Bardown was a major iron-working site in the eastern Weald of Sussex (near Ticehurst), operating from the late 1st century CE until around 220, when activity appears to have ceased or shifted to satellite working sites nearby. It comprised both extraction (mining pits exploiting Wadhurst Clay siderite ores) and processing in bloomery furnaces, with associated settlement housing the workforce, making it one of the larger Wealden iron production centres of its period.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Bardown lies within the zone of Wealden iron sites whose stamped tile and scale of output strongly suggest control or supply links to the Classis Britannica, the Roman fleet, which administered iron production along the south-eastern coast and the Hastings hinterland. Its size and longevity make it one of the type-sites for understanding the organisation of Romano-British industrial iron production.
Excavations by Henry Cleere in the 1960s revealed substantial slag heaps (estimated tens of thousands of tonnes), bloomery furnace remains, roasting hearths, timber buildings, and pottery indicating occupation by a resident workforce rather than seasonal use. Cleere also identified outlying "satellite" working sites (such as Holbeanwood) supplied with ore and personnel from the Bardown centre, illustrating a dispersed but coordinated production system.
Bardown was a major iron-working site in the eastern Weald of Sussex (near Ticehurst), operating from the late 1st century CE until around 220, when activity appears to have ceased or shifted to satellite working sites nearby. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a production site site from the Roman period in Britain.
Bardown Roman industrial site is classified as a Roman production site — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Romano-British site S of Bodiam Bridge (12.6 km), Paved ford crossing the line of the Roman road at Iden Green (14 km), Little Farningham Roman iron production site (14.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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