Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: James, Susanne, Debbie, Nigel B, Charlie K, Geoff, Tricia, Charlie N, Stuart, Paula, Doug and Keith

The final day of the project – none of us could believe that the last day had come around so quickly. Looking back at our past blogs we have covered a huge amount of ground since starting the excavation in April and made some amazing discoveries. However today was all about finishing off work in progress and recording…

After the discovery of the masonry walls in trench 4E, Geoff, Tricia, Charlie K and Debbie set out to cut slots across the line of the wall to determine its length, locate at least one return and the direction the return. After much digging a corner was located with the return of the SW-NE aligned wall heading to the SE with the length of the NW facing wall being some  7.5-9.2 m in length. Within trench 4E itself James and Nigel B focused on recording the masonry wall in section as shown in Figure 2.

In trench 4C Stuart recorded the section of the ditch of the Roman road, whilst in trench 4B Paula and Susanne finalised the recording of the building foundations discovered the previous day. In trench 4D Charlie N completed recording the sections through the beam slot foundation.

By 4:00pm everything was done, equipment packed into cars and terram placed at the bottom of the trenches in readiness for Tuesday next week when Nigel B, Björn, Gary and I will assist the Wickham House groundsman Mark with backfilling the trenches. The only remaining task was to head to The Five Bells for a refreshing and well earned cool drink…

Whilst this brings this season of excavation at Wickham House to a close, the post-excavation phase of the project is already mobilising to assess the many artefacts discovered and archaeological features recorded in more detail. It is planned that an interim interpretations of this season’s excavation will be presented at the BAS Day School taking place at St Nicolas Church in Newbury on 11^th October 2025. 

To bring this season’s blog to a close we have once again to thank Mr & Mrs D’Arcy for being such generous and supportive hosts throughout this season of excavation, and for allowing us to explore the history of the very special and beautiful corner of West Berkshire where they live.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: Louise, Thalia, Carrollanne, Nigel B, Gordon, Merrill, Julian, Paula, Stuart, Karen, Gary B, Gary A, Geoff, Gabby, Jim and Keith

The day got off to a busy start with a visit from the archaeology team at West Berkshire County Council in the form of Sarah, Beth, Phil and Ben who had a tour of the site and reviewed some of the finds discovered so far. For Beth and Ben who had participated in the project as volunteers, it was good to show them how the site had progressed in the weeks since they were with us. Phil was able to give us insights into some of the artefacts discovered and Sarah provided some useful suggestions on how to approach future seasons’ work.

No sooner had our visitors departed than we made the first of the day’s major discoveries in trench 4E where Merrill, Gary A, Gordon and Nigel B had been cleaning up the trench surface for recording and photographing, where it became apparent that we had discovered our first masonry wall as shown in figures 1 and 2. The wall is aligned SW-NE perpendicular to the Roman road, is 0.5m thick and is characterized by large flints on either side bonded by a chalk mortar core. As the gradiometer surveys of this, using the gradiometer and the earth resistance meter, had not shown any linear anomalies in this location this discovery generated much excitement by the team on site – especially Merrill, Gary A, Gordon and Nigel B who were athe sharp end of the trowel! Once recording had been completed work started to examine this visible portion of the wall in section.

Hot on the heels of this discovery was a chalk surface discovered by Julian  and Stuart on the south side of the ditch of the Roman road in Trench 4C shown in Figure 3. This surface was later interpreted as being possible demolition tumble from a building south of the Roman road. Not long after in Trench 4B Paula, Geoff and Karen discovered the southeast facing linear return of the building foundations shown in Figure 4, the back wall of which was first seen in trench 4A. Also in Trench 4B were finds of glass, animal bone and pottery within deposits outside this building which will give a good indication of domestic occupation activity near this roadside building. 

Elsewhere on the site the rest of the team focused on completing the excavation and recording of features within the other trenches in readiness for the final day of excavation the next day. A sondage in trench 2 showed that the final cobbled surface to be revealed was constructed on natural clay/gravel bringing work in trench 2 to a close.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: Julian, Carrollanne, Tricia, Charlie, Tim H, Vaughn, Geoff, Gabby, Louise, Gordon, Merrill, Paula and Keith

The first day of our final week on site got off to a brisk start aided by fine dry weather. As this is the last week of excavation the focus was very much on completing ongoing tasks and recording. In Trench 2 Carrollanne and Gabby completed the recording of the surface discovered the week before, whilst Tim excavating a sondage through this surface to investigate what lay beneath. The sondage revealed natural blue/grey clay with pebbles/flints beneath this final surface bringing excavations in Trench 2 to a close. 

In Trench 4B Paula continued the sondage started by James the previous week revealing a cobbled surface which was recorded. A further area was marked out in readiness to investigate other features in the trench tomorrow in more detail. Whilst in Trench 4C Julian removed the large flints from the ditch of the Roman road and finding another Roman coin in context before started to record the newly revealed surface. Also in Trench 4C Louise almost completed the excavation of the sondage where a surface was also revealed below deposits of Roman period pottery.

In trench 4D Charlie and Tricia spent the day excavating the features discovered the previous week in section. Whilst in trench 4E Gordon and Merrill started planning and recording the features also discovered last week. Having completed trench 2 in the morning, Carrollanne and Gabby moved on to trench 1A to complete excavation and recording here also.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: James P, Judy, Julian, Nigel B, Lindsey, Carrollanne, Stuart, Andrew H, Gary B, Gary A, Peter C, Paul, Bob, Doug, Thalia, Karen, Tricia, Charlie and Keith

This was the hottest day of the year so far with a sweltering 32⁰C to contend with, so the team took plenty of breaks in the shade to cool off. Not withstanding the hot conditions, good progress continued to be made in all of the trenches being excavated.

Trench 4C continued to offer a range of new discoveries with Thalia finding a nice fragment of patterned Samian ware above what appears to be the first surface at the northern end of the trench. Whilst to the south of the Trench Peter and Julian started to remove the large flint deposits within the ditch the Roman road discovering a small pottery vessel in situ that was carefully removed for further examination.

In Trench 2 Carrollanne, Stuart and Lindsey completed recording  and began work to open a further sondage to investigate what lies before the current cobbled surface. Stuart meanwhile completed the section drawing of the gravel deposits to the north of the Roman road ditch that interact with the cobbled surface seen to the north. In Trench 4B Judy completed the excavation of the pit she had been working on, and James finally encountered what appears to be another cobbled surface beneath the occupation deposits that will be explored further next week.

In Trench 4D Charlie, Karen and Tricia started to section the linear feature and pit revealed earlier in the week as seen in Figure 2. Whilst Gary A, Nigel B and Bob finally revealed the first horizon of archaeology beneath the topsoil in Trench 4E.

We were very lucky to be visited in the afternoon by Professor Mike Fulford and Amanda Clarke who led excavations at Silchester by the University of Reading for many years. Not only were Mike and Amanda able to offer guidance and advice to the BAS team, but were able to catch up  with the many familiar faces taking part in this excavation.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: James P, Judy, Julian, Nigel B, Lindsey, Carrollanne, Stuart, Andrew, Gary, Geoff, Deborah, Doug, Thalia and Keith

With more fine weather and only five more days to remaining of this season work started as soon as we got onto site! In trench 4D Geoff and Deborah picked up with the contexts defined the previous day by Paula and Karen to explore the linear feature discovered as shown in Figure 1. The initial sondage suggested that the dark linear running left to right in Figure 1 (and perpendicular to the Roman road ) contained a possible post-hole supporting the initial interpretation that this could be a wall. Further exploration continued in the afternoon across the full length of this feature.

In Trench 4B Judy continued to excavate and record the fill of the pit which in addition to the large amount of CBM also contained the lower portion of a ceramic vessel. Also in Trench 4B, James continued with his sondage to explore what lay below the deposit of large flints in the NW of the trench. In addition to an assemblage of Roman period pottery, James also discovered a beautiful tinned Romano-British brooch possibly of the ‘Hod Hill’ type dating to the 1^st – 2^nd century AD complete with its pin still intact!

Elsewhere on site, Gary, Thalia and Julian continued to excavate Trench 4C, with the large flint deposit within the Roman road ditch being cleaned, recorded and photographed by the end of the day. Once levels and context sheets are completed tomorrow this context will be explored further to reveal the stratigraphy of the deposits within the road’s ditch. Meanwhile in Trench 2 Carrollanne and Lindsey cleaned up the newly revealed cobbled surface for recording tomorrow whilst Stuart completed defining how the layers of gravel north of the road ditch interacted with the cobbled surface being excavated by Lindsey and Carrollanne. In the newly opened trench 4E, Doug, Andrew and Nigel worked hard to reveal the archaeological horizon beneath…

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: James P, Judy, Julian, Jackie, Carrollanne, Nigel B, Louise, Lindsey, Gabby, Karen, Vaughn, Paula, Charlie and Keith

With only five more days remaining of this season of excavation after today and the return of fine weather after last week’s downpour, the team set about their tasks with renewed vigour! 

In Trench 4C Julian extended the trench a further 1m to the south to span the full width of the ditch of the Roman road, where a deposit of large flints had been discovered at the end of last week. On cleaning the newly revealed surface, Roman roof tiles and pottery soon emerged as seen in Figure 2. At the north end of Trench 4C Louise and Gary focused on a sondage to identify the stratigraphy of deposits.

In Trench 2 Lindsey and Carrollanne cleaned up the newly revealed cobbled surface above which deposits were found to contain a number of fragments of patterned Samian ware. Whilst in Trench 4B Judy continued to excavate the CBM filled pit found to contain a large fragment of pottery that hopefully will be able to suggest a likely date for this feature. In the north of Trench 4B James opened a sondage to investigate what lay beneath the deposit of large flints which  revealed a layer of black organic soil rich in Roman period finds – but not showing the expected continuation of the foundation deposits seen in Trench 4A 2m to the north. This new evidence will require the initial interpretation of Trench 4 to be reassessed.

In Trench 4D Paula and Karen explored the newly discovered linear feature and pit so that they could be planned, recorded and photographed. It is not clear whether this feature represents an external boundary or part of a building, although Roman period pottery sherds were being found at the top of these contexts suggesting a possible period of occupation.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: James P, Hazel, Judy, Julian, Geoff, Peter C, Bob, Björn, Susanne, Stuart and Keith

A day of mixed weather forecast – so work began as soon as we arrived on site to make the most of the dry overcast conditions while it lasted! In Trench 4D Geoff, Peter C and Björn continued to dig down to the archaeological horizon which was achieved just at the dark clouds started to gather – but revealed a horizon of clay to the east of the 2m x 2m trench, a dark linear 0.3m wide aligned with building #1 and a dark brown/orange horizon to the west of the trench. So far this supports the geophys survey suggestion that this rectilinear feature may be the eastern wall of another building, but more work will be needed next week to confirm this initial interpretation. 

In Trench 4B Hazel and Judy completed the recording and planning of the current horizon of features that have been explored in detail this week. Unfortunately the weather closed in before these feature could be explored further, but the current interpretation is of a Roman period roadside building alongside Ermin Street and the lane branching off to the north.

In Trench 2 Bob and Susanne continued to remove the occupation layer lying above the cobbled surface revealed yesterday. This deposit contained lenses of mortar, bone and pottery, however the forecast heavy rain intervened before this could be completed. Alison & Stuart in Trench 2 continued to explore the gravel deposits on the north side of the Roman road where they adjoin the occupation deposits seen to the north – but once again ‘rain stopped play’….

In Trench 4C Julian and James started a sondage at the south end of this 6m x 1m trench across where the Roman road ditch is expected to pass which made good progress. However, instead of the expected deposits of pottery and bone seen within the Roman road ditch in Trench 2, the road ditch in Trench 4C was full of large flints with only a small amount of pottery within the uppermost level. Once again work had to stop when the forecast heavy rain started at lunchtime.

However, Julian wisely made sure the trench was covered over to protect it from the heavy rain, and after it was decided that we stop early for the day, stayed behind talking shop over a coffee. Unexpectedly, the dark clouds parted revealing blue sky and bright sunshine, so despite only Julian, James P and Keith remaining it was decided to carry on with Trench 4C for an extra couple of hours. This revealed the full extent of the northerly end of the Roman road ditch in front of building #1 to be filled in with large flints. To the north of the ditch heavy trowelling is yet to reveal a surface or the south facing return of the building, but Julian did discover a 4^th century AD copper alloy Numus coin close to the edge of the ditch which was a great end to the day!

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: James P, Carrollanne, Gary, Lindsey, Thalia, Charlie, Hazel, Judy, Julian, Geoff, Deborah, Nigel S, Jill Tricia and Keith

Another day of fine weather and a large group of volunteers allowed us to make strong progress once again on site as we enter into the final stages of this season’s excavation. Jill and Thalia spent most of the day in Trench 3 completing the section drawing and bringing activity in this trench to a close. Whilst a clay surface was found where the geophysics survey predicted there to be a 6m x 8m rectilinear feature, there was no evidence of substantial foundations and no material culture to provide a date for construction or usage.

But as one trench closes, two more open! In Trench 4D Deborah, Geoff and Nigel worked hard to remove the turf and the overburden of what the geophysics survey suggests may be a second roadside building aligned with the Roman road. The archaeological horizon was not reached today, but work in this trench will continue tomorrow. Whilst in Trench 4C which was opened yesterday, the archaeological horizon was reached allowing Julian and Garry to define the surfaces revealed by trowel and record the first contexts, take levels and photographs. 

In Trench 2 Lindsey, Carrollanne and Tricia started to remove the next deposit at the north end of the trench in 50% section, revealing a new cobbled surface beneath a layer of occupation deposit. These organic deposits contained pottery, animal bone, a large iron object and a large amount of pungent midden deposits of which a bulk sample was taken for future analysis. Meanwhile at the southern end of Trench 2 Stuart and James worked on defining the layers of gravel to the north of the Roman road ditch in section to better understand their interaction with the occupation deposits seen at the north end of the trench.

In Trench 4B Hazel continued to define the linear feature of large flints thought to be the footings of a roadside building wall, and discovered another Roman copper alloy coin within this context. Judy meanwhile continued to define the lens of CBM deposits discovered. Now cleaned and photographed, these deposits will be planned and context sheets started for these features before excavation continues.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: James P, Martin, Carrollanne, Tim L, Gary, Lindsey, Thalia, Charlie, Hazel, Judy, Julian, Jill, Gabby and Keith

With the return of fine weather work quickly got underway in Trench 4A with Hazel, Judy and Charlie to define the surfaces revealed last week thought to be part of a Roman period roadside building. Hazel was focusing on the defining the linear feature of large flints and Judy was exploring a lens of CBM/pottery sherds on what was thought to be outside of the building as shown in Figure 1. Hazel discovered a copper-alloy radiate coin most likely of Tetricus II dating to AD273-274 (probably minted in Trier) in context giving a useful spot date to these contexts. In Trench 4A James completed the recording of the features explored last week bringing work in this trench to an end.

In Trench 2 Lindsey completed recording of the surface revealed the previous week and marked out the next context for excavation, whilst Tim and Carrollanne continued to remove deposits to the south. At the far end of Trench 2 Martin focused on recording the sections of the ditch of the Roman road.

A new 6m x 1m trench 4C was opened to explore the relationship between the building being explored in trenches 4A and 4B and the Roman road to the south. Julian, Gary, Gabby and James made good progress in removing the overburden, and in the process discovered a Roman 4^th century AD numus coin and a gilded button most likely dating to the Medieval period.

In trench 3 Thalia and Jill finalised the excavation and completed much of the recording. With a small amount of work remaining it is likely that this trench too will be completed tomorrow.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: Beth, Joanne, Geoff, Charlie, Stuart, James P, Martin, Carrollanne, Paul, Chris, Tim L, Jean, Gabby and Keith

Yet another showery day – but within the two gazebos for Trench 2C and Trench 4A and in the other Trenches between showers! For Trench 4A and 4B the focus was on the recording of the likely roadside building being revealed, whilst in Trench 2 excavation of the ditch of the Roman Road continued apace as seen in Figure 1.

Braving the elements, Carrollanne and Joanne continued cleaning the latest surface revealed in Trench 2A. Whilst in Trench 4A Charlie and Geoff started recording the newly cleaned archaeological horizon revealing yet more of the likely Roman roadside building. Elsewhere, Chris and Tim continued with the excavation of the building surface revealed in Trench 3, whilst Jean continued to discover new archaeology in Trench 1A.

In the evening BAS hosted 90 visitors to the site who after enjoying drinks and light refreshments kindly provided by Mr & Mrs D’Arcy and Mr Tett, were able to view finds from the site, hear a lecture summarising discoveries made and a tour of the trenches. A total of £900 was raised towards ongoing repairs to St. Swithun’s Church.