Archeology

[Exeldama]

Just discovred what i think is a lump of Iron Slag on the woodland boundary.

Interesting because though i know iron smelting took place in the area, this wood is on a ridge and doesnt lend itself well to industry. Wonder how it got there.

Its also got me thinking about the wee hill that the coppice sits on, because below it is a funny wet area that has hollows. Its not very big, but how big were hammer ponds were there little ones and what do you look out for.

Im also guessing the Bridleway is the route of an old pig drove.

Found maps going back to 1610 showing the area as wooded...where can i find out more ..older maps of wealden woods.

[The Sawyer]

Sounds interesting, don't no much about Iron smelting but could this have been Iron age smelting site, the reason I ask is that I think that they used pits to smelt iron? if your wood has been coppiced for many years it is likely that the timber was used in the iron industry as vast quantities of Charcoal needed in its production. hope one place you may be able to find more information in you local records centre.

Look forward with to any further developments. ttfn kester

[tracy]

I have 2 experts that have joined the forum, and hopefully going to tell you more soon!

[James M]

Have a look here :

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/

I have mine going back to 1862.

One thing to note, if you do have old iron workings on site and you want to do anything which requires planning permisssion then the planners may ask for a site contamination report.

J.

[lyn palmer]

I guess I'm one of Tracy's '2 experts'... Am working on a project to produce toolkits for anyone interested in identifying & investigating the archaeology of, and within, woods.

Hammer ponds - generally quite large, and often still hold water, but smaller ponds, 'penstocks', could be created to feed the main hammer pond by embanking the sides of streams up to a mile away. Sometimes all that can survive of these is the dam, or bay, that held the water back, now breached so the pond is dry. Doesn't sound like the depressions you have though - these seem more like mine pits that have filled with water over time. Are the hollows round or irregular? Do they have spoil mounds around them? Is there any sign of an access track to them which might point to shifting of extracted material? Don't know what the underlying geology of your wood is, so difficult to guess what might have been extracted. Could be marl pits if on clay? Other materials regularly extracted which can leave hollows might be stone, (small scale just for local use), or iron ore.

Researching your wood - where to start?! A huge subject, but a few pointers:

The Historic Environment Record (HER) - a database of all known finds and sites in each county, maintained by the archaeology team in each county council. Can provide specific info about your wood (if anything is recorded there), but just as importantly, give you an overview of how the landscape surrounding your wood was used over time. Also have a collection of aerial photographs back to 1940's which can show development of land use.

Record Offices - for parish & church records, & importantly the estate archives of local landowners with quite detailed past woodland management records. Account transactions for estates have fascinating info in them about woodland management - the larger the landowner, the more chance you have of tracing the history of a wood. Charters, deeds, manorial records may be in the RO, or may be held in collections elsewhere.

www.a2a.org.uk (Access to Archives) - can indicate archive collections you might look in - not all RO's have put their catalogues on this though.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue - lists material held at National Archives at Kew.

Local Studies or reference sections in libraries - trade directories (useful for small industry), previously published histories of the area, maps, census records (you may come across a family mentioned as working wood in some way in your area).

Local archaeology or history groups - may know something relevant to your wood. www.local-history.co.uk/groups

www.cartography.org.uk - gives info about collections of maps

www.viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk - old photos of local history

www.pastscape.org.uk - national record of archaeological sites but not as useful as HER

Phew - lots more I could say but run out of time! Hope this helps..

[Exeldama]

Thanks Ivy.. expert indeed me thinks. Lots of useful stuff for me to ponder.....

sounds like possible marl pits then being on clay, but still a little suprised to find the slag on a slope...i shall investigate further...

[david brown]

and I think I'm the other expert! I'm a member of the Wealden Iron Research Group and we help anyone who thinks they may have found ironworkings in the Weald. There are no clear answers as to whether you've found the site of ironworkings if you've picked up a piece of slag (assuming that's what it is). Sometimes slag was moved from where it was first tipped to provide hardcore for muddy patches in paths and roads, so what you found could have come from there. If you think you are near ironworkings, then the geology is important. Wadhurst Clay and Ashdown Beds are the most likely sources of iron ore in the Weald, and a bloomery won't be far from a source since they had to carry it to the furnace. Bloomeries pre-dated the larger-scale blast furnaces of the 16th - 19th centuries and are very numerous. They date from the iron age, through the Romans and became virtually extinct from about 1500 onwards. Many of the bloomery sites we find are Roman.

So, if you've have found what you think is slag, first break it open and see if it looks as though it has been heated – it will probably have holes in it and be blackened inside. Once you've decided you've definitely got slag, look for some more – streams are good places to look because many bloomeries were sited close to streams. If you find more slag, then get in touch with the Wealden Iron Research Group and they will come and look at what you've found and, if it is a new site, record it. It gets put on the HER (see Lyn Palmer). The Wealden Iron Research Group has its own website www.wealdeniron.org.uk and I can be contacted on [email protected] The website has links to a database of all ironworking sites so far found, so you can see if anything has already been recorded.

Hope this is of use.