Archaeology at Lossenham
Archaeology at Lossenham has progressed well since the last newsletter, with the Isle Heritage team and project volunteers working hard through the Spring, Summer and early Autumn. At Lossenham Priory, the excavation of the Carmelite church of St Mary continues. The complete footprint of the church is now revealed, a narrow rectangular building measuring approximately 26m by 6m, with buttresses at the corners and along the south wall. Numerous burials have been identified inside the church. One of these contained a lead coffin, which was lifted in early August. This will soon be opened. It is likely to date to the late 1400s or early 1500s, and must contain a wealthy and powerful person, perhaps one of the Lords of Lossenham.
We have also been working at Castle Toll, the large earthwork complex that lies over 1km north-east of the Priory, at the end of the Lossenham ridge. Work here is in its early stages, with a series of small test pits. One area excavation area has been completed. The latter investigated the intersection of a north-south ditch with a trackway that approaches the site along the top of the ridge from the south-west, both features having been picked up on the geophysical survey carried out by the Hastings Area Archaeological Research Group (HAARG). The trackway is flanked by ditches, one of which produced pottery provisionally dated to the Late Iron Age or perhaps early Roman period (circa 100 BC to AD 50).
A third site has now been identified on the farm, in the corner of Guestling Field, about 270m east of the Priory. This is an iron bloomery, comprising a furnace with associated slag-filled gully. The gully was located by the HAARG geophysical survey in 2021, and initially investigated with two trenches that Winter. Recently (September 2023) we excavated this area, and were delighted to locate the actual furnace. The type of slag suggests this bloomery dates to either the Iron Age (about 750 BC to AD 43) or Anglo-Saxon period (about AD 450-1066). Charcoal recovered should enable radiocarbon dating to determine when this bloomery operated. Either an Iron Age or Anglo-Saxon date would represent a very significant discovery, as these are much rarer than equivalent Roman, medieval or post-medieval sites in the Weald. Watch this space, and for regular updates on the archaeological programme at Lossenham visit: facebook.com/isleheritage.
Andrew Richardson