| More finds from Wimpole excavations |
| 1/9/2023 |
Our finds investigation has recently been concerned with the large number of oyster shells recovered from a number of trenches, but especially Trench 5. In the black layer nearly 150 upper oyster shells were recovered from one bag alone, plus numbers of the lower shell.
Some interesting shells are like the one shown here in the photograph - it shows two juvenile shells attached to the upper of a mature oyster. According to work by Jessica Winder in 2011 this is not that unusual. Using her guide to processing oyster shells we will attempt to analyse these finds. | |  |
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| Another interesting find from Wimpole |
| 23/08/2023 |
There is an interesting situation with these finds shown in the upper photograph which are two feet from a medieval pipkin like the one shown in the lower photograph. However, the foot on the left was found on the surface of a flowerbed while the one on the right was found over a metre deep in the "black" hole. The surface find was undamaged while the deep find had been heated enough to cause the glaze to bubble in places. How did they come to be so separated?
The finds are both in late medieval Tudor Green ware, a type that has been dated to the period 1380 - 1600AD - so just what we would expect for the demolition of the old moated manor house. | |  |
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| Another old find from the dark pit |
| 9/07/2023 |
| This bunghole cistern in a dark black sandy fabric probably dates to the 15th C or later. We found a similar vessel in our dig at the Ickleton Abbey site but there we found that it had a decorative fluting around the bung hole unlike the plain hole seen here. The vessel seen here has a lot of concretion on it which suggests that it had been buried for some considerable time. | |  |
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| This photograph shows a complete bunghole cistern dating to the same period in the late medieval period. | |  |
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| The end of a successful excavation at Wimpole Hall |
| 29/07/2023 |
Our excavations in the parterre gardens at Wimpole Hall have finished and achieved all our objectives. The two wall we had previously uncovered in the field beyond the parterre wall do indeed go towards the house, although we cannot confirm that they abut the house itself. Our trench to seek the moat only produced a brick drainage channel, using unmortared bricks, heading east-west. However one of the trenches to the west and near the house produced a deep pit which may be part of the moat. Over 1 metre down was a burnt layer containing much broken pottery, lots of oyster shells and animal bones amongst others. The star find was a medieval colander, shown in the photograph.
The sides and rim are missing but we have 90+ percent of the base, including the three legs that supported it. The top of the base has a yellowy brown glaze while the underside is red earthenware. The drainage holes are about 0.25 inches in diameter while the surviving base is about 7 inches in diameter.
There were more interesting finds we will cover later after processing them. | |  |
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| Reminder about the upcoming excavation at Wimpole |
| 8/07/2023 |
This is to remind members that our 2023 excavation takes place over the 20th - 25th July at Wimpole. The parterre garden to the north of the Hall is due to be re-modelled and so we have a rare opportunity to excavate near the house.
Our aim is to see whether the two north-south walls we uncovered when we excavated the fountain carry on beyond the garden wall and join up with the building. Also there is a hope that we may be able to find the moat of the original manor house, which we again had some hints of when we excavated the fountain site.
So far we have laid out two east-west baselines at either side of the parterre and a central north-south baseline which is aligned with the centre of the house door and the iron garden gate. We have inserted a temporary bench mark which we hope to use the OS benchmark on the church to give us an accurate height for the site
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| More finds from Haydon's Hole |
| 24/04/2023 |
This must be the handle field - we have now found over a dozen, including the substantial medieval one shown in the photograph. The finds in the field near the M11 covered the full range - the piece of a Samian base, through various medieval red and slipwares to stonewares to Blue and White transfer ware to white glazed ware. The worked flints remain elusive but the example shown appears to have several micro flakes removed.
We are coming to the end of the field walking season there are opportunities to excavate test pits in various places. | |  |
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| Another .50-caliber shell from Ickleton |
| 19/04/2023 |
By coincidence a member Jane left the field at Ickleton and picked up another .50-caliber shell casing, This one had markings of L C and 43 on its headstock, as shown in the photograph. This shell had definitely been fired, with no percussion cap left and no cordite charge in the casing. The photograph shows the casing alongside a complete .50-caliber bullet and the much smaller .303 bullet used by Royal Airforce, especially in the early days.
The 43 letters indicate the year, 1943, and LC the manufacturing site. This was Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP) which is a 3,935-acre (15.92km2) U.S. government-owned facility in northeastern Independence, Missouri operated by Northrop Grumman Innovative Systems. It was established by Remington Arms in 1941 to manufacture and test small caliber ammunition for the U.S. Army. The facility has remained in continuous operation except for one 5-year period following World War II. By July 2007, the plant was producing nearly 1.4 billion rounds of ammunition per year. LCAAP is the single largest producer of small arms ammunition for the United States Armed Forces. | |  |
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| Another WWII find |
| 16/04/2023 |
Those who remember the Orwell 20mm cannon shell can now add the Ickleton .50- caliber machine gun shell to the list. The photograph shows the battered remains of the find against a complete .50-caliber shell. These type of shells were used by the American Airforce during WWII in both their fighter and bomber planes.
The insert shows the head markings - S and L plus 4 and 3. This discloses that the shell was made in St Louis, Missouri in 1943. St. Louis was the location of the world's largest production plant for .30-caliber and .50-caliber ammunition for rifles and machine guns. The St. Louis Ordnance Plant began production on December 16, 1941, just 9 days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. During World War II, the plant was in operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with a workforce that was half women. At peak production in the summer of 1943, 35,000 people worked at the plant at producing 250 million cartridges a month. | |  |
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What is interesting is that the shell had not been fired, there was no mark on the percussion cap and it contained the original cordite explosive. The cordite pieces are shown in this photograph.
The field is sufficiently close to Duxford for this to be the base for the plane that ejected this shell. | |  |
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| Even further up the hill at Haydon's Hole |
| 2/4/2023 |
We now know the field's name but the hill still seems to get bigger as we walk it. The photograph shows a summary of the finds, which are much the same as previous weekends. Lots of post medieval - glazed redwares, Staff combed ware, white glazed, stoneware and clay pipe stems. The interesting thing is the amount of Metropolitan slipped ware in this part of the field. There is also an amount of medieval wares, but especially interesting is the number of handles we found here. After Easter we hopefully will be back again and hope to finish the field. It is due to be drilled which may prevent this happening - still the field will still be here in the future.
HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OUR MEMBERS AND FOLLOWERS | |  |
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| More from up the hill |
| 19/3/2023 |
This is a big field!! We did not finish it but had over 70 bags of finds. The pattern is the same, as the photograph shows. This time we had two blades and a burnt flint plus the usual primary flakes. There is also what may be a core, shown in the photo.
The post med finds were a lot more varied - besides the inevitable glazed red earthenware, we had some Staffs slipped ware, blue and white transfer ware. The interesting thing was the amount of probable medieval sandy ware - the handle scribed with parallel lines and the possible trivet (flat plate with a foot) are both quite unusual.
We are taking a weekend off before we return to this field and hope to finish it. | |  |
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| Further up the hill at Ickleton |
| 12/3/2023 |
| As we move further up the high ground north of Grange Road at Ickleton so the masses of flint carry on. The photograph shows just a few of the primary flakes recovered on Sunday plus the post medieval pottery. We have recovered very few worked or burnt flints on our field walking here so it does not suggest a settlement, just a work site preparing flakes for further processing elsewhere. The pottery is mostly glazed red sandy wares. We will return next weekend to finish off this field. | |  |
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| Finishing off the Grange Road north field at Ickleton |
| 5/3/2023 |
The last piece of the field next door to the trial crops produced a continuation of the finds recovered previously. As the photograph shows, predominantly Glazed Redwares (including a piece of Metropolitan ware) but some struck flint and a particularly good example of a burnt flint. There is also a number of pieces of what appear to be medieval pot - including the nice piece of red sandy ware with a slashed decoration.
Our next visit is further north up the hill to see what that produces. | |  |
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| Unusual find on the hill at Ickleton Grange Road |
| 26/2/2023 |
| We rarely find organic matter lying on the ground but this weekend we found this piece of leather. It is unusual to look at - with one line of very closely spaced holes at the edge and another row of holes wider spaced above them. Quite what it comes from is unclear - whether it is part of a shoe or boot or perhaps some leather harness or belt. Closer examination may determine what it is but how to conserve it is another matter. | |  |
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| Up the hill at Grange Road, Ickleton |
| 26/2/2023 |
On a lovely day with excellent ground conditions it was up the hill from the previous week's flat land. The soil varied from the silty brown at the bottom of the hill to quite chalky soil at the top.
The photograph shows a selection of what we found - mostly glazed redwares (a few rims) but some interesting flints this time. There was a nice blade plus some primary flakes and a flint with a notch (natural or otherwise?). Also a small amount of rough sandy ware which could be medieval and some Victorian clay pipe stem. | |  |
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| A CALL FOR ANY INTERESTING FIELDS IN THE CAMBRIDGE AREA |
| 21/02/2023 |
As we get near to the end of the winter/spring field walking season, we have walked most of our available fields or the crop has become too well advanced to permit field walking. Therefore we need some suitable fields in the Cambridge area to carry on walking. If any member knows of any fields in a suitable state to walk please let us know.
We need a field either just prepared for sowing or a field where the crop is developing but does not cover the surface. Remember we must always obtain the land owners permission before we go on to any field. |
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| An interesting day at Ickleton near Grange Road |
| 19/02/2023 |
The biggest turnout of walkers, including new members, for some time enjoyed the lovely weather conditions at Ickleton. The ground conditions were excellent, with the rain-washed surface showing the surface material quite clearly. The finds themselves were a total mixture - from prehistoric flints via Roman tegula tile to medieval pot and finally post medieval pot and building materials.
The photograph shows the best find, a leaf shaped blade which looks to be too large for an arrowhead but maybe would be a spear point. The tegula may not be surprising considering that the site of Great Chesterford Roman town can be seen from the field. | |  |
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| Finishing off the linseed field at Ickleton |
| 12/02/2023 |
Returned to the field in overcast conditions which was a benefit as without the low-angle sun visibility of the ground was good. However, despite the masses of flint and chalk, there were few flint finds made, including a first burnt flint. The photograph shows the typical post medieval finds, some of the flints and a few pieces that look quite Roman in date. The oyster shell is also a first find of this type here.
The survey really does not indicate any settlement evidence, just a typical field scatter.
On to another Ickleton field down the hill this coming Sunday - another large field. | |  |
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| To the linseed field at Ickleton |
| 5/02/2023 |
After the stickiness of Eltisley it was a welcome relief to be back on the chalk soils at Ickleton on a field that had been sown with linseed. The weather was perfect but the crop had grown sufficiently to make ground visibility poor in some places. The surface was strewn with flint and chalk lumps so we were expecting a harvest of worked flint.
Not so, a disappointing return of worked flint or burnt flint as the photograph shows. Yet again the finds were mostly post medieval - GRE, green and white ware plus a piece of Metropolitan ware and a clay pipe. There were several pieces of red sandy ware that may be medieval in date. We hope to complete the field this coming weekend. | |  |
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