Site Code. CRUMPSCORNER15Site identification

and addressCrump's Corner, Halland

County, district

and / or boroughEast Sussex

O.S. grid ref. TQ475165Geology. Clay head over Tunbridge Wells SandProject number. SNUFFLER1503Fieldwork type. GeophysicsSite type.Date of fieldwork. February 2015Sponsor/client. ESCCProject manager. David StaveleyProject

supervisor.Period summary Roman

Project summary.

(100 word max)Geophysics on the site of a Roman iron bloomery at Crump's corner

A Geophysical Survey on a Roman Period Bloomery atCrump's Corner, Halland

by David Staveley

Introduction

Evidence of a Roman period bloomery was found (Cleere & Crossley 1985, p.299) at Crump'sCorner in the 20th century. It is fairly small scale, with slag, roasted ore, furnace lining and Romanpottery found on site. As well as a survey of the main field, the surrounding area was scanned forthe possible presence of further archaeology..The bloomery seems to be placed in an oldpaleochannel, originally draining to the south. If there was water present during the Roman period,as there usually is at iron-workings of the period, then it would have been fairly minor. The sourceof the ore may have been large pits along the stream to the north-east, though they seem too large aseries for such a small site, suggesting something far more substantial in the area.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Kim and Terry Clark, the landowner and Greg Chuter.

Methodology

The magnetometer survey was undertaken using a Bartington GRAD601-2 fluxgate gradiometer.The 40 metre grids were laid out and lines spaced 1 metre apart were walked northeast-southwestwith 4 readings per metre along the line. The data was processed using Snuffler with despike,destripe and interpolation filters applied. The data was displayed with display boundaries of +/-5 nTand +/-50nT.

Results

Magnetometer results at +/-5nT

Magnetometer Results at +/-50nT

Interpretation

Interpretation

The slag bank is roughly along the line of the old paleochannel, with a small enclosure roughly 10macross attached to the eastern side of it. Linear features to the south may be a track running ESE-WNW across the paleochannel and in line with the modern road to the east. Individual bloomeriesare difficult to make out within the slag bank, but a single bloomery is clear in the south-westcorner of the survey area, especially on the 50nT plot.

The area to the south and west was scanned for further signs of archaeology. The dark orange area,within the tip of the wood to the south of the survey area gives particularly strong readingsconsistent with another slag bank. The areas in light orange show noise consistent with furtherarchaeology being present, though not dense areas of slag. The woodland to the east contained nosuch readings.