Slow progress today, not helped by the weather which was showery at first
(though thankfully nothing too heavy and clearing up later) but also with a chill
wind. There were 4 people to begin with but augmented by another 3 later in the
day, so the mid-week support remains solid.  We spent some time early on between the showers looking a little further afield
at the context around the site; in particular a hollow in the bank near the far
foothpath stile which Trevor, the farmer, tells us was a clay pit (see photo above). Paul also nipped across into
the next field to a pond that might have been a source of iron ore. We cleaned up trench 5 to get everything to a common level and it's clear that
outside of the tumble of small stones is hard compacted yellow clay with no slag
and no sign of any burnt material. There is an
intersting shape to it in cross section where the topsoil clearly dips into the clay layer at the top west corner with a bulge in the top N corner. We can't
interpret what this means. Amongst the stony area, the soil/clay is much softer and
sandier in contrast to the hard clay outside. There is a clear demarcation between the
two.  Christine uncovered a small piece of charcoal / burnt wood approx. 150mm on
top of the stony layer (see photo). There is a noticeable abscence of any slag
amongt these stones. Alex & Mike cleared more of the loose slag/soil from the lower (S) end
of trench 3 and eventually reached a layer of much more compacted/fused
slag just above the level of the white clay 'base' previously exposed. Incidentally, this clay appears to lip up slightly against the fused
slag from it's main level in a very shallow bowl. Pam and Paul then worked backwards through the loose stuff. They found they had left a 'dam' of
fused slag to the south of the white clay level. there is more work to do on this tomorrow, to establish whether the clay continues further south (downhill). We are still confused as to the relationship between the stony/clay levels in the
upper trenches (1,2,4,5) compared to the mass of slag in trench 3. We think we shall have
to join trench 3 uphill to trench 5 and see how they meet (or not). It may transpire that the slag dump was tipped down a steep slope or it may be that the stony areas are actually dumped on top of more slag that we have not yet excavated in the
upper trenches. Trevor offered us the use of a box to have our lunch in which he kindly brought down onto the site - luxury indeed!    Many thanks to Paul for the text and photos and to Alex too. |
Group Activities > SABDEN FOLD BLOOMERY >
