| Description | An earthwork survey, combined with trial excavation, was carried out between 14th and 23rd July 1992 on land immediately west of the major earthwork known as Grim's Ditch and north of Colton Road East, to the south west of Colton Mill. The area was thought to have been used for the manufacture of bricks in the 17th and 19th centuries.
A base line was set out along the western edge of the field, and offsets were triangulated to produce a grid. Changes of slope were then plotted along the lines 2m apart, and recorded using dumpy levels and tape.
The earthwork survey revealed a number of furrows running east west and a single furrow running north south which suggested that the northern half of the field was at some time divided.
To the south of a pond in the field were circular and sub circular mounds which may have formed part of an area where clay was extracted from the quarry (now the pond) and processed prior to the manufacture of bricks.
5 other earthworks of unknown function were identified, these included a shallow linear depression, a raised area surrounded by ditches, a sub circular mound consisting of 4 quadrants and 2 small mounds.
Of the 8 earthworks investigated, 2 appeared to be connected to brick manufacture (the small mounds by the pond and the sub circular mound split into quadrants), this was confirmed by the trial excavation. |