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Site Name:
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Holbeanwood |
OS Reference:
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TQ 6637 3053
Click here to view on Where's The Path |
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Parish:
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Ticehurst |
Former Parish:
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Hundred:
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District:
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Rother |
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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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Roman |
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Century:
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03, 01, 02 |
Geology:
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Wadhurst Clay |
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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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East Sussex wares from Late Iron Age to AD 270; other wares, including Hoo, Otford, North Kent, Canterbury and Nene Valley from AD 100-300. Three sherds of Samian pottery: AD 70-100 and 150-200 (M. Lyne, unpublished assessment).
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Site Description:
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This was an outlier or ‘satellite’ of Bardown. It is situated about 1.5km to the north connected by a slag-metalled track which runs alongside several ore pits. Excavation revealed two groups of furnaces, each consisting of six units, and a third group probably existed. These were standard Roman shaft furnaces. The scarcity of pottery and other remains associated with occupation, in sharp contrast with the main Bardown settlement, and the lack of buildings other than the timber shelters erected over the furnace groups, suggest that this was purely a work place, visited daily by ironworkers who lived in the main settlement.
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Scheduled Monument Number:
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HER Reference:
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MES2468 (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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The area first explored in the winter of 1968-1969 was considerably extended. The original course of the small stream running through the site was established. This had been partly filled in with slag, which had ultimately silted up to block the bed completely; the stream then appears to have taken a new course, about 10m to the north-west, and in doing so removed the entire west side of the timber building in which six furnaces were discovered in 1968-1969.
Two further sites were explored, 30m north and 20m north-east of the original area (Trenches II and IV respectively). Trench II had been test-trenched at Easter 1969, when a gully was found filled with slag. A small dump of roasted ore indicated that some kind of activity was carried out in this area, but successive extensions of the trench failed to locate either smelting furnaces or ore-roasting hearths; it is believed that considerable levelling activities carried out by the owner about ten years previously may have removed traces of this entirely.
In Trench IV a further group of six furnaces was found, in an area delimited by the stream and by three shallow gullies, all filled with slag. These were identical in form with those found in Trench I in 1969-1969, but less well preserved. It would appear that these were two separate clusters of furnaces, operating perhaps at different periods; the dearth of dating material, such as pottery, made it difficult to establish the sequence of operations in the two areas.
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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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2 |
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Persons Involved in Discovery:
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References:
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Cleere, H. F. & Hemsley D.. (1971) Fieldwork in the Wadhurst-Ticehurst area. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. 1st series, 2. pp. 5-6
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) 70)
Cleere, H. F.. (1971) Cyclical operations at Roman bloomeries. Bulletin of the Historical Metallurgy Group. 5, 2. pp. 74-75
Cleere, H. F.. (1969) Excavations at Holbeanwood, Sussex, 1968. Bulletin of the Historical Metallurgy Group. 3, 1. pp. 28-29
Cleere, H. F.. (1971) Holbeanwood, Sussex. Bulletin of the Historical Metallurgy Group. 5, 1. pp. 39
Tylecote, R. F.. (1986) The Prehistory of Metallurgy in the British Isles. The Institute of Metals. London
(for this site see page(s) 160)
Cleere, H. F.. (1970) The Romano-British industrial site at Bardown, Wadhurst. Sussex Archaeological Society. Lewes
Cleere, H. F. and Crossley, D. W.. (1995) The iron industry of the Weald. Merton Priory Press. Cardiff
(for this site see page(s) 304)
Cleere, H. F.. (1974) The Roman Iron Industry of the Weald and its Connexions with the Classis Britannica. Archaeological Journal. 131. pp. 171-199
(for this site see page(s) 195)
Cleere, H. F.. (1971) Excavations at Holbeanwood. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. 1st series, 2. pp. 4
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Persons with known connections to this site:
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Documents:
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Images:
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