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Summary

A pit furnace and associated features were recorded during an open area excavation on land to the northeast of Ash Bungalow.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• IRON FURNACE (Unknown date)

Full description

Hughes, S. + Rainbird, P., 2016, The New Cranbrook Watermain: Post Excavation Assessment (Report - Assessment). SDV364434.

A staged programme of archaeological works comprising evaluation trenching, excavation and watching brief along the route of the new Cranbrook water main, East Devon, was undertaken by AC archaeology between June and November 2011. The work was commissioned by South West Water following consultation with Devon County Council Historic Environment Team. The evaluation trenches principally targeted potential sites that would have been impacted on by the new pipeline, identified through an earlier phase of work assessing historic maps, county historic environment records and aerial photographic information, as well as a walkover survey and a geophysical survey of the route.The works revealed field boundaries of Romano-British to post-medieval date, a cremation in a pit of possible Bronze Age date located in close proximity to an earlier find of a Bronze Age hoard, as well as a ditch of a probable prehistoric enclosure, re-used in the Romano-British period, originally identified on aerial photographs, and containing the fragmented remains of hand worked shale armlets of
probable Iron Age date, and an undated a pit furnace for smelting iron inside the enclosure.

The round pit furnace (F26024) measured 0.39m in diameter by 0.28m deep with steeply sloping
sides and a flat base. On the base of the feature was a thin deposit of reddish brown silty sand
and re-deposited natural subsoil (26075) that had common charcoal inclusions and was overlain by an in situ tap slag (26071). The in situ slag was overlain by a dark grey silty sand (26061) that contained furnace slag and percolated tap slag that had dripped through the deposit as well as abundant pieces of charcoal. Deposit 26061 was overlain by an upper fill of greyish brown silty sand (26060) that contained large furnace slag pieces, fragments of heat effected clay and furnace lining and common charcoal inclusions.

The iron smelting pit furnace indicates in situ firing with tap slag on the base with percolated tap slag, furnace slag and charcoal fuel above. The three stakeholes, and possibly the pit, in apparent association with the pit furnace may indicate the presence of some sort of superstructure associated with the iron smelting process. The pit contained 18 small pieces of slag.

Excavation of the large enclosure to the south of the Pin Brook, although tentatively dating the enclosure to the Bronze Age, recovered lumps of iron slag used in place of stone in features of probable medieval date, but also in association with re-used masonry thought to date to the Romano-British period (Horner 2015; Whelan 2016); this latter date may provide the historical context for the furnace.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8705 - Post Excavation Assessment: The New Cranbrook Watermain (Ref: ACD295/2/0)

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