There’s an odd illogicality to this story – the medieval stones are only 114 years old??

Interesting though that such a large scale bakery would exist in a village – you would imagine most villagers would bake their own. I wonder what was going on?

The full story is at Culture 24

Here’s an excerpt:

Archaeologists believe a set of 114-year-old stones found in a sleepy Yorkshire Dales village may have been used as a furnace in a mass Medieval bakery.

The Hartlington Stones, which were discovered in 1896 on a village green near Burnsall, were thought to have been used as part of a corn drying kiln, an important agricultural device used in the Medieval and post-Medieval periods to ripen corn for harvesting or dry crops before they were ground into flour.

Investigators were forced to revisit the stones after experts from the National Park Authority found clear differences between their appearance and the formation of another kiln in nearby Kilnsey.

The team is currently toying with the idea that it might have been a communal bread oven says Dr David Johnson, the archaeologist leading the inquiry.

“The structure is also very near to the site of the Medieval manor house and lords of the manor controlled bread baking in the community as they saw it as a source of income for themselves, so the oven’s location fits.

Historians knew there was an oven within the ancient parish, but until now attempts to pinpoint its location have remained inconclusive.