Project Excavation 2007
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The landscape of the Grasslees valley is today one of peace and tranquillity, disturbed by little but the sounds of birdsong and the bleating of sheep. The picture two hundred years ago was very different however, with a busy industrial landscape peopled by miners, tile makers, and quarrymen.
Coquetdale Community Archaeology volunteers decided to delve further into this industrial past, focussing their attention on a small abandoned settlement at Ovenstone. All that can be seen at the site today are the low walls of a line of stone cottages, surrounded by a banked enclosure and a large rubbish tip. In the past this was a flourishing community, supported by a thriving economy of supplying coal for the nearby tile manufacturing site. Evidence of coal mining lies all around the site, from the bell pits spreading north west and south east to the lumps of coal littering the area.
Work began with examining the historical records for the site; the earliest written record of the site dates to the 1770s. Information gleaned form census returns in the 1800s show a thriving community, with four mining families living and working the site by 1851. The later half of the 19th century shows a gradual decline in the site however, until the houses were abandoned in the 1880s.
Plane table surveying at the Ovenstones site
The next stage of the project was to record the evidence on the ground, so on a cold weekend in February volunteers set out with plane tables and tapes to create an accurate plan of the site. The exact location of the cottages was recorded, along with the enclosure bank around the site, the extent of the midden, and the bell pits. Surveying the site also helped us to understand the sequence of activity at Ovenstone, as some bell pits lay underneath the settlement, suggesting that mining was carried out here before the cottages were built.
Whilst volunteers carried out the plane table survey, Newcastle University student Louise Keech and friends excavated a series of trial trenches into the midden, recovering sherds of pottery, clay pipes and even a slate pencil. These finds have been examined by Jenny Vaughan of NCAS, and date to the nineteenth century and come from as far afield as Sunderland and Berwick. Some of the pottery is decorated with religious tracts.
Pottery find from the Ovenstones site decorated with biblical text
The project excavation this year aims to further explore the Ovenstone settlement, by excavating at least one of the cottages. We hope to find dating evidence for the establishment, occupation and abandonment of the site, and to gain insights into the daily lives of the people living there, and their links to the wider world. We will also continue our documentary research into the site.
If you would like to visit the excavations, the site will be open to the public on Sunday 24th June and Sunday 1st July from 1pm-4pm. Please contact us for further details.
Excavation Updates
Wednesday 20th June
Undeterred by heavy rain and thunder overnight, a small group today began work on the site. After introductions, we began by walking over the site, studying the aerial photographs and plane table survey to get our bearings.
The next step was to begin de-turfing a trench over the buildings to the north of the midden. We chose the central structure, and with spades and shovels began the hard work of cutting through the grass, lifting and stacking turf, and clearing nettles and bracken from the stone walls.
Immediately we began to recover artefacts from the soil, including many fragments of pot, glass, and clay pipes. These were all saved for later study. By the end of the day de-turfing was nearly complete, and we retired hot and tired but satisfied that we had made a good start.
Excavation beigns on the Ovenstones site
Thursday 21st June
Today we began by removing loose rubble and stones from the interior and the southern exterior of the building. Any stones that appeared to be in situ were left in place, but all tumbled material was taken away and careful trowelling began to reveal the structure of the building beneath.
Gradually, features began to emerge from the rubble. At the eastern end of the building, burnt bricks and large upright stones suggest a large fireplace, but confusingly, a smaller hearth was also uncovered in the centre of the building. More work is needed to establish why there are two fireplaces.
Friday 22nd June
Today work continued in Trench One to uncover the structure of the building. The southern wall has now been clearly exposed, and an additional structure, built against the building’s original wall can be seen. This extra structure is made of large stones and is fairly substantial but very narrow. Further investigation is required.
Today we also opened another trench on the site. Trench Two is located to the north of the buildings, over the enclosure bank surrounding the settlement. This morning we deturfed the trench, and this afternoon began to trowel back the surface beneath the grass to reveal two low banks, one containing a large quantity of stone.
Uncovering the structure of the building at Ovenstones
Saturday 23rd June
We were a little hampered by the weather today, and spent much of this morning sheltering in the tent, but brighter weather this afternoon allowed work to continue at a good pace.
On the southern wall we trowelled back loose soil and rocks to reveal a flagged entrance to the building, including two socketed stones lying across the doorway of the structure. Running alongside the building, parallel to the southern wall, is a cobbled trackway. Remains of this trackway were also found under the midden by Rob Young during the February excavations.
Work also continued in the interior of the building, around the central hearth. Careful trowelling revealed two large flagstones running underneath the hearth. The flags appear to have been covered in a thin layer of soil, with the hearth being constructed at a later date. This suggests that the central hearth was constructed after the building was abandoned, perhaps by shepherds using the structure as a temporary bothy or sheiling.
The central hearth
Sunday 24th June
Today we focussed our efforts on the northern exterior side of the building, working hard with mattocks and shovels to remove a thick layer of soil between the exterior wall and the edge of the trench. This uniform brown loam suggests that this area was a field, running right up to the wall of the house.
We also dug a slot down through the brown loam to establish the foundations for the cottage. The foundations of the central building were made from large stones, placed directly on to the subsoil, with no evidence of a trench being dug before construction.
The building revealed
Monday 25th June
A very bad start today, with torrential rain overnight and a strong, cold wind, but volunteers were undeterred and set to work removing rubble and soil from the interior of the building. This was heavy work, but at least we were warm and we made very good progress.
Work continues on site despite the conditions!
Wednesday 27th June
After a much needed day off, we returned today to continue removing the rubble from the interior of the building. The large fireplace at the eastern end of the room is becoming more visible, and hard work has revealed beautiful, dressed stone uprights and mantelpiece. The interior of the fireplace is made from brick, probably broken or discarded bricks from the tilery to the north-west.
The large fireplace
Thursday 28th June
Having cleared much of the rubble from the building, today we focussed on recording later features, such as the central hearth, and then removing them to reveal the floor surface beneath.
We also explored the stone feature to the south of the building. When we initially began work, we thought this may be a porch or storage area, but a thorough cleaning indicated that it was built in two phases, both of which were later than the initial exterior wall. It seems that when the original wall began to shift and spread, a buttress was carefully constructed to prevent collapse. Later still, a secondary buttress, more hastily constructed, was added.
Friday 29th June
Now we have cleared the building, the space seems much bigger, although it is still hard to believe that these one-room dwellings were home to large families of up to nine children.
The cleared central building at Ovenstones
Clearing the floors has revealed that the central building had a flagged floor on the east side, around the fireplace, and a beaten earth floor on the west. The cottage on the west end of the terrace tells a different story; it seems that this building originally had a flagged floor, but this became damaged and was later repaired and covered, at least in part, with a tiled surface.
Sunday 1st July
Today we focussed on recording the remains of the cottage, and began to draw up plans of the walls. Tapes and strings were laid out along and across the trench, and in pairs we began measuring and plotting walls. This is time consuming work, but by the end of the day good progress had been made.
We were also able to return to Trench Two, which has been waterlooged for some time. Cleaning up in the trench revealed a double bank and ditch running around the enclosure; this would help drain the area around the cottages, and also keep sheep out of the garden!
In the afternoon, we held an open day for visitors.
Monday 2nd July
Recording continued in Trench One, with plans of the flag stones and the fireplace, and lots more photographs. We also finished work in Trench Two, and drew the section (side of the trench). By the end of the day the work was complete – all that remains is the backfilling, which is done to protect the remains.
