Possible Site of Bronze Age Axe Factory at Griff

1 The rock forming Group XIV is Camptonite and the parent source is to be found in the sills which penetrate the Cambrian rocks near Nuneaton. Most of the rock in the sill does not resemble the axes, but where a sill becomes thick, of the order of 33m, as at Griff Hollow or the Mancetter quarries, the centre part becomes coarser and richer in felspar and this pink and black speckled rock matches the axes. If it were necessary to pinpoint a parent locality Griff Hollow is more likely on the available evidence than Mancetter. All the products are axe-hammers. This seems to represent a small local industry and the products occur mainly in the E of the West Midlands counties.
2 The deposit quarried has probably been destroyed by modern working.
3 Fieldwork suggested three possible locations at which Camptonite outcrops as a possible site for the factory (SP3688).
4 Of the seven axe-hammers of Group XIV so far found in Warwickshire three occur within 8 km of Griff and another two within 16 km, a distribution which strengthens their attribution to this locality.
5 Map.
6 Plan.
7 Observation of topsoil stripping in SW corner of Griff 4 quarry in the vicinity of a likely source of rock for the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age axe industry revealed nothing of significance.
8 Dating revised to lie between the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.
9 Letter from 1966 about features observed in the rock face.