New Projects

 DDCAG is excited to say that we are building two more new projects in Dorset. 

One is located on the Isle of Purbeck locating a DMV (Deserted Medieval Village) and the other in the pretty and ancient town of Sherborne looking at one of their many medieval structures and surrounding garden. Plus, the Waddon Hill project has completed the geophysical surveying and test pitting will be undertaken in the new year.

2024 is already looking to be a busy one for the Group! This follows on from our meeting with the Executive Director of the Council for British Archaeology who are very enthusiastic about local heritage groups collaborating on projects and exchanging skills and experience. 

DDCAG are doing just that!

 

Blandford project

 DDCAG and Blandford Museum are planning to work together in the new year on archaeology projects. The committee are committed to establishing partnerships with other heritage organisations in Dorset the more to help local people to research and learn about their past. Exciting. 

Just a Bit Blowy

 DDCAG member Kevin (left), working with GeoFlo surveying a Roman site for Bournemouth University. Hopefully the results will show features that can then be test-pitted. They followed the old archaeologists moto 'Whatever the Weather...'

The Church of St Basil, Toller Fratrum

Dorset Diggers have undertaken a geophysical survey at the church of St Basil to see if we can find the earlier structure under this Victorian building. 

These images will give you a basic history of the area. Although the information on these sheets starts with the Knights Hospitallier in the 1300s it may be that an even earlier church stood on the site going back to the Early Medieval period, either Early Norman or Late Anglo-Saxon. 

Christ washing feet as an act of humility.

As can be seen here the church has some much older stone carvings, the most impressive being the Font. These may have been kept when the old churches were demolished and the present building erected. 

The previous church had two bells in a tower and was a narrow building with a chancel, nave and porch. It could sit 80 people. As a result we are going to contact the Church of England to see if they have any records. The church is now owned and run by The Friends of St Basil's through subscription and still used for services. They have given us permission to do these investigations.

This is the geophysics result. The darker area to the right is low resistance and just dirt and some graves, which do not show up. The lighter areas to the left, situated around the existing building (pink), is where we think the foundations of the earlier building is situated. The existing building sits on the original footprint. 

Thanks to all members of the team that came out to help with the survey.   

 

 

The Bottle Inn update

 After digging two small trenches at the front of The Bottle Inn we found no archaeology. Two larger trenches cannot be excavated due to not having access to a digging machine. So we will have to leave that project for the time being. 

It's The Blobs!

These are the results of the geophysical survey of The Bottle Inn and one can only say that the picture is unclear! However, it is still worth opening a couple of trial trenches to see what the soft earth (dark) and light earth (grey) may be. we have access to a digging machine for these, but we may also open one or two test pits by hand. Before doing this work we are planning to geophiz the small area in front of the pub to see if we need to open a trench there also. Look in for short films and photos of our work.  
 

Finding Flints

Dorset Diggers Community Archaeology Group: Finding Flints: This is a little film about how to distinguish between natural flint and human made tools. If you have found anything that you may think ...

Geophysical Survey

The geophysics team undertook a survey at the Bottle Inn last week and covered the first and largest area we are interested in. Other, smaller, areas will be surveyed later. Lots of walking up and down and many beeps later it was finished. Luckily the weather was mild and no rain.  

AGM

 

People begin to arrive for the AGM

Our AGM saw a good turnout. A new committee is being put together by the new Chair, Chris Tripp. 

Membership is climbing, due to the Facebook message asking for people to get involved with the two projects just beginning. The Bottle Inn geophysics results will be shown here soon. 

The Group is now represented on the new Dorset Archaeological Forum.

Stalbridge House has finished and the History Society now has all the archive of four seasons of excavation.

We hope to have two events happening in the Spring, one to Martin Green's museum and a visit to the new exhibition on the Archaeology of Crete in Oxford.  

Pub Dig - again

Our next project will be starting soon, when our geophysics team returns from Oz! Photos and results of our survey will appear here, so keep looking in.

Beaminster Buzz

 

Presented a talk on the Stalbridge Park excavations of 2018-2022 at Beaminster Museum. Went very well and 25-30 people ventured out into the rain to hear the story of Robert Boyle's abode in Dorset.