Hopeless Moor, Seale

Training excavation by S Dyer, for SyAS, on land where investigations in 1939 revealed two phases of medieval buildings and a kiln. The location of the earlier excavation as well as other features were suggested by topographical and geophysical surveys. A strong magnetic anomaly proved to be the location of the kiln recorded in 1939, and the recovery of significant quantities of brick and tile suggest that the kiln produced both these types of building material, probably in the early post-medieval period. A second magnetic anomaly, suggestive of a further kiln, was investigated, but proved to be part of a large hollow filled with successive layers of charcoal and ash. Trenches positioned to locate the site of the buildings recorded in 1939 illustrated that the archaeological stratigraphy had almost been totally destroyed. The positions of robber trenches where walls had once been, however, was sufficient to suggest the plan of these buildings, albeit in a slighty different location to that previously recorded. Artefacts of Romano-British to post-medieval date were encountered throughout the disturbed deposits. An earthwork platform away from the main excavations appeared on the geophysical survey to have a small linear ditch running from it, and a trench revealed a series of buried soil layers containing significant quantities of Romano-British pottery sherds and no later material. Below one of the soil layers, three large post holes containing further Romano-British pottery were identified and excavated along the edge of the earthwork. Further similar post-holes were revealed, but not excavated, along the line of the features, and it is possible that these represent the sub-structure of a Romano-British building. (327)
Year: 
1997-99
ID: 
981
NGR: 
SU909476
Periods: 
Borough: