Summary
The earthwork and buried remains of a Romano-British ironworks site. The site covers an area of around 6 hectares. Most of the buried remains are located across two agricultural fields which are currently under pasture (2022); there is no evidence of deep ploughing in this area. The fields slope north to the River Limden where the earthwork remains are located on the banks on either side of the river, within a wooded area.
Reasons for Designation
The remains of the Romano-British ironworks site to the north of Bardown Oast Farm are scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Period: it is a good example of an ironworking site, in use for a significant amount of time during the Romano-British period, and is located in the Weald, one of the main iron-producing regions of Britain during this time;
* Survival: it is a Romano-British ironworking site that survives relatively well with both earthwork and buried remains; the buried remains have been confirmed through partial excavation and geophysical survey;
* Representivity: the earthwork and buried remains demonstrate evidence for a very good variety of activities relating to ironworking, including extraction, ironworking, industrial waste and transportation routes, as well as domestic use;
* Documentation: it is well documented by archaeological investigation including excavation, geophysical survey, earthwork survey and field walking;
* Potential: it has good potential to provide further information relating to the date and nature of occupation, as well as evidence about the ironworking processes during this period.
History
Iron has been produced in England since at least 500 BC. The iron industry, spurred on by a succession of technological developments, has played a major part in the history of the country, its production and overall importance peaking with the Industrial Revolution. Iron ores occur in a variety of forms across England, giving rise to several different extraction techniques and structures. Ore was originally smelted into iron in small, relatively low-temperature furnaces known as bloomeries. These were replaced from the C16 by blast furnaces. The Weald was the main iron-producing region of Britain during the Roman period. The geology of clays yielded iron ore, along with stone and brick to build furnaces, whilst the woodland provided fuel. An iron industry was already well-established in the region before the Roman Conquest. However, in AD C1 and C2, further resources were put into increasing production and setting up new iron bloomeries.
Bardown Oast Farm Romano-British ironworks site is primarily on the south side of a section of the River Limden which follows a geological fault line between the Wadhurst Clay to the north and Ashdown Sand to the south. Wadhurst Clay is the major iron-ore bearing stratum of the Wealden series. The nature of this clay has meant that the area has long been exploited for iron-ore as well as clay which is highly suitable for tile and pottery manufacturing.
Bardown is located to the south of the B2099 which runs along the route of the Newenden to Wadhurst Ridgeway, a probable prehistoric or Romano-British trackway. It is considered one of the major Wealden ironworking sites. It had been estimated to have produced around eight to ten thousand tons of iron, based on the evidence of the surviving slag heap. However, more recent studies suggest that, given the likely reduction of the slag heap through disturbance since the site was last used, the production quantity may have been somewhat greater than previously estimated. The main phase of the occupation of the site was between AD 120 to AD 250, with smaller pottery assemblages dating to before and after this time also present. Evidence for the industrial use of the site appears to span around 60 years, ceasing around AD 200, with the site continuing to be used for habitation, possibly when industrial activity transferred to nearby satellites sites located within a one-mile radius. The occupation of the site ended in around AD 270 to 300.
The First Edition Ordnance Survey map (1:10560, 1878) shows the location of the ironworking site within an area of enclosed agricultural land bounded by a band of woodland containing the River Limden to the north, and a road to the south along with the C17 Bardown House (Grade II, List entry 1222086). In the early C20 part of the field in the north-east corner of the site was in use as an orchard. By the late C20, further buildings had been added between the south side of the site and the road, B2181, including barns, a semi-detached pair of houses, a walled garden and a building which would later become Bardown Oast Farm.
Between 1960 and 1968 a phased archaeological excavation and earthwork survey was undertaken of part of the site, led by Henry Cleere (Cleere, 1970), later Dr Henry Cleere. This identified the earthwork remains of a slag heap containing industrial and domestic refuse, and a causeway on the south side of the River Limden, as well as the remains of two ironstone extraction pits immediately to the north of the causeway. Two fields to the south of the earthworks were subject to excavation, revealing buried industrial and domestic remains including evidence for timber buildings, and a tentatively identified iron-forging furnace and ore-roasting furnace. There was no definitive evidence for a charcoal burning area; however, a great deal of charcoal was found on the site, including fine charcoal layers in the slag bank. Cleere did not find evidence for an iron-smelting furnace; however, the several tons of slag indicate that smelting was occurring (smelting furnaces had been found during a contemporary excavation of the nearby satellite site of Holbeanwood to the north). In addition to the iron-production remains, there was also evidence of domestic occupation most likely relating to the workers at the site. There is also evidence for metalled and unmetalled tracks running across the site and down to the river, as well as possible exit routes. Cleere’s investigation led him to hypothesise that the site consisted of an area of industrial activity to the west and a residential area to the east.
In 2008 a watching brief was carried out during excavations for a utility trench. A possible Roman sandstone wall and an associated layer of burning were encountered towards the north end of one of the fields, along with finds including slag, a small assemblage of Roman pottery sherds and building material; the remains were left in-situ. The cabling trench was redirected around the southern edges of the fields; these excavations identified the possible remains of a trampled track and ditches.
A programme of archaeological investigations was undertaken between 2006 to 2010 (Hodgkinson & McLaughlin, 2011). A geophysical survey was carried out in the fields which had been the focus of Cleere’s excavations, and on land to the east. This revealed evidence of an area of intense magnetic responses to the north of where the 1960s excavations occurred, indicating the probable presence of the iron-smelting furnace. This investigation concluded that the site was not divided into two separate areas, but that the industrial and settlement remains were integrated, with a concentration of industrial activity located to the north-west with similar, but more scattered activity, continuing to the south-east. These investigations also included map analysis, field walking and a search with metal detectors in the surrounding area; no excavations were carried out. The limited finds included a bronze coin, skirted terret ring, as well as an oyster shell. The study also looked at the wider landscape, noting that there is evidence for further extraction pits on the land to the north of the site, and trackways leading in the direction of other ironwork sites in the vicinity.
Around 15500 sherds of pottery have been found at the site, mostly during the 1960s excavation, of which only around half can be securely stratified. The examined pottery dates mainly to the period AD 120 to 250 but smaller amounts of earlier and later Roman pottery were present. The majority of pottery is local East-Sussex ware. There has been a suggestion that pottery production was also occurring at the site. In addition, there are also imported types of pottery that suggest an iron trade, particularly with north and east Kent and the near continent. Coins have been found dating from Antoninus Pius (AD 138-161) to Caracalla (AD 198-217). Around 24 Classis Britannica stamped tiles have also been found on this site, dating to between AD 140 and 202; the exact relationship with the Roman fleet is unclear. A copper-alloy medallion was uncovered through metal detection (July 2006) in disturbed soil within a land drain along with one of the field hedges. The medallion bears the laureate profile of Emperor Antoninus Pius on one side and the opposite face depicts the seated Capitoline Triad. It was struck in Rome between AD 140 to 144 and is one of only three found in Europe.
Details
PRINCIPAL FEATURES: the earthwork and buried remains of a Romano-British ironworks site. The site covers an area of around 6 hectares. Most of the buried remains are located across two agricultural fields which are currently under pasture (2022); there is no evidence of deep ploughing in this area. The fields slope north to the River Limden where the earthwork remains are located on the banks on either side of the river, within a wooded area.
DESCRIPTION: the earthwork remains are located at the northern end of the site within a wooded area and on the banks on either side of the River Limden. On the north bank, at around TQ6638029413, are the remains of two iron-ore extraction pits; these hollows are around 45m wide and bounded on part of their circumference by high banks. They are located either directly opposite the remains of a causeway, an earth bank approximately 55m long, on the south riverbank at around TQ6636229394. It was conjectured to have been used to dam the river and allow access to the northern bank. In 2006 an investigation of the causeway identified the semblance of a ditch running to the rear which may have been the remains of an overflow channel created to allow the river to run beneath the causeway. To the west, on the steeply sloping south riverbank is a large slag heap measuring approximately 100 to 150m (length), 50m (width) and 3m (depth). This slag heap continues to be disturbed by erosion and burrowing animals, causing the dislodgment of archaeological material, including Classis Britannica stamped tiles, pottery shards, building material and iron-production debris superficially apparent here and in the riverbed.
To the south of the wooded area is a group of sloping fields which have been subject to field walking, metal detection, geophysical survey and excavation. This work has identified the buried remains of buildings, industrial activity, ditches, walls, and metalled and unmetalled routeways. The fields are numbered 2 and 3, in accordance with the recent geophysical survey report (Hodgkinson & McLaughlin, 2011). In 2008 a pipeline was laid out along the western edge of field 2, near the southern edge of fields 2 and 3, and the eastern edge of field 3.
Field 2 (centred on TQ6618629317) is immediately to the south of the slag heap. It has the greatest concentration of likely industrial remains, suggesting that this was the centre of the ironworking activity and the possible iron-smelting area. This industrial activity occurs around a series of metalled and unmetalled tracks which extend to the south and west. One of the tracks heads south-west and is associated with evidence of further small-scale industrial activity. This area was subject to excavation in the 1960s, revealing a timber building (referred to by Cleere as Building I), overlaying an earlier ore roasting pit. This building was destroyed by fire; coin evidence indicates that this occurred around AD 200. A trackway heads towards the south-west side of the field; it appears to lose its metalling at its southern end. During the laying of the 2008 pipeline trench, a possible trampled trackway was found near the south-west corner of this field; it does not appear to line up with the features identified during the geophysical survey
Field 3 (centred on TQ6634329284) contains further evidence of occupation. The geophysical survey identified a grid network of routeways arranged around a central sandstone and slag metalled track (partially excavated in the 1960s) running north-west to south-east. It shows evidence for industrial activity continuing eastwards into this field, although less concentrated than in field 2. In the western half of field 3, the remains of another building were excavated by Cleere (Building II); this includes evidence of a possible forging hearth at its north end and an ore roasting furnace at the south. The building is believed to have fallen out of use by AD 200 when it collapsed or was demolished. Further east another structure was partially excavated, revealing two phases of timber construction. A primary stage was destroyed by fire, with burnt daub and charred oak evidence. The second phase was of similar construction, with the addition of a cobbled floor; its full extent was not uncovered. Finds of several pot wasters also strongly indicated that there were pottery kilns in this area. In 2008, a possible Roman masonry wall was excavated near the north side of this field. Near the south-east corner of this field, the geophysical survey identified a pair of ditches that bound the southern edge of the central north-west to south-east sandstone and slag trackway; these appear to mark the southern end of the principal ironworks site. The copper alloy medallion, found in July 2006, was located in a drain next to the hedge line on the west side of field 3. Along the south-east corner and southern edge of this field, a trench has been excavated for a mains electricity cable which was laid in 2008; the associated excavations revealed a pair of linear features at the east end of the southern edge, identified as probable drainage channels which are believed to be contemporary with the ironwork remains.
EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: to the south, east and west the boundary of the scheduling largely follows the field boundaries, except at the south-west corner of field 2, as is shown on the accompanying map. To the north, the boundary line includes the earthwork remains of the slag heap and causeway to the south of the River Limden, and pair of ore pits to the north, this includes a 2m boundary around the earthwork remains considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation
EXCLUSIONS: all fences, fence posts, and gates are excluded from the scheduling; however, the ground beneath is included.
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 10 August 2022 to correct a typo in the Reason for designation
