Findspot record TR 15 NW 2379 - Roman Pit, 14 Whitehall Road

A large pit was observed by Frank Jenkins when it was cut through by a wall foundation in August 1955 during the construction of 14 Whitehall Rd. The pit was seen to contain quantities of iron slag and ash of Roman date.
An earlier account claims the pit was infact cut by a drainage trench and also yielded a single sherd of Roman pot. The site was interpreted in this instance as an iron smelting furnace.
Although Jenkins notebook states that the adress was 14 Whitehall Road a further document within his archive states that the pit was found to the rear of 10-12 Whitehall Road. I have been unable to resolve this discrepancy. The later account stated: Trenching for main drains at the rear of nos 10-12 Whitehall Road sectioned a pit which had a most unusual profile, being 4ft across the top and with sides which curved outwards to a point about 1ft 3 in from the level bottom where they were vertical. The lowest layer of the filling consisted of dirty loam varying in thickness from 6in at the sides to about 3in at the centre of the pit. Anove this was a thick deposit containing a large quantity of charcoal, burnt clay and many pieces of iron slag and sows of iron. Some of the lumps of iron slag were hemispherical in shape about 1ft in diameter. The upper filling of the pit consisted of dark brown loam. A few small fragments of pottery of indeterminate types but clearly Roman were found in the layer of slag. In view of the quantity of iron slag found in this pit it is clear that the debris came from some nearby bloomery, the hemispherical lumps having been formed in the small pit at the bottom of the furnace. The unusual shaped pit in which this debris was found could have been part of the furnace, but its true function could not be determined in the short time the trench was open.

Cross, R., Whitehall Road 1955 (Machine readable data file). SKE31005.

Andrews, G., 1985, An Assessment. Gazetteer of Excavations. Prehistoric, Belgic and Roman Excavations (Monograph). SKE30006.