Monument record 0794100000 - North of Bradenham

Following geophysical survey in April 2014, Risborough Countryside Group and the National Trust carried out partial excavation of a 1st to 2nd century bloomery in Autumn 2015. A shaft furnace was found to survive in an excellent state of preservation below the plough zone. It comprised several concentric zones of fired clay forming the lining to an oval cut, 0.80m x 0.65m. The clay lining surviving to a depth of 0.70m. A large pear-shaped 'tapping pit' to south-west of the kiln measued 2.55m X 2.15m. Both pit and furnace had been purposly backfilled after the end of the use of the kiln. 6 sherds of late 1st - 2nd century Roman pottery were recovered from the pit fills. Macromorphology of the slag shows that slag-tapping technology was being used to produce slag on a small scale. Evidence that at least two separate smelting events took place at this site. Radiocarbon dates of 18 BC-130 AD and 37 BC-124 AD were obtained from fragments of oak or beech wood charcoal associated with the in-situ slag (B1).