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Summary

Waste from iron smelting including slag, furnace lining and tap slag is turned up frequently during ploughing. Charcoal found on the site has returned a calibrated radiocarbon date of AD72-395.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: ST11SW/18

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• IRON WORKS (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Full description

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV38286.

Site of bloomery.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV38290.

Osa=st11sw11.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV38291.

Hutchinson, p. O. /tda/5(1872)49/iron pits.

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV38292.

Des=exeter archaeology/blackdown hills iron survey/(1995).

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, Untitled Source (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV24.

Vis=19/11/1975 (os) the hamlet comprising orchard view, brownings and tudburrow farms was formerly called tudborough. Now almost wholly pasture.

GRIFFITH + WEDDELL, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV60270.

Vis=7/3/95 (ea) there appear to be 2 smelting sites on the land of tedburrow farm and its southern neighbour brownings farm. An abundance of slag fragments and a furnace lining were found in a ploughed field to e of tedburrow farm. High magnetic susceptibility readings extend from here south through the orchard (& into brownings farm) to st12651305, + slag found in this field increases in concentration in the ne corner. In the orchard on the w side of tedburrow lane at st12451312 there were slag finds and high magnetic susceptibility readings (griffith + weddell).

HUTCHINSON, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV96023.

Vis=estimated -/-/1871 (hutchinson) in a field at tudborough the plough continually turns up scoria and doubtless there was a bloomery nearby. Iron working pits occur widely in e. Devon but their date is unknown.

Griffith, F. + Weddell, P., 1996, Iron Working in the Blackdown Hills: results of recent survey (Article in Serial). SDV38293.

Griffith, f. + weddell, p. /iron working in the blackdown hills:results of recent survey/(1996)33/in newman, p.(ed)/the archaeology of mining & metallurgy in sw britain.

Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, 1998, Iron and Steel Industries, Monument Protection Programme (MPP), Introduction to Site Assessments (Report - Assessment). SDV362922.

Within the environs of Tedburrow and Brownings Farm surface finds of slag and high magnetic susceptibility readings have suggested the location of at least two smelting sites. Badger activity has bought fragments of slag and furnace lining to the surface at one of the sites.

Little to see on the ground. Survival of important archaeological remains can only be determined by trial excavation.

Cox, M., 2009, How Important were the Blackdown Hills as a Centre for the Iron Industry before the Industrial Revolution, 20, 24-25, Fig. 4.16, 4.17, 4.18 Appendix 11 (Undergraduate Dissertation). SDV359500.

'Scoria' including furnace lining and tap slag is turned up by the plough. Charcoal found on the site has returned a calibrated radiocarbon date of AD72-395.
Recent landscaping near the farmhouse also exposed a considerable quantity of waste material, mainly tap slag. The streambed is also full of tap slag that probably originated in fields to the south. It is suggested that the actual smelting took place to the south with the waste being carried and dumped in the easiest way, downhill to the north. The ironworking material found close to Tedburrow Farmhouse is undated but if it is contemporary with that from the surrounding fields then this suggests a large Romano-British iron working site.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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