ARCHAE CBA West Midlands OLOGY Newsletter West Midlands Issue Number 25 Winter 2017 News from the Past 2018 In this Issue Saturday 17th February News from the Past Carrs Lane Church Centre Carrs Lane, Birmingham See it for free! This annualC event includes illustrated Walking through presentations about sites and objects from time – Sutton Park rural and urban parts of the region, ranging in date from prehistory to modern times. The castle at Castle Bromwich Fee: £20, CBAWM members may deduct £5 Light refreshments included (please bring your In search of prehistoric own lunch). Wednesfield Send cheques payable to CBA West Midlands Lectures and to Caroline Mosley, CBA West Midlands, 16 museum updates Beverley Court Road, Quinton, Birmingham B32 1HD Committee Contact Details Enquiries: 07786 941059 or email [email protected] Lectures Stoke on Trent Museum Staffordshire Archaeological and Archaeological Society Historical Society November 10th November 10th “Roman Derbyshire” by Mark Patterson “Medieval Town Planning” by Mike Shaw November 17th November 24th “An update on the archaeology of our “Mapping the value of archaeological city” by Jon Goodwin archives in museums” by Dr Sam Paul December 8th December 15th 7:30 “Experimental archaeology” The AGM followed by “Staffordshire by Peter Groom Update” by Stephen Dean Lectures are held in the Learning Suite of February Lecture tbc the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Hanley on Fridays at 7.45pm. Entrance at March 9th 2018 the side of the Potteries Museum, off “In the footsteps of Caesar: The Warner Street. archaeology of the first Roman invasions of Britain” by Andrew Fitzpatrick Admission is free to members. Visitors are welcome: £3, students £1.50 23rd March 2018 “Dorstone Hill, Herefordshire: A Neolithic Birmingham and Warwickshire Landscape” by Dr Keith Ray MBE Archaeological Society April Lecture tbc December Lecture tbc 20th April 2018 January Lecture tbc “Bronze Age Barrow and Anglo Saxon Cemetery at Rothley, Leicestershire” by Dr February 6th Gavin Speed “Medieval Town Planning: using modern technology to explore the topography of 4th May 2018 7:30pm medieval towns” “Stonehenge and the Blue Stones”, by Dr By Mike Shaw Rob Ixer FSA Lectures are held at the Birmingham and Unless stated otherwise, lectures are held Midland Institute, Margaret Street, in the Guildhall, Bore Street, Lichfield Birmingham B3 3BS WS13 6LX, starting at 8.00pm. The doors are open from 7:30pm when refreshments More information can be found on their are available. website at https://bwas-online.co.uk/home/lectures/ Admission is free to members. Visitors are welcome: £3 https://www.sahs.uk.net/events “See it for Free” Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society This summer the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society launched a new web-based guide to a selection of archaeological sites in their area. “See it for Free” provides self-guided visits to 13 archaeological sites in Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry and Warwickshire. All of the sites are in public open spaces or can be seen from public footpaths and most can easily be reached by public transport. The sites available to explore range from enigmatic prehistoric monuments and Roman roads through to the remains of medieval castles, deserted villages and World War II gun placements. Each guide includes: practical information about each site, a helpful map, and an illustrated tour. Links to additional sources of information about each site are given so that visitors can find out more about the sites if they wish to. The sites included on the BWAS on-line web site are just a tiny selection of the vast wealth of archaeological sites that are known to exist in the Birmingham and Warwickshire area and more will be added if sufficient interest is shown. https://bwas-online.co.uk/home/see-it-for-free/ Left: Handsworth anti-aircraft gun emplacements Right: Brinklow motte and bailey CBAWM grant recipient 2017 Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society: The castle at Castle Bromwich CBAWM has provided a grant to the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society to help fund the preparation of drawings for a report on the excavation of a motte and bailey castle at Castle Bromwich for publication in the Society’s Transactions. The report is being written from records and finds held by Birmingham Museums Trust. The excavation took place from 1969-70, in advance of construction of a collector road at Junction 5 of the M6 motorway. It showed that the motte was constructed on top of a ringwork or an earlier phase of the motte, which itself succeeded an undated palisaded enclosure. There were also prehistoric worked flints, possible prehistoric pits, Roman pottery and pits, and a possible Roman building under the bailey rampart. The castle was probably constructed during the twelfth century and initially consisted of a motte with a small bailey to its east and south which was later enlarged. The excavations revealed remains of a timber structure on the motte, timber buildings and other features of probable medieval date in the bailey interior and timber features forming an entrance to the bailey. In the seventeenth century two buildings were constructed in the former bailey, one of which was demolished during the eighteenth century when the motte was incorporated into the landscape of Castle Bromwich Hall and approached along an avenue. The results of the Castle Bromwich excavation are enhanced by other research on the Honor of Dudley and castles within it, and publication of the report meets a specific aim of the medieval part of the West Midlands Regional Archaeological Research Framework. The report also considers the castle in its local medieval and post-medieval context, particularly in relation to documentary research and excavation at the nearby Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens. Mike Hodder For information on lecture meetings of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society https://bwas-online.co.uk/home/lectures/ KGV: In search of prehistoric Wednesfield A resistivity survey was undertaken on a section of King George V (KGV) playing field near the western edge on the higher ground to try and locate North Low Barrow, postulated as a possible Bronze Age Round Barrow, which is documented in HER352. The results of the geophysics identified a sub-circular feature which measured approximately 20m x 16m. A magnetometer survey and also Lidar of the playing field mirrored the large feature. An excavation took place over three days (9th, 10th and 11th June 2017) when two trenches were dug, one to investigate the features identified in the geophysics, and one to extend the investigation from test pitting in 2016. Members of Wolverhampton Archaeology Group, students, and volunteers took part, either by excavating or providing information about the dig to the community who came to watch. Local community police were on site to offer support and demonstrated a great deal of interest in the dig. KGV: In search of prehistoric Wednesfield A possible ditch and a concentration of cobbles was identified in Trench 1. Trench 2 revealed possible post holes and a beautiful worked flint tool of Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age date. Work is continuing on analysis of the finds and on the report. The dig was a great success! WAG would like to thank Wolverhampton City Council for permission to excavate and all who took part. This project was made possible [in part] by a grant from the Council for British Archaeology’s Mick Aston Archaeology Fund, which is supported by Historic England. Eileen Matthews Walking through time, Sutton Park The Friends of Sutton Park Association and the Sutton Coldfield Civic Society have created six self-guided walking trails to explain some of the many well- preserved archaeological remains. Each trail starts at a gate or car park with an explanatory panel, and markers indicate individual sites along the route. The trails include prehistoric burnt mounds, a Roman road, the boundary and subdivisions of the medieval deer park, fishponds, wood boundaries, sawpits, millpools, a former racecourse and golf course, military practice trenches and targets, and a nineteenth-century estate, a railway and buildings. A map of the trails is obtainable at Sutton Park Visitor Centre, near Town Gate. http://fospa.org.uk/ Lost Landscapes of Worcestershire Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service and Museums Worcestershire have been awarded £74,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to bring the Lost Landscapes of Worcestershire back to life. Over the next 18 months we will be delivering events and exhibitions celebrating over half a million years of the area's prehistory, from the time our ancestors arrived until the end of the last Ice Age 12,000 years ago. The project will culminate in exhibitions in The Hive and Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum in summer 2018, alongside an exciting programme of education, research and exploration. The match-funding of £1000 from CBA WM is allowing the project to hold training workshops for metal detectorists across the region in the autumn of 2017. Many of the Palaeolithic artefacts found in this area have been spotted on the surface by fieldwalkers. Detectorists are keen eyes on the ground, but Palaeolithic artefacts are notoriously difficult to identify. The training, organised in partnership with the Portable Antiquities Scheme will equip detectorists with the skills to recognise Palaeolithic and other prehistoric stone tools, and help them learn more about this fascinating period in the West Midlands. Emma Hancox An evaluative excavation at Frogmore Hall, Atcham, Shropshire by Roger White and Janine Young In June 2017, an evaluation was carried out under the joint aegis of the National Trust (as landowners) and the Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Birmingham. The site was the Scheduled Monument at Frogmore Hall, Atcham - identified from aerial photography, and believed to be the site of a possible Saxon Palace.