| Thin pickings at Childerley |
| 20/1/2019 |
It was a lovely sunny day with a little ground frost but good ground visibility - but few finds, mostly broken 20th C tile. A total of 3 pottery finds was slim reward for our efforts.
However, we do find plenty of fossils on the Childerley fields so we do get to practise our geology skills. The fossil on the left of the photograph is a fossil sponge found on Sunday which looks like a small cannon ball. However, the fossil on the right is also a fossil sponge but the broken edge allows you to see the actual sponge within it. Finds of ammonites, belemnites, gryphaea (oysters) are also quite common, so when the archaeology is not so exciting there is plenty of geology to keep you on your toes. | |  |
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| Back to the flat lands of Childerley |
| 13/1/2019 |
| A total contrast to last week - no hills, no rough ploughed surface. This time a flat surface with a growing crop but good surface visibility. We were finishing off a field we had part walked all the way back in Feb 2015. There were very few pottery finds, mostly post-med but two (see photograph) may be medieval. The rest was a lot of modern broken tile and brick. No settlement here, although in the east corner we had walked in 2015 there were some medieval finds that could be associated with the deserted village of Little Childerley that lies just over the hedge from our field. | |  |
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| Back to the hills of Wimpole |
| 6/1/2019 |
This weekend we returned to field walking at Wimpole for the first time in several years. Plantation field was rough ploughed and hilly (at least by Cambridge standards!!!) so the walking was quite hard - many thanks to those who stayed behind to help pick up the finds.
As the photo shows it was largely a post-med collection - white ware, stone ware, red glazed wares and clay pipes. There were some other pieces that may be medieval or earlier and a possible worked flint. The finds were thinly scattered all over the field, so no settlement here. | |  |
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| Recognition of our efforts |
| 21/12/2018 |
It is always nice to get some recognition for our efforts in putting Cambridgeshire archaeology on the map. An Historic England research project has produced a report called the National Archaeological Identification Survey: South West Cambridgeshire. Aerial Investigation & Mapping Report by David Knight, Jonathan Last, Sally Evans and Matthew Oakey. We contributed information to this report about the Roman sites at Childerley, Arrington and, too late for the report, Comberton.
It is good to see the group specifically named in the Acknowledgements for having contributed to the information used in the report. In the Autumn 2019 we hope to complete the Comberton work and tackle more of the potential targets on the Historic England interpretation map. | |  |
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| Last weekend walk of 2018 |
| 16/12/2018 |
Another fine day after horrendous winds and some rain saw us finish the year at Histon. In somewhat muddy conditions and with a low sun making visibility difficult, it was more of the same finds. More stainless steel cutlery and cut bone, together with lots of brick and tile, formed the largest quantity. However, the medieval (or perhaps Roman) pottery, together with plenty of post-medieval wares, still occurs enough to keep us interested.
Having finished the field in time for a Christmas break, we will re-assemble at Wimpole on January 6th 2019 to tackle Rectory Farm. See you there. | |  |
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| Pottery and cutlery reign supreme |
| 9/12/2018 |
A new field at Histon but still the post-med pottery and (college?) cutlery dominate the finds. The photograph shows just some of the post-med pot but also the small piece of medieval pot and part of a nice flint blade. The farmer has confirmed that pig swill from the colleges was deposited on the land in the past, hence the collection of spoons, forks, knives, ladle and cake slice we have found. One wonders what the replacement cost must have been for the college (or colleges) concerned!
We will have our final 2018 walk this coming weekend as we finish off the fields we have started. The new year will probably start with a trip to Wimpole - so away from the nice peaty soils and back to the heavy clays again. | |  |
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| Down the "cliff edge"at Histon |
| 30/11/2018 |
This weekend we walked along the top of the "cliff edge" at Histon before "plunging down the hill" onto the fen soils. Going from the 10m level down to around 5m might not sound much but walking up this "hill" in the sticky soil was quite tiring.
However, there was a difference compared to the previous weekend, in that there was less early pottery here. The photograph shows how much more post-med pottery was recovered. The amount of cutlery found did not diminish, in fact it was more common than the week before except we still have not found a single knife. There were no university college links to the unmarked cutlery. | |  |
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| New site, new finds |
| 25/11/2018 |
| We moved on to literally the fen edge, a totally different experience compared to the Childerley clays. This was a partial re-walk of a site walked some years ago and produced a wide range of material. We had possible Iron Age pot, Roman mortaria, medieval glazed wares and post-med stoneware - to name but a few. In the past this area has produced pottery and cutlery from the university colleges - no pot this time but still some cutlery which may relate to the university but does not have name to identify which college. | |  |
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| Publications concerning CAFG |
| 5/11/2018 |
The group gets a mention in 2 new publications.
In Current Archaeology we have the inside back page (which is devoted to highlighting various local groups) in the latest December issue (as shown in the photograph).
The second is in an article by Bill Franklin in the latest PCAS Vol CVII for 2018, pages 107 - 118. This studies a document relating to Wimpole that came to light as part of the group researches into the estate. | |  |
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