Himley Hall Display

 

 Here's a short video showing our archaeology display at Himley Hall, near Dudley.

 

 

Perton and Dudley History Fairs

 

On Saturday 5th October we managed to exhibit at not one but two shows simultaneously! Our main display was at Perton library while a second was held at Dudley Archives.

Our stands included details of our investigations at Oak House, Albrighton, Wrottesley, Himley and other sites, with reports, photographs and artefacts available for people to examine. In addition to our own stand there were exhibits from many other history related organisations, including local museums, genealogy groups and those representing National Trust properties

Visitors were treated to a diverse range of stands, where they could see military items, old toys, a lace-making display, a selection of locally manufactured coffee mills, details of mining history and projects looking into the distant history of Cannock Chase. To complete the picture, several exhibitors were in period costume or military attire.

Apart from giving visitors plenty to look at, the fairs enabled us to renew old acquaintances and make new friends with like-minded organisations.

Hopefully, you'll find these links to other exhibitor's websites of interest:

Moseley Old Hall

Museum of Cannock Chase

The Chase Through Time Project

Dudley Museum

Midland Ancestors

 

 

Test Pits at Coven

 

 

In pit number 1 a strong linear feature found at around 35cm depth proved to be a channel cut for a tile drain  which may be an old feeder to a herringbone drainage system. As can be seen, the drain is made up from tapered tubes of about 4 inches diameter which are a simple push-fit. Putting a date on these tiles is tricky - they could have been laid at any time between the late 1700s and the mid 20th century.

Our second pit also revealed a dark band at around 40cm although this seemed to 'change course' suggesting it was something other than a drain. A number of stones seemed to be packed together near this change in direction. It's possible that the feature is the remnant of some structure but we had no more time to investigate. Tantalisingly, a single piece of iron tap-slag was found just below the interface between the plough-soil and the natural but it could have been forced down by the plough.

 

A dark band running right to left (under the trowel handle) across pit #2

We hope to dig more test pits in the field before the next crop is sown and a full report into our investigations will be produced and available on our Reports page in due course.

 

Expert Analysis of Oak House Finds

 

Expert analysis of pottery finds from our recent dig at Oak House sits well with the earliest days of the existing house. Potteries Museum archaeologist Jonathon Goodwin examined all the sherds recovered and thought that most were from the late 16th or early 17th century. The house is known to have been in existence in the 1630s so the finds were probably associated with the earliest residents, the Turton family.

A partially re-constructed jug from the museum showing the hole for a bung or tap at bottom right

The objects mostly came from functional wares such as those used in the kitchen, buttery or brewhouse. A couple seemed to be from vessels which had a hole to insert a bung or tap to draw off the contents, while another may have been part of a jar used for storing butter or another foodstuff (image at top of this page). A few very fine fragments were most likely from delicate multi-handled cups having a bowl shaped upper part with a waist below. It's often difficult to visualise the complete vessel from tiny potsherds dug out of the ground but Jonathon was able to show us examples of such containers from the museum's substantial pottery collection.

A fine multi-handled cup from the Potteries Museum collection

We anticipate a return visit to Oak House in the near future to look for traces of an earlier building. A 'behind the scenes' visit to the museum for all members will also be arranged in due course.

Lapworth Museum of Geology

 

We had a great day at the University of Birmingham's Lapworth Museum of Geology on Saturday. We were provided with refreshments on arrival then began our guided tour with curator John Clatworthy.

Starting in the main hall we were told about the history of the building from its beginnings as workshops, through to its use for housing ambulances and finally to its use as a museum.

We looked at some rare fossils from the early periods of life on earth and also the famous ‘teenager’ Allosaurus, with its foot and rib injuries. Next we came to the ‘wall of stones’, which shows examples of many different igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, weighing in at over 3 tons in total.

We moved on to the minerals section which is conveniently arranged in colour order and contains wonderful exhibits from all over the world, including a lead mine in Shropshire. According to John, some of them are exceptionally valuable, with individual specimens worth tens of thousands of pounds. Many fossils and minerals in the collection would have been found by local miners and other workers who would supplement their meagre wages by selling them to mine owners or collectors.

After lunch, we moved into the Museum's private rooms and were shown some stupendous items which are not regularly displayed, including ‘bendy’ flexible sandstone, a sheet of pliable mica and some beautiful jet objects.

 

 

Our visit was concluded with a viewing of many old and unique documents, including original geology maps, top secret WW2 geology maps for the Normandy beach landing sites and workbooks from the 19^th century. 

 

We would like to extend our thanks to John and the Museum for such a wonderful tour. Members of the public can visit the Museum for free and we thoroughly recommend it!

Oak House, West Bromwich

 

Oak House at West Bromwich is a classic 17th century half-timbered house with an excellent visitor centre and gardens. As part of their annual archaeology event at the house, the Council invited us to dig a test pit to search for evidence of earlier occupation and to show members of the public what hands-on archaeology is like. Although the weather was very bad on Tuesday, almost 70 visitors braved the torrential rain to see what we were up to. Over the next two days the rain gradually eased and many more people came to look and talk about our excavation.

We'd been told by staff that during landscaping and construction of the visitor centre, large amounts of rubble had been spread across the site and covered with grass. A pile of rubble left over after that was was simply formed into a neat hillock - like a bronze age burial mound! - and turfed over. The gardeners told us to expect at least half a metre of rubbish before we got to 'the good stuff' and they weren't wrong. Finding a screw top jar and a pair of ladies tights below half a metre was a little disheartening to say the least but we soldiered on in the hope of finding better. By the time we'd finished, our test pit was well over a metre deep but on its western side we were still finding modern and Victorian rubbish right at the bottom.

A dark band representing rubble could still be seen at the bottom of the test pit

It seems the spot we had chosen to dig may have been where rubbish was piled against a bank because the eastern side of the pit gradually became cleaner as we went deeper. This diagram (not to scale)  gives an idea of how our pit cut through the layer of rubble and into the bank:

Notable pottery finds included a few sherds of what seems to be Cistercian ware, several fragments of fine vessels made from Midlands purple ware and a couple of tiny pieces of brown-mottled ware. A number of clay pipe stems and some bowl fragments were recovered as we descended, with the earliest examples perhaps as early as the mid-17th century. While we didn't find any incontrovertible proof of occupation earlier than the standing house, some of the pot-sherds could predate it by several centuries.

Pottery fragments and a very substantial pipe stem

We hope to be digging more test pits at Oak House in the near future, possibly a little closer to the building where we just might find traces of an earlier house.

 

Our test pit was just over the wall  from the formal garden

Albrighton Community Dig

The hot and dry summer of 2018 revealed evidence of previously unknown archaeology across Britain. One such set of 'parch marks' appeared near the crossroads in the middle of Albrighton, Shropshire. These marks and our geophysics survey of the site, suggested a series of pillars and walls which might have been part of the old market hall, pulled down in the early 1800s.

Parch marks visible in the summer of 2018

Over three days in July, with the help of the Albrighton & District Historical Society, we set about digging a series of test pits. On the first day we played host to children from the local primary school who had great fun sieving and cleaning finds and learning about archaeology and history. Over the following two days we were visited by dozens of villagers who were fascinated to see the Society's display and talk to their knowledgeable chairman John Stretton. Many of the children who visited on the first day were so enthralled that they came again on the following days to see what else had been discovered.

We dug three test pits and made interesting discoveries in each. A compacted clay floor and traces of a probable column support were uncovered but the most significant archaeology was discovered in pit #3. After uncovering the remains of a wall foundation, we were thrilled to find a spectacular cobbled surface. This may have been a yard or path associated with the market hall or even part of the old village street, which was part of the Wolverhampton to Holyhead coach road.

A small sondage in the south-west corner of the pit seemed to show that the cobbles had been laid on smaller stone set in clay.

The fantastic cobbled surface uncovered at Albrighton

Finds included pottery sherds and fragments of roof or floor tile from the Medieval era, a Georgian coin, various pieces of glass, pipe stems, a chalk-board stylus (the building was at some point used as a school) and a few pre-industrial era buttons.

A report with photographs can be found on the website of the Shropshire Star and on Albrighton & District Historical Society's Facebook page.

 

East Park Academy Dig

When we team up with local schools to demonstrate archaeology, we inevitably find that the children are absolutely fascinated to learn about what's beneath their feet. So it was with the youngsters at East Park Academy in Stow Heath, who were absolutely thrilled to take part in our dig for their History Week.

 Explaining the basics of archaeology

Sieving the spoil

Sieving the excavated soil is always the most exciting part for children (and adults!) as you never know what might come to light.

As can be seen from the map below, in the early 1800s, the area in which the school now sits was surrounded by iron-smelting furnaces and coal mines. In fact 'Stow Heath Furnace' was literally a stones throw to the east of the site and Chillington Furnace was a little further away on the other side. No surprise then, that blast furnace slag featured amongst our finds but we also found evidence of post-medieval domestic activity, including pottery.

 

This work is based on data provided through www.VisionofBritain.org.uk and uses historical material which is copyright of the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and the University of Portsmouth.

The test pit uncovered lots of building rubble and iron-making slag

One of the things that struck us about our visit was how very well behaved and happy the children were, truly a credit to the staff at East Park, and we were delighted to receive this letter from the Head Teacher: