Soldiers at Stonehenge

On Monday night I was honoured to attend a rehearsal for the opening of Stonehenge's new exhibition 'Soldiers at Stonehenge'. We were not told much about it, just that it would be top secret, and that we couldn't post any photographs on social media until Wednesday morning. This made it extremely exciting and I knew I had to go along and find out more.

I spent the afternoon volunteering in the Neolithic houses, in which we have recently been allowed to light the fires. This makes it more pleasant to volunteer as the houses are so warm now, but the downside is that you leave your shift smelling like a bonfire. So when I hopped onto the bus that evening that were a few comments!

The Neolithic Houses

When we got to the stones the light was fading fast, and while the event was being set up we all wandered around, illuminating different stones with our torches. Wandering amongst them was strangely eerie, and you'd feel someone behind you, only to look and realise it was another stone looming out of the dark. The sky was so clear, and the stars and moon shone brightly. The A303 was strangely not noticeable, and I really felt away from it all, and just surrounded by the stones and the stars. I've been to the stones many times before, but this was such a special experience.

Once the lights were all set up we reluctantly left the stone circle (they really are so hypnotic up close) and stood a distance away. On several of the stones footage was projected of the soldiers marching off to the war. Salisbury Plain was one of the largest training camps in the war, and many soldiers left there never to return. It reminded me of how many men had been lost, and why it is so important to wear a poppy and commemorate them.

The projection of the soldiers

The Last Post

Two soldiers played 'the Last Post' while the footage played, then we all fell silent for two minutes. It was very moving and I didn't mind that I couldn't feel my toes through the cold. I just felt so honoured and glad to be standing there peacefully on such a beautiful night.

The 'Soldiers at Stonehenge' Exhibition opened yesterday at the Stonehenge visitor centre, and is included as part of the visitor ticket.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/discover/special-exhibition/soldiers-at-stonehenge-exhibition 

Portchester Castle

The entrance to Portchester Castle

Last week I visited Portchester Castle, a beautiful castle and enclosure dating back to Roman Britain. It was somewhere that I'd been meaning to visit for a while, so I was so excited to be going. It is a fascinating site as it covers a huge period of time, and a lot of the building is still standing. The Roman walls still stand looking over Portsmouth harbour.

The remains of the Roman Wall

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A very brief history of Portchester Castle 

The fort was first built in 3rd Century AD to protect the ships in the harbour and guard from pirates. The Saxons used it as a military base, and constructed a large hall, courtyard and stone tower. Remains of a Saxon cemetery have also been found. During the Norman conquest the castle was further developed, and an Augustinian Priory was established. St Mary's Parish church is all that remains of the Priory today. Henry II was the first to use the castle as a royal residence, and it was used on route to the English territories in France. The castle almost didn't survive Henry III, who ordered it's destruction. Thankfully this did not happen, probably due to the position of the castle and it's use in military campaigns. By the 14th Century the castle was run down, but was still in use. Edward II and III renovated and improved the building, and in 1396-1399 Richard II created royal apartments, including a very grand hall.

Richard II's Palace Hall

It was at Portchester Castle that Henry V heard about a plot to overthrow him, he prepared for his campaign against the French which would end with his victory at Agincourt.

Henry VIII stayed at the castle with Anne Boleyn. The last royal visit was their daughter Elizabeth I, who held court in 1601.

The castle then became a prison from 1655 up to 1819, holding prisoners of war from conflicts such as the second Dutch War and the French Revolution. The Great Tower was altered and given extra floors, making the prison very cramped for the prisoners.

The castle was abandoned in 1819 by the army, and became a romantic ruin.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I spent around two hours exploring the inner section of the castle. There is a free audio guide with the entrance fee from English Heritage, and you are guided round by two of the buildings residents. I found this really helpful to the background of the building. There is also an activity sheet available for children on the English Heritage website:
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/step-inside-portchester-castle/portchestercastle.pdf

It wasn't easy to climb to the top of the Great Tower, and it really tested my fear of heights, but it was definitely worth the climb, both for the view and the sense of the size of the site. Balancing my camera, audio guide and notebook up the spiral staircase was a bit of a mission! Apparently access to the roof of the tower is closed in bad or windy weather, so it's worth picking a nice day to visit.

Inside the Great Tower there was a real feel of atmosphere, you could feel the sense of history in the space. There weren't many visitors in the Tower when I was there as well, which made it a lot spookier!

This photograph reminds me of one of my favourite ghost stories; 'The Tower' by Marghanita Laski

What I liked about Portchester Castle is that the main enclosure is free to enter, and is used like a public park. When I was there people were sunbathing and having picnics. It's really great to see an area used and reused, it extends the continuing history of the place. The church is still used as a religious space, and there is also a tea room there, giving the site a real sense of community.

St Mary's Parish Church

Details for visiting Portchester Castle can be found on the English Heritage Website:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/portchester-castle/ 

One final mention. Alan Sorrell the artist created a reconstruction drawing of Portchester Castle, and it's just beautiful.  Any excuse to look at his pictures!

The Waters Flowing Through Mottisfont

Recently I revisited Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire. I haven't been back there since 2006 when I was working on my dissertation for my degree. It's such a beautiful place, and luckily we had beautiful weather the afternoon we were there.

Mottisfont

The Priory at Mottisfont was established in 1200 for Austin canons, and dissolved in 1536. After this it was turned into a private house. Not much of the original priory remains, but there is the original cellarium, and some earthworks in the grounds. 

The Cellarium

Water is a very important feature of the site, and from which Mottisfont is named. The old English word motes funta means 'spring near the confluence or stone'.  A spring lies in the grounds of Mottisfont, just in front of the main building. 

The River Test

The Test river runs past the Abbey, and the surrounding fields are dotted with evidence of water management. Monastic life would have relied on agriculture and cultivating the landscape, and water would have played an important part. There are ditches that are thought to be duck decoys and fish ponds. Nearby Romsey has evidence of mills being in use from 1086. The area I was focussing on was the Water Meadows, field systems set up to direct water through the fields to provide nutrients to help the grass grow quickly. The project was done with help from the Hampshire County Council and the National Trust, and I was given information, support and access to the field I was researching. 

I carried out a desktop survey of the area, using the Hampshire Records Office. It was so fascinating to look at all the old maps of the area to see how the landscape had developed and changed. I also used aerial photography provided by the National Monuments Record in Swindon to look at the evidence of features seen from the air. This turned out to be really useful, and the features of the water meadow were really clear. 

The last part of the project was to carry out a resistivity survey. This was done with help from a team of friends from university, and my mum (who became an expert in geofizz!). It was not without peril though. I was surrounded by a group of very enthusiastic young cows whilst surveying, and had to use the resistivity machine as a cow prod to fight my way out. My car was also broken into in the carpark, and the university laptop with some of the geofizz results was stolen - I think the university was delighted they could get a new one! But the project battled through, and the geofizz results came back as clearly showing the water meadow features. 

The geophysics results placed on a map of the field

The digitised version of the geophysics results

Digitised tithe map of the surrounding area, showing the land use. 

This is a very 'watered down' (excuse the pun!) version of the project, and a lot more maps and aerial photographs were produced, sadly I'm not sure I can put them up on the blog due to copyright. It was a project I really enjoyed doing, and spent hours pouring over maps and manipulating images on the computer. 

As well as the history of the property, there is a lot to see for gardeners. Mottisfont is famous for it's collection of roses, and the beautiful rose garden. Our visit was a bit too early for most of the roses, but there were still lots of beautiful flowers to see. 

Mottisfont is owned by the National Trust, more details of the property and visiting details can be found here: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mottisfont/

The Vikings arrive at the British Museum

A few weeks ago I went to see the Vikings exhibition at the British Museum. I was so excited. I love the British Museum, and I'm a member of it (really worth it, not only can you visit every exhibition without booking, but they have the most amazing members room, with great tea!) I was always disappointed with the exhibition space. It was too busy, and I always struggled to see the artefacts, it was a case of deep breathes and keeping calm. So much so that whilst viewing the Pompeii exhibition for the second time I felt very faint and had to leave quickly. It was also very sad that visitors could no longer see the reading room in it's full glory- I'm hoping that it'll be reinstated soon?

So with some excitement and in-trepidation I entered the new exhibition centre. I was so overjoyed I even treated myself to an audio guide.

I stepped in and started to move around the first room. I was confused, I couldn't actually see any artefacts, or information about the Vikings. Then it dawned on me, there was a queue meandering round the interesting bits of the room. Slowly. I had to precede back to the entrance and join the slow shuffle round. I was so glad for the audio guide, it meant I had something to concentrate on when I wasn't near any of the cases. Although at first I felt a bit suffocated the queue worked to the exhibitions advantage - when I was in view of something, I spent far longer examining it and reading the signs than I probably would have done. Some of the exhibits were placed so only one person could view at a time, and I think it was difficult for some children to see - I let some stand in front of me at one point so that they weren't pushed out of the way by overexcitable adults!

The main issue I had with the exhibition was that the text accompanying the exhibits had been placed really low, so it was difficult to read. I think this is an issue that the Tate cope with really well - you're given a little booklet of the text at the beginning, which is the same as what is written on the walls. Then if it's busy and you can't get near, you can read the booklet.

After the first room though the crowd dispersed (I'm still not sure how this happened) and suddenly there was air and space around everyone and everything. I loved the objects, and the exhibition, there's so much to the Vikings that is forgotten. The art is beautiful, and too often it is presumed that they were just barbarian warriors. These people had culture and style. Even though I'd studied the Vikings at university, I was still surprised by the quality and beauty. The exhibition was great at looking at both sides of the Vikings, raiders v traders, with evidence of violence and slavery displayed near evidence of trading across Europe and East through Russia.

Entering the final room is amazing, with the vast Viking ship in the centre of the room. It takes your breathe away. There is so much space to look around and to take your time. It is the perfect exhibition to open the new space with, and I'm hoping I'll have time to visit again before it closes on 22nd June.

Volunteering at Hampton Court Palace

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to get the chance to volunteer with a friend of mine who is a buildings archaeologist. One of the projects she's been working on is  Hampton Court Palace, surveying and recording an apartment. I went along for a few days to help, and got to crawl in the roof space, and pull up the floor boards. It was so interesting to see behind the scenes of somewhere so well known, and also get to see the framework of the building. Here are some of the photographs from my visit:

Up in the roof space above the apartment

Balancing on the beams to measure the roof space.

Taking the floor boards up to measure the beams underneath

Up on the roof of Hampton Court.

It was great to be back at Hampton Court Palace, I feel very lucky as during my Masters degree I also got to dig there. We were working on the Orangery excavating parts of Wolsey's Palace. It was such a great place to work, and we even had Royalty visit us!

The excavation viewed from the roof

One of the stone mouldings excavated

The excavation

Prince Charles visits the site

A Valentine's trip to the Tower

Last July I helped out at the Festival of Archaeology at the Tower of London with the City of London Archaeology Society (what a mouthful!). I had so much fun that day, helping to run the children's excavation. Kids are so enthusiastic about archaeology, and keen to learn (although sometimes disappointed that the bones they dug up were not dinosaurs!) To thank us for helping out we were all given a free ticket to one of the Historic Palaces. I picked the Tower of London, as I haven't been there for a very long time, and was keen to visit. I decided to go on Valentine's day this year, as a treat to myself :-)

What struck me when I first walked in was the size of the place. It was like walking out of the city of London, into another city. The clock had been turned back, and I had walked into another world, it was wonderful. The only unfortunate thing was it was raining. A lot. It made me realise why cobbled streets were designed, as I would had been walking through rivers instead.

Into the second city

I really loved the animals that had been placed around the Tower to demonstrate the collection of animals that had been kept here. Really beautiful pieces of artwork, and I felt it was tastefully done for the setting too.

A polar bear

and an elephant!

I felt it was slightly cheating to have the ravens locked in a cage, although on the plus side the Kingdom will never fall! They're pretty big birds, I'm not sure I'd want to be the Raven Master and have to feed them daily. 

It was a welcome relief from the rain to be able to explore the different towers, and there was so much to see. 

Exploring the White Tower

The very popular execution block

Up on the wall, a little damp and slippy!

It was great visiting the tower again, and learning about it's history. It's so amazing that such an big heritage place could sit in a prime location on the Thames, next to the City of London. 

I headed home to dry off, which unfortunately took around 4 1/2 hours due to the Valentine's  storms! Our poor train driver hit two trees, and stopped both times to get out and move them with the train guard. They were absolute heroes, I was so impressed with South West Trains that night. Then after the epic train journey I drove back to my village, to find that 3 out of 4 roads were completely blocked by fallen trees. It was a very exciting journey home, and a glass of wine was much appreciated when I finally got there! 

CBA London trip to UCL

I have to admit, going round the UCL collection made me a little bit jealous and wanting to do my degree again. I loved my time at Winchester and Oxford, but UCL just blew me away. I guess I'd take any excuse to go back to uni!

The amount of material the university holds is immense, and they hold objects from all over the world, apart from China, and North America - which is held by the Anthropology department. The idea is that students are handling objects as well as learning about certain time periods and cultures, increasing their knowledge and experience. I think this is a brilliant idea and I feel my archaeological education would have benefited greatly by being able to hold and examine pieces from excavations all over the world. Hands on learning is a great way to teach. Here are some photographs of the collection:

A Hand Axe from the Olduvai Gorge

A collection from Swanscombe

All the bones are laid out in different drawers depending on the animal, to help students identify bones.

The feline drawer

One of the artefacts Flinders Petrie donated to UCL

The trip was organised by CBA London group, and I really look forward to their next event. More information about the group can be found here: http://www.archaeologyuk.org/cbalondon/

More information can be found about the UCL Institute of Archaeology here, as well as access to their collection database: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/ The archaeology library is also very good, and somewhere I've used for preparing for interviews. For members of the public you have to demonstrate a need to use the library, and it costs £7 a day.