File:Roman Iron Working Bloom (FindID 862558).jpg

English: Iron metalworking debris. A large oval-ended furnace bottom or bloom [the finder's identification] with a flat top and near-vertical if irregular sides, formed either in the base of an iron ore burning furnace or in a channel cut to receive molten metal from such furnace. The object was retrieved from a reported depth of c.0.9m, and involved the cooperative labours of two people working at arms' length to extract it from the hole.

Dr Kevin Leahy kindly comments that the object has the superficial appearance of cast iron, and that this would carry with it an implication of a date after c.1490. The first recorded use of cast iron, under Henry VII (1485-1509), was for the manufacture of solid iron gun shot. Kevin adds that monastic involvement in the early manufacture of cast iron is suspected in some regions. Ad hoc testing with an angle grinder, which would result in sparks being generated by wrought iron [of potentially earlier date] or grey dust by cast iron [of later date, as is suspected from the form of the object], could resolve the nature of the material, but has not been attempted in this case. Suggested date: Post-Medieval, 1500-1650.

Length: 350mm, Width: 150mm, Thickness/Depth: 88mm, Mass: not weighed, estimated to be in considerable excess of 10kg.