USW Excavation: Days 3 and 4 update.

I missed out on my blog post yesterday frankly because I was making an attempt at writing up an assignment. I didn't get very far, and tonight I'm just plain pooped so here are a selection of photos from days 3 and 4.

Day 3: After taking the later phase internal dividing wall down.

Day 3: David Howell one of the site Directors, taking a quick
breather whilst excavating to the rear of the bread oven.

Day 3: Andy Brown chief plaster finder.

Day 3: Yet another wall. Rear of bread oven.

Day 3: Prof. Ray Howell, a happy site Director.

Day 4: Chris (wall finder extraordinaire) and Andy.

Day 4: Dave fiddling with his small tool... I mean, excavating pot sherds.

Day 4: The flip side of the fantastic millstone.

Day 4: DON'T DROP IT!

Day 4: Another lovely example of a probable 'onion' bottle neck.

So tomorrow is the final day of the USW Autumn Excavation which generally means a trip to the pub at lunch time... should mean some interesting archaeology in the afternoon!

Day 2: Can this excavation get any better? Yep!

Millstone with number (weight?) detail 

Every day whilst driving to site, through the village of Trellech, I pass a house which has a huge millstone propped up outside. This morning I had a little daydream and thought 'wouldn't it be amazing to find one of those', I quickly dismissed the idea as being a bit far-fetched and carried on driving.  
As digging got under way I was thinking to myself that there would be no way that today, or even the rest of the dig could live up to day 1, I mean, a whole intact bread oven and an intact ceramic pot of some description. Was I wrong or what! I was excavating in a different area to yesterday, however it was one of the spots I had been in during the summer, I had only been there for maybe an hour. I had shifted one or two large loose rocks to get to what we all agreed was the likely floor level, when I started to uncover a slab with what looked like a chevron pattern on it. It didn't look natural to me, even less natural when I thought I could make out some characters etched into the stone... "Erm! David come and have a look at this please". As he walked over I realised it was quite hefty circular stone, and my mind went straight back to my earlier daydream. As David stood over me I looked for a possible centre point and there was a lovely square (if incomplete) hole. "It's a millstone!" not quite believing myself, "I think you might be right there Claire". 

Millstone in context

A flurry of excitement ensued with everyone coming to have a look at the find of the day (and all before lunch too). 

The rest of the day brought more questions regarding the area behind the newly discovered bread oven. David and Nathan managed to discover a whole new set of walls where previously the thought was leaning towards there being no more than just tumble down from a potential upper floor. This meant that Bethany and James were required to excavate the rear of the bread oven leaving David and Nathan to try and figure out their new puzzle. 

The rest of the day was quite quiet as far as finds goes, discounting copious instances of stray wall plaster of course, but if day 1 and day 2 are anything to go by, bring on day 3 I say.

When is a pile of rubble not a pile of rubble?
When it might be another bread oven!

Chris in the Western end of the site.

Seem to have another wall here Ray!

Behind the bread oven.

Finally, is this the east end?

 

University of South Wales 2013 Autumn Excavation... or... Happy as a pig (remains) in muck!

Day 1,  just before the excitement began.

Following the success of the summer dig the decision was quickly made to conduct further research archaeology during the autumn, so with the guttural bellowing of deer stags all around us, the USW autumn excavation began. 
After clearing away the leaves left by the storm (which seemed to have completely missed Llanfihangel Tor y Mynydd) we got down to executing our excavation strategy, which was to basically answer questions which had been raised during the previous dig.
Site C had been closed, and it was concluded that there were more pressing questions to be answered in Site B rather than Site A. We extended Site B by means of adding a new trench imaginatively named Site D, this was to answer the previous digs question of plaster being discovered on what was thought to be an external wall.

Alfie, the youngest member of the team.

Assisting us in Site D was the youngest archaeologist I've ever met, Alfie, and what a little workhorse he turned out to be too. Not only did he find some great finds for a first timer, but he wasn't afraid of the hard work and the mud either. Unfortunately Alfie had to leave early for football training, but never mind hopefully he can come again another day.
However, two other first time diggers had the finds of the day, and pretty special they were too. 

A window you can't see through just has
 to be something else?

Firstly there was, what was considered to be a window which was unearthed in the summer excavation, a pretty cracking window it was too... until Nathan started to 'clean it up a bit'. What was initially thought to be rock which had fallen into a void behind the external wall turned out to be something truly spectacular. 
Inserting a camera into the void and taking a picture or two resulted in the discovery that this was a pretty darn complete bread oven. It is thought, based on the evidence so far discovered, that this complex building dates from approximately the 17th century. To say that there was a bit of excitement on the site at this point would be an understatement.

Inside the bread oven.

The next pretty great find was discovered adjacent to an external wall of Site D, a complete little ceramic pot of some description.

The pot was found along with partial remains of a pig and a delightful green glass 'onion' bottle neck. 
I can't wait to get back there tomorrow, rain or shine.

P.S. 'Site B' obviously stands for Bread Oven!

Parallel Lives: My Heritage

Jenkin Palm Watkins (Grampy Jim) and Albert Gordon Thatcher (Bampi Gordon)
My Grandfathers.
(Copyright Claire Lindsay-McGrath 2013.) 

The above image of my two Grandfathers was lovingly restored for me by a good friend Ashwood Williams, it is an image which was taken just after the end of WWII, in fact Jim (Grampy) is wearing his Royal Navy issue tee shirt in the photo.

As a history student I spend much of my time studying events and lives of people that I have never and will never meet; events which happened centuries or decades ago. Even though I am able to empathise or see injustice in past events such as the 1838 Husker Pit disaster where 26 children between the ages of 7 to 17 drowned (GALLOP, A. (2010). Victoria's Children of the Dark. Stroud: The History Press.), I am able to detach myself from such human experiences. However, I have recently started to consider my own heritage, and recent events bring me to the above image.

Last week, 25th September 2013, my paternal Grandfather (left on image) sadly passed away at the age of 86. Up until that point I had proudly proclaimed that at 38 years of age I was lucky enough to have all of my Grandparents still with us. I genuinely felt very fortunate and secure because of this. This has made me think about how much I actually knew them. My maternal Grandmother, Mammag (her name is actually Margaret Thatcher!) is full of stories about life in Nantyglo, taking in evacuees during WWII, my Great Grandfather being a card carrying Communist, moving to Cheltenham then back again and finally settling in Abergavenny. However the rest of my Grandparents I know only snippets of information and stories; except for the story of this photo.

When I was a nosey child, probably about 12, I was having a rummage through my maternal Grandparents sideboard and I came across a photo of two cheeky looking and attractive gentlemen. I recognised them straight away as both being my Grandfathers. I asked my Bampi (right on image) when and where it was taken but all he could remember was that it was after the war on a day out somewhere. I asked if I could have the photo and was given the response "yes, one day". That day came late in 2012 when my Mum handed me an envelope stating "Bampi said you could have this, it's a photo but you can't see anything". To cut a long story short, the photo had deteriorated so much that it was virtually completely black, I was so dissapointed. All was not lost, my friend Ash saved the day and restored the image to that which we can see today.

This image, as far as I'm aware, is the first photograph which documents the parallel lives these two men lived. At the time this photo was taken Jim and Gordon had just left the Navy, post WWII where they had served together, neither were married, footloose and fancy free so to speak. Jim was from Shirenewton, Monmouthshire and Gordon was from across the border in Peterchurch, Herefordshire. When I took the restored photo to my Grampy Jim for him to see, his face lit up, "I remember that day well", and had a little chuckle to himself. They had been on a day trip with a couple of other friends to Chepstow Races when they found they were running out of petrol. This photo was taken in Shirenewton when they stopped to get fuel. I'm sure this was one day of many, both went on to marry and eventually found themselves living next door to each other in Derwen Way, Abergavenny and working together in Pen-y-fal Hospital as charge nurses. Both had two sons and one daughter, in fact my paternal Auntie Jen was sat at the bottom of the stairs waiting like a good girl when my maternal Uncle Andrew was being born. This meant that my Mum and Dad (both the eldest sibling) grew up living next door to each other. Eventually Jim and Bet moved house, just a few streets away. There it may have ended except that their children, my Mum and Dad, married each other and and had me and my sister. Jim and Gordon would now forever be in each others lives.

Left to right: Gordon, Margaret, me, Bet, Nanny Hellings, Jim.
Holy Trinity, Abergavenny 1975.

Their parallel lives went on, work, retirement, grandchildren, great grandchildren and then old age. Gardening, heart attacks, pneumonia, Jim and Gordon even had exactly the same cancer - tumors on their bald heads. Except last Wednesday their parallel lives ended. Still living just two streets away from each other, Grampy, after a period of long illness and suffering finally fell asleep for the last time, at home where he belonged, surrounded by those he loved. Sweet dreams Jim, goodnight God bless x.

I got my sense of humour from these men, wicked, dry and often offensive. I got my ability to drink copious amounts of alcohol and still be 'fully' functioning the next day. I was taught to be brave (after picking up a hot poker from the fire and refusing to cry like a baby). I learnt how to take the truth (after being told I had legs like tree trunks). I learnt that the women of the family needed to have a sense of humour ("Dirty Gerty from number 30", my Grampy got me to chant at Grandma, whose real name is Gertrude and not Bet). I learnt that you should never take yourself too seriously, you will only stress yourself out. I learnt to be curious, and to be a hard worker, always work hard for your family. I learnt that family is always there for you (after being bullied for years and beaten up in Bailey Park, I ran straight to Grandma and Grampy's). I learnt to be me, but with a little bit of them (and Mammag and Grandma too). Now a grown woman, a mum, a wife, a worker and a history student, I know these two gents are as proud of me, as I am proud of them.

My Heritage.
Margaret and Gordon Thatcher, Me, Guy, Bet and Jim Watkins, and Elena Hardulak.
Holy Trinity, Abergavenny June 2011.

By the way, Grampy Jim got his unusual name, Jenkin Palm, because he was not expected to survive when he was born. He weighed less than a bag of sugar when born and was baptised straight away, and named Jenkin after the vicar and Palm, because he was born on Palm Sunday. Well done on the 86 years Jim! xx

Final day of USW 2013 Excavation

Not sure how this blog post will look as I'm tapping this out on my phone as I'm already tucked up in bed after half a bottle of merlot and a couple of ciders and a looooong bath. This was all thoroughly deserved however, after a fantastic week of excavating quite a challenging site in Llanfihangel tor y mynydd. Anyway, here are a few photos of our final day and a promise that I will get round to a more comprehensive post as soon as possible.

Site A

Site B

Site B

Site C

Celebratory end of dig cigar :)

The best find yet: Day 3

Don't tell my Mum, but this cake is better than hers!

Can I just start by saying "I am having the time of my life!", some people get off on expensive holidays in private villas or gazillion star hotels, me? I get off on shifting a couple of ton of earth and stone with my bare hands! I love it I really do. What is my reward you may ask. Well, today it was a slice of the most fabulous fruit cake, made by the fair hands of USW's very own Maddy Gray (if you're reading this, can I please have your recipe?), followed by the unearthing of a delightful clay pipe bowl, not that exciting I admit, but nonetheless both these things pleased me.

Clay pipe, circa 1680

I guess I should add that I had a change of scenery today, I thought I'd have a little scout of site B, and what a fantastic decision that was too. A very interesting site, back on day 1 we thought this was some type of animal accommodation; however it is looking increasingly more like a building of human habitation. We have discovered two, possibly three corners of the building, two windows plus internal walls.  

Today I find myself quite tired for the first time during this dig, so I'm going to try and get to bed before 1.30am and pass you on to a more comprehensive (and professional) blog regarding this excavation. Please check out David Howell's USW Summer 2013 Excavation blog. I will leave you with a few photos and a little mention to say that there will sadly be no excavation blog from me tomorrow because I have to go and do that thing people call 'work'! Pffft! But I will be back on Friday, good night.

Site B

David uncovering a second corner of the building and a wonderful window

Before I got at it!

During my attack (unfortunately I neglected to take an 'after' photo)

Some of Site B's finds from day 3

Plough marks vs. Farmer's tool kit: Day 2

Plough marks or a farm hand sharpening a blade? Oh and a bit of a mower too!

So day 2 starts with me waking with a jolt (after pressing the snooze button three times) and realising I need to get my youngest son to Nanny's in Abergavenny before I get to the dig. There follows a lot of me rushing around and shouting from various rooms "just get out of bed!" and "just put your bloody shoes on!" and "just take your toothbrush with you!", oh my poor child, I didn't even give him breakfast! Any way, after successfully dealing with the domestic issues I reach my final destination, and await the arrival of the rest of the diggers.
After a recap and update on the previous days accomplishments we crack on, Andy and I (minus Gareth) get back to our enigmatic barrow. We are down in numbers today as a whole group, but no less eager to get on with the hard work.

Late medieval green glaze rim sherd

Andy and I decide the best course of action is to remove the loose stone from the base of the mound before we tackle things at the top. After shifting buckets of stone for maybe an hour, we start mid way up the mound to scrape back the loose soil and debris. It was not long before we had our first find, a small piece of rusty metal which looked suspiciously like it may be related to the corrugated iron dominating site A. Not letting the brief excitement of letting our first find overtake us, Andy and I carry on and a short while later we unearth a piece of white glazed pottery. I don't mind telling you that it was at this point I started to question the origins of this 'barrow'. Now we have a couple of finds we are eager to find more, and we are not disappointed.
By roughly 11.30 we had unearthed something rather exciting. Andy was merrily scraping away and 'flick', something most definitely not stone or root shape pops up. "What's that?" says I, excitedly pointing like a 7 year old! We both know straight away that this is part of a substantially sized pot, and it looks early too (not that we're experts of course). Not two minutes later David pops his head around the corner to see how we're getting on. Concurring with us, that this is indeed something interesting, he makes a note and off he goes, shortly to be replaced by Ray, "I hear you have something I may find interesting", a statement which is shortly followed by the words "green glazed" and "late medieval" and "this trumps anything found so far". Wooohooo! Go team C! 
That was about it for us by way of finds until after lunch. We decided to go and pay a visit to the other sites to see how they were getting along.

Site B and the possible long house 

Site A, an image showing the troublesome corrugated iron is propped against the structure. 

 After lunch more shifting stone and loose soil before we decide to extend the top of the trench for us to gain better understanding of the summit of the mound. It was during frequent trips back and forth to our growing stone pile that I noticed not one but two stones that (I thought) had unusual, possibly man made markings in them (see first image on this post). My imagination went into overdrive and I started daydreaming about 19th century farm hands sitting atop a giant pile of rubble, in the sun, drinking cider from a demijohn and attempting to sharpen a blade on a hunk of sandstone.  Then Ray came along and crushed my dreams and said they were probably just plough marks... pffft! Ho hum, lets carry on. 
The rest of the day consisted of us extending the trench and finding lots of sherds of possible Queen Anne ware, hunks of lime mortar/plaster and a curious metal disc probably from a mower(!), all indicating that this barrow feature may indeed be a rubbish tip for the original small holding, but nothing is conclusive yet, we still have three days to go.

As a follow up to the conclusion of my post yesterday, where I mentioned that students should grasp opportunities to enrich their university experience, when I got home, aching and stinking dirty from a days digging, I had a pleasant surprise waiting in the post. Earlier in the year, in a bid to cram in as much as is humanly possible (because being a student and a Mentor just isn't enough), I volunteered to be a Student Panel Representative member of the university's re-validation process, and today I received a certificate for my efforts. Everybody loves a certificate!

Roots, rocks and flies: Day 1

Start of the day

After disregarding my untrustworthy satnav, then missing a turning and ending up in the wrong village, I finally arrived at my destination, and one by one so did everyone else. Our team of 11 diggers started the day by checking out the tithe maps of the area and identifying buildings within our remit of excavation. Following this Ray and David introduced us to the three sites which we would be working on, imaginatively titled A, B and C. 
Sites A and B presented us with the remains of the buildings identified on the tithe map, with site A a possible roadside cottage and site B hosting two buildings, one possibly being a pig sty. Site C however was remarkably enigmatic. A very large mound, which possessed spectacular views across the valley towards Raglan, completely covered in undergrowth. This mound seemed to be entirely constructed of rocks. Is it just the largest pile of rocks I have ever seen, or more tantalisingly, is it a barrow? I guess only excavation can answer that one.

Site C before...

Teams were sorted out and Gareth, Andy and I made up 'Team C'. After gathering ourselves and the necessary equipment together (and receiving a brief advisory note about adders from David), we headed to site C, the enigmatic barrow (well that's what I'm calling it for now anyway). After marking our quadrant we cracked on with clearing the remains of the undergrowth which consisted of a plethora of roots, more roots and ivy, and quickly came to terms with the huge task ahead of us. 

...site C during...

Team C progressed in good spirits, not even dampened by the persistent and copious flies (bug repellent was completely ineffective), or the constant battle with sliding down the mound (I swear by the end of the week I will permanently have one hip higher than the other!), or even the ROOTS! I think I may dream about roots and flies tonight! 

Initially I wasn't really expecting to have much in the way of finds from our site, however we quickly came across a piece of corroded metal, a chunky piece of green glass possibly from a sherry bottle, a piece of charcoal and a metal ring. Not bad for day 1.
All in all, I have really enjoyed the first day of the USW excavation. I don't see it as just something to do to pass the time during the summer, work and family life do that for me, or something to satisfy a passion. I relish the chance to take part in experiences such as these because I know that they are enriching the whole university experience for me. They are teaching me new skills which I may never have known that I possessed and they are also making me much more attractive as a potential employee following my graduation as a mature student. Students (mature or not) should grasp any opportunity that may present itself, life in the big wide world can often be harsh, and definitely comes as a shock after the security of living with parents, so to undertake projects which make you stand out from the crowd can only be a bonus.

...Site C after. Tomorrow we start to clear the stone!

...by the way, that new trowel is pants, I'll be using one of the uni trowels tomorrow! 

Excitement Building...

HAPPY DIGGING!

So, I have completed the online part of my re-enrolment and it's just a few short weeks to the beginning of term, I cannot wait. I'm so excited to see everyone and to get back into a routine and to actually do some serious study again. I had big ideas of reading several books over the summer in preparation of the new semester... well I started several books, but I don't think I passed the first chapter of any of them... not even the fiction!

So what have I done over the summer? Apart from working virtually seven days a week; dressing as Columbia; sleeping in the back of a van on the odd occasion and feeling very jealous of my eldest son, who is, as I type, yet to return from Green Man festival, I have been waiting. Waiting for what? 

Tomorrow is the start of the University of South Wales excavation at Llanfihangel Tor y Mynydd (between Chepstow and Monmouth). I have been waiting for this week since mid September 2012 when all us new BA History first year students were informed during our induction week that there may be a possibility of a dig in the summer. Finally this week has arrived, needless to say I have been out and bought myself a trowel... well... in fact two trowels as I was disappointed to discover that the hardware stores in Monmouth and Ross on Wye do not cater for the amateur archaeologist! One is too large and the other is a wee bit small (for the moment), unless I am lucky enough to discover some intricate treasure.

Any way. I just wanted to post a little something and to get a few of my thoughts down in writing. I can't wait to update this blog with actual events and images from the coming week.

Summertime pondering...

I guess that I should have started this blog earlier in the academic year. It did cross my mind, but you know thoughts like these, they get pushed to the bottom of the priority list. However, after a few emails from two of my lecturers (David and Ray) about a forthcoming summer excavation, I have been motivated to finally make a start.

In brief I am a mature (38!!) history student at University of South Wales, formerly University of Wales Newport. I decided to pack the day job in and go to university after another boring day at the office staring out of the only window onto a dismal car park. Redundancy rumors were rumbling around the corridors and I figured I probably had another 30something years left before I retire, so I thought "I'm off, catch ya later!" 
I had always had a passion for history and archaeology, so after completing an Access Diploma I embarked upon a BA History degree at Newport. In all honesty, if it had not been due to personal circumstances (and the fact that I had already fallen madly in love with Caerleon campus), I would have applied elsewhere to study archaeology. 

Anyway, I have successfully completed my first year and cannot wait to get started on year two. I have already made a start on my dissertation preparation and frankly I find this limbo period between end of year exams and September start of term to be a bit of a nuisance (that's probably the 20ish years of full time employment talking there). However, all is not lost, the USW summer excavation is nearly upon us. After taking part in a four week summer dig in Trellech in July and August 2012 and briefly volunteering on a commercial dig in December 2012, I was definitely eager to take part in anything that my lecturers at Newport could throw at me. To say I'm excited is an understatement! I'm even looking forward to the aching back, clicking knees, horsefly bites and blisters. I simply cannot wait. I am a complete amateur when it comes to archaeology but I'm a bloody enthusiastic one!

The excavation at Llanfihangel Tor y Mynydd is taking place between 19th and 23rd of August, and if I can summon the energy I aim to update this blog with the dig events. In the meantime here are a few pics from my 2012 adventures.

Tamar Kravitz, a willing volunteer from Chicago and me!

Happy Clairey :)

Part of a bucket discovered at the bottom of the well excavated in previous year.

Finds processing in the sun.