was a bowl-shaped pit which contained no occupation material except lumps of iron slag. These belong to a period (? 3rd century A.D.) when the bath building and timber-framed building had fallen into disuse, and are probably contemporary with the burning process already referred to, which took place in the ruins of the hot room The main importance of these discoveries is that they link the settle ment with the local iron industry
The area immediately north of the bath building was found to be devoid of structures apart from a stone-lined drainage gully leading from the bath in the direction of the inturned entrance. There were also a number of post-holes, which must be earlier than the bath building but form no logical pattern, and a scatter of small stones which are probably what is left of the continuation of the entrance roadway. The absence of Roman buildings in this area can perhaps be explained by the fact that it is immediately opposite the entrance. A considerable depth of silt separating the top of the gully from collapsed masonry of the bath building indicates that it decayed gradually.
In the entrance, gate-posts were identified on either side of the
Garden Hill. Plan of bath building and part of timber framed building.
new areas north and south of the bath building and in the entrance were explored.
Work on the stone foundations south of the bath building showed that these were the base of a rectangular (9 x 11m) timber-framed building contemporary and connected with the bath buildings. A doorway on the north side communicated with the cold room and another entrance lay in the southwest corner. At a lower level than this building were two low stone walls (possibly designed to support sleeper beams) belonging to a period earlier than the bath building and associated with many iron nails and some late 1st century A.D. pottery.
On the east side of the timberframed building clay had been laid down on the stone foundations to make a solid and heat-proof base for a hearth in which a process involving heavy burning (? smithing) had been carried out. Nearby there
Bronze strap-union from a horseharness. The circles between the pelta-shaped openings contain roundels of glass. The British Museum dates this bronze to the third quarter of the 1st century AD.
Photo: B.M.
