Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The site of mills and smelting furnaces in attempt to extract gold from "Black Ore" brought back from Baffin Island, Canada by Martin Frobisher. The exact location of the works and their form is not known.

Monument Types

• SMELT MILL (Abandoned, Post Medieval - 1577 AD? to 1578 AD? (between))

Associated Finds

• SLAG (Post Medieval - 1577 AD? to 1578 AD?)

Full description

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The site of mills and smelting furnaces in attempt to extract gold from "Black Ore", 1435 tons in total, brought back from Baffin Island, Canada by Martin Frobisher. The exact location of the works and their form is not known. Quantities of the "Black Ore" were later re-used as hardcore and building material in and around the site. (1)

Two walls not thought not be of medieval date were found associated with a cobbled surface and an ashy deposit containing slag and balck ore fragments. It is possible that these walls relate to Frobisher's smelting works. One wall built entirely from Black Ore is thought to date form after the ore was found to be worthless.(2)

<1> Wessex Archaeology, 2001, Prospect Place Retail Park, Dartford, Archaeological Evaluation (Unpublished document). SKE12278.

<2> Wessex Archaeology, Prospect Place Retail Park, Dartford: Post-Excavation Assessment Report and Updated Project Design (Unpublished document). SKE12281.

Sources and further reading