Cellar-brations?

The first 5m square trench is being excavated stratigraphically to find the corner of the house at this location. This will allow us to measure the length of this elevation. Indications suggest that this is the location of the cellar, as shown on the painting by the small windows at the base of this wall.   

The stratigraphy is being taken down by hand. Hopefully, this is where the cellar is located.

The North East facing wall foundation.

Our collection of ceramic is building.

Nice pipe bowl fragment. Decorated and with a makers mark.

Our metal detector continues to find artefacts that could be missed by the naked eye. 

Our ceramic collection will hopefully allow us to build up a database covering the whole life of the house.

 

Uncovering the wall foundation.

Taking down the overburden.

 

Stalbridge 2021

The new excavated area begins.

At last, after a long wait, we have started digging back at Stalbridge. 

Our mission - to find the northeast corner of the house and the 'Great Sellar'. 

We are having to dig by hand at the moment, as the on site digging machine is unavailable, but that hasn't stopped us. First indications are that the foundations at this point have been reduced to only a few stones. However, after taking off a layer of solid rubble, grit and clay, underneath are various loose stones that seem to be going deeper, thus indicating that this may the void filled with backfill we are looking for. Fingers crossed that this is the case and also we can get the machine to take off the rest of the hard layer, which would be good for our backs.
 

Stringing it out.

DDCAG doing geophysics at Tumbledown Farm, Weymouth.

 

Facebook

 Hi, keep in touch with our projects through our Facebook page (put in Dorset Diggers and it will come up). During this difficult time we are still doing small projects (evaluations; test pitting; geophysics) ready for the time when we can return to excavations. 

Grave Concerns

These six famous sites give us a unique insight into the deep past and its peoples.

The Amesbury Archer gave us the earliest example of gold use; the Wetwang Slack chariot burial helped to show how these vehicles were made and used; The Spitalfield Roman has unique glass wares; The Prittlewell tomb is on the cusp of pagan and Christian burial rituals; The Sutton Hoo ship burial is the richest ever found in England; The Mary Rose shipwreck opened a window on Tudor life at sea for the ordinary sailor.

Facing the Past