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Summary

Evidence of a structure from the 12th-13th century destroyed by fire, and connected to the cloth making and iron working industries, excavated in the early 1970s

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Conservation Area: Newbury Town Centre

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 01389.02.100
  
• National Monuments Record No.: SU 46 NE 226?
  SU 471 670

Monument Type(s):

• BUILDING (12th century to 13th century - 1101 AD to 1300 AD)
• CLOTHING WORKSHOP? (12th century to 13th century - 1101 AD to 1300 AD)
• IRON WORKING SITE (12th century to 16th century - 1101 AD to 1600 AD)

Full Description

EXCAVATIONS REVEALED SEVERAL PHASES OF BUILDINGS OVERLYING EARLIER DITCHES, HEARTHS AND A WELL. SEE ALSO SMR 1461 FOR MESOLITHIC FLINTS FOUND DURING EXCAVATION.

From NMR number SU 46 NE 226 - Excavations in Bartholomew Street revealed a possible Roman metalled road and iron-working activity from the 12th-18th centuries. Two wells had evidence of lead, copper and leather working.

Excavations took place at 140 Bartholomew Street intermittently between September 1971 to October 1974. Nine different periods of activity were identified and Period 4 (IV) was dated to the 12th to 13th century. It consisted of a series of post holes and stake holes, some 36 cm deep and all 6m from the street frontage. A piece of charred beam found in the same layer suggested that the structure had been destroyed by fire, and finds related to textile production indicated that it was a domestic space <1> or had been involved in the cloth making industry <2>.

Rubbish pits were also found at the rear of the site containing deer antlers from which sections had been cut <2>. It was suggested that these were for making handles for metal vessels, as iron slag was found in all of the medieval layers, indicating that iron working had taken place there from the 12th to 16th century. Part of a bowl furnace, a 1.1 kg iron billet, the offcut of an iron bar, blobs of copper alloy and pieces of a stone casting mould also attested to metal working on the site.

A Roman coin of Constantine II was found the 12th to 13th century layer as well, pierced with a hole and perhaps worn as an amulet <2>.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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