Sussex Archaeological Collections 142

In the summer of 1997, an archaeological monitoring programme by Wessex Archaeology during trenching along the route of a water pipeline from Falmer to Balsdean, culminated in an excavation at The Bostle adjacent to the scheduled Bronze Age and Anglo-Saxon barrow cemetery. A small, mixed rite Bronze Age cemetery was excavated including four adult cremation burials, two of which were securely dated to the Early Bronze Age period, and five infant inhumation burials, one of which was radiocarbon dated to the Late Bronze Age. Four Saxon ring-ditches were excavated, three of which surrounded central graves containing the remains of inhumation burials. Evidence suggests that at least one of the latter was coffined and one shrouded. A radiocarbon date range of AD 640--879 was obtained from the coffined burial. The temporal and spatial extent of The Bostle cemeteries has been shown to be greater than was previously appreciated. The dating of the Bronze Age burials and implied temporal variation in rite carries interesting implications for the understanding of Bronze Age mortuary rites and how they may have reflected the society burying its dead at The Bostle. Includes

Recent recognition of a building stone, now named Lavant stone, has led to investigations of the quarry site, its history and the use of the stone. Lavant stone is a distinctive phosphatic chalk with fossils, particularly sharks' teeth. It was used in the later Roman period and extensive medieval use ranged from Chichester Cathedral and Boxgrove Priory to parish churches. The historical use of Lavant stone is considered, and the social and economic influences upon its distribution pattern and opportunities for further research are discussed. Includes

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed the peak of post-medieval iron and glass production in the Sussex Weald together with an upsurge in the building and re-modelling of local houses on such a scale that it has been called by some historians `The Great Rebuilding'. The link between iron, glass, and construction was the wood and timber industry, which utilized an ancient form of woodland management to provide charcoal for the furnaces and oak for the timber-framed buildings characteristic of the region. There is evidence to suggest, however, that timber from woodland sources was not as freely available as might be thought, and that the use of hedgerow trees, especially for the smaller vernacular house, was a viable alternative. It is possible to tell from tool marks on timbers in a surviving building not only what type of tree was used and how it was worked, but also how many were needed to complete the frame. These facts reflect on the local availability of building timber and thus the contemporary management of timber supplies. The life and work of the carpenter, the figure at the centre of the wood, timber, and construction industries at this time, are not so easily understood. In the absence of written accounts probate inventories have been taken as the most revealing source of information on standards of living and work practices and in the process have added considerably to what is already known of the rural Wealden artisan in early-modern Sussex.

Documentary research and excavations have indicated that a block of four limekilns which operated alongside the Arun Navigation at Newbridge Wharf, Billingshurst, from before 1823 until about 1890, were of the intermittent or flare type. During the spring and summer 1998, excavations took place at Newbridge Wharf, Billingshurst, at the site of a set of limekilns, by the side of the Arun Navigation, to ascertain the extent to which evidence of the kilns and their construction still remained, buried beneath the surface. The remains of three kilns were found. They are typical of the type of kilns that were designed to produce lime for dressing agricultural land in that part of the Weald at that time, and were served by the canal which had opened as far as Newbridge Wharf in 1787 and went out of use in 1888. Includes