While excavating an ancient Roman industrial centre of production in England, archaeologists discovered two wells that point to the trial and error necessary for the master builders.

The industrial centre shows evidence of metalworking, carpentry, and woodworking from the early Roman period (AD 43-150). However archaeologists still don’t know what the purpose of the site was, and the well’s contents might just help them find out. 

The wells were discovered during excavations of a settlement. Image: MOLA.

'A hive of industrial activity' that needed a water supply

As a “hive of industrial activity”, as archaeologists called it, the site appears to have housed people as well as functioned as working quarters. They needed a water supply as archaeologists uncovered a well outside the gated area, according to the Smithsonian, about 28 feet deep or about a two-storey house, and even a 2,000-year-old ladder along with it. 

“This was a serious piece of Roman engineering,” the Museum of London Archaeology stated. “However, the first well collapsed before they could use it,” project manager Simon Markus explains.

“As we discovered when we first started our excavations here, the clay literally peels away from the more compacted earth and stone. We’ve all done a bit of DIY that hasn’t quite gone to plan, but this was a failure of Roman engineering on an industrial scale. A lot of effort would have gone into digging this well which they then had to completely abandon.” 

In the words of the London Times’ Jack Blackburn, “They came. They saw. They blundered.”

Already, they could deduce by the sheer size of the first well that the site might have been operating at an industrial capacity. The second well, built this time inside the enclosure exhibits signs that they learnt from their mistakes.

To prevent another collapse, they added a lining of wooden boards, as per Ancient Origins. Both wells in exceptional condition, regardless, were preserved due to an interlocking structure of waterloggs. Nonetheless, the first attempt caved before they could use it, so they also reduced the size of the well, the BBC reported as if they might have been a little too ambitious the first time. 

“We can sympathise with the original well diggers because excavating these required as much careful design and effort as building them,” Markus continued in the official release. 

The ancient Roman well. Image: MOLA.

What will the treasure of wood reveal about what was made here?

Around the well’s structure, stone cobble around the base suggest a filtering system. Also found were sawn-off branches, woodchips, and off-cuts of plants, dumped by Romano-British carpenters after the well went out of use, even. This disposed water further convinces experts that the site wasn’t residential where inhabitants fabricated or conducted repairs on their own houses. Rather, evidence indicates that the site to be a location of “substantial industry” in the early Roman period. 

In investigating the contents of the well, some of the larger wooden pieces include decorations. Upon further study, they might reveal what was being produced here, the official release explained. 

The locations of the gated enclosure and the two wells discovered at the site. Image: Museum of London Archaeology.

However, some wood from the second well might have been recycled from furniture, and if so, it would seem that the well builders were in a hurry, as per Ancient Origins. They had to construct the second well fast, in other words, due to the demands, most likely, leading them to believe that they participated in mass production.

In fact, this bustling settlement seems to have been part of a wider trade network as archaeologists even found a road on the south side thus this site might have serviced neighbouring bustling areas.

A piece of decorated wood from inside the well. Image: Museum of London Archaeology.

Now researchers intend to study the well’s contents to learn more about the ancient Roman industrial centre. This excavation, the Smithsonian concludes, prefaced a development plan to improve the A428 highway in England, so the archaeological research ended up being a “fascinating and integral part” of the process. 

“Without this major road scheme these invaluable discoveries about Roman engineering and daily life might have remained hidden forever.”