Ayton Banks Alum Works, North Yorkshire: Survey Report
Author(s): T Pearson, Abby Hunt
In March 2004, English Heritage assisted members of the Great Ayton Community Archaeology Project to undertake an archaeological investigation and analytical field survey of Ayton Banks Alum Works to the east of Great Ayton in North Yorkshire. The survey encompassed the alum quarry and the area immediately to its west where the initial processing of the alum shale took place. The boiling house, where the final processing took place, has yet to be definitely located but it probably stood some distance downhill from the quarry site. The site was opened in 1765 and lasted for six years which mean it did not experience a lot of change during its working life unlike the more long-lived alum works found on the coast of north-east Yorkshire. What is easy to appreciate here more than at the other alum sites is the organisation that went into laying out the workings. This is evident in the way the clamps, the steeping tanks, the reservoir and the cisterns were all neatly accommodated in a small area and the waste tidily disposed of to the west. The evidence that the sides of the quarry were probably revetted with drystone walling adds to this impression of a highly organised operation. The site is also more complete than most of those on the coast where the action of the sea and cliff slips have destroyed evidence of the workings. (This was report 26/2004 in a previous series).
- Report Number:
- 87/2004
- Series:
- Other
- Pages:
- 14
