Brislington
Community Archaeology Project
Our fourth archaeological excavation was started in July 2011 in the back garden of a private house. We followed the same process as the previous two excavations, exploring the archaeological potential of the site with a 1m square test pit. The careful excavation was spread over eight days (not all of which saw digging taking place), and reached a depth of 1.2m. Community archaeology can take longer than some other digs because modern features and artefacts are investigated as well as more ancient ones - they all help tell the story of the site.
Site director Ken Taylor and a team of BCAP volunteers were joined on Saturday 30th July by members of the public as part of the CBA's annual Festival of British Archaeology. Many of the visitors did more than simply watch and discuss the excavation, and joined in with trowelling, sieving, and washing artefacts.
The site was chosen for three main reasons: its proximity to the route between Brislington's medieval manor (Manor Farm Playing Fields, off Sturminster Road) and Brislington Common (Broomhill); its proximity to Tudor coal workings (the Rock Vein), and its being located in the grounds of Brislington Hall (an estate house built around 1770, which became home to the largest landowners in Brislington, and was demolished in 1933).
The most abundant type of find was tap slag produced in the smelting of iron ore (the slag is tapped off during the smelting and discarded), with many pieces exhibiting the characteristic flow structure. This process has been employed in bloomery furnaces since Roman times, and the apparently high iron content indicates these examples were probably not more recent than the Medieval period. Presumably, this small-scale industrial activity was carried out at or near this site due to the proximity of the Rock Vein coal outcrop.
The excavation was closed after reaching a depth of 120cm even though this was still above bedrock. A full site report will be produced in due course.
Credits
1st photo — The Festival of British Archaeology open day - all but two of these ten people simply turned up on the day (© Steve Hallam 2011).
Text — Ken Taylor (new 14.08.11)
