Projects
Below is a list of some of the projects I have been involved in.
A Conservation Management Plan of Turret Castle.
Turret Castle, a motte and bailey within the parish of Huntington (Hantinetune in 1086 at the time of the Domesday Survey meaning Huntsmen’s Estate; Copplestone-Crow, 1989) covers an area of 1.16 hectares.
As part of a Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement, Natural England commissioned Community Heritage and Archaeology Consultancy in October 2013 to produce a Conservation Management Plan in order to highlight management issues concerning the historic monument of Turret Castle and, where appropriate, outline proposals for its future management.
Paved With Living Colour
A Heritage Lottery Fund project led by Herefordshire Council's Archive Service engaged with the little known heritage of William Godwin and Son, the decorative floor tile manufacturers based at Lugwardine and Withington, Herefordshire. The firm operated from 1860 - 1912 and produced tiles for use in churches, secular public buildings and homes in Herefordshire and across the United Kingdom.
The aim of the programme was to explore the local impact of this key industry and the riches it produced. It will include a series of talks, guided walks, education sessions, arts workshops and research. As part of the Paved With Living Colour project between September and November 2013, the Community Heritage and Archaeology Consultancy was employed to lead a community archaeological investigation of the tile manufacturing site in Lugwardine which included a desk-based assessment, geophysical survey and trial excavation of industrial features identified.
The Dinedor Origins Project.
The Dinedor Origins Project was established in October 2012 by the Dinedor Heritage Group after receiving a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The primary aims of the project were to disseminate to the public the results of earlier archaeological investigations within the parish of Dinedor carried out as a result of development within the Rotherwas Enterprise Zone.
This documentary research was accompanied by further landscape archaeological investigations centred upon the medieval origins of the parish. The Dinedor Heritage Group employed Herefordshire Council's Archaeology Service and more recently the Community Heritage and Archaeology Consultancy to guide the group through the application phase to the fulfilment of the archaeological aspect that included desk-based assessment, archival research, community landscape survey, community geophysical analysis and community excavation.
Visit the Dinedor Heritage Group and find out more about The Dinedor Origins Project at: The Dinedor Heritage Group
Herefordshire in the Great War.
As part of the "Herefordshire in the Great War: Telling the story 1914-18" project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and led by Herefordshire Councils Libraries Service has employed the Community Heritage and Archaeology Service to engage with volunteers from across the county of Herefordshire in order to investigate and enhance the Historic Environment Record.
The aim is to improve our understanding and raise awareness of the extent to which monuments relating to the actions of the Great War survive across the county. These might include military training areas, hospitals, barracks or munitions factories which up until now have not been recognised.
To find out more about the project visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/herefordshirehistory
The Roman Families Project.
The Roman Families Project is an archaeological community project funded by the MOD Armed Forces Community Project and managed by Herefordshire Council’s Archaeology Department. As part of the project, I have been seconded to Herefordshire Council to both manage the investigations and co-ordinate community engagement. The aim of the project is to involve the local and armed forces community as well as schools and the local sixth form college in the investigation of a little known Roman site within the village of Credenhill, Herefordshire.
The following files present the weekly blog summerising the results of the excavation carried out in July 2014.
Roman Credenhill: A Community Investigation.
The ‘Roman Credenhill: A Community Investigation’ project has been established by Principal Jonathan Godfrey and Teacher of Archaeology and History Jason Williams of Hereford Sixth Form College and is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Young Roots Programme.
The project intends for archaeology students of Hereford Sixth Form College to spend their summer investigating and promoting the Roman history of Credenhill by means of an archaeological excavation on the Roman Park Playing Fields, Credenhill.
With training provided by a team of archaeologists from Community Heritage and Archaeology Consultancy; and archaeological finds training provided by Herefordshire Council Museum Service, students will put their new found skills to the test and excavate a little known Roman villa and pottery production site first discovered in 2014 as a result of a community project funded by the Armed Forces Community Covenant. The three week long excavation, to be held between the 11th and 31st July is also open to the public, who will receive full training from the students and staff alike.
The excavation aims to answer the following questions concerning the courtyard building and pottery kiln:
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What was the use of the building?
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How were the rooms arranged and utilised?
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When was it constructed and when was it abandoned?
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Who lived there, what was their status within society?
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What was their diet?
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How was the courtyard used?
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How substantial was the earlier pottery industry? Is there more than one kiln at the site?
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How does the pottery produced relate to the material discovered across Britain? Is it unique?
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What buildings accompanied the kiln?
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When was the kiln and site established? Was it established by the military?
As well as the excavation, the project will also involve the erection of two interpretation panels in Credenhill as well as the launch of a booklet, detailing the early history of the village and the promotion of a heritage trail.
To find out more visit the site: https://romancredenhillblog.wordpress.com/
Beauchief Abbey Landscape Project.
The ‘Beauchief Abbey Landscape Project' is an ongoing project led by the University of Sheffield's Department of Archaeology. The project serves as a two week archaeological training excavation for undergraduate students studying archaeology. Over the course of May 2016, the students (supervised by a team of professional archaeologists led by Colin Merrony) have been tasked with identifying and confirming the form and extent of the abbey's precinct boundary, as well as the site of a gatehouse.
Beauchief Abbey (located to the south of Sheffield) was founded by Robert Fitzranulph, Lord of Alferton, Norton and Marneham in the 1170's and dedicated to St Thomas Becket. The abbey belonged to the Premonstratensian order and was one of the smallest in the country with an average community of twelve canons and an abbot.
The abbey closed in 1536 as a result of Henry VIII's reforms to the church.
The Physical Landscape Legacy: An Assessment of the Nottinghamshire Coalfield Project.
‘The Physical Landscape Legacy: An Assessment of the Nottinghamshire Coalfield’ Project, is a project funded by Historic England and managed by ArcHeritage.
This project consists of two phases. The first phase consisted of a scoping study. This assessed archives containing documentary sources on the mining industry and coal-related heritage assets on the Historic Environment Record (HER) in order to identify the form, character and extent of the industry’s physical remains and their historic context, placing the remains in the historical context of the coal industry’s development and expansion of mining across the Nottinghamshire coalfield.
The second stage of the project will involve further documentary and/or field survey work, identified by the scoping assessment, this will aid in achieving the aims and objectives of the project.
As part of the second phase, I have been contracted by ArcHeritage to aid in establishing six community-based workshops. These workshops will be undertaken to identify public perceptions of the coalfields landscape and to identify potential community-based initiatives that can be undertaken to enhance public understanding and appreciation of the Nottinghamshire coalfields landscape. For more information visit: The Nottinghamshire Coalfields Project webpage.
The Summer of Archaeology.
As well as self-employed, I am also a Project Archaeologist, employed by the National Trust tasked with managing The Summer of Archaeology at the National Trust Brockhampton Estate, Herefordshire. The Summer of Archaeology is a Heritage Lottery Funded project which is investigating the early history of the estate with particular interest in the grounds surrounding the 12th Century Chapel and 15th Century moated house and gardens.
Over the course of 2015, visitors and volunteers to the site, including individuals of Herefordshire Mind, Bromyard and District Local History Society and ECHO Herefordshire are getting to grips with archaeological techniques from dowsing, geophysics, survey and excavation to explore the picturesque sites origins.
The aim of the project is to greatly improve our understanding of the estate, not only delving into the question of whether there was an Anglo-Saxon settlement at Brockhampton but how the estate has changed through time. You can follow the results of the project by following my blog at: The Summer of Archaeology