Part of the north wall of the barrack was found to contain blocks of burnt sandstone, reddened to a depth of about 30cm, which were interpreted as a possible hearth (040). A second rectangular hearth of roughly dressed stone was also found on the road to the east of the barrack (016). A total of 21 oriented archaeomagnetic specimens were collected from the two features for a study aimed at the following:
1. To investigate whether the fired stone in both features had acquired a stable thermoremanent magnetisation as a result of being heated in the ancient geomagnetic field.
2. If this holds true, then compare mean archaeomagnetic directions from the hearths with the UK master curve to deduce relative and absolute magnetic dates for the last times of firing.
We can summarise the results of this study as follows:
1. The majority of specimens obtained from hearth 016 and wall feature 040 have acquired stable remanent magnetisations as a result of being heated in the ancient geomagnetic field.
2. Comparison of the mean archaeomagnetic direction with the UK master curve suggests that hearth 016 and feature 040 were last used A.D.295- 420 and A.D.230-70 respectively.