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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

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. 

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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Attendees: Jill, James, Andrew H, Lindsey, Jane, Tony, Karen, Charlotte S and Keith

Slightly further ahead in Trench 2A, Lindsey, Andrew, Karen and Charotte S almost completed removal of the upper deposit of pebble/flint extending across this trench. The surface beneath was much more sterile and sandy in character – and when cleaned and planned tomorrow will be investigated further also. Lindsey discovered a fragment of copper alloy strip that looked like it may have been part of bracelet.

In Trench 1A, James and Jill completed excavation of the ditch which was seen to have been dig into natural soil now thought to be the sterile orange/brown soil seen in elsewhere in Trench 1A. The line of the ditch appears to have been marked with large stone, one of which appears to have been worked. The ditch was recorded in plan and section. Work will continue in this trench tomorrow along with recording of the surface revealed in trench 1B.

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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Attendees: Jill, Andrew H, Tim L, Lindsey, Louise, Tony, Peter, Debbie, Geoff, Nick, Nigel and Keith

A new trench (2B) measuring 2m x 3m was opened over N-S aligned high earth resistance rectilinear features seen on the high-definition earth resistance survey to the south of the site by Nick, Tony and Geoff. The objective of this trench is to locate and identify the morphology and date of these features and their relationship with the Roman road. Turves were removed and excavation of the topsoil was undertaken.

In Trench 2A the topsoil was removed and the two contexts revealed were planned, photographed and recorded. The initial deposits of pebbles/flint proved to be only a few centimetres deep presenting a new content to be recorded tomorrow. A 6cm piece of copper-ally wire was found at the north end of Trench 2A by Lindsey.

Careful cleaning of Trench 1B revealed a complex surface of deposits that need to be carefully assessed and recorded. Having completed the cleaning, Tim and Debbie started work to assign new contexts and plan how to undertake the next stages of excavation in this trench.

In Trench 1A the ditch/gully was excavated further by Jill and Louise who revealed finds of pottery and slag. More work is required to fully excavate this fearture and determin its relationship with nearby contexts.

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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Attendees: Karen, Tim L, Lindsey, Julian, Chris, Stuart, Louise, Jackie, Geoff, Nick, Nigel and Keith

Over the weekend all the finds from Day #1-Day #8 were sorted, washed (if required) and re-bagged by material/context as shown in Figure 1. There is a wide variety of finds so far dating from the 20^th century to the Roman period indicating some exciting post-excavation analysis in store later in the year.

During Day #9 Lindsey, Karen, Jackie, Chris and Nigel continued work to remove the remaining topsoil in Trench 2A as shown in Figure 2, which was achieved by the end of the day. Tomorrow will see this surface cleaned and recorded before the first layer of archaeology is then removed.

In Trench 1A Stuart and Louise focused on the careful excavation of the ditch feature as shown in Figure 3. This resulted in discover of iron slag and pottery sherds. Work on excavating this feature will continue tomorrow.

View a photogrammetry model that Stuart made of the trench here

In Trench 1B Tim, Geoff, Julian and Nick removed a large portion of the context containing pottery, iron slag and nails and revealed a new context beneath which will be cleaned and recorded tomorrow. The finds of the day from Trench 1B were two Roman coins – a Numus dating to the 4^th century AD found by Geoff and an As dating to the 1^st century AD (found in context) by Julian. 

In the afternoon Tim and Geoff led training of use of the earth resistance meter adding further to the detail of features in the south of the site close to the Roman road. This image suggests a N-S aligned structure across the Roman Road (but not aligned with it) that will be explored over the coming season together with the Roman period features likely to lie beneath.

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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Attendees: James, Andrew H, Karen, Chris, Jean, Geoff and Keith

The run of fine weather continued – but it was a bit colder than of late on the exposed hill top where we are excavating. But work continued on the high resolution earth resistance survey by Geoff and Andrew who completed an additional x8 grids of data. This will allow us to position trench #2 and start to remove turves on days #7 and 8 this week.

In trench 1B James and Keith continued to excavate the northly section of the pebble/flint context revealed earlier in the week to reveal the ditch though to lie beneath.  Similarly in trench 1A Chris, Jean and Karen excavated the extended area of this trench to reveal the far side of the ditch discovered on Monday.

One of the highlights today was discovering our first Roman coin found in trench 1A giving our first firm dating evidence for contexts revealed so far. Initial indications are that this coin is a Late Roman copper alloy numus minted during the 4^th century AD. 

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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Attendees: James, Andrew H, Martin, Debbie, Jill, Philip, Tim and Keith

In trench 1A topsoil was removed from the extended area to the northwest to locate the far side of the ditch revealed on day #4. Jill and Debbie managed to reveal the pebble/flint deposit seen elsewhere in this area ready for recording on day #6 as shown in Figure 3. Also in trench 1A Tim extended the sondage opened on day #4 further to the south to reveal more of the SE edge of this feature. Finds of CBM, pottery and nails continued to be recorded.

In trench 1B Martin and Keith started to peel back the pebble/flint deposits in the north of this trench with the objective of revealing the second trench at 90o to the trench in 1A shown on the high resolution earth resistance survey. Meanwhile James focused on setting up the total station theodolite kindly loaned by MMAHS so that it can be used for locating the position of small finds, trenches and test pits relative to the site TBM . 

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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Tools kindly loaned by BARG were collected from Lindsey and brought to site, and with the fine weather continuing excavation quickly picked up where we had left it on Friday. The priority for day #4 was to locate archaeological features identified by the high resolution earth resistance survey.

The high resolution earth resistance image shown in Figure 1 (within the green boundary) suggests that the two trenches opened should both contain rectilinear ditches passing across them. In the westerly 2m x 2m trench(1A) a sondage was excavated by Jean and Jane through the pebble/flint deposit revealed on day #3. Beneath this pebble deposit the ditch predicted to lie in a NE-SW orientation could be seen as shown in Figure 2. This not only represents the first significant archaeological feature discovered, but it also proves that features seen in the high resolution earth resistance survey images can be located. This result also suggests the depth that similar features are likely to be found elsewhere across the site .

The northerly end of Trench 1A will be expanded on day #5 so that both sides of this ditch are visible along a sufficient length for the ditch to be excavated in section so that the stratigraphy of fills can be recorded. It is hoped that the morphology of the ditch, its function and evidence indicating its period of its usage may also be revealed .

In the 2m x 3m Trench 1B to the east work continued to remove the topsoil revealing a deposit of pebbles/flints similar seen in Trench 1A. Recording of this context was started as seen in Figures 4 and 5 which will be further progressed during day #5.  A further sondage the north of Trench 1B will be excavated to locate the second ditch identified by the high resolution earth resistance survey. 

Also on day #5 further high resolution earth resistance survey will be conducted to the south and east if the initial two trenches to identify further archaeological features to be investigated in the coming weeks.

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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Attendees: Tim L, James, Geoff, Tony, Nick, Nigel and Keith

Work on the first trench continued at a good pace in the continued fine weather, and the topsoil was soon removed revealing a layer of pebbles some 25cm beneath the surface as seen in Figure 1. However, the ditch shown in the high definition earth resistance survey thought to run across the is trench was not yet evident. Finds from the topsoil consisted of a small number of pottery sherds, some modern glass fragments, roof tile – and lots of clay pigeon skeet fragments! 

The temporary benchmark (TBM) level was established using the GPS total station so that the ‘dumpy’ level could used to accurately measure height above sea level across the site. This allows the relative height of archaeological features and the location of special finds to be accurately recorded.

The topsoil context was recorded and the newly revealed context planned, photographed and levels recorded. Excavation continued at the northly end of the trench continued to assess the depth of this pebble layer and determine what archaeology lay beneath it as shown in Figure 2. This context soon began to reveal a large number of CBM fragments (mostly roof tile) and a number of pottery sherds as shown in Figures 3. Also discovered was a fragment of a glass vessel and a number of hobnails as shown in Figure 4.

The high resolution earth resistance survey suggested that the spread of gravel beneath the first trench extended some meters to the east with a linear edge at 90^o to the ditch expected within the initial trench. Having established the depth of this archaeological context, a second trench was opened  to locate the edge of the pebble surface and expose the ditch thought to lie across it. Figure 5 shows topsoil from being removed from this 3m x 2m trench.

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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Attendees: Tim L, James, Debbie, Andrew R, Geoff, Tony, Martin and Keith

The gradiometer survey of the area to be excavated was completed as shown in Figure 1 giving a more rectilinear image of the features observed in the initial 2023 survey due to the accuracy of the grid set up using GPS on day #1. Training was provided for attendees who had not previously used the gradiometer. These features were then marked onto the ground with spray paint using tape measures relative to the site grid, which gave a much clearer impression of the scale of these enclosures.

Features of interest were then surveyed using high resolution earth resistance for 10m x 10m squares as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4. This method gave significantly more detail than revealed by the 2023 20m x 20m resolution survey. Although considerably more effort to survey using this method, this will be continued until the areas of interest across the site have been completed. 

Work also continued to identify datum points across the wider site area and record location/AOD with the GPS total station so that these datums can be used by the total station theodolite and dumpy level during the excavation to record locations of small finds, test pits etc etc.

The high definition earth resistance image revealed an area of high earth resistance transected by a ditch on the southeast side of the lane in Figure 4. A 2m x 2m trench was opened across there features as shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6 so that the depth of these features and their morphology could be assessed in more detail prior to opening up the full area of the trench. 

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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Attendees: Tim L, James and Keith

Got straight to work with the GPS to layout the 20m x 20m site grid to an accuracy of 1cm as shown in Figure 1. This took 1 hour and each node was marked with a wooden post (aka broom handle) and labelled with the NGR easting/northings to serve as a reference framework for the rest of the excavation as shown in the photograph in Figure 2. The GPS proved very straightforward to use and the increase accuracy of the grid (compared to using tape measures and trigonometry) was immediately visible to the eye. 

The gradiometer survey then began in the N-S alignment with a total of eight squares (C/H/M/R/D/I/N/S) being completed as shown in Figure 3. The result of this survey compare well with those taken in June 2023 as shown in Figures 4 and 5, but with combined with the site grid the georeferencing of the gradiometer image will allow trenches to be accurately located over features of interest.

The rectilinear features within the new survey were then plotted onto the site grid and marked with temporary spray paint so that their scale could be assessed on the ground. From this it was possible to assess the relative size of these features  and determine their likely function as part of building #2 as internal and/or external spaces. On completion of the gradiometer survey and the high-resolution earth resistance survey a final decision will be made on the location of the initial trenches to be opened for excavation.