Monument Type(s):

• (Former Type) CHARCOAL BURNERS SITE (Medieval to 17th century - 1066 AD? to 1699 AD?)
• (Alternate Type) SEARCHLIGHT BATTERY (Second World War - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: A group of earthworks originally thought to represent the remains of charcoal burning hearths, perhaps medieval and associated with documented iron working on the estates of the adjacent Buildwas Abbey, or perhaps an early post-monastic enterprise related to the development of the iron industry in the Severn Gorge in the 16th-17th centuries. Alternatively interpreted as a Second World War searchlight battery, which remains the current interpretation.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA4872 - 2002 Earthworks survey at Buildwas Abbey by RCHME

Description

Hearths included in the revised Scheduling of Buildwas Abbey in 1997. From the Scheduling description: ->

-> The monument includes the ruined and buried remains of Buildwas Abbey and the earthwork and buried remains of an extensive water management system, including water meadows, leats, fishponds, mills, and a fish weir, as well as the remains of several charcoal burning hearths ..To the south of the church and cloister, in an area now divorced from the main complex by the disused railway embankment, charcoal burning hearths provide an example of one of the small-scale industries which were a common feature of medieval monasteries and their early post-medieval successors. ->

-> West and south of the pond [ie the southern fishpond], on slightly raised ground, are a series of circular embanked enclosures, comprising low regular banks c.1m wide and c.0.4m high, enclosing parcels of land with an average diameter of 10m. None of the banks show any evidence for an entrance break, and they are probably the remains of charcoal burning hearths. Blackened earth with a high charcoal content which has been observed in the vicinity supports this interpretation. The abbey had a small iron forge on its Buildwas demesnes at some stage in its history, and the charcoal may have been used in the smelting process. Alternatively these hearths may represent an early post-monastic enterprise and may be related to the development of the iron industry in the Severn Gorge in the 16th and 17th centuries <1>

This site was reinterpreted during appraisal of LiDAR imagery by Historic England in 2013 as the remains of a probable Second World War searchlight battery. The site was visible as a cluster of three embanked rings which are probably the seachlight bases, and a larger circular feature (the sound locator) and rectangular mound (the generator) to the south. <2>

Clearly identified as a searchlight battery following analysis of LiDAR, comparison with a 1949 RAF photograph and an oblique aerial photograph taken in 2011 (reproduced in report). Described as two distinct embanked circular features with hints of a third in a characteristic clover leaf formation of searchlight housings. Traces of further earthworks to the S may represent the remains of associated structures and buildings such as the generator and command post. <3>

Interpreted as a searchlight battery during earthwork survey in 2002. Three circular earthworks represent the actual searchlight positions, with an emplacement for a sound locator and local defence anti-aircraft Lewis gun in the eastern one. The circular feature to the S is the probable site of the command post. The function of a square platform is unclear, but may have been for a generator. Soldiers manning the position in 1942 used the railway tunnel for cover while cooking and it is more likely that their tented accomadation would have been in this area. <4>

<01> English Heritage, 1997, Scheduling Papers (Revised Scheduling, 14/03/1997) (Scheduled Monument notification). SSA21201.

<02> Historic England (Remote Sensing), 2015, Extract from HE NRHE for New uses for survey data project: trial of lidar for rapid monument recording (new sites), p.41 (Gazetteer). SSA28250.

<03> Crutchley S and Small F, 2016, Rapid Desktop Reconnaisance: Trial use of lidar for monument recording, pp.18-19; Figures 16 and 17 (Deskbased survey report). SSA28973.

<04> Brown G, 2002, Earthworks at Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire, p.9 (Field survey report). SSA20886.

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.