Somerset

The team that looks after the landscape of the Mendip Hills has been given more than £200,000 to help with its conservation.

The Heritage Lottery Fund money will be spent on teaching people about the history and archaeology of the Black Down and Burrington Commons.

The area above Cheddar covers the highest point on the Mendips.

The Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership, said it was “delighted” to get the grant.

Councillor Dawn Hill, the organisation’s chairman, said: “Black Down is one of the most fascinating sites in the Mendip Hills AONB,” she said.

“With this funding we can bring the special stories of the site to life and encourage people to take an active role in caring for this special place.”

Erosion and damage
The grant will employ a full-time project officer for three years, and pay for new volunteering and training opportunities.

It will also go towards the restoration and repair of badly eroded paths, as well as protecting the area’s wildlife habitats and archaeology.

The AONB said in recent years an increase in visitor numbers had resulted in problems of erosion and damage to specific features and the site in general.

“It’s the largest area of common land in the Mendip Hills,” said Andy Mallender from the partnership.

He added: “Part of the site is a designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of the valuable wildlife habitats found there.

“Another large part of the site is designated a Scheduled Monument because of the wealth of archaeology on the site.”

The Black Down has three Scheduled Monuments dating from the late Stone Age and Bronze Age through to World War II.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-21059670?

Somerset was the site of the UK’s oldest open-air cemetery, the county council says.

Recent radiocarbon dating of two skulls found at a sand quarry in Greylake nature reserve near Middlezoy in 1928 revealed them to be 10,000 years old.

The council said the find was made under its Lost Islands of Somerset project by a team investigating the archaeology of the Somerset Levels.

More: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-14239742

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Heritage police to guard historic icons in Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire – will also guard against illegal metal detecting.

thisissomerset.co.uk/news/Heritage-police-guard-icons/article-3212734-detail/article.html

From The Weston & Somerset Mercury:

A TEAM of archaeologists will begin a four year hunt for hidden treasures on the Mendip Hills soon.

A dozen English Heritage specialists will use the latest aerial scanning technology as well as field surveys and other traditional archaeological techniques to look for new finds.

The project will cost about £100,000 and will end up with an illustrated book of results aimed at a wide audience, as well as technical reports.

English Heritage’s senior archaeological investigator Mark Bowden said: “We are confident that there are rich finds to be had on the Mendips. We know there’s lots of evidence there, it’s an area with huge potential.

“What we learn there will also be of relevance to surrounding lowland areas which were connected to what was going on in the hills. We will be trying to identify previously unrecorded sites and revisit the well known sites with a fresh eye and re-evaluate and interpret what has been discovered in the past.

“We hope to achieve a more complete map of the archaeological remains of the Mendips. We will use aerial photos and ground scans, field surveys, maybe geo-physics and a small amount of excavation and we want to assist local amateur archaeologists by bringing in our own experts and equipment.

“Examples of the things we hope to find include ritual monuments from the prehistoric period like barrows, Priddy Circles and henges.

“A certain number of enclosures have recently been discovered, possibly prehistoric or early medieval. We are hoping we might find more of these banks and ditches or get a clearer idea of how old they are and what their purpose was.”

Archaeologists are currently studying the hoard found at Silk Mills Bridge near Taunton in the summer, before the items go on public display.

“Steven Membery, archaeologist for Somerset County Council, said of the site: “It appears to be an island in a large river. It was used seasonally probably for hunting ducks and fish. It’s rare to find hunter gathering communities like this anywhere so this is an important discovery.”

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4576710.stm

A study has highlighted how rural development and drainage for agriculture in the Somerset levels has badly damaged nationally important archaeological sites.

When ground water levels drop in the summer, the waterlogged remains dry out: current farming methods don’t leave enough water inthe peat to protect them.

The study focused on 13 of the most important sites near Glastonbury, including prehistoric trackways and villages. Some sites had already been lost while others were suffering gradual decay.

Vanessa Straker of English Heritage said: “We are encouraging as many farmers as possible to apply for Defra’s environmental stewardship scheme, which gives them payments in return for conserving the countryside.”

taken from the article “Farming endangers prehistoric roads” by Norman Hammond
in the Times
timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,61-1818469,00.html

The survey was jointly carried out by English Heritage, the Environment Agency and Somerset County Council, and will be reported in detail in the November issue of British Archaeology.

Workers digging a new rubbish tip at Walpole nr Bridgewater have found the remains of an ancient causeway and fish weir. Archaeologist Richard Brunning has provisionally dated them to 4.500 BCE.

More here...

A shoe believed to be 2,000 years old has been dug up at a Somerset quarry.

The Iron Age relic was found in a hollowed tree trunk set into the ground at Whiteball Quarry, near Wellington.

Archaeologists say the shoe is the equivalent of a size 10 and is so well-preserved that stitches and lace holes are still visible in the leather.

The shoe has been taken to a specialist conservation centre in Wiltshire, and is expected to go on display at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter.

A team from Exeter Archaeology, led by Stephen Reed, unearthed the shoe when they were excavating at Town Farm, Burlescombe.

“What we have now found is a Bronze Age ‘industrial’ site consisting of two mounds of burnt stone – dated to 1460 to 1290 BC – and two water-filled troughs,” he said.

“Close by were two timber-built wells, preserved by waterlogging and probably dating from the early part of the Iron Age.”

One of the wells was constructed over a spring using a hollowed tree trunk set into the ground. The tree trunk was removed from the site so that its contents could be examined under laboratory conditions.

‘Oldest shoe‘

The “truly remarkable” discovery of the shoe was made when this was being undertaken by the Wiltshire Conservation Centre.

“As far as we know, this is the oldest shoe ever found in the UK,” Mr Reed said.

“The shoe measures approximately 30cm, equivalent to a modern size nine or 10, perhaps suggesting its owner was male.

“The reason for its presence in the well or spring is a mystery.”

It is hoped examination of the shoe will shed light on the method of its construction and identify the animal from which the leather was derived.

Quarry owners Hanson are working with archaeologists from Exeter Archaeology, Devon County Council and English Heritage, as well as other specialists, to ensure that all the finds from the site are properly recorded and treated.

It is hoped, following conservation, that the timbers and shoe will form the central feature of the proposed expansion of the archaeology galleries at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4530905.stm

From – news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3550105.stm

A group of potholers stopped from exploring because of the foot-and-mouth epidemic, found a network of caves under the car park of their local pub.

To stave off boredom, members of the Bristol Exploration Club volunteered to help clear out a drain at the Hunters Lodge Inn at Priddy in Somerset.

But instead of finding a blocked pipe, the group stumbled on a network of previously unexplored caves.

After two years digging and blasting, they have now opened up a 30-ft cavern.

Inside they found hundreds of bones of extinct animals – believed to have been washed into the cave nearly 10,000 years ago – and an underground world of stalagmites and stalactites.

Tony Jarrett, 54, team leader of the group which is based in the village, said: “We have been digging for years in the area trying to discover new caves and expand previously discovered ones.

“There was a two-inch natural fissure in the rock into which the rainwater from the pub roof and the car park used to drain.

“We suspected there was something down there as the water had to escape somewhere.

“So we went down and popped out into a cave of stalactites and stalagmites – we were amazed.”

The cavers have named the caverns the Pewter Pot, the Barmaids’ Bedrooms and Brown Ale Boulevard, in honour of the Hunters Lodge.

Experts at the British Museum have identified the discovered bones as belonging to animals which roamed Britain during the last Ice Age – many of the finds are on display at the nearby Wells Museum in Somerset.

The Mendips are home to some of Britain’s best-known caves, including Wookey Hole.

A 5,000-year-old flint axe head has been found in a garden in Somerset (England). Andrew Witts made the rare prehistoric discovery while landscaping his garden at Creech St Michael near Taunton. Mr Witts said: “I knew I had found something unusual when I noticed the object had a polished surface, but I never thought it would be that.” The Somerset County Museum which identified the object said it was a fine example of a highly polished, flint Neolithic axe. Mr Witts plans to donate the axe to the museum, where it will be put on display as part of the Taunton 1100 exhibition.

Source: BBC News (13 March 2004)

The site of archaeological remains which are thought to date back thousands of years has been saved from development. An area occupied by a Scheduled Ancient Monument was at risk of being turned into a small housing estate on the edge of Highbridge and West Huntspill in Somerset.

Land owners Alexander Holderness and Joan Dowling applied to Sedgemoor District Council for planning permission to build about 30 homes on land between Alstone Road and Alstone Lane. But members of the authority’s development control committee decided to preserve the site.

About 80 residents wrote to the authority saying they were against the proposal.

West Huntspill Parish Council also registered an objection as did Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society.

Among the objectors was Alistair Murray. He said: “I live on the boundary of the site and have been doing archaeological digs in my back garden for years.

“The area has been found to have been in occupation from the late Neolithic, through the bronze and iron ages, medieval times up to the present day. It’s an important site, there’s no doubt about it.

“There are other problems, like difficulties with the road access and the land is prone to flooding.”

But Mr Holderness told the Mercury: “We plan to appeal against the decision. We have been working with English Heritage and the Environment Agency and paid for a geophysical survey.

“We have also had specifications drawn up for archaeological digs which we would have paid for had we been given outline planning permission. It would have cost us up to £20,000.

“We have touched nothing so far and done everything by the book. But people in the village are jumping to conclusions and formed an action committee.

“Eventually we will get permission to build houses on at least part of the land.”

Source: megalithic.co.uk > Weston & Somerset Mercury 15/12/2003