Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: Tim L, Martin, James, Mark, Bob, Andy, Margaret, Jean, Julian, Terry, Barbara, Sarah and Keith

Today marked the halfway point in the planned season of excavation on this site. Not only did the fine weather continue, but some exciting new discoveries by the BAS team position us perfectly for the remainder of our time on site this year.

In Trench 1A work continued by Margaret and Jean to complete the sampling of the two ditch fills. Final tasks and recording of this trench will be completed next week. Work also continued in Trench 1B to explore the deposit of large stones close to a possible ditch boundary seen on the gradiometer geophysics survey. Removal of some of these large stones showed they they had been placed on a bed of gravel.

At the north end of Trench 2A, Tim continued to explore the sandy surface aligned with the edge of large flints. Tim spotted evidence of a ditch/pits in the side walls of the most northly context revealed that will need to defined further next week. 

At the southerly end of the site work continued to define the rectilinear ditches cut into the densely packed clay/gravel surface revealed last week. Whilst these gravel/clay deposits are thought likely to be extant remains of the Roman road, evidence of roadside ditches, needed to confirm this interpretation, have yet to be located. Further work is also needed to explore the rectilinear ditches seen on the high-resolution earth resistance geophysics survey to confirm the morphology and date of this likely Medieval building.

Recording of the deposit of a large flint surface revealed in Trench 2A and its adjacent deposits was completed. At the southerly end of Trench 2A an area of the less dense deposit of large flints, thought to have been deposited later as they overlaid fragments of CBM, was identified. An area of these large flints was removed to reveal dark/organic occupation deposits. Initial assessment of this new context showed that not only did it contain a number of pottery sherds, but also a 7cm copper-alloy pin and the first Roman roof tile (a Tegula) found on this site. These artefacts mark a distinct change in the character of the occupation deposits seen so far and will be explored in detail in the coming week.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: Tim L, Martin, Andrew H, James, Andrew R, Gabby, Margaret, Hazel, Susanne, Jean, Julian, Doug, Philip and Keith

Once again fine weather enabled a very productive day on site with excavation and geophysics running in parallel and a number of interesting finds being revealed. 

In Trench 1B Andrew, James and Jean explored the ditch with stones along the southerly edge and a context of pebble deposit along its northerly edge in half section as shown in Figure 3.  

In Trench 2A Tim continued to evaluate the possible ditch discovered at the northerly end of the trench and its relation to the deposit of sand/clay that is aligned with the N-S aligned edge of large flints. At the southerly end of Trench 2A recording was completed and the trench was extended to the southwest to join up with Trench 2B by Doug, Hazel and Gabby.

In Trench 2B two E-W ditches were excavated by Julian, Andrew and Martin as first step to removing the gravel deposits thought to lie above the clay remains of the foundations of the Roman road. Julian discovered a copper alloy coin in context thought to be a Roman numus.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House
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Attendees: Deborah, Tim L, Martin, Gabby, Margaret, Jill, Terry, Barbara, Hazel, Phyllida and Keith

Work continued in the southerly extension of Trench 2B with Gabby, Deborah and Martin who completed removal of the topsoil and recorded the contexts revealed. After recording work continued to remove the next layer of stratigraphy – and discovered a Roman numus denomination coin within the last bucket of the day on the spoil heap.

In trench 1A Jill and Margaret worked on sampling the fills of the two ditches revealed in 10cm spits so that finds can be used as dating evidence for these deposits. The samples will be used to identify activities that may have taken place within the nearby paddocks using XRF testing.

In trench 2A work continued to define the extent of the deposit of large flints at the southern end of the trench. This revealed a possible N-S aligned edge together with less dense deposit of the flints overlaying fragments of roof line suggesting post-demolition deposition. Further work will be needed to clarify this interim interpretation. The northern end of Trench 2A Tim revealed a shallow sandy/mortar deposit parallel to the N-S aligned edge revealed last week suggesting that these two features are associated.

We were lucky enough today to be joined by Phyllida Shelley who is a prominent local artist living in Cookham, who the ‘artist in residence’ at the University of Reading’s excavation at Cookham Abbey. Phyllida’s portfolio includes artistic interpretations of archaeology in action, and being keen to gain a perspective of voluntary sector archaeology, spent the day with us capturing interpretations of the features being revealed in the trenches by the BAS team. You can see more of Phyllida’s work at www.phyllidashelley.com – and the day’s results shown in Figure 7 vividly compliment the objectivity of the plans/sections produced by the BAS team on perma-trace to great effect…

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House

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Attendees: Lindsey, Jean, Deborah, Chris, Tim L, Tony, Gary, Charlotte, Margaret and Keith

Another hot and sunny day at Wickham representing 1/3 of the way through this season of excavation at Wickham which ended a productive and enjoyable week on a high note. The star find of the day was a spindle whorl made out of a clipped/drilled sherd of medieval pottery found by Deborah in trench 2A as seen in Figure 1. This is the first indication of textile working on this site and offers clues to the local pastoral economy as well as the function/identity of some of the people who lived on this site – a nice find!

Elsewhere in trench 2A the planning and recording of the large flint deposit revealed earlier in the week was completed by Lindsey, Tim, Deborah and Chris who then proceeded to explore the newly revealed surfaces. At the south of this trench further large flints were discovered below the gravel deposits although they were much less densely packed that seen in the middle of trench 2A. At the north of the trench Tim started to explore a possible ditch/pit containing dark friable soils.

In trench 1A the morning was spent by Charlotte, Jean and Margaret completing the recording sondages opened across the lane joining Ermin Street in sections that were excavated earlier in the week. There are a number of small tasks still to be completed in this trench next week, but the focus of the excavation is likely to move to new areas of the site.

A 4m x 1m extension to the south of trench 2B was opened today by Gary and Tony with the objective of looking to see if the clay deposits seen at the south of trench 2B extended to the south and whether these clay deposits could be the extant surface of the Roman road. Due to the surface of the Roman road appearing to have been reused for a later phase of N-S aligned medieval occupation, it has not yet been possible to locate a ditch aligned with Ermin Street on the north side of the road. Excavations in trench 2A have suggested that the line of the Roman Road is to the south of where it is shown on the OS map based on the projections made by Magary. At the end of a long day of digging a surface of clay was revealed at the extreme south of the extension to trench 2B suggesting that the clay already seen to the north may form a contiguous deposit. This will need much further work next week to further to the south confirm the extent of this clay deposit and whether a road dich survives on the south facing side of the road…?

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House

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Attendees: James, Nigel, Janet, Lindsey, Jean, Peter, Charlie, Andrew, Martin, Paula and Keith

In trench 1B Charlie, Janet and Nigel cleaned and recorded the features revealed the previous day prior as seen in Figure 1. Work then began to explore the possible ditch at the northern end of the trench extension. Work continued in trench 1A to record the stratigraphy of the construction of the lane in section by Paula and Jean shown in Figure 2.

In Trench 2A Lindsey, Nigel and Peter completed cleaning the surfaces revealed last week before planning them and taking levels. The recording of the contexts removed from Trench 2A were also completed. In Trench 2B Andrew and Martin were also recording the revealed surfaces in plan and completing records of contexts defined.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House

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Attendees: James, Debbie, Louise, Nigel, Janet, Lindsey, Julian, Martin, Paula and Keith

In trench 1B Janet and Nigel cleaned up the northerly extension of the trench that was opened the previous week. This revealed interesting new features shown in Figure 1 suggesting a possible wall and hints of the expected ditch at the northern end of the extension. These features will be further defined and recorded in the coming days.

In Trench 2A, Lindsey and Louise further defined the flint surface revealed the previous week and cleaned the surfaces either side of this features prior to recording, photographing and taking levels. In Trench 1A Paula and Debbie were working on further sections of the lane to reveal the stratigraphy of its construction.

In trench 2B Julian and Martin reduced the levels to reveal the cut of a N-S oriented ditch in section transecting clay deposits along the southerly edge of the trench as suggested by the earth resistance geophysics survey. The other features suggested by the geophysics within this trench have not yet been defined and will require further work. The remains of the Roman Road expected to the south of the site in this area have not yet been positively identified and remain a priority for definitively locate.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House

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Attendees: James, Tim H, Lindsey, Gary, Jim, Penny, Susanna, Debbie, Martin, Tony, Charlotte and Keith

In trench 2B the day started with the planning, recording and photographing of the surface revealed earlier in the week. Tony and Martin then excavated the linear feature cut into the bed of clay (possibly the foundation of the Roman road?) visible in SE and SW of the trench. The content of this linear feature (possibly associated with the N-S aligned rectilinear features visible on the earth resistance geophysics survey) contained a blue/grey gravel not seen elsewhere on the site, but more work is needed to complete the investigation of this feature.

In Trench 2A Lindsey, Charlotte, Penny and Tim made good progress revealing the surface of large flint deposits revealed earlier in the week which revealed an N-S aligned edge at the northerly end of the trench. Many Roman pottery sherds were found together another Roman coin found in context by Lindsey, a large section of pottery storage jar discovered by Penny and a complete pottery base found by Tim.

In Trench 1B Debbie, James and Susanna explored the dark organic deposits revealed by Stuart yesterday in 25% section which were retained as a bulk sample. This deposit turned out to be relatively shallow over natural. Debbie and Susanna then moved into Trench 1A to further explore the deposits revealed in section earlier in the week, whilst Gary and Jim extended Trench 1B 2m northwards hoping to reveal the ditch shown in the geophysics survey perpendicular to the ditch revealed in Trench 1A.

Part of a series of bulletins from the BAS excavations at Wickham House

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In Trench 1A Jill continued to explore the ditch along side the lane running at 90^o to Ermin Street, and revealed the orange/brown gravel surface of this lane. Finds from this area continued to include Roman period pottery and evidence of iron production and iron working. Further work is needed next week to remove deposits to the east of the lane and complete the recording of surfaces revealed in this trench.

In Trench 1B James and Stuart cleaned and recorded surfaces containing Roman and Medieval pottery and further evidence of iron production and iron working. As yet the ditch suggested by geophysics surveys to lie perpendicular to the ditch alongside the lane in Trench 1A has not been located. Next week a slot will be opened to the north of Trench 1B to attempt to locate this second ditch so that its fills can be compared with those seen in the Trench 1A ditch.

In Trench 2A the deposit of pebbles/flints was removed by Keith in the north end of the trench, revealing a sandy deposit containing Roman/Medieval pottery ready for planning and recording next week. To the south of this sandy deposit an area of compacted stone/flint suggests a different context that also needs to be explored further as shown in Figure 3 – but on cleaning revealed a Late Roman copper-alloy  Nummus coin in context which was an exciting end to the day! To the south of Trench 2A the depth of the pebble/flint deposit was excavated by Lindsey, Peter, Charlie and Jackie, but being deeper than seen in the south of the trench, berms remained to be removed next week. However, good progress was made with an increasing number of Medieval/Roman pottery sherds being discovered in this area also.

Today’s award for most volume of material removed goes to Debbie and Julian who having recorded the pebble/flint deposit revealed yesterday, excavated through this layer to reveal the sandy deposit below which contained Medieval pottery.  However, no evidence of the possible structure suggested by the earth resistance survey in this location has yet been revealed.