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Digging at Blacklake Wood - June Aiken (Newsletter No 8 2004)
Realising that I should miss out on the Holworthy dig, since I should be away on holiday in July, I obviously said yes when Gill Juleff sent an email asking if I would like to join in the Exeter University dig at Blacklake Wood outside Dulverton. I offered to do 2 days a week for four weeks, and when I returned from holiday I found I was “on”.
Blacklake Wood is another iron-working site about 2 kilometres north-west of Dulverton. The dig was part of the Exmoor Iron Project which in 2002 and 2003 had focused on Sherracombe Ford near Brayford. This site was deep in woodland beside the River Barle.
On the first day I drove to Dulverton where I joined the team to be transported to the site in the Exeter University minibus. In fact we were driven to the site headquarters and the first thing we had to do was carry tools up the hill and into the woods.We found that trees had been removed, but proper clearance of the undergrowth was still needed. This involved cutting long grass and removing rhododendrons. It was very wet and muddy, so one group was set the task of collecting fallen branches to make a wooden path around the site. This was hard work and felt like taking part in an “It’s a Knock-out” game, as it was so slippery. Next day it was turf removal! This was not easy. When you picked up a turf on the shovel it slid off as mud, and trying to pile them up for later replacement was impossible! After a day of slipping about, I found that people almost crossed the road to avoid this mud-spattered woman, as I made my way back to my car!
Although the weather was unkind with bursts of heavy rain, the site was eventually cleared and the real dig began. From previous investigations in the 1990’s, it was thought that this site might represent an early medieval iron-smelting site. Preliminary Carbon-14 dating suggested very early medieval. There were slag and charcoal in abundance, but the site was totally different from the Sherracombe Ford site where I had previously volunteered. The sections through some of the trenches were text-book illustrations of stratification with successive layers of charcoal, orange coloured soil and more charcoal. Although we found plenty of iron slag and furnace lining, it was some time before a furnace site was discovered. The quantity of charcoal was amazing. In some places it seemed as if it had been made on site; in others it seemed to have been stored leaving deep layers of charcoal dust. Some of it was in whole rounds which will make species identification possible; much of it was in large lumps which will aid Carbon 14 dating.
As well as digging, I spent a day recording finds. I found this very interesting and was amazed at the variety of material collected. There was a very large core of furnace lining which was incredibly heavy. There was a whet-stone which was easily identifiable. There was, of course, masses of slag and there was what appeared to be the result of a failed smelt. There was not much pottery. In fact there was none until Jim Knights found a piece which caused great excitement. It has been examined and maybe 6th/7th century so-called “E-ware” from southern Gaul. As the Carbon-14 date previously obtained fell into the 6th century AD, that would make this a “Dark Age” site. BUT, identification has still to be confirmed.
Even after spending eight days in the mud, I still enjoyed myself. My husband thinks I’m mad!
Copyright © 2007 North Devon Archaeological Society