Monument record 0587900000 - CORN CLOSE, STONE

Metal detecting & digging in S part of field finds 'quite a lot of slag'. T Clark donates to BCM: part of a roughly formed cast iron slab with curved edge & signs of heating; 3 lumps of smithing ?slag. Whole suggests blacksmiths in or near field. (Medieval pottery sherds also found: see 01:000)(B1).
Geophysical survey carried out by Mola Northampton in October 2014 identified the possible buried footings of a small building near the NW corner of the field. A number of probable ditched property boundaries and pits along the road frontage may represent former Medieval house plots. See report for detail (B2).
Ditches and gullies were identified, aligned either north-west to south-east or north-east to south-west, forming 11 enclosures respecting the alignment of Bishipstone Road. There is little evidence for the recutting or maintenance of the individual boundaries. Activity within the enclosures is characterised by pits (12 pit clusters, and 42 dispersed pits)and postholes with 4 possible buildings or similar structures identified. The depth of some of the pits may indicate quarrying. Environmental evidence is dominated by free-threshing wheat with a confirmed presence of bread wheat. Occurrence of stinking camomile attests to the cultivation of heavier clay soils. The quantity of slag is too low for a site of this date to indicate that it was a primary iron smelting site. It may also be expected that more such material would have been present if bloom refining and smithing were taking place on a permanent basis. It is likely that any ironworking activity was taking place outside the excavated area (B3).
STRUCTURE 1: Twelve pits appeared to form a sub-square structural outline. A possible earth-fast structure.
STRUCTURE 2: Projected outline of the structure is less complete. Aligned with the adjacent boundaries. Intercutting features in its south-eastern corner may suggest a degree of maintenance.
STRUCTURE 3: Comprised 10 largely intercutting pits.
STRUCTURE 4: Sub-rectangular arrangement of 8 pits. The alignment of this structure does not respect the alignment of the boundary ditches (B3).
Carbonised plant remains demonstrate a significant level of arable production in the area, perhaps relating to production on the demsne lands of the two main medieval manors at Stone. Large scale dumps of carbonised material, predominantly cleaned wheat crops, likely relate to kiln drying of wheat prior to milling. Significant concentrations of bread wheat suggest large scale production. Frequent occurance of pulses is probably indicative of a crop rotation system. Evidence of flax may indicate garden cultivation. Local ridge and furrow indicate cultivation of fields surrounding the village, wider landscape appears to be more grazing of sheep and cattle. However the mollusc assemblage for this site is dominated by taxa indicative of short grassland and ground litter habitats, suggsting the site itself was not under the plough. Bones of all major 'farmyard' animals are represented from medieval contexts, but sheep appear to have been the main economic imortance during this period and the age profiles indicate breeding onsite. Econimic uses vary from wool production to consumption. The pottery is dominated by cooking pots; finewares and decorated sherds are scarce, suggesting a generally low status assemblage dating to the 11th to early 14th centuries (B5).
Tenement plot boundaries and associated pits identified during the geophysical survey were investigated. A long boundary ditch running parallel to Bishopstone Road at the rear of the plots was identified, although it proved to be both narrow and shallow, and decreasing in size to the south. Four large pits were identified alongside the edge of the modern road. The older pits contained some sherds of mid to late 11th-century pottery in their upper fills, while the later cut features produced large quantities of pottery of the same date, as well as animal bone. No further evidence of a smithy was found, despite previous finds of iron-working slag on the site (B7).