Monument record MDO8709 - Town Hall car park, Christchurch (site X10); Mid-Late Saxon Oven

A rescue excavation in the Town Hall car park, Christchurch, during 1974, revealed an irregular oval oven partially lined with small pieces of Roman tile set in yellow clay. Other tile fragments in the fill may be part of a collapsed superstructure. The stoke pit was indicated by an area of soot, charcoal and fire reddened natural sand. Finds included several fragments of furnace bottom and bloomery tap slag. A soil sample from the base produced only negligible quantities of cereal grains. Nevertheless the oven is better paralleled to mid-late Saxon corn driers and is tentatively interpreted as such.

G. Dowdell for Poole Museums, directed a rescue excavation in the Town Hall car park, Christchurch, during development of the area in 1974 (area 1). Another excavation (area 2), to the south of and adjacent to area 1, was partially excavated by the South Wessex Archaeological Association (SWAA). A further machine trench was used to investigate the town defensive ditches a few metres NE of site X2. These excavations were grouped together as site X10 and subsequently published in DNHAS monograph 5 (1).

The excavation in area 1 revealed an irregular oval oven [F1], 2.1m wide and 0.5m deep and extending 5.4m into the excavation area. The oven was partially lined with small pieces of Roman tile set in yellow clay. Other tile and clay fragments in the fill of grey sandy loam may be part of a collapsed superstructure. Over 20kg of Roman tile fragments were recovered from the oven, mainly from the filling. These include 16 tegula fragments, nine imbrice fragments, three fragments with curvilinear decoration and two vitrified fragments. There are also five tiles containing peg-holes. These finds suggest the existence of a substantial Roman building in the Christchurch area.

The stoke pit was indicated by an area of soot, charcoal and fire reddened natural sand. The northern edge of the stoke pit was defined by a line of tile fragments set in clay. The only datable finds from the oven were the Roman tile fragments, two Bronze Age pottery sherds, and a third undated but possibly mid-late Saxon body sherd. The date of the oven is also dependant on the relationship to the Saxo-Norman ditch which cuts the oven. A mid-late Saxon date for the oven seems most probable. It also seems likely that the oven was cut into the dune formation upon which the Saxon town defensive bank was constructed.

Finds from the oven included burnt flints and several fragments of furnace bottom and bloomery tap slag. A soil sample from the base produced only negligible quantities of cereal grains. The function of the oven is uncertain, iron working debris was distributed liberally over the whole site and the amount from the oven is not significant. It is suspected that the soil sample was contaminated and despite the lack of cereal grains recovered from it, the oven is better paralleled to mid-late Saxon corn driers from Hereford and is tentatively interpreted as such.

Seven post-holes were recorded adjacent to the oven with a surviving depth of 0.10-0.15m. These may indicate a rather dubious structure, although this is difficult to assess since adjacent areas were not fully excavated. One of them contained a late Bronze Age body sherd.

<1> Jarvis, K S, 1983, Excavations in Christchurch 1969-80, 34-7 (Monograph). SWX4028.

<2> National Record of the Historic Environment, 884742 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Nov 3 2023 12:00PM