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>iron industry in Northamptonshire > where the workings for nodular ironstone >are descibed as 'quarry pits' - these are fairly shallow affairs (4.5m x >2.35m x 1m deep at Southwick) Similar but slightly deeper features are found in the Blackdown Hills of east Devon - Reed, S. J. Blackdown Hills Ironworking Project, Archaeological Recording of an Iron Ore Extraction Pit, Broadhembury, Devon, (unpublished report, Exeter Archaeology No. 97.38, June 1997) - where the nodular ironstone was also worked. At 2-3 metres deep, those excavated were still generally wider than they were deep. Once the depth was greater than the diameter, you could perhaps safely refer to them as shafts. It is difficult, when trying to relate surface features to hidden underground features, to develop terminology. All we can do is describe the surface feature, and 'shaft mound', as used in the English Heritage MPP description of mine site components, is the best used todate. Pit did not even feature in the terminology used in the EH working document on the iron industry, dated 1995, but has probably now been included in the light of recent excavations. We're learning more about medieval iron mining all the time and I'm sure the terminology will continue to change. Peter ______________________________________________ Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE. Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599 University of Exeter - School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies (Centre for South Western Historical Studies) E-mail: [log in to unmask] Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list. See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details. Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/ _____________________________________________