[TR 043599] (1) Section of Roman road 12-13ft wide (not R.R.16) was uncovered at Brenley Corner end of the M2 motorway. Other Roman finds include pottery (Samian and coarse ware), brooch pins and coins. Roman pottery and coins reported in 1874 from between the 48th and 49th milestones on the London Road may have come from the same site. (1-4) This area was excavated for the Ministry of Works by Mr F. Jenkins in October 1961. A flint cobbled road with side ditch on west side was found but there was no trace of a junction with the Watling Street (RR1b). The ditch had been recut four times, and in the third ditch C1st and C2nd Roman pottery in quantity was found. Under the road was a layer of ash containing iron slag, Samian and other C1st Roman pottery, and beneath the ash, on the natural clay, Belgic sherds of 10-43 AD were found. This type of sherd occurs all over the field both in plough-land and in undisturbed Roman occupation levels. The whole area being cut up for the motorway terminal shows extensive evidence of occupation; known later finds include a beehive quern and an early C2nd cremation burial found in November 1961. Resistivity tests suggest the site of a building. Pottery from the excavation is held by Mr Jenkins. (5) Further excavation showed the main activity in Roman times to have been iron smelting. Four hearths, evidence of burning and the presence of lumps of iron slag in quantity over much of the area was discovered. Five cobbled areas, showing signs of intensive wear, were apparently working floors. Another cobbled area had formed the floor of a building roughly 9ft square. Its plan was reminiscent of a small shrine, this being supported by the presence of small finds including an incomplete clay statuette of dea nutrix type, and an unusual number of coins ranging in date from the 2nd century to the late C4th. (6) [TR 043597] An area covering about 2,000 metres of the proposed Boughton by-pass route, at Brenley Corner, immediately to the east of the area excavated in 1972 was examined in 1973. A ditched enclosure, the north side of which contained an entrance, was traced for c. 135 metres between the north-west and north-east angles. To the east of the entrance was a single ditch, to the west were two parallel ditches which had been backfilled and the filling contained a large quantity of pottery of later Belgic and C1st Roman type. A flint cobbled road c. 13 metres wide was laid down over the entrance in a north-south direction. Twelve burnt clay hearths were also found within the area, associated with extensive spreads of ash flecked with burnt clay and quantities of iron slag and clinker, strongly suggesting that these were ore-roasting areas. A small circular flint-lined furnace enclosing a burnt clay hearth on a layer of amphorae sherds seems to have been used for iron smelting. Nodules of ironstone were associated with these areas in quantity, making it virtually certain that this was the ore used in the smelting process. (7) Additional references. (8-12)

<1> Letter (A D S E 28 9 61) (OS Card Reference). SKE46017.

<2> Kent Messenger 22 9 61) (OS Card Reference). SKE45931.

<3> Letter (J M Cook 31 8 61) (OS Card Reference). SKE46042.

<4> Arch Cant 9 1874 LXXIX (OS Card Reference). SKE36016.

<5> F Jenkins FSA (Hon Corr) (OS Card Reference). SKE41719.

<6> F1 CFW 04-APR-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42419.

<7> Arch Excavations 1972 56-7 (DOE) (OS Card Reference). SKE36495.

<8> Arch Excavations 1973 47-8 (DOE) (OS Card Reference). SKE36496.

<9> Britannia IV 1973 322 (D R Wilson) (OS Card Reference). SKE38388.

<10> Hist Metallurgy II No 2 1977 9 (OS Card Reference). SKE43910.

<11> BAR 24 Religions of Roman Britain 1976 230 (M J Green) (OS Card Reference). SKE37517.

<12> Field report for monument TR 05 NW 5 - April, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5200.