Bardown was a four year project centred upon a known major Romano-British iron production site set near Stonegate in the High Weald of East Sussex. The site itself had been archaeologically examined in the 1960’s with the identification of a number of smaller satellite sites in the area. The aim of the project was to attempt to identify any infrastructure that linked the sites and to examine the method of removal of the finished product from the valley in which the site was situated. The investigation was carried out in close contact with the community, by locating and recording the many pits in the area, by identifying other possible unrecorded working areas and by field work in the identification of interconnecting tracks. The results of investigation on the site itself challenged previously held views as to the importance of the site and its layout and evidenced two previously unrecorded satellite sites and a major network running West to East over a distance of three miles terminating at the River Rother floodplain. This opened new questions as to continued passage of the iron East .with tentative evidence of water borne exit through the then flooded Rother valley. Further study was carried out involving liaison with the original archaeologist responsible for the 1960’s excavations with the recovery and consequent professional examination of a substantial amount of pottery, the result being in extending the life of the working site and in the uncovering of evidence that the site was larger and more important than previously envisaged.
There is still outstanding work in relation to the Bardown complex in seeking the settlement that is thought to exist in the immediate area of the site and in further examination of the far East of the site where the identified exit routes reach the Rother floodplain under Burgh Hill, Etchingham. Geo Phys has located a hitherto unrecorded enclosure on the route of the exit route near Etchingham and an exploratory dig on this enclosure is planned in 2010. Further interest is being expressed in the discovery of two circular enclosures by HAARG in November 2009 also located alongside the exit route.
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