Record Details
| NHER Number: | 24120 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Roman metal-working site |
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Summary
Building works in 1987 and 2001 revealed evidence of a Roman metal-working site, including large quantities of iron slag, a possible furnace base and burnt clay. Roman pottery fragments were also found.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TF 6393 2434 |
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| Map Sheet: | TF62SW |
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| Parish: | NORTH WOOTTON, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK |
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Full description
October 1987. Field Observation.
Two new house sites on north side of Station Road, opposite church.
Finds in footings trenches and on surface.
General scatter of iron slag on surface, extends over easternmost 40m of site, and across site from south to north. Field to north, beyond boundary not yet examined. Iron slag also extends into churchyard.
Context 2 in southwest corner of plot 1 (eastern of the two), a saucer-shaped structure of fired clay at least 2.5m across and at least 40cm thick, possibly a furnace base in situ.
Context 3 in northeast corner a large depression, at least 10m east to west and 6m north to south, dug into natural gravel, contained burnt clay and slag, redeposited. The south end of this depression was located; it is not the stokehole of the putative furnace in the southwest corner.
Tap slag finds include tapping-hole fills.
Roman pottery also found, dated by finder to 2nd-3rd century.
Information from [1]; see drawings in file and report of sieved residue.
A. Gregory (NAU), 5 November 1987.
October 1987.
Context 4 in north side of small extension on north side of house; mass of clay and slag, possibly a furnace in situ, but not certainly.
Sample from this mass sorted; evidence from smelting and smithing, see report (S1) in file.
A. Gregory (NAU), 18 December 1987.
Note: after examining samples from this site, it is clear that much of what has been identified as fired clay is actually fuel ash slag.
A. Gregory (NAU), 21 December 1987.
May 2001. Further observations.
Groundworks for an extension revealed ironworking debris, a pit, an underground watercourse, three large well-preserved timbers, all sealed beneath a layer of gravel, perhaps part of a later (post-medieval) road surface.
See notes and photographs (S2) in file.
D. Gurney (NLA), 14 August 2002.
See published article (S3) and report (S4) for further information on the evidence for Roman iron-working in North Wootton.
P. Watkins (HES), 23 March 2015.
Monument Types
- PIT (Unknown date)
- ROAD (Unknown date)
- WATERCOURSE (Unknown date)
- FURNACE? (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
- METAL WORKING SITE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
Associated Finds
- WORKED OBJECT (Unknown date)
- METAL WORKING DEBRIS (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
- POT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
- SLAG (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
- SLAG (Roman - 100 AD to 299 AD)
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| --- | Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card. |
| --- | Secondary File: Secondary File. |
| <S1> | Unpublished Document: Gregory, A.. 1987. Sieved residue from 'Furnace 3', North Wootton RB iron-working site. 5 December. |
| <S2> | Photograph: 2001. 24/20 5/2001. |
| <S3> | Article in Serial: Smallwood, J. 1989. Romano-British Iron-Working at North Wootton, King's Lynn, Norfolk. Britannia. Vol XX pp 243-245. |
| <S4> | Unpublished Report: Smallwood, J. 2011. Romano-British Iron Bloomeries at North Wootton and Castle Rising - Site Reports. Together with a consideration of the exploitation of local mineral resources and of the question of the Roman administration of the locality. |
Related records - none
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