Anglo-Saxon Romsey
The Evidence in the Landscape
Anglo-Saxon Iron Smelting
Iron smelting was carried out in Romsey on an industrial scale. It left behind a distinctive dark black soil containing charcoal and slag. Pieces of slag have turned up on many excavations. With no stone to hand on the gravel river terrace, blocks of slag were put to use as packing in postholes. The smelting took place in an area south of the Abbey, on a corner of the terrace bordered by the Test floodplain on the west and the floodplain of the Tadburn on the south. The excavation at Narrow Lane uncovered evidence for slag pit furnaces, a relatively inefficient technology that produces massive blocks of slag. This material has not been dated. A deep deposit of smelting debris at the Creatures Pet Shop site provided a 7th/8th century date. Further smelting material in a channel cutting the mid-Saxon layer was associated with Saxo-Norman pottery - smelting continued into the Late Saxon period. A recent re-assessment of archived material from the Midland Bank site has found that smelting was carried out just 20m from the current abbey building, within the abbey precinct. None of these excavations have been published. Most of the discussions on Saxon iron smelting in the published literature fail to mention Romsey.
Creatures Pet Shop Excavation, 4 Market Place - A1986.12
A small, but important, excavation was carried out in 1986 at the rear of the then Creatures Pet Shop. This business traded at the south side of the Market Place, in the third building west of the Town Hall, 4 Market Place, The excavation produced a considerable quantity of iron smelting debris. A feature identified as a water channel cut through a deep deposit of ash, charcoal and iron slag. Charcoal samples from this deposit have been radiocarbon dated to the 7th/8th century. The water channel lies on the line of the west branch of the Fishlake which now runs through a culvert along Church Street and then turns west into Abbey Water. Lenses of smelting debris within the fill of the channel demonstrate that smelting was taking place after the channel was diverted, continuing into the Late Saxon period. Pottery within the channel fill is Saxo-Norman.
The notes, site drawings and finds from the Creatures Pet Shop excavation are stored at Chilcomb House in Winchester, under the care of the Hampshire Cultural Trust. This material has been examined and photographed as part of the Anglo-Saxon project. More information is available by clicking the links below:
Excavation drawings and contexts
Richard Palmer and Jessie Russell excavating behind Creatures Pet Shop, 4 Market Place, in 1986. They are at the west end of the L-shaped trench shown in the plan. This small excavation produced 150kg (330 lbs) of iron smelting slag.
Photo by Frank Green
A short, anonymous note entitled ‘New light shed on Romsey’s early history’ was bound along with the context sheets for the Creatures Pet Shop excavation stored at Chilcomb House. After 36 years the deposits have finally been radiocarbon dated.
Drawing of the south section and a detail of the channel fill. Red arrows point to Contexts containing smelting debris. Yellow arrows point out the edge of the water channel.
A fragment of charcoal was removed from a block of slag found in Context 4, the deep deposit of smelting debris cut by the channel. The sample was radiocarbon dated to 667-774 (95.4% probability).
Context 45
Wood charcoal :
Corylus sp. (hazel) branchwood. Circa 11 years growth.
Context 45 is at the base of Context 4, filling the hollow at the top of a posthole. As would be expected from the stratigraphy, the radiocarbon date for the sample is earlier than the date for the charcoal from the slag block found in Context 4. The date range 604-665 (95.4% probability) places iron smelters in Romsey in the 7th century.
Context 23:
Wood charcoal : Pomoidea (hawthorn, crab apple, Sorbus, etc.). Small diameter roundwood with bark intact. Circa 5 years growth.
Context 23 is the fill of a posthole cut into the fill of the channel. Its radiocarbon date of 598-656 (95.4% probability) doesn't fit in with the site stratigraphy - the posthole must be late-Saxon at the earliest, probably post-Conquest. The charcoal must have entered the fill of the posthole attached to one of the slag blocks used as post packing. A fragile charcoal fragment would not have survived intact in the soil for very long. This sample confirms a 7th century date for the early iron smelting industry.
A fragment of a cattle tibia was radiocarbon dated by the CARD Fund. It was found at the bottom of the water channel, in Context 55. The dating of the bone to the 7th century indicates that it was residual, eroded from deposits cut by the channel. Although it doesn’t date the Fishlake, it provides evidence for cattle rearing as another aspect of the economy of the mid-Saxon settlement at Romsey.
Bone photo by Frank Green.
The radiocarbon results date the iron smelting industry in Romsey back to the first half of the 7th century. Smelters were at work in Romsey during the reign of King Cenwalh (642-672) and probably during the reign of his father Cynegils (611- 642), the first Christian king of Wessex. Iron smelting started in Romsey before the Old Minster was built in Winchester and before the development of the trading settlement of Hamwic, Saxon Southampton.
The 'whetstone' from Context 55. Both of the flat surfaces are polished from contact with leather or textile. The wider edge on one side was used for sharpening. Short scratched lines near the groove might have been caused by the point of a needle.
The stone tool found at the bottom of the water channel was described by the excavators as a large Roman whetstone. It has recently been examined by Dr Kevin Hayward of Reading University to determine the type of stone and its source. He identified it as a calcareous mudstone from the early Jurassic Blue Lias formation which outcrops along the Dorset coast and extends through Somerset and the Severn Valley. He suggested that the surface polish might have been the result of using the stone to buff leather. Considering the location of the find, at the bottom of a water channel that formed part of the boundary of the nunnery precinct, the stone is far more likely to be a linen smoother or slickstone. It would have been used to press the seams and remove creases from linen clothing, as well as for sharpening needles.
Read Dr Hayward's report.
Finds in the channel fill.
The notes on the context sheet describe Context 55 as: ‘loose gravel layer. Not a great deal to excavate due to batter of trench sides. Given an un-natural attribution due to presence of whetstone and bone.’ It was interpreted as: ‘water laid deposits in stream bed? Eroded perhaps.’ The finds from the context support the interpretation of the feature as a water channel. The cattle bone was radiocarbon dated to the 7th century, earlier than the smelting deposits cut by the channel. The Roman mortar fragment is also residual, eroded from the channel sides. The whetstone/linen smoother is likely to be late Saxon. Hones and spindle whorls made from early Jurassic mudstone found in Winchester were dated to the late 10th and 11th centuries.
The description of Context 55 as a loose gravel layer fits the current stream bed of the Fishlake, seen here as it flows past King John's House. The water-washed gravel contains assorted debris - fragments of brick, slate and pottery.
Narrow Lane Excavation - A1981.125
Eight small trenches were excavated in Narrow Lane prior to the redevelopment of the site. Iron smelting in the area left behind a deep, black, charcoal-rich soil which obscured the stratigraphy. A platform of fired clay might have been associated with smelting activities. A clay-lined shaft was probably part of a slag block furnace in which the slag was collected in a pit beneath the furnace, rather than being tapped during the smelt. A total of 350kg of slag was found during the excavation.
A very large slag block from Narrow Lane in the finds store at Chilcomb House. The block would have formed in a pit underneath a smelting furnace. The slag block method of smelting was practiced in the Germanic areas of northern Europe, so it would have been known to the Anglo-Saxon migrants. This technology was also used at the extensively excavated Saxon settlement of Mucking in Essex.
Narrow Lane, looking north. The roof of the Abbey is visible beyond the buildings. The houses on the right of the photo were built on the site of the excavation.
A stylus was an implement used for writing on a wax tablet, with a pointed tip used to incise letters into the wax and a flat ‘eraser’ at the other end. The stylus found during the excavation at Narrow Lane has stylish bands around the shaft. The circular depression near the top would have held a decorative setting. This was not an everyday item; it resembles bronze dress pins of the period. At a time when few people could write, this stylus was designed to impress.
8th/9th century copper alloy stylus found within a deposit of iron smelting slag in Narrow Lane.
Midland Bank Excavation, 10 Church Street - A1988.9
An excavation was carried out 1988 prior to the building of an extension at the rear of the then Midland Bank at 10 Church Street (Abbotsford House). An approximately 2m x 2m trench, intended to serve as a soakaway, was excavated to the level of the natural ground surface. Deposits of animal bones overlay layers that contained burnt flint and pottery, probably prehistoric. The bones, radiocarbon dated as mid-Saxon, indicated a high-status diet including cattle, sheep/goat and pig, along with deer, domestic fowl and fish. After serving as a dump for kitchen waste, the area was used for iron smelting. The presence of pits, post and stake holes and a clay floor show that the site was in active use. Later the area seems to have been used for stone working with a layer (106) containing smashed stone fragments that was interpreted as possible mason’s debris. This could have been associated with the building of the Norman abbey or possibly with a Saxon stone church.
At the western side of the trench was a deep feature. It appears from the plans to have been dug from the level with the stone debris. The lower half was filled in with smelting waste, context 123. Pieces of tile were found in this context including a Roman box tile from a hypocaust. Roman tile was used in the construction of Saxon smelting furnaces on other sites in Romsey, but these pieces showed no sign of reuse. The deliberate partial infilling of the feature indicates that it was not intended as a ditch. Perhaps it was a pit dug as a source of gravel. The succession of layers in the upper fill contained stone fragments with a concentration of large fragments of building stone overlain by a spread of mortar. Again, this could relate to the building of the Saxon or Norman abbey.
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Detail of the 1867 OS map showing the ornamental gardens to the rear of Abbotsford House, arrowed. The excavation trench was directly behind the building. This 25-inch town map shows the interior plans of public buildings such as the Abbey Church. It also includes the ground plan of the Lady Chapel, identified during an excavation.
Drawing of the south section. The Saxon deposits are annotated. The stone mason’s debris in the upper layers in the feature on the right could be Saxon or post-Conquest in date.
10 Abbey Water Excavation - A1986.7
A small excavation was carried out to the rear of 10 Abbey Water, the street running alongside the Abbey Water section of the Fishlake. The upper deposits in the L-shaped trench were modern, containing sherds of china and Verwood pottery and pieces of clay pipes, along with residual pieces of slag. Context 17 and the features below it, cut into the natural gravel, contained iron smelting slag, iron ore and furnace lining. A total of 9.5kg (21lbs) of slag was recovered.
The plan was drawn below the modern deposits. The south side of the trench measures about 2.5m in length. Context 36 at the east side of the excavation is the natural river terrace gravel.
Table showing the weight of iron slag from each context.
Iron smelting slag from Context 40.
South section. The fill of the post hole on the left, Context 30, contained nearly 5kg of slag, burnt flint, animal bones, a piece of limestone and 5 pieces of ‘brick’. The finds lists for other contexts refer to Roman brick. The post hole cut Contexts 40 and 45. Context 40 contained slag, ironstone (presumably iron ore), furnace lining, daub, charcoal, burnt flint and Roman brick. Pottery sherds were identified as Roman and early medieval. Context 45 contained slag, ironstone, daub, burnt flint, Quarr and Purbeck stone and brick. Pottery sherds were identified as Roman, Roman grog-tempered and early medieval. Context 36 is natural.
North section.
East section.
West section. Context 25 was described as the fill of a beam slot. It was cut by two post holes. Ironstone and Roman brick were found in Context 32. There was also ironstone in Context 38 along with a sherd of grog-tempered Roman pottery and a sandy sherd.
Read more about iron smelting in Romsey:
Report on iron slag from Romsey by JG McDonnell, Ancient Monuments Research Laboratory, 1988. Click here.
Working papers - Information on iron smelting was gathered for circulation to the members of the project.
Searching for iron ore at Foxbury in the New Forest, successfully. Siderite was found in the Wittering Formation deposits.
The source of the iron ore used by the Saxon smelters in Romsey has not yet been found, but must have been nearby. Iron smelting had been carried out during the Iron Age in Michelmersh, north of Romsey. Few sites of this period in Wessex have provided evidence for iron smelting. The ore found in the Michelmersh excavation was identified as hematite. A full report has been published by English Heritage: Michelmersh, Romsey, Hampshire - Analysis of the Slag.
The report on iron smelting at Ramsbury in Wiltshire includes a discussion of the source of the ore.