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Heritage Survey: the Roman City of Silchester

English Heritage, Wessex Archaeology

Silchester in Hampshire may not be as well known as some other Romano-British settlements, but it is nevertheless a site of considerable interest to heritage specialists.

The city began in the 1st century BC as Calleva, the pre-Roman homeland of the Atrebates tribe. After the Roman conquest in 43 AD, it grew rapidly and was renamed Calleva Atrebatum. It was abandoned in the 6th or 7th century but, unusually, it was not reoccupied in the medieval period. As a result, no further construction took place and its remains have lain largely undisturbed. Many of the perimeter walls survive, as do parts of the city amphitheatre. In fact, it stands as one of the best preserved Roman towns in Britain. Continue reading “Heritage Survey: the Roman City of Silchester”

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Archaeological Survey: Grimsby

Wessex Archaeology for Murphy

55 miles off the coast of Grimsby, Hornsea Project Two is creating the world’s largest offshore wind-farm. The multibillion-pound scheme will see the installation of 300 turbines over an area five times the size of the city of Hull. Funded by a Danish energy company, the site will eventually deliver clean, sustainable power to around 1.8 million British homes. Continue reading “Archaeological Survey: Grimsby”

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Aerial Survey of Worsley New Hall

Centre for Applied Archaeology

Built in Salford between 1840 and 1845, Worsley New Hall was a Gothic style mansion designed by the architect Edward Blore. It comprised a three story main block with separate wings for family and servants, as well as an impressive turreted tower. Recognised as an outstanding example of Elizabethan style architecture, it was visited by monarchs including Queen Victoria and Edward VII, but it also found its way into the history books by serving as a hospital during the First World War and as temporary quarters for evacuees from Dunkirk during the Second World War. However, in 1943, it suffered severe fire damage and was demolished just six years later. Continue reading “Aerial Survey of Worsley New Hall”

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Iron Age Hill Fort, Cheshire

Cheshire West and Chester Council

Since May 2010, we have been working with professional archaeologists from Cheshire West and Chester Council, helping to record a series of digs on three of the county’s most prominent Iron Age hill forts. We had previously worked on Helby and Eddisbury but our most recent project was at Kelsborrow Castle near Northwich, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The site had previously been investigated on two occasions, once via a dig in 1973 and later, in 1996, in the form of a limited geophysical survey. Although the surviving banks are nearly 2m high in places, recent assessments had found that the monument was sustaining erosion damage due to ploughing, livestock tracks and wheel rutting from farm vehicles, so another dig was proposed. Continue reading “Iron Age Hill Fort, Cheshire”

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Interpreting a Mesolithic Excavation

ArcHeritage

Industrial archaeology has been an important part of our work over the summer. In Sunderland, we contributed aerial images to a preservation by record project undertaken by Oxford Archaeology on the site of a 19th Century glassworks. Similarly, we were commissioned by Salford Archaeology to carry out an aerial survey of a former cotton mill in Oldham, which was built in the 1840s. Both sets of images were required for photogrammetric purposes and 3D modelling techniques were used in Oldham. Continue reading “Interpreting a Mesolithic Excavation”