Romans on Exmoor

Roman finds in Brayford. During the last two years we have become very aware of the evidence of iron smelting in Brayford. Also, Roman pottery has been found in the vicinity, but not in circumstances to justify the claim that the iron smelting was carried out in the Romano period.

In late May a number of volunteers from the history society carried out a supervised archeological dig at a building site in Mill Lane, Brayford. The builder in having dug an entrance to the site, had cut though a layer of material that looked like iron slag, and it was thought by Devon County Council to be of a sufficient significance to justify further excavation.

Once the builder was aware of the historic interest in the site he gave full co-operation with the society, and indeed he found a significant number of mediaeval potter sherds on the site above the slag layer.

The site was excavated over a four-day period, and it revealed that there had been an iron-smelting furnace there, and amongst the slag were two significant sherds of Roman pottery positively dating the smelting to the Roman period. The pottery sherds were a piece of Serbian pottery and part of a mortar for grinding spices.

These finds have confirmed the historical significance of the village and an Exeter team of archaeologists are now to carry out a further dig in the village during August.

Volunteers from the parish are invited to assist. There appears to be three separate significant smelting sites in the village ~ it is hoped to determine the full extent of each site and the domestic arrangements associated with them. It is possible that the ironworkers lived up the hill at Charles, away from the charcoal smoke, smelting fumes, and the flies of the river area. The Quarries' archaeological finds suggest a possible site...

Mediaeval masonry. Recently while digging foundations for a garage at Holewater, the old foundations of a small house have been found. Beside the fire hearth was a large peice (40kg) of carefully dressed sandstone. Experts from North Devon Museum have examined the stone and believe it may well have been robbed from Lydcote Hall when it was demolished at the time of the reformation in the 16th century. The stone matches the material found at two old quarries just north of the present Hall. The small house shows on the 1840 tithe map, and its location confirms that the original site of Holewater Bridge was further upstream than the present one.

Jim Knight,
Brayford and Charles Group.
(NB: In August, Dr Gill Juleff intends to excavate for 2 weeks one of the iron working sites in Brayford. If you would like to get involved, Dr Juleff is looking for volunteers. Call Terry Green (see contacts list) or Jim Knight (01598) 710014 for details.)

‘Roman’ North Devon in 2002 (a compilation), ( Newsletter No 5 2003)

As reported in the Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Review, 2002 saw the first full year of activity for the Exmoor Iron Project, a four-year fieldwork programme jointly run by Exmoor National Park Authority, the Archaeology Department of Exeter University and the National Trust with funding and support from English Heritage.

(The following is a précis of the report of Martin Gillard and Gill Juleff appearing in the Exmoor Historic Environment Review) The highlight of 2002 was the summer excavation season at Sherracombe Ford. Sherracombe Ford lies near the head of the Sherracombe/Brayford Valley in a context of open moorland, wooded combes and ancient trackways. The site comprises double and single platforms cut into a steep valley-side. Below are mounds of iron-slag, finds from which had already suggested late Iron Age/Romano- British industrial activity. The aim of the 2002 dig was to investigate one of the larger platforms and its adjacent slag-heap to establish the nature of the activity, chronology and to examine anomalies identified by geophysical survey. To this end a rectangular trench was excavated on the platform and a long, narrow trench was dug across the site from the hillside above the platform, across the platform and through the slag-heap below.

On the platform were found the remains of three furnaces all severely truncated. The strongest geophysical anomaly on the platform turned out to correspond to a smithing floor with trampled slag and hammer-scale from the process of forging raw iron bloom into finished iron. Here too were the footings of unmortared stone walls and floors of packed stone and slag. Excavation through the slag-heap suggested the periodic creation of working platforms through cutting and levelling of the unstable slag. The impression was of intensive industrial activity over a long period of time. Pottery from the excavation confirmed a Romano-British date. (After MG and GJ, February 2003)

It seems possible that evidence of Romano-British iron-working will be found all the way down the valley from Sherracombe to Brayford. Both excavation and geochemical survey at Brayford in 2001 had already revealed a large smelting area associated with pottery of Romano-British date. In the village of Brayford iron-slag is found over a wide area. In 2002 further excavation was carried out by South-West Archaeology at Brayvale with the assistance of NDAS members. Here the digging of a platform for the construction of a patio had initially revealed a substantial collection of Romano-British pottery in heavily charcoalstained soil. Two spells of controlled excavation and one of rapid salvage excavation during the year produced a large (for North Devon) quantity of Romano-British pottery, a total of 1342 sherds together with the now ubiquitous slag and fragments of furnace-lining. The pottery has been examined by Paul Bidwell and Associates at South Shields who indicate a date-range in the late second to early third century. Most of the material represents local coarse wares, but there is an appreciable quantity of imported fine wares including Samian as well as fragments of amphorae. The excavations suggested working processes similar to those seen at Sherracombe Ford. On the hillside, terraces had apparently been created as working platforms which became deposits for debris as time went on and new terraces were cut.

There was plentiful evidence of furnaces, though no identifiable furnace was found. Shallow pits of dark soil contained hammer-scale, evidence of smithing on site. It has been suggested that the iron-working sites in the Brayford area represent one of the largest known industrial sites from the Roman period. A great deal of further study will be required before we know what to make of it all. It does not mean that there were ‘Romans’ in North Devon, but now we know that the North Devon area was at least involved in the economy of Roman Britain and was probably supplying iron to a large market.We also know what kind of materials to look out for in field-walking and excavations. There is no known reason why ‘Romans’ should be confined to Brayford and its environs.

Brayford children take on ‘the Romans’ Chris Preece (Newsletter No 5 2003)

Primary school children at Brayford are to be the first to benefit in their education from the recent discoveries of Romano-British iron-working sites in North Devon. An information/educational activities pack is currently in preparation which will add a local dimension to the ‘Romans’ bit of the national history curriculum. Firstly children will study Roman Britain as a whole with the usual story of invasion, armies, forts and the establishment of Roman cities. In addition they will learn to appreciate aspects of life in the Roman period. They will encounter Roman food, learn children’s games, look at houses, clothes and jewellery.

The icing on the cake is that the children will be able to exploit the now very special position of their own village. They will learn how the new sites were discovered and the methods that have been employed to extract information from them. They will go out looking for evidence themselves and will learn to do some elementary surveying. It will be possible to handle some of the pottery that has come from the excavations and the children will see how the shape of whole vessels can be recovered from a few fragments so that their style and origin can be identified. They will learn about the trade routes that may have brought pottery from the Rhineland or southern Gaul to North Devon and about the local manufacture and distribution of pottery. Because the Brayford sites are all to do with the smelting of iron, particular attention will be paid to mining and the extraction of iron from its ore.

As far as possible, the children will be involved in practical activities culminating in an exhibition on National Archaeology Day, July 19th, in Brayford Village Hall. They will give demonstrations, display their work with maps and mosaic designs, model clothes from the Romano- British period, and give a dramatic presentation. Other possibilities are a Roman army demonstration, a mini-excavation, smelting, a tasting of Roman recipes, etc This development is funded by the DfES through the Museum of North Devon, who are also providing materials, as part of an initiative to encourage closer co-operation between schools and museums. The education pack is being prepared by NDAS member Chris Preece with the assistance of Moyra Keeting, who is preparing the costumes, and Roger Cole, who is putting together boxes of materials from the museum.

In the last newsletter Chris Preece reported on the Roman education pack that was being prepared for the Brayford primary school children. At that time plans were being formed for an event on National Archaeology Day, July 19th which, for the children, would represent a memorable conclusion to their project. On the first day of the summer holiday, therefore, every child returned to school dressed either as a Roman or a Celt to find many of the adults similarly clothed.

Next to the school, the village hall had suddenly been transformed into a Roman fort with a new façade five metres high and fifteen metres long. Inside the children and the public found the hall full of exhibits relating to Roman history with opportunities to handle materials and to discuss exhibits with experts and skilled crafts people. At 11-30 a.m. a trumpet announced that Romans had arrived in the village. Most of the children rushed down to the river bridge, where they saw a group of Roman soldiers (Isca Contubernium) marching in full armour towards the hall. In spite of the disguise, the children quickly recognised the fifth soldier, their headmaster, John Wilsher! One soldier, already surprised by the children’s greeting, claimed he had stayed in step all through the village, but as he turned into the village hall car park the sight of a Roman fort in front of him caused him to falter.

A verbal skirmish broke out when the local Celtic chieftain arrived with his well armed henchman. They complained to the soldiers and a Roman senator (who had been hanging about all morning) about the way the Romans were attacking the Celts with their weapons of mass destruction! The senator led a negotiation and it was agreed that both parties should demonstrate how their skills could benefit the community. The chieftain left with a scroll stating their agreement and a promise that he would be taught how to read it! The Celts (ACE Archaeology), who had been busy smelting iron since very early in the day, returned to their bellows and furnace, while the soldiers gave an exhibition of their marching drill and gave Latin drill instruction to all the children present.

At 1-00 p.m. the soldiers sat down to a magnificent banquet produced to Roman recipes, while volunteers and the public were fed with Roman fare washed down with wine and mead (and Coca-Cola). After lunch the school children performed a rap, a play, and a fashion parade which they had prepared during the previous week. They also displayed workbooks and projects they had produced .

In the school grounds members of NDAS together with Ross Dean demonstrated their Time Team skills, with three test pits, and a real-time geophysics demonstration on the school football pitch. Onlookers were shown finds of local pottery, 19th century slate pencils, Romano-British iron smelting slag and the possible base of a structure (which a seventy-year-old ex-student suggests may have been the old school goose house). Dr. Gill Juleff gave a talk to a full house on the Exmoor Iron project and how it relates to our knowledge of Roman North Devon. And ACE Archaeology produced the finale by tapping slag from their furnace.We await chemical analysis to see whether an iron bloom was produced.

Over 500 people attended the event, and enjoyed it. The day’s success was due to the efforts of over eighty volunteers including village teenagers, the W.I. catering team, the local fort builders, NDAS and ACE. Alison Mills’s team produced a wonderful souvenir programme for the day and filled a very supportive administrative role.
The Brayford primary school children will remember this term’s Roman Invasion Poject.

Bringing The Romans Up To Date, Rob Wilson-North & Jessica Cowley
(Newsletter No 7 2004)

A diary date for NDAS members is Saturday 12 June 2004 when members of the Ermine Street Guard will be setting up camp on the Roman fortlet at Old Burrow on the spectacular Exmoor coastline.

The Ermine Street Guard’s visit to Exmoor is also part of a wider educational project to help people find out more about Exmoor’s archaeology through the use of new technology, teaching and good old fashioned re-enactment. The sites chosen for the project are the two Roman fortlets at Old Burrow and Martinhoe. These two fortlets have received much attention in the past: St George Gray excavated at Old Burrow in 1911 and Lady Aileen Fox dug both in the 1960s, and established that they date from the second half of the 1st century AD. There is also a good collection of finds in the North Devon Museum.

The project will result in a CD to be incorporated in North Devon Museum’s ‘The Romans in North Devon’ teachers’ pack for local schools. The CD will also include English Heritage’s air video of the site, an archaeological history of both sites, and video footage of the Ermine Street Guard at Old Burrow in June 2004. In addition to the CD, A-level archaeology students at West Somerset College will receive a teaching module on the conservation of archaeological sites and computer reconstruction techniques, whilst the filming of the Ermine Street Guard will be undertaken by a student from the University of Bristol as part of his MA course in Screen Media. 500 CDs will be given away free to local schools, colleges and other educational establishments. The reconstruction will then become part of Exmoor National Park Authority’s interpretation resource.

NDAS members are warmly invited to the event on Saturday 12 June. It will be open from 11am - 3pm. Please come to the County Gate visitor centre car park (SS 793 487). This project is being run by Exmoor National Park Authority with the help of North Devon Museum, the University of Exeter and the National Trust. It is funded by Exmoor’s Sustainable Development Fund.

Old Burrow is on private land, but access is granted by kind permission of Messrs Ben and George Halliday; Martinhoe is owned by the National Trust and is accessible from the South West Coast Path from Heddon’s Mouth.

	Promoting awareness of the archaeology and history of north Devon
HOME ABOUT NDAS MEMBERSHIP CONTACT NEWSLETTERS LINKS LIBRARY PRESENT ACTIVITIES WEST YEO PAST ACTIVITIES FISH WEIRS HARTLAND HISTORY DAYS HOLWORTHY PARRACOMBE SHERRACOMBE FORD SIX ACRE FARM ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECTS (EXTERNAL) THE EXMOOR IRON PROJECT SITE INDEX	Roman Finds in Brayford - Jim Knight (Newsletter Summer 2001) Roman finds in Brayford. During the last two years we have become very aware of the evidence of iron smelting in Brayford. Also, Roman pottery has been found in the vicinity, but not in circumstances to justify the claim that the iron smelting was carried out in the Romano period. In late May a number of volunteers from the history society carried out a supervised archeological dig at a building site in Mill Lane, Brayford. The builder in having dug an entrance to the site, had cut though a layer of material that looked like iron slag, and it was thought by Devon County Council to be of a sufficient significance to justify further excavation. Once the builder was aware of the historic interest in the site he gave full co-operation with the society, and indeed he found a significant number of mediaeval potter sherds on the site above the slag layer. The site was excavated over a four-day period, and it revealed that there had been an iron-smelting furnace there, and amongst the slag were two significant sherds of Roman pottery positively dating the smelting to the Roman period. The pottery sherds were a piece of Serbian pottery and part of a mortar for grinding spices. These finds have confirmed the historical significance of the village and an Exeter team of archaeologists are now to carry out a further dig in the village during August. Volunteers from the parish are invited to assist. There appears to be three separate significant smelting sites in the village ~ it is hoped to determine the full extent of each site and the domestic arrangements associated with them. It is possible that the ironworkers lived up the hill at Charles, away from the charcoal smoke, smelting fumes, and the flies of the river area. The Quarries' archaeological finds suggest a possible site... Mediaeval masonry. Recently while digging foundations for a garage at Holewater, the old foundations of a small house have been found. Beside the fire hearth was a large peice (40kg) of carefully dressed sandstone. Experts from North Devon Museum have examined the stone and believe it may well have been robbed from Lydcote Hall when it was demolished at the time of the reformation in the 16th century. The stone matches the material found at two old quarries just north of the present Hall. The small house shows on the 1840 tithe map, and its location confirms that the original site of Holewater Bridge was further upstream than the present one. Jim Knight, Brayford and Charles Group. (NB: In August, Dr Gill Juleff intends to excavate for 2 weeks one of the iron working sites in Brayford. If you would like to get involved, Dr Juleff is looking for volunteers. Call Terry Green (see contacts list) or Jim Knight (01598) 710014 for details.) ‘Roman’ North Devon in 2002 (a compilation), ( Newsletter No 5 2003) As reported in the Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Review, 2002 saw the first full year of activity for the Exmoor Iron Project, a four-year fieldwork programme jointly run by Exmoor National Park Authority, the Archaeology Department of Exeter University and the National Trust with funding and support from English Heritage. (The following is a précis of the report of Martin Gillard and Gill Juleff appearing in the Exmoor Historic Environment Review) The highlight of 2002 was the summer excavation season at Sherracombe Ford. Sherracombe Ford lies near the head of the Sherracombe/Brayford Valley in a context of open moorland, wooded combes and ancient trackways. The site comprises double and single platforms cut into a steep valley-side. Below are mounds of iron-slag, finds from which had already suggested late Iron Age/Romano- British industrial activity. The aim of the 2002 dig was to investigate one of the larger platforms and its adjacent slag-heap to establish the nature of the activity, chronology and to examine anomalies identified by geophysical survey. To this end a rectangular trench was excavated on the platform and a long, narrow trench was dug across the site from the hillside above the platform, across the platform and through the slag-heap below. On the platform were found the remains of three furnaces all severely truncated. The strongest geophysical anomaly on the platform turned out to correspond to a smithing floor with trampled slag and hammer-scale from the process of forging raw iron bloom into finished iron. Here too were the footings of unmortared stone walls and floors of packed stone and slag. Excavation through the slag-heap suggested the periodic creation of working platforms through cutting and levelling of the unstable slag. The impression was of intensive industrial activity over a long period of time. Pottery from the excavation confirmed a Romano-British date. (After MG and GJ, February 2003) It seems possible that evidence of Romano-British iron-working will be found all the way down the valley from Sherracombe to Brayford. Both excavation and geochemical survey at Brayford in 2001 had already revealed a large smelting area associated with pottery of Romano-British date. In the village of Brayford iron-slag is found over a wide area. In 2002 further excavation was carried out by South-West Archaeology at Brayvale with the assistance of NDAS members. Here the digging of a platform for the construction of a patio had initially revealed a substantial collection of Romano-British pottery in heavily charcoalstained soil. Two spells of controlled excavation and one of rapid salvage excavation during the year produced a large (for North Devon) quantity of Romano-British pottery, a total of 1342 sherds together with the now ubiquitous slag and fragments of furnace-lining. The pottery has been examined by Paul Bidwell and Associates at South Shields who indicate a date-range in the late second to early third century. Most of the material represents local coarse wares, but there is an appreciable quantity of imported fine wares including Samian as well as fragments of amphorae. The excavations suggested working processes similar to those seen at Sherracombe Ford. On the hillside, terraces had apparently been created as working platforms which became deposits for debris as time went on and new terraces were cut. There was plentiful evidence of furnaces, though no identifiable furnace was found. Shallow pits of dark soil contained hammer-scale, evidence of smithing on site. It has been suggested that the iron-working sites in the Brayford area represent one of the largest known industrial sites from the Roman period. A great deal of further study will be required before we know what to make of it all. It does not mean that there were ‘Romans’ in North Devon, but now we know that the North Devon area was at least involved in the economy of Roman Britain and was probably supplying iron to a large market.We also know what kind of materials to look out for in field-walking and excavations. There is no known reason why ‘Romans’ should be confined to Brayford and its environs. Brayford children take on ‘the Romans’ Chris Preece (Newsletter No 5 2003) Primary school children at Brayford are to be the first to benefit in their education from the recent discoveries of Romano-British iron-working sites in North Devon. An information/educational activities pack is currently in preparation which will add a local dimension to the ‘Romans’ bit of the national history curriculum. Firstly children will study Roman Britain as a whole with the usual story of invasion, armies, forts and the establishment of Roman cities. In addition they will learn to appreciate aspects of life in the Roman period. They will encounter Roman food, learn children’s games, look at houses, clothes and jewellery. The icing on the cake is that the children will be able to exploit the now very special position of their own village. They will learn how the new sites were discovered and the methods that have been employed to extract information from them. They will go out looking for evidence themselves and will learn to do some elementary surveying. It will be possible to handle some of the pottery that has come from the excavations and the children will see how the shape of whole vessels can be recovered from a few fragments so that their style and origin can be identified. They will learn about the trade routes that may have brought pottery from the Rhineland or southern Gaul to North Devon and about the local manufacture and distribution of pottery. Because the Brayford sites are all to do with the smelting of iron, particular attention will be paid to mining and the extraction of iron from its ore. As far as possible, the children will be involved in practical activities culminating in an exhibition on National Archaeology Day, July 19th, in Brayford Village Hall. They will give demonstrations, display their work with maps and mosaic designs, model clothes from the Romano- British period, and give a dramatic presentation. Other possibilities are a Roman army demonstration, a mini-excavation, smelting, a tasting of Roman recipes, etc This development is funded by the DfES through the Museum of North Devon, who are also providing materials, as part of an initiative to encourage closer co-operation between schools and museums. The education pack is being prepared by NDAS member Chris Preece with the assistance of Moyra Keeting, who is preparing the costumes, and Roger Cole, who is putting together boxes of materials from the museum. Brayford Roman Fun Day - Jim Knights (Newsletter No 6 2003) In the last newsletter Chris Preece reported on the Roman education pack that was being prepared for the Brayford primary school children. At that time plans were being formed for an event on National Archaeology Day, July 19th which, for the children, would represent a memorable conclusion to their project. On the first day of the summer holiday, therefore, every child returned to school dressed either as a Roman or a Celt to find many of the adults similarly clothed. Next to the school, the village hall had suddenly been transformed into a Roman fort with a new façade five metres high and fifteen metres long. Inside the children and the public found the hall full of exhibits relating to Roman history with opportunities to handle materials and to discuss exhibits with experts and skilled crafts people. At 11-30 a.m. a trumpet announced that Romans had arrived in the village. Most of the children rushed down to the river bridge, where they saw a group of Roman soldiers (Isca Contubernium) marching in full armour towards the hall. In spite of the disguise, the children quickly recognised the fifth soldier, their headmaster, John Wilsher! One soldier, already surprised by the children’s greeting, claimed he had stayed in step all through the village, but as he turned into the village hall car park the sight of a Roman fort in front of him caused him to falter. A verbal skirmish broke out when the local Celtic chieftain arrived with his well armed henchman. They complained to the soldiers and a Roman senator (who had been hanging about all morning) about the way the Romans were attacking the Celts with their weapons of mass destruction! The senator led a negotiation and it was agreed that both parties should demonstrate how their skills could benefit the community. The chieftain left with a scroll stating their agreement and a promise that he would be taught how to read it! The Celts (ACE Archaeology), who had been busy smelting iron since very early in the day, returned to their bellows and furnace, while the soldiers gave an exhibition of their marching drill and gave Latin drill instruction to all the children present. At 1-00 p.m. the soldiers sat down to a magnificent banquet produced to Roman recipes, while volunteers and the public were fed with Roman fare washed down with wine and mead (and Coca-Cola). After lunch the school children performed a rap, a play, and a fashion parade which they had prepared during the previous week. They also displayed workbooks and projects they had produced . In the school grounds members of NDAS together with Ross Dean demonstrated their Time Team skills, with three test pits, and a real-time geophysics demonstration on the school football pitch. Onlookers were shown finds of local pottery, 19th century slate pencils, Romano-British iron smelting slag and the possible base of a structure (which a seventy-year-old ex-student suggests may have been the old school goose house). Dr. Gill Juleff gave a talk to a full house on the Exmoor Iron project and how it relates to our knowledge of Roman North Devon. And ACE Archaeology produced the finale by tapping slag from their furnace.We await chemical analysis to see whether an iron bloom was produced. Over 500 people attended the event, and enjoyed it. The day’s success was due to the efforts of over eighty volunteers including village teenagers, the W.I. catering team, the local fort builders, NDAS and ACE. Alison Mills’s team produced a wonderful souvenir programme for the day and filled a very supportive administrative role. The Brayford primary school children will remember this term’s Roman Invasion Poject. Bringing The Romans Up To Date, Rob Wilson-North & Jessica Cowley (Newsletter No 7 2004) A diary date for NDAS members is Saturday 12 June 2004 when members of the Ermine Street Guard will be setting up camp on the Roman fortlet at Old Burrow on the spectacular Exmoor coastline. The Ermine Street Guard’s visit to Exmoor is also part of a wider educational project to help people find out more about Exmoor’s archaeology through the use of new technology, teaching and good old fashioned re-enactment. The sites chosen for the project are the two Roman fortlets at Old Burrow and Martinhoe. These two fortlets have received much attention in the past: St George Gray excavated at Old Burrow in 1911 and Lady Aileen Fox dug both in the 1960s, and established that they date from the second half of the 1st century AD. There is also a good collection of finds in the North Devon Museum. The project will result in a CD to be incorporated in North Devon Museum’s ‘The Romans in North Devon’ teachers’ pack for local schools. The CD will also include English Heritage’s air video of the site, an archaeological history of both sites, and video footage of the Ermine Street Guard at Old Burrow in June 2004. In addition to the CD, A-level archaeology students at West Somerset College will receive a teaching module on the conservation of archaeological sites and computer reconstruction techniques, whilst the filming of the Ermine Street Guard will be undertaken by a student from the University of Bristol as part of his MA course in Screen Media. 500 CDs will be given away free to local schools, colleges and other educational establishments. The reconstruction will then become part of Exmoor National Park Authority’s interpretation resource. NDAS members are warmly invited to the event on Saturday 12 June. It will be open from 11am - 3pm. Please come to the County Gate visitor centre car park (SS 793 487). This project is being run by Exmoor National Park Authority with the help of North Devon Museum, the University of Exeter and the National Trust. It is funded by Exmoor’s Sustainable Development Fund. Old Burrow is on private land, but access is granted by kind permission of Messrs Ben and George Halliday; Martinhoe is owned by the National Trust and is accessible from the South West Coast Path from Heddon’s Mouth.


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