NHER 23205 (Monument record) - Iron Age and Roman pot boiler sites in two fields southwest of Tower Mill

24 December 1986. Fenland fieldwalking, weathered ploughsoil.
Context 1. MDT AK.
General scatter odd flints and sherds, ?Roman.
Flint is Beaker - F. Healy (NAU).

Context 2 at 6625 1415. MDT 7.
Concentration of pot boilers moderate to abundant, one undated sherd. Soil loam with carstone fragments just above peat. 26m east to west x 24m north to south at 3.7m OD.
Sherd is Iron Age - F. Healy (NAU).

Context 3 at 6609 1431. MDT 8.
Concentration of pot boilers sparse locally to moderate and a few sherds probably Roman. Also some ?iron slag and couple flints. Edge of shallow valley. 45m northeast to southwest x 21m northwest to southeast at 4.3m OD.
R. Silvester (NAU), 29 December 1986

Some of the material from context 1 has been reidentified as Roman and medieval pottery.

For full details of wares, flint types etc see (S1).

1989 to 1990. Fenland Evaluation Project.
Further work at Contexts 2 (MDT 7) and 3 (MDT 8).
Accuracy of original site location plots checked; samples of subsoil taken by auger for analysis - shown to be watelogged silt, possibly with botanical preservation. Sites not well preserved (not peat covered) Not recommended for preservation to Historic Buildings and Monuments Commision.
M. Leah (NLA), August 1990.

October 2007. ALSF NHER Enhancement Sub-Unit D.
MDT 7.
Iron Age activity might be anticipated on the basis of a single sherd of pottery found on a pot boiler site at the peat edge; more associated material is required from the site to confirm the dating, but with a Roman pot-boiler spread a short distance away (MDT 8) and the absence of any other Iron Age sherds in the vicinity, the assessment is reasonable.

MDT 8.
This pot-boiler spread produced enough Roman pottery mixed with the calcined flint and ash to leave no doubt to its date, even if its function is unclear. It was positioned on the edge of a small dry valley running towards Blackborough End that was filling with peat in the medieval period and may have become waterlogged even earlier, so industrial activity of some sort must be suspected. The associated Roman settlement seems to have been beneath the modern settlement of Blackborough End.
Information from (S2).
M. Dennis (NLA), 1 October 2007.