Metalworking site in Summerhill Demesne

There is a cereal-drying kiln (ME043-059001-) in the SE angle of the rectangular enclosure (ME043-059----). Immediately W of it was a square structure (dims c. 4m x 4m) defined by clusters of post-holes at each corner except the SE where they would have been destroyed by a later ditch. At its centre was a single bowl furnace in the form of a pit (diam. 0.45m; D 0.15m) with a fire-reddened base and a vitrified clay lining. Two fills of silty and clayey sand with charcoal inclusions filled the pit, from which a sample of birch charcoal provided a C14 date of 720-970 cal. AD. Seven small pits, including three other bowl furnaces, are thought to be related. One furnace (diam. 0.62m; D 0.38m) with vertical sides has an oxidized edge and four fills with charcoal and metal slag. Another pit (diam. 0.5m; D 0.28m) with vertical, oxidised sides had four fills with charcoal and slag. A third pit (diam. 0.22m; D 0.05m) with an oxidised edge has a single fill of sandy clay and slag. These were close together within the central of three overlapping structures inside the S moat of the enclosure. (Collins 2009, 28-30) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 29 June 2021