Angus Wainwright - Archaeologist
NORFOLK
Blakeney - realignment of the river Glevum
For over fifteen weeks Lindsey Archaeology have been excavating the site known as Blakeney Chapel. This is a ruined, double celled structure standing on an ‘island’ in the marshes just behind Blakeney Point.
This scheduled site is threatened by coastal erosion and the construction of a flood defence scheme.
A previous evaluation was rather inconclusive although an Anglo-Saxon bracteate was discovered. Tantalisingly, last year's excavations have not yet answered the obvious questions: what date is the structure? What was it used for? What was the bracteate doing there?
The excavation has revealed a series of additions and adaptations of the building but little in the way of finds. The excavators continue to freeze during early 2005 in the hope that they will solve the mystery.
Brancaster – designs to explain
Next year's Young Archaeologist Club competition will be to design new interpretation boards for the Saxon Shore Fort at Brancaster (Branodunum). We have been lucky enough to get Sea Britain funding for this project as well as support from various local Centres and Associations.
SUFFOLK
Orford Ness took delivery of a disarmed Atomic Bomb from Aldermaston in 2004. Considering the effect the Cold War had on all our lives in the late 20th Century, this artefact could be considered one of the most significant on any Trust property.
Our specimen of WE177 the last British Atomic Bomb is currently being prepared for display in one of the test laboratories.
The interpretation boards will explain the Cuban Missile Crisis - the moment in history when we came with in touching distance of annihilation with generals on both sides urging political leaders to ‘press the button’.
It is only this historical context which will make any member of the post Cold War generation appreciate the power latent within this prosaic, inert artefact.
Sutton Hoo
Exhibition
The temporary exhibition and is now replaced by a winter exhibition on Basil Brown the discoverer of the Mound 1 ship. Next year's exhibition (2005) is now in preparation. This will feature the mysterious hanging bowls and deal with the themes of settlement and cultural identity, looking at the relationship between the Germanic settlers and the Romano-British ‘natives’.
The Sutton Hoo Society held a successful conference on the Anglo-Saxon landscape.
Sutton Hoo - Build-a-Ship project
There have been further advances this year in scoping the funding issues and practicalities necessary to construct a Sutton Hoo ship.
Objectives have been discussed and a paper prepared to guide the early stages of thinking.
The project aims to reconstruct (to full scale) the Mound One ship according to the best available evidence and using authentic methods of construction. It will also research and evaluate the potential and limitations of the Mound One ship under oar and sail.
The ultimate intention is to put the ship to sea, before returning it as a rather special exhibit at Sutton Hoo where it will create a permanently exhibited tribute to the earliest English shipbuilders and mariners at Sutton Hoo.
The project will display the construction process and bring the knowledge gained to public attention through interpretation and education at Sutton Hoo and through academic publication. It is seen as a valuable opportunity to involve local communities and visitors in some aspects of the project, with the additional overall aim to promote the property and the conservation work of the National Trust.
The project will strive for the greatest level of historical accuracy in construction methods and materials. Inevitably, a balance may have to be struck between authenticity and cost in a project which will have a finite budget, but it has been agreed that any unavoidable reduction in authenticity must not effect the objectives of the project.
A feasibility and research phase has been identified as the next steo in the development of the project and funding is already in place for this. A research brief has been prepared during 2004, and a researcher from the State Museum at Copenhagen has now been appointed to analyse the existing information and undertake any research necessary to fill the gaps. He will then make suggestions as to how the project might proceed to the next stage. It could be an exciting year!
ESSEX
Northey Island – battling to interpret historic salt-marshes
The island property just about peeps above the surface of the Blackwater estuary in Essex.
In AD991 the island was occupied by a Viking army. Confronting them on the mainland was the army of the Earl of Essex. In a typical example of Anglo-Saxon fair play the Vikings were allowed over the causeway where they promptly slaughtered the Saxon army.
The site is now the earliest on the register of historic battle fields though the main source for the ‘Battle of Molden’ is a poem and the location is not absolutely certain.
Coastal processes are now rapidly eroding the salt-marshes of the island and occasionally exposing finds – normally of prehistoric origin.
Monitoring is difficult as the mud is deep and the tides rise very rapidly. The land-ward side is now protected by a sea wall making the battle field site difficult to appreciate, although standing on the causeway you can easily imagine the Vikings on the island watching as the tide slowly uncovers their route across.
The farmland is now over-intensively cultivated with the consequent loss of hedgerows. Through the implementation of a whole farm plan, we hope to replace these historic features although it is unlikely we will get the heavily ploughed ‘redhill’ out of cultivation.
There are also the remains of two Thames barges on the mud; the ownership of these is under debate. It may be that they are still owned by the original owner who brought here to form extra accommodation, only for them to be stranded hundreds of yards from their intended home.
An archaeological survey report has recently been compiled to gain more information and understanding in the face of continuing risk of coastal erosion and/or inundation.
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