Field Guide to the Deep History Coast

Iron working on the Cromer Ridge

At various sites on the top of the Cromer Ridge there are humps and hollows, sometimes with associated surface finds of iron slag and limonite (iron oxide) nodules. These shallow pits (known at Aylmerton as the Shrieking Pits, and haunted) are interpreted by archaeologists as procurement pits for the ironstone nodules that were smelted in late Saxon and early Medieval times. One presumes there must have been abundant local wood for charcoal to fire the furnaces. The geological origin of the ironstone nodules is not currently researched but presumed to be the Britons Lane Formation, the uppermost strata of the ridge comprising the outwash sands and gravels associated with the ice that constructed the Cromer Ridge during the Anglian glaciation.

Viewpoint compass pillar on Beeston Heath with iron slag incorporated into the masonry.	Close up of iron slag from medieval iron working.
Limonite nodules found at Beeston Heath	Iron workings have left behind humps and hollows on Beeston Heath
Iron slag from Felbrigg Hall estate (near Cromer Lodge entrance)