Time Team Day 1 - Furnace in the Forest

Good morning, we are going to kick off another Thirty-One Days of the Time Team with an episode from series 18.  The run time for Time Team is 47:59.

The Time Team is investigating the early days of the Industrial Revolution.  Derwentcote was at the heart of an iron and steel complex that helped spread the British Empire.  The Time Team will have their hands full, clearing away decades of brush and growth to access the site.  There was a hodgepodge of processes going on at the Derwentcote site.  The Time Team has three days to excavate, hopefully, the Time Team will be able to get to the archeology. 

It will take time to clear out the undergrowth in order to put it in the trenches.  Tony works alongside to help get the growth removed.  Iron and steel were made at the site and its history is little known.  English Heritage rebuilt a steel mill.  Not much is left of Derwentcote.  Steel and iron produced in this area made their way throughout the British Empire.  When it comes to the Industrial Revolution, the Derwentcote site flies under the radar.  What can the Time Team discover about this site?

Before the first trench can go in, there will have to be some heavy-duty pruning.  The growth may hide an important piece of history from the Industrial Revolution.  If this site is so important to the Industrial Revolution, why was this site overlooked?  Where are the big chimneys?  Why are the walls so little?  What is known about archeology?  Geophysics is finding surveying a site a challenge.

Trench One goes in over a set of earthworks.  What will the Time Team find in the trench?  As the first layers go in, the Time Team is making some finds.  Phil Harding calls Francis Pryor over to show what is found.  Phil is dreaming big about the site.  In the meantime, Tony catches up with a local historian to talk about the Industrial Revolution.  The nuts and bolts of the Industrial Revolution would have been supplied by sites like Derwentcote.  Marilyn Palmer, an Industrial archeologist talked about the tools made during the Industrial Revolution.  For the first time, ordinary people could have access to metal, and they used metal to improve their lives.

The Site at Derwentcote may be a challenge for the time team.  The recreated furnace nearby made steel for tools.   There could be a variety of furnaces at the site that could help make metal.  There could have been a variety of phases to the site.  Tony then talks with John Gater about the geophysics of the site.  Due to the trees and brush, geophysics is proving to be a challenge.  John eventually concludes that they will have to geophysics the path.

Phil continues to work in trench one and is continuing to discover more walls.  After a few hours, Phil is inside a single building.  A few moments later, the site gets better.  He discovers burning on the site, which means that there was a furnace on the site.  However, as the Archeology goes deeper, one side of the site floods.  The Time Team will have to have pumps to drain the water.

Stewart continues to survey the site and looks for a source of water.  He is using a highly developed method: a stick.  He talks about how water was diverted to the site to help with metal-making.  There was a huge pond on the site with a dam and the water was managed with little channels.  Francis and John talk about the landscape and what it tells about the history of the site.  The Time Team will look at the dam site, but first, they will have to clean up the area around the dam site.

How many phases of the Industrial Revolution will the Time Team Find on the site?  What was made on the site?  Will Phil get the water drained from his trench?  What can this site tell us about the people who lived there?  Why did the work stop at Derwentcote?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

This episode would be an excellent one to show during the Industrial Revolution section in a history class.  Tony’s humor was on point during this episode and it was fun to see the Time Team immediately find archaeology on the site.