April 2011 (issue 123) - The Sussex Archaeological Society

Excavations
ARCHAEOLOGY ROUND UP
BARCOMBE
Research
Excavations
What’s Going On in Sussex?
A round-up of local excavations
The following gives brief details
of some of the more interesting
sites and discoveries made in the
last few months as well as forthcoming
volunteer opportunities.
Summaries of all archaeological
work that I am aware of, even if devoid
of finds, are to be found on the
website under the Research page
‘What’s been happening in Sussex
Archaeology’. Volunteer opportunities
are highlighted (*) where known.
For information on particular sites
contact the responsible body (abbreviated
in brackets at the end
of each report) whose details are
given on the web-pages, where the
key to the abbreviations is also to
be found. If you do not have access
to the web then you should contact
me on 01273-405733 or research@
sussexpast.co.uk.
Luke Barber
Research Officer
East Sussex
*Barcombe, Culver Farm. Further
excavations on the Roman roadside
activity in Pond Field recovered the
remains of a Roman sandal (see page 6)
as well as numerous other items. Limited
fieldwork is planned for 2011 while postexcavation
work begins (Rob Wallace/
Culver Archaeological Project).
*Barcombe Roman Villa. The 2011
season will probably be the last on the bath
house. Week/weekend training courses
and volunteering opportunities between
June and August (CCE/MSFAT).
*Bishopstone Tidemills. The 2010
season saw work in two main of areas.
Work in one of the farmyard areas has
seen the barn recorded, together with a
complex cow shed, later converted into
pigsties (Mr Oink’s House!) – see photo.
In the old allotment a WW2 revetted pit,
complete with stairs, was excavated. It
is probably a training structure. Test-pits
in this area also stumbled across a very
complex structure, not on any map or
photo, currently thought to be some form
of experimental heated greenhouse.
Fieldwork will resume in May (SAS).
*Brighton: Rocky Clump. The north
excavations were completed in June
but new excavations in 2011 will begin
in the South field, hopefully the main
settlement site. This will be regarded as
a completely new venture and will have
new directors. Fieldwork is due to start
in the spring (BHAS).
*Brighton: Varley Halls. Although the
2010 season did not locate the hoped
for round-house, negative lynchets were
studied as well as rare Late Bronze Age
plough marks (L Fisher/BHAS).
Hailsham: Welbury Farm. Evaluation
in advance of housing recorded Roman
features likely to relate to a small
settlement. Further excavation awaited
(reported by ESCC).
Tidemills: the cattle shelter - converted to house
pigs.
Photo: L Barber
Lewes: Convent Field, Lewes Priory.
An evaluation outside the Priory precinct
wall located two demolished buttresses,
robbed out wall footing, two kilns/ovens,
and a chalk built structure (cellar?)
dating from the 12 th to 14 th centuries, and
demolition and made ground deposits
dating to around the 16 th century
(CBAS).
Newhaven : Tideway School. A watching
brief revealed a ditch terminal/pit with
LBA pottery (c.900BC) and flintwork
(CBAS).
Nutley: Old Lodge. A woodland survey
recorded 62 new sites including three
possible Bronze Age barrows, six pillow
mounds, two areas of ridge & furrow,
an enclosure, sawpits, military training
features and a WW2 searchlight post
(CBAS).
Peacehaven: Peacehaven barrow.
The final excavations produced layers
of worked flint as well as prehistoric
pottery. Sadly no burial was found, but
the surrounding ditch was uncovered
(S Birks/MSFAT/BHAS).
Polegate: Dittons Road. Excavations in
advance of housing development have
recorded a Late Iron Age/RB settlement,
including evidence of salt-production
waste (ASE).
Tunbridge Wells: Broadwater Warren.
A watching brief during removal of trees
has located a further firing point of the
19 th- century rifle range, ridge & furrow &
other earthworks (CBAS).
Wivelsfield: Theobalds. Full excavation
in advance of housing development
recorded a Late Iron Age/Roman
settlement including round houses,
ovens and ditches / enclosures (WA).
West Sussex
Chichester: Tower Street. Work
has begun on the re-exposure of the
previously excavated Roman bath house
which will be displayed beneath the floor
of the new museum to be built on the site
(ASE).
Chichester City Walls. The programme
of repairs to the City Walls that started
summer 2010 involved some coring
and refacing work that has revealed
ancient fabric – and some that hasn’t!
The supposed medieval Deanery seems
to have been almost entirely rebuilt,
perhaps as a decorative feature, in the
post-medieval period, whereas the
Residentiary Bastion has a solid Roman
core up to its full height and retains
evidence of original malmstone opus
quadratum facing at the (CDC: James
Kenny).
Haywards Heath - Bolnore Village
Phase 4 - Current excavations, following
trial trenching, have revealed what
appears to be a stock enclosure and
associated droveway/trackway of 12th
to 13 th century date, associated with
a former watercourse and probably
accessed via a sunken lane, now a
bridleway. Possibly two timber structures
are present, one probably a barn (ASE).
Littlehampton: Courtwick Lane.
Trial trench investigation has revealed
widespread, but not intensive Later
Bronze Age occupation, areas of
Romano-British occupation, including a
post-built structure, and a pit of probable
Neolithic date (TVAS).
Roman Baths at Barcombe
Complex Roman bathing arrangements revealed
Since 2008 we have been
investigating a large Roman
bath house located in Church Field,
which lies between the villa site and
St Mary’s Church, Barcombe. The
excavations in 2008, 2009 and 2010
revealed a structure in excess of 20
m long and 6 m wide and orientated
north-east to south-west.
At the northern end of the
complex is a rectangular furnace
room (praefurnium) with walls
made of mortared flints. This
room had a Y-shaped linear cut
at floor level, which ran from the
furnace through its south wall, and
continued outside the building as
a ‘ditch’ to the main drain running
along the south side of the baths.
This cut had been blocked at the
furnace end and could be either
an air vent or more likely a drain,
perhaps indicating that this room
was not fully roofed.
Work in 2010 on the apsidal hot
room (caldarium) concentrated
on final recording before this
room and its hypocaust pilae tile
stacks and the furnace room were
backfilled. Beyond, the warm
room (tepidarium), which contains
some pilae columns and traces of
another pair of facing and outward
projecting apses, are two more
stoke holes on the north side of
the building. These appear to
represent two consecutive phases
of the bath house. One of the stoke
holes vents under the floor of the
immediately adjacent (?apsidal)
room, and then through an arch
into a second room. This stoke
hole then appears to have been
replaced by an adjacent larger one
which heated the adjoining room. It
is possible that this room and that
directly to the south-east were a hot
dry room (laconicum) and changing
room (apodyterium) respectively, or
alternatively they may relate to a
different phase of the baths.
To the south-west of these rooms
is a possible cold room (frigidarium)
with chalk wall foundations, and to
the south of this was, we think, a
corridor and the main entrance. It
is uncertain however how the open
drain that runs along the side of
the building was crossed to access
the entrance. At the west end of
the complex there is another room
with chalk foundations which again
seems to be an addition to the baths
complex. Neither of these western
rooms appears to have been heated
and they are separated by a small
corridor. The room at the west
end has substantial foundations,
probably constructed to deal with
the challenge of the wet ground
here adjacent to a possibly tidal
creek from the river Ouse (see
Allen in SP&P 120, 7). This large
room, which is currently only partly
excavated, may be a cold plunge
with a chalk foundation base for a
shelf or walkway around the edge
of the bath.
The drainage ditch along the
south side of the bath house has
now been traced around the eastern
end and along the north side of the
building where its relationship to
the two stoke holes is still being
investigated. Large quantities of
artefacts have now been recovered
from this ditch, including pottery,
animal bone and a few coins. A dog
burial at the junction of the drain
from the furnace room and the
drain on the south side of the baths
is possibly a termination deposit.
Further west, at the junction of a
drain from the bath house into the
main drain, was perhaps another
such deposit, this time a crushed
pot that appeared to have been
deliberately placed on the bottom
of the ditch.
Although we have now excavated
most of the baths, it is still not
possible to be certain whether we
are dealing with a single building,
albeit much altered over time, or
a later bath house replacing an
earlier one that had gone out of
use. The robbing out of the stone
walls, probably in Roman times,
has removed much of the evidence
for the sequence of construction.
If it is a single building, then the
finished structure represents one of
the largest bath houses in southern
Britain, with a capacity way beyond
the needs of the adjacent villa and
its workforce. Similar sized bath
houses on Hadrian’s Wall served
garrisons of 500 men or more.
With the emerging evidence for an
adjacent tidal creek are we now
looking at a facility which served
travellers and traders, perhaps
functioning as part of a mansio
complex? The 2011 excavations
may well be our last at the site, but
we hope to answer the remaining
questions about this enigmatic
bath house.
2011 and Getting Involved
The excavations this year will
start on Saturdays in late May
and continue until late August.
During July and August there will
be a range of 1-, 2- and 5-day
training courses which are ideal
for beginners or those with some
experience (see Noticeboard,
page 4 and www.sussex.ac.uk/
cce/barcombe). For details about
volunteer work contact Chris Butler
(01323 871021 or www.cbasltd.
co.uk). There will be a general
public ‘Open Afternoon’ on Sunday
31 July, 1-5pm (parking available in
Church Field) and a Society visit on
23 June (see Noticeboard).
Chris Butler & David Rudling
Sussex Past & Present April 2011
www.sussexpast.co.uk www.romansinsussex.co.uk Sussex Past & Present April 2011