Well worth a visit Bexley Archaeological Group .http://www.bag.org.uk a good web site.Nice layout.
Bardown was a four year project centred upon a known major
Romano-British iron production site set near Stonegate in the High Weald
of East Sussex. The site itself had been archaeologically examined in
the 1960’s with the identification of a number of smaller satellite
sites in the area. The aim of the project was to attempt to identify
any infrastructure that linked the sites and to examine the method of
removal of the finished product from the valley in which the site was
situated. The investigation was carried out in close contact with the
community, by locating and recording the many pits in the area, by
identifying other possible unrecorded working areas and by field work
in the identification of interconnecting tracks. The results of
investigation on the site itself challenged previously held views as to
the importance of the site and its layout and evidenced two previously
unrecorded satellite sites and a major network running West to East over
a distance of three miles terminating at the River Rother floodplain.
This opened new questions as to continued passage of the iron East .with
tentative evidence of water borne exit through the then flooded Rother
valley. Further study was carried out involving liaison
with the original archaeologist responsible for the 1960’s excavations
with the recovery and consequent professional examination of a
substantial amount of pottery, the result being in extending the life of
the working site and in the uncovering of evidence that the site was
larger and more important than previously envisaged.
There is still outstanding work in relation to the Bardown complex in seeking the settlement that is thought to exist in the immediate area of the site and in further examination of the far East of the site where the identified exit routes reach the Rother floodplain under Burgh Hill, Etchingham. Geo Phys has located a hitherto unrecorded enclosure on the route of the exit route near Etchingham and an exploratory dig on this enclosure is planned in 2010. Further interest is being expressed in the discovery of two circular enclosures by HAARG in November 2009 also located alongside the exit route. |