| AGM 2021 |
| 2nd June |
The AGM, held via Zoom, retained subscriptions at £12 for individuals, £18 for families. Committee members remain as before, with the addition of Susanne Thompson, John Waterhouse having taken on the role of treasurer following the sad death of Dudley Pusey in 2019.
The AGM resolved to amend the Group's constitution to restrict membership to those aged 18 or over. The amended constitution and other affected documents will be available on the website shortly. Members may bring their under-18 children to Group activities as long as they remain responsible for them. |
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| After the peat lands, back to the clays |
| 28/11/2021 |
We returned to Eltisley, after our brief visit to the Fens, in sunny conditions but with a strong cold wind for company. After our first visit to the field where we found very little, mostly glazed redwares, we were hoping for better this time.
Not very different though, a few more bags but a lot of post med stuff. However, across the ridge in the centre of the field a scatter of shell tempered wares of indeterminate age and probable medieval unglazed wares came to light. Not enough to suggest settlement but interesting nonetheless. The photograph summarises the finds. Perhaps a metal detecting scan might be useful to try. | |  |
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| Happy days in the Fens near Upware |
| 21/11/2021 |
This past weekend members were helping the National Trust to carry out a community event in the Fens near Upware. Together with Oxford Archaeology East we were the experts showing the visitors how to carry out a field walking survey.
We had an enjoyable time with a grey day, a sunny day with short showers (and rainbows as seen in the photo) together with a raw wind. Typical Fen weather for this time of year.
The idea was to walk a peat field and hopefully find some prehistoric flints, just like we did at Oily Hall many years ago. However a quick coring study showed the peat was still quite deep and that ploughing had not reached into the old surface layers. | |  |
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However, apart from copious quantities of onions, there were few finds. There were a few worked flints, as shown in the photo, and some burnt flint as well. Apart from an odd piece of post med pot there was little else on the field. There were some examples of more exotic flints provided by OAE which were used to show people what they might find in other places.
Apart from the raw wind which some people were not happy with, it was a good exercise and the visitors appeared to find it interesting and informative. Perhaps in 5 years or so the peat will have been lowered sufficiently to provide more interesting finds and we hope to be there.
(Photos courtesy of OAE) | |  |
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| Final day at Thornberry Farm |
| 7/11/2021 |
After missing the previous weekend due to the heavy rain and strong winds, it was back to Thornberry Farm and with an excellent turnout of walkers we managed to complete our field walking here.
The finds were again a real mixture, as the photo shows, with all periods represented. On the right in the photo were the Romans, with a piece of Nene Valley rim and a mortaria rim, The red sandy wares and the shell tempered wares could be of that period or into the medieval. The post medieval was also represented with the blue and white ware, the salt glazed handle and brown slipware. It is interesting that the Roman finds all came from the eastern side of Thornberry. Finally, considering the amount of flints lying around, we found very few worked flint, in this case just a small blade.
Moving on, we hope to be on a new site at Eltisley next weekend, weather permitting of course. | |  |
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| Another day of slim pickings |
| 24/10/2021 |
Out at Thornberry Farm again but the results were thin indeed. Mostly post-medieval wares, as seen in the photograph, but with the occasional medieval-looking ware like the large rim and the battered greyware piece. Also another broken whetstone to add to our collection and plenty of broken tile/brick in parts. It is interesting that the field called Priest's Path West becomes less stony and more silty as you go east across it.
We will return this coming weekend to see if the rest of Priest's Field East produces any surprises, remembering the odd piece of Roman pottery from previous walking.
Remember it's the end of Summertime this Sunday. | |  |
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| Correction to the mystery wall and ditch |
| 21/10/2021 |
Previously we mentioned the mystery wall and the dredged ditch at Thornberry Farm where there was a suggestion it was waste from nearby cottages. The aforementioned ditch and bank of rubbish are seen in the photograph.
The other photograph show the wall hidden behind ivy and shrubbery. However an examination of the 1902 OS map of the area shows that the wall is the boundary of the North Lodge which stood here. Quite a few meters are still standing and there are substantial bits running alongside the road. So mystery probably solved and it was the Lodge's inhabitants who threw their rubbish over the garden wall. | |  |
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| Clay pipe with meaning |
| 21/10/2021 |
While walking on the Allotment Field at Wimpole we recovered a number of pieces of clay pipe, including the part bowl shown in the top photograph. It has a relief image of a horseshoe on it. Coincidentally, a similar pipe was photographed in the Folk Museum here in Cambridge, as shown in the lower photograph.
This complete pipe is a cutty pipe, probably of 19th or early 20th C date. It has the horseshoe decoration plus the word ASCOT stamped in the stem. This could suggest an association with horse racing and the Ascot race course but this is not necessarily the case.
The horseshoe is often used as a symbol for good luck - think weddings - but in this case it would mean something else more sinister. The horseshoe for luck has its points facing upwards - this is due to the legend that says this looks like a cup which holds all your good fortune. Turn the horseshoe the other way, as in the clay pipe, and it means all your good luck will run out of the cup and you are only left with bad luck. Exactly what symbolism this pipe means is unclear, so either for a racing fan or wishing someone bad luck at a race meeting! | |  |
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| More field walking at Thornberry Farm |
| 14/10/2021 |
Another day of strange weather - starts quite pleasant and then rains quite a lot for 5 minutes then turns sunny again. A bumper number of walkers today so we finished our target field easily. The photograph shows the typical finds of the day.
A little bit of probable medieval stuff on the right but the majority of the material was post medieval as shown on the left. There was lots of stoneware and the strange piece of Staffordshire slipware which looked like the flat base of a large platter. There were amounts of glazed redware and Blue & White transfer printed wares. In addition there were masses of small bits of broken bricks and tiles. All very predictable.
However, at the north end of the field is a decorative wall covered in ivy and a ditch - the latter having been recently cleared and the waste piled on the bank. This spoil contained masses of post medieval pottery, glass bottles and other domestic waste. There used to be cottages the other side of the wall and they obviously chucked their rubbish over the wall and into the ditch.
Weather permitting we will return here to finish off the other fields. | |  |
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| Further field walking at Thornberry Farm |
| 10/10/2021 |
After a limited selection of finds previously, our return to another field at Thornberry produced a wide range of finds from quite different periods. As the phot shows we had everything from Roman (a Nene Valley base and some Samian) on the right to post medieval (blue and white transfer ware and stoneware) on the left with coarse sand tempered ware, probably medieval, in the centre. The field had a crop of bean regrowth but the ground visibility was OK. A surprise was the large horizontal handle, probably from a meat dish or platter, in a glazed redware, shown far left. The heavy drizzle just before we were to walk nearly put us off but in the end it became a nice day.
We will be back on another field there, hopefully this coming Sunday. | |  |
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| Aerial survey in action |
| 3/10/2021 |
Flightradar24 is a computer program that shows the flight track of aircraft in the UK. Mostly it shows point A to point B flights or circling around airports but just occasionally you see something more interesting. The picture shows a plot from this weekend which obviously represents an aircraft carrying out an aerial survey of some description. The area covered stretches from Bedford to Newmarket and from Warboys to Sawston.
Investigating further, the aircraft involved belongs to DEA Aviation Ltd based at Gamston airport. Their website does indicate that they carry out aerial survey for all sorts of purposes. Whether this flight was a digital photographic survey or a Lidar survey it is not possible to say. There was a lot of cloud around at 13,000 feet where the plane was, suggesting it may not have been an optical survey.
Meanwhile on the ground, the group has field walked a field on the Childerley Estate and another at Thornberry Farm on the Wimpole Estate. Finds have been sparse but more work at Thornberry may produce something interesting. | |  |
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| Field walking again, at last |
| 12/09/2021 |
This weekend past we had the opportunity of doing some field walking on the Wimpole Estate, work associated with the on-going tree-planting exercise. Walking on the rough ploughed field made one's legs ache - how quickly one loses your fitness!!
The photograph shows a selection of the finds - mostly post-medieval. The neck of a stoneware cider demijohn, various coloured transfer printed wares and a stoneware ink bottle. Also clay pipes, one bowl with a horseshoe symbol and a stem with initials (TC or perhaps TO - more investigation required). However, there were also a number of very abraded medieval redware fragments plus a very unusual find on the right of the photo - the carved bone. This has a tapered section with a series of concentric lines around the circumference - could it be a bung. More investigation required here. Still it was good to see so many people out enjoying themselves, we look forward to the next opportunity. | |  |
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| A busy day at the Ickleton excavation |
| 26/08/2021 |
| As the photograph shows, it was a busy day at our Ickleton dig. Work continues apace, with the western end of the trench now confirmed as being down to the natural gravel base. Elsewhere, we are still removing successive layers of cobbles and discovered another potential post hole, smaller than our first one. In the meantime the sections of the western end have been photographed and drawn. This leaves us with the final work on the eastern end and then lots of drawing of sections and a plan. Hopefully we might finish by Saturday!! | |  |
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| Finds processing of Ickleton finds 2021 |
| 12/08/2021 |
Finds processing of pottery finds from Ickleton have revealed a wide range of types, from shell tempered early material, through early medieval glazed wares and some Tudor green glazed material.
There were many pieces of fire-blackened pottery of a thin wall and unglazed. Some of the rims have angled slashed decoration on a band of raised material while others have finger impressions on the shoulder of the pot. The amount of pottery began to diminish the further down the sequence we went so our next excavation work at the end of August may well be down to natural relatively quickly. | |  |
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| Excavation at Ickleton Abbey Farm |
| 05/08/2021 |
| We finished our planned excavation in July without completing the tasks we had set ourselves therefore we intend to return there on Monday 23rd August and hope to finish by Sunday 29th August. We have removed most of the flint surface and hope to get down to the natural levels in this period. |
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| Planned excavation at Ickleton Abbey Farm is underway |
| 21/7/2021 |
| After four days of working in the sweltering heat at Ickleton, we are slowly making progress through the flint layers. The photo shows some lava quernstone pieces which came out today, four pieces in total. We continue to find pieces of tile, occasional nails, bones and some medieval pottery - in other words a repeat of last year. We have uncovered a post hole or pit which contained a piece of clay pipe stem with a 8/64ths inch diameter hole. This could suggest a mid 17th C date but also post - 1800 according to Flood. The burnished surface could suggest the latter date period. | |  |
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| Happy days in the Fens near Upware |
| 21/11/2021 |
This past weekend members were helping the National Trust to carry out a community event in the Fens near Upware. Together with Oxford Archaeology East we were the experts showing the visitors how to carry out a field walking survey.
We had an enjoyable time with a grey day, a sunny day with short showers (and rainbows as seen in the photo) together with a raw wind. Typical Fen weather for this time of year.
The idea was to walk a peat field and hopefully find some prehistoric flints, just like we did at Oily Hall many years ago. However a quick coring study showed the peat was still quite deep and that ploughing had not reached into the old surface layers. | | |
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