Summary
Part of the multi period stone quarry called Pen Pits.
Reasons for Designation
From before the development of farming in prehistoric times querns were being used to grind cereals and other tough food stuffs as part of the general preparation for cooking. Given the nature of this process only certain types of stone were particularly useful, others could be too soft, or break too easily, and throughout England types of Greensand were highly prized for this purpose from the Iron Age. The Roman conquest of Britain brought a significant increase in the requirement for both building stone and other more specific purposes and generated the first major quarrying industry to be developed in England. Quarries were opened and exploited from soon after the conquest to the end of the Roman period in the fifth century. A few produced either very high quality building stone or stone to meet specialist requirements which was transported for use over a wide area. Many were under military control, others were under the control of town authorities and in some instances they may also have been privately owned. Most provided building stone, but a few were used for more specific purposes to produce quern or mill stones. Quarrying techniques were relatively simple and involved the use of wedges, separation trenches and percussion to split lumps of rock from the parent material. Irregular blocks of stone were usually dressed to shape before being transported from the quarries. Tracks and pathways enabling the removal of stone from the quarry would also have existed. Visible remains include working faces, waste heaps and dressing floors. Today, however, very few Roman quarries can be positively identified because re-use in later times has removed much evidence for Roman activity, whilst the continued use of similar quarrying techniques over long periods often makes it impossible to determine the exact date of surviving remains. The southern part of the multi period stone quarry called Pen Pits survives well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to the date, quarrying processes, development of differing technologies, longevity, relative chronology of the quarry pits themselves and the overall landscape context through a prolonged period of exploitation.
History
See Details.
Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 27 August 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
SO 470
Legacy System:
RSM - OCN
Sources
Other
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
