Archaeological investigations at the Llanymynech Limeworks Heritage Site in 2006-7

Archaeological investigations at the Llanymynech Limeworks Heritage Site in 2006-7

In September 2006 and September 2007, the Archaeology Service directed community excavations on behalf of the Llanymynech Limeworks Heritage Project at the Hoffman Kiln. The aim of the excavations was to inform the conservationof the kiln by providing information about the archaeological features and deposits in the area of the kiln, particularly those associated with the former tramways, turntables track-beds, and original ground surfaces.

The excavations and a subsequent watching brief at the Hoffman Kiln successfully located and recorded the remains of tramways that survived as impressions in a yard surface outside the kiln at a shallow depth below the existing ground surface. The location of sleeper beams were indicated by hollows in the yard surface left where timbers had rotted away or been removed; grooves representing the impression of the tram rails also survived in the yard surface.

On the west side of the kiln, two hollows represented the sites of turntables that would have switched trucks from the tramway alongside kiln to tramlines going into openings in kiln side. The tramlines located by the excavation were in the location shown on the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition map of .1901. It had been uncertain whether these were fixed lines or moveable “Jubilee”-type lines. The excavation suggests that they were probably fixed features, with only the final sections going into the kiln itself being moveable (so as not to be damaged when the kiln was fired). On the east side of the kiln, no remains of the former tramlines themselves were seen. However, a number of concrete turntable bases were revealed along the line of the outer of two tramways shown on the 2nd ed. OS.

Most (if not all) of the stanchions for the original steel roof survived in the ground outside the kiln, many of these were visible protruding through the topsoil. The stanchions were of cast iron supporting H-section steel uprights, and were bolted onto concrete plinths set in a clay subsoil.

A drawn and photographic record was also made of both the Tally Hut and the English Winding Drum House before conservation was undertaken on these structures. A watching brief was maintained on the works to other features on the site, including the 19th-century draw kilns, and on the improvements to the paths on the site.

Follow this link to download a copy of the report on the archaeological investigations