The Huntspill River Project
Somerset County Council and the Environment Agency have developed a partnership project to study the archaeological remains which are at risk of erosion in the banks of the Huntspill River in central Somerset. This has so far involved the partial excavation of a Roman settlement and a Roman saltern.
Lloyd's bank site, Bleak Bridge
| Roman pottery was discovered by David Lloyd of the Environment Agency on the bank of the river near Bleak Bridge and a small excavation carried out by Somerset County Council. Most of the settlement had been destroyed when the "river" was constructed in the late 1930s but the excavation showed that it had been occupied during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD with some activity nearby in the proceeding 200 years. Charred grain showed that spelt wheat and barley were grown and bone evidence suggested that sheep were the most numerous animals followed by cattle, pig, chicken and wild deer. |
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Local volunteers excavating
at Bleak Bridge in 2001.
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A broken Roman column-base
reused upside down as part of
an area of hard.
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The star find of the excavation was uncovered on the last day, as archaeological tradition dictates. An area of hard standing formed from blue lias contained one stone that had a square hole in it. When exposed it proved to be the broken base of a Roman column - obviously from a high-status building. |
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The Roman column base.
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Huntspill saltern
| A huge Roman salt industry existed on the salt marshes between Burtle and the sea. In the late Iron Age and early Roman period it was concentrated alongside the present coast but seems to have moved inland during the later 3rd and 4th centuries AD. Many of the salterns have been discovered as they have eroded from the banks of the Huntspill River. The recent bank grading works and willow planting should help to prevent such destruction in the future. |
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Erosion of the river bank exposing
the hearth of the saltern.
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The settling tanks showing
as circular areas filled with
clay and surrounded by dark
peat.
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A community excavation took place on a Roman saltern that had partially eroded into the river. The site consisted of two large 'settling tanks' where the sediment settled out of the brine taken from nearby tidal creeks. Evidence of a partly eroded hearth was recorded where the brine would have been heated over a peat fire to produce salt. This process produced an enormous quantity of waste material consisting of clay, peat and the coarse pottery called briquetage, which was used for the hearth furniture. The evaporating trays themselves seem to have been made of lead, probably from the Mendip mines. This rubbish heap survived to over one metre high and ten metres long. |
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The waterlogged conditions mean that wood survived, including part of an alder and willow basket, one of only six Roman examples known in the UK. The saltern is one of hundreds that are known to have existed in this part of Somerset.
Many thanks are due to the local volunteers who worked on the two excavations under extremely unfavourable conditions.
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The remains of the Roman basket.
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