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Site Name:
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Beauport Park |
OS Reference:
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TQ 7870 1455
Click here to view on Where's The Path |
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Parish:
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Battle |
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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Rother |
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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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01, 02, 03 |
Geology:
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Wadhurst Clay |
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Geology notes:
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Adjacent Ashdown Beds
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Earliest known date:
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Latest known date:
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Dating evidence:
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Coins from reigns of Domitian (AD 81-96), Trajan (AD 98-117), Hadrian (AD 117-138), Antoninus Pius (AD 138-161), Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180), Lucilla (AD 161-169), Commodus (AD 180-192), Julia Domna (AD 193-211), Severus Alexander (AD 222-235) and Decius (AD 249-251)
Samian pottery
East Sussex ware
Oxfordshire white and red wares
New Forest fine wares
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Site Description:
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An enormous slag and refuse bank, covering nearly 1ha, was partially quarried away in the nineteenth century by the County Highways Surveyor, James Byner, at a rate of 2,000 - 3,000 cu.metres a year for nearly ten years. Finds from the slag heap during this work and subsequently have indicated a date range from the end of the first century to the first half of the third.
The only part of the large site, covering at least 5ha, that has been excavated is a well-preserved six-room bath-house of military type. This has to date produced about 1,600 tiles with the CLBR stamp of the Classis Britannica. The bath-house was sited in the 'industrial' part of the settlement, doubtless for reasons of safety.
Considerable evidence of ore-roasting and smelting has resulted from trial excavations and from earth-moving operations during the construction of the golf course. This was situated between the slag heap and the presumed 'residential' area of the settlement.
Excavations during 1980 around the bath-house produced post-holes which seem to form part of a pre-Roman roundhouse. So far, no pottery or other finds have confirmed this indication of a pre-Roman phase at Beauport Park.
A televised 'dig' by the Time Team in 1989 revealed strong geophysical evidence suggesting the presence of smelting furnaces at approx. TQ 7860 1458, beneath the 13th fairway of the Beauport Park Golf Course.
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Scheduled Monument Number:
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1002250 (ES 383) |
HER Reference:
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MES3339 (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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Yes |
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 bath-house was excavated 1970-2 - see Brodribb and Cleere 1988, but not the ironworking site.
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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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4 |
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Persons Involved in Discovery:
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References:
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Brodribb, A. G. and Cleere, H. F.. (1988) The Classis Britannica Bath-house at Beauport Park, East Sussex. Britannia. 19. pp. 218-274
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)
Brodribb, A. G.. (1969) Stamped tiles of the 'Classis Britannica'. Sussex Archaeological Collections. 107. pp. 102-125
Cleere, H. F.. (1971) Cyclical operations at Roman bloomeries. Bulletin of the Historical Metallurgy Group. 5, 2. pp. 74-75
Brodribb, A. G.. (1979) A survey of tile from the Roman bath house at Beauport Park, Battle, E. Sussex. Britannia. 10. pp. 139-156
Brodribb, A. G.. (1972) A note on the Beauport Park ironworks. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. First series, 3. pp. 4-6
Brodribb, A. G.. (1969) Beauport Park. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. First series, 1. pp. 9
Cleere, H. F.. (1972) Beauport Park 1971. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. First series, 3. pp. 6-7
Straker, E. (1931) Wealden Iron. Bell. London
(for this site see page(s) 330-7)
Cleere, H. F. and Crossley, D. W.. (1995) The iron industry of the Weald. Merton Priory Press. Cardiff
(for this site see page(s) 295)
Hodgkinson, J. S.. (1991) Field Notes. Wealden Iron, Bulletin of the Wealden Iron Research Group. 2nd series, 11. pp. 2-7
(for this site see page(s) 2-4)
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) 191)
Rock, J.. (1879) Ancient Cinderheaps in East Sussex. Sussex Archaeological Collections. 29. pp. 167-180
(for this site see page(s) 168-74)
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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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