Find Spot record MDR23281 - Two Beehive Querns, Northwest of Ingleby Cottage, Ingleby

Two beehive querns, northwest of Ingleby Cottage, Ingleby, believed to be between 1st and 3rd century, and 3rd century date respectively. Two beehive querns were found in August during non-archaeological groundworks associated with the excavation of a building foundation. They were reported to have been situated 3m below the modern ground surface, in a context of 'pure sand,' which was not observed elsewhere in the excavation. Both had side holes for a handle, and the largest was c33cm in diameter and c25cm high and 35 kg. The second was c33cm in diameter, weighs 20kg, and its height was not reported (please see photographs in Source). (1) Specialists described them as follows: '…are unusual in not being halved or quartered before deposition and share features such as the flat rims, they may both have been treated specially, one possibility is being left in an abandonment deposit in a settlement feature… dates the smaller quern to 50AD - 300AD and the larger one to 200BC - 300AD and suggests the smaller quern may be up to 75% worn away. If 10% was removed from the grinding surface of the larger stone, then it would have weighed… c40kg, one of the heaviest upper stones that the study [Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society Quern Survey] had recorded.' (1)