A beautiful start to the day and new season with scattered clouds and lots of sunshine.
This is a brand new permission that we have researched and we were looking at the possibility of an Iron Age settlement.
The ground was cultivated and the soil was very sandy indeed.
The initial signs didn't bode well though as there were very few ferrous signals and even less lead to be found and no IA/RB pottery whatsoever!
The only conclusion we could come to was that the site was early IA or even late BA.
However, all was not lost, the first run down the field edge produced evidence of medieval activity. A small fragment of pottery and two hammered coins were recovered. In all, four hammered coins, a beautiful enamelled heraldic pendant, a Norman swivel mount and other medieval artefacts supported the view that there was medieval ridge and furrow over the top of a much earlier settlement.
The landowner arrived a couple of hours into the survey. We introduced ourselves as we'd never met up until that point. He was enthusiastic about what we were doing and mentioned that a local detectorist had found "things" in other fields. He commented on the fact that the local guy had never asked to search this particular 55 acre field.
We only had access to one half as the other half had a potato crop in it.
He said we could come back and re-survey when it was re-seeded and that we could do the potato half when it was up and levelled.
I took the opportunity to show him the Flickr site we have and the PAST recoveries that featured on there. He was suitably impressed.
After 2pm the heat was too intense and the finds had evaporated so we decided to call it a day.
We were in the vicinity of another new permission we acquired at the same time as the above location so we elected to call in to show our faces.
He was out combining so was a tad busy. We spoke to someone that appeared to be in charge there and asked him to mention that we had called in and would visit the new site next weekend.
This site is totally different to the one above as we think there is a Romano-British settlement there, perhaps a villa? Unfortunately, the field is one and a quarter miles in length!
We left to make the short journey home (sic) and got into a tight squeeze with another 4x4 coming in the opposite direction.
As we passed very slowly it appeared as though the driver was going to say something. We both stopped at the same time and reversed until we we alongside each other.
He wound the window down and asked us for directions to another farm that were combining at the time. We didn't know where this was and apologised saying we weren't from around there. He laughed and said "I thought not with those accents". He asked what we were doing as we all our PAST polo shirts on, so we told him. He was gobsmacked as he thought we were MARQUEE erectors!!! We all laughed and then he dropped a bombshell. He said that his cousin had a farm and would ask him if we could survey there! He took our details and said he would be in touch. After that, we unblocked the road and bid our farewells.
We managed a luxury tea at Burger King and reflected on the day we had.
It was certainly a day of ups and downs!
Looking forward to our next outing next weekend.
This is a brand new permission that we have researched and we were looking at the possibility of an Iron Age settlement.
The ground was cultivated and the soil was very sandy indeed.
The initial signs didn't bode well though as there were very few ferrous signals and even less lead to be found and no IA/RB pottery whatsoever!
The only conclusion we could come to was that the site was early IA or even late BA.
However, all was not lost, the first run down the field edge produced evidence of medieval activity. A small fragment of pottery and two hammered coins were recovered. In all, four hammered coins, a beautiful enamelled heraldic pendant, a Norman swivel mount and other medieval artefacts supported the view that there was medieval ridge and furrow over the top of a much earlier settlement.
The landowner arrived a couple of hours into the survey. We introduced ourselves as we'd never met up until that point. He was enthusiastic about what we were doing and mentioned that a local detectorist had found "things" in other fields. He commented on the fact that the local guy had never asked to search this particular 55 acre field.
We only had access to one half as the other half had a potato crop in it.
He said we could come back and re-survey when it was re-seeded and that we could do the potato half when it was up and levelled.
I took the opportunity to show him the Flickr site we have and the PAST recoveries that featured on there. He was suitably impressed.
After 2pm the heat was too intense and the finds had evaporated so we decided to call it a day.
We were in the vicinity of another new permission we acquired at the same time as the above location so we elected to call in to show our faces.
He was out combining so was a tad busy. We spoke to someone that appeared to be in charge there and asked him to mention that we had called in and would visit the new site next weekend.
This site is totally different to the one above as we think there is a Romano-British settlement there, perhaps a villa? Unfortunately, the field is one and a quarter miles in length!
We left to make the short journey home (sic) and got into a tight squeeze with another 4x4 coming in the opposite direction.
As we passed very slowly it appeared as though the driver was going to say something. We both stopped at the same time and reversed until we we alongside each other.
He wound the window down and asked us for directions to another farm that were combining at the time. We didn't know where this was and apologised saying we weren't from around there. He laughed and said "I thought not with those accents". He asked what we were doing as we all our PAST polo shirts on, so we told him. He was gobsmacked as he thought we were MARQUEE erectors!!! We all laughed and then he dropped a bombshell. He said that his cousin had a farm and would ask him if we could survey there! He took our details and said he would be in touch. After that, we unblocked the road and bid our farewells.
We managed a luxury tea at Burger King and reflected on the day we had.
It was certainly a day of ups and downs!
Looking forward to our next outing next weekend.
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