The Archaeology and Technology of Early-Modern Lime Burning in the Yorkshire Dales: Developing a Clamp Kiln Model

Abstract

Compared with commercial or field lime kilns of the industrial period, very little detailed work has been undertaken to investigate post-medieval and early modern clamp kilns apart from a few notable site-specific studies. Clamp kiln terminology thus far has been unable to distinguish between clamp, sod and sow kilns. Recent field surveying and archaeological excavation across a wide area within the Yorkshire Dales, with associated documentary and archival research, has shed new light on clamp kiln technology and morphology. The results of this work have informed the development of a provisional clamp kiln model which, it is argued, is appropriate to the Central Pennines.     

Chatsworth Street Cutting,Part of the Original Terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway

Abstract

Recent surveys of textile mills in Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and East Cheshire have laid the groundwork for future study in their respective areas. All three have necessarily referred back to precedents set in eighteenth century Derbyshire, where water power was first successfully applied to the manufacture of both silk and cotton. Derbyshire retains an important group of early cotton mills, most of them distributed along the River Derwent and its tributaries. Recent measured surveys of five of the most significant early mills and of a number of related sites by RCHME's Threatened Buildings Sections, supplemented by photographic coverage of further sites over many years, have provided a core of information on which the present article is largely based. The article concentrates on the surviving physical remains of the cotton industry, but draws also on documentary and other evidence for vanished structures.     

The R.C.H.M.E./G.M.A.U. Joint Survey of Textile Mills in Greater Manchester

Abstract

This paper outlines progress during the first two years of the Greater Manchester Textile Mill Survey, which started in May 1985. A county-wide index to mill sites has been created, based on cartographic information, which aims to assist the assessment and comparison of large numbers of mills. A range of documentary research was undertaken and a representative sample of sites selected for individual study. The paper concludes with summaries of two selected sites in Ancoats, Manchester.     

Excavating the 18th- and 19th-Century Urban Flour Mill: the Example of the Archaeological Investigations at the Former J.A. Symes Factory Site,Highbridge Road,Barking

Abstract

The area occupied by the former J.A. Symes match factory, Highbridge Road, Barking, was once home to a large steam- and water-powered flourmill. The mill was originally driven by the tidal flow of the River Roding, prior to its expansion and gradual conversion to steam. A residential redevelopment, undertaken in spring 2006, provided an opportunity to conduct a developer-funded archaeological investigation, carried out by Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd. The excavation exposed the partial, multi-phase remains of the mill's below-ground foundations, in particular the evidence for successive power systems. These remains were interpreted with the help of documentary research, demonstrating the complementary nature of these two forms of evidence on an urban industrial site.     

Excavations at Potovens,near Wakefield

Abstract

The excavation of pottery and clay pipe kilns at Potovens has indicated the essentially local character of the wares produced and the limited nature of their market. From the late 15th century until the third quarter of the 18th-century potteries were being worked on the margins of the common land north of Wakefield, and documentary evidence provides the names of the potters and details of their activities.     

Technological Continuity,Technological 'Survival': the Use of Horizontal Mills in Western Ireland,c. 1632–1940

Abstract

This article discusses the continued use of the early medieval horizontal waterwheel form, well into the post-medieval period in the Atlantic Provinces of the British Isles. It argues that archaeological and documentary evidence demonstrates that the horizontal mills of western Ireland represent the continued use of this technology from the early medieval period in to modern times. Similarly, it argues that the traditional horizontal mills of Scotland and its western islands can, on linguistic grounds, be linked into the same enduring tradition. The continued use of this technology in these societies appears to be as much a product of social context and choice, as it was a technological 'survival' in a 'marginalised' area.     

Nash Mills—The Endless Web Revisited

Abstract

A watermill is known to have existed on the river Gade since the 11th century on the site of Nash Mills, Hertfordshire, where a purpose-built paper mill was constructed in the late 18th century. In 1810 the mill was purchased by John Dickinson, one of the great innovators of the paper industry. The mill evolved significantly during the 19th and early 20th centuries as part of Dickinson's expanding business, which at one stage comprised five mills in the locality. Nash Mills remained in the ownership of John Dickinson and his successors until 1990, ceasing production in 2006, the last of Dickinson's mills to do so. Using documentary and building evidence, this article examines the development of the mill, emphasising the relationships between personalities, events, structures, processes, and changing business and technological influences.     

A group of early 20th-century naval victualling finds from Royal Clarence Yard,Gosport, Hampshire

Abstract

Archaeological excavation in 2007 on the site of a late 18th-century brewery and associated pump-house at Royal Clarence Yard, Gosport uncovered an assemblage of pottery within the backfill of the latter structure. This was one of a small number of Admiralty victualling yards responsible for the provisioning of ships and shore establishments of the Royal Navy at home and overseas. Analysis of the pottery and other finds, supplemented by documentary research, has provided an opportunity to study items distributed by the yard to the messes of ships of the Royal Navy in the early 20th century.     

Coalport Bridge: A Study in Historical Interpretation

Abstract

Industrial archaeologists frequently demand the preservation of monuments. Such preservation can be justified on the grounds that a monument has an educational function, or sometimes that it has potential for excavation. It is the purpose of this article to suggest that a surviving monument continually poses questions about its own past, and about wider historical issues, and to show how the understanding of one particular monument, the Coalport Bridge, has increased over the last twelve years, not just because new documentary sources have come to light, but because it has been possible to use the evidence of the structure itself to test the authenticity of other sources.     

A Sixteenth-Century Wealden Blast Furnace: A Report on Excavations at Panningridge,Sussex, 1964-1970

Abstract

The excavation recovered evidence for two periods of iron smelting; there were substantial surviving structures from a blast furnace thought from documentary sources to have produced pig-iron from 1542 until at least 1563 and, superimposed, indications of a later furnace built with major changes in layout at some time after 1563 but abandoned well before 1611. It was possible to compare, in particular, the application of water-power in the two periods and to sample ore and cast iron. The features of the first furnace could be related to references in surviving account books, and thus a yardstick may be offered for future fieldwork on undocumented furnaces of the period.     

Clarke Hall,Wakefield; architectural innovations in 17th-century West Yorkshire

Abstract

Clarke Hall stands one mile north-east of Wakefield (SE 342222) at the side of the A642 Aberford Road. Believed to be of early Elizabethan date, the house was purchased by the West Riding County Council in 1971 for conversion into a schools museum. Over the following three years the writer undertook a programme of documentary research and excavation which established that the building was entirely renewed in the late 1670s, its materials and plan clearly illustrating the transformation from medieval to post-medieval building practices in West Yorkshire.     

Archaeological Investigations at Swalwell Ironworks,Tyne and Wear

Abstract

A programme of archaeological investigations was undertaken at Sands Road, Swalwell in Gateshead to examine part of the Swalwell Ironworks founded by Ambrose Crowley in 1707, ahead of the redevelopment of the site as a supermarket. The well-preserved sub-surface remains of buildings dating from the earliest phase of the ironworks were revealed including the eastern part of the Grand Warehouse, constructed by 1713, which was divided into two parts by an undercover keel dock, with the eastern portion functioning as a wharf building for keels to load and unload goods. The combined archaeological, documentary and cartographic evidence demonstrated that this building had been used until the latter part of the 20th century and had been subject to a series of modifi cations throughout the life of the ironworks and during subsequent activity at the site. Also revealed was a forge building, parts of which dated back to the earliest phase of the ironworks, although this building had evidently been subject to many phases of alteration, repair and rebuilding. Within the forge was a chimney dated to the second half of the 19th century by stamped fi rebricks. Archaeometallurgical analysis of slags from within the chimney suggested that this was from a puddling furnace. Comprehensive historical research was also undertaken and this revealed a very rich documentary and cartographic archive, which generally corresponded very well with the archaeological remains.     

Lords and Towns in Medieval Europe: The European Historic Towns Atlas Project

Abstract

THE FIRST significant archaeological excavation within the village of Thorney, Cambridgeshire, has revealed a sequence of occupation deposits associated with the former Benedictine abbey and reflecting some 600 years of use. Thorney Abbey was surrendered at the Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries in 1539 and over successive years many of the buildings were demolished and the stone removed for re-use elsewhere. As a consequence very little is known of the abbey's layout and organisation. In the Middle Ages Thorney was surrounded by fen wetland and the excavations reported on here were located near the northern edge of the former island, slightly to the north of the abbey church and suspected location of the main abbey precinct. The long sequence of deposits offered an important insight into the changing character of fen-edge life on Thorney from the 11th century onwards. Occupation remains and a sequence of contemporary structures indicated that despite the apparently peripheral location of the site in relation to the main abbey complex, life was rarely static on the island's northern edge. It is suggested that the structures and related remains were once part of the abbey's outer court. Dissolution deposits reflected the dismantling of windows and the salvage and recycling of lead came. A re-used architectural fragment, possibly a pillar base, had been converted into a lead recycling hearth and the immediately surrounding area was covered with the remains of the leadworking as well as a large assemblage of broken, high-quality painted window glass, the end result of the lead removal. Late 16th-century structural evidence on the site has also shed light on some of the earliest secular occupation on the island following the Dissolution. A combination of the finds assemblages recovered during the work and documentary research has enabled a picture of life at medieval Thorney to be drawn for the first time. Documentary and cartographic work has also helped to understand the wider fenland context.     

The St Helens Iron Foundry

Abstract

Initial documentary research undertaken by Lancaster University Archaeological Unit (LUAU) in 1995 for 'The Hotties Science & Arts Centre Ltd.' (hereafter The Hotties) revealed the existence of a former iron foundry on part of the development site for the wider The World of Glass Project which will portray the technical development and heritage of the glass industry in St Helens. Between January 1996 and November 1997 LUAU were commissioned by The Hotties to undertake a range of archaeological works resulting in the excavation of a smithy complex. Known as the St Helens Iron Foundry, and latterly owned by the Daglish family, the site had an international reputation for the casting and building of steam pumping and winding engines for the mining industry. It was particularly successful during the mid-19th century producing locomotives and bridges for the expanding railway network. The foundry was in continuous production from 1798, until its decline and eventual demolition in 1939.     

Stobi: A City of Ancient Macedonia

Abstract

A joint American-Yugoslav staff has been engaged since 1970 in archaeological research, excavation, and conservation at Stobi, an ancient city located at the juncture of the Vardar and Crna rivers, ca. 150 km. north of Thessaloniki in Yugoslavian Macedonia. The Stobi Project has been an interdisciplinary undertaking concerned with problems both of the natural and the man-made environments of the people who lived at Stobi and in the vicinity from the 3rd century B.C. to the late 6th century A.C. The report that follows includes an outline of the results of the excavations in 1975 and of conservation work in 1975 and 1976. There is also an account of the 1976 study season, with some commentary on the special studies that have recently been completed or are in progress, and a discussion of plans for future research at Stobi.     

Where are the dead of medieval battles? A preliminary survey

Abstract

Only a handful of mass graves from late medieval battles in Western Europe have been subject to large scale excavation to modern standards. The principal reason is that these, and indeed even early modern battlefield graves, have proven extremely elusive, most being identified by chance. Despite a few successes, no combination of prospecting techniques yet provides a consistently effective method of locating such small archaeological features set almost anywhere within a site covering many square kilometres. But this important resource should be explored and conserved for, as Towton has shown, much can be learnt through modern excavation and analysis of the remains. While this paper does consider the existing archaeological record, its primary focus and the starting point for almost any search for mass graves on a battlefield, has to be the documentary record. Using this evidence one must debate the number who actually died, how they were interred and commemorated and whether this varied according to status or allegiance, and where on the battlefield the graves might lie. One must also consider how often we will need to look further afield for the dead, for it is unclear how often the desire for appropriate Christian burial meant some or even most were interred in, or later moved to, consecrated ground.     

Post-Medieval Britain in 1966

Abstract

Fieldwork and excavation between 1967 and 1971 disclosed the sites of two glass furnaces in valleys running southwards from the North Yorkshire Moors. At Hutton Common (SE 706883) a vessel-producing furnace was excavated, revealing three main phases of operation, the last of which had a magnetic date late in the 16th century. There was also fragmentary evidence for an auxiliary furnace, perhaps used for annealing. In the Rosedale valley (SE/745932) another complex was excavated; this included a winged melting furnace similar to the Hutton example and also producing vessel glass, and at least two auxiliary furnaces. The dating evidence for this melting furnace was similar, and pottery in and near an adjacent ruined cottage showed that this had been occupied about 1600. There was no documentation directly relating to these sites apart from a glassmaker referred to in the Lastingham parish register for 1593.     

The role of research and education in site management at the Lemba Experimental Village,Cyprus

Abstract

The project developed at the Lemba Experimental Village in Cyprus seeks to explain some aspects of the workings of archaeology through the medium of an ongoing and dynamic research project. The Lemba Experimental Village was established in 1988 with a view to understanding site formation processes through the construction of full-scale experimental buildings of the Chalcolithic period (3500–2800 BC). Experiments have been carried out with mud construction, lime plaster making and building construction. Monitoring and recording of construction and erosion processes provides a long-term history of events on the site which can be related to the deposits and features encountered when excavation is undertaken. Comparative information has been obtained from the structural analysis and excavation of buildings abandoned 25–30 years ago in the village of Souskiou, where similar deposits are encountered. The results of the work at Lemba and Souskiou are used as a comparative database for understanding deposits on prehistoric archaeological sites. The juxtaposition of the experimental building constructions with completed excavations at Lemba has led to the emergence of a policy of site presentation in which the methods of a particular form of archaeological research – experimental archaeology – constitute the main focus of interest on the site. This has been encouraged in the development of the site as a visitor centre, with an annually changing programme of new buildings being constructed and older ones being destroyed.     

Anglo-Irish Tomb Effigy Armour: An Experiential Study

Abstract

This work examines two related armour types unique to Ireland and found only on tomb effigies dating to the late medieval period. The aim of this paper is to establish how the armour may have been constructed, whether it was practical and usable compared to better-known armour types, and how it may have fitted into the Irish style of warfare. Within this work the most likely construction methods and layout of the armour have been tested by making armour segments, using modern materials, to test the ability of the armour to move at joints and rivets, while retaining its protective functions. With documentary sources these results make it possible to come to conclusions as to the armour’s use on the battlefield. The paper also aims to show the contribution that can be made to academic research with the incorporation of experiential knowledge gained from disciplines such as Combat Re-enactment and Western Martial-Arts.