Not another negative watching brief....

Excavating the gas main diversion at the Thatched Barn

A recent project for Keevill Heritage proved that where archaeological watching briefs are concerned, you can't assume that you won't find something of archaeological value just because you are in late Victorian levels, and that you never know when something rather special may turn up. The work involved a watching brief on a gas main diversion around the mid 19th century Thatched Barn at Christ Church College, Oxford, and the trench was expected to mostly cut through Victorian dumps which had been used to raise the ground level above the meadows and winter flooding.

Happy new year from Urban Archaeology

Happy new year!

2016 was a very busy year for Urban Archaeology, with lots of new projects and a very varied workload which included survey and recording work on Gloucester Cathedral's 15th century Lady Chapel, post-excavation and development work on LP-Archaeology's 100 Minories site and their ARK post-excavation systems, and finishing the analysis and publication text and drawings for the medieval farm buildings excavated at Horse and Groom Inn.

Masons' marks from Gloucester Cathedral Lady Chapel

Excavation work included working on a wonderfully preserved Roman iron smelting site near Ross on Wye -urban stratigraphy in a very rural setting- and a final bit of excavation at 100 Minories where there was excellent survival of the medieval and post-medieval sequence. Smaller scale work has included evaluations and watching briefs and several projects on Gloucestershire churches. 

Ornate medieval fan tracery, possibly from a vaulted canopy tomb. From a watching brief in Oxford

2016 also saw the publication of two MOLA monographs that I co-authored: the Roman volume of the Plantation Place excavations, including the post-Boudiccan Roman fort, and the Upper Walbrook Roman Cemetery of Roman London. Both books have been in the pipeline a long while, and it is great to see them out and getting excellent reviews. I also had a paper published on archaeological training in the Historic Environment: Policy and Practice Journal, and an article with Nigel Jeffries on post-medieval Spitalfields in Current Archaeology.

Spitalfields Market: Secrets of one of Britain's biggest digs

2017 should see the publication of the medieval Spitalfields volume, and then all my MOLA backlog will be out. We are also hoping that the Horse and Groom excavations will be out in this year's Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society.
 

The early months of 2017 look like they will be full of fascinating projects, with more work on the Gloucester Lady Chapel and several other church projects, some interesting watching briefs lined up, a good bit of finds illustration work to do, and the 100 Minories post-excavation work will restart shortly. There'll be posts on this blog and the Urban Archaeology Facebook page as and when I find time to update it!

So thank you to everyone who has followed us over the last year, I hope you have found all the posts interesting, and I'd like to wish you all a peaceful 2017,

Chiz Harward
Urban Archaeology

Baffled by a Cotswold church...

A recent watching brief on a new electric supply trench at a Cotswold church led to the recovery of several fragments of carved medieval masonry, which have given an insight into the past appearance of the medieval church. 

Reconstruction of medieval architectural fragments

Urban Archaeology joins the Stroud Building Design Association

 
With an increasing number of projects being local to within Gloucestershire, Urban Archaeology has joined the Stroud Building Design Association, a group of independent planning and design professionals who offer services related to the building and construction industry. The membership covers a wide variety of professions and disciplines offering help, advice and design expertise for the building industry and private residential clients.

Encompassing everything from planning & infrastructure, through architecture & design, to ecological impact & sustainability, Stroud BDA’s combined skills cover everything you need to plan, design and manage a project. Stroud BDA didn't have an archaeologist member, so it seemed a good fit!

Urban Archaeology's recent local projects have included the ongoing recording work on Gloucester Cathedral, watching brief on a service trench through a graveyard, and evaluation and consultancy work within a medieval church. All of these were undertaken under the 'Faculty' licence system, the Church of England's equivalent of planning permission and listed building control. 

If you have a development project and would like advice on archaeology and heritage, and on how Urban Archaeology may be able to help you work through the process, please contact Chiz Harward.