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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Attendees: Karen, Sarah, Geoff, Nick, Nigel and Keith

Work to remove the topsoil in Trench 2A was continued by Sarah, Karen and Nigel as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The high-resolution earth resistance survey predicted linear N-S aligned features, which are starting to appear as shown in Figure 2.

Trench 1A was cleaned and planning begun with an addition of five contexts being identified as shown in Figure 3 and were planned as shown in Figure 4. More work will be required next week to complete the recording of these features before work can begin to excavate the ditch in section. The context thought to represent the upper fill of the ditch contained a number of pieces of slag and bloom suggesting iron production taking place nearby.

In Trench 1B Nick and Geoff revealed the same surface as in Trench 1A and discovered a number of pieces of Roman period pottery as shown in Figure 5. This surface of Trench 1B will need to be cleaned and planned next week so that context can be identified and recorded. 

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

Follow the project on our YouTube channel

Attendees: Andrew H. Andrew R, Tim H, Tim L, Jean, Geoff and Keith

The high-resolution earth resistance survey from Day #6 when processed revealed a number of anomalies to the south of the site aligned N-S rather than aligned NW-SE to the Roman Road which was an unexpected result as shown in Figure 1. Give that these features are across the Roman road it is likely that they represent a post-Roman phase of occupation and may have utilised the metalled road surface as a foundation for buildings.

To begin to investigate these new features as well as the Roman road and possible Roman period occupation on the NE side of the Roman road an 8n x 1m trench (2A) was opened across these features as shown in Figure 2. The turves were removed by hand and work began by Andrew H, Tim H and Nigel B to excavate the topsoil and determine the level of the first archaeological context. Sondages were opened across trench 2A to determine the depth of the upper archaeological deposits.

In Trench 1A work continued with Jean, Andrew R and Tim L to remove the pebble/flint deposit to reveal the NW side of the ditch revealed on day #5. This took most of the day, but by late afternoon this was achieved. After a quick clean the ground was sprayed with water and covered to allow final cleaning to take place the following day.