing the goddess Ceres; part of a silver twist.
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Site Description:
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A typical Iron Age hill fort with inturned entrance on the NE and a second possible entrance on the NW. Remains of late Iron Age buildings, a Roman period bath house; 1st and 2nd century iron furnaces and other hearths. Excavated by J. H. Money from 1969-82.
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Scheduled Monument Number:
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1014524 (ES 27026) |
HER Reference:
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MES5199 (ANA) |
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Bay Height (m.):
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Bay Length (m.):
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Classis Britannica tiles:
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No |
Samian pottery:
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Yes |
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Cylindrical slag plugs:
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No |
Two-finery forge:
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No |
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Excavation?:
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Yes |
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Excavation Details:
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A small but complete bath-building (9 m. long overall) was built to the NE of the remains of the rectangular building. The bath had a long stoke-hole (with position for boiler), a hot room (with bath annexe), tepid room, cold room and cold plunge. The two latter were floored with slabs of local sandstone and drained by lead pipes in to gullies, one of which led into a sump near the bath, and the other ran down-hill towards the Iron Age entrance, which, even if still used for traffic, can no longer have been part of a defensive system. What were left of the pilae of the hot room were made of the usual hypocaust tiles. In the debris of the hot room the remains of 18 "spacers" were found, one still threaded on its iron hold-fast, for use in the vertical hot-air flue. In the tepid room some of the pilae were of stone, perhaps indicating that there were not enough tiles to finish the job in the traditional manner. The construction of the bath as a whole was rough and ready and has the appearance of a British attempt at copying a smarter Roman original. Beside the cold plunge were found the pieces of an almost complete pane of Roman window glass (26 x 23cm), described by Dr. D. B. Harden as "a piece of prime importance for Romano-British archaeology"; it is now on exhibition in the British Museum. South of the bath was another timber-framed building (9 x 11m) which was clearly contemporary with the bath and gave access to it. Both buildings are dated by related 2nd century Samian pottery. Period V (post-2nd century) The bath-building and attached timber building fell into disuse or were pulled down and the site tidied up for increased industrial use. Rubbish, including broken window glass and bath-house refuse, was thrown into pits behind the Iron Age rampart. The timber building was flattened and floored with clay to provide a solid and heat-proof base for a hearth (G6) in which a process involving heavy burning was carried out; there were also traces of intense burning in the ruins of the hot room of the bath. 50m to the SE a smithy working area and what may be the base of an anvil, probably belonging to Period V, were partially excavated in 1974.
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Description of site vegetation:
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Slag Heap Area (m. sq) :
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Slag heap grade (Hodgkinson 1999):
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1 |
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Persons Involved in Discovery:
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C. F. Tebbutt
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References:
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Hodgkinson, J. S.. (1999) Romano-British iron production in the Sussex and Kent Weald: a review of current data. Historical Metallurgy. 33, no. 2. pp. 68-72
(for this site see page(s) 71)
Tebbutt, C. F.. (1970) Garden Hill camp, Hartfield. Sussex Archaeological Collections. 108. pp. 39-49
Money, J. H.. (1977) The Iron Age hill-fort and Romano-British iron-working settlement at Garden Hill, Sussex. Britannia. 8. pp. 339-350
Cleere, H. F. and Crossley, D. W.. (1995) The iron industry of the Weald. Merton Priory Press. Cardiff
(for this site see page(s) 300)
Money, J. H. & Streeten, A. (1979) Excavations in the Iron Age Hill Fort and Romano-British Ironworking Settlement at Garden Hill, Hartfield, East Sussex (1968- 1978). Wealden Iron , Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. 1st ser. 15. pp. 16-26
(for this site see page(s) 16-20)
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Persons with known connections to this site:
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Documents:
(click to download)
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Images:
(click on a thumbnail to view)
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