The photograph shows the western end of the blowinghouse during excavation. The mouldstone is shown in the centre, just to the top left of a pit in the baulk section that has been interpreted as the base of the furnace. Most of the ‘walls’ consisted of low banks of granite rubble that presumably supported turf walls.

Recent work by the Historic Environment Projects team of Cornwall Council for South West Water on their Avon Support Scheme project has uncovered the remains of what appears to be a medieval blowinghouse. The site, at Brownie Cross north of Plympton, has been excavated and recorded, and has now been reburied. The team recorded a number of walls of a rectangular building containing the base of a furnace and a pit with a granite mouldstone set in it. A large quantity of medieval pottery was recovered from a pit within the structure. Outside the blowinghouse were a number of ditches and a large spread of slag-rich material, probably derived from the cleaning out of the furnace. The position of the blowinghouse is rather odd in that it lies at a high point some way from obvious sources of water power, although a small stream does run alongside the adjacent road. It is a possibility that the furnace was powered by wind, although no material evidence of this was forthcoming. It is hoped that the results of the project will be published following analyses of the material collected. Any thoughts on the layout and location of the site from members of the DTRG would be welcomed.