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

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Attendees: Mike, Martin, John H, Carrollanne, Debbie S, Phil C, Alessa, James P, Eric, Rod, Nigel B, Tony, Gill, Andrew R and Keith 

The focus in the four trenches opened this season is now on completing the recording of context sheets, plans and sections etc before the end of the season. This frees up resources to undertake a speculative test pitting survey of anomalies identified during the geophys survey to characterise them using 1m x 1m test pits with “spits” of 0.2m depth. Rod and Nigel B got this phase of the project underway with “test pit #1” in the southeast of the pasture on the north side of the Roman road, and soon revealed a horizon of Romano-British pottery and CBM suggesting that further investigation in future seasons may be required.

In Trench 15 Tony and Martin continue to explore the chronological relationship between the road and lane, with early indications suggesting that they were constructed at the same time. Excavation will continue into the “natural” to confirm this diagnosis… Elsewhere in Trench 15 work continued to complete excavation of the road and lane ditches and plan the surfaces revealed infront of Building #3, although extant features of the south end of this building remain elusive.

In Trench 16 Eric and Alessa were focusing on recording features thought to represent at least two other structures to the east of the corn drier. Slots were excavated to reveal sections, and plans/context sheets will be completed tomorrow.

In Trench 18 work continued to extend the trench to the north, which revealed a further deposit of large flints/sarsens that may represent the southern ditch of the Roman road. Once recorded this will be excavated and recorded in section.

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

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Attendees: Lindsey, Jill, Mike, Martin, Stuart, Millie, Geoff, John H, Malcolm, Carrollanne, Chloe, Malcolm, Julie, Tim L, Debbie S, Phil C, Alessa and Keith 

The first task was to restore the cleaned surfaces of all trenches after overnight rain. With now less that two complete weeks (5½ days of excavation) remaining of this present season, the focus has shifted from discovery of new archaeology to the recording of features already revealed.

In Trench 16 Stuart and Millie reviewed the trench records files to highlight plans, context sheets and sections requiring further work, and passing to colleagues to tie off the loose ends identified. Meanwhile Geoff spent the day exploring the northern end of the flue to see if a vent to the corn-drier superstructure that would have been located above could be identified. Unfortunately this proved inconclusive as a layer of firm mortar was reached that was interpreted as being the collapsed roof of the flue (rather than the expected vent) – so more work is required to reveal how the hot air from the furnace exited the masonry flue…

Detailed 3D photogrammetry images of Trenches 16 and 17 taken by Stuart can be seen below…

https://poly.cam/capture/30fcfa80-528d-47b5-909f-0376fbfb92e0

LiDAR & 3D Scanner for iPhone & Androidpoly.cam

In Trench 15 Martin, Julie and Chloe began to excavate the area where the northerly Roman road ditch intersects the ditch of the lane branching to the north to determine the chronological  relationship between these two features. It is known that Ermin Street was constructed within a few years of the Roman conquest to supply Legions located to the northwest of Silchester, so if the construction of the road/lane can be found to be contemporary to each other this suggests a similarly early date for occupation of the site being excavated. Whereas if the two features were found to be constructed at different dates, dating evidence may suggests a “terminus post quem” for the lane construction and the associated roadside occupation… Elsewhere in Trench 15 work continued to record sections, plans and complete context sheets for features already in progress.

In Trench 18 Malcolm, Mike and John completed recording of the surfaces revealed, but it was still not 100% certain that the shallow rubble filled ditch identified by the earth resistance survey was in fact the southerly ditch of the Roman road. The decision was taken to extend Trench 18 to the north to see if any other ditch like features could be identifed up to the point where the north of  Trench 18 is less than 8m to the south of Trench 15 along the road’s axis…

The highlight of the day was the amazing cake baked by Carrollanne which was comprehensively excavated during the tea break. Despite the cake’s elaborate decorative fruit filled stratigraphy, it was 100% sampled by the team before a detailed section drawing could be recorded!

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

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Attendees: Jules, Chris, Lindsey, Jill, Ruby, Kate, Mike, Martin, Louise, Rod, James P, Tony, Susanne, Julian, Paula and Keith 

With today being the Lecture/Site Tour in the afternoon, the focus was to crack on with the archaeology as quickly as possible to allow time to tidying up the trenches and preparing the “finds tent” in the afternoon. 

After its soaking over the weekend, Trench 17 had finally dried out and just needed some detailing/cleaning to get things ready for the visit. Julian, Rod and Tony soon had things back in order, and were able to mark out the route of the Roman road/lane to enable visitors to place the trenches within the wider archaeological landscape.

Trench 15 was a hive of activity with Jule and Jill continuing to excavate a further slot across the Roman road ditch. Mike and Louise continued to record the new contexts revealed at the north of the trench, whilst Martin, Chris and James focused on defining features possibly related to Building #3 which have still eluded definitive identification…

The focus in Trench 16 was recording, whilst Kate and Ruby carefully cleaned features revealed earlier in the week suggesting possible further extant remains of structures to the east of the trench…

At 3pm work in the trenches stopped, and the team focused on preparing for the site tour and lecture. By 6:00pm over 90 visitors had arrived, and were enjoying drinks and light refreshments provided by our hosts Mr and Mrs D’Arcy. Phyllida had her artwork depicting the excavation on display within the church, and Keith gave a 30minute lecture to a full-house. This lecture was followed by a tour of the site and an opportunity to view some of the finds discovered. Overall this event raised more than £1000 for St Swithun’s church.

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

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Attendees: Chloe, Geoff, Jules, Chris, Lindsey, Jill, Ruby, Kate, Carrollanne, Mike, Martin, Phil C, Louise and Keith 

Having got a soaking the previous Wednesday and rained off completely on the Thursday, it was great to be back on site. Unfortunately Trench 17 was 0.5m deep with rain water, so was “bailed out” and left to dry – and Trench 18 was also waterlogged, but this allowed us to focus our efforts on Trenches 15 and 16 whilst dodging a few showers in the morning…

In trench 16 Kate, Lindsey, Ruby and Geoff continued to define the surfaces revealed beneath the gravel deposits surrounding the corn drier. This was delicate work, but after the wet weekend, conditions were perfect for cleaning surfaces and identifying features. Planning of the newly revealed surfaces got underway in the afternoon, and tomorrow will be focused on recording context sheets and taking levels…

In Trench 15 Jill and Jules continued with the excavation of the ditch along the north side of the Roman road, whilst Chloe cleaned a slot across the lane and its ditch. Both these two areas revealed a number of interesting pieces of CBM and pottery.

Further to the north, Phil C, Martin and Chris not only discovered our largest fragment of hypocaust flue tile to date, but also revealed what appears to be east-west/north-south aligned masonry footings on top of Roman archaeology. Further work is needed to define these features, but the initial interpretation is that these could be related to the 12^th century manor house discovered on top of the Roman road last season?

At the north end of Trench 15 Louise, Carrollanne and Mike continued to define the surfaces either side of the stone berm thought to be the footings of Building #3. Again, further work is needed to clean, plan and record these new contexts, but Mike discovered an interesting piece of Samian pottery and Carrollanne discovered our first piece of amphora which are both dateable imported objects that may shed new light on this area of the site.

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

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Attendees: Stuart, Millie, Chloe, Geoff, Julie, Lindsey, Sofia, Emma, Jill, Paul, Malcolm, Louise and Keith 

What a change in the weather (!!!) – with rain showers and occasional thunder/lightening in the middle distance, we had to take shelter in our cars on a number of occasions. However, we managed to spend pretty much a full day excavating – often still enjoying bright sunshine! Due to heavy downpours overnight, Trenches 17 and 18 were waterlogged, so no work was done in these areas. However, there was plenty to do in Trenches 15 and 16…

The first project was to investigate a number of possible post holes identified the previous week during dry conditions, which now that the ground was damp, was perfect conditions for identification of possible post holes. However, Millie, Sofia and Emma soon determined that these features were not postholes, but whilst cleaning the surface they realise that the features previously identified were a “corner” of a rectilinear deposit of clay with linear “dark earth” suggesting possible beam slot foundations. Work will continue tomorrow to explore these features further to see if they are related to the nearby flue or are part of a separate feature…

Elsewhere in Trench 16, Lindsey continued with her detailed examination of the flue structure, and on the west side of the flue discovered a possible “cut” that appeared to be lined with vertically positioned mortar as seen in Figure 3. Again this feature will require further work to investigate thoroughly, but the archaeology of the flue is complex – and is taking time to carefully unpick and record in detail…

Meanwhile in Trench 15, Jill and Paul continued to remove “fills” from the northerly ditch of Ermin Street as seen in Figure 4. At the north end of Trech 15 Chloe, Geoff, Julie, Malcom and Louise continued to excavate and record the slot that was partially excavated the previous week. A number of new contexts were revealed beneath the layer of large sarsens and cobbles which were planned and recorded. This area of Trench 15 continued to reveal a high concentration of iron objects, pottery and animal bone…

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

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Attendees: Joanne, Katharine, Sam, Zoe, Stuart, Millie, Doug, Chloe, James P, Martin, Peter Cl, Kate, Claire, Susanne, Eric, Geoff, Dee, Ben A and Keith 

Yet ANOTHER hot day on site – but once again, we hunkered down beneath gazebos/trees so work could continue! Next week is forecast to be decidedly damp by comparison, so we may need to find our waterproofs and wellies…

In Trench 17 Chloe, Dee, Doug, Joanne and Zoe spent the morning learning how to accurately draw scale stratigraphic sections of the deposits revealed during the course of the excavation. This process of recording will continue next week for three faces of this trench, and will be used together with the material culture, pottery and bone discovered to characterise occupation of this site during the Roman period.

In Trench 18 Susanne, Eric and Claire completed the recording of the 50% slot dug along this trench and opening new context records for the new features identified beneath. The wetter weather forecast for next week will help to soften the silty/clay material exposed which was heavy going during this week’s hot and dry conditions.

In Trench 15 Sam and Katharine discovered a new context of large sarsen rubble within the slot being excavated at the north end of the trench, which when recorded and removed revealed two distinct contexts beneath. Excavation of this slot will be extended to the east next week to identify the archaeological feature beneath these layers of flint/sarsen where the southerly remains of Building #3 (discovered in 2025) are expected to be found.

Elsewhere in Trench 15 Peter, Martin and Ben were excavating flint/cobble surfaces closer to the ditch of the Roman road/lane, where Peter discovered a Roman As coin. It is hoped that this coin can be accurately dated next week when Lindsey is back on site with us, but initial comparisons suggest a possible 2^nd Century AD date

In Trench 16, work continued to define the features of the masonry flue, and to clean the newly revealed surfaces around it. Despite the dry conditions a number of possible post holes/pits were identified that will be investigated further next week when the damper conditions are likely to allow clearer delineation of these features.

Stuart very kindly produced a 3D photogrammetry model using his Poly Cam app of Trench 16, which you can see in 3D on your phone/computer by following the link below:

https://poly.cam/capture/29f23077-2708-47df-8229-3d917ea9817c

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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Attendees: Joanne, Katharine, Sam, Zoe, John M, Lindsey, Beth, Gill, Alessa, Tim H, Stuart, Millie, Doug, Julian, Geoff, Paula and Keith 

It was another hot day on site – but once again, with use of gazebos to provide shade across the trenches and with activities such as sieving and reporting taking place in the shade of trees we managed to complete a full day of activity. We were also very lucky to be visited by Sarah Orr (Principle Archaeologist at West Berkshire Council) and Dr Phil Smither (Finds Liaison Officer) who spent the afternoon reviewing the archaeology revealed, inspecting finds discovered and meeting the volunteer archaeologists at work in the trenches.

In Trench 15, Sam and Katharine revealed a deposit of large flints in the northeast of the trench which were interpreted as being a deposit of demolition rubble. A coin of Tetricus I found near the bottom of this deposit suggests a possible terminus post quem date of AD270, but of course the deposit could have occurred during the 4^thcentury AD or later. The rubble is largely composes of sarsen (as opposed flint) with some stone being of considerable size as seen in Figure 2.

Work continued in Trench 17 to make the sides  of the trench vertical in preparation for sections to be drawn next week. It is likely that the midden deposits in this trench span the full period of occupation during the Roman period, and may reveal the evolving character of the settlement and its inhabitants…

Figure 3. Work continues in Trench 17…

In Trench 16 work continued to explore the construction cuts of the corn drier flue to expose is full extent. To the east the remainder of the cobbled surface was removed and the flint/sarsen rubble explored in more detail to determine if it was a dump of material or part of a structure. The surfaces revealed began to be cleaned to see if cuts/pits/post-holes could be observed, but this was difficult in the dry conditions and will be reassessed first thing tomorrow…

Meanwhile in Trench 18, Alessa and Tim continued to clean the clay/pebble surfaces revleaed the previous week, and extended the trench 1m to the south to assess if this surface (believed to be the Roman road) continued to the south of the trench. Surprisingly the road ditch has not yet been located despite this trench being positioned across low earth resistance linear features aligned with the Roman road.

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

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Attendees: Joanne, Katharine, Sam, Zoe, Simon, John M, Martin, Chloe, Lindsey, Tim L, Beth, Peter Cl, Louise and Keith 

As can be seen in Figure 1, the open area trenches are located within the middle of the pasture. As conditions today were very warm to say the least, but we were fortunate to have gazebos to provide much needed shade to allow excavation to continue, albeit at a more relaxed pace…

Once the gazebos were in position, excavation was able to proceed in relative comfort, with sieving taking place beneath nearby tree cover. Sam was able to bring his experience a professional field archaeologist to apply to his “bus-man’s holiday” at Wickham, with renewed focus on the exploratory slot being dug along the north of Trench 15 to better define in section some of the features seen in plan. Much progress was made in both the slot and the ditch along the Roman road, which will be recorded in future blogs.

Trench 16 was similarly equipped with a gazebo to provide shade, which allowed Lindsey, Peter and Tim to continue to explore the corn drier flue in detail from the projects started last week. The layers of archaeology around the flue are complex, but with patient removal/recording of each deposit the phasing of the features is slowly being revealed…

Trench 17 was left somewhat exposed to the sun, so Chloe and Zoe retreated to the shade of a nearby tree to bring the trench records up to date. Paula also took advantage of the tree cover to bring the records for Trench 15 up to date, whilst others helped out with the sieving.

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

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Attendees: Joanne, Martin, Julian, James P, Chloe, Doug, Nick, Rod, Lindsey, Geoff, Phyllida, Tim L, Merrill, Gordon, Jill, Beth, Jean, Alessa, Claire, Peter Cl and Keith 

In Trench 15 Beth and Jill continued to excavate at section across the northerly ditch of the Roman road, which revealed a number of fills not seen further to the southeast in 2025. At the northern end of Trench 15 Martin, Merrill, Rod, Gordon, Joanne and Peter continued to explore the multiple layers of cobble/flint. Whist there are ephemeral hints of (what is thought to be) the possible foundations at the SW corner of Building #3 starting to emerge, further careful excavation is needed to define these features before an clear interpretation can be reached. Meanwhile Keith completed the latest plan of this area assigning new context number of the features being identified by the excavators.

In Trench16, Lindsey continued to define the morphology of the corn drier flue and the beam slot, whilst James continued to examine the newly revealed chalk/flint/sarsen deposits to the east. More work is needed to explain the stratigraphy of this area of the site, but careful excavation and recording is slowly bringing the archaeological remains into focus…

Once again we were very lucky to be joined by Phyllida, who was able to capture both the archaeology and the archaeologists at work in Trench 16 in her wonderful drawings. These artistic interpretations of the site offer an interesting contrast to highly technical drawings being plans of the same trench being meticulously recorded by Tim L (who is also a keen amateur artist!) nearby…

In Trench 17 the “benching” was completed, so work continued to clean up the vertical walls of the trench ready for section drawings to be recorded in the coming week. Doug was able to achieve a flat surface of the southerly trench wall, that when damped down, revealed previously unseen subtle stratigraphy in the midden deposits that can be correlated with the material culture artefacts previously discovered.

In Trench 18 Alessa, Jean and Claire completed the recording of the three contexts revealed the previous day, and then started a 50% section across the context of large flints seen in the geophysics survey. This was revealed to be a shallow deposit of flints on top of a continuation of the orange clay/gravel surface to the north that has been initially interpreted as the surviving surface of the Roman road.  By the end of the day, this orange clay gravel surface was found to extend across the full length of Trench 18 suggesting that the  road opposite this industrial area to the north is much wider than seen to the NW and SW of the settlement. Work will continue next week to locate the southerly ditch of the Roman road…

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

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Attendees: Joanne, Millie, Martin, Julian, Tony, Nigel S, Nigel B, Garry, Thalia, Susanne, Penny, James P, Roger and Keith 

Another showery day, but great weather for archaeology!  In Trench 15 Tony and Nigel S continued to excavate the roadside ditch of Ermin Street. The layer of large flints/CBM at the top of this fill turned out to the relatively shallow, revealing a lower fill of dark earth. These contexts were recorded, and work will continue tomorrow to expose the section of the roadside ditch. Within the initial ditch fill were a number of interesting pottery finds and glass fragments.

Martin continued to clean the surfaces exposed the previous day which started to clarify the possible morphology of possible foundations of a timber framed building within Trench 15 which began to be recorded. Once recording is complete the focus in Trench 15 will be to record the contexts relating to the roadside building, and how it interacted with the road and lane nearby. At the north of Trench 16 Joanne and Millie also spent the day recording the newly revealed surfaces and defining their relative stratigraphy. 

After recording the levels and photographing the contexts revealed in  Trench16 the previous day, James started to dig a slot across the dark circular feature suspected of being a possible second furnace pit. However, this initial interpretation soon proved to be unlikely as the dark circular context was only a few cm deep – however, work will continue tomorrow to better understand how the rubble/chalk deposits to the east of Trench 16 relate to the flue seen in the west of the trench.

The focus for Nigel B, Garry and Thalia in the morning was to dig 1m wide benching for Trench 17 as it was close to 1.0m in depth. Once this was completed work continued to explore the midden deposits with the help of Roger who was 100% sieving the material removed.

In Trench 18 Penny and Susanne cleaned the surfaces revealed the previous day and started recorded the new contexts. The orange/gravel context at the north of the trench was interpreted as being the surviving surface of the Roman road, and the darker surface to the south containing large sarsens/flints was interpreted as being the likely fill of the roadside ditch. The nature of the surface at the south of this trench is as yet unclear, but once recording is completed the next step is likely to be a 50% section of the roadside ditch to record the profile fills of the ditch south of the road.