Excavations at an undisclosed location on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, United Kingdom, revealed what is believed to be a Saxon workshop and a large Norman structure.

Archaeologists discovered the structures within the land which was given to the Abbey of Jumieges in Normandy in France by William the Conqueror in about 1080. The structures were initially discovered by geophysical survey. Beneath a 35-metre-long building, which was believed to have been erected just after the Norman conquest, the archaeologists found a thick black soil containing industrial waste, suggesting existence of a Saxon furnace, connected with glass manufacture or recycling, or a forge. The purpose of the Norman building has not yet been established but it is thought it could have been agricultural. Saxon keys and a 13th cent. jug were also among the finds.

(after Pip Osborne & BBC News)