The latest discoveries in British Archaeology
Saxon
Medieval
Post Medieval
Industrial Archaeology
One of the most important and impressive AngloSaxon cemeteries was that discovered at Buckland, just outside Dover, and the superb cover photo shows a gold pendant recently excavated there. The cemetery was cut in half by the railway, and half of it was excavated by Vera Evison in 1951-3 in advance of a housing estate. Now houses are being laid out on the steep hillside on the other side of the railway, and an equally rich other half of the cemetery has been discovered. (CA 144)
The Llandough dark age cemetery.
The church of Llandough in the suburbs of Cardiff has long been considered of great potential importance because of its dedication to the mysterious St Docco and because of the presence of a 10th century carved cross-shaft in the churchyard. Recent excavations revealed a cemetery of over 800 burials dating from the late Roman period through to the Norman conquest. Was this the site of a major dark age Monastery, the companion to the princely site of Dinas Powys only 2 miles away? (CA 146)
Canterbury Cathedral
A major recent surprise was the discovery of the Anglo Saxon Cathedral at Canterbury. The Anglo Saxons are always thought to be poor builders compared to the Normans, but when the floor of the nave of the present Cathedral was lifted, there were the foundations of the Anglo Saxon Cathedral, only slightly shorter in size than its Norman successor. We must reassess the architectural prowess of the Anglo Saxons. (CA 136)
Hoddom
What did an Anglian monastery look like? Hoddom in south west Scotland is the site of very early monastery associated with St Mungo (alias St Kentigern), later the patron saint of Glasgow. Quarrying some way away from the centre revealed the outskirts of the monastery and the kitchen areas - where the baking took place.
'Recessed Platforms'
What is the date of the 'Recessed Platforms' of the west of Scotland. In its recent survey of Argyle, the Royal Commission put these recessed platforms down as being charcoal burners' platforms. Betty Rennie however thinks they look just like hut platforms. Here she puts her case and reveals the very interesting radiocarbon dates from her excavations. Are they Picts? Scots? or are they the real natives? (CA 138)
The Clonmore shrine
At Clonmore, a remarkable 'houseshrine' in the purest Celtic art style has been dredged out of the River Blackwater. This must date to around 600 AD, right at the beginning of the explosion of Irish 'Celtic' art, before it merged with Anglo-Saxon influences. (CA 134)
Hereford Cathedral
At Hereford Cathedral, a large number of burials have been uncovered. Following the controversy over the proposed sale of the Mappa Mundi, a new building was to be erected to display their treasures and it was thought that there might possibly be a few burials for excavation. In the event they discovered over a thousand - to say nothing of the charnel pit from the building of the Norman cathedral. We even indulge in some Old Straight Trackery. Alfred Watkins, inventor of ley lines (whom all true archaeologists condemn) lived in Hereford, and the site lies on one of his predictions: did it come true? (CA 142)
The Udal
One of the major long running excavations and landscape projects in the British Isles is that of Iain Crawford at The Udal, where he has been digging for 33 consecutive seasons. This is a magnificent example of landscape archaeology: the excavator began by learning Gaelic to study the historical records, and he then excavated a deserted medieval village, then down to the Vikings, with a unique Viking fort, then jelly-baby houses of the Picts, then three wheelhouses of the Iron Age, and finally coming down to burials of the Bronze Age and a series of Neolithic houses of Skara Brae type. Visit the special colour pages of first the Medieval and Viking site, and then the Prehistoric site. (CA 147)
The Hemington bridges
At Hemington, near Nottingham, the remains of three successive medieval bridges were discovered in a gravel quarry, where they had been buried when the River Trent changed its course. The bridges have much to tell us about medieval carpentry; indeed the earliest bridge, which was Norman in date, is made up of huge timbers surpassed only by those forming the roof of Lincoln Cathedral. (CA 140)
The discovery of the bridges was largely due to the work of Chris Salisbury, a retired GP, who has been working for many years rescuing the archaeology from Gravel quarries in the Nottingham area. The remains of many fishweirs were discovered and noted, and by radiocarbon-dating these, it was possible to determine the shifting course of the river. His discovery of three medieval bridges at Hemington was merely the culmination of many years' work (CA 145).
Wood Hall
Wood Hall, near Doncaster, is a medieval manor house surrounded by a moat. However it is destined to be covered by an ash dump from the near-by power station, and this has led to extensive long-term excavations which have revealed a spectacular sequence of bridge foundations perfectly preserved at the bottom of the moat. (CA 141)
York
At York, the York Archaeological Trust has followed up its success with the Jorvik Viking Centre, with the restoration of a medieval hall in the city, now known as Barley Hall. They have also continued to excavate a lot of sites in the city and its region, such as Iron age roundhouses at Easingwold, the waterfront of York at North Street, the Hospital of St Nicholas, a manor house at Rawcliffe, and the Roman signal station at Filey. (CA 140)
Monmouth
The Monmouth Archaeological Society have just completed three years' rescue excavations on a single site where they found three successive defences one of which appears to be the first archaeological evidence for the Welsh quisling kingdom of Archenfield. This is one of the most active archaeological societies in the country and we look at their total work around the town. (CA 138)
Kellington church
At Kellington, in Humberside, the church is not quite what it seems: the tower has been completely rebuilt at the expense of British Coal, so that the coal underneath can be mined out. Excavation revealed the long history of this 'typical' parish church. (CA 133)
Cressing Temple
At Cressing Temple in Essex there are fine timber barns built by the Knights Templars. What were their date? It was long thought to be built around 1500, but tree ring dating has now shown that one was built around 1220, the other about 50 years later. (CA 135)
The lost village of Eccles by the Sea, Norfolk.
The village of Eccles by the Sea was swallowed up in the great storm of 4th January 1601.However the church tower remained standing on the beach till it too fell in the storm of 1895. Recently however the sand has been shifting, and the Eccles Lost Village Research Group has been finding traces of the medieval village, buried under the sand. (CA 146)
Channel Islands
In the Channel Islands, work has taken place on two important medieval sites. On the tiny island of Les Ecréhous, there are the remains of a mediaeval monastic cell with underlying it a large stone: was this originally a Bronze Age menhir? (CA 137)
Bristol
At Bristol, a Medieval tower called Tower Harratz has been discovered, part of the medieval defences. (CA 142)
Old Basing House
On the morning of 14th October 1645, Oliver Cromwell and his troops stormed Old Basing House and put the defenders to the sword. One of the defenders has just been recovered with a sword mark across his skull. David Allen and Alan Turton describe the background to Old Basing House, and their latest discoveries. (CA 142)
Garden Archaeology: Kirby Hall
Garden archaeology is one of the most fashionable new forms of archaeology. where archaeology is used to recover the original garden layouts of some of the great gardens of the late 17th/early 18th century. Perhaps the best example of this has been at Kirby Hall, in Northamptonshire, a fine Elizabethan house with a renowned Jacobean garden. In the 18th and 19th centuries both house and garden were neglected and then abandoned, but archaeology has been able to recover the original layout. (CA 140)
Garden Archaeology: Hampton Court Palace
Even more spectacular is the garden at Hampton Court Palace laid out by William III so that he could get a view of the River Thames from his window. Brian Dix, of Northamptonshire Archaeology, has been able to recover the design in all its glory, which is now laid out in a spectacular new presentation of the original garden. (CA 140)
Vernacular architecture in Jersey
In Jersey, a major study of Vernacular Architecture has been undertaken with the 'excavation' of a standing building at Hamptonne, recently opened as a living museum. (CA 137)
The Herefordshire Field name Survey.
In the 1830s, the church of England was in the process of reform. The old tithe system had become obsolete, and so tithes were replaced by a rent charge. In order to calculate the value of this, tithe maps were drawn up, and the names of the fields in all the parishes were listed. The Herefordshire Field Name survey has been recording all these field names in Herefordshire, some 125,000 in all, and many interesting discoveries have been made. For instance, although we know that 'chesters' and 'camp' often refer to Roman remains, so too do the 'cinders' place names, many of which refer to the sites of the Roman iron-working in the Forest of Dean. (CA 145).
Bersham Ironworks
The world's first excavated railway has recently been discovered at Bersham in North Wales.Like all the early railways it was a waggonway made of timber. Most of these early waggonways have inevitably perished, but here the wood became carbonised and was re-discovered in the excavations of the iron works at Bersham. (CA 141).
Coleorton coal mine
At Coleorton, in Leicestershire, a medieval coal mine has been excavated. Here coal was mined 100 ft underground but modern open cast mining has removed all the overburden so the Medieval coalmine was somewhat unexpectedly exposed to the open air. (CA 134)
Belfast potteries
Belfast had its first industrial revolution early in the 18th century, when superb Delft ware pottery was manufactured there. Recent excavations have rescued evidence for some of the finds. (CA 134)
Limekilns in the Sedbergh area
In the moors around Sedbergh, there are numerous limekilns: what is their date? and why were they built? The Sedbergh Archaeological society, under the direction of the Very Reverend Ingram Cleasby, the former Dean of Chester, has been studying these lime kilns, and has been able to provide a typology for the kilns. More importantly, they have also found some interesting reasons why they were built, tying them in the Great Rebuilding: the new houses of the 18th century could not have been built without the help of lime mortar! (CA 145)
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