Another Day Surveying Roman Binham

Following on from two previous events Binham Local History Group are endeavouring to organise one more day, potentially on Saturday 16th March 2013, to carry out field walking and metal detecting on the supposed site of Roman Binham.

It is dependant on the level of interest from field walkers, decterorists and the availability of the field. The landowner has tentatively agreed but with the caveat that it is dependant as to weather conditions which may allow him to begin sowing the field.  If you feel you would be interested in joining this event on the proviso that confirmation is given slightly nearer the date, please get in touch with Binham Local History Group by e-mail at blhg@btinternet.com if you would like to participate as a field walker or metal detector so that they have an idea of interest.

They are currently awaiting the results from the original field walking finds from 2nd & 3rd February and had a productive time metal detecting last weekend.

West Wickham & Balsham Prepare to Discover Their Stories

Dr Susan Oosthuizen delivered a talk in Balsham, Cambridgeshire, on Monday evening to 70 people at the invitiation of the West Wickham & District Local History Club in collaboration with the local primary school, The Meadow School. The groups both successfully applied for grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s All Our Stories programme with support from the Cambridge Community Heritage research team, who are continuing to provide expert advice as they undertake their projects. Dr Oosthuizen landscape and field archaeology at the Institute for Continuing Education at Madingley Hall, and has a special interest in Anglo-Saxon and medieval landscapes, and in research skills.

The aim of the Meadow Primary School’s Heritage Lottery Funded project is to investigate the history of Balsham from the Anglo-Saxon period to the 14th century through archaeological test pitting carried out by the Key Stage 2 pupils and archival work. They would like to find out if a Viking massacre occurred in 1010 as suggested by oral tradition and the Henry of Huntingdon Chronicle, and if this led to any variation in the location of the village core. They will also follow up any links between Bishop Hugh de Balsham, founder of Peterhouse—the first Cambridge College—and the village, in the archives of Peterhouse and Ely Cathedral.

Similarly, West Wickham & District Local History Club are also going to carry out test pit excavations in their village. The CCH researcher who first approached the two community groups about the funding opportunity was Dr Britt Baillie, aware of Cambridge University’s connection with the area as Director of Studies for Archaeology & Anthropology at Peterhouse College and with research interests in Viking and Medieval archaeology. She delivered a presentation to local residents last week about the process of excavation and the outcomes of similar projects run by Access Cambridge Archaeology. As a result of this and promotion in the Village Voice, the History Club already have 15 sites lined up for their dig in mid-July. It is hoped that the archaeological test pits will fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge about the origins of the village and its current settlement pattern. The first documentary evidence is from the 10th century. The 11th century Doomsday Book records three manors, the church dates from the 12th century, the oldest extant residential buildings date from the 16th/17th centuries.

The History Club usually organises a programme of talks and visits, exhibitions and displays and has a photographic collection, and this is the first time it has undertaken a project like this. Commenting on the award, Janet Morris, Secretary of West Wickham & District Local History Club, said: “We are absolutely delighted that we have been awarded this grant and are looking forward to starting the project next year. Little is known about the medieval period in the village so this is a wonderful opportunity to discover more about it while giving everyone the chance to find history, literally, in the ground beneath their feet.”

Digital Rock Art from Ancient Europe

Following the great success of their exhibition in Milan with over 20,000 visitors in a month, the PITOTI project continues to England as part of the Cambridge Science Festival. The Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology will host the multimedia exhibition on digital rock art from ancient Europe from Wednesday 6th March.

The prehistoric site of Valcamonica is situated in the Province of Brescia, Northern Italy, and contains some of the best rock-art anywhere in the world – over 100,000 individual images engraved on more than 2,000 natural rock surfaces spread over an entire valley, 70 kilometres long. The aim of this exhibition is to explore the boundaries and build bridges between the world of Archaeology and the world of film, digital humanities and computer vision. The Pitoti rock-art figures from Valcamonica in the Lombard Alps are in a UNESCO world heritage area and were conceived between the Copper Age and the Iron Age, after an interregnum in the Roman period, then reappeared in the Middle Ages. The rock engravings are now being filmed, photographed, animated, and re-presented in the 21st century with new digital graphic technologies.

The exibition will be open to the public from 6th-23rd March (Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am-4.30pm) and has free admission.

Clare Castle Excavations – May 2013

Access Cambridge Archaeology, on behalf of the Heritage Lottery Funded Managing a Masterpiece landscape partnership project in the Stour Valley, is running a nine day public programme of community archaeological excavations and test-pit digging in Clare between Thursday 23^rd and Friday 31^st May 2013, including the late May Bank Holiday weekend. The excavations will be directed by Carenza Lewis, well known from Channel 4’s Time Team and BBC’s Story of England.

The excavations will take place in Clare Country Park in the former bailey of Clare Castle, a medieval motte-and-bailey castle of Norman origin that lies adjacent to the River Stour in the southern part of the historic market town. The castle itself includes one of the largest mottes in England, and was the possession of one of most powerful Norman families from the eleventh century. The castle forms an integral part of a town which test pitting led by Access Cambridge Archaeology indicated was enlarged and replanned in the eleventh century, either before or shortly after the Conquest (Lewis and Ranson 2011). Please see our website for details of the 2011 community test pit excavations which took place in Clare and read the report here.

The aims of the 2013 excavations in Clare Country Park are to assess the archaeological potential and level of preservation of the site and establish whether there is any evidence for early Norman and possibly pre-Norman activity and if there is any trace of the 14th-century gardens of Lady Elizabeth de Burgh. The test pit excavations will aim to establish the date of any material culture from areas around the castle site now in private gardens.

The excavations are open to members of the public living in the Stour valley area of south Suffolk and North Essex. Anyone living further away may be offered a reserve place if one is available. Priority will be given to residents of the parish of Clare, members of Clare Historical Society and students registered at Stour Valley Community School, and we especially welcome anyone who would like to dig, or host, a 1m² test pit in their garden if they live close to the castle.

There are a limited number of places available. However, we will endeavour to allocate places giving consideration to involving as many people as possible. Until Monday 4^th March 2013, applications will only be accepted from prioritised groups from Clare. After this date, applications will be accepted from all members of the public. The application deadline is 12 noon on Monday 18^th March 2013.

Please see our website here to for more information, download a copy of the application form and get in touch to offer your garden for test-pitting.

Cambridge United, United

Representing Cambridge Community Heritage, Dr Ken Sneath attended the volunteer launch of the Cambridge United Football Club All Our Stories project yesterday afternoon, alongside the local MP Julian Huppert and representatives from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The project is a celebration of the club’s centenary year and aims to collect memories from ealy players, managers and fans.  The outcome will be an opportunity for all to access the clubs unique view of history through a performance showing historical aspects of life for past players, managers and fans and a smartphone app which allows users to explore the history of the club, tour the grounds, access memorabilia, memories and the performances.

Dr Sneath is a season ticket holder and avid supporter of the U’s. As well as providing advice on sources for oral history, he has even found a few items in his loft for their museum displays!

Cambridge Community Heritage aims to bring researchers from the University of Cambridge and communities together to develop new ideas for projects investigating local heritage. The research team is funded by the Arts & Humantities Research Council (AHRC) to provide ongoing support to All Our Stories projects including training and help with running activities in 2013.

Volunteers Wanted by Cambridge United Football Club

Cambridge United Fooball Club are looking for people to help out with their Heritage Lottery Funded (HLF) project celebrating over 100 years of Cambridge United.

The aim is to research the clubs history and bring key aspects to life through live performances at the ground. Films of the performances alongside the interviews on which they are based will be shared through a free mobile app launched at the end of the project.

Do you have an interest in any of following?

– The history of Football
– Documenting the clubs collection
– Collecting memories of the club
– Website, social media or mobile app design
– Performance or filming

We will meet every Tuesday from the 5th of March at the Abbey grounds, in the VP room from 12 noon, tea and coffee will be provided.

Find out more:
www.100yearsofcoconuts.co.uk
www.facebook.com/pages/100-Years-of-Coconuts
@100yearcoconut

Get in touch:
Email; lindseysholmes@icloud.com

CUFC are one of over twenty HLF All Our Stories projects supported by Cambridge Community Heritage at the University of Cambridge.

Second CCH Training Event on Historical Archives

The second Cambridge Community Heritage training event took place last Saturday, 16th February, at Huntingdon Library and Archive Centre, shown opposite. The day focused on the use of historical archives in community heritage projects and covered accessing resources, handling resources, transcribing and copying archive material and editing. The day was attended by representatives from nine of the CCH supported community groups with Heritage Lottery Fund grants from the All Our Stories programme.

The day began with a tour of the archive collection by Alan Akeroyd, Archives and Local Studies Manager at Cambridgeshire County Council who has a particular interest in historical document digitisation projects. A session on medieval sources was led by Jo Sear, a specialist in medieval sources who is currently completing her doctoral thesis on late medieval consumption patterns, and another on the early modern period was led by Dr Ken Sneath, a university lecturer in seventeenth and eighteenth century history history at the Institute of Continuing Education, Cambridge as well as assistant Director of Studies in Economic History at Peterhouse College, Cambridge.

Following these sessions on the use of medieval and early modern records, the afternoon was spent learning transcribing skills.

95% of the attendees rated the day as very helpful, and 95% said that they felt more confident about the historical archives aspect of their community projects. Comments in feedback after the event were very complementary about the workshop:

“It was all fascinating and well put together, linking bits of my knowledge.”

“The day was excellent and very informative.”

“(I have gained the) confidence to continue with our project.”

Supported by the University of Cambridge Public Engagement Team, the Cambridge Community Heritage project aims to bring university researchers and communities together to develop new ideas for projects investigating local heritage. The Cambridge Community Heritage project involves researchers from the University of Cambridge with a wide range of interests who have considerable experience of working with community groups. To read more about the projects being supported by CCH, please visit the website here.

CCH Successful in AHRC Bid to Support Community Groups

Cambridge Community Heritage (CCH) have received confirmation that their bid to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for funding to provide ongoing support to community groups undertaking Heritage Lottery Funded All Our Stories projects has been successful. The funding ensures that these local heritage projects will be provided with training and help running their project activities in 2013 by the University of Cambridge. CCH was extremely successful in Phase 1 of the Research for Community Heritage project and 90% of the local groups in East Anglia who received advice from University of Cambridge researchers in preparing their application were successful in being awarded up to £10,000 funding each from the HLF. As part of Phase 2 delivering the All Our Stories projects, the CCH Research team have already held a workshop on oral history and another on using historical archives this year, which were very well received by the community groups. You can find out more about their projects on the CCH website here.

The AHRC have invited CCH to have a stand at their Connected Communities Showcase in London on Tuesday 12th March which is targeted at policy-makers, practitioners, community-focussed organisations, social enterprises,
professional bodies, media and a wide range of other potentially interested stakeholders from the business, public, voluntary and community sectors. The event will showcase the outcomes and impacts of projects like Cambridge Community Heritage and to provide opportunities for networking and discussions about future research directions, knowledge exchange and potential collaborations.

Following the success of All Our Stories, the HLF have launched their new programme of funding called Sharing Heritage today. The programme will award grants from £3,000 to £10,000 for any type of project related to national, regional or local heritage which can be applied for by non-profit groups at any time.  To find out more about applying and the expected outcomes for people, heritage and communities, please see the HLF website here. For inspiration, watch Michael Wood’s video below to find out about some of the 500 All Our Stories grantees.

The Roman Binham Project – Metal Detecting Survey

Following on from their successful field walking survey exercise last weekend, the Roman Binham Project are now planning to continue the survey with an organised metal detecting event under the guidance of our two local metal detecting experts on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th February 2013. They will be using Binham Memorial Hall as a base, assembling at 9:30am each day to be out on the field by 10am. They will return to the hall for a lunch break and also about 3.00pm for review. Tea and coffee and biscuits will be available at the hall, but please bring your own packed lunch.

If you would like to join the event and have use of a metal detector, can you please email blhg@btinternet.com to confirm whether you are coming for one or both days.

North-West Cambridge Update

All of the volunteer places have been booked for the excavations at the North-West Cambridge development site being undertaken by Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU). However, there is still the chance for school groups to visit between the 18th – 22nd March. There will also be the opportunity for members of the public to visit the site when a Roman Street Party takes place on Saturday 23rd March as part of the Cambridge Science Festival.

For more information please contact Hayley Roberts on 07850341664 or archinfo@hermes.cam.ac.uk