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Site Name:
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Hodges Wood 2 |
OS Reference:
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TQ 5265 3235
Click here to view on Where's The Path |
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Parish:
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Rotherfield |
Former Parish:
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Hundred:
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Rotherfield |
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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Bloomery |
Period:
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Medieval |
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Century:
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14, 13 |
Geology:
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Ashdown Beds |
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Geology notes:
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Wadhurst Clay immediately to the east
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Earliest known date:
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Latest known date:
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Dating evidence:
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Three small sherds of unglazed gritty Medieval pottery, probably of 13-14th century date.
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Site Description:
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The bowl-hearth remains of three furnaces were revealed by stream erosion in this small valley. The stream had also cut through deposits of slag and many large cakes of tapped slag were found in the stream bed. A slag heap just behind two of the furnaces was excavated by members of the Wealden Iron Research Group, uncovering over a metre of slag deposit and a concentration of burnt clay, presumably the remains of a furnace, though no definite structure could be defined.
This site was on the border with Hourne Farm Wood. A large slag heap, c.9 by 7m was apparent. Tree roots made digging difficult. Two trenches were dug. One, 1m. square, reached undisturbed soil at 60cm. Near the bottom, 3 small sherds of unglazed gritty Medieval pottery were found, probably of 13-14th century date. A second trench, 1m x 90cm, was dug some 40m from the first on what may or may not have been a separate slag heap. It was taken to a depth of 50cm but no pottery was found. It was noticed that some slag from the first trench on this site had a somewhat glassy surface, as is occasionally found on bloomery sites other slag was lighter in weight than is usual.
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Scheduled Monument Number:
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HER Reference:
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MES4789 (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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No |
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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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The furnace measured c. 85-90cm internal diameter and 35cm in height. A tree was growing inside the remaining structure and destroyed part of the wall on removal. The hearth was filled with large cakes of slag including one large plano-convex cake weighing c. 8kg. There was evidence for relining of the furnace, and blocks of slag were used to construct part of the wall. As far as could be determined, the tapping pit was destroyed by removal of the tree, but at 90 degrees to this pit was another pit, darkened by charcoal and small pieces of slag. A level sandstone block (30 x 40 x l0cm) extended from under the wall into the pit. On its surface was a concreted deposit of slag and scale (hammer scale?) and it is suggested that this was used as an anvil stone to carry out preliminary forging or cutting operations on the bloom as it was pulled from the furnace. (Clough 1976, 192-3)
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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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Persons Involved in Discovery:
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R. Batchelor; WIRG Field Group; Rodney Clough
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References:
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Tebbutt, C. F.. (1979) Reports on Fieldwork. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. 1st ser. 15. pp. 2-10
anon.. (1975) Inventory of Iron Sites visited by WIRG. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. 1st series, 8. pp. 8-44
(for this site see page(s) 10)
Clough, R. E.. (1976) Iron: Aspects of the industry in the Iron Age and Romano-British Periods (Doctoral Thesis; Institute of Archaeology, University of London). Institute of Archaeology, University of London
(for this site see page(s) 66-7, 191-3, 333)
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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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