| 2018 AGM |
The AGM on 4th April 2018 resolved to retain subscriptions for 2018/19 at £12 for individual membership and £18 for families. Officers and committee remain unchanged, with the addition of co-opted members, Bill and June Woodfield.
We are 40 this year! We are planning celebratory events. |
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| Happy Christmas and a successful New Year |
| It's that time of the year again when we wish all our members and associates all the seasons best wishes and look forward to another successful field walking year. Merry Christmas. | |  |
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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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| Side Hill still not producing |
| 18/11/18 |
Another pleasant day out on the fields of Childerley. Weather fine, ground visibility OK (bit more growth than last weekend) but......not many finds. No more medieval, just the things shown in the photo. Very much post-medieval apart from the not very special flint.
However, we hope to be going out to Histon next weekend on fields we last walked many years ago. This is to help our friends at HIAG to continue their search for the village's past. | |  |
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| Back at Childerley Estate near Knapwell |
| 11/11/2018 |
| Our return to Childerley was greeted by strong winds, but luckily of the mild temperature. In the mostly sunny conditions, the ground was surprisingly dryish and ground visibility good. However, finds were in short supply, lots of broken flint, field drain and broken brick but little pottery. The photograph shows most of what we found, including possible medieval rim and a handle, together with a possible worked flint. Not much for a morning's work!! | |  |
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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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| The finds keep coming at Clopton |
| 4/11/2018 |
An overcast day but a good walking crew. We had another productive day with nearly 100 finds bags collected, the most on one day for quite a long time. The photograph shows just a representative sample of the material being found. We have handles and rims in a variety of material - lots of shell tempered pieces in orange to brown to grey fabrics, black and red sandy wares and some lovely pieces like the Brill/Boarstall ware with its mottled glaze and impressed circular design.
We have reached a point nearly 140 metres west from the scheduled site boundary and still there are finds turning up, so who knows where it will drop off. This spread to the west was described in a paper by John Alexander (our previous President) who excavated and field walked here in the early 1960's.
Unfortunately the field is now treated and unavailable for further walking, so we can look forward to Autumn 2019 for a return visit. | |  |
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| Fruitful day at Clopton |
| 28/10/2018 |
This was a good day field walking near the Clopton deserted medieval village site. In good, if a little windy and cool, conditions the group found a good selection of medieval pottery, perhaps also some Roman wares. A small amount of post-med ware was also present. However, the surprise was the amount of flint around, both cores and tools. A selection of the finds is shown in the photograph. The star piece in the centre is part of a large handle in redware with a thumbed decoration.
We are returning this coming weekend to see what else turns up. | |  |
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| Small returns at Gow Leys |
| 21/10/2018 |
| The weather was perfect, the ground was dry, finds visibility was excellent - the only thing missing was the finds themselves. The photo shows the total number of pottery finds found in the complete field, i.e. 3 pieces of post-med pottery (plus some field drain and broken brick). Although we know that the Childerley fields are not deep ploughed any more hence finds could be below the ploughsoil depth, this suggests no settlement of any period was present in this area. | |  |
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| More promise in our second field at Comberton |
| 7/10/2018 |
In pretty perfect walking conditions, ground washed by rain the day before, we tackled another Historic England target. As the photo shows, there was a quantity of Roman pottery in one area of the field. Enough to suggest a building but not enough to suggest a settlement.
Finds included a piece of Samian (the smallest piece in the photo), a possible piece of mortaria and several black/dark grey rims. The oyster shell is also often a Roman period find. The colour-coat dog bowl rim may be Oxford ware.
The coming weekend may produce more interesting finds, so we will wait and see what it produces. | |  |
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| First field walking of the autumn |
| 30/9/2018 |
The site suggested by Historic England produced a real mixed bag. The walking conditions were ideal, a dry and harrowed surface with good visibility. There were a few Iron Age-looking sherds, a piece of Roman flue tile but lots of post med stoneware and glazed redwares, as shown in the photograph.
This is not enough to suggest a big Iron Age/Roman site like those on the Childerley Estate. It may be that the underlying site revealed by the aerial photos is not being disturbed by ploughing, much like the Lamp Hill site at Wimpole that did not produce lots of finds but the current excavation has. | |  |
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| Interesting piece of Iron Age? shell tempered rim with a criss-cross "non-slip" surface to the underside of the everted rim. | |  |
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| Once a field walker, always a field walker! |
| Recently, while on holiday, we were walking on a path across a field covered in thousands of pieces of flint. I remarked "I really should be looking for worked flint in this lot". Barely 2 minutes later this lovely thumbnail scraper caught my eye. However, I did not have the willpower to examine the other myriad pieces in case a nice arrowhead appeared. Once you become a field walker it is very hard to walk anywhere without looking down at the ground, but that way you miss the beautiful Dorset coastal views (so I am told!). | |  |
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