Holywell Grange Farm, rotary quernstones

During a field reconnaissance survey in 1992, a number of upper and lower stones of rotary querns were noted in the garden of Holywell Grange Farm. These originated from the adjacent IA/RB farmstead (HER 745 and 4834). The then owner had also amassed a small collection of stone balls collected from the surrounding fields. A similar item retrieved from a trench cut for a gas pipeline in Holywell/Earsdon before 1973 has been interpreted as a Roman ballista ball. However this type of artefact has also been found from native contexts north of the border and they are not especially suggestive of a Roman military presence in the study area.