ACA excavations at Peterborough Cathedral

Peterborough Cathedral

Access Cambridge Archaeology (ACA) with the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) led the recent community excavations within the Peterborough Cathedral precint, where 8 trenches were excavated by a over 150 volunteers over a 12 day period. The dig culminated last weekend with the Peterborough Heritage Festival that celebrated both the heritage and history of the city of Peterborough and the Cathedral. Each day over the Heritage Festival weekend, we also had just over 400 visitors through the gate to see the archaeology.

The community excavations were part of the Cathedral’s ‘Peterborough 900: Letting it speak for itself’ project which had been awarded money from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) as part of these 900th anniversary celebrations of the cathedral in 2018. This will also include the construction of a new Heritage Centre at the cathedral which will enable a larger number of visitors and school groups to engage diretly with the cathedral.

Trench 1 is underway

The primary aims of the community excavations were to investigate the north-west area of the precints (the Garden House), which has had no previous archaeological work carried out on the area. We also wanted as many local residents as possible to be involved, whether they had had any previous interactions with the cathedral or not and to learn more about the city that they live in.

The original 7th century abbey  on the site was ramsacked during 8th century by Viking raids so when the monastic site was re-founded in the 10th century, it was re-built as a cathedral on the original abbey site with the addition of a defensive ditch and embankment, known as the Burgh Wall. This wall, found during early 1980’s excavations in the Deanery Garden, was projected to continue through the Garden House area. The other main feature thought to be in this area of the precint was the medieval fish pond, which was noted on 19th century maps as well as partly identifed through the geophysical survey undertaken of the Garden House site prior to the excavation.

Features were already visible within the garden prior to the excavation – a probable late 19th century wall was recorded running northwest-southeast, in front of which was a large deposit of complete bottles and jars, fragments of plates and other pots, animal bone, smoking pipes and other general domestic rubbish.

From left to right: Late 19th century wall with the greenhouse foundations behind it, the type of compete vessels we were finding and the finds washers hard at work.

As the excavation continued in Trenches 5 and 6, the stratigraphy of the garden, both when it was part of the Deanery garden and from use of the Garden House, were evident. Towards the end of the dig, we were finding fragments of drinking vessels from Germany, almost complete clay pipes, oyster shell, decorated pottery and further butchered animal bone, most of which dated from the 16th and 17th centuries. Under this deposit we found 13th century pottery, in a black organic layer of soil which had also preserved a wooden post and part of the sole of a leather shoe.

Excavation through the garden layers and the 13th century pottery found at the bottom of the trench

The edge of the pond (and a more recent pipe!)

The site of the backfilled medieval fish pond was found through trenches 1, 2, 3 and 4 and so encompassing the largest area of the site to the south of the Garden House. The pond was backfilled over a 3-year period between 1823 and 1825 and contained a large mix of material, as well as larger building remains, we also found painted plaster, medieval window glass, mortar, a 15th century Nuremburg Jetton, a coin of George IV as well as fragments of Roman pottery.

All this backfilled pond material was thought to have come from other building projects around the precint, during the 1820’s so the origins of the majority of the finds recorded are not known, but the range of material recovered shows just how much disturbance there has been on the Garden House site.

 

Excavation through the pond layers and the Jetton found from Trench 2

Excavation through trench 1

 

Trench 1 was one of the deepest of all the trenches and it was from this trench that the northern extent of the pond was recorded. The presence of black organic rich soils that was noted in the bottom of trench 1 was also recorded in the early 1980’s excavation in the Deanery Garden and so was known to be outside the Burgh Wall. It was believed that in Trench 1 that the construction of the medieval fish pond had removed any trace of the Burgh Wall within the Garden House site.

Many happy volunteers on site!

 

 

 

 

 

Jacky Hall giving a private tour of the cathedral to our volunteers and staff

We had a mixed week with the weather, the start of the dig there were some very wet days, during the worst of which the Cathedral Archaeologist Jackie Hall gave a guided tour around the cathedral for the volunteers to learn more about the site that they are digging on.

Also learning about archaeology and the history of the cathedral site were a number of primary school children from Peterborough. All the groups got to be involved with a number of activities on site, including test pit excavation, sieving, finds washing and metal detecting. We also had help from the local Young Archaeologist Club and the Junior Friends of the cathedral.

Pupils from Dogsthorpe Academy finds washing

YAC’s digging and the find of a lead candle snuffer with one that is still used in the cathedral today

We had much interest from the local media, including the Peterborough Telegraph, the article of which can be seen here. We were also filmed by BBC Look East and ITV Anglia news as well as making a quick appearance on the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire Breakfast Show!

On the last weekend of the dig the Peterborough Heritage Festival was also going on around the precincts, where many of the volunteers and stall holders also come to visit us. We had a number of our finds on display and on the Saturday and Paul Blinkhorn, a freelance pottery expert and former Time Team and Pub Dig star was availble to talk to the visitors and answer questions. This role was filled by both the Cathedral Archaeologist Jackie Hall and ACA and CAU manager Alison Dickens on the Sunday.

The Heritage Festival Weekend in full swing

The final recording and finds washing

A lot of the final recording of the trenches also had to take place over the weekend before the backfilling of the trenches took place on the Monday, as well as any final finds washing and the inevitable last minute investigations with a trowel!

 

 

Feedback from the excavations has been excellent, with all the volunteers saying that they rated their time on the excavations as either ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ with some volunteers also leaving positive comments, such as  ‘I enjoyed learning a bit more about the history of the town I have been living in for the last 15 years’ (CH),  ‘the satisfaction of working with like-minded people. I have learnt so much in such a short time’ (AB), ‘..the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly’ (SH), ‘I enjoyed seeing my 11 year old daughter getting stuck in and excited about it all’ (HR) and ‘being able to relate finds to my knowledge about the cathedral and helping to build a picture of what is found’ (SO).   KC also said ‘It was good for me to gain practical experience as I’m trying to begin a career in field archaeology. I was given a lot of help and advice from the archaeologists’.

The final part of the dig was to leave the site in a safe and clear way, even though it meant filling in everyone’s hard work! The next phase is to process, record and analyse all the finds so the final write up can begin. As these results become available we will put them on the ACA website and on social media – so keep following us for more results as we get them

Backfilling of trenches 1 and 5/6

ACA would like to thank all the volunteers, young and old who took part in the excavations, you all helped make the dig such a success. Thanks must also go to all the cathedral staff involved with the project, before and during as well as the Heritage Festival volunteers and the CAU supervisors who ran the trenches and looked after the archaeology as well as the volunteers!

North Warnborough Higher Education Field Academy 2016

ACA’s ninth Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA) of 2016 was held in North Warnborough, Hampshire. 48 Year 9 and 10 pupils from Fort Hill Community School, The Costello School, Cranbourne Business and Enterprise College, Robert May’s School and Testwood School excavated 12 test-pits spread throughout North Warnborough. The pits were organised by John Champion and other members of The Odiham Society. The Mill House pub proved a wonderful base for the two days of excavation. This is the forth consecutive year ACA have held a HEFA in North Warnborough. Reports from previous years can be found here.

The 12 x 1m square test pits were spread throughout the small village in North East Hampshire, located in private properties on Bridge Road, Hook Road, Mill Lane, Rough’s Cottage, Tunnel lane and several on North Warnborough Street.

The students worked in mixed-school teams of 4 and were supervised by teachers from the 5 schools. After receiving a briefing on Day 1 by Alison Dickens, Director of ACA, about how to excavate and record the test pits, the students went on to make excellent progress throughout the two days of digging. Spirits remained high even though the rain started early on Wednesday. Rain didn’t stop play though and the pupils valiantly continued excavating and were encouraged by the medieval pottery they began to find by the end of day 1.

 

Test Pit 9

 

Paul Blinkhorn, post-Roman pottery specialist, toured the North Warnborough test pits providing guidance on excavating and recording techniques as well as identifying finds and pottery sherds. This information is recorded by the students in their individual Test Pit Excavation Record Booklet which is an invaluable asset in producing their written assignment. On pupil remarked, “I enjoyed finding out more about my village and the area” Day 2 produced much more medieval pottery and some test pits hitting the natural geology and finishing by lunch time. Students from finished test pits were able to see the others test pits and assist them in their final stages.

Emily Ryley welcomes the Group to Cambridge!

After a very early start and long coach journey Students arrived in Cambridge for their third day of the HEFA. Dr Nick James’ morning lecture on medieval settlement studies and the Currently Occupied Rural Settlement (CORS) project was really well received with many pupils commenting that “I enjoyed experiencing the lectures at Cambridge” another thought it was “fascinating to understand the history of the artifacts we found and discuss the theories of the area we lived in”.

 

 

The students then split into groups for lunch and a tour at one of Peterhouse, Trinity and Sidney Sussex Colleges. One student commented that they had enjoyed the “friendly and positive vibe” that The University of Cambridge offers.

The two-hour afternoon session was comprised of a talk from Kathy Purdy, Schools Liaison Officer at Peterhouse about life as a university student followed by a presentation from Eion Parknson on how to structure and present a written account of the excavation.

University life presentation

Enjoying the Harry Potter vibe at Peter house

The students felt they were much more prepared for the demands of university level work after the third lecture which guides them through how to write and submit a report covering the aims, methods and results of their test pit excavations. After marking and grading, all students receive a certificate of participation and an assessment of their data collection as well as personal, learning and thinking skills during the two days spent excavating, along with detailed feedback on their written report, if submitted.

ACA would like to thank all the students and staff of the 5 schools involved. Special thanks to Karen Jones, beacon school coordinator, and John Champion, local coordinator.

Riseley 2016 Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA)

The 7^th  HEFA of the 2016 season took place 18th – 20th May  in Riseley, Bedfordshire. A total of 40 Year 9 students from Sharnbrook Upper School, Hastingsbury College, Stratton Upper School, and St Thomas More Catholic Teaching School excavated 11 archaeological test pits throughout the village. Members of the Riseley Historical Society also helped. The pits were dispersed throughout the village and were located on Gold Street, Church Lane and the High Street.

TP 1 get stuck in despite the rain!

The test pits were organised by Michael Stubbert of the Riseley Historical Society and the beacon school coordinator was Radha Randhawa from Sharnbrook Upper School. The site for the two digging days was the Riseley Village Hall. This is the third year ACA have held a HEFA in Riseley; previous findings and reports can be found here.

The students worked in mixed-school groups of 3 or 4 and were supervised by members of staff from the schools involved and Georgina Brackenbery.

Sieving in that weather was not easy…

After receiving a briefing on Day 1 from Alison Dickens, Director of ACA, about how to excavate and record the test pits, the students went out and started digging (in the rain)! Cat Ranson, ACA archaeological supervisor, toured the test pits providing guidance on excavating and recording techniques as well as identifying finds. Paul Blinkhorn, pottery specialist, was also on site on Day 2 to help identify finds and date pottery sherds.

Having experts on hand to provide real-time feedback about finds and dates is highly appreciated by the participants and is always included in the feedback: “I have learned about archaeological finds from experts – It was very interesting.” (BN) The finalised pottery report can be found here.

The weather didn’t put our spirits down though. Animal bone from TP 2

This year a potential candle snuffer was found in TP1. TP5 found some big cobbles which looked like it might be a surface which once excavated found medieval pottery 13^th C TBC

Lots of medieval Pottery which provides more evidence that Riseley was one of the few places that’s populations didn’t collapse after the Black Death.

TP 8 Finds tray

Of course lots of bricks from Riseley brick making were also found.

 

TP 6 Looks happy…

TP7 found a wall. Could be a Garage or Outhouse from the 1950’s

Day 3 Welcome Talk by ACA at the Downing Site Arches in Cambridge

But, the aims of HEFA are many and once the practical archaeological portion had been completed, it was time to learn more about higher education. Students spent Day 3 of the HEFA at the University of Cambridge. They learned about how their hard work contributes to ongoing university research, including the study of Currently Occupied Rural Settlements, and how to develop and deploy skills for life, learning and employment such as data analysis, communication skills and team working. Dr Debby Banham’s lecture on the CORS project went well and the Students were then given a tour of a college; Corpus Christi, Newnham and Selwyn who also took them to lunch.

Students always enjoy this opportunity and specifically commented in feedback, “I enjoyed having the tour of the university to find out a bit more about what uni life is like.” (FH)

After lunch, Emma Smith, SLO for Selwyn College, gave a presentation about life at university, the University of Cambridge and future choices.

Selwyn

This was followed by a presentation on how to structure and present a written account of the excavation by Dr Jenni French, Research Fellow at Peterhouse. The mark scheme and additional information about the written assignment can be found here.

TP 9 nice and neat!

In feedback after the HEFA, 95% of participants rated the event as “Excellent” or “Good”. General comments in feedback from the students included, “The people were great, the instructions were clear, I had good fun!!” (CF) and “I liked doing something new and thinking about what objects were.” (BF). Staff commented, “Excellent programme that makes the students think of their future at university.” (SR) and “The students have gained not only transferable skills, but have been enlightened about the high expectations and demands of Cambridge University.” (JK)

An extra helper at TP3

ACA would like to thank the students and staff of all the schools involved, the supervisors and the residents of Riseley for making this another successful HEFA. Special thanks go to Michael for organising the pits and to Radha for coordinating the students and staff.

Hadleigh Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA) 11th – 13th May 2016

Access Cambridge Archaeology (ACA) hosted its fifth Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA) of the 2016 season this week in Hadleigh, Essex. Three test pits were excavated on 11^th – 13^th May by Year 9 pupils from Southend High School for Boys.

Test Pit 1

Three test pits were also dug by members of the Archaeology Geophysics Enthusiastic Searchers Archaeological and Historical Association (AGES AHA).

Members of AGES AHA carry out their excavations

The test pits were organised by Terry Barclay and Lynda Manning of AGES AHA and our beacon school coordinator was Mr Gareth March from SHSB. The base for the two digging days was the Hadleigh United Reform Church. The 6 x 1m2 test pits were located on Chapel Lane, London Road, Elm Road, Castle Road and Church Road.

Hadleigh, a Saxon word meaning ‘a clearing in the heath,’ is a small town in Essex, 5 miles west of the seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea and 35 miles east of London. It is well-known for the ruins of Hadleigh Castle, a 13^th-century Grade I listed building and scheduled monument maintained by English Heritage. We are yet to find any evidence of Saxon Activity in the area.

Hadleigh Castle

This is the second year ACA have hosted a HEFA in Hadleigh. For last year’s results please see here.

Sieving in the sun at Test Pit 2

The students worked small teams of three and were supervised by members of staff from their school. After receiving a briefing on Day 1 from Alison Dickens, Director of ACA, about how to excavate and record the test pits, the students went out on site and excavated for 2 days.

The weather was beautiful and sunny on both days of the dig which was very nice indeed!

 

Test Pit 3

Cat Ranson, ACA archaeological supervisor, and Paul Blinkhorn, post-Roman pottery expert, toured the test pits providing guidance on excavating and recording techniques as well as identifying finds and pottery sherds. This expertise proves to be invaluable to the participants and is always reflected as such in their feedback. Students commented, “I feel that I have learned many new skills, gaining a unique experience which I have never participated in before.” (DD) and “A new Experience and more knowledge of the past.” (MI)

There was a coffee meeting in the United Reform Church Base at 10-12pm on Day two and Alison Dickens and Terry Barclay spoke with over 100 Primary School Students about what we had found.

The students recorded all of their findings context-by-context in their individual Test Pit Excavation Record Booklet. This is not only an invaluable asset in helping to produce their written assignment, but also informs academic research and becomes part of the permanent record about each test pit kept on file at the University of Cambridge.

Some Roman pottery sherds were found in two of the test pits on Church Road and would initially indicate some sort of Roman occupation on the ground north-east of the Church.  If the town of Hadleigh has Saxon origins it is not represented in the pottery findings from this year’s HEFA. Only a limited number of sherds of high medieval pottery are represented and as such the ways in which the town of Hadleigh developed throughout the Middle Ages remain to be discovered. It appears that this town was very much a Victorian settlement. The complete pottery report can be accessed here.

The find of the HEFA was a ‘Cartwheel Penny’ Georgian coin.  Test Pit 1 were very excited. Other evidence included some Prehistoric activity in Test Pit 3 on Castle Rd.

‘Cartwheel Penny’ Georgian Coin found in Test Pit 1

 

The students spent the third day of the HEFA in Cambridge where they learned not only about university, but also about how their individual test pits fit into the wider picture. Dr Debby Banham’s lecture on medieval settlement studies and the Currently Occupied Rural Settlement (CORS) project helps highlight how HEFA participants contribute to university research, an aspect of the programme that always ranks highly in student and teacher feedback.

The students at the University of Cambridge

The students then went for lunch and a tour at St John’s College. This tour was given by Megan Goldman-Roberts who then gave a presentation to the group about the University of Cambridge, post-16 options, A-Level choices and choosing degree subjects.

St Johns College

One of the aims of ACA’s HEFA programme is to raise students’ aspirations of going on to higher education after school. Learning more about university in general and visiting the University of Cambridge specifically contribute to raising these aspirations and always receive good feedback from both students and staff: “I particularly enjoyed the visit to the University of Cambridge, finding out more about it and what you are expected of in it” (SE) and “I enjoyed the tour of the College and getting to know how things work at the university level.” (DD)

Day 3 concluded with Dr Jenni French giving a presentation on how to structure and present a written account of the excavation. Students submit a report and receive detailed feedback and a certificate from the University of Cambridge. This feedback can then be used in future university applications, CVs etc. and their reports form part of the permanent archive.

In feedback after the event, 100% of participants rated the field academy as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’. Students commented, “I Think that this has been very helpful for my plans for the future and alos very influential. Thank you!” (SE) “It was a great thing to do and I appreciate understanding so much in year 9 , at an early stage” (DD) and “Very enjoyable and a great experience!” (FC).

Test Pit 3 What lovely weather!

Staff also commented, “The students enjoyed the tour around Cambridge and the talk on university life.” (CB) and “A very thorough introduction to thoughts about their future.” (BM)

ACA would like to thank the students and staff of the Southend High School for Boys for making the Hadleigh HEFA a successful event. Special thanks to Terry and Lynda of AGES AHA and all of the helpful volunteers for that group,  and Gareth March of SHSB. Also Hadleigh URC.

Test Pit 6 The Crew!

Dunwich Pottery Reports are in!

The excavations in Dunwich were completed last month by ACA in conjunction with Touching the Tide, and we are pleased to announce that the first results from the dig are in!

A backfilled Trench 4 in the car park, a week after the excavation              

13th century pottery from Trench 3 in the woods along St James’ Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Separate pottery reports from both the trenches and test pits have been completed by our pottery expert Paul Blinkhorn and can be seen on our Dunwich page on the ACA website. Keep an eye on the blog and website for more results as they come in.

Sudbury Pottery Report On-line

Last month, over 200 school pupils, local residents and volunteers were involved in digging 31 archaeological test pits in the Suffolk town of Sudbury. Paul Blinkhorn, specialist in post-Roman pottery, has completed his report on the pottery found in the test pits which can be downloaded from the ACA website here. The pottery results have also been added to a map of the town to show the distribution of pottery of different dates which can be viewed here.

In stark contrast to test pit excavations run by Access Cambridge Archaeology at Long Melford and Nayland, neighbouring Suffolk wool towns, the Sudbury pits revealed evidence for occupation during the Early-Mid Anglo-Saxon periods. Several sherds of hand-made Early Anglo-Saxon pottery (450 – 700 AD) were found in the test pits dug between Christopher Lane and Friars Street, including one sherd from an undisturbed context. Sherds of mid-Saxon Ipswich Ware (720 – 850 AD) were also found but elsewhere in the town, on the Croft by the parish church of St Gregory and on Church Street, close to All Saints Church.

You can read more about the Sudbury test pit excavations in the original news post here.

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Rampton 2014 Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA)

This week, Cambridgeshire students took part in a HEFA in the fen-edge village of Rampton, the first new settlement to be excavated by ACA in 2014.

Rampton is one of five parishes covered by the Fen Edge Archaeology Group (FEAG) in central Cambridgeshire and the third to be excavated as part of the HEFA programme. ACA started with community-dug test-pit excavations in Cottenham and Willingham during the University of Cambridge’s 800th anniversary celebrations in 2009 in collaboration with FEAG, which you can read about here. These two villages have since hosted field academies for secondary school students and FEAG decided to extend the excavations to Rampton for 2014.

Thirty-seven Year 9 and Year 10 students from Ely College, Soham Village College, Cottenham Village College and Witchford Village College were selected to participate in the Rampton HEFA. The base for the two days of digging was Rampton Village Hall, which was also the site of one of the ten test-pits. Another pit was dug in the garden behind the village pub, The Black Horse, and the remainder were in private gardens around the Green, High Street, King Street and Cow Lane. The clayey soil typical of the fen-edge proved tough to dig but the groups stepped up to the challenge admirably. Despite formidable forecasts at the start of the week, they were also lucky that conditions remained dry.

Paul Blinkhorn, specialist in post-Roman pottery, joined the field academy on the second day to identify the pottery. Small quantities of high medieval pottery from the 12th and 13th centuries were found from test-pits on and near the High Street, but there was a noticeable lack of pottery dating from the later medieval and early post-medieval periods. This hints that the village contracted following the famines and plague of the 14th century and population sizes took several centuries to recover, but digging additional test-pits another year will help to confirm or dismiss this initial hypothesis. The pottery report for each test-pit can be found on our project reports webpage here.

A Junior Research Fellow of Peterhouse College at Cambridge University and a former student of Soham Village College, Jenni French, helped to supervise the excavations along with Cambridge graduate Zenobia Homan, current Cambridge student Michael Rivera and fellow volunteer Scott Treble. Many thanks to all of the volunteers and to John Stanford of FEAG for their help with the Rampton HEFA.

A photographer from Cambridge News visited the field academy, and photographs and a news story should appear in the paper tomorrow morning. Sheila Kiggins, Communications Officer for Education and Access at the University of Cambridge’s Office of External Affairs and Communications, also covered the event for the University’s news website and that of the University’s Cambridgeshire And Peterborough Schools Outreach Group (CAPSOG).

After the students left at the end of Thursday, one homeowner contacted FEAG to say that “they did a splendid job with the backfilling. Delightful opportunity – the students were great – a credit to their schools and families. The programme incredibly well organised. Such fun to be part of history!”

On the third day of the HEFA, the students visited the University of Cambridge. At lunchtime, the schools were hosted by schools liaison staff from the following Cambridge Colleges: Corpus Christi, St Catharine’s, Pembroke, Peterhouse and Trinity. As the College area link contact for schools in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, the Schools Liaison Officer for Pembroke and St Catharine’s College, Laura McGarty, spoke to the students about university admissions and applications to Cambridge University in the afternoon. Many of the students, although familiar with the city of Cambridge, enjoyed the opportunity to have a tour of the University’s facilities and have lunch at one of the Colleges, with one student from Cottenham saying afterwards “I feel that I have gained a valuable insight into everyday life at a top university.” A staff member from Witchford also thought that the HEFA had “given the students a fantastic idea of what university is like.”

In feedback after the event, all of the students and staff rated the HEFA as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. One student said that he “thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the HEFA experience” and another said that she “especially enjoyed the day in the university and working with new people”. A staff member had high praise for Carenza Lewis, the Director of Access Cambridge Archaeology, saying that she was “very engaging – all the students were impressed and enjoyed the privilege of working with her (as did I!)”

For next week’s HEFA, ACA will be returning to the coastal Suffolk village of Walberswick.

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Putting the prunts back together

For those of you who avidly follow our blog,  or visited or took part in our first excavation at Clare Castle in May earlier this year, you may remember the unusual Mill Green ware decorated with ‘raspberry prunts’ discovered in trench A. For those of you who don’t have a head for memorising obscure pottery decorations or want a re-cap, you can read the blog post from 27th May mentioning it here.

Our pottery specialist, Paul Blinkhorn, has returned the reconstructed pottery sherds and here are some photos of just a couple of portions of the jug he has fitted together which we thought that our followers might be interested to see in order to get a sense of how the vessel might have looked. Paul’s report on the pottery from the site says that “nearly all the Mill Green glazed sherds are from a single vessel, a large, ornate jug with vertical slip stripes and prunts stamped with a raspberry design.  The vessel is very unusual, and has similarities with an anthropomorphic vessel from London which has similar decoration, and prunts appearing to bear the mark of the same die (Pearce et al. 1982, Fig. 8)”.  The vessel dates from AD1270 – 1350, contemporary with Elizabeth de Burgh (1295-1360) who inherited the Clare Castle estate in the early fourteenth century.

Clare Castle Day 5, Trench D

Paul Blinkhorn and Carenza discuss the day’s digging strategy for Trench D, intended to find out out whether or not there any in situ wall remains of our opulent medieval building, or whether it’s all just demolition men’s cast-offs in an previously emptied ‘robber trench’. By the end of the day a pottery cup sherd had provided an important clue. Classic cups and robbers, really…

Mount Bures on The Great British Story

Last Friday’s episode of ‘The Great British Story – A People’s History’ featured clips of the Mount Bures excavations run by Access Cambridge Archaeology in partnership with Managing a Masterpiece last summer. This included an interview with local historian and owner of the motte site, Ida McMaster, on her first visit to the motte summit for more than twenty years. The episode continued to feature finds made in another ACA community excavation in Long Melford, including pottery dating to the time of the Domesday Book entry for Kentwell, in the north of the village.

At the request of Managing a Masterpiece, ACA will be returning to Bures later this month to conduct another community excavation on the common land recently purchased by the local residents, with the aim of excavating the town rubbish tip which should provide a wealth of evidence for life in Bures in the medieval and early modern periods.

If you didn’t see ‘The Norman Yoke’ you can still catch up with the programme on BBC iPlayer here, and you can read a post-dig summary of the results here. A full post-excavation report is currently being finished, and will be available to download from the ACA website soon.