1. Upper stone. Mayen Lava. Broken on all edges except the outer side, with the loss of the central eye. Otherwise in fair condition.
The top face has a raised skirt with two alignments of diagonal striae. The breast has one alignment, and the side has shallow vertical chiselling. A 30mm. diameter perforation, perhaps for a handle, was cut through the skirt near the side edge. The bottom surface is ground smooth and has some pocking.
Thickness 55mm. Original diameter c.350mm. Approximately 12% surviving. Context 224, SF No.24
2. Upper stone. Millstone Grit. Broken on two edges and there is chipping on the lower edge of the side. The stone itself is in good condition and not very friable.
The top surface is roughly dressed with a prominant collar. The bottom face is ground smooth. A central, truncated double-conical eye had a maximum diamater of 100mm, and a minimum of 40mm.
Thickness 70mm. Original diameter c.450mm. Approximately 23% surviving. Context 338B, SF No.57
3. Gutter Block. Local buff sandstone. The stone is worn overall. The lips of the channel are chipped away at opposite ends with the loss of c.50% of one lip and c.40% of the other. The remaining top lip surfaces are worn smooth. Otherwise the stone is complete.
A channel with a maximum depth of 95mm, and 100-130mm wide, has been cut into the top surface leaving two upstanding lips. The channel has concave sides.
The sides and bottom of the stone are undressed. Both ends have diagonal tooling, whilst one also exhibits medial vertical strokes, perhaps executed with a narrow-bladed chisel. The channel sides have diagonal strokes, in one alignment on one side, and in two on the other. The bed of the channel is unevenly dressed and has axially aligned strokes, with diagonal tooling along the margins. Execution with a coarse point is clearly indicated by numerous vertical impact craters and by slightly angled blows with tails.
The block is largely in its quarry-state. A few diagonal blows flaking away stone from the outer edge of one lip, and vertical strokes on one side may be associated with roughing out of the block before transport from source. The concavity of the channel sides indicates work carried out on the individual stone before positioning, not on a line of blocks in situ with a channel joined up uniformly. Whilst the progression of blows in the channel is clear, it is difficult to determine whether the sculptor was left or right-handed because he could have moved around to work from different directions.
Most of the carving was done with a point, without further, progressive stages of smoothing or uniform finishing with bladed chisels. The sides appear to be an exception in that more attention was paid to their completion. This is unsurprising on a block which was presumably designed to join up with others to form a gutter. The tops of the lips were presumably worn smooth by pedestrian activity. H: 240mm; L: 730mm; W: 290mm. Context 020.
4. Gutter Block.. Local buff sandstone. The ends of the block are complete. The ends of the lips are chipped and a 160mm long section of lip top surface is broken away. The block is worn overall, with the smoothest wear on the surviving lip top surfaces.
A channel with a maximum width of 185mm has been cut in the top of the stone, leaving two 30-45mm wide upstanding lips. One side of the channel is straight, the other is concave.
The sides and bottom of the block are irregular and undressed, with some flaking on the upper edges of the sides. The ends are roughly shaped, one is coursely finished without exhibiting tool-marks, whilst the other has fine diagonal chiselling. The channel was shaped using a coarse point and diagonal tooling appears on its sides. Its bed has diagonal marginal chiselling, and axially aligned medial point impact-marks with 8mm craters and c.30mm long tails.
The block is largely in its quarry-state. Work was carried out almost entirely with the use of a point. The sculptor worked the trough down from end to end, most probably standing astride the block as he did so. Further stages of chiselling were not attempted, perhaps with the exception of one end. The final product is coarsely executed without more than general dimensional regularity. The tops of the lips were presumably worn smooth by pedestrian activity. H: 280mm; L: 620mm; W: 300mm. Context 020.
5. Socket Stone. Local buff sandstone. The stone is broken across the bottom and down two opposing sides.
A cylindrical socket has been cut in the top surface (Dia.85mm; D.87mm), and there is some chisel-pecking on the stone around it. Apart from these features and the breaks, the stone appears to be unshaped.
H: 180mm; L: 310mm; W: 280mm. Context 203.
6. Socket Stone. Local buff sandstone. The sides are shaped by irregular breaks, except for one straight surface. The top is flat and the bottom is irregularly broken. A biconical perforation has been cut through from top to bottom with a maximum diameter of 80mm, and a minimum of 45mm.
H: 140mm; L: 420mm; W: 365mm. Context 128.